#(and i still think that musically they're pretty good especially their early stuff)

[mikimeiko]

Hanno ucciso l'Uomo Ragno - La leggendaria storia degli 883 | Season 1 (2024), Matteo Rovere e Sydney Sibilia

[imagine-a-sanctuary-like-this]

Some early thoughts on Arcane S2

Just a few thoughts on the 1st Act of the new season. No strong commitments or opinions just yet, it's still early on in the story. I'll start with what I especially liked, then cycle into things I'd have liked to see done differently.

Animation

Visually, this season's a step up from the last. I've especially enjoyed the differently-stylized into sequences to each episode (the charcoal-like funeral, the overlords' last supper and the Grey, respectively). I've read some complaints about the music-video-esque treatment of the fights, but I enjoyed that. The music's not my thing, but it fits the steampunk/sci-fi-fantasy aesthetic pretty well.

Vi/Cait

Good to see it become canon! I also like the tragedy they seem to be setting up, and I do like how they wrote their relationship. Again, have read complaints about them getting together and breaking up too quickly, but I think it makes sense - the kiss is a pay-off to almost a season's worth of build-up. The breakup is the result of the gap between the characters' beliefs, conditions and natures. There's always been tension between them, and they're not perfect for each other, so them getting together all at once would not have been believable. Also, since Act 1 sees basically everything uprooted and thrust into chaos, it makes sense for them to make impulsive decisions trying to find comfort. Sure, they're probably not deeply in love, they've known each other for a short time, but they've clearly liked each other for a while. I don't really get where the people that think it's rushed are coming from.

Cait's arc set-up

I really like where it's going! The arc they seem to be setting up looks like it'll be about the effects of grief on perpetuating hatred and violence, which fits right in with the story. I do wonder if they'll attempt to take Cait to the 'extreme' and then bring her back in a sort of redemption arc. It seems like that might be difficult to do after some point. But I'm excited to find out where it's going.

Jinx, Isha and Sevika

Not much to say here, I like how Jinx's family themes continue even after Silco's death. All kinds of nice parallels going on. I like it.

Alright, now for the stuff I'm not so positive on. There's quite a bit, but simply because it is easier to criticize than to praise, especially when S1 has set a very high standard.

Too many plotlines

I've seen people talk about pacing issues, and I do agree, but to me the more fundamental problem (which is the cause of the first) is that this season's juggling too many plotlines. Just the ones that come to mind:

(1) Zaun vs Piltover, undercity uprising (2) Mel and the Black Rose (3) Ambessa's Noxus interference (4) "The Arcane is waking up" (5) Vi, Jinx and Warwick family drama (6) Victor's becoming (7) Vi and Cait relationship drama (8) Singed

My hope is that these will be bettered by uniting some of the plotlines. Victor and the Arcane will probably end up one storyline, same with the Black Rose and Noxus. Still, the story feels over-loaded with STORIES, and not in a very water-tight writing kind of way, but rather in a 'there's too much going on' kind of way. I'm afraid that they will not have enough screentime to set up, develop and pay off all of these, while also doing justice to the character arcs. I might be wrong, we will see.

For now, I feel like they should have cut one of the plotlines above to make more space for the story to breathe. It's also a little thematically messy. There's usually at least a loose thematic connection (family, using magic/science for good/bad, dangers of the arcane, oppression), but sometimes it feels too loose. Again, I'm sure some of this will come with time as we get these 'looser' plots developed, like the Black Rose, Noxus's political interests, etc. Hopefully, they can pay it off right.

A consequence of so much going on is, yes, some moments are not given enough time. This was most evident for me in the Jayce/Viktor goodbye scene. Perhaps it is meant to be underwhelming and this will be relevant later, but as it stands, it's rushed. I've seen someone given another good example, Jayce and Heimer's reunion scene - it should have been tensed with residual conflict, but there's kind of... nothing.

Another consequence is that some characters screentime feels insufficient for their story importance (e.g., Jayce, Viktor, Ekko), while others', excessive (Maddie, the enforcer dudes). Isha's screentime is fine, since she works as a parallel to Powder, and Salo's is also alright because of politics plotline. I've seen some leaks about Maddie which I will not detail here, but I'm not sure that they justify her abundant screentime.

Scale of conflict

I quite dislike the seeming shift away from the core Zaun vs Piltover conflict towards a more 'global' feel. Makes sense for S2 to have a bigger scope, but this is a little too big for my liking. Both the Arcane waking up and the Noxus stuff is very global, and since the show is more about Arcane than about world politics, I would've preferred to have seen the latter cut down in favour of more screentime to the former, as well as main characters from S1.

I also quite dislike the 'let's put aside our political differences to save the world' direction that this all seems to be winding up to, because it kind of puts the more interesting, interpersonal conflict on hold, and takes what I'd consider the 'easy way out' of the moral difficulties of the conflict. I do not know if this is what they will do this season, but it feels like they're edging towards that with the Jayce, Ekko, Heimer and Victor stuff (and possibly the Grey?).

Viktor and Agency

Once again, with so little screentime it's difficult to tell, but the set-up seems to suggest a certain direction here, which I can't say I like. It's unclear whether Viktor is controlled or mind-addled by the Hexcore, but I do dislike the seeming lack of emotion. If he's controlled, it kind of takes away from what S1 was building towards. I do like that Jayce is pushed to use the Hexcore on Viktor (he chooses to do it, despite promising to destroy it), but I feel like the fallout would have been more compelling, especially in terms of Viktor as a character, if he'd seemed more in-control.

They seem to have chosen to go with something else, and I don't doubt they have an idea for his arc, but I wish there'd been more of the original League concept in Arcane's Viktor. As it stands, all the desperation from S1, the anger and helplessness, have sort of... gone, without a good conclusion (I don't really consider Sky's death a good conclusion). Or at least, without one for now. I thought that S1 had been building up to the Machine Herald stuff. Maybe this is an intentional subversion. I've never found Viktor's character to be very compelling, but he was at his best when pushed to desperate measures by his dying body.

This is a matter of personal enjoyment, but I do genuinely hope they bring some emotions back for him, and I really hope he is not controlled by the Hexcore.

[fairytail-whathesays]

may i ask for some platonic lucy and juvia? or romantic whatever fits your fancy!

you know i'm gonna make it lesbian if i have the chance!

One of Lucy and Juvia's bonding activities is tutoring Lucy on how to cook. Lucy was surviving well enough to get by without help, but she doesn't have a chef's eye. Early on, when Juvia is still obsessed with Gray, she tries sabotaging a lot of Lucy's efforts...but Lucy turns out to be really intuitive and survives a lot of the lessons by getting resourceful.

This creative spark does not help her when learning to bake, however. Everything is very precise and Juvia doesn't have nearly as much success passing on her knowledge, so Lucy eventually has to pick up strict recipe reflexes from Levy instead.

Juvia's secret punk goth side clashes a lot with Lucy's pop princess enjoyer qualities. However, Lucy tends to appreciate it more when she looks at the state of pop music and all the chart obsession--thank heavens that aspect of the music industry didn't connect with Juvia's competitive streak. Juvia is surprisingly knowledgeable about music, genres, and subcultures, and is happy to talk to Lucy about them for hours.

Lucy is subject to the same embarrassing habit of Juvia's to make clothing for people she loves, that she knits herself. The difference between Lucy and Gray is that Lucy will actually wear them, because a) a girl gets cold sometimes and b) Juvia's actually really good at knitting and sometimes the stuff she makes is cute af.

Juvia tries not to over-idealize people anymore after getting over Gray. However, she does associate Lucy with stars and this ends up with a lot of affectionate nicknaming from her. Sun and star nicknames are particularly common.

Juvia and Lucy have performed Unison Raids before, to wildly different effects. Leo's version ended up hitting a bunch of baddies with rain that turned to falling stars, which was spectacular, but he took a long time to leave afterward due to being annoying about two pretty women summoning him.

Lucy is delighted by some of the sea facts Juvia knows and will actually take any opportunity she can to go to the aquarium with her, especially if there's moon jellies or stingrays she can pet.

Two girls go to the beach and you'd think the men there had never seen a woman before. It gets downright obnoxious, and if it gets bad enough, neither of them has qualms using their magic to force a clear zone. This beach is now the property of the aquatic lesbian community.

The two of them have a thing for lilies. Lucy gets Juvia a bouquet of water lilies for her birthday, and Juvia responds by getting a bouquet of stargazer lilies for Lucy's. Not only do their houses smell great, Happy very quickly learns not to damage them.

In fact, the two of them are pretty much nature lovers. They're very harmonious with plant and animal life, and between them and Lisanna, the zoological and botanical programs of Fiore are never without guests.

[nerdalmighty]

BG3 Tag Game!

I was tagged by @khywren!!! Thank you!!!!!!

I'm going to tag @vanilkaplays @okthisway @maladaptive-menace @riddlerosehearts @starkspi and anyone else who wants to play along!

Favorite romance: It will surprise no one to know that it's Astarion. I find his backstory so incredibly interesting and I love his dumbass personality. At the end of the day, he just wants to do whatever is the most hilarious and I adore that. I especially love how soft he gets when you get together in Act 2. I could go on and on but I'll never be able to fully articulate my love for him.

Favorite class to play: Bard! I love that they're really the jack of all trades and are pretty good at everything, including spells and sword fighting. Persuasion and deception are SO helpful in this game, plus playing music to distract crowds and cause shenanigans in Baldur's Gate is wonderful.

Favorite NPC: I think Raphael. While yeah he absolutely SUCKS, I'm obsessed with his obsession with his own voice. He's a thespian, he's a freak, he's an idiot. I love it. But yes, I did kill his ass.

Favorite song off the soundtrack: Probably the Harpy Song. I listen to it a lot in my spare time, especially when I'm working on a specific fic I'm attempting to write. I'm a big fan of haunting melodies and, unsurprisingly, the concept of hypnotizing music.

Tell us a little about your Tav: I wrote a pretty long post about her here, but my Tav is named Birdie and she's a bard who was born and raised at the Water Queen's House. Previous iterations of her had her as a siren (hence the deep love of the Harpy Song), but I'm still not 100% sure if this version of her is. Basically, she's a mermaid ass goof whose main gang of idiots include Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart. Chaos often ensues.

Something you wish was in the game: I know this game is huge. I know there's probably stuff people haven't even discovered yet. But god would I love some more camp animations. More interactions between the companions AT camp. Cut scenes where there should probably be cut scenes (The second time Astarion drinks your blood, Wyll celebrating the defeat of Ansur, etc). I really really love this game, but I'd love to hang out with my friends EVEN MORE.

Do you create fanworks? Share something with us: Oh boy I'm TRYING. I've never really written fanfiction before but the stupid vampire has inspired me to do so. I'm in the process of writing two different fics (one multi-chapter, one one-shot on the longer side) and am having a blast but I'm not sure if/when I'll post them. I've noticed my writing style is very similar to the way I write scripts, which is what I went to college for, so they're full of dialogue and quick, dumb banter. It might not be for everyone, but I'm having The Most Fun! Let me know if you'd maybe want to see more? Here's a silly excerpt from the one-shot (she may or may not get smutty later on 👀):

There was no sign of the vampire, save for an open hatch beneath the stone of the tower leading into what you presumed was a cellar of sorts. Off to the side was a discarded set of Thieves’ Tools. Yup, that’ll be him.

Rolling your eyes affectionately, you began to descend into the basement below. 

Before you could even make it to the bottom, however, you heard Astarion’s voice tinged with annoyance. “Don’t bother, darling. I was just coming back up.”

You paused on the ladder and looked down at him. “That bad?”

“Eh, a few coins, some food. Nothing worth risking one’s life over. Foolish gnome.”

“Shame,” you pouted down at him, not an ounce of real sympathy behind the word.

He smirked as he met your eye. “Go,” he said, indicating you should climb back up the ladder. “There was a rather large amount of smoke powder though. That could be fun.”

When you emerged back into the early evening air, you turned to help Astarion out. “Maybe you can blow up a quaint little gnomish village.”

Astarion’s eyes glittered with delight. “Oh, do you think there’s one around here? That would be- Oh. You’re joking.”

You nodded.

“Gods, you’re no fun.” He sighed dramatically and then started back towards the Blighted Village proper. 

You scoffed in mock offense. “I’m a lot of fun!”

Astarion tsked. “If you have to say you’re a lot of fun, odds are, you’re lying to yourself.” He shot a challenging half smile at you from over his shoulder.

“How dare you,” you laughed.

“Such a pity, too,” he went on. “Aren’t bards supposed to be entertaining?”

You made a sound of agony, which had Astarion fully turning back to look at you. You threw a hand to your heart and staggered towards him. “You wound me, Astarion. Look upon me with pity and remember me fondly!” You set an arm on his shoulder and let your body weight go, as if collapsing from a killing blow. 

Astarion was quick to catch you under your arms. He made a show of groaning about how heavy you were now that your body had gone completely limp. After you’d hung loosely from his grip for a few seconds, he finally yielded. “Alright, enough.” 

You resumed control of your body and stood up straight, a smug look on your face. “I’m fun.”

“Dramatic.”

“Theatrical.”

“Annoying.”

“Endearing.”

“Loud.”

“Enthusiastic-”

Just then, a loud howl came from a barn a little ways off. 

You and Astarion eyed each other.

“Was that you?” Astarion asked.

“‘Was that me?!’ I’m not THAT loud.”

“Could have fooled me.”

You rolled your eyes. “Come on.” You started in a light jog towards the barn.

Astarion groaned. “You can’t be serious.” He caught up with you easily. “Haven’t we done enough heroing for today?”

You looked at him thoughtfully. “One more act of heroism probably won’t kill you.”

“It might!”

“Oh, now who’s being dramatic?” You came to a stop at the double doors.

“I-” Astarion floundered, then pursed his lips and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought.”

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto

4.5/5. Releases 7/17/2024.

Heat Index: 8/10

Vibes: rivals to lovers, celebrity classical musicians (?), "I wanna fuck you so bad it makes me look stupid"

Gwen Jackson is a naturally gifted violinist, having been taught by shop owner Mabel. Graduating from playing for tips on the subway to being offered first chair in the Manhattan Pops orchestra means fulfilling a dream. Not so happy about it is cello player and musical prodigy Xander Thorne--who happens to be a member of a band Gwen was (is) a fan of. But she's a fan no longer, sensing Xander's resentment... and something else. As the two are inevitably drawn to each other's talent--among other things--they have to figure out whether their blossoming relationship is more important than their long term goals.

OOOOH, this one hit. As someone who doesn't know much about classical music (honestly, a big question of mine was: is the fandom around famous classical musicians this intense? Like, I believe that it is, I've just never experienced it) I was sucked in by the passion in the story and the way Julie Soto seamlessly blended Gwen and Xander's obsession with music into their growing fixation on each other. There's a delicious tension in the first half of the book, flitting between anger and irritation and kinship and desire. And once it bubbles over... whew.

I really enjoyed Forget Me Not. Not Another Love Song has made me a fan. I'm ready for whatever Julie Soto writes next, because this is what I want from a contemporary romance: a sense of reality heightened by drama (and angst), high heat, and FURIOUS passion. This is a good time.

Quick Takes:

--Dude. I may not be very knowledgeable about classical music, but I do know that it should be properly utilized as a Sexy Device in romance novels. (And to be real? In fiction, as a general rule.) This book may utilize classical music in the sexiest way possible. Like, often when I read early reviews going "the X scene!!! omg omg!!" I kind of expect to be let down. Not because the scenes are bad, but because they're so hyped.

The cello scene? In this novel? Lives up to the hype. Like, more on that later, but... It's not just about the physical things that happened when Gwen and Xander play. It's also about their focus one each other when they're supposed to be playing, the way she in particular drives him to distraction. I will say--the rivalry stuff lasts longer than the true resentment. It becomes pretty clear, pretty quickly that Gwen doesn't really hate Xander. And that Xander wants to fuck Gwen's brains out.

But uh, I was not upset about that development. I feel like a lot of authors try to pull off "seething sexual tension" and fail. This was an absolute win. I know in my heart that if I saw these two playing in real life, she would be desperately trying to pretend she didn't notice him; and he would be playing his ass off while ROCK. HARD.

--All that aside, I also think that this actually feels like two people in their early to mid twenties falling in love? Like, the finances are probably off, but you kind of have to handwave some capitalist hellscape stuff to set a contemporary romance novel in a big city in this day and age... But the way they act, the mistakes they make, the exuberance they both have for falling in love, the DUMB HORNY moments... it all read right to me.

I also appreciate that Xander, for all that he is a hot and talented dude by whom Gwen is intimidated at first (until she isn't) and with whom she is infatuated, still strikes me as a dude. Like, he's gifted and he's deep and he has mommy issues like crazy and manipulative entities in his life. But a lot of how he reacts to things--it may not be rational, but it is human, especially for someone who's really still figuring his life out. He's a mess! And that's okay! Sometimes he and Gwen don't make the right decisions in their relationship, but that doesn't mean the relationship is broken beyond repair.

--There's some really juicy familial and professional drama beyond the romance, and one thing I loved is that there isn't a clear "good side" or "bad side". Some people have their shitty moments because to be human is to be intermittently shitty, but not inherently, wholly bad; some people just choose to be shitty all the time, and they aren't on designated sides. There isn't a single perfect option when the choices are presented to our leads.

There's a lot of gray, basically. And I like living in the gray of a book.

--Julie Soto is setting up her own universe, and I'm seeing the places these characters could go. It's not just about setting up future books, though; it's also about creating a community for her leads.

The Sex:

UGH. This book was hot. Like, it's honestly a relief when I read a contemporary romance novel that's this sexy. Yes, there is the cello scene, and much "then I will sit here, consumed with lust until for the rest of the evening". But there is a lot more. I feel like this is one of the hotter tradpub contemporaries I've read in a while. They're all over each other, they're vocal, there is a scene in which things are done while people are on the phone...

I'll definitely be rereading some of those scenes.

In conclusion, Not Another Love Song is fun, swoonworthy, and passionate. It's exactly what you want an author's second novel to be--topping the first, while maintaining all the things you loved about it. I'm so excited to see what Julie does next.

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[venomouschocolate]

Why Do They Talk Like That: a stream of consciousness

Fantasy linguistics are so hard like where do you draw the line... I mean none of my characters are referencing major theistic religions or using real life loanwords or expletives but then there's quote-unquote fun stuff like "sadism" or "lunatic" or "sinister". i.e the Marquis de Sade does not exist in this world, but the concept of pleasure from cruelty does... Latin is not a language there, but I, personally, am writing in English, which has much of its etymology rooted in Latin (as well as pretty much every other language ever), even if there is no hate for left-handed people or indeed the left in this world, so "sinister" is inexplicable in itself now (odd how the left has historically been demonised and that it's also the socialist side of the political spectrum. not that odd really. thank you robert walpole?). The same with "lunatic": the moon is literally worshipped in some areas of my world, but it's still a term characters use, despite the moon having positive connotations.

Where Do You Draw The Line... I can't write in a conlang because a) I am not masochistic but b) I want my work to actually be read. You can imply different languages with accents and word choice and compound words, but ultimately I am writing in the same language for all (despite being bilingual, go me!) and ultimately that language is one that exists only in our world and not in the one that I've created.

While we're here, let's talk about swearing (cursing if you're american?) in fantasy settings. I don't mean "oh my god/s", that's arguably blasphemy and certainly not explicit; I don't mean "bloody" (not really explicit either) because frankly that does tend to fit a fantasy vibe with the type of characters likely to use it (considering the real world stereotypes and thus the archetypes an author will write using it). I mean expletives like "fuck", "bitch", "shit": STOP USING THEM. you absolute buffoons.

Recently I read a fantasy novel which included a whole magic system and several countries with absolute monarchies, etc, and they kept using expletives and it just did not work, and it never does. A step back: I believe that using expletives when writing in a real world setting (provided it's period-believable, of course) can work, and often (not always, not even mostly) works - I do it myself. However, believable expletives and exclamations and intensifiers can and sometimes do make or break worldbuilding, at least for me. The worldbuilding in the novel was fine, good even! But every time the (twenty-eight-year-old) mc used "fucking" or "bitch", I was immediately yanked out of the story and into reality. It was like reading a period piece (say, in the 19th-early 20th century) and seeing "bitch" in the expletive (slur) sense. I don't care whether it would be used: I don't BELIEVE that it would be.

Suspension of disbelief is everything, which (as a theatre kid...) is, I suspect, why musical films don't work: we're primed for a more true-to-life piece, whereas in a theatre, we're prepared to cast a lot more aside. We KNOW they're actors, we know bursting into song is unrealistic, but it's the stage! We believe it anyway. Seeing a fantasy character, particularly one that was meant to be a minor royal, consistently THINK in expletives (and not just exclaim them!) felt to me like watching Mean Girls The Musical The Movie. I did not believe the magic (which was a major plot point so it kind of sucked). I did not believe that the characters saying "bitch" and "fuck" would say those words, especially since those characters were almost exclusively limited to the middle-aged queen, an almost thirty-year-old established to be groomed into mild-mannered obedience, the former queen's guard and a (bastard) prince. I did not believe that the characters whose thoughts I was reading would think them, and thus I did not believe in the story.

If you're going to create a prose-based world intended to be separate from our own in terms of religion/history/sociopolitical structure/magic/etc, you NEED to think about the linguistics. I'm not saying think HARD or be super mega creative: in my sky-worship country, a common exclamation is "stars-be", short for "stars-be-dimmed", ditto "skies-be" and "skies-be-felled". My sun-based little sillies go "be-set" as in "sun-be-set"; the only country in a technological revolution (also the only country with guns): "I'm not wired that way"; "he's gearing for a fight"; "I was shooting for you". Furthermore, when explaining their culture in other languages, they struggle for words, because, for example, a train is a monolingual concept (one falters when about to describe someone as a "train wreck" and just goes "sorry"). It's not clever, it's not particularly original, but, in my opinion, it makes the language, and by extension the world, more believable.

While I'm mid-rant: there's a marked difference between characters of different class and upbringing. My more religious, self-righteous queen of skycountry says "my stars": she rules the country, she is a little crazy insane, she feels that she owns the sky, too. A less-educated character uses slang like "lunar", "feared", "heartfulness" where his posh boy counterpart says "insane", "afraid" and "empathy". And yes, I am totally neurodivergent, and I think about details, and I also study the development of the English language and want to continue to do so at university, so of course I am more drawn to it, but at the end of the day if you're writing prose then the words are really bloody important.

TLDR: worldbuilding is hard; do your high fantasy (or even low fantasy) characters NEED to say "fuck"?

[iantimony]

oopsie, two missed tuesdays!

and i almost missed this one too!!!! i was moving apartments. ough. this is a random mishmash of everything i remember of the past .. three ?? ??? weeks.

listening: finished s1 of the silt verses! faulkner is my poor little meow meow etc. i am rotating it in my brain. will have more thoughts next week probably.

some fugazi because they were referenced in a mina le video on merch and i was intrigued. they're good!

fugazi waiting room

brat charli xcx on recommendation of beloved mutual png jpeg. i liked it, i don't normally go for her style but there's some good earworms in here. really good gym album. not sure which specific song to drop here because it was a Full Album experience imo.

in terms of relistening/older stuff, the dear hunter antimai, more franz ferdinand. finally listened to sound & fury by sturgill simpson all the way through, it's really good. boyf also got me to listen to die antwoord and ohhh i do like this. a lot.

i fink u freeky (die antwoord)

also more bionicle playlist. it's just a dose of early 00's-10's music delivered via iv directly into my bloodstream. sorry.

reading: this was from a few weeks ago actually but i forgot about it. we stopped over in pittsburgh for a night and briefly entertained the idea of going to a museum or something road-trip style and found this museum review. surprisingly she is not a lesbian.

and then related to the watching, wikipedia pages for victor ninov and darleane c hoffman!

watching: mina le: the merch industry has gone too far, WAGs, blokecore, and the “feminization” of sports

swell entertainment: the marketability of celebrity eras, how to destroy your audience's trust

started dangelo wallace's ozempic video. the fatphobia had me tapping out pretty quick tho. also watched about half of joy achill's "the george r r martin problem" about asoiaf stuff, gonna finish it tomorrow i think

watched "the man who tried to fake an element" with the boyf, really fascinating, i knew a little bit of it from one of my undergrad classes but this was a really good deep dive.

also watched two episodes of space dandy with the boyf. so much to unpack there.

playing: more dnd but otherwise fallow. made a little dungeon crawl type thing so that's pretty straightforward.

making: coasters mostly right now! the main ones are a Surprise so i will not be posting them yet. instead look at my worm

i've also started knitting a magic the gathering card sleeve as a semi-gag gift for a friend. it's really really stupid i love it so much. it is just ten rows of a rectangle in stockinette right now but i'm going to mock up a little texture work to get the swamp land symbol in the back.

eating: did a lot of takeout right after moving because, Yeah, but i finally started settling back in to home cooked meals. made my favorite orzo salad for a temple potluck, an ungodly amount of gyudon, and a garlic butter shrimp pasta thing.

misc: my new apartment is good!! the insulation isn't great, i know i'll have to shrinkwrap some windows this winter for Sure, but overall i'm settling in. i have a lot of organization and purging to do, especially of my House Clothes, craft supplies, and makeup/beauty shit, and i need to get one or two pieces of furniture still (like a couch......i have a funny little bachelor chair in front of the couch right now which is very funny). i got myself some fun plants from the farmers market as a housewarming gift to myself. i am finally the owner of a monstera, yippee, she Really needs a repot though. i also got a hoya lisa because i liked the name and it was cute and cat friendly and i got a vaguely labia-adjacent succulent. i have so many little household Needs and Tasks (mat for in front of the sink! blackout curtains because i have to sleep with an eye mask right now because the blinds dont do shit! etc!) and also every grocery bill i do is like $100 because of getting kitchen essentials that will not run out any time soon but that i do need (white vinegar. aluminum foil. flour.) so everything is so expensive. this is a big wall of text. at least the spare mattress is out of my weird haunted hallway now <3 i'm very excited to start hanging up my art.

[marlowethelibrarian]

Most Likely OC Tag!!

Tagged by @the-golden-comet over here

1. Most likely to faint Honestly, I do have a set of sturdy souls, but I might just say Rakani, bc of their tendency to 1) not eat as much as they should and 2) not sleep as much as they should. Also they have panic attacks every so often and that's not good for breathing. Even so, Rakani isn't very fragile and they're not likely to faint through the course of the story. Yknow. Unless they got stabbed. 2. Most likely to enjoy art From most to least, I think the biggest art enjoyers are Wakma, Rakani, Dunelae, Sumira and then Mala. Mala is the only one who just doesn't give a shit about art. Duneale and Sumira grew up in the Daseri temple which is swimming with art, so they're sort of inured to the beauty around them. Their lives have been focused on honing their blessings and the politics so art is more an offshoot of the politics than art for art's sake. And then Dunelae prizes beauty more than Sumira does. Sumira has mixed feelings about beauty considering how she's been treated because of her facial difference, but she still has an appreciation for the art. Rakani is very practical in terms of their appearance and beauty but they canonically get floored when they go into the Daseri temple for the first time. Wakma is an artist! He's an amateur runesmith, and copper smith, and embroiderer. He fucking loves art. 3. Most likely to hate sports Sports as modern entertainment? Rakani and Mala are united in the uselessness and the extravagant waste of sporting events, and also they're just fucking boring. Sport as in like. I have to move my body to do something? Mala. She's disabled, shes using her body exactly how she wants and it's not to do that.

And then all of these questions from @fortunatetragedy, because I refuse to prune anything.

Most likely to lose their phone/wallet/other very important and period appropriate item. Rakani, for the sheer number of things they have to keep track of. Sometimes stuff goes missing, but they are pretty on top of finding it again. Dunelae's too anxious to misplace stuff like that. Most likely to hold a grudge over something minor. Mala. She's a grudge holder to the end of her fucking days. She's petty and she'll hold that grudge to the grave. Most likely to try an unfamiliar food. Mala's in first place because she's the most well traveled out of everyone. She has eaten a lot of stuff. Rakani in second place because of their willingness to eat shit off the floor. Most likely to arrive ridiculously early. Wakma! It's polite to show up and help out with stuff. :) Most likely to be in a relationship for less than a week Dunelae. She's a heart breaker because she really likes to fuck and really hates to get vulnerable. Most likely to secretly be really good at music, but just not tell anyone. Dunelae and Sumira are both good at music but not secretly. Mala doesn't care. Wakma sings with abandon, and Rakani.... doesn't do music in public, but might! So it's Rakani. Apologize first. Wakma, absolutely. He's a diplomat, and sometimes apologizing first is the foundation to bridging a gap. He is, in fact, the first one to apologize when he and Rakani have their first fight. Survive on a desert island. Definitely Rakani. They're scrappy and used to doing hard labor. They know a lot about botany and what plants can be eaten or used in different ways, and they're a very good alchemist. Wakma, Dunelae and Sumira are all upper class folks who aren't used to scrabbling for survival the same way. Mala in her younger years would have definitely given Rakani a run for their money, but old age will fuck with you like that. Break up a fight Sumira. She's the second heir and she feels a certain sense of responsibility for people. Most likely to burn something while cooking What can she say, Dunelae is easily distracted and she was never all that interested in the hearth. Especially when her blessing was discovered. Most likely to stop a robbery if they see it taking place. Dunelae, if someone is watching. She'd love a chance to be a hero. Most likely to not tell people they’re sick until they really need the help. Rakani and Mala. They get mad at each other about it. Most likely to use magic tricks. Probably Wakma? As an entertainment and an ice breaker, a magic trick is great. Most likely to start with just one drink and get blasted. Also Wakma. It's easier to pull him into another drink once he's got one in his system, and he likes to have fun and indulge. :) Most likely to fall asleep wherever the place. Rakani probably cat naps in random ass places, but never stays asleep for long. Most likely to own a cat. Rakani would love a cat..... a friend who watches them work and purrs and won't betray them. :') Most likely to swim across a large river/channel without getting fatigued. Mala's the only one who knows how to swim and she absolutely cannot get over a large channel like that at her age and level of ability. Everyone else absolutely just drowns. Most likely to not be a morning person and hates getting woken up too early. Dunelae. She's a dramatic ass bitch about it, but she'll do it for ambition.

Tagging @saturnine-saturneight, @marquis-of-writeblr, @the-golden-comet, @illarian-rambling, and @fortunatetragedy right back at you!

My questions are!

Most likely to play a prank on someone

Most likely to adopt a random child

Most likely to regret killing someone

[coulsonlives]

Finished all eight episodes and well, that was underwhelming. Here are my main impressions.

Clothing was too clean and looked like it came out of a cosplayer's closet instead of being actual, lived-in clothes (if there's one thing the failed movie did right, it was the clothes)

Zuko was decent

Sokka had an a+ personality but was missing some nuance

The Sokka and Suki meeting was boring and had typical teen romance cliches galore

Appa and Momo were cute

Not sure how I felt about them starting with 100 years ago, and the cut between that time and the present day was jarring, I feel like the title card should've been there instead to break it up. And just the title card, none of that weirdly glowly, oddly-colored narrative with the bending examples and stuff, it looked so odd

If Katara were a spice, she'd be flour, if she were a book, she'd be two books, where the heck was her fire and spunk and generally just. differentiating traits because I didn't see any and it was so boring to watch her

Like honestly! She didn't have her motherly/parental role thing going on, even in a toned-down way, and she was missing her passion, I just. What else is left

Bumi was scary af man

Lots of the compositing was blurry as shit and it was distracting, probably a lot of newbie, abused comp artists with pay cuts given dneg was working on it

Aang revealing himself all mystically with the intense music, then two seconds later the music stops and he slides down on the ice with a thump made me lol, and I don't think that was the intended reaction

They're in the arctic and you can't see anyone's breath, why is that, tell me

Suki removes her makeup in like 2.4 seconds without missing a single bit of it, teach me your ways gurll

Momo is actually cute and not a demon, praise raava

The fire nation armor is pretty brutal, the shoulder pads are like obvious cardboard that isn't even trying to look like metal (I still can't really tell if it's supposed to be metal? That's not a good thing fam)

Way too much exposition and 'telling, not showing', some of the convos dragged on for wayyy too long

The fox thing was unnecessary, but I liked Yue's added motivation to help Aang as well as her people

What the f did they do to Azula, the foundations of her character are totally different from the og show and she barely even feels like a villain. Some of her lines about being inadequate or 'not good enough' felt really contrived too

Lots of strange cuts and camera work, more than a few times there was a person talking and the camera was looking at their waist or something else for no reason lol, and there wasn't an establishing shot when there needed to be, so things were just disorientating a lot of the time

Lots of things happened but the show just. didn't give any time for them to marinate. Sokka telling Aang he abandoned his people, he knew it, blah blah in one of the early episodes? It's poignant but it lasts like five seconds before the scene totally changes, I got major whiplash, fam

The lion roaring sound effect every time someone firebent, please stop I beg

Azula being defiant was interesting and the lightning scene was cool but I still miss Daddy's Pet Azula

Sokka screaming on Appa was funny

My favourite scene was probably the dude going 'but we're the forty-first!' and Iroh telling them, 'and you're all alive because of his sacrifice'. Like dang that hit hard and I loved it. I liked how they added that

Avatar Roku was like ?? um. I know he and Sozin were goofballs but cmon man

The shots with Koh capturing Sokka and Katara were cheesy as shit especially with the sound effects lmao, it looked like horror movie jumpscares from a b-movie

Some of the acting was hammier than a ham sandwich. Even Zhao gave me that impression at times especially with the dang spirit fish scene

Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the third

I know they had to condense a crap ton of episodes, but it really felt like the show was just checking off boxes at times instead of (like I said earlier) letting anything marinate

The opening scene with the earthbending and firebending was cool, it's a shame the rest of the show didn't live up to that

The bending vfx looked good. The choreography did feel a bit disconnected though, and not as martial arty as I would've liked

I felt like I could blatantly see some of the reasons the og creators left the show

Grumps tbh I'd give it like 4/10.

[ruakichan]

A bit late to the party, but I started Ash Echoes last night. In general, a fairly solid game in a genre I normally dislike.

I really don't like RTS or sRPGs, mostly because I find them way too slow paced and sometimes too punishing for a single mistake. Ash being RTS helps a lot with the slow pace; being gacha generally means that, for the most part, the difficulty level is lower. I've been enjoying myself, especially since the combat does make me think of Kings Raid or Grand Chase DC.

The story is pretty dense from the start, but I didn't find it particularly difficult to follow along if you pay even a little bit of attention. I appreciated that the world is already embroiled in many problems and the MC--not an amnesiac for once lol--is thrust into a new position trying to deal with it. There are questions about the responsibility the MC has as a leader both to the people and the organization they work for and the groups they're allied with, all which often have conflicting goals and interests. I feel like so much of this story is what I expected and wanted Wuthering Waves to be. The characters also have a lot of opportunities to shine and interact with each other.

Speaking of which, the character spread is solid: pretty good on the men-women parity split, which is becoming so rare these days from CN games, with some interesting and attractive designs all around. From what I understand, this is a spin off game of an established CN franchise, so the characters feel less "gacha oriented" in terms that they don't have the usual tropes designed to make people pull, and the in-game lore that this world is literally a multiverse nexus allows for a variety of designs. It's pretty refreshing. I've enjoyed most of the cast so far.

There is a lot to do, which can be pretty overwhelming for people used to barebones launches. It seems best to follow the new player checklist, which lists goals and thus introduces the new systems and game progression as you go. The main mode seems to be the roguelite called Nexus, which serves as a faux equipment building mode. There's a lot of side story and lore buried in here as well.

In fact, the game is really story heavy; there's an event out right now, and it reminded me of FGO or R/1999 in terms of how long and involved the event story is. If reading isn't your thing, this game will be a skip.

As for the rest of it, a lot of the game can be auto or sweep/skip, if you're not particularly good or you're busy. Bosses seem to have the most difficulty spike.

There are a few casual modes, including dorm building and character affection building.

The graphics are... The 2D art is pretty good and I like the approach to the VN style in the main story, as I found it visually engaging. The battle graphics are fine. The 3D models can be oddly hit or miss; I'm reminded of early Xenoblade models? I don't know, the 3D models can be off-putting for some characters due to the style, especially in the eyes.

Nearly all text is voice acted. CN or JP only. Music is fine. Monetization seems standard. There's two banners: characters and traces, which are like CE in FGO or artifacts in Epic Seven. Traces are only worn by the leader and they are buffed in the aforementioned Nexus mode. More 50/50 again, but this is the new standard and I'll always hate mhy for it.

I'm sticking around at the moment. I dropped some gacha--Wuthering Waves and Love and Deepspace--so I have some free space to see if this game is a keeper for the long haul. Currently it's more appealing to me than a lot of other stuff on the market--having a good gender ratio with strong character interactions is super high on my needs--but I'm still early game and sometimes RTS can hit a hard difficulty wall if you're not good at them.

[nighttimeebony]

Promare has recently consumed my life, so have some Promare character headcanons.

I think that Galo and Lio were actually born in the same year, with Lio only being a couple months older. They're both in their early twenties. Like, very early twenties. Just barely out of high school kind of early.

Galo and Lio are both orphans. Lio has been on the run since his Burnish awakening as a kid. He doesn't remember it very well, but he does remember his parents were wealthy, and impressed upon him the importance of appearances and propriety. He knows his parents died, but he doesn't remember the details of it. Since Lio went off the grid so young, he never got much in the way of a formal education. Lio is sharply intelligent, but he always draws a blank at school-related knowledge like math, history, science, etc. That sort of stuff is actually pretty boring to him. Lio does like to read, though, and has a surprisingly expansive vocabulary given his lack of a formal education.

Galo was raised in the foster system. He doesn't know what happened to his parents, but he never really cared to figure out. It was never something that really mattered to him. He was happy enough with his various foster families, and was lucky enough to have pretty good foster families all things considered. But all this does mean that Galo never really had much in the way of family. Galo also has a couple of learning disabilities, like ADHD and dyslexia, which made school more than a bit of a nightmare for him. He was held back a year in school before inevitably dropping out. Not too long after that, he entered into the firefighting academy, where Kray promptly placed him in Burning Rescue, despite having next to no former experience and very little training. By the time we see him in the movie, he's been working with Burning Rescue for a little under a year. He's the youngest member of Burning Rescue, with Lucia being only a year older than him, and Aina being two years older than him.

Galo and Lio are both hopeless in all areas of pop culture knowledge.

Lio is pansexual while Galo is gay.

Aina and Heris lost their parents when they were in their teens. Heris is about 7 years older than Aina, so when their parents passed away while Aina was still in high school, Heris stepped up to take care of her. They're the two most important people in the world to each other, as well as the only family they have left, so they cling to each other like no one else. Heris especially clings to Aina more than Aina clings to Heris. Aina was able to find family in Burning Rescue while Aina is all that Heris has left, and she would happily watch the world burn if it meant that she could still have Aina at the end of it all. There is a bit of a codependency issue between the two of them, an issue that Aina is slowly but surely growing out of, due to finding love and support in the other Burning Rescue members.

Aina was definitely a troubled, rebellious teenager. She listens to grunge and rock music and got into plenty of fistfights during her time in school. You cannot tell me this girl didn't have a punk phase in highschool. She gives Galo shit for not knowing when to hold his tongue, but she has just as much of a problem with talking back to authority figures if she thinks something is wrong.

Lucia has experience in coding and has a degree in engineering.

Remi is definitely a vegan. He's also half Malaysian, as well as trilingual. Galo calls him "blind" to tease him for how bad his vision is without his glasses.

Varys grew up in a big family with a small army of younger siblings that he helped his parents take care of. He's a seasoned caretaker, and by far the best babysitter. He's also an amazing cook.

Lio loves spicy food and could probably bite into a ghost pepper without breaking a sweat, while Galo has an almost pitiably weak heat tolerance and can barely stand too much pepper in his eggs.

Meis and Gueira are in their early thirties. They met up with Lio a couple years before the events of the movie, and Meis and Gueira have been with each other for basically their whole lives.

[the1975attheirverybest]

Hello I was summoned? Gosh I did just wake up from a nap fair warning.

So by all accounts the tour Is selling pretty damn well, I don't think people realise how ticket prices nd tour prices are done. So, let me give you the lowdown

(This is all based on work I did with my music business performance and tech qualification in college *the bit before uni for americans* and reseach and continued work so take that into account)

When a tour is arranged they consider a few things.

Costs, obviously they have to look at the cost of the tour and make sure they have more money than that by a bit to have emergency and contingency funds. This includes stuff like work visas, venues, set, staff. All of that is considered

Breaking even, most tours are only really concerned with minimally breaking even or making their money back. To do that most tours set their break even point FAR BELOW the max ticket sales. To ensure they don't lose money, they try to set it around half (give or take a quarter either side) so they don't have to charge too much while still making money.

Profit, so this, once you hit that break even point provided you don't have costs you don't have to front or invoices you still have to pay everything beyond it us profit. Profit is also generated through online interactions, merch sales (like the 10th ani. Which is why I'd wager it was so expensive)

Contingency, so this is money you usually leave to the side at the start but I don't trust Jamie so we are gonna assume that actually he'd take his contingency from the profits. I don't actually knwo who the tour manager is this time so I'm running on the assumption it's the company. But even then most of the time contingency doesn't get spent. Its just in case money. For any surprise costs.

These are the very very basics we need to talk about in regards to the 1975 tour.

First, it's their first proper stadium tour in a while. At least outside the UK. So it's not expected to sell out. Especially not considering the recent controversies the boys have been through. So one could argue the tour Is selling really well considering.

Second, they've chosen their areas for a reason. When your doing an expensive theatrical stadium tour you need to consider the areas your going to and how much of that venue your actually gonna fill. There's no point booking the O2 if all your fans are in Scotland. And while I can't personally look at the sales statistics and their demographic statistics I'd reckon they've picked their spots wisely (look even idaho likes music) based those stats.

Third, it's really early in the tours life cycle, as in its not even in full swing yet. So most people won't be buying this far in advance if they aren't hard-core fans dying for a ticket. A lot of people wait until its closer to the time (mostly financial reasons and psychological reasons) so it's not fair to judge on how the sales are right this second (still good though) a lot of casuals buy tickets fairly close to shows (insane I know)

If the tour were going to be cancelled. It would have been by now. Unless something extreme happens its unlikely because the boys should have broken even by now and maybe made a small profit. There's other more complex stuff too but this is already a very long ask so I'll stop here

TL/DR I promise they don't need to sell out to break even or profit. They've been touring a while they know how many they average at live concerts and stadiums so they've likely taken the average amount of attendees for a concert and halved it for their break even point. They're smart. They've done this 10 years. Have a little faith in them. P.s most of the twitter people saying that legit just want to see the band fail or stay small and indie for them.

THANK YOOUUUU!!!! yeah I think the statement “this tour is failing” is your equivalent of saying “Beetlejuice” three times. Like if anyone says that, you materialize with info hahahaha

No, this is super, super helpful and informative! For someone who doesn’t know much about music or touring and is just going off of common sense and vibes, like I learned a lot from this!!!

Here y’all go. Twitter do be Twitter-ing which is a surprise to literally nobody. It’s the least thoughtful platform out there and not at all conducive to…like…facts or rational thought haha. Everybody say thank you Ambrose.

[fayesdiary]

DW ME AND THE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR GOTCHU

4, 8, 11, 31, 32

THANK YOU 4) What did you name Sommie your first playthrough?

I kept Sommie as the name! I always prefer to use the official names whenever given the chance, especially on the first playthrough.

8) Have you gotten any S-rank bond rings not through melding?

I did! Silque and Nanna, and I think there was also another one I don't remember.

11) Who is your least favorite royal?

Prrrobably Alcryst.

Don't get me wrong, I really like him actually, just with a few reservations.

Mainly that when his self-loathing is overblown and played for laughs it makes me uncomfortable because I've been there before. Hell, I still have my occasional episodes from time to time and they're not fun. At all.

But I loved his supports that focus on other aspects of his character (seriously I got his support with Céline first and it's the GOAT), also he's so fun to use as a unit! I gave him Lyn, Lunar Brace and Draconic Hex so often he could just delete a boss' HP bar while debuffing them in the process. Seriously, he's so busted.

31) Are there any easter egg-esque details in the game that you really like?

The occasional Smash references (especially Ike's) are so funny😂

32) Was there anything you disliked in the game, whether it came to gameplay or story, from a major dislike to a minor nitpick?

Engage's storytelling, quite frankly, sucks ass.

I don't mean the story itself, just the way it's told because oh my god, if it weren't for the music and especially the voice actors pulling their A-Game, it would fall so spectacularly flat.

I'm mainly talking about the in-game cutscenes. While the prerendered ones look pretty good the in-game ones just look so. Unbelievably. Boring.

It's just everyone standing around talking with the same stock animations, the same camera movements, barely anything dynamic with most of the interesting stuff "offscreen" or through portraits.

If you want a clear example of what I'm talking about, Griss at the end of Chapter 20. In the prerendered cutscene he's moving all over the place, shambling around and laughing maniacally.

In the following in-game cutscene he's just standing still and he looks like he's having a polite conversation with Alear and their gang which is very much. NOT what they were going for. See what I mean?

Or everything about the Ch24 cutscenes (which should have been prerendered to give them the emotional weight they deserved btw, but that's not the point)

I'm not saying every cutscene should be prerendered. I'm saying the ingame cutscenes should have better directing than an early 3D title.

[doverjazzghost]

it's the new year's post!!

I'm not putting this under a read more bc tumblr keeps changing the website and idk where the function even is anymore. 2023 was actually pretty good! I had some huge huge growth/good developments in a lot of areas of my life: - I started voice lessons in March and working on singing has been really rewarding. Experiencing music in a different way has been challenging and it's wild feeling like a beginner at something musical again. I even did a vocal audition and sang solo in front of other people, which was a huge anxiety step for me. -My other music stuff has been going really well! I had one of my arrangements played live and 3 of my other arrangements have been recorded and mixed into tracks (2 of which were mixed by me). I also performed with a Real Professional Orchestra as a vocalist which was wild. - I finally got medical help for my headaches. I just though multi-day headaches were normal? at least for me?? but I had a lot of friends push me to go to someone about it and I guess a really effective migraine medication was developed in 2019? It's taken away 90% of my headaches and a lot of brain fog and ambient pain and it's wild to me that everyone else's lives had been like this. -I have travelled (a little bit). I still have a bit of anxiety around travelling, but I managed to go to DC, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts and I went to 3 conventions. - My anxiety has been a lot better around driving and being out in public. - I didn't get sick at all this year! Which seems like a small thing but after the year I had last year, I am VERY grateful for that. The goals from the 2023 post: -have a symphonic arrangement I've made be performed live Yes!! Also going to have another piece performed in May 2024 and probably December 2024 -actually do it, actually travel this time Yes. I didn't get on a plane, but I did car and train travel. Also booked a trip for me and the geef to Canada for April next year and that is Real Travel. -go back to working on my anxiety and agoraphobia Yes. It isn't really fully gone (bc I think it never will be) but I am in a much better place with that. I am buying groceries in person lol. -finish this Dnd campaign lol Yes! The campaign wrapped in November? Starting a new one early 2024 and I am actually writing this one for pray for me -be more proactive in reaching out to people Kind of? I can maybe only think of 2 or 3 examples of me inviting people to do things but at least that's more than 0 lol. -focus on craftsmanship in the things that I make Eeeehhh. I actually didn't make a ton of art things this year. I did 1 cosplay, some accessories, and a few crochet plushes. I am trying to research more and I think I'm more comfortable in taking apart and re-doing thing until they're right but I definitely think I can push it more.

The goals for 2024:

Still try to reach out to people more both talking and hanging out!

Use my phone less (especially watching less short form video lol). I have already been working on this but I want to commit harder.

Work out more consistently. The really good headache medicine gives me a little fatigue which has made working out harder.

Push myself to learn new techniques re: art, cosplay, music

Get a new job. Things Have Changed at my current job and I'm just not feeling it anymore. That is the post! Happy new bear!! ฅ՞•ﻌ•՞ฅ

[flieslikeamoron]

@skystamp tagged me and it took me a minute, but here are five songs I've listened to recently. 

Let Me Down Easy - Daisy Jones and the Six

I watched the show, and it's fine. The ending was lame, but I liked it okay otherwise. Riley Keough and Nabiyah Be were very good. And yes, I listened to the album by this fake band. It's also fine. You might as well just listen to Fleetwood Mac, honestly. But it has some catchy tunes. I generally like the live versions from the show a bit better than the polished "album" versions though. 

Waffle House - The Jonas Brothers

I'm still vestigially in Jonas fandom. It was never really about the music for me, I was in it for the fic. And for the codependent brothers. (Except I did love love love the DNCE album. Suck on that, Nick! Joe was secretly the most talented one all along!) But yeah, my favorite albums from my Disney era were Demi's Here We Go Again and Aly and AJ's Insomniatic. So although I still have feelings about the Jonas Brothers, they're not really much about the music. I still listen to their stuff though in the way that you might listen to music put out by someone you went to high school with or used to date or something. This one is fun, but I hate that one line about "headstrong father and a determined mother." It just hits my ear wrong rhythmically.

Fistfight - Ballroom Thieves

I added this one to my steddie playlist a while ago, and I listen to it pretty often. I really like the dirty groove of it, and the soar of the chorus. Love the line: They said love is grabbing blindly at a pit full of snakes/And wait to feel the only heel among the rows of all the venomous teeth and of course the chorus: You were a bright light/You were a fistfight. IDK I think that fits the way I'm writing them.

I'm a Man - Adam Lambert

This is from the covers album Adam put out recently. I don't like the Sex on Fire cover at all, but the rest is good. I think my faves are the Beatles-esque take on Getting Older, a sexy cool I Can't Stand the Rain, and a moody and modern Do You Really Want to Hurt Me that I like way better than the original. And this one, which is from Jobriath. He was an out gay rock musician in the early 70s. He had a big contract and a lot of marketing hype, and then his first album bombed, and he got basically abandoned by the industry and died of AIDS. Anyway, the Jobriath album is pretty much aping Ziggy Stardust/Bowie. Especially vocally. And it has several "space man" songs. But I kind of get more Elton John vibes overall. Jobriath was a pianist, so it's a lot more piano heavy than Bowie and it has these musical theater/showy/operatic tones. Like there's one song Movie Queen that just sounds like vaudeville/cabaret, not really "rock." Aaaanyway, Adam's voice is always A+ and you can tell he relates to this song. It's a great cover.

The One that Got Away - The Civil Wars

I guess Daisy Jones put me in the mood for fraught band relationships and tangled up feelings. This is so pretty and haunting. And I love that complicated dynamic of it was easier when it was just pining, and it was all potential, and it wasn't this hard, real thing.

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

I’m black and American so to me JK doesn’t have generic vocals. Personally he’s gonna out sing a lot of people. JK and Jimin have the best vocals out the vocal line but JK is a stronger singer. Sounding like the singer is not a bad thing because it actually shows his musical hear is crazy good. Jimin and JK can run and riff. Do you know how hard it is to do? There’s so many notes in one run. I know you and anons are upset about what’s happening with Jimin but JK is actually a great singer. Jimin could be even better if he would work with a vocal coach that could harness his unique voice. I love his lower register and I wish he’d use it more. He’s getting older and that higher register will be unsustainable. Also, from western eyes I don’t see JK as a “super straight” male. Like Jimin I see JK has both feminine and masculine traits.

I'd like to first make some points clear:

I never said Jungkook is not a good singer. I wouldn't call anyone in BTS a "great" singer tho; just good is okay. I also think JK has had some bad vocal moments especially after 2019. I haven't felt he's as strong as a singer as he used to be; stronger than Jimin yeah, maybe, but imo he used to sound better. His vocal chords seem to have thinned lately, I don't know if that makes sense. It could be because of the way they have been made to sing these past years. I did talk once about his voice in BTS early albums.

I also think that Jimin's chords are just thinner than they normally are for males and frailer (if you could call them that?) and there's really nothing he can do about it. He's been practicing a lot, tho, according to what he's said. However, his tone, the one he usually sings in is very distinctive and my guess is that he wants to utilize it precisely because it's different.

There's so many people in music, trying to make a living of it and you'd see that most are after that distinct sound, distinct look or vibe that would make the public pay attention to them. There's already so much of the same so like even female rappers in the US are trying to put their personal touch into their work so it'd be something new. BTS had that too, they stood out because they brought something new to the idol scene. I truly believe Jimin (and everyone who works with him) acknowledges Jimin's tone as an advantage, and something that works on his favor. So that's why maybe he doesn't use that much his lower register, besides of course the fact that the music he's doing fits a lighter tone better than a more full, lower one.

On the other hand, I don't mean basic as an insult. Ya'll know how much I love Taylor but I can still acknowledge she's not the greatest vocalist and that doesn't mean I like her music any less. I like her music because of so many other factors, and even if she's not Whitney Houston, she still sounds good and if I want to hear someone belting or doing riffs and runs, I'll just listen to someone else. Even if Taylor's voice is pretty basic and just nice, she's still so loved and successful. Likewise, even if I think Jungkook's tone is pretty standard and could be found elsewhere, he also has other stuff that make him distinctive. If he incorporates choreo, dancing, into his solos (which he most likely will) that's a point to his favor.

I see this especially in kths but it seems that so many people want to be a fan of someone because they're the greatest this or that. It's really become a matter of ego for fans, to be regarded as a fan of the most- the greatest- the best-. You can like simple, regular, average stuff/people and it doesn't take away any value from it.

I can't stand hypocrisy/double standards and lies. I can't. So when I rant about the hate Jimin gets, that's mostly what I rant about. I don't care a lot about people saying Jimin sounds bad because it doesn't change anything for me. I care that he won't see it, or be discouraged or embarrassed by it, but I don't take it so personally. I love how he sounds and I think he sings really well. I'm not in this because I want to go online and read "Jimin is the greatest singer that has ever lived". He sounds different, we know. Some take different as a drag. Others take basic/generic as a drag. The point is that neither are bad; they're just two different characteristics that coexist in the universe. Jungkook's voice being generic might get him opportunities that Jimin's voice wouldn't get him, and viceversa.

As for the masculinity/femininity part, I just have never seen Jungkook as anything other than masculine, his gender expression and even the way he seems to develop his personal relationships has always been so man to me. And if you compare it to Jimin (which was the reason it was brought up, the marketability), I think that it becomes a bit more obvious who's more "masculine" or "het".