#maybe its not considered as good as other books by fans idk

[theclosetedskeleton]

why the fuck do i have to do schoolwork why cant i just be silly aka talk to my qpp and think about chnt & the fictional town of castle rock

[fernsnailz]

February 2024 Review Roundup

well i sure did watch some stuff and read one book this month

the things i finished this month reminded me that for every incredible piece of art i find myself enjoying, i end up watching some Hot Garbage immediately after to balance things out again. idk why i do this.

i have quite a bit to say about both the things i enjoyed and the things that brought me physical pain this month, so there is um. a lot under the cut. any previous desire for brevity i had in january has been completely thrown out the window as i use these roundups as an outlet to gush about things i like and complain about things i didn't. fair warning, if you open the readmore you will be scrolling for a while. enjoy i guess

House of Leaves

does any other book out there have the balls to write a completely fake interview with stephen king

House of Leaves is a novel you gotta throw around a little bit. It feels really weird that my copy is still in the pristine state I bought it in - It seems like it should have water damage and smell like mildew with its pages falling out and spine cracked into pieces. Getting the full story from this book requires flipping back and forth, turning it around, searching for answers. All things considered it’s not that difficult of a read, but its format still allows you to feel like you’re discovering every hidden piece for yourself, and I really liked that interactivity. I was engaged pretty much the whole way through.

I don’t really think I’ll be able to revisit this book anytime soon though. It’s difficult for me to format what else I’d like to say about it because to be honest, it caught me off guard and disturbed me on a fairly personal level. There’s a relief I feel when I remember that I don’t actually know what was going on with the house - maybe that was intentional on the book’s behalf, maybe I just didn’t look hard enough for answers. I don’t know. But the implication that something divine was down there was enough of an answer for me. The book's good. read it if you want a spooooooky time or if you never want to look at a hallway the same way again

Doctor Who (Series 1-4) (rewatch)

ok so this is a fuckload of doctor who to cover so i’m gonna give some thoughts on a few of the characters and my favorite + least favorite episodes

9th doctor: My favorite butch lesbian. Christopher Eccleston truly embodies the concept of The Doctor so, so well: otherworldly guy who knows too much, genuinely cares about life across the universe, and also has a bit of deep, unresolved rage. His moments of joy and careless fun stick with me the most, he absolutely radiates with life and brings so much to this character.

Rose: I first watched Doctor Who when I was in middle school, and I didn’t like Rose that much back then. And guys. I have bad news. I'm still not really much of a Rose fan

I definitely understood her more this watch through - that desire for adventure and some sort of control over her life, emotions so strong that she’s willing to throw near everything away. That’s just what being 19 is like sometimes. I think Rose is a very compelling character who just happens to frustrate me a bit. And that’s kinda the point, her co-dependent relationship with the Doctor is doomed to fail and it's meant to hurt. Ultimately, I think when I first watched the show I was too young to understand Rose, and now I’m just too old to relate to her.

Captain Jack: Jack is my favorite character. I fucking love this guy. Dude has the worst luck in the whole universe and still cannot be stopped. Legendary. Every episode with him is a goddamn delight because he has so much chemistry with every single cast member. No notes 10/10 i love my problematic bisexual king

10th doctor: About four episodes into David Tennant’s run I realized that he dresses like a Hazbin Hotel character and it made me very sad. Still, there’s a reason this guy inspired every middle schooler to buy a pair of converse in 2008. He has style, he has depth, he’s got the sauce. It’s genuinely terrifying to see his anger, I like that a lot of 10’s run is about his denial of godhood and power over life in the universe, something that the rest of the time lords desired. idk i like my sad pathetic little weasel but he's also a huge fucking asshole sometimes which sucks. especially when it's directed at Martha.

Martha: Martha I am so sorry for what this show put you through. Martha was my favorite companion when I first watched the show, and I still have a huge soft spot for her. Her ability to hold her own and navigate foreign worlds using her own intelligence absolutely rules, and her drive forward is unbreakable. But the show seems to put her down at every possible opportunity, most notably with how 10 treats her. Her struggles and wants are constantly ignored, and she's often treated as a rebound from Rose. And I like that she eventually chooses to end it by not traveling with 10 anymore, but it hurts because it feels like she was never given the same chance or care that Rose and Donna were. This era of Doctor Who really doesn’t treat its black companions well because Mickey goes through something similar - both Martha and Mickey are characters designed to be ignored or left behind, and it sucks.

Donna: Donna Noble is one of the greatest fictional characters to ever exist. Despite seemingly living a fairly average life and working a fairly average job, Donna reflects the idea that no one is truly "average" and every single person is brimming with personality, life, and love. I love that her relationship with 10 is purely platonic, personally their friendship feels like it has a lot more depth than either of the romance-oriented relationships 10 had with Rose and Martha. 10 and Donna bounce off of each other so well and it's delightful, Donna brings so much humor and life to every world she's taken to and it's incredible. I wish her and Captain Jack could have interacted more.

My favorite episode: The Runaway Bride is hard to not choose as my favorite. I have a blast every time I watch this episode and it’s such a good introduction for Donna. Also the Tardis car chase kills me, I love when it cuts to the kids in the back of another car clapping and cheering. I was also surprised by the episode Midnight - it’s dreadful to watch and I kinda loved it. So much spirals out of control when shit hits the fan, even though no one has any idea what they’re trying to fight against. Really interesting exploration as to how fear can drive people apart.

My least favorite episode: It’s Love & Monsters. I wish I liked this episode - stories that follow regular ass people living in this world are often some of the best episodes in the series (Weeping Angels and all that). And this episode definitely has some of that. It’s honestly really touching to see this group of nerds get together and enjoy life in the first part of the episode. I think the antagonist of “guy who absorbs people” ends up dragging down any charm this story had because he just. eats all of the interesting characters. But despite me disliking this episode, I honestly have a deep respect for it - it’s fucking crazy. It ends with the main guy telling us about his sex life with his girlfriend who is now stuck in a piece of concrete. Where else are you going to get a story like this. It fucking sucks and that’s hilarious

oh also the production design: GODDDDDD I FUCKING LOVE THE PRODUCTION DESIGN AND SETS ON THIS SHOW. I love how dirty and rundown a lot of the spaceship sets look with wires and lights scattered everywhere. And a number of alien designs also go CRAZY with the prosthetics - I keep thinking about the Hath from The Doctor’s Daughter and how every head prosthetic had liquid inside it that could bubble. Absolutely crazy. I also love the moments where you can clearly see they did not have that much time and just had to throw something together or pain a bald cap green. Jank is the nature of sci-fi production design and I dearly love and miss that Doctor Who jank.

Rebuild of Evangelion

Last year after finishing the original Evangelion series + End of Evangelion, I remember going through the Evangelion tumblr tag and being very confused by the number of slice of life/found family-esque fanworks of the cast. It left me puzzled and thinking “...did we even watch the same thing??”

APPARENTLY NOT

[spoiler warning here because these movies are very good and i give the best parts away. if you want to watch these movies then DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!]

I honestly never expected a world where these characters got a happy ending. I so, so badly wish I could see 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 in theaters - these movies are stunning. I know I say things “go crazy” a lot, but man. They go fucking CRAZY.

While I have a few issues with how the first two movies adapted the original show, I do think the changes they made better serve the story this rebuild is trying to tell. For example, my favorite episode in the original Eva series is episode 18, where Toji is chosen to pilot Unit 03. It’s absolutely terrifying because Shinji doesn’t know who 03’s pilot is, yet he’s forced to be inside Unit 01 as it tears 03 apart. His resolve not to kill anyone despite not even knowing who’s in danger is an aspect of that episode I love and speaks to Shinji's inherent humanity, and when he learns Toji was in there it hurts even more. The rebuild movies change Unit 03’s pilot to Auska, and Shinji knows she’s in there from the start. I think this choice works for the movies and is still an effective emotional beat, but personally I still prefer the version where Shinji had no idea who was in there. That lack of knowledge is infinitely more terrifying to me.

I really like what these movies did with some of the angel designs though. The sixth angel (the fuckin. blue diamond cube thing) works really well in 3D/CG animation. The way the thing warps and moves is otherly and terrifying - and it’s just a fucking cube. I’ve always really loved how the Eva series approaches angel designs and the divine - despite the alien-like designs, there’s often something extremely familiar about them. They’re often reminiscent of an animal, a machine, or a human. This is also how they approached the anti-universe in these movies, I loved how it takes the form of various locations from the series and turns them into a movie set. It’s deeply familiar, but ultimately just an illusion of familiarity like the angels and the divine.

Also I gotta say. I fucking love Mari. I think she’s hilarious. She first meets Shinji by accidentally parachuting into him and then immediately starts crawling on all fours to sniff him. This girl also introduces “Beast Mode” where the Eva pilots can go wild turn their mechs into a fucking. superpowered beast of some sort. And also she defeats a whole army by using the Eiffel Tower as a spear. She’s such an absurd character and I honestly kinda love it. The only thing I knew about these movies before watching them was this gif of her Backing That Shit Up and she truly lives up to the insane nature of this shot.

My favorite section of these movies is definitely the first part of 3.0+1.0 where the pilots are basically just living a domestic life in a small town - it’s truly beautiful. The growth that Rei’s copy goes through here is fantastic, I love stories about seemingly emotionless beings learning how to live. And right after she dies, we get the shot that absolutely broke me the first time I saw it:

This shit. The way you can just barely tell he’s been crying from the red around his eyes. They don't talk about it, they barely linger on it, but it's allowed just enough time to punch you in the gut. I don’t know why this shot got me as hard as it did but goddamn. jesus christ. i want to throw up

There’s some goofy shit in these movies. The infinite synch rate. Misato’s stupidass hat and sunglasses. Some goofy ass 3D animation that doesn’t age super well. The rainbow that shows up every time an angel dies. But these things really didn’t take me out of the core of these films, and there’s so much genuine emotion and beauty in this series that had me absolutely hooked - especially in the last two films. They go crazy. My favorite line is 100% “The only thing a son can do for his father is pat him on the shoulder… or kill him.” and man. ain’t that what Evangelion is all about. i love these movies

High School Musical 3

kinda slaps just a little bit

High School Musical 3 starts with a finale number. The last high school basketball game of Troy Bolton’s life - and it goes kinda hard. The classic pep band brass that’s essential to so many High School Musical numbers returns, and the constant theme of two feuding cheer teams in the background? Genius. This is truly art. I love listening to Now or Never without visuals because in the middle Troy just starts coughing and gagging seemingly out of nowhere

Unfortunately, starting the movie at such a high point means that the rest of the runtime doesn’t quite match up to it. The story lags and meanders quite a bit, but part of me kinda appreciates that - it’s their last semester of high school, which is always a time of confusion and turmoil. However, I do have a pitch for how they could have countered the constant falling action this movie seems to go through:

The Wildcats should have lost their last game at the beginning of the movie.

What if the game is instead the inciting incident that leads Troy and his besties through their tumultuous last semester? Troy is still torn between basketball and theater, but his identity would be even further challenged here - is winning and success all that matters for him, or is it the love of sport and performance that keeps him going? idk whatever this movie came out 16 years ago i can’t be out here writing AUs for it jgnfsgfnjdksg

Some miscellaneous thoughts about this movie that i don’t care about formatting into larger paragraphs:

Ryan and Sharpay’s number (I Want It All) slaps as usual. The part where Ryan shouts “MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!!!!!!!” makes me so happy every time i hear it

The production design and sets go absolutely fucking crazy. I still have no idea how they pulled off the spinning hallway in Scream.

One of the classic staples of HSM is Chad’s shirts. Most of them are fairly silly and like something you would expect to find in the walmart clearance section. However, there’s one shirt he has in this movie that confused the hell out of me. It’s this one:

What the FUCK does Greenster mean. Is it just a combination of Green and Monster?? Why??? What green monster are we talking about here????? Where the fuck did this shirt come from?????????

Avatar The Last Airbender (2024)

There’s really only one word I can think of to describe what this show is like: sauceless. No flavor. No depth. No character. No sauce. This show is honestly so fucking boring and seems to fundamentally misunderstand what the appeal of the original Avatar series is - not necessarily because things are changed or removed from the original, but because nothing of substance is added in return. 

Most of the characters are mere echoes of their original counterparts when compared to their source material. Sokka is reduced to a guy who wants to fight good, Katara’s stubborn and confrontational nature is very rarely utilized, and Aang’s mischievous antics and love of fun is sorely missing. One of the major reasons for the dull interpretations seems to be the directing - While I have faith that most of these actors are trying their best (especially since a number of them are kids/young adults), the direction seems to be incredibly lackluster and takes away nearly every cast member’s stage presence or personality. There’s a number of reaction shots of the main trio that just look like this: 😐😐😐 as if they were just told to “look concerned” at the events unfolding before them. And these issues are apparent in the majority of the performances - for example, General Zhao talks like he’s in a board meeting up until the last episode, and it’s an incredibly flat performance. He talks somewhat monotone in the original series as well, but this live-action take on the character often meanders with his dialogue and lacks that sharp, terrifying quality that I think this character needs. Uncle Iroh also feels incredibly stiff in this adaptation, and it’s a goddamn crime that they took away the cunty little outfit and chains he was originally wearing when he gets captured by earthbenders. wait who said that

Credit where credit is due, there’s a few cast members that seem to be giving their best. It’s clear that Aang’s actor enjoys the role and does pretty well despite the lackluster direction and dialogue he’s given. On top of that, I think Zuko’s actor is honestly the best part of the show. His take on Zuko leans much more into teenage tendencies and sarcasm, which, although it can be silly, is a welcome take of the character in my opinion and pretty fun to watch. There’s this one line he has at the beginning of episode 2 where, in an incredibly whiny tone of voice, he goes “He RAN! The ultimate warrior! He’s a Coward :((((“ and the read is so. fucking funny

The case of bad direction isn’t limited to the performances, however. It’s also stunningly apparent in how everything is shot. Despite being in a widescreen format, most shots are incredibly centered - you could crop the entire runtime into a 4:3 frame and you wouldn’t be cutting out much of anything. I’ve seen some speculation that this was an intentional choice to make things more adaptable or readable for TikTok/phone video, but honestly I think that’s a dumb take. I think the issue stems from a lack of creativity and thoughtless composition. Keeping everything staged in the center can make shots feel disjointed, lacking much depth, or completely empty. It’s a boring way to shoot and indicates that the show lacks any unique vision at all.

Overall, this show doesn't really seem to understand what makes Avatar interesting in the first place. It's more interested in spectacle and action than the characters' relationships, emotions, and mistakes. I try not to compare it too much to the original since it's allowed to take liberties with its adaptation, but very few of its changes add much to the end result or give it a unique voice. It's just sauceless and boring.

Some YouTube videos i liked in February:

💥 My House.WAD - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod (some supplemental House of Leaves material for ya) 💥 Martha Jones Deserved Better (this video explains how Doctor Who did Martha dirty better than i ever could) 💥 bringing JUSTICE to the worst garfield game 💥 Selling Kids for Clout: The Downfall of Family Channels

And that’s my roundup for February! Thank you for reading, I promise there are no more reviews left to scroll through below this goodbye. Nope, nothing else I watched this month. Bye!

…ok is everyone gone. phew, i’m glad no one noticed i pulled an hbomberguy and hid the largest part of this post under a false ending. Anyway holy shit i need to talk about hazbin hotel

Hazbin Hotel

well i didn’t like it

Hazbin Hotel is a weird, fascinating mess of a show. Every episode left me wondering what creative decisions (or lack thereof) led to the sequence of images I just watched. There’s been a lot of discussion of this show recently and I’m not interested in covering every critique I have, but there’s a few things that I'd like to talk about somewhat in-depth.

Hell is real and it's just Red Chicago

The setting of Hell is kinda boring in this show.

Let me try to put this into perspective. Aside from the hotel, here’s a list of the locations we see in Hell:

A boardroom

A video store

Vox’s evil lair (it has cyber sharks which is kinda cool)

Various streets

Another boardroom

A BDSM club

Carmilla’s house (it’s gray and has. balconies?)

A porn studio

A bar

Another bar

A town square (full of cannibals)

None of these locations really take on any sort of otherworldly form besides some vague demonic imagery scattered throughout (and the cannibals. i guess. whatever). In short, Hazbin Hotel’s setting resembles Chicago more than it does Hell.

I can see a world where that’s intentional. Perhaps making Hell resemble a modern city could be used as a thematic tool or point of relatability? But Hazbin doesn’t really do anything like that - since the characters rarely ever interact with their environments, these locations end up seeming like they lack creativity, like they’re just cardboard sets where characters go to swear. They all start to blend together after a while - every street feels the same, every boardroom fades into the background, and every bar feels like a google image search result for the word “club.” This world feels stunningly empty despite the busy designs and colors. Even though the backgrounds are painted and designed fairly well, nothing of substance is ever really added to them through the story.

However, a few musical numbers take effort to break away from these settings. This felt like a weight off of my shoulders whenever it happened, it was nice to see some interesting setpieces and backgrounds that weren’t red. I liked the bombastic and over-the-top broadway lights in Loser and the glowing alternate world in Charlie and Lucifer’s song. But these moments are few and crowded by the dull locations in Hell - or worse, the Hotel itself.

Despite being the namesake of the show, the actual Hazbin Hotel is… lifeless. Which, yeah, it’s a hotel where dead people go in the afterlife, but it’s missing any sort of personality or history besides “it’s old and falling apart.” I expected the hotel to be full of secrets - like maybe some hidden passages or rooms, or mysterious cabinets full of rotted meats, or old valuables hidden under the rugs by the previous owners. Something for the cast to explore and discover, and as they get closer to each other they also start to understand the hotel more. Alastor seems very intent on keeping the physical hotel standing for some reason, but I never really understood why. There’s nothing there. And that nothingness is fully realized when at the end of the show, they just rebuild the entire hotel to be grand and beautiful - an emotional beat that didn’t hit me at all because I never felt like I knew the hotel in the first place. Despite rebuilding it from the ground up, it will feel just as empty.

3 SHOTS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY

I was truly baffled at how some of these scenes are timed and put together. Multiple sequences left me feeling nauseous and dazed - the camera moves like it’s being swung on the end of a rope, and there’s so many misplaced or meaningless cuts scattered through these episodes.

There’s a sequence of three shots in the first episode that I want to dissect. I will fully admit that I'm breaching nitpicking territory here, but the shot composition issues in this show are pretty rampant and my analysis here is just a hyper-specific look at a single part of that larger problem. Hopefully you can also use it as a quick storyboarding lesson too idk

First, we see Adam teasing Charlie.

Then, it cuts straight to this shot:

A few things here. 

Shot 2 is just closer on the characters, which is not a great idea to cut to after the previous waist-up shot. On top of being a jarring jump cut, there is no purpose for this new shot. All the information we see here (Adam laughs, Charlie fake laughs) could have just been conveyed in the previous shot.

Despite the characters being in the same position as the last shot, the background changes. This straight up just feels like an error. I think the idea is supposed to be that the camera is at a different angle, but the position of the characters does not convey that. It looks like reality changes behind them.

And if that’s not enough, this is the shot we get immediately after those two:

In this shot, the residents of the hotel sit on the couch as Vaggie walks into the shot, framing them between her legs. But there’s something… off.

Vaggie either looks like she’s floating or she’s three stories tall. Quick storyboard lesson as to why:

The main problem with this shot is that the perspective of the background doesn’t match up with where Vaggie is placed. The couch is framed as if the camera were above it, but Vaggie is framed like the camera is floor-level below her. I’ve traced the shot and added a perspective grid to hopefully better illustrate this:

Do you see what I mean? If the camera WAS actually on the floor like Vaggie’s position in the shot suggests, the composition would look more like this:

Notice how much closer the floor grid is to the bottom of the frame and how you can see the underside of the couch.

And to be fair, this is probably what the original storyboard for this shot looked like! Personally I think something went wrong in the compositing stage - this might be a couch background from another shot that was reused here to save time, or whoever approved this shot just let the error slide since the shot is so short (i've been there. sometimes you let the jank slide). Most animated shows will have some poorly framed shots and continuity errors because mistakes are bound to happen, but two egregious ones right next to each other like this is. pretty bad. It's so noticeable from a directing perspective.

Here’s the thing: these three shots happen in the span of like 10 seconds. Most viewers probably wouldn’t notice these issues, and that's fine. But even though these errors are quick, they stack upon each other so fast that even if you can’t pinpoint exactly what’s wrong, something still feels wrong. There’s so many other moments where the show breaks extremely basic shot composition, continuity, and staging rules - for example, the second musical number of the show breaks the 180 rule like four times for no good reason. The whole show feels like a dizzy, nauseating mess because the shots rarely feel like they form anything cohesive.

MY ROOMMATE TOLD ME TO GO TO BED SO HERE ARE SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

Here’s a rundown on some other thoughts that I don’t care to format into larger sections:

The show seems to lack much to say about sin and redemption other than “redemption good.” like sure, but what are they being redeemed from? Is heaven truly the place they deserve to go after being redeemed, even though it’s shown to be unjust? Are there sins that are too great to be redeemed from, or others that shouldn't be considered sins at all? I asked myself a number of questions like this, but never got many answers from Hazbin.

This show has a bad relationship with kink and sex. Both are mostly used as a punchline or a form of control. I didn’t like it. Perhaps the reason Hazbin never really comments on the nature of sin is because it needs you to consider sex and kink sinful or otherly for these jokes to hit.

Some of the animation is crazy good. I will praise any animator that even attempts to make these character designs move. A number of extremely talented people worked on this show, a few of the musical sequences in particular have some incredible movement.

Alastor is a very boring character. It’s wild that most of the side characters in this show only exist to talk about how much they like or hate Alastor, he mostly just stands to the side of some shots or kills random nameless goons. I expected him to have a much larger role in the story, but he just gets his ass kicked in the final episode and then crawls back to the hotel.

Episode 4 is the most cohesive, and i think Angel is the best character in the show. Unfortunately, the fact that Hazbin takes so much effort to show Angel’s misery left me… concerned? None of the other characters get treated as poorly as Angel by the narrative. There’s a few smaller explorations of trauma, but nothing remotely compares to what Angel is put through on-screen. This isn’t to say that I think the whole cast needs to be extremely traumatized and constantly miserable, but rather that I find it concerning that the only character subjected to incredibly graphic abuse and torture (that we see or hear about) is the gay sex worker. Which sucks, because I think the concept of hypersexuality resulted from sexual abuse is an important topic worthy of discussing in adult media. I just think they tried to execute this theme without much critical thought beforehand.

I think the voice cast does a fantastic job for the most part. Keith David is way too good for Husk.

I really liked the one shot where Charlie opens her phone and we see that she has a contact for every individual egg minion.

I was very brave and got through this whole review without talking about my new least favorite character of all time, Vox. here’s what I think of him:

The overall vision and end result of Hazbin Hotel is just mediocre. While I don’t know what led to the messy state this show ended up in, my guess is that it was probably the result of inadequate direction, sloppy writing, and lacking creative support from the studios involved. Because of this, please understand that I have no desire or intention to put down any individual artists that worked on this show - I hope it's clear that most of my criticisms are directed at the larger vision these artists were given to execute and/or the lack of creative support they received while working on this show.

I also don’t really have much desire to participate in any further Hazbin discussion or discourse because it has wasted enough of my time already and I want to be free of this curse. please spare my inbox from hazbin hotel discourse. please. i'm begging.

You want to know what the most fucked up thing about this is though? Despite everything I said about Hazbin, Avatar the Last Airbender 2024 is still the worst show I watched this month. I would take Hazbin over Avatar 2024 literally any day.

well if you got this far. thanks for reading. also sorry you read all that. whelp alright back into my hole i go bye bye

[milfjuulpod]

Down The River

request: yes

Can you do one of Melissa protecting fem reader after someone tries to hurt them or something? And then she holds them while they cry?

warnings: uhhh idk scrape/minor yelling?

A/N: carissima=a more “serious” term for my dear.

thank u for sending a request! it means the world, and i hope i did it justice ! much love 🫶 also this gif wow anyone else got butterflies

Somehow between Janine’s persistent pleading and Melissa’s not-so-empty threats, you found yourself at the Twin Tubing River with more of your coworkers than you would have liked. Sure, you got along with everyone well considering it was still your first year teaching at Abbott, but something about Ava’s “tubing era” made you a bit uneasy. Floating down the river with Melissa would be a dream, the two of you finally sealed the deal recently after months of flirting. Despite being head over heels for the red headed woman, the both of you wanted to wait before telling everyone such an intimate detail about the both of your lives, now shared.

So here you are, at a picnic table playing with the rope on your tube, surrounded by such an odd group of people, but you were happy to be there nonetheless. Of course, Janine and Jacob brought way too many snacks for a day in the water, the table overflowing with food. Ava was busy attaching makeshift pillows to her float, getting ready to round everyone up to make their way down. Somehow, your eyes found themselves on Melissa again, taking in every detail of her. The green bathing suit she wore looked so good against her skin, her hair was blowing in the wind so perfectly, as if there was a fan propped right in front of her. Her eyes locked with yours, and you both knew she caught you staring. She gave you the sweetest smile she could, and went back to flipping through her book.

“Alright y’all, buddy up and attach with ropes, I don’t want to have to hire new staff next year,” Ava said to the group, passing out said ropes. Melissa immediately stood up and walked over to you, laying her arm over your shoulder as casually as she could. “I’ll take the kid, make sure she doesn’t drown,” She teased you. Blush made its way to your cheeks, both from your girlfriend and the attention it brought to you from everyone else. Although you and Melissa hadn’t explicitly come out as a couple yet, the two of you had a hard time keeping your hands off each other, and none of your friends are that blind.

One by one, all of you descended into the cold, Melissa and you holding hands under the water, of course. Despite your nerves earlier, you had to admit this was nice. You did love everyone you worked with, and everybody had found their own groove to follow. “What are you thinkin’ about over there?” Melissa asked you quietly. She could always tell when you were deep in thought. “Nothing much,” you answered honestly, “just appreciating where I am, and who I’m with.” If Melissa’s eyes could turn into hearts, they would have in that moment. Each and every day spent together she could feel herself falling deeper and deeper in love.

“You’re too sweet,” She shrugged the compliment off. “Yeah? Sweet enough to get a present when we get home tonight?” You asked, giving her your best begging face you could in that moment. Melissa’s grip around your hand tightened, and even with the sun as bright as it was, you could never miss that dark look in her eyes when her thoughts about you became…less than professional. “Yeah baby, maybe even sweet enough for two,” She smiled at you, and there were the blushed cheeks again.

After about an hour of the river, the gang decided it was time to head back to land and have some lunch. The way back was, to say the least, less than successful. Everybody piled up by the stairs, trying their best to exit their tubes gracefully. A couple was at the exit at the same time as you, a man and a woman. Just your luck, as you were making the exit, so was the man, who was much larger than you. As he swung his tube out of the water, his arm and float shoved into your back, pushing you onto the concrete. Before you could even express the sudden pain in your knee, the clumsy man started yelling. “Why don’t you stay out of people’s way and things like this won’t happen?” He exclaimed. You felt your stomach drop in fear. Not from the man, not from the wound on your knee, but from Melissa.

If there was one thing Melissa would protect more than anything, it was you. “Are you fucking kidding me?” She yelled back, her voice much louder than his. “Maybe if you were actually using your head you would’ve looked around before swingin’ that thing around like a god damn dance ribbon,” Melissa was now out of the water, hair tied up, and she was just a few feet away from a fight. Luckily, Gregory stepped in and took Melissa’s arm, pulling her more towards your direction rather than the idiot who caused the scene. The sight of you still on the ground pulled Melissa back down to earth and she immediately rushed to your side. “Come here baby, let’s go,” She said, not caring about the pet name in front of anyone anymore. She took your arm in hers and started walking you towards the bath house.

You didn’t have to ask her for anything, Melissa jumped right into taking care of you. She turned on the shower and let it warm up before walking you in with her. “Let me rinse it hon, does it still hurt, are you okay?” She asked. Moments before, Melissa was red hot with anger, and now here she was, being oh so gentle towards you. When you didn’t answer, she again knew something was wrong. For whatever reason, you had started crying and couldn’t stop. The scrape from earlier was stinging, the confrontation was overwhelming, not to mention it happening in front of so many people. Your chest heaved as you began softly sobbing in the shower. You reached out for Melissa, desperate for her touch. You wanted to calm down and tell her everything going on in your head, but all you could get out was her name.

“It’s okay carissima,” she whispered, taking you in her arms, letting the hot water hit your back. “You’re okay, I got you, you know that,” she assured you, gently planting kisses on your head as you cried into her chest. The tears didn’t last much longer, with Melissa they never do. She always took care of you, like nobody else did. You were special in her eyes, and she made sure you felt it every day. “Thank you, Mel,” you finally said, tears subsiding. She lifted your head from her shoulder and gave you a kiss, this time on the lips. “You don’t have to thank me, it’s what I’m here for.” Most times your showers with Melissa were much more sensual, but right now, with her gentle caresses and words, all you felt was love. Pure happiness and love.

The door to the bath house opened, shushing you and Melissa immediately. “Hey, it’s just me. You okay?” Ava’s voice sounded from beyond the curtain. “Yeah, I’m alright, thank you though,” you told her, hoping she would take that answer and leave you back to your girlfriend. “Alright, just wanted to check on ya. Oh and Melissa, while you’re in there can you look for my shampoo bottle? I know you have better eyesight than the other one,” Ava said, and walked back out the door. Melissa and you stared at each other wide-eyed. “Well, I guess Ava knows now,” you said. “Yeah,” Melissa said, giving you another gentle kiss, “I guess she does.”

[moonypears-blog]

Hi so I had ✨️thoughts✨️ on a concept for a stf episode/scenario/etc that I remembered tangentially related to your Papa story (so good btw) (also this may end up being long I'm so sorry)

It'd most likely be something geared towards an older audience (like not kindergartners lol, something for the spinoff whenever that happens maybe? Idk what the target audience for it will be considering we dont know anything about it) and framed as either a Father's Day or Halloween episode (I don't think we got any Father's day eps other than the one episode I hate with a burning passion)

Basically, Sofia is going through her things and finds something of Birk's, whether it be some sort of sailing gear or clothing or a gift or an image of them together (idk it could be anything, we know borderline nothing about this man) and she's hit with what I'm going to call the Rose Quartz effect. Missing a parent who you barely/don't know, having unanswered questions that won't/can't be answered, having all these conflicting feelings about this one person and feeling all of them yet none of them at the same time. Losing a parent at such a young age is rough and was just the tip on the iceberg of Sofia growing up far faster than she needed to.

Where am I going with this? Well, because of all of these unanswered questions and difficult emotions, Sofia wants to talk to her deceased father. Ghosts exist canonically in the series, who's to say they can't be summoned? Maybe she gets help from Cedric, or she finds a book on her own, or maybe she even gets help from Lucinda and the witches or that one ghost from the Ghostly Gala episode who's name I can't remember but I definitely had a crush on as a kid.

The main conflict of the episode would probably be all of these internal conflicting desires for Sofia, possibly also Miranda's own feelings about her belated husband (is this how you use belated? Idk lol).

Regardless of how it happens, the episode ends/has its final act with Sofia summoning her father, Birk. He sees how much his little girl has grown up, how brave and kind and smart she is. She gets to see and say goodbye to her father a final time and get proper closure. Maybe throw in a line or two there from Birk on just how grown up Sofia is, almost (definitely) too grown up for a pre-teen/adolescent girl.

The message of the episode would probably be something about grief and the process of it all, how it's okay to be angry that someone you love is gone, how talking about it opens old wounds but helps to heal them. It's bittersweet.

But yeah definitely not something suited for what the original demographic for stf was. Of course important to talk about, but with what I'm talking about it'd probably go over such young heads.

Sorry that this is so long! I had to get all my thoughts out and it got pretty rambley lmao

This is such a good idea for an episode!

I agree that Birk would be disheartened at how grown up Sofia is, obviously he'd know she's grown since she was five, but she's too far ahead, and not in the natural way that some children just emotionally mature quicker than their peers.

I think even though it's been a long time and Sofia doesn't really have anything to miss as she hardly knows life with him, she still really misses Birk, like I said in chapter two of "Papa..." some days she just wants to be by herself and lay in bed grieving him. I wish the show brought it up, especially for the potential children watching who lost one of their parents like Sofia. This would be a really good episode for that reason alone, honestly.

Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if this spin off went a more mature route, considering how a good deal of the fans are teens and adults, and there's going to be people watching who grew up on the show and are now older just out of curiosity. If I remember rightly something similar happened with miraculous ladybug, they started making the episodes more mature after the creators realised the main audience was teens and adults, not their original target audience. I've seen Craig interact with lots of older fans so he definitely knows they're a big audience!

[ceasarslegion]

So FNV is my fav right not a hot take but I am curious about your takes on the other games? Personally I don’t think the Bethesda games deserve as much hate as they get, like Fo76 is fun for the gameplay and the way they designed the environment and 4 is like a fun camp action movie to me in a way I can’t explain. And admittedly haven’t given 3 a full college try, it feels too restrictive in its narrative for me to enjoy even though 4 is similar in its approach, maybe it’s the extra faction options in 4? Idk

The bethesda games dont deserve the hate they get at all, ive noticed that this trend is completely self-serving and often done by people who haven't even played them all the way through.

Fallout 3 was my first fallout game, and it's my favourite fallout game. Saying that is often enough to have at least 3 people jump down my throat about how shitty they think it is both story-wise and mechanically, often while forgetting that fo3 was the first 3D fallout game and was bound to have some amount of the frontrunner curse: it was the one they made all the mistakes on. This doesn't make it a bad game, it makes it the first one. And in my opinion, I love the story of it. I feel that every single fallout game gets compared to FNV retroactively and then folks don't even give any others a try.

Another thing I've noticed is that the fallout fandom tends to be plagued with the fallout equivalent of genwunners, except that the same criticisms they tear down every bethesda game for are even more prevalent in the interplay games. Not "enough" endings, mechanical issues, etc.

And my take that people really didnt and continue to not like me for regarding besthesda is that bethesda has owned fallout for much much longer than anybody else has at this point. They've made the most installments, contributed all of the lore after the base was established in the 90s, and are the reason the franchise still even exists. Bethesda does not "misunderstand" fallout because you cant misunderstand your own book that you're writing yourself. It's their thing at this point whether the fandom likes it or not. FNV was a spinoff, and obsidian were really not these darling saviors to the lore that theyre presented to be, theyre just any other game studio that made a publishing deal with a different one. And the just... CONSTANT barrage of hate and vitriol towards bethesda feels so unnecessary and self-serving at this point. There's no diversity of opinion in the wider fandom because if you do like the bethesda properties you're treated like some intellectual traitor, which is a red flag to me.

In my opinion, the fallout "fandom" on tumblr doesnt even like fallout. Anything that's not FNV gets crickets of engagement and if its bethesda then its treated like some cardinal sin to have anything positive to say about it without a bunch of caveats attached about how bad it is. And don't even get me started on the utter meltdown there was about one frame of the fallout show because they didn't like what ending bethesda just teased FNV to have had. Any other game fandom would be overjoyed at having a professionally produced show at all, but from the moment it was announced to the moment it finally aired it was NOTHING but criticism and negativity, even before it aired. It's no wonder that bethesda doesn't consider this "fandom" worth listening to when they decide in advance that nothing they make will ever be good enough.

Sorry... this turned into a bit of a bitter rant about the reasons why i left the fallout fandom entirely. I grew up on fo3 and i loved fo4 just as much as any other fallout game, and im loving the show so far (im on episode 5). I love the franchise as a whole, which makes it very hard to engage in anything the fandom does anymore. I like FNV just as much, but i find it hard to engage in anymore because of the constant attitude i got from its fans about the ones i like, especially fo3. Which i know is unfair to it, but i just can not mentally decouple it from that vitriol very well anymore, which is a shame.

And i just... i dont want to hear how much everybody hates the things i love in the same place that claims to be superfans of the franchise in the first place.

Again, sorry. This wasn't your question, and I dont mean to sound like im yelling at you specifically, im really not. I think ive just been a little too consistently hurt by the attitude in the fallout "fandom" to be able to talk about it without bringing it up anymore. I legitimately had some of the most negative and toxic fandom experiences of my life in that community, all because my favourite fallout game wasnt the only one deemed acceptable.

[celestial-ringleader]

So I read Rogue and Gambit #1 and I have some thoughts

I haven’t been keeping up with modern X-Men comics since I read (and was subsequently disappointed by) Excalibur and only chose to read select few comics if they seemed good or had characters I was interested in seeing. So far it has not been great trying to find any decent storylines since they’re all bland to me and play into the whole “Krakoa is great” shit with no real depth. With all that being said, when I saw that they were making another volume of Rogue and Gambit but set in Krakoa-era, I had some hope it could be pretty okay.

Until I saw the preview pages.

Usually I don’t like it when fans judge an entire run based on its first book because the plot hasn’t had a chance to really carry on and we as an audience haven’t gotten the chance to see the character development yet, to me to judge an entire run based on its first book is just not a good way to examine media, especially a comic book. However with this first issue of R&G...it’s not a promising look for the series.

Obviously I went into this wanting to read for Remy, and since this is a series where he plays a prominent role (I mean he’s in the title for fucks sake) I wanted to see him actually do stuff instead of just standing in the background for ten pages. And yeah, while he did do stuff in this comic it unfortunately led me to be even more disappointed.

This comic opens up with him drunkenly fighting off members of the Thieves Guild after being ghosted by Rogue because in her words “something came up” and not elaborating much further. After that, his entire purpose in this comic is to be the incompetent husband who gets into antics and everything he says is played off as him being dumb or not understanding; in fact the entire time Destiny was there, she spent any interaction she had with Remy criticizing the fuck out of him and claiming that his suspicions of her are baseless and dumb. And as much as I like Irene, him being suspicious of her just appearing out of nowhere and telling Rogue and him to go seek out Eden because she had a vision makes a lot of sense. He’s always been the type to be skeptical of other people’s intentions and not taking anything at face value. But despite that, not even Rogue thought to maybe...idk...trust her husband’s gut instincts a little bit???

And while this comic is meant to be a lighthearted one focusing on Rogue and Remy’s married life, it has only shown how dysfunctional their relationship is. Apparently after all this time has passed, neither of them had talked about a very basic topic of 1) how to make time for one another and 2) how to respect one another’s time away from each other. And when this is brought up when Rogue says they’re not going to talk about it while Remy’s drunk, Remy proceeds to say “We haven’t had this conversation sober.” which is something serious and very telling about the apparent lack of communication.

Unfortunately this scene is followed by something comedic which just makes it even more alarming. I mean there was an implication that Remy gets into situations like this so often that it’s an “old habit”.

I’m trying to keep an open mind about this comic, for all I know this could all be intentional and then lead to something pretty cool to read, but right now this doesn’t seem like a promising start. Neither of the leads are written particularly well, Rogue is written as being uncaring about Remy and doesn’t try to defend him after being the butt of the joke so often; not just in this book, but in most modern x-books.

This book is not awful but it’s definitely not making my anxiousness about this run any better. I’ll wait on making any hard and fast claims about this comic until like the third or fourth issue, but until then consider me skeptical and a little annoyed. Maybe it’s because I’m just really not a fan of romy, but even this feels like we’re being given crumbs and expected to just eat it up because “something something nostalgia”.

Anyways this got long and I’m tired so hopefully me screaming into the aether at least makes sense kjfbvkdjv

[mistlestripe]

Redtail’s debt (mostly) rewrite concept ideas.

Okay so I skimmed over Redtail’s debt the other day, and GOD I was just never a fan of the writing in that book. Redtail’s character is super generic and like they just chose a random “protagonist” personality for him, the pacing is strange and fucks up the timeline a LOT considering Darkstripe nor Longtail are even IMPLIED to be conceived, and that doesn't even mention the terrible straight-up MISTAKES of Ravenpaw’s behavior and Oakheart’s death. 

Honestly my biggest gripe is his and Tigerclaws dynamic though. Tigerclaw in the first series is implied to be someone that EVERYONE trusts, someone who is noble and that people believe in as a good cat to trust their clan into (considering he became deputy, and clearly had enough of a reputation to become shadowclan’s leader). I don’t like how obviously evil he behaves, and how he seems to have a track-record of being violent and unnecessarily cruel (Acoording to a windclan cat in the book) . And I especially dont like how Redtail is characterized as naïve and is so obviously taken advantage of, and how Redtail grows to become hateful and distrustful of Tigerclaw despite the whole situation of that intending to be super unexpected and shocking. IDK I just think it’d have more depth if there was no “mistrust” involved, because we know how it turns out already, it just becomes boring if the characters themselves predict it.

Though warning i briefly mention spottedleaf’s heart around the beginning. However the contents of that book are never mentioned and only really referenced in regards to timeline issues I have.

It’s RLLY long just a warning. also srry for bad grammar and typos and rambly text.

Though do tell me your opinions! Let me know anything that is weird about my idea or anything that is GOOD about my idea! I’m not an experienced writer at all so I’d appreciate critique! (I do love to just discuss about it)

First off, while I’m not opposed to Willow/Red/Spotted all being siblings, I don’t like him being younger than tigerclaw like that. It’s not THAT big a deal but he’s implied to be super respectable, and it just makes not that much sense that Bluestar would pick a younger warrior over an older warrior. and more POINTEDLY I don’t like Spottedleaf being in that same litter bec that would imply she was super old by TPB T_T.... I’d probably just remove Spottedleaf from Redtail’s debt or just make it so she’s a kit during later in the book, rather than being of same age (they can still have the same parents, maybe it can be noted that Adderfang and Swiftbreeze are old and spottedleaf’s litter is gonna be their last litter (Which I know would mess with the timeline a bit since they retire, but its not that big a change I dont think? Or at least something that cant be fixed with other changes...) Spottedpaw doesnt do much in Redtail’s debt so it’s not so much a problem in here rather than in Spottedleaf’s heart. I could put him in Leopard/Patch’s litter but I’d rather not since I dont like him being older than Bluestar either/or that much older than Tigerclaw.

I do prefer Tigerclaw being younger than Redtail though, Ik it doesnt make much sense in line with bluestars prophecy but whatever we can just pretend like thats changed (as in redtail’s litter randomly being born at some point during then before Tigerstar’s, Tigerclaw’s birth would stay the same in the same time) --- It’d also work with some Willowpelt context I have in mind but I’ll get to that later

I’d basically swap the dynamic, Redtail being an older apprentice-near warrior age at the beginning of the book, and Tigerpaw being a newer, younger apprentice. I’d give him “YS brokenpaw” syndrome (i didnt care for that being brokenpaw’s personality anyways like its not terrible but whatever) and he’s SUPER eager to train and battle and be overly enthusiastic and eager to prove himself to his bitchy mentor thistleclaw and because of that he speaks out and misbehaves a lot.

My main idea is rather than the painfully obvious storytelling in Redtail’s debt where Redtail is naive and Tigerclaw saves him and then Tigerclaw makes him do evil things (which, I do not like that TIGERCLAW is specifically bad. It fucks up the first arc where it was “unexpected” and everyone looked up to him and wanted him to be deputy. like its just so blatant like give us subtlety pls)

Anyways but like instead of that I’d make it so TIGERPAW is the one who first gets into trouble, whereas Redpaw would be the one to save him -- Tigerpaw is shocked and angry he couldn’t save himself but Tigerpaw would tell Redpaw he “owes him one” and is gonna make it up to him one day

Then in another chapter there’d be a timeskip, Redtail becoming a warrior, this chapter would be mostly “fluff” parts (or it would just be giving stuff that leads to the next “action” part) But Tigerpaw reminds Redtail that even if he’s a warrior, that Tigerpaw will still make it up to him and to not forget his promise-- Redtail brushes this off though as he sees it as Tigerpaw just being young and not serious. It could note how old his mother is and how she declined being an elder or something

But after that it would eventually lead into a cat-battle, probably Riverclan related, and there would be some action moment where Redtail worries about his old mother and struggles to find her and assure that she’s safe, Only for Tigerpaw to save him and help him save his mother (Maybe he can also help redtail by helping him carry her if shes wounded or smth idk) And it basically ends up with Redtail being proud of Tigerpaw (Who could become Tigerclaw here actually because I dont think Tigerclaw’s warrior ceremony was ever given much reason other than them two just being warrior-aged, it’d be good for Tigerclaw’s reputation context in the first arc if he actually did more “great” acts) and it basically gets to Tigerclaw being like “I told you I would pay you back one day.” And Redtail being like “Thank you Tigerclaw. Whatever debt there was between us has been repaid honorably. I’m proud to call you my clanmate.” sort of thing blah blah. 

Note: A concept idea I had is that younger-Willowpelt is characterized similarly to Rosetail’s place in BP, being boy-interested and as an apprentice stating how she’d love to have kits some day (like beyond typical degree though), I thought of maybe keeping that old “Tawnyspots is Darkstripes father” concept but the relationship would be like a Nightcloud situation where she simply dated a much younger (though adult), unrelatable Crowfeather because she wanted to have kits--- I imagined it being gossip that Tawnyspots wants to have kits before he dies ((but it wouldn’t go in depth of their relationship, I don’t imagine Tawnyspots was actually in love with her but he wasn’t distant or abusive about it. It’d just be one of those things that are like “oh that makes sense because X” that are mentioned only in passing))-- though since it happened within a timeskip Darkkit’s father could go unnamed. Moving Red/Willow’s birth to before Tigerclaws would make this work more so that Willowpelt at least gets to be a warrior before Tawnyspots dies.

But then another timeskip and Willowpelt gives birth to Darkkit, probably just being the only one of his litter because tragedy is uneeded here, and Swiftbreeze also turns out to be pregnant around the same time (which cats could gossip about how old she is ig bec warrior cats are rude) --- ((Though actually I might make it so she has kits a little later, but not by that much))

This point is a little bit more cloudy in terms of my thought process, but I imagine whether it be a battle, or kit-danger, Tigerclaw saves Willowpelt and Darkkit in another intense *redtail scared for his family* moment, which would lead up to an interaction being like (not literally this is just what im coming up with) Tigerclaw: “I’m just repaying my debt. I’ll never forget how you saved my life Redtail.”  Redtail: “Your debt has been repaid. I promise, Tigerclaw, I’ll pay you back for all the times you’ve helped me, as you’ve done for me. Let’s consider this a debt of my own.”

(So which is what gives the title “Redtails debt” more depth up there ^^^ Also note at this point it wouldn’t be acknowledged but Tigerclaw’s kindness is now more “building up his reputation” rather than him being a nice person. like manipulatively he’s acting super noble)  And Although after this would leave an opening for some more plot (maybe some sort of fallout scene like the original RD had, but rather than it ending with Redtail not trusting him I think I’d make it so Tigerclaw ties it up much better and Redtail still trusts him MAYBE something like there’s a sunningrocks battle and some character dies because Tigerclaw tells him not to give up/end the fight-- though it wouldn't end with Redtail not trusting Tigerclaw or hating him), But even from there it could have the timeskip to the prequel sunningrocks battle, Ravenpaw actually acts like Ravenpaw, I’d prefer to show off more of the younger apprentices then bec thats cute and iconic, and Redtail as a “death flag” moment where he reminds Tigerclaw that he’ll pay him back and never forget his debt. Redtail DOESNT kill oakheart, and as Tigerclaw kills him the last words Redtail hears from Tigerclaw is “Consider your debt repaid.”

[khiphop-discussions]

I also feel like without AOMG artists like Simon Dominic, Gray, Loco etc. wouldn’t be as popular and mainstream as they are now. In the case of Simon Dominic I would say it’s in relation to career longevity and sustainability.

Whether we like it or not I feel like in a way their careers and popularity are kind of built off Jay Park in a way? I do wonder what their careers would look like if AOMG and Jay Park never came into the picture.

This ended up being way longer than expected but thanks for sending this because it made me think a lot LOL Yes, I agree with your longevity and sustainability point, too!

I feel like everybody in AOMG has had their career benefit heavily off of each other. That's not a bad thing though. I think its a good strategy to use. I think AOMG works so well specifically because of how well they've been able to work together. They have done lots of features with each other, lots of producing for one another, lots of shows together (variety + youtube), etc. A bigger label doesn't really need to have the artists helping each other that much, they can all kinda be self contained if they choose to. I think as a smaller label AOMG have all put a lot of work into making sure each other stays successful. I think a lot of fans like AOMG's "crew" type vibe. I feel like the point of a crew is to work together with the common goal of every member being successful and playing a part (same as DPR for example). So AOMG has that crew type vibe which I consider to be a part of their brand. As soon as a new artist enters the label it's like they are immediately collabing wither the others. Also multiple members have had a hand in getting people to join AOMG.

As far as career trajectories:

Jay was HUGE for Loco. I definitely think his career would have been almost, if not completely, destroyed by that other label he signed to after he won SMTM1. Luckily Jay/AOMG was able to afford to pay to get him out of the contract (I'm not sure if it was Jay with his personal money or if it was a thing with AOMG funds specifically. Maybe a bit of both. I think AOMG but IDK for sure).

As for Gray, I feel like he'd be behind the scenes. Kinda like multiple rappers and producers from his era. I think he'd be writing/producing for kpop groups and rappers. I think we might not know him by name or face but we'd know his songs.

The DJs would (Pumpkin, Hep, Ugly Duck) would probably do well in the club scene. But I don't think international fans would know much about them unless they visited Korea. Ugly Duck is a rapper as well but I feel like in the last few years he's been promoting more as a DJ at the clubs. I think sometimes he would even have two bookings at different clubs on the same night so clearly he's doing well in that sector. But I still feel Jay's influence is important for the amount of bookings they have or had throughout their career.

Cha Cha would probably be in the US still. I think a major label would want to work with him as a producer/writer. I think he'd have the potential to be really successful still. But again, we probably wouldn't know his face. I feel like Cha Cha is more of the independent type though so I think AOMG/H1gher is really good for him. I don't see him as the type who'd want to go through the hoops and red tape of working with major labels in the US. I don't know how his career in Korea goes without Jay. He probably doesn't go to Korea at all. If he does, he'd probably have just said "fuck it" and headed back to the states since he has vented about experiencing racism in the Korean music industry before.

Jay. I think he'd still be around. I'm just not sure how big he'd be. I don't see him signing with another major label in Korea because of the restriction. He's definitely the type to want his freedom and also his own stuff. I don't get the vibe he's ok with being controlled. Maybe he'd still have AOMG but it'd be a more lowkey label compared to the stature it has now. Maybe still ~top 5-10 in Khiphop but not #1 like it is now. Oh, or he could've ended up in Illionaire instead of getting rejected which basically means AOMG wouldn't exist now. (There's got a be an alternate universe out there somewhere Jay + Beenzino joined Illionaire. Or perhaps, Jay instead of Beenzino. that's interesting to think about but this post is already long enough just speculating about alternate universe that only has no AOMG lol. So I won't even get into what could happen in that scenario.)

I already said my thoughts on Simon.

I'm just gonna stick to the OGs. I feel like the newer people's careers weren't built as heavily around AOMG/Jay.

[bumblebirds-menagerie]

The Books I Read Last Year

and what i thought of them (not in chronological order because i forgot, quite long)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954) --- I got this from a street library not really thinking I’d love it but I WAS WRONG because for quite a bit of this year it was my favourite book. I found it quite easy to read so I went through it pretty quickly, and I enjoyed seeing how the characters changed throughout.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (1991) --- I really enjoyed this book but I’m hesitant to recommend it because of how many potentially triggering things there are in it. There’s a lot of violence and sickening stuff in it that I don’t want to list, but be aware that’s it’s pretty heavy content. Aside from that, AP is one of my favourite kinds of books: bad people in first person. When it’s being narrated by the ‘villain’ it’s just so interesting. And I loved the narration; it was so matter-of-fact even when he ate a jellyfish. Watch out for long lists of designer brands and chapters devoted to music.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) --- I feel like almost everyone has at least heard of this book, and for good reason: it was fantastic. I would encourage everyone to read it because the writing is beautiful. And you can see the situation from both Frankenstein’s and the monster’s point of view, so you wonder what you would do if you were Frankenstein.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955) --- You know that orangey light you get at 4 pm in summer? That’s how Lolita felt to me (idk why). Anyway, it was a really creepy book due to its being from the perspective of a pedophile and there were parts where the narrator was saying stuff you’d find in a romance book, but it was about a child and it was so yuck to read. Overall, not bad but I’m not in a hurry to read it again.

Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) --- Dracula was written very differently from how I expected. I thought it would be in third (or maybe first) person, take place all in Transylvania, and only really have Harker and Dracula in it. But instead, it was written as diary entries and newspaper clippings from lots of different characters, and took place in a number of locations, which I actually really liked. And I loved the ‘vamipre hunting gang’ dynamic between the characters, it made the story really enjoyable. Also, Mina Harker is one of my favourite characters in literature, what a queen.

The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak (2005) --- I read this for school and I wasn’t expecting to like it that much considering I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction, but I was pleasantly surprised. I got into it outside of class and I read it when I could have read other books in my spare time. Death’s narration was great and the story was quite funny at times, but do be warned it’s a sad book.

Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf (1928) --- One of my two favourite books ever! I think everyone should read Orlando at least once, I keep reccommending it anyone who hasn’t read it yet. The descriptions of everything from emotions to scenery are so beautiful I wanted to paint them (especially the oak tree and the great frost). Woolf explores a lot of topics in Orlando, most importantly gender, and I liked how she put important ideas in without making the book harsh and grating to read. It just felt comforting to open it up at school and enjoy it with lunch <3

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1856) --- M.B. is a bit different from some of my other reads. It’s about the titular character being unsatisfied with her life and seeking ways to indulge in what she would like. For example, if you are unhappy in your marriage, M.B’s solution would be to have an affair with a rich man you met at your husbands medical practice! I have to say I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of the others, but I think it’s just not my favourite kind of book.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne (1864) --- When I was younger I read a simplified version from Great Illustrated Classics so I was really interested to see if there were any differences. I read it in 3 days which, for a 300 page book, is really quick for me. It was great to read a book I used to love in its proper form, and it’s a book I think everyone should read.

The Shiralee by D’Arcy Niland (1955) --- An Australian book! After reading lots of European books it was refreshing to read one set in places I’m familiar with. ‘Shiralee’ means a burden, and for the main character (a bushman called Macauley) his daughter Buster is his shiralee as he travels around New South Wales. The story is funny at times, sad at times, and overall heartwarming, and I’d reccommend it for anyone wanting something a bit different and so on (please someone get the reference).

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937) --- Pretty sure lots of people have read it for school. I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t love it; I’m not such a huge fan of these old American stories. The worst part was 100% when they killed the dog.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962) --- My other favourite book ever! I can’t really put a finger on why I liked it so much - maybe the slang-riddled writing, maybe the ‘bad people in first person’ thing, maybe the questions it asked - but this story gripped me from start to finish. I did enjoy the challenge of deciphering the nadsat slang (with the help of sparknotes), and I found it made the writing very personal, as if I was seeing into the mind of Alex. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a book to make them think, but be aware that it contains violence and rape. 

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (1971) --- I really hoped it wouldn’t be too scary and thankfully it wasn’t. Obviously it is a horror novel but it wasn’t the kind of horror that keeps you up paranoid at night (at least not for me). And for a good bit of the book the focus is not directly on the possession of Regan but on the priest and excorcist, Karras, which was something I wasn’t expecting. The actual exorcism came quite late, which wasn’t a bad thing. Also I hadn’t heard of Kinderman before reading it and god was I annoyed every time he appeared on the page.

Highway to Nowhere by Richard Shears (1996) --- The only non fiction book I read in my spare time. It’s a true crime book about a series of murders that occurred on the east coast of Australia during the late 80s and early 90s called the backpacker murders. I hadn’t considered backpacking before but after reading this I can say with certainty that I will never do it. It was really interesting to learn about the police’s process in gathering evidence and how court proceedings work, which was something I enjoyed about this book. Piece of advice: if your copy has picture pages, don’t look at them until you’ve finished the book because they reveal who the killer is before the text gets there (thankfully I already knew who it was as most people have at least heard of this case in Aus)

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915) --- It was a short book, but it delivered its messgae effectively in that space, which was good. You know that ‘would you still love me if I was a worm’ thing? The Metamorphosis is kind of like that: ‘would you still love me if I was a giant bug with the mind of a human?’

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) --- If you like the roaring 20s and books about rich people having affairs, then you will like TGG. However, I don’t like either of these things, so I really did not like it and only read it for school. I just found every character annoying and most of the book was quite boring.

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (1932) --- Ending with a good one! I was mainly inspired to pick up Cold Comfort Farm because of the illustration of the cover, featuring a summary of the residents of Cold Comfort. It’s a book that mocks ‘farm life’ novels, but if, like me, you have not read any before, it is still a very funny book. Something I loved about it was that I never went ‘ugh’ when a character appeared (except Mybug) because even though a lot of them were miserable people in the beginning, they were fun to read about. If I had to pick a favourite character I would probably say Adam or Elfine.

<3

[giuliano-fan-account]

4 am Giuliano  juliano hxh Post izugiuli

Help I just read chapter 400 and unofficial translation ofc  but Guys its GIULIANO (wham smack pow dies) 

Some Mild spoiler up ahead + pprobably long Post LOL!  help Idk why my stomach hurts im probably hungry 

he looks alive and well and actually well he may have More Time before all hell breaks loose in room 1006. Because as much as I want to believe and kind of hope for there beginning to be a positive outcome I am Doubting it

Izunavi seems to actually be considering some things giuliano said about the book of Tyson or Taithon and yay now were getting more exposition for Tyson as well

Hes Got a good idea for a less... bloody outcome of the war and you can conclude from that hes beginning to hear Tyson out from his tohughts on it but Izu Do you even know the extent of the beast?? No!!! Nobody does PLEASE WAIT 

And also im just thinking shouldnt Giuli and Izu be teaching the other people nen because none of them went to kurapikas class . What will Tyson do with Nen 

Tyson reminds me of Akhenaten and I think she’s the reason why I was so entranced by Our book “Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth” or wtv in english last year.

If you dont know, He was a Pharaoh who had been so odd and shunned by everyone and pushed his beliefs of monotheism but he was Very very peaceful and forgiving and insisted that the power of love would prevail. He would say these exact words (in the second speech bubble):

I cant make this up!!!!!

Idk how historically accurate that book was, but gosh I loved comparing Akhenaten to Tyson so much in that book. 

Also like. unrelated but At least in this unofficial translation whats up with tysons pronounce Like I think what this now implies is that Tysons siblings use He and everybody else uses she bc of 1 time where Tserriednich used He and also this guy

Yea idek Im #siked to get more focus from room 1006 for ovbious reasons

Im glad to see that giuli retains his personality even though his brain chemistry has been altered slightly to be more Tyson oriented. But god I am still kind of convinced he’s doomed bc of whatever the hail that “taboo” is.

I think that the taboo is like actively harming the other princes in any way and the way that the room 1006 plot seems to be heading Giuliano and Izunavi since they are hunter bodyguards and are more knowledgeable about Nen and its huge significance in the war and stuff could maybe plot something against other Princes...

Uh oh! So since Giuliano has read the book over and over again probably he will definitely get the worst of whatever consequences there are in store for him, and also Izu is p much protected since as far as we know he hasn't even read past “Chapter One: Love Will Always Prevail” 

Oh boy wel whatever...... 

Giuliano New chapter now 

They are roleplaying and he accidentally breaks the immersion. 

I cant believe that they just straight up used the term “Roleplay” hes just like me fr but anyways Tyson shoves him into the rp like a little doorstop and he steals somebodys role

He Looks so FREAKING CUTE IM CYRING H uerrer  jjj 

So Yea I just wanted to talk about Giuliano on Giuliano Fan Account :thumbs_up:

Here is my art. That I have recently mae of Giuliano Also He officially now appears in 11 pages so I changed the name ahahaha....

I like these characters ,ther scrunkly and  you are too. or are you mippy. uuhh Well I dont know its almost 5 am now heart emoji I should go ok bye 

[dovelydraws]

Hi, a different anon (I'll explain why in a moment)

First of all, I wanted to say that your post about the internet being lonely really resonated with me. I'm gonna out myself as a Tumblr veteran here but I remember how Tumblr used to be and it was very different. People would follow other blogs instantly if they saw someone posted or reblogged stuff they liked. Ask games would be going on frequently, people would send messages a lot, or even follow back because idk, I guess it was fun to get to know people?

I came back to Tumblr after a long hiatus and deleting my old blog. Things have changed... A lot. I am on anon because I'm relatively active in a couple fandoms and idk paranoid people read this... But I feel like a lot of previously very welcoming communities have become (pardon my French) circle jerks for the same 5 people who don't care about maintaining a community or welcoming new people into it.

I realise I sounded super bitter here and I don't want you to feel like I'm dumping negative thoughts on you. Your art is awesome, I followed you because you posted stuff about a Pf2e game and stayed for cool stuff. Thanks for speaking up about how things are. I'll definitely be more mindful about interacting with artists and trying to do it more. Have a lovely day :)

I get that, yeah. I've been on tumblr pretty consistently since like... 2013 I wanna say? Because it's been the only social media site I've actually felt comfortable and happy being a part of for all these years. Before I came here I was a deviantart kid, and I remember the reason I made the switch is because a lot of my old deviantart friends had moved here and the site had started to feel very lonely and sterile in its interactions with fellow artists and fans. I'm definitely seeing a lot of similarities in this new feeling of loss of community here, but now there's not really all that many good alternatives. I've always hated instagram, and twitter was never good for my mental health even before musk took over. I've considered uploading some of my work to tiktok, but that also seems like kind of a nightmare, lmao.

I'm happy to hear you discovered me from my pf2e game!!! This campaign has become my hyperfixation for the good part of the last year and a half, I haven't found any other show or series that's been able to hook me out of it. It's kinda difficult being hyperfixated on your own characters, since all "fanwork" has to be made by yourself, lol. This party has meant so much to me, and I've really wanted to share that with other people.

I haven't really had the chance to talk about my "Out of Bounds" project too, though I have uploaded those 4 main character sheets. I've been busy writing the book 1 scripts, albeit slowly, since my full time job has been keeping me pretty mentally drained. I really hope that project will be able to find an audience too once I'm able to get it off the ground!

I'm glad my rambling has maybe inspired some people to be more interactive with the artists they enjoy, lol. I hope you have a lovely day as well!

[sportsnet]

get to know me (tyler if you didn't know)

thanks @nicohischier for the tag...i guess...

do you make your bed

Like. when i clean my room yeah but i do that maybe once every few weeks so i guess no i do not make my bed. reason? lazy and also why im going to get right back into it the moment im home favourite number?

7 just like every other person bc im boring apparently but also its bc when i was a kid i needed to make a password for a device and my mom told me to do 7 bc her bday is on the 7th so my password was 7777 for YEARS (it is not anymore) and it just stuck what’s your job?

graduating hs in approx...6 days apparently so ig student(which isnt a job but shhh) but only for 6 more days but THEN once august hits im going to be a student once again (college...yay) if you could go back to school, would you?

this really wasnt meant for graduating hs students was it. can you parallel park?

i cant drive :( do you think aliens are real?

yes. and unlike rayleene it IS because i believe that there's a whole civilized society hanging out a few billion light years away. mostly bc i just think that the universe is so big (to put it lightly) that i just refuse to believe that there aren't other sentient lifeforms out there. plus the world is so big and scary and if we are the only ones out in that world then it gives the existence of humans more meaning than i think we need/deserve and then i start freaking out

can you drive a manual car?

still cant drive :( guilty pleasure?

honestly probably fanfiction at this point. multiple times ive considered the idea of seriously stopping consuming it bc i just feel that it takes up so much of my time. time that i could be using to do other stuff that are actually useful to me like sometimes people ask me if i have hobbies and i find that the answer is no? because i spend so much time reading fanfiction so in a way ig it IS my hobby because reading is a hobby its just that people usually mean books but unfortunately telling people my hobby is reading fanfiction violates the social norms of our society so i end up feeling guilty about it tattoos?

dont have any (underage. not that its stopped multiple of my friends lmao) and honestly dont plan on getting any for multiple reasons 1. on a surface level its bc im very very scared of needles 2. on a deeper level its bc im pretty scared of commitment and making irreversible choices and i dont think i genuinely have anything meaningful in my life that i would want to get put on my skin if i want to showcase my interest and love for something id rather just get a poster for it idk favourite colour? purple!! not bc of bts (preview for my answer to the next question) but bc i just think its neat :] favourite type of music? im a kpop fan i will admit ;-; but also i do listen to a lot of pop, rap, and hiphop in general do you like puzzles?

lowkey no bc i get really frustrated if it takes me too long to do something any phobias?

needles and blood. like one time (a few months ago) my school held a blood drive and i decided to do it bc if i did id get a cord for my graduation and also my friend was doing it. when i went i was a little anxious but it wasnt horrible. however, by the time they started checking my iron i was a little more stressed and by the time they finished checking my iron (which involved pricking my finger and getting my blood which i watched and this was my mistake) and told me i was good to go to the donation area i was feeling very anxious and stressed and this is all a long winded backstory to me saying that i fainted the moment i stood up after getting my iron checked before i could even start donating blood

fun fact: still ended up getting the cord because apparently i "tried" favourite childhood sport? i guess at some point i loved tennis as a kid since i begged my mom to play it as a kid. this didnt turn out well as i ended up hating it after a few years but was forced to continue by my mom to the point that i would get like stress stomach aches bc of how much i didnt want to do it and when i was finally allowed to stop i ended up hating tennis so much that to this day i refuse to watch it do you talk to yourself?

only in my sleep apparently lol tea or coffee? iced coffee >>>>> first thing you wanted to be when growing up?

when i was in middle school they asked my health class this question and my response was "something that would let me stay at home and do what i want with my time." obviously my 11 year old classmates took this as a sign that i wanted to be a stay at home parent (do not want kids but thats another story) and started teasing me for it however, now as im older i still think baby tyler was so fucking valid and lowkey i think a lot of those once upon a time 11 year olds would also agree with me now what movies do you adore?

How to train your dragon and Ferris Bueller's Day Off are two that i think of right away

[jacksmind99]

August 12, 2023 - Books

Oops. I missed several days. My bad. Lets gloss over that, and instead focus on the topic of the day: Books. More specifically the books I had delivered today. Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby. I did not read much in school, only reading those I was forced to for an assignment. Of those books, these two were the books I recall liking. But that was years ago. So I reordered them to give both another try, see if they still hold up.

I have read the first 60 pages of Catcher in they Rye today and hope to keep pace. It I succeed I will finish the book in a week. So far, its alright. But its just the beginning, it hasn't reached the good stuff yet so I can't give my report on it. Back when reading it in school, most of my classmates didn't like the book. Or Holden. I did and couldn't comprehend why they didn't. It hurt, in a way. I saw myself in Holden. I related to his struggle. Loneliness. If I don't talk like Holden enough already, I have no doubt I'll pick up on his mannerisms on here soon.

The other book I got was The Great Gatsby. I'll read it next. I remember watching the Dicaprio movie in 10th grade American lit. I truly enjoyed the movie. And the book. I didn't talk much in crowds, but that book brought it out of me. Made me want to discuss it. I don't recall what exactly I said. I am hoping to bring that back by rereading the classic.

Now, there is a common theme here, right? In these two books. A lonely guy looking for comfort. Maybe that's why awkward teen me liked them so much. It's partly what inspired me to buy them. I got the itch one random morning a few days ago and did what every young person does nowadays: looked it up on Tik Tok.

The Great Gatsby was mostly just fan cams of the movie and some dissuasion of classic American literature. More boring. The Catcher int he Rye, however, had controversy. That was some fun scrolling. There are two main sides to it: the side thinking the book is about a lonely teen guy going through an mental health crisis and the side that thinks Holden is some sort of incel/male manipulator type. The normal guy side made and makes a lot more sense to me. Considering the general plot and time it was written, those arguments make more sense to me. At the same time, that's not a fair comparison, as the incel guy side doesn't make arguments. They just say its bad then move on. No real deference or care. Idk. That's just what my Tik Tok search showed me. Maybe it knows me to well. But I read comments and there wasn't much there. It did clearly give me a bias though. We'll see if it holds upon reading.

Heres the entire book being read on Spotify: Catcher in the Rye

Here's a song I think Holden would like: All I've Built - Holden Miller

[slowpoke272]

“pet sematary” by stephen king

finished: february 2, 2023

okay, so i have a lot of thoughts about this book. this is my fourth stephen king read, following: - "IT" read in 2019 (hardcover) - "'salem's lot" read in 2020 (paperback) - "the stand" read in 2022 (audiobook)

(why did i put those details, i'm not sure, but they're there now.) i was pretty excited getting into this one because of what i had heard, but it was a nice balance of me being familiar with the premise without knowing much of the story or what happens. this worked to its advantage and disadvantage, as i think even seeing a trailer for a movie adaptation changes what you know about a story and helps frame it. this has also made me really consider whether i want to watch any stephen king adaptations in the future, knowing the book is always going to be so different, and in most cases, much better and more thought-out. the irony here is that i never would have gotten into reading stephen king until i saw "IT (chapter 1)" in 2017, and initially when i first saw the trailer for that movie, i immediately said out loud "nope, nope, i don't want to see that, i never want to see that, how could anyone choose to go see that." how things change! thankfully. actually, after reading "the stand" and watching the trailer for the recent 2020 adaptation, while i thought the casting was pretty good (although nadine is so wrong to me and unacceptable tbh) i could see so many differences already and i further read what the changes were and decided it wasn't an adaptation of the story i needed to see. that's probably the best way to frame it; just a different adaptation of the same story. like a reboot of a television show, a revival of a broadway play, or a remix of a song, it will never be the original piece its derived from. comparison is unhelpful and we should just take each story as a different take on a similar universe, but there are some adaptations not worth seeing. in my case, i feel like i've seen enough stephen king stories on the big screen already that i don't need to seek any out until after i consume the original story. "the shining," "shawshank redemption," and "the green mile" are movies i grew up watching.

with that in mind, when pet sematary (2019) came out, i was intrigued and wanted to see the film. from the trailer, i gathered that death of animals was a prominent theme, and that made me nervous about whether i was able to handle it. they cast john lithgow as jud though, and that seems perfect. that seems to be a recurring theme in movie/tv adaptations, maybe the story isn't as solid as the original but it's cool to see actors take on the role and fit it so well. so if you think of pet sematary (2019) as john lithgow's monologuing of the character with all the other millions spent just to make it decorated nicely... well, maybe it's worth it then, heh.

this is all context leading me to explain that this is my fourth king novel, seeing the movie trailer exposed me to some of the story, i loved the story and the thrill of it, but... the ending was weird. and i don't mean weird in a "horror" kind of weird, obviously it was leading us to this place and so in that way it landed where i thought it would, but idk. i guess i need more time to process it? this was a short novel and i loved how the pacing felt so quick but we really felt like we got the depth of each character and how they handle death. by now i'm starting to see the stephen king pattern, or really any author or story pattern really, of introducing characters, getting deep in their psyche and desires while a mysterious scary thing is surfacing, the thing gets closer, the characters grapple with it head on, shit hits the fan, and then.... i guess what i'm learning is the resolution may vary based on each story. i feel like "IT" and "the stand" were given such fledged out resolutions, regardless of what happens you can pretty much guess where the characters go after. "'salem's lot" was more like "pet sematary," sometimes the shit hitting the fan IS the resolution? sometimes there is no resolution? obviously i'm fine with no happy ending, obviously i wouldn't take on reading stephen king if that weren't the case... idk, i just can't pinpoint what it is about the ending of "pet sematary" that left me... empty. not in a good way. but maybe that's how this novel is meant to be taken.

i did really enjoy and appreciate king's forward, or his warning rather, that this story he felt he took too far. i totally understand what he means, there are certain lines even in horror movies we don't cross, but it was tactfully done. having said all that, despite my love for john lithgow and believing that he would make the perfect jud, i don't have any specific need to see the 2019 adaptation of the movie, or even the older adaptation. i feel like the book is worth revisiting for the first 3/4 but that last part... i got through it and i don't feel the need to do that ride again. and that's a first for me for any stephen king story.

from here i'm gonna get into some spoilers and details, so i'm placing that behind a cut. and if you think it took me a long time just to confess that i wasn't wild about the ending of the book, wait until you see how long it takes me to talk about the things i did love, because i loved a lot about this book! hehe

oh, where to start. i guess i'll start with the characters. they are great. louis is immediately established as a trusted narrator (even though it's third person, it's clear from the start that louis is our main guy and who we will be experiencing the bulk of the story through) and i loved that he was a doctor. he believed in science and his brain was logical. i also fully believed his number one devotion in life was to his children and protecting them at all costs, which ends up being the ultimate horror as we get into the bad side of not being able to accept your child's death. rachel, sweet rachel was wonderful. i loved the arc about her sister zelda and her trauma regarding that, and the after effects it still had on rachel and her parents. i wanted to reach through the book and hug rachel, listen to her, help her, make cookies with her and ellie. i think one of my favorite things about the book was rachel's resistance to death and how it led her ultimately to chasing it down as she tried to save her husband. i think there's a lot of rachels in our society and i don't blame her for wanting to protect ellie's innocence when she (rachel) herself suffered so much from death at an early age. but let's face it, zelda's loss wasn't just about zelda dying, it was the heartbreak that was taking care of zelda at all and the way it changed rachel and her parents and their relationship to one another. that seems like a pretty harrowing warning, an appreciation that if you've never had to care for someone who can't take care of themselves.... consider yourself grateful, it's the toughest job. rachel and her parents never seemed to find peace regarding zelda (and her frankly bratty behavior despite her condition) and they focus on the loss of zelda rather than addressing the turmoil that surfaced prior to her death. also very on point and representative of a large population, i suspect. i personally have never had to care for a human in that way, but i have cared for (don't laugh, i'm white, i know) numerous pets in their old age as their health declined, i know the hopelessness. i know the heart it takes for a pet, and while i consider pets to be part of my family and i've been closer with more animals than humans, i understand that it's not quite the same as a human, but i hold the respect for anyone who is a caretaker and i respect the heart they need to withstand that day in and day out.

the kids. from the beginning with the bee sting it was clear that gage would be the story's resident embodiment of innocence. the biggest change i can gather from the 2019 adaptation, at least from the trailer, is it appears ellie is the one who is exhumed instead of gage. my main gripe with the trailer now looking back is it gave me an understanding that the children being different would be the horror of the story, and the adults would have to figure out how to fix them/stop it. that's not really the case, the horror is really the burial ground summoning louis and jud to a degree. after all, if it weren't for jud and his prior connection to the burial ground, none of this would have happened. i feel like it was an obviously massive red flag to the creeds when they first move in and meet their news neighbors and within their first few meetings, jud is like "well i oughtta take you back to show you this thing all the kids play on." anyway, the kids. i loved the kids, i loved ellie's curiosity for life, the only thing i found kinda off with the kids from the beginning is their ages. whereas it appears the 2019 adaptation has them a bit older, the kids don't seem quite age appropriate to me, even for having a doctor for a dad. ellie is 5 but is asking some pretty eloquent questions on her own, and i'm sure it's possible and there are kids out there that are like that from a young age, but then she would like snap back to acting like a 5 year old. it's like she was 7-8 years old when speaking with her parents but the rest of the time she was 5, then eventually 6. i feel the same for gage too. i get that he was an innocent baby and for purpose of the story he's meant to be totally vulnerable and defenseless, so he barely even crawls, but he's able to repeat words back easily. i just imagined the kids a little bit older than what they were stated as, a little nitpicky of me and doesn't really change the story. they're kids, we get it.

i have to say though, if i had to pinpoint something about the ending that i straight up didn't like, or felt robbed of, it's ellie. she was left with her grandparents and????? then what??????? i totally supported rachel leaving her behind, and i also would understand if she ended up just staying with her grandparents, but that we had no resolution or revisiting of poor ellie felt cheated. her mom was murdered, her brother just died, she was experiencing the messaging from the burial ground and felt things were off, she knew enough of what was going on but was left in the dust. and louis, who started  out as the devoted father who would do anything for his kids, suddenly is fine leaving his 6 year old with her grandparents who he hates? i mean, to this point at least we saw louis breaking down slowly his grip on his ability to protect his family. he felt he was doing the best for his family by exhuming gage but he was hurting rachel and ellie in the process and didn't even bother to notice. i just wish we even heard from ellie in the sense of maybe her waking up in the middle of the night in terror or something like she had been. both her parents were gone, she was grieving gage wicked hard, she was in tune with the burial ground and felt the presence of evil, but we just left her without any acknowledgment whatsoever. poor ellie.

i also kinda felt like jud was given a cheap send off. i know he was old and his age was a constant reminder, so i expected him to die, but the way he was so determined and willing to die defending louis, i just thought he would have been able to put up more of a fight in the final battle, or had some cool last line or something. he had seen church before in his exhumed state, he knew what the burial ground was capable of, so i just can't imagine seeing gage would make him freeze up, but i guess.

which leads me back to king's warning at the beginning: this book was the one he thought he took to far. well, damn, i understand why he felt that way. i liked the way gage's death was nonchalantly mentioned before it happened; as gruesome as it is, the baby dying isn't the horror of the story. the horror of the story is the burial ground influencing the educated, logical, devoted father into thinking exhuming his child for a rebirthing would be any kind of a good idea. and man, was it horrific. starting from gage's death, you get a real feeling that louis is drifting away immediately, as are rachel and ellie, but that's where the story sticks with louis as its protagonist. by the time louis arrives at the decision to dig up gage's grave, we already know what he's thinking, we already know he's going to do it, and just in case we didn't we had jud checking in on him. the cemetery parts were so unbelievably uncomfortable i thought i was going to jump out of my own skin. really impressive writing.

of course one of the main reasons i was drawn to listen to "pet sematary" was the narrator being michael c. hall. as a big dexter fan, i knew michael would take it where it needed to go and was delighted at the idea of him reading a king novel. michael. did. such. a. phenomenal. job. like. scores above what i ever thought he could, and i knew he would do great. i lovedddddd his accent for jud, to me he nailed that perfect and i ironically was picturing john lithgow. BUT from hearing john lithgow talk in the 2019 adaptation trailer, it doesn't even sound like john had that accent for the movie. this is why any desire i had to see the adaptation, even just for funsies, has mostly died. you can't cast better than john lithgow for a jud but the fact that he didn't have that accent tells me everything i need to know about how seriously and delicately the film took the story. if you're willing to do that to jud idk what else you're willing to do to it but i don't need it, thank you. michael also did a phenomenal job with the kids, he just absolutely nailed this narration and of course when louis got into his dark element, michael shined brightest. i swear i could hear the dexter main theme playing in the back of my head while hearing michael spout off the graphic monologuing of louis. simply fantastic and made the horror of the story that much more intense.

i was delighted that while there was a cat death, it was manageable. i'm childless but have always had a special connection with cats, so if a death is gonna hit me, it's gonna be church's. i really like the name church for a cat and might have to name one after him someday, although his name would be winston churchill, he would be named after stephen king's fictional cat.

overall i just really loved how this story handled death, it feels like stephen king is the louis assuring us, society, rachel that death is natural and we don't have to like it, but we need to accept it. to this day there are still so many of us who would rather not talk about it at all, as if it doesn't exist, but we've all obviously got our zeldas in all shapes and sizes. i would definitely not recommend this book to just anyone, i would say it takes someone very comfortable with death, and even then i would specifically warn about child and animal death. it's very heavy and very much not for everyone. this is the brand of stephen king that makes some folks turn their heads immediately and run the other direction. but with finishing this book i can confidently say i wanna get through stephen king's entire catalog, all 70+ novels and short story collections. 4 down, something like 73ish to go?

rating: 8/10 thought it was worth at least reading once for avid readers; the story will stick with me for quite some time

[stormblessed95]

I'm beginning to think that Jungkook isn't running that In the Seom account anymore. At first I was like aw he's having fun, and woah he accepted a jikook shipper- that's sus, etc. I was just happy that he tried out the gamr. But now I'm wondering if maybe he was asked to post that account on his story by the company as a marketing strategy? Because it's definitely working like one. More people tried out the game, more people are sticking with the game because they feel like they're interacting and competing with JK. Idk but as more time goes on I can't help but feel that maybe this whole account is just run by some Hybe employee? I just severely doubt he's that bored + has that much time on his hands to keep leveling up every few hours. I know they're technically on break but he's still not jobless lol. Maybe I'm overthinking it? I've only seen one other person bring this up so I'm curious to see what other people think.

🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 I - why would he lie?! That's his Instagram! Lol and all these ways he wants to 1) play games and 2) interact in a special way with ARMY is soooo on brand for him. Those are 2 of his favorite ways to spend his free time. Lol and let's remember that they have more control over what their schedule is looking like these days and how much free time they might have. On top of that, JK has always had a weird and not so great sleep schedule. Meaning he doesn't get enough of it. Lol

He LOVES gaming and has shared on multiple occasions how he spends his free time gaming and how he can do it for hours and how he can get really competitive about it and not want to stop until he beats it or is insanely good at it. He used to post clips of him playing overwatch. They've shared that he used to game often at the dorms with Tae or with Jin. Tae shared a story once from an old clip where you could hear him playing League with JK, Yoongi, Jin and Hobi (those being the members who spoke into the mic at least). Staying up all night to play a game, not off brand for him. Especially also considering all the armys who are busy IRL and have full time jobs who are over level 100 in the game too. PLUS considering that JK has lots of disposable income to spare to get extra hearts, blue diamonds things and anything extra he can buy to help him level up faster and spend less time waiting for things to load etc. That's gonna speed up his game time too. Examples of JK talking about gaming:

AND I don't think having army visit his island or join a club is just a marketing strategy. It's just legit JK loving spending time with ARMY. It's super on brand for him to carve out time to spend with fans. He spent hours doing Instagram Q&As in the middle of the night, not just during quarantine, but also after a performance when they still had schedules the next day too. He spent HOURS in the middle of the night on vlives with army and singing to us, on days he has to wake up for work the next day too. He spent HOURS talking until the middle of the night, just to then go and hop on a bus to go film ITS. He used to join fancafe group chats with ARMYS. In 2018 he held weekly fancafe dates with army every single Friday for a long time. Where he would create a group chat and the first X amount of people who could guess what the password was could join his GC and he would sit in there and chat with the armys for 15 to 30 minutes every single week. And in 2018 they were so booked snd busy it was insane. But he still made time to hang out with army AND still made time to work on GCFs and his own music AND go work out AND some off time gaming. And whatever else he wanted. And he did this fancafe date thing without telling the company his plans to do it at all. Lmao it was all him. Some Fancafe posts about his Friday ARMY dates:

You don't have to be jobless to spend a few hours playing a mobile game before you go to bed, or while you are eating your meals, or while being driven somewhere. He really honestly isn't leveling up that fast compared to a lot of other people I've seen to make it seem like he isn't doing ANYTHING but gaming. Lol

So I guess, I DO think it's JK. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. And I don't think it's out of character at all for him to be doing this either. And I don't think Hybe has to worry too much about marketing it. The game was doing just fine before JK shared anything on his story about his island and his club. But you are all free to think whatever you want 😅 this is my opinion though 🤷🏻‍♀️💜

[carpisuns]

you know, as a creator, i actually don’t consider myself that “creative.” that’s not rly intended to be self-deprecating btw—what I mean is that i am better at repurposing or expanding on other people’s ideas rather than coming up with my own. i’m “creative” because i create, but i have a hard time creating ex nihilo. I have to have a starting point. i can think outside the box, but there has to be a box first. (this checks out because I work as an editor lol. the main focus of my job is to polish or build on something that’s already there.)

that’s one reason that fan creation appeals so much to me. I have a hard time coming up with my own stories, but I love writing fanfic because it’s like I have a sandbox to play in and there are lot of possibilities I can explore. and I’ve never made up an art OC, but I love drawing my favorite fictional characters to improve my skills and stretch my creative muscles. fandom creation is so valuable for creators like me and to a lot of other types of creative minds too. people sometimes ask me why I don’t do more original work and the answer is that I haven’t yet been able to create something on my own that inspires me to keep creating the way my favorite stories do. and I don’t think that’s really a bad thing? inspiration comes in many forms and I will create based on whatever inspiration I receive. And right now that inspiration happens to come from a kid’s cartoon, or a book series, or some other already-told story.

even within fandom i kind of see a division of creators. There are the ones who come up with cool AUs/headcanons or interpret the story and characters in a fresh, unique way, and then there are the ones like me who mostly stick to canon and create based off that. and both are good! I get involved in fandom because I genuinely really enjoy the source content, so I usually don’t feel the need to give it a makeover lol. because of that I tend to keep my work pretty canon compliant (altho not always/not entirely). but I often really admire the creativity of the fan creators who do push past the boundaries of canon to make room for their own ideas and reinterpretation. I think it’s cool to have a mix and representation of many different types of creators/creation.

maybe the kind of creativity I’m talking about is a skill you can develop—a muscle you can build—or maybe it just depends on how your brain is wired. either way, if you’re a “non-creative” creator like me and you feel like your work doesn’t means anything because it’s not unique enough, just know that creation is creation no matter what and that your creation is still unique and cool just because you made it, and no one creates exactly the way you do. you might feel like you aren’t offering much to the world but you don’t know how you might inspire someone else or just make them smile. and that is worth it all on its own, at least to me. idk about you but i can’t imagine myself ever saying, “oh man, another drawing of my absolute favorite character that sparks joy just to think about :/ boring” or “lame, I found yet another fic featuring my favorite ship and my favorite trope that always makes me go bonkers :/” haha. my stuff may not not always be super original but I know people still enjoy it and I enjoy creating so that’s what really matters tbh

I’m really grateful for the creators who inspire me to create—whether it’s a source creator or a fellow fan creator. I truly am extremely inspired by fan creators every day and I feel honored and thrilled to be able to share the same creative space with them! thank you for sharing your work, even if you feel a little insecure about it. life is a richer experience for you and others because of what you create.