#some glass animals songs and especially on how to be a human being are like a prayer to humanity

[adaptive-radiation]

Youth by Glass Animals is one of my new favourite songs 

[toysrguts]

sally face hc's!!!!

been putting off posting this for god knows what reason sally face fandom plz 🙏🙏🙏

sal:

•cuts his own hair with safety scissors

•his fav food is dino nuggets idc sue me

•runs his own lowkey piercing business. he even pierced larrys ears and ashleys nostril. he wants to make it a career in the future

•somehow so good at comforting everyone but himself

•always knows what to say when someone's having a hard time, probably cuz hes been through a lot and can easily put himself in others shoes

•always really reserved and shy until him and larry go to a concert together

•cares more about price than looks so most of his stuff doesnt match at all

•most, if not all of his clothes are from thrift stores

•most inconsistent sleep schedule ever. sometimes he goes to bed early and sleeps like a baby, other nights hes restlessly playing his gearboy until the sun comes up

•regular cigarette smoker, but will only smoke weed if larrys with him

•so fucking awkward but always has good intentions. bro just cannot communicate for shit

•when he meets new people he likes to freak them out with his glass eye when they least expect it

•definitely a big industrial fan (NIN, skinny puppy, KMFDM, etc) but his favorite band is korn

•also loves music from the late 70s-early 80s that he grew up hearing on the radio cuz it reminds him of the good memories he had with his mom

•his earth shattered when kurt cobain died

•started watching so much mtv after meeting larry cuz he wanted to be more educated on his kind of music

•his shoes are covered in doodles and signatures from the group

•theyre also hanging on by a thread cuz theyre old as shit and hes had them since grade 6 💀

•has a small collection of custom prosthetic eyes with different colors and cool shapes in them and stuff

•when he meets new people he likes to freak them out with his glass eye when they least expect it

•takes halloween VERY seriously

•writes songs for ppl he cares about and plays them on his guitar

•he wrote a song for ash once and she still asks him to play it for her every now and then

•typa fella to never cuff his pants so theyre all faded and torn and gross at the bottom

•collects random animal (or human) bones he finds around the woods of nockfell

•baggy clothes cuz body dysmorphia

•seems really calm and collected all the time but lets it all out behind closed doors

larry:

•sal’s tripsitter

•REEKS of axe body spray to cover the weed stank

•has literally witnessed murder but is DEATHLY afraid of most bugs

•pulls a lot of evil pranks and sal just goes along with it

•lisa taught him how to cook from a really early age

•whenever the gang is hanging out they force him to cook them food but he usually just goes the lazy route and microwaves some mac n cheese

•only really shows his emotions around sal because he knows he understands

•so attractive but carries himself like hes not

•uses humor to cope and often jokes about being fatherless

•has a guilty pleasure for pop music

•a grade above the rest of the group

•frequent guyliner wearer

•his paranoid ass carries a switchblade everywhere he goes for self defense

•actually carries so much random shit in his pockets

•has a framed photo on his nightstand of him and sal at a meet & greet with the members of sanity’s fall

•his band shirts are so ancient most of them have massive holes in them

•the group calls him “larr bear” to piss him off in a loving way

•the look on his face when lisa calls him that in front of people is priceless

ashley:

•hair is so damaged from constantly messing with it

•loves doing other ppls hair too, especially sals (they do matching hairstyles sometimes :3)

•brings her camera literally everywhere and has a scrapbook of a bunch of memories of the gang throughout highschool

•also just takes random pictures sometimes cuz shes really into photography

•carries bandaids everywhere she goes just in case

•has to decorate literally everything she owns and make it look cute

•does not hold back on adding stickers (sal lets her stick them all over his mask sometimes)

•usually dozes off before she takes her makeup off and then just fixes it up in the morning and rolls with it

•collects everyones baby teeth to make necklaces and jewelry with

•likes to practice nail art on everyone

•has the best sense of style out of the whole group. the amount of clothes and accessories in her closet is impressive and she always puts together the most fire fits

•has a huge shoe collection from adidas, to docs, to combat boots

•so sweet and friendly to literally everyone but will actually kill someone if they fuck with her

•has a really hectic home life so she basically trained herself to sleep like a rock through anything

•literally the mom of the group, shes always looking out for everyone especially cuz she has her own little brother she takes care of

•master of diy she can make something out of literally anything and make it look amazing

todd:

•when times get desperate he sells bud from his dad’s garden

•never even came out to his parents, he didnt feel a need to they just accepted it and never questioned him

•has so many plants around the house and has names for every single one

•he doesnt allow sal to bring gizmo to his apartment cuz he once tried to eat bob

•everyones always asking to touch his hair cuz he takes care of it so well its so soft and curly

•spends the most amount of time on the internet than the rest of the group

•probably why his eyesight is dogshit 😹😹😹

•his brain is like its own encyclopedia, he’ll just randomly drop the most insane fun facts on everyone for no reason but its always a good conversation starter

•his parents randomly tell him these crazy stories from when they were young hippies

•they almost named him some hippie shit like “star”

•talks to himself a lot, like actual conversations with himself. sometimes he just narrates what hes doing without even realizing it until his mom walks in and is like “who tf are u talking to”

•on the spectrum and is deadpan majority of the time so whenever hes being sarcastic its so hard to tell

•so full of wisdom literally everyone goes to him for advice, even his own parents sometimes

•thats a left handed mf if ive ever seen one

•not photogenic at all and always has to be suade into being in group pictures

other random things:

•when theres no mysteries to be investigated, the gang likes to have sleepovers at larrys place where they smoke and watch movies and play video games and stuff

•sal and larry take “whats mine is yours” to another level. theyre always together and they share pretty much everything, from clothes to literal toothbrushes (they are disgusting)

•sal brings gizmo to chug’s place sometimes so soda has someone to play with (she likes to style his fur and he steals her stickers)

•a lot of the songs from the ost were songs that sal, larry, and sometimes rob recorded together for fun

•rob also taught them both how to skate

•chug is a massive weeb

•ashley and todd are basically sal and larrys ubers cuz sal has horrible vision and larry got his license revoked

[mostofthingsmostofthetime]

I just finished the first episode of Heartstopper, so here are some of my thoughts in no particular order.

The opening song is cool (will probably look up the shows soundtrack like I did with XO, Kitty).

Why did the camera focus so much on Charlie's bag & Elle's drink? Is it product placement?

Wow, no hate to the actor, but Charlie's eyebrows are THICK!!!!

Tori is beautiful but also kind of looks like a ghost (I think she’d be great for the role of  Violet Baudelaire from A Series Of Unfortunate Events) & why was she so pushy about the "dream guy" thing? Like let the poor boy breathe.

Is Nick's actor that much taller than Charlie's? I hadn't noticed.

I’m sorry, but knees are so weird to me lol. Also obligatory, 🎵 she's a runner she's a track star🎵.

Wait, is that PE teacher that will later interrupt the team theorising about Nick & Charlie's relationship? It's crazy how they’ve found actors who look so much like the characters in the graphic novels (other casting directors should take notes).

Ok fair enough about wanting your team to be good & wondering if the quiet, skinny, nerdy, boy is even into sports but the shit about him being gay is so stupid (bet it was Harry that said that).

Glad Charlie didn't get injured learning rugby, lol.

Nick's shorts seem a lot smaller than Charlie's ones do, but maybe that's the costume designer's way of helping Charlie’s actor look more skinny?

Omg Stephen Fry, what are you doing here lol?

Wow, people weren't kidding. Olivia Colman really did show up just to say one line. What a legend, lol.

Ben, did you really make Charlie walk all that way for such a lame ass kiss? Also, let him talk about his Christmas, you jerk!

I don't think that Form tutor is very good at his job (while Nick thankfully turned out to be nice) it’s usually not a great idea to put the skinny, gay, nerd that has already been bullied with the bigger, popular, seemingly straight, athlete, especially at an all boys school!

Ben, you dick. Like I get wanting to keep your relationship secret, but you did not need to pull the 'who the hell are you!' card. All you had to do was say hi in a confused/uninterested tone (then apologise later). If anything, your reaction came off more weird than what Charlie did.

I'm sorry, but I don't get the leaf animation. I mean, I GET it, just why leaves? Why not flowers or hearts or something? It just doesn’t seem that impactful to me, but maybe they have a deeper meaning that I'm just not grasping yet? If so, please let me know.

Ok, so I'm torn over the gay teacher. Like artistic? That's cool. Those glasses? Cute. Him giving Charlie a safe space to eat lunch? Great. Him being worried over Charlie potentially being bullied again? Awesome (take notes, Form guy), but his advice to Charlie seemed slightly lacking. Obviously, honesty & communication are important in relationships, but I'm a little surprised that possible safety concerns weren't addressed at all, especially from a fellow gay guy. Like I get that he doesn’t know the kind of guy Charlie's "dating" & that just because someone doesn't want to come out yet doesn’t mean they should be labelled as dangerous but internalised homophobia can make some people lash out & after everything Charlie's been through his clearly more likely to be vulnerable to situations like that.

Nick is a golden retriever in human form, they're 100% correct 😊.

Isaac? What happened to Aled? I hope he still shows up. He may be quiet, but he was so cute during Charlie's 15th birthday in the graphic novel.

Interesting to get to see Elle's time at Higg's (fuck that transphobic teacher & whoever was throwing sandwiches at her). Sad she doesn’t have any friends but I'm sure that'll change when she meets Tara & Darcy. Wow, is it strict over there, though, like you can't even be on your phone at lunchtime? Damn! Surprised they did it this way, though, as I was assuming they'd just make Truham co-ed so all the characters could be in the same place.

Tao, my guy, the drink thing is sweet but that hair is.....certainly.....a choice 😅.

The shots of Charlie looking at food, without eating, make me ☹️.

I gotta be honest, the montage of Nick & Charlie saying hi to each other was a little cringy to me compared to how it came across in the graphic novel, but they're meant to be teens, so I'll let it slide. It's also an effective way to highlight how differently Charlie's "boyfriend" treats him compared to an acquaintance.

Ben's hand covering up Nick's smiley face got me like ☹️/😠. They're not even together yet & I already felt like telling him to get off Charlie, like that boy is not for you! It’s ridiculous, lol.

Ben what you did was fucked up but it's hard to be scared of someone who looks so much like a meerkat in a wig (no hate to the actor) also did it seem like he just....skidded away when Nick pulled him off Charlie? Like, was the actor wearing Heelys lol? Or had someone just mopped the floor without telling anyone? Also, it's lame to wear a coat when you're cold? What in the toxic masculinity are you fucking on about Ben?

Omg the bathroom scene was so adorable, but I wanna know what kind of pen Nick was using because being covered in that amount of ink is crazy 😆.

Overall, it's very cute. I like Nick & Charlie. It’ll probably take a bit longer for me to really care about the other characters. Ben can catch these hands! And I’m looking forward to watching the Narlie relationship develop.

So while not overly ground breaking (though obviously important for LGBTQ+ rep) it's definitely enjoyable in a comforting sort of way which (considering medias fascination with marginalised suffering) is obviously important for queer youth but also must be quite healing for queer elders. Because you deserve wholesome, cheesy, romance just as much as anyone else.

[sol-consort]

Don’t you just love humans ability to make music out of just about anything? A human on the Citadel snags a few empty barrels, pipes, and metal rods from the dump and they have a makeshift drumset. We can play a song with a cup, wine glasses filled with water, spoons. Can you imagine being an alien going about your day on the Citadel and you hear what sounds like music and think ‘wow, what a funky little instrument, wonder what that is’ then as you get closer to the sound and it’s one of the hairless apes hitting a pile of trash with sticks and it actually sounds good?

Not only do we make music as easily as drumming our fingers, but it's in our nature. We look for patterns everywhere, it's our way of survival and music just happened to be the greatest pattern of all.

Which is why we can't help but be attracted to rhythms, why we keep making peotry and songs. Why the best way to remember something is to make it into a melody that our brain will latch onto.

And we have the perfect instruments for music! Our hands! Most of the other species won't even be able to play our instruments because they're either missing a finger or two, or their fingers resemble claws more. Yet I think humans would be able to play most of their instruments.

Even our babies who haven't became self aware yet are born adoring music, humming to them quiets them down, and hearing a song calms them.

Birds who adore singing are known to replicate humans, so many times they fall in love with how melodic some of our words sound and repeat it, or they hear a human song and replicate the rhythm to the best of their ability.

I always imagine human bands, musicians and singers to become galactic celebrities after first contact. Because it's not just songs, it's also a way to tell a tale, a way to share an experience or to vent emotions. Songs can range from being educational to children and to being empowering for adults. Music has exist far before life has, how beautiful it is that we developed ears and brains to listen to it? Be it the falling of raindrops that just aligned right to make a rhythm or the melody of a bird waking us up at the morning.

Human armies have a song for marching, human sports teams have a cheer song, even protests shouts are catchy rhythms. Music is much more than art to us, it is in our blood.

Ever been in an online game late at night with friends and one of you starts singing just randomly? Every screamed a song at the top of your lungs during a car ride? Ever sang to your pet be it an animal or plant?

I think drell and turians would be the most attracted to human singing voices and instruments. The way we make it seem seamless, the way our voices can range from crystal clear to high notes and deep lows. That's especially impressive to drell who always have this raspy tone in theirs, how much loud we are capable of screaming and how much emotion we can put into whispers.

Turians would adore human metal music, I just know it. They love the electric guitars only our fingers can play, the love the loud drums and hard beat. They like the meaning of these songs, especially the rebellious ones that encourages them to seek freedom and go against everything their turian society raised them upon.

It'd be very sweet for the aliens to hear our romantic music for the first time. Maybe they get invited to a human wedding and fall in love with the pure melody of the piano, the soft voice singing songs of adoration. Especially the asair would love the "thousands years" song.

Salarians realise human songs actually have a calming effect on them. Maybe a human sings to their salarian friend while bored at work and they notice them visibly relax when they're normally such a busy bee.

[signedeclipse]

Hi! May I request nsfw oneshot with Gyokko (in his true form) x fem reader? Don't have any specific idea just him being his mischievous, confident self while blushing like crazy. I thought I finally don't simp for him anymore, then I saw him animated when he was blushing after Muzan touched him and I'm back at it again 😅

Desire is Passionate [Gyokko X Reader]

Reader is Human Female | NSFW

Recomended Song - Into You by Ariana Grande

The days were long and boring for you, filled with an overly bright sun and plenty of people that found you repulsive.

Women your age were supposed to be married in your town, usually with a kid or three, staying at home to bring them up while the husband works in the market or something along those lines.

You were eccentric compared to most around here, which made you stick out like a sore thumb. You could never explain that it wasn't that men hated you, but that you had a partner waiting for you that they could never know of.

Well, never was a stretch. WIth how many went missing after they dared to lay hands on you, you were starting to think many had found out in their final moments.

Your day didn't start very early, only waking up around 3 pm so you could go out and sell some of the pots your lover had finished, of which most sat in houses costlier than your entire life.

They sold for a lot, being intricate pieces with handiwork almost unnatural, which it was. Your husband had been at it for over a century, and all of these pots were both a way of getting you by and spreading his reach to the furthest corners of Japan. It was impressive, and everyone believed you had made them.

Everytime you walk up the mountainside to your secluded home, it'd be one with guilt at the back of your mind. He encouraged you to take credit because who else could have made them? No one could know it was him. Still, the compliments you received were not meant for you.

When you could, you'd write them down and give them to him, hoping he would take them as well as you had. He had admirers out there.

You always made it home just in time for the sunset so when you opened the door you wouldn't risk getting sun inside. It also meant you could expect to be greeted.

"I'm home!" You spoke the moment you pushed open the door, pulling your shoes off while listening to the faint giggles from the studio peeking from the side of the home. It was made of glass, allowing the moonlight in, and in the day you usually had a thick canvas material pulled over it to create shade.

"My dear! I've waited all evening..."The old wooden flooring creaked beneath you as you were able to see past the corner into the studio, stepping down onto its ceramic flooring that was covered in a thin dust, and dozens of half-complete pottery.

Stemming from one of the only finished ones in the room was a tall figure, which had slip-covered hands shaking off the filth so he could swoon towards you.

"Good Evening, Gyokko!" You hugged onto the torso of the being, playfully slapping away any of the hands from getting your fresh clothes dirtied. "You woke up early, didn't you?"

Normally he wasn't up until an hour into the night, just to be certain. But from what you could see, he ripped off the cover himself and was already working on his next project.

"Surprise~!" His 'tail' of sorts had curled around you, keeping you still in his grasp. "I figured I would gift you my company today, since I ate so well yesterday."

Despite your protests, one of his hands had swept your hair out of your face, which left a streak of clay in it. It would be easy to wash out, but you still protested.

Gyokko was playful, especially if it meant mildly inconveniencing you.

When you ducked out of his grasp to do a light jog to the kitchen, your refuge behind the counter worked rather well at keeping him away. He could only tread so far before he had to move pots, and there weren't any finished ones in the kitchen.

Much to your surprise, the sound of heavy steps only registered after a pair of claws hands had lifted you up into the air, holding you there from your under arms like a sad, mopey cat.

You pouted at him, legs hanging limply in defeat, which only made the upper moon giggle further.

It was criminal how helpless, how absolutely adorable you were to him. You were his everything.

On the other hand, you had dropped your bag to the floor before he had picked you up, leaving you with no weapons to retaliate- not that you would- and staring at his form like you usually did.

Gyokko didn't hate this version himself, he loved it! But it meant his pots became useless, which defeated the point of a demon blood art. Around you though, it didn't change any circumstances, only made it easier to chase you around since you were always so keen on fleeing.

He didn't mind playing chase, and you didn't mind seeing him like this; talk about total eye candy.

His scales bloomed in colour when he was like this, lighting up his very, very generously muscular frame. His hair of sorts also grew out, giving off the same magenta and purple he had before. Each of his mouths curled into a grin, with one licking its lips. It was hard to register that his eyes were looking you up and down.

"You're like a little doll, aren't you?" He sat you on the kitchen table, though his body was pushing your legs apart, each webbed hand holding onto your wrists as if he were worried you'd crawl away.

You'd seen what he could do, watched him puncture flesh with his talons as if it were butter, seen his teeth break through bone, you knew he could do whatever he wanted- but all he did was lean in until you leaned in too, giving him a small kiss.

Not once had he forced you to do anything, and you could tell by the way his skillful hands were already moving to your waist and squeezing ever so gently that he was feeling out every groove your body had.

You couldn't help but smile at the fact that you had something so rare all to yourself, and a blush crept to his cheeks in response.

"Let me treat you, for all the hard work you do for me...!" His excitable nature hadn't died, as once he received your approval through kisses, he was pushing you down into the counter, towering over your lowered frame. This form was unnaturally large, in that his hips met with the perfect edge of the counter, making it so easy to push yours into his.

"Gyokko-" "Try to relax, I just want to feel you out..." His talons danced along the cloth of your dress, before untangling any knot and leaving the silk falling to the counter, making a nice blanket for you from the cold surface.

His eyes devoured you whole, admiring every flash of skin he got access to, like a treat. Something about it was a carnal desire, something about it made tingles race through your back when his claws tread so dangerously along your collarbone, palm falling flat between your breasts and dragging down your stomach.

The webbing between his fingers made his touch feel so warm, so complete as his other hands joined to pull your waist towards his further, grinding a need you could feel against your undergarment.

You'd watch him mould clay for hours, but nothing compared to how he would mould you into him, pushing into every curve as if you were another pot.

Yet he treasured you more than anything else he had.

With one hand holding you down from the divot below your ribcage, the other held onto your hip, keeping you in place as his hips then began to push back and forth into yours, shooting what felt like pure electricity into you.

"My muse, I've been so down on inspiration. I could really use a pick-me-up!" He wasn't shy, speaking his thoughts aloud and he leant down, one mouth kissing you briefly and the other nibbling at your blushing cheek, leaving a small mark similar to a couple of freckles.

Anytime you tried opening your mouth, he hushed you with a kiss, grinding his hips back again. The scales on his forearms brushing into your skin as he did so, feeling almost slimey; though they left little residue.

You took that as your cue to quiet down and allow him to do the talking, only letting out a huff of hair that just barely gave off a whimper.

But Gyokko wasn't all that patient at times, especially when it was something he craved so deeply for. His cheeks burned online the coolness of the rest of his skin, which left him with this dumb smirk on his face.

Just like that, the hand on your hip slices a finger forward, cutting through the fabric of your underwear and letting them drop to the floor, useless for the time being. The same finger dipped deep into your folds, before pulling back to see the slick wetness drip down between your thighs. He had been grinding absentmindedly, but he planned to do something with a lot more intention.

One of your arms snapped up instinctively, but when it tried to cover your mouth, it only found his free hand had already made its way, muffling the needy call.

"Come on now, don't complain so soon...!"

A chilling tap caused your body to freeze, feeling something slither up your thigh before curling its end, then another, and another, until a thick 'plap' noise matched the falling of a coiling tentacle that landed on your stomach, slithering until it stretched its full length out to meet just above your belly button.

Gyokko had a lot more than anyone could anticipate, with several slime-covered tendrils feeling all about your heat as he let out an over-excited and broken exhale.

He was built...different.

"Try not to move too much, it only gets them needier."

Author Note -  I KNOW I KNOW WE ALL HATE A CUT OFF I wrote so much more than I antipicated and it projected to like 3k words so I wanted to cut it at a sudden but satisfactory spot. Sorry for projecting onto your ask Anon but THANK YOU!!!

Word Count - 1,672

Art Credit - Miso

[cyncerity]

sorry that all of my posts lately have been about literally nothing but i am seething with rage rn so i’m posting

i’m assuming all of us in the g/t circle know about Fern Gully. It’s one of, if not in my personal opinion, the greatest g/t movies ever made. My sister and i used to watch it every time we drove somewhere on these cheap little screens you could attach to the back of a car seat so you could watch movies. We watched it on a weekly basis. It is one of my favorite movies of all time and it’s not just the rose tinted glasses: i can absolutely understand that some of my favorite movies absolutely suck while actively enjoying it (looking at you Strange Magic), but Fern Gully is genuinely such a good movie. the voice acting (mostly thanks to Robin Williams and Tim Curry), worldbuilding, characters, pacing, the soundtrack and animation especially, it’s all incredible. it holds a special place in my heart.

that being said i just learned that there’s a Fern Gully 2 and it absolutely sucks balls.

rant under cut

really i’ve never had a harder time sitting through a movie, and that’s saying a lot since i just mentioned how much i actually enjoy Strange Magic, which is a notoriously hard to watch movie.

In Fern Gully 2 the pacing sucks, every character is butchered, Batty is kinda like how he was in the first movie, but without Robin William’s delivery he feels like an entirely different character, every bit of world building is chucked out the window, i’ve never seen a more nonsensical plot in my life, there’s these 3 baby animals and the movie can’t decide if it wants them to be able to talk or not, and the budget drop is so obvious it’s painful. the only even mildly enjoyable part of this movie is a short lived gospel number Batty sings for no goddamn reason, but i can’t get mad at it for being totally out of place cause it was the only bit that made me smile even a little.

also it’s in Australia?? I get that the first movie had a kangaroo and like 3 shots of a platypus, but other than that it was kinda just an ambiguous rainforest. No one in the first movie sounded Australian. Even if it was in Australia, I guess you could reason that the fairies didn’t have to have the same accents as the humans, right? Maybe Zak (the human guy that gets shrunk: remember him for later in this rant) was from America but was working in Australia? The two guys who sit in the machine throughout the movie are certainly the peak of American stereotypes. But when the first human and villain (he’s a poacher so basically the villain from Tarzan if he was written worse) of Fern Gully 2 is introduced, he is so violently stereotypically Australian that it’s genuinely jarring when he says his first line.

then we meet his boss who…isn’t Australian. Actually, he kinda looks like a short and fat Hitler.

But whatever, maybe the boss is from out of town, too, like Zak. but NO. we then proceed to meet two more humans who are confirmed to live in Australia with American Accents. PICK A LANE MOVIE. Either set the movie in Australia but give no one accents, or give everyone an accent, you can’t just ONLY GIVE ONE GUY AN ACCENT. HOW THE HELL CAN HE DEVELOP A REGIONAL ACCENT IF NO ONE ELSE IN HIS REGION SOUNDS LIKE THAT??

They’re also both such a massive step down from Hexus. Hexus, aka Tim Curry goo, is one of my favorite villains of all time (Toxic Love is a hard song and scene in general to beat), but he had a purpose. He was representing the dangers and evils of human greed and power. He was a very literal force of chaos and destruction. The entire reason he had power to destroy the forest was because of humans, and that’s a massive part of the movie’s theme and moral.

In Fern Gully 2, these two jackasses want money for selling baby animals. That’s it. And it’s not even really the fairies who stop them: it’s a human girl and her Grandpa who Pips met. The entire symbolic thing from the first movie of Zak having to learn from his mistakes and turn on a goal he once had worked towards is gone. In the first movie, it was equally Zak, Crysta, and the rest of the fairies who trapped Hexus again. In this movie, the fairies are powerless (which they say like 100 times), the humans are doing their best but it’s not doing much, and the only reason the movie turns out ok is cause Crysta shows up for a literal Deus Ex Machina at the very end. It’s so fucking infuriating.

Also, back to Zak: he’s not in this. Like, not even mentioned. There’s one instance of “humans dont know the harm they do to the forest” “well remember some humans do” but that was just foreshadowing the human we meet in this movie who sucks. How can these fairies, who in the first movie believed that humans were fucking extinct, completely forget about the only human they have ever met? Crysta, who by the way isn’t even the main character anymore, never brings him up. Pips (the jerky red haired fairy with the beetle posse), who spends most of the movie around another human and who is the new main character (and maybe the only returning voice actor from the first one), never mentions him. Also, there’s just a FUCKING TOWN NEAR THE FOREST. A TOWN.

remember this shot from the first movie?

yeah apparently it missed AN ENTIRE DAMN CARNIVAL??

Pips, Batty, and the beetle boys take LESS THAN A DAY TO FLY THERE. FUCK THIS MOVIE. SERIOUSLY FUCK THIS MOVIE.

i could go off on more about how the human in this movie (Budgie, which is a stupid ass name) sucks, and now Pips just strolls up to her like “hey” and she’s like “woah a fairy, i’m so shocked you’re real…and now i’m over it, let’s go hang out.” I could also go off about how in the first movie, the entire reason Zak gets shrunk is because Crysta tried to use a spell to make him see her, but accidentally said “size” instead of “sight,” meaning that canonically in this universe, humans can’t see fairies without that spell. So when Pips just waltzes up to the first human he sees, she shouldn’t be able to see him, but whatever. I could also rant about how they made Crysta so disinteresting that she’s probably in less than a third of the film. I could also rant on the three main baby animals who i hate with a burning passion and i was rooting for at least one of them to die throughout the whole movie, but I have homework i need to be doing and grades that are due this friday, i just decided to rant instead of doing stuff lol

[thestingerblog]

What Makes A Good Concept Album?

by Sam H. and Aero S.

Read on our site!

Concept albums are nothing new, but they remain one of the most exciting ways artists can package their art and express themselves. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve definitely heard (and loved) at least one concept album or another. Most concept albums tell a narrative story, build a world where the listener will be immersed through the songs and interludes, or set a backdrop that helps the artist talk about certain topics. With the advancement of technology and how music is marketed and delivered, concept albums have become even more of a common thing, especially among bigger artists. With so many such albums around, there are bound to be hits and misses, which begs the question: what makes some of these albums so good? 

To answer this question, we must set parameters; the concepts have to be relatively clear, either through the records’ lyricism, adjacent aesthetics, or tracklist and contents. It’s also important to note that many concept albums aren’t in this article, not because they are bad, but because we aren’t privy to them or have very limited knowledge of them. Additionally, we decided to focus on American concept albums. Below are some elements that we believe make up a solid concept album. 

Interludes with in-universe or concept-aligned audio

Having interludes doesn’t necessarily make an album a concept album. However, many concept albums have interludes that contribute to the world-building aspect and the development of the overarching concept and themes of the album. The interludes should also be situated within the album to provide structure to the concept. 

An example of this is the interludes in the “Long Lost” album by Lord Huron, which is an album following the rediscovery of an old musical act. One interlude is called “(One Hellava Performer)” in which we hear a host introduce a performer and the audience clapping, and in the interlude “(Sing for Us Tonight),” we hear that same host ask the performer: “What would you like to sing for us tonight?” These audio clips are positioned throughout the album to remind listeners to go through the album sequentially to uphold the concept throughout the listening experience. We’re taking in the songs along with the crafted universe. 

“Dreamland” by Glass Animals also employs a similar technique. This album deconstructs childhood and adolescence in a dream-like, reflective haze. Throughout the album are “home movies,” which feature audio from home movies that the lead singer’s mother videotaped during his childhood. These home movies are scattered throughout the album to evoke nostalgia and to remind viewers of the central theme of growing up that the album is centered around. 

Thematic Visuals and Supplemental Materials

Many concept albums utilize thematic visuals through album covers, posters, concert designs, merchandise, music videos, and more. The best concept albums find a creative way to tie their concepts into creative elements for devoted fans to follow the threads and connect the stories together. 

Lord Huron has employed incredible supplemental materials and merchandise for several of the albums to support the story told through their concept albums. For their “Strange Trails” album, they produced a comic detailing the characters mentioned in songs throughout the album. They also produced a series of videos called “(Alive From Whispering Pines),” which is a variety show that features performances that appear in the “Long Lost” album.

In Glass Animals’ “How to Be a Human Being,” there’s a lineup of characters on the album cover, and each song on the album is dedicated to a separate character. Though we don’t know most of the characters’ names, we know the person in the center of the album with the camera is Agnes, whose song is last on the album. The music videos for the album all feature the characters to highlight their unique stories.

My Chemical Romance, a band with one of the highest-concept discographies ever, in our opinion, created a whole world in which their “Danger Days” album fits. This wasn’t entirely deliberate, as Gerard Way will tell you himself: “The Killjoys project is an interesting thing because it evolved and grew into this other thing. It was the thing I was most obsessed with, creatively, so it bled into the music. And then, it became a concept album and a comic. And I was hesitant to marry the two things because I felt like I had done such a good job of separating the two things.” The band’s 2010 album tells the battle of art vs. profit and how commercial success can hinder artistic expression and freedom. The comics that would later be released flesh out the characters of the Killjoys even further and build a world that properly contextualizes the songs and the tracks that feature Dr. Death Defying, who is seemingly a radio DJ telling the audience where they are in the story and catching them up on the characters’ journeys. In one interlude titled “Jet-Star and the Kobra Kid,” he tells us, in slightly coded language, that Killjoy members Jet-Star and Kobra Kid had a run-in with the antagonists of the story, Better Living Industries that had gone south and killed them. While there are slight deviations between each iteration of the story, the comics, album, as well as the music video for “Na Na Na” and “Sing,” which feature all members of the band playing different characters, establish a somewhat cohesive storyline.

Perhaps the most committed a musician can be to a concept is to create a series of interconnected music videos that, when watched together, tell a story complete with character arcs and a message, and that’s exactly what Fall Out Boy did on their first album after their infamous hiatus, “Save Rock and Roll.” Comprised of 11 tracks and videos, the concept album follows the band as they fight against a few gangs that want to eradicate music for different reasons, and it’s a crazy watch. A bonfire full of the band’s older memorabilia is set on fire by a flamethrower-wielding 2 Chainz. The band’s lead singer, Patrick Stump, gets his hand cut off and is conditioned to become violent when he hears music. The rest of the band dies off one by one as the series continues. Courtney Love, Big Sean, Foxes, and Elton John, who all feature on the album, also appear in the series (with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee making a cameo as the devil to Elton’s god). The entire series is interesting and plays like an independent short film with a stacked cast, and most importantly, showing the band’s determination to fulfill their album title to save rock and roll. 

Interconnected lyrics and songs

Arguably, this is the important part of any concept album. Having lyrics and songs that relate to one another is the most seamless way to uphold a concept during the listening experience. Lord Huron does this point masterfully, but considering that we’ve spent a lot of time already praising them, we’ll highlight some other notable albums and artists in this section. 

Bastille’s “Doom Days” album follows a party celebrating the end of the world. The song titles are all interconnected, following different points in the night. For example, the first song is “Quarter Past Midnight,” which marks the start of the party and the exact time it starts. Towards the end of the night is the song “4 am,” which is another marker for the time and indicates that the night is coming to a close. 

The narrative throughline of Tyler the Creator’s “IGOR” may not be evident upon first listen, which is fine – as a listener, the album is just as fun without knowledge of the story as it is with it. However, those who kept an eye out for the lyrics and are particularly good at putting things together can glean that the album tells the story of a character stuck in a love triangle when he starts dating a man whose relationship with both him and a girl he’s seeing is uncommitted, and how the main character moves on from the situation. The relationship is introduced in the opening track, “Earfquake,” and the story's conflict is established in “New Magic Wand”, where the main character tries to devise a plan to get the woman his sort-of boyfriend is also sort of seeing out of the picture. Character development occurs when the main character realizes his relationship is bad for him, as conveyed in “What’s Good.” Interspersed between these songs are quotes from comedian Jerrod Carmichael, who explains why the events of the story and the conflicts in the relationship are happening. This is an incredibly condensed retelling of the album as a complete work – if you want to dig deeper into the nuances of the narrative of this album, this article is a gold mine of analysis and information.

After looking at these concept albums, it’s clear why artists have created them to expand on their ideas and why they continue to do so. Records are a great form of expression and to share ideas and messages, but when it seems too restrictive, artists are increasingly able to branch out to other mediums to create broader works of art that go beyond their songs to build new worlds, highlight the nuances of their messages, and tell a story that otherwise would not have been possible with older album conventions. As technology advances, we can expect the parameters for concept albums to be even wider, incorporating new media and forms of expression to help enrich their music and elaborate on their ideas.

[dinoburger]

Excuse me if this is rude but can you give some song recommendations? You shared body company a while ago and I'm interested in what other things you listen to

(P.S. feel free to ignore this if this is weird)

oh not at all, sure I can - I feel the same when I see other artists share music, it's interesting to see what makes people tick, and a lot of my work is inspired by music... although, I end up feeling like I'm not particularly savvy myself and I should try to listen to more and expand my tastes, I like sharing every so often

dark, thumpy electronic stuff gets me a lot, but I listen to whatever

Dr. Mabuse <- mildly obsessed with this since I was a kid, the dark, mysterious energy... big inspiration for my stuff with Silas/Merasmus

Smashing the Opponent, Big Brother, Holding out for a Hero, Lay Down

I probably don't need to mention Mr Kitty but Destroy Me was the song that got me into his music, I thought it was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard at the time hahaha

I was introduced to The Knife's Silent Shout through One Hit, the whole album is good but Marble House stuck with me...

I have a soft spot for silly songs about sex so I must mention E-Rotic, I was a bit obsessed with Murder Me

[RIP=RELEASE] <- I am a vocaloid nerd I'm afraid, this one I've come back to regularly for the last 10 years since I first heard it, this cover just happens to be one of the better ones

Ghost n Pals is pretty well known, especially for Reckless Battery Burns, but the sequel song End World Normopathy grew on me with its crunchy industrial sounds (Scapegoat and Pathological Facade too)

little bit obsessed with MARETU's new song Even Though I Loved You and PINK is one I come back to regularly

not really a secret that I'm a BLACK DRESSES fan - HELL IS REAL and Heaven come to mind, Ada's solo album UGLY DEATH NO REDEMPTION ANGEL CURSE I LOVE YOU is good too

of course STOMACH BOOK's work, lately anarchy!!!

rediscovered Emilie Autumn while working on NGBF - Opheliac and Dead is the New Alive stand out as inspirations

Cut/Clap (obligatory Will Wood, another big inspiration for Silas + Barnabus)

also a fan of Glass Animals, ZABA and How to be a Human Being albums are both really good, Black Mambo and Mama's Gun are my most recent obsessions

Monstrosity is known as a vocaloid composer but I enjoy their non-vocal boss battle themes more? Rikki-Tikki Reverie and Malpractical (side note, Kalkori still remains to be one of the coolest monster designs I've ever seen)

Greenwich in the Sky [remix]

Terrible Ride <- I didn't want to bring this artist up if I could help it but I have to confess, the Queenstons remains an influence

....AAAAAH I THINK THAT'S ENOUGH.

[dreadfutures]

Ooh, what was your inspiration? Music, aesthetics, plot points, etc- anything you feel like sharing! I love hearing about what inspires artists ❤️ Dead Pasts and Dread Futures has such an interesting Lavellan journey and I’m wondering where you get your ideas - ty and have a lovely night ❤️

Hi thank you!! that means a lot. and thanks for indulging me.

For DPDF, the whole origin of the fic was surviving a series of really bad friend breakups that affected me more than anything else in my life and really shaped my worldview, and Ixchel often grapples with similar things. DPDF is very much about depression and isolation inextricably, from different angles.

Beyond individual relationships it keeps popping up in the form of "inspiration" as I think a lot about being mixed race, about being second generation, about clawing my way to positions of leadership and privilege and how best to open doors and empower my peers and those who come after me, about being both afforded privilege but also being marginalized in those spaces too, about building community and coalitions... They're just really central to a lot of my daily existence and the spaces I move in and there aren't clear answers or narratives so I like to write them when I can. And imagining the world as I wish it could be, where sometimes just saying "it shouldn't be this way" loudly enough will give people pause, is important work to keep me hopeful and motivated to live and do the hard work in my relationships and communities.

On more fun notes, some of my biggest inspirations:

Music

These songs make me incredibly emotional, they all have a lot of personal meaning to me about friendships that I've had and lost, and they also have directly inspired a lot of ixchel's relationships with the people closest to her. just listening to agnes these days is enough to make me cry my eyes out.

beige (yoke lore) - unburdened

bad dreams (faouzia) - stripped

running up that hill (placebo) - x

i found (amber run) - ft. London Contemporary Voices

agnes (glass animals) - stare into his eyes **(see below)

Plots, Language, Storytelling

I find myself drawing elements and plots from lots of my favorite books growing up, such as:

Riddlemaster of Hed (Patricia A. McKillip) (ideas about magic, identity, collectivism vs individualism, pacifism, betrayal and love comingling)

Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander)

Earthsea (Ursula K. LeGuin) (magic, accepting darkness within you, collectivism vs individualism, other things)

Thirteen Clocks (James Thurber) (whimsical language, poetry, a different way of writing fairy tales, fridge horrors)

Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy) (lifted some of it for Wycome)

The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper) (shoutout: golden owl eyes)

Song of the Lioness (Tamora Pierce) (man. really complicated and nuanced friendships and interpersonal relationships.)

A version of the Robin Hood story whose author I don't know :(

El Cid

The Bartimaeus Trilogy (Jonathan Stroud)

Specifically themes relating to loyalty, chivalry, doing what's right even when it means you lose or life is harder or it's lonely.

Honorable mentions to Peaky Blinders, Pacific Rim, all the Studio Ghibli films (especially Spirited Away).

But also a lot of fanfics I read growing up were really formative.

Elecktrum's Chronicles of Narnia fanfics, and Tonzura123's Chronicles of Narnia fanfics, were especially impactful with how they treated platonic devotion and loyalty.

** a note about agnes

this was originally in the youtube description but I think Dave removed it. But it means a lot to me so I'm copying it here:

dear friends…nervously excited to share with you the video for Agnes. it’s hard to explain exactly how it feels inside a human centrifuge. you sit in a small egg-like pod about the size of a horse which hangs off a 50 foot steel horizontal frame. It looks like something out of a bond villain’s lair. it’s claustrophobic and uncomfortable and also incredibly hot. slowly the whole thing starts to rotate like a helicopter blade. Faster and faster until every part of you becomes crushed under the extreme gravity. its like being slowly sat on by an elephant, or like your whole body being punched in slow motion. you have to flex every muscle and use every ounce of strength you have to keep going. breathing requires serious effort. movement becomes incredibly strained and almost painful. everything that once weighed 5 kilograms now weighs 50. its difficult even to keep your eyes open. it hurts in places you really didn’t know existed. veins and capillaries burst under the pressure and bruising begins. its a rapid physical overdrive. the blood rushes from your brain making it impossible to think rationally or focus. your eyes are also drained and you get tunnel vision…only able to see small circles of the world directly infront of you and your sight goes completely greyscale…no more colour. your balance and spatial awareness goes and the world begins to spin like you’ve had way too much to drink. but the most striking thing is the way that the machine pulls on your heart. you can actually feel it struggling to beat and changing shape…flattening inside of your chest. Its similar to that horrible sinking, tugging heartache that comes only with complete and overwhelming sadness. and then you pass out. we ran the centrifuge 18 times while i tried to sing along to a song which i find difficult to listen to at the best of times. this was probably the most intense video-making experience I’ll ever have. But its the only way that we could just about begin to simulate for a moment what happens within Agnes. speak soon, dave

[reddragon-cowboy]

for both niah & spike : Are there any certain scents, sounds, or textures that you like? What about ones that you dislike? / What are some weird interests or hobbies you have that people probably wouldn't expect you to have? / What scares you the most? And if it really happened... how would you deal with it?

☠ ― 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑛 𝐴𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟. | open [ omg you get all my muses thoughts thanks you're the best <333 ]

Are there any certain scents, sounds, or textures that you like? What about ones that you dislike? /

❝ That's a funny question. . . ❞ his voice spoke flat with a heavy ounce of disinterest. Oh yes, definitely funny, one could observe the way boredom rests in his half-lidded eyes. There were various amounts of textures, scents, and sounds yet to be discovered by the human experience. The lists were endless and could go on and on for an eternity. Even for the small list of what he knew, laziness makes the bounty hunter less inclined to shift and maneuver through his mental memory bank that involves one's senses.

❝ But I guess I like. . . cigarette smoke, on account of I like to smoke, probably shouldn't tell Niah that though. ❞ He also like the smell of strawberries, rain, and roses. ❝ Mmm, music ? That's a nice sound. And something soft I guess. ❞

This was a bit easy, and unlike her bounty hunter friend, Niah willingly offers to share without much trouble. ❝ Mmmm, well, I do like the sound of birds, especially in the early morning hours. It's a sweet sound, I think. . . ❞ Memory recalls the numerous times where she woken up to natures harmonic melodies, a bit beyond glass barriers in which birds whistle and tweet a marvelous song that praises dawn morning-light in their own feathery language.

❝ The smell of rain is also nice, ❞ brown eyes veers only slightly off center, her gaze reminiscent of a faraway look where she gets caught in a daydream as rain pitter-patters fall behind her eyes, ❝ it's. . . relaxing for me. I usually sometimes read a book or work on some poetry when it rains. And I do like soft things. ❞

What are some weird interests or hobbies you have that people probably wouldn't expect you to have? /

Spike hears the question. He does. But he's ( purposely) slow to answer, instead, chooses to stick his pinky finger into his ear canal with a deep twist within. And his eyes fall close as he contemplates whether he wants to respond with any valid truth. ❝ You think you being a little nosey ? There's something you hope to gain from all these questions or something ? ❞

He was unfamiliar to this, the concept of offering pieces of himself that pertains to his interests, mainly due to the fact the people he surrounds himself with ( Jet & Faye) don't stop to ask questions to better know another. They all just kept to themselves in their own world, eyes drawn and pulled into the past as their reality, either drowning in the muck of it or running from it. ❝ I like to roller-skate and read. Is watching t.v and taking a nap also considered a hobby ? ❞

Her head tilts to one side, then the other side, all while being bombarded by a series of interests that skip about along with myriads of abstract thoughts. ❝ I don't think I'd call them weird. . . but. . . I do like wolves, ❞ she takes a second to pause, ❝ also snakes. Is that kinda weird to you ? ❞ She couldn't help the question that utters in mildness and curiosity about their perspective of her.

❝ I guess I only ask because people don't expect me to say I like those things and they usually ask me why I do, maybe because the animals seem like the opposite of myself from how people might see me as this . . weak girl or something. ❞ She starts to ramble, and something simmers in her earthy eyes where a touch of emotion starts to swell there. ❝ I don't know. . . but there is more to me than what I choose to give out. ❞

What scares you the most? And if it really happened... how would you deal with it?

Unlike the other questions that bobbled casual elements atop shallow waters, this one veered off into the deep end. A question that may or may not cause a light shudder to crawl up his spine once thoughts surfaces and swarm like a herd of locusts, reigns control of his mind. But his face leaves a blank canvas, lips pressed into a fine line and eyes hooded that brew something serious and sober within his empty gaze that became devoid of emotion, colorless.

This inquiry doesn't suit one's interests to bare a single fear that produces a silent scream in the darkest depths of his soul--he hears its echo within the soft yawn of restless nights where eyes weigh heavy and ache for slumber, when sleep doesn't descend yet hovers above him as does a cloudy mist. The ominous threat of transforming into something less human, lose another shred of whatever humanity he desperately holds onto by a loose thread, could easily slip through fingers smeared in blood or tear apart, break in two. No eagerness to share a slither of a crumb of it, couldn't as well in the same vein, bear to breathe aloud fear of harming a hair on her head .

❝ Think I'm done here for now. That's all you're gettin outta me. ❞

Full lips press together as her tongue lay flat and quiet, gaze slowly drawn to her lap, long lashes falling low to rest half-lid. She could never correctly tame the onslaught of emotions that rushes to cling onto every corner of her visage, ever visibly displayed for anyone's view-- how well the hand of sadness paints abstract strokes after dipping the brush in pensive watery color.

❝ I guess ending up alone. . . forgotten. ❞ And as something simply insignificant. Was all her heart could lament about this topic, not certain as to how she could deal with the prospect over a longer period.

[manbehindthemask]

I'd love to hear the explanations behind some of the songs you choose for Jules as well

god you know i love talking about music i could kiss you on the mouth

here's the playlist i have for jules (so far)

I/Me/Myself - Will Wood

“While I whittle my bones until I’m brittle, am I pretty now? / For some reason I find myself lost in what you think of me / And too confused to choose who I should be”

Jules identifies as cis BUT he likes using ‘they’ pronouns every once in a while. He also plays a lot with gender when it comes to clothing and self expression, too. As confident as he appears, his childhood has left him with the desire to be accepted by others. He constantly yearns for approval because his mother never gave it to him.

Goodbye Horses - Q Lazzarus

“And I said, “Oh, no, sir / I must say you’re wrong / I must disagree, oh, no, sir / I must say you’re wrong / Won’t you listen to me?”

Jules tries to keep a positive outlook on life even though his positivity is usually beaten down pretty quickly by others. He’s also incredibly naive about the world and how dark it can be. Even when people argue with him, he believes there’s more to the world than darkness.

Season 2 Episode 3 - Glass Animals

“Leftover breakfast cereal for lunch / She’s broken but she’s fun”

Jules is a fun dude to be around but boy does he have internal emotional issues that have left him scarred. I also feel like this song reflects the sort of chaos that is Jules’ life, both in an impoverished stance and in general.

Savages - MARINA

“Is it running in our blood, is it running in our veins? / Is it running in our genes, is it in our DNA? / Humans aren't gonna behave as we think we always should / Yeah, we can be bad as we can be good”

Again Jules’ naive outlook on life often has him giving people the benefit of the doubt. He believes that at the heart of it all, people are good. Even so, he has seen the bad with his own parents, especially his mother. Deep down, he’s afraid of what people are capable of.

Inked in Red - Vision Video

“So here I go again, I’m crawling on my knees / Through the jagged era of uncertainty”

Reflects the way Jules travels to try and find meaning in life. Each piece he makes, he thinks maybe he’ll figure out what it’s all about and what he’s been put on this earth for, but each time he returns to being uncertain and looking again for that meaning.

Them Changes - Thundercat

“Why in the world would I give my heart to you? / Just to watch you throw it in the trash”

Jules wears his heart on his sleeve but people aren’t always nice to it. His parents were always distant if not abusive, and his ex turned on him the minute he admitted to being gay. When he falls for Jason, he’s terrified it’ll all happen again, but he trusts his gut.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!! - MilkCan

“It was the 36th time that he'd broke my heart / It was the 80th time that I'd fallen apart / I knew from the start it was gonna be rough / But not as painful as this”

Jules never really learned a healthy way to handle his emotions when they’re not positive. He also is the kinda person to wear his heart on his sleeve, so it definitely gets broken often.

Dummy - The Regrettes

“I know you can't figure me out / Don't you wish you knew what I was talkin' about? / You got my tear stains on your shirt / I'm the worst, what a curse / But you don't have a doubt”

Jules is so, so emotional. Sometimes he can’t handle his own emotions and it is what causes people to push him away. He just wants people to like him but that's so hard to manage when you're just... emotional and vulnerable.

Lowlife - That Poppy

“Old suitcase, clean getaway / I'm the one who takes the blame again / New day but the same lines / I feel like a victim of the dollar sign”

It’s no secret Jules’ upbringing was not great, but once he was old enough to leave his home, he felt so free. He still has to deal with the weight of the world when it comes to having money to just survive from day to day, but it’s still far better than being home with his parents.

that's probably more than enough but you know me, i love an excuse to share some music <3

[riddlerosehearts]

Okay so, earlier I reblogged a post that kinda offhandedly stated--as part of a larger, almost totally unrelated point, which is why I don't wanna be annoying about it to the OP--that in Beauty and the Beast, the out-of-universe reason that the prince (who I will be referring to as Adam) was 11 when he was cursed is because the writers didn’t realize they made him that young until it was too late to change it. So as a huge nerd I wanted make my own post explaining why I believe this is false, actually! Using excerpts from the BATB artbook and from a leaked first draft of the screenplay:

1. In said draft, dated June 14th 1990, Adam is explicitly stated to be eleven years old:

“In FULL ANIMATION, we meet the eleven year-old child as he is being dressed and fussed over by a slew of harried servants”

Soooo, I’m pretty sure they did in fact know they were making him 11 years old. Honestly I don’t think I really need to elaborate more than this but I’m going to anyway, along with talking about some other things I find interesting.

2. In this version of the story, Adam was really cruel and cold to the enchantress, like I know he’s 11 but damn. He really just got told he cares for nothing and loves no one but himself and said “why should I?”

Kinda wish more of this made it into the final version of the movie tbh, if only to drive home the point that he truly was an awful kid and didn’t just get cursed for “not wanting to let a stranger in his house”, as I’ve seen some people say.

3. Also in this version of the story, the castle servants were cursed simply for getting in the way of the enchantress’ attempt to punish Adam and trying to plead with her that he’s only a child, and so that he would have to be isolated with no human company.

4. This is a bit of a tangent but even though I’ve been referring to him as a prince, he’s actually called a duke in this version! Obviously they changed that as the prologue of the movie now explicitly calls him a prince.

Also, this happens, and I really wanna know how exactly he would explain all of this to Belle in his own words:

It then cuts to Belle and Adam already having gotten married and being about to leave on their honeymoon and I’m sorry, this is not related at all to the discussion of his age, but I adore this ending so much that I almost, maybe, kinda sorta like it just as much as if not better than the actual ending and I feel the need to share it:

Belle and Adam literally don’t notice a whole explosion in the east wing because “they’re too caught up in newlywed bliss”, help, my heart--this gives us more time with Adam as a human, is adorable, and just feels so classic and Cinderella-esque. Actually, the original prologue and ending parallel the structure of Cinderella so strongly (especially if they would’ve added the chorus singing the title song) that maybe they thought it was a bit too much like Cinderella, and I wouldn’t trade the unique stained glass prologue and last shot of the final movie for anything, but I still just love every word of this. 

But ANYWAY, one last thing pertaining to Adam’s age:

5. Before even this draft was created, Howard Ashman originally wanted the poor kid to be seven when he got cursed. SEVEN! And I know that because of the Beauty and the Beast artbook:

Wanted to share this whole section for context, but the most relevant part is that Howard’s original idea, which the directors apparently disliked despite it still making it to the first screenplay draft, was... well, the same thing I showed earlier, except the main character was “a seven-year-old prince”. Which does make me wonder how old Howard originally imagined Belle to be, seeing as Paige O’Hara has referred to her as an adult in her early 20s several times since the movie was released (so no, she’s not 17 and getting with a 21 year old, the “Belle is 17″ thing comes from another drastically different version of the script) and in this draft is described as 18 at the same time that Adam would be nearing 21:

All this is to say, though, that imo the live action remake doing things like changing the “ten years we’ve been rusting” line, never specifying that the rose will bloom until his 21st birthday, and making him explicitly older + having him be cruelly abusing his political power in the prologue... is interesting and not necessarily bad, just different (and only canon to that adaptation, not to the original animated film!). It places the Beast’s curse in a much different light and makes it seem much more justifiable (though even then it doesn’t justify cursing the servants tbh) than the idea that the enchantress would so cruelly punish not just an 11 year old but everyone else who cares for him in response to him simply being a spoiled, bratty child. I can see why some might prefer him being an adult, and I can also see how some may not realize that he was supposed to be 11 with how much older he looks in the prologue and the painting in the castle (which admittedly is an odd decision to me that I’m not sure of the reasoning for). But I think him being a young child at the time of the curse really helps to show just how unjust his situation is, and also I think the writers definitely knew what they were doing here. If they wanted to make sure Adam was an adult at the time of the curse then really, they only would’ve had to remove/change a couple of lines, but they clearly wrote him as a young child in several previous versions of the script and then... continued to imply exactly that in the final movie.

[voistly]

what kind of music have you been listening to lately?

working my way through jhariah's trust ceremony album. my favourite song is fire4fun so far. i haven't listened to much jhariah, just a few songs here and there. but this album is making me want to go back and listen to some older albums in full.

also listened to glass animals' new release a tear in space (airlock). its okay. its a lot better than creatures in heaven, but the beginning gave me false hope. glass animals' new music is kind of... bland poppy... i much prefer the zaba and how to be a human being albums, which i listen to pretty much every week on my weekly doctor appointments.

been relistening traumazine as well... my favourite is her. usually i do not like watching live action music videos but i really enjoy the choreography and art direction in this one. especially the very beginning.

some other various songs i've been listening to:

great! big! party! by eyeamki

you drive me crazy by technoboy

cyborg man by hensonn

government hooker by lady gaga

love potion #9 by the coasters

robot rock by dj paulinho mondi

[buffriday-with-the-bees]

This is my Yuletide 2023 placeholder letter - it will have details soon - sorry, I am being that person

General DNWs - I am not usually interested in fic with slavery. Some of these canons have existing slavery as part of the worldbuilding and I don't expect you to ignore that but I also probably would not enjoy reading about the characters being enslaved. Also, please no whitewashing of characters that are canonically not white. Any AU except a high school AU (or younger) is fine. (One specific exception is listed under Uhura's Song.)

Sexual content DNWs - I don't typically seek out fic with underage, incest, or non-con, and often skip over it. References to canonical instances of them if they exist is fine.

No involvement of animals. No scat or watersports or anything with vomit.

No sexual relationships between patient and clinician, please. (Specific exception for the Expanse.)

—

Anything that includes requested characters and doesn't hit a DNW will almost certainly make me wildly happy.

Things that are fine/encouraged: Any POV, any tense, any format; any queer or trans headcanons; any race/ancestry headcanons, any ace and/or aro headcanons you have.

–

The Druid's Call by E.K. Johnston

This is a prequel to the D&D Honor Among Thieves movie. Things I'm interested in: Doric talking to Open and/or Torrieth about her adventures. More of Open mentoring Toric. Fics that use the tag Owlbear hugs. (Yes, I think it would be cool to be hugged by someone wildshaped into an owlbear and I'm not afraid to say it. Or shamelessly request fics that contain it.)

—

The Bird of The River - Kage Baker

I'm interested in Eliss growing into adulthood and being mentored by other people in the crew/her found family, especially Pentra Smith and maybe Mrs. Riveter. Do she and Captain Glass ever realize their strongly implied blood relationship? Does she ever ask him about his eldritchness?

—

Uhura's Song

What does Brightspot experience during her time on the Enterprise? Does she ever come home and tell Stiff Tail about it? Does Stiff Tail ever unstiffen a little?

Catchclaw and Rushlight are included because I just think they're neat. Feel free to use them as main characters or side characters or not at all.

Fandom-specific thing: I enjoy the felinoids as such and would not be interested in an AU where they're human instead.

—

Dunkirk (2017)

What might happen if Peter and Collins met up again in the future? Having a chat in a pub, making small tall, and then going their separate ways? A long-term queer romance? Is Collins still flying? Does Peter become a journalist? I don't have clear answers, but I like the idea of them being together and I like the idea of Peter as a journalist (but I'm flexible).

Prefer that period-typical homophobia not be a major factor.

—

Newsflesh - Mira Grant

Rick! What's the vice-presidential candidate life like? How and why does he make the decisions he does after he's elected? Does he lie to himself about them? How much? What's his life like after canon?

Danika is something of a mysterious figure. I'm curious about her background. Maybe Georgia is too, and investigates.

I'm always happy for more mad science time with Dr. Abbey.

(Yes, this fandom has canonical adopted sibling incest, and I don't expect you to ignore it or write around it or anything.)

—

The Expanse (books)

I'm interested in stories where Aliana Tanaka lives and has further adventures with her psychiatrist. Specific exception to clinician/patient if you want to make it romantic or sexual (Tanaka is twisty, let's be real), but you don't have to.

I'm also interested in stories where she goes back to her art history interest. Feel free to change the setting if you need to.

I'm interested in what happens with Amos's experiences as an altered human before recontact.

Naomi and Teresa I added because I think they're neat. Also neat: Cara.

[I will be back later to add more general likes, in the event that you matched with me and would like more guidance.]

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 17/06/2023 (J Hus/Drake, Nathan Dawe/Joel Corry/Ella Henderson)

Content warning: Alcoholism and Drake features

Dave and Central Cee hold on for a second week with “Sprinter” at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, and welcome back to a human-written episode of REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

This may be a particularly tired episode - I am kind of exhausted but surely the charts can fix that! Right? That’s how that works, right? Yeah, it’s probably the opposite but as always we start with notable dropouts, which are songs exiting the UK Top 75 - what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week is a tad less busy than last, but we still do have a somewhat impressive list here, consisting of “Hits Different” by Taylor Swift - already! - as well as a few older songs that had returned recently, those being “Maria Maria” by Santana featuring The Product G&B and “Creep” by Radiohead. We also bid farewell to “Haven’t You Ever Been in Love Before” by Lewis Capaldi, “MATHEMATICAL DISRESPECT” by Lil Mabu (good riddance), “I Wrote a Song” by Mae Muller, “Search & Destroy” by Drake and “If We Ever Broke Up” by another Mae, that being Stephens. Yeah, I’m not really complaining about any of this.

So what’s filling the blanks? Well, we have returns for “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic at #72 for whatever reason and thanks to his regular concert-related return, “Seventeen Going Under” by Sam Fender is back for a week or two at #29. Elsewhere, we see boosts for “Give it to Me” by Matt Sassari at #64 - I’m kind of surprised that one’s getting anywhere - “Closer” by Bou featuring Slay at #48 (joy), “Sittin’ on Top of the World” by Burna Boy at #43, “Heaven” by Niall Horan rebounding to #40 thanks to his #1 album, “UNHEALTHY” by Anne-Marie featuring Shania Twain at #36 (her first top 40 hit in 20 years), “Satellite” and “Late Night Talking” by Harry Styles at #31 and #30, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals at #25 (seriously), “Waffle House” by the Jonas Brothers at #22, and quite fortunately, “Good Love” by Hannah Laing and RoRo at #13. We also have a welcome addition to the top 10 with “Padam Padam” by Kylie Minogue at #9, becoming her first top 10 hit as a lead artist since 2010’s “All the Lovers” hit #3, and she has like 30 to a morbillion others, including her feature Taio Cruz’s “Higher” in 2011, which peaked at #8, but that song also had Travie McCoy of the Gym Class Heroes on it so maybe it’s best we don’t acknowledge its existence.

This week’s top five on the UK Singles Chart consists of “REACT” by Switch Disco featuring Ella Henderson and the late Robert Miles at #5, “Giving Me” by Jazzy at #4, “Miracle” by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding at #3, “Who Told You” by J Hus featuring Drake debuting at #2 - more on that later - and of course, “Sprinter” by Dave and Cench at the top. With all that out of the way, it is now time for our batch of new arrivals and… it’s a bit of a mess? Let’s just get through them.

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 - “So Much in Love” - D.O.D

Produced by D.O.D

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from D.O.D, the Manchester DJ best known for “Still Sleepless”, which is a song I still quite like. I didn’t exactly have any expectations but yeah, this is about just as good. It is funny to think that D.O.D is cribbing from the same vocal loops as Bad Boy Chiller Crew did with a song of the same name, but he definitely does more with it, including the tense chopping of the vocal amidst church organs in the beginning with really ramps up the melodrama to a level that seems appropriate for how relentlessly hard the hardcore kick ends up going in the drop. In fact, I think I ended up talking myself into liking this a great deal more than I initially did, probably because it hit some kind of nostalgia receptor, but the raspier vocal and the juicy bass synth really did convince me on this, especially with the choking percussion and the ambient release in the bridge that may have church organs, but they’re pretty jerky, and amidst a lot of janky distant synths, which fits for a song about desperately trying to return the relationship to the good old times. By the time it got to the breakdown using what sounds like an audience cheering and an alarm siren, it really hit me that this is an excellent dance song. I’m glad to know that the uniqueness of the more independent dance hits from last year is continuing on into this year, and this kind of wacky garage house track can add yet another song to that burgeoning list, it’s great.

#69 - “VULGAR” - Sam Smith and Madonna

Produced by Sam Smith, ILYA, Cirkut, Omer Fedi, Ryan Tedder and Jimmy Napes

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from Sam Smith after their album rollout and well, we’re never stop hearing from Madonna, yet this collaboration makes perfect sense. If Smith wishes to go the “Unholy” route - which proved profitable - the next logical step is ugly transgression with, well, the Queen of Transgression. I am kind of underwhelmed by this, honestly, considering the snippet ended up sounding weirder than the actual song. We start with intense strings and obnoxiously pitch-shifted vocals as I kind of expected, before getting into a bassy minimal groove - which I also expected - and man, I think the problem is I expected too much of it. I still like the song, with its staccato verses and grinding industrial plucks and sound effects, as well as the refusal to actually “work” as a pop song, but apart from the drop with eerie strings, cacophonous house percussion and an overwhelming bass that really is hurt by the stop-and-start rhythm of the chorus. I’d argue Madonna actually performs better here than on “Popular”, particularly because this brand of more avant-garde electropop has been her brand for the 2010s before it was Sam’s, and she actually kind of dominates the song by the end, which makes complete sense since Sam doesn’t work well here - they feel a bit too hollow and sensitive in their vocal tone to make sense on a track that needs an Arca remix. I still did end up liking this song, even on pure novelty, but I really wish it went somewhere edgier and more actually challenging.

#66 - “Mona Lisa” (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) - Dominic Fike

Produced by Will Yanez, Beat Butcha, Kenny Beats and StarGate

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from Dominic Fike, though I heard he was acting in an insufferable HBO series… so it makes sense that he’s back with yet another song from the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack.This one has self-aware cover art, which makes me automatically hate it since you had millionaire rappers on the official soundtrack and they were absolutely fine with using their image for Spider-Man, so for this little indie pop lad who sounds like a nose piercing personified could probably use it for some momentum without, you know, making fun of it. It’s needless to say, I think this is terrible, with a weak falsetto vocal loop and obnoxiously Lauv-esque acoustic guitar strumming that… becomes a house song, for some reason, and it really caught me off-guard whilst also sounding incredibly unfitting, especially with some of the most unlikeable Auto-Tuned vocals I’ve ever heard in this brand of alt-pop. Not even the chorus is all that catchy, with both the shoddily-mixed percussion and his incomplete vocal inflections sounding like a rough demo. Let’s not get into the condescending lyrics before this gets embarrassing since this is just awful.

#59 - “Take Two” - BTS

Produced by SUGA and EL CAPITXN

You know, for a boy band that is “on hiatus”, it hasn’t really been a while since we last heard from BTS. This song is a one-off single celeb rating the 10th anniversary of the group’s formation, thanking their fans through this song being supposedly dedicated to them, but really, it reads like a generic breakup if you translate the lyrics. I’m sure they mean something extra for the ARMY and of course lyrics that don’t resonate won’t kill a song, especially not one with a nice watery guitar lick, co-produced by one of the members - SUGA - which is cool - to make the lovely platitudes seem particularly breezy and cute, which fits for the guys’ high registers and incredibly dedicated delivery, with all the boys selling everything as hard as possible in a very pop fashion, which becomes a problem in that kind of mess of a chorus, wherein the compression definitely does not do wonders for either half of the overly loud and overwhelming hook, with extra vocal riffing to add even more to the mix, and it sounds pretty bad, which is disappointing since outside of the chorus, this isn’t bad at all - it just devolves into really cheap-sounding advertisement music for the refrain. I actually really like the melodic rap delivery from j-hope and RM, and the way they trade spoken-word verses with SUGA in the bridge is a nice, intimate touch, with SUGA’s lyrics more specifically referring to the fans in a really poetic fashion if the Genius translation is to be believed. It’s a shame that these good elements don’t necessarily make a good song, but I don’t think it’s the boys’ fault, it could have just used some extra time in the vault to ensure it actually sounded right before release. I feel like I have to say this - nothing against the boys, absolutely screw military conscription - but I did not have a headache before listening and I now very much do, that’s all I can say.

#58 - “How Does it Feel” - Tom Grennan

Produced by Carl Falk and Ryan Linvill

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from Tom Grennan, but this is his last pre-release single before he released his album What Ifs & Maybes - on the day of me writing this - so I was excited to hear if he could finally fully impress me. “All These Nights” got close, but Grennan has always been so close to making an actually great 80s pop rock pastiche… and God damn it, he might have just done it, because this is an insanely fun bop, and one that��s also kind of toxic to boot. He sounds pathetic belting amidst the Infectious guitars and flat synthpop drums, promising that he’s changed and he’ll make the relationship work, but sounding absolutely not enthused about it. The call-and-response between the Auto-Tuned drizzle of “Just tell me something” before the verse starts with “I don’t know what to tell you” is great, and the sing-songy chorus where he acknowledges how this is far away from actually apologising and mending wounds is just the icing on this petty, condescending cake. His breathy, smug delivery makes this sound just that more like a complete douchebag anthem, and the refrain of “How does it feel?” seems particularly just like a complete dick move, and I’m embracing all of it, with the rapid staccato harmonies of the second chorus and the killer anti-climax that is that chorus, as well as those twinkling synths that back its second half. I’d prefer a bridge with a bit more to it, or no bridge at all, but the drum fills and fuzzy ambiance does grant it some extra oomph that I appreciate. I even think that unlike most Tom Grennan songs, it wouldn’t work better as a heavier track since it needs its breeziness to be as pissy as it is. So, yeah, by being complete unlikeable, Tom Grennan has won me over. What does that say about me? Oh, Liam Payne co-wrote this? That makes way too much sense.

#45 - “Dial Drunk” - Noah Kahan

Produced by Noah Kahan and Gabe Simon

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from… okay, who the heck actually is this guy? So, Kahan is from Vermont and he makes folk music, and since the UK is latching onto country, I suppose rootsy Americana is to follow, with his recent reissue of his album Stick Season generating his first genuine breakout hit on the charts with “Dial Drunk” and, well… I’m not a fan, but I’m sure the kids like it. I don’t like it primarily for very shallow reasons - the drums are mixed in a way that sounds too dusty and distracting, and I just can’t really stand Kahan’s kind of nasal voice and delivery, which is a shame because he paints a good picture in  his songwriting, which is a narrative about an alcoholic regretting his actions when he uses someone he’s no longer in a relationship with as an emergency call once he’s arrested. It definitely has the jerkiness and uncertainty of an alcoholic, including a dialogue between him and the police in the bridge which was actually pretty compelling… and yeah, I’ve talked myself into liking it again, except not as much this time, primarily because I still don’t necessarily like how the song sounds, even if the guitar solo’s pretty nice and as are the harmonies. It’s still just a bit grating and kind of unlikeable to actually work for me, and the chorus feels way too consistent for its content, but it’s definitely a decently written and composed song, just not one that I’m particularly feeling.

#23 - “0800 HEAVEN” - Nathan Dawe, Joel Corry and Ella Henderson

Produced by Nathan Dawe, Joel Corry and Punctual

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from - who am I kidding? These people are charting constantly, and rarely with an actually good song, though to be fair, it just happens that all three have actually had a song that impressed me for the first time just recently, as “Oh Baby”, “Dance Around It” and “REACT” are all great tunes, so I had some element of hope, but I was still expecting it to be pretty generic and well, it is, but it has a very cheesy Eurodance element to it, especially with the conceit of Heaven having a phone line, which Ella sells way too seriously - and that is a good thing… in fact, screw it, I like the song as a whole too. The flubbery synth lead sounds farty and obnoxious in the best way possible, and the percussion actually has some frenetic energy to it that I really appreciate detail-wise, before tunnelling into the Eurodance club drop it was made to have. I do have to say - it’s not particularly impressive lyrically, in fact the sole verse and pre-chorus are kind of cringeworthy, and the song structure is of course not particularly impressive, with its wham line already being corny before being interrupted for the drop. Does that mean I don’t like it? Far from it - the drop bumps, Ella sounds great and the song gives me a wave of Clubland TV nostalgia, and to be fair to the usually bland producers here, there is some nice ambiance and detail, especially in the outro with the recorded phone call. Some extra effort was put into the atmosphere of this one, and it went a long way. Good song.

#2 - “Who Told You” - J Hus featuring Drake

Produced by P2J, E.Y., Gaetan Judd and JAE5

Well, it’s been a Drake since we’ve Draked from Drake, but I’m definitely more excited about the production here, given P2J and JAE5 sounds like an incredible duo, and J Hus has slid on production particularly from JAE5 before, so I had high hopes… and, well, it’s not what I expected, definitely being a bit more percussive with its jazzy pianos and quasi-Afrobeats rhythm amidst stray chipmunk vocals… and yeah, J Hus is not great here. He’s never been great at songs about women or partying, so he feels completely out of his element trying to adapt his unique delivery to a very fitted rhythm, so his performance is just awkward and honestly embarrassing with his corny sex raps and just repeating himself in the first verse. It’s not like Drake sounds any better - he’s just off-beat, referencing his own songs in his fake accent and taking random left-turns into melodic flows whilst being way too shoddily mixed for the sheer length of his demo-sounding verse. The squeaking guitar that arrives during his verse sounds just as unfitting as Drake does, and for whatever reason, there’s a second J Hus verse, and he sounds a bit more energetic but again, his unhinged delivery doesn’t fit on tighter grooves like this, even when a bit more melodious as he tends to be. It’s why he’s always on looser instrumentals, so this just feels like an okay beat given to a duo that can’t really fit it all too well, since in the arms of maybe a Wizkid, this could end up a lot better. Oh, and Drake should continue to be embarrassed about every little thing he does until eventually he becomes this shameless deity figure that only exists as a figment of our imagination and is a distant memory in everyone who remembers the past wrath of Aubrey Graham.

Conclusion

It’s not getting Worst of the Week though, as that goes to “Mona Lisa” by Dominic Fike, though J Hus and Drake bag the Dishonourable Mention. The rest is mostly decent, but I really did love listening to “So Much in Love” so D.O.D. gets the Best of the Week, and as much as I’d want to ensure that both positive titles went to dance songs, I think Tom Grennan just pips the trio to the post with “How Does it Feel”. Overall, a surprisingly good week, and I have no idea what’s ahead of us until Olivia Rodrigo returns, so for now, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!

[gracelessx97]

Random Our Life: Beginning & Always Headcanons

Our Life: Beginnings & Always is my current hyperfixation, so I am arising from the dead to bring you guys a few random personal OL1 headcanons while we wait for Derek’s DLC to be released.

~Derek & Baxter under the cut.~

Cove:

-        Only knows how to cook a few dishes from scratch, but the ones he can are really good. Like, Michelin star restaurant good (not really, but maybe we’re biased).

-        Doesn’t play many video games but got really into Pokémon after high school. It started with Pokémon Go out of boredom (probably during quarantine) & then escalated into a full-blown obsession. Picked up the card game too but card packs got too expensive to keep collecting them :’(

-        Also plays Stardew Valley but only on co-op with his friends. He likes exploring the mines the most.

-        If you have long-haired Cove, I like to think that he donates his hair every few years. He’ll grow it out & wear it long for a while, then cut it to the second shortest length for Step 4, & wear it like that for a year or so before he grows it out to donate again.

-        I also think he’s probably gotten an undercut with his long hair at some point. California is hot & sticky, & it made it just a little more bearable. Probably got Jamie/MC or Cliff to do it.

-        Got a lip piercing at one point but took it out not long afterwards because he didn’t like the feeling of it.

-        Is surprisingly really good with kids who take surfing lessons from him. He was nervous about it the first few times he had some sign up, but something about his awkwardness is endearing & they absolutely adore him.

-        Can not play Cards Against Humanity. He gets way too flustered for it.

Derek:

-        Took up guitar some time in his senior year of high school but never really stuck with it. He can still play a few songs from muscle memory but has mostly forgotten what he learned.

-        Probably took a couple of elective ballet or other dance classes in college to help with his footwork for soccer (also partially just for fun). He also probably convinced a few of the guys on his team to do it with him.

-        Wants tattoos but is nervous about regretting it later in life. If he did, it would be something that has a deeper meaning for him, probably something family related.

-        Also doesn’t really play video games but was always at every Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart competition on campus, even if he didn’t participate.

-        Is a great cook. At first, he just looked up a few recipes so he could make more than ramen & bacon during college, & eventually, he got really good at mixing flavors, pairing ingredients, & making his own dishes. The guys on his dorm hall started to look forward to when he would make dinner in the community kitchen (and yes, he always tried to make enough for everyone).

-        I feel like Derek is a type of guy who likes to learn about all different kinds of things, & probably took at least one elective outside of his major every semester, even if his advisor always told him he didn’t need to.

-        Not super into anime but has a few he likes, mostly classic shounen like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, FMA, etc. Also really likes Fruits Basket, & he relates to Tohru (I will die on this hill).

-        Played intramural disc golf in college & got really into it & continued to play in a community group after he graduated.

Baxter:

-        I know he said in the Wedding DLC that he doesn’t really dance anymore, mostly just to give couples lessons, but I like to think that he took up hip-hop dancing as a hobby in & after college.

-        Like Cove, he probably got some ear piercings at some point but took them out soon after because he didn’t like not being able to lay on his side to sleep without them being sore.

-        Wears blue light glasses when he’s working sometimes, especially while he was working remotely during quarantine.

-        The first time he dyed his hair was awful. He did it in the bathroom on his own after his parents told him no. It was splotchy & uneven, his neck & face were stained, & he had a competition later that week. After that, his parents gave him the money to go to the salon & get it done professionally.

-        Likes lavender. A lot. He likes lavender lattes, ice cream, candles & soaps. If he has a diffuser in his office, it probably has lavender in it. It’s lightly sweet & not overbearing & idk, I just think it’s one of his favorites (this is probably just me self-projecting here but oh well).

-        Did a little theater in high school & enjoyed it but couldn’t continue because it conflicted with his dancing.

-        Isn’t into any fandoms or fandom culture but really appreciates cosplay. Working with costumes & makeup for so many years, it impresses him what self-taught cosplayers can do from their own homes.

-        Also can not play Cards Against Humanity, but unlike Cove, it’s because he makes everyone else flustered with how effortlessly he always reads the cards. It does not matter how raunchy it is, this man will read them with the most silky-smooth voice & straight face ever, & no one can handle it.

Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.