#there's probably no music style that's objectively bad but this isn't about objectivity

[soap-brain]

all this rap discourse is really funny bc it looks like nobody is considering the stance of "rap is bad bc i don't like the way it sounds"

[spaceorphan18]

Can you select your favorite Glee songs per season, and also your least favorite?

Hmmmm, so this isn't that easy since I love a majority of the music on the show. I'll give you a selection for each season, but please note that a) these are my opinions and b) there are many answers, this just happens to be how I'm feeling in the moment.

Season 1:

A personal favorite performance: Rose's Turn

An objectively 'best of' performance: Bohemian Rhapsody

A bad song done well: Run Joey Run

A song that's performed well that I don't like: Physical

A questionable song choice by the writers: A Man's Man's Man's World

Season 2

A personal favorite performance: Get Happy/Happy Days

A subjective 'best of' performance: As If We Never Said Goodbye

An objectively 'best of' performance: Songbird

A good performance of a song that I always want to fast forward through: Papa, Can You Hear Me?

A song everyone loves that I don't have any feelings for besides noting it is a good performance: River Deep, Mountain High

Best Warbler Song (because if I didn't mention them, there'd be rioting in the street): Somewhere Only We Know

Best Original Song that is racist when you listen to the lyrics: Hell to the No

Best Original Song that isn't racist when you listen to the lyrics: My Headband

One of the best goddamn things the show ever did but it's related to Christmas so people forget about it: Baby, It's Cold Outside

Song that I probably like least this season, despite the fact that this season really doesn't have any 'bad' performances: I Follow Rivers

Oh, excuse me, a bad performance of a good song: Candles

Season 3

A personal favorite performance: I Have Nothing

An objectively 'best of' performance: I Will Always Love You

Song I think is good but the internet discourse and obsession is beginning to ruin it for me: Rumour Has It/Someone Like You

Song that is good by I don't like watching it in context: Cough Syrup

Favorite performance by a Glee Project Winner: Pinball Wizard

Best use of a capella not sung by the Warblers: How Will I Know

Song that reminds me why I don't listen to hard rock: Hot for Teacher

Song that is really missing the point: I Kissed a Girl

Another questionable song choice by the writers: Ben

Cringiest performance: La Cucaracha & A Little Less Conversation

Contender for least favorite performance of the show: Dinosaur

Song I enjoy but hate how it's used on the show: Tongue Tied

Best song not used in an episode: Glory Days

Season 4

A personal favorite performance: Just Can't Get Enough

An objectively 'best of' performance: O Holy Night

A goddam master class in acting through song: Teenage Dream

A song I'll listen to unabashedly every time it comes on, I don't care what you think: Call Me Maybe

A song I'll listen to unabashedly every time it comes on, I don't care what you think 2: Let's Have a Kiki/Turkey Lurkey Time

A song I'll listen to unabashedly every time it comes on, I don't care what you think 3: Mamma Mia

A song I always play for my nieces and nephews: It's Time

A song that probably isn't good but I laugh every time I hear it: Whistle

Most creative use of handling a performance in a quite a while: Torn

A song that I really just cannot stand to listen to on its own: Locked Out of Heaven

A questionable song choice by the writers: Gimme More

A questionable song choice by the writers 2: Gangnam Style

A questionable song choice by the writers 3: Baby Got Back

A questionable song choice by the writers 4: Creep

Song that is going to put me asleep for a thousand years: A Thousand Years

Possibly most irritating song done on the show: You've Got to Fight For Your Right (to party)

Song you didn't know they covered, but it was done by a third group and is actually good: Rainbow Connection

Season 5

A personal favorite performance: Rockstar

An objectively 'best of' performance: Make You Feel My Love

A personal favorite moment of the entire show: All You Need is Love

A song that's really hard to listen to due to post-glee tragedy: If I Die Young

A song that is not my actual least favorite song of the season: Blurred Lines

A song that is my actual least favorite song of the season and possibly the show: The Chipmunk Song

A song y'all hate and I don't think it's that bad: What does the fox say

An underrated song because it's sung by a newbie: If I Were a Boy

A song they redid that was better than the original: Toxic

A song they redid that was worse than the original: Raise Your Glass

A song that is absolutely gorgeous even if the lyrics are crap: Lose Like Me

A song that everyone's tired of but I'm still not: Don't Stop Believing

A song I like dancing to: Pumpin' Blood

A song I don't like but love the performance of: Love is a Battlefield

A song that seems like a happy ending but is really foreboding when you listen to it: Pompeii

Season 6

A personal favorite song: Somebody Loves You

An objectively 'best of' song: Some Day We'll Be Together

Song that makes the best use of Kurt's lower register: Home

A song that I'm shocked they hadn't sung earlier but is spot on character wise: Bitch

Best song by the new newbies: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow/Head Over Feet

A song that is totally meta: Hey Ya

Song that made me fall a little in love with Jesse St James: Listen to your heart

Song from the 80s that they really didn't need to bring back: My Sherona

Song from the 80s that they really didn't need to bring back 2: Hey Mickey

Song from the 80s that they really didn't need to bring back 3: Father Figure

Song that doesn't make sense after their day has come: Our Day Will Come

Song that I wished they had done in a different context: Daydream Believer

Song that tells you Glee was insane the whole time: Final Countdown

Best Song written by Darren Criss: This Time

Song that made me sad because it's over: I Lived

<3

[a-door-to-somewhere]

Ok watched spiderverse 2 again here's some thoughts in no particular order (spoilers and long post ahead):

- peter b is reading a book called "how to talk to kids" at the very end. Presumably because may can't speak yet and Gwen and Miles were zapped away I choose to believe he was reading this so he can go talk to Miguel LMAO

- I fucken love the way spot, after he powers up, move around via just like... sliding around in the air basically with his bad posture like he's hung from strings like a puppet

- when gwen is drumming at the opening and when spot gets zapped both are intercut with frames from later in the movie and also later in the future. I'm guessing spot got a glimpse of canon events but when Gwen was doing her intro it was phrased like a retrospective- but unlike most intros it didn't have a shot of a new spiderman comic being thrown on the pile. So when was she doing this retrospective? I hc she'll pick back up at the end of the third movie

- someone needs to make procreate brush packs for each universe/character PLEASE

- ok the "watercolor" effect being a mood ring is incredible but I havent seen anyone talking about the sort of abstract animation?? It almost reminds me of like experimental film from the impressionist/dada/supremetism eras, you can see it synced to the drum in the intro and also in some of the backgrounds during her big speech

- also during the Guggemheim fight when the Renaissance Vulture was like "you call this art?" And Gwen was like "well we're talking about it aren't we" YOU'RE SO RIGHT GWEN I AM KISSING YOU ON THE LIPS

- the shaky 1st pov cam when Gwen's dad sneaks up on her both times reminded me of when Miles accidentally watched kingpin kill perfect Peter? Idk if it was exactly the same I'd have to go back and rewatch but UGH it really gets that Gwen's dad has two sides too and the cop side isn't really human almost, lurking in the shadows, silhouetted

- also Gwen's dad just being a shit cop, giving her mixed instructions, raising a weapon at an unarmed person who is trying to communicate, firing warning shots, yelling the Miranda rights over her which is not how its supposed to be given

- contrast that with Jeff who literally never pointed a weapon at anyone and went charging after spot with his bare hands, is casual with his spiderman. I mean even when Jeff was talking about Miles not capturing Spot correctly it was lighthearted and joking, he's actively not going by the book, he's keeping the squad off of Spiderman's back, he apparently talks to spiderman about his family troubles???

- have I mentioned I LOVE MUSICAL MOTIFS????? Seriously they’re always good (fuck Wagner everyone knows Toby Fox invented the leitmotif) I mean everyone noticed the horror style Prowler stinger but even more characters got some: Gwen got a Little Rock theme with a guitar lick that echoes the ‘spi-der-man, spi-der-man’ song, Miguel’s distorted synth whine, the interesting mouth and bells percussion that Pav gets (good job Hollywood avoiding the exotic Asian pentatonic lick for once), at the end when the 42 prowler reveal slowly changed the prowler stinger into a human scream???? There’s probably more but I’d have to go back and watch it again again lmao

- I really love how Miguel is kinda goofy. He’s aloof and over serious but he makes mistakes and shows other emotions despite his best efforts. His flaws are shown off in his very first interaction, with his unwillingness to ask for help despite the fact that he knows he needs it. He’s frustrated. He’s got group object leader energy. It makes it so much more lovable that he’s susceptible to quips and he also gets knocked down and messes up and shows up and has his quirks that everyone puts up with. THATS how you make an interesting, relatable, lovable antagonist. Perhaps it worked too well LMAO

- I am an Oscar isaac simp I gotta go rewatch moon knight

- when miles was swinging around with gwen he passed a truck called "redex" bc gwen rejected him lmao

- theres an 8 clearly visible in the background of earth 42? Wacc

- the Spread Your Wings, Man scene focusing on the plastic wrap on top of the Alchemax flowing in the wind like it’s an ocean?/??? I really hope they call back to that imagery later because it clearly means something and I need to know what

- I’ve got an inkling of something that specifically revealing one’s spider-dentity to a loved one is some kind of anti-canon event, like maybe it’s the thing that fixes the destabilization? I mean we’ve seen that it’s ok if loved ones figure it out themselves (or if they then die, like uncle Aaron) like it’s a clear theme that miles keeps trying to tell his parents, and then Gwen tells her dad, which causes him to quit the force, thereby averting the canon event of him dying indirectly??? Also, it’s implied that the MJ of 1610 sold out Perfect Peter Parker to Fisk, leading to his death, ALSO also, gayatri probably figured out Pav’s identity right before HIS world destabilized??? Idk lmao

- I hope spiderbite/Margo and Jess get proper intros I can’t wait

- the background spider hockey girl has my heart, I couldn’t stop looking at her during the chase scene

- God I need to watch moon knight again

- when mj moved into mays room to greet them she lifted a picture frame back up as she moved in the door? What's up with that???

- not Spanish originally starting as a too-relatable joke that Miles gets a B in despite his mother speaking Spanish at home as well, not living up to his expectations, and then 42!Miles presumably speaks more/better Spanish due to being closer to his mom because his dad died???

- not miles aceing ap physics and ap studio AT THE SAME TIME in his SOPHOMORE YEAR free my boy from grounding he’s done nothing wrong

- btsv’s main villain is gonna be the sat I’m telling you

- most importantly: what was up with the Comic Code Authority’s seal being shown after the studio logos at the beginning??

Did that happen in the first one??? Why would it be there??? The cca has obviously been defunct since before superhero movies were really a thing. Famously, the cca seriously censored a ton of content, causing Marvel to be unable to portray darker stories involving drugs and other more mature themes, which they wanted to do with many superheroes including Spidey??? Is the Spider Society secretly the cca, censoring storylines that they think shouldn’t be portrayed, including darker timelines like 42? There was also issues with the convoluted Spider-Man comic lines going through unsatisfying ‘resets’ to keep Spider-Man relatable, without evolving the character into anything too far away from the OG Spider-Man, ie young, relationship issues with MJ, nerdy, tragedies etc. this is the detail that had me wondering the most because it was so clearly displayed right at the beginning, and the cca was generally a shameful part of comic book history in which publishers submitted to satanic moral panic. Like, not really something that reads as a cute little callback to an era of comics like he use of Ben day dots or misaligned printing or the onomatopoeias??

[georgieluz]

Juleeees, how are you? I'll go with 4, 10, 11, 21 and 28 for the "not from the US" ask set

jess! hello!! i'm not too bad, thanks! just got back from braving the rain to buy christmas jumpers (it's christmas jumper weekend at work on friday so had to go searching), how about you?

4. favourite dish specific for your country?

probably glamorgan sausage, which isn't made of actual sausage. it's made of cheese, but it's a vegetarian alternative to normal sausage. but yeah, usually made with cheese and leek.

i do also love a slice of bara brith, but specifically the one served in the restaurant at my workplace!

if we wanna be really basic then welshcakes are always a good shout and i have one every friday with a cup of tea in work!

crempogs are soo very good also!!

10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

ooh okay so i don't know if it would necessarily be the most enjoyable but it's the one my friends and i used most whilst growing up and that's "cachau bant" which is a way of saying "fuck off" but if you translate it literally it's "shit away".. and then i can't not include "cont" which i imagine you can guess the translation of (we use it affectionately here though, so it's more like "alright, cont?" or "shwmae cont" when you greet your friend)

11. favourite native writer/poet?

okay, it's probably very predictable to choose dylan thomas but i do love his poems and his poetry is loved for good reason! he didn't write in cymraeg, only saesneg, but he's welsh and wrote about wales and life here, and i think the fact that he wrote in english and not welsh speaks a lot about the journey our language unfortunately went on

also r.s thomas' poems about wales are always interesting to study, in particular welsh history, which has the ending lines:

when we have finished quarrelling for crumbs under the table, or gnawing the bones of a dead culture, we will arise and greet each other in a new dawn

his other poems a welsh testament, welsh landscape, the village and sorry are all really interesting as well!

niall griffiths is a great welsh author too. his books set in aberystwyth are really really good!

oh and richard king!! both his books about music and his oral histories of wales book are 11/10!!

menna gallie's work is awesome as well, i loved 'the small mine' which explores how a fictional welsh village comes together after a mining tragedy. it focuses a lot on how women in the community deal with the loss. her other books are great too and she has a really witty writing style that i enjoy a lot

a few others: owen sheers, gillian clarke and sarah waters!

not quite relevant, but still worth a mention, is the story of the soldier-poet known as hedd wyn and the eisteddfodd of 1917!

21. if you could send two things from your country into space, what would they be?

ohhhh this is really hard.. does it have to be an object or can it be like just a welsh tradition or?? oH WAIT I KNOW i'd send mari lwyd up there!!! to maybe freak out all the aliens. it's one of my favourite welsh customs and traditions for christmas! this is what it looks like:

28. does your country have a lot of lakes, mountains, rivers? do you have favourites?

oh boy! it does indeed... if you wanna know how many mountains wales has, it's better to just look at this topography map

there aren't any genuinely flat areas of wales. my high school was near the top of a mountain, and my house growing up was halfway up the same one. we hated having to walk up it every morning, and yet, we still went down to the village on our lunch hour. maybe that's why we were all fucking tiny bc we trekked up a mountain twice a day.

here's one of our rivers, which we similarly have a fuck ton of

so yeah. a shit ton of rivers and a shit ton of mountains. my favourite mountains are the brecon beacons bc we used to go there so much when i was growing up. it's like a tradition for welsh people to climb there and hike there as soon as the weather gets milder!

oh wow, sorry this was SOOOO long but it was fun to talk about these things so thank you for asking!!

for this ask game!

[lokisis]

Just a lot of thoughts below. No common theme tbh

Perhaps I should do a tutorial on how I draw spam sometime? I've seen a couple tries of emulating my style so I think it might be fun to give a Direct way to do it. Not to say the emulations were bad! I just think it would be fun 2 do.

I have a love hate relationship with Hotel California. It's a good god damn song. But I heard it literally Every Day after school for like 2 years. I put it in one of my playlists to antagonize myself.

I often wonder what people think of me. Am I a good person? Am I doing right by myself? I don't know. I hope I'm good. I hope I'm kind and approachable. But looking back at my last relationship.. I don't know. It was definitely my fault but he also made me so upset so often. I hope I don't do that to anyone else

I get compliments about my line art a lot. Usually along the lines of "it's so smooth/clean/etc" Here's a fun fact: my hands are chronically shaky. Probably because I don't eat enough but I digress. I want you to open your art program and find the stabilizer. Or correction or whatever the fuck it's called. Turn it up to the point you can make a somewhat unsure line into a confident one. Bam, you're already 70% of the way to how I do my lines. The rest is experience and a trained eye ;]

I really want someone to hold and kiss and love. I have so much of it, and I can't give it to anyone near me. Why? I already dated most of my friends. It would be weird. Just really want someone I'm close to that I can snuggle up to again. I miss that comfort.

I realized, after I made the Blue and Spam post, that Pink is ALSO based on a family member. See, my mom has 2 sisters. The one like Spam, and the one I accidentally made Pink act like. For ease, Mo is pink, KT is spam, and Ma is blue. Mo fucking HATES KT. Doesn't want anything to do with her. But just like Ma, if KT actually needed her help, she'd be there. Begrudgingly, of course.

I wonder how long it usually takes people to make art like mine. For me, if it's just Spamton and no other characters/objects, it takes maybe 2 - 3 hours. That's the full piece. From sketch to post. I'm very fast at what I do so I wonder. I truly do!

My music taste leans heavily towards rock, but hard rock has never caught me quite as much as the rest. Maybe I just haven't found the right kind. Honestly finding new music is always a treat. My mom absolutely loves Rush, and I can see why! But I also love pretty much Everything! Musicals to pop to acapella to fuckin opera if it's good. Rock is a Huge genre, so I guess that's why my taste is so open to begin with. Gotta say tho, raising your kid on motley crue and guns n roses isn't the Best idea if you want an Obedient child.

I love drawing hands. I enjoy the process of feeling out the movement and flow. Hands are so expressive and I genuinely love drawing them. I can understand ppl hating them, but that doesn't mean I agree. Just take the time to learn and you'll see.

Oh right, I should say if you have any opinions/commentary/whatever abt all this shit I'm totally down for a full on rant. Ok. Time to sleep.

[gaphic]

answer all of the artist questions or u a coward

WELL FUCK. OK

1. Art programs you have but don't use? Medibang Paint is the only one I can think of- everything happens in Procreate now!

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)? definitely left, but right/front aren't too bad

3. What ideas come from when you were little? I'm not 100% sure I understand this one? My fairy fixation goes way back tho

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw? Boys.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself. Probably a 90/10 split, tbh? At least 80/20. I don't post much of my art

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it) I feel like I don't really experience this with drawing? With writing and character creation definitely, but I feel like I'm conscious of all my biggest drawing inspos

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate? Hmmm. Legos

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in? Camp Cauldron

9. What are your file name conventions?

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw? Probably swishy skirts!

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what? Just my regular music

12. Easiest part of body to draw? Arms, probably

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing? I'm also not sure about this one? To me admiration goes hand in hand with liking... I respect a lot of artists whose work I'm not into though

14. Any favorite motifs? -patrick voice- is gender a motif?

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth) At home mainly, sometimes at work or just wherever I happen to be. I'm trying to spend more time in Third Places

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing? I can't think of anything? I'm getting better at enjoying every part of art

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what? No? I use my hands to draw

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken? Not that many tbh! I've always been very careful with my art things. A handful of pencils, surely

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.) Probably plants!

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy? HANDS I love drawing hands

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways? Art styles unlike my own are my favorites! Jamie Hewlett, @tanglefootcomic, @ampreh, and @maruti-bitamin to name a few

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any? I always do some light warmups/hand and arm stretches

23. Do you use different layer modes? Yes ofc, great shortcut for shading and lighting

24. Do your references include stock images? I don't have like, a set reference folder, I just google what I need. So yeah, that usually includes stock images!

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by? Scott Pilgrim

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended? I don't post enough for this to happen to me B)

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with? I warm up with spirals, connect the dots, and snake in a basket

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines) nope :\

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically? Oxymoronic. Everything I love inspires me

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated? I DON'T POST ENOUGH FOR THIS but my color study self-portrait was really good

[thesinglesjukebox]

TATE MCRAE - "GREEDY"

Not an Ariana Grande cover, but the enunciation isn't much better...

[5.00]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Largely indistinguishable from the fake pop songs on The Idol. [3]

Leah Isobel: Tate McRae is 20 - old enough to embrace sexuality, young enough that she's still exploring its effects. "greedy" indicates both, its chorus driven by the novelty of being able to see yourself as a desirable object and by the fractured emotions attendant to that realization. She might embody the latter a little too well; her mushmouthed, cotton-candy voice throws off sparks on the chorus but dissolves into nothing when the verses send her into her lower register. What lingers isn't bravado or pleasure, but anxiety: when she hums "baby, please believe me," it's like it's directed inward. Please, say it right. Please, deliver what's desired in this moment. Please, let me get what I'm not sure that I want. I am very, very happy that I'm no longer 20. [5]

Ian Mathers: I was the only blurber here to love McRae and Khalid's "Working" (a song that has only grown in my estimation since), and that was entirely down to the subtlety, generosity, and maturity of its message and emotional range. I haaaaated the next time we covered McRae and my entire blurb was about disliking her singing style. Doing an A/B comparison between that song and this one I do think whatever was bugging me (which I still don't like!) is either less pronounced here or works better in "Greedy." But as opposed to something like "Working" there's nothing particularly distinctive or compelling to this one for me, indicating that at least right now she's more than capable of excelling on good material but maybe not so much of elevating average material. Wouldn't touch that dial though. [6]

Katherine St Asaph: The most memorable thing about "Greedy" is how hilariously mismatched the Darrin's Dance Grooves choreo is to the vibe of the song. (2023 songs the choreography would actually fit: "Padam Padam"; "Padam Padam"; maybe others.) [5]

Michael Hong: Sometimes, "you broke me first" comes on the radio and I just feel so bad for her -- she sounds so small, so miniscule, I just want to hold her. I like the zamboni of its music video, a really fun "I'm Canadian" statement, but the nasal quality of her voice does nothing for me here. [4]

Aaron Bergstrom: Real commitment to the hockey theme here, singing the whole song with her mouthguard still in like that. [2]

Nortey Dowuona: Stop being greedy/give to the needy. Tate sounds so confident on this record she can't be bothered to give the Gus Johnson lookalike in this song an actual name. Her voice is still cutesy and pinched, constantly pushed into the upper range of her nasally soprano, but once it's layered and compressed to stamp the hook into the brain, it becomes lighter and seethes, disgusted by the unappealing attention he tries to ensnare her. It's probably the embarrassing experience of Jasper Harris or Ryan Tedder, or the lived experience of Tate or Amy Allen, who has written "Graveyard", "Adore You" and "Without Me", all vivid songs with tight hooks which stamp on your brain just as this does. But I can't tell if I love or just like this song, it really depends on the day. So now it's a - [6]

Brad Shoup: We have Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland at home! [4]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Tate McRae's garbled singing is gerbil-coded. It's partly the AutoTune, partly because it's squeaky and small. Like, whenever the chorus comes in, I get the overwhelming sense that the songwriters tried to mask her limited vocal range. At least it's pitiable. [2]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Looks like Tate McRae inherited the Ariana-Grande mumble-mouth gene for making a chorus sound pretty and unintelligible in one breathe. The lyrical conceit of "Greedy" makes little sense, but that matters little when the song is mostly a vehicle for Tate McRae to show off her dance skills and theater kid emotions. [6]

Taylor Alatorre: The basic structure of "greedy," with its neatly divided "he said" verses and "she said" chorus, makes it hard for me to see it as something other than the "Jerk Store" of pop songs. Unless we're really meant to believe that Tate McRae is saying things like "I'll put you through hell" in a public setting, a scene that would be laughed out of the writers' room of even the corniest teen drama. I do admire, though, the kind of obstinate creative logic that leads a singer to emulate Timbaland not merely or even primarily in his production style, but also in his underratedly weird stop-start way of delivering lyrics. Shock Value III when? [4]

Hannah Jocelyn: I've been rooting for Tate McRae despite all the reasons I shouldn't - she sounds like one of the mice from Cinderella, she brings little new to pop music, and yet she has her place as Olivia Rodrigo's bratty younger sister the way Rodrigo was initially pitched as one to Taylor Swift. I actually love how whiny she is - I find that more relatable than people who actually strive for relatability, and I don't even mean that condescendingly. She's kooky enough to have an entire alter ego named Tatiana, where she moves from Eilish and Rodrigo to Spears and Furtado. She's not as distinctive as any of them, but muscular production from Ryan Tedder (!) gives the illusion she holds her own. I've heard people say she sounds scared instead of assertive, and while I hear that, it adds palpable stakes to the song, however intentionally. But I also liked the last darker-and-edgier artist reboot no one else did, so what do I know? [7]

Scott Mildenhall: The vocal distortion is elevated by its sparkle, but compounded by McRae's mumbles, which obscure any attitude she intends to project. "In your face" is a stance to take; not a place to hide your syllables. [6]

Will Adams: Such an interesting approach to vowels. I await our next pop star who fully sounds like Homestar Runner. [4]

Harlan Talib Ockey: Tate McRae has somehow had a drastically different personality on every single of hers I have heard. Part of this may be down to her voice, which is pretty texturally unusual (underneath the bananies and avocadies) and possibly too oily to have a full-belt setting. "Greedy" is where she seems to have found the formula that works; McRae really suits this "Promiscuous" update where she can use a little more of her head voice. [7]

Oliver Maier: Greedy for what, bananies and avocadies? Lol. Apologies to miss McRae. The song is quite good. [6]

Kayla Beardslee: I'm a little surprised this song blew up, because I've listened to it several times and still cannot make out half the lyrics in the chorus ("I would want myself, the reason bleeblee"??). But we're starved for new pop stars right now, so any fresh hit that gets people talking about pop girl potential is a net positive. [5]

Jackie Powell: It takes around 5 seconds for "Greedy" to send me back in time. The beat drops after the steel drum-sounding intro and the unknown voice shouting "Whoop," a classic ad-lib in the pop/ R&B crossover space. Nelly Furtado or rather her influence has somehow returned around 17 years later in 2023. That "Promiscuous" sounding beat sticks out immediately and Ryan Tedder knew that it would. It was amusing to see in the liner notes that "Promiscuous" was given a sample credit, almost a preventative measure. Gasp, there can't be another Gen Zer taking rhythmic elements from the 2000s without giving proper credit. "Greedy" is a smash and has the potential to launch McRae to greater heights. (I'll still remember "She's All I Wanna Be", which was far superior.) An underrated part of the production is that rhythmic steel drum-sounding intro which finds its way throughout the entire song. McRae imitates the part's rhythm when she confidently vocalizes the different vowels in "Uh-uh, uh-uh-uh, uh-uh". While McRae's vocal tone is reminiscent of Camilla Cabello or Melanie Martinez, she's a much more expressive performer. There's an assurance that's way beyond her years in how she's able to communicate the story she's trying to tell. There's something empowering about a song with a killer beat all about how men can be creepy and aren't entitled to the allure of the women around them. She's 20 years old and singing about this! Speaking of her age and maturity, McRae has been deemed Gen Z's Brittney Spears, or the heir apparent to Spears. There's something incredibly unsettling about that. The similarities are apparent: both are trained dancers, both appeared on children's television (McRae voiced a LaLaLoopsy doll) both have huskiness attached to their vocal ranges and both have a command of their sexuality, which makes them both such captivating live performers. So what's unsettling about that? McRae is making her climb to the top with tools that Spears didn't have. Spears didn't have the prior credibility that McRae has. Placing third on So You Think You Can Dance and her self written and performed song "One Day" add much more to the McRae story than we ever had about Spears during the days of "Oops, I did it again." McRae won't have to deal with critics claiming she doesn't have talent. The evidence of her talent is all over the internet. During her live performances, she finds a way to maintain that credibility as well. She doesn't lip-sync but rather picks her spots with a backing track. She makes sure she has a moment to really dance full force to the music she just sang by adding an outro. These are tactics that Brittney Spears and her team either didn't think of or weren't really possible in the early 2000s. If we are transporting back to 2000s pop, I hope we also don't transport back to 2000s celebrity culture, a truly *dark* time in music. [8]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[sharkface]

if changing your art style were actually easy you could just do it whenever you wanted i think its a nice idea but its not realistic and stuff like that might just make people get down on themselves about not being able to do it

Well... Yeah. If you could change your entire skillset on a whim you certainly would avoid the discomfort of not knowing how to do whatever it is you want to do. But art style isn't necessarily a fingerprint so much as it is its own instrument- Even if you have intimate knowledge of making music, playing the piano is still nothing like playing the harp. You still have to start from relative scratch and deciding you just can't learn a different style because you weren't immediately good at something you've probably never done, even if superficially similar to something you HAVE done or even do very well, is not indicative of a lack of talent, effort, or ability so much as it is that you just... Don't know how to do it. Which is fine. You have the advantage of already knowing, in a general sense, what goes into making art. You are still doing better than anyone who has never drawn anything point-blank.

It IS realistic. Learning new skills is how you get good at those skills. That is probably the most objective statement about any skill you can possibly make. I speak from current ongoing experience when I say it is very uncomfortable but still possible. If that post makes a person feel bad because they think they can't learn anything new, that is not on me because that person probably felt that way already. There's nothing I can do about that.

All of this is also applicable to learning things like backgrounds or perspective or whatever else. You can learn to do it, you only suck at it because you don't do it. I've been drawing for half of my life and I freely admit that pretty much all of my shortcomings are just things I didn't learn. I put off making anything I wanted to until some nebulous someday where I would magically know how to make the art I wanted, and that someday never came because I never learned the skills I needed to make what I wanted and I'm making up for that now.

So, uh. Go draw things you are bad at drawing, because it is literally the only way you will stop being bad at them.

[i-eight-sigma-pi]

I finished Live A Live! Here's a review : )

Quick review: If you like snes rpgs, the hd-2d art style, or games with soundtracks by yoko shimomura, it's a must play!!

Longer review:

This game has a bunch of individual stories, each around 2-4 hours long, which is awesome. It gives the game a ton of variety and helps the gameplay from getting stale. If you're bored by a story, it'll probably be done in an hour, and then something else is happening! And if you like one a lot, there are ways to replay it and find secrets for more playtime! The game as a whole took me ~24 hours, doing some of the optional stuff, and that felt like a good length.

The game looks beautiful, with dynamic camera angles during cutscenes and the large amount of locations making it probably the best looking hd-2d game so far. The music is also fucking excellent!! I haven't heard the original tunes, but the remastered stuff is great!! There are diff map and battle themes for each time period that fit them really well, so the soundtrack doesn't get repetitive and has a ton of variety to how each place sounds.

I feel that the gameplay is probably the weakest part of the game, but that isn't really a negative since I liked every other part so much. It's interesting on paper, being grid and position based with a regular turn system, but I feel it isn't really engaging with only one or two party members (which is how it goes for most chapters :/). Though I did start really enjoying it at the middle ages chapter when you have a full party and there starts being a lot of strategy with positioning and initial formation, but that is quite near the end of the game at that point. I haven't played the original, but I also have the feeling they made the game significantly easier than the original, as the gamefaqs guide made for the original that I used described certain parts as being way harder lol. Not to say the final fights weren't really tough, though (in a good way! I was on the edge of my seat).

As an aside, for non-combat gameplay, I found that the radar system really helped guide me when the next objective was a little obtuse (justsnesthings), so I never got too confused about where to go. I never needed a guide until the final chapter (which is amazing, as i am stupid and need guides for most games), so it telegraphed where to go well and was never frustrating!

I thought the writing was really solid and compelling. The general plot was definitely 'super nintendo' (again, not that that's bad lol), but the translation was really great, as the actual dialogue/descriptions of stuff felt modern and added a lot of personality to otherwise mundane stuff. The individual stories were really fun and each had unique, interesting aspects! Some standout ones to me were Distant Future (great atmosphere, essentially an 80s sci-fi horror, has cube, the best guy ever, in it), Edo Japan (really replayable, has so many different ways to play the scenario, cool ninjas), and Wild West (cool cowboys). But I liked all of them quite a lot, and they all have a different balance of combat/plot, which makes it not feel formulaic (lookin at you, octopath lmao)

In Conclusion:

It was really great!! I don't think there was a part that I disliked at all. Even the combat is really just the least good in my opinion. If you liked Octopath but wish there was at least an excuse for the lack of character interaction and were bored by the chapter structure, you should 100% play this. If you don't wanna pay however much money this game cost for a 25 hour snes rpg, yeah i guess that's reasonable so get it on sale, but the enhancements and translation make it feel like more than just a visual upgrade.

So yeah, I enjoyed it!! If you think it sounds neat and dope from this review, totally pick it up !!! Thanks for reading : )

[idleorbitals]

OF ep 2 watch through part 1

ok! ok. ok. goddamnit this show has me wrapped around it's pinky. this got long so I am cutting it in hopefully only two

come relive with me let's talk about this beast

#1 this scene does so much so fast to establish:

mew again as someone with his own agency...the way he talks about top is like surprisingly? healthy? idk I'm glad they're making these characters so smart and nuanced you know they're feeding us well

ray's feelings for mew as (again, surprising to me) relatively pure seeming. he's going to suffer but he's not going to take it out on mew he's probably going to take it out mostly on himself and secondarily on people he doesn't think matter to him (*cough* sa– *gunshot noises*) also ray starting this scene day drinking alone 💀

the power play is so loud in this laser tag arena. why do I feel like top is going to get hurt and they're going to make me care. I don't want to care

side note but very distracting to me personally isn't anyone going to fix mew's one squished up ear? bookie that's not uncomfy??

same ray. god they're both going to get hurt so bad

ok we're in the club now. can't believe the one frame of ray smiling at the dancer is the only moment he's acting to hide from sand and not trying to crawl out of the scene. they were really playing us with that trailer huh. also ray being so polite to everyone there even though they're all just in his way hashtag not as much of an asshole as he'd like to think

lots to say about bostonnick but more importantly about mark pakin eating this pose for breakfast

boston is a rich boy too? did we know this? he's definitely a terrible person playing with nick's insecurities "if you weren't cute I wouldn't sleep with you a second time" boston shut tf up. lmao I'm sorry but atp I love neo in this role so much I'm just enjoying it

not sand this invested in what ray thinks of his wine and ray this flattered by him calling him someone with good taste. now sand likes ray's music too, or at least his dead mom's music. "how and when did your mother die?" sand back off a little baby

okay the cut from the bottle and glass next to her body to him drinking? yikes. I bet we're going to learn more about this and I'm ready and already torn up about it. was it an accident? was it intentional? or mirror on the secret third thing where ray is self-sabotaging himself into oblivion because wealth and privelege don't make you happy but do give you the tools to feed your worst tendencies

not to detract but on the first watch I was so hyped up and fully did not get that was supposed to be baby ray and was like: murder suspect? no it was the maid???

sand noticing he introduced too many feelings and going to lighten the mood: cute. correct

sand starting his forecasted "sugar daddy" storyline by saying very loudly that he doesn't want to call ray sugar daddy but also, you know, he would, you know, if he had too, but only if he really /had to/, you know

this totally-uninvested-gaze lasts for so many frames my screencapping fingers got lazy

okay we're at the water now. some people are shirtless and some people look hotter than they should in rash guards (*cough* khaotung *cough* nonnie wtf)

this devastated me I had to pause and add precious seconds to my live watch to recover

ray is really one of those people crashing through life taking psychic damage at every turn huh. I'm sorry I am so weak for characters that think they are terrible people

april and namcheum interactions so cute. april unfortunately looks and is styled so much like my ex in these scenes that I'm having trouble seeing objectively

this is so intriguing god damnit. boston is playing aggressor but top is into it? a little? swear he's smiling in this scene. but also not engaging. does he want it a little but not as much as he wants to not wreck things with mew? did something else happen in that photo booth? how does he like it

...top secretly loves to bottom and boston's going to woo his seme-acting ass by seeing through to the real him

jk jk.

or? 👀

yeah same top honestly. I don't trust either of y'all

📣 multiple types of queer sex on screen 📣 p'jojo we love you!

oh god the friends with benefits vs fuck buddies talk. Nick's going to get so screwed. does he already know this? he sort of knows, right

the problem is that even though they are clearly winning the most-uneven-investment contest I am enjoying both these characters more than top and mew atp. maybe just because I enjoy a trajectory I can visualize a bit even if it's fucked up who knows

alright we're back at the bar and ray is trying to pick up a girl with his plant line. this is relatively wholesome but ray is not watching the show he's in. buddy you only get to sleep with people if at least one person is going to be fucked up about it

(part 2) (all ofts watch throughs)

[stageyrebecca]

Do we need a Spongebob Musical?

It's the question that's been going round some circles of Theatre Twitter these last few days. And the objective answer is no; no we do not need a Spongebob Musical. But do we need any musical?

The question seemed to kick off when people were taking the mick out of Ethan Slater's performance in Spongebob following the drama that's occurred behind the scenes of the Wicked movie. It spiralled from generally being unimpressed with the man's behaviour, to questioning why Spongebob needed to be a live action stage show.

One user wrote: "regardless how fun it might be or the music, just should not be a musical imo. & I feel like it looks bad on the industry too cuz it's all about $$$ not good stories"

This is something that has always itched my brain. I briefly discussed it before regarding The Great British Bake Off Musical. Do people not realise it's showbusiness? Sure, the art is important too, but Commercial Musical Theatre, at large, is not concerned with art - once it's reached that point, it's about operation. If it's hit a Broadway or West End stage, it's pretty much too late to worry about whether it's "needed".

But there's just so many layers to unpack

Why does Spongebob (and indeed Bake Off) take the hit over, for example, Wicked, also based off pre-existing IP?

Why does Wicked (again for example) get a free pass in being about art and not about money making, when in its entire tenure on both sides of the pond has made very few tangible alterations to the show, this being about money not art?

And finally, the question I'm next going to explore: Why do we need to ask "do we need this to be a musical?"?

It's far less often we ask "why does this need to be a TV show?" or "why does this need to be a movie?". What is bothering people so much about what graces the stage? There is space for varying types of media, with varying topics and varying styles. It's not like it was Spongebob or some up-and-coming indie exploration into the rollercoaster life of a Hungarian pilot seeking major change within a corrupt and callous government. In the UK, it's summer and the production company wanted to put on a family show.

Plus, who decides what's an acceptable thing to make a musical about? Producers with power and money? The people at large? Folks on Twitter? It's treading tricky ground if it's the producers alone, but it's too late by the time it hits the stage. What do people want? A running poll of what is the next musical subject matter that's acceptable to hit any stage? If people are worried about certain shows taking up precious space in the West End or beyond, then rest assured it'll probably close. Not because it's not good, but literally every show that has ever existed, good and bad, except the ones running right this moment have closed. It's a natural part of the ecosystem.

We (the people) accept all the shows that came before us as part of the musical theatre canon - do we NEEEEED a musical about an 1800s opera house pervert? Do we NEEEEEEED a musical about trains on rollerskates? Do we NEEEEEED a musical about a singing Austrian family escaping the Nazis?

We need none of them. But without art and music, what are we? The people who question whether a musical is needed don't realise that this all feeds into the current political sphere that art isn't necessary, art isn't a viable career, and much less deserves the funding it is so often stripped of. This leads to already famous and successful non-theatre writers having a go at composing scores for musicals where it should be handed to people who love the medium for what it is, and what it's crafted to be like.

Because it largely existed in a time before most of Theatre Twitter generated critical faculties regarding these arguments, Legally Blonde is a musical that we accept as part of the musical theatre canon. We don't question whether it's needed because, on the whole, the community accepts it as 'a good musical'. If it were created today, I'm sure there'd be questions on its legitimacy as a musical. If we're talking whether the quality of musicals has dipped, that's (in my opinion) little to do with basing shows on pre-existing IP, and more a question of quality of storytelling alone (and funding of new writing, new spaces and freedom to creatively explore).

Some argue that shows based off pre-existing IP are 'less creative' as a whole. Be that film-to-stage adaptations or a jukebox musical using songs already in existence. I argue that nothing is original. Shows based off books, for some reason, get a free pass in being a musical. Shows based off historical events also enjoy that same freedom.

Again, in my Bake Off blog, I mentioned about Pretty Woman. This was specifically in reference to the fact Bake Off, in comparison, is from rising star musical theatre writers who are British - this is such a rarity on a West End stage and to dismiss it for being based off the TV show is doing a whole medium a disservice. The creativity isn't limited to subject matter or a general basis of IP to work with - the characters, the costuming, the humour, script, design... all of it plays a part in creativity. Pretty Woman is written by a rock star who doesn't write for musical theatre - but we didn't question that show's legitimacy for stage anywhere near the levels of Bake Off.

Further to this, Memphis the musical. An original story, yes. Original music, yes. Again, by a rock star. With the additional fact it's about segregated America written by a white guy, and predominantly about a white guy. 'Original' stories shouldn't get free passes to unquestioned stage time just because they're original.

I agree, from a neurodivergent perspective, that shows that follow real-life stories that are docu-verbatim style infinitely interest me more. For example, The Sound of Music as alluded to earlier. But it takes so many liberties with the true story for artistic purposes (obviously) that it is, at the end of the day, art. Of course it helps the show is a masterpiece. But the fact it's a true story alone doesn't mean it's told well with staging, music, direction, costume... or anything that makes a musical the medium we know and love.

Hamilton being another example; it covers years worth of political and personal tribulation that of course it's going to take some poetic licensing to serve the story. But the fact that it's true (to some extent) shouldn't be the be all and end all of its acceptability to be on stage.

And to continue a point from earlier, musicals are about money. If Hamilton, in 10 or 15 years time, is using the same design, orchestrations and costumes, should it be lucky to still be open, then how is that less of a cash-grab than [Insert Film Here] the musical? It just recoups the money invested and stays as is, and we're fine with it generating money in that form forever more. But Spongebob the musical is bad because producers want money? It's like some people just don't want musicals to exist.

And there are people that don't want any to exist. And herein lies my issue with the whole argument; Theatre Twitter have a few back and forths about Spongebob the Musical being legitimate, but not realising there are people in the wider theatresphere that don't think any musical is acceptable (and often lump shows like Les Mis, South Pacific, Bad Cinderella and Jersey Boys as one bungled together genre). And then there are people who don't like any form of theatre. And film fans who look down on TV. Which rolls back to my point about where funding for the arts goes or if it's cut. Ultimately no one wins when we argue about legitimacy of shows.

So can we just have silly musicals?

[hyuck-xix]

Hi for the kpop asks I want to know about 127 :>

hi! thanks for asking! <3

✦ my first bias: technically, probably mark because he was the first nct member i learned about, but it quickly became taeyong after i actually started getting into nct, and taeyong was my bias for the first three or so months of being an nctzen!

✦ my current bias(es): haechan! he is my ult, i love him so very much. probably slightly too parasocially attached to him but i'm not going to worry about it lol...

✦ my album and/or era ranking (or favorite of each): 127 has so many albums, and i decided to write my reasoning behind each one...bear with me... from favorite to least favorite:

Cherry Bomb: this is a masterpiece of an album. Cherry Bomb is SUCH a good song, the music video has that artistic scrappy Neo identity, the styling is so cool in my opinion, and the album is full of great songs. When i think of nct 127 this the era i think of.

We Are Superhuman: okay, i just personally love this album. Superhuman was what made me an nctzen. I feel so fond of it, it's my baby. Superhuman and Highway to Heaven are such feel-good songs! And I love the concept/styling/photobook.

Limitless: Limitless is a song that's really grown on me recently. The "Rough vers. MV" was truly ahead of its time. The styling was... questionable lol. Poor haechan's hair! But this album also gave me Back 2 U, which is maybe the best 127 b-side ever.

Regulate (Simon Says): I love Simon Says, it was another early favorite of mine in my baby nctzen days. The styling for this mv was immaculate, I still dream about yuta's grey plaid skirt thing and the vans shoelaces tied around the ankles.

Loveholic (Gimme Gimme): Maybe it's because I got into nct in this era, but loveholic is really special to me. The concepts for the photobook really speak to me (especially the rain one, but i also find the bright green and orange color scheme of the album cover sooo satisfying) and 'right now', the last song on the album, is my ultimate favorite 127 b-side, i almost feel a little possessive over it >.< the gimme gimme mv was a little lacking but i like the song itself!

Chain: the chain music video!! omg. Also the b-sides dreaming and 100 are such hidden gems. I also really vibed with the styling (shout out to the stylists for giving taeil that sexy haircut lol). 127's japanese releases hit different for me.

Neo Zone: I mean... neo zone is iconic. i feel like i should love it more than i do? kick it is a banger, the mv is soooo well executed, i love mullet hyuck and mark's stripey hair, i love the concept and outfits, and the photobook is crammed full of really cute photos... but there's something about it that i don't feel as nostalgic or lovey about compared to the albums i ranked above it. i think most of the b-sides feel slightly bland to me? and sometimes i feel like neo zone was a little too perfected, like it lacks some of that original 127 crunchy absurdity.

Neo Zone: The Final Round (Punch): I actually am fond of Punch, she's underrated imo. there's something about that song that i find really satisfying. the styling isn't anything to write home about, but it works well in the context of the concept.

Regular-Irregular: Confession...I don't really like Regular *winces*. i'm too anti-capitalist for it lol! but that said, the music video is delicious. And the song itself is really catchy... if i look past the lyrics. although... maybe the lyrics are supposed to provide a negative commentary on our money-obsessed culture?? are they that deep?? i'll have to think about this...

Sticker: When this album came out i remember liking it a lot. But as time has gone on, it's gotten more boring for me. The song and music video weren't bad objectively, but i feel like it marked a significant shift in 127's artistic voice, a change i didn't really want... although shout out to the seoul city version of the photobook, which i still think is gorgeoussssss

Awaken: I cannot get through Wakey-wakey. it is SO grating to my years lol. however! i am obsessed with ‘end-to-start’, the outro song of the album. i get chills every time mark says “the origin will begin”. i’m also giving it bonus points because i like the way haechan was styled :P

2 Baddies: The biggest reason why this album is so low is that i really don’t like most of the songs on the album. For the title track, the song and mv aren’t terrible. i like that it’s playful, i really enjoy jaehyun’s rap, and the styling is really cool! but... idk, there’s just something about the whole thing that makes me disappointed, like i feel like it had potential to be better.

Favorite: oh lord... its only saving graces for me are: the catharsis photoshoot, the cool forest set that taeyong and mark rap in in the mv, haechan singing ‘your love, your love’ in the outro, and love on the floor being one of my top guilty pleasure songs. The rest was just not it for me.

Fire Truck: hey, i guess ranking their debut album last means they’ve come a long ways?? I don’t really care for any of the songs on this album. the fire truck music video was... interesting... i do love the styling (i might be the only one who does, but i actually sincerely do!), and i like the choreography, but that’s about it.

✦ how i got into them: at the time i was really into shinee, and i remember watching this mashup and i was blown away by superhuman, and that was the beginning! but i didn’t quite consider myself an nctzen then. i think a month or so later when i was leaving for an internship and i was really anxious, i started listening to all the 127 title tracks to help me feel strong and tough and i think that’s when i really formed an emotional connection to 127 itself and got to know the members better.

✦ which member would be my best friend: oh god, this is hard because i’d want to be friends with all of them! i think personality-wise, i’d probably get along the best with taeyong. i see a lot of myself in him.

✦ something i associate with them (or with a bias/any member): with 127 as a group: neon colors, leather fingerless gloves, messy hair, science fiction. with taeyong: fish, furiously scribbling in a notebook, the subway/metro. with haechan: falling asleep with your head on someone’s shoulder, scuffed favorite sneakers, lambs and baby goats, the concepts of soulmates and fate, the golden hour.

 📥 send me a kpop group & i'll answer

[ibroughtyoumybullets]

say more about one direction i like ur perspective

this is a dangerous ask thank you for it.

zayn was objectively and subjectively the most talented member but he got completely fucking shafted by the weird Semen Coward Boyband FormulaTM and was a continuous victim of horrid racist attention and its no fucking wonder he dipped out of the public eye and our culture is worser for this. niall is the only one who has a real shot at being a semi normal human being and i want this for him so deeply and i wish he was better at writing songs. also every time i see a picture of him now it takes me 15-30 seconds to recognize him because he isn't ellen degenerus blonde anymore. loam sucks and hes always sucked tbh and anybody who was in the trenches with me knows this in their heart of hearts. he clearly thought from the beginning he would end up being the justin timberlake and he just SOOOO isn't and hes fucking bitter about it and it comes out in everything he does. i carry harry styles around in my heart and always will but his self titled is his only solid release. honestly i think he got totally fucked by whatever his marketing department decided for him because the quirky fruit lite thing is boring and disingenuous to anybody with eyes in their skull but i do really think he could make good music but it just isn't in the cards for him because it's easier to make cash off the Formula. louis got completely fucked over in his attempts at solo music by incompetent management and label and i feel bad for him but not that bad because he kinda sucks too also he's trying to make the wrong kind of music he doesn't have the voice for what he's going for but i do believe he has potential. the band as a whole probably were really good friends for a time or at least convinced themselves they were but by the end of the take me home tour there's no way they didn't fucking hate one another. all of them are straight-enuf but louis and harry traded mediocre handies at least once and it permanently altered the course of the band in a bad way. they lost xfactor for a reason and if it hadn't been for the rabid fan attention that screamed DOLLAR SIGNS they wouldn't have ever gotten anywhere. when they have their deeply uncomfortable reunion tour there will be some kind of pathetic pro rev-esque fight on stage and they will never speak on it and honestly it will probably be planned after the first dozen shows of tour get bad reviews. they are all victims of a horrifying celebrity culture that will push it's show monkeys to the very edge and then just a little bit more and in a just world they would be able to sue somebody about it. if i were to watch any of the xfactor video diaries at 23 years of age i would burst into tears. being a one direction fan was a wholly unique experience and it made me a worse person. i love them and will till the end of time.

[thegyusorcerer]

hi, im writing an essay about the aroace experience and i was wondering if you could name some of your favorite things, or just some good things idrk about being aroace? im aroace myself but im having brain fog and cant come up with anything other than having more appreciation for platonic relationships than others may realize lol

omg that sounds amazing! I'd love to name a couple of things I love about being aroace, thank you so much for sending this 🤭🧡 (& hopefully I'm not answering this too late, I've been on a family trip so I'm sorry 😭). I'll try to name as much as I can think of during this 45 minute road trip HAHAHA

Take into consideration all of these are from a romance and sex indifferent, aromantic asexual perspective (meaning that I don't really want nor desire romance or sex for myself, but I'm not repulsed by either. Just indifferent).

Favorite Things About Being AroAce 💚💜

1. Definitely appreciating and nurturing platonic relationships more than others do. Romance isn't part of my life which means that my emotional and affectionate needs are usually fulfilled through my platonic connections and found family. I've had the privilege of finding my people and I couldn't be more grateful for that 🥺💞.

2. imo, giving excellent relationship advice to my friends who need it bc I am able to see things from a more objective and rational perspective. I've been told I give great advice so I have proof for that one 😉

3. Not feeling guilty for saying "no." If someone asks me out, there's a big probability I don't like them back (bc of the whole aromantic thing you know) so I politely reject them and don't feel guilty about it bc I just can't reciprocate that feeling: I'm not being rude. I'm just being me 💚. Plus I'm saving them from a bad relationship bc I just can't do it. Romance isn't for me.

4. Appreciating beauty. Maybe is their eye color, haircut, height, curves, face angles, fashion style; just gorgeous. You can acknowledge someone is attractive without being attracted to them. Men, women (ofc this includes trans people too), non-binary people; just anyone who's pretty, you get to acknowledge that and know it's purely aesthetic 😏.

5. Picturing a future where I'm happy and fulfilled even if it doesn't fit the norms 🥺❤. I know that I won't have a romantic love story and I've made peace with that. Rather, I can view a future where I am learning, growing and having fun with friends, meeting new people and experiencing life the way I want. I can dedicate my life to my passions (music, literature, travel around the world and visit those places I've always dreamed of going to, become an expert on topics I love); all in all, a future that makes ME happy. 💫

Hope this has been helpful, xoxo.

[bigshot-circa-1997]

THE BOYS. HERE THEY COME. THEY ARE HERE

My We Happy Few legion of stationary has designs now baby

Some brief info about them

The legion of stationary are the prototypes results of a project that is runned by The Wellington Wells Health Institute.

Dr. Colored Pencils - he-they - The youngest of the prototypes. He is extremely Intelligent and a excellent doctor but has a basically non-existent temperament. He's pissed off constantly and hates everything. They probably don't likes anything, considering he always will find a issue with something. Which makes him a absolute pain in the ass to work with. The only things they don't seem to hate are the things he does. He's also a artist and draws a lot in his spare time. In fact if he isn't doing a task related to his job, he's probably drawing.

Constable Rubber Band - he-her - A extremely self-absorbed Bobby who always needs to be the center of attention. He's overly dramatic and can be annoying with his antics. The rest of the constabulary either loves how outgoing he is or hates her guts with a passion. There is no in between. She also tends to constantly "improve" the Bobby uniform he has. Which is him basically very heavily styling it. She also works as the "fashion police" (self given title) and is always on the lookout for people who aren't dressed properly. He's very good at that

Dr. Hole Punch - They-him - a very reclusive and strange doctor. Laid back and not as serious as the others are. They're not very into the job of being a joy doctor and would much rather party the nights away. But unfortunately they don't have the luxury of quitting. He loves music and always is blasting it in his office, much to the dismay of Dr. Colored Pencils. He's still good at his job even if it doesn't seem like it. Despite his reputation around town as being a complete party animal, there's not really much known about him.

Constable Tape - he-him - a rude, drunk bastard. Constable Tape is not very friendly. He's brash, hostile, and will speak his mind no matter how rude it is. He doesn't care. He takes his job seriously and will (quite literally) beat law breakers back into their place. Surprisingly, he and Dr. Scissors get along quite well and hang out a lot

Dr. Scissors - she-her - the most murderous one in the legion. She is the definition of fucked up and evil. Dr. Scissors sees anyone that isn't in the legion or a bobby/doctor, not as people but objects to experiment with. She's cruel to Downers, dragging them back to the health Institute for the other Doctors, and ruthless when it comes to Wastrels. She'll kidnap Wastrels and bring them to her personal lab to experiment on. She's not a people person. Strangely, she has grown a puppy dog crush on Constable Tape and will try to flirt with him constantly. She is very bad at it and it causes physic damage to everyone nearby

Constable Stapler - He-They - The oldest out of the entire legion. He's quiet, fidgety, alert of everything going on, and doesn't speak (selectively mute). Often focusing completely on doing the tasks assigned to him. Despite how quiet, and nervous he is, he's extremely friendly and helpful. My beloved

[doesyourfavoritealbumsuckornot]

The Stranger by Billy Joel (1977)

The Stranger by Billy Joel is his fifth studio album, it was released on September 29, 1977. There are 9 tracks on this album which I will go in depth analyzing and discussing different elements of it.

Something that I have noticed from listening to Joel's albums is that there is an overall musical theme that flows through the songs on the album. Not in a bad way, but the songs sound the same as they were written by the same person within a short time period. His albums differ from each other in instrumentation, style, and lyrical content, but the individual albums have similar musical ideals.

1. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) - Probably my least favorite song on the entire album, I don't think it's a bad song it's just the weakest when compared to other songs on the album. Possibly this is a smart choice for this song to be the first track as it sets the bar semi low for the rest of the album to have dominance over this song. By the time you get to side 2, this song is forgotten. The lyrical content discusses two characters, Anthony and Sgt. O'Leary. Anthony is a young man, who I believes still lives with his mother, he works in the local grocery store and is saving his money to possibly move out of his neighborhood to do bigger and better things. He isn't satisfied with the way that people "move up" in his neighborhood as it isn't enough for him. Sgt. O'Leary is a police officer who moonlights at a local bar, he doesn't have many pleasures in life except keeping up his car. He's trading in his Chevy for a Cadillac, of course in the present time Cadillac's aren't seen as the top of the line car anymore but in the 1970's and 1980's it was seen as a symbol of "you made it." With his physically straining job as a police officer and then bartending on the side to be able to form the luxuries, he's "breaking his back" working so much to be able to afford these materialistic items. If he has a broken back from working, he can't drive his car but at least he can polish the fenders. In my opinion, the song is about the way capitalism runs our lives and materialistic objects prove our worth in life. Whether it be a car or a house in Hackensack, New Jersey.

2. The Stranger - The title track of the album, in the intro there is a piano motif with a whistling melody that is repeated at the end of the album. The whistling melody is repeated when the song starts by the guitar as a reminder of that tune. Musically, it is guitar and percussion driven, which is unlike the majority of Joel's music. The piano takes a backseat in this song, letting his band shine for this track. Lyrically speaking, it's about how there are sides of us that no one else sees except ourselves when we're alone. Joel suffered from depression earlier in his life, this song could elude to that part of his life where he hid this portion from his friends and family and this "face" would come out when he was alone. There are secrets of course that we do not share with anyone, including our significant others. When others start to share these secrets with us, it's as you don't recognize them. That they have a different "face" that makes them unrecognizable to someone that could know them extremely well. You have portions of yourself that is a stranger, even to yourself. Even if you don't show these to other people, there is a stranger within yourself. Obviously, this stranger within yourself is not going to be Ted Bundy, but concepts that are completely against what you portray to the outside world.

3. Just the Way You Are - The lovey, dovey song that everyone loves. It's one of my favorite songs from the album. This song could prove to be more true in our present society than it did 45 years ago. Joel was still married to his first wife at the time and this song was dedicated to her. In a world of instagram models and the Kardashians, women are pushed into the spotlight of being perfect and having particular features that make them attractive to the rest of the world. The lyrical content discusses how the narrator loves his significant other just the way they are, that the subject doesn't have to change anything about themselves, just to please the other person. Through good times and bad times, the subject is perfect in the eyes of the narrative despite their flaws that the subject may be self conscious about. As a woman in this world, I understand how reassuring that can be. This isn't the only song that could be about Joel's wife as we'll get to later in this discussion. As his wife and Joel had been together for four years at the point of the album being released and his newfound fame was starting to take off, this song could be a reassurance to his wife that he still wanted her by his side.

4. Scenes from An Italian Restaurant - Joel's Magnum Opus, this song is a combination of several different songs that he decided to combine into one. This is one of Joel's best songs, just in my opinion, lyrically and musically it is strong and it strengths Joel's role as a storyteller. The outset, or A section, of the song describes banter that would take place in an Italian restaurant, discussing wine selections and picking out seating in the narrators favorite Italian restaurant. After a brief transition, the tempo picks up to describe possibly a different interaction taking place at a different table in the restaurant. The B section of the song is a conversation between two old friends are meeting up again after graduating from high school together, discussing their lives after they left school. Two two reminisce, discuss old hangouts such as the Village Green, a popular restaurant when they were kids. This section borrows elements from traditional Mississippi River jazz, the regional areas that sit on the Mississippi River such as St. Louis, the Mississippi Delta, and of course New Orleans. There is an instrumental section that expands more upon this concept, with an outstanding piano solo from Joel himself before continuing with another segment of the story. The C section of this song focuses on the relationship of high school sweethearts, Brenda and Eddie. I'm unsure of whether someone else in the restaurant is discussing Brenda and Eddie's relationship or the two people from the B section are talking about a couple they knew in high school and one of the individuals is telling the other about how their relationship turned out. Brenda and Eddie had a typical high school sweetheart relationship, they were popular, they were prom king and queen. They got married not long after they graduated, their friends were against their marriage as Brenda kept up a high wealth lifestyle and her soon to be husband was far too lazy to work hard enough to keep up with her lifestyle. Even after their friends expressing their doubts, Brenda and Eddie were married. The couple began to fight when they had financial troubles and eventually divorced. The song then discusses how "the king and the queen" went back to the Green, representing the Village Green, their old haunt. The Village Green is now an upscale restaurant, another changing element of their childhoods. They can physically go back to the Green, but they can not go back to their innocence and how easy life was then. As they have grown up and faced the realities of being an adult, even the negatives. This concludes the story of Brenda and Eddie, the A section returns. Again, discussing wine selection and discussing how they will meet anytime in their favorite Italian restaurant. In my opinion, the song discusses how certain places can take you back to a point in your life that you wish you could return to. You can always return physically, but mentally and emotionally it will never be the same place as it was in your memories.

5. Vienna - The opening of the B side of the album. Vienna could mean two different things, the obvious one is the city in Austria, and possibly could be a "happy place" that you could escape to in your mind. Joel's father was living in Vienna at the time of the composition, this song could be a narration of Joel's father to his younger self. His father left when he was quite young and this could be a conversation that he wish his father could've had with him in his younger days, encouraging his career decisions as a singer-songwriter. The first few opening lines solidify this concept. Vienna represents the rest of his life and that it's waiting for him. As Joel has accomplished so much in his short life already that he has so much waiting ahead of him and he should enjoy his life and relax. Another connection to this song and what inspired him, Joel studied classical piano as a child. He became a big fan, even using the opening motif from second movement of Beethoven's Pathétique Piano Sonata as the main melody for a song from his album, An Innocent Man (1983). Mozart was a native of Vienna and was involved in Austria and Germany for the majority of his lifetime. Mozart did not live a full life, dying at the young age of 35. Mozart had accomplished so much in such short time, he never got to sit back and relax. This element of his classical background could've made its way, subconsciously, into the context of the lyrics.

6. Only The Good Die Young - A possible novelty song, this lyrical content discusses the narrator chasing after a young woman, Virginia, who attends a Catholic school and trying to convince her to have sex with him, telling her that "only the good die young" and she should give in to her sinful temptations to be with him. The narrator's qualities do not align with Virginia's, he runs with a "dangerous" crowd and isn't shy to admit that. One of my favorite lines from the song is, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun." The authoritative figures in Virginia's life are against her being with the narrator, and he knows. This drives him even more complete his conquest, even antagonizing those figures, such as her mother asking if they've even said a prayer for him.

7. She's Only A Woman - Another song that possibly discusses his wife, this lyrical details discuss a woman who is incredible gorgeous and intimidating to most men, but to the narrator she's just a woman to him. That these qualities of her, make her the woman that she is, an independent and captivating woman. She enjoys the chase that she gives other men, the narrator is serious about this her and understands that these callous qualities about her is a mechanism to keep admires that she isn't serious about at bay.

8. Get It Right the First Time - Now we're starting to get to the deep cuts, the other songs except the last two on this album have become extremely popular, even when they weren't singles. This song is one of my favorites from the album. The content of the song discusses someone who meets a woman and the narrator possibly did not make a good first impression with her, but he wants to keep this woman in his life. He starts to discuss how he isn't good at first dates and he worries he'll say the wrong things that will drive the woman out of his life. He doesn't believe in first impressions as he isn't very good at them, people don't usually like or believe in things that they aren't very knowledgable about. The narrator is shy, but tries to convince himself to put that aside to be able to make a lasting impression on this woman.

9. Everybody Has A Dream - The grand finale to this wonderful album. This song was originally written in 1971, years before his fame that he knew of when this album was released. This song discusses his dreams of having it all, not having any hardships and being able to provide for his wife and being able to enjoy his years with her. His dreams and fantasies of success drives his work ethic to being able to life out his life the way he wants to. This song provides a good finale as this is one of Joel's best albums and it shows how far he has come since his young age and the worldwide success he had up to that point and continued to have for years to come.

Conclusion: When this album was conceived, Joel had just finished a big transition in his life. When he previous album was released, he had just had the move from Los Angeles to his home state of New York, being back in the city where he grew up brought on lots of memories from when he was a kid growing up in the city. This is shown in many of his songs as there are concepts of youth and "making it big." The last time he lived in New York, he was a kid just trying to break out in the music business. He was a high school dropout and his teachers thought that he needed to stay in school to make something of himself. Coming back to his city and being someone was a reassuring thought to himself, I'm sure, that he made the correct decision in his career choices. There are many elements of reminiscence, in each song. This is one of my favorite albums, it is almost a perfect album in my eyes. There isn't a skippable track to me.

Overall Theme of the Album: Youth and having dreams of making something of yourself.

Rating: 9/10

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