#the internet's biggest music frog

[bimbisworld]

Bimbithony's Worldtano

[themattress]

Eras of a Franchise:

The Origins Era (1923 - 1942)

The studio is founded and creates theatrical shorts (series like Alice Comedies, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and Mickey Mouse) until pioneering the fully-animated theatrical movie.

Movies released in this era: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Pinocchio Fantasia Dumbo Bambi

The Wartime Era (1943 - 1949)

Funds are diverted to aiding the country during World War II, so the movies created during this era are just normal animated shorts packaged together to fill at least an hour runtime.

Movies released in this era: Saludos Amigos The Three Caballeros Make Mine Music Fun and Fancy Free Melody Time The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The Rebound Era (1950 - 1969)

Traditional animated movies make a comeback, to varying degrees of financial success but all to high degrees of quality. The era ends shortly after Walt Disney's death in 1966.

Movies released in this era: Cinderella Alice in Wonderland Peter Pan Lady and the Tramp Sleeping Beauty 101 Dalmatians The Sword in the Stone The Jungle Book

The Declining Era (1970 - 1988)

Without Walt, the company's leadership becomes aimless, and Disney becomes pigeonholed as a frivolous studio that makes funny cartoon animal movies for children. After reaching a nadir in 1985, things gradually begin to shape up due to a skilled new leadership quadrate.

Movies released in this era: The Aristocats Robin Hood The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh The Rescuers The Fox and the Hound The Black Cauldron The Great Mouse Detective Oliver and Company

The Renaissance Era (1989 - 1999)

A decade in which Disney movies were arguably bigger than ever, being critical and/or box office smashes, and the majority of the movies being musicals. Tragically, the leadership quadrate was broken halfway through, which ultimately brought about the era's end.

Movies released in this era: The Little Mermaid The Rescuers Down Under Beauty and the Beast Aladdin The Nightmare Before Christmas* The Lion King Pocahontas The Hunchback of Notre Dame Hercules Mulan Tarzan

The Experimental Era (2000 - 2007/2008)

A time when Disney moved away from their musical formula and put out radically different films. Unfortunately, the studio was often undermined by corporate decisions, now almost exclusively managed by Michael Eisner, leading to the majority of these movies flopping.

Movies released in this era: Fantasia 2000 Dinosaur The Emperor's New Groove Atlantis the Lost Empire Lilo & Stitch Treasure Planet Brother Bear Home on the Range Chicken Little Meet the Robinsons

The Revival Era (2008/2009 - 2019)

With Eisner gone and his replacement Bob Iger bringing aboard Pixar's John Lasseter as the head of the studio, Disney begins putting out high-quality movies that are critically and/or financially successful at a regular pace, including its biggest hits ever Frozen and Frozen II.

Movies released in this era: Bolt** The Princess and the Frog Tangled Winnie the Pooh Wreck-It Ralph Frozen Big Hero 6 Zootopia Moana Ralph Breaks the Internet Frozen II

The Current Era (2020 - Present)

Disney is experiencing some....technical difficulties right now. Repair time unknown.

Movies released in this era: Raya and the Last Dragon Encanto Strange World Wish

*The Nightmare Before Christmas was put in development to be part of the Disney Animated Canon. However, studio leadership ultimately backed out of this plan and had it released via Touchstone Pictures instead since its stop-motion animation was deemed too different from the other movies' hand-drawn animation. Which is funny since otherwise it being a musical makes it fits more than The Rescuers Down Under, more of a Declining Era holdover, does.

**Debate persists whether Bolt should be considered the end of the Experimental Era or the start of the Revival Era, as while it was the first movie overseen by John Lasseter and was a critical and box office success, it also lacked the staying power within the company brand (sequels, spin-offs, merchandise, etc.) that The Princess and the Frog and onward did.

[herefm]

🌟 Spotlight: pogpals

A space for (almost) limitless creativity, Here lets you create rooms \ that let you fully express yourselves. But sometimes, we need a little inspiration. Welcome to Here Spotlight, a series of interviews with some of our favorite artists and creatives out in the world.

Hi Poggy, could you tell us a bit about yourself? Where are you in the world and how are you spending your summer so far?

Hello hello I’m a filipino illustrator. I live up in the Appalachian Mountains, so I’ve been spending my summers enjoying the breezy mountain weather. I’ve been getting into gardening so if I’m not on the computer I’m probably in my garden hanging out with the bugs and slugs.

Why do you love frogs so much? We love frogs too.

Frogs are squishy little boops that vibe in the woods. What’s not to love about them. Frogs are both cozy yet chaotic creatures. They are also SO TINY, and I love smol things. The feeling of being so small in a big world is something I relate to on a visceral level.

Tell us a little bit about the room template that you made!

So the room template I made I call it Dreamy Picnic, it’s a cozy space for studying, focusing, and getting things organized. It’s a lovely picnic scene where you can add your own snacks and drinks. I also put relaxing Minecraft lofi bops because video game music always helps me concentrate.

Who are some of your favorite artists on the internet right now?

I have so many favorite artists it’s hard to choose which ones I love the most. I’m always inspired by @leighellexson paintings. @wooqiart’s colorful worlds. @jisoupy’s comics.

What are some of your biggest challenges and anxieties as an online creator?

Content creation is a marathon that never ends. You are constantly performing nonstop creating content and burn out is inevitable. It’s a constant mental gymnastics to keep your head above water. It’s very easy to get wrapped up in the numbers and the metrics of how well a posts is performing. It becomes unhealthy and toxic to base your artistic self worth to a like button.

What inspires you? Who are some of your favorite artists online right now?

The idea that right now in 2022 you have access to so many creative tools to make any idea a reality is what truly inspires me. A decade ago, it was much harder to get into art or animation. There’s so many tutorials online and so many resources to start your own creative project.

Do you find inspiration from being online? Where are some of your favorite places to spend time online?

Being online unlocks a ton of possibilities. You can make a podcast, an indie game, a YouTube channel, a silly Tiktok, or others. I love the idea that you get to create and make whatever you want and share it with so many people. I have found a lot of likeminded friends through the internet.

I’ve been really into live streaming lately so I love playing video games with others. I also like hanging out in virtual chat spaces to concentrate and focus while drawing. My favorites have been watching anime episodes with friends on here.fm and other platforms.

Do you have a story of a meaningful creative or personal friendship in your life?

One of my closest friends I met in college Hats (@humblefeels) has been my creative rock. No matter how many ridiculous crafty ideas I have she has always supported me. I come up with a TON of ideas, too many ideas, ideas on top of ideas. It can definitely exhaust my friends who hear me nonstop chatter about my infinite amount of obsessions. Hats is the best and listens and encourages all my wildest art ideas.

What are some books or movies that inspire you? How did said book or movie influence your work or how you think about your creative work?

There hasn’t been a specific movie or book that has impacted my art. Video games have greatly influenced my art a lot. I play a lot of cozy games most notably Animal Crossing New Horizon. It’s such a wholesome game that lets me be creative without touching my pencil. It has influenced my art in more ways than I can imagine. I found so many creative friends through playing Animal Crossing. I love building worlds and making up fantasy landscapes and animal crossing definitely lets your imagination run wild.

What are you some of the things that you are working on that you’re excited about right now?

I am really close to launching a shop update for POGPALS.COM! I have a lot of new art prints that are in the works and I’m getting into apparel designs. It’s been a dream of mine to put my little froggy on a hoodie or shirt.

How do you stay hopeful?

My coping mechanism starter pack is: Frog memes, Kirby Memes, Naps, Snacks, More naps.

What are some of the songs that you can’t get out of your head right now?

ChriSSy waKE uP!! I don’T liKE thiS.. CHRISSY WAKEUP!!! hey HEY HELLLOO (this lives rent free in my head)

Where else can we find you on the internet?

I’m @pogpals on all my socials!!

🐸 pogpals.com

🐸 https://twitch.tv/pogpals⁠⁠

🐸 https://instagram.com/pogpals

⁠🐸 https://tiktok.com/@pogpals_

🐸 https://youtu.be/KuynO64wOew

[afwulstories]

TW Death, dying, thinking about death, cyclone musical

Hey Blog and internet,

I'm writing you because I just want to talk about death for a second. My death. Like probably millions and millions of other people, I've been avoiding thinking about death. I don't like to remind myself of it, but I have severe PTSD from my childhood, depression, social anxiety, and on my own I've figured I have suffered more damage because I am a highly sensitive individual. Lately I've felt so disconnected from everything. My emotions don't feel mine, they feel like too much, I change too frequently, and I just don't understand some of the things that I end up doing. I simultaneously overthink but also.. not a thought purposefully goes through the front of my brain. Its all just beneath the surface, and even though I hear my thoughts in my head (Pointing it out because some people don't) I can't hear a lot of the ones that lead me to action or saying things o people. I just *do* things. What the fuck. I hold myself and others back a lot because.. I don't want to hold others back, or have that weighing on my conscience. How do people just *do* things for them? Could I just quit my job to spend time with my family for one last summer? Or is that me just wanting to do what my family wants me to do. My stomach hurts.

Death. You ever watched Ride the Cyclone? Everyone in the cast is dead after a freak accident when they go to their local fair as the hs senior choir. I'm going to shit my pants, one sec. Okay I'm back. So how am I going to die? Maybe we can start with the way I want to die... I want to die painlessly, I don't want to live to long. Dying in my sleep, or dying because a piece of my body starts not working like an awful stroke or heart attack and I just die. I don't ever want to be a shell of myself like the people I tend to in this nursing home. I hope I'm lucky enough to die before I lose my brain. I don't want to die young and pristine, but I also don't want to lose myself and everyone I love. I don't want to be a shell. I don't want to be a living, painful reminder that there used to be a person in my brain. A personality, interests, love, fear, and memories. I don't want to lose it before I die.

That is my hope. That I'll be one of the lucky ones. In reality, its all up to chance. I could play all my cards right (that we know of based on science): eat perfectly, do daily cardio and weight lift, constantly stimulate and engage my brain, play memory games, have great social skills and relations... But one bad string of genes and its off to la la land for me. I start sundowning. I start mentally and physically hurting the people I love and people trying to help me. Its awful to see dementia and other aliases (including being super old and fed up with life) ruin someone. Its dreadful, and its scary. I might say its my biggest fear, and I honestly should start early to try to prevent it. But like I said, I could play all of my cards right and *still* turn out fucked, and all that fear will be for absolutely nothing.

Maybe I should ditch Frog and Bunny, and write about death.

[crate-zone]

TW Death, dying, thinking about death, cyclone musical

Hey Blog and internet,

I'm writing you because I just want to talk about death for a second. My death. Like probably millions and millions of other people, I've been avoiding thinking about death. I don't like to remind myself of it, but I have severe PTSD from my childhood, depression, social anxiety, and on my own I've figured I have suffered more damage because I am a highly sensitive individual. Lately I've felt so disconnected from everything. My emotions don't feel mine, they feel like too much, I change too frequently, and I just don't understand some of the things that I end up doing. I simultaneously overthink but also.. not a thought purposefully goes through the front of my brain. Its all just beneath the surface, and even though I hear my thoughts in my head (Pointing it out because some people don't) I can't hear a lot of the ones that lead me to action or saying things o people. I just *do* things. What the fuck. I hold myself and others back a lot because.. I don't want to hold others back, or have that weighing on my conscience. How do people just *do* things for them? Could I just quit my job to spend time with my family for one last summer? Or is that me just wanting to do what my family wants me to do. My stomach hurts.

Death. You ever watched Ride the Cyclone? Everyone in the cast is dead after a freak accident when they go to their local fair as the hs senior choir. I'm going to shit my pants, one sec. Okay I'm back. So how am I going to die? Maybe we can start with the way I want to die... I want to die painlessly, I don't want to live to long. Dying in my sleep, or dying because a piece of my body starts not working like an awful stroke or heart attack and I just die. I don't ever want to be a shell of myself like the people I tend to in this nursing home. I hope I'm lucky enough to die before I lose my brain. I don't want to die young and pristine, but I also don't want to lose myself and everyone I love. I don't want to be a shell. I don't want to be a living, painful reminder that there used to be a person in my brain. A personality, interests, love, fear, and memories. I don't want to lose it before I die.

That is my hope. That I'll be one of the lucky ones. In reality, its all up to chance. I could play all my cards right (that we know of based on science): eat perfectly, do daily cardio and weight lift, constantly stimulate and engage my brain, play memory games, have great social skills and relations... But one bad string of genes and its off to la la land for me. I start sundowning. I start mentally and physically hurting the people I love and people trying to help me. Its awful to see dementia and other aliases (including being super old and fed up with life) ruin someone. Its dreadful, and its scary. I might say its my biggest fear, and I honestly should start early to try to prevent it. But like I said, I could play all of my cards right and *still* turn out fucked, and all that fear will be for absolutely nothing.

Maybe I should ditch Frog and Bunny, and write about death.

[theoriginalslothhub]

Crazy Frogs Odd History

Little essay on that blue bastards from 05

Growing up in the 2000s, a have a lot of nostalgia for that era, particularly around 2005 to 2010. There were things that are still talked about today from that time and even still widely used, YouTube being the biggest example of this. With that said, there are some parts of the 2000 decade some wish to forget

Crazy frog was at one time, one of the biggest rising musicians in the world, and kind of was for a little bit the most talked about thing, especially in the US and Europe. What originally started as a teenager making motorcycle noises turning into a small animation of this bizarre mutant that we know today. Then it was marketed by the infamous Jamba or Jamster in the US, where he spread to most of the known universe as a ringtone, then emerging with singles and albums. Then suddenly out of nowhere, it just all stopped. I wanted to explore the characters history today and see how he rose to global fame, only to crash and disappear for over a decade, only to slowly re-emerge and regain some of his lost fame. It’s an interested tale of media fads, controversy, terrible yet catchy music and over-marketing that I think you will enjoy. So, sit back whilst I explain Crazy Frog, and his rise, fall and resurgence.

Okay, so let’s start off with a little background on the character and those involved with his creation and rise. Back in 1997, Swedish 17-year-old student Daniel Malmedahl recorded himself emulating two- stroke engine noises, which he would then post to various websites. Because of this, he was brought into a Television studio to record the audio live, which was then distrubted to file sharing websites under the file name 2TAKTARE.mp3. The sound was used for various projects in the years after, such as for 2DENG DENG FORM” and “The Insanity Test”, which were moderate viral videos back in the early 2000s. It wasn’t however until 7th October 2003, when Swedish Erik Wernquist found the sound file and decided to create a 3D animated character around the sound. Dubbed “The Annoying Thing”, this became the first instance of the Crazy Frog character, and it got a fair amount of attention at the time, popping up all over the internet and being spread through file sharing sites. Interestingly, Wernquist didn’t know who to originally credit for the sound file, and credited originally as Anonymous, until Malmedahl got word of this and got into contact with Wernquist, giving him proof that we was the original maker of the audio and had him credited with the video. Eventually, word of this creation got the attention of Jamba (known as Jamster in the majority of the world), who would license the rights to market the animation, changing the name to Crazy Frog in mid-2004. Wernquist was apparently very displeased with this decision, as in an interview with HitQuarters, He states “if I had known that this was going to be such a big thing, I would not have allowed them to use that stupid name. It has nothing to do with the character. It's not a frog and it's not particularly crazy either”. From there, Crazy began to Boom in the US and Europe as a ringtone star, being one of many of Jamsters Ringtone marketing mascots. Before I continue with Crazy Frog, let me give you a brief rundown of Jamster. Known as Jamba in Germany, they were a German company founded back in 2000 that specialised in selling Ringtones and were known for their heavy marketing and advertising, often having multipul Jamster adverts in the same advert break slot. They were making a lot of money back in 2005, 2006, but eventually died off in popularity and haven’t really been hear from since the early 2010s. Honestly, I’m really glad about that, because my god these bastards were everywhere during 2005 to 2009. You really couldn’t change a channel without one of their CGI abominations blessing your screens. Fun fact, you weren’t actually paying for a one-off ringtone, you were actually paying for a monthly subscription which was very hard to get out of because Jamster didn’t provide instructions on how to do so. This was one of their many controversies, with others being that their marketing was mostly on youth channels and was essentially sucking money out of children’s pockets, and they had a short animation that was banned due to its portrayal of Hitler, which, if your curious, has him hanging out in the bath with his dog mate. I will leave a link to it below if your curious, but yeah, I can see why this banned in Germany, and actually their adverts were banned in the UK to be shown before the 9pm watershed, which probably hurt the company a bit since by then most kids were either asleep or not watching TV.

Back to the main man himself, Crazy Frog was actually only one of many of the characters featured Jamster, with others such as Anna Blue having decent success and even having her own Facebook and Myspace at the time. Crazy frog though was clearly the frontrunner, and Jamster knew it, eventually expanding the character to other formats. One thing I have to mention is that in the early Jamster commercials and back in the annoying thing video, Crazy Frog had visible genitals. It was met with complaints and Jamster decided it voluntarily censor them in future broadcasts.

On May 17th, 2005, Axel F was released, a cover by Crazy Frog of the 1980s song of the same name by  Harold Faltermeyer, and quickly rose as the most popular song and a summer hit of 2005. It was produced by Matthias Wagner and Andreas Dohmeyer, the two members of Off-cast Project, and Henning Reith and Reinhard "DJ Voodoo" Raith, two members of the German dance production team Bass Bumpers. It used samples from the original song and also sound bites of Malmedahl throughout the song, and honestly it was kind of a catchy backing beat. Unfortunately, it has crazy frog noises, so it becomes a bit more annoying than catchy. The Music video was done by Wernquist and for the time is pretty well done. I like that he rides around on an invisible motorcycle and has a chase scene through a city to the sewers, then all ends in a missile exploding, though sadly Crazy Frog is not one of those killed. The song then turned into a Ringtone by Jamster, because of course it was, and with this and the take-off of the Single, Crazy Frog became a household name. Axel F on its own was number 1 in the charts in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and the UK. Another single, Popcorn, topped the charts in Belgium, France and New Zealand and did very well in the other European countries too. It’s clear that 2005 was the year of the          Crazy Frog, as he had singles Going Platinum, a very successful album in Crazy Hits, was all over European and American television and Jamster, and had tonnes of merchandise being sold, especially in the UK. This wanker was even crossing over to other media. Digital Jesters acquired the rights to make Crazy Frog games, which spawned Crazy Frog Racers in December 2005 and then a sequel in 2006, both of which were very poorly received and are considered some of the worst games ever made. There was even talks in 2005 for an animated TV show on the character, however this idea was quickly shelved. He even went on tour in Australia in 2005. Fair to say, a lot of people loved Crazy Frog during this time, however, a lot of people really hated him.

Because of this huge amount of oversaturation in the market, the bubble was bound to burst at some point, and it seemed in the waning years of the 2000s it really did. Whilst his first album, crazy hits did very well and the second album, more crazy hits did pretty well too with some high rankings in some charts, the third album, Everybody, dance now released in 2009 didn’t do anywhere near as good as the others, though still doing relatively okay. Despite that, 2009 would be the year the Crazy Frog went on hiatus. The reasoning for this is unclear, however I like to think a number of reasons were behind this. Jamster were under heat from their constant advertising and saturation, and with the UK and other stations in countries like Germany banning or limiting the adverts, maybe they saw it was a losing market. I mean it didn’t mean they couldn’t still just advertise old Crazy Frog and other Jamster ringtones, but maybe they saw no point in making new ones, since essentially it was the same idea repurposed over and over again. Wernquist and the other animators maybe got bored of making this blue mutant ride around on an invisible bike and decided to just leave the project. Personally, I like to think that the advent of smartphones and their advancement really hurt Crazy Frog. Think about it, by 2009 the iPhone had been around for a couple years and with that and similar smartphone advances you could potentially download whatever you wanted to use as a ringtone, so gibing Jamster money didn’t seem like a good option anymore.

Following this, the Music Videos were released on a YouTube channel, where they sat  viewed but mostly ignored for quite a few years, until a few years ago. Suddenly, the music videos and other Crazy Frog stuff started going viral on YouTube and TikTok and started generating millions of views. Siegfrid Soderburg, the CEO of Kaktus and Crazy Frog entertainment stated that Axel F was getting 4 million views a day at one point, and currently has around 3.9 billion Views on YouTube, easily making it into the top 30 most popular YouTube videos. I mean, it does make sense. There has always been a place for Annoying and trendy videos on the internet. The same year Crazy Frog went on hiatus was the same year The Annoying Orange started, and that went on to become a media franchise on its own too. Despite that, it’s fair to say that crazy was really dormant from at least 2012 to 2018 and served as really a memory among those who remembered him and the god-awful adverts. Though with this resurgence of popularity, it was only really time for the Crazy Frog to come back from the dead. And on April 22nd, 2020, with the creation of the twitter account and news of a new album, the crazy frog was back, and they even released a new single, tricky back in 2021 and continues to regularly post to this day. Although, like in the old days, this character can’t seem to stay out of controversy. Their official twitter announced a line of NFTs and was met with considerable backlash due to their controversial nature. The other big controversy is a bit more shocking. So back in the day, there were a lot of parodies and jokes about Crazy Frog, and famously there was a virus that depicted Crazy Frog being killed, which I guessed showed how much people hated the Amphibian asshole. Well, the official twitter page decided to make his death finally cannon as they posted a fucking photo of the bastard hanged from a noose with the caption “Goodbye World”. I mean I’m glad death finally came to collect him after surviving the explosion back in Axel F, but man this was out of left field a bit shocking to see, not only a suicide, but on their official fucking page. This was quickly met with backlash and removed quickly, and the Twitter released an apology, but it’s just weird we live in a timeline where Crazy Frog killed himself and then was retconned not a day later. One other thing, you remember how many people were offended at his knob being out in Axel F? well, in the photo you can see his penis again, as this was an edited post that I managed to date back to July 2005, obviously mocking the character and another example of the clear hatred of the character.

What I learned from this is that Crazy Frog never really dropped off. Sure, he fell from grace as music star and wasn’t hitting number 1 singles left and right, but he still had an audience to consume his media. Jamster just dug too deep and flooded the TV waves with this guy until there wasn’t a person in the UK that didn’t know Crazy Frog, and we all hated them and especially him for that. That hatred however kept the character alive and relevant as a joke and way for people to vent at how much they hated him. Yeah, he decayed in mainstream popularity in the 2010s considerably, but people around at the time will always remember the Crazy Frog, and whilst most hated him, some true fans come from it, and it formed a fanbase. In the 2020s, Crazy Frog has more fans than he probably ever did, but rather than being constantly annoying older people and uninterested populaces, he is travelling through social media sites like Twitter and TikTok. Honestly, were Kinda going through a Crazy Frog renascence at the moment.

It’s interesting that what started as a dumb Sound effect quickly became a silly viral hit of the early 2000s, then became an infamous advertisement campaign and mascot for bad music in the mid-2000s, then became a joke amongst the people in the 2010s, to come back to his music roots in the 2020s. Crazy Frog was a part of my childhood growing up, was a part of lot people’s lives in the UK growing up, and unfortunately might be a part of a new generations too.

Here is the video I made on the Subject

[witch-hazels-musings]

*poses cutely* does our favorite hazel in the entire world have any tips for anxiety about nothing? it’s a weird feeling 🧐🧐🧐

Hi beabea, anxiety is no joke. It can creep up on you without warning and really take a hold for no good reason — everyone deals with anxiety in a bunch of different ways. There isn’t a single right way to leave an anxious state it’s really just what works for you. Here are a couple things I like to try (below the cut - just in case)

My anxiety stems from me thinking my heart is beating too fast which only makes it all so much worse - so i purchased a fit-bit to have it monitor my heart rate. When I’m feeling anxious I can see my heart rate is normal and I’m alright ( it also comes with a relaxation mode which I can turn on anytime - it buzzes against my arm and when I’m panicking in public no one but me knows about it )

Grounding techniques - I like the five senses one, you can have someone you trust help you with this one too. Name three things in each category - if three is too many, start at one, if it’s easier each time try to increase the number — identify what you can touch (a blanket, a pillow, your hair, etc.), you can see (a pretty picture, a phone, a flower), you can smell (a candle, your drink, lotion), something you can hear (music, the fan, bugs outside), you can taste (water, salt, candy) — this technique is supposed to help your brain focus on realistic items that can help you ground - it’s best used when you start to catastrophize things or feel out-of-touch with yourself (they use this a lot with children in natural disaster trauma)

Breathing - I love this one below. When we get anxious, some people start to hyperventilate which only makes it worse. You want to find something to guide your breathing and sloooooow you down - if you start to get dizzy, take a break - the goal is to regulate your breathing, not hurt you

Distractions - I’m not the biggest fan of redirection, it often doesn’t work but there are some people who find redirecting their brain can help occupy it and fill it with a necessary distraction so you don’t overthink — when I have anxiety attacks in the middle of the night, I’ll go into the living room and watch my favorite show — do one thing at a time, overstimulation can make it worse - one thing at a time - it’s so your brain can focus // you can also use a friend if you have one; just talk about anything and everything you can - let them know you need someone to chat to. I don’t like to talk about my feelings often but with the internet connecting us to all sorts of people I know I can reach out to someone and talk about idk, frogs or something lol

Exercise - this isn’t for everyone and, like I said, each person is different but this can be good for you to work out anxiety trapped in your body. I have restless legs & arms if I don’t do something physical and that can cause me anxiety (especially while I’m trying to sleep) so I’ll do some pushups, run in place, jumping jacks, burpees - something to get my muscles tired enough so I can get away from that

I am not a clinical professional - these strategies can be used for mild, moderate, or bursts of anxiety — these are universal approaches and may or may not bring you comfort. If you are having constant anxiety to the point of it being debilitating, I’d contact your doctor — I require anxiety meds for certain situations (no amount of breathing can make me comfortable on a 12 hour plane ride). If one of these techniques works for you - that’s awesome! If you need more help, you are perfect and lovely, and not broken for asking for it

Sending you love all <3

[disneylanddilettante]

The Disney Renaissance Killed the Disneyland Star

This post has been brewing and stewing in my brain for some time.

We here in the Disney theme park fandom are prone to lament the modern attraction design philosophy that says everything must be based on a movie. Aside from spectacularly clueless comments about “a random mountain in India or whatever” and misuse of the term “barrier to entry,” the reason behind it seems to boil down to: That’s what guests want. On the one hand, this is very clearly an excuse to do what Marketing wants (because film IPs are proprietary in a way that broad concepts are not, and can be merchandised accordingly), but on the other hand…it seems to be…kind of…true? The vast majority of the public, in my experience, does think of Disneyland (which I am going to use as synecdoche for all Disney parks, because it’s the one I grew up with, it’s easy to say, and because I can) as a place where you see Disney characters walking around as if they were real, and go on rides based on Disney movies, and anything else there is just to, idk, fill space until they can think of a cool movie makeover for it.

I have spoken to people online who quite enjoy Disneyland, but also think the Enchanted Tiki Room should become a Moana attraction, Tom Sawyer Island should be something to do with The Princess and the Frog, and the Matterhorn should be turned into Frozen. When I challenged them as to why, they didn’t seem to understand the question—what did I mean, “why?” Isn’t it self-evident? A couple years ago, one of the Super Carlin Brothers (I don’t remember which one; anyway I couldn’t tell them apart if you put a gun to my head) made a video expressing bafflement over the use of Figment as a mascot in Epcot because “He’s not from anything.” As if a ride in that very parkwere nothing.

So there is something to the assertion that film IP tie-ins are what regular guests expect and want. But the question remains as to why they want that—after all, it didn’t used to be that way. Costumed characters and rides based on movies have always been part of Disneyland, of course, but in past decades, the most elaborate and promoted attractions were the ones based on unique concepts that had nothing to do with the movies. The reasons to love Disneyland were things like the Haunted Mansion and the Mark Twain and Space Mountain…not so much the chance to meet Mickey Mouse. So what gave the public the idea that it was all about movies and characters? I’m sure there are several reasons, but I’m going to focus on one that I don’t see brought up that often.

I’m going to blame the Disney Renaissance.

Let me give you some personal background. I’m a young Gen-Xer, born in 1977. I was a child of the 80s…and in the 80s, Disney wasn’t doing so hot. Feature Animation had dropped to a cinematic release about once every four years, the live-action division was even less productive, and the corporate raiders were pawing at the door. In those days, when I saw a Disney movie in theaters, probably four times out of five it was a re-release of an older classic. (Anyone else remember when that was a thing?) There wasn’t much new at Disneyland either. The biggest thing to happen in the first half of the decade was the remodel of Fantasyland, which added one new ride—based on Pinocchio, a 43-year-old film—and otherwise just rearranged and refined what had always been there. On the other hand, the big Imagineering projects of the 60s and 70s were mostly still going strong.

The upshot is that if you were a Disney fan in those days (there weren’t many of us, even in my age cohort), you were a fan of the older movies and/or the parks. And for all its genuine quality, that stuff was showing its age. It was made in decades past, and there was a corniness and a quaintness to much of it. Most of the kids my age considered Disney “baby stuff” and were eager to put it behind them. It seems to have been a widespread phenomenon, because I don’t remember the park being very crowded when I was a young kid. Queues for even the roller coasters tended to top out around 45 minutes and it was very rare that we didn’t have time to do everything we wanted on a given visit.

And then, the year I turned 12—the year my age bracket hit puberty and could definitively be said to have outgrown cartoons altogether (except for the weirdos like me)—The Little Mermaid hit theaters.

Two years later, we got Beauty and the Beast.

And the hits kept coming. Suddenly, Disney was the hottest thing in entertainment again. Not just kids—by this time the generation that would come to be known as Millennials—but their parents watched these movies and went wow, this is really good. Disney is better than I thought. Maybe we should rent some of those older movies that I remember from when I was a kid. Maybe we should go to Disneyland… Unlike in the past, when families went to Disneyland because it was advertised and known as a family destination, families went to Disneyland because the kids were going gaga over the new Disney movies and the parents wanted to make them happy.

So a whole new generation of fans flocked to the parks, most probably never having been before, or not recently. They didn’t know what to expect. They just knew they loved these new movies with their endearing lead characters (so much more full of personality than Snow White or Alice or Pinocchio) and their big bombastic Broadway-style musical numbers (so much more in line with current musical tastes than the Tin Pan Alley ditties from Cinderella or Peter Pan or The Jungle Book). That’s what they wanted from Disney, whether they were paying six bucks a head plus popcorn, or fifty bucks a head plus lodging.

And that would have been fine but for the fact that endearing characters and big bombastic musical numbers are really hard to build traditional dark rides around. What you can do, though, for people who want to meet their favorite characters, is build dedicated character meet-and-greet spots. What you can do for people who want to sing along with Academy Award-winning songs is create huge colorful parades and stage shows that feature those songs. Best of all, if you are certain people who shall go unnamed, these sorts of things are much cheaper to create and operate than rides. Corporate was more than happy to meet, rather than try to exceed, the expectations of this new wave of fans.

The newer guests got used to seeing more-or-less verbatim (condensed) film content in the form of these shows and parades. The classic dark rides began to look decidedly odd to them—why are the movie events out of order? Why doesn’t the main character show up more? Why don’t we get to hear all the songs? And no one was there to explain it to them, because the older generations of fans had largely drifted away and the internet wasn’t quite a household staple yet. Rides that weren’t even based on a movie seemed even odder—what does a Wild West roller coaster have to do with Disney? What does a submarine ride have to do with Disney? I thought this park was supposed to be for kids, but my kids don’t recognize this stuff! They should build a Lion King ride! They should build a Toy Story ride! That Snow White ride isn’t suitable for kids; they should do something about that! I didn’t pay all this money to stand in line for an hour and a half and go on a ride that my kids don’t get!

The pattern was set. IP tie-ins were what the people wanted, and they closer they hewed to their source material, the more guest approval they got, simply because people didn’t know any different. And it has snowballed from there. The Disney Renaissance was amazing for the art of animation, but I think it was a net negative for the art of theme parks.

Tl;dr The Disney Renaissance changed guest expectations for Disney entertainment products in ways that were incompatible with classic Imagineering principles.

[thelonelynindroid]

10 Reasons why you should watch 'Kipo and the age of Wonderbeasts'

I could be wrong, but I haven't seen anyone do one of these posts for Kipo yet, and I just love this show *clenches fist* SO DANG MUCH, so here we go 1. The Representation ALL of the main characters are poc, except for the two who are literal animals. One of the main characters is also gay, and straight up says "I'm gay" onscreen, which is a big thing for a kids show!! It's the first time I've ever seen it anyway and it made me super happy. *MINOR SPOILERS* He also gets a boyfriend in later seasons, and they're adorable!! *END OF MINOR SPOILERS* 2. It's Finished All three seasons are out, so you won't have to wait months for new content, or worry about it being cancelled (*cough* like Netflix has done to a LOT of good shows) ! U good probably binge it all in three days. Two if you skip out on sleep 3. The Character Development The character arcs on this show r so fucking *chefs kiss*. Seriously, this show had me emotionally attached to a giant monkey, A cat with an axe, A fucking frog in a suit and a godamn piano playing mandrill. And that's without even MENTIONING the main cast, or any of the human characters. 4. The jokes Hear me out ok. I know shows targeted at kids sometimes overdo the comedy side of things, and while Kipo is SOMETIMES (Sometimes. Only sometimes. ) guilty of that, I fucking LOVE this shows humour. The comedy creates a rlly good balance with the serious stuff, bc trust me, this show HURTS sometimes. But the jokes are genuinely funny and feel natural to the characters, and r done in a way that if you rewatch you'll be laughing at things u didn't Even Notice the first time around. 5. The Music The entire soundtrack fucking slaps. And all the scenes set to music are choosen so perfectly it never ever fails to make me Feel Things. The soundtracks to all three seasons r also on Spotify, so u can jam all u want 6. The Compelling and Unique story set up Picture this: it's hundreds of years into the future. Thousands maybe, I can't remember exactly. Most humans have long retreated underground to live in 'burrows' after something caused animals to mutate, making them essentially equal to humans in terms of brainpower. These 'Mutes' now rule the 'surface', and are sworn enimies of human kind (the feeling is mutal). These formidable threats include frogs in suits, big fluffy cats with bigger sharp axes, rock playing snakes, and a monkey trying to recreate the french aristocracy. One day a human girl is thrown out of her burrow after an attack. She's got pink hair. She's got next to no impulse control. And she's got the biggest fucking heart. Yeah. That's Kipo. 7. The Character design and Visual artistry The character designs are unique and fit each person perfectly. And sound like a furry but...ALL the mute designs r so fucking awesome, no exceptions. I'm no animation guru but the show is so visualy pleasing, from chase sequences with PERFECT choreography to all the pretty Colours, which r hands down one of my favourite parts abt the show. It's just. Ugh. It's so pretty to look at ok. And so visually engaging!! There's always more to look at wherever u look, it's like an 'I always feel understimulated' DREAM 8. The Voice Acting I know this can be said of a hell of a lot of shows, but the voice cast is amazing. So many lines are so Emotionally raw and believable, it rlly gets you convinced that the characters are real people. 9. The Emotional impact, even through to the finale Kipo has so many moments that Get To Me. I cried like three times during season three. While the show is fun and upbeat (and an instant serotonin booster for me) it rlly has its heavier moments, and boy does the angst hurt sometimes. This impact carries thru all the way to the last episode. I know we've all been there, when ur favourite shows ending dissapoints. When there's multiple seasons build up to the climax, and the last few episodes just feel...flat. Kipo is not that show. 10. It deserves more love I know the Internet loves calling anything and everything 'underrated', but seriously, it is. With the amout of good characters, good rep, and good episodes, Kipo's fanbase is TINY compared to other amazing shows, like She-ra for instance. Kipo deserves more hype!! And I, ofc, want more ppl to scream about it with. So uh. Yeah. Thanks for coming to my TED talk, go watch Kipo?

[wrestlingwithhistory]

Why do I like Pro Wrestling?

Even though I’ve put a few posts up on the page already I wanted to introduce myself a little and break down why I’m doing this and give a bit of history about me and why I like pro wrestling.

My name is Kyle, I’m 33 from South Wales, I am married with 2 children. I first started watching wrestling when I was about 7 which I will go into as we go through the post. I started this blog for 2 reasons.

1.     I love stories about pro-wrestling and wrestling itself.

2.     I am starting a creative writing course and want to keep on top of writing so that I am comfortable with writing as I haven’t done it since I was in school.

Now, there are a million stories from Pro Wrestling that you’ve heard from the Benoit Murders to The Montreal Screwjob to The Plane Ride from Hell, but I have an interest in writing about the stories that people are maybe not as aware of that still involve some of the biggest names in Wrestling history.

Nowadays, we can be thankful as wrestling fans that we have a multitude of ways that we could watch wrestling thanks to the rise of streaming sites, Youtube and online stores which you can buy DVD’s or digital copies of your favourite events. Being a child of the 90’s, you would stumble across wrestling almost out of nowhere. I remember being in my grandparents’ house maybe aged 5 or 6. I never had satellite or cable TV growing up, only terrestrial, and coming in one morning and seeing Hulk Hogan on the TV in my grandparents’ house really caught my attention. I couldn’t tell you what show it was or who else was on it, but I remember as I watched Hogan, waving his arms to the crowd and cupping his ears to the Hulkamaniacs as he did throughout his career, that I held a curiosity toward wrestling and did ever since.

I can then remember a few years later one of my best friends growing up had a video at home which on the cover, a man would be fighting himself! Undertaker vs Undertaker. Back then, it was the most amazing thing possible, the mystery of how a wrestler could square off against himself in the ring was unimaginable for a then 7–8-year-old. Of course, that event being Summerslam 94 would not be the great event you look back on, but you appreciate the spectacle of it. I do look back fondly on that VHS and as I watch the event back, the standout match-up is clearly the Owen Hart vs Bret Hart Steel cage match, but it’s not the type of thing you value as a child.

You value spectacle. You value entertainment. At least I did anyway. You treat it the same way you treat a cartoon or movie, you suspend your disbelief for a few moments and take in the pageantry of it all. Some people class Wrestling as 3rd hand entertainment, and I have had many occasions where people have made jokes of the fact I watch wrestling, to the point where I would not even mention it if asked.

But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to not care and be happy with the fact I like it so much. It’s not a guilty pleasure, It’s just a pleasure. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also embraced less of the spectacle side of it I once did and look at the athletic feats that take place in the ring, focusing on the technique that these men have to make it look as dangerous as possible, all the while keeping their opponent safe. I do still appreciate the entertainment value, but I definitely look at things like the work rate of the competitors and what they are capable of.

During my teens, we used to travel to video store not too far away from us in a town called Bargoed. Global Video was one of the first places to stock ECW VHS cassettes. My friends Daniel, Josh and I would go there, pick out a few VHS and go back to Josh’s room to watch them. One of the first ones I can remember watching was Living Dangerously 1999. For its time, the pacing and the layout of the matches were a perfect fit for that show. I remember thoroughly enjoying Tajiri vs Super Crazy, Sid and Spike Dudley vs The Dudley Boyz and also New Jack vs Mustafa which was enough violence for a teenage to endure at that point.

The one match from that event which today I place in my top 10 matches ever is Rob Van Dam vs Jerry Lynn for the TV Title. Watching the opening exchange between the two men figure each other out, reversals of pins, hammerlocks and wristlocks was fantastic and when they separated and looked at each other, it was rapturous. The crowd ate it up. You could tell something special was taking place. As the match continued, I saw things that I never would have seen on WWF during that time realistically speaking. There was a reason the E stood for Extreme in ECW. They always took things to the next level, and while the TV Title was far from being the most brutal match on the card (in part due to New Jack!) it was creative in the way it structured the use of weapons, tablet spots and fighting outside the ring. When the bell rings at the end for a timer limit draw, as a first-time viewer you feel almost cheated, not by the quality of the match but by the fact it could have gone on for another 30 mins. When Jerry Lynn requests 5 more minutes and is granted it, you think you are in for a Jerry Lynn victory but RVD pulls it out of the bag at the end hitting the 5-star Frog Splash. And great ending to a great match.

Throughout this time the Attitude era was in full affect. WWF had a huge roster of stars that any company would have been proud to have, Stone-Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle. It was a pleasure to watch some of these events. My friend Michael would record Raw and later Smackdown and let us borrow the tapes so we could get our fix. In January 2000, Channel 4 had gotten a deal to show a few WWF Pay-per-views for free starting with the Royal Rumble. I stayed at Daniel’s house and we watched it live on a small TV. We were extra excited that Taz showed up on the event to face Kurt Angle with an extra ‘Z’ in his name, especially after find ECW a few months previous. Add to that the shock factor of Mae Young’s striptease, the Rumble result, the street fight between Cactus Jack and Triple H, the tables match between the Dudleys and Hardys, it was a phenomenal show.

With the events now being on Channel 4, I would look eagerly on internet forums during school hours trying to find out which ones were next. I remember staying up and watching Backlash 2000 and Fully Loaded of that year, also recording them to go back and watch and study the matches. I would cover the back of the VHS case with white stickers and write the match card on the back in order, so I knew where to find my favourites. They also stared showing Sunday Night Heat as well, which I later years would also have an RVD vs Jerry Lynn match up but not at the same quality as the ECW Event the years previous. These events on Channel 4 ended with the Invasion PPV in 2001 after WWE bought WCW and ECW acquiring many, but not all of their top stars.

Tying this in with Video games like WWF Attitude, Smackdown, WCW/NWO Revenge, WCW Mayhem it helped nurture my love for it even more especially WWE Smackdown 2: Know Your Role because you can create your own shows, wrestlers and storylines. We would have nights playing the game having Royal Rumbles and tournaments, finding how to create wrestlers from online forums like CAWs.ws.

My friend Daniel got the internet at home and we would spend hours searching Kazaa for wrestling videos we couldn’t find on VHS, in-between searching for Create-a-Wrestler guides for Smackdown games. They would usually be the Music Video highlight reels of matches we would want to see. Being early 2000’s it was usually set to Creed, Godsmack or Limp Bizkit but it would be things like Sabu vs RVD in a stretcher match, seeing Goldberg jackhammer The Giant/Big Show, and whatever we could find of these old matches you would read about in Power Slam magazine like the Exploding Barb Wire matches involving Mick Foley, Terry Funk and Onita.

A few years later, with the introduction of freeview satellite there was now more channels in homes than before and one of those was The Wrestling Channel. I turned it to this station thinking it would be WWE but was amazed to see companies more similar to ECW. US Promotions Ring of Honor, Combat Zone Wrestling, TNA/NWA and a few smaller based promotions were present as well as a mix of local British talent. It was on this channel that I first saw a match that involved light tubes, obviously CZW. Although not my favourite style, death matches certainly have a car crash factor to them. You know something gruesome is going to happen, but you can’t look away. But on the opposite of that, with ROH you got to see unbelievable work rate wrestling with the likes of CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson and Low Ki and with TNA similar talents but with more professional looking, AJ Styles, Teddy Hart and Jeff Jarrett being stars that shone there.

Getting to see high flying stars like Amazing Red, Jack Evans, Teddy Hart, AJ Styles was enthralling. It was a side of pro wrestling you never saw on the more methodical WWE and I would watch whenever possible but still getting my WWE fix via VHS recordings Michael would lend us, especially as some of our favourites from ECW and WCW were now competing there.

From around 2006, I began to wane off watching Wrestling as often. I was playing in a band and focusing on that was well as starting a relationship with my now wife. My band mates Lloyd and Ryan were into Wrestling, so I used to and still do talk to them about it now and then. We used to go to local wrestling shows in Merthyr Tydfil for Celtic Wrestling. Back then, they were just Joe Nobodies wrestling in a bar, but as I look back over many of the people on that show, they have foundations on Wrestling all over the world.

A list of some of the names I got to see in Merthyr Tydfil; Sheamus – Now WWE, Steve Corino – ECW Legend, Zack Sabre Jr – Current New Japan star, Tracy Smothers – Wrestling Journeyman passed away in 2020. I remember seeing Tracy Smothers and I was a fan from ECW when he was with FBI and he was great and a nice guy after the show too. The fact that someone who was wrestled for WWE, ECW and WCW was in Merthyr wrestling, to me was mind-blowing!

A few months later I found out they were doing Wrestling training at The Studio Bar in Merthyr in around 2008 (could be way off), so I went along. I didn’t tell anyone, I got dressed in football gear and told my girlfriend Sara I was off to play football. Instead, I went into this bar and rolled around on some mats for beginner lessons on a Wednesday learning basic holds and how to bump. I really enjoyed it and it was better than bumping on the grass like I used to do as a kid in my local park. I went twice in all, as much as I wanted to go back and keep going, I was thinking that playing music would be easier to justify to someone than saying you were a wrestler so that was that.

I always kept an eye on wrestling but not as intently as I did before, maybe it was my way of disconnecting from wanting to do it as much as I did. I would watch the odd Raw or Smackdown and just buy the Big 4 Pay-per-Views and this went on for close on 8 years, just dipping in and out casually but still knowing who was in the business and doing things else were. We still had TNA in the UK so getting to see that was great, especially with the talent they had there for a while.

It wasn’t until 2016 I started to get back into wrestling as much as I do now. AJ Styles had finally joined WWE after seeming he would never appear there and that interested me because AJ is probably one of my favourites of all time. Twitter was blowing up because of a match between Will Ospreay and Ricochet in the Best of Super Juniors during that year. Seeing mostly positive comments and the odd one or two negative comments from old school wrestlers. So, I clicked on a then Youtube video of the match and it was such a great match. I felt the buzz straight away and immediately started to get the itch back for watching wrestling again.

I had no experience of much Japanese wrestling, but I always enjoyed reading in magazines about people like Jyushin Thuder Liger and The Great Muta and seeing their matches on WCW years ago, as well as people like Taka Michinoku and Tajiri but the Ospreay-Ricochet match convinced me to sign up to NJPW World. That summer I followed the G1 closely. Bullet Club madness was in full effect, seeing the iconic t-shirts and the way they were in the ring were similar to NWO, almost too much to a fault. I didn’t really know any of the performers in the tournament but after watching matches, would go back through the New Japan archives and watch the matches of Okada, Tanahashi, Naito, Shibata and the others, getting to know their styles and gimmicks.

One that immediately jumped out to me was Kenny Omega. He was one of 4 non-Japanese wrestlers (Gaijin) in the whole tournament. I learned that he had turned on AJ Styles and took over as leader of Bullet Club. I went back and watched AJ’s final matches against Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 10, and then the tag match the following night between AJ and Kenny vs Nakamura and Yoshi-Hashi. I followed Kenny closely over the G1 and into the finals against Hirooki Goto which was an absolutely brilliant match. Omega ended up winning, going onto Wrestle Kingdom 11 to face Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. I checked my work diary to see if I had work that day, and I was off! Due to the time differences, I was able to catch some of the pre-show in the morning, drop my oldest daughter off to school and come back in time for the Naito-Tanahashi and Omega-Okada matches.

I got back and watched the Naito-Tanahashi match, a really fantastic match to which I remember saying to myself ‘the main event is going to need to be special to top that’. Cue watching my personal favourite match of all time. The pacing and the psychology of the match were so well done, Omega targeting Okada’s back ready for the One-Winged Angel but never getting to hit it through the match. The springboard moonsault to the outside over the guard rails, the Tope Con Hilo over the top which still holds one of the iconic images of the match as a whole, Okada’s resilience as a champion, back dropping Omega over the top rope to the outside through a table. It was and is incredible, debatably one of the greatest matches of all time. Not just in my opinion but for many others as well. And so, I was back in. From that point onwards, I was an ardent fan once again. I would use the archives of WWE Network, NJPW World, Youtube, Highspots Wrestling Network to feed my addiction, following twitter pages which is just GIF after GIF of just the craziest moves.

I would try and watch as many of the live shows in Japan as possible to watch Omega perform and throughout 2017, even though it probably could have been savoured a bit more, we got to see 2 more amazing Omega-Okada matches at both Dominion and G1 and also a lead to Omega-Jericho for WK12. Both my current favourite and my all-time favourite meeting for the first time for a great match. From a Kenny standard it was not as good as some of his previous but for Jericho it was probably one of his best even compared against some of his classics against the likes of Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit.

In the Summer of 2018, I watched the Dominion show where again Kenny Omega went up against Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight championship. It was a 2 out of 3 falls match with no time limit. I couldn’t get the time off work for the event so I managed to smuggle my phone into work and would watch intently while selling mobile phones. It was another amazing match up, but I had to watch it over again after finishing work so that I could experience with sound, but even on silent, you could feel how brilliant the match was and Kenny finally defeated Okada for the title. Even though Kenny won it, I much preferred him fighting from beneath, almost as if achieving the pinnacle of wrestling was never going to happen. Even though he had a good handful of matches as champion, the ensuing AEW venture obviously scrapped any possibility of a long-term reign. Also disappointing to see New Japan miss a trick by letting Ibushi win the G1 and then the title from Kenny at WK13, instead vying for Tanahashi who, for as great a performer as he is, was not in his prime and the story between Ibushi-Omega would have been concluded or at least cliffhung until a later date. That aside, the show killed. It was amazing, but you could see the writing was on the wall in terms of Omega, the Young Bucks, Adam Page leaving to start AEW in 2019.

That kind of takes it up to current day, or at least as close to it as possible. It was possibly a long-winded diatribe of saying ‘Yeah, I like Wrestling’ but I hope it helps people to understand what drives me to write about it, why I enjoy watching this often joked about form of entertainment and why I think people could probably appreciate it more.

My messages are open if anyone wants to ask me any questions about wrestling or share stories about your own experiences, favourite matches or even stories that you would like me to cover, and I will try and find something to contribute to the page if possible.

Please read through the posts, like and share if you enjoy and leave comments if you wish to appreciate, critique or contribute towards the stories if you know anything I may have missed out.

Thanks!

[btrzznn]

All of them 🌿

Girl, you wanna break me so bad and not in the good way.

Here we go.

1. have you ever been in love?

Yes. Had my heart broken twice.

2. who is your favorite artist?

I forgot to mention before, but I love Monet.

3. what is your favorite music genre?

It may come out as a surprise, but I like k-pop.

4. have you ever had a penpal?

Yes. And I'd love to have more. It makes me happy to write letters and send simple gifts to other people.

5. are you single or in a relationship?

I've been single for a month. Not sure how I feel about it, but I think I may need to be alone for a while.

6. what color are your eyes?

Warm brown eyes.

7. what is your favorite word?

It depends on the language. In English, it's serendipity.

8. do you play any instruments?

Would love to, but I don't. Used to know a bit about drums, but now I've already forgotten everything.

9. what is your favorite color?

Every shade of green, but forest green and jade green are my favorites.

10. do you have any nicknames?

Mostly on the internet, people refer to me as "Flor", which means "flower" or "Faerie" (short for faerielian, my Twitter name or faeriegrimoire, my Instagram name). But my name Bia (or Bea if people prefer to call me that way) is short for Beatriz.

11. what is your favorite flower?

Besides stargazer lilies, I adore all kinds of roses, lavender, waterlilies, orchids, lotus flowers and sunflowers.

12. what qualities do you find attractive in a person?

Kindness, interest in music/books/art, love for nature, funny laugh, pretty smile, sense of humor, empathy, when the person is interested in communication instead of feeding conflicts, honesty, when the person acknowledges that everyone makes mistakes, including themself. Also, they must like cats.

13. do you have any pets?

Yes, three dogs and three cats.

14. have you ever traveled outside of your home country?

I've been to Uruguay twice.

15. what language(s) do you speak?

Portuguese, English, Spanish and Italian.

16. who was your first crush?

Either Xena, the warrior princess or Ariel, the little mermaid.

17. do you wear glasses?

Yes, they're brown and softly squared.

18. what is your favorite pastry?

Strawberry cake.

19. do you prefer swimming in a pool or in the ocean?

The ocean is much better.

20. bright, dark, or pastel colors?

I don't really mind nowadays, but I prefer dark colors.

21. what is your favorite social media app?

Instagram.

22. what is your sexuality?

Lesbian, demisexual.

23. do you have any siblings?

One younger brother.

24. what is your favorite scent?

Herbal scents, rose, strawberry.

25. where do you want to travel to?

Italy.

26. what is your favorite film?

The Lord Of The Rings, Practical Magic, Amélie, Pride and Prejudice, Studio Ghibli movies.

27. who do people say you look like? (celebrity/family member)

My mother, sometimes my father. No celebrity in particular, although I've been weirdly compared to Natalie Portman and Florence Welch.

28. who is your best friend?

On tumblr, it's @beenzene. In fact, Bee is one of my best friends, really.

29. what is your dream job?

At the moment, I don't really know.

30. do you know how to drive?

Not yet.

31. who is/was your favorite teacher?

Always the Biology teachers, but also the professor who taught me Zoology at uni.

32. are you a feminist?

Yes.

33. what is your zodiac sign?

Scorpio sun, Leo moon, Capricorn rising.

34. do you enjoy reading?

Yes, I love to read.

35. do you have any hidden talents?

Not that I'm aware of.

36. have you ever dyed your hair?

Multiple times. Right now it's 30% golden blonde and 70% green.

37. what is your favorite thing in your bedroom?

My bookshelf is nice.

38. what is your biggest fear?

I hate needles.

39. can you whistle?

Yes.

40. do you make your bed every day?

I only leave it undone when I'm feeling sad or when I get up late.

41. do you have any tattoos and/or piercings?

I only have my ears pierced twice. tried to add two more piercings each ear, but I needed to let them close.

42. have you ever been on a roller coaster?

Yes, it's called "my life".

43. surfing or skateboarding?

I'm not really interested in any of those, but both sound nice to watch.

44. are you a dog or a cat person?

I like both the same amount.

45. what is your favorite animal?

Frogs, cats, marine animals.

46. do you have a skincare routine?

Yes. Constantly wearing masks and fore shields is ruining my skin.

47. what time do you typically go to bed at and what time do you wake up at?

It depends on the day.

48. what is your favorite memory?

Not sure.

49. how tall are you?

I'm 160cm.

50. what is the best gift you’ve ever received?

Every gift is special.

51. do you have a garden?

Yes, I love plants.

52. do you like bugs?

I don't like all of them, but I respect them and avoid some of them.

53. what is your natural hair color?

Dark blonde.

54. what is your favorite food and drink?

Passionfruit juice and fried bananas.

55. do you want kids?

Yes, one day.

56. what is/was your favorite class?

Zoology.

57. what color shirt are you wearing?

Yellow.

58. if you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?

I have no idea. It doesn't sound safe for me anywhere.

59. what is your skin color?

White.

60. hugs or kisses?

Hugs.

61. have you ever drank alcohol?

Yes, but I don't anymore because of my medications for depression, panic syndrome and ADHD.

62. have you ever done drugs?

No.

63. netflix or youtube?

It depends on what I want to watch.

64. ice cream or frozen yogurt?

Ice cream. I don't like frozen yogurt.

65. succulents or flowers?

I like both, but I prefer flowers.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #305

“you want me to be yours, well then you’ve got to be mine, & if you want a good girl, then goodbye”

Do you call the ice cream topping "jimmies" or "sprinkles"? They're "sprinkles" down here. What music are you listening to? Ha, I just turned on music before starting this. "Sex Metal Barbie" by In This Moment is on rn. If you go to school (HS or college) does your school have a rival? N/A Have you been baptized in any religious tradition? Yeah; I was born in a Roman Catholic family. My mom's mom would've probably had a heart attack if us kids weren't. At family gatherings, are you more likely to hang out with the younger or older relatives? I mean, I'd go for those my age or older, generally. I'd hang out with kids though if they wanted me to. Considering you current health, how long do you think you will live? With my CURRENT health, probably not even 80. Do you have anything in your room that would be 'weird' to others? Posters, yeah. Have you ever done geocaching? No, but it'd be cool if my body could actually handle taking a single goddamn step. What was the last game you won? Maybe Uno with my niece? I generally let her win, but occasionally I'm "lucky" to TRY to be more convincing, lol. I think she knows I let her, though. Do you know any deaf people? If so, is it easy or difficult to have conversations with them? No. Do you enjoy playing Monopoly? Why or why not? No, because I don't like board games, especially any that involve math. Is there a doorknocker on your front door? No. Do 'laugh tracks' on TV shows annoy you? They're so normal that I don't even notice them, really. Do people often mistake you for other ethnicities? If so, what do you usually get? No, I'm pretty obviously white. Has anyone famous ever attended your school? Who? I won't say his name for the sake of not connecting dots, but a well-known football player attended my high school. Have you ever had to attend an event that occurred on your birthday? Ha, my 16th birthday landed on the Super Bowl... I was at Jason's that night, and just to be "part of the family," we watched it with everyone else that came over. I was so bored and uninterested, but that's my own fault, really. I could have said something, but this was only a month into our relationship so I was too uncomfortable to speak up. What do you think makes a girl a slut? Do you believe that label is thrown around far more often than it should be? And finally, do you think it's unfair that mostly only women receive that label? I don't give a flying fuck how many people a girl is sexually involved with so long as she is safe and open and honest with her partners. I'm not a fan of the word and don't think anyone should be called it. Do you think it's bad to have sex at 15 or younger? I don't think it's smart, really. It's just too young to risk pregnancy. Yes, abortion is an option, but like... a 15 y/o girl should never be faced with that dilemma. I'ma be real tho, I don't think it's a "good" idea until you're at least 18, aaaand I don't know any non-virgin who waited that long. Just try your best to wait, ig. Favorite love song at the moment? Love songs never sit well with me anymore. I mean I can enjoy them, absolutely, I just... have a lot of bitterness. Trying to pick a favorite when you feel like that is like trying to pick the best-looking rotten apple of the bunch. Ever wondered what it would be like dating the same gender as you? I've done that already, and it was great but also scary in a massively homophobic state. Ever paid for sex? No. During thunderstorms, how does your pet react? Neither have a unique reaction; they're unfazed. What internet browser do you use? Google Chrome. Do you like eggnog? Noooo no no. How often do you see your mother? Every day, because I live with her. Do you like croutons in your salad? No, I really don't like the texture difference. Who did you last play truth or dare with? I don't know. Have you ever brewed your own mead, wine, beer or soda? No. Have you had to make any changes in your life lately? If so, what kind of changes? ugh What's the earliest popular thing you can remember from your childhood? Ummm. I mean, probably like Barney or Elmo? Do you prefer practicality or fashionability when it comes to clothes? Well, really neither. I'm the type that wears tank tops in snow, flipflops year-round, sweatpants in summer... so I don't really dress with practicality. I don't care what's "fashionable," so. Comfort pretty much reigns over my wardrobe. Which kinds of berries grow in the wild where you live? There are these little red ones that grow in little groups and somewhat resemble raspberries. I can't remember if they're edible, though... Oh, and muscadine grapes (I had to look up if they were berries lmao) can be found here, too. They're yummy. Beautyberries are another. Have you ever made an article of clothing yourself? If so, what was it? No. Do you go to arcades? If so, what's your go-to game at one? Even before Covid, I never really went to them. I enjoy them, though. I guess my favorite is maybe air hockey? When's the last time you had an alcoholic beverage? What was it? At the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday. It was some kind of sangria... Maybe strawberry and peach? Idr, but it was good. What has been the most enjoyable job you've had? You assume I've had a job I actually enjoyed. How about the least enjoyable job? Well, I barely lasted two hours in a dairy, soooo... When's the last time you had to carefully plan how you used your time? You're asking the wroooong person, 'cuz my life is never busy enough for that. Who do you usually say hello or good morning to first? My snake Venus, usually. Well, that is if her head is peeking out of her hide or is just fully out. Do you ever chat about your favorite video games with your friends? I don't really have gamer friends anymore, so not really. What do you hope you grow out of? Being so goddamn dependent. What movie made you cry the most? I can't say for sure considering it's easy for movies to make me cry, lmao. Maybe Titanic. What was one of the happiest moments of your childhood? Seeing a container of dog food in the far back behind the Christmas tree one year. It's how I learned I was finally gettinga dog (Teddy). What brings you the most joy in life? Probably my cat lmao. What's a hobby you would like to try out? I wanna get back into video editing, I just. Don't have the motivation for it anymore. As with most things. What sort of a kiss do you count as the first kiss? On the lips and with mutual intention. What was the last event you attended? Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's, ig. How about the last event you organized? Me? Organizing an event? What's the biggest insect you've ever seen? In the wild, probably like... a rhinocerous beetle or something. NO NO WAIT. I remember at least once in my life seeing a fucking GINORMOUS moth on the ground one morning. I don't know what kind it was, but jc it was huge. How about the biggest spider? Oh yikes, I'll never forget this: an orb weaver wandering across the floor of our childhood van and under the passenger's seat. Never saw it again. I was afraid to let my feet stay on the floor for a looong time, haha. What's something you'd never ever dare to ask another person? I'd never ask certain "why" questions, like "why did you get an abortion?" or something like that. I can think of valid situations to ask most things, even controversial matters, but no one should ever have to justify something like that. "Why don't you have kids?" is another. That one gets to me. Having children is not an advancement or milestone in everyone's life, and hell, you never know if the woman's had like five miscarriages or something. What's something you've always wanted to ask someone but haven't dared? Why Mom didn't raise her eldest daughter, at least for her whole life. Katie's childhood is a big mystery to me, and I want to know more, but I know the topic is very upsetting to Mom, so I'm not about to make her explain it. What's the worst/best thing you've done without your parents knowing? Saying "worst/best" makes this question confusing... but I'm guessing you mean the best thing to me that they wouldn't have approved of? I really didn't do a lot of things that would fit that description. I can only think of a certain intimate occasion where things happened where they probably shouldn't have. If you wear earrings, what does your favorite pair look like? Ugh, I don't because of the holes being too stretched out from wearing heavy earrings too long. I still haven't gotten to putting proper gauges in so it looks less stupid. Have you ever won any money from a scratch card? Maybe like, $10 or something. How about a slot machine? I've never played one. Do like playing bingo? Sure, it's all right. What small, everyday thing makes you really happy? Cuddling with my cat. Do you enjoy puzzle games? If so, which one's your favorite? Yeah, I do. I can't really pick a favorite, though... Is there a substance you avoid at all costs? If so, what is it and why? I think in a past survey I mentioned my aversion to beer because of the association it has with my dad. I'd never be able to get a sip down. Not that I really want to anyway though, it stinks. What you would you absolutely hate living next door to? Any really busy location or travel hubs, like a train station. My childhood home was near a railroad track, and it sucked, so I can only imagine a station. What would you love to live next door to? A waterfall, uggghhhh. In the woods too to hear plenty of frogs and toads and crickets... What gives you nostalgia? It is very easy to make me nostalgic. The littlest things can do it. Hearing about/seeing/playing childhood video games, like Spyro, is a biggie. Which reminds me how damn badly I wanna play the Reignited trilogy, fuck. I just don't have the proper console. Which language do you think is the most complicated to learn? Well English is supposedly the hardest objectively, but as a native English speaker, I can't say anything about that. In my experience, Latin was like fucking impossible. Is there a place that you might call your second home? I guess Dad's house, but it's not like I'm there a lot. I feel comfortable there, though. How do you imagine your later life to look like? I DO NOT want to think about this. I fucking dread the thought. What is a job you would never in a million years want to do? A butcher. There is absolutely no motherfucking way I ever could do it, even if it kept me off the streets. What's the weirdest building in your city? *shrug* How do you keep in touch with friends usually? Facebook. Do you recognize friends'/family's vehicles by sound? Not anymore. Dad had an old car that was very easy to recognize with its shitty muffler, but he hasn't had that car in years upon years. I used to be able to recognize Jason's old car too because of sound, but primarily because he drove way too fast down our path that when I heard a car zooming over rocks, I knew it was him. What's something new you've just recently learned? It was actually a topic of recent discussion that I may have high-functioning Asperger's. Very, very unusual to learn later in life, but apparently Mom's seen the warning signs in some things since childhood, like my extreme pickiness with textures, my tendency to knead and play with my hands in situations of discomfort, my social ineptitude, hyperfixations, it actually running in our family (which I didn't know beforehand), among a lot of other things. We're not really digging into it though because it just doesn't matter; there's obviously no magic treatment for autism, and me being in therapy and having a psychiatrist to handle my meds is enough. If you were in Harry Potter, which house would you be in? Apparently I'm on the Hufflepuff/Gryffindor line when I took a survey a long time ago. Are you nagged about being on the computer too much? Not anymore, at least on the average day. Mom's accepted it by now. Dad's joked about it before though and I know others have certain opinions about it. Based on your personality, what animal do you think you'd be? Maybe a deer. Shy, reclusive, and always on alert. Have you ever been in a hot tub? Yeah. What song is stuck in your head at the moment? I have "my boy" by Billie Eilish on right now because it's stuck in my head. What's your father's middle name? John. What's the last movie you saw in theaters? Yikes, good question. I think it was The Lion King remake. Have you ever vandalized? No. What's a pet you've always wanted? Most pets I want I've had at some point or another... I guess I'll say a ferret, though I've really only wanted one in concept. I could never keep up with their maintenance, but by god they are the cutest fucking things ever. Do you like mice? I love mice! What's your favorite t-shirt? My "equal in our bones" Cloak shirt. :''') The design is so beautiful and just my style in general, plus I live to support anything Fischfuck takes part in. Did you/will you get a car for your 16th birthday? I'm 25 and still have never had my own car lmaoooo. What's your favorite tomato variety? I generally don't like tomatoes themselves, but rather products made with them, like ketchup. If I'm in the mood though, I do like tomato sandwiches with mayo and bacon; I only ever enjoyed them though if they were fresh right from an old friend's garden. Which well-known person's death shocked you the most, if any? I think Chester Bennington's was the biggest surprise. Rest easy, you legend. What's the craziest color you'd dye your hair? More like what crazy color WOULDN'T I dye it... What was the longest train ride you've been on? I've never been on one. What's the coolest hobby one of your friends has? uhhhhh idk Have you ever played in a stack of hay bales? No. If you could learn any skill, which would you like to learn? Ha, cooking. How do you like your steak? Medium well.

[thesunnyshow]

Name: reya

Writing Blog URL(s): @chu-ni

Age: 19

Nationality: african-british

Languages: english, swahili, korean

Star Sign: libra

MBTI: enfp/entp (it always changes lol)

Favorite color: purple!

Favorite food: i really love chicken burgers

Favorite movie: princess and the frog

Favorite ice cream flavor: vanilla!!

Favorite animal: elephants

Go-to karaoke song: fancy - twice

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering? caramel frappe with whipped cream, in general i prefer tea though

Dream job (whether you have a job or not)? secretary general at the UN….or an author

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose? making anyone agree with me and do what i want them to do

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose? ancient egypt!!

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you?.....no.

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken? neither if i could lmfao but i’d go for 100 chicken sized horses

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been? the nerd who’s actually really pretty after she gets a cool makeover 

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures? im not sure about aliens, but i definitely believe in ghosts and spirits.

What are some small things that make your day better? when i can have moments to myself to enjoy my own company. or when someone asks me what i want to eat and they bring it for me 🥺

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know? uhm…...probably the fact that i write fanfiction lol..but outside of that! i sing in the shower. and i talk to myself a lot.

What fandom(s) do you write for? nct dream currently, but in the future i want to expand to other groups!

When did you post your first piece? 17th of June 2018.

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why? i can never write just one genre. predominantly i write fluff with a dash of angst for spice simply because i love a story that has an issue and then having that issue be resolved for a happy ending. when i started my blog i was 17, and so i said i wouldn't write smut. now that i'm older im feeling more and more comfortable writing suggestive content at the very LEAST.. so maybe in the future i might write smut, who knows? i like writing fluff because i like making people feel good, but i like adding angst to it because i feel like the contrast between the two is very *chefs kiss* to me.

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc? i only write x readers!

Why did you decide to write for Tumblr? i first got tumblr when i was 13 years old and i was a fresh kpop fan lmfao. i wanted somewhere that shared my interests. of course i discovered x reader fics on here and i was in awe, i guess of how much power writers had in contributing to fandom content and keeping readers satiated. i’d always loved to write and so i’d always wanted to start my own writing blog, and for 2 years i did write for other blogs! it wasnt until 2018 that i finally took the leap and decided to start my own, because i wanted to impact people's emotions and take them on a journey through my writing.

What inspires you to write? what inspires me….teen movies, music!! music is a big one for me, and also the books that i read. i also grew up playing otome games so the plots and writing from those influence my writing a lot.

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most? i really enjoy writing royalty!aus as well as exes!aus. i love to do them cause they require me to build a world and with royalty aus specifically i love weaving together bits of political intrigue, or arranged marriages, etc. its so much fun!!

What do you hope your readers take away from your work? that if this world is too rough or too much, you can always escape from it. it might not be physical, but immersing yourself in a universe that's entirely different for a little while can help soothe you.

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively? usually i try and take breaks. the problem with that is that my breaks can go on for longer than i’d like and im trying to fix that. so my other solution is to read read read!! read as much as i can, or go back to books that i loved. ask myself what i liked about the writing, what are some parts that i thought were amazing examples of good writing - i note them down then see if i can apply that to my own work. another thing i do is take a break from writing my longer, fleshed out works and write blurbs! blurbs are a great way for me to write but not feel like its tedious because i don't have to spend as much time on them and it gets me into the groove of writing without feeling stressed out.

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful? my favourite piece of work is miscommunication. it took me months to write that, even after i lost all the work halfway through, and its the longest piece of work i have written so far, so its kinda like my baby. my most successful is candy jar. its also the work i owe my blog exposure to - it was the first piece i published, and it was also the first piece of writing i did in around 4 years.

Who is your favorite person to write about? i don't have much out for them, but i really enjoy exploring mark’s and jeno’s characters. they're people, but in my work i enjoy analysing them and judging how they’d act in different contexts.

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose? the only difference for me is that fanfiction (depending on the fandom) has some of the stuff fleshed out for you already, such as the world its in. if youre the type to write AUs then the only thing you already have is the characters - the planning, the writing, the drafting, and everything else is still the writer's responsibility. therefore there isn't much of a difference between the two for me.

What do you think makes a good story?  a good story, to me, is one that takes me on a journey. it could be any genre, but i like to feel immersed and connected to the characters and the world in it. also aside from the obvious, like good grammar, a good story feels natural to read. i don't feel like skim reading half of it.

What is your writing process like? my writing process consists of me getting inspiration - usually from a song, or a film or a book ive read or a game ive played - i note down my idea and who i want the story to be about, and then bullet point the whole story, with some snippets of particular dialogue i want the reader or the other person to say at certain scenes. i then open another document ( i have a writing app on my phone, called werdsmith, so i use that!) and set a word count goal i want to hit so i can track my progress and start writing the fic, with fleshed out language and exposition. when im done (usually after a couple weeks up to a few months, depends on the length of the plan) i read through it to fix any mistakes, then i transfer it to docs so i can read it again and italicise any areas i feel need it.

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story? i...don't think so. mainly because the original fiction i read and would like to write for myself is predominantly fantasy, whereas the fanfic i write on my blog is usually non-idol, normal fics. 

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand? im a SUCKER for enemies to lovers, royalty ofc, “and they were roommates”, and i think superhero aus are really cool but there isnt enough of them :( idol/you as member aus....not feeling her… also abo/werewolf/vampire aus….not feelin em

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you? a LOT. a HUGE amount!! i said before how i like giving my readers somewhere where they can immerse themselves as an escape, even for a short while. hearing about how my work affected them, made them feel, makes me feel less insecure about what im writing and thus more confident to publish it.

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)? i’d say reblogs. and also putting out more content. when i first uploaded candy jar i went to my one of my favourite writers (jaeminlore) and asked her if she'd be okay with reading it and giving feedback. to my surprise she loved it and her reblogging it to all her followers is literally what gave me a bunch of followers all of a sudden who loved what i’d written. to keep that momentum i created more and more content, and while i haven't uploaded as often as i've wanted to or written as much as i’d wanted to, i can say i have a good amount of work on my masterlist for people who are looking for more to read.

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged? 100%. fanfic has an unfair reputation for just having bad writing and cringey fics (and i feel like this is because of the way society views the demographics who predominantly consume and create it), when in reality i feel like those who write fanfiction are extremely talented and selfless people. they're on the internet creating content for free for people to enjoy and like any other work of art they're putting time and effort into it. i think it should be respected. any form of art is going to have its good and bad sides.

Do you think art can be a medium for change? hmmm….yes. i feel it can be a way to reflect the thoughts of people and also be a way to inspire people to do more.

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself? sometimes. sometimes i feel like i'm forcing myself to write because i feel like if i don't then people will forget about me or they’ll forget about my blog. while what i choose to write about is for me, i feel like the speed of my writing and what im writing isn't to the quality i want it to be cause i feel like i gotta get it out for people to read.

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times? i've never felt that way!

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr? only 2 of my friends know, and i only told them like. a week ago!

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers? i wish you guys would message me more! i'm quite a sociable person, and i’d love to have regular anons who talk to me 👉🏽👈🏽

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there? i think one common thing amongst all writers is that we write what we want to read. so don't feel like nobody's gonna read your work, cause somebody will. you gotta act like your work is top tier even if someone says it isn't - always write the best you can, and just do it! like don't even give yourself time to overthink it, write that fic, make it look pretty, upload it onto tumblr and do not be afraid to ask your favourite fic writers to read your work once its up!! i’d be happy to read and give feedback for any fic writers as well so don't feel afraid! 

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr? ive been on here for 7 years….i grew up on this site lmfao. but i don't think i regret joining tumblr once.

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey? shes not very active anymore and i miss her very much but user hyuck-s was so supportive and i love her!!

Pick a quote to end your interview with:

she believed she could, so she did.

BONUS ROUND: K-POP CONFIDENTIAL 

[sanktpolypenbourg]

On Amphibia

Yeah so okay I do have some pretty intense feelings about this. While I must say that it was somewhat of a mixed bag for me, the series is still young, and what we have seen so far has been promising to say the least.

I obviously like the characters and I am invested in the main story arc, but what really got my attention ever since I first saw the intro was the SETTING. 

See, I try to be as concise as possible, but let’s appreciate that we are talking about a premise where you are hanging out with bumpkin frog people in a psychedelic bog world made up of outrageously distorted dinosaur-versions of all the (many, many different) things a frog would be afraid of.

IT IS ABOUT SUMMER VACATION! It’s about the bogs and ponds and lakes and streams of your childhood, catching frogs 

and discovering bizarre new species of creatures every day that you can look up in your field guides. 

Admiring- but also living somewhat in awe-struck fear of all the things that could sting or bite or poison or straight-up eat you - raised on anecdotes about local folk who got... unlucky. Wearing the same clothes for days in a row. 

Meeting colorful relatives. Getting recruited for cruel and unusual outdoor chores, sometimes under torrential rains. At night, living off whatever movies and music you managed to save on your phone or tablet before you got out of internet reach, all cozy on your sofa as strange voices sound from the other side of the lake (loons, wolves, drunk village youth, depending on the night). 

Feeling sea weed on your ankles as you swim in the creepier, deeper parts of the lake, and little fishes gathering around your toes as you wade through their shallow nurseries in the lagoon. Giant rocks suddenly appearing dangerously close to the surface as you are passing by in your rickety little fishing boat.

The show is delivering on all of these, it is at its peak whenever it is plunging into the setting, really reveling in the beauty and the scariness and the sheer, outrageous wildness of the bog, with a family and a community bonding together, adrift in their little bubble of wood and light and juvenile humor. 

And it’s not that I’m reading too much into this - it’s clearly in the show’s DNA. The interviews with Matt Braly are pretty unambiguous - ‘Amphibia’ is based on his childhood trips to Thailand. The cycle of not wanting to go and then not wanting to leave. This is a lived mythology, a core truth. 

Sooo... I get that they cannot keep up the same level of investment, the same art quality and flow and emotional impact in the everyday show as in the “business card” of the opening. 

It’s kinda sad that, at least for me, it’s very easy to sort episodes by rewatch value, or lack thereof - while you are in it, you enjoy EVERY new episode, because you want to know what happens next, and BE with these characters. But like in a vacation, only some of the moments will go into the album, to be revisited later - and as of season 1 in this particular show, that’s far fewer than I would have liked. 

Still, when they are nailing it, they totally nail it. They have a well of incredible potential here, potentially the BEST, and when they dig deep, they never go wrong.

Just, appreciate the damn scene with the HERONS.

This is a prime example of the kind of intense, beautiful and unnerving encounter that truly brings this wilderness to life. The monstrous, even horrifying following the naturalism so closely that it only becomes that more intense. THIS is the promised strange, savage planet where the overwhelmingly alien microcosm of the pond has been blown up to titanic proportions, with an epic story to match.

Or all these episodes with a focus on frog biology and the weird customs that have evolved around it. Especially, the pretty metal attitude the locals have towards DEATH. They struggle to survive every day, and yet consider failure and death to be a completely normal part of life, no more shocked by the sight of the bones of their fallen siblings than by empty shells or fallen leaves (quoth Anne: “You know, no matter how long I am in this world, I’ll never get used to the piles of bones, just lying around”).

 But it’s also in the little things. Like the little throw-away lines where our city girl protagonist realizes how much she has come to enjoy eating giant bugs for dinner. 

Oh, and the outro. Holy cow.

I have REALLY high hopes for this series. Especially if it turns out this was just the warm-up, and the real exploration begins once Anna starts her quest. This could become ‘Digimon Adventure’ with frogs - and that is one of the biggest compliments I have ever given to anything. I was blown away by the finale, and eager to continue the expedition. 

There is still so much to see.

[fearlessswiftielaura13]

20 lessons I’ve learned before turning 20

According to my birth certificate, I’m turning 20 this year. Although some of the people I know would argue that I’m still five in my heart and others say I’m mature beyond my years. Who knows how old I really should be? Throughout the two decades, I’ve learned some very important things. These are far from all the things I need to know about life. When it comes to knowing how to do this very complicated task called living, I’m still a child that’s trying to walk and falling all over the place. And that’s okay. You live to learn, and you learn to live.

LESSON ONE: You more than likely won’t ever have everything figured out and it’s okay to not know. It’s okay to ask for help and there are no such things as stupid questions. You don’t need to be a know-it-all by 20, 30, 57, you don’t have to know (or pretend to know) everything even when you’re 80.

LESSON TWO: If you want a relationship…stop looking for a relationship. I know, I know. Sounds condescending. Throughout my teenage years I’ve had 10+ crushes and none of them turned into a relationship. The second I stopped trying, well, you all know what happened. That being said…

LESSON THREE: It is perfectly normal and okay to date or crush around when you’re a teenager. You don’t need to if you don’t want to, and I advise that you don’t deliberately try to, but it’s okay to have a new crush every two months. You are a teenager. Your hormones are complete and utter whack. You do you, boo, nobody can judge you.

LESSON FOUR: Not everyone is going to love you or even like you, no matter what you do. That is okay. It’s not your fault and you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it.

LESSON FIVE: It is never, NEVER too late to start doing something. I typed this lesson idea...at a gym. Yup. Finally decided to get my shit together, after 11 years of being as chubby as a teddy bear and only after my hip started screaming at me for not doing anything to keep fit. That brings me to…

LESSON SIX: It does not matter how skinny or chubby or whatever you are. Beauty is superficial. You can paint a new face on in an hour if you don’t like your current one. You can’t paint on a good personality though. Be good, damn it.

LESSON SEVEN: All that being said, don’t ever change anything about yourself because someone else told you to. The only person that has been and will always be with you is you. People change, love fades, friends leave. A troll on the internet told you to lose 10 kilos? You will more than likely never meet them again. Does it still seem relevant? Do it for yourself, not for a „shit, you got hot“. Or, better yet, say it to yourself. Every day. Because you are bomb af and I don’t give a shit what anyone else has to say.

LESSON EIGHT: You CAN love your studies. That’s right. You can love learning. All you have to do is do what YOU want to do. Not what mommy, daddy, granny said. I still get remarks about how I might not be able to do my job to the fullest because I can’t walk very long distances. Guess what, I’m still in university for journalism studies and nobody can’t force me to leave, even if they try. Because I want it. Because I chose to do it.

LESSON NINE: You. Can. Do. ANYTHING. I was never supposed to walk and guess what, look at me now. I couldn’t do math for sh*t, I despised it with all my heart and I still passed my math exam. I thought that I would never see Taylor Swift in real life. I. DID. And there are so many things that maybe I don’t think I could ever do as of right now, that I will do in five, ten, twenty years. Only because I don’t think about them as something I would even attempt yet.

LESSON TEN: What is meant to happen, will happen. Destiny is real. Yeah, we make the choices that we make, so you could say that our destiny is in our own hands, but I personally have encountered a very specific case of choice making that makes sense only in the long run. When you look at the specific choices that this person made separately and the circumstances of it all, it makes little to no sense. But now when I look back, I realize that it was all supposed to happen. Don’t kill your braincells over that failed math test (see, it haunts me, I have nightmares), it will be fine. Relax. Breathe. You’ll come out through the other side, most likely undamaged.

LESSON ELEVEN: Your hobbies matter. Your interests are not stupid. If it makes you happy and it does no harm to other people, do it. I had a dream for 10 years and it came true a year ago ONLY because I stuck with this curly headed blonde with a guitar for the last decade. I happy cried for weeks leading up to and after that one. I found friends for life because of fandoms and I love it. There’s a chance of me working as an entertainment journalist, all because I love concerts so damn much.

LESSON TWELVE: Stand for what you believe in. Always. If we all stop standing up for the minorities and unpopular opinions, many people will suffer. It is our responsibility, as people to stand up for the weaker. You have voice for a reason. Use it, speak on what you care about. The worst that could happen is people disagreeing with you. After all, those that disagree and have their arguments, lead to a discussion and discussions are good and those who just yell for the sake of being loud…do they really matter?

LESSON THIRTEEN: This is a really big one. You live once. So live the only life that you’re given to the fullest and you better have something to tell your grandchildren. I pretty much broke the door of Siemens arena trying to get front row at the Bastille gig when I was 16 years old and I don’t regret it. My idol drove me home from his own concert, ONLY because of a joke that one of my friends that was there spoke with her own mouth. I got to see the reality of one of the biggest star’s in Lithuania job and hear an unreleased track that later became a huge hit only because we went ahead and did something absolutely psychotic. I packed my bags and flew to London two days after my last exam just because there could’ve never been another chance. I grabbed the last ticket to a gig in the ENTIRE STADIUM only because I decided that I want it. Do it. Just make sure it’s legal so you don’t get in actual trouble.

LESSON FOURTEEN: You will have to kiss a lot of frogs before you know who your real friends are. Things and people change over time, you may become distant with someone you never thought you’d become distant with. Yeah, you thought you’d be friends forever, I get it. I know it’s hard to grasp. But honey, life happens and that’s okay. Someone you loved with all of your heart may do you so dirty that you’ll never want to see them again. You have every right to do so.

LESSON FIFTEEN: Your views will change over time. Be it political stance, ethical shift, anything. As long as that change happens based on research, learning and growth, I see it as something that should be encouraged and celebrated. Do your research. Educate yourself. Learn something new every day.

LESSON SIXTEEN: Be interested in politics. Vote. You’ll more than likely will live in a country you’re in at least for the next few years. I say, the future should be important to every citizen of every country. Put your input into saving the planet. If you have kids someday, they will live in the world we create now.

LESSON SEVENTEEN: Resist the urge to fight hate with hate. You will not always agree with people. People will not always agree with you. That doesn’t mean you should fight with someone who is hating on something you believe in. They will learn someday, if they want to learn. The truth is, they most likely don’t, and you trying to school them won’t really change much.

LESSON EIGHTEEN: Dream! Dream huge, dream impossible. Have ambitions larger than life itself. And never, you hear me, never let other people’s opinions knock you down. If you work hard enough, you can achieve anything you want, regardless of what anyone else has to say (refer to lesson number nine). That being said, see you at BBC World in 15 years. Or if I stay here, LRT. We’ll see, I don’t know that much about my future yet. The only thing I know is that nothing can stop me from going hard or going home.

LESSON NINETEEN: You do not have to fit into a mold. You are human, not a piece of clay. You like Disney? Cool! K-pop? Great! You’re a metalhead and you would dress all black in the summer if you had enough of black clothes? Awesome! What if you are all of those things and also a feminist animal right activist who loves pop music and writing? Congratulations, you are just like me. Let’s be friends and leave people confizzled together.

LESSON TWENTY: You are NEVER too old for Disney. That’s it. That’s the lesson. You are never too old for some Disney magic. Here, let me sprinkle some pixie dust on you. Done. You will now have a great day.

P.S. An additional lesson: never, I repeat, NEVER trust @taylorswift. She is always on to something.

[kiwisimie]

𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐠 !! 

RULES: Post a pic of your simself with your traits and answer the questions!

TRAITS: loner, music lover, clumsy

tagged by: the great @honeybeqr

✩ QUESTIONS 1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? um just esther is fine 2. WHAT IS YOUR NICKNAME? mum, wife, goldfish, and esti 3. BIRTHDAY? 3rd july 4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? um I don’t really read series but princess diaries and dork diaries are pretty fun 5.  DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS OR GHOSTS? honestly idk like I believe in the after life and there kinda has to something out there 6. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR? rainbow rowell 7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RADIO STATION? I always force my dad to play capital when i’m in his car sooooo I guess its capital (?) 8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ANYTHING? vanilla and chocolate ( cant go wrong with the classics ) 9. WHAT WORD OR PHRASE WOULD YOU USE OFTEN TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING GREAT OR WONDERFUL? cool, good, um great as you can see my vocabulary isn’t that advanced 10. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE SONG? japanese denim - Daniel Caesar, closely followed by broke - samm hemshaw 11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WORD? pueblo, it means village/town in spanish 12. WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO? i’m listening to the schuyler sisters as I write this 13. WHAT TV SHOW WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR EVERYBODY TO WATCH? modern family and the simspons 14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE TO WATCH WHEN YOU’RE FEELING DOWN? the princess and the frog, it has good songs 15. DO YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES? not really i’m more of a lets play watcher 16. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? disappointing people and death 17.  WHAT IS YOUR BEST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? i’m very empathetic/sympathetic, I try to see things from the person’s perspective 18. WHAT IS YOUR WORST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? I tend to shut down a lot and just hide away suddenly 19. DO YOU LIKE CATS OR DOGS BETTER? I guess dogs but i’m not really an animal person 20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? summer for sure 21. ARE YOU IN A RELATIONSHIP? with stress? yes 22. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU MISS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD? being able to fluently speak french 23. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? um next 24. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR? dark brown 25. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR? its really dark brown so it just looks black 26. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU LOVE? my family 27. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU TRUST? once again me family 28. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN? my friends 29. ARE YOU CURRENTLY EXCITED ABOUT/FOR SOMETHING? the half term 30. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSESSION? fanfics, kpop, bullet journals and stationary ( an odd combo of things I know ) 31. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW AS A CHILD? totally spies, les zinzins de l'espace, and ratz 32. WHO OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER CAN YOU TELL ANYTHING TO, IF ANYONE? my brother, he’s a real g 33. ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS? not really 34. DO YOU HAVE ANY UNUSUAL PHOBIAS? I cant with butterflies I panic a bit when they fly near me 35. DO YOU PREFER TO BE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA OR BEHIND IT? I like having the memories when i’m in front of it but I do like being behind it 36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOBBY? playing instruments, reading and making sims 37. WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? fangirl by rainbow rowell thoroughly enjoyed it 38. WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? the greatest showman I think 39. WHAT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? piano, some chords on ukulele and guitar, i’ve been taking violin lessons, and I have a clarinet from school that I have yet to play seriously 40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? any baby animal is my favourite animal 41. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 FAVORITE TUMBLR BLOGS THAT YOU FOLLOW? anyone that posts is amazing 42. WHAT SUPERPOWER DO YOU WISH YOU HAD? teleportation because i’m a lazy bugger 43. WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU FEEL MOST AT PEACE? in bed listening to music or reading 44. WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE? memes that my friends send me and being with people 45. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? I play for my school’s football and netball team and we do loads of different sports during lessons 46. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DRINK? orange juice 47. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WROTE A HAND-WRITTEN LETTER OR NOTE TO SOMEBODY? I wrote little messages in all the Christmas cards I gave out last year 48. ARE YOU AFRAID OF HEIGHTS? I don’t think so, ooo do I love the feeling when you’re in a plane and your stomach does that thing when it goes down a bit ( I probably sound crazy ) 49. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? ermmm slow walkers and being late for no reason 50. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A CONCERT? no :( I really wanted to go to love yourself tour but I couldn’t get a ticket 51. ARE YOU VEGAN/VEGETARIAN? I don’t think I could ever 52. WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? an Olympian, still lowkey want to be one 53. WHAT FICTIONAL WORLD WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN?  all of them 54. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WORRY ABOUT? exams and nearing everything I say and do ( I am a very anxious child ) 55. ARE YOU SCARED OF THE DARK? kinda 56. DO YOU LIKE TO SING? yes but i’m definitely not talented so you’re not hearing that any time soon 57. HAVE YOU EVER SKIPPED SCHOOL? not without informing the school because i’m a good child 58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON THE PLANET? good question 59. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? in a city that’s maybe in another country 60. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? no and i’ve never had one 61. ARE YOU MORE OF AN EARLY BIRD OR A NIGHT OWL?  a bit of both I think 62. DO YOU LIKE SUNRISES OR SUNSETS BETTER? sunrise, gotta love golden hour 63. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE? no as I am underaged 64. DO YOU PREFER EARBUDS OR HEADPHONES? depends on where I am and what i’m doing 65. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES? no but like all of my friends have 66. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC? there is a wide variety 67. WHO IS YOUR HERO? mi madre 68. DO YOU READ COMIC BOOKS? do webtoons and mangas count? 69. WHAT MAKES YOU THE MOST ANGRY? how ignorant someone people are 70. DO YOU PREFER TO READ ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE OR WITH A REAL BOOK? definitely real books, I have brought a couple 71. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? music and maths 72. DO YOU HAVE ANY SIBLINGS? yeah I have an older sister, two older brothers and a little sister 73. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? tipp-ex, a clip-on light and a new moisturiser 74. HOW TALL ARE YOU? 169cm whatever that is in inches 75. CAN YOU COOK? only like the basic things 76. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE? family, friends and clothes 77. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU HATE? CUCUMBERS and AVOCADOS 78. DO YOU HAVE MORE FEMALE FRIENDS OR MORE MALE FRIENDS? my closer friends are basically all female 79. WHAT IS YOUR SEXUAL ORIENTATION? i’m your everyday heterosexual 80. WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY LIVE? in the east of england 81. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TEXTED? my mum 82. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? a few days when I went to went to watch the curious incident of the dog in the night-time ( that show was a lot to handle ) 83. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE YOUTUBER? bestdressed I love her personality and her sense of style 84. DO YOU LIKE TO TAKE SELFIES? occasionally 85. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE APP? tumblr, youtube, google keep and huji 86. WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR PARENT(S) LIKE? we are get along nicely 87. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOREIGN ACCENT? I don’t really have a favourite I find them all pretty entertaining 88. WHAT IS A PLACE THAT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO, BUT YOU WANT TO VISIT? italy 89. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 6 and 3 90. CAN YOU JUGGLE? unfortunately I am not that talented 91. ARE YOU RELIGIOUS? yes 92. DO YOU FIND OUTER SPACE OF THE DEEP OCEAN TO BE MORE INTERESTING? we always watch documentaries about the deep ocean in science lessons and that’s always interesting 93. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A DAREDEVIL? hecc no 94. ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING? i’m like 99% i’m not 95. CAN YOU CURL YOUR TONGUE? yes 96. CAN YOU WIGGLE YOUR EARS? when I raise my eyebrows they move 97. HOW OFTEN DO YOU ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT SOMETHING? more often then I would like 98. DO YOU PREFER THE FOREST OR THE BEACH? forests 99. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF ADVICE THAT ANYONE HAS EVER GIVEN YOU? ‘if you mess up no one’s going to notice unless you allow them to notice it’ my music teachers always say that for performances 100. ARE YOU A GOOD LIAR? I think I can be pretty convincing 101. WHAT IS YOUR HOGWARTS HOUSE? Hufflepuff! 102. DO YOU TALK TO YOURSELF? all the time, it helps me sort out my thoughts and explain things to myself 103. ARE YOU AN INTROVERT OR AN EXTROVERT? I am an introvert ( big surprise there ) and my personality type is isfj 104. DO YOU KEEP A JOURNAL/DIARY? yes but i’ve always been inconsistent with it 105. DO YOU BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES? yes 106. IF YOU FOUND A WALLET FULL OF MONEY ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? give it to some sort of authority ( like a teacher or the police ) 107. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE? sure 108. ARE YOU TICKLISH? very 109. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A PLANE? yes and I love them 110. DO YOU HAVE ANY PIERCINGS? just my ears 111. WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO YOU WISH WAS REAL? baz and simon ( that’s two I know ) 112. DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS? no 113. WHAT IS THE BEST DECISION THAT YOU’VE MADE IN YOUR LIFE SO FAR? applying for literally everything 114. DO YOU BELIEVE IN KARMA? not really 115. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES OR CONTACTS? I have glasses and I want contacts for when I do sports 116. DO YOU WANT CHILDREN? at some point in my life, yes 117. WHO IS THE SMARTEST PERSON YOU KNOW? I know a lot of people that are smart in different areas of life 118. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MEMORY? don’t really want that  on the internet 119. HAVE YOU EVER PULLED AN ALL-NIGHTER?  I always end up falling asleep 120. WHAT COLOR ARE MOST OF YOUR CLOTHES? white, black, a lot of yellow, and red ( I have a lot more colour then I used to ) 121. DO YOU LIKE ADVENTURES? yes 122. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON TV? no but my school has been 123. HOW OLD ARE YOU? 14 124. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE? ’ good-night, helen’ the only part of jane eyre I liked 125. DO YOU PREFER SWEET OR SAVORY FOODS? depends on my mood I encourage anyone how wants to do this to go for it :)