#//but also creating some fun summer type looks in general was a blast i really like doing that

[mechahero]

//A lot of these ended up being geared more towards summer tbh.

[idanit]

possibly underappreciated Good Omens fics I enjoyed once upon a time

Indirectly inspired by a video series about fanfiction I watched, I decided to pull together a list of Good Omens fics I have bookmarked as stories I enjoyed, but which have less than 250-300 kudos at the time I’m writing this. No particular order. They’re accompanied by short excerpts from my private fic reading notes (not originally intended to be read by anyone but me, mind), sometimes slightly edited for clarity—and, sometimes, the comments I left on the fics.

This list sat in my drafts for a long time and the recent S2 announcement reminded me of it. I’d love it if it inspired you to do something similar! Spread the love.

And mind the tags, please.

△ = general and teen ▲ = mature and explicit 

thermodynamic equilibrium ▲ 7K the author has such an ear for dialogue and is unapologetic about what they want to write the characters like. They think of the characters as a mix of TV and book canon, but they feel like a homemade blend to me. (...) It’s very funny.

such dear follies ▲ 6K I can really picture this Aziraphale—Crowley as well, but her especially. She’s rather distinct. (...) Nice writing.

The Words Were With - △ 1.2K post-Blitz vignette, Aziraphale realizes what he feels and wonders if they're human enough for this. I liked it, and I liked the tag "transhumanism, but in reverse?", too—what an interesting idea. I'd say it's a vignette in a dire need of a follow-up, but, well, there's the show. The show is the follow-up. It fits very nicely within the canon and I totally believe it could have happened, like a deleted scene.

Gossip and Good Counsel △ 19K/? I love their companionship and how they're set up to be opposites by the management even though they get on pretty well. It feels very in keeping with the canon, but I feel like the fact that it's an F/F set in this particular time period adds a meaningful layer to the situation. It's women supporting each other in the world of men, working with the personas that are created for them, but, privately, being normal, well-rounded people. (...) and of course your writing is always a pleasure to read. (...) SDHDGDHDHDG Maisie is truly an Aziraphale.

Crowley Went Down to Georgia (he was looking for a soul to steal) △ 6K This was nice. Based on a song I didn’t know. Crowley goes to a funeral in the USA, one of a fiddler he knew and lost a bet to once. (...) The fic has not one but two songs composed for it and embedded inside it and that makes it even better. I really enjoyed the experience.

The Thing With Feathers △ 18K WARLOCK you'rE HORRIBLE AND I LOVE IT I would read an entire novel-length fic just of Crowley fighting his battles with Warlock. Written like this? It would be a blast. (...) The OCs are believably characterized and well-loved by the story. (...) Everyone seems to need a friend in this house. (...) This was so fun, and at the same time, their mission has weight here (...) We wonder about what the future holds even though we know it.

Here Quiet Find △ 11K This fic aimed for my head and the aim was sure precise. It was a story of Crowley sensing Aziraphale's distress and finding him in a self-quarantined English village in the seventeenth century, tired and anxious. It's hurt/comfort, so there was washing and bedsharing and I had to love it, so I did.

outside of time △ 2K Post-Almostgeddon, (...) nicely-written, short, but strung with a soft kind of tension and unspoken words. There's no drama, just "can we really", and "do you really" of sudden freedom. They fall into being inseparable. Book canon, which I like for this story (sitting on a tarmac). I liked the footnotes. There's a mention of Eliot. All in all, very much yes.

She'asani Yisrael △ 2K It’s Crowley going through a two-hour service and drinking blessed wine. He also keeps an eye on a boy he was asked to. It’s 1946. It was pretty good, so far the best Jewish GO fic, I think, from the ones I’ve read.

To Guard The Eastern Gate △ 11K  I loved it. You really made Sodom feel lived-in; the description of Keret, Hurriya and Yassib's house and relationship were great. I got attached to both them and the city (...) Aziraphale and Crawley’s interactions were generally very entertaining. I laughed (...) Your rendering of their voices just lands so well (...) But then oh, the entire ending (...) hurt, hurt a lot, and your descriptions are so vivid.

If you’ve been waiting (for falling in love) △ 14K AAAAA a good ending line. The whole paragraph, in fact. I love a good smattering of philosophy in my fics, and this was really nice. I can get behind Thomas Aequinus's and Crowley's view on eternity. It's (...) a pretty simple fic (...) - the courage to express yourself and take a risk is awarded with winning what was at stake by the virtue of reciprocity - but the way it was intertwined with a study of how they would experience a forever was done well. 

Holy unnecessary ▲ 2.2K It's well-written. (...) this is my type of sexual humour if I have any. So subtle. Blink and you'll miss it. Lovely.

The Parting Glass △ 17K Through the ages, they're dancing around their relationship until after the Armageddoff. (...) Wow, this was really, really nice. Very simple in its concept and nothing I haven't read before, but very well-executed. (...) AAAAH I LOVED the first chapter. I always like abbeys as settings, that's a given, but the banter, the good writing, the moral ambiguity!

Name The Sky △ 33K This Crowley is different, but very intriguing. Without his sarcastic talk, and much more animalistic. (...) I love how expressive Crowley is. (...) This fic has a very nice balance of drama and levity. I don't love Crowley-before-the-Fall stories very much, but with this execution I can read about it. (...) Okay I've read Crowley offering fruits, and even Aziraphale biting fruits, but the two of them sharing the apple? Outstanding. Ingenious. What a take.

A Flame in Your Heart △ 5K post-Blitz (why are so many dance fics post-Blitz?), they go to the bookshop and have an actually believable conversation. Then they dance the gavotte. It was really nice! Believable writing, emotions, the dancing! (...) Of course it's too early for them, (...) but the author's note? yeah.

Put down the apple, Adam, and come away with me ▲ 32K At this point it's just reading original stories with characters with names and some personality traits that I recognize. (...) I really enjoy this, the careful dance, the opposition between their views. (...) This is well-written, wow. (...) it's not an easy read (...) this story feels very believably 50s, but also reaches out to the present time. 

Liebestraum ▲ 10K/? It really is like music. I'm enjoying the writing a lot. (...) oh my actual god. This, this? Wow, uh. This came for my throat. (...) THE MUSICAL COMPOSITION, THE MOTIF RETURNING, THE AUTHOR KNOWS WHERE IT'S AT (...) Excellent. This hits the right beats so precisely, (...) and with feeling, too.

Down Comforter △ 2.4K and they lay down in angeldown, a soft rug ‘neath their heads– alright. Well, Crowley lies under Aziraphale's wing on a Persian rug after the Apocalypse, and they talk (...). It was sweet.

The Corsair of Carcosa △ 5K Crowley wakes up from a nap, visits Aziraphale for some drinking, and they read The King in Yellow that he happens to own. Good writing, so I'm bought. Aziraphale mentions Beardsley, so I'm bought twice over. My god, a discussion of etheral/occult madness? Caused by some wrong/true reading? Yes.

Very Good, Omens! △ 6K It's rather well-written, well-pastiched. People don't do that too often, nowadays - try to write in the style of a particular writer. (...) I love wordplay like this.

Reviving Robin Hood: The Complicated Process of Crème Brûlée △ 30K it's well-written (...), has a rhythm to it, and quiet humour. (...) Finally some nice, good, light writing. The attention to detail! (...) I'm still reading most of it aloud, the rhythm of it compels me to. (...) okay this does sound like Pratchett&Gaiman, the Good Omens itself (...) The fic is meandering, hilarious, sensitive in all the right places, and overall lovely.

my dear acquaintance △ 1K Oh. Oh. Yes, yes! Aziraphale in Russia, Russia I've never been in, but I can feel the snow and the evening of. Very real, and the bar, too. Attention to detail - vodka flavoured with dill, what on earth? Yes. He would totally have a distinct taste in operas and he would totally complain about a subpar one. I'm glad Tchaikovsky's there.

there is a crack in everything △ 1.8K This was good! Ah. Inspired by a comment (...), I went looking for Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cortese fics—really, what a big brain moment someone had and why have I never thought to look for them? This is Crowley getting suddenly anxious and Aziraphale going out of his way, through all his layers of not-thinking and denial, to console him. I also really liked how the Arrangement is a carefully unacknowledged partnership-marriage.

Scales And Gold And Wings And Scars △ 6K  No conflict, no plot, one tiny arc like a ripple on the surface of water on a calm sunny day - of Aziraphale discovering Crowley’s scars. It's the South Downs and it's early summer. They bask and swim in a spring. Non-sexual nudity, love in the air like a scent. Nice.

Nineteen Footnotes In Search Of A Story △ 0.4K This is a Good Omens story told only through footnotes. Your mind can fill in the gaps. Fascinating (...). Also, it’s an experiment so apt for this particular fandom.

Hell on Earth △ 6.5K Oh, I loved it! How could I not love it: it's Beelzebub-centric, it's historical, it has classical painting, and even a hilarious scene with a cuneiform phrase, as if I didn't enjoy this story enough already. There are so few Beelzebub fics out there and I find searching for them very difficult (I accept recs if anyone has any), and it's such a shame, so this was really like a gift to the fandom. I absolutely adore the way you portrayed them, small, frightening, powerful, and confident. Also, it was super fun to see how different Crowley seems when we're not in his POV or in a story about him and Aziraphale. (...)

Go Up to Ramoth-Gilead and Triumph △ 24K Daegaer is... pure class. (...) hdhdhdh what pfttt why you so funny (...) I love this Crowley. (...) This got unexpectedly intense. (...) I love the little nods to the fact that Israelites, especially the poorer ones, still believe in other gods. I also really like that they sleep on roofs. It's just the kind of detail that grounds the story and shows that the author is, in fact, a historian. 

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Piper Sargasso

Piper Sargasso has 25 stories at Gossamer, but don’t miss her website where the fics each have cover collage art. If you are a fan of Mulder/Scully romance, there are a lot of MSR fics to read that are set in different seasons of the show. But like the show that never stuck to one type of story, Piper’s stories have variety, so you can also find AUs and /Other.  Big thanks to Piper for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

It does, but I love that people are still into it! Writers back in the day put so much work and love into their writing, and it's nice to know that the stories are still being appreciated to this day. As for my own stories, it puts a huge smile on my face to know there are still people out there checking them out and hopefully enjoying them.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

It was such a positive period of my life. I made some amazing friends who became something like older sisters (and some brothers) to me, even though I was a little ridiculous when I was in my early to mid-twenties. It was also a much-needed confidence booster. I was a pretty shy person and loved writing, but never had the nerve to show anything to anyone. My first fanfic was completely horrible, but because of it I made my first XF friend and super beta, Mimic117. Between her guidance and the encouraging words from my Yahoo group I was able to do something I really loved and felt great about myself and my abilities for the first time. That will stay with me forever. That first story was truly atrocious, but it was a catalyst for great things in my life when I needed them the most.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

I remember trying this cool new thing called an AOL chat room, but they were more interested in perving on each other than talking about the show. Once I knew about fanfiction I kept seeing that some of my favorite authors kept mentioning IWTBXF in their notes, a Yahoo group named I Want to Believe. I looked it up, joined, and with great trepidation made my introductory post. Everyone was so warm and welcoming, and talking to my favorite authors in the group was a little like meeting a celebrity and finding out that they're awesome in real life. After IWTBXF fell apart, an off-shoot called Beyond the Sea was created with almost all of the original group transferring over. I stuck to my little family there and didn't branch out into much else, other than the rare dip into Haven. Ephemeral and Gossamer, of course.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Mostly the overwhelming feeling of acceptance and confidence to write, something I was sorely lacking before in my life. I fell in with the best group, that's for sure! They made me feel like being a professional writer could be an achievable goal.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

The commercial advertising. The pilot spoke to my supernatural-loving, angsty 15 year-old soul. I watched it religiously every week. There was nothing like it. It was off-beat, but serious (most of the time) and fulfilled my insatiable craving for the paranormal and weird. You just couldn't get that from Melrose Place and Beavis and Butthead, you know? It definitely helped that David Duchovny was adorable and the character of Scully was the strong and intelligent icon we needed in the 90's and beyond.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

In high school I had a friend who was as obsessed with the show as I was. Maybe more, since she once had a slumber party that was exclusively to binge watch her taped episodes (the other girls who wanted to mess around with spells and the Ouija board weren't thrilled that she couldn't be swayed away from it) and she often drove me from play rehearsals in her convertible with the top down and the theme song blasting to the heavens, much to my delight and mortification. A couple years after we graduated she told me about the piece of fanfic she wrote. Insert a record screech here. What?! You mean there are thousands of stories dedicated to my favorite show? And hundreds more get added every month?! I was obsessed. If I could've stopped working and slept at my computer desk I would have.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Sadly it's nonexistent these days. I have great memories and it holds a big piece of my heart, but I haven't been active in a long time. I would love to see a huge revival, and would definitely want to be involved in that in some way, were it to happen.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction for a while, but I never could expend the kind of energy and time I did for the X-Files fandom. It came at a perfect time in my life, and so far nothing else has measured up to it.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Besides XF characters? Off the top of my head I really love Hermione Granger, Buffy Summers, Elizabeth Bennet, and Claire Fraser for their sass and strength of character, Severus Snape for his complexity, and Christina Ricci's version of Wednesday Addams for her pure awesomeness. She's pretty much my spirit animal.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I do occasionally. I watched the series from season 1-7 so many times that I started to burn out, but I get on my X-Files kicks sometimes and binge it again.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

Like with the show, I'll get nostalgic and need to consume all the fanfics my greedy little eyes can behold until I move on to something else. It can feel a little lonely though, if you'll excuse the drama. We're not in the heyday anymore, so it feels a little like walking through a ghost town. Many of the stories out there are suspended in time because the show ended, or people stopped writing.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

I know I have dozens, but I'm drawing a blank. My ultimate favorite is any well-written MSR casefile with UST finally resulting in RST. Those are my unicorns!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

I have a silly one called Baby, It's Cold Outside that I sometimes read around Christmastime. It was a fluffy song-fic, but I can see the scene so clearly in my mind when I read it and it's just pure fun. I also like my Donnie Pfaster series. I can see the potential in my writing with those, which makes me feel I could really write something special someday. Plus, he's such an interesting little slimeball to write and read about. Bless his heart.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I still think about the two WIPs I haven't finished. I wrote myself into a corner with This Mortal Coil, and honestly I think it needs a total overhaul. I think Dana Scully's Diary would be a fun one to finish. I hate that I never finished them.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I think about writing fanfic now and then and I've had a couple original novels sketched out, but there are so many other demands on my time that I haven't gotten very far. I still plan to see the novels through, even if no one but interested friends and family read them.  

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I used to watch an episode and really study the actors' expressions and actions, always trying to find new angles to the stories we all know. A lot of times things would just come to me and I'd get so excited I couldn't sleep until I wrote a good chunk of it down.

What's the story behind your pen name?

The friend who introduced me to fanfic told me the best way to choose a pen name was to make sure it derives from the show. For a couple days I looked at the titles and summaries of episodes and agonized over just the right name. Finally Piper Maru and the summary from Triangle, which mentions the Sargasso sea, stood out and just clicked.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

My now husband always knew, and he thought it was cool that I had a hobby that made me so happy, but he was never a reader. My parents found out when I was about 24 and my step-dad would tell EVERYONE about it, much to my horror. Most reactions were of the bland, "Oh yeah? That's nice." variety but I definitely got some weird looks from others. The worst was when I found out how much of my racier MSR stories my parents read. My step-dad thought it was hilarious and teased me a little. My usually open-minded mom was uncomfortable, but tried to be supportive. It's all fun and games until your daughter starts writing psuedo-erotica for anyone to see!

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Circe Invidiosa very generously hosts a page for me at http://pipers.invidiosa.com.

(Posted by Lilydale on January 26, 2021)

[sanababes]

Golden Child (I)

= fem!reader x twiceblackvelvet

《 A/n: so this is the bnha inspired thingy, I just got some ideas from it and just created stuff from my imagination lol. Please don't expect too much I just made this series for fun :>> feel free to express your opinions about this 》

--------------

On the prevailing modern generation, possessing a superpower or also know as a "quirk" is nothing uncommon. It was first witnessed a few centuries ago and it continued to cultivate with different combinations until it became normalized in the society. A person is also determined if he's light or dark (aura), this benefits the user whenever he uses his quirk. Acquiring a quirk comes around 5 to 8 years old of age. Fundamental hero courses were then introduced and applied in academic institutions. If a child is quirkless or so as called as a "vigilante", general studies are provided.

However, many individuals began to dwell in desire and selfishness due to the rivalry of being a powerful mortal. This made the villains emerge from their own shadows as they try to surpass the good and take over the federal civilization.

Noble families (pure-blood heroes) are assigned to ensure the safety of their municipality. This became a standard law, though it is required for them to pass from the hero course to use their quirks freely. Your father, Kang Haneul is one of the nobles too. He's an exceptional hero and always protected the people from the bad. His Ice whip (light) quirk allowed him to generate ice trendils from his arms and command it on his will.

He went on with his job until he encountered the "Mistress", her quirk was unknown but it was said to be so powerful. They both fell in love and kept their relationship secret because it was forbidden since the Mistress was a well-known evildoer.

They both got into a conflict when Haneul married another woman unbeknownst to the Mistress. He even had a daughter with his wife kept it from her too.

You were then conceived from an affair that was frowned upon by your father's household since they are nobles. After the Mistress gave birth to you, your father took you away immediately then raised you with his real wife and daughter. Even though it took time for them to accept your existence, they noticed your potential to become a hero when you attained your quirk at the age of 6.

About your quirk, it was incredibly potent, Half-cold Half-hot. As they predicted your aura was also half-light half-dark. You were a unique combination, rumors started to spread about the youngest Kang and then you earned the title of being a "Golden Child" due to your extraordinary power.

It was rare to get a dual quirk, this allowed you to generate ice and fire from your right and left body correspondingly. For your auras, you have light in your right then dark in your left.

(A/n: lol todoroki much 😂)

You were home-schooled at your father's mansion while simultaneously trained to control and use your power with accuracy. You hated unnecessary attention that's why you're contented at being isolated.

On the other hand, your (half) older sister Kang Seulgi is very enthusiastic and outgoing if she's compared to your composed and calm behavior. The two of you get along just fine, you appreciated her as a family but you couldn't withstand her persistent nagging. She would always tell you to go out and have some fun which you find it absurd. You're fine by yourself and you'll continue to mature like that.

At the age of 11, you got invited into a summer camp which is formulated to strengthen your skills in combat and to enhance your quirk as well. There were several pupils who you trained with at the time, but you got close to a particular blonde though.

"Hi! I'm Lisa, can we be friends?" You remembered her saying.

The other kids discreetly avoided you since your aura was pretty intense, but Lisa did the opposite.

"I-I'm Y/n..." You uttered merely.

"I see, so you're the shy type huh? Don't worry, I'll be your best friend from now on!" she told you, her voice filled with confidence.

Practically the two of you became close after that. She would come over every now and then since the mansion settles in the countryside neighborhood which is pretty far from Leiden (downtown area).

As time passed, you became stronger than before. Seulgi would even team up with Lisa as they challenge you into a match. Honestly, they don't work well together but they managed to win against you many times. Seulgi's quirk is permeation (light) while Lisa has whirlwind (dark).

The two of them studied at a school unlike you, sometimes you felt a little envious but it would go away eventually. Your father had told you numerous times that it was just to ensure your safety. You just understood that and concentrated on studying and increasing your ability.

----

It's been a few years now and you're currently stepping inside the most renowned Leidenschaft University in the land of Roswell. By your side, your sister Seulgi had a cocky smile on her face as you both walked along the hall. Bunch of students murmured endlessly when they recognized who you are, it was in the middle of the term so transferees are rarely accepted into this hero school. They guessed that you probably entered through recommendations since your father is a famous hero. Nonetheless, you didn't care and just continued to walk to wherever your sister is going.

"I think they're starting to like you, Y/n. You should've come with me during the first day," Seulgi chuckled while teasing you purposely.

"Whatever... Just send me to the principal's office or something."

You rolled your eyes out of annoyance, you wouldn't even be here if you didn't lose the deal that Seulgi made.

~ Flashback ~

You're just sitting peacefully behind your desk as you played with your ice, making random shapes on your hand while Seulgi sat across you. She suddenly banged the poor table and stood up with her eyes lit up playfully.

"Yah! Since you're starting high school this year, why don't you study at my university? I'll speak to dad about it," she said.

You just shrugged ignorantly, deciding to play her own game.

"And what will I get from it?"

"Hmm, okay let's settle this out. If you win against me in a fight then you don't have to go, but if you lose..." She smirked.

"Fine, let's go to the yard then," you wore your metal mask and followed your sister outside.

You're not really optimistic when it comes to fighting against Seulgi. Even though you're quite hard to beat, you know that she's a little tougher than you.

Seulgi positioned herself at the opposite of the open lawn as you went ahead and prepared your stance. You huffed through your mask while thinking about your strategy to gain a victory from the latter.

"Siwon-ah can you infer whoever falls to the ground first?" You asked your servant who's standing below a tree to get some shade.

"Will do, young master." he bowed politely.

"I'll strike first!"

Seulgi instantly went under the ground and suddenly appeared from behind. You dodged her kick then filled your right arm with glaciers as you tried to jab her abdomen. Unfortunately, your hand went through the girl, she took advantage of it and quickly punched your face which made you trip a bit.

"Fuck..." You cussed mentally.

She scoffed at your situation, Seulgi clearly wants you to wield your fire ability.

"Come on, use your left side. It's not really a big deal."

You blasted multiple ice balls towards her direction, whilst thinking about using your flames.

"You can't defeat me with ice Y/n, I'm sure you already know that," she added.

You activated your dark aura instead which made Seulgi feel the chills. It made her suffer from your dominant ambiance since she's a light, the girl went pass through you again when she aimed to make you slip. You were caught off guard from her speed as she swiftly locked your left ankle.

"Ouch!" She yelped.

You knew she was very naive to start on. You secretly activated your flames into its minimal energy, maybe a little surprised too that Seulgi didn't saw you emitting some fumes on your left body.

"Oops! My bad."

Your sister looked at you unbelievably, like she saw something scarcely credible. You chuckled at her reaction as you immediately attacked by shooting your flames to her direction. Seulgi hissed from the heat that you granted, she absolutely want to end the fight soon.

"You smart-ass! You're going to regret that Kang Y/n," she whacked your guts out harshly that made you groan and fall on your knees.

"Yah! You didn't have to overdo it so much!" You whined lowly.

Seulgi's pissed off face turned into a smile when she realized that she had beaten you.

"It's been decided. You're going to my school young lady."

You let out tons of complaints before deciding to remove your metal mask. The steam of vapor came out from your mouth as you breathed heavily. Your sister walked towards you and fixed your disheveled hair. (u can have da same hair like todoroki’s 😉)

“Aigoo, stop sulking already. I promise it's going to be fun studying there.”

On the other hand, Siwon just shook his head in disbelief as he knew you were alright. The three of you then entered the mansion once again as you dwell upon your loss.

"Tsk, be thankful that I didn't go all out this time..." You said.

Seulgi just laughed at your childishness while planning to discuss your application form with Mr. Kang.

~ flashback ends ~

So that happened which is why you are inside this massive academic establishment.

You and Seulgi were about to enter the principal's office when a familiar voice called for your attention.

"Y/n!"

Lisa jogged towards you as she left her group of friends confused.

"You didn't have to shout like that..." You utter awkwardly.

The blonde did not seem to care and hugged you instead.

"I'm sorry I just didn't expect to see you here, why did you keep this from me? I thought you're going to be home-schooled again," Lisa whined while tugging on the blazer of your uniform.

"I wanted to see your reaction, but I think it wasn't a good idea. Now all the students are looking at me because of you."

What you said was certainly true, your tall appearance is really eye-catching if your asking. (I also want you to know that your left eye is blue-)

"Fine, I hope we'll be classmates then. Now go get your schedule and see you later boy."

Lisa finally left as you both entered the office. A man in his 40s greeted you with excitement, you glanced down at his table and saw a name in the metal placard which said 'Mr. Park Jinyoung.'

"Good morning, Seulgi-ah. I see, so is this your sister?"

"Yes sir. She will be staying with us from now on," she answered.

"That's great! Hi Y/n, I'm JYP and this is your schedule. I'm happy to have you here in Leidenschaft University," he said.

"Thank you sir, I'll do my best."

You and Seulgi bowed politely and left the office. She showed you around the school then told you about some specific areas and such.

When you both arrived in front of your assigned homeroom, Seulgi knocked on the door which had 'Class 1-A' engraved on it.

The door opened as a teacher came out with a gentle smile on his face.

"Oh? Seulgi, what are you doing here?"

"Ahh Mr. Ok, I'm just here to drop off my sister. Please take care of her for me," Seulgi said.

You learned that your adviser's name is Ok Taecyeon which is presumably the man in front of you. Your sister gave you a warm pat on the back then went to her own class since she's a 2nd year.

Mr. Ok guided you inside the room that is filled with other students. Their eyes are also fixated on you which made you feel a little anxious.

'Is she really the golden child?'

'Damn, I didn't know she was that hot'

'I heard she's Seulgi sunbaenim's sister'

'Ugh she's pretty and handsome at the same time'

'I think I'm whipped'

You heard some chatters from your dear classmates, you just let them be and found yourself sighing at relief when you saw Lisa sitting at the back as she waved her hand discreetly.

"Uhh hi, I'm Kang Y/n. Please take care of me," they acknowledged your presence.

Mr. Ok then told you to sit beside someone named Sana, you glanced through the students when you saw an orange-haired girl raising her hand cutely. You assumed that it was her so you walked towards the girl and sat on the vacant seat by her side.

"Hi I'm-"

"Minatozaki Sana" you finished her statement.

The girl looked astonished but then realized that their uniforms had name tags on them.

"A-Ahh yes that's right, you're cute ya know that?" She flirted with ease.

You gave Sana a tiny smile and looked away from her intense stare. You felt someone looking from the side, then you sensed a familiar aura coming from that person.

"Dahyun unnie?"

-

-

-

~ to be continued ~

(a/n: just corrected some grammatical errors that bothered me after re-reading this story again 😂 i'll probably update this soon when i have time ;)

[metalandmagi]

Spring 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Feeling buried under all the new anime content season after season? Well the new spring anime season is upon us, so here’s some stuff worth watching if you’re lost in the sea of shows. Also in case you were sleeping last season, here’s some Winter 2019 Anime You Should Watch too! 

*update* here’s my summer 2019 list too  and my fall 2019 list

And here’s my 2020 master list

New Shows!

Carole and Tuesday: A sci-fi anime that tells the story of a pampered rich girl named Tuesday who runs away to the big city to pursue her love of music and starts a band with a streetwise girl named Carole. Aka, the music lesbian one directed by the Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo guy. IF YOU ONLY WATCH ONE NEW SHOW THIS SEASON, MAKE IT THIS ONE! It by far has the most amazing visuals, easy to connect with story, and obviously the best music...and this is after just one episode. It’s one of those shows you can tell will be memorable from the first five minutes!

Hitoribocchi: A startlingly accurate high school comedy, in which a girl with extreme anxiety must learn to make friends at her new middle school in order to get her one friend from elementary school to talk to her again. It is sweet, hilarious, and very on the nose considering pretty much everyone who watches anime has been this type of person at some point.

Fruits Basket 2019: In case you hadn’t become anime trash yet in 2001: after the death of her mother, stereotypical protagonist Tooru Honda starts living in a tent in the woods...only to be taken in by the mysterious Sohma family...who can turn into animals from the zodiac when they’re hugged by a member of the opposite sex. It’s the remake of the 2001 anime that basically introduced an entire generation to the concept of shoujo. In an age of revamping every property from your childhood to hit you with a nostalgia bomb, this one is pretty well deserved...because this time they’re going to follow the manga! Tooru’s a little less annoyingly air headed this time, and it’s as beautifully animated as you’d expect!

Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba: A shounen anime following a young boy and his sister who is possessed by a demon, who must find a way to turn her back to normal after their entire family is slaughtered. It’s pretty basic so far, but there is a lot of potential. Apparently the manga is very hyped up, and it’s easy to get invested in the characters’ safety. And it’s made by Ufotable so...at least it will look interesting.

Kono Oto-tomare! (Stop this Sound!): After his senpais graduate, Takezou Kurata becomes the only member of his high school Koto club, and the only other member who wants to join is a delinquent who annoys the hell out of him. What’s Koto you ask? It’s a traditional Japanese stringed instrument that no one really cares about of course! It’s a standard high school comedy/drama where the animation budget has been spent on shots of the characters picking the Koto strings. But it’s still fun and sweet with a focus on an instrument I know nothing about...and don’t try and convince me the two main characters aren’t into each other.

Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin (Midnight Occult Civil Servants):  A comedy/detective show about a government branch that works out the disputes of various supernatural creatures. So far, it runs in the same vein as The Morose Mononokean, but it’s a little early to tell how seriously it will take itself. If nothing else, watch it for the adorable size difference between an enormous angel and an Edward Elric sized Tengu who are in a forbidden relationship. I don’t know if they’ll come back, but I’m into the world the show has created.

RobiHachi: A sci-fi buddy comedy about a laughably hopeless loser who blasts into space while running away from debt collectors. Little did he know, he accidentally brought one of the collectors with him, and now the two must embark on a journey to the perfect city of Isekandar...which is most likely just a well advertised tourist trap. Also the ship turns into a giant robot. It’s a fun, if a bit ridiculous, romp that is extremely reminiscent of Space Dandy. It is all a technicolor mess of “what the hell is going on?”... but in a fun way! And speaking of technicolor messes that make you question your sanity…

Sarazanmai: I don’t even know what the plot of this one is. It has the gay cops you’ve probably seen around the internet...and also kappas that go up people’s butts to get some sort of “desire organ”...? It basically feels like a really outrageous magical boy show where the main characters transform into kappas to… fight evil kappas and make people reveal secrets before they regain their human forms I guess. Yeah it’s a wild ride, and it’s definitely not for everyone. But it has some of the best animation this season, and I encourage people to give it a chance, even if it’s just to understand why the internet is screaming about it.

Second Seasons and Continuations

Dororo: I mentioned this in my winter anime post, and I’m talking about it again because it’s getting 24 episodes, and EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH IT! So in case you missed it the first time, it’s a dark and surprisingly feelsy remake of the original 1969 manga about a warrior whose limbs and organs were traded to demons when he was a baby. So in typical anime fashion he must travel across the country killing demons to get his limbs back with the help of a lovable scamp named Dororo. There is lots of action, family drama, humor, and a very compelling story about good and evil. The main character doesn’t even speak until almost halfway through the anime, and he was still the most interesting main character of the winter season. It’s an early contender for anime of the year, so PLEASE DON’T SLEEP ON IT!

The Rising of the Shield Hero: Another leftover from the winter season, it’s...an isekai...wait, wait, I PROMISE IT’S WORTH WATCHING...about a hero who is framed for a crime and must walk the line between redemption and revenge while still doing his job as a hero and saving people who have scorned him. Also the other heroes who are supposed to be saving the world...kind of fuck everything up all the time, and he has to fix everything. Apparently there’s a controversy around the show because of the first episode and the crime he is framed for. All I have to say is...just watch the show past the first episode, and make your own decision. It’s a fun action/adventure story that keeps you interested all the way through.

Bungo Stray Dogs season 3: An action/drama detective anime about a mysterious organization filled with superhuman detectives who protect the city from all sorts of threats. Think Kekkai Sensen but in Japan. Okay, confession time: the first two seasons were good, with amazing animation and likable characters...but I remember almost nothing about the actual plot, so I probably won’t watch this right away. But it’s definitely worth mentioning because of the massive fandom and love everyone has for this show.

Ace of Diamond act 2: It’s the shounen baseball anime! I really don’t know how to else do describe it. I love sports anime, but this one can fall into the trap of making small things drag on forever. Still, I love this team and I want to see them succeed!

One Punch Man season 2: The long awaited second season of One Punch Man! The story of a man who’s a hero for fun and can defeat any foe with a single punch. I know we’re all upset that it switched from Madhouse to J.C Staff, and while yes that means the action isn’t as amazing, the rest of the time it just looks...different...not bad. I think if we go too hard on the studio change, it makes it seem like there was nothing special about OPM besides its animation. Can we just give it to Bones next season? They seem to know what they’re doing with Mob Psycho 100.  

And we’re still waiting on Attack on Titan season 3 part 2, but hopefully it will be as well animated as usual and make sense of the jumbled mess the manga became.  

Also I know this came out last season, but I would like to formally apologize for not including in my winter list…

The Promised Neverland: A horror/thriller anime focusing on the children of Grace Field House, an orphanage where everyone is a happy family and there are definitely no deep dark terrible secrets about what happens to the children who leave the house at all...right? It’s the one where characters have tiny mouths. This is my other contender for anime of the year because holy shit this was amazing. Like...I had to go read the manga immediately after finishing it amazing. If you haven’t given it a try or didn’t watch it because the characters just look so stupid...don’t make the same mistake I did and cast it aside. Also it just started airing in English on Toonami, so why not include it with this season!? It’s just that good!

See you next season!

[eldritch-elrics]

this summer, me and my brother watched four whole shows. at long last, here is my comprehensive review of all of them!

in the order we watched them, these shows were:

avatar the last airbender (ATLA)

mob psycho 100 (MP100)

demon slayer / kimetsu no yaiba (KNY)

fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood (FMAB)

they were all very very good!

i’m not going to try to rank them, but, as is probably obvious by the state of my blog, my favorite was FMAB :) if i had to pick a least favorite, then, it would probably be KNY—not by any fault of its own, but just because it didn’t appeal to me quite as much as the others. still a very good show!

i will review each show by:

giving a quick plot-based pitch discussing the show’s hook or appeal

discussing one element that i believe it does better than any other show on this list—in other words, a quality that i think it stands out for

discussing one element that didn’t appeal to me or that i had issues with—a criticism

putting forth my favorite character and favorite episode or arc, just for funsies

including various other commentary. mostly positive, as, again, i did really like all of these!

(i’ve tried to make this whole thing free of specific spoilers, but if you’re planning on watching any of these shows and want to go in more-or-less blind, it might be best not to read this.)

first of all, i’d just like to discuss all four of these shows as a whole! it was definitely interesting watching one after another and noting similarities between them.

all of them have siblings in them! which is, perhaps, fitting, as i watched them with my brother

two include a pair of siblings in which one has powers and one doesn’t (at least at first), and part of the narrative involves getting better at using those powers (ATLA, MP100)

two include a narrative centered around a pair of siblings and something tragic that happens to them, resulting in the older one being traumatized and forced to train to become a soldier, and the younger one turning into something (arguably) inhuman. the protagonist’s major goal is to return his younger sibling to the way they were before (KNY, FMAB)

ATLA and FMAB are both fantasy political dramas, which is rapidly becoming a favorite genre of mine

most of these are historical, or historically inspired in some way, which is interesting!

all of these shows are really really good at character building. all the main characters are interesting and complex, and the relationships between those characters are similarly nuanced and very well written. they make you really care about both the protagonists and the side characters!

avatar: the last airbender

pitch: as the ever-growing imperial force of the fire nation threatens the earth and water nations, a kid from the long-lost air nation turns up and it turns out he can control all four elements and he has to save the world and all that. sorry i tried to write this pitch like five times and realized that well at this point i think everyone reading this will know the plot of avatar

stands out for: avatar has possibly the best worldbuilding i have ever seen in a show—it takes the time to introduce us to so many places and aspects of its world, both explicitly and subtly. the main highlight of this is the magic system. by creating a magic system based in body movement, the process of using magic and learning to use/control it better becomes immediately obvious to the viewer. combine that with the philosophy behind each type of bending and the way that characters take bending inspiration from types different than their own, and you’ve got a system that is complex, flexible, believable, internally consistent, and just plain fun! it makes action sequences a blast. i especially liked the moments when bending was stretched to its limits in totally logical ways (metalbending, bloodbending). not to mention the way that bending is seamlessly integrated into the world of avatar! the example that comes to mind is the earthbending-powered transport system of omashu. a whole essay could be written on that topic alone!

criticism: i know this is a sentiment shared by many people, but the first season was kind of boring to me. some of the humor and the plots felt hit-or-miss. of course, it needed to take that time to establish the world, and it does a great job of doing that. it just didn’t hook me until the second season.

favorite character: i love toph she’s so much fun :) iroh is a close second! and zuko is great, too, of course

favorite arc: i loved ba sing se a ton, especially the episode when they get there and everything feels off. it felt so resonant with real life, in a very fun way. there’s a reason “there is no war in ba sing se” is a meme…

other commentary: what can i say? it’s a classic for a damn good reason. the plot is tight, and it does a great job raising tension and introducing new elements and twists. i also love the care put into the antagonists, especially azula, who has a fascinating arc.

mob psycho 100

pitch: a middle schooler and a charismatic con artist team up to smite ghosts using extrasensory powers. thing is, only the middle schooler actually has ESP, and it happens to be really, really powerful. can he navigate the difficult world of middle school while also getting a better grip on his powers—and his bottled-up emotions?

stands out for: the way that MP100 uses animation is excellent. it takes a little getting used to but it’s just so fun, combining all sorts of different techniques to create an experience rich with drama and emotion. it’s playfully exaggerated and self-parodying, adding to the show’s fantastic sense of humor as well as its truly emotional moments.

criticism: the way that ESP works makes suspension of disbelief tricky. it’s a great feat to introduce a character who is essentially all-powerful and still make them interesting (even in fight scenes), but at times (especially the second season finale) it felt like a magic system with too much breadth and too few limitations. this might just be my bias for hard magic systems talking, though.

favorite character: other than mob and reigen? probably teru. he’s loads of fun AND all the season 1 episodes he’s in slap hard

favorite episode: the one where the girl asks mob out on a date as a dare.. it’s super cute

other commentary: thank you mp100 for being the leftist propaganda we all deserve <3

in all seriousness though, this show is a blast!! it does a great job switching between silly and serious in the blink of an eye. i also really appreciate the way that it balances comically huge stakes with much smaller, more personal stories. for example, the conflict between mob and reigen in season 2 is especially well-done. in general the emotions just feel so real? characters whose emotions tie into their powers are an excellent trope, and mob is a wonderful protagonist who exemplifies this really well.

finally, on a more critical note—there are so many characters in this show! and it feels like only a handful are fleshed out? however, this may be due to the fact that it’s not an adaptation of the entire manga (which i haven’t read). there’s a lot more to go! more characters to dive into! so i probably shouldn’t try to critique it in the same way as a finished work.

demon slayer / kimetsu no yaiba

pitch: demons kill a boy’s family and turn his sister into a demon, so he decides to try and figure out a way to turn his sister back into a human. what follows is a demon-killing adventure that’s in equal parts harrowing, poignant, and hilarious.

stands out for: there’s not much i can say about this other than “please just take a look” but the art and design is phenomenal. it does a much better job of integrating 2D and 3D than a lot of other animated series, and overall it is just so so pretty! all the character designs are complex, memorable, and fit the characters perfectly. the color choices are interesting and satisfying. i also really like the sound design? not often that i notice that in a show. i’ve watched so many KNY amvs by now lol it’s just amazing animation

criticism: the narration style leans too heavily towards tell instead of show. this is mostly an issue with the first few episodes, but i got super annoyed by how much the show would narrate every single one of tanjirou’s thoughts instead of letting us infer those thoughts through his actions and reactions—the latter, i think, would have been more emotionally impactful. sometimes silence speaks louder than words! tanjirou was also not the world’s most compelling protagonist in my opinion, though i think that mostly has to do with my own tastes.

favorite character: *holds up zenitsu* I Just Think He’s Neat. i actually kind of lost it when he first used his powers, like… damn i love characters with weird relationships with their magic like that. i also think the narrative about how having a solid foundation is sometimes more important than knowing a ton of different moves was really powerful. and he’s just funny! pathetic boy i love him

favorite arc: really just the whole spider arc. fucked up man… i love it. they pulled off that last twist so well, and all the family stuff was so weird and complex and emotional…

other commentary: it’s just a really solid and very well-written show! the team of tanjirou, zenitsu, and inosuke is so much fun… bro bonding :) i also quite like the horror elements; it’s fucked up but in a good way. finally, this is very specific, but the demon that can alter buildings/rooms through drumbeats? appealed to me very much. it’s a cool and unique power!

fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood

pitch: two kids do some fucked up alchemy and end up getting parts of their body stolen by god. now they’re on a quest to get their bodies back, but find themselves wrapped up in crazy government conspiracies and alchemy more powerful than they ever could’ve imagined…

stands out for: plot. by this i mean less overall concept (though the overall concept is pretty great too), and more that the pacing and progression of the story is extraordinarily tight. for the most part (the first few episodes are a little weak but i’ll let it slide), it does an excellent job establishing its premise and building on it logically, adding layers and layers that extend naturally from what we already know. everything has a reason for happening; everything is revealed in good time and all the twists are super satisfying. there’s great balance between exciting moments and quiet moments. it’s just very good at being a story!

(fun fact: i’m reading the manga right now and so far it’s even better paced than the show, which is super interesting! it’s especially good at how it lays out pieces of the backstory and then fills everything in later in a really satisfying way.)

criticism: this is incredibly specific but it’s what comes to mind as something that bothered me: winry’s character arc was really disappointing. for most of the series she’s a pretty strong character, but in the end it feels like she gets pushed aside, defined only by her relationship with ed. what happened to her wanting to take action more? that was a specific desire she expressed—wanting to be less passive! since she’s such an important character, i wish she could have had more presence in the last season other than as a sounding board for the elric bros’ emotions. (even though her one scene in the last episode was really good and emotional…)

favorite character: other than the elric bros, absolutely ling. he fits into multiple of my favorite character archetypes (fun, silly, bastard, gets possessed…) and he’s just overall a delight. plus his relationship with greed is really really good. bro bonding at its peak!! (my other favorite is pride. i will not say why because spoilers. but if you know me.. you know)

favorite episode: this is really really hard to choose but i’m gonna go with envy’s death because. holy shit.

other commentary: i’m a really big fan of the complex and nuanced way in which FMAB breaks down militaristic, imperial regimes from the inside. many of the characters have done awful things, and the story forces them to grapple with that and accept that all they can do now is be better in the future. the moral complexity is just really good! characters with flaws—we love to see it!

finally, parts of this story seem so so catered to Me Specifically that it’s no wonder i got so into it. like just the entire premise? the way that so much of the conflict is built out of identity crisis and exploring the nature of consciousness and human vs inhuman? beautiful. i love ed and al so much

*

if you made it all the way to the end, thank you so much for reading!! glad to have finally gotten this done (3 months late…) and put all my thoughts down. i hope this inspires someone to try watching one of the shows i discussed!

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “For Science Pt 3″

Hello everyone, I am back! and happy to be. I have finished with the busy part of the summer and will, hopefully, be able to get back to my normal routine for writing. Which means more content for you guys and more fun for me. I hope everyone new enjoys the series and that everyone who has been here a while can get back into it :) 

Sunny slipped back into the cover of darkness surprisingly stealthy and light on her feet for a creature covered in almost a hundred pounds of natural armor. 

Conn and Krill crowded around her eager to hear what she had to report, but they were immediately wilted as she shook her head, “Guards ahead, at least three of them, all Drev. I don’t recognize any of them, but I am sure they sympathize with general Cosma, and I can’t take three of them by myself. One ... maybe even two, but three is pushing it.” 

She jumped in sudden surprise as the usually even-mannered doctor spit a rather vicious human curse onto the air. Perhaps even-tempered wasn’t a good description. He was generally even tempered accept for when he was prone to bouts of rage and extreme moments of over-exaggerated bitter sarcasm. 

Conn floated silently, and thoughtfully in the air as was his want. He was a useless sack of useless anyway she thought to herself.

“If only I was…… if only.”

“Three feet taller, and about a hundred pounds heavier.” Sunny finished, and to her surprise, the Vrul nodded with a desperate growl of frustration.

Tilting his head to the side, the starborn ignored their conversation appearing to be deep in concentration as if listening to something coming at him from far away.

“Well, are you going to share, Convict.” Sunny growled. Instead of an answer, the starborn simply responded with an upturned middle finger and an even more exaggerated tilt of the head. The other two waited in bated silence as the minutes dragged on. Finally  Conn turned to them, wide black eyes narrowing in focused attention, “My infected brethren have taken command of our other human comrades. Drev boarding parties have subdued them and plan to bring them to the docking bay.

Sunny cursed hopelessly, “Were they able to get off a transmission to the ship?”

“I am afraid the telepathic waves were used to disrupt our signals as soon as we were within range.”

“And you couldn’t hear this!” Krill demanded angrily.

Conn turned to look at him, “It is very difficult to distinguish the difference between many voices, and the many voices of silence. Each system has a sound unto itself that vibrates inside the brain, and creates a background noise. I have never experienced complete silence before, And similarly I have never experienced the ravings of complete madness.”

“Well it doesn’t matter now, does it.” Sunny hissed, they are coming, and unless we come up with a good plan in the next few minutes, we are going to be caught.”

“A pity the captain will be awake to witness the fall of his crew.” Conn muttered quietly.

Sunny paused….. “Conn, is Adam awake.”

The creature shook his head, “No, but the effects of the drug are beginning to wear off. He is likely to awake in the next few minutes.

Sunny groaned in frustration feeling her heart go cold. She had a feeling that the insane little scientist would much prefer having Adam awake for what he was going to do next, he seemed like the vindictive type to do that. The coldness spread from her heart and all through her body. If only she could talk to Adam one last time, be there for him when……

And idea suddenly struck her, and she rounded on her other two companions startling them backwards suddenly and violently, “Conn, you can talk to Adam!”

“Um yes.” The starborn snapped waving her off.

“NO, I mean just listen to me, you could let him know what we are doing. He could give us information. He could help us.” The chilling that had formed in her heart from earlier thawed out as suddenly as if she had stood herself in front of a blast furnace, “I’VE GOT IT!”

***

“I very much do not like this plan.” Krill had said. His parting words to her as she had dropped him and the starborn back at the control room before backtracking towards the docking bay.Her plan wasn’t really a plan per say, but it was the beginning of one. 

They had almost neglected their one greatest asset, that being their access to the prisons entire security mainframe through that first security room. From there, Krill would be able to see everything going on and, by way of Conn, hopefully relay it to Adam once he woke up. Of course, her radio was completely useless blocked as it was by the starborn transmissions, so that meant that she was on her own for this next part.

Triling through the darkness, she kept one of her hands out and held against the wall guiding her footsteps as they moved further back towards the docking bay. When the noises finally appeared behind her, she was ready, and moved into a side room expectantly. She kept the door cracked an inch as she peered out into the hallway watching as a small group of Drev soldiers passed by. Some of them still wore remnants of the prison jumpsuits, though others had discarded the items of clothing entirely. She waited a little longer as the group moved past her before preparing to trail behind them, but a soft noise from up the hallway made her pause.

She held back in the darkness of the doorway as a lone figure passed hurrying after the others.

He was a silver-carapaced drev of medium height, and he was completely alone.

He would never know what hit him.

****

Sunny stepped form the storage room garbed in a somewhat mussed prison jumpsuit and wearing the earpeace she had dragged off the fallen Drev’s unconscious body. She looked down at the energy rifle, which she had also pilfered, and engaged the lateral switches.

Reaching up, she adjusted her earpiece.

“Sunny, can you hear us.” 

The voice she heard on the other end of the line was gratifying leaving her breathing a sigh of relief as she started her way up the hall.

“Yes.” She whispered in return as she came around a corner.

“Good, We linked your Comm to us as soon as we saw what happened, We suggest staying silent though because I am patching in the feed from the other guards to you…. What are you planning?”

Sunny rounded the next corner taking her hand off the wall as a dim stream of light illuminated the hallway before her. She moved slowly, “Just watch, you’ll know if it works, and if it doesn't work well, than it doesn't matter anyway….” Before Krill could argue with her, Sunny asked one final question, “Adam?”

“Conn says he just starting to wake up, but otherwise we can’t reach him just yet.”

She couldn’t have said that the news didn’t give her some modicum of comfort, but she also wished to hear better news, but at that moment she was forced to go silent as the docking bay opened before her. She could see the two shuttles parked side by side towards the end of the bay, and around them gathered a group of the armed Drev.

Marines were being herded down the walkway chained together by way of energy cuffs about their necks and binding their ankles together. Her brother was dragged from the ship, his massive red form still and silent. Clearly they didn’t trust controlling him when he was awake.

As she approached, a few of the marines lifted their heads from the chains.

Eyes widened, but frantically she shook her head back and fourth placing one claw over her mouth to convince them to keep quiet. Luckily this group of humans was sharp enough to stay quiet dropping their heads towards the floor in mock submission. Despite the act though, Sunny could see the newfound defiance in the way they stood eyeing her from their periphery.

The Drev noticed her when she was only a few feet away turning suspicious eyes on her.

“And who are you.” One of the Drev snapped squaring off against her in a traditionally defensive posture.

She kept her head high looking into the other Drev’s eye despite her much larger height, “Orders from General Cosma. I will be leading the prisoners form here.” She kept herself squared up even as the other drev moved to surround her.

“The general never gave us any such orders.”

“Yeah, and we’ve never even seen you before.” One of them pointed out.

Sunny caught them with a withering glare, “Do you really think the General would find a NEED to give direct orders to you lot.” She shook her head

One of the Drev stepped forward chest out, “And what makes you so important small one.” He asked testily 

Sunny didn’t respond verbally to the Drev’s challenge, instead, she stepped forward�� grabbing her opponent by both of his right arms, spinning her back to face him, and then violently pitching forward and yanking throwing him over her shoulder to go crashing into the floor. Still holding onto his hands, she stepped forward locking the elbows of one of his arms between her knees. 

The Drev below her whimpered in pain as she put weight against the joint. Still standing over him, she turned to look at the other Drev who starred on in equal measure of surprise and jealousy.

They had never seen a move like that, and she didn’t expect them to, it was a human move after all.

Eventually she let go of her whimpering opponent. Pointing towards two of the guards she barked an order for them to stay behind and make sure the front remained secure, “Those humans got in before and no one stopped them until they were well on their way inside.” She snarled, “General Cosma does not wish to see such an egregious foresight again.” The two Drev nodded, and stepped to the side while the others, moved by her bidding, stepped towards the front of the group leading the humans back into darkness.

Sunny stayed towards the back of the group as they moved forward conspicuously moving up the line of humans, and using the key she had found on the fallen guard to unlock their energy chains. With a wink from her mechanical eye she let them know to wait until the right time, and so they did.

The line of marines, once prisoners, had now become an invasion force.

The lights around them dimmed, and then grew black except for the slight illumination by the energy cuffs.

“Now!.” Sunny commanded quietly.leaping forward and into the back of one of the startled guards.

Before he could scream, her hands were around his neck, and with a powerful snap, he crumpled to the ground. The other Drev was overwhelmed by at least four of the humans clubbed into submission before she could react. With one of the guards dead and the other incapacitated, they were dragged into the side room where Sunny had left the first guard. 

She took their weapons and their earpieces handing one over to each of the team leaders. 

“Take these, Krill has eyes from above and Conn should have communication with Adam in the next few minutes. We need to move fast before they start experimenting on the other marines. I’ll take you to the cell block, and lock you up with a way to get out. On my signal, I need you to give me a distraction.”

The group of marines nodded, placing their earpieces in.

“I’ve always wanted to start a prison riot.” One of the marines stated nonchilantly cracking her knuckles

The others turned to look at her eyebrows raised, “Seriously?” Someone wondered

“Yeah ever since I was a sweet little girl in pigtails.” She growled sarcastically, “Now come on.”

***

Sunny walked her contrite human prisoners onto the cell block with their heads down and their spirits broken. No one so much as looked up as she walked in and lead the humans over to one of the rooms slipping a key to one of the team leads as she opened the door and shoved them inside. A couple of other humans sat huddled in the corner, and she recognized them almost immediately.

Their eyes widened upon seeing her, and one of them even opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by a glare from one of his other team members. She shut the door and turned on her heel eyes scanning about the room. 

She froze when she recognized one of her humans lying, flat on his back, on one of the cold steel tables. Ramirez’s head was strapped down, as were his other limbs, and he was moaning piteously sounding groggy and disoriented. Just to his side, one of the Tesraki scientists was preparing a long thin implement, directed towards his head.

She was moving before she really knew what she was doing, knowing that she had to think fast, “Stop.” She ordered her voice so commanding that it filled the room, and caused everyone to turn their heads in shock.

The terasaki looked around in bewilderment as Sunny pushed the implement to the side, “What do you think you are doing.” She demanded 

The tesraki stuttered against her imposing question unsure of what to do, “I…. The Dr. told me to.”

“Are you a complete idiot.” She snarled, “Any scientist should know that this human is defective.” Off to her right Ramirez’s head turned slightly a perplexed look on his face. Upon seeing her he groggily opened his mouth to say something, but she jabbed him in the side painfully cutting of whatever he was going to say, “This is CLEARLY inferior human flesh.” she continued walking around him with a critical eye.

“But-” The scientist began, and sunny cut him off

“Just LOOK at him! She announced, isn’t it obvious.” When the Tesraki could do nothing but stare at her in confusion, she growled in mock anger and began stripping the straps from the marine dragging him unceremoniously to his feet, “He will be VERY displeased to hear about this.” and then she turned marching towards the end of the hall with the marine stumbling at her side tripping more than once relying on her to keep him upright.

“Sunny, Adam is awake, he wants to make sure everyone is alright.”

She pushed the marine forward aggressively as she whispered into the earpiece, “Everyone is fine, for now. Can Adam keep the doctor busy?” 

There was a pause for a moment before, “He thinks he can, but he doesn't know for how long. I have made my way into the mainframe and think I can get out a distress signal from here, but it WOULD alert him to our presence as soon as I did.” 

“Well…. Wait for my signal.”

***

Adam’s first realization when he woke was the incessant throbbing in his head caused by one annoying voice repeating his name over and over again.

“Conn.” He thought groggily opening his eyes and realizing, suddenly, that he couldn't move. Not only couldn’t he move, but he couldn’t feel anything below his neck. With an immediate burst of terror, he glanced downwards struggling to see if he still had all three of his limbs. 

What he found was both encouraging and horrifying. He had all of his limbs, but it didn’t appear as if he would for long. 

He lay mostly prone on some sort of makeshift operating table. Most of his body was covered in a white sheet, and his limbs had all been sterilized with a strange solution that tinted his skin orange. Probably some iodine mixture.

“Hold on Commander, Sunny is coming to help.” 

He tried squinting against the light head fuzzy, “What happened, is everyone ok” He wondered, knowing that the starborn would hear him.

“He was waiting for us, but Sunny, I, and the doctor escaped. We have freed some of the other humans and plan to start a riot to distract the guards. Sunny is on her way, do you think you can keep the scientist occupied?” 

Adam glanced down at his incapacitated limbs and then back up at the room where he found five glittering  orbs staring towards him almost luminescent against its aracnid- like face.

The Gibb scientist scuttled across the floor on a rather short set of spidery legs. The Gibb weren’t all that different from the Vrul. They were from the same sector after all and their planets shared a similar composition. Though the two species had evolved separately, they had many similarities.

The largest differences were in the five eyes of the Gibb and only two upper limbs, more like a human. The hands of the creature were ended it what seemed to be a thousands waving tentacles, no doubt so delicate in their motion that it would have made the human hand look clumsy in comparison.

“Glad to see you awake Commander.” 

He tried to keep his expression neutral as he talked to Conn, “Maybe, but you better tell sunny to make this quick. I’m not going to last very long.” WIth that done, he turned his full attention to the scientist, “You’ve been busy.” He commented calmly looking about the room with forced nonchalance.

The scientist made a clicking noise in amusement causing the hair to stand up on the Adam’s bare arms, “Do you like it? Took me years to put everything together and make it happen. I would say it is all due to you, but I would be lying if I said that; you were only a small part of my trial, and, until you darkened my doorstep, I had almost forgotten about your existence.” 

The scientist was right next to his head now, and standing taller on his spider like legs, he leaned forward growing uncomfortably close to the Adam's face as he did, “I never did forget the eyes though, I never forget the eyes.” 

Despite his discomfort, Adam kept the creature’s gaze, “What do you think you see in me.” He wondered both out of curiosity and in an attempt to get the creature talking in order to buy himself more time

“You’re soul of course. Don’t try to fool me Deus. I know what you are.”

Not this again, he thought in annoyance, “Look, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Especially not about this Deus thing.”

“Shouldn’t you though, the word is a human word. Its Latin I believe.”

“Do I look like a linguist to you! Humans have thousands of languages, so you can hardly expect me to know one that's been dead for almost three thousand years.” Inside his head he eyed the machines nervously. 

Sunny better hurry up.

***

Sunny rounded the corner with Ramirez still stumbling at her heels trying to keep up with her much larger stride. From the earpiece, she could hear Krill directing her towards Adam. 

“What is going on.” The human puffed from her side, but she just shushed him and kept going taking another turn on the direction of Krill, and hurrying up the hall.

“Through that door on the right.”

Sunny compiled immediately shouldering her way through the door and getting a glimpse into what appeared to be some sort of antechamber leading off to several other doors, before she spotted the tall, hulking figure standing in her way.

General Cosma stared at Sunny in shock, which quickly began to morph into anger. Sunny dropped Ramirez to the floor, “Krill.” She said calmly, “It's time.” With her order done, she pulled out to earpiece and dropped it onto Ramirez’s lap stepping forward to stand in front of him. As she did, she caught a glimpse of the Tesraki Noctus cowering behind Cosma’s legs.

“Mother.” Sunny stated stiffly.

“Daughter.” Came the reply 

And then the two of them lunged slamming against each other with a clatter of raw power.

Corporal Ramirez ducked to the side as Sunny was kicked back into a wall leaving a dent in the thick steel frame. Behind her, the crazy purple Drev came running arms swinging wildly. He scrambled to the side even further fumbling to put the earpiece in even as the two Drev fought. He had no doubt that he would get crushed if he intervened. The only one capable of keeping up with sunny was Commander Vir himself, and that was only with some fancy modification. 

Instead, he scrambled away shoving the earpiece in to be suddenly overwhelmed by the sound of a riot, and the team leaders calling orders. He had no idea where they were or even how to help. 

Sunny had leaped onto the purple Drev’s back and was mercilessly pounding her in the head with all four arms. They spun in a wild circle like some kind of demented alien rodeo slamming into walls and sending sprays of blood flying in all directions.

He yelped and dived to the side as Sunny slammed into the ground where he had been sitting moments before, only to roll to her feet and go charging back towards the purple Drev knocking her off her feet and sending them both to the floor. 

He stumbled into a standing position hand against the wall dizzy. Across the room, he watched as a flash of fur disappeared through a door.

His eyes narrowed.

Sunny felt her sharp, hardened fingertips dig into General Cosma’s neck warm blood gushing onto her palm. The general howled in pain and tried to throw her off, but Sunny was locked around her waist to tightly. This time it wasn’t a duel, there were no rules, and Sunny had completely given up on the idea of fighting like a proper Drev. 

She was fighting like a human.

And that meant using all the underhanded backstabbing tactics she could think of.

As General Cosma reached back trying to grab Sunny’s hand, she leaned in and bit down. General Cosma screamed and blood filled Sunny’s mouth, but she didn’t let go even as the larger Drev careened around in a wide circle. It was almost in shock that Sunny realized she had the upper hand. General Cosma didn’t know how to fight her, and now she was panicked trying anything she could to get Sunny off. 

She could win this fight! 

But even with that same realization, she found the horror of knowing that it wouldn’t be enough. She wouldn’t be able to manage in time.

Just as she thought this, the door to the room was pulled open, and a white humanoid form came floating into the room struggling to keep his ribbons from being shut in the door as it closed. Sunny didn’t have time to react to the appearance of Conn as he floated across the room and began tugging at one of the opposite doors. Despite how easy it would have been to open, it appeared as if it took everything Conn had just to crack the door and slip through. She had no idea what he thought he would be able to accomplish, but she had no time to think about that as one of the general’s claws pierced her thigh causing her to scream in agony.

***

Adam looked on in horror as the Gib doctor moved to stand next to him adjusting the knobs on a high-powered energy saw.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.” he found himself saying, “I’ll go into shock, and die! What use would I be to you dead.”

The Gibb scientist waved him off nonchalantly almost off handed, “Your other limb was torn off in battle, this will hardly be as traumatic, besides, this time you won’t feel a thing.”

“I am coming.” The voice came into his head stronger than it had before, and he recognized Conn.

“I only lost one limb that time.” He protested watching as the blade buzzed to life with a quiet hum.

He closed his eyes, unwilling to watch, but the blade didn’t move. He waited for what seemed like an eternity eventually cracking an eye, and being surprised to find Conn floating at the center of the room.

His white ribbons flared out to the side undulating in the breeze from the ventilation system. His large dark eyes stared inwards like looking into an endless blackness. The effect of his entrance was somewhat ruined by the strangely out of place gravity belt and signing gloves. A sharp blue light highlighted him from the back as he floated forward.

“Stop your ravings madman.” Conn said voice echoing inside Adam’s head.

“I am not mad.” Came the reply, and Adam was surprised to learn that the Gibb could speak to the starborn seemingly without effort.

“You are mad, and I warn you to end this crusade here and now.”

The scientist sneered at him, “No, besides, what are you going to do about it. THINK me to death?” 

The starborn floated calmly forward to float next to Adam, “No, not at all.” Ribbons flared at his back highlighted against the blue light “I am going to give you exactly what you want.”

And with that, the starborn lunged forward suddenly. A hand pressed itself against Adam’s forehead while the other hand closed around the Gibb’s flat skull. 

And then the universe rent itself in half.

The sensation was like being flooded with a power thousands more times powerful than the sun. Somewhere in his head, a barrier had been broken, and he was flooded with a thousand emotions compounded throughout his life stacked one on top of the other. All at once he was filled with unfathomable rage, endless sadness, and infinite joy. His body quaked with the power that surged through him, and at that moment, he felt that the power of his rage could rent the universe in half, a snap of his fingers could fell mountains, and a single scream could cause that cosmos to shatter into infinite pieces. 

All his senses were overwhelmed his body convulsed against the outpouring. 

Somewhere, someone screamed.

Sunny had run into the room finding the Gibb scientist gibbering unintelligibly in a corner. Adam lay still and unmoving. Conn floated off to one side his glassy black eyes cloudy and unseeing. Running over she found Vir to be alive as was the starborn, though he wasn’t responding. Behind her a troop of marines stormed into the room backed by reinforcements taken from the prison cells.

The riot had been successful…..

Sunny had cradled Adam in her arms as she stepped over the corpse in the outer room eyes downcast and unmoving. A marine led an unresponsive Conn by the hand as he floated behind.

Krill met them in the hallway expression worried looking back and forth between Adam and Conn. 

A hand reached upward gripping her on the arm. Sunny looked down to see Adam staring up at her his single green eye dim and hazy unfocused. His lips were trembling as if he was trying to speak.

She leaned down trying to hear him as he whispered.

The lips trembled some more and then grew still.

A single word spilled onto the air.

“Deus.” 

[identityexcavationstation]

The High Fidelity Remake is Good and my Identity is Irreversibly Linked to Music Consumption

Hi! So, I’m kinda insane about playlists.

This year I’ve made a lot of them. They’ve been short and snappy on index cards, scanned and pasted in a book and uploaded to the internet. (I’ve really fallen in love with index card playlists and they’re my thing now and I think everyone should do them always and forever.) They were easy to churn out as a retrospective exercise because the music I listened to as a teenager really defined my high school experience. Also, I have most of my favorite songs from that period in a very dramatic playlist I started in 2014 so it was really a game of copy-and-paste. 

Making these smol boys in batches has been a really peculiar experience because for years now, I’ve only made one playlist at a time. In my second semester of college, I’d officially burned myself out listening to only CHVRCHES for three months and began venturing elsewhere. (Don’t get me wrong, CHVRCHES absolutely bangs, but you can only listen to “Never Ending Circles” so many times before getting seasick.) All of the random songs I was listening to made me feel kinda hazy and purple, like I’d done all of this before. So I made a playlist full of them and called it “Deja Vu.”

I added to it all semester, and then suddenly it was summer and I didn’t feel purple and hazy anymore⁠—everything was blue and crisp on the way to South Haven as my friend blasted “Settle Down” by Kimbra in her beat-up Honda. So I started a new playlist and named it the first word that popped into my head: “Roots.”

Using Deja Vu as a rubric, I developed some ground rules for the playlists I would go on to create. They are pretty nonsensical but also exceedingly firm because if I don’t make rules for every area of my life I feel like I’m falling into a deep and limitless void. Health! Anyway, the rules are:

The playlist’s title has to be a short noun (seven letters maximum).

This has since transformed into a noun that is also a verb.

To generate a title, I ask myself what short word I would use to describe the phase of life I’m currently in. The answer comes quickly and reflexively, and I choose the very first word I think of.

One song per artist, no repeats!

Exceptions are made for artists who are featured on a track.

There have been times when I’ve obsessively listened to a whole album or an artist’s entire discography, so I have to choose just one song that represents the very best of that album or artist.

Tracks are added chronologically, based on when I first hear them and/or start listening to them compulsively.

The playlist has to contain an amount of tracks that is divisible by five.

If a song in a playlist is deleted from Spotify, I have to find a replacement asap that is accurate to what I was listening to when that playlist was being created.

and, most importantly, 

I can’t make a new playlist until I feel I’m finished with the current one.

These playlists represent seasons of my life, cycles in which I change and evolve and stagnate and fuck up and try again. The only rule I have for beginning a new playlist is that I feel done with the current one—those songs are a little stale and don’t represent me anymore. These “seasons” don’t have any set length, and I can never predict when I’ll feel like a new being who needs new songs to define her. So far, my life has looked like this:

Deja Vu - 176 days (12.03.16 - 05.28.17) Most common lyrics: now, love, time, need, take

snow that covers ivy that covers bricks, towers made from dining hall dishes, smiling at the bus stop without knowing, sheet masks in the dorm bathroom at 2am, pink string lights and pink crocheted blankets and pink shag carpeting, cheap beer behind tarps and walking everyone home

Roots - 111 days (05.28.17 - 09.16.17)  Most common lyrics: love, one, give, wanna, know

t-shirt tan lines, mozzarella and tomato and basil and singed spaghetti, sunset walks around abandoned high schools, green leaves outlined in watercolor, the smell of mildew and old paper in banker’s boxes, sweat-soaked french braids, the knife twist of eye contact, tarot readings under lamplight

Walls - 110 days (09.16.17 - 01.04.18)   Most common lyrics: wanna, know, baby, take, feel

crying in the gender-neutral restroom, pretty boys holding guitars or rolling rock, photos in the forest, blue carpeting and lofted bedframes, pitch-black bonfires, sitting in the dining hall to just watch the people pass, snow on eyelashes in large wet clumps, laughing at lies

Bite - 78 days (01.04.18 - 03.23.18)    Most common lyrics: know, love, stay, come, need

impatience at the airport, texting on the laundry room floor, nervous night drives, five grilled cheese sandwiches, acne like freckles, ceiling photos taken in secret, watercolor lines and paper houses, broken glass on the sidewalk, ink-stained forearms, notebook paper comics, writing small on basement walls

Windows - 131 days (03.23.18 - 08.01.18)   Most common lyrics: love, now, know, baby, fall

books piled up by the bed, rum and coke and orange juice and vodka and cheap white wine, rainy day night walks, streetlights turning the leaves orange, echoes from the party upstairs, solo trips to the grocery store, always leaving the blinds open, aperol and chai lattes and smørrebrød, never coming home

Grip - 136 days (08.01.18 - 12.15.18)    Most common lyrics: know, boy, lost, girl, night

read receipts, the creaking of an empty house, sand and bricks and traffic cones, sitting on the curb and shaking, applause at dinner, bubble tea, bike rides in torn jeans, mr brightside blasting at 10am, doodles during lectures, embroidery at the kitchen table, blue bus panic attacks, half an apple for lunch

Wait - 117 days (12.15.18 - 04.11.19)  Most common lyrics: heart, want, one, back, know

crying in the lobby, measuring oats by the quarter cup, drunken voice memos, shoes on power lines, another bowl of granola, reading all the lyrics, photos taken with the flash on, sleeping on strange couches, shoeboxes full of photographs, wire catching the sunlight, fifteen minutes of windchill

Wave - 108 days (04.11.19 - 07.28.19)  Most common lyrics: wanna, know, now, love, come

dancing on the porch, reading on the roof, tipsy trips to the corner store, silent heavy parlor air, chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, barred windows and string lights and exit signs, highlighting the important parts, nails tapping on wooden tables, wet wind before the storm, biking straight into the smoke

Home - 178 days (07.28.19 - 01.22.20)   Most common lyrics: down, know, now, wanna, think

steep downhill walks, fingertips covered in graphite and lead, blank faces on green walls, forest walkways, hands gripping thighs too tightly, light leaks in darkrooms, the handwriting of strangers, chains trapped between teeth, white words left unread, twirling at the tennis court, yellow becoming blue

Hand - 63 days (01.22.20 - 03.25.20)   Most common lyrics: know, time, love, die, back

masking tape messages, laughing four shots in, BiC .07mm HB mechanical pencils slipped into coat cuffs, cheeks blushed with red ink, green floodlights and kissed knuckles, windows fogged from the inside, falling asleep with earbuds in, finger guns and everything in boxes, wedging open locked doors

_______________________________________________________________________

It’s interesting to look back at these playlists altogether, see them as self-contained units, little stories I tell about myself, about the people I used to be. Adding a song to one of these playlists was like making a vow, entering a relationship with a collection of sounds. It’s like I was saying “this song is now a part of me.” I constructed this little world for myself in the space between my ears, and it, in turn, created me.

I really mean it when I say that the first word that floats to the front of my mind becomes the title of whatever playlist I’m making. I never question what the word means, and its meaning always ends up describing that season of my life. 

“Roots” became a period of reconnecting with essential pieces of myself I thought I had abandoned. 

During “Grip,” I was holding on so tightly to things that had left me ages ago, and I think I knew that, even if I was unable to admit it to myself. 

“Wait” revealed itself in two ways: it was a time in which 1.) I felt stagnant and restless, unable to be patient, and 2.) I was forced to grasp with a physical and emotional weight that had been bearing down on me. 

The mind is a magical thing—it processes what we refuse to recognize. 

Speaking of which, these playlist covers have been driving me up the wall for ages. They’re like nails on a freaking chalkboard for my synesthesia. Is “Bite” a heavily blue playlist? Sure. But is “Home” purple? Is “Grip” pink??? I think the fuck not! 

(I could do a whole goddamn blog post on synesthesia, and I might.)

Now that I know how to switch out playlist cover art (can you believe it’s taken me this long to figure out how to do that?), I have decided to issue myself a challenge/project/way to procrastinate actual work I have to do. 

I’d like to make a piece of cover art for all of the above playlists. And because I am, to reiterate, insane, I’m setting up some Rules For Creation:

All works must be the same size, on the same type of paper using similar materials (tbd but probably graphite, colored pencil, watercolor, fineliners, and/or collage).

The preliminary sketch for each cover must be created while listening to the playlist.

Each piece can (must?) incorporate the five most common lyrics as listed above because goddammit I did not spend four hours compiling lyrics in a web-based word cloud generator for nothing.

If I’m not having fun, I won’t make myself do it because this is literally just for laffs. 

Anyway, I’m looking forward to creating some fun weird art! I know nobody is gonna read this and nobody is gonna comment but if, by some miracle, you feel like it, comment a playlist you’ve made that you’re really proud of! Or comment if you have some weird playlist rules! Or cyberbully me! Anything’s fair game. 

TL;DR playlists are fun and I’m a maniac :)

[so-shiny-so-chrome]

Witness: KirkyPet

Creator name (AO3): KirkyPet 

Creator name (Tumblr): kirkypet 

Link to creator works: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirkyPet/works

Q: Why the Mad Max Fandom?

A: I was actually quite fixated on Fury Road after watching it on DVD. I didn’t expect to particularly like it - I’d never seen the previous Mad Max movies (I finally have!) - but I was transfixed. And I didn’t particularly ship Furiosa and Max until the haemothorax/transfusion scene (although then I very much did). There were just so many layers of detail and backstory there waiting to be explored, because so little was actually said or explained. It’s like a neutron star of fic-fodder. And I didn’t discover ao3 til summer 2016 so I spent a full year wandering around like a lost soul. So, yeah. Quite a huge deal for me really.

Q: What do you think are some defining aspects of your work? Do you have a style? Recurrent themes?

A: Music. Minor characters looking on and commenting on the protagonists (big fan of Thomas Hardy’s more comedic efforts, where this happens a lot). Reasonably happy endings.

Q: Which of your works was the most fun to create? The most difficult? Which is your most popular? Most successful? Your favourite overall?

A: Maybe the small town modern AU (Ordinary People), because it was a nice change from the Wasteland setting. I’m not very Wasteland-minded at all. But the Bladerunner AU (Do Androids Dream etc) and the new Firefly AU are lots of fun because the two sets of movie worlds mesh together way better than I’d expected. 

The most difficult? - My Wasteland headcanon stuff. It’s too fluffy and not remotely violent which doesn’t really ring true. I’m very aware that my Furiosa is hardly ever violent, or my Max particularly mad. But that’s the great thing about fanfiction - the infinite versions of characters and scenarios. Surprisingly the Blues Brothers AU is quite tricky. I can’t quite make Jake Blues and Furiosa the same person. But it’s an excuse to listen to great tunes. And Jessie will make a comeback in that one though (she’s not dead, I should make that clear). 

On the old kudos-to-hits ratio, the Firefly AU is taking off surprisingly well, but it’s quite smut-focused so that might well account for it ;) early days yet. Bladerunner AU is doing well for a multi-chapter. Up Around The Bend (an oldie, the escape from the Citadel) is hanging in there. 

Most successful? I’m happy enough with all of them, except maybe I Kissed A Girl. Please don’t read that. Favourite overall - It’s a toss-up between Ordinary People (a chance to explore my headcanon in a modern small town setting) and the Bladerunner AU (it makes me weep). 

Q: How do you like your wasteland? Gritty? Hopeful? Campy? Soft? Why?

A: Hopeful and silly and everyone has access to a record player somehow. This is why I stick to writing AUs these days. But I’ll happily read all of the above!!! And entirely intend to!

Q: Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished product. What's your prefered environment for creating? How do you get through rough patches?

A: Watch a film, browse tumblr, listen to music, get an idea. Have a good think about it, think about it some more, find a starting point, write it down, go from there. Maybe stick a draft on tumblr if I’m not sure if it’s going to fly. Write it anyway. 

For OCs, figure out what someone looks like. That’s weirdly essential for me. Zal (Furiosa’s Dad) is Ed Harris, Young Val (Furiosa and Max’s grownup daughter) is Alicia Vikander and Toots (rescued-kid-turned-Wasteland-son-in-law) is Didier Drogba (bit of a blast from the past but hey). I was getting nowhere with Blues Mothers Jessie until I recast her as Sofia Boutella (because if Max is getting a generational update, she needs one too). And Firefly AU’s Mister Jobassa is Jakob Oftebro. All very pretty people, but what are you gonna do? But they’re only these people in MY head - they can be whoever the reader wants them to be. Oh, and Pin from Ordinary People was 100% an actual real tour guide I met on holiday once. 

Preferred environment? Usually while half asleep in bed, or walking, or In the gym, or watching tv - world building seems to be something that happens away from the keyboard. Writing itself is exclusively on my phone so can and does happen anywhere at all. Rough patches are usually caused by guilt that I’m not spending enough time on the day job :P

Q: What (if any) music do you listen to for help getting those creative juices flowing?

A: I listen to music all the time anyway, mainly upbeat pre-90s tunes. Disco, funk, ska, motown, anything like that. And it always find its way into the writing. Sometimes artificially (where I’m on a song-lyrics-as-title theme - it took ages for some of the Wasteland fics) but most times it can help shape the story in a BIG way. I can’t listen to certain songs now without reliving a chapter or a whole fic - Dionne Warwick’s Do You Know The Way To San José is Bladerunner!Furiosa’s Green Place song, and Ash’s Angel Interceptor is StarTrek!Max’s flying music - it’s noisy enough but also speaks to me about a longing to not be alone in the universe. Concrete and Clay is smalltown!Max’s bittersweet lament for Jessie and Twistin’ The Night Away is the final party scene in Cheedo’s update of The Rivals. Some fics wouldn’t have been written at all if it wasn’t for a particular song. The Black Keys’ Heavy Soul was my original Wasteland Furiosa/Max ship theme back in 2015, before I’d even heard of ao3 - that’s the closest I’ve come to a song fic. Caleb was only Caleb because of a line in Symarip’s Skinhead Moonstomp, and I was so desperate to write a fic with Leo Sayer’s You Make Me Feel Like Dancing In it that it was the final excuse for a whole modern mirrorverse to my Wasteland headcanon series. Bet you’re sorry you asked now. But I’ll have to go and put together a Kirkyverse OST list.

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a creator?

A: To put the damn thing down and walk away. To not assume it’s awful if I don’t get a kudos in the first thirty hits. Thumb cramp from phone-typing.

Q: How have you grown as a creator through your participation in the Mad Max Fandom? How has your work changed? Have you learned anything about yourself?

A: I didn’t write at all before the Mad Max fandom. Apart from a ghost story when I was about seven (it did win a prize tbh) and a truly god awful Stephen King rip-off when I was fourteen (which makes me nauseous from embarrassment when I think of it). So a fair bit, it’d probably be fair to say. It would be impossible not to, you know, from zero :) My work has changed from spinoffs of inspirational fics (thanks Squid!) to ‘well, I suppose I’ve got a head canon, let’s see if I can make this work’ to ‘goddammit I’ll finish this if it kills me’. Then I missed my exit on the Roundabout of Fic Endings and had to go round again in a modern AU mirror verse. Now it’s all movie mashups, which is lots of fun and probably never-ending. During which time I have learned that crossovers are my favourite to write. And that writing fanfic is probably not a temporary fad :)

Q: Which character do you relate to the most, and how does that affect your approach to that character? Is someone else your favourite to portray? How has your understanding of these characters grown through portraying them?

A: I don’t really have a favourite tbh. They’re all their own people and do their own thing. Writing them is very dependent on their environment, and it’s often surprising how they behave and where they end up. It feels a bit like they’re on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Q: Do you ever self-insert, even accidentally?

A: Hah yes. The first one was Zephyr the annoying visitor in Witches and Ogres. Young Val’s social awkwardness in As was very much on loan from me. 

Q: Do you have any favourite relationships to portray? What interests you about them?Furiosa and Max are pretty much always there - sometimes it’s probably platonic, and sometimes there’s a third person involved (nothing posted yet but but but). It depends on the fic.

Q: Do you prefer to create in one defined chronology or do your works stand alone? Why or why not?

A: One big long chronology for the headcanon series (childhood to old age), then a whole bunch of little universes for everything else.

Q: To break or not to break canon? Why?

A: Not to break, as much as I can. But it depends.

Q: Share some headcanons.

A: Furiosa was never actually a wife - she was captured but dodged the whole Vault experience. Max is the original Max, of Jessie and Sprog fame. Toecutter was Joe’s younger self - he scooted around on motorbikes and raised hell before deciding to settle down and take the Citadel. AU Toast and Dag are twins (from a shady mob family). Furiosa’s Dad is a friendly Wasteland bandit. 

Q: If you work with OCs walk us through your process for creating them. Who are some of your favourites?

A: They’re supplementary characters who make the plots fit together, and sources of conflict or humour (usually both). I think I like Ordinary People’s Alexa and Mallory best. Although the Irish War Boy crew in Beyond the Pale were fun to write. Ace’s trio of love interests (Brick, Big Dave and Caleb/Pin) are a consistent theme. Sometimes I steal characters from other sources (stand up Christopher Brookmyre) when it’s convenient.

Q: What sparks your many wonderful AUs?

A: Movies, tv, gifs, tumblr prompts and general chitchat (thankyou btw!!!)

Q: A lot of your fics are light-hearted and hopeful, which is great to see for the apocalyptic Mad Max world. Your thoughts on that? What is it about the characters that inspires you to reframe them?

A: I just really like comedy and am committed to winkling it into every fictional scenario whether it’s appropriate or not. Glad people don’t hate it!

Q: Who are some works by other creators inside and outside of the fandom that have influenced your work?

A: Well, it was Squid’s ( @sacrificethemtothesquid )Length and Breadth of Fury Road that got me out of the starting blocks! Christopher Brookmyre’s The Sacred Art of Stealing was a big influence on my headcanon series, as was a particular Coronation Street storyline from some years back :) 

Q: Tell us about a current WIP or planned project.

A: Blues Brothers AU series (Sweet Home Chicago) -Wasteland Star Trek First Contact AU (Angel Interceptor) -Firefly AU (Our Mister Jobassa) -His Dark Materials AU (unnamed as yet, just brewing in my head, hope it just stays there for the meantime) -Will combine all the headcanon works into one long fic sometime. That’s everything from Witches and Ogres through to Ordinary People. Probably be called ‘All the Things that I’ve Done’ (basically the two lives of Furiosa: Wasteland and mirrorverse).

Thank you @kirkypet

[crimsonandclover-kataclysm]

Chapter 2- She’s waiting for the bell

January, 1985. Hawkins, Indiana

Mrs. Simmons was resisting. Out of all the water aerobics participants, she was usually the most enthusiastic, but Diana knew that she had some recent health issues and her arthritis was causing her more frequent pain. She was complaining fairly often in this session, giving up on repetitions, and being overall disruptive. For a moment, Diana thought she was dealing with eighth graders again. Diana had come to realize that she really enjoyed teaching. And not just kids either- her time spent at the senior center was every bit as valuable. It had only been a few weeks, but Diana felt like she was gaining so much more than what she was giving, and on top of that, she was making money all the while.

Except Mrs. Simmons kept nagging Di about the pace being too quick, and that caused Diana to want to pull her hair out. And Mrs. Simmons’. 

Class finished, and Diana breathed a sigh of relief, smiling at Mrs. Ellis and Mrs. Poole as they waved goodbye. Toweling dry, she headed to the locker room to dress. She changed quickly into her new pair of loose-fitting, patterned capri pants and the flowing, lightweight blouse her mother insisted on buying her.

Sandra had woken her up early with Betty the Saturday after Hart gave the okay for Diana to work at the middle school. Without much hint to where they were going, Di slipped on some clothes and followed them out to the car. “Your teacher wardrobe is terrible,” her mother explained on the way to the Roane County Mall. “We are getting you some real clothes.” The sentiment wasn’t totally unfair - Diana was on a rotation of sweatshirts and had just worn a hole through her last pair of black leggings. However, from the crowded racks of clothes in the department store to the utter lunacy of finding something in Diana’s price range that she actually liked, less than half an hour was necessary for Diana to remember why she absolutely detested shopping. As it turned out, she was almost grateful to Betty and her mother for the fact that she spent more time in the fitting rooms than on the floor. She didn’t hate trying things on. Just decision making. And dealing with strangers.

The trip yielded some pretty good results. Diana walked out with two new pairs of leggings, around seven loose and breathable blouses, and three types of pants that allowed for movement. Looking at herself in the locker room mirror, she had to admit that it was an improvement on what she wore to her first week. She tugged the scrunchie out of her hair so that loose waves of chocolate fell around her shoulders. As she studied her reflection, she didn’t hate what she saw. Objectively, she looked like an athlete, with broad shoulders that lead down to slim, toned arms, a trimmed waist, and the muscular legs of a runner. She had her mom to thank for her thick, dark hair, and most of her facial features as well. Solid blue eyes fanned by curled lashes, a delicately shaped nose, and a wide, toothy smile. She liked that she favored her mother. Really, the only features of her father’s that she wanted to keep were her naturally thick eyebrows and the small dimple in the middle of her chin. She stayed out of the sun for fear of adopting her father’s olive complexion. Diana thought she looked earthy, like she was always two steps removed from living on a desert island, so she brought out the feminine features that she did have by wearing makeup only shaded in soft pinks. Irrational as it was, she felt like rounding out the angles of her face distanced herself from Kenneth’s sharp jawline and cheekbones.

Blinking a few times at her reflection, Diana remembered that she left her bike at school opting to just walk to the gym. However, 24 Hour Fitness was located on Washington and Kinley, just a block down from the General Store, meaning she was closer to home. Going back to school for the bike would just take her out of the way. She liked running anyway. Zipping up her coat as high as she could and tightening her shoelaces and backpack straps, Diana took off out of the gym in order to make it to her house by dark, prepared for it to be much cooler than it was. Hawkins had been considerably less predictable in regards to the weather over the past couple of months. Despite it being the second week of January, the temperature was quite high, sitting around fifty degrees mid-afternoon. Di actually began to sweat underneath her coat, even with the fading sunlight. All around her were barren trees, though, and the sky was perpetually fixed on a dull gray. She turned the corner onto her street. As she passed the neighboring houses, she noticed a familiar figure standing on his porch repping bicep curls with a barbell. She could have sworn that Billy Hargrove almost smiled at her.

Schoolwork was becoming a little more difficult to juggle. Almost a month into the semester, Di was having to find a balance between homework, keeping in shape, maintaining her chores, teaching water aerobics, and some odd babysitting jobs here and there. Working with Coach Hart had turned out to be the least disruptive part of her schedule, and she was still having a blast doing it. Even the most mundane of tasks became the work that Diana looked forward to completing, the jobs that gave her the most satisfaction. When Hart told her that she could reorganize the equipment closet to season and relevance, she walked in proud with her mother’s label maker. Going above and beyond to create a specific and up to date inventory for herself, she went so far as to include benchmarks on required upkeep for the equipment and the time periods that those would have to be managed. And even all of that didn’t include the fun of teaching.

Diana Miller, for most of the time, was perfectly fine being left alone. Though she enjoyed company of many different types of people, she wasn’t uncomfortable being in her own head. But Diana could totally and completely admit that she was at her happiest when working with the kids at the middle school. Smart and witty, the eighth graders kept Di on her toes, and it helped that they were weird. Having grown up being the tall, athletic girl who spent a summer traipsing the country with her single mother, Diana knew weird. But she was nothing compared to the students she worked with, and it was fun for her to see their personalities and watch them interact. Above all, she truly loved helping them. Several had approached her outside of class to ask advice on high school courses and social entanglements, to which she would respond happily and honestly.

And even though she knew it was wrong, she had picked out her favorites. She was convinced that some of the best students did not really need her as a teacher at all, and then the others, who may have struggled, made up for their physical deficiencies in intelligence and work ethic. There was Libby, who reminded Diana of a younger version of herself. Strong-willed and fast, Libby could kick the lights out of anyone who challenged her in soccer and tennis. Sam had a great arm- he could pitch and toss and catch, and he made a point to help out those who struggled. Christine could recite each bone in the body without hesitation while also knowing the best exercises to keep up the different functions within the body. Max Hargrove was also among the naturally gifted, gliding quickly whenever wheels were placed beneath her feet. She hung around a lanky kid named Lucas who, at the very least, had phenomenal aim.

Then there was Dustin. Diana absolutely adored Dustin. He had very little inherent athletic ability, but he was bright and positive, and he made a point to respond enthusiastically to each and every one of her suggestions. She had the vague thought that he may have had a little crush on her, but as long as he did his work to the best of his ability, she wasn’t bothered by it.

Birdies were flying over volleyball nets in the gym, and the fault was completely Diana’s. The idea of Badminton always appealed to her, and she had convinced Coach to test out a unit with a few cheap birdies and tennis rackets. With the birdies being so lightweight, there was less inflicted damage than in tennis, and typically it didn’t require as much strength or precision to succeed. Students really seemed to enjoy playing, and Gracie was dominating everyone she faced. Dustin seemed distracted, though, and Diana understood why when Steve entered the gym toward the end of class.

Steve Harrington stood tall and proud with hair that just didn’t quit. He was something of class royalty among the seniors, and Betty had been crushing on him since about the fourth grade. He noticed Dustin and gave a slight nod, taking a seat on the furthest set of bleachers and resting his shoulders on his knees, eyes alert with a grin on his face. From then on, Dustin was a mess. Hyperactive laughing, inattentive and bumping into other kids, maybe hitting two out of seven birdies in total (except Diana was counting the one that soared over the net straight into Dustin’s forehead, which she considered pretty generous), all while his eyes flitted back and forth from Steve.

Coach blew the whistle, and the kids routinely put back all the equipment and headed into the locker rooms to change. As she was checking the rackets, Steve sauntered over to Diana.

She looked up, raising her eyebrows as she tutted reproachfully. “You, sir, are not allowed in here anymore. Poor Dustin lost his mind.”

Steve huffed out a laugh, rubbing his fingers over his lips. “Yeah, the little shit stinks, doesn’t he?” Diana nodded, a grin stretched wide across her face. “We’ve got a standing library date- he helps me with the books, I help him with the looks, you know.”

Diana heard Steve, and started to contort her face into a reaction, but Calculus swam in front of her eyes, mixing with French to form its own terrifying language. Steve noticed her pale in color. “You alright, Di?” he asked warily, turning his head to glance around the room, his hand going to the small of her back protectively.

She shook her head quickly, vision blanking before settling on his look of concern. “What? Oh, yes, just a lot of homework.” A lot.

“Come to the library with us. We’ll keep you on track,” he offered with a weak smile, pulling his hand away and crossing his arms over his chest. Breathing a sigh of relief as he could only do after watching someone look as if they were seeing a ghost. Or something else. She shot him a thoughtful glance before nodding yes. In the time it took for Dustin to rejoin them, Di was able to finish tidying up the gym, closing up the electric blue matting on the wall that covered the storage space for the volleyball net. Dustin’s eyes lit up at the prospect of a new addition to the group, especially this addition, Diana thought. As they began to walk out of the gym, Dustin started on what must have been twenty different questions for Steve. “How was your day? Did you ace that science quiz? Did you see me hit the birdie?-“ he continued speaking, barely letting Steve get a word in, and Diana thought briefly about the dramatic difference in Steve over the years.

The Harringtons lived away from the rest of the neighborhood, secluded in the woods outside of town. Those woods bordered the property across the street from the Millers, so it was a straight shot walking through about an eighth of a mile through trees to reach their house. When Kenneth left, Mrs. Harrington offered to help Sandra get back on her feet by having her be a semi-permanent babysitter to Steve. Though Steve and Diana had gone to school with one another all their lives, they only began to really speak in the spring of their third grade year. Steve’s parents were top businessmen, so they went away frequently. Because Steve practically lived with Di, even at school they were inseparable, playing together during recess, sitting next to one another in class, pairing off on homework. Steve quickly became her adopted brother, and Sandra loved the bond of their little fragmented family. A year and a half later, when Sandra was able to support herself and pick up more jobs, and the Harringtons came home more often, Di and Steve would still interact. However, people get older, and people change, so though they were always cordial and though their friendship would never really dissipate, it also never really was the same. And then Steve grew tall and handsome and popular, and Di grew tall and pretty and reserved. Both of them knew they could have been better friends for longer, but neither of them ever challenged it as they grew apart.

Dustin was still talking while the three of them stopped at his locker. Out of the corner of her eye, Di could see Max and Lucas, close enough to one another to be holding hands discreetly. Lucas said something that made Max belly laugh, and a smile crept across Diana’s face at seeing Max light up the way she did. Suddenly, Max pulled away from Lucas, eyes focused on the clock hung above the door, “Shit, I’m late.” Lucas nodded frantically heading in the opposite direction to the trio. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he called. Max gave a short nod and ran towards the front of the school building.

By this point, Dustin had stopped speaking. He was looking at Steve with a funny expression- wide eyed and open mouthed. Steve shook his head and shrugged. Whatever was happening in this exchange, Diana didn’t understand, so she began walking the same path Max took to the entrance. The two boys followed a little further behind, and Diana heard hushed whispers, rolling her eyes at the secrecy. Books held against her body with one hand, she pushed the door open, noticing the passenger door slam on the bright blue Camaro parked right out front. Billy looked livid, breathing heavily with his fists clenched at his sides. He was in the same position as the last time she saw him outside the school, leaning against the trunk of his car. Hearing the sound of the door, his eyes shot up to her. Studying her, she saw that same sly smile play at his lips, however it was gone as soon as it had come. His eyes were focused behind her.

“Harrington!” he called, almost angrily, pushing off of his vehicle and strutting toward the three of them. “What’d I tell you?” His gait was slow and relaxed as he strode toward Steve. Dangling out of his mouth was a cigarette, and as he walked past Diana, his eyes flickered to her and then back to the boys behind her.

Relaxing back on his heels, Steve matched Billy’s stride until there was only a foot between them. Dustin was almost entirely behind Steve until Di’s fingers cinched around the arm of his coat sleeve and she yanked him toward the bike rack. “What are you on about, Hargrove?” Steve was calm and resolute, and Billy wrapped his arm around Steve’s shoulders.

Steve tensed with Billy’s hand gripping him so tightly. They were close enough that Steve might as well have been enjoying the cigarette too, tendrils of smoke billowing up into his face. When Billy spoke, his attention was toward the ground and his voice was low. “Plenty of bitches. I just… you know, I wish you’d saved me this one,” he took the cigarette out of his mouth as he spoke, gesturing in small sympathetic waves.

Diana watched the odd exchange closely, and though she was not able to discern what Billy said, she did see the muscle in Steve’s jaw tense. She watched him elbow Billy away, responding with a quick, “Screw you.” Taking large steps to close the distance between him and Dustin.

Billy turned slowly, a smirk settled upon his face as his eyes followed the three of them. He saw just enough red to give him that rush. The kind that rose like flames through his gut but didn’t yet overcome his actions. Then he remembered that Max made him wait again, on top of King Steve winning out and getting the one girl that interested him. His fingernails dug into the palms of his hands, enough to draw blood to the surface. Eyes narrowed and mouth clamped shut, he took slow, careful steps toward his car.

Steve was mum on his interaction with Billy. No matter how many times Dustin pestered him about it, he pinched his lips closed and shook his head. Diana figured adding fuel to the fire wasn't appropriate, so she sat quietly and studied her history notes. The quiet shuffling of bodies through the library helped her concentrate, and by the time Dustin and Steve were ready to leave, she had accomplished nearly twice as much more than she would have at home, she suspected. The three parted ways after Steve drove them back to the school so Di could get her bike, and she started home, standing on the pedals for more power. Wind nipped at Diana’s cheeks, and with the change in weather, even her coat wasn’t offering her too much protection. As she rode down her street, she noticed Max sitting on the steps outside her house with a roll of duct tape and her skateboard, split in two. Skidding to a stop, she propped her bike up on the mailbox and walked toward Max, sitting down next to her on the stoop. Max gave her a small smile, but Diana could tell by the aggression in her taping up her board that smiling was not something she felt like doing.

“Isn’t it a little cold for you to be out here doing this?” Diana asked, grabbing the two parts of the board and holding them still so Max could tape evenly.

Max lined up the tape precisely and pressed it down with care, smoothing out any creases and bubbles.Then she grumbled, tilting her head toward the house, “I wasn’t about to do it in there.” Di nodded as she twisted her lips to the side, helping Max rip the tape after a few more wraps.

“The hell is this?” Max tensed out of recognition. Circumstances with Billy had improved after their tête-a-tête at the Byers’ back in November, but now that things had calmed and Max wasn’t wielding a bat chock full of nails, Billy’s anger had started to get the best of him. They had an… understanding, but Max knew he hated the town and missed California more than he would let on. And since he wouldn’t talk about it, all he knew to do was get angry. Max respected that he was unhappy, she just wished he would distinguish between anger at a situation and anger at her. His inflection as he stood on the walk with his thumbs holding the waistline of his jeans was not angry though. From the lifted corner of his mouth to his raised eyebrow, Max thought it might have been playful.

Diana’s eyes scanned up Billy’s figure until she met his gaze. “Just saw your sister needed some help. I figure I’ve got the time.” Billy gave a slight nod, still wearing that signature smirk of his. “Besides, it must take a real creep to break a kid’s skateboard.” Max’s eyes shot up wide at Diana, while Billy’s narrowed at the challenge.

“Yeah, well to be fair, Maxine can be a piece of shit.”

Diana was not impressed, lifting up to her feet and dusting off her jeans. “From what I hear, so can her brother.” Her glare matched the intensity of the full, toothy smile that crept over his face.

His voice dropped half an octave as he took a step closer. “Oh? What else do you hear about me?”

His question was met with no response as Diana turned to Max, her cheeks heating up in frustration. “Maxine, if you ever need anything, I live in that house,” she pointed for emphasis. “Please do not hesitate to come by. You-“ she turned quickly to Billy, “you shouldn’t make a habit of breaking other people’s things. It could come back to bite you.” Billy’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, his tongue swiped across his teeth in a laugh as Di jogged to her bike, throwing her leg over and pedaling away. Max’s gaze was fixed on Billy, whose eyes followed Diana down the street and as she took the steps by twos to her house. His hand came toward Max, and she almost fell off the step in trying to protect her board. It was a shock then, when Billy’s hand landed on top of her head, his fingers giving her hair a light ruffle. She looked at him, mouth agape, but he was still staring at the Miller house, fingertips of his other hand trailing over the grin on his lips.

[shorthaircutsmodels]

January Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles - 20+ - https://shorthaircutsmodels.com/january-joness-short-haircuts-and-hairstyles/ - January Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Take whatever you want. Jones new look gives us big edgy vibes, and this one wants. To go to the salon after a quick stop for a cool faux leather jacket at the nearest H&M. Check Jones hair before and after and maybe take notes for your next hair appointment. With light copper blended from roots to fringes and a cute touch of pink in loosely wavy defined strands, this style is very feminine and truly eye-catching. Now that Mad Men are officially back, we can enjoy a time jump. January Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles January Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Into the glorious 60s every Sunday night. From the incredible wardrobe that thinks a skirt dress could be like this. we can't decide whether beauty for pin curls bothers us any more than Don Draper. We even started the idea of fashunnnn mullet another time when the #Chinlengthbob point didn't cut everything short. and she parted the top layer of hair a bit for her movement and fun style choices. Instead of no layers or hollows we kept a lot of weight in the back. January Jones's Haircuts and Hairstyles January Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Long layers are cut around the edges of this blonde, and beautiful curls are added to the ends at mid-lengths to give the whole style body and volume. This do shape is great for complimenting a long face and is easy to recreate with the right tools and product. it was writing. This cut could simply be shaped as it was, but it had to be curled and twisted and fussed. @Januaryjones has no fears when it comes to very perfect hair and is very good at styling herself. January Jones's Short Haircuts January Kristen Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Ohhh just wait. As for the pink lines Jones posted about them earlier this week, I found myself quite impressed with tbh. Welp, we finally made it. @ januaryjones has sent me # bluntbob hair-inspired pictures for months. Expect his old bangs to grow long enough to give him a perfectly blunt bob middle part look. Patience Brager wrote. Big loose waves dress up from the sides and back of this mid-length hair to give it all style movement and subtle bounce. January Jones's Short Hairstyles January Kristen Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, looks bright here in a soft curled slightly layered bob. This Insta begins the recommended phase of my soft pointed hair. This is what happens when you walk into a pool at a holiday Inn and forget not to gel DEP with you. January Jones's Haircuts January Kristen Jones's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Just moments later Jones shared a second photo of her soft spikes caught not pretty with the caption of the first photo of Mad Men 5 wearing a short straight hairdo in a dyed red shirt young actress, with a phase sports star in a multi-coloured patterned school picture on the button of her shirt. DEP'd but wore the picture early and now she looks loose with a really wide smile to make up for it when she unsuccessfully captioned the pic referring to her hair gel. January Jones's Hairstyles January Jones is the latest celebrity to hop on board the bob train and we have a sudden urge to call our hairdressers. Welp, we finally made it.Jones Jones hairstylist Bridget Brager captioned the cut Instagram post. Patience Brager explained. The stylist also explained that the trick to creating this stylish look is taking width from Jones hair without cutting layers. Creating movement was important. But what Brager really wanted to get through by posting a photo of Jones's new bob was that he could shake the eye even when he thought it might not be every woman. here's what I really want to say. January Jones's Short Hair January Jones is the latest celebrity to hop on board the bob train and we have a sudden urge to call our hairdressers. These smooth locks were worn back and added highlights to the left out showing jagged cut ends and color contrast, allowing an elegant French roll front to create an attached head. This upstyle is easy to recreate and you need hairspray or polish to keep and shine. Welp, we finally made it.Jones Jones hairstylist Bridget Brager captioned the cut Instagram post. January Jones's Hair January Jones sent me # bluntbob hair-inspired pictures for months. Expect his old bangs to grow long enough to give him a perfectly blunt bob middle part look. Patience has added up, and it seems worth the wait. Each woman has a bob-style haircut for every hair type and face shape Brager added. You have been teetering to make a big hair move. We're not trying to be afraid. Take whatever you want. Jones new look gives us big edgy vibes, and this one wants to go to the salon after a quick stop for a cool faux leather jacket at the nearest H&M. the show's Chief Stylist is Terrie V. January Jones - Short Blonde Hair Layers Owen told how he got his Betty Francis signature hairstyle. Obviously it helps if you have his shoulder length hair but it can be played with. This formal hairstyle is perfect for any special occasion, easy to recreate with hot rollers and product for grip and shine. Those with long faces will benefit most from this shape and style. the actress eventually went for it and cut all her hair. Brager shared the star's new look on Instagram. January Jones haircut Welp, we finally made it. @januaryjones has sent me # bluntbob hair-inspired pictures for months. Expect his old bangs to grow long enough to give him a perfectly blunt bob middle part look. Patience captioned that post. Jones hairdresser Bridget Brager also teased the new look on instagram, revealing the actress had been longing for a change for months. Welp, we finally made it. Has sent me # bluntbob hair-inspired pictures for months. Expect his old bangs to grow long enough to give him a perfectly blunt bob middle part look. Patience. it was writing. Brager said the actress took a lot of weight off her hair so that blunt bob would have plenty of movement. January Jones's new bob is the best haircut for summer Jones 'Bob has a' 90s vibe. The cut is blunt and stylish, hitting just below the chin, and styled with a straight middle part. Also in the caption, Brager explains how the star got the look, saying she gained weight without adding layers from Jones hair. Brager also confirms what you've heard about bob. The cut can work on anyone. Every woman has a bob-style haircut for every hair type and face shape. January Jones Cut Her Hair Even Shorter Don't be afraid if you're struggling to make a great hair gesture. Go. Make sure you bring inspiration pictures and talk to your stylist thoroughly. Take whatever you want. it was writing. January has an oval face shape with a large forehead area and strong chin are flattered by all that â€Do. January loves being blonde, and here she shakes off the signature shade of light champagne. It matches well with her fair cool skin tone and light blue eyes. It has subtle accents to create size and depth, but the overall. January Jones red hair Hair tone is a gorgeous shade of soft light all over the blonde. Brager has a bob-style haircut for every hair type and face shape for every woman. You have been teetering to make a great hair move not to fear. I go for it. Make sure you bring inspiration pictures and talk to your stylist thoroughly. Take whatever you want. January Jones natural hair color Grown blasts are shaped sideways to soften the face and complete all the looks in spectacular fashion. The product is required to bend the ends for some added texture. January Jones looks lovely here in a wavy shoulder length bob with layers throughout styled with a windy look. It's a great way to add a bob up and extra volume to high volume style jazz. The January has an oval face shape so it can attract a variety of looks and cuts. Here, she goes for a layered bob that masks her high forehead well and frames her eyes thanks to the fringe that swept her overgrown side. January Jones's Blunt Bob Haircut This do gives her locks a fun look in a general fashion that can be worn for day and night. January has fair complexion and blue eyes, making her hair blonde and copper shades most appropriate. Here she goes for a wheat blonde shade that makes her skin glow and eye color pop. The January vibrant blonde has maintained her base colour at the roots which gives her hair a beautiful base while highlights have been added to style and size all over. January Kristen Jones is an American actress and model. January Jones hair color She is best known for major roles in American weddings as well as playing Betty Draper in the television series Mad Men and we are Marshall. This golden blonde hairstyle is ideal for those looking for a wispy casual cut with attitude and shape. January Jones Hairstyles, Hair Cuts and Colors This creative hairstyle is ideal for those looking for a style with plenty of attitude and funk and will be great for any occasion. Take whatever you want. Jones new look gives us big edgy vibes, and this one wants to go to the salon after a quick stop for a cool faux leather jacket at the nearest H&M. Check Jones hair before and after and maybe take notes for your next hair appointment. January Jones blonde hair January Jones Changes Her hair as quickly as she changes her mind. No, it really is. The actress posted a selfie on Instagram yesterday, so I changed my mind again."Then a hairdresser called Bridget Brager's dream. And his followers love the new look. the post has over 60k Likes and loads of Free comments. The blonde had short hair before and rocked a bob as Betty Draper in Mad Men but she had a long collarbone length lobe before this final cut. Always showing off the latest creative color techniques, January Jones simple bob looks gorgeous with these random color accents that interest a simple bob cut. January Jones Bob Haircut 2020 - 2021 Hair is cut to the same length finishing just below the chin. The style is easy to maintain, and a front section is scanned diagonally over the forehead from a short center separation, forming a fashionable asymmetrical Eaves. Here's the tea. Simple Easy Short Haircut for Women The nation allows its natural curls to flow freely. and colorists are doing some really interesting bold things with their clients manes. We're more inspired by the stylish celebrity hair transformations we've seen in 2019 and 2020 than in previous years. Regular decorations are needed to maintain shape and avoid split ends. Check Jones hair before and after and maybe take notes for your next hair appointment. January Jones hair 2020 - 2021 This is an important step. clip curl with the little clippies before moving on to the next chapter. Sweet and simple for hot rollers, this is what mid-length hairstyle is all about. The length is solidly cut with thin layers cut at the edges for a weightless surface. This hairstyle is perfect for thin ones for medium hair types and is easy to maintain with regular fixes. White Sands Liquid tissue thermal shaper spray and Set Roll part of hairspray with parallel side part. Place the rollers on the sides and back of the entire head. January Jones bob haircut Leave the hair to cool a little before brushing. This set will take longer. Then brush your hair straight with a quality natural bristle brush. Brushes I use a Mason Pearson brush are important because a plastic ventilation brush doesn't have the same effect. Brush to a smooth style and push the waves into place with some maintenance cream on your fingers and then finish with some hairspray to keep the look in place. January Jones new haircut While the Jones post seemed like a quick decision according to Brager Jones, he had a Bob brain for months. Fanning confirmed in response to Jones that he has long been playing with the idea of bob. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Jones replied that he had to. It felt so good. Before this haircut Jones had hair styled into loose waves that he often skimmed off the shoulder. To create Jones's stylish style, Brager used a certain kind of flat iron. January Jones haircut 2020 - 2021 In January it used the Bio Ionic graphene MX flatiron to create a super-sleek bob. This flat iron tells the Brager flurry that every pass brings moisture and health to the hair. Use this Flatiron from roots to tips. Then follow up using a comb for perfect placement. If you want to cut back and forth your hair Jones finally get the bass you need to give your impulses. Bob is quickly becoming the summer look. January Jones is the latest celebrity to hop on board the bob train and we have a sudden urge to call our hairdressers. Welp, we finally made it.Jones Jones hairstylist Bridget Brager captioned the cut Instagram post. January Jones hairstyle January Jones sent me # bluntbob hair-inspired pictures for months. Expect his old bangs to grow long enough to give him a perfectly blunt bob middle part look. Patience has added up, and it seems worth the wait. Each woman has a bob-style haircut for every hair type and face shape Brager added. Below you can find our curated list of the latest celebrity haircuts and paint jobs. January Kristen Jones Oh catch the wind of a new celebrity hair look and make sure you bookmark this page because as soon as you can we'll update your list in real time. But in the meantime here are our favourites. Among the beach of colour dark brown and blonde were regular ping pongs and a 23-year-old model spotted a pixie cut wig multiple times including the red carpet at last year's met Gala. Suffice it to say Homegirl looks down to trying new things. Singer Rosalía threw us all in when she announced she would cut out her own outbursts.

[brigade-claire-opinions]

Review: Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces (Switch)

But mostly Forces, oops.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Sonic fan. The Blue Blur has seen me through much of my life - in childhood, through my teen years, and now even to my mid-twenties. I’ve been there for every great Sonic game, for every poor Sonic game, and for every mediocre Sonic game. I’ve seen the Adventures, the 06s, the Unleashes, the Colors, the Generations, the Sonic 4s, the Booms. I’ve played the classic games, the Advance games, the Rush games, the Rivals games, I’ve even played The Dark Brotherhood. Sonic has been a part of my gaming life pretty much from the get-go.

When both Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces were announced last summer, I found myself far more excited for Forces - then known as Project Sonic 2017. A new 3D Sonic game by Sonic Team, a completely fucked-up looking world, another Generations-style team up of Classic and Modern Sonic... count me in.

Sonic Mania, meanwhile, looked like a nostalgia trap. While I’ve always had a soft spot for the classic Sonic titles - Sonic 3 & Knuckles especially, as it was my first Sonic game - I’ve always preferred the 3D games. I like my Adventure games, my Colors, my Generations, even Lost World had its moments. I didn’t think I would enjoy Mania.

I was incorrect. Sonic Mania, while definitely a nostalgia grab, turned out to be a great experience, all the better because of the nostalgia factor. Each returning stage was remixed - both visually and audibly - with fantastic results; each original stage felt wonderfully handcrafted.

The controls were as smooth as butter. The game felt similar to the classic games, but... refined. Definitely better. The game had so many cool things going for it, too: drop-dashing as Sonic, having new routes (and even a completely different stage at one point) as Knuckles, Debug Mode, “& Knuckles” mode, the return of Blue Sphere, a better UFO mode than Sonic CD... Sonic Mania was a great time, and at $19.99, was a great value even with the short length. There was a lot to love there, and I was more than satisfied with the end result.

Yet... Mania felt like filler. Sonic Forces was still looming on the horizon, and despite thoroughly enjoying Mania, it was overshadowed by the new 3D game. I loved the opening theme - Fist Bump featuring Douglas Robb from Hoobastank. I loved the idea of being able to create an avatar - make all the jokes about fursonas that you want, but what a way to bring a new idea! And I loved that, gameplay-wise, the Avatar looked like a refined Sonic Boom character. I loved Infinite’s edgy OC feel and his edgy Punkstep theme. I loved just how... ridiculous, how over-the-top it all looked. I played the terrible Switch demo and wished I could play more than just one minute of each stage. When the game finally launched on Tuesday, I was more than ready.

I’m aware of the mixed reception of this title. I have both a PS4 and a Switch; I chose the Switch versions because Sonic has always felt more at-home on Nintendo for me than any of the other platforms. I’m aware that the Switch version of Forces is considered to be inferior to the others. I’m aware of the 30fps, the 720p, the reported framerate issues... I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I felt that I’d made the correct decision.

Ladies and gentlemen, it brings me great pleasure to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Sonic Forces. That doesn’t mean the game is perfect - it’s definitely flawed, with some flaws more glaring than others.

Sonic Forces is split into four different types of gameplay - 2D platforming gameplay as Classic Sonic, 2D/3D hybrid gotta-go-fucking-fast platforming as Modern Sonic, Sonic Boom-esque 3D and 2D slower adventure platforming as the Avatar, and a team-up hybrid of Modern Sonic and the Avatar.

Ultimately, that last one is the game’s biggest flaw for me - the two gameplay styles don’t blend nearly as well as Sega thinks they do. It feels weird controlling two characters at once, and because the Avatar is slower than Sonic and doesn’t have a homing attack - they use a grappling hook instead - there’s a weird dissonance. Sonic will often speed ahead of the Avatar, and whenever you try to perform a homing attack, there’s an awkward second that Sonic will be floating in the air next to the Avatar as they fire their hook. The Team Boost function, while cool, feels needless. It’s more of a means to skip large sections of stages rather than actually play through them - and since the move is executed regardless of whether you properly perform the “required” QTE, control of the game is basically ripped from you.

I should note here that I played the game on Hard mode. Normal mode seemed to be “noob mode,” so I decided to try to make the game a little more challenging for myself. I had a blast on this mode, but my experience my vary from someone who played on Normal.

Playing as the Avatar is fun. After the first stage of the game, you’re tasked with creating your furry pal - you choose their gender, their race, their skin color, their fur color, and their voice. Each Avatar race has a different ability - I created a female wolf for my first playthrough, meaning that I drew in nearby rings as I went by them. After you beat the first Avatar stage, you unlock the ability to change their clothes and weapon - and this is where the meat of the Avatar system lies. There are many unlockable Avatar parts that you earn throughout the game. Some are fucking great looking; others, not so much. I spent much longer than I care to admit just customizing my wolf girl to make the cutest outfits I could, so take that for what it’s worth. It also helps that I had the preorder costumes, so my girl ran around in Joker’s coat from Persona 5 along with some Converse and cute gloves.

The Avatar is equipped with a weapon called a “Wispon.” That’s right, folks, the Wisps from Sonic Colors are back. However, with the exception of Yacker, their Hyper-Go-On energy is harnessed for use in the Avatar’s weapon. Each weapon uses a different Wisp to power its ability, and each stage is laden with them. Since the Wisps have no plot relevance yet again, I found this to be a cool excuse to use them - they seem to just be residents of Sonic’s planet now. The Avatar’s stages also have varying routes that can be accessed with different Wispon abilities, thereby upping replay value.

Yacker is used yet again as Modern Sonic’s boost ability. These stages are more of what you expect from Colors and Generations - boost, react to platforming challenges while boosting, occasionally switch to 2D mode for some precision platforming, etc. I did notice, however, that the game seemed to punish me for boosting mindlessly through these stages. I often found myself careening off ledges or right into enemies, causing some rather humiliating deaths. It’s important to note that most of these deaths felt like my fault and not the game’s - I wasn’t paying attention and I was punished for it. This is a huge factor for me. It’s one thing if a death is caused by my carelessness or lack of skill - it’s another if the game throws bullshit at me. Aside from a few instances where something seemed to just come out of nowhere, I felt that the game was fair with its punishment.

I wasn’t fond of the Classic Sonic stages in Generations. Classic Sonic felt weirdly floaty, stiff, and slippery. Those stages felt like a chore to me, and I pretty much only played them to get them over with so I could get to the Modern Sonic stages.

In Forces, Classic Sonic controls very similarly to how he did in Sonic Mania. He even has the Drop Dash ability, which makes him feel like a dream. I very much enjoyed these stages; none overstayed their welcome. While I feel that his involvement in the game’s plot is questionable, these stages were a nice change of pace.

The plot of Sonic Forces is ridiculous. Many of the reviews I’ve read have stated that it’s the worst part of the game, that it sullies the experience, etc. I know I’m in the minority, but I really, unironically enjoyed the story. Yes, like I said, it’s ridiculous, utterly stupid. But the game fucking commits to that shit. Sonic and Eggman are as cocky and arrogant as ever, Tails is still not-so-subtly gay for the Blue Blur, Knuckles and the rest are just kind of there... all of this is par for the course.

The over-the-top part of the story comes in the form of Infinite, the game’s new antagonist. This dude hates all things good, and is basically the culmination of every edgy Sonic OC ever created. He wears a mask, he has one weird demonic eye, he has a gem embedded in his chest that allows him to do crazy shit... while I know that he’s not some commentary on Sonic OCs, I like to think that Sonic Team was at least somewhat self-aware with this guy. Liam O’Brien voices him, which just increases the edge factor tenfold. Sonic is a great foil for him, too - whenever Infinite growls some edgy phrase, Sonic drops a dopey one-liner. Brilliant chemistry.

Let’s actually take a moment to discuss the voice acting. Returning as the voice of Sonic is Roger Craig Smith, who’s now portrayed the Blue Blur for longer than anyone else has, and in more things than anyone else has. If you liked him in the other games or shows where he’s Sonic, you’ll like him here - if you didn’t, then this game probably won’t change your mind. I personally love Smith’s take on Sonic and prefer it over Ryan Drummond’s and (vastly over) Jason Griffith’s. Like in Generations, however, Classic Sonic does not have any spoken dialogue, so he has no voice actor. I think that it’s really cute how he communicates in gestures and facial expressions, so this is a non-issue for me.

Mike Pollock’s Eggman is also as brilliant as always. He doesn’t really throw his voice around here like in the other games, probably because Eggman’s already achieved his goal here. The Eggman Empire is actually finally a thing - it’s so fucking gratifying to see, and Pollock really brings out that raging pride in Baldy McNosehair’s voice.

The rest of the voice cast is great too - Colleen O'Shaughnessey brings good performances for Tails and Charmy (though I can’t help but miss Kate Higgins for Tails), Cindy Robinson is good as Amy, Travis Willingham and Matt Mercer are good as Knuckles and Espio respectively, Karen Strassman really brings it for Rouge, Quinton Flynn is good as Silver, I can’t hear Vic Mignogna behind Omega’s voice filter, so thank the gods for that, you get the point. The voice acting is great.

I want to take a moment to applaud Kirk Thornton for his performance as Shadow. Before this game, I didn’t really care for his portrayal of Shadow. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but something just seemed off. He seemed miscast. This time around, however, he sounds great as Shadow. I still hold that Jason Griffith (yes, he voiced both Sonic and Shadow before the change) gave the best performance, but in my opinion, it seems like Kirk finally found his stride for Shadow in this one.

There are two ways to play as Shadow in this game - the first is through the free Episode Shadow DLC, which serves as sort of a prequel to the events of the game. The second is that when you S rank certain Modern Sonic stages (or all of them, maybe? I haven’t S ranked all of them yet), you can play as Shadow on subsequent run-throughs. As of this writing, I haven’t played through Episode Shadow yet, but I have played as Shadow in two Sonic stages. It may just be me, but he feels different from Sonic - he feels more like he did in Adventure 2, which is great. His boost is also pretty silly to look at.

The music in Forces is top-notch. Classic Sonic stages have a chiptune sound to them, remnicscent of the hedgehog’s 8- and 16-bit adventures. Modern Sonic stages tend to have fast-paced rock soundtracks, as is custom for our green-eyed friend. The Avatar has electronic music in their stages, so expect lots of techno wub.

In all, Sonic Forces is a pretty good package. My playthrough clocked in at about 8 hours, which I’m okay with, but may be a little skint for the $40 price of admission. Still, I had a great time with the game. It scratched the itch I’ve had for years for a good 3D Sonic game. I noticed none of the technical issues that others have pointed out, so take that for what it’s worth. While it may not be perfect for everyone, it was good enough for me.

This year was a great year for Sonic, with games that should satisfy both types of Sonic fans. Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces are both available for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Sonic Mania goes for $19.99, while Sonic Forces retails for $39.99.

[bobbystompy]

My Top 132 Songs Of 2016

Previously: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

Haven’t started writing this yet, but after peaking at 73 songs in 2013, then dipping to 67 and 71 the last two years, it is unbelievable we hit 132 (blame Spotify’s easy ability to save music and create playlists).

I debated skipping around, but nahhh, let’s get it.

As always, the criteria/info:

This is a list of songs I personally like, not ones I’m saying are the “best” from the year; more subjective than objective

No artist is featured more than once

If it comes down to choosing between two songs for an artist, I try to give more weight to a single or featured track; it’s not the ultimate factor, but it typically makes sharing the music easier

Speaking of... each song on the list is linked in the title if you wanna check out some for yourself

BOBBY VS. THE SONGS, FID

132) Kendrick Lamar - “untitled 07 | levitate”

Yeah, not gonna do the thing everyone else is doing where we pretend Kendrick is making amazing music with 2016′s throwaway release. I had to trudge through so much weird-and-not-fun stuff on “Butterfly” last year; it’s time to be done with it. Kendrick is obviously a top flight MC and could end up as an all-time great, but, like, come on -- this is from an EP of b-sides, it’s (probably) the best song... and it’s still not that memorable. How this record is ended up on so many year end best of lists mystified me.

131) Young Thug - “Drippin'”

Thugger spazzin’ around.

130) 2 Chainz f/ Lil Wayne - “Gotta Lotta”

Eh, this song’s aight; beat good, kinda sticks with you sometimes. Funny it should be listed as “2 Chainz & Lil Wayne” -- peep the very creative album art -- yet ended up as a 2 Chainz solo feature (on technicality alone) due to Weezy’s ongoing label issues. These two play off each other well.

129) Real Friends - “Mokena”

This song is good, but it’s... a little too angst-y at points.

128) Iggy Pop - “American Valhalla”

The best compliment I can give this song is it sounds unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Not a fun listen every time, but if you consciously immerse, it can definitely work.

127) The Avett Brothers - “Ain't No Man”

Good mom song; feels like fun. passed the torch with this one.

126) Paul Simon - “Horace And Pete”

Louis C.K. got Simon to write a theme song for his dramedy “Horace and Pete”, and the diminutive one came through in spades. I sometimes like to shoehorn in the f-word when singing along to help break up some of the seriousness. But yeah, this feels like a ‘60s classic even though it’s essentially brand new.

125) Frank Ocean - “Nikes”

The A.V. Club summed up my opinion of the Frank Ocean record with one swift line: “On first listen, Blonde feels like a Cracker Jack box with no toy in it.”

Amen.

Don’t get it twisted: I love Frank, still believe in Frank, and of course consider “channel ORANGE” to (objectively) be one of the greatest albums of this generation, but “Blonde”? It didn’t connect. Somewhat reluctantly, I picked this song for the list because it was the first one I heard, and it stands as a symbol of the initial hope which faded over a few listens. But when Ocean breaks in after all the high pitched singing, it does feel like a moment.

Also, this line will always stick: “RIP Pimp C / RIP Trayvon, that n**** look just like me”.

124) DJ Khaled f/ Jay-Z & Future - “I Got The Keys”

DJ Khaled is a talentless jackass, annoyingly ad libbing his way into our brains. Unfortunately, my personal favorite artist chooses to make listenable songs with him. Alas, No. 124. Jay slaying with “My wife Beyoncé, I brag different”. Future... being Future.

123) Slim Thug - “King”

The always underrated Slim Thug, hangin’ out and tellin’ you about his life. Also lifting weights. Minus points for using the Pimp C sample Jigga used in “FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt” only three years ago.

122) American Football - “Give Me The Gun”

This band will never hit for me as much as it does with cool/laid back guitar people, but I enjoyed this tune. And I wish my friend Luke were here to listen with me.

121) Craig Finn - “Screenwriters School”

Craig Finn, as slow and chill as you’ll ever hear him.

120) Mikey Erg - “1001 Smashed Motel Rooms”

Solid verses, big chorus, and you can almost, like, tell he’s bald by the voice (not an insult).

119) Cassadee Pope - “Summer”

The former Hey Monday singer goes in on the strongest season.

118) The Cool Kids - “Connect 4″

It’s very difficult to write about The Cool Kids without using the word “cool”, but man, these guys have such a great interplay. It’s not two separate dudes taking turns; it’s a glorious intertwine with true chemistry.

117) Third Eye Blind - “Cop vs. Phone Girl"

This is our first song I’d call an imperative listen. I say this because you need you to hear Stephan Jenkins sing “Why's it so hard to say ‘Black Lives Matter’? / Doesn't mean that you're anti-white / Take it from me, I'm super fucking white”.

He remains bulletproof.

116) Wakrat - “Sober Addiction”

I was positive this song was a jam after one listen, but I’ve listened 3-4 times since, and it’s gotten progressively worse each time. If that’s not enough of a hook, the singer is the Rage Against The Machine bassist.

115) Owl Meet Rabbit - “This Side Of The Nut House”

A Christmas song with a “National Lampoon” reference.

114) YG f/ Drake & Kamaiyah - “Why You Always Hatin?”

Still a little unclear why Drake keeps agreeing to be in YG songs. His verse references sliding into DMs.

113) Yo Gotti f/ Nicki Minaj - “Down In The DM (Remix)”

...and we also have a track titled after it. My biggest memory with this song will be feeling sick in an Uber from Chicago to Forest Park on, like, a weekday morning but still mustering the nerve to laugh at the chorus, which is egregious enough before the “bridge” of “Snapchat me that pussy, if it’s cool”. Seriously. RIP, music.

112) The Dirty Nil - “Zombie Eyed”

This rips.

111) Microwave - “Homebody”

A good song that pulls you in further when the distortion gets bigger in the chorus.

110) AJJ - “Terrifyer”

Some days, you're a member of Queen Other days, you're a Kottonmouth King Some days, you're Emilio Estevez Other days, you're Charlie Sheen

109) Band of Horses - “Casual Party”

These guys are all smooth harmonies.

108) Fitz and the Tantrums - “HandClap”

This song is pretty unoffensive, but it’s catchy enough to work.

107) Nothing - “The Dead Are Dumb”

“The Dead Are Dumb” -or- if the “Twin Peaks” theme actually went somewhere.

106) Car Seat Headrest - “Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An)”

This band kinda reminds me of The Strokes; just a liiiiiitle less New York street and a tad more indie.

105) Vince Staples f/ Kilo Kish - “Loco”

Vince got into the news this year after defending the mom who had an extreme distaste for his lyrics in 2015′s “Norf Norf”. Let’s just say she also would not enjoy this one. His interplay with Kilo is on point.

104) GTA f/ Vince Staples - “Little Bit of This”

‘ey, it’s Vince again, and this one is stronger; somehow topping the high energy of “Loco” with another level of fire-spitting.

103) The Living End - “Monkey”

The Aussies broke a 13 year album hiatus with 2016′s “Shift”, and “Monkey”, one of the lead singles, did not disappoint. There will always be a place for songwriting like this.

102) Vic Mensa - “16 Shots”

This song is so raw and street and real. Sometimes you hear something, and it just cuts like a knife. I’m talking a “Straight Outta Compton” level here. Mensa has thoughts on police brutality in Chicago, and he ain’t holding back. He played this live on Kimmel, and his solemn-yet-wired energy could not be ignored.

101) Boyd & The Stahfools - “Summerly”

Some might say BATS sold out with this very commercial ode to Pollyanna’s raspberry wheat ale, but when you consume as much of it as those boys do, I say it’s legit art.

100) Macklemore & RL f/ J. Woods - “White Privelege II”

This is kinda like the Third Eye Blind message on Black Lives Matter, only the exact opposite. It’s... quite heavy handed, and while I like that from Macklemore, I realize a lot do not. All I can say in his defense is, like, man, it really seems like this dude is trying, and he certainly attempted to involve the right people. If that’s not good enough for you, I get it.

(Plus, he kinda digs on Iggy; throwing y’all a bone, just take it.)

99) Conor Oberst - “A Little Uncanny”

Oberst sounds a ton like Bob Dylan in this one, but he also sounds a ton like Oberst. It’s kinda like two massive folk tidal waves crashing into each other.

98) Cymbals Eat Guitars - “Have A Heart”

CEG -- despite a terrific name -- have always made music that felt obtuse, but this is the first song that felt ready-made to, like, give normal people a window to check out the band.

97) Green Day- “Bang Bang”

Everyone wants to over-analyze Green Day. But if you don’t do that, you’ll enjoy this as a fast and easy pop-punk song. It plays at my gym sometimes, and I always kinda assume people are annoyed by it. To quote Josh from “Heavyweights”, this pleases me.

96) James Vincent McMorrow - “Get Low”

Chill/cool.

95) The Flatliners - “Hang My Head”

This won’t end up in their all-time Top 5, but it’s a good song, and it was nice to hear from this band in 2016.

94) AFI - “Snow Cats”

This would sound right at home as a mid-tempo number on “Sing The Sorrow”.

93) Jay Electronica - “#TBE The Curse Of Mayweather”

Oof, what a shitty title. So, this is Jay Elect’s “blast back” at Kendrick Lamar after K-Dot slaughtered the rap game (and shit, maybe rap itself) in 2013′s “Control”. But here’s the thing... “Control” was “Control”. No one is topping “Control”. No one is successfully going at “Control”. That’s in its own stratosphere. Was it fun to see the enigmatic MC try? Sure. Did it make any type of impact? Eh, no. But I did enjoy the fake Kendrick voice.

92) The Dyes - “Loudmouth”

Out of every song so far, I’ve found this the toughest to write about. My favorite part is probably the way the guitar and bass play off each other, but my second favorite part has to be how sinister and swaggery it sounds.

91) Big Sean - “Get My Shit Together”

Maaaan, I missed Big Sean in 2016 after an extremely fruitful 2015. The few times he did surface -- on other people’s songs -- he stayed in form, so you’ll see more of him as this goes.

It feel like young Ray Allen with the white twins

90) Emeli Sandé f/ Jay Electronica & Áine Zion - “Garden”

Serene, with a fitting Jay Elect verse.

89) Yumi Zouma - “Haji Awali”

Chiller than a Coleman.

88) Jimmy Eat World - “Get Right”

We’ve talked about this before, but JEW typically have sunny day feel good songs, or nighttime darkness-type songs; this one’s the latter.

87) Into It. Over It. - “No EQ”

Sooooo good; melodic and percussive and soulful. It tugs at your heart just the right amount.

86) The Front Bottoms - “Joanie”

This really, really sounds like a Front Bottoms song, which I mostly mean as a compliment but also... am slightly worried about as it pertains to future material.

85) The Lumineers - “Ophelia”

Would I like to steal this song and give it to a girl and say I wrote it to mega impress her? Uh, duh. Piano for dayz.

84) Viola Beach - “Swings & Waterslides”

Kinda a lighter version of the Arctic Monkeys; mostly the singing... but in a big way.

83) The Game - “92 Bars”

It’s sposta be a Meek Mill diss, but it’s basically Game freestyling about a buncha stuff over a workable beat. Some real solid lines, too. My favorites:

- “I can kill you in four bars, that's a Kit Kat”

- “Let me tell you who suck, like banana Now and Laters” (haha)

- “Give me Left Eye back, take Fetty Wap and the Raiders”

- “Gum by them Yeezys, I'm the 6'5" Eazy” (MVP bar?)

- “This the Golden State and my shooters ain't on no hoop shit” (coooold)

82) OMI - “Hula Hoop”

I’mma give the write up here to my girl Alyssa Pawola, via her husband, Jeff Pawola (who watched the video after she was told the song reminded me of him):

She agreed with you!

She says it's because the singer dances similar to me and is a little goofy (compliment?), whereas all the girls around him are really good dancers (thus, her).

81) Joey Purp f/ Chance The Rapper - “Girls @”

If you’re not all-in on this song by the seven or eight second mark, then you can probably pass. HOWEVA, Chance and his 3 hat appear later on, so we call that incentive, young Bucky.

80) Vinnie Caruana - “I Don’t Believe You”

The feels like a last-song-on-the-record kinda track.

/looks up if it was the last song on the record

...8 of 10!

(Close enough.)

79) No Lenox - “Leave”

This song is heart and blood, with a rare use of “fucking” from Chris Trott.

78) JANK - “Versace Summer”

JANK is interesting. All of their artwork and motif make them seem like stoners (and maybe they are), but the music itself is so technical and synced. Like, you know they’re trying and very capable. So as weird as seeing “Versace” next to “JANK” might look, maybe it’s this high end brand that truly does fit their sound over, say, Faygo. But yeah, by the time this song is done, even though they’ve played the chorus a handful of times, you probably wouldn’t mind a handful more.

77) White Lung - “Dead Weight”

This band is just the coolest shit. They always go so, so hard, but this time, there’s a guitar playing mega bad ass leads to help even things out. I would believe you if you told me the guitar was also shooting lasers.

76) Descendents - “Without Love”

Like The Living End, the Descendents have also been out of the ‘releasing new records’ game for over a decade. And as jokey of a band as they’ve been in the past, this song has some of the same earnestness and vulnerability we heard on 2004′s “Cool To Be You”.

75) Andrew Bird - “Roma Fade”

For sure a candidate for coolest song title of 2016.

74) LVL UP - “Hidden Driver”

This is too indie for its own good.

73) A$AP Ferg f/ Big Sean - “World Is Mine”

Mostly included for Sean. Sorry, Ferg -- but you did give him the hook and a verse.

72) AM Taxi - “Enough To Feel Like Enough”

Like The Front Bottoms song from earlier, this AM Taxi song is very AM Taxi. But I ain’t ever worried about AM Taxi.

71) Rozwell Kid - “Baby’s First Sideburns”

Not sure I’ve ever heard a weak song by this band.

70) PARTYNEXTDOOR f/ Drake - “Come And See Me”

If you wanted to upset your love interest in 2016, hitting him or her with the “I hear you talkin' 'bout ‘we’ a lot, oh, you speak French now?” line was probably a good place to start.

69) Tancred - “Bed Case”

Kinda ‘90s, right? Nice.

68) Thrice - “Blood On The Sand”

Moderate take alert: I purport the Thrice singer sounds like Dave Grohl in this song, particularly during the chorus. Come at me with your agrees or disagrees.

67) MakeWar - “Ode”

The dude on this band’s album cover always reminds me of Rafa Nadal, which is weird, as I’d argue he looks -20% like Rafa Nadal. This song has a downcast energy. I think I wanna see these dudes live.

66) PKEW PKEW PKEW - “Asshole Pandemic”

Party punk, wooooo. You will not find a more circular 2016 lyric than “Why’s this fuckin’ dick gotta be such a cock?”

65) Adam Friedman f/ Mike Posner - “Lemonade”

blue eyes >>> brown eyes, Adam.

64) Matt and Kim - “Let’s Run Away”

As always-always-always, Matt and Kim are having more fun than we are.

63) Ariana Grande f/ Nicki Minaj - “Side To Side”

As recently as 40 days ago, I was emaling my friends about this track with the very loaded “I’m not sure this song is good at all”.

My buddy Brian’s response will probably jar you like it jarred me:

Gotta say, I have a soft spot for this song. I think the beat is pretty banging and the subject matter is a plus. Like, we do have to acknowledge that she's walking side to side because she's been having sex with dude all night and day and now her vagina is too sore to walk like a regular person. I can dig that.

Well then.

62) With You. f/ Vince Staples - “Ghost”

Weird music video, but definitely my favorite version of Vince that we got in 2016.

61) Fifth Harmony f/ Ty Dolla $ign - “Work From Home”

I was listening to this song with my girlfriend the other day, and I said something like “This song could really use a rap cameo”. Enter: the very forgettable Ty Dolla $ign. Still, a fun, sexty song. Also, I believe this is our first -- and only? -- song to have over one billion YouTube views (!!!).

60) Masked Intruder - “If Only”

This made it over other MI candidates due to the Winnie Cooper reference.

59) Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Jay-Z f/ French Montana & Infared - “All The Way Up (Remix)”

An easy chorus for sports teams to co-opt, as well as a “fuck off me” Jay verse. He bucks “Lemonade”, ups his products for the infinite time, and drops the mic after:

The OG's say, "Hov, how high is high enough?" I said "'till we eye and eye with the higher ups" Until we let 'em know, we ain't those n****s Until our baby's showered in gold, n**** Blue looking like Pac in the tub David LaChapelle levels of not giving a fuck Prince left his masters where they safe and sound We never gonna let the elevator take him down

Man.

Worry not, cockroach French is around to muck things up. It’s salvaged by a real dope Remy Ma verse, though.

58) Al Scorch - “Everybody Out”

The perfect soundtrack for escaping a busted speakeasy.

57) Tegan and Sara - “Dying To Know”

This song makes the list because the “Boyfriend” chorus was lazy as hell; it was like the “Closer” chorus, version 2.0. Conversely, “Dying To Know” has real emotion and a big, legit chorus.

56) Bloc Party - “The Good News”

A song I fear no one will like but me... but hey, my list.

55) New Lenox - “It’s Its Own Thing”

This is a song I wrote (and drummed on) about how winter sucks. It’s also about Chicago, being alone, finding someone, and using Banner Pilot to get through tough, frozen times. Shout out to Dave Rokos for singing the majority of the leads and Chris Trott for producing.

54) Julien Baker - “Photobooth”

I became enamored with the voice and talent of 21-year-old phenom Julien Baker throughout 2016, and though she released her debut album in 2015 (ALL TRACKS DISQUALIFIED, CHICA), she did drop this Death Cab cover for The A.V. Club this year, so I found a way to get her in the door. Now that we’re all here, I’ll give the floor to Deadspin’s Tom Ley:

What I did not expect was to like this version of the song so much that I now become visibly disgusted when I try to go back and listen to the original. Like all the good, thoughtful teens of my era, I spent a lot of time listening to Death Cab in my car, and I used to nod along pleasantly when “Photobooth” came on. But now I’m just angry I ever wasted any time listening to a lesser version of the song. In my opinion, Death Cab should just turn their entire catalog over to Julien Baker and be done with it.

Ironically, I will be seeing Baker open up for Death Cab singer Ben Gibbard later this January.

53) Desiigner - “Panda”

This is a bad song... but it’s incredibly listenable (for about 30 seconds, only it keeps going for a normal amount of time). It got upped on Kanye’s album, which likely sparked public interest in this mumble rap disaster. Literally the best thing you can say is it’s a Future rip off -- and he’s not all that great to begin with.

/sadly looks up YouTube view total

190 million; Fifth Harmony is like “pshhhh”.

Yet, “Panda” somehow endures. It feels fresh, saying “panda” repatedly never seems to tire, and it burned down the dance floor at Brian Pawola’s wedding this summer; old and young alike wanted to be pandas.

Now is also probably a good time to disclose my Halloween costume...

52) Cloud Nothings - “Modern Act”

Me, blogging about my excitement for the new Cloud Nothings album that drops in three weeks.

51) A Tribe Called Quest f/ André 3000 - “Kids” (no link)

Welcome back.

50) Run The Jewels - “Talk To Me”

Haven’t listened to RTJ3, but it’s only been out for, like, 10 days. Still, this song is as reliably dope as they’ve always been. I also felt compelled to include ATCQ and RTJ in these spots to ensure they were not above “Panda”.

Brave men didn't die face down in the Vietnam muck so I could not style on you

49) Kevin Devine - “No History”

My aforementioned buddy Dave Rokos likes this song because of its big chorus, and I’d also like to use it as a selling point.

48) Kings Of Leon - “Reverend”

For as big as Kings Of Leon are, I haven’t really heard this song anywhere.

47) Rae Sremmurd f/ Gucci Mane - “Black Beatles”

I always thought Rae Sremmurd were kinda meh (at best) and Gucci Mane was an idiot’s idiot (at absolute best), but this song’s a banger -- and this conclusion was reached prior to it going viral with the Mannequin Challenges. Speaking of... my 2016 Black Wednesday:

A video posted by Bobby L (@bobbystompy) on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:15pm PST

46) Grimes - “Kill V. Maim”

This song is straight out of a video game or action movie. Like, get ready to fight a boss or something.

45) Dave Hause - “With You”

Heartfelt ballad that feels sprawled out across a few genres.

44) Robin Thicke f/ Nas - “Deep”

What do we get when we combine a dude with no credibility and feature a dude with tons of credibility? A sneaky sizzling collab. And if you still got beef, remember: it ain’t that deep.

43) Against Me! - “Rebecca”

A lot of people have had this AM! song on their year end lists, and I wasn’t seeing it, but after a few extra spins, it became pretty clear this was thee highlight from the album. It’s got this kinetic energy, spinning out of control while somehow maintaining perfect balance.

42) Restorations - “See”

Restorations make spectrum songs; ones you listen to while the world moves in slow motion at an airport reunion, while time stops after a death, or stretches out on an overly contemplative Sunday evening. What I’m saying is, these dudes control the clocks.

41) Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - “Green Like The G Train, Green Like Sea Foam”

Soupy from The Wonder Years’ solo project keeps -- PUN INTENDED -- chuggin’ along with this one. He’s singing in the same gear he always sings in, but the chorus and always trusty synced rhythms that break it in two definitely get me goin’. 

40) Titus Andronicus - “No Future”

Titus Andronicus covering Craig Finn, and they add just the right amount of anguish to the proceedings. There’s such an obvious-yet-still-clever element to the “February’s about as long as it is wide” line.

39) Rihanna - “Needed Me” (NSFW-ish video)

This song is good -- Mustard on the beat, natch -- but RiRi murdering a dude in the back of a strip club in the video might be better.

38) Jeff Rosenstock - “Festival Song”

The former Bomb the Music Industry! singer dipped his toe in a few genres throughout his 2016 album “Worry”, though I’m not sure how to describe this one; it’s kind of spastic punk with some synthy keyboards and a catchy outro, strong enough to throw two capable haymakers as the song enters its final minute. 

37) The Steve Adamyk Band f/ Colleen Green - “Carry On”

I hadn’t even heard of this band a month ago, but “Carry On” has quickly become a favorite; toe-tappin' rock.

36) The Naked And Famous - “Higher”

This band seems like they’d have -- there is no better word I’m so sorry -- epic concerts. Also, don’t miss out on the “In The Air Tonight”-sounding fills.

35) Phantogram - “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore”

Brilliant drum samples, drug stuff, and a pop sensibility; you seriously could not ask for more.

34) Child Bite - “Vermin Mentality”

This song is quite harsh, and I imagine if you had individual approval ratings for all 132 of these songs, it would very easily finish in the bottom five. That said, I think it rocks, and it reminds me of the Dead Kennedys’ best scenario.

33) Joyce Manor - “Last You’ve Heard Of Me”

Sure, I reacted like a mom when I saw Barry’s new neck tattoo in the video, but the song was the redeemer. Recommended if you like the Everclear “Santa Monica” intro, marijuana makes you tired, or you’ve found love in the parking lot outside a karaoke bar.

32) Cassino - “Alabama Song”

If you did happen to listen to “Vermin Mentality”, this’ll probably be the song to get that taste out of your mouth. I love its overall laid back vibe, even if what it’s about remains unclear after a good chunk of listens.

31) Direct Hit! - “Was It The Acid?”

This one lost several punk points after the singer revealed he did not use hard drugs. But still.

30) Bayside - “Pretty Vacant”

My buddy Brian Pawola doesn’t like this song because of the teenage-y “I can’t believe this is my life, I’m pretty vacant all the time” chorus, but that’s precisely why I do. Also, apparently the album it’s off of is called “Vacancy”, haha.

29) PUP - “Familiar Patterns”

Feels weird not picking a single, but this one was always my favorite; the same percussive power, shreddy singing, and unrelenting noise we got in their debut a few years ago. Also funny: they named their 2016 album “The Dream Is Over”, which is what the PUP singer’s doctor told him after diagnosing his vocal chord ailment.

28) Tokyo Police Club - “Not My Girl”

Sometimes, I wanna tell non-punk fans TPC is what all punk rock sounds like, because even though the band has more of a pop-indie element, they do seem like the genre’s best case scenario more often than not.

27) The Falcon - “If Dave Did It”

Feels like sacrilege picking a Dave Hause fronted track for my Falcon choice. After all, this is Brendan Kelly’s group, and after an EP and two full lengths, it’s Dave’s first ever time fronting a song in the band. But this song kept standing out. It also has a small drum solo, and even though basically all drum solos are bad, Neil Hennessy’s on the kit -- so you know you’re in good hands.

26) Chance The Rapper f/ 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne - “No Problem”

Chance’s “Coloring Book” was so positive and creative and multi-faceted that it feels a little wrong to pick a song that’s more traditional rap with typical guests, but it really is the best song, you know? For whatever reason, Lil Wayne’s nonchalant verse was my favorite, with his initial bars being the highlight:

I got problems bigger than these boys My deposits, they be on steroids Lord, free the Carter, n****s need the Carter Sacrificin' everything, I feel like Jesus Carter

But sure, we can also highlight funny 2 Chainz things:

- “Inside of the Maybach look like it came out of Ikea / Run shit like diarrhea” (oh my god)

- “Aye, aye, captain / I'm high, captain / I'm so high / Me and God dappin'” (haha)

Also, if you don’t raise-and-drop your arms for the “huh! huh!” part before the beat kicks in at the beginning after “lobby”, you’re a monster.

25) David Rokos - “Pacific Time”

Falling in lust with a California girl who has the keys to bomb ass hotel room overlooking the ocean? What self-deprecating heterosexual dude isn’t signing up for this?

24) NOFX - “Six Years On Dope”

Thrash punk, with Fat Mike and Eric Melvin divvying up the vocals after arguing to start the song. Here’s the July 2016 description I emailed to the gf:

So, the lead singer has kind of a flat, annoying voice, but then there's this guitarist who mostly does yell parts and not a lot of leads, but in this song, they both basically trade off yelling, and the guitar is blaring, and it just does not relent. They've released a million records at this point, but something about it feels so fresh. Like new blood has been infused into all of them.

You will like... 0% of this.

Her response: “Hahaha. I wouldn't say that I hate this...but it's pretty close.”

23) Beach Slang - “Future Mixtape For The Art Kids”

Of all the artists on this way-too-long list, I had the hardest time picking a Beach Slang song. This is probably because all of their songs sound the same. But as a writer earlier this year said, it’s still a good song. So true. I went with Track 1 from their album “A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings” (this is the actual title) because it has the biggest chorus:

We're not lost, we are dying in style We're not fucked, we are fucking alive I hope I never die

Every Beach Slang song also has to include “die” or “alive” in the lyrics; this one gets both. Minor gripe: that vocal distortion you hear is an effect used on every other song on the 29 minute record.

22) Kid Cudi f/ André 3000 - “By Design” (no link)

When you think too much, you’re removing what’s moving

This song could literally be in a made up language, but the diction, beat, and Caribbean stylings from Cudi and 3 Stacks would still make you wile out. The full version appears to be nowhere on the free Internet, but I highly recommend finding it.

If you’re too lazy, peep Cudi’s “Goodbye” instead. It’s a pump up track that samples 2Pac and Pink Floyd -- what could go wrong?!

21) Anderson .Paak - “Come Down”

My buddy Ceebs used this as the entrance song at his wedding; he and his wife looked so cool.

20) The Weeknd - “False Alarm”

Listen, I wanted to include “Starboy”. But after shunning “The Hills” for “Can’t Feel My Face” in 2015, I wanted to pick the weird song over the poppier one this time, OK? This music video is so violent. I also really do wonder if this song has borderline punk elements.

19) Carly Rae Jepsen - “Higher”

Just a Carly Rae “Emotion” b-side cracking the Top 20, no big deal. Seeing CRJ in Milwaukee in March was my favorite concert of 2016; so much so that I saw her in Chicago the next day and even exchanged a shirt (...cutoffs) with the merch guy I’d met already.

18) Brian Fallon - “Red Lights”

We have The Gaslight Anthem singer’s solo project here. This could definitely be a TGA song. “I only stop to tell her that I love her at the red lights” = unstoppable swoon.

17) Jay-Z - “Spiritual”

I need a drink, shrink or something I need an angelic voice to sing something

A song that should’ve had a much bigger spotlight in an incredibly tumultuous year. I remember listening to this during the Dallas shootings, my heart absolutely breaking for the country. Here is the statement Hov released with the track:

16) Justin Timberlake - “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING!”

Our Song of the Summer, 2K16.

The one critique you could give is maybe it’s a little too easy, a little too low hanging fruit, but my counter would be: who said pop music has to be terribly difficult? And if you’re still folding arms during the “Can’t stop the fee-laaaaahn” falsetto part, having fun probably isn’t your bag.

15) Get Well Cards - “Is It Worth It?”

I think you’re trying to kill me, when you said you’d lick my wounds

I play drums on this jam, but it’s Dave Rokos’ songwriting that gives me all the feels. It always reminded me of a slightly more restrained “Good Things”. This song is about sleeplessness, deep contemplation, and a deteriorating relationship; you don’t know if you should do everything you can to hold on... or mercifully let it all go (”And they say time is all we have to give / And I think I’ve given you enough”... oof).

14) Resolutions - “Daily Train”

Blindly assumed this band was from Canada, but, upon further research, it looks like Germany. Hmm. The singer sounds like the Rise Against dude to me.

13) Mike Posner f/ Big Sean - “Buried In Detroit (Lucas Lowe Remix)”

Hunger > Strategy

The Mike Posner comeback was one of the more delightful storylines of 2016. Though I liked “Ibiza” quite a bit, I had a softer spot for the one with his fellow Michigander. This is my favorite Big Sean performance of the year, and Posner’s verses and choruses are straight anthemic.

12) blink-182 - “Rabbit Hole”

Though we can all agree “Built This Pool” is the best song of all-time (Travis’ “Is that really it?” = completely perfect), “Rabbit Hole” was a bit more well-rounded -- and it’s Matt Skiba getting in the mix in a blink-182 song (verse two); I can’t believe we’re here.

11) Kanye West f/ Kendrick Lamar - “No More Parties In L.A.”

In honor of its number on our dear list, my Top 11 favorite bars from this banging banger of a song...

11. Kanye: “And as far as ‘Real Friends’, tell all my cousins I love 'em / Even the one that stole the laptop, you dirty motherfucker” (he’s not over it)

10. Kanye: "My psychiatrist got kids that I inspired / First song they played for me was 'bout their friend that just died” (creepy, ominous)

9. Kanye: “Hey baby, you forgot your Ray Bans / And my sheets still orange from your spray tan” (very South Naperville)

8. Kendrick: “She said she came out here to find an A-list rapper / I said baby, spin that 'round and say the alphabet backwards” (the young MC will not be slighted)

7. Kanye: "Thinking back to how I got here in the first place / Second class bitches wouldn't let me on first base" (those days are probably over, Yeezy)

6. Kanye: “Got pussy from beats I did for n****s more famous / When did I become A list? I wasn't even on a list” (those days are also probably over, Yeezy)

5. Kendrick: “Well cutie, I like your bougie booty / Come Erykah Badu me" (that’s just good game)

4. Kanye: “Every agent I know, know I hate agents / I'm too black, I'm too vocal, I'm too flagrant” (empowering)

3. Kanye: “I was uninspired since Lauryn Hill retired / And 3 Stacks, man, you preach it to the choir” (golden)

2. Kanye: "Mulholland Drive, need to put up some god damn barricades / I be paranoid every time, the pressure / The problem ain't I be drivin' / The problem is I be textin'" (we’ve all been there)

1. Kanye: “I be worried 'bout my daughter, I be worried 'bout Kim / But Saint is baby 'Ye, I ain't worried 'bout him” (and we’ll end with my favorite rap lyric of 2016)

10) Daya - “Hide Away”

It took a few listens to realize how sublime this one is. The lyrics are solid, the beat is great, and they display some real patience with how the hi-hat notes are deployed, and it really helps control the flow of urgency (Posner uses this tactic in the “Buried In Detroit [Remix]” as well).

Also, don’t sleep on its grocery store banger potential with the happier sounding and cutesy “Tell me where the good boys go” bridge.

9) Beyoncé f/ Kendrick Lamar - “Freedom” (note: link is to the live performance)

This is big.

I remember when “Lemonade” dropped, I was txting with my friend Buffalo Grove Tina (she’d heard the album and I hadn’t yet), giving her selective feedback as I was progressing through the tracks. She then sent a message that stuck with me every listen since:

Hooooooly buckets, she nailed it. The Just Blaze beat should be sent to the CDC, Yoncé is breathing fire, and once you start to finally wrap your head around all of that, you get a K-Dot verse as icing on a cake that already had great cake and great icing. It’s run-through-walls time.

8) Drake - “One Dance” (note: link is to the live version)

Drake has been so consistent with his output this decade, turning every year into a "Should I pick the hip-hop song or the pop song?" debate when it comes to list-making. This time, the pop song wins (or dancehall, really).

"One Dance" is a good joint to drink, dance, or sway to. There's a reason it became his most streamed song of all-time.

7) The Hotelier - “Piano Player”

What a beautiful piece of music. The warmness I feel during the “I don’t know if I know love no more” is unmatched. Their album (”Goodness”) is one of the year’s best.

6) Culture Abuse - “Dream On”

This song is automatic pulverization. Like, about 80% of the way through, it tries to end but somehow can't. The chorus isn't ready to be done. Some have compared the singer's style to a robot, but I think it just sounds *cool*.

5) Japandroids - “Near To The Wild Heart Of Life”

She kissed me like a chorus

Skeptics might hate on this song for sounding like a retread of their sound from 2012's legendary album "Celebration Rock", and even non-skeptics may roll their eyes at the "I used to be good, but now I'm bad" line. But I shun these trigger happy notions. Enough time has passed since “CR”, and I was ready for this band to come back; beyond ready. This song gave me everything I was missing during the Japan-void.

/walks out of the room with an unflinchingly straight face

4) Pusha T f/ Jay-Z - “Drug Dealers Anonymous”

My pick for the best hip-hop track of the year. No choruses, no trade offs; it’s one long Pusha verse, then one long Jay verse -- the best rap verse of 2016, by my count. Pusha’s is galvanizing too, though. He paints pictures, conjures the Flint water crisis*, and sets up a bowling pin for the GOAT to roll one at...

/deep breath

Just, like, fuck, man.

JAY-Z IS SO GOOD AT RAPPING WORDS

Shawn Corey Carter doesn’t walk, he weaves. He doesn’t blast, he shoots silenced. I’d love to use the word “ether” to describe the verse but won’t out of respect. What doesn’t it have? I don’t know. Here’s what it does have: Tomi Lahren she gone, drug dealer stuff, rich guy stuff, historical and pop culture references (I’ll defend the “Damn, Daniel” line to the death), and this piece of divinity: “Y’all think Uber’s the future, our cars been autonomous”.

Sometimes all I can do is put my head down, bite my lip, and bob when this song comes on; lucky to be alive, like always.

(* - Pusha apparently donated water to the city but wanted it nameless, rationalizing it in the song with: “And I can’t even mention what I sent or what I spent / Cause my name in 18 wheelers is evidence”)

3) Modern Baseball - “Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind”

MoBo’s “Holy Ghost” was a little uneven as an album, but I’m just happy to have singer Brendan Lukens here with us after his bout with depression, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts. By the time he got back to the studio after rehab, he was ready to give us at least a little insight into his psyche -- and it’s desperate, scary, and beautiful. My favorite overall musical moment of 2016 is the pleading “I can’t” he hits at the 1:15 mark of this one.

Clocking in at a tick under two minutes, this song almost feels incomplete in a way that 2014′s “Rock Bottom” (2:14 itself) didn’t. It’s like Lukens wants to sprint so hard he passes out, worrying not as much about finishing the race but instead focusing on giving the audience all of himself while in the booth.

2) Pinegrove - “New Friends”

Hit me, Spin:

Pinegrove are almost radically likable, soft-spoken in a year of grandiose statements, filling a void that only existed in retrospect.

Damn straight. I hadn’t even heard of these guys at the start of the year.

This goes from indie folk to a Weezer-y outro with only a short build up, but the songwriting and lyrics are in a style all their own, really. That’s it.

1) The Menzingers - “Lookers”

When this dropped, my buddy Chris Trott emailed me what he always emails me when a new song piques our interest: “Holy good god damn this is good. This is like 'I believe in music again' good.”

Shortly after, I remember leaving work for lunch and bumping the song for the first time in a parking lot. I wrote him back: “Was staring at this brick wall while listening and the first thought that popped into my head was something like 'It feels like they are taking my soul out of my body and splattering it on that wall' (in the best way, of course).”

Nostalgic verses, massive Jersey chorus, an “On The Road” reference, and the desire to want more of these songs even after you were just given everything in a single installment.

This god damn band.

[dailybizuniverse-blog]

What To Do Indoors When The Weather Is Not Cooperating Today

What to Do Indoors When the Weather is Not Cooperating

During wintertime or inclement weather, many families like myself are wondering what they can do together to make the most out of the day.  It would appear the number of outdoor activities may be reduced. Freezing temperatures in the north and mountain areas leave you wondering what to engage in as a family. I’ve come up with some solutions when the weather is not at its best for outdoor activities.

Below is a list of indoor winter activities that your entire family can enjoy. These activities can help kick boredom of staying indoors and even create an opportunity for family bonding time, which would be my favorite reason.

Why Not Check Out the Local Museums

What better time to visit a museum that your family will surely enjoy.  Now, some museums have free entrance, and some do get a little pricey, but it’s a great time for your family and a great learning experience. Depending on where you live, here’s a list of the types of museums you could explore together:  History, Maritime,  Military and War museums, Art, Sports, Living History, Science, Children’s museums, Natural History, Archaeology museums to name a few.   Something for everybody!

You may not have all of these types of museums in your area, but I think every large city will have a few to enjoy.  If there are museums near you, winter can sometimes be the best time to explore what they have to offer; therefore, you and your family can learn about whatever it is that interests you collectively.

Attend Concerts, Sports, Show/Theatre, Comedy Shows

Attending a concert is so much fun and entertaining. To check out any upcoming concerts in your area, a  fantastic place to find out what is going on in your area is at  tickets-center.com.  You can search by your state or  city, and they will list all the events in your area. It’s fantastic!

Depending on the nature of the concert, some are free and others you pay for.  There are concerts out there to suit everyone in your family. Don’t forget about orchestras. Are you interested in comedy shows?  Check out showclix.com for shows in your area.

How about local tours?

I know friends who love to check out the local tours, which could be a scenic experience, by boat, by charter bus, local brewery and winery tours. I do love to be at home, but there are plenty of people always looking for something to do, and this is a surefire way to enjoy your weekend.

Historical Home Tours

I’ll bet you can find more historic home tours in your area than you even knew existed.  They are usually a guided tour throughout the home and property, and I think it’s just really interesting to hear the history behind the home.  It’s also a neat way to spend a couple of hours.

Playing Cards and Board Games

Indoor games have been a source of entertainment for decades. These fun indoor games are great for wintertime when perhaps you’ll spend less time outdoors, depending on the weather situation. The next time you are feeling bored, you can get creative and ask your family members to participate in board or card games. Learn some together.  Some younger children may like Uno or SkipBo to start.  These are fun activities that will keep you focused all winter long. I’ve got a site where you can learn how to play just about any card game at https://www.pagat.com/.

Indoor Laser Tag

Indoor Laser Tag can be a “blast” for a day with friends or family.  If you go to https://www.yelp.com/nearme/laser-tag, they will assist in finding a place nearby to play.  They also sell laser tag sets that come with lasers and vests. It’s an indoor game that is ideal for people of all ages. As a family, you can divide yourselves into a group of two, put on infrared-sensitive gadgets, and fire infrared beams at each other. This game has grown to be quite common over the years; therefore, finding an ideal laser tag arena near you shouldn’t be a problem.

Paintball

You can play paintball indoors and outdoors. It’s okay to play in your yard, provided you’re not disturbing your neighbors.  Generally, it’s $10 to $25 per person to play.  Purchasing paintballs on-site can run anywhere from $35 to $60 for a count of 2000 paintballs.  Now, straight from Oxford Dictionaries, here’s the definition of the game:  “a game in which participants simulate military combat using air guns to shoot capsules of paint at each other.”  It can be very competitive, but wildly fun!

Challenge Yourselves in an Escape Room

I had never even heard of these escape rooms until one day on an outing out of state, we stopped for some food, and next door was an interesting looking place.  We asked about it, and the person behind the counter of the restaurant told us what an escape room is.

Does your family have the skills and teamwork to get yourselves out of an escape room in 60 minutes?  The escape room is a game that can break the winter monotony for your family. Escape room games will give your family a mind-blowing experience and creates the perfect bonding opportunity.  Here is a website https://escaperoomsnearme.net/ to check out where you can find one near you and also tells you what exactly it is and what you’d be doing. There’s a lot of information there you’d be sure to enjoy learning.

Classic Go to the Movies and Dinner or Enjoy the Dinner Theatre

When is the last time your family went to the movies together?  Thanks to streaming services, nowadays, families may not have the opportunity to bond over watching a movie together like we used to.  Kids have their thing going, and so do you.  You can change that this winter by going to the movies and having dinner afterward so that you can share the best scenes from the film together while sharing a meal.  My very favorite outing is to go to our dinner theatre near me.  I can see comedies, concerts, musicals, all while sharing a meal. It’s my favorite!!

Participate in Indoor Batting

Indoor batting cages are a lot of fun. We’ve got some nearby where we live that are attached to arcade areas and miniature golf with a food court.  You can win prizes also, which is always popular with kids.  You can have birthday parties there also. It’s a lot of fun!

Don’t Forget Chuck E Cheese

Chuck E Cheese is always a  popular getaway.  Your kids will love the pizza and fun with all the arcade games.  You can enjoy the arcade with them, or it’s safe to let them run around having fun while you get your “relax” time letting them enjoy winning their prizes.

Check out What the Nearest Trampoline Park has to Offer

https://www.skyzone.com/locations is a website where you can find out where the nearest trampoline park is, also so much fun for the entire family.  Watch your kids and relax. They also host birthday parties with a food court. Trampoline parks are a great place for you and your kids to blow off some steam if they’re getting antsy for some physical activity.

Go-Kart Parks

My best friend loves to go to Go-Kart parks and with his grown children!  You’ll find indoor and outdoor parks.  He secretly wishes he’d get tickets for go-karting; he loves it so much!  Just google where go-kart parks are near you.

Indoor Rock Climbing

We’ve got several locations nearby for indoor rock climbing.  As a good source to locate ones near you, go to https://www.indoorclimbing.com/worldgyms.  IndoorClimbing.com is a website where you can find out all the rock climbing gyms nearby. It’s a great source. Just choose your state and they will provide a full listing of gyms. Don’t worry if you haven’t done rock climbing before.  Lessons are available.

With these indoor activities in mind, winter will never be the same again. Of course, these are great any season of the year also. Plan out these activities in your calendar before winter sets in or on the same day, and when it does, you will never miss the days of summer, spring, or fall. Well, that may be stretching it a bit.

Brought to you by RideOnToysPlanet.com

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Rebuilding the World is Way More Fun With Friends in Dragon Quest Builders 2

When I told a friend that Dragon Quest Builders 2 was one of the games I was most looking forward to this summer, he asked me if I was a Minecraft fan or a Dragon Quest fan. Surprisingly, I answered neither. I played Minecraft back in its early beta days and enjoyed the freedom, but the lack of formal structure left me wanting more to do. I decided to leave the game to those who would happily reconstruct the Great Pyramid of their own volition. Dragon Quest had the opposite problem. Having missed the earlier titles, I never developed the fond nostalgia for what seemed to be fairly rigid, if charismatic, JRPG dungeon crawlers. But when freedom of Minecraft is combined with the structure and goals of a Dragon Quest? There's an incentive structure I can get behind!

    What Dragon Quest Builders really reminds me of is the long vanished "restore the world" JRPG genre that Enix specialized in with titles like ActRaiser, Soul Blazer, and TerraNigma. In these games, you usually played an emissary of God tasked with restoring life to a blasted wasteland filled with demons. Nothing quite matches the power trip of turning a poisoned wasteland into fertile fields and building a thriving community where death once reigned. Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2 were the last of the genre, which seemed all but dead until Dragon Quest Builders came to revive it in 2016.

  Where the first Builders based itself off of the first Dragon Quest, with its setting of Alefgard and great enemy the Dragonlord, Builders 2 references the second Dragon Quest. Here the foes are the evil cult the Children of Hargon, who despise builders and forbid anyone from improving their lot in life. Also making an appearance from the classic title is NPC Malroth, who assists the main character in their journey. As with the first game, at no point does knowing the Dragon Quest lore become necessary to enjoy the adventure. Fans however will have plenty of in-jokes to appreciate and some foreshadowing of the direction the story will take.

    Development duties for Dragon Quest Builders 2 was handed off to Omega Force of Dynasty Warriors fame, and quite fitting, as as the game progresses a ton of characters and action is happening onscreen. The name of the game for Builders 2 seems to be teamwork. Builders was often a solitary affair, with the hero traveling from stage to stage in a  linear fashion, sometimes making allies they would leave behind to continue in their quest. Builders 2 takes a page from the open world playbook, with a hub world called the Isle of Awakening and three other major islands from which to recruit villagers and building materials. The first Builders had some artifice in its world construction, as portals warped you to stages within stages. It felt very much like a game, but there was always something interesting to do. Builders 2 makes the tradeoff to make the world feel more authentically real, but with most open world games, there's an awful lot of space between points of interest. A lot will come down to player preference.

  Like, for instance, the first game you're given a giant hammer for brute work and gloves for finer work. With the hammer, you can bash up rocks, items, and trees into raw materials. Gloves allow you to pick up and put down individual blocks. Material blocks when set down build walls, and when you enclose a space with a wall two blocks high and a door, you create a room. With crafting stations you can create furniture and accessories, creating specific rooms to your villagers' or your own personal preferences. When you start out on an island, most resource collection, crafting, and building from blueprints is a solo effort. A lot has been streamlined and improved this time around, with blocks and items specially marked if they're needed for a quest, to prevent having to check the quest requirements for a specific building over and over again. Additionally, you're given more inventory storage space early on, meaning you're never at the mercy of having to build chests like the first game. As you complete quests, you get hearts of happiness from the villagers which allow you to level up the town itself. As the level increases, villagers will gather resources, cook, maintain the village, and take care of a lot of the tedious busywork. I never had to go on fetch quests for specific ingredients or rebuild the village after an enemy attack after I had showed the villagers how to do it themselves.

    You can also sail to smaller Fortune Islands where you play a scavenger hunt for plants, materials, and animals for a great reward: Infinite resources of a specific type. Early on I traveled to one of these randomly generated islands for a story quest, but stuck around and searched the island thoroughly for the reward of infinite wood. For the rest of the game, I never had to put my construction plans on hold to go chop down yet another tree. Having all of the minor busywork automated away once it no longer presented an interesting or novel challenge was a wonderful upgrade and made the process of creating these towns much more rewarding.

  One problem that does emerge from this is that near the end of a island's story quest, there is usually an incredibly elaborate building that is constructed with all of the villagers' help. Supermassive, with three floors and over 500 blocks per floor, these projects are not ones you'd want to complete on your own. While you often have missions of your own to complete while the villagers work, you can end up having to wait for the villagers to complete their task. Still, it's a minor nuisance, especially compared to a similar issue with combat.

    Combat has never been Dragon Quest Builders' big draw. The boss battles are fun, but routine combat involves one or two kinds of attacks at best, running away to dodge, and smart use of healing items. In the first Builders, you were often the strongest member of your party due to your ability to craft weapons and armor, and a few NPCs lent a helping hand. Here, you are second best. Your game companion, Malroth, blessed with the powers of destruction, is a much stronger fighter than you. While you, being a creative builder, have a powerful ally of destruction is fun for the story, it doesn't add much to the gameplay. When it works out, it can be convenient to have Malroth take care of persistent mobs for you, or to deliver finishing blows to weakened enemies. When it goes badly, and you have no healing items, you can run around waiting for Malroth to defeat your enemies. Fixes to this would have been reducing the incidence of combat overall, or letting you control Malroth in high stakes combat situations. Playing second fiddle is just no fun.

  The tower defense segments are slightly better, as there you have a group of villagers fighting a group of enemies. Battles are often lost or won ahead of time by making sure your villagers are equipped with the best weapons. You can play a supporting role by carrying wounded villagers back to a bed to rest, but your inventory of offensive building projects like spikes or flame-breathing gargoyles have been reduced from the first game. Again, if a fight goes wrong, you can end up waiting for your allies, especially Malroth to carry the day. I died a lot less in combat in Builders 2 than I did in the first game, but I also can't say I enjoyed battling outside the boss battles, where you always play a central role.

    Considering the mechanics on paper is one thing, but Builders 2 also has a massive amount of charm going for it. It's a beloved world for a good reason, and Akira Toriyama's goofy loveable characters allow you to overlook combat shortcomings. Traveling to an island, seeing the dismal state of the village when you start, and seeing just how vibrant and lively the village is when you leave is a lot of the appeal of the game. On an island, you have a Story Quest necessary to defeat the Children of Hargon, and villager quests, necessary to level of the village itself. These tend to be fairly structured and linear, but there are still secrets to find and bonus puzzles to solve if you check for hidden areas. A new auto-map and fast travel option make this easier than ever. Building the most bare-bones structures to reach the goal, the main story took me over 40 hours to complete. If you work hard to make your villages look pretty and cohesive, this could take even longer.

  The game doesn't end with the story islands, however. You still have the Isle of Awakening to build on, with missions to both improve the landscape of the island with rivers, forests, and greenery, and a variety of building projects, both tiny (an item shop) and massive (a giant pyramid). I haven't had a chance to even dent this postgame content. Although I wasn't able to try out this feature in the review copy, the Isle of Awakening has a portal to allow 3 friends from over the internet visit and work together with you on building projects. You can also take pictures of scenes that impress you and share these on the game's bulletin board system. For dedicated builders and veterans of multiplayer Minecraft servers there's a lot to love here.

    Reservations about the combat aside, I really enjoyed my time with Dragon Quest Builders 2, and I look forward to tackling more of the endgame content. There's something really satisfying about building work that keeps me coming back for more. The addition of a farming village on the first island also gave me some of the same satisfaction I got from the Harvest Moon series back in the day. If you enjoyed the first Builders, you'll probably enjoy this as more of the same, and if you've been looking for a series like Dark Cloud or Actraiser you owe it to yourself to try Dragon Quest Builders 2.

  REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Keeps the fundamentals of the first Dragon Quest Builders

+ 40+ hour story mode plus even more post-game content

+ Building has been streamlined to make completing quests and gathering resources easier

+/- Levels constructed to be like game stages have been replaced with a more open world

- You're the second fiddle in combat, which makes combat less fun

  Are you a seasoned Dragon Quest Builder or still a Child of Hargon? Will you be giving this building thing a try? Let us know what you think of the game in the comments!

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Thomas Zoth is a features writer for Crunchyroll, blogs occasionally at Hungry Bug Diner, and appears on podcasts at Infinite Rainy Day. You can follow him on Twitter at @ABCBTom.

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