#maybe I��ll revisit it one day

[losing-it-lately]

Hey love! Idk how you feel about this idea but what about it is Remus birthday/Christmas (I just need an excuse for a gift) and he hasn't told the reader that he is a werewolf but she figured it out on her own and gifted him wolfsbane that she made herself just for him. I picture lots of fluff and cutesy feelings and Remus just confesses his love (I imagined they are just friends at that point) and he is very emotional.

Feel free to change, adapt or not write it at all! Thank you so much ❤️‍🩹

Remus' Birthday

wc: 1k

remus lupin x reader angst with a happy ending

i actually wished for another request as you sent this in which is why i wrote it so quick 😭

This week was going horrendously with assignments all over the place and one of James’ pranks malfunctioning and the grating feeling of the moon inching towards a full beam in the sky; all of that and the week ended in Remus’ least favourite day of the year, his birthday.

It had been like that since he was young. The first birthday after his new affliction was scarring to say the least and every birthday from before it was promptly erased from his memory after Remus heard that revisiting a memory would lead to misremembering it; those birthdays with his mother were only now saved for the night of his birthday, a way to relive a happier time with her in the quiet darkness of his bed.

Birthdays felt lonely- everyone else celebrated getting taller and older and more interesting, but for Remus it felt like a constant reminder that he was leaving something he never got the chance to experience, his youth. he had scars and pains that no one understood and he felt like birthdays were only for people who deserved another year of living, but with all the pain he brought to those he loved, he didn't know if he deserved that year.

The week had been full of stress and Remus wallowing in his own melancholy. It made it worse that you hadn't been anywhere near him for the past few weeks. His worst fears creeping into the cracks of his mind, that maybe you knew, or worse maybe you didn't, but had just gotten tired of the person he was.

Remus tried to push all of these thoughts out, you would hate knowing he was thinking of you like this, but his thoughts were haywire with the moon being full. Whilst the wolfsbane stopped him from turning, it didn't prevent the ghost pain or the mental pain. The other boys had all left the dorm, giving Remus his time to grieve the night before his birthday and instead sleeping with girlfriends or friends in other rooms. He had told them he needed to be alone.

Lying, shirtless with some ratty pajama bottoms and staring at the ceiling. His eyes were encrusted with small tears that threatened to fall at any moment; his mother's face becoming bleary in his memory- how many more times would he be able to imagine it without changing the memory, surely it was running out. He forced his eyes open, the cold breeze of the night hitting him and bringing chills all over his body, the only distraction offered was a single meek knock on the door.

“I need to speak to Remus,” your voice bles through every crevice of the room; maybe this could be his new memory. He stood up from the bed and crossed the room til his hand rested on the door knob.

I ’ll only open it if she asks one more time. I want her to want to come in... And as he finished that thought, your voice pleaded with him again, “please, I need to speak with him.”

The door swung open. Even with all his height, Remus looked small, and you couldn't handle it, a frown crumpling your face. His eyebrows scrunched up seeing your reaction. It felt wrong watching your eyes sadden noticing Remus’ wet cheeks and red nose. You reached up and wiped his cheeks, it wasn't enough for you, but the softness was more than enough for him- this was definitely his new memory, he decided then to save his mother for other days.

Your eyes began to well up and he wrapped his arms around you. “‘M sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry,” he whispered into your ear, softly as if he was scared you would disappear from his arms like a mirage.

“Don’t apologise, I’m here for you.” You tried to laugh but it came out wet and stunted. “I wanted to talk to you.”

He stepped back and suddenly you missed his warmth, but at least he hadn't let go. With his hand wrapped around your arm, you both walked inside into the dark dorm room. He light a small candle and let it flicker on the windowsill before sitting next to you on his bed. Of course you had guessed his bed, it had smelt like firewood and old books and Remus between the layered scents of detergent and dryer sheets.

“Happy birthday,” you offered quietly, with a small smile gracing your face. Suddenly, Remus’ week wasn't so bad. So caught up on your hope and kindness, he hadn't even registered the wrapped gift until you shoved it in his hands. It was messy and slightly crushed but still, the wrapping had your love written all over it. He delicately began to peel back tape and paper until all was left was a large stack of chocolate and a vial of daisy yellow liquid. It smelled like patience. something that surely took hours of sleepless nights to make.

“It's for pain relief. So you can have a painless birthday.” His eyes met yours again. How could you even possibly know that he needed this now, that he needed you now. He hadn't even noticed the night had crossed into the early hours of his birthday and here you were, on his bed with a soft smile and a softer twinkle in your eyes.

Before he could even think about it, it fell out of his mouth, “I love you.” His mouth hung open and his cheeks flushed.

“I love you too, Remus,” you repeated back in a way that would have forced his knees into buckling if he wasn't already sitting. You looked back at him one more time. “Do you want me to stay so you don't spend your birthday alone,” you asked as Remus tried the potion you had worked for weeks on. He paused as he felt every ache dissipate from his body, his pain melting away from him.

He threw a gentle smile your way and whispered back one final “of course,” before he began setting up his bed for the both of you to lie in and talk, and hopefully, eventually fall asleep together with. Maybe birthdays weren't as isolating as he had once known.

[insidethemachine]

Rio Mason Busujima - Hypnosis Microphone 毒島 メイソン 理鶯 - ヒプノシスマイク

Heyo, how’s it going~? 

Here it is Riou... or Rio? I still dont know enough japanese lol Do you like Rio? I LOVE Rio xd I totally liked him in the anime, was a little disappointed that in the other media he often looks more young unu like in the anime he clearly looks older (you can imagine with this who is really my fav lol) xd He is 28, but well his more young version by Kazui sensei is still very cute uwu

Also, I know he is also mostly serious or expresionless in the anime and manga, but like IN EVERY CARD OF THE GAME HE APPEARS SMILING WHEN YOU EVOLVE THE CARD xd so you cant say that he isnt a smiling boi uwu and i like that a lot uwu so all the pics I took of him are smiling or trying to be cool and failing cause he is kinda himbo uwu that's why Rio and Dice together always look so cute uwuw two himbos together xd

must protect uwu although he would be the one protecting me in reality xd

i also used the ninja pose cause... he is the only one who could pull it off lol

i may like him a lot cause i love redheads too uwu

yeah, I still dont like MTC bcs of the premise of the group perse, but i like Jyuto and Rio a lot xd

Talking about the sim, he was a piece of cake to make cause i had the uniform retextured from last year and just had to do some touchups and genetics xd

also i made him his rifle but i failed miserably trying to transform this pose to cas pose lol

cc list uwu:

Skin: https://mousysims.tumblr.com/post/627162293823848448/face-only-skinblend-masculine-feminine-all by @mousysims

Teeth: https://www.patreon.com/posts/default-non-19-34447183 by @magic-bot

Eyes and piercings: https://www.patreon.com/posts/di-eye-diy-eye-34678649 https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims4-accessories-female-earrings/title/piercing-set-n07/id/1351607/ by @pralinesims Eyelashes: http://kijiko-catfood.com/3d-lashes-uncurled-eyelashes-edition/ http://kijiko-catfood.com/eyebrow-ver2/ by @kijiko-sims

Hair: https://www.tumblr.com/obsims/714786304958889984/ludens-hairstyle @obsims

Lips: https://simfileshare.net/download/1440237/ by @ratboysims https://pictureamoebae.tumblr.com/post/147259113679/real-lips-revisited-release by @pictureamoebae

Necklace: https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims4-accessories-male-necklaces/title/s-club-ll-ts4-necklace-m02/id/1338093/ by @sclub-privee

Uniform: it is one of the militar uniforms from the StrangerVille pack, retextured by me, rlly cool quality compared to base game assets lol I have the pack, but i suppose you can get that asset from sims4studio too?

Gloves: https://leeleesims1.tumblr.com/post/166607419210/get-the-point-bgc-finger-less-gloves-just-some by @leeleesims1 M4: https://r-jayden.tumblr.com/post/632685955711729664/gun-poses-dl-boosty-free-please-do-not by @r-jayden, retextured by me. CAS BG: http://annettssims4welt.blogspot.com/2019/11/cas-backgrounds-blue-winter-uni.html by @annett85 the black is cool but with the camo and black belt it was difficult to look at lol, so I changed for a more MTC blue

Reshade: by me, have been experimenting, the only bad thing is that if some day i want to take a group photo i will have to tweak the textures lol

If something is missing, you can found it in my last posts maybe xd. As always, if you want some retexture just pm me uwu

That’s all for today~, next comes Ramu-chan uwu I really like him too lol (i like almost all the characters? yes xd i just dont like Jiro, Sama and Hitoya)

till nex' time xd

[darkstarofchaos]

Unpopular Opinions: EarthSpark Wishlist Edition.

Was going to give some thoughts on S1 a while back but never got around to it, so eh. Let's look ahead to S2 with some things I'd like to see and some I wouldn't.

Characters:

Ironically, the one character I wanted to see but didn't think would fit the show seems like he's actually going to appear. I've already written up an extensive Prowl wishlist, but to summarize: socially awkward and seemingly cold or rude, but nice once you get to know him; either not a cop or an ex-cop; disability optional but strongly encouraged. Also, if he's going to have low empathy or a strongly numbers-based approach to the world, don't villainize him for it.

Aside from Prowl, the only characters I have strong feelings about are ones I don't want to see. Basically all of them are MTMTE/LL characters, but the only ones I'm going to call out specifically are the DJD: I feel like they would need to be a season-long threat to be properly utilized, and since we've already had one major "hunt down Decepticons" plotline, I'm not interested in seeing another.

Not a deal-breaker, but I'd rather not see any more gender-swapping. I don't mind Ravage or Nova Storm and I warmed up to Frenzy, but Skywarp just doesn't feel like the same character. By which I mean I wouldn't be able to write her the same way I write him, because the way I write him would be a female stereotype applied to her. And I couldn't do her relationship with Starscream the same way either (same goes for her relationship with Thundercracker if he shows up). So as far as fanfic goes, she's literally a different character who I'd need to approach completely differently, and I just. If you need a bigger female cast and you can bring in characters like Hardtop and Skullcrusher, you can give little-seen female characters some time in the sun. Do that instead.

Pairings:

So first off, kudos to EarthSpark for finally producing a Megatron & Optimus dynamic where they actually feel like friends, but that's all I see them as, tbh. In fact, there's only one pairing I have any interest in so far, and that's MegaStar. And with that being said, I would like to see some development between them in the next season. But not Megatron trying to make things right with Starscream: Starscream deserves to have his desire for distance respected. Instead, put them in a situation where they're forced to cooperate and let them start to work things out from there. Maybe some apologies that neither is required to accept (we don't actually know what Starscream might have to apologize for in this universe, but I'm sure there's something).

As far as potential future pairings, I guess I wouldn't hate TaraProwl. On one hand, I would prefer as few IDW influences as possible, but on the other hand, the monsterfucker in me wants someone to pair Tarantulas with. But if they're going to interact, I need Prowl to not be a jerk and I'd love it if they didn't already know each other.

Other Random Desires:

Minimal IDW influences.

Normally I wouldn't think about this in a Transformers show, but after the Mother's Day episode: no more holiday episodes please (I will make an exception for an Independence Day episode that highlights recreational explosives as a horrible way to celebrate. Seems perfect for this show).

Still torn on whether or not I want to see Nightshade become aware of transphobia, but I'm thinking not. Won't say no to having more trans/nonbinary characters, though (I will make an exception to the no gender-swapping thing if the swapped character is explicitly trans).

More disabled characters! If not Prowl, then someone (was kinda disappointed that Twitch's optic got repaired by the Magic, not gonna lie).

Okay, that's all for now. Might revisit this when we get a trailer for S2.

[elizabethplaid]

daily notes for Feb 1 and 2, 2024

Got the library keys to LL-K on Thursday. She's opening solo today (Sat, Feb 3rd), as I'm taking February off for mental health.

The 1st was spent revisiting my past-self. The 2nd was starting the new friendship bracelet. Discussion below the cut:

I spent that evening going over some of my old writing and old photos. I talked with my friend about how those stories are like a time capsule - a slice of our psyche, our mindset at the time. I cried as I read an affectionate scene. Not happy or sad tears, just reflective. I was really hurting at the time (senior year of high school, through college).

Reading that paired well with my recent discussions of my behavior at that time. It eased some of my regret and guilt, allowed me to forgive myself a bit more.

----------

As shown in the previous post, I started a new friendship bracelet on Feb 2nd. I like sharing these happy memories with these friends. I had to hide away my Alaska-childhood-self in order to survive adolescence in NC, so letting "her" out again, rejoicing in that past-self, means a lot to me.

That evening, we had another long phone call. Discussed writing techniques, how to develop styles and just get the words out, different work styles. My friend's more advanced in methods than I am, as my stories live in my head more than in text.

We discussed tarot/oracle cards again, revisiting my Grail Oracle spread from Tuesday and seeing the cards he recently drew. On a card he thought symbolized me, I saw a pair of fish with the Pisces sign next to them. I'm like, "You know my cats were born under Pisces, right? They're my fishy-cats." There were also shed deer antlers on that card, which felt like a sign. Both images appeared on other cards in the draw, too. But there were more symbols that didn't speak to either of us.

Both our draws discussed the need/quest for playfulness, amid other themes. I mentioned how I felt drawn to the Hermit card in the past, on the self-reflection in isolation. After all, that's how I lived in recent years, and it was the key to my development/growth/healing.

I like using tarot for reflection. I can analyze the heck out of stuff, but I need a starting point, eg a card or prompt.

========

When I woke up this morning, Feb 3rd, I decided to wear my henna choker right away. Then I added the bell-necklace AND my glasses? This is even more significant than wearing heavy earrings on a public-day! When I'm at home, I rarely wear my glasses, because of the weight on my face. I'm staying home for the next month, so really didn't have to wear my usual jewelry or glasses. The bridge of my nose is starting to hurt a tiny bit, but the necklaces still feel okay.

I plan to work on the bracelet more, maybe try some knitting if I need a break.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I had painted my nails again before last night's call. I couldn't find my old nail polish remover, and the one tiny jar I found wasn't working, so I just painted over the old chips. It's a neat effect, though it's a little silly on principal. So yeah, more nail polish, more jewelry, even heavy glasses. It feels good. :D

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

honestly, i think one of the hardest parts about the revisiting i've been doing of LL lately has been that now i have the knowledge and experience for it to really hit home, not just that he was abused and neglected by his power-tripping guardian for most of his childhood; and not only did he go through homelessness and food insecurity; and not only was he brainwashed by a cult for the better part of a year, with the death and torture of himself and/or his only loved one hanging over his head with every single choice of words he made. he was groomed.

[talk about grooming and canonical undertones of CSA under the cut, as well as discussion of victim-blaming and fatphobia; not the full post examining its depiction in the series, that'll come later because it's important to me, but be warned.]

like. i don't just mean the brainwashing, i mean groomed, as in an inappropriate one-on-one emotional/power dynamic with a predatory adult. it stopped just short of actual sexual abuse--in-universe presumably because they were being watched, and out-of-universe probably because the writers didn't want to deal with that lmao--but it is loud and clear and just. god. he literally fucking uses the word 'groomed,' and thinks it was a favor. the entire second half of that novella was genuinely nauseating, and it was hard to get through.

it explains yet another reason he resonated as hard with me as he did, and it makes me absolutely fucking furious both then and now that the writers blame him for '''falling for it.''' they portray it as him being spoiled and selfish and full of himself and lazy--letting himself be Corrupted--and i will never forgive the writers for publishing that in a book for kids and for having made me read it with my own two eyes. and it makes it even fucking rougher that any fandom content for him that's more than a few years old is a minefield of victim-blaming, bile, and maybe 'okay well i can see how he's kind of sympathetic BUT I STILL HATE HIM SO MUCH I'M SO MAD EVERY TIME HE COMES ONSCREEN UGH'

(which, let us be fucking real, he would not have gotten that reception if he were not fat. he just wouldn't have. i was there for the most openly nasty, violent fatphobia right after FoF came out, and for years it did not go away, it just went slightly more underground. i was there when the [fatphobia] was written etc etc)

anyway, just. man. as aforementioned i'm planning to write up a proper post about this later, which is going to be A Time. i guess this one is mainly just to express that Goddamn That Shit Was Fucked, it was extremely rough being a fan of five who identified with him a lot, and i am so very grateful both that i am in a place to unpack it and that the fandom these days is not Like Fucking That.

thanks, y'all. wish me luck.

[thedaveandkimmershow]

Things are picking up.

On the movie front, last Tuesday night we revisited "The Last Holiday" with Queen Latifa and LL Cool J. It's not specifically a Christmas movie but between the title and all the snow...

It always feels like one.

Thursday night we began our first step in a stroll through the Christmas episodes of "Call the Midwife" that will eventually culminate in strolling through the Christmas episodes of BBC's "Ghosts".

By Friday night, though, we’d only indulged the second Christmas episode from "Call the Midwife" which brings us to 2013. So yeah. There are still plenty of Christmas episodes from that series to watch.

Saturday night, last night, was a big one for reasons I'll get to presently. 

We started with the classic of classics, "A Christmas Story", stayed in that groove with "Elf", and, just after midnight, "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown" from our own DVD collection. The most classic of classics.

So why were we up so late?

Interestingly, the stars aligned so that we got a jump start on Christmas cards and wrapping Christmas presents.

Now, I've been picking at our Christmas letter for a few weeks. A coupla days ago, Friday, it was done and printed (with a couple variations for different sections of our friend- and family-sphere). I already had the return address labels from last year, the "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" seal for the envelopes, and the Peanuts stamps I bought at the post office a couple weeks ago after looking through their binder of stamps.

Oh, and the cards, of course. Ones we collected over the years.

Collected?

Well, I’m talking about the cards that remain after any given year. Because the next year we'd start with a new set of Christmas cards. So we've been collecting the remainders for quite some time now.

This year, then, we're drawing from an eclectic and wonderful collection of Christmas card designs.

Now, the final step in the process of getting each card ready for mailing is a quick handwritten note in each one. I don't know what to tell you. I think I picked this habit up from my parents. And then sized up the effort over the years.

At its heart, though, the process of putting a card together and writing a note is, for each one, that I’m taking a few minutes to think about each friend, each family, each person, before sending our finest holiday wishes their way.  😊

And then Kimmer.

Kimmer's actually been super motivated to start wrapping presents for each other, our family, and friends for a couple weeks now.

Why?

Because all of it usually falls to the last minute on all counts. With our own gifts to each other often wrapped between midnight and 2AM Christmas morning. If not later.

Call it an involuntary Christmas tradition that bleeds late into the following morning after a full Christmas Eve day and night.

So.

Kimmer’s trying something new. And, as a result, maybe we’ll make it to bed earlier the night before Christmas so all those sugarplums can do their thing.

By the way, we didn't start last night with cards, presents, and classic Christmas movies and television. We actually began with cards, presents, and that Christmas album, "December", by Kenny Logins. It's a special album to us because it once belonged to our friend, Scott, who's been gone for a decade or so now. He's still heavy on our minds and hearts whenever we indulge this music at this time of year. And we do. We do indulge it a lot this time of year. Remembering our dear, dear friend with whom we began our professional careers in our twenties. Who was there at the start of our family tales.

Last thing I wanna mention. I'm nearly done with my Christmas shopping. Of course I'm only collecting presents for Kimmer while she's collecting presents for me and, well, everyone else.

More than anyone in our family, she’s Santa Claus. Straight up.

I just wanted to say, you know, I’m nearly done with my Christmas shopping.

[oven-thermometer]

Hello :"3

the reader is organic. But what if someone catches a person and performs a semblance of an empurata operation on him? The real head is replaced by a empurata-like robot head, with a bunch of wiring and cables everywhere that connects to the body (brains are saved). There is also the replacement of the hands with two claws in each palm. Where did the villain put the real head and hands, did he throw them away or leave them abandoned in a prominent place? Unknown. The LL crew finds their man lying on the ground, altered, covered in blood and energon

Hi! <3

I'm going to level with you anon, I have not seen any of the cartoons or read any of the comics so I had to do some research for this! But, I have a good enough idea of what you're asking so here we go!

This is very rushed and poorly written for such an amazing concept so I genuinely apologize hkfkdk

Maybe one day I'll revisit this! :)

Unbeta'd.

Warnings: angst, mentions of blood, mentions of violence, kidnapping, reader was v close to dying, unconsensual body modification.

You had been driving for five days straight. The unforgiving cold outside the confines of the vehicle made the dread set into your bones. It all went wrong. The mission, the assignment, the fight. Everything went haywire and you needed to get as far away from everyone as possible. For once, you were in a car that wasn't alive. You were in control. No sudden turns or brakes being slammed without your say-so, you missed being able to go where you wanted. Ever since you had gotten caught up in this war you hadn't been alone with your thoughts. Maybe that was a good thing considering you didn't even know the level of your mental health at this point.

And that's when you heard it. A scratching sound, coming from the trunk of your car - the abandoned road was quiet, allowing you to hear the unsettling noise. Your instincts said to keep driving, to ignore it, to keep driving and never stop. But you knew better by now, the bots had trained you that the smaller decepticons could easily get into your car. So you pulled over to the side of the road and opened your door to walk to the source of the unnerving sound. The last thing you remember was slowly prying the trunk open and seeing the flash of two red eyes coming towards you faster than you could process. The rest dissolved into darkness.

Light. Words. Processing? Loading. Malfunction.

"Are they ready?"

"Sir, we've never done this before. You need to give them some time."

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME."

Lights. Settings. Task complete. Where were you?

For the first time in what felt like days, possibly weeks, you regained consciousness. You couldn't open your eyes. Your head drooped forwards, feeling it's now incredibe weight gave you pause. You tried lifting your hands, but to no avail. You were bound to something, a chair? No, you were on some sort of table that had been lifted diagonally. That much you knew from your ability to lift your head but feel your bodies position.

A large red line of artificial light came into your view. It stretched from one side of your vision to the other, trying again to open your eyes you noticed the line start to move. As you felt as if your eyelids were opening, the line expanded vertically until your entire view was only filled with the red light. Black spots formed around the corners, eventually filling out the red until it was left as a border. In the black colours started appearing. Greys, blues, reds and browns littered your vision as more words popped into view.

"Select Task:

>Set colour difference

>Set brightness

>Adjust software"

You didn't know what those words meant, your brain turned to mush as you blinked twice. The red line appearing each time. The words were dismissed when you simply thought, 'I need to get out of here.'

Dragging your head forward, you could see your arms, or what you'd assume were your arms. 'What the hell?'

Your hands had been replaced with giant metal claws, energon mixed with your blood and other fluids draining out from the ends of wires and metal. Scratches in the material prevented you from seeing your reflection, but you didn't need to.

The bots had also told you about this. Empurata. Criminals on cybertron would be captured and have their heads replaced with faceless ones, telling the world and everyone in it to shun them. That's why your head was so heavy. That's why you could now zoom in on your field of vision. Why you can keep track of your vitals, and it's how you now know you were very near to bleeding out. You started panicking. This isn't right. This isn't what was supposed to happen. No. No.

Gunshots from behind the dark room's giant door tore your concentration away from your hands. "Did they come for you?"

[sinceileftyoublog]

30 (Technically 34) Albums We Loved That Happened To Come Out in 2020

So much has already been said and written about this cursed past year, but a few good things came out of it, including the music. Album-wise, like many before it and many to come, it was an embarrassment of riches. But even with so much time on our hands to devour new tunes, it was often old favorites, songs of comfort or familiarity that garnered the heaviest rotation. For many artists, too, it was a year ripe for revisiting or reissues of old material, looking at existing songs with fresh and new perspectives. Simply put, with so much to listen to, new and old, the prospect of ranking a finite number of albums felt not only daunting, but frankly a bit stupid. Maybe we were late to the game, but 2020 taught us that music should and can be appreciated in multiple contexts, not limited to but including when it first came out and when it was heard again and again, even if years later. The records below--listed in alphabetical order--happened to be released in some form in 2020, whether never-before-heard or heard before but in a different format. And the only thing I know is that we’ll be listening to them in 2021 and beyond.

Autechre - SIGN & PLUS (Warp)

The legendary British electronic music duo surprise released SIGN a mere month and a half after its announcement and then PLUS 12 days later. The former was a beatific collection of soundscapes that belied the band’s usual harsh noise, while PLUS embraced that noise right back, drawing you in with the clattering chaotic burbles of opener “DekDre Scap B” and lurching forward. -Jordan Mainzer

Against All Logic - 2017-2019 (Other People)

The perennially chill ambient house artist Nicolas Jaar had a busy 2020, as usual, releasing two albums under his name, Cenizas and Telas. But it was 2017-2019, the follow-up to the debut album from his Against All Logic moniker, that came first and throughout the year helped to illustrate Jaar’s penchant for combining inspired samples with club beats and tape hiss. Take the way the lovelorn vocals of “Fantasy” or soulful coos of “If Loving You Is Wrong” war skittering, scratchy percussion and cool arpeggios, respectively: Jaar is coming into his own as a masterful producer almost a decade after he released his first full-length. Oh, and bonus points for including none other than Lydia Lunch on a banger so blunt it would make Death Grips blush. - JM

Bartees Strange - Live Forever (Memory Music)

Like many, my introduction to Bartees Strange was through Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, his EP of The National covers. Creativity and shifting perspectives shine through each song’s reimaging, like flipping the coarse, almost manic “Mr. November” into something softer, more meditative. It felt like a mere peek into what was to come on Live Forever. Bartees Strange is a world-builder. Each track on his debut unfolds and welcomes you to a wildly engaging tableau, a fully constructed vision. “Jealousy” opens with soft vocals and birdsong. “In a Cab” is the slick soundtrack to racing through a cityscape in the rain, seeing the blurred lights of the high-rises above as you pass by. “Kelly Rowland” warps wistful pop song feelings. “Flagey God” takes you into a dark, pulsing club while only a few songs later, “Fallen For You” wraps you in echoed vocals and romantic, raw acoustic guitar.

It’s an accomplishment to craft an album of individual songs that stand strongly on their own but still feel cohesive. 2020 wasn’t all bad. It gave us Live Forever, a declaration of an artist’s arrival. - Lauren Lederman

Charli XCX - how i’m feeling now (Atlantic)

Back in the spring, many of us wondered who would put out something great in 2020’s quarantine. It was hard to imagine that the intensity of a global pandemic would really allow for artists to embrace creativity. That thought carries the same eye-roll inducing feeling of “We’ll get some great punk music out of a Trump presidency,” but of course, Charli XCX delivered. Through live workshops with fans and longstanding collaborators, she delivered songs to dance alone to in your bubble. Charli embraces the unknown of the moment but clutches onto what’s familiar. Under the glitch-pop veneer of the album, she digs into the anxieties of not just this moment of time but of the bigger questions we all confront: trajectories of relationships with friends, romantic partners, ourselves. Album standouts “forever” and “i finally understand” embrace that feeling of both looking for control and accepting the lack of it. Charli is a master at balancing this. - LL

Christine and the Queens - La Vita Nuova (Because Music)

Named after a Latin text by Dante Alighieri about missing a woman who has died, Chris’ La Vita Nuova is not about mourning a death but instead about loneliness and isolation, post-relationship or otherwise. It doesn’t bang quite like her previous two albums, but it hits harder than ever.

Read our full review here.

Dogleg - Melee (Triple Crown)

Released on March 13th, right as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Melee was supposed to be supported by three cancelled tours–SXSW, an opening slot for Microwave, and an opening slot for Joyce Manor–and an appearance at this year’s cancelled Pitchfork Music Festival. Listening to the songs on the record, you can only imagine how they translate: the jerky momentum of “Bueno”, build-up of “Prom Hell”, gang vocals of “Fox”, clear-vocal anthem of “Wrist”, and odd groove of “Ender”.

Read “Buckle Up, Motherfucker”, our interview with Dogleg.

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia & Dua Lipa/The Blessed Madonna: Club Future Nostalgia (Warner)

Where Dua Lipa’s much-anticipated second album Future Nostalgia succeeded was in its disco anthems and retro, club-ready beats, so who better to bring out the best of the record than The Blessed Madonna? The turntablist masterfully curates a mix of heavy hitters of the charts and the underground that not only offers an essential complement to Future Nostalgia but transcends it. Sending the tracks out to various producers and singers for features and then adding her own samples on top, she invites you to peel back the layers, enter a YouTube rabbit hole of sample searching as much as bopping along.

Read our full review here.

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full (Sacred Bones)

Roadburn Festival has long been on my bucket list, and since the pandemic showed me how much live music can be taken away in a flash, when it’s safe again to travel and go to a festival, I may just pull the trigger and go--especially considering it’s the springboard for such fruitful and inspired collaborations as the one between Louisville singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle and Baton Rouge sludge dwellers Thou. Rundle embraces the heavier opportunities on the follow-up to her incredible 2018 record On Dark Horses with the ever-flexible Thou backing her up vocally and instrumentally. Slow-burning opener “Killing Floor” offers a familiar introduction to fans of both--sort of what a Rundle/Thou song would sound like--before grunge chugger “Monolith” introduces huge, catchy riffs and “Out of Existence” a True Widow-esque dirge, newfound inspirations for both artists bringing the best out of each other. - JM

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (Epic)

What makes Fetch the Bolt Cutters stand out among Apple’s catalog and music in general is the clarity with which Apple seethes at those who have wronged her, whether ex-boyfriends or patriarchal oppressors, and looks to her relationships with other women for peace of mind.

Read our full review here.

HAIM - Women in Music Pt. III (Columbia)

For HAIM, the title Women in Music Pt. III is suggestive that, more than their previous two records, their third centers around the experiences of being an all-female band in a historically white cis male-dominated scene, at least one that wouldn’t call catchy riffs written by a man “simple” or call attention to the faces a man makes while playing. What it doesn’t let on to is how deeply personal the record is, how, by unabashedly embracing genres and styles of music that they love, HAIM have made far and away their best album. Co-produced by the usual suspects, Danielle Haim, Ariel Rechtshaid, and ex-Vampire Weekender Rostam Batmanglij, it’s instrumentally and aesthetically dynamic and diverse, consistently earnest without devolving into cheese.

Read our full review here.

Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You? (International Anthem)

I’ve been captivated by Irreversible Entanglements ever since I first saw them at Pitchfork Music Festival 2018. The radical poetry of Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother) is the perfect front for a ramshackle mix of Luke Stewart’s spidery bass, Tcheser Holmes’ weighty drums, and a horn section that concocts tones that range from hopeful to desperate. At their best, Who Sent You? is a shining example of celebratory Afrofuturism and metaphysics that makes the urgency of Ayewa’s more concrete and political words all the more necessary. “No Más”, composed by Panamanian-born trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, is a declaration against imperialist oppression, while the stunning title track flips the switch like a Kara Walker painting, as Ayewa’s the one interrogating the police officer terrorizing her community. “Who sent you?” she repeats, never spiraling, grabbing a hold of the power and never letting go. - JM

Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem/Nonesuch)

It’s Jeff Parker’s mom’s turn. After 2016′s The New Breed ended up being a tribute to the guitarist’s father, who passed away during the making of it, Parker decided to pay tribute to Maxine while she was still alive. Suite for Max Brown (Brown is his mother’s maiden name; Max is what people call her) is a genre-bending collection of tracks inspired by Parker’s DJing, juxtapositions of sequenced beats with improvisation that certainly sound like the brainchild of one individual. Indeed, Parker plays the majority of the instruments on it and engineered most of it at home or during his 2018 Headlands Center residency in Sausalito, CA; though all of the players and the vocalist (Jeff’s daughter Ruby Parker) on The New Breed show up, plus a couple trumpeters (piccolo player Rob Mazurek and Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes) and cellist Katinka Kleijn, Suite for Max Brown is a distinctly Jeff Parker record.

Read our preview of Jeff Parker & The New Breed’s set at Dorian’s last year.

Jeff Rosenstock - NO DREAM (Polyvinyl)

Jeff Rosenstock throws us right into the spinning, manic energy of NO DREAM, his latest release from a seemingly endless well of music that never lacks urgency. It’s a reminder that though it’s been a strange year, the issues Rosenstock tackles here aren’t new. There’s no interest in making you feel comfortable here. On the album’s title track, Rosenstock sings, lulling you into a false sense of security, “They were separating families carelessly / Under the guise of protecting you and me.” But reality sets in, and the hazy guitars spin out as he spits, “It’s not a dream!” and, “Fuck violence!”

My image of Jeff Rosenstock in the year 2020 is masked up with “Black Lives Matter” scrawled across the fabric of his mask in Sharpie, performing album highlight “Scram!” on Late Night with Seth Meyers as high energy as ever. It felt like watching someone send out a beacon, both a distress signal and a call to arms. - LL

Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure? (PMR/Friends Keep Secrets/Interscope)

I am not someone who goes to clubs. I don’t “go out dancing,” preferring to let loose in the privacy of my own home or a trusted friend’s house party. But Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? makes me think I could embrace a night out like that, once the world opens up again, of course. The album is filled with syncopated disco beats that feel fresh and classic all at once. The abundant horns and strings on “Step Into My Life” are decadent, like light bouncing off sequins in a dark room. Ware’s voice is slinky and velvety one moment, windswept like her album cover the next. It’s songs like “Save a Kiss” that embrace both, allowing her to show off her range. - LL

Laura Marling - Song for Our Daughter (Partisan)

With sparse production, mostly from her but with additions from Ethan Johns and Dom Monks, Marling foregoes the comparative maximalism of the Blake Mills-produced Semper Femina, her last proper full-length, and 2018′s LUMP collaboration. The songs aren’t simple, but they’re succinct, and every element, from Marling’s finger-picked guitars, the occasional slide guitar, and that unmistakably calm voice, sometimes alone and sometimes layered, fits. It’s her most universal set of songs yet, centering around the times when we’re apart from one another but reflecting on when we were together and when we might be together again, with no guarantees.

Read the rest of our review here.

Les Amazones d’Afrique - Amazones Power (Real World Records)

The groovy pan-African collective expands upon their debut Republique Amazone and then some with Amazones Power, a tour-de-force statement of female empowerment in the face of oppression against women throughout the African diaspora. Indeed, the album is more than just songs boldly decrying FGM, though those demands ring heavily. Instead, the group goes further, delving into gender power structures in marriage on “Queens” and selectively finding strength in tradition on “Dreams”. And this time, they include men to stand alongside with them. “Together we must stand / Together we must end this,” sings Guinean musician/dancer/artist Niariu on opener “Heavy” in solidarity with features Douranne (Boy) Fall and Magueye Diouk (Jon Grace) of Paris band Nyoko Bokbae. But perhaps it’s her kiss-off on “Smile” that hits hardest: “I shut up for no one.” - JM

Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas (Nonesuch)

The British singer-songwriter’s much anticipated follow-up to 2015′s Blood was better than I could have ever imagined. A song cycle about life cycles--of nature, of lives, of a relationship--inspired by an actual breakup, Lianne La Havas is a contemporary neo soul masterpiece. Overview opener “Bittersweet” is an instant earworm, La Havas’ coo-turned-belt filling the space between classic and increasingly emotive slabs of piano and guitar. Funky, lovestruck strut “Read My Mind” is the soundtrack for the unbridled confidence of finding new love. Yes, the doubts begin to sow on the fingerpicked melancholy of “Green Papaya” and “Can’t Fight”, and where the album goes from a simple narrative perspective may be predictable: They break up, they don’t get back together, La Havas enjoys her independence. But the depth of the arrangements and assuredness of La Havas’ singing is a product of an artist starting to really show us what she can do. And how many people can pull off a Radiohead cover like that? - JM

Lomelda - Hannah (Double Double Whammy)

What does it mean to title an album after yourself? Lomelda’s latest album is centered around discovering more about yourself while not always having the answers. Despite the lyrical content, the album is self-assured. Hannah Read’s voice feels as steady as ever as it navigates these twisting questions, like the way the world can shift after a kiss. She finds power in softness and reflection throughout the album, like when she explores the mantra-like words of “Wonder” or through a reminder to do no harm in “Hannah Sun”. In a year that allowed for perhaps more reflection than usual, Hannah makes space for the questions that arise out of figuring yourself out, of making sense of the messiness of it all, wrapped in warm guitar, balanced vocals, and steady drums. - LL

Moses Sumney - Grae (Jagjaguwar)

“Am I vital / If my heart is idle? / Am I doomed?” Moses Sumney famously sang on his stunning 2017 debut Aromanticism, an album that saw him developing his acceptance of being alone. grae, his two-part 2nd full-length, and his first since officially moving from L.A. to the Appalachian Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, doubles down on themes of heartbreak, but instead of being sure in his seclusion, he embraces the unknown. The album teeters between interludes of platitudes about isolation and ruminations on failed human connection, and maximally arranged clutches of uncertainty. “When my mind’s clouded and filled with doubt / That’s when I feel the most alive,” Sumney coos over horns and piano on slinky soul song “Cut Me”; it’s an effective mantra for the album.

Read the rest of our review here.

Norah Jones - Pick Me Up Off The Floor (Blue Note)

At the time we previewed Norah Jones’ 7th studio album, she had only released a few tracks from it. Turns out the rest was just as powerful. From the blues stomp of “Flame Twin” to the rolling piano stylings of “Hurts to Be Alone”, Pick Me Up Off The Floor is an album full of jazzy orchestrations and soul and gospel-indebted arrangements, Jones’ silky, yearning voice tying together the simple, yet lush and deep instrumentation. And that other Tweedy feature, that closes the album? It’s a heartbreaking portrait of loneliness, one of many on a record that still manages to celebrate being alive all the while. - JM

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher (Dead Oceans)

Phoebe Bridgers is a master of details. Her lyrics shine when they get specific. They range from the mundane to morbid: A superfan’s ghost-like wandering under a drugstore’s fluorescent lights, a skinhead likely buried under a blooming garden, reckoning with the you in “Moon Song”’s lines, “You are sick, and you’re married / And you might be dying.” Bridgers has always been able to set a scene meticulously, and Punisher arrived with 11 songs that expanded that skill, both lyrically and musically, with her dark humor intact and a fuller sound that includes her boygenuis collaborators’ harmonies. - LL

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love: The Demos & Dry - The Demos (Island)

Yes, revisiting Dry’s demos as a separate entity is still worthwhile. Harvey’s powerhouse vocal performance carries the acoustic strummed “Oh My Lover”, while the comparatively minimal arrangement of “Victory” highlights bluesy riffing, call-and-response harmonies, and layered guitar and vocals. The singles, the slinky and sharp “Dress” and propulsive anthem “Sheela-Na-Gig”, hold up to their ultimate studio versions, too. But it’s the To Bring You My Love material that provides novelty because it’s never been released and more so because it encompasses the greatest aesthetic contrast from the album. From the warbling hues and guitar lines of the title track to the tremolo haze of “Teclo” to the crisp snares of “Working With The Man”, the demos show a continuity and level of cohesiveness with the diversity of Dry and Rid of Me not shown on the studio version of Harvey’s more accessible commercial breakout. (Predictably, the album’s most well-known song, “Down by the Water”, is the closest to its eventual version.) “Long Snake Moan” is simultaneously more spacious and more noisy, its garage blues a total contrast to the lurking “I Think I’m A Mother” and swaying shanty “Send His Love To Me”. And “The Dancer” fully embraces its flamenco influences, hand claps and all.

Porridge Radio - Every Bad (Secretly Canadian)

Is there a better opening line than “I’m bored to death, let’s argue”? That kind of duality is found across all of Every Bad as it grapples with the frustrations and anxiety of trying to figure it all out, whatever that might mean for you. “Maybe I was born confused, but I’m not,” vocalist Dana Margolin repeats throughout the opening track, roping in listeners with the dizzying feeling of trying to make sense of yourself. The band’s guitar and synth sound coupled with Margolin’s howl makes for a dance party filled with dread, rendering Margolin’s already strong, repetitive lyrics even more spiraling. And yet, by the time we get to “Lilacs”, a glimmer of something else shines through as the music gets more manic and Margolin’s voice begins to soar: “I don’t want to get bitter / I want us to get better / I want us to be kinder / To ourselves and to each other.” - LL

Sault - Untitled (Rise) & Untitled (Black Is) (Forever Living Originals)

Yes, Black Is still pulls plenty of devastating punches. “Eternal Life”, a segue from the gospel boost of “US”, juxtaposes a deliberate drum beat with zooming synths, both ascending like a chorus of angels, as they sing, “I see sadness in your eye / ‘Cause I know you don’t wanna die,” presenting the oppression of Black life at the hands of white supremacy in inarguable terms. Ultimately, though, it’s the anthemic nature of the songs, resistant of platitudes, that shines through. “Nobody cared / This generation cares,” says Laurette Josiah on “This Generation”. Whether she’s talking about young people in general or the latest generation of young Black leaders, the sentiment is reflected on songs like “Black”, wherein over dynamic, sinewy instrumentation, the singers alternate between encouragement, support, and love of the self and others.

Read our full review here.

Shamir - Shamir (self-released)

Shamir’s voice is a bright beacon in a sea of conventional singers. Shamir captures the effervescence of pop music and weaves it together with elements of country, alt rock, and diary confessional lyrics all supported by the emotion and range of his vocals. There’s something for everyone across the album’s 11 shimmering tracks. Lead single and opener “On My Own” feels like a declaration of self and self-sufficiency, an anthem of a breakup song. The almost pop-punk bounce of “Pretty When I’m Sad”, paired perfectly with lines like the angst-ridden, “Let’s fuck around inside each other’s heads,” feels impossible to not bop along to. The twang of “Other Side” would put a country crooner to shame. That’s the power of Shamir. His voice has the ability to smoothly convey joy, resilience, and humor. He uses elements of several genres, not just the dance-pop of his debut, to build a unique album that gives listeners so much to sift through and, of course, dance to. - LL

Songhoy Blues - Optimisme (Fat Possum)

If Songhoy Blues’ second album Resistance lacked “the grit of its predecessor,” it’s clear from the hard rock stomp of the opening track of Malian band’s third album Optimisme that they rediscovered their mojo. More importantly, they couple this maximal brashness with tributes to those who make their world a better place: fighters for freedom, women, the young. It’s perhaps the first Songhoy Blues record to truly combine the celebratory nature of their desert blues with a balanced mixture of idealism and vigor. - JM

Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone (Pure Noise)  

How can you find hope in hopelessness, or optimism when every news story points to cruelty? Is it naïve to keep searching for light in the dark? I don’t think so, and I don’t think Spanish Love Songs does, either. I’d like to think we both believe that’s not naivety, but power. It’s the embers you need to really ignite a flame. After all, this is the band with a song titled “Optimism (As a Radical Life Choice)”. It’s a band whose crunching guitars and earnestness insist that despite death and depression and addiction, the instinct to survive shines brightly above all. That relentless hope resurfaces across Brave Faces Everyone’s 10 tracks even as it works through the bleakness of everyday life. - LL

Tashi Dorji - Stateless (Drag City)

The magnum opus from the Asheville-based picker is a group of evocatively titled, disorderly songs about the desolate hellscape of America for outsiders and immigrants. Enigmatic in its nature, not exactly narrative, Stateless combines Dorji’s urgent strumming with moody motifs, captured beautifully in a studio setting for maximum emotional wallop. - JM

Touche Amore - Lament (Epitaph)

Is this what an almost uplifting Touche Amore album sounds like? It’s cathartic in a newer way for the band, especially after the beautifully rendered grief of Stage Four. Lament loses none of the band’s aggression or urgency. “Come Heroine” thrusts listeners into that urgency and introduces a moment of warmth, Jeremy Bolm’s vocals still rasping and insistent: “You brought me in / You took to me / And reversed the atrophy.” The bounciness of “Reminders” may seem close to optimism, but a sharper look at the lyrics uncovers more than blindly looking to the things that bring joy. “I’ll Be Your Host” is reflective, a few years removed from Touche Amore’s previous album and the immediacy of loss, self-aware and growing, but still raw. The album closer, “A Forecast”, takes a turn, a lone voice and piano acting as a confessional before giving way to thrashing guitars and the realization that growth and reckoning with trauma doesn’t mean minimizing it. It means learning to keep moving forward and to stop for help when you may need it. - LL

Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud (Merge)

The best album yet from Katie Crutchfield is inspired by positive personal change (getting sober, dealing with codependency issues, her blossoming love with singer-songwriter Kevin Morby) and reflections on family and friends. Named after the suburb of Orlando where her father’s from, Saint Cloud is a genre-hopping collection of stories and feelings that doesn’t necessarily follow any semblance of narrative. On opener “Oxbow” and country-tinged ditty “Can’t Do Much”, Crutchfield’s increasingly aware of the need to pick your side and your battles, whether in the relationship between two people or between the allure of the bottle and the next-day hangover. Some of the best songs on the album see her finding commonalities with others as a means towards self-love. Gentle strummer “The Eye” refers to her natural creative relationships with Morby and her sister Allison. “War” she wrote for herself and best friend, who is also sober, the title a metaphor for one’s fight to remain substance-free. “Witches” is an ode to her best friends, including Allison and Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan, all equally frustrated by the toxic nature of the music industry and the world at large, ultimately lifting each other up because they simply have each other.

Read our full review here.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2022 movie of the week: masterlist

if you’ve known me for any time at all, you should know by now that i will not watch very many movies this year. i’ll aspire to, i’ll think it’s a good idea, but it’s just not that likely to happen. however, that shouldn’t stop me from the fun of trying! and this year i’m aiming for a slightly different type of goal. 

my plan is to watch one movie a week. if i happen to watch more than that, great, but it’'ll be a bonus and won’t count for a following week. i’ll review my weekly movie same as i review all the movies i watch, and check them off my watchlist as i go. (my watchlist just gets longer every year. maybe 2022 is the year i finally make a dent!)

4th man out (2015)

892 (TBD)

12 years a slave (2013)

a family man (2016)

a man called otto (2023)

a room with a view (1985)

a simple favor (2018)

a single man (2009)

a wrinkle in time (2018)

about time (2013)

admission (2013)

after yang (TBD)

all the bright places (2020)

always be my maybe (2019)

ammonite (2020)

amsterdam (2022)

an education (2009)

ant man (2015)

ant man and the wasp (2018)

anything's possible (2022)

aquaman (2018)

arrival (2016)

atonement (2007)

august: osage county (2013)

babylon (2023)

bad education (2019)

be kind rewind (2008)

bedazzled (2000)

begin again (2013)

big eyes (2014)

billy elliot (2000)

black panther: wakanda forever (2022)

blockers (2018)

bohemian rhapsody (2018)

bowfinger (1999)

boy erased (2018)

brideshead revisited (2008)

bright young things (2003)

burn burn burn (2015)

cairo time (2009)

can you ever forgive me? (2018)

catherine called birdy (2022)

chef (2014)

clemency (2019)

coco (2017)

colette (2018)

crazy rich asians (2018)

crouching tiger, hidden dragon (2000)

crush (2022)

cyrano (2021)

demolition man (1993)

devil’s knot (2013)

die hard (1988)

disclosure (2020)

disenchanted (2022)

do revenge (2022)

dog day afternoon (1975)

downton abbey (2019)

downton abbey: a new era (2022)

dreamgirls (2006)

dual (TBD)

earth girls are easy (1988)

effie gray (2014)

eighty for brady (?)

encanto (2021)

enola holmes (2020)

enola holmes 2 (2022)

eurovision song contest: the story of fire saga (2020)

fantastic beasts: the crimes of grindelwald

fantastic beasts: the secrets of dumbledore

fast color (2018)

fighting with my family (2019)

fright night (2011)

galaxy quest (1999)

girls trip (2017)

glass onion: a knives out mystery (2022)

gone girl (2014)

good luck to you, leo grande (2022)

goodbye christopher robin (2017)

gosford park (2001)

gunpowder milkshake (2021)

happy death day (2017)

happy death day 2u (2019)

happy texas (1999)

her smell (2018)

hidden figures (2016)

high school musical (2006)

high school musical 2 (2007)

high school musical 3 (2008)

holes (2003)

honk for jesus. save your soul. (2022)

honor society (2022)

how to talk to girls at parties (2017)

how to train your dragon (2010)

hysteria (2011)

i am not your negro (2017)

i don’t feel at home in this world anymore (2017)

i, tonya (2017)

i wanna dance with somebody (2022)

if beale street could talk (2018)

inception (2010)

infinitely polar bear (2014)

jackie (2016)

jane got a gun (2015)

joyful noise (2012)

judas and the black messiah (2021)

junebug (2005)

jupiter ascending (2015)

jurassic world: dominion (2022)

just mercy (2019)

kajillionaire (2020)

keeping mum (2005)

knife fight (2012)

kubo and the two strings (2016)

laggies (2014)

last christmas (2019)

last holiday (2006)

late night (2019)

legally blonde (2001)

lemonade mouth (2011)

little (2019)

logan lucky (2017)

love guaranteed (2020)

love, simon (2018)

ma rainey’s black bottom (2020)

magic mike (2012)

magic mike xxl (2015)

mansfield park (1999)

marry me (2022)

mars attacks! (1996)

mary queen of scots (2018)

master (2022)

me and earl and the dying girl (2015)

meet the robinsons (2007)

megamind (2010)

men in black international (2019)

mermaids (1990)

miss peregrine’s home for peculiar children (2016)

miss pettigrew lives for a day (2008)

miss sloane (2016)

mixtape (2021)

monkey business (1952)

monuments men (2014)

moonlight (2016)

moonrise kingdom (2012)

moonshot (2022)

mr. magorium’s wonder emporium (2007)

mr. mom (1983)

much ado about nothing (2011)

nancy drew and the hidden staircase (2019)

nanny mcphee (2005)

nanny mcphee returns (2010)

never let me go (2010)

newsies (1992)

no time to die (2021)

nope (2022)

northanger abbey (2007)

not okay (2022)

obvious child (2014)

on the come up (2022)

other people (2016)

pacific rim (2013)

paddington (2014)

paddington 2 (2017)

palm springs (2020)

parasite (2019)

paris is burning (1990)

passing (2021)

penelope (2007)

pete’s dragon (2016)

phoenix rising (2022)

pirate radio (2009)

please stand by (2017)

pride (2014)

pride and prejudice and zombies (2016)

professor marston and the wonder women (2016)

return to oz (1985)

rise of the guardians (2012)

rita moreno: just a girl who decided to go for it (2021)

rocketman (2019)

roll bounce (2005)

rosaline (2022)

saving face (2004)

say anything (1989)

scream (2022)

see how they run (2022)

seeking a friend for the end of the world (2012)

shoplifters (2018)

short term 12 (2013)

sing street (2016)

sleeping with other people (2015)

someone great (2019)

soul (2020)

spiderman: far from home (2019)

spiderman: homecoming (2017)

spiderman: into the spiderverse (2018)

spiderman: no way home (2021)

spin me round (2022)

spotlight (2015)

spring awakening: those you’ve known (2022)

spy kids (2001)

stage fright (2014)

step up (2006)

suicide squad (2016)

teeth (2007)

the 355 (2022)

the anniversary party (2001)

the batman (2022)

the beguiled (2017)

the best exotic marigold hotel (2012)

the breadwinner (2017)

the children act (2017)

the craft: legacy (2020)

the disaster artist (2017)

the divine order (2017)

the emperor’s new groove (2000)

the eyes of tammy faye (2021)

the fall (2006)  

the favourite (2018)

the fight (2020)

the fighting temptations (2003)

the five year engagement (2012)

the gentlemen (2020)

the godfather (1972)

the godfather part 2 (1974)

the godfather part 3 (1990)

the great gatsby (2013)

the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (2018)

the hate u give (2018)

the hunchback of notre dame (1996)

the hunt (2020)

the iron lady (2011)

the legend of tarzan (2016)

the master (2012)

the matrix resurrections (2021)

the notebook (2004)

the old guard (2020)

the outfit (2022) 

the photograph (2020)

the prince of egypt (1998)

the prom (2020)

the queen (2006)

the second best exotic marigold hotel (2016)

the secret garden (2020)

the skeleton twins (2014)

the spy who dumped me (2018)

the suicide squad (2021)

the trial of the chicago 7 (2020)

the truman show (1998)

the unbearable weight of massive talent (2022)

the united states vs. billie holiday (2021)

the velocipastor (2018)

the way he looks (2014)

the woman king (2022)

their finest (2016)

this means war (2012)

tootsie (1982)

treasure planet (2002)

troop zero (2019)

turning red (2022)

two lovers and a bear (2016)

us (2019)

valley girl (2020)

velvet goldmine (1998)

venom (2018)

venom: let there be carnage (2021)

victoria & abdul (2017)

walk the line (2005)

west side story (2021)

wet hot american summer (2001)

what we do in the shadows (2014)

where’d you go, bernadette (2019)

widows (2018)

wild target (2010)

wonder woman 1984 (2020)

yesterday (2019)

young adult (2011)

zombieland: double tap (2019)

[musical-veebs]

So I've been wanting to do a quick list of my favorite songs/artists/albums/whatevers I've posted on here since I hit 100 posts, both as an excuse to revisit some stuff myself and because I occasionally get random new people following this for some reason. That still hasn't happened because I'm still recovering from it being cold and dark all winter, and I'm still off my ADHD meds, but maybe I'll get around to it some day.

In the meantime there's this. A friend shared some interesting stuff that was neat to listen to but made my inner librarian/archivist twitch because there wasn't useful information about the artists or songs or anything. One was just titled pakistani pashto traditional music, which after a little digging seems to actually be a song called Az dil man raftai biron originally written by Zahir Howaida, an Afghan socialist who sang in Persian, not Pashto, and this version is played on the rubab by Homayoun Sakhi, another Afghan musician, not Pakistani. The other was helpfully labeled tambur music (uyghur), and I haven't been able to figure that one out yet because Google Translate recognizes zero words in the video description as translatable (I assume it's been transliterated and was originally written in the Uyghur alphabet), and the comments are mostly in languages I don't speak either...

Anyway, that reminded me that this album exists. Somehow I have a tendency to find all sorts of interesting people who do interesting things, and I met the guy who recorded this while I was in school. I guess he's a Jewish guy who grew up in the US, but his wife is from Niger, and he went over there in some kind of academic context to study and record folk music there. If I remember right (all of this is from memory because the website seems to be dead and the Wayback Machine crashes when it tries to load an old version, so I may have messed up some of the details), these are field recordings of Malam Mamane Barka, who played traditional Nigerian instruments and musical styles and was popular in Niger but almost unknown elsewhere, and this was the first internationally released recording of his music.

I like it, but just as a warning it can get kinda samey and repetitive if you try to listen to the whole thing at once...

[retphienix]

Alright! I’m in the mood to revisit Fallout 3, but a little differently than my old experiences.

Already posted a bit talking about what’s happened but here’s a “first post” sorta thing where I make things clear.

So! Fallout 3 is a very important game to me. Admittedly moreso than it deserves, but important all the same. I still vividly remember drooling over the MegaMart trailer footage before release and checking on it every day until release as if they'd drop a new trailer or release it early without saying anything- I was HYPED. In the real sense- in the "This is the last game I'll play for years" kind of way.

And the game lived up to that hype. Scoff all you like, I played nothing but Fallout 3 for two to three years. Straight. (With some multiplayer games in there but by and large FO3).

When I say I did everything conceivable to do in the 360 version of the game, I mean it. Perfect characters (10/10 100/100 stats). Gimmick characters. Every quest in every way. Attained every item in the game including abusing glitches to get as many as possible at once (sense there are multiple "one or the other" moments in the game). Maneuvered out of bounds glitches to grab items in Operation Anchorage that were not intended to be attainable- hell- glitch pickpocketing items you shouldn't be able to attain COUNTLESS times through both main game and dlcs. Experienced every single random encounter in the game- rerolling for hours to get them all. Hell, using save editing practices on console to use the unobtainable weapons and armor? Did that on a separate save too since my main save was so important to me.

Fallout 3. Been there. Done that.

But I want to do it again, warts and all. But a little differently.

So here we are! PC version! Like 35 or so mods runnin' (mostly adding new content, some obviously optimising stuff or fixing bugs)! Some optional mods in the wings I might toggle on for a separate save to mess with! Since so many of my runs have been post-me-learning-how-to-max/min and had me playing VERY PARTICULARLY so that I get everything for a perfect character- this time we're just kinda throwing things in there. I tossed on a "not perfectly implemented but it works(tm)" two perks per level mod, along with a metric ton of new perks to play with- so we're gonna get OP pretty quickly I imagine and that's okay. Maybe I'll activate some difficulty mods or spend some time editing my save to remove all buffs from these mods before activating FWE (I'm VERY tempted to play FWE from the outset).

We're modding the heck out of things and going for a romp through FO3. One of my favorite games of all times both because of and in spite of the Bethesda touch it carries. I'm happy already :)

I rampaged through the 101 tutorial before really adding any mods, nothing to show, just did it and got the obligatory save right before exiting which has been a great starting point for testing mods that aren't built around skipping that altogether (like I believe FWE has a fast start alternative which might be fun to play with later).

Getting out of the Vault I see a million pop-ups and find out how the 2perksPerLevel mod works (when you level up you level, allocate points, pick a perk, then it says you leveled again [say to level 3 now] but gives you no points and one perk to allocate, then it delevels you- good enough).

Walking out I see that one of the mods adds a starter rifle... I do not know which one added this, but I'm taking it. I denied a lot of optional starter loot (one mod gave me like 30 robot companions to start the game with if I wanted but I declined).

Here we have Vaksten's beginnings. Didn't both spending a year trying to make him look good in the god awful FO3 system, so randomized and then tossed on my signature blast back hair. Also deactivated the sprint mod I had by this point since it didn't REALLY feel like a life improvement to me, as neat as it was. It's blurred edge effect on some of my screenshots was a bother.

Entering Megaton reminded me that I added a couple mods to expand Megaton- exciting! But before I touch ANY of that- I have to do my old "new character" song and dance.

Run to the bomb

Disarm

Store all my stuff in my house

Run to Walter for the leaky pipe quest

Finish in record time

Now I can drop off insane amounts of scrap metal for money and xp

And now the game can begin with a storage location to drop back on.

Think I'll delay doing the Wasteland Survival Guide for a bit. I like getting specific rolls on the perk even if I am already gonna be OP from double perks and the like- it's my fun and I'm doing it my way :)

[theibblog]

How to not un-alive in the exams

- START EARLY

Make sure you know what all your exams entail, what´s on them, what you need to know and go through, that way you understand exactly what is required, and you study the right amount.

Studying gradually over a few weeks before you really sit down and start exam revision will help you remember better, as revisiting the same topics over and over will hopefully reinforce the knowledge you need.

-DON´T PROCRASTINATE

I can´t force you to do your work, but procrastinating is by far the best way to waste important time, that could be spent getting you a good grade. Aim to do as well as you can on the exams, get rid of all distractions; console(´s), games, phone (at least while revising), generally anything unproductive. Just dedicate one or two weeks before the exams, as well as time during the exams, to being productive. You wan´t a high grade right? so put down your phone, and GET WORKING.

-DON´T STRESS

Yes, i may have implied a bit that you should worry and panic and only think about the exams, but you need time to relax too, nobody can keep up a month of constant hard work efficiently. Set periods to relax, they could be ten or twenty minutes of whatever you wan´t every 40 minutes of work, or something like it. And maybe dedicate a whole day to not doing anything, not during the exams of course, but just to relax and steam off a bit. It´s not procrastinating if you planned on doing it, and know you can still do well despite doing it.

-GET SOME SLEEP

Sleep is ESSENTIAL, if you don´t sleep enough you´ll either, not remember what you´re revising, or not do well in the exam in general. You can´t think straight when your tired. Period. 8 hours of sleep or more is all you need, that´s plenty, go to bed at 10, you can still wake up at 6 fresh and fine. or 11:7, or 12:8.

Don´t sleep too much either. If you only need 8 hours, why waste time sleeping from 12 to 12, that´s four hours you flushed down the drain, 8 hours is enough, whether or not that seems like a lot or a little to you does not change that.

Yours sincerely -xxx(thesaucyboy)xxx-

[oliverpdaniel]

Advent of Code 2020: A (very timely and not late at all) Reflection on Days 15-25

...Um. Oops?

Honestly, everything has been happening so much lately, I'm not super frustrated that it's been a clean month between finishing these puzzles and commenting on them. During these weeks, along with finally finishing my first-ever Advent of Code (as did my roommate! Well done, buddy.), I also wrapped up my second semester in quarantine, including a few brutal final projects and exams. After a nail-biting few weeks of awaiting grades, I finally had the confidence to withdraw for the second semester, and to begin hunting for work. (If you're reading this and I'm not hired yet, hire me!)

Anyway, the obvious downside to the sheer magnitude of the delay is that most of these puzzles aren't super fresh in my head, and thus my commentaries may not be as detailed as I would like. Hey - if I ever get such a massive executive-dysfunction-killing buzz as I did over the winter break to finally clean and redecorate my room, maybe I'll revisit these too.

Day 15: Now we're seeing some REAL slowness! The primary data structure for both parts here was the dictionary, mapping "seen" (spoken) numbers to the last turn on which they were spoken. That being said, I don't know what I was thinking in Part 1, with code like this:

Code ``` for k in seen.keys(): seen[k] += 1 ```

As soon as I saw the spicy thirty million in Part 2, I knew my naive solution wouldn't even touch it. [1] I had to do my least favourite thing - off-by-one debugging, but I ultimately came up with a relatively clever insight:

Spoilers Storing not just the last turn on which a number was spoken, but the last *two* numbers (if they exist). Doing this allows for a three-case scenario, for some current number `curr`: 1. `seen[curr]` is empty or doesn't exist. This is the base case of a new number; output 0, as stated in the problem. 2. `seen[curr]` has 1 value. It's only been seen once, so we can calculate the number of turns since it was last seen. 3. `seen[curr]` has 2 values. This number has been seen twice, so we can simply subtract the first- and second-most recent turn numbers to get the gap between them!

This problem took a bit of fiddling, but runs okay. Python really shows its ugly side here, as even a fairly efficient solution like this one, using efficient data structures, takes quite a while on Part 2.

Day 16: Boy oh boy. I spent far too long on this one, and perhaps if there are any to revisit for a future post, it's this one. My solution for this one features no less than:

regex;

closure functions;

constraint satisfaction;

functions that return tuples of variable length; and

walrus operators.

I consider this problem a 'sweat' for future years; I learned a lot about what makes constraint-satisfaction engines tick, and how it's important to assign constraints to the smallest possible element of a search space (here a column, rather than an entire permutation of columns). I think there's a much more concise and semantic way of outlining this problem, that lets the solver do much more of the work than I did.

Day 17: Not much to say here; it's a cellular automaton with extra for loops. I'll share two cute things that I'm proud of:

Spoilers 1. I experimented with various thresholds for the size of the 'infinite' space, making specifically sure not to to index checks, so that I could have the smallest possible subspace to check over. I ended up settling on a value of `20` units in each direction from: 2. the origin I specified, which is simply `LIMIT // 2 - H // 2` (where `H` is just the dimension of the input grid).

My roommate complained that it took him a long time to parse and understand the problem; I'll confess that I barely read it. I guess that's the advantage of experience, in that I saw "Conway" and "space" and knew immediately what needed to be done.

I didn't do anything special for Part 2; it's just my Part 1 code, copied and pasted, with an extra for loop here and a variable there. sum(sum(sum(sum())))s for everyone!

Day 18: I think that, out of all 49 unique problems in this year's Advent of Code, I'm most proud of my solution to this one. It's (relatively) fast; the code is pretty easy to read and works for both parts (and more! [2]); and I came up with a solution before knowing the name for what I had built. (Update: it's a shift-reduce parser. Hooray for stacks!) One especially cute thing, that incidentally ended up defining my approach to a lot of the later problems, was

Spoilers creating a lookup table between a certain input symbol, here math operators, and an internal function, here the builtin `int` math functors. This allowed for a dead-simple evaluator function, for when the top of the stack was ready to be converted from an expression to a workable number. Also, I had the bright idea to recursively evaluate bracketed expressions, in such a way that an expression like `(((1 + 2)))` would quickly reduce down to `1 + 2` before the rest of the parser got to it.

Day 19: Aaaaaaaaargh! Herein begin the Two Days of Terror - the two hardest problems. Lucky I had returned from my partner's by now, as I think they would have been quite upset with how much I was ignoring them to code. After solving Part 1 in the morning I finally finished Part 2 at around 7pm, having forgotten to otherwise eat or attack my household responsibilities, and only after my roommate sat down with me and pair-programmed for a while. This one stung the most, because... I'm a linguist, for crying out loud! No generative grammar problem, especially ones over a finite search space like this, should be causing me such grief.

Day 20: I am still emotionally recovering from this problem. My roommate somehow managed to get both parts to run instantly, using the most cursed CSP setup I've ever seen. I still need to study his code better to understand just how he did it. Also, his usage of scientific Python packages finally shows its rewards, as convolution over a matrix is a friggin' builtin function. Grr.

Day 21: I consider this day an apology for the previous Days of Terror. Some fun, but not terribly difficult, set-fu. My relative inexperience with set theory shows its stripes here; I'm sure there are much more semantically sound ways of accomplishing what I tried to do here (e.g., manually removing an allergen from each ingredient's list of hypotheses once it was confirmed to go with a certain ingredient).

Day 22: Spicy spicy numbers! It would have served me much better to read the instructions before starting, as then I would have known that

Spoilers in Part 2, players don't take their entire deck with them. Since, y'know, that would just cause an infinite race to the bottom.

Day 23: Even spicier numbers! If you're going to be cute like me and establish 9 as a constant, make sure that you don't use it in Part 2 when constructing the initial circle, or you'll wonder why 9,999,990 of the cups aren't attached to anything.

Day 24: I couldn't sleep, so I solved this problem at 3 in the morning. Not going to lie, a little disappointing for a penultimate problem, especially Part 2. Part 1 required at least a modicum of cleverness to develop a meaningful coordinate system, but then Part 2 just felt like a relative rehash of the Conway Cubes problem. 3 cellular automaton problems out of 25 is a little bit much, considering how formulaic they can be.

Day 25: As true evidence of how much I learned over this Advent of Code, I was able to finish Day 25 on the couch without even bothering my partner. Utilizing what I had learned about pow made defining the transform (i.e., repeated multiplication and mod) incredibly easy. Though, I did get a little bit lucky, due to a small oversight in problem setting...

Spoilers Rather than having to generate and test a whole bunch of different pairs of loop sizes for the card and the door, it turns out that if you `zip` together two streams of all such valid loop sizes for the card and door, respectively, the correct size for both (i.e, the solution) appears at the same time; for me, just the second such pair of sizes.

Day 25 Part 2, as always, was a delight and a pleasure. If you've never clicked that final button before, crack open a text editor and start solving challenges until you can. It's deeply satisfying.

I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude to the entire AoC team, setters, testers, and maintainers alike, for all that they do. A daily stream of bite-sized (or, sometimes, sea-monster-sized) challenges is just what I need to keep me going, and my skills sharp, over the dreary holiday season. Especially in a year like this, it was just what I needed to keep me moving, motivated, and thinking about code. I can't wait for next year's challenges and, hopefully, I'll convince the roomies to do it with me again.

Sorry about the little delay, and the relative lack of detail. But, the enemy of perfect is good enough. If you're reading these at some point in the distal future, I hope you've enjoyed watching my journey through these problems, and maybe learned a little bit about what it means to think like a programmer. Thanks for tuning in!

[1]: I tried it anyway; it obviously didn't work. And, once my roommate turned me onto tqdm, I was able to see just how long before the Heat Death of the Universe for it to run. It was about 3 days. Lol.

[2]: The way I constructed the code, it would be extremely easy to add in the remaining integer operations.

[81scorp]

Constructive criticism: 5 MCU movies (and Venom)

Originally posted on Deviantart Sep 21, 2019)

Let`s be honest, MCU is doing better than DCEU. But let`s be honest, the MCU has also stumbled a few times. Just like bad things can have something good in them something good can also be a little flawed. And since I want to be fair and balanced (The REAL version of "fair and balanced" not the FOX news kind.) I thought I`d revisit the MCU and do a little nitpicking. I squeezed all of these MCU movies (and Venom) into one CC because I didn`t have that much to say about them individually. So... if I had a Pym particle powered Time machine that could take me back in time... what would I have changed? SPOILERS for Thor Ragnarok, Spider-Man Homecoming and Captain Marvel Dr Strange

Some of the bathos What is bathos? In a litrerary work bathos is an effect of anticlimax created by a lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculus. MCU has a tendency to put bathos in their movies to understandably lighten the mood but also undercut the drama of the situation. In Dr Stange the biggest offender is this scene: Kaecilius: How long have you been at Kamar-Taj, Mister... Dr Strange: Doctor! Kaecilius: Mr. Doctor? Dr Strange: It's Strange. Kaecilius: Maybe. Who am I to judge? I`m not against comedy (far from it, some of my favourite movies are comedies) but a few seconds before this scene Dr Strange, a medical doctor, had just seen a man get killed right in front of him. It`s too much of a mood shift and quite unnecessary. I`d lose this bit of dialogue. Maybe replace it with something more like Dr Strange: You just killed that man! Kaecilius: I take it this kind of thing is new to you? Maybe you`ll be more cooperative than he was. Just throwing out some ideas. Thor Ragnarok

Thor having the power to see through Heimdall`s eyes When was it established that Thor can see through Heimdall`s eyes when he wants to? Do we need a scene where Thor and Heimdall communicates? After rewatching the movie it turns out that, yes we do. How else was he gonna know which wormhole to take? But it`s better if Thor and Heimdall`s communication is not that easy to achieve. How about this instead: Heimdall seeks the help of the three Norns (like Thor did in my CC of Avengers: AoU). He gets help from Verdandi who creates a mental link between him and Thor, allowing Thor to see what he sees and get the info he needs. The death of Warriors three At first I didn`t like that they killed them off at all. Then I was OK with it but felt that it could have been done in a different way. How about: When Hela first arrives at Asgard she only meets Skurge who is willing to cooperate. Then in the scene where she fights Hogun (and many Asgardians soldiers) she also fights Fandral and Volstagg. They fight valiantly and die Boromir-like deaths. Bruce hitting the bridge before turning into Hulk Let`s say that I can suspend my disbelief enough to buy that Bruce did not break his neck when he hit the bridge trying to trigger his transformation. The movie has enough humor as it is, just let Bruce land behind the wolf in full Hulk-mode. Korg`s "As long as the foundations are still strong" speech The problem with this scene is that it is a funny line directly followed by the reaction of the Asgardians watching their home being destroyed with great sorrow. Lose this speech. It`s not like Korg doesn`t have any funny lines in this movie. Spider-Man Homecoming

Ned and Betty in Highschool This is more of a comicbook purist nitpicking but in the comics Ned Leeds and Betty Brant are reporters working on the Bugle, not kids in Highschool. How about: make Betty some other character from the comics... like Deborah Whitman, and change Ned`s name (maybe to Jake, David, Zach or Todd, just throwing out some names). "Come on Spider-Man" The scene where Peter lifts tons of debris from himself would have worked better without dialogue

MJ`s name Why change her name? They kept Flash`s and Liz`s name. Don`t change her name. Have them call her "Jane" during most of the movie and then reveal in the end that she prefers to be called MJ. Leaving us, the audience to assume that the M must stand for "Mary". Captain Marvel

I´m just a girl fight-scene Using No Doubt`s "I`m just a girl" for a fight scene feels a little on the nose. How about:

A: Use some score made specifically for this scene instead of an already existing song. Or...

B: Use an already existing song but make "Barracuda" by Heart or some similar song."But `Barracuda` wasn`t made in the nineties" you say. Correct. But it`s a cool song. How Fury lost his eye

Really? Fury lost his eye to a flerkin`cat? It just feels a little weak. How about: He doesn`t lose his eye in this movie. Save it for another movie or keep it a mystery. Avengers: Infinity War

Heimdall teleporting Hulk When was it established that Heimdall can teleport people without the aid of the sword and the Bifrost thingy? How about: Thanos uses the space stone to teleport Hulk to earth. He does so to test the stone`s power and to get rid of (what in his eyes is) a nuisance.

Venom

I`m one of the people who thinks that Sony should let the rights revert back to Marvel. (Yes I`ve heard about the Sony-Disney deal so I know that what I`m writing here will be horribly dated as soon as it is published, but then again, that happens to everything that I write. Better late than never.) Venom works better as a supporting character that later gets his own spin off rather than a character that gets his own movie from the start. Where should it come out in the MCU movie order? Maybe after Black Widow but before the Eternals? What should it be called? Maybe... Spider-Man: Monsters? Spider-Man: Enemies? Spider-Man: Something something far from Homecoming? This is different from other CCs because this time I haven`t actually seen the movie.

Plot: It begins with Spider-Man doing what he usually does: catching badguys. He beats and webs a ski mask wearing terrorist who calls himself Sin-Eater who was planning to blow up an important building. Opening credits roll. Petey finds out that there`s a Spider-man imitator in San Fransisco who is very cruel against the criminals they catch. They even kill some of them. Pete goes to investigate and meets the imitator: Venom. Venom was Eddie Brock, a journalist who could have won the Pulitzer prize for a series of phone interviews he made with a dangerous terrorist called Sin-Eater, but then it turned out that the man he interviewed was just a mentally ill man pretending to be Sin-Eater. Eddie was fired, a few days later the great Snap happened. Eddie lost all his friends. Distraught and lost he went to a church for guidance and met the symbiote. He decided to leave N.Y. and return to his birthplace: San Fransisco and, in his own words: "fight crime in a better way than Spidey ever could". Venom and Spidey fight a little then it turns out that Sin-Eater is alive and is back to his old habit of blowing up important buildings. To make things worse: he has help from henchmen and he`s using advanced weapons made by the Tinkerer (or maybe the Leader?) and he`s injected himself with a version of the supersoldier serum. Spidey and Venom have to join forces and beat Sin-Eater. S-E dies in an explosion, Venom disappears, is pressumed dead but no body is found. Fury shows up to tell Spidey that the black goo was someting that S.H.I.E.L.D. had held in custody for a few years. They had found it in a portable metal container onboard a Kree ship. He suspects that an infiltrator must have stolen it shortly after "the big snap". (Maybe the Chameleon? I like the Chameleon.) He wonders if they`ll ever see Venom again.Epilogue: a guy in a hoodie goes into a convenience store to buy... I dunno, a yogurt (we don`t see his face). Another guy comes in to rob the place. The guy in a hoodie turns out to be Eddie who turns into Venom and gives us the "turd in the wind" speech before he kills the robber. Then he pays for his yogurt and leaves.

The End

And thats how I would do it. Feel free to disagree.

[dbooster]

Expectations

For most people in the Western world, and for many people in the Eastern world as well, there is some expectation of a paradise after death, of a heaven. Some people are looking forward to this a lot and some people are enjoying his life but the thought of an eternal paradise is in the back of their mind and makes them smile to think it's coming.

Let's say there is a heaven, and let's say it is a paradise, a place where we no longer have to deal with sickness or death and all our needs are met. And it is forever. What exactly do we expect from this?

Well... to be happy, I think. But what does paradise have that will make us happy?

Time, am I right? All the time to read all the books we always wanted to read but didn't have time for, distracted by work or kids or a tiredness that never allowed us to keep our eyes open longer than two pages in. In heaven, we will have time! All the time! Forever, meaning time no longer really has any meaning, for it will never run out. We will have time to read all the books we ever wanted to. Then reread them. Then re-reread them. Then re-re-reread them.

If those books start to get a little boring, we can move on to other books. We can explore new subjects that we were never interested in on Earth, we can discover new authors, we can learn to enjoy new genres. In fact, we have forever, remember?—we can read (and reread, and re-reread) everything.

Then what? Forever, remember? There are more more books left to read, no more essays published or unpublished, no more blog posts, no more magazine articles. We've read them all. Our favorites we've read so many times we have them completely memorized, word for word.

So what next?

Move on to our favorite movies, I'll bet. We never had enough time to watch even a fraction of the new ones that were released each week, nor did we even have time enough to revisit old favorites as often as we wanted. Well, now we have forever, so we can watch them all. We can watch everything. And rewatch. And rewatch. And rewatch.

What next? By this point I can imagine reading through a book for the millionth time (any book; we've read them all, remember) might get a little boring. Same for watching movies.

Move on to learning a new skill. All of us have some skill or another that we've always admired and always wished we had time to gain some mastery in. Woodworking, or painting, or growing a bonsai tree. Well, now we have time to do that. In fact, we have all the time; we have forever.

I think we can see where this is going. Eventually we will master the skill, we will master it to the point where there is no challenge in even the most complex application of it. It would be like blinking, like snapping our fingers, so easy and so intuitive that it becomes utterly boring.

Move on to another skill. And another. And another. Master them all to the same level. We have forever, remember? Even the least skilled amongst us can master something after doing it for a billion years. A million million. A million million million. Forever.

When faced with forever, all of us will eventually know everything and be able to do everything. Gods? Maybe not the same as the big guy, maybe we can't create life (then again, maybe that is one of the skills we gained by studying it for countless aeons) but we will certainly be something of that level.

And then what? Most of us get bored out of our minds after a few days on vacation and start to long for the challenges of regular life. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest we might start to get bored of the ultimate paradise too. So what then? Do we start to long for normal, regular life with all the challenges therein?

What do gods do when they grow weary of knowing everything?

Do we then cause ourselves to forget it all and be reborn to start the entire adventure again?

[notesfromcenter]

My Last Shoe

I’ve been searching for decades for an elusive shoe, the one that will end my desire for all other shoes. As I eagerly await a new, in-transit prospect, I have an Amazon-Prime-Delivery-moment to reflect on the nature and history of the quest.

I have a pronounced allergy to excess. A visceral objection to material encumbrance. Moreover, a nagging, consumerism-inspired anxiety created in the dissonance between the multiplicity of options and the dearth of satisfactions. I’m afraid my journey has now yielded excess instead of the desired monastic efficiency required to “think about other things.” Not that I am entirely so high-minded. I am aesthetically drawn to the ascetic. My fashion taste being in the ballpark of post-apocalyptic barbarian and Diane-Keaton-joined-a-cult. (An ex once described that ballpark as the “elegant retiree”, this before the advent of menocore.) “That’s a wicked woman”, a friend’s child remarked upon seeing me in an old opera coat of my mother’s with a $2, satin, Chinatown dragon hat.)

This ideal shoe must be practical, serving a range of weather, supporting varied occasions, and functioning in different walking conditions. While all of these pose unique challenge, I’ll wager that the topline to hem relationship presents the make-or-break situation, one with elaborately specific exigencies for each person. It’s a moving target because these shoes must work with a variety of pants, skirts, and dresses.

My memories of the incipient quest take me to grade school, where sneakers sufficed. Not to say that the type of sneaker was not a consideration, but once that decision was made, it was truly the shoe for most of living. The narrow range of situational requirements in that time of life eases the task. I had a pair of pale blue, Converse high tops that lasted through quite a bit of 5th grade. At some point near the end of high school, I moved on to black low top Converse, which I revisited again 15 years later in graduate school. A mistake I’ve now made too many times, alas, those shoes do not have arch support.   

Several years ago in graduate school, I committed to a pair of black, mid-calf, motorcycle boots from J.Crew. (At the time, I also wanted the sweater to end all sweaters and jackets, a tall order. I ended up with a grey, cocoon shaped cardigan, which that same ex with a knack for sartorial nomenclature coined my “Romulan” sweater. I don’t think Romulans actually wore sweaters, but if you take a sidelong approach to imagination, you kind of get the idea.) I still have the boots, several soles later. My dog, Petey, once ate through the buckled straps and I had those repaired, too. On the last trip to the cobbler, a strap was lost and they again face sole repair. So I’ve come to terms with my waning enthusiasm for them. I consider throwing them away, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it. My perspective on their topline to hem relationship has changed over time (or maybe my body has changed), while they have stayed the same. A classic growing-apart.

The rise of the ugly sneaker seems to fit the bill for many, but I’m not there. All I see is “trend” in flashing neon. I imagine commuters changing out of these kinds of sneakers once they get to work, a kind of reverse Mr. Rogers. The comfortable shoes get you where you’re going, but the right pair is waiting for you when you get there. They’re forever relegated as the means in a troubling ends-justify-the-means scenario.

Included in the list of contenders, sitting at the back of my closet: Birkenstock Londons, Dankso’s, Clarks, a pair of dusty-colored monochrome, Maison Martin Margiela high-top sneakers. A leopard bootie from Boden and perhaps surprisingly a pair of Nike slides are clear front runners. I love my LL Bean winter boots, but the shearling makes them prohibitive most times of year. WIth all of these options, I still struggle to find the right pair on any given day.

When my new Doc Martens arrive tomorrow, I know that they won’t have the capacity to end the chronic nature of consumer desire. I’d like to believe that fulfilling my list of impossible requirements was possible. Here’s my new wager: my new boots will help me be the person I want to be by dressing like I already am. If it’s wise to dress for the job you want, “like the boss” as it were, then I’d like to think of my best self as that boss. In my case, since the boss is that ascetic-loving, Inner-Worldly mystic living in the awareness of abundance, she doesn’t think about shoes-- she’s moved on to other things.