#it’s weird and I like when txt are weird and unique in their sounds

[mapofthesoul20]

I don’t likeee sugar rush ride, but I am obsessed with it so rip me I guess lol

[beomiracles]

Hi (: i know this is a weird request but i was wondering if you could maybe do a txt x reader where the reader is blind on one eye?

I would be so happy if you could do it but you can also not :3

WHEN YOU'RE BLIND ON ONE EYE

pairings: txt x gn!reader warnings: mentions of insecurity

A/N ─ such a unique request, loved making it (∩˃o˂∩)♡

YEONJUN 

thinks your eye is beautiful.

always compliments it. 

makes sure to press kisses to your eyelid. 

literally tells you off about wanting to wear contacts to cover it up. 

The deafening sound of your alarm breaks the silence of the room as you sit up with a groan. Turning the alarm off you stretch your arms out, followed by a yawn. Your boyfriend groans from somewhere beside you as an arm snakes around your waist. “Going so soon, babe?”, he mumbles, eyes still half shut. 

“Yes I have my interview today…”, you climb out of bed and scurry toward the bathroom. Half an hour or so later you reemerge to find Yeonjun still asleep on the bed. “Babe, wake up”, you gently shake him awake. Your boyfriend swats your arm away as he turns to face you, squinting as his eyes adjust to the light, “uh uh?”. 

“Have you seen my contact lenses, the brown ones?” Yeonjun frowns, “why?”. You shake your head, “I need them for the interview, I want to leave a good impression”, you explain as you begin to search the bedside drawer. Yeonjun sits up as his hand grabs onto your arm, pulling you down on his lap. 

Pushing a strand of hair out of your face he looks at you, seemingly more awake. “You look just fine like this”, he says as he gives your lips a peck. You sigh, “Yeonjun I’m serious-”

“I threw them away”. 

You blink, “what?”. Your boyfriend shrugs, “you don’t need them, your eyes are beautiful babe.” You bite your bottom lip hesitantly, “anyone who fails to see that isn’t worth more than a second glance from you”, he says as he presses a kiss to your closed eyelid. You smile “you’re right”. 

SOOBIN 

very surprised when you first showed it to him. 

is now his favorite thing about you. 

gets lost in your eye(s) a lot. 

gets seriously offended if you talk bad about it. 

You’re in the midst of explaining the rules of the board game the two of you were playing for the evening when you catch your boyfriend spacing out, again. It was something he did a lot. “Soobinnie?” you snap your fingers in front of him making him jolt in his seat, “y-yeah?”. 

You grin, “you’re doing that thing again”, you say as you place the characters down on the board between you. “Doing what?” he asks innocently, you roll your eyes, “spacing out”. A pink blush rises to his cheeks, “...‘m not”. He sighs as he props his chin up on his palm, “can’t I enjoy the stunning view that is you?”. 

His words make you giggle slightly though your laughter is short lived when you realize just where his gaze is fixated. Shifting uncomfortably in your seat you clear your throat. “Don’t stare at it for too long, you might change your mind about it”, you say as you try to give him a grin. 

Soobin frowns, “why would I?” You pout slightly as you think of an answer, “I mean it’s not exactly…”,​​──“not exactly normal?” he asks as he tilts his head, you nod. Your boyfriend shakes his head, “that’s why I like it, it’s you, no one else”. 

Your boyfriend smiles, “and you’re the only thing I want”. 

BEOMGYU 

sends blind people memes to you.

tries his best to turn your insecurities into something fun instead. 

probably only covers one of your eyes when he’s showing a surprise. 

the type to say, “you get 50% off at the ophthalmologist”

“Okay, close your eye”, your boyfriend says as he sits down on the bed in front of you. You oblige as you close your eye. Beomgyu holds up his hand in front of you, “alright, how many fingers am I holding up?” You frown, “baby I love you but what is the meaning of this?”. Beomgyu sighs, “to test your intuition, I read that blind people have a higher intuition than the average person!” 

You frown, “I’m not blind”, Beomgyu shakes his head, “you’re halfway there”, he chuckles. “Alright fine”, you groan and your boyfriend holds up four fingers in front of you. “How many fingers?” he asks. 

“Four”. Beomgyu’s jaw falls open, “alright that was just luck”, he composes himself before continuing, “okay now?”. “Three”. Beomgyu frowns, “no way…okay how about-”─”six”, you cut him off. 

“Alright you’ve got to be cheating”, he exclaims and you suppress a giggle. “You never told me which eye to close silly”, Beomgyu frowns, “wait a minute”. You burst out into full blown laughter as you double over on your chest. 

Your boyfriend groans as he facepalms, “why couldn’t you have a brown eye instead of blue, would’ve made my life so much easier”, he whines. “But it would’ve made mine a lot more boring”, you grin. 

TAEHYUN 

does whatever he can to make you feel comfortable. 

loves your eye so so much, wants you to embrace it to the fullest. 

silently admiring it whenever he can. 

will 100% wear a contact lens to match you when going out if you feel uncomfortable. 

Taehyun softly closes the front door behind him as he makes his way to the living room of your shared apartment. He finds you on the sofa, book in your hand as you flip the pages. He smiles as he sits down next to you, not saying anything as he lets you finish the page you’re on. 

When you look up he frowns, fingers reaching out to pull your hair from your face, he tucks it behind your ear. “How was work?” you ask as you place the book on your lap. “It was fine”, he says as he goes on to tell you about his day. At first he pretends not to notice the way you subtly pull your hair back to cover your eye. 

Until he can’t take it anymore, “quit that”, he mumbles as his fingers catch your hair, tucking it back behind your ear. A subtle blush rises to your cheeks as you avoid his gaze. Long fingers grab hold of your chin as he turns your face to meet his. 

“What’s the point of having a lover if I can’t even look at them?” he tilts his head, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as you squirm in his grasp. Taehyun is quick to claim your lips with his, “did I tell you that you look fucking beautiful today?”. 

HUENINGKAI 

thinks it's so cool and unique on you. 

always finds ways to cheer you up whenever you’re feeling insecure. 

“i wish i had a silver eye >.<” 

just holds a lot of admiration for it and you in general. 

Your boyfriend's large arms snake around your waist as he hugs your back against his chest. Inhaling the sweet scent of your hair he mumbles a quiet “hi baby”. You don’t reply as you continue to scroll anxiously on your phone, bottom lip pulled between your teeth as you gnaw on it. 

Huening frowns as he looks up from your hair, “something wrong?” he asks as he takes a peek at your phone. You’re scrolling through the comment section on what looks to be your instagram account. “Huh? nothing just..”, you trail off as your finger stops on a particularly harsh comment. 

Your boyfriend is quick to snatch your phone away from you as he reports the comment. You try to get your phone back but Huening holds it out of your reach as he goes through the comments with furrowed brows. “I thought I told you to turn them off”, he mumbles but you heed him no mind as you reach for your phone yet again. 

“I just…I don’t know”, you say as you defeatedly slump down on the couch, tears threatening to spill over at any moment. Your boyfriend is by your side in seconds, “look here”, he says as he hands you the phone. The screen is now filled with comments all admiring and complimenting your eye. 

Huening grins, “see? you’re a badass!”. You try and hold back the smile tugging at your lips as you like the comments, you glance up to your boyfriend, “you think so too?”. You’re quickly engulfed in a tight hug, “pfft, I think you’re the baddest of them all babe”.

→ want to get notified whenever a new dream is published? join my TAGLIST ★ all rights reserved ─ @beomiracles 2024

[taegimood]

wait that’s so cool omg!!! I love that you’re living your best life there!! honestly it does sound like philippines in terms of the whole tattoos and piercings aspect. however they’re only ‘okay’ with it when it’s a celebrity with those :/

but anyway DON’T APOLOGISE i love learning new things about people!! I hope you don’t mind me asking about the food :> I’m such a foodie!! what are your favourites?! I’ve been wanting to try jajangmyeon for a while but my friends say they can’t seem to find authentic enough restaurants here that has it 🥹 and idk if this sounds weird, but ik some foods are to be eaten for certain occasions, is that the same for jajangmyeon too?

omg are you filipina?! i just visited in november! my best friend is too hehe

also i’d had a txt thought before that somehow had to do w the philippines but i literally do NOT remember it whatsoever ㅠㅠ i never posted it cuz i didn’t think anyone would relate to it argh

but oooooooh my favorite korean foods… i loveee 로제 떡볶이 (rosé tteokbeokki) a CONCERNING amount lmao like i eat it all the time 💀 with lots of cheese hehe. also korean fried chicken is no joke. so many unique flavors and so much better than any other fried chicken i’ve had. and yes 짜장면 !!!! jjajangmyeon is one of my favs too, and no you can eat it any time! there’s a 짜장면 restaurant right next to where i work so my coworkers and i go eat there a lot. another of my favorites is 닭갈비 (dakgalbi) which is like stir-fried chicken with veggies and 떡 (tteok, rice cake). i always add cheese and stuff to mine it’s so yummy 😵‍💫 there’s more that i could list but i’m rambling again LOL

and ofc i don’t mind! you can ask me anything you want, i love sharing about korea!

[goodwriterwithbadhabits]

TXT Play List

AKA Songs that remind me of the members and why. (GIF credit to the original owners)

Master List 

~

Soobin: Angel Baby- Troy Sivan

Angel Baby is about finding a lover who makes you feel whole, a sentiment I feel resonates with Soobin.  Troy Sivan’s voice is gentle throughout the song, which combined with a gentle melody and sweet lyrics, is very reminiscent of Soobin’s overall demeanor. Soobin gives off very innocent, almost demure vibes, despite his large stature and deep voice. Also he gives me butterflies the same way this song does. 

Yeonjun: Starboy- The Weekend

Starboy is a song about confidence. Its sexy and unapologetic, and if that isn’t Yeonjun, I don’t know what is. Yeonjun oozes a similar confidence to the message of the song, and ever since I saw an edit of him to this song, complete with him singing along at one point, I haven’t been able to not think about him while listening to it. 

Beomgyu: Gangsta Sexy- Hollywood Undead

Okay hear me out: Gangsta Sexy is a perfect mix of weird as shit, and overly confident, like Beomgyu. It masks an underlying sense of insecurity by overhyping the subject (the singers) while still displaying an overwhelming level of talent. The raps are unique and skilled, even if about stupid shit like drinking and getting laid, and the vocals in the chorus are rather pretty. 

Taehyun: Maniac- Conan Gray

In all honestly, Taehyun is a hard read for me. He’s strange, like the rest of the group, but has a sense of mystery about him. His overall presence reminds me of Conan Gray’s voice, this mysterious, beautiful thing that lulls you in. The song itself is about a clearly toxic relationship, but remains upbeat and fun, with interesting changes between the pre-chorus, chorus, and verses. 

Hyuka: Beautiful People- Ed Sheeran and Khalid 

No doubt this song is beautiful, its meshing of Ed and Khalid’s voices is perfect, and gives the song and almost regal sound. The subject matter is the change people go through when they become “beautiful” and how that impacts true relationships. Hyuka feels like someone who, despite the fame and money he now has, is still just some guy. He’s down to earth, and aware of himself, without ever feeling stuck up or changed because of who he now is. 

Let me know what you guys think! Do you agree with me or are there any songs that you associate the boys with? 

[witchoftrinity]

"Mika. Can you not stare out in space right in front of the table like that? At least sit down after coming here."

She knew this had to be a dream. For the past year Mika woke up in a city that wasn't her own, with people that weren't her friends or classmates, and without any indication that she'd be coming home. There were few sparse encounters with people that seemed familiar, and she could only count on one hand how many times they may have been a student. And yet despite all of it here she was, standing in front of her childhood friend like nothing happened at all.

"Nagisa?! I-Is this real? I..." Really she didn't know what to say, with an answer finally resulting in the form of a loud cry out as she threw herself towards her fellow student council member.

"....I missed you SOOOOO MUCH! You don't understand what I've been through for the past year. I thought I'd never get to see you again and there was all this weird stuff going on. And I really really just miss you so mu-MMPH."

And in a very customary Trinity fashion, there was a cake roll shoved right into the mouth of the pink haired girl. Along with a very irritated President of her own division.

"What has gotten into you? A year? I know your community service may have seemed cruel to someone who doesn't know a thing about doing any outside work but your spinning the words like it was torture."

A pause, both to swallow part of the desert and to comprehend what she just said.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? H-Have I been here this entire time?"

It sounded impossible all her memories of being in Spirale were still in tact between the new friends she made and how long she had actually been there. But Nagisa pulled out her phone, scrolling up to the texts that were only from yesterday.

txt: Mika txt: I'd like for us to meet if you'd have me txt: I know you might be busy so if you don't want to I understand.

"Nagisa I...I've been somewhere else this entire time. But you and your text makes it seem like I've been here the entire time."

The blonde sipped on her tea, letting out a loud sigh as she once again gestured towards the seat after finally calming down from the outburst earlier.

"And where is this somewhere else then? Feel free to explain in as much detail as you usually do. After all I have all the time in the world now that most of the incident you were part of has finally been cleaned up."

Even with all things still fresh in Mika's mind it was pretty hard to try and nail down every detail of what she had been through. From the strange encounters of aliens, world's colliding together, and other weird experiences her time in the city was unique to say the least. But what really made it special was the residents she met along the way.

"You really would've enjoyed some time there you know. Not that I wanted you to be trapped with me but just to see how interesting everyone is. And all of them were just as nice as the rest. Really I'd say you could find anyone you want." The more Mika talked the more she felt at ease yet again to be with her closest friend again. Like coming home after a long vacation to see someone you missed...

...But of course before Mika could even take notice a blink lead to staring at the ceiling of all too familiar room. The room of an all too familiar townhouse rather then the comfort of that tea table again.

"Unsurprising that it was too good to be true. Then again, maybe leaving like that would annoy and worry more people here then be good for me." And thus she began her usual routine of prepping herself for the day, writing down in her journal right next to the window overlooking the cityscape.

Day 365 I didn't think anyone could've imagined I'd be here for this long. Even someone like Seia when she had her powers still might have predicted this. But really...after all this time I think even the the people who agreed to my community service would agree this would suffice.

A pause as she looked out again, letting out a sigh as she continued jotting her thoughts down more then ever before.

I told myself all that time ago when Sensei saved me that I'd need to do something to ensure ao make up for all the trouble I caused. Even if no one is here to see all the progress I made if they ask any of my friends I met here they'd understand what I was doing. Which is more then enough for me.Still, its a bittersweet feeling. I mean a year here? I always liked the stories of entering a magical new world from their own one but even this feels a bit ridiculous. I want to be home with my other classmates, but then I'd worry about everyone else I'm leaving here. And would they even remember me? People seem to appear and go back to where they came from on the daily. To them I'd hope that even if I was gone whatever I've done for them continues to live on. But I wouldn't be too upset of they did forget. I guess I'll see how the rest of my time goes...

The sun was still rising as Mika prepped up the rest of her uniform. A few errands today but once those things were over with there was plenty of time to spend with anyone who was free. And without a cloud in sight it seemed like another wonderful summer day.

"Well here's to another year me. Let's make the most of it." She wrote in one last phrase before closing the book and walking on out, giving the room one more smile and starting another day.

"...After all, I'm just enjoying my youth like I student should."

[chaukachawan]

Hi there! This is Hirari❣️

Finally, I'm gonna introduce my dear actors of "The Phantom Thief and His Mind".

縦縞コリー

When I first met him,I was like "He is scary!"🤣'cause he didn't talk a lot then. But, we became friends with soon! He is a nice guy😏 I also like his voice! He has very unique voice, and his way of producing sounds is perfect. Keep it up!

しょ���ら

He was beginner at acting, but he seemed to work pretty hard! I guess he had many difficulties practicing among those who are experienced at acting. I hope he comes to like acting through this theatre😌

岡崎仁美

Kanuresaaan daisuki so much. Thank you so much for instructing us for one month😭 I'm sooo happy to make a theatre with you. By the way, I love your voice❣️ The role of little girl really suited you🥰

坪井涼

As you know, Goko san is funny, cheerful, and cute guy. He is like a tiny animal🤭 But remember, he is sooo good at acting. He sounds like a character of "Detective Conan". His smile makes you happy all the time😊

統括のフォーニャー

Fonyasan daisuki desu. When I joined chauka, you talked to me more friendly than any member🥹🥹🥹 I really love you😍💞 Please tell me what TXT's concert was like❣️

トロン

I couldn't spend much time with him, but he left me the biggest impression😂😂 I can't forget his funny and weird move🤣 I also like his clothes!

梅本潤

As we all know, his performance is amazing🌟 He can act various roles and always make the role funnier and more attractive. By the way, how about dying your hair? I'm sure blonde will definately suits you👱‍♂️

かの

Sufure san aishiteru. She is cute. That's all.

sorry, just kidding:))

I love her yurufuwa personality soo much. She always cheers me up🥹💕 Her voice is cute, but her acting style is kind of cool.

たぴおか太郎

Nasuka san is crazy in a good way🥰 She is super cute when she dances! Of course she is very good at acting. Her character is sooo interesting and loved by everyone. I love the time spent talking to you😍

佐々木モモ

She is perfect leader of chauka chawan⭐️=͟͟͞͞ She is always kind and cheerful😊 I guarantee her quality of acting. She can act prettily or seriously. I love her when she acting マイ. It was so cute🥹

ベジータベジ子

He is definately crazy．His move, voice, facial expression. All his moment was new. What is much more puzzling is that he is calm person basically. Maybe I don't know anything about him.

えどいん？えどいん！

crazy part 2.

His tiger was cute, anyway😂 I wanna keep the tiger as a pet🐯I loved こうじおじさん(maybe I mistake the name🤔)

I wanna enjoy his acting more😆😆

That's all!

Phew...I got tired😅😅😅

Thank you for reading through to the end!

See you later!

[yyxgin]

when i go back to work, i’m taking cake in~

my coworkers know this and i asked thé barman if he’s good w cake bc he’s oddly picky about deserts (i mean, me too, but ik what i like idk what he likes) and i was just like 😐 scrape the buttercream off pls but after he got dropped home (i was still on ft to my coworker so essentially i was in the car w them all) i asked about barman bc i was worried n he told me all the details. so now i’m like 🥲 if it’s the last thing i do before i die, i must take something in that the barman can eat.

also i’m scared to start new pills my doc put me on bc i don’t wanna get all emotional all the time. i did want to cry when i heard yesterday but i didn’t and it makes me feel empty inside. it is what it is.

i read you got your p1harmony album!! how is it? do you recommend any songs? i’ve been trying to get into them bc i LOVE keeho he’s such an icon but i feel like liking a group for one person is a dangerous game for various reasons on my part. like, i love supporting artists who go solo briefly but i try not to bc i don’t wanna be the person who watches content just for the one person? idk it’s fishy of me so i would never.

i got into txt the other day bc of 0x1=lovesong and i do not regret it one bit 🤣 their music is right up my street (i was trying to avoid very pop-y songs bc they get on my nerves and i don’t want to get annoyed at a group purely bc ion like their sound) and my friend got excited bc she loves them 😏 i watched like seven dance practices one after the other; they’re so fun!! they’re very creative with shapes when it concerns their arms (i’m weird about arms bc when i used to dance it’s always like what do i do w them without whacking someone in the face by accident??) so i like watching them have fun and it makes me wanna get up and dance! fun stuff :D

as always, ily and look after yourself, okay? 🌻

aaah bring him some good cake 🥺 he deserves it.

getting new pills is always scary. my mum always reads the infinite list of side effects they pack w them and it makes me scared id rather take them without knowing all the possibilities that could go wrong lmao. i hope you dont feel too emotional w them hhh,,,also i get you with that crying part. i always feel like crying but i never do and it makes me feel like shit :D its not that im holding it in, i just dont cry.

yes i did !!!! i got so excited shshsh i am quite a new p1h stan but i dont regret it one bit. they are all so funny and talented and so young 😩😩 icons. also i think its okay to like,, check out a group bc of one person ?? as long as you're not that type of person that brings the other members down, which i know you arent sooo,,, i basically started stanning after seeing jiung cover avril lavigne on their fanmeeting which made me look into them more. there always has to be someone that makes your attention perk up abt a certain group and theres nothing wrong w that i think !! if i had to recommend some songs, i'd definitely choose if you call me, butterfly, that's it, and their maniac cover !! also scared is good if u like aggressive noise music.

I LOVE TXT !!! their music is always so good and fresh and unique !! their latest album is my favorite and 0x1 = lovesong is such a good song even my brother has it in his playlist 😩😩 they are also all such icons and all rounders, their choreo is always really interesting to look at, i agree !! try watching to do if you have time, they are so funny 😭

i love you, thank you for brightening up my days w your asks uwu <3 take care of yourself bby

[urirealvibekiller]

TXT !!!

YESSSS 

do i already stan them? yes | only for the music | attempting to | no

--- my bias + bias wrecker*

okay okay so at first, yeonjun was my bias and soobin was my bias wrecker but now it’s vice versa asdfghjkl. lately beomgyu too, kinda hehe oml i’m kind of a bias hoe 

--- first time i heard of them

crown hehe  --- when i became a fan

not long ago <3 --- favorite title track

crown <33 it’s soooo good. also run away jdfsk  --- favorite b-side

new rules !!  --- favorite mv

can’t you see me <3  --- favorite album

the dream chapter: star  --- a concept i wished they’d try*

oooh something a little badass yet classy. maybe a concept like regular by nct127.  --- what i like most about them*

they are so tall. lmao just kidding. i really really love their songs - they don’t sound out there or weird but they also sound unique and distinctively txt. also their personalities :(( so precious. and they’re tall lmao. 

[flamingo-strikes]

My Opinions on TXT

This is literally irrelevant to everyone but I wanted to get it out there anyways, like just write down my feelings. 

Firstly, I like TXT a lot, but there are things I don’t like about them. I understand they’re rookies so I’m looking forward to future comebacks and progression, but for now, I have mixed feelings on them.

Positives:

Their music fucking slaps. Honestly, I like the auto tune sound in every song, it’s pretty uncommon. Even if Crown was generic, nothing else in their discography is really generic tbh. It seems like they already have their own trademark sound established.

Even their more chill songs are so good? Like I usually gravitate towards more dance-ish songs, but my personal faves are 20cm, Nap of a Star, and Our Summer.

They have really intense choreographies, Jesus Christ. While I sometimes think they overdo it, I love that a lot. It makes each performance really dynamic, and they’re definitely strong in terms of dance. Probably one of the top dance rookies.

The boys are really likable! They seem really sweet and humble, and they’re pretty funny on their own. I like that they’re close in age, so their chemistry comes a bit more naturally, and they all seem really in tune with the general concept of youth.

Very talented group in terms of vocals. I’ve watched their MR removed videos, and damn, they’re really good. I like this emphasis on vocals; it’s not really common amongst rookies, who prefer to focus on raps and choreographies.

Actually, their concept in total is not common in rookie groups. The only reason people call them generic is because of their debut song, but they’ve proved by now, in my opinion, that they have a unique style.

Negatives:

I like the auto tune, but it’s also preventing me from distinguishing their voices. Like after hearing every song more than once, I still can’t make out who’s who. Only Yeonjun because his voice is super distinct.

I know the point of the group is that they’re all triple threats who can each sing, rap, and dance well...but honestly, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Typically in groups, it’s best to have members who excel in a particular area to gain attention. Like they have one incredible dancer, vocalist, rapper, etc. Ok this isn’t actually a negative but something I noticed.

They are heavily carried by their company, like BigHit really keeps them on a tight leash. Most of the wow factor in their performances comes from creative elements rather than the boys’ stage presence. I’m absolutely not diminishing their hard work at all, I know the boys are super talented and skilled. But they should have more opportunities to show it off and have stage charisma rather than be carried by their company and the creative team.

Oh Jesus, time to mention BTS...they’re definitely not similar to BTS, in terms of music and concept, lets get that straight. But I don’t think they will ever not be associated with BTS. At least in every one of the boys’ interviews or reality show, they mention BTS...I totally get that they love BTS, and respect them so much...but like maybe not link the group to BTS? Like if they want to stand out on their own.

This is NOT a “rookie thing” like everyone says it is. But TXT seems like they’re always “on” and bright and peppy. They often give of this vibe of looking and appearing perfect, to fit this standard of idol appearance that I guess their company decided on?? I have no idea. But I never get the sense that they’re totally relaxed. It’s weird; it’s like they’re a mix of mature and youthful. Tbh maybe it’s a recent rookie thing, bc I see the same thing with ITZY, except maybe worse.

Neutral:

Why is Beomgyu always styled like Taehyung? I mean, he looks good regardless but... I see the Daegu boys joke all the time, and it’s pretty accurate.

It’s pretty rare for me to see a boy group where the hyung line is more popular than the Maknae Line. And yet, the hyung Line is still always in the bottom for line distribution. Maybe it’s a bighit thing? You can’t seriously tell me that Taehyun and Huening Kai are way stronger vocalists than the others. Bruh, Yeonjun was first in singing as a trainee.

I prefer Beomgyu’s dancing over Yeonjun’s. He’s such a natural performer, and his movements are amazing. It’s crazy to think that he only started dancing as a trainee. Yeonjun has more of a cool, laid-back, swag style of dance, similar to Ryujin.

What’s funny is that when I first looked at the group (like 5 months into their debut bc I just wasn’t interested), Taehyun was the only one who caught my attention because I thought he was really handsome. Now my bias is Beomgyu (if you haven’t noticed already lol) and I don’t really have a bias wrecker.

[kronickpop]

Top 10 K-Pop Songs of 2019 (Pt.2)

Link to (Pt.1)

5. TXT - Our Summer

Very light and airy during the verses but hectic during the chorus. A kind of calm funk style. The vocals are sort of distorted, like they have a lot of texture, and a lot of the singing is in this high pitch that actually sounds great. Their voices blend together into this almost unrecognizable electronic harmony.

These guys had a great rookie year, ‘Crown’ was an awesome debut title track and ‘Cat and Dog’ was also really nice. Really looking forward to their future albums if all their B-Sides will have this level of quality

4. ONF - Ice & Fire

Such a fun catchy song, the way it fades back and forth between intense symphonic choirs and subtle soft verses is uncanny. Hyojin’s voice is so well suited for the chorus, the sort of lazy but beautiful way he pronounces ‘ice and fire’ is so good. This group has some great vocalists, definitely one of the most interesting boy groups in terms of vocal diversity. All the reverb and echo create this layered lush sound.

A lot of shimmery chimes and horns mixed with a heavy drum backbone make this simultaneously intense and soothing. Been coming back to this track all year and it never gets old.

3. IZ*ONE - Violeta

Some insane synth perfection. IZ’ONE has been given incredibly high-quality songs from the start. Both their mini-albums are full of great B-Sides, their producers are just incredible.

This instrumental is crazy, the melody during the chorus is so unique and abrasive. Between Violeta and La Vie en Rose, they have crafted this graceful yet extremely hype sound, with lush beautiful string sections but also high-energy fun verses that feel like they should clash but don’t. Like a weird kind of elegant-techno-pop.

2. GFRIEND - Sunrise

GFRIEND probably had the strongest year of any girl group. ‘Time For Us’ is full of great songs and ‘Fever Season’ is really solid too. ‘Sunrise’ came out really early in the year, and set the bar pretty high for everyone else.

Not sure if I’ve ever heard such a symphonic pop song that has such a classical feel to it. The piano and strings, especially during the chorus are so emotional and bittersweet and it all feels very theatrical. It walks a line between pop and ballad that I didn’t think was possible.

The vocals here are on another level. Yuju is so steady and her voice carries large parts of the song. Eunha also has this incredible vocal run at 3:28. that makes for such a memorable ending.

1. TREI - Gravity

One of the best debut title tracks from a kpop group ever. The fact that this group kind of flew way under the radar is incredibly disappointing, but you can’t really blame people when they weren’t promoted seemingly at all in the second half of the year.

Gravity is a beautiful song, Juntae is immediately one of the best idol vocalists in this generation and having only three guys in the group makes his voice extremely prominent in almost every song. Changhyun is an absolute beast rapper, he’s got a great flow and always uses his voice to its full potential. He’s also an incredible producer having written and composed multiple songs from their debut EP as well as some of EXID’s previous songs as well.

There aren’t many idol groups doing stuff like ‘Gravity’ it has more of an indie sound than a pop sound, and the chorus feels more like a ballad than an electro extravaganza. I don’t know how they manage to combine the softer vocals with upbeat rap verses and have it all feel consistent but they do. Really hope these guys can make a comeback soon.

[hongugu]

because everyone has to give their opinion on TXT so i might as well do it too x) i just think they are very nice and the music is very promising. the mini album already has some variety in it while also giving us a good idea of the general direction so you dont feel like they have no idea what kind of music they want to do. its just so nice and upbeat and danceable :) i do hope they chill with the autotune a bit because especially in cat & dog its kinda excessive but in the same time i get that it can be an intentional part of this kinda.... idk what kind of pop this is x) through the preview i actually thought it would sound too “plastic” (idk what i meant about that it was just a pheeling, i guess the excessive ~electronic instruments?) but then the singing actually fills it with so much life and emotion that its not a problem anymore.

i also like that its got a very universally relatable theme about fitting in and being different and belonging and finding your kind of people. i feel like thats something everyone can relate to which is nice like i dont think i would be this into the song if it was a love song or something, something i cant exactly relate to. thats not to say groups who release love songs as their debuts are Bad its just my personal preference.

member-wise i just like them all so much already? i havent seen every introduction video yet or everything mnet released since theyre not subtitled yet but from what i did see they just seem like a playful bunch ^^ so far i like soobin and beomgyu the most, soobin being the leader (and the tolest which automatically makes him part of my squad. my crew. my gang.) i just immediately gravitate towards him like i just want to give him endless love and support. beomgyu is just so adorable and also he’s a musician which always draws my attention because i feel like musicians understand music differently (im not saying more, just differently) than those who dont play instruments.

other than that the member that has more of my attention is taehyun who i actually thought i wouldnt like this much. him and hueningkai were like eeuuuh idk if i feel a Connection but of course it was still pre-debut when they hadnt even talked yet x) but then theres just something about his stage presence that i find very likeable. as for hueningkai he just looks so frail and smiley i just want to protect immediately :’D

its actually yeonjun that i thought i would like more...? that sounds wrong like i dont like him which is not the case. i just havent yet found why he stands out for me personally. but i guess he’s a (the?) rapper in the group which is always a good start, im excited to get to know him more ^^ 

overall im so happy to be there for a group since their announcement which hasnt happened before ^^ plus theyre in such a unique position i just cant help but follow how they do with curiosity and a lot of worry x)

if you like them please support them but also dont be weird about it especially if youre older thankkxxxssss ♥♥

[anyhao-archived]

Sounds like an interesting position to be in with JBJ, but I'm sure there are still people discovering them even with them being technically disbanded.

Yeah, I definitely have a thing for the dancers lol, Seungwoo is a Lead Dancer in Victon.

I guess with Hwanwoong it was his stage presence. He's a great dancer and he's incredibly expressive when he's on stage, or in MV's so that really drew me in. Then when I started watching the reality/variety shows and their behind videos I found out that he's a bit of a weirdo, a touch evil, and incredibly well read. Then of course he is very serious about the groups choreos, etc.

Taemin started out as a complete no for me though. My friend sent me Want because she figured I'd like it but he honestly just creeped me out, so I moved on without a second thought. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I got drawn back in, found myself asking whose MV or stages were in gifsets I was seeing, and it was almost always Taemin, so I had to accept my fate lol

Similar to Woong though, his dancing definitely drew me in. It's unique and the amount of control he has is crazy. Musically, his entire solo career is sublime. Then as I learned more about him and Shinee, everything they've been through, and with him debuting so young, I was just taken in by his strength. There's so much dedication to what he does.

Ah, the good old small box that people get pushed into. Glad he managed to work his way out of it and show how talented he truly was. Him and Kenta both seem so multi-talented, like there's nothing they couldn't do if it was handed to them 😅

It's great to see people being able to be themselves, especially in societies where there is still quite considerable loyalty to traditions and whatnot. There's nothing better than a dork to be honest, a good bit of duality. I feel that with my pair as well, immense charisma and looks that kill on stage, and then bubbly bundles of joy off stage 😂

The amount of determination they must have had to follow this career is unimaginable, especially for The8 if his parents were against it. That's a really tough hurdle to overcome. You've got some great guys there for sure: strong, talented, and all-round decent humans.

I think Tumblr may have lost my last reply in the void, but on to todays mission!

What are your favourite MV's? And is there specific concepts you like, or things you don't like in MV's?

sorry i replied so late!! i made a post that i was busy and on queue and wanted to wait until i had time to really respond to this but idk if you saw that lol. anyways, i hope so, jbj means/meant a lot to me even though there were rough times and now im bittersweet about them.

we have that in common lol we both like dancers! what a coincidence. i thought he was a dancer but i wasnt sure, i dont know much about victon other than their names and some music.

hwanwoong has incredible control over his body, hes fantastic! and yeah a little weird hehe i remember he was one of my picks during produce 101, same with seoho. thats interesting about taemin though that you started off not with him as a bias. im glad he drew you in though, hes insanely talented tbh his sayonara hitori dance gets me everytime in the feels.

i know right!! i feel like most if not all idols have a 'mold' theyre supposed to follow which is really unfortunate but why i admire ones who seem so genuine (ofc, i cant TRULY be sure of what theyre like, but still)

the way you say 'you've got some great guys' lmao thats so cute as if they were truly mine hehe. but alas i am one to share! lol

speaking of the new mission, im an absolute sucker for aju nice's music video of course,the idea of exploding confetti is SO good. a few of my others include: nature's girls (I LOVE when girls do horror concepts so also dreamcatcher's chase me), dongkiz's lupin, verivery's tag tag tag, vixx's shangrila, txt's nap of a star, loona's butterfly, w24's sosime, boyfriend's star, ladies code's the rain, in2it's snapshot. also anything by orange caramel

sorry thats so many but i just have so much love and i could go ON lmao. but about concepts, i like concepts differently than music video concepts, if that makes sense? i.e. i LOVE cutesy/summer concepts as a concept for the group, but in music videos i prefer something more aesthetically pleasing and colorful or unique. theres usually only 1 thing in hate in music videos and thats unnecessary flashing lights lol. i cant stand most of a.c.e's music videos bc of that

what about you? do you have some favorite music videos?

[whatami-doing]

ONE OF A KIND nanogenmo entry

I just finished my nanogenmo entry for this year and decided I’d write a bit about it. It’s called ONE OF A KIND, and it’s a super exclusive generated novel where each user gets to enter their own character names, but each user only gets ONE book.

If you’d just like to skip straight to getting an extremely exclusive one of a kind book, give me a shout on twitter and I’ll set you up with an account. The site is here, but you’ll need to get in contact with me to set up an account.

This was my first time making a project for nanogenmo. I wanted to take a bit of a break from doing game design/programming, and a month long jam that I could take my time with was ideal. Also it gave me an excuse to mess around with Lua in a command line environment for the first time, and I love Lua because it’s the best programming language.

THE CONCEPT

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how anything could possibly be unique and personal in the current age of mass communication and social media. A few decades ago when media was limited by its physical format, finding a song or book or videogame that resonated with you was a bit of a remarkable event, a serendipitous joining of a person with something they didn’t even realize they needed in their life. Even in the early days of the internet finding things was a hunt, searching through the weird corners of warez sites and peer-to-peer programs for that game you played one time that you can’t remember the name of.

Now with the massive proliferation of the internet and digital content, pretty much any product you can imagine exists right at your fingertips. This is arguably a good thing; the democratization of media distribution has helped artists and creators who never would have reached anyone without the aid of a big publisher. But that hasn’t stopped me from maligning the near extinction of personal discovery.

This phenomenon of super-availability is taken to its extreme when we consider generated content. With automation of content creation not only are products highly available, but the possibility of uniqueness becomes in principal almost impossible. When the cost of creating new content is essentially reduced to zero, products cease to be unique and start to be just another drop in the ocean of more of the same-but-kind-of-different copies. The past problem of “how do I get that unique thing I want?” has been turned on its head, and now we have the problem of “how can we have anything unique when digital copies and automatic generation make content ubiquitous?”

So I came up with the idea of making unique, personalized content that is accessible by only one person. Rather than make an on-demand book generator that spits out books constantly, I decided to make a book generator that requires a unique username and password, and can only generate ONE book per user. The user gets to customize their book by entering their own character names, but they don’t get any second chances. The character names they choose and the randomly generated book they end up with is the only one they get.

THE PROJECT

The project is web-based, housed on a site that is password protected. Only users with a username and password can access the site. The user has to enter names for a protagonist and antagonist, and a unique .txt file is generated. Once the user generates a book their username can’t be used to generate another book, they are just redirected back to the book they originally created.

The actual book generation is done by a Lua script. Years ago in school I studied some philosophy of language and a big deal was made out of how human languages are recursive. That is to say, a sentence can in principal go on forever, meaning there are an infinite number of possible sentences that can be made.

I wanted to capture this recursive nature of language, so the Lua script I wrote uses a series of recursive functions that first make a book, then chapters, then paragraphs, then sentences until the book is complete.

The individual sentences are the main building block of the books, and are also created recursively. The method I used chooses sentence-parts, like verb, adverb, noun, etc. and inserts them into the sentence. Each sentence-part has a group of simple rules it must follow which tell it what sentence-parts can follow it. As sentence-parts are inserted, they determine what sentence-parts can be chosen next until a conclusion is chosen. When a sentence is concluded, each sentence-part is replaced with a random word of that sentence-part-type, so for example a noun could be replaced with “car” or “dog.”

While this method may not make the most natural sounding sentences, I found it much preferable to the mad-libs approach of making predefined sentence-types and plugging in words. This recursive method makes the sentences feel like they have a life of their own, and creates a unique style that pushes the recursive aspect of language very hard. The result vary from weird and alien sounding to surprisingly poetic.

The rest of the code is web stuff connecting the user to the Lua script. If anyone is interested in reading more about it I can elaborate on it. I learned a lot about web programming in the process, but I imagine it’s also not the most exciting thing to read about.

The only parts of the project I used that weren’t created by me were LIP.lua, a library used to load words from .ini files, and Desi Quintans’ noun list, which I didn’t get a chance to edit, so it sometimes gives some weird nouns.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE PLANS

Right now there isn’t much structure to the chapters and paragraphs, their length is only dictated by randomly generated counts. In the future I’d like to make chapters and paragraphs conclude not merely when they reach a certain length, but when they’ve reached some sort of logical plot-based conclusion.

The characters also don’t have any inherent meaning right now, and are just inserted when proper noun sentence-parts are chosen. Having the characters interact with the paragraphs and chapters to link into the plot would make the books much more interesting.

These chapter and paragraph creation methods would also work recursively, working away until they reach a logical conclusion.

The sentences themselves also tend to be random to the point mushing into a bit of that sameyness I mentioned earlier, that makes them feel not so unique or meaningful.

Finally I’d really like to get .pdf generation working, so the user doesn’t get a simple .txt file, but a nicely formatted e-book. I toyed around with Luahpdf for a bit but fully implementing it wasn’t in the scope of the project this year.

If there’s any interest in this project I’ll develop it more for next year’s nanogenmo.

Thanks for reading!

[veri-us-kpop-weekly]

Recommendations 11/16/19

Recommendations are back (finally)!

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

Well. Uh. Actually, the only excuse I have for this is that competition season has started for a few things I’m doing. I’ll simply cover a few of October’s highlights this time. (Here’s hoping it won’t be another month-and-a-half between this and the next post. I mean to post this last week, but my draft got deleted too many times.)

Read on for October’s recommendations! (This post is much longer than usual!)

SuperM - I Can’t Stand The Rain

If I were to have published this post a few weeks ago like I was supposed to, I more than likely would have recommended “2 Fast” for its light atmosphere and groovy house beat (in the vein of Shinee title tracks). Then, here I am, over a month after the album’s release and several days after their concert, and I’ve listened to it (almost) the least out of all the songs in the album. In short, this is my way of beating around the bush to say that “I Can’t Stand The Rain” has had better longevity than the other album tracks in SuperM’s debut EP for me. The most obvious idiosyncrasy of this song is, get this, actual percussion. It’s not the kind you would associate with idol bands and the like but pounding bass drums or tribal drums. In a similar way as AB6IX’s “BLIND FOR LOVE” in the last post, there is a very large contrast (especially in the bridge) between the high falsettos or Taemin’s airy voice when compared to the deep, full instrumental. While the drums are the easiest instrumental touch to hear, the verses also benefit from the ornamentation of strings, particularly, it seems, violins, which give the effect of the song being a part of an action-packed symphony.

Jung Daehyun - Aight (아잇)

Recently, I was having a listening spree of a lot of title tracks from October, and upon exhausting myself with the same few genres over again, was fairly hopeless about anything else I’d listen to. I (unsurprisingly) made some snippy comments about a few obvious ballads and corny titles I came across before this. When I came across “Aight”, though, I genuinely had no idea what to expect based on the thumbnail and title, so I clicked on it. Even with no expectations, this wasn’t what I would have expected in the slightest. That’s not a bad thing here: this is fun, funky, and most of all, kind of weird, the latter being my initial impression. I suppose my first thoughts about “Aight” stemmed from the fact I kind of decided, “Hey, let’s find the chorus first.” Well, the chorus has some strange vocal layering and effects, which texture the song more than most solo songs, and all the differently configured parts trade off a bit suddenly in a broken melody. The post-chorus is a whispered chant, which adds yet another vocal texture. The only other place that retains any of the strange trade-offs in the pre-chorus. The verses are, more-or-less, standard aside from the fact that the second verse doesn’t drop into any sort of half-time thing and just lets the funk and disco instrumental be.

Youngjae - Forever Love

When I think of solo songs, I typically think of ballads, R&B, and hip-hop galore. Perhaps the rationale behind this is that these genres are fairly easy to tackle without a multitude of vocalists splitting up parts. Groups tackle these genres as well, but they often offer-up more propulsive genres that suit larger numbers of vocalists and rappers. It would be impossible for a single vocalist to handle melodies that constantly exchange on a live stage without accompaniment, but that doesn’t occasionally stop a solo artist from releasing something fit for a(n idol) choir. “Forever Love” is simply a k-pop song typical of the early 2010s that got released almost a decade past the pinnacle of this melodic EDM style, but the delayed timing makes it feel unique compared to other recent releases. Its optimal listening setting is somewhere you can absolutely crank the volume (or have it cranked up for you at a concert) as it’s a party-starter. I listened to Youngjae’s previous songs earlier this year, and the thing I recall most is that one of them used guitar, and that element is retained here to accompany a strong beat to make up the verses and to join synths to create an atmospheric pre-chorus.

(Link since I ran out of videos I could embed)

Limesoda - Wave

See, October was fairly devoid of girl group releases, and I didn’t expect to like much from the small pool of songs that came out. I find that a lot of what determines whether I’ll like a girl group release is its delivery. I may or may not have mentioned this before, but I’m not fond of the light, higher-pitched delivery or the hard, intense hip-hop delivery at either extreme. It is, for this reason, I enjoy songs like “Wave” where well-written melodies take precedent with a rougher delivery (and the song completely lacks a rap, too!). This is one of those songs where the chorus stands out far more than the verses that surround it. It feels full and vibrant with lots of attitude while still being inherently very catchy. It may have fairly standard and slightly trendy instrumentals during this part (even the slow and dramatic verses are more textured), but the mix of smoothly high and deeper voices with a knock-out melody in both the chorus and post-chorus is all the song really needs to go from average to excellent.

Jeong Sewoon - 온도차 (Ondocha/Love in fall)

(It’s still the wrong MV, folks.)

Out of everyone from Produce 101 Season 2, Sewoon had my second favorite voice, which, of course, meant he was probably going to sing ballads after the show since he was (arguably) in the upper echelon of vocalists. He has released ballads, but he’s also (thankfully) released bright pop songs driven by acoustic guitar. Sewoon’s “When it rains” fell into the former category, as did most of his recent album, but “Love in fall” treads along the lines of the acoustic-pop he’s previously worked with in the verses while adding the emotional heft of a ballad in the pre-chorus and the trendiness of EDM in the chorus. The chorus isn’t as melodically strong as some of the above songs, but it’s held together by an incredibly strong riff in the instrumental.

TXT - Poppin’ Star

For all the hype TXT has gotten, their music quality has been able to hold up decently well. Their second album wasn’t as strong as their first, but it still had quite a few pleasant b-side tracks, like “Poppin’ Star” and “New Rules”, and was headed by the surprisingly strong “Run Away”. The album suffered from a lot of overproduction on the vocals, and that didn’t always settle quite right on the ballads(-ish), which typically benefit from a more raw sound to convey emotion. However, “Poppin’ Star” manages to benefit from this flaw because it doesn’t carry the emotional heft of many of the other album tracks. The instrumental is as bouncy and playful as the childish atmosphere conveyed by the lyrics (which are as candy-filled as possible). The vocals mimic the patterns of the instrumental in the same way, and the quirky, electronic feel of the song is quite enough to make it stand out as a precursor to the more downbeat portions of the album.

Recommendations are over once more! Have a fantastic week! ~Yume

(Thank goodness I’ll have a break soon...)

[undeadpsycho13]

a cup of coffee to warm my icy heart

AHHHHHH GUYS LOOK IM SO SO SO SORRRRRRYYYYYY I SWEAR I HAD THIS FINISHED LAST FRIDAY I JUST FORGOT IM SORRRRYYYYY

i know this chapter is one week overdue, and i hope u guys can forgive me.  i swear i had it done ages ago, just forgot to post it. also, its more than twice the length of the first chapter, if that makes up for anything.

thank you to @puzzle-of-life-reason-for-death​ for the reminder, this chapter is for you!! :D

btw, some chinese swear words are involved, and the translations are at the bottom. if u dont like them, rlly sorry, i just thought it might be fun, cause you know, both baits and an speak chinese canon, and so do i, so why not?

tell me if u dont like it, i wont include them in the next chapter

otherwise, enjoy~~ ^_~

CHAPTER 2: JUST A TINY PART OF ME (FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU)

The second time was not so much of an accident, but oh well, not-accidents happen all the time, don’t they?

The annoying door ringing speaker thing once again announced Baitsakhan’s appearance at Endgame.  A very pissed Baitsakhan.  A very pissed Baitsakhan who had not had coffee in the last three days and was currently dying of lack of caffeine in his bloodstream.  Red Bull was a poor substitute; he needed freaking coffee.  The darker, the better.  The scene from last week flashed back in his face, and Baitsakhan cringed a little on the inside.  He was not willing to make a fool of himself again.

He had surprised both his sister and An by staying away from coffee for four days, and then couldn’t help but get some coffee from The Starbucks.  At least he had figured out the barista’s name.  Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt.  He was awful proud of his memory; who on earth had long-ass names like that?  For once, he was appreciative of his unique, surname-less name.

But the Al-Salt guy’s infuriating niceness had gotten the better of him, and he had once again scared Baitsakhan away with a honey-bee-pesticide-banning petition.  Who cares whether bees died?  Screw them.

The absence of a sufficient amount of caffeine, however, was not his only problem.  The Phone Guy (as baitsakhan had deemed him) had texted him back, albeit the dire-sounding warning, with a outrageous reply of, omg so sry got the wrong # D: rlly rlly sry :(.  And then, of all the emojis he could have typed, he chose the freaking <3.

Needless to say, Baitsakhan was pissed.  No one, no one the whole damn world, was allowed to send him a heart emoji (save Sarangerel and An’s incredibly sweet girlfriend Chiyoko, but that as different), and yet this complete stranger had taken it upon himself (or herself, he added as an afterthought) to send him one.  This was an outrage.  He would not dignify this text with an answer, he thought to himself.

So, naturally, he just had to go to that nice coffee shop to calm himself down.  Just had to.  And it had nothing to do with wanting to the hot barista.  Absolutely nothing.

Seating himself at the table closest to the window, he took out his phone, absent-mindedly scrolling through his playlist.  

An indefinite amount of time passes.  

And then, out of the blue, a hand suddenly tapped him shoulder, and, startled, he whipped around, teeth bared, hands out in front of him in an offensive position, ready to gouge the offenders eyeballs out ––

The cute barista (Maccabee, his mind supplied) is, apparently, said offender.

Great, there’s another person who thinks he’s a psychopathic weirdo (not that he isn’t, but still).

But instead of freaking out at his overreaction, the guy laughs.  Who even does that after a near-death experience? (Okay, maybe he’s exaggerating, but there’s no denying this guy was weird.)

“Chill dude, just here to take your order.”

Met with Baitsakhan’s blank look, the guy raises a perfectly arched eyebrow.

“Look, I love having you here, but if you don’t order something, like, right now, I’m going to have to kick you out, ’cause I just got this job and I really don’t want to lose it.  You know, you’ve been sitting here for like half an hour doing nothing.”

Holy hell, he’s been wasting thirty minutes doing nothing?!  Scrambling up (in a very dignified way, of course), he says, in a voice he hopes is impassive,

“Sure, I’ll have an espresso or something, like that thing you made last time.  If you don’t remember, I’ll just have the thing with the most caffeine.”

Maccabee (again, this is all his brain’s doing, there is no way Baitsakhan would consciously remember people’s names, even super hot guys) laughs at that, shaking his head.

“Of course I remember, who would be able to forget the order of the cutest guy we’ve had here since I started working?”

The blond is nice to enough not show any visible reaction to the way Baitsakhan’s face burns a deep red color at his comment, and instead smiles a bit lopsidedly and turns to go.  Suddenly he pauses, turns back to face the noirette, and before Baitsakhan can do anything the older teen quickly winks, so fast it was almost missed, and continues on towards the counter.

For the next five minutes, until Maccabee comes back with his drink, Baitsakhan just sits there, eyes wide, mouth gaping like a fish, shell-shocked.  Even then all he can do is close his mouth and nod his head politely.

A buzz from his phone catches his attention, finally rousing him from his stupor.  For a moment, he thinks that it’s the Phone Guy again, but when he see’s "Asian Hacker Lovebird”, he smiles to himself and swipes the screen sideways to reply.  Though he would never admit it, An crashing into his life nine years ago really made his life better a thousand-fold.  He remembered first arriving in North America, a bitter, parent-less seven year-old, small for his age but savage and aggressive, despite the language barrier.  Oh, he learned English in his due time, but back then, really all he could say were a few basic swear words that immediately earned him half a dozen enemies.  The one person he gravitated towards was a kid in the year above him, a Chinese boy who was all glares and rule-breaking and rebellious behaviour.  Looking at his slim frame and lanky form, people would be led to falsely believe that An was all bark and no bite.  

They couldn’t be more wrong.  

Professional in at least ten different types of martial arts and an expert at (illegal) poisons and (illegal) hacking, An was definitely a formidable opponent.  Baitsakhan’s type of guy.  They were the perfect pair, both cold and haughty at school and in public.  No one needed to know they played video games together well into the night and had weird movie marathons on a regular basis and smiled until their face’s hurt and laughed until they couldn’t breathe.

He was a good friend, cynical, with a dry sense of humor.

Right now, however, not so much.

asian hacker lovebird: where r u????

asian hacker lovebird: baits

asian hacker lovebird: answer me child

asian hacker lovebird: ANSWER ME CHILD

im-not-smol: Piss off.

asian hacker lovebird: THE CHILD IS HERE

im-not-smol: Don’t call me a child.

asian hacker lovebird: i repeat where r u

im-not-smol: A cafe.

asian hacker lovebird: specify

im-not-smol: Endgame Cafe.

asian hacker lovebird: U MEAN!!!

asian hacker lovebird: LIKE DA 1 W/ DA HOT BARISTA U RANT ABT 24/7??!!!!

asian hacker lovebird: OMG STAY RIGHT THERE DONT MOVE IMMA JOIN U

im-not-smol: Don’t you dare.

im-not-smol: 傻逼

asian hacker lovebird: oh no u did NOT just call me that

asian hacker lovebird: now i need 2 come 2 beat u up

asian hacker lovebird: it is a MUST

asian hacker lovebird: see ya in 2 min

im-not-smol: 王八蛋

asian hacker lovebird: SHUT UP JUST SHUT UP IMMA COME OVER RN 2 BEAT UP UR STUPID ASS

im-not-smol: You can try. ;)

asian hacker lovebird: challenge accepted ur goin DOWN boi

im-not-smol: We’ll see about that.

asian hacker lovebird: ur “impecable grammar” rlly pisses me off

asian hacker lovebird: *imppecable

asian hacker lovebird: ugh

asian hacker lovebird: smthn watevr i kant spel

im-not-smol: It’s not my fault you turned autocorrect off.

asian hacker lovebird: when will u eva learn 2 txt like a normal person???

asian hacker lovebird: 好落后

asian hacker lovebird: just sayin

im-not-smol: Shut up.

asian hacker lovebird: look up

Baitsakhan raised his head, only to be met with the sight of a very distorted face right next to his head.  And of course he didn’t scream Jesus Christ and shriek like a little girl, what are you talking about?

The weird twisted face outside morphed into a wicked grin and the doorbell rang once again as another customer entered, tears of mirth still apparent in his eyes.  This new comer looked quite out of the ordinary, tall and dressed in nothing but black and silver, a face that was all harsh angles and sharp corners and pale skin.  A contrasting red teardrop tattoo stood out, leaking out of his right eye, and his strange hair style earned him quite a few looks from the other customers.

“You’re so stupid.”

“Shut up, you will speak of this to no one, understand?”

Most people would quake with fear at the aggressive tone, but An just rolls his eyes,

“Normal people don’t speak like ancient three-hundred year-old vampires, Baits.”

He drops down on the chair opposing Baitsakhan’s, leaning back and crossing his legs, stretching them out in front of him, a picture of complete ease.

“So, where’s the hot shot?” An says in a mock-whisper tone.  Baitsakhan glares at him before subtly motioning towards the counter, where Maccabee is leaning against it, his phone one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.  For a moment, An just stares, a small smirk on his face (not that the smirk ever disappears), whistling appreciatively.  And then, out of the blue, he shouts, so loud that he attracts probably the attention of everyone else in the mile radius,

“Hey there, aren’t employees not supposed to serve themselves?”

Startled, Maccabee looks up.  He sees An’s triumphant expression and Baitsakhan’s kill-me-now-please-just-shoot-me-and-save-me-from-the-torture one, and kind of gathers what happened.  A lazy smile slips onto his face.  He walks over, leisurely, still holding the half-finished drink.

“You’re right.  But… ”  He pauses for effect, and in that short amount of time An actually gets around to rolling his eyes again.  The boy really gets a lot of practice.

“I’m off duty.  Ais over there took over for me.”

He gestures at a red-headed girl who has somehow managed to escape their notice until then.  For a moment, a strange look flits across Baitsakhan’s face, but as quickly as it got materialises, it disappears.

An shrugs.

“Oh.  Good for you.”  He says awkwardly.

There’s an uncomfortable silence, like the type when someone ought to say something but nobody does, before Baitsakhan finally interjects,

“Thanks for the coffee, but I think my friend and I should get going.” Here he pointedly glares at An, who stares innocently at the ceiling.  

“How much is it again?”

Maccabee shrugs,

“Don’t worry about it, as long as you come again, it’s on the house.”

He winks suggestively.

Baitsakhan, of course, agrees.  After all, who could say no to a free cup of coffee, right?  And obviously, obviously it had no correlation to the fact that he actually wanted to come back to ogle the baristas.  Duh, no.

When he first visited the coffee shop, Baitsakhan never imagined he would meet someone like this who flirted blatantly and paid for his drinks.  When he first exited the coffee shop, he never thought he would come back again.  When he came back the second time, he never thought that this place would impact his previously non-existent love life.

Only when they are outside the door, Baitsakhan for the second time, An the first, and An is laughing at his lovestruck (Baitsakhan would deny this) expression that Baitsakhan realises that maybe, maybe a tiny part of him has fallen in love with Maccabee.

(Just a tiny part.)

CHAPTER INDEX (for your convenience)

1 | 2

so. how’d you guys like it?

here are the translations:

傻逼 = dumbass/idiot

王八蛋 = its like f    er (sry, i rlly dont like swearing in english in writing, i feel like ppl will track me down and yell at me)

好落后 = so behind (as in trends, like in the context of not caught up on the latest trends)

hope that cleared things up a bit, if not feel free to send me a quick message, and i’ll explain to you in detail.

anyways, any suggestions for the next chapter?? (i really need to change the texting usernames, any suggestions for the individual characters?? eventually all of the players are gonna get involved one way or another in the texting conversations)

[etechwire-blog]

One week with the Boox Max2: is it finally time to go paperless?

New Post has been published on https://www.etechwire.com/one-week-with-the-boox-max2-is-it-finally-time-to-go-paperless/

One week with the Boox Max2: is it finally time to go paperless?

Main image credit: Jamie Carter

Handwriting is back in fashion. After a decade of typing and tapping, the Apple Pencil now allows the marking up and annotation of documents, presentations, and spreadsheets in Apple’s iWork apps, and Samsung’s S-Pen is a hit with artists. To anyone, like me, who’s sick of staring at LCD screens, it seems like the right time for there to be an E Ink version of all this. 

Cue the 13.3-inch Onyx Boox Max2, an A4-sized E Ink display with Wi-Fi that’s somewhere between a Kindle Oasis, the Remarkable, and a full-sized tablet.

The Boox Max2 has a web browser, Android apps, and more besides. Credit: Jamie Carter

Price, design and features

Selling on Amazon for $799 / £699 / AUS$1,070, the Onyx Boox Max2 arrives in a grey felt cover and seems to weigh a little more than a stack of papers or magazines. On one side is a loop for cradling a Wacom digital stylus (in the box), while on the bottom are slots for micro USB, mini HDMI, and a headphone jack.

Wait. HDMI? As well as acting as an ereader and a document annotator, the Onyx Boox Max2 can be attached to any Windows laptop or desktop PC to act as a second screen. Does that sound weird? It should do. It is.

Using it as an ereader

I decided to use the Onyx Boox Max2 as a simple ereader for the first few days. At its core, this is a device that’s all about its screen. E Ink looks like paper and can be read easily in direct sunlight, and on the 13.3-inch Boox Max2 it looks awesome. An E Ink Carta display, it sports a resolution of 2200 x 1650 pixels, which gives a pixels-per-inch (ppi) density of 207. That’s a few less than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro‘s 264ppi and the 12.3-inch Microsoft Surface Pro‘s 267ppi, both of which are rivals in terms of screen real estate.

The built-in ereader software is excellent. Credit: Jamie Carter

If that makes relatively little difference for reading, know that the downsides to E Ink are that the screen is black and white only, it takes a second or two to change page and refresh the screen, and it doesn’t support any kind of video or animation.

How it measures up

However, everything looks sharp enough, and it otherwise compares well physically to its tablet rivals. A mere 7.5mm slim, the Boox Max2 clocksin at 573g. By comparison the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is 6.9mm slim but weighs 677g, and the 12.3-inch Microsoft Surface Pro is 8.5mm and 768g.

As well as being slimmer than any similar-sized tablet, the Boox Max2 has a standard micro USB slot for recharging its internal 4100mAh battery, which lasts a whopping four weeks. In that sense, it’s a completely different beast to its power-hungry rivals.

The controls are simple, but an HDMI slot is a surprise. Credit: Jamie Carter

One of a kind? 

Is the Boox Max2 a one-of-a-kind gadget? Actually, it’s not. Sony’s DPT-RP1/B Digital Paper is an identical size, uses the exact same E Ink Carta screen, and sells for a similar price. There’s also the Remarkable. Like those two devices, the Boox Max2 uses the cloud to fetch files. Unlike those two devices, it runs on Android 6 Marshmallow, so can embrace the never-ending world of the Google Play Store apps.

Any Android tablet can do that, of course, and yet it’s this ereader’s killer feature. It also has a web browser, but the uniquely open approach to Android means you can try any app and see what happens. So I did. 

You can download any Android app. Credit: Jamie Carter

Now add Android apps

Dropbox (or any cloud storage app) is the no-brainer, enabling any file to be accessed and saved to the Boox Max2’s 32GB innards. Evernote was next for notes, then Pocket for reading offline articles, Readly for magazines, and both the Kobo Books and Amazon Kindle apps. The greatest irony is that the latter two are perhaps the best apps of all. They look great, work fast, and the latter had me browsing a few titles I’d forgotten I’d bought on my (now mostly ignored) Kindle.

Audio and streaming music

After a few days using the Boox Max2 to read ebooks, webpages and magazines, I tried a few more apps and discovered that it also does audio. Not only can you download apps for Spotify and Deezer, but the music plays from a tiny built-in speaker. It’s very weak, but no matter because the Boox Max2 also has a 3.5mm jack for attaching a pair of earphones. Being able to listen to MP3 music does give the Boox Max2 more of an everyday gadget feel, even more so when I managed to connect a pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones.

Annotating documents

The Boox Max2 can also read documents aloud in a fairly natural-sounding voice, and it highlights the passage it’s reading. However, all of this is novelty stuff. What’s it like for annotating documents? 

Well, firstly, it takes anything. A total of 15 formats are readable (TXT, DOC, PDF, EPUB, RTF, MOBI, CHM, DJVU, ZIP, HTML, FB2, MP3, WMA, JPEG, BMP, PNG and GIF), palm rejection is fine (so accidental presses of the screen won’t be registered), all documents can be zoomed, and everything can be scrawled on. You then save your scribbles as a PNG file.

I found the almost A4 size of the Boox Max2’s display addictive, using it to both edit and mark up a lot of articles on the go, and to make notes on scientific papers published as PDF files. There are a few quirks; some files saved to the internal SD card were difficult to open, sometimes leading to a ghost version of a previously opened file, while the notetaking app was sometimes slow to recognize pen strokes. In spite of this, annotations remain by far the Boox Max2’s best feature, and the main reason to buy.

The real treat is annotating documents on an A4-size display. Credit: Jamie Carter

A second screen?

If annotations are the Boox Max2’s best feature, the screen-extending option is one of its worst. It’s easy enough to set up: attach cable from the Boox Max2 to the HDMI slot on a laptop, and fire up the Monitor app on the Boox Max2. In the marketing the Boox Max2 is shown on a stand that props it up in landscape or portrait mode; however, this is an optional extra, and we could only find it at a Chinese online store, so you may need to hunt around a bit or use a generic tablet stand, or, as we did, a regular book holder. But that’s not the main problem.

Screen extending on an E Ink display? Why? Credit: Jamie Carter

What I got really confused about was what kind of document to put on the Boox Max2. It does suffer from the occasional freeze-up, and in comparison to a tablet it’s a generally slow device. That’s E Ink. But what kind of document would anyone want to put on an E Ink device? A PDF or even a web page works okay – something you might need to refer to while writing – but the presence on the Boox Max2 of Dropbox and a web browser makes cabling-up seem unnecessary.

The usefulness of screen extending is also hampered by the fact that anything shown on the E Ink screen can’t be annotated, since the device’s touchscreen features are all paused. 

So while it’s a nice idea in theory, monitor extension on the Boox Max2 is a feature searching for a use-case. 

Would I buy it?

The Boox Max2 is a refreshingly different kind of device, but is it a must-have gadget? It’s not without quirks. It takes about a minute to start up from standby, and does so with the Wi-Fi switched off (necessitating constant dives into the settings menu), while brush strokes sometimes go unrecognized for too long. It’s also hard to get really excited about using apps on such a slow-to-refresh screen. However, the Book Max2 never ran out of battery in a week; it’s so power-efficient and paper-like that it feels like anti-technology.

A doodler’s dream? Credit: Jamie Carter

If Onyx can iron out a few issues and make it 100% reliable, it’s a genuine contender for anyone who (a) can’t face staring at yet another LCD screen, or (b) is desperate to make the whole ‘paperless’ office concept of 20 years ago an actual thing. For editors, writers, and anyone constantly marking up copy, presentations or books either on bright LCD monitors or on paper, the Boox Max2 presents a refreshing third way.

Can it replace your pen and paper? Not entirely, perhaps, but it comes pretty close.