#imaginary album art

[whatdoyouknowaboutfrogs]

other delights. fun with whipped cream. what is your favorite album cover?

[artbrains]

Beyoncé album art work Cowboy Carter

photographed by: Blair Caldwell

[askfallenroyalty]

What do you mean by goner lore? Unless you mean like the forgotten kid in waterfall..

// before deltarune the goners were like, THE thing to theorize about it feels largely forgotten or overshadowed at least by the secret bosses and whatever is going on with Kris. Which like, fair, but I feel they were pretty important to Undertale!

Goner Clam was set up to introduce Deltarune itself. So like, wtf is even going on there. Clam Girl herself is pretty much her normal self but she turns into??? goner???? Honestly, I forgot about that. What does this mean for Monster kid and goner kid????

anyway i hyped myself up over the idea of using goner lore cause it'd be a good excuse to justify the secret bosses in Fallen Royals + allow me to do some fun horror.

But really was exciting was it was an easy way to include Frisk in the secret boss stuff, because Frisk isn't a monster or a flower and needs some fun weird things going on too!

but yeah after talking with some people some more of the actual lore came to mind and the general "don't use gaster we are still learning about him you're just dating our work" rule would still apply to the goners.

idea Sucks now but I still wanna do SOMETHING fun for the secret lore. My idea was actually to start it in chapter 3 with a playable boss fight. This would build up to the actual secret boss fight when you go to darkworld.

not sure if that makes that much sense in hindsight.

[paragonrobits]

some important calvin and hobbes facts in case you haven't read the original comic strip in a long time or only absorbed stuff on it from memes and out of context bits on here:

Calvin's last name has never been given, and neither has any of his parent's names. This was actually why his uncle Max only showed up for a brief storyline; the creator of the comic, Bill Watterson, ultimately felt that while it was fine to have him as someone for his parents to talk to, it felt far too awkward to never have Max refer to them by name and he never made a return appearance.

The general tone of the comic is fairly light-hearted, with a big emphasis on goofy slapstick comedy contrasted by clever wordplay and often surprising adult-centered jokes that'll hit you like a slap. A big part of the comedy is, as Watterson put it (paraphrased) "It's really funny to me when people express deeply stupid ideas with really fancy terminology." One notable example you might have seen is that one bit where Calvin asks his mom for money to buy a Satan-worshiping rock album and his mom replies that there's nothing genuine about them and they're just putting on the attitude for shock value, and comisserates with Calvin as he deplores that mainstream nihilism can't be trusted. He concludes that childhood is disillusioning.

There is a LOT of criticism of the extreme materialism and selfish mentality of the late 80s, when the comic was initially written. This may go a long way to explain how its aged so well; much of what it criticizes resonates well with people today.

Bill Watterson views comic strips a legitimate form of artwork, and repeatedly fought to have more space to draw more beautiful and artistic backgrounds, which was a very hard fight and unpopular even with other comic strip artists. He eventually did win some compromises and a lot of Calvin And Hobbes' artwork shows it, with the use of space to indicate time as well as a sharp contrast between the often plain environments of mundane life contrasted by the wildly beautiful imagery of Calvin's imagination (which often sports realistic depictions in an art shift of sorts).

Hobbes is explicitly not an imaginary friend, by word of Watterson himself. We don't know WHAT he is exactly, and Hobbes is apparently unaware of the strange nature of his reality; people look at him and only see an ordinary stuffed tiger plushie, but he has a tangible effect on the world that would be physically impossible for Calvin to do on his own. He's apparently been around for a while, and was apparently around when Calvin was a young baby.

On that note; Hobbes has implicitly killed (notably treated as both a gag and also with the vibe of 'he's a tiger, duh') and while he doesn't do it again on-screen, he doesn't have any moral issues about it. Calvin claims that he's never had trouble bringing Hobbes to school because the last time he did, Hobbes killed and ate a bully named Tommy Chestnut and simply comments that it was gross and he needed a bath. Calvin's tried to repeat this again, but Hobbes was grossed out at the thought having to eat a kid raw and not being allowed to use an oven first, or complaining that children are too fattening.

Hobbes became gradually less human-like in body language and more like an actual cat in both body language and behavior; this was due to Watterson drawing more inspiration from his cat, who also inspired a lot of Hobbes' running gags, such as pouncing on Calvin when he got home. Several years into the syndication of the strip, Watterson's cat passed away, and he did a tribute to her with a comic strip of the two of them agreeing to try to dream together so they can keep playing when they have to sleep; Watterson's commentary (if I recall right), remarks on his cat: "We can see each other again in dreams."

[dustyandsilver]

[deafeningcowboyking]

"That Musical Goop" - Bloomin' Shrooms

[daphnethebanjolover]

Thoughts on IF

Also known as "Ryan Reynolds Looking Hella Fine for 1 hour 44 minutes Straight"

You gotta watch this movie. Don't ask why. Just do it.

I've always wanted to know what Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends would look like in a live-action setting, and if John Krasinski has to be the one to bring that to life, then so be it.

I will admit, I was confused at the beginning as to why Bea was at the hospital when the mom was already dead.

Before I say anything else, the soundtrack. This is why music is in movies. The music always seemed to fit both the specific scene and the whimsical mood of the film as a whole.

Also, the CGI. All of the IFs fit seamlessly into the live-action scenery without being excessively photorealistic. I mean, there's one scene where Bea walks past Blue, and he casts a shadow on her. How do they do that?

Speaking of Blue, 10/10 casting. Steve Carell has the exact type of energy needed for Blue.

John Krasinski had to have heard of Foster's. I mean, come on. There's literally a character named Blue.

Blue: I'm Blue. Me: You're purple. Bea: You're purple. Me: (hits arm on armrest from laughing too hard)

We wear suspenders in this house.

The surprise I felt when I heard Steve Carell's voice coming out of that guy was exactly the same as when I realized Billy Crystal voiced Calcifer in Howl's Moving Castle.

I like that lil' freak who looks like the Faker from Jackbox, but he's gotta stop climbing onto people.

Also, that art mannequin guy looks kinda sexy. Is that just me?

That ghost guy just spent the whole time vibin'.

The Better Be Good to Me dance number has me convinced that this would make waves on Broadway. We just need the budget for Bea to re-imagine the house.

The underwater scene after Cal gets pushed in the pool was sick. This must be why people like that one Nirvana album cover.

I had a feeling that Blossom used to be Grandma's IF just from looking at Grandma's tutu in the picture. I didn't even notice her in the background.

The scene where Bea is by her dad's bed while he's sleeping makes me think this is the type of movie that would make my mom cry.

I know that the "picture was folded the whole time" trope has been done before, but that twist actually got me while also putting together so many pieces at the same time.

Seeing Ryan Reynolds in that dorky-ass clown outfit was simultaneously the most beautiful and the most hilarious moment in the entire movie.

Overall, 9/10. That 48 on Metacritic is wack.

[amemenojaku]

quick write-up on Q by Diao Ye Zong after a full listen of the album + the bonus content

(spoilers: it's really good. buy it)

I've skipped some of DYZ's releases in the last few years like Shirushi/Mukui/Atsume out of lack of interest, so it's very possible that I missed a hidden gem, but anyway I think Q is their best recent work. It's as good as Hohuri or △ imo (and Hohuri is like. my favorite DYZ and favorite doujin music album overall so.)

Agatha ChrisQ suddenly and completely disappears, shrouded in as much mystery as when she started releasing novels. The narrator sets out in search of the truth through 6 of ChrisQ's unpublished murder mysteries, each a reflection of their writer's feelings.

Q is a seed // Q is an outcome - Waiting to germinate into fantasy // Imposing the results of your ego on all.

It is, of course, a must-listen (or must-experience, rather, since it's not limited to music) for any Akyuu fan, but I'd also recommend it to fans of DiPP, Umineko specifically but mystery novels in general, and interactive fiction (there's branching endings). Oh and yuri. Akyuu/Kosuzu has been a fairly recurring pair in DYZ works (I can think of at least 5 songs off the top of my head, that's recurring to me lol) and this is no exception.

The album is gorgeous, jewel case and booklet and everything, all B&W with beautiful arabesques and elegant lettering and the occasional lines written in red. Hanadahyou's art is even more gorgeous than usual in the lyrics booklet (and if you've ever looked at a DYZ album you know the booklet is part of the experience)!! I love the small detail of the page with Akyuu's portrait, not the one with ChrisQ's, touching the page with the picture of Kosuzu and Akyuu as children...

The tracks are very good, pleasant to listen to from beginning to end (in my case there's just one I have a problem with because of the singer's voice... T_T lol). If I had to pick just one it'd be the Kosuzu song, Imaginary Friend (spoilers in the translator's notes), obviously everything in it makes me want to cry and scream and bash my head into a wall but ESPECIALLY the line where 'it was love at first sight' and 'I set upon you all my fantasies' are both said at the same time in the most beautiful wordplay I've seen in a while.. I also really like the Hieda servants' song (Murasaki Hotaru's voice <3) and the Reimu song is super fun (there is no way Reimu holding a knife next to Marisa's body in the booklet art isn't a nod to the reimari songs from Hohuri - and with the Birlstone Gambit theory referenced in the song itself, well...). But even then all the other tracks are interesting too. Very solid album.

And then there's the secret bonus content. I will only say that I love both choices very much but Imaginary Friend -> My Beloved Q did permanent damage to my heart <3 <3 <3 (suffering

ANYWAY, if any of this sounded intriguing to you then Q is absolutely worth the money! So go support the artists!! The regular version without the secret content will probably end up for free on spotify at some point (edit: it is now, including the last two secret tracks), but in my humble opinion it's one of those DYZ albums that are 1000% better if experienced with a real hardcopy of the CD because of how high-quality the product is, the gorgeous art, the bonus content etc... Personally I am never getting rid of my copy it's just SO beautiful.

[mastermindmp3]

Well, we've finally reached it. The song that made me first start crying on my initial TTPD listen.

There's so much to this song, so much about how we use up and discard the women who make culture. Clara Bow is about the women who get held up as touchstones posthumously / very late into their careers. Swift has stated that she pulled from actual examples used about her, but I can think of so many more that could've been pulled in board rooms.

You look like Gwen Stefani, you look like Brittney Spears, you look like a Spice Girl. I can think of so, so many examples, beyond the ones who are listed in Clara Bow. We, as in the public consciousness, forget the women who shaped the imagery we love. Billie Holiday shaped jazz and pop, Anna May Wong as a pivotal film actress in Hollywood's earliest days, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe for rock and roll. For a very long time, any plus size woman trying to get into music was compared to Adele, and now it's Lizzo.

Young women, especially those in the media industry, are constantly, constantly inundated with women we are supposed to be like, but not entirely. We're supposed to be the better version of them, damned with faint praise. A line that has, in hindsight, stuck out to me was "You look like Stevie Nicks in '75, the hair and lips," because... Why '75?

Obviously, part of it is for the rhyme scheme. But the song is told entirely in quotes, something someone said. Swift looks like Stevie Nicks in '75, because she looks like Stevie when she was young, when she was "new," when she was dazzling.

That's not to say that Stevie Nicks isn't a powerhouse now. She still performs, still writes. She performed this year! In 2024! And yet, she will forever be frozen in '75, when she was with Fleetwood Mac and was releasing their self-titled album, in the throes of writing Rumorus. ( side note: please read the history of Rumours writing process. )

It's an endless cycle: women's ideas are taken, consumed by the public, and when only the bones remain, they're used to compare.

"Promise to be dazzling" is the ending line of the chorus - and it's both a beautiful, poignant reminder that the women listed in the song have captured audience's hearts and minds, and a threat. Promise us that you'll be dazzling, you'll forever be sixteen, forever hold up these ideals and stay the exact same.

I think Swift said it best herself, "There's this thing people say about celebrities, that they're frozen at the age they got famous." The demand is: promise to remain the newest thing, and we will always love you.

The truth is that, well, it's not possible. The promise is designed to not be kept. When public opinion turns on these women, it's to detract from their legacy of art.

Getting older is not a curse, it's a gift. We have so many public figures who didn't get that gift, who are frozen at 18, at 22, at 27. And yet, the societal demand is that women stay young, women can only be beautiful, can only be successful if they are young.

A couple of other songwriting notes.

"Did you know you'd be picked, like a rose?" Another question from imaginary men in meetings; did you know, you would be picked to be the new great thing? Did you know, that you too will begin to wilt under the pressure?

I love the repeats of "I'm not trying to exaggerate, but I think I might die if it happened to me / I might die if I made it." Because it relates back to that idea of how caustic fame is. How everyone around the Narrator (very much Swift, in this case) can see how she's being affected by it, and are indirectly praising her for being so strong. Neverminding that this entire album is a statement, a saying of "fame has drained me so, please let me off this pedestal."

But, didn't you know? "[You're] flesh and blood amongst war machines / You're the new god we're worshiping."

That final verse - You look like Taylor Swift, in this light, we're loving it. You've got edge, she never did. The future's bright, dazzling. Her delivery of the lines is soft, but the intent is clear. It doesn't actually matter who the imaginary board director is addressing - it doesn't matter which of the new generation of pop artists look, sound, act, are like Taylor Swift.

What matters, I think, is the warning. Don't let them do this to you. Do not let them tell you that youth is all you have, do not let them make you follow the mold of women before you, that you may only ever be bejeweled right now.

The future, too, is dazzling.

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, May 5, 2024

My posts

It seems like it couldn’t possibly be true, but Lauren Bacall seems to be the first “Lauren,” and you can see in the U.S. baby name graphs when she hits the screen. I’m leaving open the possibility that someone female, somewhere, was named Lauren before 1944, but as a Lauren, I haven’t seen evidence of it yet. 

Reblogs of interest

Late-breaking news: Bernard Hill (best known as Théoden in Lord of the Rings) has passed at age 79. 

The Hot Vintage Lady Polls: Reminder that I’m not affiliated with the Hot Vintage Brackets (or any brackets); I just like vintage ladies and get easily obsessed with things. Greta Garbo and Rita Hayworth are in danger this time (I am letting the chips fall where they may with Ava). I would say I don’t understand people, but I’m sure Audrey people don’t understand me, either. That said, the Flaming Chaos Elmo inside me wants to see the Hepburns matched against each other. 

@hotvintagepoll is also running polls to cast an imaginary vintage Dracula movie, as a treat.

Speaking of: Season’s Greason’s, Dracula Daily fans! Good Friend Jonathan’s time loop begins again. 

May the Fourth be with you (And also with you)!

New music from Garbage! “Better Not Lie to Me,” “Revenge and Hurt,” a cover of “Song to the Siren,” and a new mix of “Bad Boyfriend” with Dave Grohl on drums this time. 

New music from Dua Lipa! I’ve liked all the singles a lot so far, and ”Whatcha Doing” is the album song I like the most as of this writing. Good luck to Dua this week cracking the Billboard Taylor 100!

Hozier Watch 2024: At first I was just poking fun at myself for having links here two weeks in a row, and now it’s just a thing? I see this “All art has political dimensions” gifset go by at least once a week, but I’m reblogging it this time for the user discussion.

(“I wrote a song called the Monster Mash, so you should play that. That’s one of mine.”)

“Here are some more articles about the increasing number of First Nations who have been able to reintroduce bison to their lands.”

How to spot fake news (namely: slow the fuck down)

The illustrious career of clip-art wolf Lumpy Kiba

Call an ambulance… but not for Alfred Pennyworth

No one was doing it like costume designer Eiko Ishioka

Crab Cake (Scott Fraser, 2019) 

Unhinged lifestyle editorials, a triptych

Video

Honestly this dual mating dance was my favorite video this week

The Donna Summer song that Brian Eno called “the sound of the future”; I added a video of her performing it 22 years later, and he wasn’t wrong

This seems fine: An... upside-down... deer guitar that...?

Watch for the exact moment this dad realizes why his child thinks mothers in labor foam at the mouth

Come for Werner Herzog’s fear of chickens; stay for a quote that will blow you straight back to Journalfen 2004

This video of birds eating seeds and drinking orange juice is also self care

Eventually someone will stop Chocolate Guy, but today is not that day

The sacred texts

Hope is a weapon. Hope is a skill

Personal tag of the week

Cats, including this cat full of love, designed by poll, and the two types of kittens.

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

omfg i'm sorry to rant but i NEED a sympathetic person to hear this. i like the every single album podcast more than most swifties, but today's ep -- and the last few -- are driving me insane. i am so fucking sick of hearing nathan and nora wring their hands over what joe might deal with. all harassment is bad, but i am done pretending that jake g and john mayer went through….any kind of wringer? they had like...a semi-awkward couple of weeks? jake is still a mega a-lister and john mayer is widely considered to be one of the greatest living guitarists. fuck, what mayer did was outright predatory -- and he's done it to multiple women -- and lbr, he lives 99% of his life totally unperturbed by it. he's not losing gigs or status in the places that matter to him; i suspect a lot of swifties aren't aware of this but i'm a guitar nerd, and uh, yeah, he's considered a living god and no one gives a shit what he did to taylor. and literally everyone woman in the public eye, including taylor, goes through worse every single fucking day, even at their heights of popularity. i don't know how to deal with hearing nathan and nora worry about :(((( omg what will joe go through :((((( when he's never going to have disgusting ai porn of himself explode across twitter on a random weekday. maybe i feel this strongly b/c i work in games, where hordes of male fans regularly ruin random women's lives because they animated a female character wearing a t-shirt instead of a string bikini, but i can't deal with this anymore. these men are fine. lots of people get mad at them, but it's because they did truly shitty things to her and she refused to absorb it silently. then it breaks, and their lives go on.

---

I feel like Nora really articulated what Anon was trying to say the other day about along the gist of "I hope something really bad happened to justify all of this." Interesting perspectives! Btw I just want to be super clear that I don't think Taylor or anyone has to justify anything like that! Just thought it was interesting how Nora put it in the latest episode and T's power is the unusual part of this equation.

---

In a very classic "I thought the two of you should meet!" re: today's The Ringer / Every Single Album pod episode.

I will say I read both of these messages before listening to the episode myself and tbh I think Nora ultimately landed in a pretty middle and reasonable place (it started out pretty rocky though) by the end of the episode. My understanding is she ultimately felt like Taylor has every right to tell the story that she wants / needs to tell and the work will speak for itself. That this is Taylor going face to face with the elephant in the room and (probably - we don't know obviously) not obfuscating the reality that we all saw play out in real time behind 'fictionalized' half truths roleplayed by semi-imaginary characters. And at the end of the day the (likely - AGAIN WE DON'T KNOW) reality is that she's prepared to walk through the narrative that is this pressure cooker storyline many are waiting with baited breath for which is the deterioration of her most significant relationship to date.

All that to say is that I think both of these points are incredibly valid. I personally have a lot of feelings wrapped up in it that do tend to come down more on the side of it's strange that the default position is this desire to sign up as first in line defence attorney for a man when the crime as we know it is 'woman writes her life into art'.

Nora interestingly noted that there's a "pressure for this album to come with receipts" (paraphrase) based on this (fan) hyped up narrative of something sinister having gone awry that this album will pull the curtain back on. And if it fails to do that, enter said self-appointed attorneys.

[codyprocrastinating]

DIRECTIONERS ASSEMBLE

Can you guys list down every single 1d-based interaction we've had since the start of this year? In celebration of their 13-year anniversary. (Edit: the anniversary has passed but I'm still gonna list down all the events that are happening in 2023.) The ones I know of are the following (in no particular order):

- Liam and Louis at the AOTV premiere

- Louis liking Zayn's post on insta

- Liam liking and replying to Zayn's post on insta

- Liam replying to Niall's post on insta

- Liam & Niall congratulating Harry on his Grammy wins

- Niall singing Little Things in an interview

- Harry singing one verse of Best Song Ever

- Harry singing WMYB and Stockholm Syndrome (i think?)

- Harry saying he "fell in love to [WMYB]"

- Harry singing one line of “Diana” in response to a fan at a concert named Diana.

- Harry doing Macarena dance like the boys did at a 1D concert.

- Niall admitting in 2023 it was him and Harry taking a hike back in February 2021.

- Niall singing Story of my Life

- Niall, Louis and Liam "reportedly" working together in a recording studio

- Where We Are: the unreleased song

- Niall and Liam saying the boys have a new group chat on WhatsApp where they're super active

- Harry thanking the boys in his speech at the Brits

- Lewis Capaldi kissing both Niall and Harry

- Niall hiding his album "The Show" behind 1d's album "Up All Night" at a records store

- Zayn replying to Liam's comment on Zayn's post

- Liam replying to Zayn's reply to Liam's comment on Zayn's post

- Louis liking Liam's tour announcement post

- Zayn liking a reel where he talks about his "loop-de-loop" airplane story

- Liam and Louis both commenting the 👀 emoji as their first post on Threads

- Harry reacting to a girl's 1d shirt at his concert (he pointed at himself and gave a thumbs up I think)

- Louis liking Perrie (Zayn's ex)'s post on insta

- Liam reposting an AI cover of 1d's Drag Me Down to his story

- Liam wearing his Steal My Girl MV jacket on his story, bopping his head to playing the song in his car, and making more jokes about it on his story

- Liam saying in his live that he wrote a special song in LP2 that's his favourite ever yet, and he wrote it because he wanted to write something special for the boys and the other important people in his life

- Liam saying in his TikTok live that his fav 1d song was Once in a Lifetime

- Liam jamming out to Harry's "Lights Up" during his live

- Liam talking about a potential imaginary 1d reunion on his live

- Liam on discord replying to a fan's art of Zayn's new music

- Zayn talking about the band and why he left in an interview with CallHerDaddy in a lot of detail

- When asked on discord if Zayn replied to his DMs, Liam replied, "always!"

- Liam on discord saying he plans on watching Zayn's podcast

- Liam on discord saying he watched Zayn's podcast and loved it

- Liam referencing Kevin from 1D on his Discord

- Louis liking Zayn's post on insta about his new single Love Like This

- Liam commenting on Harry's post about his Daylight MV

- Harry singing Best Song Ever at his last LOT show

- Louis singing Night Changes with a new haircut that makes him look like his 2015 self the night before 1d's anniversary

- Liam mentioning on insta about WMYB hitting 1B streams on spotify

- Liam singing WMYB on insta the exact same way he did in the mv

If anyone knows other instances or has any corrections pls let me know (I'll keep editing this as stuff gets added)

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

I know I've written about this before but obviously Tumblr won't let me find the post, but I love how at the end of evermore:

And I was catching my breath Floors of a cabin creaking under my step And I couldn't be sure I had a feeling so peculiar This pain wouldn't be for Evermore

The cabin floors underneath her feet can represent not just the metaphorical safety of touching solid ground after being lost at sea earlier in the song, but could also be about how the comfort of writing got her through it. The imaginary cabin gradually built around her ended up being the world she created to escape the hard times and create art to pull her through. (Which now leads us to the folklore cabin on tour...)

(I'm not saying that was the intention but I'm saying it's a cool evolution of the theme throughout the albums.)

[autisticempathydaemon]

sorry if this is a lil long (￣□￣;)!!

What song are you fixated on at the moment? What lyric or verse, and why?

there are a few albums (igor, damn., songs) ive been listening to on loop for a few weeks now, but if i were to narrow it down to one song it would be “forwards beckon rebound” by adrianne lenker ^_^. i liked it when i first listened to the album in full but then found out my boyfriend liked it, so i LOVE it now. 

What is your Enneagram type?

INFP-T, 4w3

Do you love gargantuan Youtube video essays, and if so, which is your favorite and why?

i LOVE them!! i really enjoy jacob geller’s video essays, specifically his video “how can we bear to throw anything away?”. i think its SUPER cool and very poetically justifies my hoarding. though for GARGANTUAN, i like flawed peacock’s 7 hour and 42 minute video on “who’s lila”, which i still havent finished.

Tell me about your childhood imaginary friend.

when i was around 9 i used to be called “daffodil” when teased so i turned daffodil into my alter ego and spoke to her with pure hatred

What is your go-to way to fall asleep?

most of the time i scroll and scroll and scroll until im about to pass out from exhaustion, but when im NOT doing that, either put on music or a sleep aid audio n stare at my ceiling til i fall asleep.

If you had to change your name, what would it be, and why? (In tandem, if you have changed your name, why did you pick that one?)

im trans and have been out to my friends for around 3-4 years now, and i changed my name to my current one due to dissatisfaction with my previous name choice and my fixation on the character i named myself after.

What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why?

ashers 2021 hbs. its so sweet and silly and full of love <3 i love asher and i love fluff :3

What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? Like, not the one you hate but the one who you don’t get the hype for. (I won’t judge, I promise.)

guy. hes alright but i just dont see the appeal character-wise. hes kind of just erik’s self-insert or low-effort character which is great for him but not that interesting for me.

Tell me about that one book/movie/tv show you know all the words to.

book + movie: the perks of being a wallflower, and tv show: brooklyn 99. i was DEEPLY into tpobaw a few months ago and finished the book (with annotations) in 4 days. charlie kelmeckis is me!! as for b99, its my comfort show and i’ve rewatched it at least 6 times in full.

Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? Like- forget dating, which dude do you want to be your best friend?

caelum :3 i need to hug him asap!! need to bake with him!!

Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? (For example, my boyfriend knows I’m ready to sleep when I start talking about space.)

no specific topic, but ill start talking about how much i love something or someone. tired me is very loving. according to my best friend i talk a lot about my boyfriend when im sleepy.

Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo.

diet coke and ice cream ^_^ 

Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment. 

there are a few, but my top three are a playlist containing every alex g song i like, a playlist full of love songs of all different genres and artists, and a playlist i made in 2022 when i was into more obscure rock ^_^. but mostly i listen to adrianne lenker or kendrick lamar on shuffle.

What’s your guilty pleasure media, and why?

video essays talking about drake vs kendrick. i swear ive watched over a hundred videos related to that drama, mostly cause i love kendrick so much and have been a drake hater since 2015. 

And whatever else you think tells me about who you are!

im a big lover of the arts!! both visual (i draw both traditionally and digitally, and have tried painting) and musical (big music fan + very amateur singer and guitarist). i really like movies, but i like movie analysis youtube videos more! in that same vein, i love horror media but am too scared most of the time to actually consume it, so i watch a lot of horror explanation or analysis videos.

im an extremely awkward person to talk to, like severely. also i like minecraft a lot, avid hermitcraft watcher.

Type Fours are so lovely, so internally complex and magnificent and creative despite and perhaps in conjunction with their introversion. I think a fellow introvert would especially appreciate that about you- Anton, specifically.

Another reason I like y’all together is this enneagram type (and MBTI) tends to be very feelings based, very pathos motivated, and that would contrast from Anton whose life and job are so technical, so logos-y. You bring so much light and verve into his life; whenever he sees art, he thinks of you and how it would make you feel. You make him think more about how he feels, you know? The art you create and the way you experience art, the way you enjoy things, makes him marvel.

And you do love to enjoy things with him, to show new things and movies and shows, because his marvel in turn makes things even more fun for you! Anton strikes me as the type of guy who knows nothing about pop culture if left alone, so you get to show him everything. He likes Brooklyn Nine Nine a lot more than he thought. (Terry is his favorite; he also likes yogurt and wants to be a girl dad.) He doesn’t give a single shit about the Kendrick/Drake beef but you’re so animated when you talk about it, he listens raptly. He doesn’t really enjoy horror, but it doesn’t scare him either so he’s a comforting presence whenever you decide to try watching some.

Song:

A volcano erupted/ And the stars fell one by one/ And finally I'm done right/ And it's a kite trapped in my mind/ But I don't mind/ I think of your hands on my body/ And they feel nice/ Just one more night

(Thank you again, Spotify Artist Radios, because I don’t listen to a lot of folk! This is a new song for me!) I chose this one for you and Anton because of the phrase “velvet kind of mood”, because it makes me think of how Anton’s love would tactile-y feel- warm, plush, heavy like a weighted blanket and just as comforting. The lyric “just one more night” also made me think of Anton holding onto you the night before he leaves, so I could not resist.

Runner-ups:

Geordi is the first runner-up that came to mind because he strikes me as the most… artistically inept of the redacted bois if you will- thus, he would feel the most awe and reverence and your prowess. Plus, I like to headcanon him as trans, and we love a t4t couple. Asher is my favorite runner up for you though, but I can’t quite word why. I think it’s something about his extrovert energy against yours.

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[bigassbowlingballhead]

okay, i'm a little nervous.

With all the fics I've been reading lately, my own ideas have started forming in my head. It started as an innocent conversation with @eusuntgratie about Orville Peck and TZP. Next thing I knew, I had written over 2k words about Alex getting the golden bronco costume as a surprise for Henry who had recently become obsessed with the masked troubadour.

Thought I'd share a bit, just to put it out there. It's the first time I've written anymore than a tumblr post in over a decade.

That’s when he sees it, new on display a shiny gold mask with two angular eye cutouts, stars delicately stitched on to the sides. There are long golden corded tassels that drape down to cover the mouth, chin, neck, and part way down the chest. It’s beautiful. Alex paused. That’s when the idea struck. Alex’s ideas tend to be really really good or get him into trouble. This was one of those he hoped would be both. Alex liked both. He picks up the mask, grabs some of their favorite lube they’re running low on and some rope for good measure, this might come in handy, he thinks. He brings his hauls to the sales associate, pays and leaves.  When he gets back to the car he takes the mask out of the bag and looks at it. It really is a work of art. But it’s not enough. He has to do more, he wants to really blow Henry out of the water. He’s been so stressed writing and really just wants him to relax, and he thinks he knows just the thing.  He’s seen the look in Henry’s eye whenever he puts the album on. The lingering glances from the album cover to Alex. He can’t really blame Henry, Orville Peck is hot, like really fucking hot. Especially on the album cover, he’s studied the cover multiple times, he’s practically committed it to memory. A slender man stands in front of a black bronco on it’s hind-legs in a black cowboy hat, a golden vest exposes the man’s tattooed and toned chest and shoulders and biceps, gold pants that hug the man’s crotch leaving very little to the imagination, his large hands hang next to his hips like they’re resting on imaginary holsters, a single finger raised as if ready to pull the trigger, a large golden belt buckle emblazoned with a star connects where there’s clearly a gap of skin between the vest and pants, black boots complete the look. He wonders if it’s the man or the mask that intrigues Henry. Alex pictures himself standing in front of that bronco, shit, he would look hot.

[sigynpenniman]

I wanna say "does the MCR fandom know about the 9/11 vaporwave album" because it seems like something that would be of interest but I'm not exactly sure how to explain "the 9/11 vaporwave album"

so for the unfamiliar vaporwave is an internet specific musical genre which uses 80s and 90s music samples, spoken word, distortion and production to replicate a dreamlike sound and specifically to comment on nostalgia, consumerism, and romanticization of the past. Vaporwave is called "music for dead malls" because that's essentially what it sounds like; vaporwave is literally meant to sound like what you remember hearing in malls. It's hard to clearly determine if vaporwave is critiquing nostalgia and consumerism or celebrating it; most vaporwave albums seem to simultaneously be making a statement about the god of empty consumerism while gleefully participating in the worship. Vaporwave is about deliberately invoking romantic nostalgia for the 80s and 90s in a way that makes you feel somewhat sad and unsettled.

Almost all vaporwave can be said to be silently dancing around 9/11 in a lot of ways due to that event's place as a delineative marker (whether real or perceived) between the "past" and "modern" eras, a losing of innocence and fracturing of peace. Whether is is justified and accurate or not is somewhat irrelevant because this is how we perceive it looking into the past, and Vaporwave is about what we feel and remember and the emotions that memory invokes, not necessarily about the reality. 9/11 is very much an elephant in the room in the broad "universe" of vaporwave.

Cat System Corp (猫 シ Corp) is a Dutch vaporwave producer who pioneered a lot of popular vaporwave and mallsoft sounds, but his most incredible piece is News at 11. News at 11 combines actual samples of news pieces from before the first plane hit on the morning of September 11th combined with highly produced samples of 80s and 90s music, elevator tunes and standard vaporwave fare. The explicitly described concept of News at 11 is to portray an alternate reality where 9/11 never occurred, but due to the abstract and conceptual nature of vaporwave that’s not immediately discernible from simply listening to the album itself. Instead, it seems to be simply a distant observation of 9/11 as an event. The first half of the album ends with the news segment that played immediately before the announcement of 9/11, but instead of allowing the news presenter to finish his sentence, cuts to a half an hour of weather channel samples. With the genre of vaporwave so inherently bound to 9/11 as an event and a cultural turning point, News at 11 might be the genre’s magnum opus, turning a direct and microscopic eye on the last few seconds of the possibly imaginary past the genre seeks to simultaneously worship and critique, saying: Whether this world we emulate was real or not, these were its dying breaths. News at 11 stretches a pivotal instant in our nostalgic perspective into an hour and 15 minute album, never allowing itself to truly face the event, instead suspending reality on its cusp. We will stay here, frozen forever.

The original audio of News at 11 is available here:

and the “Liberty Edition,” a visualization of the album featuring news clips, commercials, movie clips, and other visual media, can be found here:

This is truly one of the greatest bits of reflective art about nostalgia and America ever made. Go here with me.