#when it gets to it's been a year or two that's when it'll be time to panic

[mercurymusing]

The big long essay is good, but it misses one obvious argument against "owning a nice mug is materialist" moralizing.

Those cheap ass instant coffee granules you're spooning into your mouth on the floor of a public restroom are not really any better for the world than nice beans in a nice espresso machine in your home.

Whatever portion of that Nestlé dissolvable styrofoam is actually coffee from a plant is definitely not coming from a source concerned about the environment or labor conditions. The plastic jars you scooped your caffeine out of over the year are probably not getting meaningfully recycled, whatever corporate blameshifting says.

A nice espresso machine can be refurbished for generations. A french press or a moka pot will last as long with less work, and can also be fairly cheap.

Did you know that there are credible claims Ikea uses 1% of all lumber globally? They also keep getting caught clearcutting protected forests:

The couch you got off the curb five years ago isn't directly contributing, of course. But in 15 years, when you've gone through four sets of particle board shelves, and you've had to dump two couches that completely fell apart? What if you just bought that nice $200 desk from the antique place? It's already lasted 60 years. You can sand it down and restain it, fix the wonky drawer with $20 of hardware and an afternoon, and it'll probably outlive you.

This is Tumblr, we all know the Vime's boot theory. Buy those fancy boots because they'll survive the Camino, sure. Buy them because $200 for one pair of boots will cost less than $300 for six pairs of boots.

But also buy them because one pair of nice boots will live in your closet until you die, even if you walk through them. Because nice boots can be resoled and repaired and still be nice boots. But cheap boots will fall apart into shreds of plastic and rubber and foam until there's nothing you can do except pile them on top of all the other intractable trash a modern life produces.

You don't need new forks, sure. The stainless steel guys you swiped from the cafeteria in your twenties could last forever. But so could a slightly nicer set that brings you joy, and scrap steel is one of those things that is actually meaningfully recycled. Or you could pass them on to some other broke kid. They don't need new forks. Hell, you don't need new forks. Amazing what you can find at estate sales.

In the other direction, and to bring it back around to couches: anything you could scrounge or afford at 20 probably had an original 10 year lifespan at best. It's easier than you'd think to reupholster a couch, but only if it's a nice couch. A cheap couch is a disposable piece. The cover will wear, the foam will be destroyed, and the frame will break down. Not only are you at a point in your life where you're ready for nicer things, but anything you've held onto is probably noticeably worse than when you got it. You're tired of living with shitty things, but you're also living with shittier things than when you were grateful just to have shit.

You're sitting on a couch that you would have left on the curb, dreaming of furniture that's never been abandoned on the side of the road. It's okay to go get that furniture!

And if in 10 years time you want something even nicer? Well. Your actually nice couch is now a solidly okay beat-up couch. There are starving 20 somethings who can toss a throw blanket over the stain on the back and be thrilled to sit on that couch for another decade. You can go find the couch you'll be sitting on at 70.

I'm turning 30 this month, and for some reason have become suddenly interested in material possessions. like what if,,,,,,,,my couch was nice. what if my sheets were nice. is this what happens to you??

[makeitmingi]

When Flowers Bloom In The Dark [Chapter 25]

Genre: Romance, Mafia!AU, Violence, Angst, Slow burn

Pairing: Hongjoong x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Florist!Reader, Mafioso!Hongjoong, Mafioso!Seonghwa, Mafioso!Yunho, Mafioso!Yeosang, Mafioso!San, Mafioso!Mingi, Mafioso!Wooyoung, Mafioso!Jongho

Summary: When you appeared and wept at his mother's funeral, Hongjoong found himself wanting to find out more about you. A regular girl, who owns a flower shop in his territory and has a relationship with the mother that he hasn't spoken to in years, why hasn't he ever noticed you before?

[Warning(s): 18+ for violence, use of weapons, smoking, alcohol consumption, slight gore, gang affiliation, tattoos and character deaths. Minors DNI. This is a work of fiction and does not represent the Ateez members in real life.]

Word count: 3.2K

"Coward, coward, coward." You slammed the cushion against your forehead. As much as you deny it, you did feel bad for just wordlessly leaving the hospital. You didn't mean to run away but it was just a lot, the reality was sinking in.

Were you ready to experience those feelings on a daily? Seeing Hongjoong injured, possibly on the brink of death, or wondering if he'll come back alive.

"Maybe I should text him." You stared at the phone beside you. Hongjoong didn't call or text you after you disappeared.

*DING*

"Sorry, we're closed for lun-" You stepped out from the back room when you heard the bell ring. But you stopped in your tracks as you came face to face with Hongjoong.

"H-Hongjoong! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" The first thing you did was panic.

"I wanted to see you, (y/n). And don't worry, I didn't escape. The doctor let me go home after two more days in the hospital." He said.

Oh, right. It had been a week since you ran away from the hospital. You didn't even go into work this week, texting Yunho that you needed to take leave that day.

"You didn't come to the house on your work day... Yunho told me you informed him you needed to take a day of leave..." Hongjoong brought up, to which you nodded in confirmation. Of course you couldn't text Hongjoong directly, it would have been too obvious that you were avoiding him.

"Yeah, I was just busy with preorders so I couldn't come in. But I assured Yunho that the garden is fine." You tried to wave him off.

"You shouldn't have been at the hospital that day." Hongjoong whispered. Although he didn't mean for it to hurt, it did make your chest tighten.

"Why?" You asked.

"Because now, more than ever, you're avoiding me." He stared at you. It wasn't a question, it was the truth.

"When the call came in, I thought you were gonna die. And that... that night would have been the last time I spoke to you." You said softly, looking down as you anxiously fiddled with your fingers.

"(y/n)..." Hongjoong came closer, gently holding your chin to lift your head up to look at him.

"I don't know why... I just felt so scared." You met his eyes, feeling tears start to line your eyes and blur your vision.

"I'm sorry." He tugged you into his arms, holding you tightly. That was all he could say as guilt filled him, was this really what he wanted for you? It was selfish of him to want you in his life, knowing that you're going through such turmoil.

"Tell me whatever you're thinking about. Don't keep it in." He said. You leaned your forehead against his pec, trying to collect your thoughts on what to say.

"I... I question if I'm ready for a lifetime of that... That fear." You mumbled. Hongjoong let out a small hum.

Hongjoong's own words to Wooyoung from months ago echoed in his head. You were normal, they weren't. They were desensitised to all the bloodshed, the violence, the killing. You were not.

"I can't lie and say that you won't feel that again. I can't lie to you and tell you it'll be okay." He said.

"Mmm." You nodded.

"But I promise I'll try my best to protect you and make sure you never get hurt." His arms that were wound around your waist hugged you even tighter.

"But I'm not scared for my safety, Hongjoong. And I don't know why." You looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" He tilted his head with a small frown. You let out a soft sigh.

"When you told me everything, a part of me knew that I should have been scared. I should have cut off contact with you and the others to avoid being associated with what you do. But I wasn't. I wasn't scared of getting hurt, I was scared of you getting hurt and potentially dying." You started rambling.

"And yet, my heart hurt at the thought of not talking to you or seeing you again. I know, I'm crazy for feeling like this. I just can't rationalise it and I don't know what to do-"

You were cut off when Hongjoong cupped your face with his hands and pressed his lips against yours. You melted into the kiss.

"Don't cry." As he pulled away, he wiped a stray tear that escaped your eye.

"You're not crazy. Because I feel the same, I hate the thought of you avoiding me or never seeing you again. I know I should leave you alone, that's the only way to keep you safe." He stroked your cheek.

"No, don't leave." You shook your head, putting your hand over his own. You've just come to terms with this, you didn't want him leaving.

"I'm not going anywhere. Call me selfish, I don't care." He shook his head, pulling you in to hug you.

"It'll take me a while to get used to it... I may never get used to it." You told him.

"It's okay." That was all he could say really. Of course, Hongjoong doesn't want you to get used to it and be desensitised to such violence and horror. But at the same time, not being used to it meant that you would go through this fear and shock again.

It felt so right to you, to be here, holding onto Hongjoong. You felt his warmth and security, he was right, he did make you feel protected and safe.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left the hospital that day." You felt the need to apologise again.

"Don't." He shook his head.

"I-I should open the shop. I have some pick ups later." You stuttered, willing yourself to pull away. You were a little flustered and embarrassed as whatever just happened registered in your head.

"I can help. Just tell me what to do." Hongjoong said, finding your flustered self adorable.

"You shouldn't keep coming here to play hooky." You chuckled, going to the front to turn the sign on the door to 'OPEN'.

"I'm not playing hooky. I can do my work wherever I am." Hongjoong argued. He even lifted his iPad to show you that he did have work with him. Honestly, he just didn't want to leave you yet.

"Would you prefer to work in the backroom? It may be quieter since customers are coming." You asked. Not that you wanted to get rid of him or hide him but you were truly embarrassed by the kiss earlier. And you needed to focus on your work, you knew that he would distract you if he remained there.

"Are you trying to get rid of me already?" He teased.

"No..." You coughed, looking away. Hongjoong laughed and sat down at your work station, taking a small corner to set his iPad up.

"I promise you won't even know I'm here." He saluted with a cheeky grin. You fought the urge to roll your eyes, how can you not know that he's right there?

"Alright then. Help yourself to the tea. It's a cold brew today." You sighed in defeat and continued on with your work.

"Good afternoon." You greeted the customers that came in.

Hongjoong lifted his head to watch you work. The way you smiled as you conversed with customers, sharing your passion for the flowers and plants that you work with, he could watch it forever.

"Here you go. Thank you." You carefully handed the bouquet to the customer and she cradled it in her arms.

"Thanks!" She bowed her head before exiting the shop. You smiled and waved to her.

"Let me wrap that up for you." You helped the customer by picking out the flowers from their bins, bringing the bunch of them to the work table where Hongjoong was. He shot you a small smile and you smiled back as you worked to arrange the flowers.

"Hi? I'm here to pick up an order?" A new voice came in after the jingling of the bell at the front door.

"I'll be right with you, sir!" You said, trying to work on your current bouquet as quickly as you could. You missed the irritated frown that the customer shot you.

"Let me handle it." Hongjoong stood up, squeezing your shoulder. You opened your mouth to protest but he was already at the counter.

"Can I have your order number?" Hongjoong asked.

"Here." The customer clicked his tongue and took his phone out to show Hongjoong the order confirmation and number. He nodded and went to the fridge to find the bouquet with the tag.

"Here you go." Hongjoong placed the bouquet down, the smile disappearing from his face.

"Cash or card?" He tilted his head, staring at the customer as if challenging him to continue with his bad attitude.

"C-Card, please." The customer squeaked nervously. Hongjoong received the card and keyed in the details. After returning the card back to the customer, he was quick to take the bouquet and leave the store. Thankfully, you hadn't seen the whole exchange between Hongjoong and the customer.

"Wow, he was in a rush... Thanks for doing that." You smiled at Hongjoong.

"No problem. Any time." He smiled and patted your head, stepping aside to let you settle the payment for the customer that you were with. He returned to his corner and sat down.

"(y/n)! (y/n)! (y/n)!" There was chaos as Nana and Eve ran into your shop, surprising you.

"What's going on? Why are you shouting?" You blinked in confusion.

"We saw that expensive car out front! That means that good looking guy is here, isn't he?" Eve squealed.

"Yeah, Mrs Kim's son, right? Where is he?" Nana nodded with a teasing grin. You nodded your head slowly, lifting a hand to point at Hongjoong, who the two have not seen yet.

"Hi." He smiled and gave a friendly wave.

"Oh! Hello." The two of them bowed and waved awkwardly. You threw your head back in laughter.

"You didn't say he was right there." Nana hissed.

"The shop is so small, where else could he be? And why are you two here in the middle of the day? Don't you two have businesses to run and customers to tend to?" You put your hands on your hips. The two just laughed, obviously finding this more important than work.

"Go, go. Shoo." You turned them around and pushed them towards the door. They sent you teasing waves with mischievous grins on their faces before returning to their own shops.

"Sorry, they can be so chaotic." You apologised to Hongjoong, pouring yourself a cup of tea.

"Mm-mm, nothing to apologise for. They were the ones with you at the tracks and they helped you with the event right?" He chuckled.

"Yes but at first, they didn't recognise you from the tracks. Only from when you bumped into them when they were coming to help me with the gala event." You explained.

"It's probably because we were separated in different sections at the tracks." Hongjoong said.

"Yeah, I was in the regular section and you were in the special, VIP section." You teased with a little giggle.

"Well, next time you'll be with me in the VIP section." He wrapped an arm around your waist to hold you against his side. You thought about how much would change in your new relationship.

"Maybe. I don't think the tracks is for me, I was only there because my friends brought me." You admitted, rubbing the back of your neck. Hongjoong nodded, understanding your reservations, he knew he shouldn't rush to introduce you to his world. He would go at whatever pace you wanted.

"Okay, back to work." You smiled at him and went to the counter. You did not want to risk customers walking in to see you and Hongjoong being affectionate.

"You don't have to stay with me the entire day, you know?" You chuckled from your spot at the counter.

"I know, I just want to. Besides, I do have to go to work tonight so I'll just go to the meeting from here." He explained with a shrug.

"(y/n), don't worry about me. I'm not bored." He shook his head with a smile, knowing exactly what you were worried about. You smiled shyly and moved to sort out your order slips.

"I've been having a lot more event orders since the gala." You informed.

"That's good. It's time people recognise your talents." Hongjoong nodded with a smile of approval.

"What talents? There are so many other professional floral artists out there that are so much better than me. I'm just a regular florist." You chuckled, shaking your head.

"No, you're great at designing and arranging too. Don't downplay yourself and your talents. Yes, you're not a floral artist but you're not just a regular florist either. And I'm not just saying that because I am biased." He added.

"You saying that makes you sound even more biased." You playfully rolled your eyes.

Your conversation was cut short by some customers walking in. You greeted them and helped them with their needs, some coming for pick ups and some having plant-care questions for you.

RINGGGGGG

"I'm gonna..." He pointed to the backroom and you nodded, waving at him to go answer the call.

"What?" Hongjoong hissed, annoyed that he was being interrupted. As he listened to his men speak to him on the phone, he paced around the back room.

"Okay, just keep him there. VIP room, everything. I'll come over right away." Hongjoong sighed and hung up.

"Hwa, where are you?" Hongjoong called his second in command.

"Over at the docks trying to clear the mess up from last week. Why? What happened? Where are you?"

"I'm at (y/n)'s shop... You and whoever else is free needs to go to my main club now. I'm leaving to head over myself. There's someone there waiting for us. And no obvious weapons." Hongjoong instructed before hanging up. After sending a text to his brothers, he stood there for a second, thinking of what to do.

"Hongjoong, is everything okay?" Just as he was about to leave, you came into the backroom. Seeing the concerned frown on his face, you matched it with a worried one.

"It's fine, (y/n). Just... something came up at work so I have to go in earlier than expected." He said.

"I hope everything's okay." You looked up at him.

"It is." He assured, reaching over to hug you, giving you a kiss on the top of your head. You followed him out as he grabbed his things, walking him to the door.

"I'l see you." He smiled. You nodded with a soft smile and waved, watching him head to his car and drive off.

When Hongjoong pulled up to his main club, he saw his brothers' cars lined up at the side where the VIP entrance was.

"Hyung." Wooyoung dropped his cigarette, crushing it beneath his foot. He didn't blame the younger for being nervous, even Hongjoong felt the itch for a cigarette to calm his nerves down.

"It may be nothing, let's not freak ourselves out." He said, sending Seonghwa a look. Before they could go in, Seonghwa grasped the captain's wrist to hold him back. They were not going in without getting more information of what was ahead of them.

"I know nothing else, Hwa. My men called me, told me he was here and that he asked to see me." Hongjoong informed.

"I want everyone calm, no matter what. No losing your temper, nothing. We don't draw weapons unless they draw weapons, you hear me?" He said to his brothers.

"Yes, captain." They all agreed. With a soft sigh, Hongjoong walked into his club.

"Weapons?" Unfamiliar bodyguards stopped them as they were about to head up to the VIP booth.

"This is my club, I'm the owner so you don't make the rules nor do you get to order me around." Hongjoong said stoicly, his expression a void of any emotion.

"Sir." The two cast each other looks and bowed, letting the group of them through. Hongjoong clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"There they are!" The moment they entered the big VIP area, a suited male stood up and approached them.

"Apologies for dropping by unannounced and even more so, before your place of business opens up. But I understand you're all busy men so this seemed like the only opportunity to have our first meeting and properly introduce myself." The male grinned at them. No one in Ateez said anything.

"I still have no idea who you are, coming into my place of business." Hongjoong spoke calmly. The male's expression faltered for a mere two seconds before recovering.

"Which is why I am here to officially introduce myself. I'm Park Sunghyun, I'm the rival candidate for the next police commissioner against the current commissioner's apprentice." He held his hand out.

"Kim Hongjoong." Was all the captain said as he shook the male's hand.

"My brothers." He nodded over to the other men that stood behind him. Sunghyun sent a small smile to the others.

"To what do we owe this visit, Mr Park?" Hongjoong asked, everyone taking their seats on one side. Sunghyun noticed how Seonghwa and Hongjoong sat in the middle of everyone.

"I hope to get AURORA Corporations' support in the election. As a big enterprise, you can sway the vote." Sunghyun smiled.

"You give us too much credit." Hongjoong chuckled.

"I plan to eradicate and crack down on illegal operations and cases of corruption. With your backing, I know I can make that happen. Please know, I only extend this courtesy, Mr Kim, because you and your brothers are either with me or against me." Sunghyun spoke.

"Is that a threat?" For the first time, Seonghwa spoke, tilting his head with a smirk.

"It's only a threat if you deem it as such." Sunghyun maintained his diplomatic smile, acting innocent. But everyone could see the sinister smile and meaning behind his words.

"Well, that's all I came to do. I hope we'll have more opportunities to get to know each other." Sunghyun stood up.

"Of course." Hongjoong gave a nod, not bothering to stand up.

"I hope you'll all consider my preposition. Have a nice evening, gentlemen." Sunghyun addressed all 8 Ateez bosses before buttoning up his blazer and taking his leave.

"Hyung-" Hongjoong cut Mingi off by holding up a hand to stop him. He stood up and looked around.

"Joong?" Seonghwa called out, trying to understand what was going through his best friend's head right now.

"No opening tonight unless this entire place is swept, do you understand? Sweep for bugs, cameras, drugs, weapons, anything. I don't care how many people you need or how long it takes. I want this place swept." Hongjoong said to the manager, who had entered after Sunghyun left.

"Yes, boss." The manager scurried out of there.

"I'll get my men here." Jongho nodded and took his phone out. With technology intelligence, they were the best to find any hidden bugs or technology in the area.

"We need to be careful and alert from now on. This is a warning that there are eyes on us." Hongjoong faced his brothers.

"Yes, captain." They all replied.

~

Series masterlist

[lynnsenpai]

Big Life and Comics Update

Hey, remember that time last April when I finished Chapter 6 of MIS, and I was all like, "I'll be back to posting in May." And then it's the end of June now and I've been mostly quiet the whole time. Heck, I meant to make new character profiles for Esther, Seir, and Marchosias during this break and none of that happened either.

The super short version is that at the time the last chapter ended, depression and burnout hit me hard. On a personal level, our apartment was (and still is) in disarray after our landlord had to come in and do a ton of work on our bathroom only to have to stop partway (for honestly legit reasons). This is an ongoing thing, and due to the current heatwave, he probably won't be back to finish until next week, leaving the busted up look of everything to continue to be a source of stress. All the while, I'm worried about my elderly mother who has dementia, and my elderly father who's been having cardiac concerns. And none of this to even speak of the stress cause by the horrifying goings on in my country.

It was making me feel helplessly, perpetually tired.

I'm not going to claim everything is all better now. But I have been taking it slow for the better part of two months while I dealt with life for a bit. I was able to take a fair bit of time for me to rest and zone out as needed, and I finally took a long needed visit home to see my family. So I'm not all better, but I am… better. And I couldn't ask for more right now.

During the last few months, though, what I didn't do a lot of was draw. I contributed to a handful of collabs where I didn't want to let my friends down, and I managed some new rat doodles here and there. But I only have the cover and two pages for the next chapter and basically nothing else ready to go (although the script is done for the next two full chapters). Again, I needed that time, so ultimately, it was for the best. But this does put things in an awkward position right now, because I can't exactly say "stay tuned for new pages next week!" because I'm simply not ready, and that's just a recipe for rebooting the burnout I literally just got over.

My original plan was to finish chapters 7 and 8 to reach what I felt was a good "season finale-like" stopping point, and then take an extended break to shift focus entirely towards the final Rain book until I get it done. I also thought Chapters 7 and 8 would probably be done by now, or maybe next month the latest. I didn't anticipate the two breaks I would need in the middle of Chapter 6 or the extended one I've been taking now. So I'm thinking I want to pivot to a new approach.

My new plan is to expedite the latter. I want to prioritize focus on the last book, to give it a hint of a chance of actually finally coming out this year (it's the 15th anniversary of Rain this November, so I'd really really love to see it release this year).

I sincerely apologize for those of you chomping at the bit for more MIS. But I promise, it will return. And once I complete my previous story once and for all - for real this time - then I can go all in, with MIS finally allowed to have my full attention without an air of guilt hovering over me that I still need to do something else, and overwhelming all the time.

It may be a longer than usual wait, but I think it'll be especially worth it in the long run. The final Rain book will be better for it, and MIS will be better for it.

Here's a little visual of my girls taking turns, so they can both come back all the stronger. ^_^

Sorry again for the extended break, but thank you so much for all your love, support, and patience while I work through everything. I love you all. Please stay safe, stay happy, and stay healthy.

Until next time! 💜

[oklotea]

The Good King Megapost 🌊☀️

OKAY. HUMONGOUS RAMBLING SESSION UNDER THE CUT. IF ANY OF YOU CARE ABOUT THIS MAN. (or the evil queen lol)

first of all introductions, introductions,,, why did I decide to do any of this? Why, out of all the ever after high characters I could get fixated over, one of those special few characters include Mr King, who the amount of times he had been mentioned over the book series could be counted with a pair of hands. Why oh why, him? I've been in this cave for 5 years let me out

Well the answer is, the same that goes for every class of classics character. It's an interesting look at what came before in the eah world, and also it's just really fucking fun to explore a cast of characters who we KNOW to be doomed, whether that be in a subtle, mournful kind of way, or they're Literally in a current state of limbo and suffering as we speak and no one can save them

But I have a particular regard for GK for a few things. Mostly the precarious position he finds himself in the story of EAH.

He is Raven's father, and he played a huge part in leading her to value kindness and justice over everything else despite her destiny. He was The Evil Queen's husband, and he watched as his wife destroyed the lives of their old classmates, completely going off-script, and being unable to stop her.

What are his motives? What in the world was he thinking throughout it all? What was he thinking when he found himself betrothed to supposedly the evilest worst woman alive? What did he think when he saw the daughter he raised becoming the leader of a new revolutionary force? What did he think when he watched the two stand toe to toe?

I started asking these questions and pondering them seriously around 2022. And from the long hours I spent thinking about this man who didn't even have a face to take reference of, I've gathered a few things.

He was a good man. An earnestly good man, as it seems. It takes an immensely big heart to raise the daughter of someone who caused the kind of pain and wreckage so many people will be feeling the effects of for years to come. Especially if everyone is 100% sure that daughter will grow up to repeat the exact same things her mother did in a decade or so. And yet, he never even once believed what people said.

He's strong-willed, loyal, dedicated, and has a big heart with a lot of love inside it.

All these qualities are highlighted when you reckon with the fact that he's doing all this while being isolated on a barren and cold rocky island in the middle of a gray ocean. Like it's a punishment for loving his daughter. Or for the destiny he had no control over.

Speaking of destiny!!!!!!!! GEEHEHEEHEHHGHHRHGJH BRO WAS LITERALLY MARRIED TO THE DEVIL FROM THE BIBLE or in other words THE EVIL QUEEN FROM THE STORY BOOK OF LEGENDS

If I remember correctly, we don't get much insight on what GK thinks of EQ. We know vice versa, (EQ thinks GK is pathetic and useless 👍👍👍👍), but not the former. So a lot of his perspective is left up to interpretation. This isn't actually as hard of a task as it seems!

From how GK sees Raven, he very obviously isn't as avid of a believer in destiny as everyone else in EA at the time. He doesn't believe people are born in any inherent way. He believes people can grow to be kind, or cruel. He believes that people aren't born inherently similar or different from their parents. He believes in NUANCE is what I'm saying. This is an important thing to establish about GK's character. We gotta know where he stands on the royal rebel spectrum, and what his core beliefs are, cause it'll dictate a lot of his actions.

Perhaps some context, first. From what we could gather from Maid Marian's situation, as well as beauty and the beast's, It seems that when Royals eventually discover their destiny at a certain age, and it unfortunately belongs to a kind of fairytale that didn't fit most fairytale norms, (the princess saving the prince, a beast as a main character, a woman being allowed to be as heroic as her male counterparts etcetera, etcetera) said royal is ex-communicated from their royal families and forced to relocate somewhere else, far, far away. I believe this is what happened to GK as well.

He finds out that he's destined to be the bumbling, useless trophy husband, to the evilest villain in all the land, and immediately his family are collectively disappointed in him. Just imagine that for a second... Arrghhhh God, the grief, the heartbreak, the self loathing.....

He loses all the people he previously had in his life, and next thing you know he's marrying the mildly intimidating number 1 home evilnomics student that he hardly knew. He's seemingly backed into a dark corner, guaranteed to contain unhappiness and dread.

UNLESS he is established to be someone who believes in NUANCE and KINDNESS!!!!! That would mean a greater part of him, despite his worries, still has the decency to humanize EQ, see her as her own person, and give her the benefit of the doubt that things don't have to be so tense between them. And when you're literally severed from the rest of the world on a cold barren island with one other person, it's just the smart thing to do to establish some peace between the two of you.

So despite the bitter, venomous looks EQ had shot everyone who even glanced at her in the hallways of EAH, and despite her destiny that she will soon fulfill, and despite her generally unpleasant demeanor, GK is willing to try to build some rapport between them.

Regardless of how hard EQ's gonna make it for him.

(now here comes the part where I write literal fanfic)

To say EQ was treated unfairly growing up would be an understatement. All she's known her whole life was being the next evil queen. I think she grew up quite lukewarm about the whole thing. Numb to it, even. Until something broke at a certain point, and now all she ever feels is overwhelming anger and bloodthirst for the whole world to bow down to her rule. She feels like that might be the only thing that would make her happy... To destroy and rule the world that had molded her into this monster.

She could never put the pain into words. How it came to be. Why she believes what she believes. It's not like any of the storybook children were given words to describe these things. Now she just is.

She's been plotting world domination since the start of senior year, and so far all the pieces have been falling perfectly into place, all she needs to do now is to fulfill her destiny, be banished from the main land, and begin waiting for sleeping beauty's story to start, and then things would start to get interesting.... But she forgot to account for one tiny Itty bitty thing. Living the married life.

She's banished with some nobody with a nothing name, but worst of all is he's actually trying to be FRIENDS with her. Who does he think he is?!

And so, begins the classic journey of denial...... EQ tries to get GK off her back, GK is awfully endearing and warm and kind, and ALL these things that make EQ wanna throw up or kill herself when she thinks about it too hard, next thing you know, EQ's molded a bit of extra space in her life to fit GK in, just cause she definitely only sees him as a pest she can't wait to get rid of, and because he cooks some very good seafood dinners.

Uh oh! Now he's interrupting her evil world domination get together with her evil goblin henchmen, and she's DISMISSING THESE IMPORTANT MEETINGS????? TO HANG OUT WITH GK?????? CAUSE HE SAYS HE MISSED HER????!????

Oh dang it. Fuck. Now she's opening up to him. She's telling him she misses her friends back in the dark forest. Now they're gardening together. Now they share a bed. And whoops!!!!!!!! Now she's realizing no one will ever love her like this again!!!!!!!!! This is bad!!!!!! This is very bad!!!!!! This is not very evil of her!!!!!!!!!!

A lot of stuff happens, stuff I'm probably gonna share some other time

Like the intricacies of the relationship between these two, how they're good for each other, how they're ABSOLUTELY HORIRBLE for each other, why they're my parents, why they're my kids, why they're everything and more

But point issssssss that even though they shared some good times, and for a fleeting moment, EQ truly believed all she needed to be happy was this pathetic, useless man... She never truly lost sight of what really mattered to her.

Power. Dominance.

Not a day passes where she's not considering every single variable for her great conquest. She is still cooped up on her side of the castle, she is still plottin g. They're marriage was doomed to fail from the start, and the real tragedy is, that even though GK had hoped and prayed that it wouldn't turn out the way it would... It did. He forgot who he married. And they betrayed eachother.

Maaannnnnn I wish I could've talked more about my interpretation of GK. his flaws, his strengths, how his opinion of EQ had developed after all these years..... HIS ANGST!!!!!! THE OVERWHELMING AMOUNT OF PAIN HE HAD TO ENDURE WHEN ALL HE'S EVER BEEN WAS TRY TO BE GOOD AND KIND!!!!!!! IT WON'T CHANGE THE FACT EVERYONE SEES HIM AS A GOOD FOR NOTHING USELESS WASTE OF SPACE!!!!!!!!!! AAARHGHGHHHHHHH

Actually hold on. Maybe I can elaborate a bit. I mean, it's THIS SPECIFIC CHARACTER ASPECT that I've been microwaving in my mind for a few days now. And I suppose it would be a neat way to close this post.

*ahem*

EAH has a real knack of creating characters who represent different perspectives and experiences set in its world. It makes for a really fun story that I really enjoy!!!! Apple, the indoctrinated troubled teenage girl, EQ as someone selfishly morphing the system for their own advantage, Ashlynn and Hunter as a story of forbidden, star-crossed lovers. Etc.

What kind of story do I think GK represents as a character? What potential do I see in him?

Well, after everything that we've come to know of him, there's a particular story that I feel suits him. There's a question that his character tries to answer.

How do you be a good person in a system where kindness is so regulated, controlled, and even punished when it does not fit the right criteria of 'goodness' in said system?

Perhaps that's the question that has been haunting GK all his life. And it's not exactly a question he can answer very easily.

He is split between being submissive towards destiny, and theoretically being respected by the fairytale world, or following his heart and showing love and kindness towards the people the world had deemed undeserving of it. But the thing is, from the moment destiny had decided who he was always meant to be, he is thrown headfirst into a position that highlights the hypocrisy and superficiality of destiny.

He is the GOOD KING but he is looked down upon for showing unconditional love to people who are "inherently evil", who are only evil because the system deems them so. HE IS PUNISHED FOR IT.

GK is a rebel. That I am confident in. Even if he didn't have the words to describe it. He knows that deep down he thinks the entire system is bogus and unfair, and he just wishes this cruel world would just leave him and his little family alone, but he's just too scared for their own well being to take any direct action to change things.

But, whether he knew what he was doing or not, he was rebelling in his own way. a more meaningful way. he taught Raven to be good, and to be true to herself, which would eventually lead her to becoming the catalyst for a greater change in the world of EAH.

Siiighhhhh........ Godddddd godddddd something something you will never know the violence it took to be this gentle

I think ultimately, GK's story ends on a much more hopeful note. The most hopeful, infact! He watches his daughter make a world she and her friends could live in, a world GK wishes he could have grown up in. But now, he can finally be at peace knowing he won't have to lose Raven the same way he lost his lover. the end

regardless how you may feel about this post, thank you for getting all the way to the end!!! :DD i hope you enjoyed my enthusiasm as much as i enjoyed crafting this interpretation together.

and actually if you dislike everything i wrote here, thats fine too! cause little did you know this is all just an elaborate plot to get you to listen to my EQ/GK character playlist BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and ykw since you're already here, im also gonna advertise my artfight profile. EQ and GK are two out of three characters you can draw during July, and i hope to see yall on the battlefield!!! happy artfighting!!!!!!

[writinginatree]

Cake and Errant Boyfriends

Relationship(s): Xaden Riorson/male!reader

Summary: All Xaden wants after a long and shitty day is a moment of peace with his boyfriend, but you are nowhere to be found.

Requested by Jellybeans135 on AO3.

After a sheer endless day of Assembly meetings and dire reports received from the front, Xaden's plans for what's left of the evening are simple: grab a huge slice of chocolate cake (or whatever other chocolatey food he can scrounge up — after a day like this, he isn't picky), and lock himself in his room with you.

He doesn't even care where things go from there. A good fuck to work the frustration of the day from his body sounds nice, but he would be just as content to lay with his head on your lap and have you play with his hair. All he wants is your company, and for everyone else with all their demands and bad news to stay far, far away from him.

The kitchens are dark and empty this late in the evening, which is a relief. The cooks — most of which he's known since early childhood — are always kind, but Xaden isn't in the mood for their chatter. He doesn't turn on the lights, navigating the big room by memory and his signet. The sweet smell mixing with that of spices still hanging in the air from dinner tells him they must have baked today, and indeed — there are a few pieces of his favorite cake, along with a fruitcake and some cupcakes, right where he'd hoped to find them.

Taking two plates from the cupboard, he takes a slice of the chocolate cake for himself and something for you, before slipping from the kitchen again as silently as the shadows he wields.

To his relief, he doesn't encounter anyone on the way to the family wing, but then his luck seems to run out, because you're not in his room when he gets there. He checks the attached bathing chamber, but you aren't in there, either. Your homework sits in a neat pile on one side of the desk, so you must have come up at least briefly, but there's no note or other indication of where you might be now.

Since there's no one around to see it, Xaden lets himself pout a little. He slumps onto the bed, boots and all, and takes a frustrated bite of his cake. Might as well eat it now; there's no point in waiting for you when he has no idea what you're doing or how long it'll take until you come to bed. Besides, he needs the sugar to keep his already sour mood from spiraling further.

The cake is gone much too quickly, the sweet taste not nearly as satisfying as it would have been with you there to kiss it from his lips.

What are you up to at this hour?

After only a few minutes of sitting there staring at the wall, his restlessness gets the best of Xaden, and he decides to go looking for you. He doesn't really feel like venturing back outside the safe bubble of his room, the fortress's halls never really empty even this late into the evening, but without you beside him, he won't be able to truly relax, anyway.

He checks the gym first, thinking maybe you and your squad decided to squeeze in some extra training and lost track of time. No luck; the only people in there are a pair of first-years beating the crap out of each other, their quips and laughter clanging around the otherwise empty space.

Next, he returns to the kitchen, hoping you might have gone for a late night snack and just narrowly missed him, but it's as cold and empty as he left it.

Xaden even checks the barracks room you've been assigned to share with your squad mate, though you never use it — why would you, when Xaden's own room is so much bigger and more comfortable? Your friend only shakes his head when Xaden asks if you're there, and says he hasn't seen you since dinner.

Xaden searches all the spots he can think of, but still you're nowhere to be found. If he didn't know better, he might have thought you're hiding from him. Worry sinks its claws into his heart, but he shoves it away. If anything had happened to you, your dragon would have alerted Sgaeyl. Even so Xaden has half a mind to use his signet, bring every shadow in Riorson House and the surrounding area to life until he finds the one thrown by you, but just thinking about it exhausts him. He wants to curl up in bed with you, and he wants it now, gods damn it!

The shadows in the hallway around him flicker in response to his agitation.

Sighing inwardly, Xaden shoves his pride aside and reaches out to Sgaeyl, well aware she's been silently judging him the whole time. "Do you know where he is?"

"Yes."

"Would you just tell me? Please?"

Sensing his mood and how badly he craves your company, Sgaeyl grants him the rare mercy of doing as he asked without snide comments or reprimands for his neediness. "You will find him in the library."

The library — of course. He should have thought to check there. It's just like you to decide none of the books filling Xaden's shelves suit your mood and go out in search of more reading material at a time most people would be readying for bed.

"Thank you."

When Xaden gets there, he thinks Sgaeyl must have been mistaken. Everything is dark. But wait — there, a small light still burns in the reading corner in the far back. The shadows it casts jump to attention, instantly recognizing you and curling close.

You glance up from your book at their touch, wearing that startled expression you always get when ripped from a story you were fully absorbed in. It softens into a smile when your eyes fall on Xaden as he approaches you, the corners of his own lips lifting in response.

Reaching your side, he leans against the armchair you're curled up in and brushes his lips against yours, before asking, "What are you doing in here so late?"

The question isn't unwarranted — usually, you prefer to read in the privacy of Xaden's room, or the common space of the family wing. The library is distracting, you claim, quiet, but never entirely silent. There's always something to snag your attention — someone moving in your peripherals, the scratch of a pen or quill on paper, a book thumping over in a too-empty shelf. It's different at this late hour with no one else around, Xaden supposes, but still.

With a sheepish smile, you hold up the book in your hand, now shut with your finger between the pages at what Xaden guesses is about two hundred pages in.

"I just meant to skim the first chapter, take this back to our room if it's any good," you say. Xaden's heart swells at that word, ours. "Turns out it's a little too good. I didn't even realize how long I've been sitting here."

Xaden shakes his head, a smile tugging at his lips. "Typical."

"In my defense, it really is an excellent book. There's this battle in it, and their strategy—"

Xaden shuts you up with a kiss before you can dive into an hour long explanation. As much as he loves to listen to you ramble about your interests, he doesn't feel like sitting in this library all night.

"Let's get back to our room, and you can tell me all about it in bed," he suggests when he releases you from the kiss.

"Good idea."

You stand, grimacing because your foot has fallen asleep from sitting on it for too long. Once you're done shaking it awake, you shut off the reading light, trusting Xaden to lead you through the dim room with his signet.

"I got us cake," he informs you as you walk. "Though I already ate mine before I went looking for you."

"Oh? Who would have thought that even our big bad leader is prone to stress eating," you chuckle. "If I'd known that, I would have made sure to leave you a note to say where I am."

Xaden shakes his head, stepping ahead to open the door. "It's not like I want to monitor where you are every second of the day," he says, even though there's a part of him that certainly wouldn't mind to always know where you are. "I just... had a stressful day and really wanted to see you."

You follow him out into the hallway, catching up and throwing your arm around his shoulders with a smile. "I get it. How about I cuddle all that stress out of you while I tell you about the book, then?"

"That sounds perfect," Xaden replies with a smile of his own, pulling you closer.

[plotdesigner]

(cw: birds and bees talk, Implications of the village priest, )

Grand-Adar's lessons vary. He sends Freyja on errands within the tower, and sometimes helps her when she's practicing the many techniques her aunts and uncles have taught her by letting her practice on him or adjusting her stances, or letting her practice her languages.

"I have an accent that's even thicker than Celebrimbor or Finrod," he tells her seriously.

"I like it," Freyja says.

"You can like it all you want. You should use their pronunciations over mine."

Freyja may exaggerate Adar's lisp when she practices with Celebrimbor, just to be contrary. It'll be funny! But she can see his fingers moving along with his mouth, and she asks, "Can hand signs have a lisp?"

"They can," Adar says. "The Uruk in the mountains sign like this," and his motions grow angular, "because they spend so much time fighting the dwarves.

"And those here in the north use motions like this, because if you're wearing gloves, you need to exaggerate what your fingers are doign to be clear.

"Then in the southlands, where I was for many years, we'd use more arm motions so we could see what we were saying from a distance."

It's fascinating to watch how his motions shift. It's a huge difference from when he speaks to the other guards or the Lord - arms kept stiffly at his side, hands stilled, head bowed and blank.

"Can you teach me how to sign the northern way? I keep on signing to Bjorn so we can talk without interupting the grown ups, but our priest keeps on getting mad at me when he sees me doing it."

"He does, does he," Adar says.

"He does! So I want to sign quieter so he doesn't get mad at me."

"He's still staring at you?"

"Yes!! I wish he'd stop."

"I wish he would too."

Grand-Adar's eyes go distant. Freyja waits; this happens, and though she still hasn't been able to work out heads or tails why he'll just go quiet for a few minutes, like someone blowing out a candle, she knows he'll be back soon enough.

When the light in his eyes returns, Grand-Adar rubs his face and then stiffens his back. "Freyja, I know this is a massive change in topic, but did your parents talk to you about where Bjorn came from when he was born?"

"He was in Mama's belly," Freyja says.

"That's right. Do you know how he got there?"

Freyja considers this before shaking her head. She remembers something about a bird, and a cabbage, and great Morgoth, but nothing really solid.

Grand-Adar nods again, his fingers fluttering as they do when he's translating in his head.

"When Morgoth's army needs more soldiers, they need to grow from babies. Babies can be made using a ritual that requires two people. One of them is the forge, who grows the baby inside. The other is the smith, who puts the materials for the baby into the forge."

"Is that like a mommy and a daddy?"

"I believe so," Grand-Adar says slowly. "We - the Uruk don't raise their children like that. Since forging a baby is a lot of hard work, often the forge will need time to rest after the birth, so the creche-teachers will take care of the baby. In the creche - the nursery? The children all grow together." His fingers circle each other, as they do when he's translating in his head. "The - making of the child and the raising are done by different people."

"Why?"

"Because sometimes Morgoth commands there to be children, but not every forge or smith who makes a child wants to help raise them. Or everyone not involved with taking care of the children has to go and fight."

"Isn't that lonely?"

"No," Grand-Adar says, and the awkwardness of his translating fades as he smiles. "There are still parents raising children. There are still siblings. The ties of blood are looser than they are in the villages of Men, but they exist. I have raised many of my children and my children's children and those whose bloodlines have stretched so that I do not know their paths - but I am still their Adar, no matter what."

"Woah," Freyja says. It seems like a huge thing, to choose to be a father to so many over so many years. Adar was old, like, old!! Maybe even fifty years old! He had seen so much... "You really are old."

"I am," Adar says simply, and he picks up the wax slate and stylus he uses to make notes, starting to sketch. "Now, elves, men and Uruk all have similiar enough bodies that they can have children together, but grow at different rates, so you should ask your father about the timing of things later...."

@malkaleh @themalhambird @kenobiwaned

Freyja already knows her letters and numbers but her Uncle Celebrimbor is teaching her the ones he learned when he was Freyja’s age (he says his grandfather taught him and Freyja thinks Celebrimbors grandfather must have been amazing!) and the letters are so lovely! She loves sitting next to him at the table and having juice and sometimes they’ll sneak the honey pastries Uncle Elrond likes so much and he even makes sitting still fun!

(Her favourite story is about The Big Doggy and how he was the smartest and biggest and all the times everyone could get muddy. Uncle Finrod and Aunt Galadriel knew The Big Doggy too which Freyja thinks is nice because everyone should have doggy kisses).

But Freyja is learning elf languages! She’s learning how to sign from Grand-Adar too and she likes that just as much - they can say things quietly even if Freyja doesn’t like being quiet very much (Bjorn does but Bjorn is a baby still) but she does for this (Grand-Adar says it’s good training to look after people and Freyja wants to be that when she’s a commander!)

@kenobiwaned @themalhambird @seagull-energy @plotdesigner @nocompromise-noregrets @conundrumoftime @self-destructinganimal

[seaofreverie]

They Might Be Giants at the Roundhouse, London, 17th November 2024

Happy 35th to Flood, hooray!!!! So here's this thing that I've put together just in time for this occasion, my written record... I mean, my very lengthy and detailed review of the first and so far only TMBG show I’ve attended, on November 17th 2024 in London, so, the last show of the so-called “30th anniversary” Flood tour.

And yeah, I mean it that this thing is lengthy and mostly my personal insights on stuff but still, I wanted to share it since this was an event that I’d been anticipating for many many months, and I tried my best here to capture all the feelings this day brough and the whole magic and all the amazement surrounding it.

I’m also going to put here all of the 7 videos I took during the show, ranging in length from 7 seconds to 7 minutes. And they were taken from the front row, so the view is pretty great and something worth sharing I think!

So yep. Hope you enjoy!!

Every once in a while a day comes along in your life that feels like it’s been taken straight out of a movie. It’s hard to tell how often that happens, but probably not too often, since I can’t remember the last time it did before this. And what I mean here is that the day of my first TMBG show was pretty much nothing but moments that somehow felt just RIGHT, like everything was coming together just PERFECTLY, so that I could have the best possible experience and the best imaginable time!! Starting with my biggest wishes and hopes, down to all the extra details that I didn’t even think about previously. But anyway…

Before the show…

You’d think that I would start officially #freakingout about one of my biggest dreams in life coming true (seeing my favourite band, who are also one of my biggest special interests, in REAL LIFE, and enjoying one of their amazing live shows IN PERSON) earlier than this, but that only actually started on the evening of the day before the show. And because of that the entire next morning and afternoon felt really weird and tense in a way that I can’t really describe. But I hope you get what I mean. It’s like wow, it’s finally happening, but noooo wait hold on, I’m not ready yet…

And so my travel companions and I spent most of the day walking around Camden Town where the show was taking place, but for me that whole time was this really weird mix of feeling like I’m walking on clouds and like I’m just entirely somewhere else and also awaiting the scariest most important exam of my whole life.

We arrived by the venue sometime around 1 PM and when I saw the poster plastered on the wall that listed “An Evening With They Might Be Giants” among other acts, that was the moment when it maybe finally hit me that THIS THING WAS REAL. And maybe this is a good time to mention that the only thing left on the long list of all the things that could possibly still go wrong at this point, was managing to get a spot as close to the stage as possible, so, in the first row. And there were already two people just standing there by the venue when we got there and I actually couldn’t tell if they were already queuing up because, well, it was still so early. But I’m about 100% sure now that, in fact, they were.

Another important thing to note is that I was hoping to meet my friend at the show, who also attended the previous night’s show in Bristol, and me impatiently awaiting any sort of updates on how all of that went definitely added to all the nervousness I was feeling that whole day. And also, when I decide on something, well, I’m stubborn as hell so it HAS to go the way I planned it or I will be pretty much devastated.

But it was still super early and we had to get dinner and all that stuff so we left for now. And after some time I eventually got a message from my friend saying that NO, 5:30 will be too late for the first row, probably, and I was uhhhh, very on edge at this point. But ok. Better wait too long in the queue than regret not getting there earlier forever.

It was probably a pretty unusual sight to my brother (who I dragged along with me to the show) when I practically RAN to the venue when we were close to arriving there sometime past 4 PM. I swear I remember imagining that I’m already seeing a huge queue of people in front of me somewhere in the distance until I get closer and am relieved that no, no such thing happening, thank god. I mean, well yes, I was REALLY not even remotely chill about this whole thing guys. And yeah, it’s important to mention that I did travel over 1500 kilometers or so just for this show and nothing else. The whole trip and all the sightseeing I did in London in the days leading up to this day and afterwards was just an added bonus.

But alright, we got there. And what we were met with instead were maybe 15 or so people who were mostly scattered in small groups around the entrance. And a guy playing an accordion. Just in case I needed that extra confirmation that, yes, the gig I’m going to will be HERE and not in some other place. Yet I still had this worry as I started talking to one group of fans that waitttt, maybe they’re actually talking about some other band and I’m making a fool of myself…

But well yeah anyway, we were there, it was time to just wait for the big event now, time to be brave and use this opportunity to chat with other fans even a bit… And so I did, and despite not really having any opportunities to actually TALK in English to other people most of the time, I think I did pretty well. One thing that stuck with me the most for some reason was how these two guys were talking about how one of them doesn’t like BOOK and how that’s scandalous according to the other guy pretty much, and the other guy's statement on Synopsis For Latecomers was that whatever your opinion might be on the song, it’s still definitely a THEY song (I love that and I think about that all the time now, like man, it really is just They in a nutshell in a way).

And then my friend and their bestie arrived!! Just after we (all the people who were waiting already) decided to form some sort of actual queue. We found ourselves at the end of it, at least for now… And the remaining 2 hours of waiting for the doors to open were before us. It dragged on a bit of course but not TOO terribly, since I could catch up on all sorts of stuff with my friend, because we haven’t actually seen each other in oh, well over a year!

We talked about the Bristol show too among many other things, and I learned some important things, such as how Lie Still, Little Bottle got played already the day before, soooo… probably not much of a chance of it returning this evening (this might be like the only real thing I wish was different about this day because, AAAAHHH, THE STIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!! how I’d have loved to see that… But never say never, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be just YET!). And also how today the queue was luckily much smaller so, no being stuck in the third row this time!

Also, it started raining eventually, as it does in the UK, right, (it actually wasn’t rainy at all for most of the week I stayed there, just that day pretty much… another one of very few somewhat unfortunate things about this day) and it rained for probably close to an hour, and by god, did it get freaking FREEZING very fast. I inevitably had a huge cold for several days afterwards because of this, but well, what even is this sort of sacrifice, when in exchange you get the best possible concert experience. Because yeah, it definitely paid off to get there early, the queue never got SUPER long but still, wouldn’t have ended up where we did if it weren’t for that long wait.

And maybe now I should say some more general things about the wait, which is that this whole time, when I wasn’t feeling impatient, I was really just, truly soaking it all in (and not just the rain, lol). And a crucial part of that whole wait was that the accordion guy was still playing his songs, many songs of TMBG and at least a couple of John Linnell’s State Songs. I realize now that I should have written them down right after the show, because now all I remember him playing are Erase, South Carolina and West Virginia.

One funny thing that happened was when some guy walked by our (by then) pretty long queue and seemed surprised that there were so many people waiting for something. So my friend told him that we were waiting for a show and that it was a They Might Be Giants show, but what did he actually hear??

The guy: …Michael Jackson? But he’s dead!

So I guess that English speakers will also get the band's name terribly wrong sometimes, not just every vinyl vendor I’ve ever talked to back at home, lol. But yeah, he eventually got the name right but still, it’s really funny to think about… There May Be Giants, Michael Jackson… it’s all the same thing.

But alright, the last few minutes were drawing near… And then, at long last, we were in! And I guess I was so caught up in the moment (and also the fact that the security guy had a bit of an issue with my metal pins that I put on my jacket without really thinking about this possibly being a problem, oops) that I almost screwed up big time in a way because hey, we’re in, you’re free to go now, get your spot by the stage as fast as possible!! And so I got myself together, followed the example of my friend, and did that.

And ok, all in all, this was absolutely surreal to me. Only the very first of the many biggest this CANNOT be real moments of the night. Realizing that wow, we’re actually here… Nothing went terribly wrong in the end, we travelled all this way just to get here and here we are. And we’re in the first row!! OH MY GOD!! The folks who were ahead of us in the queue lined up by the left side and the middle of the stage, so we ended up to the right of Linnell’s keyboard and right in front of Marty’s drumkit. So we still had a very good viewing point if you ask me!

And I could NOT believe how close we were, the stage and all the instruments were SO CLOSE!!! This was actually my first time being in the pit at a concert, I’ve only ever known the balcony view… Meanwhile here they were, the legendary Main Squeeze in the REAL WORLD, the jackalope thingy on the drum kit that says They Might Be Giants… The pre-show music was blaring, everyone else was getting excited and I was suddenly HIT by all of it and how unbelievable and amazing and perfect it was and I was so so close to just crying right there because of it all…

But well, I collected myself and faced the fact that there was still at least an hour of waiting ahead of us (turned out to be an hour and a half, because the doors opened earlier than originally scheduled, but the show didn’t start until the original 8 PM anyway). But at least we were inside now, so no more freezing! And we could actually even sit down for a while finally (not that anyone besides me or my two friends did that from what I could tell, for once I managed to not care about how I appear to others and do what’s considered “normal” and it’s so great and important and such a big part of why this was such a wonderful evening in the end).

I also need to say that wow, Flansburgh’s intermission playlist really is so good. Not gonna lie that I was really excited for this part of the show as well, and I even had some very satisfying moments of recognizing a song or two and telling my friends about it (Funkadelic’s Can You Get To That will have a very special association for me now because that’s what was playing when we first got there). Some other memorable moments include when crew members were milling around the stage, and I’m pretty sure that none other than Stan Harrison walked in for a moment too?? Because those moments also served as constant reminders that THE GUYS will be here too, so soon…

Show time!!!

Set 1

Alright, time for what we all actually came here for. Time for the show. The lights went down for a moment, there were moderate amounts of screaming that made me feel like I’m back on a school trip visiting a theatre with other kids, who start screaming the moment it gets dark right before the play starts. But this time I was (even if just mentally) screaming along.

The recording of the song They Might Be Giants started playing, we watched a short animation on that huge screen at the back of the stage, and then, the scariest and most unexpected thing happened. The whole band walked in and after a couple seconds launched right into Synopsis For Latecomers. And I’m saying this kind of as a joke but actually though, can we agree that the emotion that comes with the first time you see *your band* in the real world is just something else completely and kind of impossible to describe. Because in a way it’s also just so funny: you arrived here specifically with the intention of seeing these guys and then, when that actually happens, it feels like the most shocking event of your entire life. A little MIND ERROR moment, wait hold up kind of moment, or even… a Brain Problem Situation, if you will.

But ok, I also need to admit that it didn’t help when I got distracted over the fact that less than half a minute into the song, someone from the crew walked onto the stage to fix something about Danny’s guitar. And with all that stuff put together I was only half aware of what was even happening and being played most of the time, and like a second passed before we got to the horns part of the song, and the horns entered the stage (accompanied by cheering from everyone). And it was all just. Happening. Right in front of me. Like it’s nothing and no big deal at all.

But anyway. While I’m still on the topic of this song I need to say that out of all songs played this one still stuck with me probably the most in a sense. Because days after the show I could still hear it still playing in my mind aaaaaaaall. the. damn. time. So all in all, this was definitely a total BLAST of a first impression. This is an amazing live song, and a 10/10 show opener, which I think is also fully supported by my reaction to it, as documented here. And the horns!!! The horns, ladies and gentlemen!!!

After the first song we got greetings and an introduction from Flansburgh, who said that this was the last show of the run of Flood shows… and that they had to figure out a way to include all songs from Flood in the show. So what got played next was the obligatory Particle Man, something that I found myself being all sort of like “alright, of course…” about at first... I mean… it is funny and don’t get me wrong, this song is great live, and I loved the whole “Triangle Man, take off for the planet, for the planet VENUS!” bit of course (oh it was really really great and GRAND and loud), but I guess this also shows how very quickly I got into this whole spirit of a regular TMBG show goer of sorts, who already sort of resents one of the most played songs… even before actually hearing it.

Next up was Meet James Ensor and here’s another really funny thing: how surprisingly hard it can be to identify the song that’s being played during a show. You know them all and know all the lyrics, and yet you aren’t aware of what you’re actually singing??? *HOW* does that work!! Because the whole time I thought it was actually James K. Polk, later I couldn’t remember which of the two it was actually… And I only realized which song this actually was on the next day, when a random bit of conversation reminded me that yes, those were the lyrics of Ensor that I was singing yesterday.

However, you must forgive me for these follies, because it’s hard to think clearly when you have to catch up with the fact that without pause, the next thing played is The Famous Polka. It’s like oh my god it’s actually THE Famous Polka. The infamous Famous Polka stage collapse incident (so, the first thing that comes to mind concerning this song, to me) aside, another notable thing about this song is that it’s SUCH a blast of energy live. I want to say that around this point of the show I started really getting into it and singing along and stuff (well, not singing yet on THIS song) and I’ll add some more general thoughts of this nature at the end of the post but by god, is the pure energy and excitement of a TMBG show impossible to convey in any recording. I think you just really have to be there to really understand what it’s all about. And a song like this one might be one of the finest examples of that.

And now, for something completely different… Moonbeam Rays! Lovely song that mostly helped me get into the mood of how beautiful this whole moment was, you know… I might be wrong about when exactly that was, but I got seriously close to crying once more during the show, and it’d be probably a fair guess to say that it was sometime during this song. And afterwards, we got some more insights from Flansburgh.

JF: This is the last show of the Flood show thing. (audience makes a sad “oooooh” sound) Yeah, it’s a little bit sad… it’s a little bit *excellent!* (audience laughs)

And then the Johns started talking about how they “started doing this pre-pandemic…” And it delighted me SO MUCH that they pointed this out because I could never get over how the Flood anniversary tour started when the album turned 30, and at the time of the last show of the tour it was two months away from turning 35!!

JF: It’s taken more years to celebrate the anniversary of Flood than it took to *make* Flood.

But as Flansburgh said, it was time to move on to some other, less popular things… And also he shared with us that he walked through a beautiful part of London today, wondering how it would feel to have enough money to “belong there”. Linnell said that he was resting up for the big flight, and that he was actually resting up for it RIGHT NOW.

JF: There’s nothing John Linnell likes more than a *paid rehearsal*.

JL: It’s a sweet ride… When you get to be *this* age…

JF: Nothing matters at all.

JL: Every day above ground is beautiful.

If you ask me, that last sentence deserves to be immortalized as one of the most iconic stage banter moments, and in a way it already has, because it inspired this wonderful piece of art, and who knows what else.

The following songs were Letterbox (and a short break from singing from me, because that song is already impossible to follow with, and then you add all the excitement of the moment and it’s impossible impossible) and Twisting!!! This started a long series of songs where the moment it starts I get super excited because I KNOW this song is a huge deal and a favourite but it takes me at least a couple of seconds to get to WHY this is a huge moment… through remembering and recognizing the song. And AAHHHH this song was so amazing, the bridgeeee, and then also the extra outro with the guitar solo and all, the energy!!! God, it truly is incomparable. And I totally didn’t expect that outro so that made it all an even better time.

And so we were well into the Flood songs segment, because next up was another of my top favourites from the album, Someone Keeps Moving My Chair! And another wonderful sing-along moment, but honestly, which of all these songs was not… (other than Letterbox, but that was just because of my lack of practice with that one). Chanting the title of this song, especially that one penultimate, elongated CHAAAAAAIIIIIIIR, kind of healed something in me I think.

After that was done, the Johns gave us some more insights into the performer’s life and all the things that they’ll never get used to, such as crowds that continue beyond your line of sight.

JF: …So you sort of think like: “I gotta get these people going, I gotta rock these people…” And then it’s like: (said in a silly, high-pitched voice) “But there’s no end!...”

Flansburgh remarked on the special challenge that they had come across this time, which was that we were all in a circular room, which is exciting, but means that people continue past where the stage is…

JF: I hope you guys got your tickets on Stubhub or something. I mean, can you even see us? I can barely see *you*. In a hockey match this would be unacceptable.

Another thing that Linnell would never get used to was when there’s a huge crowd of people, all of them happy and singing along, but then there’s one guy “who’s got this sort of Charles Manson expression”. This one really made ALL the people laugh. The Charles Manson guy included I hope.

JL: Never got used to that! For some reason.

JF: Tomorrow: Get. Linnell.

(JL pretends to be writing something down)

JL (addressing the audience): Not to put any ideas in your mind…

But moving on, as I said it was more Flood time indeed, with Whistling In The Dark. Me calling each single song amazing and a blast and so much fun is probably already getting a bit repetitive by now, so one special point of interest with this one and its live version is when near the end we get this little vocals only moment and then the horns come in again, then joined by everything else with such fanfare… simply triumphant.

Also, maybe this is a good moment to say that man, on one hand thinking about this show and how I’m going to hear THE ACCORDION was always a huge deal, but even then, I wasn’t prepared for how cool the accordion really is in person. It sounds kind of different from what I’m used to from recordings, and definitely makes a heck of a great impression all in all. One could wonder why it’s not more popular in rock music, because really, just how amazing is it?? And it can create all sorts of moods.. which is something I’m just about to get into properly too. Also, speaking of horns, Flansburgh gave a special shout out to the horns at this point, and began to introduce the next song.

JF: This next song is called The D-... uh, I forgot what it’s called, but… (JL laughs)

Even if it weren’t for this slip-up with the name, I already could tell from how Flansburgh went back to talk about how this was a song put together by Stan Harrison and introduced all the guys individually… That *IT* was in fact happening, one of my biggest hopes when it comes to songs I wanted to hear in person the most. The Darlings Of Lumberland - THE horns song to beat them all. And at this point I had to get my camera ready and start recording because well, this would definitely be one of the most preservation-worthy and outstanding moments of the show.

I was not mistaken of course, the way all the instruments complement each other here, most importantly the horns and the accordion, is something beautiful. This is one of the best examples of how the studio version just sounds so WEIRD to me now, even though it’s been my big favorite for a long time in that form as well. All in all a hypnotising moment, and coming back to my earlier question, maybe THIS was the only other song that you don’t really sing along to, because you have to just. Take it all in. Soooo much going on. And yes, no less important, THE CHOREOGRAPHY - *EVERYONE* did the hand thing!!! So you know, another good reason to have this one specifically caught on film.

Anyway, I was going to put my phone down for the time being but THEN... could it be, another of my top wished-for songs?? Cause yeah, without a pause we got the one and only screaming introduction to Let Me Tell You About My Operation from Flansburgh and oh boy, is this yet another song I could talk for many minutes about. First of all, I had very very high hopes for one of, what I think is often referred to as, Flansburgh showman moments. So, songs such as this one, Lie Still, Little Bottle, She’s Actual Size, and a couple others.

This song is a whole new story live, alright. Again, you have to be there to really get what it’s all about I think. JF’s energy is very infectious and awesome here to put it just mildly, and the horns add a whole lot, the whole song is just one big moment of old-timey big band-style musical bliss. And then there is also time to shine for all the other guys in the band, with awesome solos from Dan and Marty (ok, it appears that there was no special Danny time though?? Sad), AND the horns on the horns. Also Linnell doing this sort of thing on the keyboard where he plays all the notes quickly, sort of sliding down or up all the keys… Ok, I looked it up, I think that’s called glissando? So yeah, that also stuck in my head especially, because it was so fun. One of the top 5 moments of the show, without a doubt.

And now, alright, When Will You Die? is not a song that ever struck me as much of a favourite, besides being a very outstandingly hilarious and real song when it comes to lyrics of course, but I can’t lie and say that I wasn’t very happy to hear this one too. Singing these lyrics in a room full of hundreds of people who did the same was an incredibly grand moment, ok.

And then… then we were met with the haunting sounds of the intro of Road Movie To Berlin. A song that’s still, even after dozens of relistens, a whole experience each time I hear it when listening to Flood, and, as you might expect, it’s even more of an experience live. And I’m of course mostly talking about this whole sort of breakdown section near the end, but just the whole entire thing really hits anyway.

So when it started I definitely had a little moment of “oh shit, here we go, THE moment is here…”. Something akin to this happened over and over during the whole show obviously, but still, I feel like it was especially big here. Another thing is how later my friend laughed that they once again felt like they were the only person singing the secret third verse. Well, at least one more person did (me). Anyway, all in all it was just, magical, truly.

So, uh. Now, enjoy some top-notch banter that followed.

JL: So, uh, what’s going on here.

JF: We’re in London, John.

JL: We’re in London, we’re doing songs from Flood.

JF: We’re in yet another circular building.

JL: Right.

(a moment of silence)

JF: We’re doing songs from Flood. This is one of them.

(some people in the audience make clearly audible “wooo” noises)

JL: We get to woo.

(people laugh and woo even louder)

JL: There’s this thing in Britain where people get creative with the interactive thing. And it’s kind of good and it’s kind of, like… it worries us. The drunken part of it. It’s a problem.

(someone in the audience laughs in a very pronounced drunken manner)

Ok, Women And Men, that was the next song. Not much to say about this one to be honest, or like, anything at all really. And then more Flood, in the form of Your Racist Friend, which totally rocked, and we, I mean WE specifically, had the pleasure of standing where we could enjoy how Jordan Katz played his trumpet solo right in front of us. Honestly, this was kind of the only major downside of standing where we stood, that the horns were kind of hidden from our view for the most part… So this was a GRAND moment.

I have found that no matter how many times I watch recordings of it, the way Stellub gets introduced at these shows is always extremely funny to me, so here’s, like, almost all of how that went this time.

JF: Folks, we’ve got a very special treat for you right now. When we first embarked on doing these Flood shows, we thought: what can we do to make the show a little more challenging, a little more of… an endurance test. So we thought, we’ll take the time out to learn a song *sonically in reverse*...

(a long pause prompting audience laughter)

JF: …present it to the crowd… who might not enjoy that. (audience laughs) But then, we’re going to record it, on our very special fancy video recording machine, and we’re going to reverse the tape, and present it to you at the top of the second set, which will be… *pure entertainment*.

(audience laughs and woos. claps, also)

JF: …so think of the next two and a half minutes as a *musical investment in your future* (audience, well, laughs). If you brought friends here, we understand; they might be looking at you, going: “WHY?” (audience laughs some more) “Why this, why now? Life is complicated enough, why do bands *insist* on performing songs in reverse?”. But I can assure you, it’s a huge payoff. Especially if the machine works.

At this point I should give a shoutout to my uninitiated brother, who is not a fan of TMBG and whom I sort of dragged along with me here, although well, he did agree to this whole thing (besides the standing in the rain for two hours. He says that’s the part that he didn’t need to experience but well, what could *I* possibly do about that). Because he told me later that yes, the song in reverse thing was pretty cool. Well, I guess I could say as much anyway from how he definitely seemed very amused by Flansburgh’s introduction. But he also told me that if they didn’t say anything about this song being played in reverse, he wouldn’t even be able to tell, because it didn’t sound all that different from all the other songs. So I guess that answers my question of how newcomers may perceive TMBG’s lyrics, in a way. At least in the live show environment. It must be a lot to take in at once.

But anyway, the Johns joked about this whole thing some more (and how the screen was unusually huge for them and had this whole sort of 70s delay effect) and Linnell informed us that he would kick one of his shoes off at the end of the song and that we would also see THAT backwards.

JL: It’s just gonna be CRAZY! It’s gonna look… can’t even describe it.

JF (in silly gruff voice): Tonight! On video tape!

So, Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love. You know, it’s just yet another of those things where I’ve been awaiting THIS MOMENT, IN REAL LIFE for so long. Very fun and at this point I sometimes even feel like I might be more familiar with the reversed sound of this song than the original… Like, it comes to mind more often. “stiiiiillub rah-fahs”, “stosh-nog, stosh-lut-sip” and similar phrases followed me around for days after the show. And I love how expressive the Johns are during this song, it’s just this whole theatricality of it that makes it very funny and awesome.

My favourite moment was when, in spirit of, well, all of this being performed in reverse, Marty also did the counting down to the start of the song with his drumsticks, but at the end. I read later that Linnell also used to sometimes instruct the audience to applaud before they start playing the song and damn, I wish he still did that because that's just hilarious.

And could this really be… the last song of the first set already - Brontosaurus. One thing about this song is that I used to not care about it much, until I saw a recording of their first live performance of it all the way back sometime around the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023, when I just about cried from the wonder of it all. This song is just a whole new thing live, in huge part thanks to the horns of course. Cathartic maybe is the right word for it. One of those songs that I could be pretty much 100% sure I would hear on this day but even despite that, when it actually came to it… Very very beautiful moment. Maybe this is when I almost cried again actually? Well, there were many contenders.

Set 2

So as you just read here, there was an abundance of stuff in the first set already that had me all like “this is the BEST!!!”, yet… We had this little moment of doubt with my friend, because: a) they were hoping to still hear at least a couple of songs that they didn’t already hear the previous night, b) I, having “analyzed” the setlists from this leg of the tour so far, in order to assess how likely I’d be to hear some of my favs, and if there’s any logic to how they change from night to night, decided that there’s two main setlist that the band alternates between. But based on the first half of the show so far it seemed to me like this was going to be a very similar set of songs to last night’s, and out of those two variants, the one I was hoping for less than the other… It was mostly them playing Darlings today once again that made me think this.

And all in all in my head it was like, well, I’ll probably get either the show with Darlings & Lie Still, Little Bottle (+the STICK!!!) OR the show with lots of miscellaneous songs that were very high on my wishlist. So, in either case I’d be happy, but maybe a bit more happy if we got the second option here…

Anyway. What I’m saying is that, keeping all of the above in mind, and how my expectations for the second set were shaped by that… I really can’t overstate how much of an UNREAL NO WAY YOU GOTTA BE JOKING THIS IS NOT ACTUALLY HAPPENING RIGHT??? time it turned out to be.

So let’s get right into why. And boy, there’s a lot. In a way this is when this show REALLY started for me, not that what was earlier wasn’t incredibly fun and amazing already but. This was just a whole different league. It’s like, I could say that earlier I felt at moments like I’m sometimes transported into some alternate dimension, and from here on it was all just, being transported into that joyous alternate dimension for the whole duration of the show. The TMBG dimension. I’ll get back to this, but being here was really just something like, a different type of existence, so different from the often bleak daily life that I’ve been way too familiar with until then.

One thing that sort of added once again to this whole “it’s all perfectly falling into place” feeling, even before the show started up again, was how I tried to pay attention to the intermission music again, and remembered from my days of watching many live show recordings in late 2022 how someone pointed out that when this one specific song plays, you can tell that the show will start in just a moment. And yeah, they were right. Girl Don’t Come started playing so I knew…

And so the second set started with the reversed recording of the Stellub performance of course (how many times have they performed it by that point? Over a hundred? But yeah, it was scarily accurate, as always), and the alternate version of Hearing Aid with this whole little animation thing, which was also a lot of fun to watch actually.

And so the band was back for the second round… with Memo To Human Resources! So I’d known for a while that this song has been a pretty oft played one recently, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any recordings of it live? And to be honest my memory of this song is really blurry, so it’s still kind of an enigmatic moment to me now, all in all I’m sure though that it must have hit the same way Moonbeam Rays or Brontosaurus did, and that might explain this whole effect it presumably had on me, heh.

And now, ok. Man, It’s So Loud In Here will never ever feel the same way to me again. Because actually nothing could have prepared me for how amazing it was live. And I didn’t even particularly anticipate this one, but when we got to it… I knew already that it was going to be a blast.

I remember thinking that this is one of those moments that you simply can’t capture in any way, you’re just fully here in the moment and you live it there and remember it forever. I was also thinking about the meaning of the song, about this classic TMBG fashion of singing this song in this huge room full of people, a song about how it’s so loud in here. And I was wondering if that’d be another of those little confusing moments for people unfamiliar with TMBG because yes, I suppose it’s pretty silly… On top of being an incredible and actually moving experience. I’m shedding a tear just thinking about it all now.

So now, more Flood time! Minimum Wage, a song that, per Linnell’s words, they’ve been playing “for 40 years”...

JL: …And we just got to the point where we all end at exactly the same time. We had so much integrity for so long… And now we’re just sleek… robots up here.

JF: Yeah, that AI showbusiness stuff. Nobody likes it - you gotta do it, you know. It’s the way people DO IT!

JL: I’ve got six fingers…. (JL demonstrates how he has six fingers, apparently)

JF: Yeah, yeah… (with emphasis) *AI*.

(long pause prompting audience laughter)

JF: It makes its own punchline!

But um, what was next on the agenda (John)? More songs from the Flood album, oh yes! Let’s give the people some more of what they want!

JL: That feisty… that album by that bunch of maverick… young… rulebreakin’... (pause) But those days are gone.

JF: Well, the one thing that remains is the barricade putting eight feet between us and the front row. That’s the important thing. The distance.

JL: And you know, it’s not for *our* protection, it’s for *yours*.

Alright, so here’s another song. Here’s another song from Flood. And that song is We Want A Rock. What I remember the most about this one is, once again, the beauty of being able to sing these “ridiculous lyrics” when everyone else is doing the same thing, when we’re all singing about how everyone wants a rock to wind a string around and about how everyone wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads but someone in this town is trying to burn the foreheads down. At some point I just couldn't help having a little laugh over the joy of it all. And also, *boom boom boom* “ooooOOOOOOH!!” *boom boom boom* “oooooOOOOOOH!!”

Then it was Marty time, starting with the drum intro and the BUZZER, for it’s time for Hot Cha! Which becomes even more of a blast with the HORNS of course, and at the very end, can you believe it, I forgot that they change the last line of the song to “please come home” live, so I was slightly taken aback by that. Yes, that’s important to mention here, somehow.

Flansburgh introduced the next song as a song from the Lincoln album and for some goddamned reason the only song I could think of at the moment that fit that criteria was Shoehorn With Teeth.

It was not Shoehorn With Teeth. It was the song that came back to live rotation earlier in 2024 during the spring US tour, but seemed to fall from it afterwards once again, which was a shame, because it’s like, probably my favourite TMBG song to be honest and its newest live rendition was absolutely breathtakingly amazing from what I’ve seen from recordings online. I’m not sure if I was aware by that point of how it miraculously returned as an encore at the show of the night before…

But still, this was like the biggest “this can’t be real actual and happening right now” moment of the night, and maybe. of my. entire life?? And it of course took me a couple of seconds to recognise the song STILL, besides the instant punch of that *feeling* that happened the second the song started. Yeah, Where Your Eyes Don’t Go, played live at my show just like I dreamed about, no big deal, everyday stuff, haha.

The song really IS freaking amazing live though. Where would we be without THE HORNS!!! And honestly I could say a bit more about this “fav song” situation, because not only is it of course among my most beloved ever songs at this moment and has been for over two years, I also remember distinctly that it was the FIRST TMBG song that I loved and couldn’t get enough of and replayed over and over, and it’s a big reason behind why I became a fan in the first place. So, the extra beauty of the significance of it all, it just blows my mind completely.

So, Lucky Ball And Chain was a short little break for collecting myself again, because obviously we were far from done with all the biggest wonders of the night still. And I’m not saying that the song wasn’t a good time, it of course was just like everything else here, so it’s safe to just assume that without me specifying each time. Lol.

But, as I said, the break was short. I would have put seeing Spy live somewhere at the top of my general life goals / bucket list thing, if I had one, that is. I had been very vocal about wanting to see THAT song in particular in discussions with my friend, so the excited glance we exchanged the moment this song started was absolutely priceless and a thing of pure wonder.

Anyway, we all know Spy. We all know that it’s one of the most often played live songs of theirs, and that the reason behind its live durability is the several minutes long improvised jam band section at the end. And I might be one of those maybe rare kinds of people who wouldn’t mind hearing it a hundred times more. It IS improvised after all, so… different each time, ha! It was also very vital to me that I get to take part in the audience participation segment of it… and this is also what was granted to me on this magical evening by whatever godlike forces exist above.

So yeah, this was yet another among the top 5 show moments of course… The biggest highlights here were when Linnell did this sort of old-timey speech (“THIS! Is the *sound* of the thirties. The sound of the SWING ERA!”) that’s probably a reference to something that I’m completely unfamiliar with so that only makes it funnier, and the whole audience conducting part from Flansburgh at the end, because man, he was having a total BLAST with this, it was such a joy to see. And we were all also having a great time, by doing our part and screaming as if we’re in hell. All I’m trying to say here is. I love hellish noise, I love cacophony. This is my perfect kind of show experience, I won’t be hearing any arguments about this.

Ok, so what was the next thing that the Johns prepared with the intent of dealing the biggest emotional damage imaginable to us? Well, remember how Last Wave had never been played live until earlier this year and then they never played it again. Guess what happened now. Well, that’s yet another of the huge and one of the earliest personal favourites of mine returning onto the setlist on the previous evening actually.

This song is. Augh. I just love how it has this sort of elegant, but emotional sound that kind of sets it apart. It’s a completely singular song to me in every sense and I always wondered why they never played it live, but now I’m just glad they finally started playing it. Gotta love yet another AMAZING trumpet solo from Jordan Katz and the Johns’ overdramatized delivery of the lyrics, it’s so much fun. And this song also provided us with some more epic Marty moments, especially the solo and the ending, both just like on the studio recording technically… So maybe that’s why they were so great to see recreated in real time too?

JF: I think we were all a little stunned by the majesty of the ending of that song.

Two days before the show I went to the Natural History Museum here in London, and that's actually very relevant here because when I saw the exhibit that was entitled “Mammals” in that museum, that was when the SONG Mammal started following me around in my mind, for like, most of the remaining time of that day. And I had the amazing realization that oh, it’s not impossible that I could hear this song this next Sunday, played live, so awesome!!

So yeah of course, they played Mammal next. And honestly I’m not even that attached to this song, I do still love it though and it’s one of those situations where I see myself become excited over songs that I feel like are big fan favourites and something that other people are probably very happy about hearing, heh. But maybe even more important yet is that this meant APOLLO 18 representation!! So special to me.

Now I’ll just say that it’s worth it avoiding spoilers sometimes. Like, show spoilers, because I guess I didn’t actually watch that much recent footage and so I had no idea about what other awesome fun stuff was just about to happen.

JF: Folks, folks… we’ve been informed by the people who work here that every single person in the audience tonight is carrying a silly little phone with them. And we'd like to take full advantage of that right now…

We were instructed by Flansburgh to get our phones and open our camera and set it to selfie mode! And then Turn Around, Turn Around, (there’s a thing there that can be found)…

JF: We can see you now and I can tell that nobody is doing what I’m talking about.

You know, so this is when you get to live that wonder of actually BEING THERE once more. And enjoy the way that specifically TMBG shows are, because I’ll be real, I can’t think of any other concert where I could see something like this happening.

JF: Everybody, spin around for just a little bit, get a selfie and we’re gonna photobomb your selfie.

JL: Which we tried to do last night and nobody was getting it!

JF (interrupting): That’s not true! On social media you’re gonna see some very good evidence that some people got together over the course of the twenty minutes we dedicated to this portion of the show.

So yeah, now I can even keep on living my life knowing that I technically have a photo with my favourite musicians in the world. Definitely not something I expected to gain after this day.

JF: We’re gonna take a lot of time doing this. This is possibly the least important thing we’ll be working on…

So that was awesome!!! BUT WAIT THERE WAS MORE!!!!!!

JF: Ok folks, this the second part of the test: see if you can find the flashlight portion of your phone - the more traditional rock portion.

That “more traditional rock portion” part must have been lost on me then, because this was still a singular moment to me (I haven’t been to many live shows before this anyway), and I could only really think of one other thing that this immediately reminded me of. I like yearning for all sorts of things, including those that are in the past now and that I never even could have had a real chance of participating in. Such as the Hollywood Bowl show in 2023, where TMBG opened for Sparks, and during the Sparks show and the song All That everyone in the audience took out their phones and there was this whole sea of lights, people swaying with their phone torches to that song. So, yes, I was NOT expecting either that I’d get to experience THIS as well. After all.

At first I wasn’t even aware that all the stage lights had been turned off for the next song, because with all those torches facing the stage it was so bright in here!! And the song that got this special treatment was Dead - very fitting I must say. The large procession waved their torches AND sang, and I can hear it on the recording of this song especially that the audience was really into the singing part. Loud and beautiful and touching to be there.

And then it was time to thank the band, since the end of the show was actually drawing closer and closer, as absurd as it may have seemed to think about… (not that there was really time to stop and think about that anyway). And I think the Johns did some sort of jab at Elektra Entertainment here, but I unfortunately couldn’t catch what they were saying, rip. Anyway, it must have been very funny I’m sure.

So what songs could possibly still be left and ahead of us now? Two more songs from Flood, here we go.

Why is the world in love again? Because it's time to be marching hand in hand and singing Theme From Flood! And once again being reminded of how WE'RE ALL HERE TOGETHER. All in all, the moment of this song, and it going right into Birdhouse In Your Soul, yes, that was just as ethereal and unreal as I imagined it would be. Even now, as I'm thinking back to it, I start to feel overwhelmed with the excitement, how I was just sort of going “YES YES YES!!!” in my head, after the “I'm your only friend” bit, when it gets kind of quiet for a second and it starts up again we're all jumping and cheering. I could only try to picture an approximation of this scene in my mind months earlier, so thinking about how this actually happened is still absolutely surreal to me. There's just nothing else like Birdhouse.

…

Damn it, I still have a bit more of the show to write about, it’s not the time for tears, brother.

I didn’t want the song to end and it almost seemed like the band didn’t either, because Linnell kept singing the “soul” at the end for several more seconds and also making it goofier still.

Encores time

End of show? No, two encores now. The encore waiting and clapping time until the band comes back on stage felt much much shorter than it always did when I watched recordings of shows. Shouldn't be surprising but everything here felt like it took 10% of the time it actually lasted.

So it was time for the most wondrous thing, a John and John only performance as a duo! This wasn't a total surprise to me, because I knew they switched up the way they play this particular song once again, on some nights at least, but I couldn't be sure that I'd be blessed enough to witness it myself too… And here it was, about to happen!!!

People were screaming Istanbul a lot. I could’ve been easily more annoyed by that, but you know what, I think this is necessary too. How could this be a REAL concert experience without a bunch of presumably drunk people shouting out the titles of songs and being annoying. Maybe if one of those people was standing close to us I'd be talking differently, but… It's part of the charm, sorry.

It was in fact Istanbul (Not Constantinople) time. I’ll be honest, if it weren’t for the duo format I would have not cared for this song any more than I did for Particle Man. But it turned out to be one of my favourite things on this show, yeah, this evening subverted so many expectations in every sense, alright.

You could argue about the significance of the duo format here because OMG, it’s just like in the old days!!!! The good old days or whatever. But no, it’s also just… I don’t know. Even to me, who obviously hasn’t known TMBG for that long, it was another of those kind of touching moments. And what made it all even better was when soon after this show, I happened to watch a video of a Flood show… from 1990. Like wow, this really is kind of just like the 1990 duo days. EXCEPT it’s much cooler now actually.

I didn’t record this song but definitely would have if our view for it was better. Well, thankfully someone else took care of that anyway. And I think that instead of me trying to describe it here, everyone should just do themselves a favour and watch it. I can't get over how beautifully unserious and funny this performance was, watching that must have been the most fun I've had in a looooong time. Again, top 5 moments of the night, maybe top 3 even.

Now, what were the funniest bits. “Peoplejustpeoplejustpeoplejust…” and the Get In The Car bit. And the “yeeeeeees”. And the “noooooo”. And the “istanbuuuuuuul…. ouuuuu…. oouuuuuu…”. You get it, right.

Can’t Keep Johnny Down was the second song of the encore and this performance is the only reason why this song suddenly became like, a literal favorite. The power of live shows! Now whenever I hear it I'm just like. OOOOOH Johnny. Save me Johnny, save me.

Linnell told us “thanks so much, you guys are great!” before they all left the stage :) And of course there was still one more song that I had to hear today. So after more clapping and cheering they were back on stage again.

JL: Yes! Thanks a million. No! Two million! (in a bit of a jokey voice) …I’ve never thanked that much before.

And you know what, I choose to believe that he meant it.

The last song of the night was Doctor Worm. I don’t know what else I can say about this song now, just that upon relistening to this whole show again I’m realizing that I could just. call this song kind of a perfect live song. Maybe I associate it with live shows more than anything else since it's not featured on any studio album and I've definitely heard it wayyyy more times in the form of live recordings than the studio version. And also maybe I lied that Synopsis haunted me the most after the show, Doctor Worm must have been even more insistent in that sense, and I had no issue with that honestly.

And so, with the last one “They call me Dooctooor WOOOOOORM!!” and a finishing BWAAAAA from the horns, the show was over.

After the show

Don’t worry, there’s much less to talk about now in terms of the after show stuff compared to before the show. Just this one important thing that, yet again, as if this wasn’t ENOUGH ALREADY…!!! We had to hang out by the stage for a bit longer still, because there’s a chance of ending up with a SETLIST. Or a drumstick. But I guess the setlist was more important.

And Marty walked over to us. And handed us the setlist. I mean, it was my friend who grabbed the setlist, but to me that was just like we all were chosen, it really didn't matter to me who actually had it. So it was a win! I really couldn’t ask for anything else by that point. I got it all.

Then we had to wait for a bit by the merch stand because lots of folks gathered there and thankfully, there was still lots of stuff to choose from! I would have loved to go a bit more crazy with this maybe, but since I still had to keep in mind having to travel back with all this stuff, flying, customs and all that… I settled for a tour shirt, because yeah, a shirt with the dates of the tour I ATTENDED printed on it? I needed that, that would do as the only physical souvenir even, no need for anything more (well, I actually did get a bit more, because the very next day I went by a random record store here in Camden Town in hopes of finding THE album somewhere in London still. and guess what I found….., but that’s a whole different story so let me just limit myself to only the day of the show in this post). The shirt is a total slay by the way, I love the burgundy color.

After we left the venue we still managed to bump into more folks going back from the concert. And like 3 different people in total who asked us about the setlist and where we arrived from, said that woooow, you deserve to have it then. Thank you people for also appreciating all the hard work that went into this.

My brother & I had a very short way back to our hotel now, so in the end it really felt like we just returned from a quick little fun event just down the street. Even though we travelled pretty far to get here, you know. So it didn't even feel like some huge endeavour or anything all that unusual, and I mean that in the best way possible.

So my day ended with my head full of thoughts and images and fragments of songs looped ad nauseam. And also with an aching back and no energy left in me to stand for even one more minute. The tiredness was very real but I must say that tired-happy might be one of the best emotions / states one could have to deal with. I hope I can do all of this again someday, because I’m actually so serious that I wouldn’t mind going to a TMBG show every other evening if I could. That’s the dream actually.

Miscellaneous T(houghts) time

Ok, I swear I’m almost done. Just a couple general / finishing observations about the show as a whole now.

● First of all, I want to come back for a bit to that TMBG dimension thing. Because this whole thing really was sort of like entering some sort of different mode of existing. The Johns are very funny guys and the whole band’s energy is extremely infectious, but I also think it’s a very special thing how their stage presence creates this whole atmosphere that’s just completely laid-back and fun in the purest form of fun. Even when there’s a big crowd and we’re in an “important” venue. Because you sort of really feel at home, like you’re exactly where you belong. And earlier I could imagine it being more like, oh the stakes are so high, because this is THE EVENT, finally. And in reality this was the most relaxed I’ve felt in a very long time. And I was almost painfully aware of how I was watching it all with sparkly eyes, hoping that it’s maybe not too obvious because waaaah, embarrassing, it’s not like I’m having the best time ever right now or anything, please.

● However, all of the above definitely had a lot to do with how the audience was at the show, and I was just really surprised by how very awesome the audience's energy was. Like I could imagine it being maybe less enthusiastic after all because uh well, maybe a lot of people actually could be here more for Flood and Birdhouse and all that rather than the actual band… Shouldn’t have underestimated this fanbase, because the audience was so responsive to everything and just made it feel even more like the explosion of joy it really was. And I really felt like I was with *my* people, and, especially when it’s a huge group like this.. that’s very rare and special to me.

● I’ve discovered that in TMBG dimension time isn’t real because I swear, when the first set was coming to a close, I felt like maybe only 20 minutes passed and we’ve only heard maybe 6 songs so far, instead of the actual. 17 songs. 17?? damn, that's a lot of songs. I actually haven’t counted them until now. And it was 33 songs in total, 36 if you add the intros and reversed Stellub, huh!

● You people weren’t lying about the Linnell stare. Actually, related to this, another worry I sort of had before this was that should I end up close to the stage, I might feel too awkward about being possibly perceived by the band in any way to truly enjoy myself. But that actually wasn’t the case at all, not counting like a couple of moments only where I’d make maybe-imaginary, maybe-real eye contact with someone from the band and have to look way fast because noooo, don’t perceive me actually, lol.

● And again, you people weren’t lying either that these guys have unbelievable amounts of energy that make you feel like an old man who can barely stand for a couple hours in comparison. This is coming from a 23-year-old, maybe not the most athletic person in the world, but still. Also, Marty really is the guy of all time, loved watching his antics. And one more special shoutout to the Tricerachops Horns, because yes, these songs I’ve loved for a while already CAN get even better and simply epic and beautiful.

All in all, best show ever! Honestly, I don’t know if any other show could possibly top this. I would be very happy to be proven wrong of course, especially if that were to happen because of another TMBG show. Thank you Johns and everyone else for this evening, it was a dream come true and I’ll never forget how out of this world and amazing it was!!

[raifuujin]

It's been more than 20 years and for some reason I feel that Gosho hasn't given Kaiao any development, how can more than 20 years pass and Aoko dynamics, relationship and feelings remain the same? At this point I feel like Gosho is just going to make them date because "they already liked each other" they remain in the same status quo

Hey, if we go by DC romance progress, they've been going too fast. We've already had suspicion of identity chapters, and that didn't happen until more than 400 chapters in DC. /j

Since heists have taken over any character development recently, I don't even know if Kaito and Aoko will even get any romantic progress. Maybe the actual identity confrontation will happen down the line, since that's thief drama, but atm, it really wouldn't surprise me if they only ask each other on a real date at the very end of the manga.

Like. I'm sure Gosho would love to make MK a love drama as well, but he writes MK so rarely, and usually as hype for something Kid related in other media. So the MK stories tend to be heavy on drama that can only take place at Kid heists. (To the point that the new chapters just. Use Kid as the plot device to show off a new character. Even Hakuba's never gotten so much 'look at this character being a detective' treatment in MK.)

-sighs- I just feel bad for MK as a series at this point. I like the characters, I like the general story idea, but. It's been going down a very steep hill with Gosho wanting things exciting, but not wanting any real progress in. Anything. But unlike old MK, the new stories aren't even nice standalone setpieces of story, they're... mundane. They could be high stakes, if you purely look at the scenarios on paper, but. We all know nothing's gonna happen to Kid. Nothing even happens to him when the actual bad guys show up, much less one-time antagonists.

We need actual character focus and development, not heist drama. Badly. Not even romance, though that'd be a nice change. Just any character expansion of our limited cast of characters. Gosho wants big, all the time, meaningless big stuff, when small would be so nice.

[broken-clover]

I have several long fics that I really want to do but it's so difficult committing to something I know will be very long and take a lot of time to do so I keep repeatedly psyching myself out before I can make any real progress

[saintlesbian]

love how my shitty health insurance chose THE perfect time to expire. just really impeccable timing

[paimt]

woag. vibeo game?

(very rough still)

(but now theres more colours)

[nach0]

testing out new shading styles with some of my mc characters - still unnamed (nicknamed narc) and yopper! click for full quality bcse tumblr hates me and as always notes in the tags

[orcelito]

Man I really hadn't gotten as far in the manga as I thought. I just finished ep 267 of shippuden and it's gearing up for the Gaara vs his dad fight, which I remember being where I dropped off in the manga. Bc I'd been keeping up with new chapters for a while, but with all the war talk... idk it just didn't capture 14 year old me that much. So I stopped keeping up.

Now, though. I find all the war tactics interesting hfkshdk it has me wanting to play a fire emblem game again. Hmmmmmm

[plantenjoyer]

I SWEAR I KEEP TRYING TO DO ART BUT THEN SOMETHING GETS IN THE WAY AND THEN I PROCRASTINATE AND THEN SIX MONTHS PASS

[marshmallowgoop]

It seems you're mixing the dub audio with remastered footage which I was planning on doing but are you actually gonna upload full episodes anywhere?

I don't share much information about the project on Tumblr, but I talk about it more on Discord!

My workbench in the DCMK Fanworks Server (join link here) has the most comprehensive and up-to-date info, but I also post updates in the Detective Conan EN Community (join link here). As of right now, I've mixed Episodes 1-71, 76-78, and 118.

That said: I would be very happy if anyone else would like to take over! I am very slow 😅

[wormwonder]

playing with circles O●°○•°o.