#it was a good piece to learn how to play diff parts together and as a warm up

[cuz-reasons]

Why the FUCK to I still know my part to this one song we did in music class in gr9

[lemonlurkrr]

@aureateart​ ok. My favourite parts of twilight princess  (and some other random thoughts about TP sprinkled in there) taken from my monster TP word vomit google doc :

Link lmao

Ok but for real, I like this incarnation of Link :)

I love Ordon (it just seems like such a chill and cozy village)

ALSO love how easy it is to interpret Link as being a sort of older brother figure to the Ordon kiddos. It’s just,, super cute? AND GHHH nice nice good thanks nintendo for giving me characters to care about/characters that I can imagine Link caring about

He didn’t sign up for any of this (tbh, none of the Links really signed up for this jshdjsd). But I mean like, dude was just going to take a trip to castle town, drop a gift off for the royal family, and come back. But haHA oopsies he did get to castle town eventually but definitely not the way he expected hsjdhsd

He’s just a little dude?

AND FUCK. HE REALLY HAD NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF ORDON UNTIL ALL OF THAT

everything is new for the player AND Link

Midna

She’s cool :)

she really just

*teleports into your jail cell* hello whore.

I am no master at writing but AYYYY she do got a character arc!!!

She was actually pretty helpful sometimes, I ALWAYS checked in with her before turning to a game guide

Other NPCs

NICE

Love all of the TP character designs (ASHEI’S ARMOUR??? AOWOAOAOOAO)

Saving Zelda and all of Hyrule was important yea but thinking back maybe it was more like, the Ordonians and the kids were what was pushing Link to keep on going

I like the Resistance members :) Very video gamey of them to have one NPC assigned to each dungeon but hey!!! Kinda cool getting to see a little glimpse of each of em

Idk, it’s just fun to imagine Link popping into Telma’s bar after each dungeon and taking a little rest :) (or to celebrate? maybe just chat, idk, give this man some downtime!!)

Honestly it was just kind of nice that Link wasn’t entirely alone. I mean, I know Midna was there the whole time, but I am always for giving Link a big group of friends (see my love for hyrule warriors, age of calamity, and LU LMAO)

Hero’s shade, very very cool, kinda sad he died with regrets but HEY. He got to pass on his knowledge eventually

AND the connection to OoT?? AND assumed to be related by blood too????? GOOD SHIT

Ilia, I REALLY really wanted to like her (er, it’s not like I dislike her, she’s just,,, kinda there for me).

It definitely seems like Nintendo was pushing to make her the romantic interest, but GHHHHH they really threw that out of the window for me by having her lose her memories

I saw a text post a while ago that said it would have been interesting if Ilia was Link’s sister instead and YES!! That would have been cool too :0

Wish we got to know Zelda a little more

I feel like we barely know anything about her

Idk man, like I said earlier, I never really had any sort of drive to save Zelda during my playthroughs

She obviously knows Midna, so maybe if they gave us just a little bit more of that relationship I’d be more interested in her?

TP WORLD BUILDINGGGG

Botw has good world building too, but each race felt kinda,,, isolated? I absolutely love the different architecture and vibe each town has (and all the the weapons too) but ghhh yea everyone felt so separated. As far as I can remember, we don’t see tooo much of the races interacting with each other? Now that I’m typing that out maybe that’s to be expected because of the calamity but KLSJDKJFD ANYWAYS THIS IS ABOUT TP

The world feels nice and alive, love how populated everything is

Castle town I like castle town a lot, it feels dense and busy and I really like how you can’t talk to every NPC you see

Very cool very fun that we got to see the Gorons hanging out in multiple spots

kinda wish we got to see the Zoras a little more (I guess they are a bit limited since they need water but GHHHH the tp zoras are so prebby,,)

BUT HEY, I do remember seeing a zora or two hanging out in the hot springs around death mountain after beating the lakebed temple (I think, might have been a different dungeon) 

but aaaa would have been nice to see them in at least a couple of other places. I think it would have really added to the “congrats Link!! You’re restoring peace to Hyrule” feeling you get from seeing the Gorons hanging out in Kakariko and Castle Town

ORDON

Love how chill it is and how it’s kind of separate from Hyrule proper

They really do seem to be doing their own thing apart from the rest of Hyrule

Just kinda adds onto the “he’s just a regular dude minding his own business” kind of vibes I get from TP Link

Also I like Ordona :)

THE LIGHT SPIRITS,,

Love their design

And love how they’re not exactly like a pure white?

Different spirit representing each aspect of the triforce my beloved

But yes hi I think Ordona is very cool

Who are you, how did you get here, which goddess do you represent? Do you even represent one of the three golden goddesses? Do the Ordonians know about you? Have any of them ever SEEN you??? Do they worship you? Does anybody even know about the existence of the light spirits?? FUCK so many questions but ghhh I like how they broke the status quo a bit by throwing in a fourth spirit :)

I feel like this one is kinda weird but I like that voice sample they used in the light spirit music. It’s spooky and pretty at the same time :)  

cutscenes mmmmm

Ok ok, the spooky lanayru cutscene is very good

BUT THE “Link, Chosen Hero! Lend us the last of your power!” CUTSCENE MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVE IT SO MUCH

IT just

Idk man

It just hit different

I like the music

And seeing the light spirits swimming around in the light juice water whatever it is

Summoning the light arrows?

AND HHHHH “Lend us the last of your power!” THIS IS IT. This is the final battle.

Seeing Zelda bow down, and then Link putting his hand out 👌👌👌

Link: ok bud, let’s do this together :)

Connection to OoT (did I already mention this? Maybe., Whatever)

Very cool nintendo :)

I love seeing connections between all the diff zelda games.

Because like, on one hand, they’re all separate from each other because of yknow, individual hero stuff. BUT ALSO, they’re all connected because of the reincarnation stuff

Grrrr walking through the sacred grove and going “The Hero of Time walked around here a long time ago” FUCK THATS SO COOL

Is the Hero’s Shade watching me? What does he think of me? DIsappointed? Proud? The Hero of Time went through HELL so this timeline didn’t have to deal with any of the shit Ganon was gonna pull with the triforce, better not fuck this UP Link!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Midlink is cute

Kinda hurts that she smashed the mirror but that was probably so Nintendo didn’t have to worry about people going “but what about the twili??????” for any of the other games LMAO

BUT ALSO LIKE SKJDKLJFJ There are some pretty massive plot holes in TP anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatever it’s fine we’ll just use this for angst because GOD do y’all like angst

So is Shadlink

Honestly don’t know where this ship came from but it’s cute so whatever

THE MUSIC??

Love Midna’s theme and how they referenced the dark world theme from ALttP (I remember trying to learn the dark world theme on the piano and doing the Leonardo DiCaprio point meme at the little jingle I recognized from Midna’s theme)

Hyrule field theme SLAPS.

Apparently references a couple of the other over-world themes from the previous zelda games (I got this from 8-bit Music theory’s video on the over-world zelda themes, he talks about TP at around 11:40 but def recommend watching the whole video if you’re into music analysis stuff)

So there’s this bit of the Hyrule Field theme, I don’t know the official name for it but I remember seeing somewhere it being called the “at an advantage theme” since yeah, you hear it during the boss music whenever you expose their weak points. FUCKINGGG LOVE THAT. Didn’t notice it during my first playthrough, but hearing it during my second was like a little easter egg for my ears every time :)

Midna’s lament is very pretty (and fun to play on the piano)

COURAGE THEME.

I didn’t care for it too much when I started playing the game but hearing it in ZREO’s arrangement of the Hyrule Field theme literally makes me turn into a puddle of emotions. Also hearing it around and of the Ordon kids (I think it plays after Link saves Colin) AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Orchestra piece #1 and #2 HOLY SHIT???????????????? 

Literally, the first time I listened to those I just,,,, plugged in my headphones, volume 100, layed on the floor/against my desk and silently vibed. I don’t know what the hell it is, but those two just fit so well with TP?? I still avoid listening to them nowadays cause if I DO I definitely will get overwhelmed with the “god I love this game so FUCKING MUCH” kind of feels.

Wolf link sucks at singing

the first time I heard him howling Zelda’s Lullaby I lost my shit because LKSJLDKSGLKJFSKG god that was.,, Bad. Anyways, hearing him howl some of the songs from OoT was cute :)

TP STAFF ROLL??? 

VERY GOOD. IT’s like 10 minutes long and GOD do I love every single second of it. It doesn’t have the same energy as the skyward sword staff roll or the orchestra pieces but GOD does it hit good??

Nice and calm after that big exciting adventure. Maybe it would have been more fun or emotional to have a higher energy piece but it was really nice getting to sit back and watch the camera fly around Hyrule. Seeing like, the Gorons and the Zoras having a good time, the kids returning to Ordon? GOOD SHIT.

and AAAAA that end, when you hear the main Zelda theme and see Link riding off out of Faron woods on Epona… good shit. It gets you thinking, where the hell is he going? What is he doing? Off ot do more adventuring? Going to help out the resistance or something? Going to help Zelda? Or maybe he’s trying to figure out a way to restore the mirror of twilight? Whoooo knows.

hhHHHHhhh it’s just that final reminder that YES!!! YOU JUST PLAYED A ZELDA GAME. JUST ANOTHER STORY APART OF THE WHOLE EPIC OF THE ZELDA SERIES AS A WHOLE

I also want to acknowledge the instrument/samples they used for all the twili stuff.

They’re all just so unique and contrast SO well with the rest of the TP OST. LIKE FUCK!! Anytime I hear the screech from the Twilit Kargarok? Sends a shiver down my spine. I associate those sounds SO strongly with the twili realm. (Like, the same way you associate the BSHEWW VVWWMMM sounds with light sabers)

I love it so god damn much

literally any time there’s a certain sound or motif associated with something I lose my shit

Sacred grove sacred grove sacred gro-

lovely lovely lovely so much fun playing that on the piano. AND again, I did the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme when I heard the theme from the lost woods come in GHHHHHHHH

shoutout to TP Faron Woods for helping me study and get through all of my schoolwork

BLEGUUHHH can you tell that I really love music?

and also yea I guess TP is kinda cool too :\

IF YOU READ ALL OF THAT THANKS I GUESS

[scandeniall]

mirrors for friends ch//1

Pairing: TBD x reader (repost bc its not showing up in tags and ive had ppl check too sigh)

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Summary: Youre in a band, Mirrors For Friends with your college best friends Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Atsumu. They're chaotic, your chaotic but you guys are on your way to the top together. Check a/n at end.

warnings: This IS multichapter. recreational marijuana mention. Everyone is over 21, tags will be added as needed but they're adults what do you expect.

wc: 1253

Inspiring playlists (updated as i find stuff) Apple music | Spotify

Ch. 1 // Mirrors For Friends: The Intro

The air was a mixture of sounds. Instruments being prepped, jokes being thrown, random conversations and the occasional song that played in the background. Just another day in Mirrors For Friends, well for everyone except for you. Earplugs in and an eye mask on, you’d been laying on the dingy couch since you arrived at the bar hours prior. Of course you just had to get a migraine on a day where your band had a show. It was about two hours to showtime, and you were just as good as dead. For once, you were thankful that you had your bassist, Atsumu to cover at least some of your vocals.

Atsumu, Miya. The youngest member remains a complete pain in your ass, but you couldn't see your life without him in it. He was the life of the party, and had been your party buddy during your early 20s. The one always down for a good adventure. You could always rely on him to tell you the honest truth, although it had taken a while to get past his overly blunt nature. Once you did, you saw the resident “pretty boy” for the dork that he was. The one who gets pouts whenever the conversation is moving too fast and he can’t think of a retort fast enough. The one who absolutely melted at the sight of food and would even share some of his brother’s famous onigiri with you. When he's not plucking bass strings he works as an assistant volleyball coach for the local high school. Your love for your band mate had eventually replaced your first meeting with the basest. A meeting than ended in you wanting nothing more than to wipe his stupid smirk off with your fist. You had just started your second year of university, completely minding your business until a stray volleyball made its way to the back of your head. Before anyone could even apologize, you’d manage to throw a few curses at the group of rowdy boys. Your future band mate had come over to apologize but ended it with “maybe you should've been paying more attention.”  After flicking him off you never thought you’d see him again, until you were formally introduced by none other than your drummer.

Hajime, Iwaizumi. The drummer of Mirrors For Friends. The oldest member of your quartet. There was only one year between you and him, but two years between him and Atsumu. Iwa, is the backbone of the band. The most responsible one, having taken care of a drunk you more times than you’d like to admit. If your feet were ever hurting, he’d be the one to give you a piggy back. He definitely looked the most bad ass of you all, with two sleeves of tattoos. Despite that he has a soft spot for the band. He's the most responsible of the band, but you learned that despite that nature, he knew how to have fun. He’d definitely supplied an underage you with alcohol before. When he’s not playing with the band, he's a tattoo artist, and has tattoo’d every member of the band multiple times. In fact, he was the only person you trusted to tattoo you. You’d met him midway through your first year of university, when he was an apprentice. Despite being 19, he’d already had a full sleeve and a shiny eyebrow piercing. In his attempts to calm you down, you learned that he was only a year above you. He was definitely more calming than the jerk that had dragged you to the tattoo shop in the first place. That person being your guitarist.

Tetsurou Kuroo, the guitarist of Mirrors For Friends. He was one of the first people you’d met in university where he ended up being your across neighbor. You’d had your door open in an attempt to get some air circulation in the stuffy dorm, when he noticed your guitar. Full of stickers, it looked used and he was curious. After, finding out the two of you had a common interest in music, the two of you became best friends. He’d ended up being the brother you never asked for. His teasing is similar to Atsumu, however he knew how to keep up. You two became nearly inseparable. He was the member you tended to confide in first, because it was just natural. The one always down to just vibe. You remember the many nights spent in private study rooms, just writing and talking music together. You quickly found out that his writing skills were incredible, not only that but he had the best ear for composing of any of your band mates. Some of your favorite pieces came from writing sessions with just the two of you. When he isn’t antagonizing your band, he works as a TA for a science class at your university. He decided about a year ago to go back to school for a higher degree in biochemistry.

Then there was you. Lead singer, keyboardist, and occasional guitar player when you felt like it. At 26, you’d been in the band since you were 20, and you wouldn’t change it for the world. You loved writing, you loved performing and you loved your boys. Even now when you could feel napkins that you had no doubt were greasy pizza stained ones being thrown at you. It took for the fifth one to hit your forehead to finally sit up, removing both your earplugs and eye mask. Groaning at the combination of fluorescent lighting and noise you shot death glares at your band mates. Who were all miraculously just standing next to one another, pretending to have just been doing nothing but talking. “Would you three do me a favor, and drive off a fucking cliff.”

“I told them to stop,” is what Iwaizumi said, but the smirk on his face said he played a role just like your other idiots.”

“Dude you threw the last one!” Kuroo chimed in.

“Yeah well Atsumu started it”

“What the fuck Iwa- selling me out”

If it weren't for the pounding behind your eyes you might’ve been amused and the usual bickering between the boys. Afterall, it was never serious. If only you could enjoy it.

“Would the 3 overgrown toddlers shut up.” Burying your face into your hand’s you felt the couch dip beside you in the now empty space, and another voice picked up from across the room.

“Yo- what's with the attitude today,” your bassist questioned. He had settled himself on a smaller couch, eyes narrowed on your miserable form. Once he heard the mention of a migraine, his gaze softened. “Tsumu, I’m gonna need to to sing a little more today alright. '' The younger boy nodded, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. He mentioned something about going to look for a pen and paper, so you two could outline a plan and to make sure you had a stool for tonight.

“You wanna go smoke? It should help a little,” the body next to you moved and you looked up to see Kuroo, offering a hand.. “It’s a spot in the shade out back, c’mon.” You took the hand and before you could head out your last bandmade stopped you.

“I have enough time to go pick up some Advil and maybe some caffeine. Don’t smoke too much, you know how strong Kuroo’s shit is. We still have a show tonight.”

“Don’t worry daddy Iwa, I’ve got our beloved lead singer. We’ll be fine.”

-----

a/n: alright so i’ve been inspired by samwrites Elixir (which YES 100000/10 recommends) AND sam has had an anon talking band au’s lately AND i saw a msby band au edit on twitter so i cracked out my keyboard.

ok but seriously, idk which guy im gonna end up doing so for now itll just be band dynamics, and then whoever sparks my interest or whoever is voted on after a few parts will win. I did a randomizer, got a winner and started but then started feeling the other possibilities. Anyways whoever is not the chosen ones its just friendship, no love triangles and shit. But whoever wins, just know I have a potential plot for ALL ((((im just too un-dedicated and busy with summer college courses to actually fully commit to all of them)))

lastly, this is me again experimenting w/ diff ways of writing so bare with me AND if anyone cares i could make a taglist.

[wincore]

IT GETS BETTER WHEN I QUIT (╥_╥) until then i’ll just try my best 2 survive

“are you daring me to ruin my life for 2d men” yes 100% that’s exactly what i am saying. U GETTING 2D MEN BRAINROT... >>>>> ill seriously be waiting for the day 😌😌 atsumu is incredibly irritating u will love him. im going to manifest hq tiktok edits showing up in ur fyp JDJWJSJJ

OMGG i never watched coffee&vanilla but now i know not to so thank u LOL i can’t handle watching cringey dramas!! IM SO EXCITED FOR S2 TOO!! i’m not even a horror fan generally but the storyline was so different and mysterious i was hooked!! should i read the manga?? :o how diff would u say it was from the netflix adaptation?

NOO ME TOO!! watching a whole series takes so much brain power and attention 😭😭 esp when starting something new, sometimes i just don’t have the energy to learn abt new characters/a new world

I LOVE THE PREVIEW IM SO SO EXCITED!! “she wins mostly dw” WHEW!! we cannot have jaehyun winning this we can agree on 😫. LMFAOO WHEN I SAW DONGMIN I WAS LIKE :oooo No way.... no way.. that would hurt so bad for me 🙄🙄 perfect man is ur soulmate and u wont even end up together... goodbye.. (ok jaehyun u r ok as well i guess)

YES I REREAD 19K HDJWJJD IT WAS A POST-FINALS TREAT & U ARE AN ACTUAL AUTHOR!!!! also now im rlly curious abt what runway-taeyong’s yn will be like?!? esp in comparison to runway yn!!! give me crumbs pls

“i cannot picture him pissed off apart from that summer fight </3” STOPPPQJDJ ME TOO??? i think e2l with mark is impossible truly... it just doesnt make sense

“i love this characterization of him!!” IM SO GLAD LOL I WASNT SURE ABT MY WORDING!! sicheng rlly is perfect for these kinds of roles & im PUMPED for ceo sicheng for this very reason 👀👀

U HAD ME AT THEME SONG SINCERITY IS SCARY WTFFF!! “i don’t think i’m cut out to write that” i respect ur decision BUT im sure u are capable!!!! when u feel ready i will b here waiting bc i am in luv with just the vaguest concept of this piece! “so him having strong personality traits makes me go 🤔🤔 that man is overreacting” LMFAOOO NOT EVEN JK I AGREE... its disorienting to see him written as intense/broody when most of the time he’s just kinda has one main mode which is 🙂

YESSS FIC WISE BC OF U!!! im in the same boat abt it not working irl, i think if i had beef with a man i would just never interact with them ever again.... no man is worth the time... we are not gonna beef it out we will just cease to know each other. BUT YES BOTH TROPES WORK BETTER IN FIC LMFAO i love the #pining #hurt/comfort #angsttofluff HSJWJSJ

YESS THATS WHY UR VAMP FIC WAS SO REFRESHING!! BC IT WAS DIFFERENT!! if we simply stop pretending bites r enjoyable i think we can begin 2 reverse the damage that media has done to vampire aus

omg that’s a lot of things to do!! PLS MAKE SURE TO GET ENOUGH REST & EAT WELL TOO!! take care of yourself 🤍🤍🤍

- tata

i just started watching jujutsu kaisen and i might just ruin my life for 2d men once again <3 i feel like i wil have a whirlwind obsessive phase like my 15 year old self again goodbye (also. pls. this atsumu character is appealing to me way too much for someone with god level standards for irl men. every time a 2d man is annoying i go 😍💍👰💒 loml) ALSO OK WTF HOW DID YOU PREDICT THAT I’VE BEEN GETTING A LOT OF HQ TIKTOKS IN MY FYP LATELY LIKE I SCROLLED THROUGH 8 CONSECUTIVE ONES 😭😭😭 TATA DID YOU HIJACK MY FYP

sdjgdjs i’ve only ever watched cringe dramas if the man is good looking (but like only clips in this case) or i need to make fun of it with my friends . i like to indulge in horror when i’m anxious bc it somehow makes it better like 😭 at least i have it better than THOSE guys lmfao <3 but also i don’t like heavy gore ahaha. 

some parts of the aib live action i liked WAY better especially bc the actors did so incredibly well portraying the characters (and the 7 of hearts game... bye i took so long coming to terms with it it’s WAY more emotional in the live) and i liked the first game (different in the manga) way more in the live. as for the manga i HATE the ending but also the manga introduces side characters and their stories and i really like that about it! the whole tunnel distance game was actually a side story in the manga and i kind of don’t like them centering the plot too much around arisu (but .. also.. it’s yamazaki kento... and i like that man too much for my dignity..) and also.... i don’t like how they left niragi and aguni’s status undisclosed like that??? like [LIGHT MANGA SPOILERS] they play a very key role in the manga so ?!?! i just hope s2 turns out well netflix i am begging u

ANDSDHSKDJDSL PLS I AM SO SORRY but dongmin is in love with another woman 😔 maybe in some other life. jaehyun is out there being a himbo though so choose carefully what you wish for 🤩 every time jaehyun wins i got mad at myself like no way pilsbury dough boy is winning against miss i know everything

SDHSJD so far lookbook-yn is way more confident and assertive than runway-yn but more in a.. himbo-like way LOL if that makes sense. runway-yn was kind of self conscious and fueled by passion and the need to stand out in their field of work but this yn is more comedic i think lol!! she’s kind of critical and clever in her own way but also she will confidently tell u the wrong directions to the nearest grocery store if u ask bc she thought she knew </3

SDFJGDSJ IT LITERALLY STARTED AS ME DAYDREAMING TO SINCERITY IS SCARY <3 i don’t even have a title yet 🤧 i feel like im favouring this bread man too much but it’s fun to characterize him so <33 i would love for him to be heartbroken and bitter for once 😌 “most of the time he’s just kinda has one main mode which is 🙂” that emoji TOOK ME OUT DSJKDHSD it’s literally him??

men r literally never worth the time </3 either be a lovable himbo or go away 😐 WAIT BC OF ME??? IM STILSLDSHDSKHKDSLJDS ily ❣🌼🌙

why would they make bites to be some sort of sensual thing like literally any other animal biting us for blood would be either horrifying (demon) or just annoying (mosquitoes)

you take care of yourself too!!!!!! hope your job loosens a bit on you and you excel in academics enough to not worry about it 😌 eat well sleep well ily ❤

[judehayward]

lady gaga voice slowly fadin in: ju-Das juda-ah-ah… this depressed goblin bastard is honestly my fav male muse like i dnt typically stick w male muses tht long i struggle bt................. i’ve played him the longest of them all n always seem to return to him. jst cnt stay away. way 2 attached to this absurd little man. it’s nai btw!!!! (josefine on the main). launches right in to jude’s intro without further adieu..... (u can also find his playlist here) 🧙‍🎨

「douglas booth & cis-male」⇾ hayward , jude, the senior radcliffe student’s records show that he is a pisces and 23 years old. he is studying ART, living in moris and can be protective, laidback, nonsensical & apathetic. when i see him i am reminded of wearing a faded smiley face sticker on your forehead while receiving a serious lecture, saying “fuck off” to inanimate objects, lead marbles instead of eyes. ⇽「nai & 23 & gmt & she/her.」

he pinterest:

me in the voice of a card magician performing on the street: round up round up pick a pinterest any pinterest!

ta-da it’s aesthetics:

lead marbles instead of eyes, a stolen hearse careening down the wrong lane, wearing a faded smiley face sticker on your forehead while receiving a serious lecture, bags under the eyes that are so big they could pack enough clothes for a three week vacation, a cigarette wobbling from your bottom lip as you squint against the sunlight, passing out on a stranger’s rooftop, placing sunglasses over the eyes of a biology lab skeleton, gangling around the place like shaggy minus his scooby snacks, saying “fuck off” to inanimate objects

about tha Bitch:

born in sheffield in england, bt they went back and forth between there n san fran a lot

jude was an unhappy accident. his parents never rly used protection bc they were super Liberal n Au Naturel n believed in the pull out method bc… they were maniacs. bt then the ONE time they used a condom in an effort to b safety conscious it broke n hence…. jude was born

they just kind of ran w it bc they had such a passionate relationship tht they were like What The Hell…. may as well! itll be fine we’ll learn to be good parents n love him like normal ppl do

spoiler alert: tht didn’t work out

they were ok to him like they weren’t fully Bad bt they just found him to be a massive burden n hindrance to their plans. pretty absent n irresponsible. they literally….. had sex all day every day n acted like a pair of teenagers. it ws a super weird environment for a kid to grow up in bc he literally had no role models or… guidance or…. anything rly. occasionally they’d joke around w him or pretend they properly knew what grade he was going into but for the most part they just Didn’t Care the way parents shd. they lost his birth certificate n dnt remember what they put as his middle name so he’s jst kind of like hmmmm............. n gives himself a diff one every time ppl ask. past variations hv included: jude pauly hayward, jude maureen hayward, jude van winkle hayward. says all of these w a very straight face

despite this he does hv some nice memories w them. usually he definitely sees them fr holidays. frm being rly young their christmas tradition hs been to get a bunch of chinese food like a Banquet Feast n spend all day smoking n drinking into the early hours. perhaps not the healthiest or most responsible bt 😔 jude rly likes it it’s kind of the one time of yr he feels he has a proper family

they r both suuuuper into the arts. rly good sculptors bt they paint too n they actually own a successful gallery in sheffield n san fran

(trauma tw) as a result he grew up around a lot of creative n sometimes pretentious ppl. the friends of his parents were more present in his life than his ACTUAL parents bc they were always jetting off to diff countries to scout out new pieces fr their galleries n just have a gd time in beautiful places without…. the annoyance tht ws being responsible n looking after someone. tbh some of his parents friends were rly damaging too bt….i won’t go into that just yet. it doesn’t rly…need properly explaining bc jude never talks abt it anyway n it….is rather triggering so i’ll jst….leav it for now tbh. basically they just were Not Nice n jude had a lot of bad memories he keeps repressed bt he also??? has some gd ones..... it was a strange environment bt he’s a survivor

(death n grief tw) he hd to do community service bc he kind of… hd a bit of a breakdown before the funeral of his elderly neighbour who bsically raised him bc her kids rly didnt care abt her they jst wanted her inheritance?? so he… stole the hearse w her casket still in it n ws jst like… drivin around the place sort of… tryin nt to cry…..KJJFHSFKJGHKFG i mean. it isnt funny its actually sad bt :/ in a very bizarre n jude way. he gt caught n taken in fr questioning bt her son kind of realised hw… broken up abt her death jude ws n had a heart n didnt press charges. regardless he stil hd to do community service bc it ws like taken seriously even tho it ws his first proper offence. doin it rly exhausted n depressed him so when he wsnt doin tht he ws just hibernatin in his room……. this ws like 4 months ago nw............ just some fun lore fr u all

bc of how he ws raised he has a p cultured taste. he luvs classic lit n p much anything artsy. he can play piano 2 n sometimes gets rly high n thinks he’s mozart level gd at composing he’s jst going fking wild on the keys in a trance...... i mean he’s gd bt… chill

he’s rly sarcastic n so deadpan like he’ll say smthn completely ridiculous bt he’ll say it w his whole chest so sincere.... it’s rly hard to tell when he’s joking or serious honestly. has an overflowing secret sketchbook n if he cares abt someone he’ll probably secretly draw them. does NOT share these drawings w the person he hates being openly sentimental. at heart he is jst a very Sad Boy w lots of repressed issues like depression genuinely just does NAT giv him a single break bt he plasters over this w wise cracks n never discusses his emotions ever. he’s actually p decent or at least tries to b. he’s kind of like tht bit in superbad where michael cera gets rly drunk n makes a toast to women like tht energy...........

he has rly bad insomnia so he like never sleeps idk how he’s Alive straight up. please go to bed sir............. he always has rly sleepy eyes n rubs them tiredly mid conversation. he smokes a lot of weed to try n compensate fr this n make him tired bt he still struggles a lot

ANYWAY that aside he’s at radcliffe doing art, focusing on fine art like painting is............... the thing he luvs most...... his style is kind of.......... taking normal things n painting w surreal colours.... he likes A LOT of colour in his paintings which is kind of a stark contrast to his personality bc his world’s so.... washed out n grey............ lovs art n philosophy n literature n photography n music.... 

ummMMMMmm honestly idk i’m blankin on what else to say. ull find him smoking weed reading an american classic or gnawing at his thumbnail n getting charcoal smudges on all his clothes. wandering the streets in plaid pj bottoms n dr martens eating frm a cereal box without care in the world. he’s p broody n scruffy n he’s mostly here fr a laidback time....... doesn’t rly like when ppl take themselves too seriously........ likes strange ppl thinks the world is mde richer by them n likes when ppl can jst bounce back jokes at him without being like erm. u dont make sense mate. bc frankly he can come up w some strange stuff sometimes.............. talking to him cn b like navigating a dark n bendy road without a flashlight....... 

(drugs tw) once did shrooms n woke up naked in the woods curled up in a pile of leaves. to this day he recounts this as his werewolf transformation. hs no idea hw he ended up there n when ppl r like are u not. concerned jude. tht is so strange? he jst shrugs like.............. dunno....................... suppose i’m jst a werewolf upon occasion. so casual abt it. jst truly does Not care abt most things at all..... almost to the point tht it’s concerning (sometimes way past the point tht it’s concerning too :/)

this is the desc on an aesthetic i mde of his style once n sums it up well!! ‘additionally: too many pairs of trousers, a hideous amount of white t-shirts all somewhat stained with charcoal, a jumper so thinly knit it almost looks sheer, chipped teale nail varnish, a cream corduroy jacket with a cigarette hole singed onto the cuff, vintage wiry reading glasses he almost never wears, a freshly rolled cigarette behind his ear, a thrifted t-shirt with a warped bart simpson wearing a stethoscope with the caption ‘bard knwos cardiology’ and two crops hacked that way with kitchen scissors that he sometimes wears to paint.‘

EXPERT at rolling spliffs like jst. mkes them so precise n neat....... it’s his super power. his fav thing to smoke frm is banana flavour papers.................... linking 2 this he’s like. bad w emotions bt he does try..... once his friend (maggie) ws sad so he brought her a spliff wrapped in grape flavoured paper bc it’s her fav fruit n jst like. wordlessly gave it to her. it’s the thought tht counts.....

PLOTS!!!!!

plays bass in a band which cld b a fun connection to get together??? i picture the music being like surf rock type like........... mac demarco...... bt he also luvs elliott smith n glass animals n the cure n metronomy n neutral milk hotel n talking heads n radiohead n mazzy star n wolf alice...................... idk jst like.... within tht ballpark i suppose i imagine it being................

mayb ppl he shares classes w?????? i’d like someone tht does a similar course n they hang out tgether when it comes to trips fr the module to museums or exhibits or wtever................ they both stand in front of paintings analysing it rly wrong n saying stuff like hmmmmmmmmm....... i do declare i see a, uh..... large phallus protruding from the centre of this image...... moves something in me.......... n some elderly person looking at it besides them is like Ergh. sickened n disgraced. leaves w a brow severely furrowed

someone he smokes w on the moris rooftop late at night when he cnt sleep??? mayb they’re up n cnt sleep either fr whtever reason n it’s become an unspoken kind of ritual where they always clamber out n find each other there n jst wordlessly keep them company

jude is kind of like. protective almost to a fault sometimes........... mayb some guy he’s punched......................... if they hurt someone he cares abt........... typically it wld hv been a girl he ws kind of like. affected by his first relationship bc she had a bad home situation n ever since jst wnts..... to Protect it’s kind of like an automatic instinct ingrained in him nw 😔 all sounds very noble n well bt sometimes it cn b a bit of an escalation i wnt lie

perhaps a few hook-ups??? jude doesn’t tend to sleep w ppl he rly knows bc he just..... likes it to b an impersonal thing doesn’t like getting attached fr various reasons so mayb they only kno each other via this OR mayb he bent his rules a bit..... cld either work seamlessly or hv added drama if one side hs mre feelings or whtever

currently living in moris w 2 roommates bt i’d love some neighbours perhaps..... mayb someone tht lives directly nxt door to his room n is like ://// bc he plays music loud n weeds always drifting frm his window n mking their room smell if theirs is open too................. or mayb they get on..... mayb there’s a rly mean seagull tht lands on a branch n poos on pedestrians n they both commentate on it frm their windows like david attenborough...... they’re like he’s at it again. they’ve named him n everything

HONESTLY anything if u have an idea hmu i’d love 2 hear it.......... rubs my hands tgether in excitement to plot up a storm w u all

[unproduciblesmackdown]

The opposite of your last post for the ask meme! Like 1, 5, 9..

thank you lol sorry it took me a minute to get to posting these answers......i also skipped a couple that got asked previously via answering all primes lol

1: What inspires you?

hm well just basic stuff like “being in a good mood” lol or “being hyped up by friends” or “having reason to be particularly excited about something” which is all like, factors that Contribute Energy......learning about stuff / trying something and discovering like oh i’m Into this thing, or that for whatever reason something turns out to be more within reach / doable than i might’ve thought, like, hey i wanna get on this maybe.......~creatively~ it’s great to like, see other ppl’s art, and while i’ve sure been Inspired by professional artists, overall i’m more like, influenced and motivated by seeing the styles / specific works of Online Randos like me.......i also Draw to create [self-indulgent (usually fairly) niche fanart which is also probably gay and is all the time of characters i like] so like, the Stuff I Wanna Make Fanart Of (which has Whatever characters i specifically would like to draw lol) is sure directly Inspiring in that way. i’d say i never had that experience of like, ppl being kids and seeing some [distributed work in a certain art medium] like oh i want to make my own [distributed work in a certain art medium] as in like, i wanna publish a book, i wanna make movies, etc, but i guess i Did b/c i was like elementary school age in the early-to-mid 00s and experienced some instances of online fanart like :o :o wow damn ppl can do that?? just be a rando drawing fanart and sharing it w/ other people online???? and today i am living that dream, so good for me lol. and also i’d like to shoutout marge simpson anime, which is a particular piece of Online Art (technically fanart even lol) which was like, unusually Motivating as a single work of art lol, i made a notes app fanart like immediately and then a way more “painterly” piece of fanart that was v directly inspired by it lol.......and i was sure Drawing It Up last last winter when bmc 3.0 was impending / happening, b/c i got into like Just in the dec before, so that was Fresh, and then bam the Content is happening concurrently and as soon as we even just learned that jeremy has glasses i immediately spent like honestly 25 consecutive hours making fanart for that exact Inspiration. we didn’t even know abt the hello kitty shoes yet!!! and naturally im not out here for stats or clout but it is Inspiring when ppl enjoy the stuff i make and let me know one way or another. [tag comments that express enthusiasm in any way.....Appreciated]

9: Do you trust people easily, or do people have to earn your trust?

i have to say i am wary! that’s in part just like, a default anxiety defensive mode lol. but it takes me a hot minute (aka weeks....or months.....) to realize when someone like, would like to be friends or something, so while i can be Friendly and Outgoing w/ people like, immediately, i’m not picking up relationships left and right that are close enough that i’d particularly talk about “trust” or whatever. i’m not necessarily Distrustful either lol, it’s more just like, again re: the constant wariness thing. it is not unlike a cat lmao i vibe with them lol i Get that [approach]....and there’s been times i’ve been like “hmm i sure do Not vibe with this person ever and am not comfortable around them / interacting with them to any extent beyond occasional casual interactions that i don’t super enjoy. that’s me being overly anxious and failing to be personable i guess!!” and then that person Does give that reason down the line like oh, actually, that eternal uneasiness was warranted :/ damb

21: How does someone become friends with you?

yknow i was like “didn’t i Also answer this one previously” but it turned out the question i was thinking of, which i Had answered, was “how does someone become important to you” lmao.....same diff

tbh it’s kind of an arduous process lmao like. first of all i am Bad about initiating shit, and a lot of times will like, be wary of Directly Interacting with people for a while b/c i am also Bad At not being too passive / unwilling to assert anything so like, if someone’s regularly interacting with me but i’m not into it / Eventually Realize i’m not into it, it’s that thing again where my main strat is [v gradually sidle away] lol and just find it difficult to extricate myself from interactions / relationships and so that plays into me really feeling like i have to have some real confidence that i’d get on with / vibe with someone Before i start significantly interacting with / getting involved with them which....is also difficult natch lol like. can’t rly get a great feel for what someone’s like w/o talking to them.......but then if i Distance myself at all at any point will that be taken as rejection or whatever.......and then anyways say i Am talking to someone, then it’s like, also i’m just not fantastic at casual conversation always and that stage where you don’t know someone too well and talking is mostly a Polite Ritual and it’s like oh god don’t mess up, respond Normally lmaoo......i am nervous. and i also have a tendency to just naturally try to make an interaction go smoothly than immediately prioritize / feel comfortable busting out My Personality lmao.....so then even if ppl are responding well enough it’s like ah jeez i know we’re all performing always but have i shown them What I’m Actually Like to any significant degree, am i just masking it up / mirroring the crap out of how they talk?? and also it then takes me quite a while to put together “if someone keeps talking to you / choosing to interact with you for like, weeks, it probably means they want to / are interested in doing so” lol.........and then i’ll take ages more of trying to consciously Be More Myself without *also* feeling like this is too much of an act lol, and gradually picking up like oh they’re still not like, annoyed or disinterested or something..............what i am trying to say is it sure takes a minute lol

also when i Am attempting sometimes to like [initiate interaction] with people my version of being Active is still not all that active lmao i will be like [occasional Like] or [even more occasional reply] or [tag comments or no comments coz it’s twitter and im rt-ing stuff] and it’s like oh wow if we’re not having more regular interaction i suppose i’ve failed or something?? does this mean anything further lol, did i do anything.....but welp gotta have that perspective that Not Necessarily lol and i’m not the only person in the world who might not make friends or even friendly acquaintances easily / at the drop of a hat and u can’t necessarily read way into shit that hasn’t Actually been communicated to you.......naturally though it is easier to have some ~perspective~ and Serenity about all this sort of thing when you do already have some Friends lmao........been feeling (and consciously nudging myself towards feeling) More Chill about say like, friendly acquaintances i have who aren’t raring to interact with me on the reg.......ppl i’ll go months or half a year or more between having a convo with and then we’ll be like trading dm’s for a couple days and then it’s back to not really talking, and that Is What It Is, not necessarily a tragedy, and really it feels “rude” to acknowledge to myself like oh i’m not sure that me and whomever even Vibe well enough that *i’d* be raring to talk all the time either, but hey, it’s also true, i don’t have to be Validated by ppl who know me having me in their friend circles in any significant way......i be out here on the peripheral / outer orbits and i can appreciate that for what it is, even if, again, easier to be more Cool with that when i’m not Only in ppl’s periphery...........i appreciate the pal i have who like, 99% of how we Communicate is occasionally sending each other pics of our cats, not very intimate but also back when i was offline for months on end they eventually went out of their way to find someone to get in touch with to verify i hadn’t like died or anything lol........i appreciate the Gestures of Caring that ppl have and do extend, even if we do not actually talk regularly. 

and like also i’m bad at like. idk the main way i talk is again, At Some Length and often about real specific shit lol so im like woop aware that many ppl are not into that, or they might be down for having an exchange like that for a day and then they’re done.........not at all like wholly Against more lol Conversational conversations but i gotta say that’s more of a struggle lmao..........so let’s say befriending me takes some Patience. i kinda operate on [cat] rules. jellicle

25: How do you stop yourself from going back to toxic people?

i absolutely am Refraining from launching off on a ted talk of a tangent that is also me being the [the guy about to throw down a card on the pile on the table and that card pile is like “any conversation” and the guy is labeled “me” and the One Card about to be played is labeled “it’s capitalism” or smthing like that and also it’s all in spanish].jpg.......

anyways idk just try to keep things in perspective, right......i generally am pretty Passive about gradually sidling away from relationships that are bad and so by the time i Have exited them it’s pretty overdue lmao and i get to be quite confident that it was The Right Thing........and just when looking back on stuff it’s like, well if you remember the Good or “Not That Bad(tm)” parts maybe consciously think about the whole of it And specifically the Bad parts / the reasons for peacing out.......also the other day i was mulling over some standard [conflicted / complicated feelings about having cut certain ppl out entirely] and it also occurred to me that a lot of the [conflicted] feeling part came from sympathy for them, whereas from the perspective of Entirely My Own Feelings On The Matter minus that “how do/would they feel about it” consideration, the thought of never interacting w/ these ppl is like. fine with me lol........stuff like this is always Complicated and Individual and there’s certainly no like, one-stop simple Guide To Navigating All This Kind Of Thing, Cmon It’s Easy........another consideration i saw the other day via a graphic on twitter, which is probably most relevant re: say, controlling / abusive Partners, was how like, to think about how someone is acting if they’re saying you should Take Them Back b/c they’ve Changed their behavior, but to pay attention to if they’re trying to guilt you into it / justifying or downplaying their previous behavior / shifting blame and otherwise manifesting the inherently harmful and controlling patterns that are supposed to be gone now........anyways yeah complicated stuff and also just p.s. (and what would’ve been the jumping off point for the It’s-Capitalism tangential essay lol) ppl shouldn’t be blamed if they do choose to let someone back in their life like oh now they’re responsible for bringing their mistreatment upon themself.....no better than blaming someone for, say, having a harmful / controlling romantic partner in the first place like oh well they should’ve known better than to have gotten involved with this person..........ppl are in control of their own abusive behavior and shouldn’t be considered Forces Of Nature no matter how intransigent they are

33: Do you have someone you know you can always rely on?

tbt question 9 lol there’s defo some people that i do trust! love it....

45: Do you consider yourself creative?

another #tbt to question 1 lol.......i mean Yes i am creative in ways but like, who Isn’t, really.......think sometimes “creativity” means “do you like, do Art things” which, yes i do, but then within that there’s art that’s deemed more ~creative~ or w/e......not to mention that i don’t think something has to be definitively labeled an Art to be creative. like, for example, Science and Art aren’t opposites / the antithesis of each other, and anytime defines ~science~ as like, people just memorizing and outputting Facts and Numbers and considers this a distinction from Being An Artist.....wild and i Will fight you lmao. i tell you i can v much remember times i have had to completely disengage to keep from losing my cool at people arguing about “why i respect science but could only be an artist :’|” or “why Art is actually harder than Science and also we’re the underdogs b/c society values science so much more :’|” like.....mf...........anyways scientific pursuits may certainly have a different Methodology (see: scientific method) than art but lbr it still requires creativity and science and art are friends you fucking fools................and then also just zooming in on the Art-Making business here, i also like, have never had any interest in coming up with Original stories / characters and the like, and i don’t enjoy trying and it just really is not my thing, and it’s Funny or something when people wanna say that creative fanworks have value b/c they let ppl cut their teeth for what really matters, inevitably making their own original content(tm)......that isn’t inevitable for me lol and certainly is nothing i aim to do ever, and when there’s the suggestion that if you’re Good enough at ur medium you gotta manifest some of that original the character do not steal shit.........anyways i’m not pressed to claim i am an Artist(tm) or Creative(tm) lol like i guess technically i am both but i have no professional aspirations and my brain does not Do [generate original content] so it’s all like, i’m just out here.........s/o to this time i was trying to do my fuckin thing drawing on a tablet in a cafe and some random annoying guy is trying to talk and i happen to mention like “lol i don’t exactly call myself an artist really” and Guy goes “OH REALLY??? WHAT’S WRONG WITH ARTISTS? WHAT’S YOUR ISSUE WITH ART” like please cool it lmao but god p sure it was a guy who was just. very Around and very annoying in general

49: Do you feel like you’re a good person?

yeah i think i’m alright but really what is the use in like considering there 2 be achievable Good or Bad Person Statuses for everyone........let’s say it’s an ongoing, active state to be in the process of consciously choosing to be Good and working towards Better. especially considering that We Live In A Society which tries to teach everyone and continuously imbues our existence with Bad Messages about how to perceive and engage with other people, and being A Good Person is a lifelong effort and it’s unhelpful to feel that if you’re already Good or well-intentioned enough you can just dust off your hands and be like “well my work here is done” and be unprepared to examine your beliefs/actions or deal with the might-as-well-assume-it’s-an-inevitability that even if u have some noble-ass beliefs you’ll fail to live up to them at some point/s.......so like yeah lol again i feel like i am a pretty good person but can always be better and ought to be aware of / willing to work on that at any point

[carriedawayfromhome]

Ruby - L.H

Count: 2k Summary: Luke needs to learn to let go. 

Rating: Explicit

Masterlist

Luke can’t imagine his body feeling anymore sensitive then it currently is. He’s kneeling on a carpeted floor, thankful for the soft push under his knees, his arms are bound behind him, the cuffs secured tightly enough, though the position of his limbs is starting to ache. He wriggles his fingers within the restraints as much as he can, trying to get the blood flow to his arms.

He breathes slowly, surely, trying not to make himself dizzy, the gag in his mouth is making his jaw ache, he doesn’t know how long it’s been there, but his chin, neck and upper chest are all now covered in his saliva. He can’t see that though, only feel the cool sensation on his chest, his nipples hard at the change of temperature. It was a matching set, the cuffs, gag and blindfold, black suede with a red trim. She let him pick it out, let him feel the fabric between his fingers, before she had demanded him kneel in the middle of the room, ready for instruction. 

He can hear her shuffling around, picking up different items that she owns, most of the time he can’t even remember everything she has. There’s draws and shelves of different toys, outfits and restraints waiting to be used. Luke always think they’ve tried everything she owns, but sometimes she’ll bring something out and Luke’s eyes will widen at the contraption, unsure of what’s about to happen and that always makes his mouth water, eagerness shines bright over his eyes. 

So far for this session there has been a light spanking, a thank you being spoken every time the whip came down onto his milky skin. At one point his nipples were encased in clamps, the feeling sending pleasure and pain shooting through his whole body, the hair on his neck had lifted at the sensation. After the clamps was a quick bit of wax play, he didn’t love that as much as he enjoyed the rest but he knew she did, and as always, he did as he was told. 

He suddenly feels a hand in his hair, no harsh intentions, just light pressure on his scalp, nails scratching, making him feel lightheaded. Her hand trails down to the clasp at the back of the gag, he feels her fiddle with it and then it pulled away from him, the pain shooting through his jaw as he closes it for the first time in awhile. Luke lets the air fill his lungs as her hand goes back to his hair massaging his scalp in the process, making him melt at her touch. 

“Colour.” 

“Green.” He replies, letting her know he is happy to continue. 

“Good boy.” 

Those two words always makes his heart swell, makes his stomach flip and his hands clench. When he originally looked into dominatrix and BDSM he didn’t expect it would make him feel the way it does. It was recommended to him by one of his bandmates after an exhausting and downright tiring world tour, the responsibility of performing on stage every night and doing promos and interviews made him weak inside, made him want to curl into a ball and not wake up. When Calum suggested BDSM he was initially completely put off, of course he had heard of it and he had dabbled with previous girlfriends, but generally it was him tying someone up, him being in control. But when Calum suggested that it would be good for him to lose control, for someone to take care of him in a safe space, to be able to let go, then he became intrigued. 

It took him some time to research and look up different places and people who offered various services. He wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he felt that he would know once it was in front of him. After a few weeks of studying his options he came across an ad for a woman named Ruby Red, there was a picture accompanying the ad, Ruby looked to be around thirty-five or so, she had soft features, sharp green eyes and mid length brown hair, she was wearing a lace bondage set, the picture had made Luke’s stomach flip and he immediately gave her a call.

He remembers parking his car on the street outside her house, the nerves racking every bone in his body, he had to force himself not to turn around and drive back to his house. After a few minutes of deep breathing he exited his car and made his way to her house, feeling his palms sweat every step he took to the front door. 

Their first meeting was an introduction to the world of BDSM, Luke had mentioned over the phone that he was completely new to all this and she explained that the first appointment would be a lot of conversation, a time to talk about what he needed and what his boundaries were. 

He immediately felt very comfortable around her, her demeanour was soft, calming, she made Luke feel relaxed in her presence, even though his heart rate would speed up every time she mentioned something she could do for him. 

“Pegging?” Her soft voice floats through her office, he expected to open the door to her wearing another bondage get up, but instead she was wearing light jeans and a button up blouse.

His eyes widen, “What is that?” 

She smiles at him, “Pegging is when a woman wears a strap-on dildo or holds a handheld dildo or vibrator and uses it to have anal sex with her male companion.” 

Luke feels a small bout of arousal shoot through him and he can’t help but look away, wringing his hands together nervously, “Um, I guess, maybe, I could try.” 

“How about I put it down on the maybe list? We can bring it up further down the line if you’re comfortable.”  Luke nods at her direction, “Fisting?”

“Um, ah, no thank you.” 

She nods at him, her pen scratching at the stack of papers she has in front of her, Luke’s name front and centre, “How do you feel about urination? Golden showers?”

He scrunches his nose at that one, “Definitely not.” 

She nods, smile still in place. He keeps having to remind himself that she won’t laugh or make fun of the things he does and doesn’t want to do. He’s expecting that at any moment men with cameras are going to jump out and his horrifying picture will be spread across every tabloid cover - 5sos frontman Luke Hemming’s a BDSM freak. 

“Okay so we’ve now gone through your physical and emotional limits, previous experience and health conditions, I’ll just go through some last other little details then I’ll show you the room.” She places her stack of papers on the table in the middle of the office, “When you enter the room I will place a collar around your neck, this will show your submission to me and the session will begin. You will either address me as mistress, madame or Ruby unless I specify. Now every session is different, generally we begin with light spanking or whipping with light bondage to begin and then the session will proceed from there, I can’t say exactly how each session will go as every client is different and has various needs depending on the day.” 

Luke nods at everything she is saying, trying to take it all in. He’s as anxious as he assumed he would be at this point, it’s a little intense when everything that could be done to you is read out in an organised list but on the other hand it’s nice to know nothing will be sprung on him, nothing to scare him - too much. 

That was four months ago and he’s been seeing Ruby every week since that first meeting. He was still so skeptical right up until the first actual session, but eventually Luke eased it into, really allowing himself to let go, to let someone take the reins. His first session with Ruby Red was exactly as she had described, he had walked into the room, instructed to strip, but if he wanted he could keep underwear on. He remembers watching Ruby sit down on a leather couch, this time she was clad in a red lace corset and a latex skirt donning her lower half. He was instructed to bend over her knee, the request had made Luke blush like mad, but he did as he was told, getting fifteen spanks from her hand, the area left red and raw. 

Later on that night when he was eyeing off his backside in the bathroom mirror, his stomach clenching every time his own hand would graze over a bruise that was left there by her. Initially he didn’t think he liked the spanking part of his session, but as he rubbed lotion onto the used skin all he could think was wanting someone to barge into the bathroom, hold him down and use their hands to mark him some more. 

Each session had brought something new, it started with different apparatuses - paddles, whips, floggers. There were clamps and ropes and chains, even a rough pinwheel that rolled along his chest, giving him the most intense whole body experience. Ruby had told him to let go and he listened, letting years of taking on more and more and having to put on a smile even when he didn’t want to, wash away from his head, down his body and onto the floor, leaving him feeling light and elated. He had cried that session, letting everything he had been holding back in a glass cage be smashed to pieces, the shards falling around him like snow, his hands finally unclenching.

He’s brought back to the present time with a sudden tug on his neck, the collar he’s wearing being pulled against his skin. 

“Luke, what do you want me to do?” Ruby’s voice echoes over him, making him shiver with anticipation and delight. 

“Choke me mistress.” 

“What do you say Luke?”

Luke’s eyes close as he feels another soft tug at his collar, “Thank you mistress.”

“Good boy.” 

After the choking session was completed and Luke letting himself get lost in the feeling, Ruby had decided to tie him up, completely held together by red ropes, hands bound together, legs and feet bound together, it almost felt like every inch of his skin was encased by those tantalising red ropes. It was another one of those feelings that made his skin prickle and nipples harden, he was bound, no escaping, no control. He was completely allowing his body and mind to be handed over to another person, he let himself sink into that feeling, wondering how long he had let himself feel wound up inside, now though finally that coil in his stomach was coming undone. 

His bandmates noticed a difference in him, he exuded a different energy than he used to. He would always put on the mask when he had to, a permanent smile plastered over his face, though his eyes would always catch him out, the sparkle not shining anymore. Now though he felt a calm wash over him, a serenity bleed into his skin and it showed, he no longer felt the heaviness of the responsibility of being in this band weigh him down, he now knew that he had an outlet to let someone else take responsibility, even if it was for only an hour every week.

Luke slips both feet into his jeans, redressing himself in the corner of the room, where he had left his clothes neatly folded. He exits the room and smiles when he sees Ruby waiting for him outside. 

“I’ll see you this time next week Luke, be good.”

Luke nods, “I will, thank you Ruby.” 

Luke retreats back up the stairs to the front door, letting himself out with ease. As he walks back to his car, keys swinging in hand, he allows himself a moment of reflection, sighing in contentment. He’s very glad indeed that he met Ruby and that she’s allowed him to find a part of himself he forgot he had. 

As Luke starts the engine, checking his mirrors before driving off, he takes a look back at the house, even more excitement bubbling within him as he thinks about his next session and every session after that. 

[praphit]

Velvet Buzzsaw: You need a plan like my man Patrick Swayze.

I saw the trailer for "Velvet Buzzsaw" a couple of weeks ago. It caught my eye (as I'm sure it did yours) due to its title.

When I think velvet, I think sexy. The dude who walks into the party with the velvet jacket on, is getting ALL of the ladies that night.

Trust me, couples at the party get into arguments over it -

Ex.

Insecure man says - "I saw you looking at the man in the velvet jacket - don't deny it! You're going to leave me for him aren't you?! I don't blame you... cuz that jacket took him to a ho nova level. I'm just saying, that I can wear velvet too."

Woman with insecure man replies - "No, you can't."

Insecure man fights it, but deep down he knows that she's right.

So, that goes down.

Now, everybody knows that red velvet is the most sexy.

Red velvet ropes - I think we all rub our hands down them with a big smile... oh God yes:)

Red Velvet Cupcakes... Here's the deal - I don't think kids should be eating them. Just MY opinion! I won't judge you shameful parents out there if YOU allow your kids to eat them, but I simply believe it's wrong. Too sexy!

So, to put these words together "Velvet Buzzsaw"... no bueno. It would be like putting the words "Ice Cream Needle" together.

Would you like a tasty ice cream needle today? NO! But that wording, combined with a premise of haunted, killer artwork was the intrigue of the trailer.

Plus, it has a great cast:

Jake Gyllenhaal and his creepy, bulging eyes. The movie "Nightcrawler" ruined him for me. Every time I see him, I see this -

I know it was just a character, but I actually believe that JG is like this... he leaves the set at the end of the day, and lurks around staring at people. I have a fear that one day, I'll go out at night, get in my car, the headlights turn on, and BOOM he'll be there... looking into the depths of me.

Other cast members - Toni Collette, Rene Russo, John Malkovich.

And even that "Stranger Things" girl.

No, not Bobby Brown (she's busy working on Godzilla).

Natalia Dyer -

Natalia talks to Millie Bobby Brown all the time, saying "Bitch, you ain't the only one who gets roles in movies. I got skills too! Why you out here stealing all the shine? I'm ascending! And If you get in my way, Imma cut you!"

Y'all didn't know it got that real on the set of "Stranger Things" did you?

When does season 3 of "Stranger Things" come out? They're all getting old. If they don't hurry up, season 3 will roll around and they'll all be in their mid to late 20's.

Anyway, I was excited about this flick. But, then, after all of that promo, the movie disappeared. I looked for it under "popular movies" and "recently added", but nothing. I searched for it - typed V - E... nothing... L T...they made me type out the whole word before it popped up. Dammit, Netflix, you know what I want! Give it to me!

Netflix hiding this movie is not a good sign, but I'm an objective man. Here we go:

This movie is centered around art, artists, and the art industry. The first thing that I learned right off the bat is that money sucks all of the fun out of everything. Or perhaps I should say the PURSUIT of money does... You want something, but you can't afford it, so you have to work harder and longer, and then by the time you have the cash, you want something else even more expensive. It causes jealousy. It robs one of joy and peace. Greed is some ol' bull shit! BUT, such is life.

Art was fun when we were kids, right? Finger painting, face painting, playing with clay, coloring books... what happened?! - the need to make money with it happened, and that's what is displayed here in this movie. This movie is about how greed and pursuing the glory of the art biz feeds on you.

We've got diff artists on diff levels:

The new hotness of the art world (everyone wants a piece)

The people who aren't the hotness

The critics / media / fans The leeches of the hotness (Cuz everything revolves around being hot)

The executives who run the machine that sucks all the joy out of what you do.

And the veteran - played by John Malkovich, whom I must say didn't need to be in this movie. His character added nothing to the plot at all.

But, I found the types in this world fascinating. If you think on it enough, you can def relate to these types (though some may be parodies). There are plenty moments of horror in this film (as seen in the trailer). Most of the elements of horror portrayed are really good, though some are silly. Not only well done, but well produced.

However, there's a reason why Netflix hid this movie from us. It's like looking at a piece of art, and learning the message behind it, only to find that the message is more interesting than the artwork. This movie itself is... kind of a mess. Like I said, good premise/food for thought, good acting, but errthang else - the writing, chemistry between actors, direction, storyline wrap-ups... ALL BAD.

Back to the horror - pretty much there's some dead artist's spirit that's killing off people through his art due to his blood being used in his projects.

Sounds cool, but he mainly and simply wants his art destroyed, so people don't die. Soooooo, you're KILLING people as a solution? Plus, why not use his ghostly energy to get others to destroy the art rather than destroy the people? Then, he starts trying to attack people through ALL art (including art that he didn't have any part in). What??!

We've all seen the movie "Ghost", so I know (cuz these movies are based off facts) that there were other non-violent options for this dead artist. In "Ghost" Patrick Swayze had a plan -

- to let Demi Moore know that he was around, let her know that she was in danger, and to try to have sex with her one more time through the body of Whoopi Goldberg. The dead guy in "Velvet Buzzsaw" had no tact!

Anyway, I give this flick a grade D

Pretentious art people may love it, but for the rest... I'd say just read this. The next time you want to get your "Flix and Chill" on, and your love muffin suggests this movie, tell him/her "Hold up, let's read through Praphit's rambling review instead, and then get into our sweet lovin." Save about 2hrs of your life, and make me a part of your foreplay instead:)

[rebeccagomez026]

Switching Perspectives - Weekly Reflections / Reading Blog - Week 3

***This is a combination of both the readings and weekly reflections since it was said I could do both, if we’ve done both.

Reflections

Rather than learning about repetition, I learned about something else. Many of the activities we seem to do truly reflect what I already learned in taisha’s, interestingly enough, so I never really have anything to add onto my vocabulary beyond learning that I am improving in finding new ways to approach things when it might have taken me half the performance/activity to do so before.

Regardless, I was hoping to say something in response to the question, “What have you learned from doing repetition yesterday?” I suppose it was a leading question because we went on an enormous discussion on repetition, even going as far as making an entire chart. I was hoping to have at least expressed what I wanted to share at the end, since it was short and not an answer meant to be elaborated upon by my peers.

The one thing I did learn was from the demonstration with ana’s group. I always read about artists going far and beyond by including the audience or changing the perspective of the piece, but it was not until I finally got to see an example of this at work that I was to finally “put a name to a face.” The only way I really imagined ‘audience participation’ is when I would have people come up and teach them some Tahitian or West African, or even have them walk around the performance for each person. While this could basically apply to any other technique-ridden form, the way people can creatively implement audience participation without prompting people to come up--apart from what I had done with the concept(s?) of Body Madness in taisha’s--really put everything in perspective. It was also something I really needed to see because it gave me something to think about for my piece (for UCRiD) that I felt was missing and also gave me something to add to my vocabulary for future reference, now that I understand it.

Reading #2: Repetition

‘And yet the continuity acts as if something else is happening. Nothing else is happening.’

 Variation of the same movements, parameters, score

i.e. Grid Walking?

‘Rate of Change’

repetition in/through generations

realization that you’re turning into your parent(s)

recreating what has inspired you

“What performance changed everything for you & why?

could also be in learning technique & reproducing that

when they occur -> device to heighten/intensify/emphasize OR to erode [an image]

consistency of exhaustion

i.e. repeating squats (exhausting) to reach goal until you don’t need to do it anymore

emotion comes out on both sides & it’s okay b/c it makes sense

a moment of recognition vs. something tiresome

pattern allows you to recognize

maybe 1 way

“...a face is a thing so recognizable that te smallest imperfection stands out like punctuation”

can also show you differences--whether imaginary or not--each time

o can make you [notice] something you didn’t see before

*     a study

is 1 way of arriving at a rhythm, new idea, knowledge, word didn’t notice before

there is always a place to go

marching <- ex?

may slowly give rise to the arrival of a new word/set of words

may intensify/emphasize/heighten that “next” part--if there is one

ppl will watch again if repetition is approached w/ a diff. state of mind/differently

w/ time -> comes naturally

the repetition in the poem tied together phrases that didn’t quite make sense until it was tied together w/ something else (1 way of arriving....)

wishing for more b/c we know the repetition will end

expectation that things will change eventually OR desire for the new

“arriving eventually & irresistibly at prayer”

building the necessity for a change

filling time

committing to something

how communities are built

“Repeating is not a choice for everybody” (a classmate said this)-- I think not

I think there are different ways of repeating beyond movement and routine. Maybe it’s the repeating mindset or beliefs that creates different actions, but the fundamentals from where it comes from is repeating.

*    an odd structure “causes us to speak fast/slow in the wrong places & places emphasis on the wrong syllables when it works ->wrongness makes you prick up your ears just when your ears had felt like giving up’

inconsistency

can exist w/o repetition

diff. between repeating for the sake of endurance

                                                     vs.

repeating for the sake of trying to get it “perfect” but you can’t b/c impossible

but by doing that you’ll have to start over & by starting over you’ll understand it better so that you can do it again

Reading #3: Thinking Slowness

things need to be resolved in thoughts

whether or not thought explains any aspect of their work

something inaccessible to thought: something available to eyes only

slowness / ritardandi (”slow movement”/deliberate slowings of tempo)

imprecise indication of time

taking longer (than something else) <- could also mean it could be done quickly (in shorter amnt of time)

an illusion (may belong in technological realm)

incomprehensible that it be valued positively in a life that is hectic & fast-moving

but: strolling⬆walker’s enjoyment/window shpper slows so as not to miss anything/teachers slowing down to make it absolutely clear/ppl wanting to slow down in life <- implies slow means less but it means ‘far more’ / higher degree of concentration <-> fewer things overlooked & less waste produced;⬆productivity

makes many things feasible

(1) technological (b/c it can be made use of)

(2) human slowness (i.e. elderly/sick ppl.)

(3) appears ‘endlessly’ slow -- slowness before the end

                 * in the context of time

changeable

sense that it may or may not exist

it can be made & destroyed

sense that it does exist

enlarged or reduced in size/painted/shaped/decorated/packaged in any # of ways

in terms of #

completely diff. according to whether it exists only once/a million times

in terms of place

it can be moved from 1 location to another

not thought of as ‘fixed’

                          *each of these processes can be thought of it terms of speed

rather than thinking of slowness as a means to relax but “intensification”

learning slow: greater concentration--slowly, precisely--understands more & remembers⬆# of things better

driving slowly: see more/everything/greater intensity; if slow reaction -> tense situation b/c other drivers angry

slow music: played b/c touches you more (at that moment)

scenic route: fascination isn’t relinquished

human slowness (not purposeful?)/the human lifetime

combating/preventing so as to not be [too slow]

awakens pity, anger, impatience

can spur ppl into action

do not actually see more

are barely noticed/almost invisible

1 knows about/feels/senses it

“I can't bare to watch that”

unfascinated & w/o adopting a standpoint

no “process”/development???

human slowness (purposeful)

deliberate/hesitant/tardy?/measured/patient/gently

eloquent witness

varied & profound

human life, human world, human time

could be “destroyed by attempts to see it in any other terms than its own”

slowness before the End

demand & enriches thugh

i.e. it was like we were our own world; that 1 sec. was an eternity (good context) for us

 or: times seemed to stand still

or: being in fear/shock

described as time having been stopped all together

time that feels especially full

idea that it could be the starting point of though processes

Reference Point

A Web

many points of departure

a place to come back to

instants where time become so slow -> perceived as having eroded

held ‘outside’/’beyond’/’w/o time

dying/death/eternal life (/everlasting today);paradoxical; present time)

i.e. exceptional moments

dependence on time

perception, feeling, experience, looking, thinking

*time becomes possible w/ the birth of each human being--through human emotions & unfolding in real world

*thinking: leads to uncertainties, into strange regions of thought, leads to ever further afield

[petaldancing]

wow guys, i learned about yuletide (a fic exchange for obscure fandoms w <1,000 fics on the net.. like.. hmm.. HYOUKA!!) from @brella and am stoked to take part in it this year! you get to write a letter to the person who’ll be fulfilling your request, so here is mine~

hello (future) friend and (current) yuletide writer!!

This is actually the first year I’m participating in Yuletide! (And also the first year i that i’ve gotten back into writing fic after a 3 year hiatus!) I’m excited, and I hope that my prompts will help spark inspiration for you and that you’ll enjoy writing this piece as the year draws to a close. Thank you so much in advance for this, and I look forward to reading whatever you have for me! 

general

i prefer:

gen, het, or femslash

G - M ratings (if the latter: no to underage (below 18 y/o, for me), yes to character-driven, build-up + pay-off! when the sex isn't the highlight of the story but a nice complement.. wow!!)

any length you have in mind for the fic

you to write a story that you've been meaning to but haven't gotten around to! or one that you'd love to have under your belt! (:

i can't deal with/DNW:

drug use, death, gore/violence/assault, dub/noncon, abuse, angst, kinky stuff, unhappy endings

i will cry tears of joy for:

stories focusing on ladies, their r/s (platonic, romantic etc) w other ladies, their characters & motivations beyond just the romance

(but i still thrive on romance ahaha)

characters losing themselves but then finding themselves & becoming stronger (w or w/o someone's help)

(un)resolved sexual tension, unexpected kisses that take both parties by surprise, almost kisses, being trapped in small spaces, mutual pining etc

characters drifting apart over time but then reconnecting and falling in love again

wacky humour

shoujo tropes used in good doses

unlikely pairings that work

platonic fic on unlikely friends/vitrolic best buds esp between a guy & gal

fics about characters who've hardly interacted in canon (!!)

canon divergence (as long as it leads to interesting r/s between characters)

ten years later post-canon fic!! (esp if characters are high-schoolers in canon)

WITCHES! guy witches work too

recurring motifs/symbols

i also love AUs, particularly:

pacific rim AUs

role reversal AUs

I live for AUs that bring out character dynamics you know & love except in a diff universe! but you don't have to write AU fic!

fandom specific

1. Hyouka to say this is my favourite, most precious & treasured piece of fiction would be an understatement!! i give all my heart to hyouka’s themes (finding your identity & place in the world, relating & empathizing with others, following your passion etc etc i could go on) which were told beautifully through a wonderful core cast of 4 characters! the depth and flaws and emotional weaknesses of hyouka’s main cast is Too Much For Me To Bear and i love them in any and all permutations and just WANT TO READ ABOUT THEM ALL THE TIME!! also i’ve written satomaya to the moon & back but let me tell you... i would still read satomaya content any day ehehe. BUT i am very intrigued by satoshi & chitanda’s r/s which hasn’t been written much about in the fandom yet so maybe??? HMM!!

ships: satoshi/mayaka, houtarou/chitanda but would be also open to mayaka/houtarou or satoshi/chitanda because that always intrigues me

prompts (optional, of course!) - Mayaka & Houtarou having a huge falling out, like SERIOUS falling out, and it’s up to Satoshi & Chitanda to work together to get the two to make-up and get the group back together!! - Satoshi & Chitanda working together to solve a mystery without the help of Houtarou & Mayaka, who’re usually the two who are better at solving cases!! - On the flipside, what about: 5 times Satoshi dislikes Chitanda, and 1 time he doesn’t.  - Soul Eater AU!! this is a specific AU i’ve had in my head for awhile but would love to read someone’s interpretation of it!! who would be the meisters/weapons, what forms would the weapons take?? a fic where the four find each other and become partners/duos would be worth a BILLION yuletides!! - in the same vein, fire emblem AU! here’s a post i wrote about it years ago but still relevant and feel free to tweak the classes - older!Houtarou/Chitanda who stayed behind for college in Kamiyama visiting Satoshi/Mayaka in the big city/Tokyo (optional as to whether the two pairs are dating yet, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if they weren’t at the start of the fic!!) - any mayaka-centric fic, perhaps a fic about her trying to set Chitanda/Houtarou up? w accomplice Satoshi (+10000 points if she and Satoshi AREN’T DATING! YET! !! COLLAPSES) also i guess it works the other way too!! chitanda trying to get satoshi to confess to mayaka, dragging houtarou along in the process... you know it’s good when both pairs aren’t dating yet

2. Hibike Euphonium

this anime is a good example of me loving the small moments and characters so much more than the overarching plot! i liked s1 more than s2 because of the development of kumiko and reina alongside each other, but i loved the spin s2 gave on kumiko & asuna’s r/s! while this anime isn’t a top fav of mine, the r/s between the ladies in this show is SO GOOD!!! would love to see what you can do with it!

ships: kumiko/reina, kumiko/asuna, am p alright w most other ships too except shuu/kumiko, i’m really not interested in that at all, but shuu as a character? yeah OK i guess prompts - 5 fives they climbed the hill together, 1 time they didn’t (kumiko/reina) - a fic about kumiko chasing asuka down but always missing her!! i.e. following her to uni in the big city (only, her uni is like nowhere near close enough to asuka’s), moving out of home and closer to asuka, trying to join the prestigious band asuka’s travelling with etc etc, and finally catching up to her!! - ten years later fic! reina comes back into town after touring with the national orchestra, kumiko (who stopped playing the euphonium) tries hard not to fall in love with her & the eupho once again... and fails, of course - a fic that examines reina falling out of love with taki-sensei and developing feelings for kumiko would be wonderful for my heart too!!

3. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

i am so so fond of this anime and its gags! while the character dynamics are incredibly fun to watch, they also feel very ‘predictable’, not only because of the running jokes but cause their r/s never seem to advance that much. so i would absolutely LOVE if you threw me fic about the most unlikely pairs that don’t interact so much in canon and hence have less running jokes, i would love to see what pans out, and the fic needn’t even be romantic!! ships: nozaki/sakura, kashima/hori, seo/waka, also interested in kashima/seo and sakura+hori

prompts - kashima + seo: i find their r/s v interesting?? would love for a fic to focus on their interactions, esp since i vaguely rmb seo being a bit wary of kashima at first - hori + sakura: i think they would work as wonderful partners in anything they do and would love anything that explores their r/s! maybe sakura has to help the drama club for a performance? - ten years later fic would work wonderfully for GSNK! what’s everyone doing now? wouldn’t it be funny if all the r/s were p much the same, but also kinda different? - Akatsuki no Yona AU! (whether yona is sakura or mikorin, you decide! haha)

4. Fune Wo Amu

this is more of a wildcard pick because um, I REALLY LIKED THIS SHOW! i loved the attention paid to the world of dictionary publishing but specifically, the seemingly insurmountable ocean of words & meanings & the desire to bridge the gaps that so naturally form between people... this show calmed my heart so much and i would love fic which brought me back to that calm and reflective atmosphere & those lovely characters prompts -  over the years working, majime learns the definitions of words through his interactions with the people in the office - nishioka becoming a dad leads to everyone in the office inevitably taking turns parenting his kids!! either because they need to babysit, or because he brings em to company functions etc  - sasaki on her first day of work vs last day of work - any fic that explores how majime & nishioka influence and change each other’s lives would be nice as well ahh...

thank u again dear writer, may you have a wonderful end to the year and i hope that whatever good things and bad things that happened this year, you’ll carry on strong and even better in the next!! happy writing and please eat well and stay warm (: 

[shannrussell-blog1]

For many of us, winter means rain, mud and a substantial drop in temperature. If you are lucky enough to have access to a 4WD, you’ll know it’s also a fantastic time to get out and explore some of Australia’s best 4WD tracks.

However, do it with a bit of common sense and caution. There are a few things you really need to understand before taking your 4WD out in winter:

Your chances of getting bogged increase

Tracks can change completely after a bit of rain. It doesn’t take much to turn a mild 4WD track into a slippery, muddy slop-fest which will provide zero traction.

Even if you’ve been out plenty of times, except that there’s a much higher chance of getting bogged! As long as you are prepared though, it’s not the end of the world. It’s all part of the adventure.

Ensure you have quality recovery gear

Just like you’d buy quality camping gear for a good night’s sleep, don’t put your 4WD and your own safety at risk by using poor quality recovery gear.

Snatch straps are not suitable for badly bogged 4WDs

If you have ever been stuck in the mud, you probably realise the amount of suction it applies to your 4WD. A snatch strap is fine if the vehicle is only a little bogged. However, once we start talking mud over the height of your axles, you need to reconsider.

Snatch straps work by releasing kinetic energy to pull a bogged 4WD out. The problem is that a badly bogged car in mud will often apply more force than what your snatch strap will handle, and you will end up with a snatch strap smashing through your window. Not fun, nor safe – stick to recovery boards and/or a winch!

Gently does it. Don’t create a splash when crossing water in your 4WD. 

Proceed with caution

If you do get stuck, take your time, think about the recovery and do it safely. There’s been plenty of people killed and badly hurt from 4WD recoveries gone wrong. The last thing you want to do is ruin a good day out! Check out my piece on 4WDing Australia on 20 things you should never do in a 4WD recovery.

Travel with a mate

You should always head out with a second 4WDer. At the very least, if something goes wrong you have a ride home. However, having two or more 4WDs means you can help each other out if you get stuck, and the company is always good.

Water should be approached with extreme caution

Water crossings in a 4WD are a lot of fun unless you get it horribly wrong. Think that won’t happen? I’ve lost count of the number of 4WDs that I’ve seen written off or badly damaged from water crossings gone wrong. This is by far the easiest way to do seriously expensive damage to your car.

Despite what you might think, it’s not always the wide, fast flowing rivers that cause the damage. A simple hole in the ground that’s filled with water has the same potential to totally ruin your pride and joy.

A bit deeper than I thought. Crossing a river in the 4WDing Australia LandCrusier.

Do you have a snorkel?

A snorkel raises the air intake of your 4WD from under the bonnet level to almost roof height. All you need is a teaspoon of water to get into your engine and you’ll need major mechanical work. For many vehicles, that’s enough to write it off! Snorkels are great insurance when it comes to water crossings.

If you don’t have a snorkel, find out where your air intake is (usually in the inner guard), and pay attention to it – usually, anything over 30-50cm deep is pushing your luck.

In Perth, we have a well-known 4WD track in the hills that become incredibly popular over winter. There’s a section with more mud runs than you know what to do with, and they have caught a huge number of drivers out. Often those new to the game, and without snorkels! From the surface, it just looks like a basic mud run, but some of them are well over a metre and a half deep, with vertical entries and exits.

If you do have a snorkel, check that it is watertight before relying on it!

Check the depth and firmness

Before you drive your 4WD through water, you should always check the depth and firmness of the bottom. The easiest way to do this is with a stick – just poke it into the ruts, and see how far it sinks. You’ll know if the bottom is hard, you have a much better chance than if the stick just keeps going down!

The only time you may not be able to check the depth is when there are crocs around – like the northern parts of Australia. If that’s the case, you need to take serious caution entering any water!

Any water over 70cm deep… be extremely careful in!

This is why 4WDs get fitted with snorkels before doing serious off-roading. This would have swallowed a lesser vehicle.

Check the water flow

Depth is just one thing. If the water is flowing then you need to be very careful. They say if you can’t easily walk through it, then you shouldn’t drive through it. The deeper the water, the less flow required to pick your car up and push it down the river.

Drop a bit of bark into the water and watch it float downstream. If it moves faster than walking pace, it’s a miss for the crossing!

Do you need to drive through it?

More often than not, 4WDs that get into strife don’t even need to drive through the water crossing in the first place. If there’s a solid track around the water crossing, it’s the safest bet.

Install breathers on your 4WD

If you are driving through water any deeper than about 25cm, you need to get breathers installed. The two differentials are most important, but your gearbox and transfer case are vital too, for deeper crossings. Without breathers, as your differentials are dunked in cold water, the metal shrinks and sucks some of the water into the diff.

Water and oil don’t go well together and result in expensive rebuild costs down the track if not picked up early.

Installing some aftermarket breathers is a relatively simple DIY job, and costs under $100 – well worth doing for peace of mind!

Don’t hit it with speed

Water crossings should be entered gently, with enough speed to create a small wave of water in front of the vehicle that stays there the whole way across. If you enter with a big splash, you risk getting water where it shouldn’t go. Gently does it, and aim for a perfect bow wave.

Mud and water is fun but comes at a cost

There’s nothing more fun than driving your 4WD through the mud. It’s slippery, requires a heap of attention and will push your vehicle to its limit.

However, a moment of fun in the mud can come at a pretty hefty price, which is often misunderstood or forgotten about in the moment.

The cleanup

If you haven’t had the privilege of detailing a filthy 4WD covered in mud, count your lucky stars. Mud is terrible to clean. Sometimes you get lucky and it hoses off, but if it has any clay content, you are going to need to wet it, then physically remove it.

I’ve come back from trips in the south-west of WA and physically removed several wheelbarrows of mud from my car. It takes a lot of time, leaves a lot of mess and is not the most enjoyable job!

Ten minutes in the mud can take hours to properly clean off. Make sure you do clean it ASAP too, as it can have a high salt content and if left, will cause rust to begin.

Driving in slippery, slidey mud is all part of the fun when 4WDing in winter. 

Additional mechanical wear and tear to your 4WD

Mud is shocking when it comes to damage done to your 4WD. It’s so fine and sloppy that it works its way into everywhere you don’t want it. Seals, bearings, differentials, brakes, radiators and pretty much anywhere you can name that you wouldn’t want mud, it’s going to get.

Those who regularly do water crossings and play in the mud have to maintain their 4WD’s at a much higher rate than those who don’t. Mud’s a lot of fun, but it’s keeping your mechanic in business!

Electrical gremlins

The number one cause of engine bay electrical issues from off-road work is water. Water just doesn’t play well with electrics, especially in petrol vehicles. If you have issues with your alternator after driving through water or mud, you can guarantee it’s gotten in and is playing havoc.

Sometimes you can fix them quickly, and other times they need repairing or replacing. Ask anyone who drives a V8 LandCruiser how many times they’ve had to replace, repair or clean out alternators. If they head 4WDing in winter regularly I bet it’s more than a couple!

Engine braking is a must

Rain often results in a massive lack of traction when 4WDing. Whilst it’s instinctive to use your brakes in your 4WD, you need to learn to resist the temptation, or at least to do it very carefully on hill descents.

Downhill descents are downright dangerous when traction is limited and you are using the brakes. The concept is pretty simple – when you are rolling down a hill, the 4WD begins to pick up speed. Instinctively, you brake to slow down, but even the slightest touch on the brake pedal locks your wheels up, and then you are in real trouble.

The LandCruiser trying to bite into the dirt but struggling. 

With your wheels locked up, you will keep gaining speed, which is seriously dangerous in a limited traction scenario. The correct technique is to approach slippery descents as slow as possible and keep your 4WD in low range, first gear. This forces the 4WD’s wheels to turn at a set rate and will control your speed. Try not to accelerate or decelerate too quickly, or you will lose traction.

If by chance you do lose traction, and your wheels are turning slower than you are moving, you need to accelerate and speed the wheels up until they match the speed you are moving, and then gradually decelerate. You can use your brakes, but do so extremely cautiously!

Your tyres must suit the terrain

Four-wheel drive tyres are critical. They are the only thing that touches the ground and provides you with the traction needed to brake, corner and accelerate. Kind of important stuff!

Winter brings rain, and rain brings mud and a massive lack of traction. You must have suitable tyres when it comes to driving in winter. If you are still running the slicks (or highway terrains) that many vehicles come with, I’d advise you not to head out when it’s wet (unless it’s sand work).

Highway terrains just don’t cut the mustard when it comes to 4WDing in the wet, they just aren’t able to bite into the ground enough to keep you moving. It’s not just frustrating, but they can be dangerous.

Sand is a pretty reliable driving medium year-round.

All-terrain tyres are a fantastic compromise – they have much better puncture resistance, provide a lot more traction and they go well in everything from sand through to gravel and mud.

Mud terrain tyres are ideal when the going gets really tough, but these are not always what everyone wants to run.

Four-wheel driving in winter

There’s no reason to lock your 4WD up and wait for the colder months to pass by. After all, winter is the perfect time of year to set up camp around a campfire and prepare hearty stews.

Get it out, get it ready and take it out on an adventure. Some of our best 4WD trips have been in the middle of winter. When it’s rained, we’ve gotten bogged and had a laugh in the process. Ideally, though, you avoid the getting bogged bit!

Australia has some truly epic places to explore – why not get out there this winter?

  Where’s your favourite winter 4WDing and camping destination?

The post 5 Safety Tips for Winter Four-Wheel Driving appeared first on Snowys Blog.

[jazzyhazzy]

Chapter Fifteen - All I Want

All I want is nothing more To hear you knocking at my door 'Cause if I could see your face once more I could die as a happy man I'm sure

“It’s perfect for us” he corrects.

My breath catches in my throat. Us? I did hear him correctly, right? Harry said with his mouth, that this house is perfect for us. As in Harry and Blair, as in him and myself. Us. 

“Us?” I squeak, unsure how many times I replayed his voice saying that one troublesome word in my head. That IS what he said, after all.

“Us.” he nodded, certain. Harry reached and grabbed my hand, holding it in his own, his warmth spread from my hand and travelled throughout my entire body, warming me right to my core. He hesitated, afraid, before speaking again. “Blairy... I... I don’t mean... like... you don't need to like... move in right away...” 

My shoulders visibly relaxed, and I let go of a breath I hadn't even noticed that I had been holding in. Harry sensed, my sudden relaxation, and took that as an opportunity to tell me what he was really thinking. “I mean, I want this place to be ours someday. There’s no rush, of course, I would never want to rush you,  but when I was looking for a new house after everything that happened, I looked at so many different ones, bigger, smaller, older... But every house I walked through, something was missing, and I knew that it was you, because there’s no home without you, Blair-” He paused, to brush a stray piece of hair from my cheek, and I shudder at his touch. 

“I would walk through every house, and think to myself, Blair wouldn’t like how dark this room is, or, I can’t see her in this kitchen at 2am eating ice-cream straight from the container in one of my old t-shirts. And then I finally settled on this house, the garden, the kitchen, the whole house just kinda felt as right as a house could, and I know I’m rambling on but I just feel like you need to know, that despite everything that happened, and everything you told me - and I know we agreed to move on but just let me finish - you’re a part of me, Blair. You’re in every decision I make, you’re in every thought I have, I can’t see a future without you in it.” 

Tears sprung to my eyes, and I let them. I couldn't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, I deserve this. 

“Har-” I’m silenced almost as soon as I begin, his finger swiping away a stray tear that escaped to run down my cheek. “Don’t cry! Blair, I’m just trying to tell you, that I don't care how long this takes, I don’t want to take you for granted being here right now, but I gotta say that man, my heart expands about 100 times the size just by being so near to you, and I was afraid that you’d never let me touch you again, let alone-” He paused to brush his lips against mine, causing a prickling sensation all over my body, raising the hairs on my arms.

Harry pulled away and smirks with that stupid lopsided grin that I love oh-so much. “So thank you, thank you for letting me back into your life, I promise you now, that I will never let anything come between us again. It goes without saying, but... I’m all yours.” 

My head spins, a mixture of confusion, fear, anxiety, and of course, delight and love.

“Forever?” I ask, cheekily.

“For as long as you’ll have me, I’m yours.” He smiles, beaming at me. I stand up off the stool and wrap my arms around his waist, resting my head against his chest. He instantly wraps his arms around me and squeezes me tight, propping his head on top of mine. “Thank you” I say, my voice mumbled by his sweater. “Shut up, dummy. You already knew all of that stuff  anyway” he chuckled, leaning back to look down at my face. His expression soft. 

I turn my head up to him, “I still think we should take things slow, though. Let’s just take it day by day, everything will fall into place like it did the first time. I just don't want to rush anything, and I don't think that moving straight back in with you is the right way to go just yet, I still feel like I need my own place for a while longer, just as a kind of safety net.” I notice a drop in his expression, and I put my thumb on his chin and make him look at me.

His dazzling green eyes lock onto mine, and I’m paralysed for a moment. “Haz, I need to learn to trust you again, you understand that, right?” I ask, with caution, his expression drops further. “Blair, I’m so-” I shush him. “I know.”

Sadness still resides on his features, and I can't help but tilt my head to the side and pull a wacky face. It works, because I know him too well, there are certain looks I can give him that are guaranteed to make him laugh affectionately. “There he is” I cheer, pinching his cheek. 

I walk across to the other side of the kitchen, opening the fridge and poking around inside, a lot of leftovers, and a lot of snackage, and an unusual amount of cheeses for a man who lives alone. “So cowboy, how are you going to entertain me this fine evening?” I quiz, looking at him over my shoulder, as he watches me, his face, an expression of pure content, seeing me roam freely around his kitchen and have a good nosey in his fridge.

“Let’s watch Harry Potter” he suggests, with a knowing smile. My weakness. I grin madly, and his eyes light up. “But!” he announces, and of course, there is a condition. “You have to make the popcorn, because you know how to get it just right and you know I always burn it because I’m hopeless.”

Sighing dramatically, I roll my eyes before I agree. “WOOO” he exclaims loudly, making me jump, before scurrying off to the lounge to set everything up.

While the popcorn kernels pop away in the pan, I lean against the bench and my eyes scan over everything in the room, there’s definitely room for a woman’s touch, thats for sure. But its really big, a lot of bench space for my baking, and I can already see about a dozen spaces for pot plants, several spots for numerous kitchen accessories... I could easily eat breakfast on those white stools every morning, while watching harry make me a cup of tea. 

He’s good. He picked this place out with me in mind, and he chose wisely. The bare white walls are perfect. A Blank canvas for me to do with them what I please. But first, we need to make whatever is going on between the two of us work. 

Once the popcorn is ready, with the perfect amount of butter on it, I make my way into the lounge and find that Harry has set up the movie, and also gathered all the pillows and blankets and piled them on the huge comfy couch. I ache to dive into the soft mountain and sink in. “Ready?” he asks, jumping onto the couch and he almost disappears completely underneath the pillows and blankets. I can't help but laugh, “Press play already!” I squeal with excitement, jumping onto the couch next to him, trying my best not to let the popcorn fly everywhere. I wriggle around and make myself comfortable, shoving a handful of popcorn in my mouth.

I must say, its nice. Just being in Harry’s company, its easy. Its as though a weight has been lifted off my chest. My ability to slowly let go of his betrayal, and the resentment I felt towards him has made me begin to feel like a normal person once more. I talked a big talk of never going back to him, never forgiving him, changing into a person he barely recognised... And while I know I have changed, trauma changes people after all, Harry has changed too. He lost our baby as well. We’ve both changed, but I know deep down that we’ll never stop loving each other. We could go away and be with other people, and even then, I think we’d still find our way back together, no matter where we are in the world. I truly feel at ease by his side, like when people say in tacky quotes that home isn't a place, it’s a person, or a feeling, or something along those lines. 

Harry is my home.

A sideways glance at him tells me he is well and truly engrossed in the movie, with a face stuffed with popcorn, I can’t help but smile to myself.

“Haz” I whisper, leaning over to put my head near to his, “mmm?” 

“I think I’d quite like to live here with you, someday.”

---

The following morning, I wake up sweating. I’m not surprised when I take my surroundings in. I’m covered in what feels like a heavy weight of blankets, my hand encased in Harry’s like a hand in a glove. While his head faces away from me, I know the angelic look of his sleeping face by memory. I free my other hand from the blanket prison and rub the sleep out of my eyes, I don’t even remember seeing the last of the movie, in fact, I’m pretty sure I fell asleep before anything exciting could happen. I guess that’s what a kids birthday party will do to a person!

Harry grumbles near me, and rolls over to face my direction. His hair is rather ridiculous, sticking up at all crazy angles, but somehow looking perfect at the same time. His lips form a sleepy pout and his eyes show the first signs of stirring. I watch him come alive, groggy and tired, but beautiful nonetheless, there’s no denying that he truly is a beautiful specimen. 

“Morning’ sunshine” I croaks, his voice ragged from sleep. A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth, “Mornin’ gorgeous” I retort, he frowns. “I’m not gorgeous, I’m handsome.” he corrects, squeezing my hand and pulling me into him for a hug. “Now where’s my breakfast, woman!?” He demands, holding me into his chest as I make a move to get up. It’s way too warm laying on his chest under all of these blankets. He's like a human sized hot water bottle, and I’m literally about to pass out from overheating. 

“How am I going to get out of here?” I huff, remembering the hoards of cameras that will await me if I were to step outside of his gates. “Well... you could just stay here forever. I wouldn’t object” Harry smirked. I raise my eyebrows at him, “Seriously, Harry! I’m having lunch with Sav in a few hours” he groans dramatically, “You’ll have to hide in my car again, and I’ll drop you back to your car” I nod, that’ll work. 

God it used to be so much easier, I mean, its not easy having cameras follow around the man you love 24/7, but its a lot more difficult when you now have to make sure you’re not seen coming out of his house in the morning when we’re not technically together anymore. Well, for now anyway. 

I’m still dressed in my clothes from the night before, and I am in desperate need of a shower and an outfit change. The deep rumble in my stomach tells me that I should probably eat something too. 

As if he heard my stomach - either that, or he can read my mind - Harry asks if I want to stay for breakfast. While he doesn't have much else to offer other than cereal or toast, I don't really mind what we eat. I’m just rather tempted to see how well I can fit into this environment, and something as simple as eating cereal with Harry in the kitchen seems like a good place to start. I opt for my usual cornflakes, while Harry chooses Froot Loops, typical, always so sugar orientated.

We sit down side by side on the barstools, eating away at our cereal and catching each others eye every few seconds and bursting out into laughter, almost spitting cereal all over the counter. With his mouth full, he turns on his barstool and gives me a serious look. “Kill, marry, fuck. Cedric Diggory, young Tom Riddle, and Neville Longbottom.”

I mirror him, turning my own barstool towards his, and we face each other. I mull it over while I finish chewing my mouthful, and swallow. “I’m gonna have to kill Nev, fuck young Tom, and marry Cedric.” I decide, as if it’s obvious. Harry seems, happy with my honesty. Such great breakfast conversation we have.

Once we’re all out of Harry Potter characters, and our bowls are empty, I stand up and reach over to grab Harry’s empty bowl and spoon and he karate chops my hand “YEOW!” he shouts, making me jump and almost drop my own bowl. “WHAT!?” I shout back, my heart still racing from the sudden yell. “I will put those in the dishwasher, madam. You’re still a guest here, remember...” he taunts. He’s got me there. I haven't agreed to move in, even though I’ve told him I wouldn't mind it. As much as I would like to run headfirst into this life with him right now, I know that I need to take my time, and ease back into it. It’s for the best, I keep telling myself. 

Sighing in defeat, I slide my bowl over towards, him. “Good girl” he grins widely, grabbing my bowl and putting it in the dishwasher behind his. “Look, our bowls are spooning” he exclaims, causing me to roll my eyes, and shake my head. He says the darnedest things, that just make me want to squeeze him and laugh at him and kiss him and hit him all at the same time. 

“Come on princess, I need to get going so I can make myself presentable for this lunch date” I say, his face dropping at my eagerness to leave. 

To be completely honest, I’d be happy to stay here all day with him, but I really do need to get cleaned up and I have a feeling that Sav is going to see right through me if I even try and lie about what happened last night. “Let me grab a jumper and then we can go” he says, his voice low. I grab his arm as he walks past, “Hey, please don't be like that, you know I’d stay if I didn't have anywhere else to be” I reassure him. He grumbles, “I know, I know. I just wish... Well, I wish things were the way they were, and I could look forward to coming home to you every day.”

My heart drops, “Harry, I can’t. Not right away, we need to work up to it.” It feels like a lousy excuse to say the least, but I have to stick with this for now. To be honest, I’m kinda loving making him work for it too, I needed him to show me how much he wants this, how much he needs this. It’s nice to feel wanted. “I’ll show you, Blair. I’ll prove it to you that this is right for us.”

I stand up on my toes and touch my lips to his, giving him a small kiss, and I can feel his entire body relax. “Haz, you don't need to prove anything to me. We both know how this is going to go, I’m just asking for some time! Please don’t rush me, okay?” he nods, “Okay” and I’m rewarded with a small smile. 

“Let’s go”  he squeezes my hand, running off upstairs to grab a jersey. I slip my shoes back on and smile inwardly at the sight of my shoes next to his, my coat hanging up beside his. It looks right, it feels right. It’s only a matter of time. Harry comes bounding back down the stairs, pulling his head through the hole at the top of his hoodie, he has something in his hand and holds it out to me, his face encouraging. 

It’s the silver bangle he gave me, it feels like an eternity has passed since I last wore it. “Thought you might want this back, I’ve kept it on my bedside table, waiting for the right time to give it to you again.” I nod in appreciation, taking the bangle from his hand and sliding it back on my wrist once more. It feels like I never took it off.

so hey, it’s me, the lil lady who writes these. I’m like 99.99% sure none of the original readers of this fan fic are still around, and thats my fault for being a lazy-ass and not finishing this story 2 years ago when I should have. But recently, I’ve felt like writing again, so I figured I’d finish this once and for all because it always bugged me that I never finished this story. If, by some extraordinary miracle, an original reader of the fanfic from all those years ago, is reading THIS, please please PLEASE send me a message so I know SOMEBODY is out there!! Also 1D is not even a thing anymore so do people even read 1D fan fiction??? crazy times. Also with this fic, I’m planning on jumping forward a few years to get up to date with everything that has happened since I last posted a chapter 2 years ago

[virgo-dragon]

Loz Fanfic Thing

for @du-hjarta-skulblaka and whoever else is interested note: this /did/ have some formatting but ut didnt copy/paste, im on movike, and im lazy Open on Cosplayer Dude at convention in Link Cosplay, having a good time (maybe in vendor's hall?) Bam! Fuckin Ganondorf comes through the wall like the Kool Aid Man going on about “those god damned goddesses fucking putting the triforce in this shit hole” Ganondorf sees our hero and is like “Agh! /YOU/! I thought I took care of you! Oh well, once more never hurt anyone” and Hero immediately shits pants Ganondorf essentially takes our hero prisoner w a planned execution Zelda in hiding as one of his minions frees Hero at last minute, runs off w them Big Epic Chase Scene. Hero runs off something/into something/is nearly caught but saved at last minute which leads to blackout and meeting Main Ally (but not Companion. No Companions) Cue “You’re the hero!” “Im most definitely fucking NOT the Hero! Im only dressed up as him! Im not even guy! MY NAMES NOT EVEN LINK!” (Maybe a “Who’s Link? His name was ’(Our Hero’s Name)’”and then an “Oh jesus fuck” “Ok well if ur gonna be fighting you gotta get a proper sword and shield” “Well I GUESS!” *cue raiding the ruined Vendor’s Hall for a sword and shield (neither look like the things but that get painted like them later) Cue Search for the Stones/Pearls/Pendants and travelling between dimensions via lame old plastic ocarina and the rushed learning of Legendary Hero (comment on cheesiness) Courage: needs hammer Wisdom: Needs boomerang Power: Needs floaty glidey thing (sailcloth-type maybe?) Cue Hurdy Gurdy Get and Main Theme Learn (acts as Zelda’s Lullaby in OoT) Cue Quest for Master Sword (cue quest for Master Sword Sheath) -found in Temple of Time (but what about the sheath tho) Cue Quest for Hylian Shield Cue Return to Ally -learn Clocktown Theme as Home Warp Song Oh no! Ganondorf has found the Triforce of Power! (Of course) Chase after Ganondorf as he tries to get the Triforce of Wisdom -End up protecting Zelda on her way out/sneaky leading her out maybe bc she got there first -maybe Look-Alike plan? Race to the Triforce of Courage -Rejects Hero at first bc idk they dont accept their role as Hero or smth. Maybe they just need to accept the courage in themself? Accept that they value courage and have been denying it bc it’s “cliche”? -but also rejects Ganondorf bc he values Power above all and he’s got that piece Cue Standoff with Ganondorf Cue ToC finally accepting Hero “Oh now i can take you you piece of shit” “to be fair, if youd taken it at first, Ganondorf couldve taken it from you.” “.../why/ did you have to have the Triforce of Wisdom” Cue Return to Ally Zelda stays behind at Ally’s bc she thinks she wont be found and/or shell be able to hold her own and/or she can make it defensible/hideable -this place becomes a dungeon later on -”You won’t listen to me when I tell you I know for a FACT this won’t work, right?” “Well, no. But also i cant fight im gonna fuckin die if i go out there w you.” “Tru” Shakey Shakey its an Earth Quakey Cue Trip to find Wise Guy Sahasrala to find out wtf’s going on “Its bc the worlds have been forced close together. They’re becoming unstable.” “Well how tf do I push them apart?” “Ya gotta get both Zelda and Ganondorf back into Hyrule bc they’re keeping it here” Question of whether or not our Hero needs to go w them or do something else- WAIT -The Goddesses just merged the Spirit of the Hero w out Hero one day bc that Link fuckin DIED and so at the Very End the spirits un-merge and our Hero gets to meet THE Hero YES (note: Decide what Kind of Link this kid is) Parts of Hyrule start appearing in our world and Vice Versa Return to Ally’s Place to find it dungeon-ified, Zelda missing presumably deep in the dungeon, and Ally lying bleeding, dying “Yo Zelda’s in there but you’re gonna need a whole HOST of other items to get through there” *dies* Cue Questing for Other Items (Both Tunics / Environment Devices, Bow, Hookshot, and Bombs) -cue instructions and/or panic about learning to use the items (Water Thingy on breathing, Hookshot on fuckign BONES, and Bombs on ignition and usage) Back to the Ally Dungeon! HOLY SHIT LEARN SONGS FEATURED AND/OR USED IN THEGAMES THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE THING (Zelda’s Lullaby doesn’t do anything here go fuck urself) (here it’s the main theme) Go through JUST in time to see Ganondorf take Zelda (of course) (but she at least puts up a fight this time) Standoff w Ghost/Shadow/Phantom Ganon “Well Shit What do I do Now?” Goes back to convention Cue Reflection on all this fucking shit Cue another Link Cosplayer coming up and being like “Dude holy fuck what the fucking shit” Cue Useful Information on Ganon’s Whereabouts “How’re we gonna get in tho its fucking heavily guarded (bc i figure you could use some help im coming with but i also dont quite recognize you’re /really/ the Hero bc thats not a real thing at least i dont think it is)” “Take this old replica shit I got at the start of this fucking fiasco and come confuse w me, his monsters are rly dumb theyll never know we’re diff heights and maybe even skin colors” They succeed “Yo bro this is getting a bit much for me and you look like you’ve got it good luck and let me know if you need my help again. Heres my number” “god i forgot phones were a /thing/” Cue finding Ganondorf and Final Standoff in Our World Cue Sacred Realm or some bs scene Cue Message from the Goddesses in form of Big Mysterious Voice saying “whoops we fucked up cant push away the worlds until Spirit of Hero is unmerge” (clever hints all along that Spirit of Hero was there and at least part of the time acting) “Looks like you gotta Stab the Thing in the Temple of Time. Also leave all your cool shit there please” -actually maybe not bc most things can be made -maybe its like “look we know there’ll still be residual effects and shit in your world so a) Take these Ghost Versions of shit that work the same and go fight it or b) take the Actual Items and they’ll find their way back to Hyrule later Cue journey to Temple of Time to stab sword in pedestal Cue Meeting w the Spirit of the Hero and subsequent near fan-personing of Our Hero Long talk about everything (and maybe the bringing up of the Link name) -”nah bro my name’s Link idk what that shit was probably the Goddesses doin shit” “So you mean I wasnt actually destined to be the hero?” “No you were, but the name always helps.” -I imagine this Link to have much of the personality and maybe look of Skyward Sword Link which makes sense bc he was the Original Link Cue Return to Our World and Wrapping Up of Shit Cue Epilogue Our Hero Agender, but if asked will say Mayonnaise Needs glasses so has to wear those fuckin sports glasses -I hate those glasses -they have silver/gray ones. The kind that look like weird goggles After Inciting Incident they go and fucking use ALL the bobby-pins to keep their hat on -”Suddenly I kinda maybe rly wanna wear this through the adventure. At least it’s well made and I’ll get several kicks out of keeping it on” Swears at anything and everything in a dungeon -“OH BOY A BOSS ROOM NOT LIKE IM FUCKING SURPRISED” -“god damned FLOOR/WALLMASTERS I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!!! FUCKIN LEAVE ME ALONE” Has played many a Zelda

[dorothydelgadillo]

Tech 101: Content Marketing Versus Content Strategy—What’s the Diff?

If you’ve read our article What is Digital Marketing, you know digital marketing refers to all the online strategies used to sell products and services (whether you’re targeting potential audiences via computer, iPad, or app). But that’s a pretty broad definition.

Under this big umbrella, you’ll also come across more specific terms related to marketing roles, concepts, and methodologies. Probably the two most common among them are “content marketing” and “content strategy.”

Are these two ways of describing the same thing? And are they crucial concepts in the grand scheme of digital marketing?

The answers are:

no, not really

yes, very!

Content marketing and content strategy are two distinct (though related) digital marketing approaches, and each plays a role in selling products and services online.

So without further ado, let’s talk content marketing versus content strategy, get a sense of what’s different about the two concepts, learn how they work together, and start to see why they’re so important to the work of digital marketing.

Table of Contents

What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing Examples

What is Content Strategy?

Content Strategy Examples

1. What is Content Marketing?

The marketing software company Hubspot defines content marketing as:

“a marketing program that centers on creating, publishing, and distributing content for your target audience—usually online—the goal of which is to attract new customers.”

In other words, content marketing (like the name suggests) is literally the practice of creating content to use for digital marketing purposes.

So does that mean it’s the same thing as creating print advertisements, radio spots, and television commercials in traditional marketing?

Well, not exactly.

While print, radio, and TV ads ARE content (and that content is used for marketing purposes), they’re not technically “content marketing.” That’s because the term “content marketing” refers specifically to digital strategies in which marketers use proactive campaigns to reach new visitors. In the simplest terms: content marketing is how marketers are using dynamic storytelling to attract new audiences.

In order to really understand what content marketing is, it also helps to take a brief detour and understand a term called “inbound marketing.”

Inbound Marketing—A Brief Detour

Inbound marketing is a term first coined by Hubspot co-founder Brian Halligan. Today, Hubspot defines inbound marketing as:

“[a method of] creating valuable experiences that have a positive impact on people and your business [by attracting] prospects and customers to your website and blog through relevant and helpful content.”

This definition of inbound marketing illustrates how significantly different digital content is from more traditional marketing content.

Traditional marketing (print, radio, television, etc.) is generally a passive experience—an advertisement appears in the print or visual medium a customer is viewing and makes an appeal for a product or service.

Digital marketing, inspired by Hubspot’s “inbound” definition, is a more dynamic and interactive experience. Online, customers are likely to encounter content by searching for it themselves. Rather than watching their favorite TV show and incidentally seeing an advertisement for a car, for instance, digital consumers are searching Google for terms related to cars and actively finding car-related content.

With this inbound model in mind, you can see why digital marketing content needs to be more than a static advertisement asking customers to buy. The potential customer searching Google for cars isn’t looking for car advertisements, they’re looking for useful articles about “the best cars of 2019,” or “how to get a good deal when shopping for new cars.”

Content marketing is the practice of creating that kind of helpful content and using its value proposition to guide customers down a sales funnel, building a long term relationship with your company or brand en route to an eventual purchase.

(back to top)

2. Content Marketing Examples

Here are some of the core types of digital content used in a content marketing campaign:

Blog Posts and Articles

Blogs and blog posts are at the heart of content marketing and lead generation. Quality blog content that’s relevant to your customer base and written per best SEO (search engine optimization) practices makes your site (and content) “findable” by consumers on Google and other search engines (and keeps them on your site once they’ve found you).

Real life example: I buy a new coffee grinder and need help figuring out how to set it up. I search Google for the right grind setting and end up on a blog for a coffee roasting company. Their article is helpful, I go down a rabbit hole and read a few more articles while I’m there, and I return to their site the next few times I have coffee questions.

The roasting company’s brand creates value in my mind, and eventually—while on their site—I end up ordering some of the coffee-related hardware they have for sale. This is content marketing in action by way of the humble blog post.

To think of it in terms of stats, Hubspot reports that:

Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5 times more traffic and 4.5 times more leads than companies that published zero to four monthly posts.

B2C companies that blogged 11+ times per month got more than four times as many leads than those that blog only four to five times per month.

Social Media

If blog posts are the heart of content marketing, social media is its circulatory system.

While most clear-cut lead generation and customer conversion takes place on your blog as you funnel customers toward premium content like ebooks, guides, and webinars (see below), social media marketing serves as an amplification of those lead generation efforts.

In order to make your site content “findable” by search engines, you need to do things like use relevant keywords and thoroughly answer user questions on the topic at hand. But it also helps search rankings if you can demonstrate an influx of traffic to your content. Social media is the vehicle for doing so.

A well-crafted Instagram story or Facebook post that spotlights a blog article you’re trying to promote will bring additional traffic to your site and article, giving a bump to your search rankings which will then bring more traffic to your site, rinse and repeat.

For more on how social media content plays a role in boosting the rest of your content’s visibility by way of SEO, check out this article from Forbes, and this article from NeilPatel.com.

Video Content and Podcasts

As big a part as blog articles and social media posts play in content marketing, don’t forget about videos and podcasts.

Video and audio content—whether it’s recaps of the material covered on your blog or separate informative takes on similarly relevant topics—is another way to connect with customers and communicate the value proposition of your brand.

In fact, while the written word is still a key player in getting people to your site via search engine queries, audio and visual content is even more likely to keep them there.

Per Hubspot:

Including a video in a post increases organic traffic from search results by 157%.

20% of people will read the text on a page, but 80% of people will watch a video.

Monthly podcast listeners grew from 24% of Americans to 26% year over year.

Premium Content—eBooks, Guides, and Webinars

While the content mentioned above will bring visitors to your website (and ideally keep them coming back for repeat visits), at some point you need a concrete way of converting these visitors into leads who can eventually be funneled toward purchasing products and services.

This is where premium content comes into the picture. Content like a blog article is designed to be accessible with no barrier to entry—you want as many people as possible to read your blog articles without anything standing in their way.

Once those articles have established a significant value proposition, however, it’s time offer a deeper dive into subjects relevant to your audience by way of content like eBooks, guides, and webinars.

Each of these premium forms of content can be seen as expanded versions of things like blog posts, videos, and podcasts. Where a blog post might cover a single topic about digital marketing (something like…I don’t know, content marketing versus content strategy?), a digital marketing guide will cover everything from digital marketing definitions, to the skills digital marketers need to get hired, to lists of job boards specializing in digital marketing positions.

Speaking of, don’t forget to download our Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing from the forms at the top or bottom of this page.

Unlike blog posts, videos, or podcasts that can be accessible directly from your site, premium content is gated behind a form requiring an email address or some other identifying action in order to access it.

By collecting the email or contact information of a visitor who’s interested enough in your brand to go further than your basic content, you’ll have secured a quality lead who may be interested in purchasing from you in the future (and who you can now contact with sales emails and other targeted offers in an attempt to convert them into a paying customer).

For more on the topic of premium content, check out this article from Hubspot.

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3. What is Content Strategy?

So with a general understand of content marketing out of the way, what exactly is content strategy?

Returning to Hubspot, their definition of content strategy is:

“the management of pretty much any tangible media that you create and own: written, visual, downloadable … you name it. It is the piece of your marketing plan that continuously demonstrates who you are and the expertise you bring to your industry.”

In other words—you guessed it—content strategy is the planning and implementation of all that value-rich digital content listed above.

It’s probably not a surprise that quality content alone doesn’t make a successful content marketing campaign. Content marketing without content strategy is like that proverbial tree in the forest that no one hears.

There needs to be a method to your madness in order to connect with visitors and convert leads in an effective way. Content strategy is the process of developing and executing that method, but what does it look like?

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4. Content Strategy Examples

Here are some examples of content strategy in action:

Competitive Analysis

Conducting a competitive analysis is a foundational step in content strategy. It means identifying your competitors and analyzing their businesses with a fine tooth comb. This lets you learn from their successes and mistakes, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and find gaps in the market that other businesses aren’t covering.

Once you understand similarities and differences between your business and competitors in your field, you’ll learn how to occupy the best market niche for your company and attract your own target audience.

The core steps of a competitive analysis include:

Identifying competitors—which business are truly direct competitors and represent a threat to your market share?

Choosing parameters—decide which parts of a competitor’s business should be studied comparatively with your own. This can include core products, pricing structures, websites, blogs, social media presence, etc.

Tracking and sharing—the results of your analysis should be tracked through a simple spreadsheet, which you can transfer to a slide deck and share internally with your company or client.

For more about each of these steps, be sure to download our Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing from the forms at the top or bottom of this page.

Style Guides

Another important component of content strategy is a brand or content style guide. A style guide is a document with guidelines for making marketing content conform to your brand’s look and voice. In terms of visual content, this includes things like:

color palettes

font sets

logos

When it comes to written or scripted content, style guides cover details like:

voice and tone

preferred terms

standard conventions for capitalization, punctuation, attribution, etc.

Since style guides are designed to appeal to your company or client’s particular market niche (see competitive analysis above) they help present a consistent look, tone, and message that your audience will recognize and trust across your entire digital platform.

Consistency (as defined by a style guide) ensures that your content delivers on what Hubspot calls the “delight” phase of inbound marketing—delivering the right information to the right person at the right time, every time. Without a style guide, your content runs the risk of losing a cohesive identity and confusing your audience.

Pillar Pages

Pillar pages are a great illustration of content strategy versus content marketing.

Let’s say, sans strategy, you’ve written 20 different blog articles about different parts of the same core topic. If the topic is digital marketing, then maybe you’ve written about entry level digital marketing jobs, the best tech skills to have for digital marketing, free digital marketing resources, how to find a job in digital marketing, etc.

If all this similarly themed content is sitting disconnected on your site without a plan, it’s going to compete with itself when it comes to Google ranking and searches. Your “entry level digital marketing jobs” article might rank well, for instance, but it might rank at the expense of your “best tech skills for digital marketing” piece.

Which means the segment of your audience who’s interested in a list of tech skills and not looking for entry level marketing jobs will gloss over the post that shows up in their results and move on to something else.

However, if you can aggregate your content in a cluster (the aim of a pillar page), Google can recognize that all of your articles are related to the same general topic, giving your site increased authority on said topic and improving the ranking for each of your individual articles.

Meanwhile, your pillar pages themselves become a way of funneling your audience from a general topic of interest and into subtopics that meet their specific needs (increasing time spent on your site, which is a win for digital marketing).

So what does a pillar page look like? It’s really just a blog post or landing page that superserves a topic. If you’re writing a pillar page for digital marketing, you’ll want it to cover ALL THE THINGS digital marketing—but at a surface level. Each subtopic you cover will link to content you’ve written that tackles the subtopic in detail.

By creating pillar pages and clustering your content, you’re actively participating in content strategy (and, really, content marketing as well, since the two are never completely separate).

For bonus reads on pillar pages, check out these articles from Hubspot and Neil Patel.

Testing

While content marketing is a creative job in a lot of ways (remember, every piece of content you see online had to be created by someone), content always needs to be informed by data, which is another critical way content strategy compliments content creation and marketing.

Business owners, digital marketers, and content creators will all have their own hunches and feelings about what resonates best with an audience, but what matters most is direct evidence from the audience themselves.

Testing is a clear way to gauge your content’s performance and inform your overall content strategy moving forward. This testing looks similar to what you might see in the user experience (UX) research field, with one of the simplest and most effective ways to test content being A/B testing.

A/B Testing is the process of user testing two versions (A and B) of digital content with a target audience and learning which one the audience prefers. When it comes to digital content, this preference is usually measured through by conversion rate—the number of visitors to a website or app who take a desired action during their visit (things like signing up for an email list, purchasing a product or service, or subscribing for a paid membership).

Marketing platforms like Hubspot have options for A/B testing built into their infrastructure, but you can also manually test content based on the steps laid out in this Hubspot article.

Website Audits

Along with the data you collect from testing, a solid content strategy also includes periodic website audits. Site audits are exactly what they sound like—systematic reviews of your website’s performance in terms of benchmarks like search ranking, traffic numbers, time users spend on each page, external links viewers are using to get to your site, links visitors are clicking once they get to your site, etc.

When you track, collect, and record this data, you establish a clear, numbers-driven sense of your site’s performance. This allows you to implement site changes, additions, and improvements from a strategic vantage point. For more on what a site audit actually looks like, Hubspot lays it out in detail in this guide.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

A content strategy won’t ultimately be useful unless you know whether and how it’s working. Testing and site audits are two big pieces of that puzzle, but how do you track and assess bigger picture marketing goals? The answer? KPIs.

KPIs (or key performance indicators) are quantitative benchmarks you can set as part of a content marketing campaign to track how much progress you’re making towards your marketing goals. Simply put, content marketers aim to hit their KPI numbers in order to show that a content strategy is on track, growing, and adding to the company’s bottom line.

Randle Browning breaks down digital marketing KPIs in depth in her article How to Define Digital Marketing KPIs, but the following is a snapshot from the article:

The best KPIs follow the SMART framework, a system often used in management consulting. KPIs should be:

Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-Bound

Let’s say you want to hit 20,000 Instagram followers on your company account. To convert that to a SMART KPI, here’s the context you’d need to think about:

In order to influence Instagram sales (relevant), I want to grow my company’s Instagram following (specific) from 10k to 20k (measurable) this quarter (time-bound), using a social media agency (achievable).

As another example, let’s say you want to get more website traffic. To make this KPI smart, you’d break it down like this:

I want more people to visit our website and become customers (relevant), so this month (time-bound), I want to boost our organic search traffic (specific) from 70,000 visitors per month to 80,000 visitors per month (measurable), which I’ll do primarily through link-building and improved keyword ranking (achievable).

In practice, you’d probably list these KPIs on a spreadsheet like this:

20,000 Instagram followers 80,000 site visits from organic search traffic

Of course, these numbers should be informed by other aspects of your content strategy (like the testing described earlier) so that they’re data driven and you’re not simply seeing what sticks on the wall.

If content creation and strategizing sounds like a perfect fit for you, your next step should be signing up for our Skillcrush Digital Marketing Blueprint. This online course is designed to be completed in just 3 months by spending only an hour a day on the materials.

It covers all the skills you’ll need to be familiar with to break into the lucrative and growing world of digital marketing, whether that’s through content or any other role under the digital marketing umbrella.

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from Web Developers World https://skillcrush.com/2019/02/25/content-marketing-versus-content-strategy/

[catwasteresearch]

Critical Journal Thinking

For the past few weeks I have been deciding what to write the essay on, beginning with looking into paracosms, Shrek/fairy tales, women’s fashion and costume, cross-dressing, looking at  silent films such as The Artist(2011) Nosferatu(1922) and a Trip to the Moon (1902). Watching films by directors Fellini, Hitchcock, Spielberg, Tom Tykwer. I have been writing a lot using the Cut Up technique by William Boroughs and Brian Gysin. I have mainly been motivated to do creative writing and to learn more about writing. I considered doing an essay on language and comparing language used within different genres of films, or comparing a book to its film adaptation, or take a feminist stance and compare the language used by women characters in comparison to male. 

I want to create a short film from a story I have written. I am interested in creating questions through my work and answering questions through making rather than writing an essay. 

Key themes that pop up from past work: childhood, playfulness, make believe. 

Currently I am unsure if it is the still or moving image of the cinematic which I am drawn to. But I enjoy the process of filming and recording videos better than photographing.

I have an idea to structure it by looking at

Writing (Creative Writing, Script to Screen, Narrative structures, Character Development?)

Painting (Lighting, Composition, Symbolism, Colour, Philosophy of making films as if a painting - poetic images)  

Performance(Directing, Acting, Performance Art - Alter Egos, Character Development ).

Then relating this all back to the cinematic and grounding it in research relating these practices to film and the adaptation to screen.

In terms of talking about past work, I can talk about a few projects in relation to painting, and performance section although writing is more of a new tool - apart from when I was a child and using creative writing as an outlet. I am interested to reflect on some old pieces of work and reference them, but I mainly want to focus on pushing my current work and future work. I think by making a short film by December, this will significantly help me to go into the next semester with a lot of new knowledge and experience in filmmaking. It will give me confidence and I will face organisation and technical challenges which I am sure I will learn from. I am planning on showing a film for my degree show so this will either be used for that or more likely help to create the next one and a new basis for making. In the future after GSA I want to work on films. Mainly I want to make my own but I want to gain experience from other practitioners and work behind the camera. As I am passionate about this way of seeing and enjoy the process of filming/looking through a lens and getting into that trance. In summer I worked as a production assistant for a 6 episode comedy webseries called FEM101. From this energy on set and talking to other creatives in the field, it confirmed that this is an area I would like to work in. However I also am interested in making more finart/expressive work/avant garde/exploring themes in an abstract way.  

In terms of practitioners, I take inspiration from artists in all of these disciplines and can talk about them in each section

Performance

I did my source review on Hollywood/Independent filmmakers takes on directing, and I think this will be useful for the Performance section for sources and ideas on how to direct.

I was thinking that it could be partly to do with adopting a persona as a director, and also to adopt a method of helping people to perform. - So I will look through different methods and decide which ones I will implement. The director could be a man from New Zealand (For some reason when I do the New Zealand accent it makes me way more outgoing, I also love Flight of the Conchords which is why I started practicing it- Comedy TV musical show/parody.)  His name could be called Gino (A name that cropped up in a creative writing piece I did describing a room I was in).

“She bought expensive art that she knew nothing about. One of the new editions in her luxury apartment was - diagram of drawing.. labeled: Smears of paint - red and black- on a white background. Looks like shit and blood smeared across. Some writing scattered about faintly in the background - A man called Gino has signed it using black paint in the bottom right hand corner.”

An alter ego for this film who will help the work to be generated and for me to have more confidence when directing/ to lose inhibitions.

- make a background/foreground for Gino similar to Run Lola Run where they introduce small characters/ people walking along the street by displaying 6 photographs or so of them in the future, showing what happens to them (and that is all you find out about them in the whole film).

This would not be shown in the film.. Probably.. But would kind of be more for the generation of the character and for myself/ people I am working with to find out a bit more about him. Probably am going to enjoy this part a lot, that maybe it will be a separate project in itself.

Also to read up on performance video art and understand how my work relates to that. I have a few of old projects I can talk about in this section in relation to video performance and past experience as director from which I can learn from. (Both separate from each other)

The work I most enjoy to see/relate to in galleries tends to be video performance work, especially when people adopt personas on camera and are parodying characters. Although I have not done much reading into these states. But I know that is a way I would like to make more of my work.

A recurring theme in my work has been Make believe - All stemming from childhood and the process of play which you are able to inhibit so easily when a child. I spent most of my childhood playing playmobil, playing sims, and playing make believe where you pretend to be in different scenarios or characters.

I am interested in anthropomorphism and projecting characters onto objects and personifying them. I like creatures and weird looking things, maybe a bit creepy. But I prefer for things to be humorous than scary.

Think about sound/music - setting a mood while filming to help.- not necessarily use that sound though in the film

[1] Robert Edgar-Hunt, Basic Film-Making 03; Directing Fiction , AVA Publishing p.30

Paintings

I also did my curation essay purely on paintings - I could potentially look back at these paintings

- although they are less traditionally cinematic and more figurative abstractions. One of the most interesting projects on our course (COM DES) was when we turned a painting into a film piece. We used otto dix painting for ours. Interesting starting point for generating work which I have wanted to use again.

Also could look at diff paintings, see what I like about them and try and link that together to form a theme for this work.

Also look at David Lynch philosophy on painting through film

And Francis Bacon talking about painting - reminded me of my experience of filmmaking.

Looking at the relationship between painting and filmmaking - want to use this to improve my cinematic lighting- have a really useful book for this called Art History for Filmmakers.

In this section I will talk a lot about the technical side of the process - the compositional side. Why all aesthetics have been taken into consideration or not.

Bringing in techniques like Tableux Vivant into a scene in the film.

Look at Russian Ark (2002) by director Alexander Sokurov. Dp. Tilman Buttner

-unseen narrator is played by the camera (point of view shot).”Watching the film, one cannot help noticing that the Hermitage museum, which is filled with art from every period of human history, acts as point and counterpoint to the action on the screen. The paintings and sculptures of the museum are as much a part of the cast as are the actors. “

Queen Christina 1933 Dir. Rouben Mamoulian, “Scenes reminiscent of traditional court painting, like ‘The PersiaVermee painters crucial 2 light. Lighting tells us where to look. “The language” of lighting in film derives from lighting in painting, developed over 100 years since the Renaissance. Oil paint allowed for this,

Rembrandt and Caravaggio use light/dark contrast (chiaroscuro) for psychological purposes.

Potentially in

Black and White- chosen as recently been drawing in black on white paper and this is helping me to go back to basics, i find that now when i add colour it improves my drawings significantly, But i need to set limitations to help to push areas which I am not so good at. Eg) lighting  

Writing

Discuss what I have written in blog already about writing.

“A key skill to develop is the interpretation of a script. For new directors it is good practice to realise the scripts generated by other writers. In this way, it is possible to see what it takes to move a script to the screen and where confusion may arise..Take a script for a major film and see what happened in the process of the translation to the screen. The script is a template for a director, but also for the heads of department and the actors.” [1]

I am trying to develop writing which will help me to form a script/visuals/narrative for my film.

Ways to develop writing: cut up technique - then look at themes within that, that i am interested in, improve writing from cut up. Look at Elements of Eloquence, listen to Werner Herzog. He says about writing and writing to a top calibre. Then think about translating from script to screen.

Story telling and ways of telling stories, narrative, setting, place, character, considering all of these

Questions to consider from canvas:

Context for your studio work

-critical/theoretical and practical contexts for your current studio practice. What category of art or design do you see your work belonging to and why? What are the issues, questions of concerns which motivate your work? What critical terms or thinkers have informed your work and your perspective upon the work of others? What historical precedents or contemporary examples help you to reach that conclusion? This section should make reference to examples of your recent and current studio work.

Current status of studio work and developments to date:

Reference old work - With reference to precedents mentioned in the context section where possible, set out the main decisions and departures of your studio progress.

where does your work differ and depart from precedents(earlier work/actions)? And why? What did u learn through practice that made you change direction or consolidate your studio activity? What difficulties emerged from new directions or experiments studio. How were these addressed through your processes, research methods and outputs. This section should be carefully supported by illustrations of your recent and current studio practice.

Future : assess the pros and cons of future direction for your studio work. As with first two sections you must remember to make sustained reference to your research and reading throughout, reflecting on the work of those artists or designers or writers who have been in similar fields. This is an opportunity for you to critically propose and defend ideas which may inform research towards your degree show presentation, based on earlier sections of journal.

Bibli:

Interviews with Francis Bacon - David Sylvester, Thames and Hudson 1975

Art History for Filmmakers, The Art of Visual Story Telling - Gillian McIver Bloomsbury Publishing 2016

The Elements of Eloquence, Mark Forsyth, Icon Books 2014

The Animate! Book, Rethinking Animation, Benjamin Cook and Gary Thomas, Lux London

The Film Paintings of David Lynch, Challenging Film Theory by Allister Mactaggart

Films:

Russian Ark - Alexander Sokurov

[learnspanishfans]

Assimil Review: An Honest Look at the Assimil Language Learning System

Assimil is a dialogue based learning course popular amongst language learners. This is clearly illustrated by the 4+ star reviews on Amazon for the majority of the available courses. Assimil has a range of courses available in a variety of languages, but is geared primarily towards French speakers. Dubbed "The Magic Books” by NPR, Assimil is quickly approaching both 100 years of language teaching, and 100 languages in their catalog of courses.

What is Assimil?

Assimil, a French company, was created by Alphonse Chérel in 1929. It publishes several different series, their most popular being Sans Peine or With Ease. The Assimil Sans Peine courses are a combination of dialogue-based texts and audio where you learn by working through passive and active stages. In the passive stage you complete the lessons by reading and listening. While in the active stage you not only listen to and read the lessons, but attempt to translate the dialogues on your own. Compared to the apps and podcasts that many learners use these days, Assimil arguably offers an “old fashioned" approach. The method hasn’t changed much since its original release in the 1920's. So is it still a relevant learning tool? In the past, I have used Assimil to study languages I already had a foundation in - Chinese and Croatian. So for this review I decided to take on the challenge of studying a language in which I was a beginner: Korean. [caption id="attachment_20749" align="aligncenter" width="700"] My Assimil "Korean With Ease" course[/caption] Assimil’s Korean courses are only available in French, so I choose to work through Assimil Coréen Sans Peine to see how I would do. Before I started using Coréen Sans Peine, I’d categorise myself as a “false beginner”. I had dabbled in the language, but my Korean reading was precarious at best, my vocabulary extremely limited and my understanding of grammar non-existent. Having completed the course, here are my thoughts.

Assimil Korean with Ease: Getting Started

Each course in Assimil’s Sans Peine series includes both a book and four audio CDs (and/or an MP3 disc). The courses are available in 148 language combinations, although only 16 of these are for English speakers while 49 are for French speakers. I really like that both the audio and book are available as a complete package, especially because the audio is directly related to the text. What’s more, I like that the audio is to the point. There aren’t any fancy introductions or extra banter from the speakers that you have to endure to get to the real “meat” of the program. Assimil’s Sans Peine courses are created with beginners in mind, and it’s very easy to get started. Each book includes a thorough introduction to the language with tips on pronunciation, the writing system if there is one, and general features of the language. Following the introduction, the course dives right in. For languages with different writing systems, such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean, transliterations are included in Assimil’s courses. While I could have slowly worked my way through Korean texts, I really appreciated having the transliteration printed below the dialogues so that I could focus on speaking and listening comprehension, rather than my reading skills. Plus, the accompanying audio offers you the chance to hear how the words sound so you don’t feel like you’re guessing. [caption id="attachment_20750" align="aligncenter" width="700"] A look inside the Assimil course.[/caption] Each chapter includes a brief dialogue (although these grow longer as you progress) and notes on content. There are also exercises that give you the opportunity to use the material you’ve learned. Together with the translation that conveys the meaning of the text, a literal translation is included so that you get a feel for word order and vocabulary without needing vocabulary lists or grammar exercises. The lessons intentionally avoid going into great depth on grammar, instead offering a collection of simple dialogues with detailed footnotes on rules as they appear as well as notes on the culture tied to the language.

How I Used Assimil

I personally work through the lessons, reading the dialogues out loud before shadowing them once more along with the audio. The way that I use the course, the active stage starts when I repeat the lessons with the audio alone to see how much I’ve really mastered. I can then go back and review what I need with the text. I also like to try out what I’m learning as a part of language exchanges. This approach works well for my learning style, but I could understand why other learners might not be a fan of the series. For me, the process ensures that the material I’m learning really sticks, but others might find it tedious. The strengths of the Assimil method definitely lie in the way it offers context for what it teaches rather than word lists or grammar exercises isolated from how the language functions in day-to-day life. Most lessons can be completed in around an hour, so they are a manageable length.

Assimil with Ease Review: What Did I Learn?

Assimil Korean includes practical and relevant phrases and vocabulary for real world situations. Through the course, I learned words and phrases that were incredibly useful and applicable to daily conversations. These included:

I almost forgot!

What genre of books do you read most?

What time do you get off work?

There was nothing to eat in the fridge, so I went out to the restaurant across the way.

What kind of food do you like?

I really like that Assimil jumps right in and skips the laborious introductions that span several chapters in other courses. My only criticism is that you are not equipped with everything you need to give a full introduction to someone you’ve just met. While I don’t need to know how to describe my entire extended family, it would be nice to get a bit more content for introducing myself, my hobbies, and my preferences. One thing that’s really great about the series is that the dialogues vary from language to language so that they’re more culturally and geographically relevant to the language that the book teaches. But this also means that depending on the learner and depending on the language, the usefulness of the material in the books really varies. Compared to other With Ease books, the Korean course did seem much more travel/business orientated, but there was enough additional content (karaoke, seasons, food, jokes) that this didn’t deter me much. Overall, the language in the texts is relatively formal. Personally, I prefer this. I would rather be overly formal than rudely informal. Especially with a language like Korean where honorifics are important.

What Level Can You Reach With Assimil?

Assimil claim that their Sans Peine series will take learners to the B2 level according to the CEFR scale and that their Perfectionnement series will get you to the C1 level. I’m not entirely sure how accurate this is because while you may work with material that ranges from the A1 to B2 or C1 level, there are gaps that would need to be filled with the help of other resources. In terms of vocabulary, it was not as thorough as I would like from a course that works through so many levels. For most learners, this is fine because relying on just one course or learning tool to teach you a language is never a good strategy, but it could be deceiving for those expecting an all-in-one language resource. I will say this: Because the Sans Peine course gets to B2 level in about 71 lessons, they quickly grow challenging. The course also covers quite a bit of grammar, but it’s done in a way that isn’t overwhelming. You’re introduced to different grammar concepts on an as-needed basis. For the same reason, the course isn’t for someone who hasn’t had any prior exposure to the language. It’s a bit difficult to pick up without any experience in your target language. But it’s fantastic for those with a basic vocabulary.

What Could be Better about Assimil?

I did have some issues with the Assimil approach. The introductions and basic pleasantries were not as in-depth as I would have expected for a course aimed at beginners. There are some phrases that fall into this category, but the course quickly shifts into situational and culture-related dialogues. While these are useful later down the line, I thought that just two short chapters on introductions weren’t quite enough. At the same time, however, this is something you can easily find in any other resource, so it’s not a huge strike against Assimil. The one thing that I would really love to see added to the series would be additional relevant phrases at the end of each chapter. These could be phrases that might fit into the example dialogue and they would serve two beneficial purposes. One, you could role play and swap out some of the phrases so you really get to maximise the dialogues in the book. And two, you get additional vocabulary and phrases suitable to the theme of each chapter without having to figure out the grammar to piece them together yourself. My biggest complaint is about the audio. Most computers no longer have a disc drive built in, so I had limited listening options. It would be far more convenient if the book included an access code to download the files online or you were given a USB drive with the audio instead. In addition, I wasn’t a huge fan of the transliterations for the language in the book, but only because it was different from what I’m used to. There really isn’t a standard for Korean, so it’s hard to penalize them for this. Plus, since I wasn’t that great at reading Korean, it was helpful to have this available to me. Finally, the selection of Assimil courses available to English speakers is relatively small in comparison to their overall catalogue. If you don’t speak French, your options with Assimil are limited. This also makes accessibility outside of Europe somewhat difficult (or more expensive). If you do speak French (or another continental European language), however, Assimil is an excellent resource to work on laddering.

Assimil Review: Did I Actually Remember What I Learned?

Because it’s a traditional coursebook, Assimil really doesn’t have a way to keep you accountable. It’s up to you as the learner to monitor your progress - there are no leaderboards, progress bars, or points awarded for working through the material. That said, the lessons are short and easily digestible, so there’s not anything to keep you from continuing through the lessons on a regular basis. The only critique I had is that you do have to find the time to sit down and concentrate on the lessons, which is different from some of the other resources available that are more portable. If you don’t have the time to really sit down and study, you can always just work with the audio to see how your listening comprehension fares. I really enjoy Assimil’s approach. It was just challenging enough to hold my attention and the time it takes to complete the lessons is just right. I also like the extra cultural tidbits and language facts they add in the endnotes. It gives me a nice break from actual language learning but still keeps me in the right mindset. I was honest with myself as I completed the various exercises, working to find the answers on my own before double-checking the result against those provided. Because the lessons were so succinct, I found I ended up with just the right balance of right and wrong answers to keep me motivated (not so many that I grew frustrated but not so few that I became bored). If you really want a way to track your progress, you can do so with the exercises at the end of each chapter. You can also check how you’re doing through the review sections, by how many lessons you’ve completed and by how much of the audio you understand without the help of the text. The book contains review sections every six chapters. I was pleased with the frequency of these - neither too much nor too little. The course structure offers you the opportunity to work through the information in a variety of ways, so even though I didn’t retain everything I learned using the course, I was able to take away the things I was most likely to use in the future.

Assimil: The Verdict

The verdict: I would definitely use Assimil again in the future, but with the caveat of doing it my own way. Assimil brought me from having an entirely shaky understanding of Korean to being able to confidently have short and direct exchanges in the language. I am definitely not at a B2 (or even B1) level, but I would say that I am somewhere in the vicinity of A2 and that I might hit B1 with another pass at the book and by more intensively working on the translations, or active phase of the book. The Assimil method runs contrary to the Speak from Day 1 approach. It suggests that the learner take a passive learning approach for the first several chapters, then step into an active approach in the later chapters. This means that you work through the beginning of the book by reading, listening, and completing the exercises. You’re then advised to go back during the active stage and work on translating the lessons. If you ignore these directions, however, and reading the dialogues from the first lesson, you can Speak from Day 1 with Assimil. The great thing about a self-guided course is that it’s, well, self-guided. You can use it however you see fit and take as much time as you need with each section. I will use Assimil again in the future - in fact, I’m already using it for Russian. While the content of every dialogue may not be useful for every learner, I like the context that it gives the language and I find this approach much more effective than that of some of the other available course books. You can find Assimil Coréen Sans Peine on Amazon. Other Assimil courses available for English speakers:

New French With Ease

Spanish With Ease

German With Ease

Italian With Ease

Brazilian Portuguese

Arabic With Ease

Japanese With Ease

The post Assimil Review: An Honest Look at the Assimil Language Learning System appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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