#so when a post directly references something from recent releases it will be tagged as 'idw sonic spoilers'

[l1ghtn1ngstr1kez]

guess who's getting a new job!

that interview with jewel went better than i thought it would (i was. so nervous lol). this girl named tangle took me on a tour of the place after the interview too, and i got to meet some of the people working here! almost everyone seems to like working here a ton (except for this sheep lady. she seems kinda... i dunno. depressed? looks like she runs on coffee alone the poor thing)

these two people kept giving me strange looks though. a tenrec and a small fox i think. dunno what's up with them but they give me a weird vibe.

also i heard about this race they're holding in a couple months in collaboration with some other company. clean sweepstakes i think she called it? seems like i'm joining the restoration at the right time! i'd love to participate!

in other news, i'm still working out living arrangements, but i've got my eye on a little house nearby. if that doesn't work out i can just live in the hq's residential area for a while. i'm already sold on moving though, it's been love at first sight with this place for me. such a breath of fresh air from empire city

i don't think i've ever been this excited for change. i'm usually not very good at handling big changes lol. but this feels... different, somehow. like an adventure maybe. it feels good :]

[meraki-yao]

TN Candies Part 4

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

As promised, a new candies post to get through the week! This time it’s much less shippy and a little more of a compilation of just some generally sweet moments between them, so I’ll forgo my disclaimers this time, but there are a few more deliberate points at the last section.

Nick’s Affection Towards Taylor

1, In the Cinemagna Interview that was shot during RWRB filming and released in August, a few days before the movie, Nick was asked about working with Taylor, and right as he started to comment on Taylor as a person (as opposed to just working with him), he smiles very sweetly

2, In numerous interviews and editorials when asked to comment on working with Taylor/about Taylor, Nick often brings up “funny”, which implied they talk to each other quite a lot.

3, In the Variety podcast interview, when asked about his chemistry read with Taylor, babygirl straight up giggles a bit before saying they knew immediately they were gonna mates

4, His impression of Taylor in the GQ quiz is actually spot on: “What’s Up, I’m Taylor Zakhar Perez”, spreading his arms, loves to surf, that’s really how Taylor is: Nick really does know Taylor

5, In the recent Hits Radio interview, the question was what is something about Taylor that the public doesn’t know; Nick proceeded to praise Taylor as a person, as opposed to sharing like one of Taylor’s quirks or commenting on working with Taylor: They have a personal connection.

6, Nick tends to be a little more hyper than usual when with Taylor, as seen most prominently in the UK VS US draw-off video

Book Signing War (this isn’t even necessarily candy it’s just a fun thing that’s going on)

1, During the Vogue World event last September, Taylor originally wasn’t gonna sign anything, but saw the books and signed them anyways, quite happily so.

2, Starting from his China trip, Taylor started drawing moustaches on Henry/Nick’s face, starting with the Firstprince PR photo. I don’t think he’s ever missed a chance since lmao

3, During Milan, Nick’s first public event since Taylor started this little war, he first refers to Henry and Alex as “I” and “Taylor”, then said he’s been hearing that Taylor’s been signing on his face, which implies Taylor pops up on his social media radar. Babygirl retaliates by signing over Alex’s face (not even Taylor, it’s book Alex, he really just sees firstprince as them)

4, When the book in 3 was given to Taylor and the fan explained what Nick did, he, with a ???? (like seriously I don’t know how to describe that fucking tone) voice said “Oh he noticed”, and it totally might be a lighting/angle thing but if you look closely at that video, it might seem like he started blushing a little after the fan mentioned Nick

5, During the M&G red carpet, Nick offered to sign a fan’s firstprince card before they could ask him, and immediately went “Taylor’s face is getting signed”

SAG-PGA-Spirit Award Weekend

1, (This one was exclusively observed by the Chinese fans so kind of tin hat, take it with a pinch of salt) When asked about working with Nick on the SAG carpet, Taylor’s immediate reaction is somehow exactly the same as Alex’s after “I think we should make love tonight”: “Oh”, enlarged pupils, quick successive blinks, the first sentence that follow is said with a slight frown (you get the implication, but truthfully imo it’s just that Alex and Taylor share the same shock reaction)

2, For the Spirit Awards, Taylor worn a RED suit with a WHITE undershirt to a BLUE carpet, and WORN A FUCKING PINKIE RING

3, A bit more on the Cartier Watch from part 1: Taylor wore it to the Spirit Award, and Nick wore it to the Vanity event a few days ago. Now here’s where what I read on Weibo and what I read here are in conflict, for simplicity’s sake this time I’ll just directly translate what’s on Weibo for now :

“Oh, I’m so touched. But I saw his stylist (Jason Bolden) tagged Cartier, could this be a partnership with the brand?”

“Taylor could have chosen to just wear the necklace or wear another Cartier watch from a different series, but he worn this one which matches with Nick’s, it has to be a deliberate choice”

“Nope! All the brand for his other accessories were tagged in his(Jason Bolden’s) post, he even tagged Cartier for the necklace, but not for the watch. Cartier only reposted it in their IG story, If it’s an actual collaboration with a brank, he would deliberate pose to show off the watch like he did with LV and TAG Heur, but on the red carpet he hid his Cartier watch, the two photos are from the Vogue photographer”

“Also the celebrity themselves, the brand, and the stylist, all parties would deliberately wear different pieces from the same brand, especially for relatively less pricey watches like the Cartier Tank series (the watch in question). On top of that, they know that Nick’s been wearing this watch for these past couple of months, the night of the Academy Museum Gala where Nick and Taylor stuck by each other’s side the whole night, Nick wore this Cartier watch. Also if it’s an event or partnership with the brand, Taylor wouldn’t have to hide it ”

That’s it for part 4! I think from now on I’ll try to post a candy post every Sunday night (for me). There’s a whole September timeline I need to organize (a lot happened in September but it’s very very tin hat so I’m also trying to filter through what I’m comfortable with posting and what I’m not)

Also if you sent me a candy in my inbox I read it! Thank you for it! If I haven’t posted it yet it’s because I either want to fact check some of the details or want to figure out how to respond

Tagging a couple of folks:

@lfg1986-2 @tal-vez-o-quizas @na-18dia @mylucayathoughts @androgynoustriumphclown @hopefulblizzardsublime @whattfisausername @leimons @ghostwithatophat @badhimboi88 @pippin-katz

[puffins-incorporated]

All For One is the Father of Nana’s Son and Grandfather to Shigaraki

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I’d like to thank all the people who’s inboxes (and in one case dorm) I burst into to yell about this as I wrote it, and the people who proofread it (often overlapping). Your support has been greatly appreciated.  This has been a theory I’ve been thinking about since chapter 235, and I’m happy to finally write it up.  Based on dialogue, Star Wars, and similar physical features between the characters, I’ve come to believe that it is highly likely that All For One is the Father of Nana’s Son and Grandfather to Shigaraki.  

Edit: it didn’t show up in the tags at first because of an external link for a source but that’s been fixed

Edit2: Added Part about AFO giving Shigaraki his surname!

Dialogue

The more I reread All Might’s final battle with All For One, the more one thing nags at me.  Why (and how) does All For One know Nana’s full name (and also that cute smiling pose?  Where did he learn about it?)?  He doesn’t know the civilian name of All Might, despite saying directly to his face how much he loathes him.  He also doesn’t know Gran Torino’s civilian name even though his surname is in his hero name, and Nana outright says his first name in All Might Rising. 

Hell, he only barely recognizes him as “Shimura’s Friend..?”, despite him pretty much being the guy who grabbed All Might and got out of the fight.  Why remember Nana Shimura’s full name and not the others? 

Star Wars and Koseki/Family Records

It’s no secret that Horikoshi is a huge Star Wars fanboy.  There are so many Star Wars references ranging from obscure to blatant to “the official sub and dub had to change it for copyright reasons”.  Perhaps the most prominent reference to Star Wars is All For One.  His life support mask and revealing of Shigaraki’s relationship to Nana is quite reminiscent of Darth Vader, no?  When a Darth Vader reference appears, it is often in tandem with him.  In the original trilogy, Obi-wan Kenobi tells Luke Skywalker that his father was killed by Darth Vader.  We all know that’s a lie, though one could interpret it as true to a degree.  With the rise of Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker could be said to have “died”.  Through Gran Torino, we learned that Nana’s husband was killed.  That’s it.  That’s all we know.  It’s possible that Nana lied about her husband dying literally.  For all we know, her husband died the day she found out he was All For One.  Adding on more Star Wars references, when talking over the outline for this with my friend, they noted how Nana and All For One as a couple could potentially mirror Padme and Anakin.  In both examples, the latter (on the “dark side” or moving there pretty swiftly) killed the former.  In any case, how could Nana cover up her husband’s death?  Same way she hid her connection to her son.  In the most recent chapter (281 at the time of this writing), we learned that Nana tinkered with the family records, known as Koseki.  I had a difficult time getting information on these, but from my understanding, while they were relatively easy to get access to at one point, these days only family members are able to.  Good thing, because according to this site (linked through tumblr) they contain “an individual’s full name; gender; birthdate and birthplace; parental relations (names of parents, relations to them, etc.); spousal relations (name of spouse, date of marriage, date of divorce, etc.); data related to the death of an individual (date, time, place of death); name of legal custodian or legal guardian; and data related to inheritance, such as the disinheritance of a presumed heir.” The same site also says “The information recorded in each family register is based on formal declarations made by citizens to their local government (municipality) at the time of a child’s birth, marriage, etc,” and that the information given to the municipalities is “submitted on a pro forma basis -there are cases in which an individual intentionally or negligently makes a false declaration’ that is subsequently incorporated as an entry in a family register,” lining up with Nana’s comment about tinkering with the family register.  

Physical Similarities Between All For One, Kotaro, Shigaraki, and the First User of One For All

This is the part that got me started on this line of thinking.  Over a year ago when chapter 235 was released, I realized that this shot of Kotaro looked… startlingly familiar.

(The anime version’s a little brighter than the scan)

Their angular features and rather defined noses were very similar, an oddity for a series with such a distinct cast of characters.  In fact, the only characters with very similar features are usually related to one another (Mom genes are a joke for a reason).  The BNHA discord I’m in agreed with me.  Around a month later, I considered the possibility that the fact I’ve been drinking Nana/AFO juice practically since I joined the fandom may have influenced my judgement.  So I sent two separate panels of Kotaro and AFO to a friend of mine.  She’s not interested in BNHA, and the only context I gave to the panels was that they were BNHA panels I wanted her to look over.  That was it.  The conversation we had is screencapped below.

If people interested in BNHA and someone uninterested in BNHA could see it, then I was onto something.  Recently, I remembered her response to the panels and that launched me into full theorist mode.  Exceedingly late on August 25, I spent at least thirty minutes scouring the manga for panels of Kotaro and pre-injury All For One. looking for more physical similarities.  And boy, did that search deliver. 

Similar Profiles

Similarly Defined Noses

A friend even pointed out how, though it’s difficult to see with Kotaro due to a limited range of expressions, that All For One and Kotaro share a crinkle around the mouth. They’re correct. 

You could even make a case that they look similarly broad shouldered as well.   

This extends to Shigaraki as well, as in at least one panel in Volume 11, he’s drawn with a similarly defined nose. 

All For One isn’t the only Shigaraki that Tomura Shigaraki bears resemblance too.  It’s been said before that Shigaraki bears quite the resemblance to the first user of One for All, and it’s easy to see why.  

Their hair is drawn in an eerily similar way. Their eyes too.  Looking closely, I’m starting to think their noses look pretty similar too. 

They also kind of look similar to All For One’s eyes (what’s visible of them) and nose too.  While I can’t be certain, I’m willing to bet that if Horikoshi suddenly decided to draw All For One with longer hair (and show more of his face), he’d look quite similar to Shigaraki (and his younger brother) as well.  People have speculated that Shigaraki is related to the first One For All user, and I agree. I believe that he’s his grand uncle, and I believe All For One is his paternal grandfather.

August 29 2020 Addition

I didn’t think to add this to the theory until after I posted so here’s the addition (which I’ll add to the main theory post later).  Why did All For One give Shigaraki his surname?  It could be argued that it’s a power play or something by replacing Nana’s surname with his own, but wouldn’t All For One take that opportunity to rub it in All Might’s face?  Wouldn’t hearing “Oh yeah I also gave your master’s grandson a part of my name” after you found out he was her grandson from your enemy hurt like hell?  You could write it off as a private middle finger but that doesn’t make much sense to me.  All For One has the subtlety of a freight train when being petty.  He could easily say it’s his name to anyone because he’s A) a minimum of a century old and B) known to have been born/raised during the time period when quirks were first sweeping the globe.  Any records on him could have been lost/destroyed in the passing years or during the chaos.  Hell, he could have destroyed them himself.  It’s safe to say that there is no one alive but All For One and Shigaraki who knows the significance of the name “Shigaraki”.  When the UA staff was researching Shigaraki Tomura and Kurogiri after the attack on the USJ, they concluded that both were using aliases. 

While all we’re told outright is that they checked the quirk registry for the two, I’m inclined to believe that’s not all they did.  Villains, for what seems to be the first time in history or awhile, attacked U.A. Highschool with murderous intent towards a teacher and his students.  Said teacher also just so happens to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest hero of all time.  There’s no way they’re just going to do a sweep through the quirk registry and call it a day.  Yet they don’t find anything on the name “Shigaraki”.  No one knows about this name, and he doesn’t say anything about it.  All For One could have given any name to Shigaraki.  So why his own?  I don’t think it’s for one last middle finger to Nana - he’d make a huge show out of doing that to All Might.  To me, I think it’s because they’re grandfather and grandson.  Perhaps it was some twisted form of sentimentality?  A twisted way of acknowledging a family member?  It’s the only thing that makes sense.

[goodbysunball]

Bring it on home

Comparatively easy listening from the set of records showcased this time around, but there's a world of grief settin' your jaw to grind. You deserve a neck massage and a cocktail; lean into these after you put your misery rectangle aside for a spell.

Astute Palate, s/t (Petty Bunco)

Emily Robb, David Nance, Daniel Provenzano, and Richie Charles got together and hammered out this LP during "48 sleepless hours" in Philadelphia. It's definitely a fairly rough documentation, but if you know the players, that's generally what you'd be gettin' into with 'em anyway. Gotta admit that I'm not a huge fan of what I've heard by David Nance - respect his hustle, though - and the same goes for the tracks he leads here; in particular, the studied classic rock caterwaul employed on "Stall Out" basically rolls my eyes for me. I am, however, fond of David Nance the Guitarist and his heroics on "Stall Out," and "A Little Proof" definitely has me more curious about his recent solo work I've skipped. These are pithy grievances, though: the album rules, as a whole, but it's just hard to stomach some of Nance's lyrics when they're side-by-side with bonafide jammers like "Bring It On Home" and "Treadin' Schuylkill." "Bring It On Home," in particular, with its Velvets-inspired chug and Robb's bleary vocals coolly beckoning you to do as the title says, heats to a boil with the blustery, fried guitar interplay. For me it wipes the floor with anything else on the album, and pretty much anything else I'll hear this year, so let's put all my petty complaints aside and declare this the Summer of Astute Palate, OK? Looks like the secret's out - the LP's sold out from the source, but can be found hiding in various distros and shops. Hunt it down, crack a tallboy, and embrace the sweltering heat of our melting planet with Astute Palate.

Maraudeur, Puissance 4 (self-released)

New and best LP yet from Leipzig's Maraudeur, self-released with some of the best packaging/artwork I've seen in a minute. My memory's usually a bit faulty, but I recall the band being a three-piece on their last, still very good LP from Bruit Direct Disques. I'm inclined to think that the group's ranks have swelled to five anyway, since the sound here is a bit more bright and full, lots of different moving parts zipping and moving around, giving the crisp recording some effervescence. Compared to older songs like "Computer Dreams," Maraudeur sounds sharper, capable of backing up any threats rather than coming across as deflated and listless. Even the slower songs on Puissance 4, such as "Slow Dress," thrive on tension, guitar strings set to snap amidst the robotic/hypnotic vocals. The band seems to have located a sweet spot between the simmering minimalism of Household and the technologically damaged vision of Chrome, and "TWYWYS" basically sounds like a collaboration between the two groups. Guitars are used as window dressing, favoring instead synths and showcasing the chops of the rhythm section. "Face/Figure" and my favorite track "C'est Caché" are the best examples of Maraudeur's rhythmic foundation, but nearly every track causes inadvertent head bobbing. While accessible and familiar on the surface, Maraudeur's dry humor, the carefully camouflaged layers of sound, and whatever is going on in "I Am Here" keep boilerplate post-punk comparisons at bay. Puissance 4 is a refreshing, addictive brew from the not-too distant future, and probably a blast to experience live.

Astrid Øster Mortensen, Gro Mig En Blomst (Förlag För Fri Musik)

New Gothenburg talent alert! Mortensen is apparently a newcomer to the scene, and her debut LP fits in nicely amongst the Förlag För Fri Musik discography. Gro Mig En Blomst features lonely and debased late-night solo explorations with guitar, piano and what sounds like an accordion, accented by electronic manipulations and the found sound that accompanies most FFFM records. It's dreary and stark, and can quickly bring the mood down when it's on. For me the most obvious reference point is Grouper's Ruins, in that both are recordings so intimate that it feels like an interruption to move while it's on. But I also get bits of Picastro's Whore Luck ("Hvor Kommer Mørket Fra?" sounds like it was plucked directly from that album), and there are similarities to Chloe Alison Escott's solo work, on the title track and "Piano i" and "Piano ii." Gro Mig En Blomst is a far cry from more traditional singer-songwriter music, dabbling in Stars of the Lid-like drone on "Brud ii" and jumping into the "Is there a record on or...?" genre on "Solen Er Et Lille Hus" and "Brud i." I can't say I go out looking for records this fragile and surface-level bleak anymore, but Mortensen's work is more often beautiful and calming than hopelessly gray. Another keeper from FFFM, sure to be one of the most sought-after records from the label, and for good reason.

Nightshift, Zöe (Trouble In Mind)

Travel back in time with me, if you will, to a time when "indie rock" was a genre label that had some meaning. After getting rid of the bad taste in my mouth and shaking off the embarrassment at who I was when I largely listened to stuff that'd broadly fall under that label, I'll allow that Nightshift is making a strong argument for some of the music released during the comparative naiveté of the late '00s/early '10s. Across Zöe, you get shades of Broadcast, Lower Dens' Twin-Hand Movement, the UV Race ("Spray Paint the Bridge"), Belle & Sebastian and A Sunny Day In Glasgow ("Power Cut" and "Romantic Mud"). The trick to Zöe is that it folds all these reference points in neatly and places it on a sturdy percussive base. I won't argue that every song here is memorable, but they're all enjoyable, and the songs that hit - "Outta Space," the title track, "Infinity Winner" - send chills down my spine every time. Guitars are plucked and scraped for leading beats, accentuating shuffling drums and giving the bass the spotlight. The vocals are dreamy and lyrics direct, and for the duration of Zöe you're relieved of the pessimistic present and allowed to rigidly dance to Nightshift's hesitant groove. They've charmed their way through my cynicism, and Zöe's been on heavy rotation despite my reluctance. Take it for a spin, and fall under Nightshift's spell.

Hugo Randulv, Radio Arktis: Samlade Ljud Från Den Norra Polcirkeln (Förlag För Fri Musik)

First solo LP from Hugo Randulv, an active presence in the Gothenburg scene with his involvement in Enhet För Fri Musik, Skiftande Enheter and Amateur Hour, among others. Though typically a guitarist, on Radio Arktis, he drops the guitar and instead fills both sides with glacial synths and dusty samples. The label's original write-up for this record called it "grand ambient," though to me it sounds and feels much more personal than something that would soundtrack the Olympics. His use of samples, most notably on "Radio Reykjavik," sounds intimately tied with some fleeting memory, the music serving to enhance or exorcise the feeling tied to it all. It reminds me most of the Fun Years' "God Was Like, No" in that both records used the tools common to ambient/drone music but applied a much more personal touch, that certain nameless attribute that keeps drawing a listener back in. Can't put my finger on it, but both records just sound like they had to be made, rather than serving as a genre exercise or one-off exploration. I don't know that Radio Arktis is going to change anyone's life, but it could, and I've been hypnotized by its wordless, sparkling gray tones for weeks. Even though the "solo musician embraces synths" thing is usually pretty tired and pointless, Hugo Randulv's contribution shows why it's an alluring proposition at all.

Sunhiilow, Beyond the Cycle (Ikuisuus)

More solo synth, this time coming from Valerie Magisson and her Moog Mother-32. Magisson's Sunhiilow project veers into new age/ambient with its bite-sized kosmische explorations. There's something about the combination of the short length of these tracks and the sense of movement present within each that allows Beyond the Cycle to transcend the lifeless drivel that's usually tagged "new age" and "synth." It seems intentional that Magisson was trying to capture the mood of each track title in its corresponding music, and she is largely successful, though its unclear if the title provided direction or was applied afterward. The somewhat jarring introduction of "Wilderness Bloom" and the stoned growth of "Circle Motion" are my top picks, but the album works best as a whole and played very loudly, the overall effect immersing the listener into heady zones traversed by the Nightcrawlers. Leave it to Ikuisuus to release an "ethereal ambient music" record that satisfies, and sounds and looks great to boot. Sunhiilow's a lot more tame than most of what Ikuisuus releases, but it's an accessible, recommended starting point to one of the best active labels. HOWDY.

[gaspardcaderousse]

Masterlist of Amedot Moments & Tidbits

This is a post I originally made and maintained starting around the time Beta came out, but accidentally deleted it recently (rip the hundreds of notes it had accumulated). Luckily, I was able to find an earlier version via Google Cache, so behold: the edited masterlist, ten whole pages long in Google Docs. As of 1/30/2021, this contains every moment from the show and comics and won’t be updated unless more media is released in the future. 

If you can think of anything I might’ve missed, please let me know! Reblogs are obviously welcome. I’ve also got a video of all amedot moments in the show if that interests you. Amedot rights!

IRL

Amethyst and peridot gemstones are commonly paired together in jewelry, similar to how ruby and sapphire (a canon couple) are.

There has been a fair bit of art of them drawn by the crew. There are multiple pieces of them interacting by Danny Cragg, Maya Peterson has drawn art of them (she has an amedot tag of her own art on her tumblr, plus some other romantically suggestive art of them together), Nicole Rodriguez has drawn shippy art of them (she doesn’t have an amedot tag, but some can be found in her peridot tag), comic writer Grace Kraft has drawn them (she has a tag), and Rebecca Sugar has drawn them together, too.

Catch and Release

When Peridot is running up the stairs, Amethyst pulls out her whip and says “Hey” to Peridot in a rather provocative tone. 

Too Far

Peridot is obviously desperate for Amethyst to pay attention to her and see her as cool. She made jokes about the other gems to impress her (even if she was unknowingly being rude) and said to Steven that she thought she was being “cool” by doing so, and tries to make Amethyst laugh with her names for things (ex. “rythmatic pulverizer”). This behavior is typical of someone who has a crush, and was not just due to Amethyst’s status as a quartz; Peridot argues with and states that she dislikes Jasper, another quartz (and not a defective one, at that).

Peridot was visibly upset when Amethyst didn’t find her funny and said she felt “smaller” when Amethyst gave her the cold shoulder.

Peridot goes out of her way to save Amethyst from the drill head, even managing to break her leash in effort to do so. 

After saving Amethyst, Peridot is shown to have fallen on her; that and her reaction seem to reference the anime trope where the character will fall on their love interest and immediately become flustered.

Peridot’s apology at the end of the episode! This is probably the most heartfelt apology she’s given (compared to her actions at the end of Back to the Barn and throughout Barn Mates), and she specifically calls Amethyst “the best gem here”. She also admits that she was in the wrong with her statements and this is the first time she does so – compare with Back to the Barn, where she acts like Pearl needed to prove herself to her before Peridot could apologize. In that way, this was a huge turn for her character.

That little exchange of smiles at the end. It’s adorable.

Steven’s Birthday

Amethyst invites Peridot to join them and even blows up a cute lil Peridot-shaped balloon.

It Could’ve Been Great

Peridot tries to impress Amethyst with her knowledge about gems (specifically how they immediately adjust to the gravity of any planetoid), and is disappointed/surprised when Amethyst doesn’t find it interesting.

Peridot tries to compliment Amethyst by saying that the Beta Kindergarten was nowhere near as impressive as the Kindergarten Amethyst originated from.

Message Received 

Aside from Steven, Amethyst was the most visibly upset at Peridot’s betrayal, likely due to how close they were.

Log Date 7 15 2

When trying on the paint cans Steven gives to her, Peridot is shown to want to impress Amethyst with her new height. She also wants to show it off to Pearl, but she’s specifically trying to help Amethyst, whereas it’s just her height she wants to show Pearl; she wants Pearl to see how tall she is, and wants Amethyst to see how capable she is and actually wants to do something to actively help her.

If we assume Peridot’s shipping chart represents the gems, and that the green is Peridot and the purple is Amethyst, it is clearly shown that they are paired together. 

Peridot’s descriptions seem to imply that Percy and Pierre represent Peridot and Amethyst respectively, and she obviously thinks those two belong together. At the very least, the pairs have similarities. 

Amethyst says that she uses shapeshifting to be cool and directly shapeshifts into Peridot, showing that she obviously thinks Peridot is cool.

Amethyst is shown to know Peridot well enough to perfectly mimic her speech patterns, and says that she has been practicing doing so. She also says it’s “hard to beat the original”, to which Peridot responds to by blushing and giggling.

Peridot states that she finds Amethyst’s company entertaining.

Barn Mates

Peridot seems to be picking up some phrasing from spending time with Amethyst, directly referenced in the “Holy smokes!” scene.

Hit the Diamond

As soon as Peridot says that she’s scared, Amethyst immediately decides to ambush the Rubies in her defense.

Too Short to Ride

Peridot shows off her tablet-velcro innovation to Amethyst, attempting to impress her again.

Amethyst tries to win Peridot’s desired prize for her.

Amethyst gives a whole little speech to Peridot about how they like her for who she is, which shows that Amethyst genuinely likes Peridot for who she is and wants her to enjoy herself.

Amethyst tries to throw away Peridot’s tablet. While not necessarily the right thing to do, she was still trying to help Peridot in doing so. This also unintentionally means that Amethyst is the reason Peridot discovered her powers.

Amethyst also casually touches Peridot a lot throughout this episode (ex. putting her arm around her shoulders). Peridot doesn’t seem to mind this, in stark contrast to how she reacts when Mr. Smiley touched her.

Beta

Peridot is obviously very excited to see Amethyst; she runs down to see her, arms open wide, shouting her name happily.

Peridot is excited to show her art off to Amethyst (and specifically Amethyst).

When Steven tells Peridot why Amethyst is upset, Peridot doesn’t hold her attitude against her and immediately tries to make her feel better by telling her that she’s better than Jasper and insulting Jasper’s Kindergarten. I mean, it’s not the best way of comforting someone, but Peridot hasn’t been shown to be particularly good at comforting people.

This episode makes Amethyst the first person for Peridot to give affectionate nicknames (Ams, Big A).

Peridot is also obviously more physical with Amethyst (for example, putting her arm around Amethyst’s shoulder) similar to how Amethyst was with her in Too Short to Ride, even though Peridot seems to be have an aversion with physical contact except with those she is very close with.

Earthlings

Peridot seemed particularly worried when Amethyst left to fight Jasper, even more so than Steven did.

They both seemed to share a mutual desire to protect one another. Even so, they were also trying to protect Steven, so this doesn’t necessarily solely indicate romantic interest.

Back to the Moon

When Amethyst walked away from Peridot during Doc’s rant, Peridot reached out to her for a few moments. 

The Kindergarten Kid

Given Peridot’s previous attempts to impress Amethyst, her behavior at the beginning of the episode seems to be in attempt to show off to her. She may also be trying to show off to the other three Crystal Gems as well, but she specifically says some things in response to Amethyst and has tried to impress her more in the past than the others, so this is possibly directed more at her.

Amethyst is the most clearly insulted by Peridot’s comments at the beginning of the episode, showing that she really does care about her opinion. However, she forgives her after Peridot beats the corrupted gem and admits her misjudgments.

Amethyst is the first to compliment Peridot’s ability to bubble.

Last One Out of Beach City

When they arrive at the party, Amethyst tells Pearl to talk to a nerd. While this isn’t necessarily just referring to Amethyst and Peridot’s own relationship, it could be interpreted that way, as Amethyst calls Peridot a nerd rather frequently.

Adventures in Light Distortion

Amethyst seems to be actively listening to and taking interest in Peridot’s comments about the space ship, shown further when she refers to Peridot saying the gravity engine “bends reality”. While not necessarily romantic, it does show how their relationship has developed since It Could’ve Been Great, when she mostly ignores Peridot’s similar comments.

The New Crystal Gems

When Lapis says she doesn’t know who Amethyst is, Peridot seems visibly annoyed.

Peridot indirectly states that she thinks Amethyst has a good sense of humor (an opinion which she has voiced multiple times before).

Back to the Kindergarten

Amethyst’s entire motivation in this episode is to cheer Peridot up; she obviously cares a lot about her wellbeing and emotional health. It is obviously very effective, as Peridot begins to feel better throughout the episode in direct response to Amethyst’s actions, which goes to show just how well Amethyst knows her, and how much Peridot cares about Amethyst’s opinion.

The first time Peridot smiles since the beginning of her depression is in direct response to Amethyst complimenting her. She’s also very visibly blushing.

The two are essentially flirting throughout the entire episode. Amethyst poses while leaning against a wall while complimenting Peridot resulting in the above reaction, they joke with each other while gardening, and at one point Peridot can be heard speaking passionately to Amethyst about their project while Amethyst smiles at her with half-closed eyes. Amethyst replies, “Oh yeah?” in a tone that sounds very obviously flirtatious.

Again, Amethyst is shown to casually touch Peridot a lot; she puts her hand on her shoulder and even picks her up and carries her at one point. Again, Peridot is perfectly okay with it.

The gardening project happened because of Amethyst, and ultimately is what taught Peridot that even when some things are beyond saving, there is always hope to be found somewhere, and sometimes you have to move on. This is another major character development for her - again, one caused directly by Amethyst.

Letters to Lars

Amethyst and Peridot are seen doing improv together and seem to consistently agree with and encourage each other. While this isn’t necessarily romantic, it does show that they have been spending a good deal of time together casually offscreen.

Can’t Go Back

While Lapis is spying on the Crystal Gems on Earth, Peridot can be seen looking upset. Amethyst approaches Garnet and Pearl in what seems to be a worried way, and the three of them talk to Peridot, who eventually seems to brighten up. It seems like Amethyst noticed that Peridot was upset and came to the others with her concerns, leading to them cheering Peridot up, making her the direct cause in Peridot’s change in attitude and showing, again, that she cares for her emotional state.

As the Crystal Gems walk away, the projection of Peridot is the first to walk through Lapis, followed by Amethyst. This could be symbolism; Peridot is moving on from Lapis and her sadness over her leaving, with help from and while forging a stronger relationship with Amethyst.

Made of Honor

Amethyst and Peridot are seen standing together and casually interacting on multiple occasions throughout the episode - more than either with anyone else.

At one point, Peridot leans back on a chair while talking to Amethyst before falling over. The way it’s posed looks like a pretty textbook example of flirting (… and then making a fool out of oneself in attempt to flirt).

At the end of the episode, Amethyst puts her arm around Peridot’s shoulder. This is, yet again, an example of how physical they are with each other.

Reunited

Like in Made of Honor, Amethyst and Peridot are seen standing together and casually interacting multiple times onscreen. 

Peridot is very physical with Amethyst in this episode, grabbing her arm and hiding behind her and pushing her in attempt to help push Steven’s shield. This shows again how physical they are with each other, and again shows that Peridot is very comfortable being physical with Amethyst (noticeably more so than with any other character at this point) despite her aversion to contact.

They can be seen bragging to each other about how they attacked Blue Diamond. Bismuth is also there, but they noticeably seem to be directing their boasts at each other.

Change Your Mind

Peridot and Amethyst seem to be taking inspiration from each other on their new regenerations. Amethyst has a triangle shape around her gem now, and Peridot has her stars on her knees like Amethyst’s old designs.

After the battle with White Diamond, Peridot immediately runs over to Amethyst and practically tackle hugs her. This is far more physical than she’s been with anyone else before in the series, and they both seem genuinely overjoyed to be with each other. Amethyst also holds her hand up right beforehand, either to wave or high five her.

Steven Universe: The Movie

When Amethyst recovers from Spinel’s attack, Peridot doesn’t initially realize that she’s back to normal and reacts very strongly upon seeing her, exclaiming that she can’t bear to see Amethyst “vacant and bereft of personality”. Interestingly, Peridot doesn’t seem affected at all to see Ruby, Sapphire, Garnet, or Pearl in such a state, but she’s so upset by the sight of Amethyst reduced to a shell of herself that she physically refuses to look at her.

In addition, Peridot immediately changes attitude and reacts excitedly when Amethyst tells her that she’s back to normal, despite the fact that the world is in dire threat of destruction.

When the gems are seen working on repairing the city towards the end of the movie, Peridot can be seen riding inside of Amethyst (who is shape shifted into a crane) to put up the donut on the Big Donut. They share a wink and a smile while doing this. It would have been just as easy for Amethyst to put it up on her own; Peridot isn’t really doing much to help, she’s just chilling there to hang out with Amethyst.

Bluebird

Throughout the episode, Amethyst and Peridot are the only two characters to point out that Steven likes tomato soup. Of course, this isn’t really evidence and by no means indicates anything romantic, but it does highlight how similar their thought patterns have become in certain ways. It’s reminiscent of the “Holy smokes!” scene back in Barn Mates.

Everything’s Fine

Peridot mentions to Steven that Amethyst told her that he was prohibited from messing with plants. Since Steven Universe: Future focuses so heavily on Steven, the other gems don’t interact all that much, but this makes it clear that Amethyst and Peridot, at least, are hanging out offscreen.

2017-Present Comic Series

Please note that all the comics are written by different people, and are considered “level 2 canon”; rather, not inherently canon but you’re free to consider them canon as long as they don’t contradict the show. Any italicized points are from entirely non-canon comics that directly contradict the show in some way. Even the non-italicized ones are not necessarily canon, however.

All throughout Issue 4 (in which Amethyst, Peridot, and Steven visit a renaissance fair together), Amethyst and Peridot are continuously very physical with each other, especially Amethyst towards Peridot.

When Steven calls Peridot cute, Amethyst can be seen blushing and holding her hands up to her face in a way that shows her clearly gushing over how “cute” Peridot is. While this is pretty typical behavior for Steven regarding cute things, it really isn’t for Amethyst; she just thinks Peridot is that adorable.

Amethyst is very excited when Peridot wins a joust, notably more so than Steven.

In Issue 9 (in which Vidalia gives Peridot and Lapis art lessons), Amethyst models for them. Peridot is notably very enthusiastic while illustrating her.

Amethyst seems concerned for Peridot specifically when she and Lapis start arguing.

In Issue 11 (in which Steven, Lapis, and Peridot take part in a cooking competition), Peridot runs into Amethyst at the competition and is especially happy to see her.

In Issue 17 (aka Peridot Becomes A Gamer), Amethyst is the first of the Crystal Gems to try to convince Peridot to get out and do stuff.

She also seems to be cheering for Peridot during her match against Pearl.

Although Peridot had been entirely immersed in the video game when the others first approached her and then smug during her match against Pearl, she actually indulges in some genuinely lighthearted banter with Amethyst before their match. She actually seems pretty happy, despite the context of the comic. In turn, she also reacts downright fondly when Amethyst loses. 

Amethyst is also the first to comfort Peridot when she admits that she’s been using video games to cope with Lapis leaving, and in turn opens up to her a bit in attempt to empathize. 

In Issue 33 (in which Peridot introduces Amethyst and Pearl to Camp Pining Hearts), Amethyst is the first to approach her and asks to watch the show with her.

Amethyst and Pearl make Peridot blush when they agree to continue watching CPH with her.

It’s Amethyst’s comment about Percy and Paulette’s lack of chemistry that gets Peridot excited; she blushes and gets the star effect in her eyes.

Harmony

Peridot and Amethyst are seen paired together throughout the course of the comics, walking close to each other, sitting together inside the Harmony Core, etc.

There’s a panel where Peridot’s Twitter is visible, and Amethyst is, interestingly, the only other gem visible in her image gallery.

Camp Pining Play

At one point during rehearsal, Amethyst comes up behind Peridot and announces herself while sparkling.

Peridot is clearly impressed and enthusiastic about Amethyst’s acting abilities. 

Crystal Clean

Similarly to in Harmony, Peridot and Amethyst are often paired together.

Amethyst is also physical with Peridot like in the show, grabbing Peridot’s arm once she gets onto the warp pad at one point, which Peridot doesn’t seem to mind.

Directly after this, when they warp back into the temple, Amethyst seems to be standing in front of Peridot in a protective position.

Misc.

Peridot and Amethyst’s relationship has been consistently shown to advance the plot and cause them to develop as people – it is undebatable that they are important to each other’s characters and the plot as a whole.

Amethyst has more nicknames for Peridot over the course of a few episodes than she has for any other character, including characters like Steven and Pearl who she has known for the entire series.

Overall, there are actually quite a few parallels to rupphire (one saving the other soon after meeting (Too Far and The Answer, with one even being followed directly by the other, drawing further attention to this), both couples being short with somewhat opposing color schemes, one being higher ranked and the other lower ranked on the gem caste system, one acting on emotions and the other one logic, etc.) The parallel is strengthened in Steven Universe: The Movie, when Sapphire saves Ruby from a berserk pizza cutter; this scene is even more similar to the drill scene from Too Far.

As with rupphire, amedot also parallels conniverse in the sense that one saved the other when they had very little knowledge of each other, both are short in stature with somewhat opposing dispositions, etc.

Relating to the former two points, Rebecca Sugar has called the act of saving another in such a way as was done in The Answer as “ridiculously romantic”. Given all the parallels with two of the show’s largest ships and then this…

[jacob-harger]

COVID & Clubbing: How Coronavirus has allowed the Tories to pricetag culture

COVID-19 has - unless you’re in the 1% of course - been, to varying degrees damaging to all our lives whether directly through sharply rising unemployment or indirectly through the mental impact of our previous day-to-day existence becoming something dangerous and unpalatable. Millions have suffered, and based on the government’s unfathomably negligent policymaking, will continue to over the coming months. Faced with the plurality of issues facing the UK therefore, it might seem remiss to focus on one area as particularly suffering during the crisis: the so-called ‘nighttime economy.’ Of course, if we were to prioritise our concerns based on the government’s concerns, then clubbing would be in last place. Despite persistently replying to every plea from the live music industry with a blasé response that the government was providing emergency funding to businesses and that the furlough scheme was ensuring continued incomes for individuals during the crisis, the reality was that clubs were for some time ineligible for cultural funding. Equally, musicians, ¾ of whom are self-employed, were like most self-employed individuals left out in the cold faced with minimal government support. 

Following a sustained and widely supported campaign, Let Us Dance, led by and supported by both significant individuals and companies involved in the UK’s nightlife, the government finally committed to including clubs as recipients of £257m of the £1.57bn Cultural Recovery Fund package. However following the commencement of payments earlier this month, only a handful of clubs received support, and the list of recipients was dominated by London, and to a lesser extent Manchester. Some of the largest recipients included Ministry of Sound which scooped up £975,468, Studio Spaces (owner of E1) with £500,000, and controversially, music journalism and ticket vendor Resident Advisor with £750,000. Smaller venues were not completely forgotten, with spaces such as Electrowerkz, The Glory and M.O.T. also receiving funds. Of course, there are numerous notable absences, whether in the form of Queer spaces in the capital, or of course clubs equally in peril outside of London or other major cities. Even in the capital, established locations such as Printworks, Studio 338 and Egg were denied money. Printworks makes for a particularly concerning example, not least as the venue is a clear example of how intertwined clubs are with freelance workers: it employed 34,000 of them last year. If even these established and household names can’t attract government funding, it doesn’t leave much hope for smaller venues with smaller profit margins and smaller audiences. More money is in the pipeline over the coming weeks, so it is too early to judge whether the distribution of funding is fair and effective. However, it is important to note that applicants to the scheme were not just required to demonstrate their importance as cultural institutions, but also that they were financially viable pre-pandemic. It is this second criteria that not only demonstrates the soulless, calculating approach the Tory government has inflicted on culture but also that taps into issues that have plagued club culture, particularly in the capital, for far longer than the last year. 

Quietly over the last 15 years or so there has been a subtle transition from references to club culture toward a far more insidious term: the nighttime economy. The commercialisation of the arts has a history that stretches back decades, and spans many different artforms: art itself is the most dramatic example. However, for a space that was in its origins so vocally committed to the levelling of individuals, escapism, and freedom of expression as the nightclub, this transition should be especially troubling. Long before the pandemic, rising ticket prices were freezing out the very people that club culture was designed to bring in, and smaller venues that bravely attempted to buck the trend and pursue a more authentic vision of inclusivity were being closed down to make way for flats that, thanks to London’s soaring house market, were far more profitable for landlords and investors than noisy hedonistic clubs whose existence rebelled against their profit-driven perspective of the world. Inclusivity gave way to VIP culture as the same inequality that people fled to the club from found its way into those very spaces. Gentrification and the sterilisation of culture that it brings with it is a familiar story to anyone living in London, and increasingly across any UK city, as vibrant and expressive collective individuality is steamrolled by a constant influx of cold, indifferent money. This is an old story, but in many ways what the pandemic has done is exacerbate and possibly catalyse this narrative. The government’s criteria that nightclubs be financially viable as an enterprise automatically betrays the lack of government interest in meaningfully sustaining culture. There are numerous spaces, in London and beyond, that have consistently prioritised their cultural contribution over their financial viability. Numerous spaces that promote underground music, provide safe spaces for marginalised communities, or provide a platform to young creatives have already struggled against the odds to eke out a continued existence in the capital - and of course, many have lost that battle. Yet now more than ever, the government is pursuing a policy of pricing up those cultural institutions, and those spaces which don’t price up right have been left to fend for themselves. It’s not exactly surprising that a Conservative government is continuing its longstanding policy of suppressing and delegitimising youth culture; after all, similar repression defined club culture in its infancy. However, over the last two decades countless individuals and collectives have striven to establish spaces, against the odds, that not only celebrate youth culture but also provide refuge for marginalised groups from governments that claim to act in their best interests but consistently prove otherwise. The perseverance of these spaces against immense pressure has been part of what has made them so special, so vital and has also contributed to London’s truly unique cultural output, recognised globally. The Tories want to talk about London as a global financial hub, but young people the world over see a global cultural hub, and that is in no small part thanks to exactly the kinds of spaces which, in refusing to bow to commercialisation, have served as beacons of authentic cultural diversity and inclusion. These are exactly the places that are directly threatened by the government’s policies.

Of course, we’re all complicit in this price-tagging of culture, in embracing the ‘nighttime economy.’ Popular Instagram posts that circulated in support of funding for arts and culture predominantly sought to leverage the financial value of these sectors. The Let Us Dance campaign also sought to leverage its financial value front and center in its campaign, in an effort to prove its ‘worth’. Of course, this is done with the absolute best of intentions, and you can easily see why faced with the immediacy of the emergency facing these institutions, playing by the Tories’ rules in the short-term is an effective and sensible strategy. However, it points to a problem that has deep roots. Moreover, the price-tagging of nightlife distracts attention from the vital cultural ecosystems that these places are both participants in and pillars of. Recent research by Help Musicians UK revealed that 55% of musicians had earned no money since the onset of the pandemic, a troubling sign that without venues to act as platforms, not only musicians but the variety of auxiliary staff needed to execute live music events are really struggling. With the government set to supply just 20% of self-employed individuals’ wages moving forward, an already dire situation appears set to become even worse. 

All this points to the way in which venues, particularly nightclubs, operate as far more than simply venues. Apart from being invaluable communal spaces for groups which aren’t as easily able to congregate in different locations, nightclubs are vital to the electronic music scene. Aspiring young producers, by sharing demos with established DJs, often find their first proper exposure on the dancefloor. DJs looking to initially establish themselves on the scene hone mixtapes to distribute to venues. Promoters, at their best, refine concepts that tie together producers, DJs and communities in one place to create memorable and unique nights. A quick google of advice for young DJs looking to kickstart a career reveals that the unanimously advised best option is to get down into the clubs, to build networks and to persist in the search for an opportunity to get behind the decks. COVID-19 has rendered that completely impossible, and whilst the internet offers a great platform for established DJs to continue to connect with their audiences in a different environment, what is lost is that opportunity for lesser known DJs to demonstrate their capabilities, in the warm-up slots for example that have served as a key means for up-and-coming DJs to make a name for themselves. Producers continue to create productions, and DJs at all stages of their careers continue to mix and refine their skill, but for those lower on the ladder, having these venues taken away has cut off their means of climbing the ladder. Those higher up can at least, via live streaming, radio or simply self-releasing, continue to promote themselves with an eye on bookings for when, if ever, we can return to something resembling normalcy. Therefore it is perhaps not overdramatic to hear of several top DJs share their concerns of a lost cohort of talent going forward, a situation that would only worsen the longer this situation lasts.

Of course, this situation is not easily addressed, and individuals as well groups associated with nightlife will no doubt have to be creative in finding solutions - and no doubt they will be. However, it does demonstrate the particularly acute difficulty facing artists and DJs associated with electronic music, part of the far more systematic problem facing the UK’s creative art and cultural scene as a whole during this period. What it also demonstrates is that nightclubs are far more than simply businesses, something lost on a Conservative government that conditions its support foremost on economic viability. Alarmingly they also are supplying funding allegedly on the condition that venues which do accept grants are required to post positively about receiving that funding on social media channels. This disturbing development only reinforces an image of a Tory government leveraging financial support as a means to enforce cultural conformity, as well as to project an image, falsely, that the government is meaningful about supporting culture.

As noted before, it’s still early days for the grant program, and how fairly distributed funding will be is something that will become clearer over the coming weeks. However, the initial signs are worrying, with the criteria for and conditions of accepting grants suggesting that the government is more interested in preserving commercially viable culture than in really engaging with affected communities to ensure that the spaces that act as their second homes are able to make it through the pandemic, no matter how viable a business they may be. For a government that never ceases to surpass our expectations of its incompetence and cold indifference toward the population at large, the grant scheme for nightclubs just serves as another example. But for the marginalised groups and musicians who had already been fighting against the odds to survive in a gentrified London, the potential for the government’s policy to do lasting damage to their world is very real. 

[thewebcomicsreview]

its very reasonable to try and avoid hurting people where possible but it is much less reasonable to demand that someone else's risqué jokes be removed from a website that the viewer has full power to just... not visit anymore. The joke was in poor taste, making it one of thousands of similar jokes. If you find the comic offensive, that's fine, but referring to people who have run a wildly successful children's hospital charity for over 10 years as "the dick wolves guys" is just shitty.

I never said the comic should be taken down, just that the PA guys were kind of dickheads about the whole thing. They could have either apologized, defended it, or just ignored the criticism and let it blow over instead of bringing it up themselves every few years. 

Anonymous said to thewebcomicsreview:

I feel like you’d be a little spiky too if literally hundreds of people began circulating that LOTH page as proof that you hated burn victims and supported burning people in real life.

It was actually a much later page that got people mad at me for “hating white men” because I wrote Riley as a jerk. 

There’s no shortage of stupid-ass criticism of comics. Part of being on the internet now, and a lot of people have had it was worse over way less. 

Anonymous said to thewebcomicsreview:

Like, not to nelabor the point, but if you think angrily pushing back because multiple people jumped directly to accusing them of having actually raped someone because “only rapists would find that funny” is being an asshole, I just don’t understand your worldview at all.

People accused me of transphobic language when I tagged a Questionable Content page with “the trappening”, but I never felt the need to “push back” on trans people. I considered their arguments, decided they were making a fair point, apologized, and removed the tag.I know some of the people who were originally upset with me were satisfied by this, and I’m sure some of the people who were upset with me were not satisfied with this and stopped following. We all moved on with our lives and I tried to be a little more thoughtful when discussing trans issues so I didn’t say something stupid again.

Anonymous said to thewebcomicsreview:

artists who release their art for free don’t have a responsibility to make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone, are you fucking mental? press the back button. find a different comic. don’t flip the fuck out and demand an apology and then carry a grudge forever when you don’t get it

Sure, lots of comics have difficult or challenging content. Sometimes it’s in the service of a really fucking good comic that wants to say important things about difficult issues.

Such as Drop Out’s discussion of mental illness, or take your pick of [Most “Great Literature” From School]. 

Sometimes it’s in the service of a stupid joke

The Homestuck epilogues have, um, a lot of this, like this segment of middle-aged Gamzee fucking teenage Vriska in a bush for shock value grossout comedy. 

And the Homestuck epilogues got a lot more criticism, mostly because Homestuck’s this big huge corporate franchise but also because this stuff is really dumb and worthy of criticism. Much of the criticism is fair, and I think it’s a little cowardly of Andrew Hussie to hide behind his staff like he does, letting them take all the criticism why he poses with horses. There’s certainly an issue when people fire a massive hate mob at random teenagers making their first comics, but a major webcomic/gaming corporation making rape jokes isn’t quite the same thing.

And, really, if you’re sending a message to “The Webcomics Review” asking me not to have opinions of major popular webcomics, perhaps it is in fact you who should hit the back button. Or not, if you don’t want to. I’d be a hypocrite to tell you not to criticize me, after all. Feel free to leave a comment on my comic over at SaffronComic.com! 

Anonymous said to thewebcomicsreview:

It’s super good of you to promote humility and accountability like this. Quick question though, how many times has the address of your children’s school been posted on twitter because of a joke you drew?

Hi. This is Daniel Kelly of the Webcomics Review. We recently made a post where a rich and famous comic creator was criticized for making and standing behind a rape joke and selling rape joke shirts and flags.

Some found that idea disturbing.

We want to state in clear language, without ambiguity or room for interpretation: we hate doxxers, and all the doxxing they do. Seriously, though. Doxxers are really the worst. 

It’s possible you read my blog, and became a doxxer as a direct result. If you’re doxxing someone right now, stop. Apologize. And leave. Go, and dox no more.

[dimensionsunited]

JULY 2020 DIMENSIONS ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Members may earn 3 points each (up to 6 points) for writing, by the end of August 7 KST:

A solo para of 400+ words based on their monthly schedule (does not count toward your monthly total).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) based on their monthly schedule.

Threads do not have to take place directly during an important date listed on the schedule, but must be related to what the muse is mentioned to be doing in the paragraph explaining their schedule/the company’s schedule for the month and/or their thoughts on the mentioned activities or lack thereof.

These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Reminder: June schedule posts are due by the end of July 7 KST. Please do not post schedule posts in the fmdschedule tag.

OVERALL COMPANY

All Dimensions idols are scheduled for a meeting with upper management the day before the news of the upcoming base Culture Complex is leaked to the media. They’re given a more detailed rundown of plans for the facility than the public is, although not all the details are made clear. In the meeting, everyone is informed Dimensions has partnered once again with BC and Gold Star to fund the construction of a new building in Gangnam meant to become the ideal location in the world for fans of idols. The building will include a museum with exhibits dedicated to the history and music of each group and soloist, a handful of theatre venues for intimate concerts and company-sponsored musical productions, a merchandise mall, a cafe, and many other fan experiences. (admin note: For reference, imagine something similar to SM COEX Artium —with over three times the budget.) The idols won’t spend much time there even once it’s finished being built, but content starring them is critical to the financial success of the venture, so the next several months leading up to its opening will have all three companies’ idols working hard to make its opening a success. This month, that mostly involves producing photo shoots: all idols will attend a photo shoot session this month where three categories of photo will be tacked: profile pictures for the artist wall (grayscale, professional and serious tone), images for life-sized cutouts of each idol (wardrobe will consist of jeans and a single-color top for each idol, fun and bright tone with fanservicable poses such as here and here encouraged) and 3D imaging for 3D-printed figures of each idol.

Important dates:

July 5: base Culture Complex briefing meeting.

July 12-July 31: Photo shoots for base Culture Complex, as individual muse schedule allows, at unspecified photo studio in Gangnam (admin note: muses may encounter idols from other companies while there).

DIMENSIONS SOLOIST 1

As promised, she begins work on her next comeback this month with a new digital single. She’s planned to make her comeback in October, so this month isn’t too busy as she’s only in the studio to record the final vocals for the song. At the end of the month, she’ll have her first fittings for potential stage outfits. The goal for this round of fittings is mainly to get her opinion on potential styling.

Important dates:

July 30: First MV and stage outfit fittings.

DIMENSIONS SOLOIST 2

He’ll be debuting a new song, “When You Call My Name”, at his concert next month, so in addition to rehearsals for the concert, he’ll be in the studio to record the song throughout the month of July. He won’t be releasing it until November, but the song needs to be recorded in full now so that a backing track can be made, though he’ll be expected to sing it mostly live at his concert.

Important dates:

N/A.

DIMENSIONS SOLOIST 3

She’ll be holding her first ever solo concert in September, something Dimensions will be announcing this month as tickets go on sale for her fans and the public. It’s a big deal for her to hold solo concerts already and is a big show of faith from the company in her following the impressive performance of her debut, even if the venue isn’t huge. She’ll be rehearsing live performances all of her released songs and OSTs, and will also be able to cover up to three songs of her choice (as long as they don’t conflict with her public image too much). Rehearsals will be filmed for her OnStyle reality show.

Important dates:

N/A

GAL.ACTIC

News of a new comeback comes to the members in the form of a meeting this month. At the meeting, they get to hear demos of the upcoming mini-album and are informed that the concept for their comeback will be “black swan”, something more elegant and darker than their recent comebacks. Throughout the month, they’ll be in the studio recording the album. They also have a photo shoot for Arena Homme Plus and they’ll be performing “B.B.B”, “Someone Like U”, and “Be Ambitious” at a festival at the end of the month.

Important dates:

July 6: Photo shoot for Arena Homme Plus’s August issue.

July 29: Performance at Blue One Resort K-Pop Festival in Gyeongju (also performing: BEE, Knight, and Lipstick).

ALIEN

After they have the fittings for the “Follow” MV and comeback music show stages, Alien will move on to wrapping up comeback preparations by filming their comeback MV on July 7. Filming is simple compared to the overseas travel and acting they’ve had to do for some recent releases, as they’ll be filming solo and dance shots on a series of sets this time. After that, they’ll spend the next two weeks hard at work in the dance studio to fine-tune all of the details of their performance until the day of their comeback on July 20.

Important dates:

July 1: Comeback MV and stage outfit fittings.

July 7: “Follow” M/V filming.

July 14: Release of pre-release track “Find You”.

July 20: Release of “Follow” & Follow: Find You album, music show promotions continue through August 20.

MARS

MARS are back to work as ambassadors for Jambangee jeans by shooting an ad campaign for the summer season. It’s a simple shoot concept with simple styling, so it isn’t planned to take very long. The day after that photo shoot, MARS will be informed that they’ll begin preparing for a Japanese comeback this month by studio recording their Japanese comeback single, “Can’t Say”.

Important dates:

July 2: Jambangee summer ad campaign photo shoot.

7ROPHY

Now that 7ROPHY wrapped their most recent comeback promotions, they get a break from the cycle of comeback preparations for this month. Instead, they’ve been asked to participate in two magazine photo shoots that Dimensions has been happy to accept on their behalf to keep them in the public eye despite the disappointing performance of their last two singles. They’ll be the cover models of August’s issue of The Star and will have an inside spread in Nylon Korea the same month. For Queendom, they’ll be filming the first two episodes on July 16 and July 30, and they’ve been asked to prepare a performance of their representative hit song, “Latata”. Full details of Queendom filming for this month can be found here.

Important dates:

July 1: Photo shoot for Nylon Korea’s August issue.

July 4: Photo shoot for The Star’s August issue.

July 16: Queendom episode one filming (introductions).

July 30: Queendom episode one & two filming (representative hit song stage).

UNITY

The first two days of the month, Unity fits in both the photo shoot for their album photo book and a photo shoot and interview for Harper’s Bazaar Korea’s August issue. After that, the CHAMPION sub-unit members will leave for the US, and once they return, it’s the final month leading up to their long-awaited comeback, so pre-promotion activity kicks into high gear, including MV filming and the filming of a series of videos that will be released in the lead up to the album on Dimensions’ Youtube channel.

Important dates:

July 1: Album photo book shoot.

July 2: Photo shoot for Harper’s Bazaar Korea’s August issue.

July 16: “Kick It” MV & behind & 1?Q 7!A filming day one.

July 17: “Kick It” MV & behind & 1?Q 7!A filming day two.

July 19: Welcome To The Unity Zone filming (The Opening Show, U.N.I Shopping)

July 29: Welcome To The Unity Zone filming (Looking For The Best Bruce Lee)

          ↳ CHAMPION

CHAMPION has already broken records, soaring to the top of the Billboard Hot 200 album chart last month, a feat only Origin has previously achieved. The achievement has BC and Dimensions quite proud and the lack of significant performance on the Korean charts isn’t considered a big deal to them due to the overseas success. This month, they begin their tour in Texas (flying out from Seoul late on July 5) and hold five US dates total before they fly out back to Seoul in the early morning hours of July 12. As previously mentioned, the two involves all of the songs on their mini-album, two unreleased songs (”Dangerous Woman” and “With You”), and solo stages by those who have made solo debuts before the tour.

Important dates:

July 6: CHAMPION: We Are The Future Live concert at Dickies Arena in Forth Worth, TX, USA.

July 8: CHAMPION: We Are The Future Live concert at United Center in Chicago, IL, USA.

July 9: CHAMPION: We Are The Future Live concert at Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, GA, USA.

July 10: CHAMPION: We Are The Future Live concert at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, VA, USA. 

July 11: CHAMPION: We Are The Future Live concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, USA. 

LUCID

Beginning on July 4, the Lucid members begin their Welcome to The Dream World tour, which is dedicated entirely to songs from their nightmare realm concept, along with the special stages mentioned in last month’s schedule. From July 7 to July 9, they’ll be in Taiwan, and then on July 23, they’ll fly out from Seoul again to continue their tour overseas. For the first chunk of the month, while they’re in Seoul, they’ll be busy learning the choreography for their title track, “Navillera” and b-side “Gone With The Wind”, along with outfit fittings.

Important dates:

July 4: Welcome to The Dream World concert at Shinsegae Mesa Hall in Seoul, South Korea.

July 7: Comeback MV and stage outfit [2] fittings.

July 8:  Welcome to The Dream World concert at Legacy Taipei in Taipei, Taiwan.

July 24: Welcome to The Dream World concert at El Teatro de Flores in Buenos Aires, Brazil.

July 26: Welcome to The Dream World concert at Club Chocolate in Santiago, Chile.

July 29: Welcome to The Dream World concert at Maracanã in Lima, Peru.

July 31: Welcome to The Dream World concert at Teatro ECCI El Dorado in Bogota, Columbia.

[vroenis]

Mood Dependence

The first tag I drop on the entry is of-course Kentucky Route Zero.

I forget whether I’ve talked about this before so here we are talking about it again some more. While I was playing KRZ and occasionally posting about it on social media, among others, two particular friends responded to me about it and we engaged, having some good discussions on and off. I suggested that playing the game might be highly mood dependent, but that for me engaging in most art is mood dependent, the only thing that varies is to what degree. If I was still more of a wanker, I might suggest that the more artsy-fartsy a product is, the more mood dependent it is but that’s not the case. I very much have to be in the right frame of mind to engage with Marvel or Bravest Warriors as much as Gaspar Noé, it really does depend on the individual and what mood they’re most frequently in or find themselves in at the time.

I find it affects more than the consumption of and engagement with art, tho. I don’t know if it’s a bipolar thing or a human thing and I say that a lot; it affects my ability to write, create, engage with people - enact actions in the world. The only thing I have to brute-force my way thru is of-course my employment which raises particularly interesting capitalistic questions of societal structure. I’m not entirely here to smash the establishment tho - there are times where discipline is useful; on a base level, discipline and the ability to overcome how we feel assists us with survival and sure it’s disgusting to apply that to the nth degree entirely in the ultimate capitalist sense, but again on a base level, being able to hold down a job in an of itself isn’t necessarily evil. Before we go Burning Down The Corporations, I need to make careful distinctions between my mental states and my physical states, as a first example. Minds and bodies are complex systems and understanding them is my responsibility.

Nevertheless I can never stray too far from my iconoclastic nature and Art-capital-A is one of my most primary motivators. There is definitely plenty wrong in the world at large we have created over generations and the societal structures therein regarding how we understand people and psychology and I’m fairly certain we will never address it to our ultimate destruction, that is fairly observable, mundane, and an immense tragedy for literally billions of people who will luck out in the birth lottery or have already done so. Art is the only thing that from a pragmatic perspective is both meaningless and unnecessary and so becomes the most essential and important thing for humanity. We must inject the most meaning and emotion into it possible. It becomes charged with the most powerful intangible things we have; our emotions. This is why bad art must be celebrated and documented. Anger, frustration, humour is just as valuable as everything we think is noble.

It’s also why the struggle to create is very real and perhaps one of the greatest challenges. It’s probably why I pushed myself to write today. Usually I’m cautious about pushing myself to produce, and I want to again be very careful with the language I use being so capitalist, even if only by stating it. It’s hazardous discussing everything in terms of product - I know I mentioned in a previous entry and Capitalism tries to convince you that everything you create is a product and it has no value unless someone is buying it, so a reminder to myself and to you that it’s not what’s happening here. I could frame it as exercise, and I’m now thinking (typing? lol) aloud in that an exercise is effectively an investment - a preparation for ability, capability for the future and again it all sounds quite capitalist, doesn’t it? Do we always do things only with the hope of some kind of profit? A return on investment? Do we evaluate everything only if and when there is a return, at the valuation point, like a board game about speculative stocks? If the board game never concludes because of an unforeseen interruption, do we not name a winner and so the game and the stocks - the product and our labour - never had any value?

Do I write this to answer these questions, or only to ask them, and which has value?

All the philosophy majors will have a lot of angles on what has value or whether there’s any point to value at all as a frame which is great. Value as a phenomena is a whole Thing - we can discuss whether or not I have any intent to create or suggest Value capital V (that’s getting annoying, I know, so that will be the last time) but that will be fairly pointless.

(I made that; you can steal it).

Over the last few entries, I’ve not directly talked about the one monumental current event that’s dominated the attention of world at large. If you note the dates on these entries and you’re visiting from the future, you may have to look up what was happening around now if I haven’t mentioned it explicitly anywhere as I likely won’t. There was one vague reference to it in the Kaossilator post which is as close as I care to get. There are so many other things happening in our lives (J and mine) that I’d say were interruptions, but they’re not really - they’re just life, but they’re the daily challenges that make creating difficult.

It means coming here and writing weekly or bi-weekly, as is my intention, is a challenge. It means turning on all my gear and working on music is a huge challenge. It means watching films and sometimes even YouTube is a challenge. A lot of it it energy dependent, heaps of it is naturally time dependent, but for me a significant portion is mood dependent and my understanding of that is it’s more dimensional than just not feeling like it.

Over dinner a while ago, our family were discussing films released in 2019 and which was my favourite and honestly I think I got around to seeing one. I think the next most recent film I saw in the last 12 months was Hereditary which I enjoyed most, so if I see a film within 24 months of its release these days, I’m doing well. Mostly this is due to time and opportunity, but it’s mostly due to mood; I just don’t want to watch most films, even ones I’m interested in seeing and want to watch. 

Our hosts also asked us what we thought of the place as they’d just recently moved in and were still in the process of moving things around and my perspective was and is that I like subtle - and often not so subtle suggestions of separations of space for application. When I read, I read in specific places. When I create music, I only do it in the studio, tho there are exceptions when I take one or two smaller pieces of gear out of the room as that’s a ton of fun for a refreshing change. When I play games, it’s on the consoles down at the television, the same goes for when I watch films or shows - we don’t have more than one room with TVs in them, and while J can and does watch shows on her iPad in bed, it’s not something I can do. For me, I want a dedicated space in which I focus on film to engage with it.

This applies to the times when I create and engage with art, too, and I’ve mentioned before that there are even times when I do and don’t listen to certain albums or pieces of music. In this post-KRZ life I’m in, (need to change the name of this journal to Art Worth Dying For: or Life Post-Kentucky Route Zero), I’m trying to write these longer posts every Friday night after work, but it’s turning out to be either Saturday during the day, Saturday evening or on the Sunday. During the week I try to add something shorter, but I do want to maintain some semblance of regular discipline because writing is good for me, in particular in lieu of ceasing other online activities. I’ve found that engagement in general is low on other platforms, and while it does occur rarely and at a moderate level, it isn’t regular enough for my liking. Like many, I’ve taken a somewhat passive role on Instagram where the Stories are utilised to post temporary activity and engagement is higher, and on Facebook I respond to posts in the Akai Force group where necessary but only when relevant which isn’t often.

I’d rather come here and write endlessly and be orderly, in short and long-format text, and as expressed in my Instagram stories; even post images in a more static format that invites slower digestion and contemplation with a view to better interpolation of text and context of that text in relation to the images.

It doesn’t matter that I don’t have an audience here, what matters is that I like the form and format and that it feels right for my expression. It allows me to inject value into it, so I guess it’s good product then; even if no-one is buying. Good ol’ capitalism. I don’t know if writing discipline will lead to music discipline, that’s certainly not one of the aspirations I maintain - if it’s a side-effect, it’s welcome. Nevertheless, there’s a charm in writing publicly and being able to come back, re-read my thoughts and reflect on what comes out when I plug directly into what’s going on and let some of the previous week spill out, delineated in text and a few images - these tiny snapshots of what life is like for me. I feel like it’s valuable, insightful even if just for me, for what my life is becoming, the Art that is shaping it along with the events I’m experiencing - am subject to. That’s ominous, as it should be. It should be for us all. We are subject to Art.

[tejungtao]

Social Media Journalism: The New Wave

Social media has taken the world by storm in the last decade. With the rise of social media giants such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok, the younger generations are some of the most active online. From the moment we wake up to the last few moments before we sleep, our phones are usually always within reaching distance (Twenge 20). First thing in the morning, we get up and go on our phones to see if anything interesting among our social circle has happened overnight. We are constantly taking in content and information. Social media has become a vital part of our culture that “defines us, our world, and our place in it” (Baran 9). Social media tells us what’s trending and happening in our world. For millennials and Gen Z-ers, social media has become embedded in our daily lives and routine – and that is exactly why I think the new age of journalism belongs with social media. 

The unfortunate truth is that print news and magazine journalism is dead. While the older generations may still value print journalism, most millennials and Generation Z-ers  have never even picked up or bought an actual newspaper. Not only is print journalism a complete waste of resources such as paper and ink, our generations also do not even have the attention span for it. 

The new generations revolve around succinct and efficient ways of life that have no time or patience to sit down and read a forty page or so newspaper to get their information. Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or Tik Tok have conditioned us to receive information in bite-size pieces. For example, Twitter has a 280 word count limit; Snapchats are usually around 10 seconds or less; Tik Tok videos are at most 60 seconds. So, you can see how print journalism is dead to our generations; we do not even have the attention span for it. 

We are the future of America yet we are missing out on a lot of important information and decisions that would directly impact us. Why? Because the majority of our youth either pays no attention to the news or does not take enough time to thoroughly do their research. I, along with many others of my generation, often can not even sit through a five to ten minute read article without getting distracted because of how long and boring it is. If news companies were to create a more active presence on social media platforms that would appeal to younger generations, it would create massive change. For example, younger generation voting turnouts in the past have always been significantly lower than the baby boomer and Gen X turn outs. Had our generations been more informed about what was happening during the presidential elections, maybe the turnout would’ve been drastically different. 

While many news platforms are already using social media to an extent, they often do not give you the main points of the news article on the social media page. Instead, they post titles of articles followed by a link to the actual article on their website – this is where they lose many of their readers. I propose that news companies focus more on creating and releasing bite-size paragraph posts that give you the main points. My hope is that they can educate us enough through social media platforms that we build up an adequate foundation of knowledge on current events that we can then take the initiative to do further research ourselves if we wanted to. I am not saying that news companies should only share news through social media, but that they give us enough news through there to get us started. And the best part is, with so many people already on social media, news companies would not even have to advertise very hard to gain followers. 

Not only is social media a great way to educate our younger generations, it is also an extremely easy and accessible way to get our information. The average high schooler spends about six or more hours on media per day (Twenge 51). During that time, they will come across loads of news and information on their different social media platforms. Information spreads like wildfire online. If news companies were to post more content on these platforms, they could reach a huge audience of youths without even really trying. In an age of “retweets”, “hashtags”, and “tagging”, it would not take much for important information and news to spread. To relate it to current social issues, the recent protests that have happened in the United States in support for George Floyd and the #BlackLivesMatter movement has been heavily covered on social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. The organization of protests and updates on the situation can be found there as well. Many youths who normally don’t watch the news on television are able to get the same information, if not more, from scrolling through social media. Looking at just how much information has been shared during this time is proof alone on how powerful social media can be as a news outlet. 

In his article, Robert McChesney claims that in the future, news may be aimed at the affluent population and may even require a subscription (226). However, the right to knowledge is something all people should have. With the internet and social media being a public good (McChesney 226), it would provide equal access to vital information for all people, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Nowadays, almost everyone has at least one social media account. In 2016, it was reported that “ 59% of 18- to 29-year-olds used Instagram and 56% used Snapchat” (Twenge 57) and I am sure the numbers have only risen in recent years. It was also reported that now people of all different races and classes have access to social media as opposed to before, when it was more predominantly white and higher social class people who had access (Twenge 55). By creating a bigger presence in social media, news companies would be able to reach and inform so many more people who previously were not able to access such information. 

To play devil’s advocate, there might be some critics who question the reliability of social media. While this is a completely valid concern, I think this critique could be applied to all sorts of news media outlets. There will always be a question of how reliable a news source is. What I propose is that news outlets create a team within that solely focuses on editing their social media content, to make sure it goes out with the same quality that you would expect from more traditional news outlets such as magazine and newspaper articles. Of course, it will be hard to make sure all the comments and feedback from social media news posts are reliable as well but I think that is the beauty of social media. People are allowed to have their own opinions and thoughts about the news and the comment section allows for them to educate others on various other viewpoints of the same subject. 

Social media is an untapped gold mine for journalism. Its ability to spread information, create trends, start movements, and so much more is incomparable. The younger generations are our future and journalism needs to update itself to cater to us in order to succeed in the years to come. Change is inevitable and we can either embrace it or let it take us over. 

References

Twenge, Jean M. Internet: Online Time – Oh, and Other Media, Too. ilearn.ucr.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-3785718-dt-content-rid-34740246_1/courses/MCS_005_001_20S/McChesney - Rejuvenating American Journalism_Some Tentative Policy Proposals.pdf.

McChesney, Robert. Rejuvenating America Journalism: Some Tentative Policy Proposals. 2011, ilearn.ucr.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-3785718-dt-content-rid-34740246_1/courses/MCS_005_001_20S/McChesney - Rejuvenating American Journalism_Some Tentative Policy Proposals.pdf.

Baran. Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy. ilearn.ucr.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-3785714-dt-content-rid-34740239_1/courses/MCS_005_001_20S/Baran - Ch 1 - Mass Communication_Culture and Media Literacy.pdf.

[minnochu]

Lustrous (pt.8)

Hybrid!Kook x Reader AU

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7 | Pt 8 | Pt 9 | Pt 10 | Pt 11 | Pt 12 | Pt 13 | Pt 14 | Pt 15 | Pt 16 | Pt 17 | Pt 18 | Pt 19

(A/N): Tbh I was gonna wait till later today to post this but fuck it I’ma feed y’all. Sorry for any misspellings or errors I might have missed when I quickly proofread this.

Soooo I finally finished this part after much dryness and finally a spark of idea lmao. Also I know I posted a quick psa, but in case you didn’t read it, I didn’t reply to the asks about tagging for this fic so I could keep track of them (Except two ‘cause your users wouldn’t show up when I tried tagging lol). But thank you for the support! 

.

Yahiko’s disapproval of Jungkook being around you is super effective in getting him to avoid and ignore you more than he already had before your attack. You can’t understand why she’d believe that just because his eyes labeled him as a murderer he couldn’t have any good inside him. For gods sakes the guy has saved you countless of times when he could’ve just let you die and get eaten. Much less he could have murdered you at your weakest when the wendigos targeted you.

That night, you share one last look between you and the wolf boy before Seokjin gives you a comforting hug and Yoongi briefly pats your head awkwardly. The boys leave and you spare Yahiko barely a glance, not when she just forbid you from someone you considered a really good friend other than Hyejin.

As you both grow distant, the more often you get the dreams. They shouldn’t even be classified as dreams. They were nightmares. They were so vivid and almost as if you were there but no one was aware of it. These dreams were way too nostalgic to be ignored, and they pit a feeling of danger within your stomach. It was all too tangible, they always ended with you shooting up in bed sweating and in tears. Why did you feel so sad?

“That wretch, a menace that child is. It seems she is reaching her peaking age, we have to dispose of her as soon as possible.”

All the dreams always took place in that place. Like your first dream, it was a dark building with many rooms, all dreary and emitting some kind of miasma even you can sense within your dream state.

“You can’t! You promised to leave her alone once the vampire erased her memories!”

Your heart hurt. It squeezed and yet you didn’t have the answer as to why it did such a thing.

“Minerva, the vampire has been exterminated, we can’t risk her uprising and being a danger to us all.”

Minerva was a distinct woman within your dreams. From the first time you’d seen her trying to persuade the others to spare her child, to now, she was always very noticeable. This time, she appeared older and weary as she pleaded with the others.

“The fact that you’re defending that defect brings great shame to the Blackwell coven, what would Colhen say of this trouble you’ve already caused him and Sister Eris?”

Sister Eris. Colhen. After multiple dreams you connected the dots between each dream to figure out that “Sister Eris” is the leader of some sort. Colhen was the husband of Eris and Minerva was supposedly a lover of his — you had one particular dream of his affair with her before growing distant and disapproving of her after the birth of the “mutant” they constantly referred the child as.

You weren’t sure what they were or why you were having dreams about them, but it always creeped you out. It felt way too real and vivid to be something your brain just created out of the blue.

Coven they said. Witches? Why were you dreaming about witches?

“Would you not feel any sense of guilt or despair for your child to be the target of execution for being different?” Minerva cried, her (e/c) irises blazing with both sadness and ferocity, “It could’ve been any of yours!” She was on her knees at this point, forlorn and ready to give up as her sisters glared down at her pitifully.

“Minerva! Enough of this nonsense!”

The image of the weeping woman dissolved and in place was the same person but she faced directly towards you. Your body visibly shivered in your slumber at the chilling recognition, feeling as though her presence was there in your very room. The trails of dried up tears stained her cheeks as her eyes looked directly at you. It made you heart twist sadly despite the anxiety that gripped your throat at her recognition of your presence within the dream.

“My child,” she began in a quivering voice as she looks around fervently but only appears to be alone in a dimly lit room with you. What was she afraid of? Who is she looking out for?

“Please be strong, they’ll be coming for you very quickly,” her voice hushes as she bites her lip and squeezes her eyes shut in fear. There’s a faint reverberation of feet clamping on wood, causing her body to tense. “You must be strong and remember everything!” She whispers quickly now and moves to grab the only source of light in the room, an oil lamp, “I never meant to abandon you, I don’t expect you to forgive me but you were never a mistake! Stay close with the wolves. Just know that mother loves you so much!”

“Don’t let them get to you.”

Footsteps grow louder and a door opens, light penetrating the dark as she casts you one last fleeting glance as she whispers incantations you can’t decipher. Her hand swipes to the left across from you and her image dissolves just as you witness her body being impaled by an unknown object as it’s too fuzzy to decipher the remnants of the image.

You wake with a jolt, chest heaving as you look around the small attic you call your room. Empty. And yet you can’t help wondering why it felt like Minerva was in here with you. Was she talking to you? Were you in her child’s body while she was talking to them? The more you thought about it, the more confused you became.

Stay close to the wolves. Jungkook comes to mind immediately but why? She wasn’t talking directly to you right?

“(Y/n)! Are you alright?” Yahiko enters from the hatch that leads to down to the house, “I felt a burst of aura from up here, did someone come here? Was it that wolf?”

The words enter one ear and go out the other as you think more deeply about Minerva’s words that seemed aimed at you.

“Yahiko…” you start, gaining her attention as she takes a seat at your bedside and takes your hands in hers, “What is the Blackwell Coven?”

She blinks, but you catch a hint of recognition in her eyes.

“They’re a well-known family of witches and warlocks that perform the dark arts, very strong, and very notorious for sacrifice and knowledge of dark and murderous powers,” she starts out with a sigh, “They live quite a ways from Seoul, no less from here as they opposed harmonizing the mortals and the supernatural.”

“Why might you be asking this now-?”

Her question is cut short as the doorbell from downstairs alert the both of you of a visitor. You both glance at each other. It had to be three in the morning, who would be here? The trek down to the first floor is tense as you both open the door to find a package lying on the doorstep. “Did you order something?” Yahiko asks as she glances around.

As she does so you inspect the package suspiciously. Why do you get such a bad feeling from it? Why did it emit a revolting sensation that tells you to be cautious of it?

“They’ll be coming for you.”

You suck in a breath as you notice the package depressing into itself. “Yahiko, the package.”

Yahiko whips around and is quick to thrust a hand towards you. Your body is forced back into the house as her eyes appear golden with the silhouette of ears and a tail glowing at their respective spots. Foxfire ignite from her palms as they appear one by one around the package, a net of runes surround it just in time to catch the black thorns that grow abruptly from the now torn package. The runes pull and tighten over the force and speed of the spikes but do well to keep them at bay. You notice the dark miasma rolling off the surface of the thorns like waves. It makes you shiver as Yahiko works to purify and diminish them.

“This has to be them…” You choke out as the remains of the thorns dissolve and Yahiko releases the barrier and her transformation. All that’s left is the tattered up box. You crouch down and pick up the cardboard but sigh when it's obviously been singed by the foxfire.

“They’re coming for me, Yahiko,” You start shakily, glancing up at the confused elder with glossy eyes shimmering with fear, “I’ve been having recurring dreams about them. The Blackwell Coven. My most recent dream, a woman spoke to me - like actually me - and said they’ll be coming for me..”

“It’s a warning,” The woman deduces with a frown, realizing what you were referring to, “They must have found your location, it’s not safe here.”

“The wolves, she told me to stay close to the wolves,” You blurt out, hoping she set her dislike for Jungkook aside for your safety.

“Are you trying to tell me to leave you at the hands of that killer, (Y/n)?” She leered, brows scrunching at the idea, “I know it’s unsafe for you to stay here now, but I can’t allow you--”

“Would you rather I die, because it sure sounded like they were coming to execute me!” You retort back as you stalk back up to your room until Yahiko catches up.

She sneers at your anger, standing behind you with her arms crossed, “Stupid girl, you don’t think I didn’t know that? I knew this whole time you couldn’t have been just a normal mortal girl. I didn’t give you that stone for no reason my child.”

You turn at this, attention piqued at the mention of the mysterious amulet she gifted you the first day of school. Her expression softens as she takes you within her arms in a brief hug.

“The Blackwells have just confirmed my suspicions about you,” she surrendered with an endearing smile, “You’re very special (Y/n).”

She lifted one finger to press to the amber jewel within your amulet, “Minerva had personally sent this to me as soon as you settled into my attic.” At once, her finger resonates with a soft fiery glow that slowly absorbs into the amulet. “The Blackwells despise siphoners. They call them mistakes and a shame to the family. You’re a siphoner my dear, but far from a wretched mutant.”

She pulls her finger away and the amulet is still glowing. You touch the jewel cautiously and gasp audibly at the power resonating from within it.

Minerva, you recall her mentioning. That woman must have actually been speaking to you. The realization makes your heart squeeze in sadness, shock, and even betrayal. She’d referred to you as her child and she as mother. The terms finally connecting as you stare at the jewel in amazement.

Minerva was your mother.

“A siphoner stone,” she answers your look, “Simply put, a siphoner must find other sources of magic to cast spells and such as they are not innately born with their own. That’s really all I know... That warlock might be able to tell you more, and help you learn to protect yourself… and as much as I hate to say it, hide yourself within those wolves. But please be wary of the blue eyed one.”

And that’s how you find yourself now calling Jimin as you and Yahiko walk to their cabin. She suggested asking Hyejin out of doubt for your safety staying with a tainted beta, but you knew that they would definitely find you there and you didn’t want to put your friend in that kind of danger. Staying in a cabin with vampires, werewolves, and a warlock was your safest bet to mask yourself.

“Welcome back (Y/n)!”

The brunette welcomes you with a bone crushing hug as soon as the front door is swung open, to which Yahiko’s eyes flare orange with a loud clearing of her throat. The wolf simmered and let you go while scratching his neck nervously.

“You stay safe (Y/n) and drop by as much as you can!” Yahiko says as she hands Jimin your luggage and offers a goodbye hug to you. You’re pretty sure if you didn’t she’d show up at the pack’s cabin within seconds.

“Please keep her safe, and no hands,” she shoots the wolf a sharp look, causing the boy to smile nervously.

“Right, she’ll be safe with us,” he ensures cheerily as Yahiko takes her reluctant leave.

“Yikes, I can’t believe you got attacked this early in the morning,” he sighs, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to give you a comforting side hug, “It’s good your safe now, the brat has been pacing around all night worried about you.”

“Jungkook?” You asked confused as he turned on the lights to the living room, “He knew I was in danger?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t he? After all he’s-”

Jimin felt the hair on his neck stand tall as shivers ran up his back. Turning his head slowly, he coughed awkwardly when he spots Jungkook glaring daggers at him from the hallway, his eyes glowering a dangerous marine. Irked and slightly nervous as the younger cracks a knuckle, he laughs dryly.

“Jungkook!”

He flinches, not expecting you to acknowledge him, biting his bottom lip when he feels his inner wolf jump excitedly at the mention of his name. Moving to retreat back into his room when Seokjin presses a firm palm to his shoulder and pushes the youth into the living room.

“(Y/n)!” The warlock grins, passing by Jungkook to hug you. His smile remains solid even as the wolf glares at the back of his head heatedly. “I heard from Jimin what happened,” he said, voice slightly lower from before as his eyes gave off a more sharper appeal than their usually softer brown. You’re taken by surprise and he notices this, eyes softening as he beckons you further into the room, “You must be shaken up and overwhelmed, we’re all just glad you and Yahiko are safe.”

He offers you a seat on the couch as he hurries Jimin to prepare chamomile tea.

“How are you feeling?” Seokjin asks tentatively, silently urging Jungkook to take a seat but he stubbornly remains glued to the spot far away leaning against the wall. “The dark arts are truly a force to be reckoned with after all…”

“Did you guys know I was a siphoner?” You ask hesitantly, fingering your amulet as you say so, “Why does that have to do with me being targeted by some sicko witch group?”

Seokjin sighs, pursing his lips as he figures out where to start, knowing you’d want as much answers he could provide about who you were.

“Mm… where to start…” He hums, “Yes and… no. We figured you were human at first, there was no indication or spiritual power coming from you that told us otherwise. However, that day you ingested muting herbs and nearly absorbed most of mine and Kook’s energy when you came to were very strong indications that you couldn’t just be a normal girl.

“I’m sure your caretaker explained the gist of what you are… a siphoner. And Blackwells absolutely despise any connections to what they deemed a burden or a mistake. Mutant witches that didn’t have their own natural power was deemed a mistake that had to be eradicated.

“You’re no mistake (Y/n), don’t get me wrong, you are and can be so much more powerful than others let on, despite being only mortal. I presume that the fact that you’re still alive and that vampire is dead, they feel pressured and endangered.”

Pausing, he gauges your blank expression and chuckles, “Was that too much information for you? I know you only just found out today.”

Shaking your head, you manage a slight smile, “It’s nothing I guess… all I can do is take it in you know…”

“You’re a strong one (Y/n),” He smiles, placing a hand on your shoulder, “If you need anything just ask!”

“Just one… my mother, Minerva, a member of the Blackwell family gifted me this stone. Please teach me how to use it.”

Tags: @twilight-loveer @reinyrei @mistytail @mygukandonlyficrecs @xanny91 @unpocodesoledadywisky @xxqueenwxtchxx @lildemonangele @zamirayinyue13 @lana12361 

(ok oof I’m shook cuz the last two I was having trouble tagging and the results weren’t dropping down so I’m just gonna have to answers y’alls asks to let you know that your handles aren’t showing up when I try tagging.

Also if you want to be included for updates~ reply to this post or shoot me a dm or whatever ~)

[9w1ft]

okay everyone, kaylor and non kaylors alike. i want you to take a seat for a sec. i’m normally not the kind of girl to rudely barge in here... and i’m terribly sorry, but real talk. we need to talk about somebody lovely on The Swift Life

if you want full context on everything that has been happening since mid june, please look through my #tsl tag.

for now, just the essentials:

1. i have been following a recent string of gifts being given by the @TheSwiftLife official account on TSL. the one that started with the yacht taymoji... added into the In The Kitchen Pack...

2. these gifts from @TheSwiftLife caught my attention because, a lot of the content (wording and symbols) relates to our fandom. but you don’t need to understand more than the fact that i am a kaylor that has been looking at this from a kaylor perspective.

3. at some point it occurred to me that maybe these taymoji were telling a coming out story. if you want to know more, please look through my #tsl tag.

4. i got to a point in my sleuthing where i saw a throughline. but i felt kind of like a mad woman so i openly asked on tumblr for the taymoji gods to send me a sign.

5. shortly after, i got a sign in the form of a taymoji gift. the puzzle piece heart taymoji that had the flavor text “put the pieces together.” so i made my first proof post, attempting to identify the storyline.

6. after the puzzle piece proof, we got a 2 week period of no further gifts. i thought that maybe this was over and i has shared everything i had to

7. after that, taymoji gifts started being given out that at times mirrored certain conversations within the kaylor community on tumblr (example)

8. so i decided to try and address tsl directly, as a way to confirm if they were truly looking at our blogs. i asked them to post a taymoji gift that perfectly embodied who I am. i had a specific taymoji in mind i was hoping they would post because i left a clue in my tumblr profile. and that exact taymoji was gifted on @TheSwiftLife main feed, 13 days after i made the post.

9. that day also happened to be 13 days before my birthday. it was such a coincidence i was quite moved and posted about it with many thanks to them

10. separately i kept thinking on this whole string of taymoji gifts.. how it was so odd for it to have started off with a yacht taymoji. who is even running this event?? i thought. so in thinking about this, i recalled how kaylors often refer to one member of Karlie’s family as our ship’s Kaptain. i made another post on tumblr asking if there was a certain Kaptain running this event. the next day, the one and only Kimby Kloss posted to her instagram story a photo of her wearing a baseball cap with a yacht charter company logo on it, tagged @yachtzoomc.

11. kimby... could she be helping out with this Yacht In The Kitchen Event...? amidst my speculations, and general goosebumps overall, the following happening just occurred:

Kalinda King is an account on The Swift Life app, known in the community as a social media manager for the app with @KalindaKing being her personal account

whenever there’s a big update, or new content about to be released, she has posted relevant information and hinted at what it would be in the form of a riddle.

because of this, and also just because she is super sweet, she has become a prominent and beloved member of the app’s community. interactions with her are almost part and parcel of the app—people want to be reblogged by her, noticed by her, people @ her all the time. she’s kind of a mini celeb.

i was looking at her page the other day as i check her feed from time to time and noticed that her bio says she is a fan of “the good wife”

i casually googled “Kalinda King The Good Wife” out of curiosity, as any good gaylor swift fan does, and i got to this page on wikipedia:

Kalinda is the name of a character in The Good Wife. King is also the last name of the creators of the show. all quickly viewable information.

🧐KalindaKing is definitely a pen name! 🧐 i thought. in fact, kalinda doesn’t post about her personal life, nor does she have a face for a profile photo. but maybe i was wrong, i thought, so i started scrolling through Kalinda’s posts in search of something to dissuade me.

in doing so, i could see that she posted 35 days ago that she went to see taylor’s concert (the day i was looking was 9/19)

35 days ago from 9/19 is approximately 8/15

that’s after the tampa show and before the miami show

so kaylors... put on your thinking caps please:

🧐who do we know that...

1. lives in florida

2. has a first name that starts with K and a last name that starts with K

3. likes to interact with us

💋

😘

that’s right.

Kimby Kloss (younger sister of Karlie Kloss) has by all indications been interacting with swifties on TSL as community manager and has been a valued part of the swiftie community at large, likely for an *entire year*

let. that. sink. in.

think i’m nuts? so did i!

so i put all my eggs in one basket and posted to my tumblr the other day “i know who you have been. do you want me to share it?

and i went to bed.

and i woke up the next day to this taymoji gift.

it is my birthday on september 25th, as i posted about in reaction to TSL gifting the exact taymoji i was asking them to.

📯so this is me🏤speaking now.📯

please... if you have a tsl account, or are willing to download the app and make one... i will make a quick post on my tsl account of the same name. if you could kindly give it a reshare and swiftsend. i have full confidence that it is intended for this detail of the rep era to come out now, and i want your support. maybe, do it as a birthday gift, for me. ☺️

the more swiftsends (like an upvote currency) the post gets, the higher chance it has of going on the main feed which *all the app can see*

think about that. think about how many people the information could reach. how many minds could possibly be swayed. think about how the app has been interacting with us and with me, and about how they alerted me that they gave me three presents just now when i asked for final confirmation if i could post this. (please please read through my blog hashtag #tsl if you want to see more about how it’s been developing)

this is likely the final piece 🍰 needed from me this era.

i say that because, and i meant to make this a birthday post but i’d rather have the weekend to ride this out, it is *you* kaylors that have done the heavy lifting. all of you. i’ve called myself one of you because i fell down the rabbit hole this year but i did because of all of you before me. i have spent this whole year falling in love again with taylor, but also, falling in love with you all.

your wit, your resourcefulness, your love for taylor and your ardent desire to support her in securing her best life. listen. we hold in our hands a wealth of knowledge and insight into the mastery and illusion of this artist, and i want every fan of taylor’s to know how dedicated we are to her, and how gorgeous,

nay, a step above that,

how incredibly gorgeous her mind is. (and oh my god kimby!! 😩🙌)

there are less than two months til her tour ends in november. at their behest, let’s put this into motion for them.

2019 Edit: please read the follow-up!

[putschki1969]

Time for another FAQ

In recent days/weeks I have been asked a lot of questions and many of them boil down to the same thing so I thought it would be a good idea to combine them to make a sort of FAQ. Some of my replies will most likely contain a bit of speculation (which I usually tend to avoid), I will try to keep it to a minimum.

What are your future plans for this blog? Don’t worry, I will pretty much do the same as always. I will continue to spread the Kalafina love. Kalafina is a gift that keeps on giving. We have ten years worth of awesome music, gorgeous pictures and fascinating interviews. There is still a lot to discover for many people who only recently became fans. There’s also so much to re-discover for fans who have been part of the fandom from the get-go. Aside from the usual stuff, I will of course post about Wakana’s and Hikaru’s solo acitivities. I am eager to see what’s in store for them and I will 100% support them along their chosen paths. The same goes for Keiko (obviously!). Finally, if there is certain content you are dying to see on my blog (any particular scans, translations, pictures, etc), I will do my very best to provide it.

Will I change my blog name? No, this is and will always be a blog dedicated to “Everything Kalafina”.

Why do I continue to tag everything as Kalafina? I guess this question mostly refers to Wakana’s and Hikaru’s solo stuff. While their solo activities might be unrelated to Kalafina I will most likely continue to tag those posts as Kalafina. First of all, in my eyes there will always be a connection to Kalafina when it comes to Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru. No matter what they do next, Kalafina took up more than ten years of their life so there is no way I cannot associate Kalafina with them. Also, so far it seems like they are not trying to cut ties with their past. Both Wakana and Hikaru are fully aware of their past and treasure their time as part of Kalafina, they have openly talked about this and neither Wakana nor Hikaru have shied away from performing Kalasongs. So yeah, using the Kalafina tag seems fitting to me. Plus, I think it’s easier for casual fans to find my posts because they are more likely to check out the Kalafina tag.

Thoughts on Wakana’s debut single being released under Victor Entertainment? It’s no surprise actually, Back in 2017 Kalafina were moved from SME Records to SACRA MUSIC - a label specialising in anison music. Of course that wouldn’t be suitable for Wakana’s solo career especially since she is not doing anything anime-related as of right now. I am definitely glad she is not going back to SME Records since they have always been quite restrictive. I think Victor Entertainment was the next best choice. After all, Victor Entertainment (JVC Entertainment/Flying Dog = the anime division of Victor Entertainment) has been releasing Yuki Kajiura’s music for almost 20 years now. There are also lots of other noteworthy artists releasing under them directly (or one of their many record labels) so I think it’s a pretty good label for Wakana. I am kinda hoping she will go on a similar route as KOKIA who has been releasing her music under Victor Entertainment since 2001.

What activities can we expect from Wakana in the future? I doubt she will do much for her solo debut single (but maybe there will be some fan club exclusive events). I think we can expect a tour following the release of her solo album this spring (and I will definitely do my best to attend one of those lives). I also hope she will do something for Christmas this year (a few acoustic lives for example - maybe she will be joined by an orchestra again?). And like I said before, I would really love her to take a similar route as KOKIA. Maybe she can travel to Europe and have a few concerts here? Maybe she can release a cover album? The possibilties are endless.

Thoughts on Wakana’s new blog being restricted to Harmony members? I don't mind actually, I am a member after all and I will continue to be one as long as Wakana remains under Space Craft. Plus, from a business point of view, it’s a smart move so I understand why they are doing it. It’s their way of trying to bribe/draw in/win back members. Most Harmony members probably didn’t intend to renew their membership coming April but taking this and possible other exclusive content into account, they might rethink their decision. Whether this actually works remains to be seen. At any rate, I doubt her blog will permanently be member exclusive but we can probably expect it to stay like that until April at the very least. Some fans fear that this will make it harder to promote Wakana as solo artist but quite frankly I don’t think it will make much of a difference. Wakana’s die-hard supporters among Kalafina fans will buy her releases either way and aside from that Wakana doesn’t really have much of a fanbase yet.

Thoughts on Kalafina’s fan club “Harmony” being turned into Wakana’s fan club? It makes sense. Why waste effort and money to create something new if you already have an existing fan club? It has taken them some time but they have changed quite a bit already (the header doesn’t feature Kalafina anymore, all past videos related to Kalafina or Hikaru are gone, Wakana has her own blog and is no longer posting on Kalafina’s LINE blog etc). There is still a lot to be done though, they should change the name (Harmony just doesn’t fit) and remove the remaining Kalafina parts. Right now the look of the fan club suggests that Wakana is the “only remaining member” of Kalafina and that’s just not how it is. A change of name would maybe help get rid of that misconception.

When is Wakana going to leave Space Craft? Who knows. Judging from what we have seen in the past year it’s obviously not that hard to leave Space Craft. Yes, she might just be waiting for her contract to expire but I really doubt her contract would expire that much later than Keiko’s or Hikaru’s. To sum it up, I believe she chooses to remain under the agency for the time-being, I very much doubt anyone or anything is forcing her to stay...She probably feels safest in a familiar environment and once she has tested out the waters she might move on.

What will happen to Kalafina’s Official LINE blog? Hikaru has chosen the best route possible by starting her own twitter and I think it’s a good idea that Wakana now has her own “blog” as well, that line just had to be drawn and it would have felt weird for her to continue using the Kalafina blog all by herself. Plus, it might have forced them to delete all the Keiko and Hikaru content. As of right now the blog has pretty much lost its purpose and there is no reason to continue it. While I really hope they will not just delete it, I am not ruling out that possibility. At some point they might have no choice but to shut it down...In the past few months I have been preparing for the worst case. Aside from saving all the pictures to my hard-drive I have been working on a printable version of the blog that contains each and every single blog post by Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru (as soon as that’s done I will provide download links of course - still need to work on the formatting but everything is already copy/pasted). A fan on weibo has also compiled static html pages of each blog post so even if anyone decided to delete the LINE blog, we are safe. It would be a real shame to see almost 9 years worth of Kalafina blogging suddenly disappear.

Do you think “Kalafina” should be used to promote Wakana’s single in the media? I can’t believe there are still people out there who think Wakana shouldn’t be allowed to use her “Kalafina fame” to promote her solo career. They are accusing her of riding the wave of success and not being able to stand on her own two feet. I am sorry for my language but that’s utter bullshit. No matter what happens in the future, Kalafina will always be a significant part of her life and that is not something she should hide or be ashamed of, quite the opposite actually, it is something she can be proud of.

Do you think we will hear anything from Keiko soon? We don’t know why she went AWOL but I believe it was her choice and not some sort of work ban or whatever. We also know that she is doing well and for me that’s the only thing that counts. IF Keiko chooses to return to the public eye (which I really hope she does) then I think this spring or early summer would be a good time for her. It will be exactly one year since she disappeared and we all know that April is always the perfect time for a big change or a new start (at least in Japan). Let’s wait and see.

When can we expect any announcements from Hikaru? Hmmm, I don’t know, I have a feeling it might be soon. Aside from posting cute selfies and food pictures Hikaru is often tweeting wordly wisdoms related to making decisions in life so I feel like like there is a lot going on behind the scenes right now. Her new profile pic and header might also be a sign for a big change. The picture looks like it was taken professionally, possibly for some sort of promotion? Maybe it’s just me but Hikaru’s photo reminds me a lot of Sayaka Yamamoto’s pictures promoting her upcoming solo career. I randomly came across her pictures the other day and I can’t help but feel like there is a similar vibe. Hikaru also recently followed Koji Saito on twitter, he is the producer of Animelo Summer Live. While I wouldn’t say it’s out of the ordinary for Hikaru to follow him - after all Kalafina have worked together with him a couple of times in the past - I think it could be a sign of future collaborations. I could definitely see Hikaru taking part in an event like that to push her solo career. Oh well, we will see...

Will Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru ever work with Yuki Kajiura again? It’s certainly possible but I don’t think it will happen any time soon (especially when it comes to Wakana and Hikaru). For the time-being it really seems like they want to focus on fulfilling their individual dreams and Yuki Kajiura obviously wishes for them to do their own thing. Many fans mainly see Kalafina as Yuki Kajiura’s project, a “tool” to bring her music to life and to a certain extent, that’s what they have always been. Yuki Kajiura is aware of that and Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru know it as well. It’s nothing bad per se, YK and the members of Kalafina have profited a lot from this arrangement, they have mutual respect for each other. But it’s about time Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru get a chance to freely express themselves in order to realise their full potential This part of YK’s interview summarises the situation perfectly and it showcases how iimportant it is for everyone to go their separate ways for a while.

――After becoming independent from your agency, you have distanced yourself in your role as Kalafina’s producer. What do you think of your ten years working together? [Kajiura]I feel nothing but gratitude towards them for continuing to sing so well for me up until now. Being stuck as part of the same unit, not being able to express a single wish (regarding songs), not able to do anything except sing the songs they are given with all their strength. Under conditions that are extremely inconvenient for a singer, they have been singing for ten years, not once getting the chance to sing the songs they wanted to sing. “They are so easy to work with…” “They are really amazing...” For ten years straight, they have always taken their work seriously and their singing has become progressively better. I am sure it was difficult for them to sing genres they had never listened to before. On top of that, I have treated the three of them mercilessly with all my demands; I think my demanding nature caused quite the internal struggle for them.

I hope I was able to answer most questions. If you feel like your question didn’t receive a reply, please don’t hesitate to send an ask/a message.

[ts1989fanatic]

I posted 11,088 times in 2021

85 posts created (1%)

11003 posts reblogged (99%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 129.4 posts.

I added 0 tags in 2021

Longest Tag: 0 characters

#

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Some people I tell you:

So Kylie Jenner donates $5,000 dollars to a makeup artist who used to work for her and she considered them a friend.

Taylor and Andrea Swift donate $50,000 to a total strangers family when the dad passed away from Covid.

Even if I wasn’t a swiftie I know which celebrity I would prefer to support.

39 notes • Posted 2021-03-24 01:10:20 GMT

#4

65 notes • Posted 2021-05-18 21:45:00 GMT

#3

Why 2021 Will Be Taylor Swift’s Biggest Year Yet

Fourteen years after she signed with Big Machine Records, Taylor is now free of her contractual obligations and can legally re-record her old music catalogue. This includes all-time classics, such as You Belong With Me, Romeo and Juliet, and Love Story.

Since announcing that she would be doing just that earlier this year, we got our first glimpse of the new recordings when Love Story made its debut as the soundtrack for match.com’s latest advert, which features Ryan Reynolds.

While the singer recently shut down rumours that a third surprise album is also in the works – after she dropped Folklore and Evermore with less than 12 hours’ warning – we have wagered that 2021 will undoubtedly see more of Taylor’s re-recorded masters. To quote her directly, the decision to re-record her masters feels very much like a ‘f*ck you forever’ to music mogul Scooter Braun, who she has been feuding with for a number of years.

In June 2019, Braun bought Big Machine Records for a whopping $300 million, a move that Taylor described as her ‘worst case scenario’ in a Tumblr post, in which she branded Braun an ‘incessant, manipulative bully’.

Long story short, Taylor had been trying to gain ownership of her masters for years. But after Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta – ‘someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept’ – sold them to Braun, this became somewhat impossible, as per Taylor’s post.

‘Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,’ she said, adding, ‘Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter.’

She would later reveal in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that the feud was the precipice for Mad Woman and My Tears Ricochet, on which she directly references her departure from Big Machine Records: ‘And when you can’t sleep at night … You hear my stolen lullabies.’

In November, Taylor revealed that her music had been sold for a second time without her knowledge; Braun had sold her masters to investment fund Shamrock Capital for $300 million, and will continue to profit off her old music catalogue for many years.

Despite the loss of her masters, it seems the singer has made peace with her past. Taking us back to the woods, she dropped Folklore this summer with little warning to her fans. The album – much more mellow than some of her previous work and a perfect encapsulant of Taylor’s ability to tell great stories – has an intense focus on imagery, such as ‘the tree swing in the woods of [her] childhood’ or the ‘cardigan that still bears the scent of loss 20 years later’.

This was closely followed by a sister album, Evermore, which paints even more vivid narratives of new characters as they lose, find, and then lose each other again throughout the album. Released without the typical buildup that came before her previous work, Taylor said it was something she has ‘never done before’.

‘In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. But, to put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,’ she explained.

On Evermore she gives us the version of Taylor Swift that is the closest to country music since the beginning of her career. The stripped-back production, coupled with the depth of story-telling, is both a nod to her early days as an artist, while also being a fierce display of her growth.

As she wrote herself in a recent tweet: ‘I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning.’

66 notes • Posted 2021-01-03 22:39:20 GMT

#2

78 notes • Posted 2021-05-18 21:39:12 GMT

#1

Of course she broke more records she’s Taylor Swift duh

79 notes • Posted 2021-06-01 23:51:02 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[larryships09]

30 HTML Best Practices for Beginners

The most difficult aspect of running Nettuts+ is accounting for so many different skill levels. If we post too many advanced tutorials, our beginner audience won't benefit. The same holds true for the opposite. We do our best, but always feel free to pipe in if you feel you're being neglected. This site is for you, so speak up! With that said, today's tutorial is specifically for those who are just diving into web development. If you've one year of experience or less, hopefully some of the tips listed here will help you to become better, quicker!

You may also want to check out some of the HTML builders on Envato Market, such as the popular VSBuilder, which lets you generate the HTML and CSS for building your websites automatically by choosing options from a simple interface.

Or you can have your website built from scratch by a professional developer on Envato Studio who knows and follows all the HTML best practices.

Without further ado, let's review 30 best practices to observe when creating your markup.

1: Always Close Your Tags Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon to see things like this:

1 <li>Some text here. 2 <li>Some new text here. 3 <li>You get the idea. Notice how the wrapping UL/OL tag was omitted. Additionally, many chose to leave off the closing LI tags as well. By today's standards, this is simply bad practice and should be 100% avoided. Always, always close your tags. Otherwise, you'll encounter validation and glitch issues at every turn.

Better 1 <ul> 2 <li>Some text here. </li> 3 <li>Some new text here. </li> 4 <li>You get the idea. </li> 5 </ul> 2: Declare the Correct DocType

When I was younger, I participated quite a bit in CSS forums. Whenever a user had an issue, before we would look at their situation, they HAD to perform two things first:

Validate the CSS file. Fix any necessary errors. Add a doctype. "The DOCTYPE goes before the opening html tag at the top of the page and tells the browser whether the page contains HTML, XHTML, or a mix of both, so that it can correctly interpret the markup."

Most of us choose between four different doctypes when creating new websites.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

There's a big debate currently going on about the correct choice here. At one point, it was considered to be best practice to use the XHTML Strict version. However, after some research, it was realized that most browsers revert back to regular HTML when interpretting it. For that reason, many have chosen to use HTML 4.01 Strict instead. The bottom line is that any of these will keep you in check. Do some research and make up your own mind.

3: Never Use Inline Styles When you're hard at work on your markup, sometimes it can be tempting to take the easy route and sneak in a bit of styling.

1 <p style="color: red;">I'm going to make this text red so that it really stands out and makes people take notice! </p> Sure -- it looks harmless enough. However, this points to an error in your coding practices.

When creating your markup, don't even think about the styling yet. You only begin adding styles once the page has been completely coded. It's like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters. It's just not a good idea. -Chris Coyier (in reference to something completely unrelated.)

Instead, finish your markup, and then reference that P tag from your external stylesheet.

Better 1 #someElement > p { 2 color: red; 3 } 4: Place all External CSS Files Within the Head Tag Technically, you can place stylesheets anywhere you like. However, the HTML specification recommends that they be placed within the document HEAD tag. The primary benefit is that your pages will seemingly load faster.

While researching performance at Yahoo!, we discovered that moving stylesheets to the document HEAD makes pages appear to be loading faster. This is because putting stylesheets in the HEAD allows the page to render progressively. - ySlow Team

1 <head> 2 <title>My Favorites Kinds of Corn</title> 3 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="path/to/file.css" /> 4 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="path/to

/anotherFile.css" />

5 </head> 5: Consider Placing Javascript Files at the Bottom Place JS at bottom Remember -- the primary goal is to make the page load as quickly as possible for the user. When loading a script, the browser can't continue on until the entire file has been loaded. Thus, the user will have to wait longer before noticing any progress.

If you have JS files whose only purpose is to add functionality -- for example, after a button is clicked -- go ahead and place those files at the bottom, just before the closing body tag. This is absolutely a best practice.

Better

<p>And now you know my favorite kinds of corn. </p>

<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/file.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/anotherFile.js"></script>

</body>

</html>

6: Never Use Inline Javascript. It's not 1996! Another common practice years ago was to place JS commands directly within tags. This was very common with simple image galleries. Essentially, a "onclick" attribute was appended to the tag. The value would then be equal to some JS procedure. Needless to say, you should never, ever do this. Instead, transfer this code to an external JS file and use "addEventListener/attachEvent" to "listen" for your desired event. Or, if using a framework like jQuery, just use the "click" method.

$('a#moreCornInfoLink').click(function() {  alert('Want to learn more about corn?'); }); 7: Validate Continuously validate continuously I recently blogged about how the idea of validation has been completely misconstrued by those who don't completely understand its purpose. As I mention in the article, "validation should work for you, not against."

However, especially when first getting started, I highly recommend that you download the Web Developer Toolbar and use the "Validate HTML" and "Validate CSS" options continuously. While CSS is a somewhat easy to language to learn, it can also make you tear your hair out. As you'll find, many times, it's your shabby markup that's causing that strange whitespace issue on the page. Validate, validate, validate.

8: Download Firebug download firebug I can't recommend this one enough. Firebug is, without doubt, the best plugin you'll ever use when creating websites. Not only does it provide incredible Javascript debugging, but you'll also learn how to pinpoint which elements are inheriting that extra padding that you were unaware of. Download it!

9: Use Firebug! use firebug From my experiences, many users only take advantage of about 20% of Firebug's capabilities. You're truly doing yourself a disservice. Take a couple hours and scour the web for every worthy tutorial you can find on the subject.

Resources Overview of Firebug Debug Javascript With Firebug - video tutorial 10: Keep Your Tag Names Lowercase Technically, you can get away with capitalizing your tag names.

<DIV>

<P>Here's an interesting fact about corn. </P>

</DIV>

Having said that, please don't. It serves no purpose and hurts my eyes -- not to mention the fact that it reminds me of Microsoft Word's html function!

Better

<div>

<p>Here's an interesting fact about corn. </p>

</div>

11: Use H1 - H6 Tags Admittedly, this is something I tend to slack on. It's best practice to use all six of these tags. If I'm honest, I usually only implement the top four; but I'm working on it! :) For semantic and SEO reasons, force yourself to replace that P tag with an H6 when appropriate.

1 2 <h1>This is a really important corn fact! </h1> <h6>Small, but still significant corn fact goes here. </h6> 12: If Building a Blog, Save the H1 for the Article Title h1 saved for title of article Just this morning, on Twitter, I asked our followers whether they felt it was smartest to place the H1 tag as the logo, or to instead use it as the article's title. Around 80% of the returned tweets were in favor of the latter method.

As with anything, determine what's best for your own website. However, if building a blog, I'd recommend that you save your H1 tags for your article title. For SEO purposes, this is a better practice - in my opinion.

13: Download ySlow

download yslow Especially in the last few years, the Yahoo team has been doing some really great work in our field. Not too long ago, they released an extension for Firebug called ySlow. When activated, it will analyze the given website and return a "report card" of sorts which details the areas where your site needs improvement. It can be a bit harsh, but it's all for the greater good. I highly recommend it.

14: Wrap Navigation with an Unordered List Wrap navigation with unordered lists Each and every website has a navigation section of some sort. While you can definitely get away with formatting it like so:

<div id="nav"> <a href="#">Home </a>  <a href="#">About </a>  <a href="#">Contact </a> </div> I'd encourage you not to use this method, for semantic reasons. Your job is to write the best possible code that you're capable of.

Why would we style a list of navigation links with anything other than an unordered LIST?

The UL tag is meant to contain a list of items.

Better <ul id="nav">  <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>  <li><a href="#">About</a></li>  <li><a href="#">Contact</a></li> </ul> 15: Learn How to Target IE You'll undoubtedly find yourself screaming at IE during some point or another. It's actually become a bonding experience for the community. When I read on Twitter how one of my buddies is battling the forces of IE, I just smile and think, "I know how you feel, pal."

The first step, once you've completed your primary CSS file, is to create a unique "ie.css" file. You can then reference it only for IE by using the following code.

<!--[if lt IE 7]>   <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="path/to/ie.css" /> <![endif]--> This code says, "If the user's browser is Internet Explorer 6 or lower, import this stylesheet. Otherwise, do nothing." If you need to compensate for IE7 as well, simply replace "lt" with "lte" (less than or equal to).

16: Choose a Great Code Editor choose a great code editor Whether you're on Windows or a Mac, there are plenty of fantastic code editors that will work wonderfully for you. Personally, I have a Mac and PC side-by-side that I use throughout my day. As a result, I've developed a pretty good knowledge of what's available. Here are my top choices/recommendations in order:

Mac Lovers Coda Espresso TextMate Aptana DreamWeaver CS4 PC Lovers InType E-Text Editor Notepad++ Aptana Dreamweaver CS4 17: Once the Website is Complete, Compress! Compress By zipping your CSS and Javascript files, you can reduce the size of each file by a substantial 25% or so. Please don't bother doing this while still in development. However, once the site is, more-or-less, complete, utilize a few online compression programs to save yourself some bandwidth.

Javascript Compression Services Javascript Compressor JS Compressor CSS Compression Services CSS Optimiser CSS Compressor Clean CSS 18: Cut, Cut, Cut cut cut cut Looking back on my first website, I must have had a SEVERE case of divitis. Your natural instinct is to safely wrap each paragraph with a div, and then wrap it with one more div for good measure. As you'll quickly learn, this is highly inefficient.

Once you've completed your markup, go over it two more times and find ways to reduce the number of elements on the page. Does that UL really need its own wrapping div? I think not.

Just as the key to writing is to "cut, cut, cut," the same holds true for your markup.

19: All Images Require "Alt" Attributes It's easy to ignore the necessity for alt attributes within image tags. Nevertheless, it's very important, for accessibility and validation reasons, that you take an extra moment to fill these sections in.

Bad 1 <IMG SRC="cornImage.jpg" /> Better 1 <img src="cornImage.jpg" alt="A corn field I visited." /> 20: Stay up Late I highly doubt that I'm the only one who, at one point while learning, looked up and realized that I was in a pitch-dark room well into the early, early morning. If you've found yourself in a similar situation, rest assured that you've chosen the right field.

The amazing "AHHA" moments, at least for me, always occur late at night. This was the case when I first began to understand exactly what Javascript closures were. It's a great feeling that you need to experience, if you haven't already.

21: View Source view source What better way to learn HTML than to copy your heroes? Initially, we're all copiers! Then slowly, you begin to develop your own styles/methods. So visit the websites of those you respect. How did they code this and that section? Learn and copy from them. We all did it, and you should too. (Don't steal the design; just learn from the coding style.)

Notice any cool Javascript effects that you'd like to learn? It's likely that he's using a plugin to accomplish the effect. View the source and search the HEAD tag for the name of the script. Then Google it and implement it into your own site! Yay.

22: Style ALL Elements This best practice is especially true when designing for clients. Just because you haven't use a blockquote doesn't mean that the client won't. Never use ordered lists? That doesn't mean he won't! Do yourself a service and create a special page specifically to show off the styling of every element: ul, ol, p, h1-h6, blockquotes, etc.

23: Use Twitter Use Twitter Lately, I can't turn on the TV without hearing a reference to Twitter; it's really become rather obnoxious. I don't have a desire to listen to Larry King advertise his Twitter account - which we all know he doesn't manually update. Yay for assistants! Also, how many moms signed up for accounts after Oprah's approval? We can only long for the day when it was just a few of us who were aware of the service and its "water cooler" potential.

Initially, the idea behind Twitter was to post "what you were doing." Though this still holds true to a small extent, it's become much more of a networking tool in our industry. If a web dev writer that I admire posts a link to an article he found interesting, you better believe that I'm going to check it out as well - and you should too! This is the reason why sites like Digg are quickly becoming more and more nervous.

Twitter Snippet If you just signed up, don't forget to follow us: NETTUTS.

24: Learn Photoshop Learn Photoshop A recent commenter on Nettuts+ attacked us for posting a few recommendations from Psdtuts+. He argued that Photoshop tutorials have no business on a web development blog. I'm not sure about him, but Photoshop is open pretty much 24/7 on my computer.

In fact, Photoshop may very well become the more important tool you have. Once you've learned HTML and CSS, I would personally recommend that you then learn as many Photoshop techniques as possible.

Visit the Videos section at Psdtuts+ Fork over $25 to sign up for a one-month membership to Lynda.com. Watch every video you can find. Enjoy the "You Suck at Photoshop" series. Take a few hours to memorize as many PS keyboard shortcuts as you can. 25: Learn Each HTML Tag There are literally dozens of HTML tags that you won't come across every day. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean you shouldn't learn them! Are you familiar with the "abbr" tag? What about "cite"? These two alone deserve a spot in your tool-chest. Learn all of them!

By the way, in case you're unfamiliar with the two listed above:

abbr does pretty much what you'd expect. It refers to an abbreviation. "Blvd" could be wrapped in a <abbr> tag because it's an abbreviation for "boulevard". cite is used to reference the title of some work. For example, if you reference this article on your own blog, you could put "30 HTML Best Practices for Beginners" within a <cite> tag. Note that it shouldn't be used to reference the author of a quote. This is a common misconception. 26: Participate in the Community Just as sites like ours contributes greatly to further a web developer's knowledge, you should too! Finally figured out how to float your elements correctly? Make a blog posting to teach others how. There will always be those with less experience than you. Not only will you be contributing to the community, but you'll also teach yourself. Ever notice how you don't truly understand something until you're forced to teach it?

27: Use a CSS Reset This is another area that's been debated to death. CSS resets: to use or not to use; that is the question. If I were to offer my own personal advice, I'd 100% recommend that you create your own reset file. Begin by downloading a popular one, like Eric Meyer's, and then slowly, as you learn more, begin to modify it into your own. If you don't do this, you won't truly understand why your list items are receiving that extra bit of padding when you didn't specify it anywhere in your CSS file. Save yourself the anger and reset everything! This one should get you started.

html, body, div, span, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, blockquote, pre, a, abbr, acronym, address, big, cite, code, img, ins, kbd, q, s, samp, small, strike, strong, dl, dt, dd, ol, ul, li, fieldset, form, label, legend, table, caption, tbody, tfoot, thead, tr, th, td {    margin: 0;    padding: 0;    border: 0;    outline: 0;    font-size: 100%;    vertical-align: baseline;    background: transparent; } body {    line-height: 1; } ol, ul {    list-style: none; } blockquote, q {    quotes: none; } blockquote:before, blockquote:after, q:before, q:after {    content: '';    content: none; }

table {    border-collapse: collapse;    border-spacing: 0; } 28: Line 'em Up!

Line em up Generally speaking, you should strive to line up your elements as best as possible. Take a look at you favorite designs. Did you notice how each heading, icon, paragraph, and logo lines up with something else on the page? Not doing this is one of the biggest signs of a beginner. Think of it this way: If I ask why you placed an element in that spot, you should be able to give me an exact reason.

Advertisement 29: Slice a PSD Slice a PSD Okay, so you've gained a solid grasp of HTML, CSS, and Photoshop. The next step is to convert your first PSD into a working website. Don't worry; it's not as tough as you might think. I can't think of a better way to put your skills to the test. If you need assistance, review these in depth video tutorials that show you exactly how to get the job done.

Slice and Dice that PSD From PSD to HTML/CSS 30: Don't Use a Framework...Yet Frameworks, whether they be for Javascript or CSS are fantastic; but please don't use them when first getting started. Though it could be argued that jQuery and Javascript can be learned simultaneously, the same can't be made for CSS. I've personally promoted the 960 CSS Framework, and use it often. Having said that, if you're still in the process of learning CSS -- meaning the first year -- you'll only make yourself more confused if you use one.

CSS frameworks are for experienced developers who want to save themselves a bit of time. They're not for beginners.

Original article source here : https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/30-html-best-practices-for-beginners--net-4957

[growinstablog]

How to Add Shoppable Instagram Tags (Feed Posts + Stories)

This year, Instagram broke the big news: it finally launched Shoppable Instagram Posts, allowing brands to sell stuff (and earn money), and people – to buy stuff (and be happy).

Sounds like a win-win, right?

It is indeed.

As there are more and more businesses on Instagram, people’s consumer demands are naturally increasing. Instagram wants to make it easy to promote products – and easy to buy them, too. So if you’re a small business owner selling goods, it’s time you take advantage of the latest shoppable Instagram feature, which is available in 46 countries now.

Ready to enable shopping on Instagram? Then read this how-to guide now or bookmark it for future reference, where I’ll walk you through the exact steps you need to tag products on Instagram and earn more💲with shoppable posts in your feed, and your Stories.

Shoppable Instagram: How To Add Shoppable Tags on Instagram

The benefits

OK, Olga, so Instagram is shoppable now – why should I care?

Good question.

The thing is, up until recently, if you wanted to run a business on Instagram and sell products, the only way you could do that was  to drive traffic from Instagram Stories (given you’re a lucky account with 10K+ followers) or through putting a URL in your short bio (and having to frequently update it whenever a new offer is out).

In other words, the buyer journey has been very long, and the struggle for small businesses to scale their sales – very, very real.

With shoppable Instagram, however, you can now create a “one-tap” shop, allowing people to buy your products with a single tap of a finger. And what’s more – you don’t even need to be a big account to be able to do that. In fact, even if you’re a small Etsy shop, it’s still possible to enable shoppable Instagram product tagging.

You can also create a “shop” feed right on your Instagram profile, once you’ve created nine posts with tagged products, thus creating a simple display window that showcases all the products you have. You should also keep in mind that Instagram is going to release a native payment system in the future as well, allowing people to buy things without ever leaving Instagram. This is a powerful feature that will probably change the way people shop online.

So in short, the benefits of shoppable Instagram are crystal clear, really:

You shorten the buyer’s journey

You can drive sales from Instagram directly

You can showcase your products and make a little online shop out of your Instagram account

The journey from inspiration to purchase is just a matter of a few taps now! And if you’re ready to get started, here’s what you need to do.

How to get started with Shoppable Instagram

To tag products on Instagram, follow these 5 easy steps:

1. Convert your Instagram to Business

First things first: make sure you have a Business account on Instagram. It is crucial (now more than ever) that you make the conversion. If you don’t have Instagram for Business, you’re not only missing out on important Instagram Analytics that are essential to grow your account, but you’re also missing out on the opportunity to make your Instagram shoppable.

So, I said it before, and I’ll say it again: switch to Business NOW. If you still haven’t done that yet, follow our guide here that will tell you how to do it.

2. Be in the right country

Once you’ve done that, make sure you’re located in a country that’s eligible for Shoppable Instagram. When the feature came out in March, it was limited to 9 countries, but it’s currently being expanded to 46 and going global. Check this post from Instagram itself to check whether your country is eligible.

3. Update the app

Make sure you have the latest version of the Instagram app installed on your phone. To see if you need to update yours, go to App Store → Updates → Instagram (iOS) or Play Store → My apps and games → Instagram (Android).

4. Sell something!

Next on the list: make sure your business actually sells physical goods that comply with Instagram’s merchant agreement and commerce policies. It can be clothes, or artworks, or Harry Potter mugs – basically anything tangible.

5. Create a product catalog on Facebook

Then: you must connect your Instagram Business profile to a Facebook catalog. A Facebook catalog is basically a listing of all your products that you want to sell.

There are several ways to do it: either through Facebook Business Manager, or Facebook Page, or Shopify, or BigCommerce.

Don’t complicate your life, and go for the easiest option: setting up a Facebook catalog through a Facebook Page.

To do that, you need to first add a shop section on your Business Facebook Page. To have this enabled, you’ve got to make sure you’re using the right template on your Facebook Page. Click Settings → Edit Page → Template → Shopping Template → Apply Template.

Once you’ve made sure you’re using the Shopping template, a “Shop” tab will automatically appear on your main Page. So go there, and click that tab:

You’ll see this:

Et voila, this is your shop! It’s empty now, so you have to start adding products to fill it up. Later on, you’ll be able to edit or remove any product you’re selling (or not selling anymore, for that matter).

Note: before you start adding products, you’ll need to set up a payment process, indicate where your customers should check out, which currency they should pay in, etc. If you’ve never set up a payment process before, there will be a pop-up window appearing automatically. You’ll have to fill it in, agree to Terms and Conditions, and click next.

Having done this, you can start adding products to your catalog! Whenever you need to do that, just click “Add Product” in the Shop. The process is quite straightforward from there on: you’ll need to add images (or even a video if you want), describe the product, put a price, and insert a link to a page where people can checkout.

You can also discount the product if you’re running a sale: simply click the little slider here and put the new price. Just don’t forget to come back and edit the product once the sale is over!

And also: make sure to apply the discounts not just in your Facebook catalog, but also in your ACTUAL shop as well, be it Etsy, or Shopify, or whichever platform you run your ecommerce store on.

Finally: make sure the products are always in stock! In case they aren’t, you need to edit the product information in Facebook Business Manager. Here’s a Facebook article on how to do this.

When you add the new product to the shop, it should automatically appear on your Facebook Business Manager as well, if you go to Business Manager → Assets → Catalog. Don’t forget, though, that the items don’t appear in your shop immediately, as they need to undergo an approval process first.

6. Wait to be approved

Once you’ve covered steps 1-5, your account should get approved for shopping on Instagram to tag products. Your account will be reviewed by Instagram before your can access the shoppable feature. This can take anywhere from a few hours, to a few days, so be patient! When you’re approved, you’ll see a notification on the top of your Instagram profile:

Once you get that notification, you basically need to add the finishing touch directly on your Instagram.

Go to Instagram Settings → Business Settings → Shopping. There, click continue. You’ll see the catalog – the one you’ve set up on Facebook before – listed. Choose that catalog to continue.

AND THAT’S IT. Now you can go ahead and immediately tag your Instagram posts with your products!

How to add shoppable tags on Instagram

When it comes to shoppifying your Instagram posts, I have two pieces of news: good news and bad news. Let’s start with the good.

The good news is that you don’t need to create new posts to make them shoppable. If you go back to some old ones, all you need to do is click “Edit” and tag the product that’s been screaming to get tagged all this time.

Now, the bad news: You can’t tag other accounts AND your own products at the same time, in the same post. You’ll need to choose between wanting to drive sales from a post – or wanting to get exposure. Some more bad news: you can’t promote or boost shoppable Instagram posts. And finally, you also can’t tag products on Carousel posts – at the moment, at least. It needs to be just one post. You CAN, however, add shoppable Instagram tags to multiple products within one post – so that’s good news again 😉

In a nutshell, product tagging on Instagram is pretty much the same as tagging other users in your posts.

Here’s what you need to do:

Go on to posting an image, as usual. After you’ve written your Instagram caption, and added geolocation, click Tag Products. From there, you’ll be forwarded to a photo, in which you can tap on a specific product (remember you can tag multiple products if you want to) and tag it from a catalog selection you’ve preset before:

Once you click into the right product, you’ll see a price tag appear exactly where you tapped on the photo. If you want, you can tap on the tag and reposition it by dragging it around the photo. It’s a particularly useful feature if you want to assign shoppable tags to several products in one Instagram post, and make sure the picture doesn’t look too cramped.

Before publishing, you’ll be able to preview the post by clicking “Preview Tagged Products”. If everything looks great, click Publish, et voila! Now your Posts are fully Shoppable, and your followers can shop directly from your feed — which leads me to the following, last part of this guide:

How do users shop on Instagram?

Now that you activated shoppable tags on Instagram, it makes sense to ask yourself: how will the shopping journey actually look?

One word: uncomplicated.

When a user sees a shoppable Instagram post, there will always be little white dots on the tags items and a shopping bag on the bottom left corner — that’s how it’s possible to see the post is shoppable.

Once a user taps on the picture, the shoppable tags emerge instantly:

Next: easy, peasy. You click on the tag that interest you, and Instagram redirects you to a Product Page (within Instagram), which pretty much looks like a typical Instagram ad with a CTA on the bottom:

If you scroll down, you should be able to find more information about the product you clicked on (which is why it’s so important to write those compelling product descriptions 😉). But also, on the bottom, you can see the other products tagged in the same post (if there were multiple) that you can click on and review as well.

The blue CTA is where a user clicks to get redirected to a checkout page, where the product can finally be purchased. Once the product’s been added to cart, checkout and purchased, all you need to do is click on that small X button on the top right corner which will bring you back to Instagram. That’s it! 😇

BONUS: Shoppable Instagram Stories

If you want to go shoppable all the way, you have include Instagram Stories. Shoppable Instagram Stories have been a thing since June 2018, and they’re quickly becoming a popular strategy for e-commerce brands looking to give their products an extra boost, even if you don’t have 10K followers.

As you can see from the example above, essentially, it’s a shoppable product sticker that you can select when you post a Story. As a user clicks on that sticker, s/he will be redirected to the product page.

Once you’ve enabled shoppable tags on your Instagram by following the points above, making your Stories shoppable is the simplest task. All you have to do, really, is to:

Select content for Story that has product displayed on it

Click on the “Stickers” icon

Select the “Product” sticker

Choose the appropriate product from the product catalogue (which will appear automatically, once you’ve activated your whole account for the shoppablity feature)

Conclusion

So this is it! This is how shoppable works on Instagram. Easy, isn’t it?

With so many accounts using Instagram for business, this new shoppable feature is a true life changer, allowing businesses to drive more sales, and Instagram users – turn their inspiration into purchases.

Over to you! Will you be activating shoppable Instagram tags? Let us know in the comments!

https://growinsta.xyz/how-to-add-shoppable-instagram-tags-feed-posts-stories/