#too many songs i want to use just arent on spotify at all

[porghater]

so long, good luck, goodbye

A FREJA PLAYLIST

the moon will sing - the crane wives

every day is exactly the same - poor man’s poison

what do it mean - lord huron

watershed - the indigo girls

featherweight - fleet foxes

cassandra - florence + the machine

bone marrow - psapp

caught a long wind - feist

not everything grows - shakey graves

[bambiesfics]

do u have any headcanons for loser ellie? <3

Sorry if these arent as yummy, I just woke up and I’m so eepy. But these are what I could think up <3 This is such a random collection of thoughts but!

- I think Ellie has a red Coca-Cola themed mini fridge in her room where she stores monster energy drinks and her elf bars so they pull cool when she smokes them.

- She has a vision of -2.00 in one eye and -2.50 in the other eye, but hates putting on her glasses because she’s afraid it makes her look nerdier than she already is.

- She doesn’t use conditioner, only shampoo. And when girls at school flirt with her and ask how her hair is so soft she just tugs on a tiny lock of it and awkwardly tries to avoid eye contact. “Uh-I uh…I dunno. Do you think it’s soft?”

- She falls in love fast, and hard. An absolute master at obsessing over someone so much so that thinking about her crush at night time has been her favorite mechanism to fall asleep at since she was in middle school.

- She owns like 4 pairs of converses and only one pair of doc martens. She still winces thinking about the amount she spent on those. She’s had the same shoe size since she was in middle school so all her converses are beat up.

- Her preferred method of masturbating is angrily fingering herself and she usually does it with a pillow over her head. She’s always pissed after, she doesn’t know why. Maybe it’s because of the sudden dopamine drop from her nut. Or maybe it’s because she’s tired of imagining fucking the same girls she can’t have & who will never want her back. There’s only so many times she can imagine eating a pretty girl’s butt until they squirt on her glasses before she starts getting pissed that it isn’t actually happening, mid-masturbation sesh. She grinds her g-spot until she cums, lazily rinses her hands, and just lies face down on her pillow in a stiff plank position.

- She listens to 40 year old dad rock the most. Think Aerosmith, Depeche mode, Papa roach, Deftones (she has a complex about that) and Alice in Chains. She’d slowly built up a collection of her most loved songs since she was 12 years old. So all her favourite bands and artists are a collection of music she holds near and dear to her heart. Don’t don’t even try it though, it doesn’t matter if you listen to those bands too, you cannot suggest one North American song to Ellie that she hasn’t already heard of. She’ll always know more music than you, even though her Spotify music obscurity rating is like top 6%

- She oddly knows more pop songs than you too. Even though she doesn’t listen to them nearly as much.

- She has slight ringing in her left ear from how loud she usually blasts her headphones at night. Sometimes when the noise really pisses her off, she leaps off her bed and loads up her playstation instead. Which then lead to 10am’s the very next day where her eye bags are a deep purple and she walks through the halls like a freckled ghoul.

- she uses the broken skateboard she used to skate when she was 17, as decoration in the corner for her room.

- she has 17 Etsy bookmarks saved from different tarot love spell practitioners. One time she dm’d one and just went into very scary explicit detail about how she wanted you to notice her, where the scene would be, what she’d be wearing, the first time you’d let her give you head, the fact that you’d be ovulating (that one was really important), and what type of pregnancy cravings you’d have when the inevitable happened and she married you (you weirdly had cravings for her current fav snacks: snickers and carton almond milk).

- she also knows she’s a loser. Scarily self aware girl.

- One time her and her counsellor just stared at each other, and blinked back and forth the entire sesh.

[canonfeminine]

HEY (again) Z!! hopefully im not dog piling stuff on you by asking for you to assign me by godly parent like, a day after you made me the imagines only the eye can see thingy

BUT IM ACTUALLY SO CURIOUS TO KNOW WHO MY GODLY PARENT IS

anywayyy, heres a list of like what makes me, me basicially

i am VERY introverted, to the point where some people that arent my close friends consider me stoic

socially anxious as well, once i was scared to raise my hand during a test because i was scared of people looking at me 😭

dont really have many friends, so i try and value the time i spend with the friends i do have (even if they dont do the same)

im super clumsy, i trip and bump into everything possible (and have TONS of scars on my ankles because of it)

i LOVEEE watching those 50+ minute analysis videos, whether it be on a horror series or literally just about the peta flash games, i will watch those till the very end

i also love dark internet documentaries (you can take a quick skim over visual ventures channel as his thumbnails explain most of the content)

true crime documentaries r good 2 :3

coryxkenshin and ricothegiant fangirl

pinterest + spotify is just the best combo

"IM DOING THE GANGNAM STYLE TO MARS HELP ME" type humor

random impulsive purchases when im feeling sad (i have a 50+ dollar yesstyle cart right now..)

"it is what it is" instead of venting

september virgo

isfp-t

ELA smart, not math smart

speaking of which, im a gifted and talented kid if that info will help you (hopefully it does)

i hate being yelled at or scolded, i just cannot mentally handle it

terrified of bugs, you could ask me to hold a ladybug and id still be terrified (i ran away from a butterfly once...😭)

really into anime figures and nenodoroids mainly from cardcaptor sakura (you can also look nenoroids up if needed) (i also actually have one of sakura in her school uniform :3)

IM THE BIGGEST RED VELVET FAN I LOVE RED VELVET SO MUCH (listen to BYE BYE, in my dreams, talk to me, or underwater if you need to like understand the vibe they give off)

i am SUPER girly no doubt about it

night owl for sure

HOPEFULLY THAT WAS ENOUGH INFO BUT AT THE SAME TIME I FEEL LIKE I YAPPED A LOT SO I DUNNO

also sorry if a lot of it is like super unorganized or just "look up ______ if needed!!!" i just dont want to confuse you on what the hell a red velvet or nenoroid is 😭 anyway im super excited to see who my godly parent is!!!!!

(by way, im cool with you calling me saie or suki either one is fine)

SUKI POOKIE BEAR!! welcome back. Don't worry, your not. I'm glad you requested this because this is my fav so far :3. Anyways, if I'm being honest, I think your a child of Athena & a Legacy of Apollo!

Now, I think your a child of Athena because:

you hate bugs and even though spiders aren't bugs, most of us normal people call them that 😭

you're a gifted & overall just smart kid

ur a lover of dark internet documentaries (me too :3)

UR A NIGHT OWL??? the owl is one of athena's symbols so-

You might ask, what about the legacy of Apollo part?

ur clumsy, which as a child of Apollo, I can confirm I am also a little clumsy

ur a red velvet lover/enjoyer !! I gotta listen to one of their songs lol

you vauling the friends you do have?? it's such a child of apollo thing to do

but yeah!! that's what I think. Hopefully this was interesting to you and you BETTER read the Percy Jackson books, okay?? the show is great and all that but the books are something you need to experience. Okay, bye my fav girl <3

[machinecreature]

A Comprehensive Spotify and Apple Music Comparison

Background: I was an early adopter of Spotify, having started using it in 2014 when barely anyone knew what it was and everyone I told about it was like “that’s legal?” Now look at where we are. Anyway, I dumped Spotify for Apple Music because I wanted lossless streaming. I am satisfied with Apple but there are some things I miss about Spotify. In addition, I stream music on average of 8 hrs a day each day, so I’m qualified to speak on this. If you’re contemplating making a switch in either direction here are my Pros and Cons of each.

Spotify

PROS:

Daily Mixes. The Daily Mix playlists are elite

Playlist functionality. it is easy to make a playlist, and even easier to search for playlists. When you search for playlists many from actual other users show up, not just spotify pre made playlists. Spotify pre-made playlists for certain vibes and occasions are also usually pretty good.

Podcasts in the same app is very convenient

The main organizing principle is the “Liked Songs” which I always liked

CONS:

No lossless streaming

Dumb pop ups and ads for Spotify branded podcasts and stuff on the homepage even if you pay for premium

Pays artists a pittance

Liked songs and saving albums to your library arent the same. for example if i hit the like button on an album all of those songs should show up in Liked Songs, but they don’t. irritating and stupid.

Radio function kinda sucks. It’s not really radio its just a playlist.

Synchronization of your library between desktop app and mobile app was always ass, idk if they’ve fixed it since I switched but i remember it sucking

Pro or Con depending on your perspective:

tries to be a social media site with the friend activity on desktop app

Apple Music

PROS:

Lossless (high quality) streaming. With good headphones, you really do notice a difference.

Simple UI. no distracting banners or ads. it’s easy to avoid the browse page which has all the apple branded shows and shit.

When you add a song, it’s just “add to library.” if you add an album, it’s all added to your library. there is one library. nice and easy.

Radio stations are actual radio stations like pandora kinda and when I don’t know what I want to listen to there are always lots to choose from on the home page and the mix is a good 50/50 of stuff from my library and stuff i might not know

Artists are classified by what it says on the record most of the time, so the library more resembles a physical library. For example, The Voidz were first known as Julian Casablancas + The Voidz, so that is what the first album Tyranny is under. This might be a con, but for someone obsessed with detail like myself it’s a pro.

Higher payout than spotify, by a lot. (1 cent a stream)(which still isn’t really a lot. in the grand scheme. buy physical copies of your favorite records, pls.)

Doesn’t show monthly listener numbers or stream count. that might be a con for some, but i like that because i find i’m less likely to judge by the numbers like i did before.

Great syncing between iphone app and mac os Music app without having to close either app

"Love" feature to help w your algorithm. i love to hit love on songs i love.

CONS:

ASS PLAYLIST FUNCTIONALITY. IT’S BOOTY ASS. you can’t find like any playlists beyond the ones apple makes, and those are just alright. but good luck finding playlists from other users. probably because spotify sorts them by popularity and apple sorts them by “Apple first, then everyone else”. the actual making of the playlists is kinda odd too. it’s like buggy when you use the option to add songs from the playlist vs just searching for the songs and then adding. (i will say tho the apple-curated playlists go into very niche subgenres and they're pretty decent as a jumping off point for discovery. but if you want vibe or aesthetic playlists, spotify is the go - to. apple's m.o. is more Serious Music Enjoyment)

this could very well just be me and my monkey brain needing to re-train itself but when you go to your Library, the main page has recently added songs but lists them as albums so you cant just scroll through a list, to do that you have to go to songs and sort by added date , it’s only one extra step but i miss the spotify Liked Songs list. but again thats me being neurotic and still unlearning spotify habits.

No Wrapped - well, they have their own version which recently started in 2022. It had some bugs, but I didn’t mind it. it was short sweet and to the point, and you get a “replay” playlist for the year, which actually updates every couple weeks so you know what your most played songs are all the time. I actually think no super in-depth wrapped is a Pro but some people r really into that shit.

tl;dr-Overall, the lossless streaming, higher payout for artists, and lack of bullshit, for lack of a better term, makes me enjoy apple music more than spotify. it does cost $1 more a month than spotify premium, and there is no free version of apple music, but again i’m willing to pay that. For some people, they’re not even enough music people to move on from Free Spotify. So it’s all about what matters to you.

[jonah-archives]

AUUUUGGUH pafl yura and anya’s relationship almost describes emilio and amelia’s relationship perfectly... ESPECIALLY IN CONVERGENCE. theu would totally knife fight that shit out while evelyn and francis (considering changing his name tbh. i dont wanna associate him with 8:11 francis) watch.. i think the only difference would be like. the reason why they hate each other. since both of their parents were pretty absent. i could litwrally go indepth with the lyrics to explain everything since i already overexplain a lot but ugmm maybe tomorrow :3 anyways abt the sillies wings... i have no idea how they would actually work but uhmmm they’d be decently heavy. they’re not used for flight most of the time tbh whoever fucked them up really just wanted to test out random fucked up shit without the intention of actually benefiting them. if you were to yank on them they wouldn’t rlly hurt. i like to think that even though they’re quite literally attached to their backs theres not many nerve endings there since the structures are mainly made of metal and not anything that might’ve been able to fuse w/ the body?? again idk wtf im talking about. im a middle schooler bro not a surgeon smh/silly and btww if the wings were to be completely removed like cut off or smth both of them wouldn’t really feel anything except for their back finally not hurting as much lol ALSO ALSO SONGS THAT FIT THEM. I DONT HAVE MY SPOTIFY BCZ IM IN SCHOOL RN BUT ILL ADD ON LATER. they are on a whole nother level of traumatized for most of their songs being vocaloid/j also live laugh love ferry. most of the songs that fit the story in general are pafl songs yippee!!! i think strike 3 and convergence are the ones that fit the most idk ill have to re-listen to everything.. anyway wrecking ball by mother mother is so amelia,, OH YEAH END WORLD NORMOPATHY TOO!! mmost of the updated stuff is inspired by that ngl the old version of this story is mad goofy.. not all of the songs timeline matches up with lf’s but its. close enough i guess?? amelia gets out way before emilio but uhh she’s still mariyam and emilio’s still tamari. and just bcz of these damn vocaloid songs half of these goofers have voiceclaims that are uh. all over the place to say the least. i had a song in mind for each voice claim but i only wrote them down as the vocal synth themselves smhh i think i had amelia as solaria and emilio as kevin just because of ewn?? i remember emilio mightve also been mo chen from this one cover but idk ill have to check :( theres also a bunch of underrated songs none of my friends have heard of that fit these sillies.. liek smile for them by bones.. so ameliacore/j im gonna have to make a playlist on yt bcz most of these songs arent on spotify anyway </3 still looking into a bunch of symbolism for emilio and amelia btw!! rn they’re dove and falcon/sun and moon/gold and silver and thats it andd i think thats all i have for now :’3 

[vampiricsheep]

Can I ask about how the whole urban fantasy crew dresses? Do any of them have accessories they wear constantly? Clothes they prefer? Fabrics they love or can't stand?

Also if urban fantasy Banni listens to spotify what would the playlist look like?

Ah thank you!! This will get a little long, i hope nobody minds haha

Keith - peak mall goth aesthetic in black skinny jeans (but one size up), combat or platform boots, heavy foundation and smudged black liner/shadow, black lipstick, and an impressive assortment of ironic black tees and hoodies with such hits as "dead on arrival," "vampires bite," and (this is a real shirt actually) two coffins with the text "let's sleep together."

The key to his fashion is making it loose without being too baggy and using makeup to make it look like the gaunt dead look is intentional.

As for accessorizing, he's got snakebite piercings that he usually keeps black rings in, though he might swap out studs some days. He likes to wear costume contacts, so while on most days youll probably see him with shiny yellow or slit-pupil eyes, his real irises are a dull brown like faded pennies.

The one accessory he will never be found without is a black ribbon around his neck. It covers the bitemark from the vamp that turned him and halts its necrosis.

Ken - unlike his bloodsucking twin, ken doesnt show as much of a dramatic flair in his fashion choice, and becoming a werewolf didn't change that. He tends to wear light patterned button downs open over a white tee, and good work jeans and boots that are comfortable for standing in for long periods of time. On particularly hot days he might wear a sporty tank top and some plain shorts.

As for accessorizing, sometimes Ken will wear a plain gold necklace on a thin chain, but the pendant doesnt matter much; its just for that v neckline illusion. He's got a stud piercing in his right ear, but takes it out before a full moon since it'd be a surefire tell that he isnt a normal dog.

Jaspen - for casual wear, she favors comfortable clothes and will typically wear a plain tank over a sports or wire bra and some shorts that are just long enough to cover her butt + some flip flop sandals. If she's going out, though, she might wear something with boots and fishnets and shiny vinyl and wear a push-up bra that fits well (hard find i know).

When going out she loves to put on a spiked or studded choker, but in general the only accessories you'll consistently see are the many, many piercings in her ears and face. It's a good thing she takes better care of her piercings than she does of herself, because an infection can get really painful.

She's not a fan of lace but doesnt have any textural aversions (lucky her)

Ro - really does just dress like an average guy who happens to be a werewolf. In any event hes going to be dressed as generic as possible, and blend in if you arent looking too hard. The one thing of note is he avoids things with a ton of buttons or zippers because they're a (literal) pain to struggle with. For office settings he might stick to those fake button downs with the magnet closures, if you know what I'm talking about?

He's considered getting piercings but doesnt want to find out if the wolf thing will aggravate them.

Miriam - as we all know, he dresses for whatever role he takes and does it well. If he's not maintaining appearances though, he loves wearing black fishnets, hot boots or heels, leather or shiny vinyl, that sort of thing. There's no gendered influence on those choices; it's simply whatever looks best together in that moment.

When accessorizing, he loves a good choker, and has one with a heart-shaped ring that's beyond cute. He doesnt have any piercings, and can't get them done traditionally anyways, so the only earrings you'll catch on him are clip-ons.

Banni - it's hard for them to find clothes that fit - they're too short for most adult sizes, but dont have the proportions to fit into kids sizes either - so they're often in baggy attire like too-large shirts and shorts that look a little long on them but thankfully fit the hips. Theyre fond of hoodies and coats that they can really sink into when sitting curled up on a chair, and while they would like to wear longer pants, it requires turning them into cut-offs that then invariably fray. They cant stand the type of vinyl and synthetic fabrics used in coats and backpacks though - the sound of anything brushing against them is like nails on a chalkboard. They won't wear leather, wool, silk, or anything with down in it as well; theyre pretty strict on the no-animal-consumption thing.

Banni's also restricted by budget, so their clothes are typically secondhand or borrowed or taken from a free bin.

As for accessories, banni has two small gold hoops on the upper rim of their left ear, but not much else.

As for banni's music, they don't have a cell but they do have an old mp3 player and have a bunch of instrumental music, favoring woodwinds and strings that almost seem to have a voice, as well as some soft indie and slightly emo stuff. (I do have a playlist for them, but it's definitely more songs that for them rather than what theyd listen to)

[tylerwritez]

Tuesday, june 22 2021

I've noticed I'm getting "the shiverys" or "the twitchy" a lot today. Like every time I FEEL something I take a moment to violently tic.... every time I think about certain things I tic.... good things, bad things, things from an hour ago and things from years ago. Tic, tic, tic.

Also, I have... some stuff to explain. Its really no big deal, but you know me: I'll freak out about it anyway. Basically I dissed my friend (rightfully so) around the time that we had just met cos they did something that threw me off.

He saw it in my phone... NOW. it's not RELEVANT anymore and I've since redacted that criticism...and now I gotta explain it to him anwyays. Oh well. I'm good at this stuff. I can get myself outta any situation. I dont even know why I'm talking like this tho... it's not a "Situation" it's just smthn I gotta explain rq.

Oh, today's song recommendation is Spirit Crusher by Death. I'm a huge Death fan...

Also! I gotta study... for my replacement exam. How stressful. Its about photosynthesis, but like, it's not simple. We went DEEP inside those fucking leaves.

One sec, lemme hook up my IV tube

Not an ACTUAL IV tube... just my headphones. But since I'm so #emo, it might as well be a fucking IV tube with the way that I cant live without it.

Its 3:08 and I'm walking home now. I was upset last night but me and Star have made up now lol... it was thAt easy. I'm so defective, making shit hard when it doesnt need to be.

It's so hot out damn. Idk. I had school today, so I had Bio class... I ACTUALLY PAID ATTENTION for once. I had lunch with Star and her friend group, and I honestly kinda feel like they're MY friends now too, even just a little bit.

Actually, I used to rant about feeling lonely like all the time but now I have so many friends it's crazy they all keep inviting me places and it's like people WANT ME AROUND... idk. It makes me happy.

Today I gotta ask if tommroow after school I can go to Bee's house to watch Supernatural (famous homoerotic ghost show)

I should also add songs to Erin's spotify playlist for our picnic saturday which I still need permission to go to.

I gotta ask for Wednesday after school to watch Insidious with Jay  which is apparently really good

Also hes the friend that I gotta explain stuff to... the DrAmA... the ThEaTrE....

Update my dad said yes to hanging out with Bee but first I'm gonna miss school to fix my broken brackets on my braces

Also turns out the house I THOUGHT we were moving into has substantial damage from shifting so... we aRENT moving there.

In case you didn't know, shifting is when like the house that's been built literally SHIFTS like it moves around.

Anwyays Jay just texted me... I'm gonna change into shorts since it's hot, set up my study area,.... and respond to him.

The time is 3:22 p.m.

Wish me. Luck.

Luck is plentiful! As it so often is in my risky, risky life.

I play my cards right. It's a learnt skill.

But also there wasnt much to explain since it passed already and was tiny anywyas.

XD so I've made up with the whole goddamn world by now.

Its 6:31, we saw 1 house. Only one. Its kinda hot out but I'm gonna bike now since we just had supper. I finally finished my homework... I just have to finish one mixed media piece as my final project for art!

Friday is my replacement. On photosynthesis and cell resp. We know this. But what I didn't mention, or I dont THINK I did, is that if I finish my art project before then I have the second block FREE!!! Me, Star, and her friend

A are planning to leave for second block and maybe get mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Also I might eat her out XD

Anyways idk. I hope I can bike tonight to call Jay.

I keep accidentally using people's real names here then having to correct it... I dont know how much i care about MY identity being discovered... but to have my friends doxxed would suck.

Man I feel bad abt saying fuck star last night cos we made up....

Wait we r looking at another house? Idk I'm in the car still waiting to go home

Oh wait no now we r goin home

Its 6:39... I hope I still have time.

I went biking, called Jay. Went home. Idk, friendly conversation... we talked more tonight and I also talked to my other friend A. Jay is... I LOVE HIM?? SO MUCH??? I feel so happy. Talking to him thinking about him seeing his STUPID FUCKING FACE JESUS. his eyes alone... I could stare at his face all day probably. I want to kiss him... hOLD HIS HAND... omg... huG HIM!!! Eofjwpxjwie he's so sweet like I can't even... and I'm proabably not good enough for him like. Wtf. Hes easily a 10. And I dont rate things outta 10. How tf do I end up with HIM? Doing stuff, as friends. Like wHAT. I guess I got lucky XD. He says he loves my personality and I'm hot XD ofc I dont see it myself. But like. JESUS CHRIST he could proabably easily pull whOever. XD me?

Whatever though. As long as we r together and stuff. I LOVE HIM A LOT. he said he loved me. Every time he says that it makes me so overly happy.

Maybe I'm just sappy and stuff.... whatever. I think it would be nice to be hugged by him.

Yeah I'm cheesy.

I'm sorta tired now so maybe I'm not writing the best.

I just keep thinkinf about love. Love is a muscle of evil suggestion. But how evil can it really be? I am just a human being and that is all. Everything else is applied. I am just a human being with soemthing in my heart that pulls me all over the place. Love is this strange thing because I'm fucked up and to be able to love without that fucked up part of me, without the damage... is this complicated, hard thing to do and I can NEVER tell if I'm doing it right but I know I'm DOING IT. I know I FEEL LOVE. And soemtimes it's such an intense thing like when you go to surf on a wave at the beach with ur belly but u hit it wrong and it's so big and overwhelming it washes over you and PULLS you down to the bottom and smushes your face into the sand and YOU CANT BREATHE jesus Christ it's like that.

Or maybe I just want to experience love as it should be felt.

Obviously all of my problems surrounding this Damage could be easily fixed if I went to therapy but. there are reasons I can't.

I LOVE a lot. Too much for my own good. Enough to hurt me, get me into trouble, etc etc but also... enough to liberate me. I LOVE. I love Jay. So much. LIKE. MY BRAIN ORBITS AROUND HIM CONSTANTLY THINKING OF HIM AND PRAISING HIM AND MWUAH HE IS SO LOVELY I BOW BEFORE HIM...

I think as much as I love, a lot of the times I tend to focus even more on BEING loved.

If I am told I am loved, and shOwN I am loved... it is one of the most powerful things. Especially since I was literally emotionally neglected in childhood... yeah. I feel like I'm always trying to fill that hole.

Not EVERY feeling I have is for that reaosn but sometimes, if you tell me you love me, show me you love me, hug me,... I'll like start crying,,, that's the childhood emotional neglect kicking in. If you call me #smol and #cute and say I look young and fragile which happens more often than you'd think XD, I know I'm not supposed to like that shit, so I act like I dont....but I do. Which is PROBABLY ALSO THE CEN 🤪  like whatever lol

Anwyays I'm fucked up

You see how quickly things become complicated in my mind?

Convoluted? Is that the word?

Whatever. I OVERCOMPLICATE THINGS COS I OVERTHINK THEM BECAUSE I'm LITERALLY MENTALLY ILL IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. I'm not joking. I obviously have unresolved undiagnosed "issues"

I do Suspect things, though.

I can make a list

Maybe I shouldn't.

Maybe I will.

I shouldnt.

Whatever.

I used to hate when people brought up my self harm. I would actually panic. I still self harm but now? Now I'm fine with anyone  talking about it as long as it's not an adult who can get me into trouble/force me into therapy over it. Because really? I kinda like having it mentioned. It's kinda validating and it's like hey... people can see that I'm sick.

I dont do it so people talk to me about it though. Dont get me wrong. If I did, I'd go vertically on the arms, not for suicide but so it healed and people would ask XD.

My scars are actually VERY hidden... cos I never intended for ANYONE to see. But for those who DO see them,,,, it's nice soemtimes to have people express concern.

I dont wanna be PITIED or anything, but idk I just think to myself "wow, they're CONCERNED... about ME... they arent angry or mean... they didnt yell at me or threaten me... they respect my autonomy and privacy...

And they CARE ABOUT ME..." and it makes me cry.

That's also the CEN.

I dont know. I just like when people express genuine concern. Even if they see and then just ask if I'm okay. That's all it takes cos then I go wow.

Its validating and irs lovely because finally people care... FINALLY PEOPLE CARE. FINALLY I GET SOME EMPATHY OR SYMPATHY AND NO ANGER.

Even just having them brought up tells me its noticeable enough

My brain does this thing where it thinks nothing bad that's ever happened to me was Bad Enough for me to be upset about.

And I dont know... its nice sometimes to be told shit like "omg that looks so bad" or to see that people who do see my cuts are somewhat shocked or revolted... it's nice because I go... "hey, it was bad enough for them..."

Or to have people comment on them with concern. Just ANYTHINT WHERE PEOPLE NOTICE IT AND ARENT ASSHOLES ABOUT IT IS VALIDATING.

Because I'm not used to that...

Because CEN

I'm. The worst perosn on the fucking planet.

I should kill myself.

I suddenly actually feel so self hating I do want to kill myself... oh god.

I ruin everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. What have I done. Like. Why. Oh god.

I'm just remembering when Star said my kindness seemed like an act. And how I've been called out for seeming fake like 2 other times.

DO I SEEM FAKE???? I DONT EVER PUT ON ACTS OF KINDESS.... CONCIOUSLY? but the very idea that I could be perceived that way...

Should I like not try to be nice or some shit?

Jesus christ she hurts my feelings even now when it was a long time ago.

But I cant blame her. I can't blame anyone for how i feel except my parents because they left me with fucking. Heart nerve damage or some shit.

I'm tired and now I'm sad too. Goodnight guys.

[clusster]

put your music on shuffle and answer the questions abt each artist!

tagged by @awstn !!

because im lame and on mobile the formatting will def be funky sorry!

artist: set it off

what genre are they? uhhh thats hard, lil pop, lil punk, lil rock, some like theatric orchestral stuff, yeet

how long have they been active? shoot i had to google this, 2008

have you ever heard them on the radio? NO AND IM MAD

have they made any new music in the past year or two?: duh midnight

male or female vocalist? male

artist: modest mouse

would you recommend? HECK YEA...

what are your favorite lyrics of theirs? "Good news for people who love bad news/We've lost the plot and we just can't choose/We are hummingbirds who are just not willing to move" from bury me with it

what are their album artworks like? very differing imo

if they stopped making music, would you be sad? eh i dunno, im not a hardcore stan

if you didnt know what they looked like, what would you think? oh man i dunno like normal people ig

artist: marianas trench

how popular are they? apparently pretty popular in canada but when they play my state they play a 500 person venue so... yeah take that as you will

have you seen them live? yes twice! i loved it

how did you find out about them? when i was like 12 or 13 i had an internet friend from canada who suggested them

whats their sexuality? they appear to all be straight

is their music easy to dance to? many songs yes!

artist: thirty seconds to mars

what is their most prevalent instrument used? oh hell i dunno

does your family listen to them? whenever theyre on the radio i guess

are they still making music now? i think so

would you want to meet them? i mean i kinda met jared leto

how represented in your library are they? uhh idk i use spotify. i dont listen very often anymore

artist: lorde

when did you discover them? uhhhh

how many albums do they have? like 2 or something

which member is closest to your "type"/find most attractive? i mean theres just lorde so

have they gone through any lineup changes? no???

is their music more fun or serious? serious for sure

artist: All Time Low

is their genre typical to your taste? absolutely, considering they were a staple of my teenage years

what would a human version of their music look like? i dunno man you tell me

could you see yourself getting along with the members personally? well i dont know them personally enough to say so, since we arent on any kind of terms

did someone recommend this artist to you? no idea

of all their songs, what would you play at a party? probably like lost in stereo or something i dunno i dont consider them a party band

artist: waterparks

how many people are in this group? THREE BEAUTIFUL BOYS

when did they start making music? dont kill me ok i think 2012-2013?

do they have any well known songs (which ones)? uhh i would say like crave, made in america, lucky people, take her to the moon, 21 questions, tantrum. some are more known by stans, but a nonstans would also probably recognize these

do you listen to this artist regularly? probably like daily

how would you describe their music? oh uh. hm. awsten??

artist: patrick stump

do they use a stage name? not that im aware of no

do they regularly make the pop charts? he does when hes with the rest of fall out boy

have you ever met them? nope

if they toured in your city would you see them? oh absolutely yes

artist: linkin park

are they known for anything other than music? they used to do a lot of charity work and mike is a great visual artist

what is their nationality? well theyre an american band but the members are of various backgrounds iirc

are they a guilty pleasure? no bc i dont feel guilty listening

what age group are they most popular in? hm probably like my dad's generation and their kids who are like 15-20.

have they ever toured your location? yes and i saw them when they did

artist: panic! at the disco

do you need to know their personal life to understand their music? not essential no

have they ever gone on hiatus and when? sorta? between a fever you cant sweat out and pretty odd kinda, and between too weird to live too rare to die and death of a bachelor too. i dont think either were official iirc?

what instruments do they use? lotta horns these past albums

what city are they from? las vegas boiii

what are your experiences with their fans? well a lot are really rude or seem to feel entitled to getting what they want at the concerts, some online are also like that kinda but more online seem to be chiller

tag others? i might come back to this part later

[cocona]

hey! i wanna at least try to get into kpop, to see what all the fuss is abt, and youre the first blog that comes to mind abt that stuff. do you have any recs!? or comments?? anything really, i'm interested in what you have to say

i have recs!!! first of all ty for asking me abt it hdgfs !! i’ll make u a list !! i will try to stay concise but i have bolded n linked the most important stuff since i tend to blabber a lot! there r groups i purposely didnt recommend! also! i advise you to look up who did what if you want to know why idcs abt certain artists that r big in kpop (like big//ba//ng, su//ju, bl//ock//b, ma//ma//moo & so on) tl;dr: kpop basics (spotify) + @tearera (my kpop sb)

i’ll start w some RECS but jsyk kpop as u might have heard of it is mainly composed of groups! which is why i’ll start w groups then soloists! of course u can check out most of them on spotify (u can listen to their playlist of the most famous songs atm!). please notice that the kpop industry is very ‘classic’ when it comes to concepts (cute r for gorls! badass r for boys!) so um. yeah. yikes. if i had to argue abt all the things i find wrong in this industry this post would become a manifesto, u can always pm me if u want to hear me complain lmao 

GIRL GROUPS

honestly…. TWICE are the first one that came to my mind when i thought of ggs to rec. they’re a 9 member group labelled under jyp entertainment n have debuted in 2015 with the bop like ooh aah… that u can listen to! their genre is mainly cute songs but dont be fooled!! they have extremely powerful songs & lyrics as well! some good starts with their music are LIKEY (2017, a bop, great melody, great rapping, one of their ult feel good songs, played @ the olympics), TT (2016, queens of halloween!), and also their most recent song WHAT IS LOVE (2018, iconic!! gay!! bop!! sweet!! great album!!). as twice are the kind that can set you off by their cuteness and playful vibes, i recommend you to check out some of their side tracks. personality wise, the girls r very fun and sweet! they’re all angels and i love them all THIS MUCH!! if u want to know, sana & dahyun r my favourite members!         

also queens, but from sm entertainment this time, Red Velvet are a 5 member gg who have debuted in 2015 with the song Happiness (at that time they were only 4 but the youngest member, Yeri, joined later on!). some very famous songs of theirs are… basically all their title tracks but i’d mainly recommend Russian Roulette, Dumb Dumb (also my fave rv music video!!), Peek-a-boo (what’s better than lesbians witches slaying men and eating pizza), Bad Boy (honestly… one of their best songs… title track of their repackaged album…good shit if u will). of course! there are some side tracks i will recommend! i will frankly say that i listen to a lot of their music and they’re my favourite musically! some faves in no particular order are automatic, cool hot sweet love, huff n puff, something kinda crazy, about love, kingdom come, little little and talk to me! they have very versatile genres and have two main themes of music, the red and the velvet, though these mix often! rlly! their music really good. they have amazing choreographies too!!!!

the third gg i will rec are one that have not debuted yet, it’s LOONA! get ready bc they are a 12 member group with one girl for every month. each girl was revealed every month staring from 2016 with a single album composed of one song and one side track that usually features another member! as this group has yet to debut, i cannot show you anything with all twelve members but! they work with units, there are three: loona 1/3, odd eye circle, and yyxy (tune in for their debut scheduled for may!) that each have an album. 1/3 r more of a cute girly concept, while odd eye circle have played strongly on the girl crush & rnb concept. we have yet to see what yyxy has for us n im frankly v excited!!! my fave singles are Around You (hyunjin), Let Me In (haseul), Singing in the rain (jinsoul, best girl), Eclipse (kim lip), and Heart Attack (by chuu!! also best girl). they have already released a lot of music so go ahead & listen to it! their music videos have a plot and it’s one of those theories fandom (loonaverse)! the positions that all the members will have wasn’t been revealed yet!

then here’s a list of ggs that’s not as detailed bc it would be too long: clc (they r…the girls….), exid (vocals, social criticism, sexy), blackpink (5 songs out but theyre all top notch), f(x) (v good music! bring them back from the war), gfriend (cute & refreshing concepts! v tight choreographies! sweet girls!), aoa, & many more! groups i dont rec bc i dont stan but that u should know of: snsd, 2ne1; that have disbanded but shouldnt have: sistar

BOY GROUPS

ok i stan two boy groups so that’ll be quick! i’ll also rec plenty of music!

the main group i stan is BTS aka the bangtan boys and yes… they’re everywhere… they deserve it tbh… so theyre a 7 member boy group and they’re the first kpop group i ever stanned! they have released a lot of songs already but i’ll just mark something! bts are known for their cinematography and plot in their music videos as well as their politically/socially engaged songs. they debuted in 2013 with the youth-conscious song no more dream and um. forget the mv. the message is what’s important. secondly! my favourite eps & albums are DARK&WILD (forget abt war of hormone), The Most Beautiful Moment in Life pt2, WINGS, and Love Yourself 轉 Tear (which will be released on May 18th so stay tuned!). here’s a beginner’s list to bts & their music videos: spring day, blood sweat & tears, run, fire, i need u, and intros: singularity, serendipity. i cannot recommend bts songs bc i’d be unable to pick some, but here is my bangtan favourites playlist and spotify’s This Is BTS! n their most known song atm, still on charts, DNA. another thing!! they dabble in a lot of genres! there is a constant symbolism in most of their songs and music videos, which is why there are theories! also, here are my fave choreos (x x x) & non-official releases (x x x)! also! j-hope recently released a mixtape! check it out! it’s v good! the bad thing is that the fandom is massive n it is filled with young fans so a lot of fan-created content is cringey. apart from that! theyre lovely as a band n i’m not ashamed to say that they bring me most of my joy these days!

then there is… NCT. ok, let’s dive into them. nct is the acronym for Neo Culture Technology, they’re currently an 18 member boy group but hey! don’t be scared! they too work in units and have only released one song which features all 18 of them! it is likely that the band will expand later on & that the name NCT will become a brand (like akb48 u know). so far! there are three units! NCT DREAM (based on age, with the youngest members who r still minors), NCT U (the first unit to have debuted, aka nct united, a rotative unit with no fixed genre or members list) and NCT 127 (seoul based unit, fixed, with 9 members). they’re known for their experimentative and diversified sound, which goes from ballads to… this. while each unit have their distinct genre and vibe, they’re all under the same label of nct! and um, check out spotify’s nct playlist if u want! here r some songs that are basics! bolded r the faves! jsyk i hated their music & their clothes @ first bc it’s so unique so dw if u dislike them! 

127: cherry bomb, limitless (gross hair but spectacular song), touch, back to u, 0 mile, sun & moon, angel

dream: my first and last, we young, go, dunk shot, trigger the fever, la la love

u: the 7th sense, boss, baby don’t stop, without you, yestoday

solo tracks/sm station: dream in a dream & new heroes (ten), around (taeyong)

the last group i’ll present in length n that u should know about is SEVENTEEN. they’re a 13 member boy group & work in units as well but mainly promote w all the members! they’re the fun, sweet, talented, heartfelt refreshing boys we all love tbh! so! seventeen debuted in 2015 with the bop adore u and since then it’s been great song over great song… they also have great choreos! they’re the easiest group to listen to imo bc their songs are mostly light and very similar to what you can hear on teen top radios! then, they get stuck in your head very easily! here are some songs u can listen to that will make your day! mansae, very nice, pretty u, clap, don’t wanna cry, change up, n there are many more! some of my faves are when i grow up, trauma, still lonely, rocket, crazy in love, lean on me, and uhgh rlly all of their songs tbh! three units better known as teams: hip-hop, performance and vocal, with a leader in each. they put up great performances!!

then there is shinee, mostly nicknamed the kings of kpop, i’d make a very long desc but! i suggest you to see for yourself as the fandom is v helpful!

here are some boy groups that i rec but wont go in length with: pentagon (i stan!), monsta x (edm, powerful dances), shinee, exo (great vocals, great choreos, v good music), astro (bubblegum but v heartwarming! vocals), day6 (rock band, great songs), wanna one & many more! rlly um bgs arent the thing that’s lacking in kpop! 

a bit in the middle: KARD (mixed group!!! great music & genderless, breaking the usual hardcore is for boys & cutesy is for girls concept)

SOLOISTS

more of a solo person? check out artists like hyuna (ex member of both wonder girls & 4minute), iu, heize (a personal fave!), sunmi (ex member of wonder girls), taemin (member of shinee), amber liu (current member of fx! also released a mixtape recently!) hyolyn or dean… tbh there r many! these r just the ones i can think off the top of my head! theyre honestly easy to listen to so just look up their names on yt & u should find some good things!

if u read all of this!! uhh kudos to u!! it was v long n i didnt expect it to be that long!! 

[theday]

i forgot to copy andpste the rules fuckjdjh anwyay taged by @younghyuuns and @pupcats :D thank u guys for tagging me i havent done this in ages

tagging: @minhyukwithagun (just saw ur new icon ffuck) @briwoon and @tokayhk u guys dont have to tho ily all oh also @hyunghoney and @hyungkyunnie and @minhyukt suddenly im tagging everyone u guys dont have to do it either ily toohdjh

last:

drink: water hddhh im so happie to hear everyones answer is water too stay fresh

phone call: ................ oh my mum i was gonna say i dont call ppl but she called the house phone yesterday

text message: ‘what’ jhddsjhjhsh

song you listened to: beside you by 5so/s im wheesinghs falen kdhs

time you cried: really cried??? january on a thursday aka last month i broke down in school djhhsjh schools the place i cry the most i couldnt go through one month without breaking downdjhdhs every year i have 2 cry there at least once apparently jesushdjs

have you ever:

dated someone twice: i havent even dated anyone once

been cheated on: see above

kissed someone and regretted it: see above

lost someone special: immmdmfmmdkks i guess not? in terms of friends they were special but not anymore so i guess that doesnt count

been depressed: nope

been drunk and thrown up: in this house we only drink water

in the past year have you:

made a new friend: heck yeah? i made so many good pals after revamping this blog im so happie :( 

fallen out of love: no lol i stopped having this crush on this person at the end of 2016 best decision of my life

laughed until you cried: one too many times but i cant remember any ;-/ 

met someone who changed you: falen?? but everyone has an effect on mehjd 

found out who your true friends are: well . yeah

found out someone was talking about you: idk i dont rememberjhdhjhs i dont care enough

general:

how many people on tumblr do you know in real life?: only karissa and she doenst even use tumblr much ;-/ 

do you have any pets?: i wish i did D: but not now.. jsjd maybe when im out of this country/place

do you want to change your name?: ifjkksj not rly..??????? i just hated it for a while when i was younger bc i didnt like the nicknames that came with my namejhddh

what time did you wake up this morning: 11am fuck my life

what were you doing last night: giffing :D and then i gave up bc it started messing up so i went to bed

name something you cannot wait for: school to start bc im excited since its a whole new jhhdhsh thng? but im also terrified im learning physics theres a reason why i took biology instead man my course is called biotechnology nothhjjhhjjhsjhhf physics dont interact 

have you ever talked to a person named tom?: the only tom i know is tom from tom and jerry

what’s getting on your nerves right now: the gifs 

blood type: a emoji

nickname: when ging said her answer i lost my mind how many of you arent using ur real names tf... does ging stand for ginger also this question is about me hold onfjdhhhjshd uh egg and meggan i guess? nutfucker toojhdjhhjdh bc that was my ig name so irl ppl would call me that and embarrass me thanks or just nut because of that username too

relationship status: never dated thank god

zodiac sign: capricorn sun and taurus moon im the .optimum dirt call me soil hdjsh also i showed ayesha my chart and she lost her mind saying the reason why i say oh worm so much is bc im like 50% earth i couldnt stop laughing tumblr install a filter search function in chats i need to dig that up 

pronouns: she/her

favorite show: haikyuu i aint gonna stop loving u bitch

college: idk what this means either im not gonna tell yall my school im gonna be doing biotechnology tho trust me i dont know what the fuck that course is about im a fool all i know is that it has to do with cells [changkyun voice] well its cells

hair color: black but i like to think its brown

do you have a crush on someone: crushes and the whole. love game is cursed 

what do you like about yourself: i learn... from my mistakes i guess idk also im generally friendly .         ...

firsts:

first surgery: none

first piercing: none im a [redacted] 

first sport you joined: fucking. golf or swimming or tennis i used to be all about sports now i just. walk 

first vacation: probably malaysia

first pair of sneakers: converse which i used to deem as clown shoes ... now all i wear are converse dkhhdshj

right now:

eating: amylase 

drinking: nothing i need to drink water im thirsty hold on stay hydrated if ur reading this drink some water

i’m about to: pee i need to go, 

listening to: spotify ad time hates me. ill go back to this later oh wait this isnt a spotify ad anymore scavenger by finish ticket who r they? idk either my friend recommends me songs and theyre good but by bands ive never heard of

want kids: no iwnt animals

get married: marriage ? sounds phake

career: ive been saying this since 2016 but farmer

which is better:

lips or eyes: i hate myself i read lips and thought of l** m*nhyuk ;-/ singularity’s impact! and nojhhsjjhdh idk? fucking both i guess ??????? i dont look at peoples faces often

hugs or kisses: depends on the kiss but i love huggingjdhjhd i dont think. id be able to hug certain people tho? which is weird im fine with likejhdhjsjh hugging this person (usually happens when we’re watching movies bc djdkjjs im a [redacted] again so i have to hide my eyes) but i cant imagine myself.. hugging my other friendshjhdh??? idk itd be awkward ig 

shorter or taller: taller ! love me that height if ur below 165 cm dont talk to me

older or younger: older ???? or my age idk 

romantic or spontaneous: spontaneous im always like this with my friendsjhfhjhdh me: hey lets walk there instead my friends: ready tof ucking kill me

sensitive or loud: a ? a mediudndjs like... an in between 

hookup or relationship: preferably nothing but relationship of coursehjhd

troublemaker or hesitant: an inbetween jjdshjshd?? idk shit lads

have you ever:

kissed a stranger: nope

drank hard liquor: drank sparkling water once it counts 

lost contacts/glasses: no im so blind they always have to be on my fucking face 

sex on first date: sex never . 

broken someone’s heart: yeah but when i was kid so it probably didnt mean much 

been arrested: iddjsh i was gonna joke but i cant think of anything so no

turned someone down: jhdhhdjs yeah but mostly like hangouts?? hdjhd not like dates and shit 

fallen for a friend: let me think the first girl i liked wasnt a friend but when we became friends i was like o womrie nvm but she did help me realize im Not straight as did tumblr which even tho i constantly insult it helped me a lot fjdhjhs but my two crushes after were on my friends ;-/ my first crush unfortunately on a guyddhhs wasnt my friend either tho damn now u guys know my whole backstory :D

do you believe:

in yourself: sometimes bitch has 2 get those grades man

miracles: yes you (love live) please come home........ ... .... 

love at first sight: dam. was gonna talk abt anime again but hjhdhshj no ? i guess not maybe like wow ur attractive at first sight but thats it

if u read until the end thank u ur the realest have a good day!!!!!

[6-v-6]

1-100. Just give it to me all

ALNLSNGLSG ARE YOU SERIOUS OMFG im so sorry this is going to be Long

1. Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? I’ll say Pandora just because it’s the only one I’ve actually ever used. If I used Spotify I’d probably like it the most but I don’t use those apps so

2. is your room messy or clean?VERY VERY MESSY I need to clean it but im lazy

3. what color are your eyes?Brown!

4. do you like your name? why?My birth name? No. And that’s why I changed it ahahahaha yes I like the name Jae since i chose it myself. It’s short and simple

5. what is your relationship status?Single 

6. describe your personality in 3 words or lessContradictory ....... Situational 

7. what color hair do you have?Currently it’s blue c: Natural color is a lightish brown

8. what kind of car do you drive? color?I don’t have a car nor a license :/ I want a motorbike tho ! a black one

9. where do you shop?I shop pretty much exclusively online. Buyma or Amazon, typically

10. how would you describe your style?I’ve been told that I dress like a “bad boy”. I like leather and black and ripped skinny jeans but I do like casual stuff too. Like hoodies and sweats

11. favorite social media accountIf this is talking about my own social media accounts, then this one right here on tumblr. I’m not very active anywhere else

12. what size bed do you have?uuuuhhhh I don’t know proper terminology but it is small

13. any siblings?Yup! I have an older sister and a younger brother

14. if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?Japan probably? It’s super pretty and I’ve always wanted to visit

15. favorite snapchat filter?hmm I don’t use snapchat that much but probably the flower crown one it’s cute

16. favorite makeup brand(s)I don’t wear makeup tbh so i dunnooooo 

17. how many times a week do you shower?7 I don’t ever skip showering 

18. favorite tv show?Psych? I also like the 100 currently

19. shoe size?asglnasg... god .... im a 6 in mens nd like a 7 in womens i have small feet

20. how tall are you?ALNSLGNSG im trusting no one has read this far so it’s okay to disclose this info...exposin myself.. im 5′2″ ............

21. sandals or sneakers?Sneakers !! I don’t wear sandals like ever

22. do you go to the gym?Yes! Only recently, actually! I just bought a gym membership with my friend and we’ve been going 3 times a week c:

23. describe your dream dateoh geez I havent really thought about this? I’m not very romantic or anything (im on the ace spectrum) but... i dunno. I think it’d be nice to just have fun together. An amusement park maybe? And just a lot of hand holding and smiles

24. how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?Upwards of 100 bcuz my mom keeps giving me money even tho i dont use it

25. what color socks are you wearing?HAH im not wearing any 

26. how many pillows do you sleep with?1-2 it depends on the night

27. do you have a job? what do you do?I work at the cafeteria in my school. I run the register and help to stock items and also serve food to people

28. how many friends do you have?wow this is a Tragic question. Online I have quite a few! In person i literally have....... 2. Barely that lol. More like one

29. whats the worst thing you have ever done?Killed my sister’s fish (on accident)

30. whats your favorite candle scent?I’ve never thought about this or really smelled many candles to begin with :( something mild though. Maybe a mild vanilla??

31. 3 favorite boy namesuuhghg 1) Cain 2) Luka 3) Eden

32. 3 favorite girl names1) Erin 2) Rayna 3) Kira

33. favorite actor?I rly dont give a crap about actors if I’m being honest lmao. Uhh choi minho :)

34. favorite actress?Lupita Nyong’o?? she’s gorgeous

35. who is your celebrity crush?I don’t have a crush on him but does Lee Taemin count

36. favorite movie?Princess Mononoke

37. do you read a lot? whats your favorite book?I read ff more than books these days. I don’t have a fav book

38. money or brains?is this what I prefer? Money binch if I had money I wouldn’t need brains also I’m dumb anyways 

39. do you have a nickname? what is it?No I do not

40. how many times have you been to the hospital?Twice? Maybe 3 times

41. top 10 favorite songscheck out shinee’s entire discography 

42. do you take any medications daily?Nope

43. what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)i ?? have no idea?? I guess oily? My skin doesn’t get dry so

44. what is your biggest fear?Probably flying. I hate planes

45. how many kids do you want?Exactly none

46. whats your go to hair style?? uh side-swept? I have no idea what to call it just what my hair normally looks like I guess

47. what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc)A moderately sized house

48. who is your role model?Not to be cheesy but Lee Taemin also Kim Kibum also Choi Minho also Kim Jonghyun also Lee Jinki

49. what was the last compliment you received?that I’m great? lol

50. what was the last text you sent?’okay’ to my mom lmao

51. how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?ARE YOU TELLING ME SANTA ISNT REAL??? okay but for real who remembers the age they find out omg .. i was Young so idk maybe like 13

52. what is your dream car?ohhh boy a lambo for sure

53. opinion on smoking?Gross. Smells terrible

54. do you go to college?I do indeed. I’m gonna be a senior ya’ll

55. what is your dream job?To be a writer I guess. I don’t really have a dream job

56. would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs?Suburbs? I dunno. I like living in the city I’d probably die of boredom in some rural area

57. do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?hell yea binch

58. do you have freckles?nope!

59. do you smile for pictures?Not for selfies but for other pictures yes I feel like it’s weird or rude not to

60. how many pictures do you have on your phone?like 300 something

61. have you ever peed in the woods?what the fuck?? lol?? no??

62. do you still watch cartoons?does voltron count :/

63. do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?neither if I’m being honest but Wendy’s I guess. I never ever eat at mcdonalds

64. Favorite dipping sauce?barbeque sauce?

65. what do you wear to bed?An oversized shirt and boxers lol

66. have you ever won a spelling bee?no i cant say I have

67. what are your hobbies?Writing, sometimes. Playing video games. Bein unhealthy

68. can you draw?Naaaah

69. do you play an instrument?No :( I wish I did but I never learned any

70. what was the last concert you saw?SHINEE WORLD V IN LA!!!!!!!!! BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!

71. tea or coffee?Coffee bcuz i h8 tea

72. Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?Well the coffee at dunkin donuts is worlds better so dunkin donuts

73. do you want to get married?no

74. what is your crush’s first and last initial?i dont have a crush

75. are you going to change your last name when you get married?’when’ lol i dont plan to get married

76. what color looks best on you?black, in my opinion

77. do you miss anyone right now?no not really

78. do you sleep with your door open or closed?open because if it’s closed my cat will scratch on it incessantly until she’s let in

79. do you believe in ghosts?hell yeah dude

80. what is your biggest pet peeve?when people like, dance around a subject. I prefer it when people are straightforward. Especially if they want something from me

81. last person you called`Honest to god I can’t remember. I don’t ever call people lmao so probably my mom

82. favorite ice cream flavor?I like Rocky Road a lot!

83. regular oreos or golden oreos?regular. Golden oreos are a lesser creation

84. chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?RAINBOW. GIMME DAT GAY SHIT

85. what shirt are you wearing?It’s just a plain white t-shirt

86. what is your phone background?ot5

87. are you outgoing or shy?Horribly, annoyingly shy although I can mask it pretty well

88. do you like it when people play with your hair?yes :D

89. do you like your neighbors?lmao I don’t know them?? They arent noisy though so yes I like them since they aren’t annoying or anything

90. do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?Both. I take a shower in the morning and wash it then. And then do a skincare routine at night

91. have you ever been high?no.... not that I know of. One time I took nyquil though and it Fucked Me Up i felt high but idk if I was or if that’s even possible

92. have you ever been drunk?nope. I’m not a huge fan of the idea of getting drunk. I don’t like letting my guard down like that so if I ever do it’ll be when I’m alone

93. last thing you ate?a mento 

94. favorite lyrics right nowthe entire lyrics to So Far Away by yoongi

95. summer or winter?WINTER. I hate summer fashion i like being able to wear my jackets and jeans and not Die of heat stroke

96. day or night?night I guess just bcuz I can be alone

97. dark, milk, or white chocolate?dark chocolate is superior in every way

98. favorite month?uhm.. December? Because its the end of the year and I’m on break then and Christmas and cold weather and hot chocolate

99. what is your zodiac signI’m a virgo 

100. who was the last person you cried in front of?uhhhHHHH I really make it a Goal to never cry in front of people since im just super uncomfortable with that and honestly dont feel comfortable enough around anyone to do that. My sister walked in on me when I was crying once though so her I guess

[daeynore]

All the odds for the ask meme! Switching it up :0

putting this under a read more, because its long af. thank you for the ask!!

probably shouldve expected that1.  Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora?  spotify3. what color are your eyes?bluish green5. what is your relationship status? 

single

7. what color hair do you have?

dyed purplish gray on the top, brown on the sides

9. where do you shop?

for clothes, hot topic, for other shit, target

11. favorite social media account

idk honestly

13. any siblings?

1 younger brother

15. favorite snapchat filter?

i dont really use them enough to have a favorite

17. how many times a week do you shower?

5-6, i try to do every other day.

19. shoe size?

like, 10? i think?

21.sandals or sneakers?

sneakers

23. describe your dream date

an aquarium with lots of jelly fish. or some sort of disney themed place. maybe a mall, too. dunno really.

25. what color socks are you wearing? 

not wearing any socks

27. do you have a job? what do you do? 

cant legally get one yet, i have an application ready for hot topic though.

29. whats the worst thing you have ever done? 

uhhh i dont know? 

31. 3 favorite boy names

i dont know lmao

33. favorite actor? 

laura bailey, probably. or liam o’brien

35. who is your celebrity crush?

if this includes people on youtube then ya boi lt. eddy lmao

37. do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? 

i havent been able to read much anymore. i cant choose my favorite between carry on, in the shadow of blackbirds, and ill give you the sun

39. do you have a nickname? what is it? 

winter, bc of my battlenet name and my twitch name. id love to have more though lmao they make me feel special

41. top 10 favorite songs

ohhhhh jeez. ok. these arent in any order

your heart is a muscle the size of your fist by ramshackle glory

constant headache by joyce manor

sloppy seconds by watsky

i love you honeybear by father john misty

no one by project46

pink summer by summer camp

lose it by oh wonder

daughter of space by steam powered giraffe

shelter by porter robinson and madeon

back pack by ajj

43. what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)

i dont know, honestly

45. how many kids do you want? 

zero!!!!!

47. what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) medium sized, i would say.

49. what was the last compliment you received?

someone said they liked my art style ;v;

51. how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?

like 8? i think?

53. opinion on smoking?

if you do it, then im not going to judge, as long as youre not hurting anyone. ill never fucking do it though, its pretty gross.

55. what is your dream job? 

the lead in some amazing broadway show, voice acting/creating characters for disney, or playing a princess or something at disneyland

57. do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? 

nah. i dont really even use them since i bring my own

59. do you smile for pictures?

i try to cover it when i do bc i am...how u say...ugly as fuck

61. have you ever peed in the woods? 

no

63. do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?

mcdonalds

65. what do you wear to bed? 

shorts and a t-shirt, maybe a tank top if its really hot

67.  what are your hobbies?

drawing, playing overwatch, singing

69. do you play an instrument?

used to play violin! it hurt my wrist really bad so i stopped.

71. tea or coffee?

coffee i guess. i usually only get those frozen coffee things from dunkin donuts.

73. do you want to get married?

eventually! i honestly already have the Dream Wedding planned lmao.

75. are you going to change your last name when you get married? 

maybe! i really like my last name though. we’ll see.

77. do you miss anyone right now? 

dear lord yes

79. do you believe in ghosts?

kind of. id like to believe theyre real, but i know that its super unlikely.

81. last person you called

phone number-wise, my mom. on skype, @lillian-valnala , @im-fueled-by-anger, and @yoshi-flower

83. regular oreos or golden oreos? 

regular

85. what shirt are you wearing? 

an alice and wonderland tank top i got while i was in jerome with my grandma

87. are you outgoing or shy?

a mix of both.

89. do you like your neighbors?  

i guess? no one ever talks to each other. the ones i hated just moved out though. they literally always blasted music throughout the middle of the night

91. have you ever been high? 

no. i am a Good Child.

93. last thing you ate? 

cold pizza.

95. summer or winter? 

winter.

97. dark, milk, or white chocolate? 

dark

99. what is your zodiac sign

virgo.

[kayawagner]

The Five Minute Bard: Resources to Create Sharp Concepts in No Time Flat

Image Courtesy of Pixabay “I’d like to teach the world to sing, but they’re all tone deaf.”

If your table is anything like mine, bards are primarily known for romancing their way out of combat encounters, only to have to then combat their way out of those romance encounters when plans inevitably go awry. There’s nothing wrong with that if your group enjoys following the exploits of your own personal pratfalling Mata Hari, but bards have a lot of potential to deepen gameplay in other ways. This article explores a few ways that bards can uniquely add to your game.

Musical Plot Lines

All over the world, since long before the advent of widespread literacy, song, poetry, and performance have been used to remember the history of nations and heroes; there’s no reason why in games such epics (and the rascals who know them well) can’t provide context for the rivalry between royal families, hints about the weaknesses of an ancient evil stirring after centuries of slumber, or even direct instructions as to how to make it through a trapped dungeon. Fantasy writers from J. R. R. Tolkien all the way to George R. R. Martin and N. K. Jemisin continue to use ancient stories, songs, and phrases in this way to flesh out the worlds of their novels (in particular, Jemisin’s Stone Lore could drive an entire campaign just by itself).

Songs are great for this purpose, as they can be scattered earlier in a campaign (or even a session) in the background, providing foreshadowing or clues for players without necessarily being obvious about doing so.

…[songs] can be scattered earlier in a campaign (or even a session) in the background, providing foreshadowing or clues for players without necessarily being obvious about doing so.

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For a non-fantasy example, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson did a great job with his “Dead Man’s Chest” song. The few lines from the novel were later expanded into a poem/song by Young E. Allison, and it’s well worth listening to the whole tune if you ever need to populate a sunken pirate ship with a bunch of undead with distinct and gruesome wounds.

As much fun as Treasure Island is though, my favorite source for musical inspiration will always be the Roud Folk Song Index. This catalog of English-language folk songs has tens of thousands of entries tailor-made for the fantasy gaming table, though many of the songs have topics and language that you may not want at your table. These songs have the advantage of usually being just obscure enough for your players to not already be familiar with them, but omnipresent enough to be vaguely familiar — songs as recent and popular as “The Streets of Laredo” and “Scarborough Fair” descend directly from entries in this index.

…songs as recent and popular as “The Streets of Laredo” and “Scarborough Fair” descend directly from entries in [the Roud Folk Song Index]. 

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If you want to jump in right away, my favorite songs from the early list are “Three Ravens/Twa Corbies,” “Two Sisters/The Wind and Rain,” “Cruel Lincoln,” “The Elfin Knight,” and “The Female Highwayman.” Any one of these songs can pretty much be dropped into a campaign unchanged to add a subplot or additional character, and it’s well worth diving into them — at the end of this article are a couple of resources to help you do so if you want.

Tactical Cacophony: the Music of Battle

In most if not all tabletop games, bards are simultaneously performers and magic wielders, capable of turning the tide of battle with either their music or their spells. This role is well-supported by old legends about bards, though like most low-level bards in modern games, apparently they spent much of their time insulting rats to death.

…like most low-level bards in modern games, apparently [mythological bards] spent much of their time insulting rats to death. 

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For a more grounded approach, you can also consider bringing in more martial applications of music. Horns, fifes (single-tube pipes), drums, and bagpipe music are all well-known accompaniments to ancient battles, providing everything from marching cadence to tactical signaling. These real-world examples can be a great illustration of and justification for Bardic Inspiration and similar powers for those groups that prefer to have detailed or evocative descriptions of these powers in action.

More spectacularly, bards may have access to instruments that serve a secondary function as weapons (or vice-versa). Using real world examples, bards could be familiar with a shakuhachi or a musical bow. The shakuhachi is a nearly two-foot-long flute with a heavy, bulbous tip. Played as a form of meditation, by some accounts, this instrument could also be used as an effective bludgeoning weapon, making it easier to smuggle into areas where characters are expected to disarm.

Musical bows are either dedicated instruments or converted hunting bows that are also a stringed percussion instrument with the addition of a resonator.

Of course, if your DM is more whimsical (or forgiving), bards always have the option of a flamethrower guitar or a guitar shotgun (if your group allows the guitar shotgun, let me know if you’re looking for a player).

Extra Credit: Bringing Custom Music to the Table

Okay, to be clear, obsession with bards aside, I have all the musical and rhythmic talent of a harmonica in a clothes dryer. The last time I tried to sing in public, the guy running the karaoke turned off my mic.

…I have all the musical and rhythmic talent of a harmonica in a clothes dryer. The last time I tried to sing in public, the guy running the karaoke turned off my mic. 

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Originally, I was going to try to learn how to play the ukulele and re-do “Twa Corbies” for this article, but apparently, you can only learn that instrument in an hour if you have some minuscule fraction of ability to begin with. I have never been so disappointed in Amanda Palmer (NSFW language in video).

If you (unlike me) know one end of a musical instrument from another, doing something cool and ambitious like writing alternate lyrics to something from the Roud Folk Song Index would probably be pretty awesome. But if you can already do that, you probably wouldn’t be reading something called “The Five Minute Bard,” so let’s move on, shall we?

For those of us who don’t already have a great deal of ability, but want to come up with fun little tunes for our gaming groups, there’s something called Common Meter or Ballad Meter “tune swapping.” Songs using common meter (and there are a lot of them) use the same rhythm and rhyme patterns, meaning they can easily be swapped out for one another. This can be a fun party trick (singing Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” to the tune of the “Gilligan’s Island” theme is a hoot no matter how you look at it), but it also means you have a library of tunes and lyrics you can swap out with one another without any of your players realizing it. Here is an interactive example. A small selection of songs or poems in ballad meter is below:

“Greensleeves”

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”

“I Just Can’t Wait to be King” from “The Lion King”

“The House of the Rising Sun”

“Oh, Susanna”

“Yankee Doodle”

“America the Beautiful”

“Amazing Grace”

“The Yellow Rose of Texas”

Pretty much any famous Emily Dickinson poem

The Pokemon Season 1 theme song

So with that in mind: a super quick-and-dirty (and entirely untested) method for creating music for your group:

Identify what you want to sing about.

Identify a tune you like, or a couple of them from the list above. Mash them together or hum them until you’re comfortable with the results.

Shamelessly raid the lyrics of the other songs in the list for turns of phrase you like, and shoehorn them in.

Where necessary, swap out words to hide the source of your song or create new rhymes. If you’re looking for a quick and dirty way to hide clumsy rhymes, be sure to use the word you’re trying to rhyme with as the second word, and the clumsy imperfect word as the first one. So if you’re trying to rhyme with “mockery,” but can’t think of anything to rhyme it with other than “crockery”, you would do something like “The battle raged among the crockery/until the villain lost through vicious mockery” (Thanks to Rachel F. for that hot tip).

Bask in the admiration of your gaming group. Or dodge thrown shoes, depending on your level of ability and the patience of your adventuring party.

Bards aren’t everyone’s favorite character class, but for those of us prone to a certain amount of mischief and scenery-chewing, they’re just too much fun to pass up. Hopefully some of these tools make it to your table, whether in the form of new tools for your bards to use, or in musically-themed adventures.

For those of you who play bards in your own games (or cringe at others who do), what do the bards in your home game bring to the table that no one else does? How do you make your games more musical?

Resources:

Every Folk Song: a podcast that promises to go through every song on the Roud Folk Song Index until the host gets tired of doing so — even though it only gets to song 11 (“The Baffled Knight”) it’s still a darn good podcast.

My personal Spotify playlist for the Roud Folk Song Index. This is a selection of my favorite versions of some of the first songs in the Roud Folk Song Index.

Learn to Play the Ukulele: Maybe you’ll do better than I did? Let me know your secret if you do.

Rhyming Dictionary: Because most of us can’t rhyme “the elves are attacking” without a little bit of Internet help.

The Five Minute Bard: Resources to Create Sharp Concepts in No Time Flat published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[allofbeercom]

Can Adele fix the broken music industry?

Unless you fell into a post-holiday food coma, you know that Adeles album25just sold more copies in its first week than any album, ever. The average human being had been conditioned to believe this was not possible in 2015.

Remember that narrative?Napster destroyed the music business, the iPod stopped the bleeding, digital and streaming services are still nascent, and a Google search can find anything for free, so the good old days of multi-platinum records are pretty much gone.

On the heels of her first single “Hello,” Adele waved goodbye to that doomsday line of thinking, crushing decades-old sales records by such a distance that, if she were an Olympic athlete, wed immediately assume she healed her damaged vocal chords with PEDs. Putting aside certain idiosyncrasies of Adeles album buyers (it turns out old people still buy CDs!), getting more than 3.8 million people to doanythingin the same week is a triumphant feat.

The ripple effect of Adeles astonishing sales figure is already visible. This past week, Rihanna and her management made a last-minute decision to postpone the release of her new album,Anti, at the apex of the heaviest consumer spending moment of the year. It turns out the shadow of Adele is the one umbrella Ri-Ri wont stand under.

And who can blame her? Between Adeles album sales and Taylor Swifts cultural and touring dominance (FYI: She played to a stadium full of 76,000 people in Sydney last weekend), its tough to stand out at the moment, even for Rihanna, one of Forbes top 10 grossing female artists. Despite working in a music industry with a dearth of women in meaningful executive positions, the strength and power of female artists has never been more profound. And unlike Hollywoodwhere thanks to the North Korean email hack of Sony and a courageous Jennifer Lawrence, we now understand the starkness of the gender pay gapfemale musical artists get paid on par with their male counterparts. In music, the entire ecosystem earns a sizable percentage of whatever the artist makes; record labels make a percentage of album sales, promoters make a percentage of ticket sales, merchandisers make a percentage of T-shirts sold, and so forth. Which means we are at a unique moment in history where A-list women hold much of the real power in the music business.

The strength and power of female artists has never been more profound.

So what will they do with it? And how does their massive success shine a giant spotlight, for better and worse, on everything thats happening with the music business and the streaming business and the concert business and artist representation right now?

Adele and Taylor started this upheaval by each flexing a particular muscle that belongs to them and them only. Taylor used her pen as the sword, bringing the mighty Apple to the bargaining table to pay artists for streams during the free trial for Apple Music. Adele turned herback on streaming services to break an album sales record that had stood since Justin Timberlake was fronting a boy band with Britney Spears on his arm. But beyond the PR success and ego boost thats generated from seven-figure first-week sales numbers, these efforts did little to make a lasting impact on the business of music.

Like the rest of the news cycle, we celebrate heroic outliers, write think pieces, marvel at the numbers, and move on within the confines of the same old structure. As President Business from The Lego Movie would have us believe, everything is awesome. Only it isnt. While artists have done much to break through decades of exploitation and capture more of the value they create, the fan experience in most facets of music consumptionlive and recordedremains unconscionably broken.

Nowhere is the dysfunctional tension between Los Angeles/New York-based content creation and Silicon Valley-based technology more on display than in digital music services. In the Valley, we scoff at companies that ship their org chart in a product. (Note: Microsofts Steve Sinofsky who coined this phrase for mass appeal, and for some time it was Microsoft who was guilty of this en masse.) You can tell when groups within or outside a company arent working well together based on the way the products features play wellor dont play wellin production. This is displayed everywhere in digital music from convoluted hardware options and endless interconnected devices in the home to cutting-edge software that never seems quite ready for primetime. In particular, Apple Music still feels like a house built on the foundation of an old home that the owners never wanted to fully tear down for tax purposes. The compromises and technical debt are palpable.

The fan experience in most facets of music consumptionlive and recordedremains unconscionably broken.

But those issues pale in comparison to the evolving royalty structure in musicbasically, the agreements for how much artists, labels and songwriters get paid when you buy or stream a song. Without hit music from the Taylors and Adeles, those subscription music streaming services are essentially useless. Even if they have the best user experience for fans, without music that matters, their core proposition (the music you want for a flat monthly fee) becomes completely hollow. Disappointed fans know theyre being misled, especially when YouTube and BitTorrent offer even the mildly unscrupulous a holiday table cornucopia of free access to all the music on earth.

We know the economics of music streaming are still being sorted out, but we also know this happened with video content a few years agoand, eventually, major players like Netflix, YouTube and Hulu figured out how to window content, present it exclusively,and generate their own product. If music follows that model, then the biggest artists will sell their exclusivity to distributors like Spotify, Apple, YouTube/Google, and others. Our best asset to help that happen? Just keep complaining about this stuff.

What we are seeing and (not) hearing now as fans is the very public sausage making of a new recorded music revenue model, the loudly creaking rusty hull of an antiquated ship turning a bit too quickly in a swift current. For most of us downstream, it creates a suboptimal listening experience and never-ending frustration.

And its only worse with live music, where artists now make 70 to 90 percent of their income, despite a gallingly offensive fan experience.For one thing, the industry continues to lie to fansblatantlyabout the price of tickets until the very moment of purchase.An upper deck ticket for the Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas tour in Los Angeles on Sept. 17, 2016, is currently available on Ticketmaster for $49.95. After a $15.30 service charge, the actual price of that ticket is31 percent higherthan advertised. At StubHub, where between buyer and seller fees the ticket is routinely marked up 25 percent, the company tried to show pricing all-in. But after competitors didnt follow suit, StubHub reverted back to the draconian way of tricking fans into moving down the purchase funnel by baiting them with a lower price point, before dropping fees on buyers at checkout. Most artists are consciously (or navely) complicit in this dirty game. Many touring deals for large artists stipulate that artists are paid more than 100 percent of gross ticket sales. How can this be? Its because the promoter and venue make their money off of parking, beer, sponsorship, and importantly, service fees.

This wont change until fans start pressuring the artists to facilitate that change. Artists are intensely sensitive about their brands. With social media giving loud voices to all, artists are hyper-concerned with criticism for high ticket prices even though they have historically enabled a service fee system that exploits their fans. Its why so many good tickets often make it into the hands of brokers from venues, promoters, and artists directly. Ever wonder why you see so many VIP packages for sale? Theyre designed to charge market price for a ticket with a few low-cost add-ons attached. So why cant artists own their income desires and get paid what they are worth, or alternatively restrict transferability of tickets to ensure that fans get in at an artificially low price? Service fees are an extension of the ticket price, so why arent they presented as such up front in the buying process?

Apple Music still feels like a house built on the foundation of an old home that the owners never wanted to fully tear down for tax purposes.

All of the carnival barking about ticket prices comes against the backdrop of a swelling period of time between the onsale of a concert and the actual show date. For the concert example above, a fan buying four mid-level tickets would be putting down more than $400 of his hard earned money10 monthsbefore the show. That same week the tour plays a Wednesday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Who the heck knows what theyre doing on a Wednesday night 10 months from now in Albuquerque? The answers fall into three categories:

I dont.

Im one of the few passionate fans who will move my schedule around this show and give you my money ten months in advance.

Im a ticket broker, and Im buying bunches of tickets now to arbitrage and capitalize on all the people in #1 above.

This practice of ridiculously early sales has been expanded by the industry to bank money early, test demand, and reduce risk. Do they care that the best tickets go mostly to brokers, that fans pay more money than they otherwise would, and that the most passionate fans lose out on 10 months of interest on their money? Of course not. Were moving backwards.

The big question: Is all of this a calculated plan by the music industry to keep things as unfavorable for fans as possible, or can we chalk it up to sheer incompetence?

The recent Paris tragedy reminded us that the music industrys obligation to provide a better experience for fans are growing ever more urgent. The attacks on fans at a concert hall and a sports stadium were the manifestation of a longstanding fear we had at Ticketmaster about live eventscrowds are so much more vulnerable than we want to believe. We already learned this in air transportation after 9/11; 14 years later, we collect loads of data and restrict transferability of tickets between passengers boarding a 200-seat airplane. But with 80,000-seat stadiums, we continue to do almost nothing. With the use of cash, paper tickets, ticket reselling, and an average of almost three tickets-sold-per-order, upwards of 90 percent of individuals entering an arena or stadium can be unknown to event organizers.

The entire paradigm of music distribution is staring down the barrel of an evolutionary leap.

There are common sense solutions that would make live events safer for fans. By reimagining a ticket as a digital access credential replete with identity, payment, and location metadata, we could do the forensic work before and after events to identify bad actors. This need not restrict ticket transferability or resale; it simply means maintaining a centralized system of record where tickets can be sold and the data associated with buyers and sellers infinitely logged. Existing and emerging technologies, including blockchain, are candidates for handling this challenge. They can also prepare us for the dawn of virtual reality in live events, ensuring this technology becomes incremental and not cannibalistic to the artists live performance. To do so fully requires sunsetting the idea of a ticket as a piece of paper; identity and access can be tied to a phone, a card, or a fingerprint.

Guess what? This is precisely the course of technology across most consumer products today. Like other products, these advancements have the happy consequence of actually improving the consumer experience. This data can serve to personalize the live experience for each fan before, during, and after the event. It could allow artists to over-deliver on an experience for which they are charging astronomical sums, up to a year in advance. As usual, we fell way behind the curve in the music business. So maybe this is about incompetence over anything else.

Indeed, the entire paradigm of music distribution is staring down the barrel of an evolutionary leap. Twitter, like its many mobile social messaging peers from Snapchat to WeChat to Line to Instagram to Facebook, is really a direct-to-consumer distribution channel that could fundamentally transform the relationship between artists and fans. Katy Perry has 78M Twitter followers, Taylor Swift has 67M, Rihanna has 53M, and Adele, essentially without even trying, has 24M. Roughly half of the 100 most-followed accounts on Twitter are artists, and the technology is now in place for artists to commercialize their follower relationships by selling songs, tickets, and T-shirts directly on these platforms. Twitter led this effort; others followed suit. Its the fastest way to remodel the entire music industry. Any artist who pined for more control over the distribution of their art, as well as the artist-fan covenant, have the powers at their disposal to take command.

Which brings us back to what we learned this week, and this yearthat the biggest artists (including these stellar women who showed their might) have real leverage and real power right now. If they wanted, they could change a sedentary, broken industry. Conventional wisdom is that Adele is an outlier, capable of holding out for her own good but not much more. What if Adele, Taylor, and other elite artists united to force progress for all? Athletes in major sports leagues banded together. Actors held their own. So did screenwriters, directors, producers, and show runners. Music seems to be the only branch of entertainment where the collective voice of creators is mute.

The underlying driver of this silence is artist fragmentation. It is the key environmental factor upon which the 20th century music business was constructed: allow rare stars to extract their pound, but keep the bulk of the talent uncoordinated. Beyond the occasional telethon, its rare to find examples of artists working collaboratively for a cause at scale. Why is that? The leading culprit is that artists have traditionally outsourced a lot of their business decisions to their managers. Now that the time travelled from anonymity to stardom has shrunk to mere months, and artist-as-entrepreneur is a near requirement for success, the role of the artist manager has taken on increasing importance.

Sadly, management remains as fragmented and cutthroat as the days when Colonel Tom Parker was shepherding Elvis. In many cases, the speed to stardom brings along in its slipstream a relatively unsophisticated crew of hangers-on surrounding the artist. Cousins, classmates, boyfriends and the like, with little to no experience become entrusted with decisions that can impact decades of an artists revenue streams. Because most managers are paid on a percentage of the artists revenue streams, near-term money is usually prioritized ahead of long-term career value for an artist. Partnership and collaboration gets lost in fears and insecurities about acts being stolen away by other managers. Even the more sophisticated and professional managers suffer from the epidemic of the shark tank. Irving Azoff (Front Line Management) and Coran Capshaw (Red Light Management) are the two managers who have assembled artist management companies with meaningful scale. Ive apprenticed for them both, and they are excellent at what they do. But competition for the artists they manage (or would like to) remains high, and for their own business self-survival they are perpetually on alert. They do not operate in an ecosystem that fosters cooperation.

Music seems to be the only branch of entertainment where the collective voice of creators is mute.

Even the law works against artist representatives working together. California passed a law in 1978 called the Talent Agency Act that effectively says a person cannot be a manager and also book an artists tour. In practice, artists must carry both a manager and an agent, fragmenting the power of decision-making (and also the artists income). Entire cottage industries have been built on this church-state separation. Alliances are routinely built and broken between agencies and managers, further fueling the lustful competition and mistrust between artist representatives. One can surmise this is generally the scene that inspired the late Hunter S. Thompson quote: The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. Theres also a negative side.

Yet the opportunity for artists in the music business today is wonderfully beyond what even Thompson could have imagined (or hallucinated). And so it rests, finally, on the shoulders of artistsand the biggest ones, at thatto wrest control of this shallow trench of an industry away from those who have kept it in a state of morass, and give it depth. All that stands in the way of advancing the industry forward is overcoming the fragmentation within the artist community today.

And thats why Adeles eye-popping success last week is so confounding. Why, exactly, did she show her strength? The cynic will tell you it was for the money. But just as she could care less about what you think of her weight (somehow I dont expect the press to repeatedly address Chris Martins post-breakup body fat when the Coldplay album drops this week), she seems unmoved by the chance to make a few extra pounds. Which leads to the conclusion that like the rest of us, she falls somewhere on the scale between competitive and vain: She withheld her music from streaming services explicitly in search of setting a mark that none of her peers or predecessors ever did.

Having vanquished them now, will she flex her muscle for more than just the charts? She seemingly has willing partners in this effortin Taylor Swift and many of her now powerful female counterparts, as well as popular artists like Jay Z who have made recent business strides around artist empowerment. In so many ways, Adeles sales figures are less about her, and more a reflection of the continually crescendoing role of music in peoples lives.

In spite of all its dysfunction and fan neglect, our follower graphs on social networks hint that our accelerating interconnectivity is still threaded together most tightly by music. By following suit and binding together in this moment, Adele and the artist community can move the business and experience of music forward for all of us. As the Beatles knew: Come together, right now. Records are made to be broken. Adele and her peers have the chance to be indelible.

Nathan Hubbard is a former touring and recording artist, former CEO of Ticketmaster, and current head of commerce at Twitter. A version of this story was originally published on Medium and has been reprinted with permission.

Screengrab via AdeleVEVO/YouTube

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/can-adele-fix-the-broken-music-industry/

[lostamongsunflowers-blog]

Unusual Asks. Stolen.

Unusual Asks

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? Spotify

is your room messy or clean? Clean

what color are your eyes? Grey Blue

do you like your name? why? Yes. It’s different.

what is your relationship status? Single yet complicated.

describe your personality in 3 words or less Comedic, Random, Kind.

what color hair do you have? Currently dirty blonde but I change hair colors nearly every season.

what kind of car do you drive? color? Blue 1999 Jeep Cherokee. But I’m fixing up a 1978 Trans Am with my dad to drive.

where do you shop? Malls and online.

how would you describe your style? Bold and confident.

favorite social media account My finsta. You’re lucky if you ever get the chance to follow it.

what size bed do you have? Whatever the small ass dorm bed sizes are.

any siblings? One. And I’m super protective of her.

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? I’m a nomad at heart. I hope to travel and not stay in one place too long.

favorite snapchat filter? The dog filter. Don’t judge me.

favorite makeup brand(s) Tarte, Too Faced, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Jeffree Star

how many times a week do you shower? 5

favorite tv show? American Horror Story

shoe size? 8.5

how tall are you? 5′6

sandals or sneakers? Sandals!!!

do you go to the gym? Every few days

describe your dream date Sitting on a roof, sipping on Crown and Coke, watching the stars gleam in the moonlight.

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? None. I use my debit card.

what color socks are you wearing? White with little green cacti on them

how many pillows do you sleep with? 3-4

do you have a job? what do you do? I have an on campus job dealing with the public.

how many friends do you have? Many, yet only a few best friends.

whats the worst thing you have ever done? Told a lie; that I loved someone. And then slept with someone else an hour later.

whats your favorite candle scent? Yankee Candle’s ‘Midsummer’s Night’

3 favorite boy names Daerek, Darius, Cthulhu

3 favorite girl names HIraeth, Anastasia, Katerina

favorite actor? Benjamin Stone, although he is not as active anymore

favorite actress? Jennifer Lawrence. Hands down.

who is your celebrity crush? BEYONCÉ KNOWLES CARTER

favorite movie? The Prince and Me

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I’m not an avid reader, but Stephen King’s “Tout Est Fatal” is my current fav.

money or brains? Brains. Brains generate money eventually.

do you have a nickname? what is it? Nope

how many times have you been to the hospital? Two in the past year. Overnight once.

top 10 favorite songs Here we go: 1. Good Girls - Niykee Heaton; 2: Gods and Monsters - Lana Del Rey; 3: Partition - Beyoncé; 4: Praying - Kesha; 5: Bodak Yellow - Cardi B; 6: Havana - Camilla Cabello; 7: I Have Questions - Camilla Cabello; 8: Lost boy - Ruth B; 9: Video Games - Lana Del Rey; 10: Serial Killers - Lana Del Rey.

do you take any medications daily? Nah

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) Oily af.

what is your biggest fear? I fear that I won’t be good enough.

how many kids do you want? 7 if we are talking about goats; 0 if we are talking about gross ass human children.

whats your go to hair style? Blow dry; Some hair product; wavy

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) Medium

who is your role model? Niykee Heaton

what was the last compliment you received? ‘You looked beautiful today’

what was the last text you sent? “Yeah why”

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? He’s not... real??! ....Jk Probably around 8

what is your dream car? 2002 Corvette Z06.

opinion on smoking? Gross ew

do you go to college? Yes

what is your dream job? Working in my pjs from home, coding.

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? Suburbs.

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? Yes.

do you have freckles? Yes; a few on my nose and beauty marks all over my cheeks.

do you smile for pictures? No- I prefer the fierce look.

how many pictures do you have on your phone? 1271

have you ever peed in the woods? Yes

do you still watch cartoons? YES

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? McDonalds.

Favorite dipping sauce? Ranch

what do you wear to bed? Clothes. If I go to bed early, like 12am - usually pjs. If any later than that, I just wear what I have on.

have you ever won a spelling bee? We didn’t have those in my small town.

what are your hobbies? Drinking myself unconscious, studying, hanging with friends.

can you draw? Yes. Above average; not amazing.

do you play an instrument? Yes. I play the fiddle.

what was the last concert you saw? Taylor Swift.

tea or coffee? Coffee.

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Starbucks. I don’t mess with that Dunkin Donuts trash.

do you want to get married? Sure.. in a good ten years.

what is your crush’s first and last initial? Don’t have one. Boys are overrated. Love doesn’t exist.

are you going to change your last name when you get married? Sure.

what color looks best on you? Red or purple.

do you miss anyone right now? My cat, Cookie Dough. It’s hard to cope with college without her.

do you sleep with your door open or closed? Closed.

do you believe in ghosts? Yes

what is your biggest pet peeve? People that take fuCKING FOUR HOURS TO TEXT BACK WHEN THEY ARENT EVEN FUCKING BUSY.

last person you called`My mom.

favorite ice cream flavor? Oreo.

regular oreos or golden oreos? Double stuffed.

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? Who needs that sprinkle shit. You can’t even taste it.

what shirt are you wearing? A comfortable blue one with a boob pocket.

what is your phone background? A prom picture with my besties.

are you outgoing or shy? Outgoing.

do you like it when people play with your hair? Only when it’s pulled.. if you know what I mean...

do you like your neighbors? NO THEY ARE SO LOUD OMG

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? I should, and sometimes do in the morning.

have you ever been high? No

have you ever been drunk? On many horrible occasions.

last thing you ate? Ben & Jerry’s . I promise I’m not sad. Maybe.

favorite lyrics right now Good Girls - Niykee Heaton.

summer or winter? Summer. Winter is cold. So is my heart. Two colds clash together.

day or night? Night.

dark, milk, or white chocolate? I don’t discriminate. All chocolates matter.

favorite month? June

what is your zodiac sign Pisces.

who was the last person you cried in front of? My mom.

[chroniclesofamiddlechild]

FEBRUARY FAVOURITES

WELPPP!!! IT HAS BEEN 5EVER SINCE I LAST BLOGGED. BUT I PROMISE, I’LL TRY TO MAKE MORE POSTS!!! so THIS IS A NEW THING THAT IM GOING TO FEATURE ON MY BLOG!!! MONTHLY FAVOURITES and REGULAR STATE OF THE UNIONS!!! if you guys know me, you should all know how OBSESSED I AM WITH YOUTUBE CULTURE AND YOUTUBERS AKA DIGITAL CONTENT CREATORS. i would LOVE to be one, but i value my privacy a lot... and i also dont like to see my face/hear my voice. ^^ #NOTINSECURE #JUSTDONTLIKEIT welp. also, if you dont know what state of the unions are - theyre based off of my 2ND FAV PRE-TEEN BOOK SERIES: THE CLIQUE by LISI HARRISON. its basically about a clique of rich girls and the leader is massie block and every week she journals a STATE OF UNION where she says whats IN and OUT for the week. LOL. if anyone is wondering, my 1st fav pre-teen book series is: THE IT GIRL by CECILY VON ZIEGESAR. WAY BETTER THAN GOSSIP GIRL!!!! but anyways, those books can be talked about in another post. THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT FEBRUARY!! W00T W00T 

so february was a short month, but a lot of things happened that im satisfied with which is great. i bought some new skincare in february, i listened to some new music, read some new things etc. but from all that, these are my some of my favourites from this month

the body shop tea tree anti-imperfection daily solution 

I AM SOOOO OBSESSED WITH THIS PRODUCT!!! its sooo good for my acne prone skin!!! i really feel like after like a few days of using it, MY SKIN HAD IMPROVED. i’ve been using it as a serum instead of my innisfree green tea serum cos that one sucks. i can feel it being absorbed into my skin and i like the smell and i just LOVE IT. i really recommend this product to EVERYONE!!!

nike flyknit racers in volt

yup.. so i have an obsession with nike, but THIS PAIR IS AMAZING FOR RUNNING. well, i dont run more than 5KM these days but theyre sooo good. theyre so light and they make my wide feet look NARROW which is great cos i HATE MY WIDE FEET. (still mad at my dad for giving me wide feet. and still mad at my grandma for giving me these wide feet genes.) but i have another pair of flyknits and they SUCK and gave me blisters. but these ones have some kind of cushion which doesnt KILL me when i walk and run. ^^

music

if you dunno me, then you dont know how OBSESSED I AM WITH MUSIC. i eat, breathe, sleep music. i just am always listening to songs and always low key humming. i really want to be in a rock band before i die. but ANYWAYS. february was an ALRIGHT TIME FOR MUSIC. i had a lot of songs on repeat. 

say you wont let go- james arthur was one of them. SOLID SONG and im really happy for james arthur who is now able to find success after winning x-factor. i used to be obsessed with x-factor back in the day cos IT BROUGHT SUCH GREAT GEMS LIKE ONE DIRECTION, but i found that a lot of the winners could never sustain their success like leona lewis, matt cardle (LIKE WHO??). but anyways, SAY YOU WON’T LET GO is such a nice song but the lyrics are LAME AF. i hate that kind of cheesy crap but the melody and his voice are soo nice. cant hate but HATE THE LYRICS. 

spring day - BTS. i know KPOP song. I LOVE KPOP AND I LIKE WHAT I LIKE. I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE THINKS. solid song!!!! the thing that i like most about kpop is that their lyrics arent lame like north american music. like omg I CANT WITH LYRICS LIKE “so baby pull me closer in the back seat of your rover that i know you cant afford blah blah blah.” like songs like that are just so dumb to me BUT THEYRE SO CATCHY. but spring day is a nice chill song. when it first came out, there was a huge snow storm in toronto, so i downloaded it on apple music (EVERYONE WITH AN IOS DEVICE - GET ON APPLE MUSIC!!! FK SPOTIFY) and then shovelled the snow for an hour as i listened. 

omg.. this part of my favourites section is SO LONG. BUT I GOTTA GOTTA GOTTA MENTION ONE LAST SONG!!!

someday - BtoB. obvi my FAV KPOP GROUP!!!!!! but legit. such a good song composed by my BTOB BIAS/KPOP BIAS/LIFE BIAS: IM HYUNSIK!!! as i listen more to the song, there are so many layers in the audio. like the strings, the drums, the guitar, the piano. like SUCH ART. i wanna learn how to create music like that. but how does one even hear these and then put it together to create a song?? I WANNA LEARN!! anyways, the lyrics of the song is art too. its a kind of sad but hopeful song about someday meeting a previous love again. and being sorry for how you acted previously. kind of a cheesy concept, but the lyrics are really good. my fav part is ilhoonie’s rap: 

Even when I’m doing well, without much thought The forgotten memories come back as a dilemma Me with you and me without you Are two entirely different people, just know that All these illusions make the musty air thicker First time first love it was really good for the first time But it became a mess, as if we were at war But some day

how can people be so good with words??? how can i put my depth into my writing and not write about such vapid things like february favourites!??!?! I WANNA LEARN!!!! 

one thing that i was kinda obsessed with in february was refinery29′s money diaries . i know.. so weird, but its kinda interesting to see how people live and how much money they make and exactly what they spend it on. because of money diaries, ive been just keeping track of my spending in my journal which is so MATURE of me~~ keke 

inari sushi

ya so i LUV THIS. AND ive recently started to make inari with my sister. so ez to make (cos we buy the seasoned bean curd) (no one got time to fry bean curd and season it). and all you gotta do is cook SHORT GRAIN RICE and make the rice vinegar and sugar seasoning. and then FILL UP DA BEAN CURD. EZ PZ. but SO BOMB. high in calories, but its okay. SOMEDAY, ill be cooler.. (lyrics) ^^ 

welp

OMG. idk why I KEEP ON SAYING THIS. WELPPPPPP. WELPPPPPP. i love it. this is the new SPICY.. but def one of my fav SLANG/MADE UP WORDS. LMFAO. WELPPPPPPP!!! WELPPPP!!! where did it even come from!??!?! i will never know. but WELPPPPP!!!!! 

and this concludes my february favourites. i know.. its a little sporadic, a little too much on the music.. but its me. im still trying to figure out how to make my bloggie a little more organized and trying to format these posts a bit better. but i just type what is on the top of my head. and this is what came out. hopefully march favourites will be BETTA. but bye february! you were nice to me~~~