#is 100 tracks very out of hand and very mixed vibes

[jade-of-mourning]

okay sorry hi I know I just sent you an ask about my cat being alive but you’re like,, my favorite internet stranger so I thought you should know. I calmed down a little bit and read your response to my fourteen page ask

IM SO HAPPY I HYPE YOU UP‼️‼️ I love being peoples’ hypeman and you’re like,,, awesome so that’s super cool. don’t rush yourself but if you’re feeling pumped to share I will be your #1 fan. I’m probably gonna finish a little 4+1 thing and post it to my blog as a little grand reveal as snailon if that’s cool :3

ALSO I’m so happy you posted the cat thing on ao3 it was really nice and super well written and thank you for the suggestion! the cat is being washed thoroughly right now and I am on guard duty of the bathroom door. he was (we guess) stuck in the sewage of the construction sight beyond the wooded area behind our house.

SO MORE LOK THOUGHTS

you exactly caught my vibe (again) when you mentioned the insane repression mako and bolin are doing in canon. I honestly think there’s nothing more than elevator music behind bo’s eyes in canon because if the creators allowed anything else it would solely be The Horrors and they needed someone on that godforsaken team to be emotionally available and somewhat happy. and try as he might, mako will always be uncontrollably feral. I know by b4 he just has an all out brawl every morning fighting to get his hair presentable. give up and be the scraggly, strange detective that somehow knows everything that you were always meant to be.

which, for the record, is not to say I like his hair. I want him to grow it out more so he stops looking so fucking dumb with his stupid pointy ass hair (I really really really hate mako’s hair) but I also think it would grow out kind of wavy/curly which. yeah. I will be coming back to this later when I yap about avatar mako btw.

also PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEE write mako absolutely losing his shit he 100% so much deserves that. he cries maybe once yearly and it is scheduled so I think he should get to murder y’know. just a little bit. he’s just a girl (insert sad coquette hamster)

makos hand being fucked up is the Vision. you understand so much. the gloves are so suspicious (the same way the shirt-on-at-the-sauna is in the comics. i see you, you little transmasc) and going off the logic of the last ep that with enough charge/consistency, lightning output can scar/mangle the exit point of the bender so. mako learning to use his bending mostly on his own fucking up and rocking his own shit until zolt shoves someone over to go clean up the rookie cause finding someone new is a pain. of course it’s a patch job (as you mentioned everything for them would be) so I imagine it’s like. pretty mangled. like stuff just slightly out of place, lots of raised skin and discolored patches and generally like uncomfortable to look at. I’d bet (like you said) bolin is really the only one he’d trust to see his hands unless makorrasami became like. a thing.

also if you have any,, fic recs,, I would be very not opposed,,,,,

OKAY OKAY SO AVATAR MAKO THOUGHTS. I’m actually going insane about this au.

so for 1: this idea was mostly a silly little ha-ha but imagine raava gets really fucking confused being in their first ever mixed kid and just. skips right back to air after mako. would that not be the funniest shit ever. like the earth kingdom would already be pressed that their go was a mixed kid who was a criminal firebender for the first bit of his life, but imagine how the FIRE NATION feels having their avatar “skipped over” because mako (again, CRIMINAL FIREBENDER) was technically a fn avatar.

and this keeps happening. more mixed kids. mixed kids out of the cycle ordered pairs become avatar. raava gets fucking lost. everyone loses track of whose element is next and world leaders everywhere are sobbing. mako would be so very pleased with himself. he and the half-avatar water tribe person would be clinking together glasses of alcohol in heaving and watching it all go down.

I was also thinking about this half-avatar playing a role in mako’s journey. They would be roughly fifteen years younger than the gaang, so it would make sense for them to still be alive (since raava could return to aang and still maintain them well enough) during mako’s era. do you think they could take on a mentor or distant relative role for mako? maybe being half-avatar would make them the world’s only dual bender, and they would understand mako’s struggle with wielding more than one element in a way no one else would be able to. bonus points if the styles they maintain are either earth and fire or the ‘opposite’ elements (like air+earth/water+fire—water+fire would be good to use to teach balance and that fire is not only to harm but to nurture, and that water parallels it as not only to nurture but to harm)

and that brings me to my third thought; both avatars followed in series have had a conflict or struggle with their bending. aang had to learn the other three types of bending—his conflict was finding teachers. korra needed to find it in herself to flow with the winds of airbending. but copying korra would be lame. so what’s mako’s conflict?

there’s where my pitch comes in (and kind of the point of the half-avatar); mako figured out how to use air, earth, and water as well as he uses fire (if with less refinement) within maybe a week (if that) of being discovered as the avatar. he’s a scraggly street kid used to clawing at what he can get and holding on tight: being discovered means he doesn’t have a particular reason not to make use of the other elements if need be, so he figures out how.

but the key words there are if need be. he absolutely can lift a chunk of earth five times his size, or entirely soak a full grown adult in pond water, or slap someone around with a strong gust of wind or power a building for a month with a bolt of lightning. will he be doing any of this? no. not unless his or bolin’s lives or livelihoods are threatened. mako’s struggle is that outside of life-or-death combat? he’s about the same as a nonbender. because bending has always been a risk—a life threatening and life ending risk—and one he isn’t willing to take unnecessarily. his journey is learning that bending can be used for more than harm or to enforce fearful order.

fourth and kind of final thought for avatar mako for now—he’s the earth avatar in this, but he looks very fire nation in canon (at least, my understanding of ‘fire nation’ v ‘earth kingdom’ features) so I was thinking, the avatar represents the four nations (kind of five now if we’re counting republic separately) (oh my god new thought what if there was an rc avatar ‘whose avatar is it’ ‘air by my guess’ ‘nah it’s republic city’s turn now’ ‘how does that even make sense? their blood is of the four nations.’ ‘I don’t make the rules man. ask the spirits, they’re right there.’) but they always look like the nation they’re from so. what if all the avatars look a little mixed but just lean heavy into native. so mako looks like a mixed kid already (though I’d make him more ek—will specify in a sec) but then just gets more mixed from. everywhere. but it’s not even generalized like,,, he looks like he’s from specific subcultures the last avatars came from. earth part looks kyoshi even though his dad wasn’t from the island. fn part looks like caldera city even though mom wasn’t. air—less noticeable, but he looks like aang, in a way. very temple-kid-y and less nomad-y. if that makes sense. and I’d say water part is kuruk but there’s also the ‘avatars look like their past life’s lover’ so. katara (ADDING TO THE PARALLELS IM GOING INSANE)

so this is the part where I elaborate on the ‘more earth kingdom’ part of mako’s design in my head. this also is part of the avatar-looking-like-lover thing. so ek complexions are pretty ranged, but a good deal of them are darker skinned. mako’s pretty fair, but I propose as a kid whose dad is white-brown (he’s an Italian farmer boy who tans heavy and he looks brown) and is also white-brown when I spend too long outside (ten minutes) in the summer; mako who tans so quick into a more typical dark ek tone. also bolin is darker because he deserves melanin. he gets to keep gold eyes cause they’re cool but I propose.. heterochromia!!! green/gold, could be some grayish/blue? js an absolute melting pot in there. then I associate ek with less pronounced but boxier facial structure, so either his face stays like,,, long, and is softer or stays sharp and is boxier like bolin’s. honestly prefer the first one but both are neat. also hooked nose. I don’t make the rules. katara also has a hooked nose btw it’s real I saw it.

also mako and katara have the same glare (sokka told me) and they scrunch their faces up like little carbon copies of each other when they’re focused. by the way I love to parallel the shit out of katara and mako can you tell,,

I just realized I wrote a longpost length ask. I’m so sorry.

I think I had something else to say but it’s getting late and it’s a school night 4 me so I’ve gotta get to sleep.

rest well! your favorite anon,

🐌

ah hello sorry for the extremely late response snailon!

I honestly think there’s nothing more than elevator music behind bo’s eyes in canon because if the creators allowed anything else it would solely be The Horrors

tbh you're so correct about this. let bolin have Feelings, 2024!!! (i find it so interesting that the general consensus is that bolin is more well-liked by the lok fanbase, but mako's fans are deep in the trenches whereas it's a lot harder to find active bolin fans. i stay forever respectful of the even fewer of them out there. not entirely sure how to articulate it, but yeah. bolin deserves better both from canon and the fanbase and one day i'll have to deconstruct his entire existence because he's just a fascinating creature who represents sort of a paper cutout of a stereotype

which, for the record, is not to say I like [mako's] hair. I want him to grow it out more so he stops looking so fucking dumb with his stupid pointy ass hair (I really really really hate mako’s hair)

HAHA that's valid. tbh i'm pretty neutral towards it; i like s1-s3 hair better than s4 hair because while i think that mako's poor attempt to comb himself into some semblance of Proper Society is pretty accurate to his character, i'm just not a big fan of it (though the fact that it looks bad is probably a further testament to his character never finding proper integration into society)

he’s just a girl (insert sad coquette hamster)

again. coughing at the essay i'll never finish writing on this. (okay off topic but i really really love transfem mako so much but also just fem mako in general and i need to put this out into the world. early lok fandom was on a seriously good kick when they were all drawing and writing lesbian makorra is my confession. mako being a girl makes my brain whirr)

also if you have any,, fic recs,, I would be very not opposed,,,,,

fic recs list i've written up but there's a lot of other good ones out there. immediately off the top of my head, people whose writing on mako i really like in general include slacktension (incredible author & artist from original airing with a mako voice of all time and great character dynamic exploration), rockingthegraveyard (best mako & bolin dynamics), wastetimeandtype (i especially like their casual ship fics and they made me an accidental fan of huan/mako), deerstalkerdeathfrisbee (wuko author but their mako voice is impeccable), bobtailsquid/steinbecks (another author from original airing whose writing style is just so poignant and accurate to character), themanofmanyhats, and velkynkarma. idk how you feel on makorra specifically but i confess, i accidentally really do like them and there's a lot of good stuff on ao3/ffn for them that i could share :P and i too am a fan of makorrasami but tragically, there's not a lot of that out there; however, all of old_and_new_friends' makorrasami works are fantastic. they're a multishipper who writes a lot of mako and very well, and while while i haven't read a lot of their fics because not all the ships speak to me, the ones i have read are all great. so yeah i'd suggest you take a look to see if there's anything there up your alley!

raava gets really fucking confused being in their first ever mixed kid and just. skips right back to air after mako. would that not be the funniest shit ever. like the earth kingdom would already be pressed that their go was a mixed kid who was a criminal firebender for the first bit of his life, but imagine how the FIRE NATION feels having their avatar “skipped over” because mako (again, CRIMINAL FIREBENDER) was technically a fn avatar.

okay this is actually so funny what LMFAO i didn't take into consideration that the avatar of the generation being from your nation is probably generally a point of pride and that mako's general existence is like,, the greatest possible insult to that in all the ways khsjdfbhfhsdbh i might have to casually include that in some outsider pov because the sheer comedy potential oh my god

do you think they could take on a mentor or distant relative role for mako?

i realize i probably didn't word it very explicitly in my initial explanation of this au, but what i actually meant was that raava couldn't leave the non-aang host entirely until their death because her presence was vital to their living. it's casually playing off the theory that yue was meant to be the water avatar, and so she was born sickly because of the absence of spiritual energy her destiny had intended for her — that raava's presence plays a role in the sustaining of her host's life. to sum up what i mean: raava is the vital life juice infused in the destined avatars. (roughly. it's been a while since i looked at this theory lol) therefore, while they continue to live independently of aang's actual death, raava can't move onto the next avatar until this not-avatar also dies. so they are very much dead as mako's immediate predecessor. but it's a great idea and i love that your brain thinks this way!

mako’s struggle is that outside of life-or-death combat? he’s about the same as a nonbender. because bending has always been a risk—a life threatening and life ending risk—and one he isn’t willing to take unnecessarily. his journey is learning that bending can be used for more than harm or to enforce fearful order.

oh interesting take. i can see that. in planning this au, i was thinking more among the lines of him only viewing bending other than fire to be a risk, and that he only ever figured out earthbending up until the point of where the story starts, but yeah i didn't really consider which element would be his block. he's honestly a pretty versatile guy in my opinion — i feel that he moves in a very airbender way (read: korra's spiral-motions in a leaf in the wind are meant to demonstrate her picking up mako's style of deflection, evasion, and waiting to strike), but his mannerisms are very earthbender in his stability in reality/rooted nature despite his lack of general stability in life. obviously he's got the firebender in him; i think he has a lot of pent up emotions and he generally represses them very well, but when it does get unleashed then he has a very typical-firebender explosive sort of manner. (i'm still adamantly against the take that he's a hotheaded no-thoughts raging firebender man though LMAO i don't understand how it's such a thing. sorry for the tangent. i'm resigned.) and for water, i feel it's adjacent to air in being less about head-on motions, and it's pretty reflective of mako's tendancies of roundabout-ness when it comes to matters of the heart. i don't really know how to articuate it but he has the most waterbender vibe. it's the katara so what i'm saying is that i don't really see him struggling with any of the elements in the way aang struggled with earth and korra with air, and you pose an interesting point. i'm not sure if your proposal would be in line with my current planning of this au, but it's still a really interesting idea that i'll mull over! it's a neat segway into the whole amon/equalists arc that i'd never cover but would still be set in the near future and i like the concept. thank you for sharing :)

but he looks very fire nation in canon

oh yeah i agree LOL i've seen edits of switching mako & bolin's eye colors (+ that iconic screencap from s1e2) and as much as it doesn't suit him i still stand by that he SHOULD'VE had green eyes and bolin gold. it's a small detail i've seen randomly included in a couple fics from way back when and it always makes my heart happy haha. i agree that lok dropped the ball in terms of portraying all the mixed families that exist in the series and that there was so much potential there, both with mako & bolin as main cast characters and background in the kataang kids (plus by proxy the airkids) — not just in the crossover of cultures, but just physical character design as well.

(also katara & mako parallels actually drive me crazy too lhfdhgksfjd)

(gonna be real dude by the time we finish feeding off of each other we're going to have oc-ified mako so much that he's not even from the legend of korra anymore)

i really love receiving your asks!! <33 but yeah this was a long one so it took a while to find the time to sit down & deconstruct into halfway cohesive responses. i'd love to chat about mako with u more in greater detail but it's a little bit tough with these longass askbox exchanges </3 i'll just put it out there — if you're comfortable, feel free to reach out to me from your main and we can talk through dms! and if not i'll always be happy to receive you in my inbox; just know that my responses will tend to be delayed because i have a lot going on in my life haha. it's lovely to hear from you again :)

[aturnipsingularity]

Turnip, what's YOUR album of the year if you had to pick one? Pitch it to me, infect me with ur music taste

Okay, so I can't pick just one, so I'll throw a handful of my faves that I discovered this year into the ring. The most recent would be Eternal Blue by Spiritbox. Underrated alt/prog metal band, and I haven't heard a whole lot of others talking about them. I really like the way the first couple of tracks blend together, and the lead vocalist has an amazing voice. She has this really melodic singing that meshes well with her death growl. I also really like that there's a good mix of slower songs with the harder music. There's a lot of good variety, and the pacing is really nice.

Favorite song: Silk In The Strings

I also finally listened to The Death of Peace of Mind by Bad Omens this year. I had heard a couple of their singles before, but I hadn't checked out the full work until recently. I was really glad I did, because it's amazing. Lots of bangers in there, 10/10 would recommend. I really enjoy metal/post-hardcore in general, but the synths and electronics give the music a really nice boost to the energy (see one of my fave albums of all time -- Trauma by I Prevail). It makes it really punchy, and I love that!

Favorite song: ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE or bad decisions

I also want to recommend Take Me Back to Eden by Sleep Token, because I was very hyped for it to come out this year. However, I was let down a little bit and do have a few reservations about the album in general. I think it's great. The vibe of it is really ethereal, and I appreciate the fluidity of the songs in terms of tone and sound. But, it suffers from a lack of variety in tempo. A lot of the songs are slower, and the sequencing itself doesn't lend any room for picking up the energy it loses after the first 5 songs. I also hate the songs Are You Really Okay? and DYWTYLM. They don't feel like they belong. At all. They feel like filler/billboard top 100 and less of this otherworldy, almost ghostly sound they're trying to go for. It also took me a few listens to come around to Ascensionism and The Apparition, but I do really appreciate those songs, and I really quite like them now. It's a really good album that took a few misteps. The Summoning is so good, though. There's a reason it's their most popular song. If you're going to listen to it, I would recommend listening in the following order, because it's the best one I've found for right now. Although it's also not perfect by far, and you can hear the tonal shift after the first three songs, I think it feels a bit more balanced. I can't say I'm quite satisfied with it, but it's still a lot better imo

Drop Are You Really Okay? and DYWTYLM. Don't put them in the playlist.

1. Chokehold

2. Vore

3. The Summoning

4. Aqua Regia

5. Ascensionism

6. The Apparition

7. Granite

8. Rain

9. Euclid

10. Take Me Back to Eden

Favorite song: Euclid or Chokehold

And a small honorable mention to these albums that I finally got to listen to, but don't have enough thoughts on (yet) to rant about:

So Much (For) Stardust by Fall Out Boy

Rain City Drive by Rain City Drive

The Click (Deluxe Edition) by AJR (don't judge me I really like them)

Opal (original soundtrack) by Jack Stauber

Frontiers by Journey

Empire by Queensrÿche

4 by Foreigner

I really should have listened to the older albums sooner, but I just never got around to it -- even though I know multiple songs from each one.

I'll eventually talk about all of the other entries on this list, as well as my all-time favorites (not listed) and the other couple of recents I have yet to finish. Mostly just because I like talking about music lmao but today is not that day. Also you have to tell me about your music taste now!

[airadam]

Episode 181 : Still Rollin'.

"Come on and give me my props..."

- Diamond

Fifteen years! We started this ride in June 2009 and here we still are all these years later. Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you'll stay with me for as long as I'm able to keep putting these shows together. The point of this podcast has never been to prioritise new releases, or to only ever look to the past, but a blend of the two. With that in mind, this month's mix certainly has some old personal favourites, a sprinkling of new music, and some obscurities and rarities! Listen, enjoy, and please do spread the word as widely as you can - as I always say, I have a lot of things, but no advertising budget 😆

I was racking my brain trying to come up with cover art that would reference the theme of fifteen...then realised that the infamous "4, 5, 6" combination sums up to that very number!

Mastodon : @airadam@mastodon.me.uk

Twitch : @airadam13

Events : events.airadam.com

Playlist/Notes

The Thryday : Fantastic

The album this was ultimately released on is only available for silly money on the second-hand market, but at least I had this from an old mixtape ("WJLR Radio, Volume 1") to share with you! The Dutch master Nicolay is on production for this North Carolina group who were part of the Justus League family and appreciated by those in the know. This same beat, with the same name, is also on Nicolay's "City Lights" and the "City Lights 1.5" version, but with the rhymes that elevate it so...much harder to get!

[J Dilla] Jaylib : The Red (Instrumental)

You already know! One of the best-loved instrumentals from Dilla's post-Slum career - certainly if the reaction when I drop it in a set is anything to go by - and one that will move your speakers for sure. The original is from the famed "Champion Sound" collaboration between Dilla and Madlib, where each rhymes over the other's production, and now the full set of instrumentals is available, making the deluxe release a 100% must-own.

Jigmastas ft. Mos Def, Mr. Complex, Pharoahe Monch, Shabaam Sahdeeq, and Talib Kweli : Lyrical Fluctuation Remix

This is a true all-star MC roster from the late 90s-early 00s independent scene, with DJ Spinna of Jigmastas on remix duties, bringing a different vibe to Joc Max's original, based on crazy short chops of a classic soul sample and having them cheerfully bounce along. I only got this 2000 release in the last few weeks, but have already played it on Twitch, digitised it, and am now sharing its eternally-fresh energy here!

Ghostface ft. Wigz : Outta The Way

"...in the gym throwing the dumbbells all out of order" - disgraceful conduct... Another usage of the same sample from the "Lyrical Fluctuation" remix, this Anthony Acid beat is more straightforward, with Ghostface and Wigz busting through with the energy of two guys rushing a bank! This was one of the standouts on the 2005 Ghostface and Trife "Put It On The Line" LP, though not released as a single despite the potential.

Mobb Deep : Feel My Gat Blow

The soundtrack to the Saul Williams-starring "Slam" was very much a mixed bag in the vein of many 90s-00s soundtracks, but certainly had a few standouts and otherwise-unreleased cuts from some greats, of which this is one. Havoc's beat sounds like a mix between a medieval court and 90s NYC, and the lyrical content is trademark Mobb.

Redman : Winicumuhround

As much as I love Redman's "Dare Iz A Darkside" album (which, notably, he doesn't - reminds him of a bad time), I had all but forgotten about this track until I pulled the vinyl out for a front-to-back listen recently. Erick Sermon and Redman combine on production to have this one thump along with a killer bassline-lead track, and Red is in fine form on the mic. With the voice of the late Hurricane G appearing as part of the densely-packed hook, this is a Def Squad heater for sure.

Pete Rock : Death Becomes You

Definitely one of my favourite Pete Rock beats of all time, but we had to wait a long time to get an instrumental! The original track was on the soundtrack for the 1993 classic "Menace II Society", but it wasn't until the 2019 release of Pete Rock's "Return Of The SP1200" album that we got this version. Absolutely flawless in the sense that there's not a single thing, as a listener or a DJ, that I would have wanted him to change. 

Roots Manuva ft. Big P, Blackitude, Fallacy, Rodney P, Skeme : Witness The Swords

I'd be willing to bet that while most listeners, especially in the UK, will be very familiar with the classic Roots Manuva single "Witness (1 Hope)", most won't know this! It's a blend of the lyrics from "Swords In The Dirt" from Roots' second LP "Run Come Save Me" and the "Witness" beat, from the same album. As far as I know, the only place to find this one is the 2002 "Extra Yard (The Bouncement Revolution)" compilation on Big Dada Records, which is worth picking up for some quality UK cuts.

Big Boi ft. Cutty : Shutterbugg

As a photographer, I really should dig this one out more! Big Boi co-produces with Scott Storch on this single from his solo debut "Sir Lucious Left Foot : The Son Of Chico Dusty", which was actually a much bigger hit in the UK than in the US, where it somehow didn't even break the top 50 in the R&B charts. It's a hectic-sounding track which unexpectedly takes a sudden quiet break in the second verse - and it's at that point that we move along...

Stro Elliot : Soul II Stro

...and so we move with a quick transition into another track that not just references but heavily samples the classic "Back To Life" by the UKs own Soul II Soul, a Stro Elliot workout that's just undeniable in its groove. The samples of Caron Wheeler's vocals haunt at times before coming firmly into the foreground, while the drums and bass thump along with an accompanying keyboard line. That Stro Elliot sampled that 1989 classic on his self-titled LP twenty-seven years later is a testament to the power of the original.

Kokane ft. Lil Half Dead : Ghetto Music

When I saw the garage-filmed (high-quality though!) video for this, I kept waiting for the rapping to start - but nope, this is just a funk product from start to finish which, as the track says, will make you want to move! Despite "Da White Album" only being released in 2022, it was apparently recorded back in the early 00s while Kokane was working on Dr. Dre's "2001" LP but shelved for over twenty years. It manages to sound vintage P-funk, 90s G-Funk, and modern all at the same time. Kokane is a real "if you know, you know" artist who has been putting in work for many years, has collaborated with almost everyone you can name, and keeps on bringing the heat!

[Erick Sermon] Tha Truth : Red Lights (U Gotz 2 Chill '96) (instrumental)

If you know me, you know I love Zapp and Roger Troutman, which means that EPMD's classic "You Gots To Chill" single is a firm favourite. On this R&B single from Tha Truth, who only released one album back in 1997, they came out of the gate strong with Erick Sermon on production, reprising his sampling of "More Bounce To The Ounce" and even throwing in the "chill" sample from his original beat. Shout out to DJ Melo D of Beat Junkies, who was the only person I've heard playing this and the one who told me (on Twitch) what it was!

Diamond D, Sadat X, and Lord Finesse : You Can't Front

A great album cut, loved by those in the know, taken from the early 90s classic "Stunts, Blunts, and Hip-Hop". Buckwild and Diamond's production is both clean and still vintage SP-era magic, with Diamond also grabbing the mic to spit a verse between two other greats. Sadat X was the perfect choice to go first, with his unique tone drawing you in immediately, and Lord Finesse brings it home strong.

Common : Dreamin'

For those that have missed the early chatter, here's a sample of the upcoming Common and Pete Rock LP, which promises to channel the specific forms of energy that each artist brought to their 90s work. If this beautifully-produced tale of a dream of a walk with Black greats both living and transitioned is anything to go by, we're in for a treat!

The Kid Daytona : Fly Lullaby

A deep cut from the 9th Wonder production discography, working with a loop that Pete Rock teased us with between tracks on "The Main Ingredient". The Kid Daytona is definitely a grown man now, but this was an early release from the Bronx native on his "The Interlude" mixtape from 2010 - where every track sampled some kind of intro or interlude from another Hip-Hop track. This is exactly the kind of overlooked track I like to throw in for anyone who might have missed it!

Dogg Pound ft. Snoop Dogg, RBX, and The Lady Of Rage : Who Da Hardest?

A grand reunion - would have left it to the last song as it is on the new Dogg Pound "W.A.W.G" album, but it fit so well here sonically that I changed my mind! For a coming together of West Coast legends, the biggest surprise is them bringing DJ Premier in on production, and maybe the most welcome is the featuring of The Lady of Rage, who has been a universally-loved MC since her star turn on "Afro Puffs". It's pretty long, but there's no instrumental outro and I didn't want you to miss out any of the MCs, so you get the whole thing here!

Terrace Martin & James Fauntleroy : Butterfly Effect

"Gotta stop taking life advice from songs" - I'd say that was good advice, but then that's also what you might call a circular problem! We go fully chill at the end of this section, with the undeniable and unmistakable voice and vocal production of James Fauntleroy alongside modern jazz legend Terrace Martin with a track from their joint "Nova" EP.

Marco Polo : Yung Feathers

The man from Toronto with a trademark bit of modern boom-bap on this final instrumental, a track from his "MP on the MP : The Beat Tape Vol.1" release, a great pickup for anyone who appreciates good Hip-Hop production.

M-Beat ft. Nazlyn : Sweet Love

A big switch-up to end the episode, with a vintage UK track - a jungle remake of Anita Baker's 1986 classic "Sweet Love" with Nazlyn on vocals. Even as someone who didn't like jungle when it first emerged, I couldn't deny this one, an absolute classic reworking. I understand it actually sold well - hitting a high of no.18 in the charts back in 1994 - which goes to show that just sometimes, the public at large catches on to some real quality.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

listened to white light/white heat by the velvet underground for the first time. been a while since i listened to a record that actively wants to kill me

i can't decide if this album's aged brilliantly or terribly. obviously it's legendarily unlistenable and abrasive, and when it was released there was pretty much nothing that sounded anything like it. but the velvets are mega famous now, and whole genres have been invented based off their vibe. so, this album isn't anywhere near as shocking and difficult as it was back in the day, because so many artists since have copied it or deliberately exceeded it, and i can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing

because, being realistic, there's very little in the way of actual songs here. the title track is a blatant rewrite of i'm waiting for the man (although i think i actually like the rewrite more purely because it's a little more complex, i.e. it has more than two chords), here she comes now is a pleasant (if horny) breather. the rest is... otherwise, and i can't help but wonder if divorcing it of all that shock factor mutes some of its power

it certainly doesn't mute all of it, though. side 2 is where it gets real interesting, with i heard her call my name basically just being a vehicle for some wild, feedbacky guitar soloing, and i don't mind that one bit (it's a mystery to me why lou reed plays so little guitar on his records, he's really rather good at it), and sister ray...

i mean, if you're reading this i'm going to assume you're at least vaguely familiar with the band (if not, i'm amazed you got this far but hi!), but depending on your tastes a seventeen minute one chord jam with no production to speak of, featuring someone yelling semi-improvised (at least it feels like it to me, there's no way he wrote that fuckin ding-dong line so many times) poetry about an orgy and two guys just wailing madly at their instruments, for (cannot stress this enough) seventeen minutes might well be your nightmare, or your idea of heaven. as usual, i'm in between, but i did very much like it; i was flagging around nine minutes on but it gets real ferocious from that point on, and i kind of really dig the vibe. it feels like the musical equivalent of a drugged up, chaotic party careening out of control, particularly when reed begins shaking up his delivery, stuttering, slowing down, speeding up, and his and cale's soloing, as well as the ever-increasing tempo, paints the same picture

there's two other pieces, one of which is blackly hilarious and one terrifying. i couldn't tell you a thing about the music of the gift, given it's slammed right into one channel and behind the spoken monologue, but the monologue makes up for it. honestly i think most of that comes down to cale's dry delivery (with a very lovely welsh brogue, i might add), with one bit in particular not, uh, ageing too well, but there's a nice subtle wit to the prose as well, with a few choice double entendres (reed 100% knew what he was doing with "rough hands gripped his package," c'mon). not sure how much relisten factor there is to it though

lady godiva's operation, on the other hand, uh, fucking hell. if you've not heard it before, a) again, i'm a little confused why you're reading this far but cool and b) go listen to it now before i spoil it. anyway, i was expecting it to be a relative oasis of pleasantness, and the first half is alright, i guess. nice melody, nice singing from cale, but it's very repetitive. then reed comes in, like he's forcing cale out the way. then it just starts building, the instruments desyncing, the heart monitor sound effect, the vocals sliding up and down in the mix, and the song disintegrates around you, and it's legitimately frightening. again, it's the aural equivalent of a surgery going wrong and dissolving into chaos, only experienced through a fog of drugs and anaesthethic, and it's supremely unpleasant in a fashion that's impressive, but which i haven't decided if it's actually enjoyable or not. thank fuck for here she comes now, which is nothing special but you need to hear just to recover

this is certainly an experience, and i think it's an experience anyone interested in rock music should have. i'd put it comfortably third in their canon (behind the two self-titled-ish albums and ahead of loaded, ftr), and i'm glad i've filled in that gap in my collection

[soobberries]

also babes I’m tryna get into cix, any songs you would recommend?

Hell yeah!

Alright a small disclaimer though: In my experience, all of Cix's songs are growers. If you aren't feeling it initially, you will totally vibe after the next few listens.

Also, some of their songs are very heavy in the sense that the content can be rough, and perhaps a little angsty but I mean... Their meanings are pretty solid at least.

Let me start with their title tracks since, most of those are bangers ngl.

These aren't recommendations per se but I'll give you a sloppy description and you can probably gauge what might be worth listening to.

[the red and blue ones are the main ones that I'm technically recommending or they're my faves.]

I hope this helps? lmao-

Movie Star - It's sultry and kinda groovy; reminds me of lucid dream by aespa and some of vixx/sf9 songs. (one of my favorites for sure).

Jungle - straight banger, pretty moody though, somewhat slow bpm and is 100% a grower. the more I listened, the more things I noticed within the song that just accentuates the overall song.

Numb - the break at the chorus is pretty solid, not my first recommendation but can definitely be enjoyable if you like a mix of noisy sounds and what I'd describe as 'sleek' sounds lol.

My New World - This is their Japanese release and ... I'm starting to realize their overall sound tends to be smooth and steady... powerful sounds that make you feel like a main character that's trying to overcome some great evil. So that's the main essence of this song lmao.

Wave - pretty feel good, relaxed. Reminds me of the view by stray kids.

Off my mind - has as rich rythmic instrumental, pretty sultry/groovy sound. Nothing stand out but a solid song. The chorus has an engaging beginning.

Pinky Swear - Another Japanese release that is very wholesome and just feels like someone is telling you things will be alright.

Save me, Kill me - It makes me oddly nostalgic. It has this bittersweet sound to it. It's basically a tragic song but you can do a dramatic contemporary dance to it that would slay-

Bad Dream - I really like this one so much but again, it has that main character fighting their inner demons or something. It has the coolest break though. It's so like, 2010's club sound in a good way.

458 - banger, pretty moody as well, but gosh the chorus just GOES HARD ngl.

Tesseract - The ultimate movie song lmao. Picture someone walking in this vast desert-like terrain with a sword in hand, and then they plunge it into the ground causing shockwaves into the ground, absolutely annihilating the enemy in style. That's all I'll say.

Cinema - I really was underwhelmed with this initially but then I found myself humming the chorus. It has a light feeling to it. A simple song you can play in the background and it makes your chest less tight.

Okay, I think those are the title tracks.

Overall I'd recommend their album "'OK' Prologue : Be OK" just because it's a pretty solid glimpse into their discography OR their EP "HELLO Chapter 1: Hello, Stranger" jeez their names....

Then there are some that I find myself liking:

What you wanted - has some cool melodies. again, has a mix of sleek and noisy sounds. The chorus is sleek and the verses are what's noisy. Reminds me of Exo.

Like It That Way - Those chilled tropical vibes that were really popular a while back.

Move My Body - IT BANGS IDK WHAT ELSE TO PUT. It's the type of song that feels like a guilty pleasure. Like you play it at 3am and dance in your room but you won't outright play it for just anyone.

Black Out - Solid noisy goodness (It gives NCT 127 vibes)

Round 2 - It reminds me of Dean's music. Idk if it classifies as rnb but definitely has that laid-back vibe.

[shvkespearc]

Can we please know more about your cowboy playlist? 🤠

🤠so glad you asked anon

here's my cowboy playlist on spotify

so like ok i cant call it a country playlist cause like. theres like . cat power and fucking radiohead.

but like this is my mysterious yeehaw playlist which has edgy gay cowboy 🔫🔫🤠(heres him with his guns for his Big Pistol Duel Shoot Out) vibes BUT ALSO ARGUABLY: vampire and/or werewolf vibes. like listen. southern gothic potentials. waving a crucifix at the newcomer in town who everybody lowkey thinks is responsible for all the sudden deaths that are actually just tuberculosis . crosses myself when i see the handsome dark stranger enter the tavern...

please enjoy the yees and haws

[wutheringmights]

I just read the newest chapter and I loved it! ♥ ♥ ♥ I was wondering if you had some hcs about the engineer that you could share?

Awww I'm glad you like it! I just spent 5 minutes trying to figure out what "HCS" meant before realizing I'm a tired idiot who can't read lol

But yeah! I got some headcanons for the engineer/Spirits I can share!

These headcanons are a mix of things I generally believe for any iteration of the Hero of Spirits and a few things exclusive to CTB. It's pretty obvious which are which.

Technically this is slight spoilers since most of this is not mentioned in-story, but Warriors is a such a self-centered asshole that I'm not sure when I can get him to explicitly ask about Spirit's backstory lol

This got super long and kind of just became me talking about Spirits's entire backstory, so enjoy:

Spirits is sixteen during the course of Spirit Tracks, mostly because that was the vibe I got from him when I first played the game (I made him younger for CTB)

He's not descendant from Wind (who I maintain disappeared instead of settling in New Hyrule); instead, he's Aryll's great grandson

His family name used to be Outset, but when everyone who originally immigrated from Outset island took on that last name, they changed it to Aryll to reflect the family matriarch

So Spirit's full name is Link Aryll, though there is a branch of his family that uses Macaryll instead

The Aryll/Macaryll family is huge; everyone has at least six aunts and uncles on all sides of the family and they can trace back how they are related to Aryll

"I'm Grandma Aryl's third son's second daughter's fifth child." -someone Spirits is related to, probably

He actually never met his great grandmother; she died before he was born.

Spirit's dad was full-blooded Lokomo while his mother was Hylian; his mother passed a few months after he was born after never truly recovering from childbirth while his father died in a fishing accident when he was eight

He went to live with an aunt and uncle who owned a general store; their relationship was polite at best. The aunt and uncle told Spirits upfront that they intended to give the store over to his cousin when he was older so Spirits needed to come up with his own life plan

Spirits didn't necessarily mind since he never wanted to work in a store for the rest of his life, but the ultimatum made it clear that they didn't care for him like a son

To this day, their relationship isn't strained and he doesn't hate them. But whenever they meet, he's overly polite; they're more acquaintances than family

He's cool with his cousin though. They have different interests so they aren't best friends, but they're okay.

Spirits also always had his spirit-sensing abilities. It's really like a sixth sense to him, as normal and automatic as seeing and hearing; he actually didn't realize this wasn't normal until he was a little older

His abilities at this point are limited to sensing vague ideas of a person's spirit (if they're light or dark, etc.), and seeing ghosts (which are really rare. You have to have a lot of power yourself to become one)

(Note: I'm not the only one who headcanons Spirits as having spirit sensing abilities; if you know who can up with the idea, please let me know so that I can tag/credit them!)

The elder of his village told him that select Lokomo had minor spirit sensing abilities, and those who did were traditionally made elders of their villages; being more of a follower than a leader, Spirits adamantly dismissed that idea and refused to be trained on how to hone his spirit senses. He also never learned any of the religion behind it

Which was a little worrisome since his abilities are way stronger than most

Besides, he's always liked trains and it's been his dream to travel around the kingdom as an engineer; being some town's elder would get in the way of that

Anyway, Spirits had to pass a written exam before being accepted as an apprentice engineer, so he's very studious and has a lot of drive (pun unintended?)

He went to live with his Uncle Niko during his apprenticeship in another town; Niko isn't related to him, but he's been a friend of the family for so long that everyone secretly thinks he's actually related to someone and they just forgot who

Niko is his real family, hands down. Those two are as thick as thieves and bring out the wild side in each other

A preteen Spirits used to think Niko was a little lame and kind of embarrassing, but now that he's older, he's all for Niko's weird old man-ness and has even picked up on some of his weird old man-ness himself

That being said, they're both disasters. Neither can clean or cook or do any kind of housekeeping and their shared house is cluttered with Niko's art projects and Spirit's half-finished tinkering

Growing up, Spirits had no idea he was related to the legendary Hero of Wind; Aryll died before he was born, but even in life she was filled with too much grief over her missing brother to discuss it often. Within the family, being related to the Hero of Wind is a rumor at best.

Of course, Niko knows but keeps it a secret from Spirits; once he got back from his LU-adventure, Wind told Niko about the curse of the Hero's Spirit. Then he went missing post-New Hyrule's founding, which really drove the terror of the curse home. Niko thought he could keep Wind's family from falling victim to it by not inadvertently encouraging them to follow in Wind's footsteps

So Niko kept it a secret

And obviously, that didn't work

Spirits' quest to save New Hyrule resulted in him realizing that he needed to embrace his Lokomo heritage and get a handle on his spirit powers; Anjean gave him a little training during his quest but afterwards he traveled around the kingdom to find as many people as he could with abilities like his

They were all really excited to teach him what they knew, especially the religious aspects of the abilities; Spirits is still not the most religious person, but he at least understands and embraces the cultural significance of what he is able to do

This is where he learned how to read a person's Spirit to get an idea of their life experiences and the kind of person they're like; he can also detect where a person is without having to put much effort into it

At Zelda's encouragement, he also got more sword training from the Castle Guard. She offered him a place among them, but he turned it down in favor of remaining an engineer. He still helps around as a swordsman when he can and will act as Zelda's body guard

Speaking of which, he and Zelda are 100% in love. Their relationship started out as puppy love but over the years as matured into a deep connection built on mutual respect

When he's working on designing new engines or parts for his trains, he occasionally brings his drafting materials to the castle gardens so that he can work alongside Zelda; sometimes she falls asleep leaning against his arm and he has to be careful not to shake her awake as he works

Whenever she need to go anywhere in the kingdom, she rides in his train and teasingly criticizes his conducting; he takes a lot of pride in his conducting, but he lets her get away with it since her critiques are objectively hilarious

He keeps a tiny pictograph of her taped to his dashboard

But there's a bit of a problem with their relationship, and it's that he doesn't know if he wants to be the prince consort or not. He does love her, but that would mean giving up being an engineer in favor of being stuck at the castle all of the time

Plus, he's doing great as an engineer; he's saving up to open his own garage that produces his own train designs

Eventually, he leaves for the War of Eras

His experiences with Warriors leaves him more sure than ever that he doesn't want to be the prince consort, resulting in him ending his relationship with Zelda shortly after he returns home

It hurts for a long time to be around her since all of his old feelings keep coming back, so he keeps his distance for a long time; it takes a few years for him to go back to hanging out with Zelda as friends

But now she's approaching marriage age, and he spends a lot of time when he's on body guard duty super jealous of these princes and ambassadors from foreign kingdoms who try to court her

But again, he knows he can't be in a relationship with her so he respectfully and silently pines over her (I'm just a sucker for pining, okay?)

Okay, more random headcanons that are a little less sad

Spirits likes super spicy food, but since he can't cook to save his own life, he just eats whatever he can get his hands on

He's super dirty all of the time, just the epitome of scrappy; there's always a smear of oil somewhere on his person

He actually really hates bathing and only keeps his curly hair in check to comply with train safety regulations

He's really polite and a little shy, but once he loosens up, he gets talkative and personable

He's also very contemplative; he likes conducting so much because he gets to spend long stretches of time alone with nothing but his thoughts

His trauma/stress response is to shut down; he goes quiet, loses energy, and sleeps for longer periods of time

He tends to gravitate towards socializing with people who are older than him, which gets him labeled as being no fun by his peers (despite having someone as cooky as Niko for a uncle)

Post-adventure, his best friend is Linebeck III. They're drinking buddies. Neither can really explain why they even like hanging out as much as they do

(I just like the idea of Linebeck accidentally getting attached to one kid and his whole bloodline getting forever tangled with Wind's; they're bros for multiple lifetimes)

Not only is Spirits good at designing and building new machinery, but he's great at tinkering; he can fix almost anything and will buy broken things on purpose just to have something to fix

No one really knows he's a hero; he doesn't like the attention and, at his request, Zelda did her best to keep his involvement with Malladus a secret

Because not many common people know about his adventure and records of New Hyrule are very rare, he's considered in Warrior's time to be a forgotten hero; some scholars believe that a Hero of Spirits may have once existed, but if he did, no one really knows who he was or what he did to serve the bloodline of Hylia

[lucky-katebishop]

What I Read in August 2021

I... my first draft got deleted and that took forever to make so please like this for my sanity. I bookmarked 26 fics and read 1 book this month, so not as much as my previous two months but still! The majority is Harry Potter, but there's a spare Sherlock one and Friends one in there. A lot of these fics have other people raising Harry because that's just what I've been in the mood for lately.

Friends

For someone to ripple the waters by teatrolley

Plot: He’s fine, though, he tells himself. He’s dealing with it. He’s dating girls, and using the excuse that he’s bad at it when Joey asks him why he never brings anyone home anymore. He’s fine. That is, until Joey kisses him at New Year’s, and everything changes. Or: Chandler is in love with Joey and it's not the sort of thing you say out loud. Until, one day, it is

Characters: Chandler, Joey, Monica

Relationships: Chandler/Joey

Warnings: none

Tags: canon compliant, friends to lovers, POV Chandler, Chandler is gay, coming out

My Notes: I watched a lot of Friends over August and just!!! Chandler and Joey were the Troy and Abed of the 90s, I said what I said. This fic is so beautiful, the prose is amazing and it’s so heartfelt and it did make me tear up a little bit. I don’t typically read fics for sitcoms but I highly 100% recommend this one!

*complete*

Sherlock (stand-alone)

Feel the Tide by positivelymeteoric

Plot: Things John Watson doesn't expect to do when he transfers to a new school: A) Befriend his (possibly) mad roommate. B) Investigate a particularly nasty streak of murders with his (most likely) mad roommate. C) Fall slightly (or not so slightly) in love with his (definitely) mad roommate. D) All of the above.

Characters: Sherlock, John, Harry Watson, Mycroft, Lestrade, Moriarty

Relationships: Sherlock/John

Warnings: none

Tags: teen!lock, high school

*complete*

Harry Potter & Sherlock

My Experiment by lemoncurry

Plot: Sherlock steals a boy. Sorry- rescues. John helps, because what choice does he have? But not even Sherlock knows just how not-boring things will be...

Characters: Sherlock, John, Harry Potter, Mycroft

Relationships: none

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse

Tags: pre-Hogwarts

*incomplete* [last updated 2013]

Logic, Meet Luna by Applepie

Plot: Luna Lovegood has moved into 221c Baker Street! So what happens when you mix a 'loony' pureblood witch in a muggle area with logic driven residents? Err... not much, really. Just a whole lot of confusion.

Characters: Luna, Sherlock, Mycroft, John, Lestrade, Sally Donovan

Relationships: none

Warnings: none

Tags: humor

*complete*

Recalibration by Noxilicious

Plot: Mycroft more or less finds himself constantly cleaning up his dear brother’s messes, but in the case of one Harold William Holmes-Evans, he might just prove to be the one ‘mistake’ he won’t be able to rectify.

Characters:

Relationships: Sherlock/Lily Potter; Mary/John; Sherlock & Harry

Warnings: none

Tags: parentlock, canon compliant, pre-prisoner of Azkaban, post series 3, family drama, angst, hurt/comfort, muggle Sherlock, Sherlock is a Good Parent, Sherlock has a Heart, protective Sherlock, genius Harry, bogus deductions, fluff

*incomplete* [last updated 2017]

In Search of Companionship by kris799

Plot: After the events of the Sign of Three, Sherlock falls into a bout of melancholy; Mycroft, the consummate manipulator, suggests "filling the gap" and events largely get out of hand from there. A Sherlock adopts Harry!fic, set between Episodes Two and Three of Season Three.

Characters: Sherlock, Harry, Mrs Hudson, Mycroft, John, Mary

Relationships: Sherlock & Harry

Warnings: none

Tags: Parent!Sherlock, Child!Harry, adoption, John is out of the picture but not really, manipulative!Mycroft, magic, slow paced, perhaps glacial, Sherlock has many thoughts, and a mental!John to call him out on his crap, he’s not crazy, Harry cooks, and tries to take care of everyone, bored!Sherlock leads to bad [great] ideas, set in season 3

My Notes: don’t get your hopes up for Sherlock to find out about magic, it doesn’t happen and since the last time this was updated was almost seven years ago, I don’t think we’ll get to read it. However, it’s still very good and while it does give off some weird Sherlock stalkery vibes, this fic still kept me engaged and Sherlock and Harry’s relationship is great.

*incomplete* [last updated 2015]

Harry Potter of Baker Street by Dayja

Plot: Sherlock Holmes discovers family he never knew he had, and John Watson finds a child living in the cupboard.

Characters: Harry, Sherlock, John

Relationships: none

Warnings: none

Tags: family, friendship

My Notes: this one!!! Is so amazing!!! It’s so cute! I don’t really like to read kid fics all that much, but this one is worth the read!

*complete*

No Thank You by IHScribe

Plot: Harry Potter declines to attend Hogwarts, and Albus Dumbledore is forced to go and convince him otherwise. Too bad he didn’t expect the boy’s father(s).

Characters: Sherlock, John, Harry, Dumbledore, Mrs Hudson, Mycroft, Moriarty, McGonagall, Pomfrey, Hagrid, Snape

Relationships: Sherlock/John

Warnings: none

Tags: none

My Notes: this one is very funny and very sweet. Honestly fuck Hogwarts.

*complete*

Friend by esama

Plot: Sherlock finds the skull when he's five.

Characters: Sherlock, Harry, Mycroft, Mrs Holmes

Relationships: Sherlock & Harry

Warnings: character death

Tags: kid fic, alternate universe

My Notes: This one is so cool and original! I never thought about where Sherlock’s skull came from!

*complete*

Harry Potter & Supernatural

The Youngest Winchester by TheLastWincehsterStanding

Plot: Harry James Potter had thought, given the current circumstances, that going to America to track down his biological father was a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, like most of Harry's plans, there had been very little planning and far too much impulsiveness. Had he known what sort of monsters lurked in America, he would've stayed in England.

Characters: Harry, Bobby Singer, Dean Winchester, John Winchester, Sam Winchester

Relationships: Harry & Dean & Sam Winchester; Harry & John Winchester; Harry & Bobby Singer

Warnings: none

Tags: non-Potter Harry, the hunt for Yellow Eyes, season 1 of Supernatural, book 5, surprise! It’s a sixteen year old boy!

My Notes: I don’t really remember this one, I’ve read like four of these types of Harry being a Winchester story and I generally forget what happens in this one

*incomplete* [last updated 2018]

Harry Potter (stand-alone, specifically Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood)

That escalated quickly by SquaresAreNotCircles

Plot: Percy and Oliver get stuck in a Ministry lift (with seven other people present).

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George, Ginny, Bill, Ron, Charlie, Arthur, original male character

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: humor, fluff

*complete*

Petty Theft by pinksnowboots

Plot: Percy pilfers Oliver's sweater. The twins are suspicious.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: slice of life, drabble, sweaters, accidental coming out, established relationship, sharing clothes, quidditch, Oliver is protective

*complete*

Five Times Percy Thought Oliver was Beautiful and One Time Oliver Did Something About It by hufflebadgerinthetardis

Plot: The rule worshiping, strict, and by-the-books Gryffindor Prefect Percy Weasley has a secret. He’s got a huge crush on fellow Gryffindor and Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood. Percy was resigned to loving him from afar but he should have remembered that secrets don’t stay secrets for long at Hogwarts.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: none

*complete*

Burn Across the Sky by MoonytheMarauder1 (beforethemoon)

Plot: When Oliver Wood stops talking about Quidditch to stare at Percy Weasley, Ron, Fred, and George know something is up.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Katie

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: secret relationship, bad matchmaking, humor, protective siblings, quidditch, gay Percy, gay Oliver, injury, the hospital wing, exasperated Hermione, Harry is oblivious

My Notes: this isn’t the full plot, but it was very long and I only have so much time. Read this, it’s very cute

*complete*

I dare you to dare me by SquaresAreNotCircles

Plot: Fred didn’t even blink. “Harry said he didn’t want to join.” “So did I,” Oliver murmured. George didn’t allow him to stall any longer. He put his feet up between Fred and Angelina on the sofa and tilted his chair on its hind two legs. “Oliver, mate, truth or dare?”

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: truth or dare, Gryffindor Quidditch Team, the consumption of innocent earthworms, fluff

*complete*

It’s the truth by SquaresAreNotCircles

Plot: Fred and George refuse to believe Percy has a girlfriend. Oliver seems to know more. It's all very mysterious, until it isn't.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron

Relationships: Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood

Warnings: none

Tags: fluff

My Notes: Percy and Oliver really are just teenage Sherlock and John, aren’t they? Just saner and have less crimes involved.

*complete*

Harry Potter (stand-alone)

Harry Potter and His Increasingly Worrying Letters Home by hopeless_hope

Plot: Dear Mum & Dad, Sorry my letters have been brief lately. I hope you’re all well! Just wanted to let you know that my friends and I stumbled upon a three-headed dog on the forbidden corridor that the stairs rather determinedly took us to. Is that normal? Love, Harry… or In which Lily and James survive Voldemort's attack, Sirius is never sent to Azkaban, and long-distance parenting is hard. Especially when your reckless Gryffindor child keeps sending concerning letters home and rushing into trouble before anyone has the chance to respond.

Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Draco, Snape, Dumbledore

Relationships: James/Lily; Sirius/Remus; Harry & Lily; Harry & James; Harry & Sirius; Harry & Hermione & Ron

Warnings: none

Tags: everyone lives/nobody dies, Lily and James live, angst and humor, the Golden Trio, most things are the same except now harry has adults who care about him, the marauders are a lil happy family, not peter tho bc fuck that guy, fix-it, friendship, harry grows up with a loving family but he’s still a reckless little shit

My Notes: this is another fic I’m very excited about. Reading new fics is something I don’t do often, I usually sort my fics by kudos and go backwards from there which usually means I miss out on amazing stuff like this! I do have to wait, which is a pain, but I’m still very excited about this fic, I see a lot of potential in it.

*incomplete* [last updated 1 August]

turn and face the strange by viennawaitss

Plot: ‘He sees himself as a creature of evolution, or perhaps a phantom of peculiarities - a great, winding python, yearning for the snap of his jaw, a snowy lamb, unchristened and stumbling across land on trembling legs.’ Reality, growth and the steps toward change. Or, how Harry’s brief expulsion isn’t the worst thing to happen to him.

Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Blaise, Pansy, Sirius, Theo Nott, Draco

Relationships: none

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse

Tags: resorting, trauma, nightmares, the Golden Trio, book 5, Slytherin Harry, friendship, mental health issues, growing up, coming of age, and already fighting the government

My Notes: I am so freaking excited for this fic! It has everything I want! Resorted Slytherin Harry, dealing with abuse and trauma, amazing Slytherin friendships, I mean come on!

*incomplete* [last updated 19 August]

Know this: in some way, you’re already dead by ulittuq

Plot: Harry has been fighting against being an obscurial his entire life and Sirius’ death is what pushes him over the edge.

Characters: Harry, Dumbledore, Tom Riddle

Relationships: none

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse, canonical character death, some noncanonical character death, suicidal thoughts

Tags: obscurial Harry, ambiguous/open ending

My Notes: part of a series but both fics are very short. It's only about 2k words.

*complete*

The Chosen One and The Halfblood Prince by waitingondaisies

Plot: Severus Snape was discovered as a spy mere days before the start of the school year. Thankfully, Albus had been working on a vague contingency plan for this possibility. It had been inspired by the question, “What would it take for Severus Snape to see that he was wrong about Harry Potter?” The answer? Force Severus to go undercover as Alfonse “Eli” Hopkirk, a sixth year Gryffindor.

Characters: Harry, Ginny, Snape, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Neville, Luna

Relationships: Harry & Ginny; Harry & Snape; Hermione/Ron

Warnings: child abuse

Tags: angst, undercover, Harry needs a hug, slow burn friendship, Ginny is a good friend, not canon compliant - HBP, no Snape as defensive teacher, no Slughorn

My Notes: this one is so fun! Snape tries to act as a sixteen year old and it goes as well as you’d think. It’s really funny but also really heartfelt, it’s part of a series of two and the second one is more Severitus than the first.

*complete*

By His Side by silver_fish

Plot: After what is surely a more-than-preventable potions accident, Harry Potter winds up stuck in the hospital wing, unable to wake up. Severus just wishes he knew why Poppy won’t stop bothering him about it.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Pomfrey, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore

Relationships: Harry & Snape

Warnings: references to addiction

Tags: severitus I guess? Just some good bonding, set during HBP, harry is sad and so am i, emotional hurt/comfort

*complete*

Unmasked Lilly’s - Year One by TheWillofTheQuill

Plot: Severus Snape was adamant, no - determined to hate Harry Potter. After all, he was the spawn of James Potter, his childhood bully. But when Harry turns up for his first year, malnourished and fearful, it is up to Snape to solve the mystery of why the small boy has bruises that he will not show and scars that will not heal. Sworn to protect Lilly's son, Severus Snape is about to face his hardest challenge yet; gaining the trust of a boy who has sworn to never trust again.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Dumbledore, Draco, Hermione

Relationships: future Drarry

Warnings: child abuse

Tags: Severitus, hurt/comfort, angst, abused Harry, Snape adopts Harry, Slytherin Harry, good Slytherins

*incomplete* [last updated July 2021]

A Pair of Shoes that Fit by Darkorangecat (Calacious)

Plot: Harry is lost in the Forbidden Forest when he goes looking for Neville’s Remembrall after Draco steals it from the boy once again. As Harry wanders the forest, wondering if he’ll ever make it back to Hogwarts, the entire staff is sent out to look for him, including a much peeved Severus Snape.

Characters: Harry, Snape

Relationships: none

Warnings: child abuse and neglect

Tags: Snape eventually adopts Harry, first year, hurt/comfort, angst

My Notes: this one is so cute and so sad, Harry’s only eleven in this fic and Snape is trying his best

*complete*

The Guiltless by branwyn

Plot: When Harry appears at the Welcoming Feast wearing a glamor only Snape notices, Snape decides to find out what the glamor is hiding.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Luna, Dumbledore

Relationships: Harry & Snape & Luna

Warnings: domestic violence, child abuse

Tags: Severitus, Snape mentors Harry, hurt/comfort

*complete*

Within Doors by Lomonaaeren

Plot: It takes three detentions for Severus Snape to realize why Harry Potter cleans cauldrons so well—and even more for him to decide what to do about it.

Characters: Harry, Snape

Relationships: Harry & Snape

Warnings: canonical child abuse

Tags: angst, detention, present tense

*complete*

Summer of Bonding by MagicaDraconia16

Plot: It was the summer of love . . . er, no, not really. Left waiting for the Dursleys, Harry is found by the last person he'd expect to see.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Dumbledore, Flitwick, Hermione, Ron, Molly, Fred, George, original house-elf characters, original male character, Stan Shunpike, Dobby

Relationships: Harry & Severus

Warnings: canon-typical violence, child abandonment, minor violence

Tags: humor, angst, nightmares of canon-typical violence, spiders, awkwardness, someone else (not Snape or Harry) dies too

My Notes: this one is so sweet and really captures how awkward Harry and Snape are

*complete*

Harry Potter & Everything

Raising Harry Collection by Steerpike13713

Fandoms: Harry Potter, Daredevil, Sherlock, Labyrinth, Batman, Gravity Falls, MCU, Once Upon a Time, Doctor Strange (comics), Buffy, Merlin

Plot: A collection of unrelated fics that have to do with people other than The Dursleys raising Harry Potter

Characters: too many to name, really

Relationships: Matt Murdock/Foggy & Belle/Rumplestiltskin

Warnings: none

Tags: genderqueer Loki, genderqueer Lily Evans, Loki is Lily Evans Potter

My Notes: since the fics are unrelated you can flip flop around the chapters to find the ones you really want to read. I think my favorite ones are the Batman and Daredevil ones :) (also the author wrote a really good Lucifer & Chaos Adventures of Sabrina series)

*complete*

[that-bl-bitch]

I posted 9,395 times in 2021

31 posts created (0%)

9364 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 302.1 posts.

I added 110 tags in 2021

#bad buddy - 41 posts

#bad buddy the series - 39 posts

#lovely writer - 7 posts

#futs - 4 posts

#lovely writer the series - 4 posts

#boys lockdown - 3 posts

#blih: id - 3 posts

#i promised you the moon - 3 posts

#ipytm - 3 posts

#genesib - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#yeah wtf is going on with keam cause um sir i would like that to be explored way more the crumbs im getting its just not enough to satisfy

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I really like Mork I wasn't expecting him to be so nice and genuine, from the synopsis (I watched the trailer too but months ago so I had no memory of it, all I could recall was that I vaguely remembered enemies to lovers) it made it seem like Mork was just as in love with Nan as Pi is so during the wiping of the hand scene happened I was expecting him to be mean and have ulterior motives so when he offered to buy another box I was like 'hmmm what's your plan here bub' but very quickly realized (I think in the very next scene, which they shared) that Mork liked Pi from the get go and Pi is just out here going around assuming Mork likes Nan cause they hang out a bunch, but Pi is just so focus on his crush on Nan that he can't see that Mork isn't trying to malicious with his actions and with the way Mork went about the picture thing I can see how Pi would look at that as something he was trying to do on purpose especially with his one track mindset of 'Mork likes Nan therefore he hates me and is after me'

A n y w a y s really no point of this I just wasn't expecting Mork to be like this and I'm just pleasantly surprised, I got hopes that this show is gonna be good one so I'm just a wee bit excited, excited enough to make pointless post about it apparently, also is it just me or is this giving off a bit of My gear and your gown vibe? Also not sure if anyone else clocked this or how important it is but when Mork was folding clothes he was folding kids clothes little girl clothes to be specific so that means a younger sister so maybe a cute scene or something having to deal with that in the future mayhaps

and another thing I feel like it would criminal not mention just how cute and nice Mix is in this, I had completely forgot he was even going to be in this cause I watched the trailer before I really cared who he was and before I got completely obsessed with atots, he is such a good actor it's wild

35 notes • Posted 2021-04-10 12:10:24 GMT

#4

I'm sorry but the only thing I want to do is scream about papa and daddy, episode two when they show how they met and how they ended up getting together was the cutest thing I've ever witnessed and I'm not sure it can be topped, plus a cute lesbian couple who are also planning on having a kid it's just wholesome gay relationships all around. Ugh it's so gooooood

38 notes • Posted 2021-04-24 15:33:58 GMT

#3

I would sell my first born child to be able to watch ep 7 right this very second

49 notes • Posted 2021-12-04 23:22:58 GMT

#2

also just the way pran did that with his friends around, I mean I know they were probably farther away near the bus probably but pran went from being worried that someone would see them talking at the university to licking his finger on a beach full of architect students and not giving a fuck

83 notes • Posted 2021-12-04 17:01:02 GMT

#1

Also can we talk about what a fucking queen Pa is like she runs the store when her parents aren't there and not just like a "we're just running out for 5 mins watch the shop" it sounds like she actually knows what shes talking about and what to do seems like she does all the fucking laundry in the house or at the very least hers and Pats she even went as far as going all the way to Pats dorm to do his laundry at one point like fucking queen and only in high school that queen

113 notes • Posted 2021-11-12 22:25:43 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[asmywhimseytakesme]

Hi, I just saw your blog and I have to ask; do you have any recommendations for people who really, really enjoyed the Murderbot Diaries? Im kinda obsessed with it

Hi @extra-plus-ordinary ! I am so flattered to be asked this because I LOVE giving recommendations.

The first thing I’ll say is, there is a very active Murderbot discord server and if you aren’t in it send me a dm and I’ll get you a link! The lovely folks there can probably give you lots more recommendations than me. I’ll admit I haven’t been on there much lately because life be like that sometimes, but you can bet I’ll be active there plenty when the next Murderbot book comes out in a few months! The folks there also found me links to a couple Murderbot short stories that you should absolutely check out if you haven’t yet.

I have to admit, my first thought on getting this ask is... there isn’t anything else quite like Murderbot! Sometimes all you want is more Murderbot and we don’t have any (yet). The first time I finished the series I started over again at the beginning because all I wanted was More Murderbot Please. It took me awhile to be in the mood for anything else. I absolutely recommend indulging that mood because personally, when all I want is Just This Book, I end up disliking anything else I try to read, even when I normally would like it. But! If you are in the mood to try something a bit different with perhaps some overlapping appeal, let me offer a few suggestions:

The Queens Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

I have to mention this first because it’s fans of THIS series that got me to read Murderbot. Also I’ve been obsessed with these books since I was a teen. Similarities between the series include:

Sarcastic first person narration—this is mostly just in the first book of the series, The Thief. If you, like me, fell in love with Murderbot because of its voice, give this book a try. Gen is a different narrator in many ways, but I find the appeal similar. There are also some similar character dynamics and interactions with a group gradually getting to know a character they previously underestimated, and forming strong friendships over the course of the series.

However, I will note that The Thief is notably different from the rest of the series in tone and pacing, and some people find it boring. That was not my experience, but many recommend starting the series with the second book.

The second book has a character that I feel is similar to Murderbot on many levels, but I don’t want to say much more about it because SPOILERS. Actually I don’t want to say any more about the series at all because it’s really best to just go in and experience it for yourself. Take my word for it—many people love both series, there is lots of crossover appeal.

The Mandalorian tv series

Ok I feel kinda dumb mentioning this because I feel like everyone’s probably heard of this show by now and has already decided whether they’re gonna watch it. I mean, it’s STAR WARS. So I’ll be brief here, but I really feel like Mando and Murderbot have a LOT in common and would get along really well, and people drawn to one of these characters might also like the other. Murderbot wishes he had as good an excuse as Mando for keeping a helmet on at all times. They’re both similarly good at their jobs (which involve fighting), and end up coming to care for characters weaker and less experienced than themselves. They then put themselves on the line to protect their new Found Family, while steadfastly refusing to admit that they have any feelings whatsoever. Also, so far? No romantic pairings. Murderbot would approve. There are more comparisons I could make but I’ll stop....So yeah, if for some reason you haven’t given The Mandalorian a try.... do it.

Digger by Ursula Vernon

Ok, so the cool thing about this recommendation (aside from the fact that it’s a super amazing story, which I’ll talk more about in a bit) is you can read the WHOLE THING. FOR FREE. RIGHT NOW. Don’t have to put it on hold at the library, don’t have to order it and wait for it to come in the mail, don’t have to track it down in a used bookstore. ITS ALL FREE: http://diggercomic.com/blog/2007/02/01/wombat1-gnorf/

That link should take you to the first page of the comic.

The first comparison I’ll make here is the VOICE. Digger has a first person funny/sarcastic voice that reminds me a LOT a of Murderbot. Different, of course, but..., I think Murderbot would really like Digger. She would be a good client. Practical, tries to stay safe and make good decisions, and she would 100% get Murderbot’s sense of humor. She gets thrown into a crazy magical world and takes it all in stride, making plenty of friends she’s ready to defend with her life.

Yeah, Murderbot would like Digger.

I’d go on, but seriously—did you forget I just said THE WHOLE THING IS FREE TO READ ONLINE so just.... go start reading it and get a taste for it yourself.

http://diggercomic.com/blog/2007/02/01/wombat1-gnorf/

The Vorkosigan Saga

This is a big one that will keep you occupied for awhile! I don’t remember how many books are in the series... 20 maybe? I don’t even know. This is the series I re read when I was coming off my Murderbot high a few months back, because in some ways it has a similar vibe.

Anyway, this is another Space Drama that explores some interesting potential economics, politics, and conflicts of a future of planets linked by wormholes. Some of the planets have a more Corporation Rim feel, others are like Preservation, with many others thrown in the mix. The main character, Miles Vorkosigan... he would love Murderbot. He’d recruit it on the spot—a competent person who shows initiative? Wonderful! On the other hand, Murderbot would HATE Miles.... no sense of self preservation, barreling into problems with no clear plan of how to get out... he would drive Murderbot absolutely crazy.

Personally, I started reading the series with The Warriors Apprentice, and that’s where I recommend starting. However technically Shards of Honor, which tells the story of Miles’ parents and how they met, is the first book chronologically.

The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein

This is a very short novel (so if the Murderbot novella length worked for you, give this a try). It’s a gripping take on Arthurian Legend told from the point of view of Medraut (Mordred). Medraut reminds me of Murderbot in many ways—he feels unworthy of love because of what he is, wrestling with a violent past and trying to be better, struggling to know what to do when he is loved by people who he doesn’t think should love him. Also, like All Systems Red, his narrative is addressed to a specific person, which affects how the story is read.

So those are just a few books/series I recommend for Murderbot fans! And everyone, really, because these are all excellent because my taste is impeccable ;-).

I hope there is something here to tide you over til the next Murderbot book comes out @extra-plus-ordinary 😁

[driversmutbucket]

Suspension

Headmaster!Kylo AU x reader

(The vibe - except no facial hair and longer actual hair).

Warnings: power dynamics, switch!reader, switch!kylo, verbal abuse, orgasm denial. Only very mild NSFW

Hello chaps. A wee multi chapter fic I have been writing 100% in my head (why am I like this?!) for a few weeks. About time I put it to paper tumblr. I have no idea where this is going, as usual. 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

Many described your new workplace as a real-life Hogwarts. The 17th century boarding school was grand, roaming ivy accented the tall arches of the exterior walls. You loved the sliding vertical windows, which were made from, what seemed like, hundreds of small square panes of glass bordered by thick metal glazing bars. The school sat on a large former-estate, no other buildings or civilization in sight.

Parents paid out the nose for their little darlings to attend. It was an interesting mix of emotionally neglected and rebellious rich kids, ultra-smart and relatively normal scholarship kids and stuck up spoilt-brats.

If the school was a Hogwarts, then the headmaster was a Snape.

He was notorious. Or so you heard.

You had heard murmurings of junior school students bursting into tears at the mere sight of him.

You could hardly be blamed for stopping dead in your tracks- or rather- teachings, when the classroom door creaked open and all your students went dead silent, some as white as a sheet.

You knew this was Headmaster Ren from the reaction alone. But when the tall, pale and bizarrely handsome man stepped into the classroom, you could have been knocked over by a feather.

You were expecting an ugly, miserable old git with a thorn in his side.

“Please pretend I’m not here Miss y/l/n.” His voice was deep, smooth and foreign, American? Why had no one mentioned this. You felt betrayed by the lack of information your colleagues had provided, blindsided.

The students followed him with their eyes as far as they could without physically moving as he retreated to the back of the room and sat on a stool. Crossing one leg over the other. Your eyes lingered for a moment on the third button of his dress shirt that seemed to be working just a bit too hard.

You cleared your throat, “right, well, as I was saying, this term our first module….”

You could feel his eyes on you as you leant against your desk and spoke about the outline for the term.

You eventually managed to relax, dishing out the necessary supplies for the first exercise as you explained what you expected the students to produce by the end of the class.

After watching for a time, you notice one of the shyer girls, Molly, hadn’t begun.

You pulled up a stool next to her at the table.

“Why haven’t you started Molly?” You asked gently.

You noticed Headmaster Ren was now walking around the tables slowly, looking at what the students were doing.

“I’m scared.” Molly whispered, her bottom lip quivering.

“Of the Headmaster?” You asked, quietly.

She nodded.

Bloody hell, you thought, glancing at your unreasonably handsome headmaster as he walked around the tables, hands behind his back and stony expression hardening his already strong features.

“How about I stay and help you until he buzzes off?” You smiled at the young girl.

Molly looked up at you, slight shock flitting across her freckled face. You winked, and picked up the protractor.

The only plus of having Ren hovering around would have been that the students were on their best behavior. But they weren’t even speaking, “why are you all so quiet? Feel free to compare your drawings and see what your neighbor has done, they might have some valuable tips!”

The students looked at you startled. You sighed, “well if you don’t I will just start picking students to come and show the rest of the class their progress at the front here.”

That worked a treat, a low hum of chatter and rustling of paper broke out, breaking the godawful, pin-drop silence.

You watched Ren, a flicker of amusement passing briefly over his features.

The bell rang, and the students bolted when you dismissed them.

Headmaster Ren loitered, you could feel his eyes appraising you.

“A pleasure to finally meet you headmaster.” You offered, finally making eye contact as he walked up to your desk.

“Your teaching style is interesting.” He said coldly.

“Oh, ok?”

“You don’t prefer silence in your classroom Miss y/l/n?” He tapped his lips with his pointer finger, as if in deep thought.

“No, I don’t think art class is the place for silence.” You crossed your arms with a small frown.

His eyebrows shot up into his hairline, “I see, perhaps my idea to inject some young blood into this institution was a flawed one.”

Your frown deepened, and you met his eyes, was he baiting you?

“Headmaster, I hardly think that is fair!” You said calmly but sternly.

You swore you saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

“Can’t say I’ve ever had a teacher, let alone, a new hire, challenge me.” He continued.

“This is absolutely absurd.” You tried your hardest not to scoff. Your patience wavering.

“What is absurd, Miss y/l/n?” He locked eyes with you, you swore he was challenging you.

“You.” You snapped, “this ridiculous conversation is over.”

Before you could chicken out, you strode out the classroom door.

—

The summoning to Headmaster Ren’s office was hardly a surprise.

What was surprising was that it took a week.

In that week you had seen why he struck the fear of god into everyone.

Except for you.

Quite frankly he struck you as an arrogant, controlling, stuck up, wanker. Albeit a sexy one.

His explosive temper reminded you of a spoilt teenager. You had lost count of the number of times you had had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes.

But tonight you had been unable to stop yourself. You had rolled your eyes. You had to admit, you went into the meeting on the defensive.

You met his rising temper with a calm, stern teacher voice, even though you wanted to scream at him.

“Headmaster, if you are going to continue this conversation behaving like a petulant child I will simply leave.” You sighed, standing in front of his desk with your arms crossed.

He was whiteknuckling the arms of his office chair. His hands were so big….

That’s when your gaze drifted to his crotch.

There was no mistaking it. He was hard.

You slowly lifted your gaze to meet his. Had you misread lust for hate?

“Are you fucking hard?!” You hissed, breaking your calm and collected facade.

He moaned. It was deep and guttural. Your nipples hardened and your cunt betrayed you as it began to throb.

Planting both hands on the desk, you let your gaze linger on his straining black dress trousers. There was no doubt he was packing. You very slowly let your eyes wander up his large torso. His three piece suit seemed like overkill for a Headmaster, but he pulled it off. His cheeks were flushed, the first time you had ever seen color grace his pale skin. His plush lips parted slightly as he panted, blown pupils watching your every move.

“You are disgusting.” You spat. “Arrogant, conceded, fucking wanker.”

His eyes rolled back in his head. You couldn’t believe this was happening. But you were high on the power you held over him. His reaction egged you on.

“Are you going to cum in your pants like a teenager Ren?” You scoffed, feigning disgust.

He didn’t reply, but his hand drifted toward his zipper.

“Don’t you dare.” You snapped. “I asked you a question.”

“Yes.” He gritted out.

“Yes….?” you prompted.

“Yes, Miss y/l/n.”

“Good boy.” You cooed, breaking into a smile.

You turned on your heel and walked out of his office and down the hall his raging yells echoing behind you.

—

Let me know if you want to be tag-listed

[drivingsideways]

k-drama rec list

Prior to 2020 I’d maybe watched 2 k-dramas in my entire life, but this year I got sucked in, thanks to some great recs, and y’know, *gestures * everything.  

I think I’d held off watching kdramas because my impression of them was limited to romances that I didn’t enjoy at all. But this was the year I discovered the equivalent of “gen fic” kdrama- dramas that had wonderful ensemble casts, strong story lines that weren’t entirely romance focused and also a variety in terms of themes and styles. A big plus was that I found so many of these dramas had women leading the writers’ room, and seeing the effect of that in the story telling. (Notable exceptions: a certain “star” writer who should please stop inflicting her badly written, formulaic crap on the world, yes Kim Eun-Sook, I mean you, and whoever wrote that trashfire Flower of Evil)

So here I am with my own rec list! Caveat- these are mostly not the dramas released in 2020, I’m still playing catch up! :)

Under the cut for length

My Mister/ My Ahjussi  (2018, Written by Park Hae-Young, Directed by Kim Won-Seok, starring Lee Sun-kyun and Lee Ji-eun aka IU) 

This was definitely my absolute favourite of the shows I watched this year across western/ asian media. It’s a story about the thread that binds us all and the ineffability of human connection. It’s also a story that deconstructs ideas of masculinity and honour and shame in a non-western context, but with an extremely compassionate touch.  It’s a story that doesn’t shy away from showing the consequences of material and spiritual poverty; and how one can so easily feed into the other. It’s a love story that isn’t a romance, except that it’s a Romance. It’s about finding salvation in one another and in the kindness of strangers.  It’s about choosing life, and picking yourself up off the floor to take that one last step and then the next and then the next. The one quibble I have with the series is that it could have been better paced, it does get extremely slow after the half way mark. But god, do they land the ending. Both Lee Sun-kyun and IU turn in absolutely heartbreaking performances, and fair warning, be prepared to go through an entire box of tissues watching this series. 

Life  (2018,  written by Lee Soo-yeon  and directed by Hong Jong-chan, starring Lee Dong-wook, Cho Seung-woo, Won Jin-ah, Lee Kyu-hyung, Yoo Jae-myung and Moon So-ri.)

Medical dramas are very much not my thing, and I wouldn’t have taken a chance on it except that @michyeosseo said I should, and she was right! It’s a medical drama in the sense that it’s set in a hospital, but rather than a “case-fic” format, this is actually a sharp commentary on the corporatization of health care, and the business of mixing, well, money and what should be a fundamental human right. Writer Lee Soo-yeon was coming off the global success of Stranger/Secret Forest S1 when this aired, so I understand that expectations were probably sky-high, and people were disappointed when this show didn’t give them the adrenaline rush that they wanted. On the other hand, I thought that this outing was really much more nuanced in terms of the politics and also how the ending doesn’t allow you the luxury of easy-fixes. This show has a great ensemble cast, and while it took me a while to get used to Lee Dong-wook’s woodenness (i ended up calling him mr.cadaver after watching this and was surprised to learn that he’s very popular?), in the end I was quite sold on his version of angry angst-bucket elder-sibling Dr.Ye Jin-woo. His best scenes were with Lee Kyu-hyung who turns in a lovely, achy performance as the paraplegic Dr. Ye Seon-woo who just wants to live a normal life. The love story between the two brothers is actually the emotional backbone of the story, and I think they landed that perfectly. 

My one quibble with writer-nim is that she ended up writing in a forgettable and somewhat (for me at least) uncomfortable romance between the characters played by Won Jin-ah and Cho Seung-Woo. I think part of my uncomfortable-feeling was that I got the strong sense that the writer herself didn’t want to write this romance, it was as if she was being made to shoe-horn it in for Studio Reasons, and she basically grit her teeth and did the worst possible job of it.  I do wish we could have absolutely had the OT3 of my dreams: Moon So-ri/Cho Seung-woo/Yoo Jae-myung like, c’mon TV gods MAKE IT HAPPEN, just...look at them!!!! 

Anyway, that apart, I think this was a very engaging series, and by engaging, I also mean thirst-enabling, see below. 

 Stranger (aka Secret Forest  or Forest of Secrets) S1 & 2 : (2017-, Written by Lee Soo-yeon, directed by 

2017′s smash hit aired a much anticipated second season in 2020, and I managed to catch up just in time to watch that live, so that was thrilling :D . Writer Lee Soo-yeon  mixes up thriller/office comedy/political commentary in an ambitious series. I think S1 is more “exciting” than S2 in terms of the mystery and pacing,  but S2 is far more dense and interesting in terms of political commentary because it takes a long hard look at institutional corruption and in true writer-nim fashion doesn’t prescribe any easy solutions. Anyway, please enjoy public prosecutor Cho Seung-woo and police officer Bae Doona as partners/soulmates kicking ass and taking names in pursuit of Truth, Justice and just a goddamn peaceful meal, along with a stunningly competent ensemble cast. Also yes, Han Yeo Jin is a lesbian, sorry, I don’t make the rules. 

Search: WWW  (2019, Written by Kwon Do-Eun, directed by Jung Ji-hyun & Kwon Young-il, starring  Im Soo-jung, Lee Da-hee, Jeon Hye-jin)

GOD. Where do I start? +1000 for writer Kwon Do-Eun saying “fuck the patriarchy” in the most grandiose way possible, i.e. absolutely refusing to acknowledge that it exists. Yes, this is that power fantasy, and it’s also a fun, slice-of-life  tale about three women navigating their way through work, romance, national politics and everything in between. It’s true that I wasn’t entirely sold on the amount of time spent on the romance, and I really wish they’d actually had a textual wlw romance, though the subtext through the entire series is PRACTICALLY TEXT. But still, it maintains that veneer of plausible deniability and I think queer fans who are sick of that kind of treatment in media have a very valid grouse against the show. On the other hand, personally I felt that the queer-platonic vibe of the show is very wonderful and true to real life, and it was only reinforced by the ending. This is a show written by a woman for women (like me), and it shows. 

Hyena  (2020, Written by Kim Roo-Ri, directed by Jang Tae-yoo & Lee Chang Woo, starring  Kim Hye-soo and Ju Ji-hoon )

Those of you who’ve been watching hit zombie epic Kingdom are probably familiar with Ju Ji-hoon’s brand of sexiness already. I had not watched Kingdom and got hit in the face by Mr.Sexy McSexyPants’ turn as a brash, privileged-by-birth, up and coming lawyer who gets completely runover by the smoking hot and incredibly dangerous fellow lawyer/competitor from the other side of the tracks in the person of Kim Hye-Soo. When I say they set the room on fire, I mean it, ok. Every single scene between these two is an actual bonfire of sexual attraction and emotional hand grenades, and they’re both absolutely riveting to watch. “Flower of Evil” wishes they had what this show has- an actual grown up romance as opposed to a thirteen year old twilight fan’s idea of an adult romance. 

The “lawyer” shenanigans and the “cases” are hit or miss, and I think the occasional comedy fell flat for me. But that’s not why I mainlined like 6 episodes of this series overnight like a coke addict, and that’s not why you’re going to do it either. It’s so RARE, even in these enlightened days to find a female character like Jung Geum-ja: hard as nails, unapologetic about it, and not punished by the narrative for it. The best part for me is that she feels like a woman’s woman, not a man’s idea of what a Strong Female Character should be. Anyways, when I grow up I want to have what Kim Hye-soo has ok?

Other dramas that I watched this year, quickly rated:

The King: Eternal Monarch (3/10 and those 3 points are only for the combined goodness of second leads who deserved better- Jung Eun Chae, Woo Do Hwan and Kim Kyung Nam. Please head over to my AO3 and read my attempts to fix this garbage fire and rescue their characters from canon)

Flower of Evil (-10/100, dont @ me)

Tale of the Nine Tailed (5/10, I think it succeeds at what it set out to do, which is a light hearted, sweet fantasy-romance-melodrama, plus “second lead” Kim Beom will make you cry as the hot mess of a half human/ half fox spirit ALL TEARS character. I think if you’re into kdrama romances as a genre, this is probably a good bet?)

Signal  (7/10,  This was the first full kdrama I watched this year and would definitely recommend. It’s a police procedural with time travel shenanigans and has an engaging plot, good pacing, texture and compelling performances. My one disappointment with it was the way they wrote Kim Hye-soo’s character. As literally the only female character to survive in any way, she was given short shrift, and toward the end it really began to grate on me.)

Six Flying Dragons - (7/10, also would recommend if you’re interested in Korean historicals. It definitely already feels a bit dated in terms of styling and production values, and even scripting and acting choices. But it has a good balance of fantasy and history and political commentary. I was not a fan of Yoo In-Ah’s performance in this series, but it’s not anything that would make you want to nope out of the series. It’s GoT , if GoT was thoughtful about politics and characters and not the misogynist, racist trashfire that it became.)

My Country: The New Age - (3.5/10, and that’s 3 points to Jang Hyuk’s fan and 0.5.points to Woo Do Hwan’s heaving bosom. If you like your historical drama/fantasy with very pretty men, very gay subtext -seriously RIP to show makers who thought they could hetero it but didn’t account for Woo Do Hwan’s Tragic Face- lots of blood and tears and very nonsense plot, this is right up your alley. I probably would have enjoyed it more in other circumstances, I think? But this one just annoyed me too much at the time! 

I have a couple of more dramas to watch on my list, that’ll probably carry me over into 2021, so see ya on the other side! :D

[planningforburial]

An essay or some thoughts on the art of Leaving September 2020.



I want to say some things about the artwork for Leaving, this is mostly because I am on this kick to make sure my thoughts on many subject involving Planning For Burial are archived somewhere, anyways I didn’t really mention the art much in the little booklet that came with the anniversary box set much at all besides saying there wasn’t a whole lot of art/photos too choose from for it.


So let me start by saying I’m so extremely happy with how the box set turned out, I was very worried while doing it because of what I had mentioned above and because the main reason, which is that I have never been 100% happy with any of the artwork for any of the physical editions of Leaving. This boxset I had my hands on the entire thing, I’m not slamming anyone for the work they did either, it’s just I wasn’t happy with aspects of the other editions.

For example, the original CD version for a few reasons, I wanted it in a size envelope closer to what the (continued) CD had come in, the bigger envelope just didn’t fit well anywhere with any of my media besides my 7”s, and it seemed the contents are always fumbling around in there. Second I didn’t realize until I had seen the final product in my hands that Dan had cropped much of the “background” of the front image to give it a black border. Now this also could’ve  been fixed with better communication on both sides, but when it came down to it I was inexperienced with anyone else putting my music out and I was frankly just happy that someone cared enough to put their time, money and their own reputation on the line for it. 


The cassette edition I did on Music Ruins Lives that came in the box with a spray painted black square was fine, it helped tie it to the minimalism of the original CD envelope. I also used some art work from the inserts of the CD. As time goes on I realized I could’ve done some sort of sticker to make it appear like the current LP box set, hindsight is 20/20 I guess. Looking back on it too I think my design eye wasn’t meeting with my technical know how at the time either.


And last the first LP edition that The Flenser put out in 2015, I actually love Niels artwork for it, the only problem is that it wasn’t the original. I had thought the original image in the most high resolution version has been lost thanks to a stolen laptop, the only copy I had for it just wasn’t going to work being blown up to fit the LP.

Fast forward to 2018, I had another hard drive die on me, so I started digging out other external drives and my very first laptop to back all of them up in multiple places, and there it was still in the photos of my old laptop the original high resolution image along with other variations of the photo, you may ask why I didn’t check that to begin with back in 2014/2015 when we were setting up the first edition of the LP, and the answer is I thought I had pretty much scrubbed the whole computer clean so I could just barely keep my recording set up working, but there it was still intact.

Now as for the artwork itself. It has no meaning, but I just immediately felt it was right for the photo of the album when I had accidentally made it, because that’s the thing I base a lot of what I do off of a feeling I may have and for whatever reason it just fit the vibe. An LP mailer from my basement floor that I had written the track listing of the album at whatever time on it just to get an idea for sequencing, because I often like to write things out. Later on I must’ve used that mailer to protect my back deck as I spray painted a fuzz pedal I had been working on, white and red, I had left the mailer outside to dry and while that happened a lite rain came through and mixed some of the white paint together with falling petals from cherry blossom tree in my backyard. Upon seeing it I began spraying both paints at the same time in order to get the right texture of pink, I then stood on a chair and used a cheap Cannon point and shoot to take the pictures and eventually picked the one that is on the cover. This was sometime in May 2008.

With some of the other art mainly being the organ with the portrait/painting of the boy resting on it.  The organ is the one I own, I had bought it for $25 at a yard sale down the road from my 2nd home in New Jersey the one where I recorded “Wearing Sadness and Regret Upon Our Faces” and “Verse/Chorus/Verse”, I used it a lot on recordings around this time, and I had always kept that photo above the organ in the area I recorded. The photo of the boy a large digital print I believe, I had won it at an raffle for one of my ex-girlfriends friend who had recently gone into remission from cancer, the artist who did it was on of their friends. I got it sometime in 2006 or 2007 and sadly I don’t know who the artist is but it has always been part of PFB since that time, it currently hangs in the kitchen of my home.

Anyways, this was a long ramble, I’m not sure it means anything, and I’m not sure if I got an idea across. I just wanted to say some things about the art I guess/ 


Written sometime in late August/early September 2020. 


[hongshoes]

I just made my own IPVDb: Internet Pentagon Vids Database with personal ratings because that’s my life now I guess.

This is purely because I’m bored but also because my sad life revolves entirely around them. 

Puff Idol 

Set during Tomato Kino era, this one’s a great mix of cringeyness (Changgu put that umbrella down pls), musicality (we get the absolute best version of Sha La La that has ever been granted to us) and even educational moments? Who else but pedantic trilingual MUN conference speaker Hongnerd wouldn’t let the members sleep for not saying TEETH the proper way. WHO CARES. Although I’ll forgive him because I, too, once fell asleep whilst standing up, and I feel like we should support each other in this community. We also get Hui speaking English and Kino almost busting a lung which, although they give off very different vibes, are both part of my fav Pentagon’s title tracks. Deserved 5 stars at first but it was until I saw that terrifying cheek kiss at the end. Or whatever that was. But these guys are weird.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fact iN Star 

A glorious display of Pentagon’s first passion: roasting each other. Yuto did Shinwon so dirty it made me see the world from a new perspective. But the iconic “I’ll give you more lines” alone deserves a show win. Even Kino calling Hui “Hoetaek-ah” and then being this close to walk through the window to hide in Australia sends me every time. And you know how everyone’s been saying Wooseok deserves an Oscar for the crazy act that makes him look like he’s taking 200V every time he’s on stage? We been knew he invented Hollywood when he acted Yeooner than Yeoone himself in one firy “where’s the camera” gesture. But anyway, the point is that now I can’t listen to Sha La La (2nd best version) without Yanan’s interpretation of Wooseok’s verse now. This video changed me but not sure it’s in a good way.

0 or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ still pondering.

Weekly Idol 

Alternatively an hour of Hui embarrassing his members and Yuto laughing instead of breathing. Also the one and only video in which Yeoone made me laugh but he was trying so hard I think that was just out of pity. This video was actually one of the first I watched when I got into them and I started to understand what I got myself into when Wooseok’s special talent was to imitate a broken weeder. Because right that’s something totally normal to be bragging about. I hold this video very dear to my heart, I’ll never say no to Kino dancing on TT or Hui vibin on his piano but you know it was all fun and games until Hong started hugging Jinho from behind out. of. nowhere. 

I rate it 1 ugly moon for this very reason 🌝

The Immigration part 1 / part 2

Shinwon only went to tell the host he was ugly then proceeded to sleep on the floor. I needn’t say more. 10 stars.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Extreme Live

All the expectations vs reality memes condensed into a 4 minute video and the irrefutable proof that Jinho isn’t human. The only bad thing about this is how short it is. I think I’ve done enough good deeds in my life to deserve a part 2 and I’m still waiting. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

M2 Premiere Showcase part 1  / part 2

What is up with them that make them take so much pleasure in role playing a body switch? i WaNt To Be HOng BecAusE hiS aBS my ass, the second they get to clown each other they’re dragging each other down into thick mud and quicksand. All whilst tenderly holding hands. Who are these people? Part 2 is even worse. A year into this madness has made it clear to me they’re particularly bad at all games but I should’ve known when I saw them lose so miserably without any competitors. That’s just another video of them begging the staff to tolerate their incompetency. And even then, they’re supposed to make them laugh and what do they do?? Kino?? Decides to fucking dance his pants off as if three torches weren’t enough to heat up the place. How is that funny??? I give it half a star. But I’ll round it down to one, part of it is because Hui and Shinwon being high on life for two potatoes kinda gives me joy, and also cause there’s no half star emoji.

⭐️

Ddingo video (ft. Wooseok’s long face)

Whoever was in charge of captioning this video needs a raise because I’ve never seen a description of a person be as accurate as “Just a happy dummy in the neighbourhood” to talk about Yuto. And being happy in this kind of neighbourhood surely is a big challenge. This video is pure chaos from start to finish. We get a pterodactyl getting kicked, a member of staff losing an eye, Kino just... ridin a pony in full Ginuwine style and a love story between Shinwon and a bowl of radish that was more emotional than the whole Twilight saga. 

🌪🌪🌪🌪🌪

K-Pop Insider Quizz

Hongseok being his annoying over the top competitive self even though they all suck is hilarious. This video is just them being stupid and then mocking each other for being stupid. I mean most Kpop groups are priding themselves on mastering every choreo in the industry and here you have Jinho attempting a twerk that looks like he’s 90 years old lost his cane. But the highlight is Hong’s face when scolded by Kino. Nothing will ever top the distress in his eyes and I would pay real money to witness them arguing about milk.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Telepathy Live

This video perfectly sums up their dynamic. Firstly we’ve got maknae line versus a bunch of nutfaces having a blast drawing mono eyebrows on each other line. Secondly, Jinho as a smoll running poop. Who in the world would say no to that. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dear Mother

Atrocious. 

-100

[isaarchive]

The Story Behind Every Song on Linkin Park’s ‘Hybrid Theory’: 20th Anniversary Track-By-Track

The group's Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn dive deep into the diamond-selling classic, sharing how smashes like "In The End," "Crawling" and "One Step Closer" came together in the studio.

By Jason Lipshutz

“It was a bizarre, but very special, moment in time.” That’s how Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda describes the release of the band’s seminal debut, Hybrid Theory, one of the best-selling rock albums of all time.

Upon the album’s Oct. 24, 2000 release, the members of Linkin Park were in their early twenties -- “just children, screwing around,” as Shinoda affectionately describes the group’s early days in the Los Angeles suburbs. With Shinoda and Chester Bennington sharing the frontman role, Linkin Park offered a bold progression on the strand of rap-rock that had bubbled up the charts in the late ‘90s. They often delineated the rapping and singing duties between vocalists and carefully balancing hard rock riffs from guitarist Brad Delson with hip-hop-style beats from drummer Rob Bourdon and turntablist/DJ/programmer Joe Hahn.

The band’s mixture of rap and rock was approached with some skepticism from their label, Warner Bros. Records, and their producer, Don Gilmore. Yet as soon as “One Step Closer,” Hybrid Theory's blistering lead single, became a top 10 hit at U.S. alt-rock radio, those doubts were quickly alleviated.

“When I grew up, you were either a rock kid or a rap kid, but you didn’t listen to blended music, really,” Shinoda recalls. “I was so excited when Rage Against The Machine came out, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, or when I found Led Zeppelin by listening to Beastie Boys. There were things that were out there that took from varying styles of music and put them together, but they were not the norm at all. And to have played a role in mashing styles together, that is, for us, part of our legacy that we’re proud of.”

Indeed, Hybrid Theory remains a touchstone of the time period: the album has sold a whopping 10.8 million copies to date, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, and produced singles that have remained alternative radio staples for decades. “In The End,” the brilliantly rendered signature anthem that mixes rap verses and a melodic hard rock chorus, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while “Crawling” earned Linkin Park its first Grammy award. The album would kick-start a career that produced seven total albums, 28.8 million total copies sold, and countless arena performances, until the tragic passing of Bennington in 2017.

Now, the band is looking back on its landmark debut with Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition, a new collection featuring previously unreleased demos, B-sides, rarities, DVDs and the long-sought-after fan favorite track from the time period, “She Couldn’t,” among many other things. The multiple configurations of the boxed set -- including a Super Deluxe Edition with 5 CDs, 3 LPs and 3 DVDs -- will be released on Friday (Oct. 9); in addition, Sirius XM has launched a limited-run music channel “Linkin Park Radio” on Oct. 5 to commemorate the anniversary.

“It’s a nice time to pause and think and focus on what it took to make that record, the impact it had, and the opportunity it allowed us to continue with our careers,” Hahn tells Billboard. “For me, it’s a testament to the camaraderie between all the guys in the band, to our friendship, to our work ethic, to the values in how we approached not just making music, but the business of making music, and the way we interact with our fans.”

In separate interviews, Shinoda and Hahn shared their memories of all 12 songs on the standard edition of Hybrid Theory, from the biggest hits that the album spawned to the deep cuts that hold a special place in their hearts. Check out their track-by-track remembrance of Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory below.

1. “Papercut”

MIKE SHINODA: To me, the two songs that were the most important were “Papercut” and “In The End.” “Papercut” was all of the identity of the band packed into one song. Even the fact that it started with that beat, and it went straight into a double-time bouncy rap with heavy guitars, the fact that Chester was rapping with me on the chorus -- you can’t even hear him because of the mix, it sounds like it’s just him but it’s actually both of us.

When you got to the bridge, that soaring, huge vocal! And we didn’t come back to a chorus at the end of it, it was a unique song structure. I feel like it checked a lot of the boxes in terms of what the band was really about. And we knew, from the moment we had the song, we knew it needed to open the album.

JOE HAHN: “Papercut” at the time was one of my favorites. We were really trying to mash up styles, and I think we did that pretty successfully. The idea of bringing the breakbeat element that hip-hop has, I think we got pretty cool vibe when we intertwined the guitar riffs with the drum break on that song. The album’s called Hybrid Theory because it represents that ideal.

SHINODA: There was a weird thing with the singles on this album. Technically, there were three singles: it was “One Step Closer,” “Crawling” and “In The End.” And then there was a European single, which was “Papercut.” The reason was that “Crawling” was still going strong at radio in the States, but the European radio market moves faster, so they’d already burned through two singles and they needed a third one. [The label] basically wanted to time it out so that the European market had a third single, and then we could go worldwide with “In The End.” They were like, “We want everything to culminate with ‘In The End,’” and the momentum ended up working out that way.

2. “One Step Closer”

SHINODA: In choosing Don Gilmore as a producer, we were really hesitant. Don had more of these radio-alternative songs, and we knew that he would get that part of our sound right, but he knew nothing about hip-hop. Not a thing! And he said that to us when he met with us. He was like, ‘Here’s the deal, the part of your sound that I can’t contribute to is the hip-hop part. I know that’s a big part of your thing. But I like how you do it, so I will try to just get out of the way in terms of the beats and raps and stuff, I will leave that to you.’ And we were like, ‘Okay!’ And that worked out great, because we didn’t know how to mic up and engineer a rock band in the studio. We didn’t know how to arrange, how to multi-track guitar and vocals, in a way that sounded like what we heard on the radio that we loved. So that was all us learning from Don.

As we got into it, we did have these real tense points of conflict, because since he was hands-off on some of the creative in terms of letting us dictate how the hybrid was supposed to work, when somebody from the label came in and said, “I don’t like what they’re doing with mashing up these things,” or if they came in and said “I’m not sure about the rapping,” then all of a sudden Don couldn’t definitively defend it. He was like, “Uh, okay, well, that’s what the band thinks sounds good!” The power struggle became part of what making that album was. Some of the intensity and frustration you hear on the album is specifically album-related.

“One Step Closer” was me and Chester literally writing about Don. We were so mad at him. The ‘shut up’ riff was literally Chester screaming at Don. We were losing our minds. At that point in the process, it was just like, why don’t you trust us? This is our album. Our A&R guy doesn’t have to have his f--king name on the front of the CD, and play this music onstage everyday. We knew, if we put anything on this record that we don’t like or that we’re not feeling, we’re gonna have to live with it. Like, this is our career!

HAHN: I feel like, at that time, that was our loudest song, which turned into the first single. In making that record, we weren’t completely understood by the record label, mainly because there was a categorization of what bucket you fit in. Being a rock band but trying to have a firm foundation with our hip-hop and electronic influence that we bring to the music. The formats were alternative rock and active rock at the time. I remember the label at one point asked us to have less rapping, and less scratching. If you actually listen to the radio edits of that song from when it first came out, they took out the scratching on the bridge of the song, which I found kind of annoying and unnecessary.

SHINODA: The “shut up” part in the bridge, I know one of my reference points was “F--k you, I won’t do what you tell me” [from Rage Against The Machine’s "Killing in the Name"], and we wanted a part like that in one of our songs. And we were in the studio writing and re-writing “One Step Closer,” and eventually we got so mad that Chester was just writing words down about how mad he was at Don for making us rewrite s--t. And eventually he wrote down “Shut up” and I was like, “What if the bridge is just ‘Shut up’? What if it’s simpler than anything we’ve said so far?” Because we were just writing out lyrics. And he was like, “I think that’s gonna sound awesome!”

We went in and told Don, “Put up ‘One Step Closer,’ we wanna record the bridge.” He was like “Well, tell me what it is.” And we go, “No no no, it’s better if we just record it. Listen to it in its full concept.” [laughs] And Don was like, jumping up and down. I think he figured out eventually that the whole song was about him. At least in part -- it wasn’t just about him, but part of it was inspired by how frustrated we were with him.

3. “With You”

HAHN: We worked with the Dust Brothers on that -- previous to that, they did [Beastie Boys’] Paul’s Boutique, so they were definitely a part of our history of music. They basically gave us a bunch of stems from an unused remix that they had, so we constructed that into the song. Some of the sounds at the beginning, like that ‘Dun-dun. DUN,’ some of the loops and drum breaks in there are from them.

I remember being really excited at that time, working with them, because it just represented a new way of making music, re-assembling parts that sounded cool into something totally different. It was fun to do that in a collaborative fashion.

SHINODA: I always liked “With You”! It was more ‘of the time,’ it was very nu-metal, so for better or worse, that’s what that was really about. I really like Joe’s parts on it. I like the production, the beats and stuff that I did -- we had a lot of back-and-forth about the production on it.

4. “Points of Authority”

SHINODA: There are a couple references on “Points of Authority” that are interesting. The vocal scat thing that I do on the intro, that’s really inspired by the Roots and Black Thought. I heard him doing that on Illadelph Halflife, and I just thought there was something so cool about that. And I thought it would mix well with the scratching, so we kind of did this back-and-forth with those things. The guitar line of the song was originally completely different -- I think we actually included the original riff, the original version of the song, on our boxed set for Hybrid Theory. But at some point we realized that the original guitar riff was really basic, so I went into Pro Tools and chopped it up, and moved the pieces around just to experiment with how it could sound, and I treated it like a sample off a record.

The song didn’t have the current chorus for a long time -- we basically wrote that chorus while we were in the studio with Don, because we decided it needed something melodic but we didn’t want it to be too soft, so we opted for this really simple, two-chord yelling-shouting melodic part.

HAHN: I direct the majority of the music videos, so I had a lot of fun making that one [for a version of the song on the band's 2002 remix album Reanimation]. We story-boarded that whole video, and worked with an animation team in L.A., and went, “Let’s just create this world, and it’s gonna be this race against this race, and they’re battling it out.” I remember I was referencing Saving Private Ryan, and looking at a lot of anime, and the dynamics of things blowing up. It was so fun, because I had this crazy idea, and everyone was like, “Okay! Go do it!” And they let me do it!

5. “Crawling”

SHINODA: The “One Step Closer” video, we had a very modest budget for that, and we had never made a video before. So when it was time to do a second video, we had a little more money, and I think the label was really instrumental at that point in helping us find a really good team to make a good video. And Joe started to get more confident about asserting himself in the process -- during “Crawling,” he really got in there, and probably learned a lot, and asked a ton of questions. But it came out great, the video was really an important part in introducing people to the band.

HAHN: “One Step Closer” is a pretty aggressive song, and it’s not very sweet-sounding by any means. When “Crawling” came out [as the second single], it represented a different side of what we do, intertwining something very intimate with an outpouring of emotion in the chorus and bridge, and even with some screaming. We always tried to play with what works, with the music and the dynamic of the vocal that Chester and Mike would bring to the table. Funny thing too, because the first song was such a big deal at the time -- and then we come out with “Crawling,” which is more of a softer side of what we do. I think if you got the album, you really understood it, but people that didn’t were like, “How does this song have anything to do with that other song?”

SHINODA: We won a Grammy for “Crawling,” for best hard rock performance, and at the time I didn’t know the difference between “hard rock song” and “hard rock performance,” since they had Grammys for both. And eventually I was like, “Oh, this is a Grammy for Chester’s vocal.” Like, it was a great recording, but if we really want to be super honest, the reason we got that Grammy was because of Chester’s performance on that song was bananas. It was so insane! I don’t think I’ve ever heard him sing like that. And it’s just that extra fierceness in his vocal that we captured that day. Just once in a while, he would walk in with that going on in his voice, and we knew we had to record as many things as possible whenever that happened. [laughs] It was like, can we please do five songs that day?

6. “Runaway”

SHINODA: “Runaway” was originally a song called “Stick and Move,” and the lyrics were really trite, but it was super bouncy and fun to play. At all of our early shows, that was basically our big song -- people who would come to our shows for the first time, we would talk to them afterwards and mention that song. So we always thought, this is an important song to get right in the studio. And once we had some of the other songs starting to take shape, we were like, “Oh no, one of our best songs is now one of our worst songs.” We thought we had this gem, and now it’s turning to be kind of a mess.

We completely disassembled the song and re-wrote it. We kept the chords and some of the drum grooves, but added a bunch of new stuff to it, and rewrote all the lyrics, and it became “Runaway.”

HAHN: There was definitely this thing we were doing repeatedly, just trying to master the song structures, going from lulls to reaching climaxes back to the lull. This song represented that formula that we mastered before we started to explore different ways of writing songs. If you break it down, it’s much simpler than some of the later music.

SHINODA: “Runaway” is funny, because some people think that it was a single from the album, but that’s just because a bunch of radio stations started playing it without us even promoting it as a song or doing a video. It was just a time when everyone was so enamored with the album and the band that they would just play album cuts. It was unbelievable.

7. “By Myself”

HAHN: That was one of the songs that we carried over [from early demos], too. I remember it being like this quiet-to-loud, really cool vibe, going from almost a whisper to grabbing your shirt. I think it had a lot of conviction, and when we played it live it definitely had that vibe where people were just amped up from listening to it.

SHINODA: “By Myself” was our attempt to do the softest verses and every other parts of the song be the nastiest, loudest sounds we can. And so it was drawing more from like, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, than some of the more nu-metal stuff.

I remember doing the demos for that song in my apartment in Glendale, in the L.A. area, and my neighbor just f--king hated me. The walls were paper-thin, Chester’s screaming the chorus, and they must have thought we were murdering somebody in the room. We were both just shouting, and I’m going, “No, LOUDER!” [laughs] And my neighbors would bang on the wall at 10 PM every night to tell us that it was time to go to bed, basically. And thus, we would record all the way up ’til 10, and then you’d hear a thumping on the wall. We’ve got our headphones on, we’re doing our thing, and they’re literally punching the wall, trying to get our attention and tell us to shut the f--k up.

HAHN: The album is full of these moments like the one where Mike is saying “By myself,” and then Chester goes, “MYSELLLLLF!” That’s what was kind of magical about Mike and Chester as frontmen, partners and co-vocalists -- to have that sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde type moment. Two vocalists that could pull that off together really made us stand out from everyone else.

8. “In The End”

SHINODA: We had a bunch of tracks that we really liked, but we knew we needed something else that was a next-level kind of song. And I was having this moment of, I knew it was on me, I had to find it. I locked myself in our rehearsal studio on Hollywood and Vine -- back when Hollywood and Vine was like, drug addicts and prostitutes everywhere, so you wouldn’t just want to go in and out of there. Once it got to be about 7 o’clock, I went in there and locked the door and stayed overnight. There’s no windows or anything, I didn’t know what time of day it was. I wrote all night, and I ended up with “In The End” in the morning.

Our drummer Rob was the first one to show up that afternoon and I played it for him, and he absolutely lit up. He said something to the effect of, “I was dreaming, imagining that we needed a melodic song that took us to the next level, where the chorus was just the undeniable thing. This is the song. You made the song that I would have imagined.” So that was the first endorsement, and then after that, everybody we played it for had a similar excitement about it.

HAHN: We knew that we needed more melody. We knew we needed to round out what we were doing. People don’t want to be screamed at for a full record -- well, some people do. But everything from the melodies to the piano that loops... we write a lot of music, and for each album, there’s probably at least a hundred song ideas, sometimes double that. Sometimes there’s these magical moments where all of the elements come together perfectly at the same time. This is one of those ‘eureka’ moments.

SHINODA: The only part that we had a lot of drama around was my rap verses -- my original verses were okay, but our A&R guy at the time was really an insecure guy all around, and he kept going around to everybody else asking what they thought about the rap verses on that song. He’d play them and go, “These aren’t right, don’t you think?” And it was like, setting them up to pick something apart. He was the one who suggested that I not rap in the band, that I just be the keyboard player or whatever. Thankfully the guys, and Chester in particular, came to my rescue on that one.

9. “A Place For My Head”

SHINODA: “A Place For My Head” used to be called “Esaul,” and that was one of the earliest songs -- it might have been on the first demo that me and my friend Mark Wakefield made, when the band was just the two of us. And it went through different iterations to this version, but it was always a favorite. I think when it got recorded in the studio for Hybrid Theory, it was one of those scenarios where the song was already something we liked, but then when it was recorded the energy went up a lot, and it became a song that we always closed our shows with, either that or “One Step Closer.”

HAHN: For a while we were making these songs that had this outpouring of energy which would get people to mosh. I think that was our goal: to somehow lyrically and musically convey this feeling of frustration and tension, almost like you’re stuffing a bottle full of those emotions and then you’re shaking it up until it explodes. I think that song does that very well.

10. “Forgotten”

SHINODA: “Forgotten” was the other one that started as a demo with me and Mark. That one was called “Rhinestone” at the time. Both of these demos in their original versions are on Hybrid Theory 20, and we got Mark’s begrudging approval to put them on, with his voice and everything.

HAHN: That was cool, because back then, we were just putting parts together that fit. When I hear that song, I hear the ingredients, in a way that a chef might eat a dish and pick apart the different ingredients, in a very simple but elegant kind of way. It felt great to come out with a product at the end that represented exactly what we were trying to do at that moment.

SHINODA: As a side note, with the Hybrid Theory 20 release, we didn’t mix or re-mix any of the songs. It’s just a mastered version of the original cassette demo. People have asked a couple of times if we ever wanted to do a remaster, and the technology of mastering hasn’t changed a lot between Hybrid Theory and now. I remember telling everyone else who would listen [while making it], “I’ve got a subwoofer and an amp in the trunk of my car, I want to be able to put this record on right after Timbaland and Dr. Dre and have it thump just as much as those records. It needs to have the shape of a rap record.”

11. “Cure For The Itch”

HAHN: Mike had this really cool beat idea, those strings that were on the song. We really liked the feeling of it, but it wasn’t a song. I was like, “What if we put a beat to it, and an intro that I can scratch on?” We took the approach of making it a musical journey, and have it lean more on the DJ side of things. It gives a nice pause to the intensity of the album.

SHINODA: Joe and I loved DJ Shadow and Aphex Twin and so much of the electronic and trip-hop stuff that was coming out back then. One thing that happened when that community butted up against the DJ community is that there was a sense of humor that came through -- DJ crews, when they did their sets, they’d throw in little things that made you laughs. That’s why “Cure For The Itch” is a little bit lighter. It’s kind of flexing in terms of the beat production, but it has a little bit of a sense of humor. We wanted to give Joe a little bit of a spotlight track. We thought it’d be fun for him and that the fans would love it, so it’s very much a Joe experience.

12. “Pushing Me Away”

SHINODA: “Pushing Me Away” was like, basically we were really happy with how “Crawling” came out, so we were like, “Let’s do another melodic song like that!”

HAHN: That’s another one of those ballad-y songs, that’s like one of those conversations ... In recent years we brought it back into our live set, as an a cappella/acoustic version, because it was never a single but we really loved that song. I think that struck a chord with all the fans that loved Hybrid Theory.

[palbabor-writes]

Shota’s Cool Times Summer Jamz Mix

But for real, this is a Class 1-A Character Analysis, but with their music choices! 

So it’s editing day, and @albinoburrito​ and I got a little off track. It started with, what do you think Bakugo would listen to? And then it just spiraled out of control. 

So, here it is. Shota’s Cool Times Summer Jamz Mix

Izuku: Indie music, general pop, his dad’s old classic rock albums - was especially excited when he found out that All Might also listens to classic rock and uses it for his workouts. He prolly made like 20 new playlists after that and always tries to play them on the down low when All Might is training with him. He fucking loves it when All Might is like, “oh! I love this song”. Or, asks for him to turn the volume up. Has done some low fi for studies, but that’s really the only time he does it. He likes Young the Giant, MGMT, Alt-J, Strfkr and bands like The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison fill out most of his workout playlists.

Bakugo: Honestly, he doesn’t have any hard and fast preferences. If he likes things he SoundHounds them and moves on. He can cultivate playlists, but it’s not like he’s Kaminari level, having playlists for any and all activities. I do feel like he would lean more toward rap & hip hop titles. As well alt and alt rock. No fucking scream-o, or Eminem, please and thank you. Artists like: Childish Gambino, Travis Scott, Drake, blackbear, Missio, NCT 127, and Jaden’s Icon. However, he does have one low key, wind down playlist with sad, sappy songs that he had to immediately lock when the others found his Spotify. Shit like Band of Horses, Lord Huron, and Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish.

Sero: Indie and indie bops: i.e. Loud Pipes by Ratatat. Some rap & hip hop. Maybe upbeat alternative jams. He strikes me as a Gorillaz fan. He’s good at making playlists, he’s better at the low key ones. Things that you can comfortably listen to and don’t mind them. He doesn’t overthink this. If you hand him the aux you’re never upset. You’ll get bands like: Two Door Cinema Club, Passion Pit, St. Lucia, COIN and Coast Modern.

Kaminari: The KING of cultivated playlists. Like, has one for every occasion. Need something for a party that your parents will also attend? Cross generational? He’s got you. Pump up jams for specific people? He made them like a week ago and has choices. Makes playlists for certain people, but won’t give them out unless you actually want them, or ask him. Yes, he made one for Shinso after that training battle. No, he hasn’t worked up the courage to show him yet. Personal preference: he’s into all the latest pop & he keeps up with artists and tends. For upbeat playlists he goes for: Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Maroon 5 and Major Lazer. For low key playlists his go to are: NIKI, Khalid, KALEO, Transviolet, Noah Cyrus, and Bea Miller. His favorite artists waffle. They change rapidly. He loves them one week, but next week he’s got a new fav. He also likes the Jpop scene.

Mina: Hip Hop QUEEN. If it’s got a good beat she is all over it. MUST be a banger. She has mood banger playlists. Like, Kamanari, she’s got some good playlist cultivation skills. She’s also who you want to go to for road trip & sing along playlists. My girl loves a good upbeat “friendship,” playlist. She has a soft spot for some indie bands, i.e, MisterWives, Lorde & Billie Eilish. For her everyday listening needs she is all about: Run the Jewels, Lil Nas X, Quinn XCII, Logic, Calvin Harris, Nicki Minaj and Bhad Bhabie.

Jiro: She listens to all most everything. Massive, massive music pallet. Her family was always big on diversifying her musical tastes. Never let yourself be limited or judgmental because it’s not what you usually listen to. That said, she super big into rock and alt rock. She really like to follow bands. Like Paramour, Panic at the Disco. Bands that have shifted and changed over time. She admires that skill. Jiro cultivates playlists that are super specific and poetic. You know, those concept playlists that are like: enchanting, serene. You are laying in an abandoned castle and you’ve never felt this content and at peace. You are one with the universe, never in your life... Like that shit that’s like a paragraph long and you don’t even understand why, like, why is it so long? And so, specific? She’s got that shit locked down on Spotify. Mina found hers once, ONCE, and she tightened that security seconds later. She loves to listen to: Fleetwood Mac, The Zombies, Joni Mitchell, Terror Jr, Woodkid, Foo Fighters and David Bowie. Literally, she likes everything. Equal opportunity music listener. If it feels good it’s going in a playlist and that playlist is turning into a poem.

Tokoyami: 100% listens to GOTH rock - POST PUNK jams. Don’t @ him. It’s just his vibe k? Siouxsie and the Banshees shit, The Cured, The Smiths, and some good ole’ Evanescence. The darker the better, Revelry in Dark y’all. He’s a sucker for rock opera, that epic extra shit, but it’s also low key embarrassing. He wants no one to know of this. Like if you find it, go away and leaf him alone. Also, never speak of this again. He’s redacted, he’s not even on this list. You didn’t see this.

Iida: Oh my king, he likes some of that Bastille, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, One Republic in his playlists. Low key, alt rock. Good ole’ safe, alt rock. But, he does like some pop songs. Not that he will talk to you about that. When he’s with his folks he likes to masquerade as a classic rock buff. But he’s bluffing pretty hard. He’s working on that with Izuku. He’ll get there you guys. He knows his brother loves it so he’s trying his BEST. For his pump up work outs he does go for that DAFT PUNK techno.

Aoyama: Oh. My. God. He loves flashy bands. Fucking Glam rock all the way. He’s also super, super up to date on the French hip hop and pop scene. Into people like Yelle, Phoenix, Soprano, Ayama Kamura, Stromae. Loves ELO just for the sheer operatic value. ABBA all the way baby. Anything exciting and anything that makes him feel invigorated. His playlists are a little scattered. He really just tosses whatever he’s vibing on in them.

Kirishima: You already know, why are you even looking here? He’s got the manliest playlists. When he was younger it was like, all alt rock, edgy stuff. Once he got to UA he cleansed that pallet. Not that he don’t go back to those playlists sometimes, but he’s also wanting to move on from those feelings. Now? He’s all about that positive rock babyyy. Anything that has a good, upbeat feeling he’s down for. He’s really looking for those VIBES. Things that get him pumped up and ready to go. Bands like: The Bleachers, The Mowgli’s, Banners, Jukebox The Ghost. Just real positive stuff, man. He also dips into classic rock for his workouts. If he feels like that rap song works with his workout jams it’s going in and he’s cranking it up. He totally found Bakugo’s sadboi playlist and immediately told him, hey, man, I have one of those too, emotions amiright? This is why Bakugo private locked his entire account HARD. Look what you did, Kirishima, you can’t see ANY of it now.

Uraraka: My girl likes pop. That bubble gum shit. But, she’s also has a superrrr hardcore rap playlist for her workouts, like, it’s kinda confusing. Mina found that playlist first and was like ????? I-Is this you? Like this playlist has DMX, Jedi Mind Tricks, Kanye, LL Cool Jay, A$ap Rocky, like, some tunes that get her GOING. But, she loves that cute Jpop and Kpop. She’s got tons of road jam playlists. Those you can put on and everyone is like, ooooooh, this song!!! She’s also has like 3 Disney playlists, for different moods. She also loves Girl in Red, Louis the Child, Hailee Steinfeld, and Mitski.

Todoroki: He...doesn’t have much experience with music cultivation. Like, he knows some songs, he didn’t live under a rock, but he also kinda did...so, that stunted him, in more ways than one. Thanks Endeavor. But, thanks to his classmates, he is starting to get the hang of this. He over thinks this stuff. Like, this music must speak to him. From Iida he likes Bastille, from Uraraka he likes King Princess, From Izuku he’s learned to love Grizzly Bear, and he really, really likes the playlist that Kaminari made for him. He’s leaning heavily on it to find some more tunes for his own small collection. He also learned that he loves anything that is hard rap as well. Especially if he can play it in front of Endeavor. You know, the ones are like, you didn���t fucking pay your child support, you ass. That aggressive, angry rap: Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, J. Cole, 21 Savage and Montana of 300. It’s to make his father as uncomfortable as he possibly can be.

Tsuyu: Fucking rainforest and ambient noises. Not really, but also actually. She likes calming sounds, ok? Everyone was like, this is a joke, don’t be ridiculous and then she showed them her playlist of rain sounds. I mean, you go girl. But really, her collection is mostly pop songs, she likes them easy going. Much like her fighting and hero style, she is the glue that holds things together with the class in terms of music selection. Kinda of the bridging gap. Music that you just can’t complain about. Besides, why would you? What’s wrong with you? It’s Froppy. She and Uraraka often find themselves overlapping on their upbeat indie pop playlists, stuff like: Sara Bareilles, Oh Wonder, Kygo, Kero Kero Bonito, Taylor Swift, MARINA, and Regina Spektor. She did find Uraraka’s rap playlist and didn’t....approve. Did not want to use it for their joint workout. No, thank you.

Ojiro: Oh, you don’t get enough screen time son. You really don’t. He’s very low key. Into some indie stuff, like: Lumineers, Local Natives, Morningsiders, Manchester Orchestra, Vampire Weekend. He likes acoustic sounds, really down to earth. Once again, you cannot complain whenever he gets to select the music. Izuku especially approves when he plays his music because he always finds something new. For his workouts he prefers some heavy, heavy rock. You know, when you get to wail the shit out of stuff with your tail. He’s playing that Five Finger Death Punch in his MIND.

Koda: Nature sounds. Honestly. Full. Stop. Dead-ass he is living for artists like Corrine Bailey Rae, Hozier, Alesia Cara, Adele, and Maggie Rogers. He’s also got that Kacey Musgraves and Florence + The Machine on LOCK. Anything that feels ethereal and light is right up his alley. He likes it a little spooky sometimes. He does have a killer Halloween playlist, but he hasn’t ever quite worked up the courage to play it for his classmates. Oh. Also, listens to Enya un-ironically. He also might have a repeat problem with Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek.  

Sato: He’s into new bands that I don’t even fucking listen to. He loves him some alt rock too. But, he’s not above that classic rock. He just likes stuff that he can head bang to. Not a metal head, but low key IS a metal head. Stuff like: Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me The Horizon, Highly Suspect, Royal Blood, The Smashing Pumpkins. He also has a wonderful baking playlist. Like 1950’s crooners. Think Dorris Day, The Ink Spots, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, and Frankie Valli.

Momo: Classical. Moving on. But really, she loves a good brain playlist with musicians, cuz they aren’t artists to her, they have a specific name for the work that they do: Bach, Debussy, Beethoven, Strauss, and some Tchaikovsky...some of his stuff is too much, even for her. She is starting to broaden her tastes. She really loves Sato’s baking playlist, those 50’s and 60’s beats are right up her alley. Jiro is slowly getting her to try out some pop and low key alt rock bands too. She’s growing and learning, y’all.

Toru: POP. That Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera MOUSE CLUB STUFF. She likes sing-alongs. Like has 20 Disney playlists and is always, always down to do a Grease playlist. You honestly feel attacked by how upbeat and peppy her playlists are, ATTACKED BY A GOOD TIME. It’s teen bop pop all the way here folks, no need to dig too deeply into it. She likes: Lizzo, Beyoncé, T. Swift, but like, leans into her hard, she is a swifter head, or whatever it’s called...Arizona, Carly Rae Jepson, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Harry Styles, Katy Perry, and Kesha among the millions of others.

Shoji: This guy. He loves him some alt rock. He, like Ojiro, needs more screen time. He likely listens to lofi playlists fully. Like, not in the way Izuku just listens to them when he’s studying, but like, for fun. Like he actually GETS them, you know? He likes bands like: Cage the Elephant, Beck, Broken Bells, Modest Mouse, The Killers, Neon Trees and Grouplove. For real tho, he needs more screen time.

Aaaaaaaand Mineta: He needs less screen time. Thank you your honor, I rest my case. Um, but like, he’s down for that dirty rap. Like, the slimier the better. If it’s ass, money, pussy, he’s on it. Big Sean is his hero. He thinks the Weekend is the best singer known to man. If this upsets you, I am sorry. I love him too, but sometimes we gotta face the truth. Mineta loves, loves, loves the Weekend. He’s also super down on the Megan Thee Stallion train. Oh, and Cardi B too. He also likes Tyga and Sage the Gemini. These are his top pics. His current ringtone is WAP and Aizawa nearly snapped his phone in half when he heard that go off in his classroom.

Bonus: 

- Aizawa: Yes, he has heard WAP. He’s literally attached at the hip to a dj and you know Midnight and Present Mic were all over that song when it was released. Those two tried to do that tiktok choral rendition of it. It didn’t go well. But seriously, this man likes a little bit of everything. He’s a no-fuss, low key guy and his music tastes are the same. He likes alternative and indie the most. Some of that: Sylvan Esso, Silversun Pickups, The Black Keys, The Flaming Lips, The Strokes, Cake, Incubus, and the Deftones. While he has no time to cultivate playlists, he does have a grading playlist that he quickly threw together. It helps him to zone in and work. Yes, Present Mic likes to add funky shit to it, just to ruffle his feathers. In the worst universe, slash in THIS universe, Aizawa was too lazy to get his own Spotify and he shares one with Present Mic. That poor algorithm has no idea what to recommend. He’s just waiting for that cease and desist letter from Spotify’s fraud department. Any day now.

Alright! Hope ya’ll liked it. Lemme know if you want more. We kinda started on one for the LOV, but it’s not finished just yet. In other news, we WILL edit the new chapter of “Look Upon the Light” tonight, don’t worry, we’ll be good. It should be out in the next few days.