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cherry-interlude · 3 years

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Lana Del Rey Album Songs Ranking (Remade)

It’s been a few years since I ranked all of Lana’s (album) songs so I wanted to do it again. This is all my OPINION, which I’m sure some people might disagree with, but you don’t have to agree with it. This is also a very long post.

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

This cover song is just a little too drab and uninteresting to me, and I never listen to it. After the brilliant, sprawling, sexy, heart-breaking tracks on Honeymoon, this feels like a tacked-on track just to plump up the album. It feels simply like a cover.

For Free

Though this is a well-made song, with three brilliant women owning the track, it again just feels like a cover. It fits in well with Chemtrails, but by the time I get to this song I’ve had my fill.

Breaking Up Slowly

It just feels repetitive and simple, something only to have on in the background while my attention is diverted. It’s a good song and a nice attempt at bringing Lana’s country music in, but it does little to keep me interested.

God Knows I Tried

This song is filler. Jammed between the jazzy softness of Terrence Loves You and the pop favourite High By The Beach, this track just feels like it was sort of shoved in. It doesn’t even feel completely right on Honeymoon, instead a throwaway song that bridges Ultraviolence and Honeymoon whilst not fitting in with either album.

Though perfect for the credits of a Hollywood movie, 24 has plenty of flair but nothing of substance. The lyrics aren’t as imaginative as most of Lana’s music and I’m not surprised this song found itself near the end of the album.

Lucky Ones

Personally, this song irritates me. It's sickly in its lyrics, sugary in the romance and classic Lana tropes of dangerous men and Lana starstruck by them no matter if they’re ‘careless cons and crazy liars’. The little flair of the verses and the overtly sweet chorus really irks me, especially following the brilliance that is Lana’s first ‘Del Rey’ album.

Coachella

It is a rushed track, sounding completely unfinished and hurried with an unconvincing track beat. Polished, it would be brilliant – but it sounds like Lana thought of the song (which sounds promising in the video where she sits in the forest and sings) and had to force it to ‘fit in’ with the trap-pop tracks on Lust For Life. The lyrics are thoughtful, if not cliché, but it could have been done better.

This Is What Makes Us Girls

It just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe because I can’t connect to the lyrics in any way, I just don’t feel anything when I hear this song and choose to skip it. That being said, the demos are pretty fun.

God Bless America

As much as it’s a song honouring women during a period of time when feminism was being shaken, it doesn’t quite feel like Lana’s heart is in it. The patriotism is uneasy considering she was removing herself from the American flag and its associations, and the anthemic feel never lifts. It’s a sweet song, but never goes deeper than surface level.

Religion

Though fairly sexy and haunting – her unshaken faith to her man, her drawling voice – this delicate track is too simple and sombre for me to get completely into it. I always want to skip and get to my favourites.

In My Feelings

It’s great Lana has a bad-girl, bad-bitch, fuck-you pop track but this, like Coachella, feels unfinished. It has the vibe of work in progress, and the vocals are still messy (surely intentionally, though it doesn’t always come across that way) as well as trying slightly too hard. It doesn’t compare to Fucked My Way Up To The Top.

Beautiful People Beautiful Problems

The verses don’t match up to the choruses and I feel nothing – not empowered or emotional – when listening to this song, but it is a beautiful duet between Lana and Stevie. Their voices really are divine together and though I don’t listen to this song much, the demos are even better.

Change

Mostly because it freaks me out, this is a song I don’t often listen to. With a basic structure yet long, meandering lyrics, Lana broods over the state of America at the time, which can make for depressive listening. Though it’s a pretty enough song, it’s seriousness is too much to bear sometimes.

Blue Velvet

Sometimes too slow, Blue Velvet doesn’t inspire multiple listens in me, but it is a gorgeous cover and absolutely a showcase of Lana’s vocals.

Diet Mountain Dew

A cheeky little track that won many over, it still is hard for me to fully get into it. However, it ages like fine wine and is a wonderful step into the Lizzy Grant unreleased tracks (especially with the many, sometimes even better demos).

Burning Desire

It’s a messy song, with Lana’s vocals shaky and the instrumental not quite up to scratch, but this song is certainly a guilty pleasure and great for getting into the sexy mood. The car metaphors are a bit much, especially considering it’s for a car advert, but if you get past that it’s a song to add to your freaky playlist.

Money Power Glory

As powerful and dark as this song is, with incredible instrumentals and Lana at her most dynamic, I barely remember the lyrics of the verses, instead waiting for the rich choruses.

Swan Song

A gentle track that has a lot of untapped power behind it, this is a quiet stormer of a song that has a lot of heart and grace. It may be a filler track, but it is definitely better than some.

Bartender

Even more gentle is the confessional, piano-led Bartender, which is a sweet little love song stripped back much like Lana’s simple romance where she sneaks out to see her lover. The main (and probably ridiculous) thing that keeps me from falling in love with this song more – though I’m already pretty amazed by it – is the very quiet sound of feedback that comes and goes, a fuzzy noise that is very subtle but distracting enough for me.

The Next Best American Record

This song would be higher if it was Architecture – the gorgeous, well-thought stunner that wowed us all when it was leaked. The lyrics are less fractured relationship and more wishy washy, wiping away the gritty sadness that made Architecture so beloved (at least to me). Now it’s been made ‘happier’, it’s hard to tell what the song is – is Lana happy with her lover or is she sad like in the unreleased version? Is this a break up song or a celebration of the romance? What does it mean now that it is both of them that are obsessed with writing? It’s something for me to certainly explore more, but it is paled in comparison to the original.

When The World Was At War

This track grew on me, with the hidden lyrics, fun vocals and hopeful message. Lana knows how to make a song that lifts your mood and this is certainly one of them.

Guns and Roses

I used to despise this song – finding it boring and dull. However, after giving it a listen years later, it is in fact a beautiful song with a gritty feel that is perfect for Ultraviolence. It fits in perfectly with the album and the extended tracks, and though it isn’t the strongest lyrically, the vocals and dreamy feel is thrilling.

Lolita

I choose to listen to this song without the underage character – or romantic connotations of her – in mind, instead seeing this song as a grown woman trying to charm an older man. However, as I have grown older – and read (and loved) the book several times more – I feel more inclined to distance myself from this song. It’s a fun, perky pop track but it definitely feels dated.

Dance Till We Die

Lana sings of her connection to other famous female singers and her daughter’s chosen name, making this a very personal pop song that also reminds of When The World Was At War for its hopeful and ultimately positive edge. It is a little slow but incredible touching, and the bridge is so kickass you can’t help but dance along.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

This is a very sweet little song that again showcases the more positive side of Lana’s music, rather than the heartbroken and distressed women she tends to play. Though it is a filler song it’s a very pretty one and so catchy.

Wild At Heart

Wild At Heart is similar to Not All Who Wander Are Lost in that it’s a departure from a tragic femme fatale, instead a love song that also mimics Swan Song in that she considers leaving fame for her lover. What makes it even better is how Lana samples How To Disappear, a much sadder track, and twists it into something happy with this ultimately more upbeat album.

Radio

Like Diet Mountain Dew, Radio is another perky tune that is more than just a catchy filler. It’s a little bit sassy and has an edge to it (with the expletives and how her life is sweet not like sugar but cinnamon) that keeps it from being too frothy. Speaking of Lana’s newfound fame, it’s a nice break from the love ballads and tragedies peppered throughout Born To Die.

Without You

Shockingly dramatic, Without You is the ultimate symbol of Lana’s older music – a woman who could only feel happy unless her man was in her life. She has definitely moved on for the most part from wailing her demise at losing her lover but Without You is still glamorous, catchy and perfect to singalong to.

The Other Woman

This is one of Lana’s best covers – Nina Simone’s song about being the other woman and how it is in fact lonely and heart-breaking. Lana makes the song her own, her vocals stunning and lo-fi with instrumentals that are perfect for Ultraviolence.

How To Disappear

I feel that the live version of How To Disappear, where she sung it on stage before it was released with its real instrumental, is the superior version. It’s stripped back and tender enough to feel the emotion thoroughly, but the album version doesn’t disappoint. It’s one of many great tracks from (what I think is) her best album, and has a great story within it.

Fucked My Way Up To The Top

Lana’s satirical, sexy and stirring Fucked My Way Up To The Top was just tongue-in-cheek enough to keep from being too much of a cliché. Perhaps based on her real experiences but definitely a fuck-you to anyone who critiques her for owning her sexuality, it’s a little bit controversial but an incredible song.

Tomorrow Never Came

This song, which is a gorgeous duet with Sean Ono Lennon and a nice nod to 20th century music, subverts expectations that it is a sad song by in fact including a happy ending. I love how it can make you cry with both sadness and happiness, and tells a sweet story that paints pictures of parks and country houses.

Yosemite

The long-awaited Yosemite didn’t disappoint, and though it took a while to grow on me it became a classic and somehow familiar track. It’s impossible to not sing or dance to it and wouldn’t be out of place in Lust For Life.

Hope Is A Dangerous Thing

It’s quite slow – the Change/24/Old Money of Norman Fucking Rockwell – but it is clearly a personal and well-thought song that references Lana’s great inspiration Sylvia Plath. Lana’s deft at getting her thoughts out in song and I think though it’s not a song I often listen to, it is beautiful.

Honeymoon

The sweeping violins, dramatic vocals and the dangerous undercurrent makes Honeymoon crackle with electricity. It’s an amazing introduction to an album that once again has dangerous men, bad girls who get hurt but are strong again and amazing instrumentals. Though it’s not the best song from the album, it sets the tone perfectly.

Million Dollar Man

Like Without You, it’s another song of complete devastation, which Lana has grown from in her music. Million Dollar Man shows some great vocals and lyrics, and gets the emotion out perfectly whilst honouring the music that inspired her.

Old Money

The verses are pretty enough but they don’t catch my attention the way the choruses do. The slow, steady song took a long time for me to really appreciate but it’s impossible not to feel some kind of emotion when Lana lets her lover know she will be with them whenever they need her.

Sad Girl

Like The Other Woman, Sad Girl shows how being the other woman has it’s downfalls but appreciates the sexy, exciting side of it – how alluring her man is and how much of a bad bitch she may be. Once again, it’s a pure Ultraviolence song that shows Lana’s vocals and music in the best way whilst showcasing the classic caricature of the femme fatale.

Dark Paradise

Strangely upbeat for such a sad song, Dark Paradise is great to dance to but also something that makes you want to cry. Lana’s vocalisations and dramatic lyrics don’t quite compare to some of her other songs but Dark Paradise is iconic.

Summertime Sadness

The slow-burn, emotional gut punch that is Summertime Sadness is always a classic and one of Lana’s best. Though it is far from my personal favourite it is absolutely an outstanding song and the perfect example of Lana’s most well-made and well-delivered songs.

Gods and Monsters

The strained Gods and Monsters is a great tale about the evil side of fame, which Lana never quite delves too deeply into but gives a metaphorical and mildly personal nod to. Gods and Monsters is one of those songs that has you singing along and feeling strong.

Carmen

Carmen is a beautiful, sad story that feels rich and luxurious despite its harrowing lyrics of an alcoholic star. The French bridge adds to the decadence and it feels like a dirty alcohol bottle wrapped in silk, from the tentative verses to the unnerving chorus.

Born To Die

One of Lana’s original pop chart tracks, this is a song that never grows old. It’s one of the blueprints of the Lana Del Rey era and deftly shows her vocals whilst setting the tone for the pessimistic, romantic star in the early 2010s.

Salvatore

Opening with laughing – or crying – Salvatore has an eerie feel to it, though it is completely erotic in feel (enough to ignore some of the simpler lyrics). It is a song that feels dreamy, much like the rest of Honeymoon, but passionate and reminding of some of her older music (from the vocals in the bridge that have a Lolita/Fucked My Way Up To The Top feel to them to the continued trope of bad boys and glamour).

Flipside

Dirty, gritty and quite contained, Flipside is a song that I wished had more attention. It’s not her most imaginative song but there’s something about it, from the gloomy guitars to the hushed vocals, that have me wanting to sing it over and over. It also is one of her great fuck-off songs, as sympathetic as it is resilient.

Doin’ Time

Lana really turns this song into her own with the summery instrumentals and the pop edge she is so good at. It’s surprisingly one of her best covers and a fresh-feeling track that isn’t bogged down by emotion or maudlin music.

Lust For Life

Breathless and oh-so-romantic, Lust For Life is one of those songs that was perfect for the charts, and a key piece in Lana’s turn into becoming more positive. However, as fun and lovely as this song is, the demos are a whole other ball game. A little more ethereal, they fit Lana much more perfectly and it’s sad she dismissed the witchy feel for a song that is brilliant but generic.

Love

One of Lana’s warmest and most refreshing songs, she looks at love with fondness and dedicates this track to her ‘kids’. She knows her fans well and to make a song that references them (much like Happiness Is A Butterfly’s nod to her ‘babies’) makes this song all the more pleasant.

The Greatest

Lana’s vocals are put to good use in this intimately-written song. She speaks her mind in her reminiscence of the past and the worries for the future, all with a storming chorus that is certainly one of her best.

Love Song

Tender and almost tentative, Love Song is one of those tracks that is romantic through-and-through. It’s stripped back enough to feel like it really is a private song for only her lover’s ears, just as confessional as Cinnamon Girl and Bartender.

White Mustang

Short but sweet, this song has all the makings of a Lana Del Rey song, harking back to the Born To Die days with her imagery and fallen love affair, but it is spiky enough to be part of her later music where she starts giving less shits. The whistling and race cars are a nice touch, displaying her play on words snugly.

Dark But Just A Game

Sort of jazzy, Dark But Just A Game is ever-shifting and never quite settles on a particular sound. It’s cohesive, however, and clearly states what Lana is thinking in a way that works with the rest of Chemtrails. It’s pretty sexy as well, which doesn’t hurt the enjoyability factor.

High By The Beach

The wooziness, the carelessness and the growth from a woman begging to be put in a movie to a woman who is able to do as she pleases. Lana stumbles and swears through the song but knows exactly what she wants – and it isn’t disappointing men or stalking paparazzi.

Let Me Love You Like A Woman

Some may think it much slower and more boring than a lot of her tracks, but I think it’s a tidy, sweet track. Lana plainly states her love, urges her man to run away with her and lets her emotions (and voice) do the talking.

Summer Bummer

Lana is as restless as a hot summer in this song and it works. Her brisk-paced yet soft-voiced lyrics and gorgeous imagery gets my pulse racing, and ASAP Rocky’s verse works well for it. Though it would have been interesting to get a full, solo Summer Bummer, Rocky adds an edge to this song and compliments his ‘lover’ well.

Groupie Love

Much more flowery and wide-eyed, Groupie Love is like a contradiction. Lana’s passionate dalliance with Rocky’s god-like star opposes the relationship in Summer Bummer (uncertain) but both are just as secret. Groupie Love has the edge of being ultra-dreamy and demonstrating pure love – and lust – without the messiness.

American

It’s a filler track that has potential for much more. It’s an adorable song, almost cautious in its lead-up to the satisfying chorus, and is filled with Lana tropes galore. Following Lana’s stressed Ride and coming before the darkly sensual Cola, American is a breath of fresh air.

National Anthem

What an anthem it is. It’s simply provocative and one of her most classic tracks. Mixing love, money and fame together with a bit of sex thrown in, National Anthem is precisely what Lana’s America seems to be.

Is This Happiness?

It’s muted, mournful and resentful, questioning a relationship that Lana wants to keep but at the same time doesn’t. This is one of Lana’s best sad songs, tearful as it is still adoring beneath the exasperation.

Art Deco

Art Deco is purely dreamy, a song to bathe in. The lyrics are a little bit simple but Lana’s vocals and the flowing, aquatic music is the perfect hook.

Terrence Loves You

Lana’s jazzy song is delicate, letting only her voice and the saxophone dominate. With references to David Bowie, Lana pines for someone who hurt her badly, but she soothes herself with music the way plenty of her fans do when listening to her records.

White Dress

The vocals were a surprise at first – high, strained whispers – but they definitely grew on me. Painting a picture of young Lana loving life and dreaming of bigger things, it’s nostalgic in lyrics but also reminds of some of Lana’s old work – her unreleased tracks where she would serve coke and fries.

Chemtrails

It gets better as it goes on, growing and twisting from a song to sunbathe to into a restless, darkening track. It has the best vibe for an idealised world with something a bit off, and the imagery of pools, jewels and schools grounds Lana into a (very, very rich) normality rather than the glamorous star she always liked to portray.

13 Beaches

Opening with a quote from Carnival of Souls, Lana takes High By The Beach to the next level. She goes from sticking her middle finger up to the paparazzi to simply wishing she would be allowed to live her life without them hounding her. It’s a matured approach that uses sound interestingly, with beeps and whines adding a strange texture to the song.

Cola

The controversial line was intended as humour, but strangely it works. Even if Cola is satire like Fucked My Way Up To The Top, Lana owns the ‘other woman’, the patriotic singer, the sexy and unashamed woman who says what she thinks without caring of the consequences. It’s an iconic song, even if you have to turn the volume down to not offend.

Black Beauty

The unreleased version is ten times more emotive, with its stripped back and lonesome feel, but the album version is just as good. The ultimately loving but unhappy lyrics are full of stunning imagery, and this is a song that would have been perfect with a music video.

Body Electric

Blasphemous as much as it honours icons, Lana sinfully owns Body Electric. The bridge is a bit out of place but Lana’s eyebrow-raising approach to religion and sexuality is genius.

Off To The Races

The best demonstration of Lana’s vocals, Lana plays the glam girl without a care just as well as the Lolita-type, needy lover in this ode to money and her man. The soaring bridge is stunning, and the swirling violins add an air of Hollywood to it.

Bel Air

Completely overlooked (in my opinion), Bel Air is an apologetic song of redemption, a shining and honest track that is as touching as much as it is hazy and tranquil. With soft piano and the sound of children opening and closing the song respectively, it’s set apart from Paradise with a pureness that Lana pulls off well.

Ultraviolence

Controversial at the time and still controversial now, Ultraviolence is about being weak, about giving in to love no matter how toxic. I don’t entirely support the lyrics but it’s a stunning song, lo-fi enough to feel uneasy and haunting. When you shut off from the lyrics, you get a simply beautiful track.

Pretty When You Cry

Lana’s imperfect, close-to-tears vocals are wonderful in this song, and she really lets her emotion shine through. The pained guitar and Lana’s increasingly distressed singing are enough to get you feeling exactly as she does.

Florida Kilos

Fun. Fresh. Freeing. Lana’s ode to drugs is simply something to dance to and sing, and she somehow manages to get the sunny feeling across even with the Ulraviolence-esque grunginess. It’s one of my favourite songs of Lana’s because it’s just so happy, which is a nice departure from some of her heavier tracks.

Cherry

Many people’s favourite – Cherry. It was my favourite of Lana’s for a long time, dripping with sex appeal and sadness but with a cute dance to compliment it. It had all the right stuff wrapped up in a tidy, compact box and the imagery is lush. I still love this song but since then we’ve had the ‘Cherries’ of her next few albums, Cinnamon Girl and Tulsa Jesus Freak. Like these, Cherry was a song that seemed set apart from the rest of the album and was a novel take on her typical music.

California

Simply for It's meaningful, raw lyrics – promising to be there as soon as he wants her, much like in Old Money – California is a sun-soaked dream with a very honest approach. Lana isn’t completely devastated, or begging for her lover to return. She is sad but realistic, and only wants the best for him. It’s beautiful and sad with a crazily addictive chorus.

West Coast

The shift from fast-paced, grungey, whispered verses to sprawling, drawling choruses – complete with weirdly sexy beeps towards the end of the song – shook us all, and it’s one of Lana’s most interesting songs. Lana honours the West Coast but also her man, in love with the music scene as much as she is with him.

Shades of Cool

The snide verses. The gradually growing music. The guitars. The explosive chorus. The nuclear bridge. The absolutely perfect timing and pacing. Shades of Cool is flawless, another Sad Girl but with much more power, emotion and music.

The Blackest Day

The Blackest Day needs more attention. Cold in places, almost lost, but then wounded in the chorus, The Blackest Day rolls with the emotions and is the kind of song that makes you want to fall apart and sob. Which is good, in a way, as it shows how brilliantly Lana conveys emotion.

Freak

Cult-like and haunting, this is the sexy predecessor of California. Lana swoons and tempts in this track, from her harmonising to her pouting “take it to the back if you really wanna talk” - not to mention the rest of the song in its entirely, all elements married together to create the perfect seductive track.

Music To Watch Boys To

Like Art Deco, Music To Watch Boys To is fairly aquatic and dreamy. Like Freak, it has that cult vibe (the chanting of the bridge). However, this song is perfectly its own, from the mix-up of vocal styles to the shifting tone (sad to smug to obsessively in love).

Norman Fucking Rockwell

What an opener. Norman Fucking Rockwell lets the actual singing and lyrics do the talking, the instrumentals pushed back enough to let Lana’s gut-punching first line (“God damn, man child, you fucked me so good that I almost said I love you”) and her blue yet annoyed insults to her Norman Rockwell do the talking.

Mariner’s Apartment Complex

It’s a song for yourself and for the people you love. Lana is strong enough to take care of herself, to be her own guidance – and to take on her lover’s problems too. It’s an empowering song, so distant from a lot of her discography, and I adore the nautical references and the hopeful message.

Brooklyn Baby

Satire again, but it still works. Lana plays a (fairly cringey) and somewhat self-absorbed, over-confident singer who is too cool for her own boyfriend, but she does it well. From saying how she wished people didn’t judge her, to the freedom the seventies gives her, to the warm guitars and upbeat tone, to the backup vocals of Seth Kaufman, Brooklyn Baby is a song to remember for all the right reasons.

Ride

Ride is one of Lana’s best, if not the best. With her devotion to America and her open thoughts about needing other people to make her feel good and happy, Lana knocks it out of the park with the superb step up from Born To Die.

Video Games

Video Games is just beautiful, plain and simple. Lana’s low voice, telling a flowing story of the simplicities of true love, are removed from her ‘famous singer’ image she constantly tried to portray and instead open up to the heart of what she has always sung about: love and its many forms, good or bad.

Get Free

The new take on Ride was a pleasant surprise. From changing the lyrics to show she wants to move on and be happy to (silently) name-dropping her influences, Lana’s manifesto was a personal song that we could all resonate with. The outro of the beach was the perfect closer to Lust For Life, and Get Free summarised the album which took her from sad girl to someone who could let herself move on.

Heroin

Heroin is no doubt one of her best. It’s tense and dark, referencing Manson and (allegedly) a friend she lost years ago. Lana lets herself dive into her worst thoughts headfirst, not so much dreamy as it is nightmarish, but still comes out the other side dreaming of marzipan and ready to move on.

Tulsa Jesus Freak

The third of the ‘Cherries’, Tulsa Jesus Freak goes straight to a happy place. Where Cherry was angry and Cinnamon Girl was cautious, this track dives into being comfortable with her man. It was just as passionate as the other two songs but about religion, sex and self-satisfaction.

Blue Jeans

Plucking guitars, crying violins and Lana weaving a tale about a gangsta who left her, without explanation, and the hurt that follows. Similarly tied to Dark Paradise, Blue Jeans is the next level of that, her tough-girl spoken verses dismissed as the choruses open up and she pours her heart out.

Cruel World

Lana is on top-form on this song, furious, maddened, sad, taunting – she hits every emotion with style. Lana grows more and more unstable as the song goes on, invoking images of a woman scorned and no longer taking that shit, but she still has a fragility about her as she comes undone that is tied directly to her Ultraviolence era.

Happiness Is A Butterfly

This song goes through many stages. She is unsure, not knowing how her lover feels. She is optimistic, elated as she tries to capture the butterfly. She is dismissive, no longer caring if she might get hurt – she loves too much. She is pissed off, sick of being treated badly. She gives in, simply wanting to dance and just be happy. The flow of this song is constant, a little messy, but it has the beautiful message pinned to it: to keep trying to be happy and do what you love.

Fuck It I Love You

I love the music video version more than the album version, the latter being more stripped back. Fuck It I Love You just gives in to emotion, acknowledging Lana is hurt, her lover is hurt, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love him. She simply lets that feeling take over.

Cinnamon Girl

Cinnamon Girl touched me like no other Lana song has. Where Cherry was a mixture of emotions, good and bad, angry and loving, devastated and thrilled, Cinnamon Girl was about cautious optimism. Lana urges her lover to give in, and she knows – smiling as she sings it – she wins.

Venice Bitch

Venice Bitch just has that soothing, unhindered feel to it – and not just from the nine minutes of pure music and vibe. Lana dedicates this song to the kind of love that is just wholesome and homely, all whilst touching on her insanity, her ever-lasting love for America and the modern world (her live streams). It feels nostalgic yet contemporary, and adding the “fucks” and “bitch[es]” helps keep this song from being to sugary sweet but instead what it is – an honest love song rooted in the idealised and the realistic.

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chibimyumi · 5 years

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Hi I have a question I was curious what you thought about the episodes about Jack the Ripper episodes 3-6? And about the anime season 1 and 2 and the other series? Thank you for answering the question

Dear Anon,

In general I am not quite positive about any animated rendition of ‘Kuroshitsuji’, so if you’re interested in reading my mostly negative opinion, please proceed ^^

TL:DR

Season 1 - Ep. 3-6 - Personal rating: 2/10

Season 1 General - Personal rating: 3/10

Season 2 - Personal rating: N.A.

Book of Circus - Personal rating: 8/10

Book of Murder - Personal rating: 8/10

Book of the Atlantic - Personal rating 6.5/10

Season 1 - Episodes 3 - 6

Personal rating: 2/10

I personally despise the anime version of the Jack the Ripper arc because of multiple reasons.

1. The manga portrayal of Grell in that arc wasn’t great to begin with, but it was the anime that ultimately caused many people to believe Grell is a psychopathic gay, crossdressing man. The heavily gay-coded visuals (both manga and anime) alone of course were already pointing to Grell being a flamboyant male, but the additional gay-coded voice to her may have been what delivered the ultimate blow. Because anime is voiced, it often leaves a more lasting impression on people.

2. it’s not just for Grell’s portrayal. I also despised how the anime basically signal-boosted the corset scene that presented the sexualisation of a 12 year old as something that is part of a serious murder investigation. And when the sexual tension was later denied by showing ‘it was just a corset’, it was supposed to be ‘a comedic tease’ rather than a major sigh of relief.

Yes, it was just the faithful portrayal of canon. I am not saying the manga is less guilty; I am saying that the anime signal-boosted these two very harmful things without explicit warning.

Season 1 in General

Personal rating: 3/10

The good things:

In general the first season did have some fairly nice parts, hence the marginally higher personal rating. I quite liked the scene where anime!Sebastian shoved the visitor into the oven (+1pt) , for example. And I also liked the adaptation of the mini arc where O!Ciel was kidnapped by the mafia. (+1pt)

The finale makes little sense, but I did like the charm and atmosphere it delivered. I understood that the 24 episode series had to deviate from the canon storyline in order to tell a whole story within so few episodes.

The season finale managed to bring an ending that befits the theme of ‘Kuroshtisuji’: a suitably dark, ominous conclusion of a demon receiving the payment for his part of the contract. The choice of only showing Sebastian closing in on his prey from 1st person perspective before the screen blacking out was fantastic. It really reminded me as a viewer that in the end, I am but a helpless human; that regardless of what we may think Sebastian is, the last we’ll see of him is him being a predator to his prey. (+1pt)

The… not so good things.

Curry bread shuriken? (-1pt) The child king and prince arc? (-1pt) Pluto? (-1pt) **Angela/Ash!? (-2pt) The reaper library? (-1 pt. What was it even trying to achieve?). Ruining the most epic revelation of our protagonist’s arch enemy and spoiling the manga!?!?!?! (-1pt)

**They wanted to portray the genderlessness of angels, and so they decided to…. make this angel bi-gender in the loosest sense of the word? And then there is the EXPLICIT intention of giving Angela small breasts… because she can’t be “too much of a woman” (their actual words). PSA to women with small breasts!! Hear that!? You’re not too much of a woman!!

The rest is self explanatory.

Season 2 in General

Personal rating: N.A.

I deny its existence. If this season had existed, I would have said it took everything I hated about season 1, amplified them multi-fold, and… shoved all of those ingredients into a worse context. It ruined the significance of the S1 finale, and shoehorned ‘reasssssonsss’ to insert the new characters.

Also… apparently a contract now is as binding as a pinky swear between toddlers?

Also, I’d like to add how even both voice actors of the two demons hated it.

Ono Daisuke (Sebastian) was asked for his opinion of season 2, and he said that: “even I, Sebastian, learned of new sides of this character that I never expected to see”. Sakurai Takahiro (Claude) in turn, was asked why he thought they cast him for this role, to which he replied: “because he wears glasses, just like me. I think it’s called the glasses-casting-method.”

Book of Circus

Personal rating: 8/10

The animation itself felt quite static, but it was nice to finally see something animated almost perfectly faithfully to canon. The voice actors poured in so much more life and passion, and the cinematic record of Joker was very powerful.

Book of Murder

Personal rating: 8/10

I liked it, and the soundtrack chosen for these OVAs were great and fitted the theme perfectly. The animation, just like BoC, was quite static, but otherwise it is faithful to canon and represented the atmosphere quite well. First when Jeremy was introduced in the manga, many people really had no clue that he was Sebastian; the result of theories flying around in the fandom was quite nice.

In the anime, because Jeremy’s eyes were red, and because Ono Daisuke has a rather distinct voice, it was almost an instant giveaway to people who didn’t read the manga. But it’s fine. Ono Daisuke pulled everything out of his sleeve, and it was charming.

The French. I loved hating it. I don’t think I could have done a better job, but I loved hating it. French speakers out there, what did you think? ( ´艸｀)

Book of Atlantic

Personal rating: 6.5/10

I actually didn’t like it a lot, even though I went to the cinema for it THRICE!(σ＾罒＾)σ━━━!!

The good things:

Even though I didn’t really like the addition of the Double Charles, I did like love how they inserted a burn by Sebas at Grey’s expense. I think it was a wonderful re-introduction of Trash Demon™ being the salty prick he is, and how it tied back to the events of BoM.

The soundtrack designed for the movie was also great in my opinion, and the scene where Lizzie revealed herself was very touching. Me and many in the cinema were sobbing like babies, and the times that I went with people who don’t read the manga were also great, because they shock on their faces was ART.

Finally, I really liked how they concluded the story with everyone on the rescue ship. It really gave this very nice feeling of the survival of a big adventure.

The bad things:

The number 1 sin has to be how they trimmed Sebastian’s cinematic record, even though that is easily the biggest highlight of the Campania Arc. HOW COULD THEY!? ヽ(`Д´💢)ﾉ

The second thing is the ATROCIOUS animation. For the anime I understand why it would have limited budget, but the movie though? The movie was marketed SO big! some city buses in the city where I lived at the time wore the BotA skin! All Animates were PLASTERED with commercial for the movie… and then… this ⇊. I think EVERYONE agreed the CGI was jarring at least, and turned something so threatening into something nobody could take seriously.

This ⇊ was not necessarily bad animation, just a very dubious choice that I personally find quite tacky.

The third thing is - like I said before - the insertion of Double Charles who didn’t seem to add anything to the story. The time that went to their screentime could much better be spent on Sebas’ cinematic record.

Welp, that was all! Thank you for reading my rant!!! What did you guys think of the animated adaptations?

#Kuroshitsuji #Black Butler #Anime #Personal opinion #Book of Circus #Book of the Atlantic #Book of Murder #Season 1 #Season 2

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bizarre-dollhouse · 7 years

Text

Animation Direction and Aesthetic Appeal: Why I Didn’t Like Book of the Atlantic

For the record, if you really loved Book of the Atlantic and thought it looked great and/or are sick of people bitching about it, you probably won’t want to read this post.

If you didn’t like the movie, thought the movie looked terrible, are curious about how and why people don’t like it, or, most importantly, want to read about aesthetic techniques and how they relate to anime in general, please continue.

I want to really talk about animation, visual direction, and adaption techniques, and I want to use Kuroshitsuji: Book of the Atlantic as a negative example, because I soooo wanted to love this movie and ended up really disliking it.

For the most part, this post is just me getting something off of my chest, because I feel like there’s this grand misunderstanding held by people who didn’t like the movie about why the movie looked bad.

I just disagree with the consensus so strongly that I...I have to make a post about it. Because every review I’ve seen of this movie mentions how just the cgi is bad, or it just looks like they didn’t have enough money amiright?

I just think it is so much more interesting complicated than that.

Lots of text under the cut.

I’ll just get the basics out of the way: the cgi does not look well integrated and some of the background faces are derpy.

Moving on.

Part 1: Something to keep in mind:

Anime movies tend to look better than weekly anime tv shows because they are given both more time and a higher budget. This is why so many people thought it was unfair that A Silent Voice was up for Best Animation in the Crunchy Roll awards.

This is kind of unimportant but I would like you to keep it in mind while reading the rest of this post.

Part 2: What does good animation even mean?

I’ve heard a defence for the movie’s lacklustre animation is that it looks like all of the money went towards the fight scenes, or that the fight scenes make up for everything.

I’ve seen the fight scene between Sebastian, the reapers, and Undertaker a few times and I’ll admit, there are a few nice cuts early on with some very dynamic dodges and attacks, but after that it’s a lot of easier techniques, like held poses, slow motion falls, cut aways, frame movement, etc. The fight scene as a whole I would (personally) consider to be pretty “meh.”

This might sound kind of harsh, but even if you totally disagree with me and think the fight scene looked great, that just means it looks nice.

That fight scene is not especially well animated.

What takes up the most time and money in animation is the amount and detail of movement (key animation). Look at any important fight scene from FMAB, or BNHA, or the early episodes of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. Those big fight scenes have a lot of key frames and details, and they all have wwwaaaay more key animation than the big fight in BotA despite being weekly tv shows.

One Punch Man is a great example because the animation in that show is fucking stellar and the director straight up said that the budget for One Punch Man is not much higher than a typical tv anime budget. Time and skill are the more important factors.

So, not speaking from the perspective of visual appeal, but from the perspective of animation quality, the big reaper fight scene in BotA isn’t that good.

Even the scene everyone raves about, where Lizzy fight all of the zombies: there’s a nice cut of her steps and a cool shot where she stabs one of the zombies in the head from above, but her sword then turns into a flash and we don’t see many details involving aim or choreography. Her stabbing them through the hallway also doesn’t have any real choreography other than her running and spinning once. After she stops to talk to Ciel, the scene gets a little more dynamic with more complicated moves, but it’s shot from far away and still has few key frames. I’ll admit I think it still looks kind of cool and maybe better than how it looked in the manga, but I don’t even think it’s close to the level of quality that’s in a lot of Bones shows.

Anyways, even if you’re in the majority camp and think these scenes look good, compare them to any of the shows mentioned above and you’ll see that even if they look good, they wouldn’t be especially difficult or expensive to animate, and aren’t impressive from a technical standpoint.

Part 3: Make a collage with those cut corners

Shifting focus a little bit, let’s talk about Higurashi.

Higurashi is one of my top 10 favourite shows (I highly recommend it if you’re not too squeamish). This show also looks awful. Like, really awful. There’s barely any movement, the characters are off model almost 100% of the time, and it has a very simplistic art style.

Despite being outright ugly, Higurashi still visually impresses me more than BotA because of one very simple, yet very very important fact:

The director and animators are trying their best.

Check out the scene in this gif set (gore warning). There’s a shadow silhouette, repetitive movement, and not much detail in the eyes, so it’s not technically impressive in terms of animation, but the way that the screen shakes when the bat lands, the lower angle used to put Keiichi in a dominating position of the frame, and the colour blur expressing the fact that this is both very emotionally intense and set at a different time make my brain say “ah yes, thought was put into making this scene look good with limited resources.”

Simpler yet is this scene, where it’s just two characters standing and talking while being atrociously off model. But the way they’re placed on the screen (ie parallel but opposing) is both cool visually and thematically relevant. It’s got a nice colour pallet, too.

Higurashi likes to play around with visual perspectives. This scene (violence warning) has no animation in the first gif and repetitive, fast movements in the second, but it takes the perspective of a man about to be beat to death with a baseball bat, which still makes it feel tense.

There’s another top fucking notch scene where someone is digging their own throat out with their finger nails, and instead of showing what would be a difficult scene to animate, they have a zoom in on the character’s back from the perspective of an impending threat that may or may not exist closing in on him and it’s terrifying despite the fact that nothing is animated.

Directing choices like these are extremely common in Higurashi.

Another slightly less obvious example would be Princess Tutu (which is one of my top 5 favourite shows that I recommend to everyone). Princess Tutu has very very few moments of sakuga and lots of repeated animation and kind of inconsistent movement in some scenes.

It looks cheaply made and is not well animated, but literally no one gives a fuck because that show has beautiful character designs, beautiful colour design, and interesting/creative set pieces.

The point is it’s 100% possible to make a cheap as fuck, poorly animated show and not have it look terrible.

I guess this is just my opinion, but when I compare the visual direction in Higurashi and the art of Princess Tutu to the flat, poorly blocked, and underwhelming visuals that make up a lot of BotA, I grow significantly less impressed with it.

The production team stuck pretty damn close to the manga, but the manga looks good because the panels are highly detailed illustrations that are specifically designed to look good when they are standing still and in black and white. They are also placed on a page which controls the visual pacing and lets you fill in movement with your imagination.

Translating this directly into animation but taking out the detail and shading in the illustrations and having the movements look worse than they did in my imagination does...not...look as good.

Part 4: Adapt

Let’s say, hypothetically, that BotA had fewer resources than most anime movies for some reason (money, time, staff, etc.). Sure, I don’t know the behind the scenes details. I doubt this was the case, but it very well might be.

.......Then why did they adapt the source material the way they did?

The manga for Kuroshitusji is fucking gorgeous and has some really iconic panels. For example, check out this post comparing a beautiful panel with the same scene from BotA.

...Why? Why would you make it that way?

Is it because you think it’ll please the fans to keep it the same? Because you wanted to cut a corner and use the manga as a storyboard?

Because it sure as fuck wasn’t because it would look good in the anime adaptation.

If the director and/or animators wanted to do the same scene but with limited resources, they could have maybe cropped it so it focused just on the undertaker’s face and the girl’s face, and then focus on making that look pretty and/or detailed. They wouldn’t have to put extra time and effort into drawing a nice full body shot, but they could still have it look good.

I came up with that time and money saving idea in less than 10 seconds and I’m not even a god damned animation director.

This goes back to my previous point, where it can be possible to make a passible looking show with limited resources, but this movie opted for sticking to the source material even though they really couldn’t do it justice.

Which is fine!!!! Embrace stylism!!! Kill la Kill has some goofy looking fight scenes with cut outs and cheeky techniques, but it does it in a way that builds the environment of the show and works within that universe because it’s clearly a part of the style.

Heck, studio Shaft practically gets away with murder by embracing weird styles with some of their older, cheaper shows.

Those particular styles almost definitely wouldn’t work with BotA, but find your own! Adapting the source material means exactly that: adapt it. Change it in a way that makes it just as good, if not better, than the original product in this new format.

In fact, I remember 2 scenes I thought looked pretty cool in this movie: one where it’s showing how the bizarre dolls work and the animation goes all Madoka Magica, and one where it shows this shadowy version of Sebastian before he makes his contract.

Both of those scenes have a style that is unique to animation and were not in the original manga.

I mean I guess it’s somewhat admirable that they were trying to stick to the source material, but they just...didn’t do it well.

Part 5: Does anyone here know CPR?! Because we need to breathe some life into this movie!

LITERALLY ALL OF MY PROBLEMS WITH BOOK OF THE ATLANTIC CAN BE EXPLAINED IN ONE SCENE.

IT’S KIND OF INCREDIBLE HOW MUCH THIS SUMS IT UP.

So there’s this scene in the manga where Ciel thinks he’s about to watch Lizzy get eaten by zombies and is, understandably, pretty torn up about it, as seen here:

This is a really great panel: Ciel’s face is expressive, the sea water makes it ambiguous whether or not he’s crying or sweating, and it’s from a unique angle that ensures his face and desperately reaching arm are both in the foreground.

Here’s the same scene in the movie:

Ciel’s face is less expressive, the angle is a lot simpler, and minute visual details are straight up omitted.

It’s like “yeah, we’re practically using the manga as storyboards*”

*unless the panel is like, hard to draw or expressive to the point where it might look off model.

I feel like the studio was deeply afraid of using animation that was too off model for reasons I don’t understand. Maybe it’s because they were afraid that the characters would look too unattractive but like...

it’s okay to have a character look a little fucked up if they feel a little fucked up.

Returning to Higurashi: that horror series has become famous for its highly emotive facial expressions.

Check out Rena’s furious face in the fourth gif of this set.

Or Rika’s super fucked up expression when suffering intense harm.

Or the sheer intense terror in Keiichi’s eyes in this gif and this gif set.

Like sure, the show looks like garbage and has lots of other derpy, off model faces, but they clearly had an idea of what they were going for and how to use animation as acting.

I feel that maaaybe the production team for BotA confused looking ugly (having faces distorted by emotion) for looking bad, but that’s 100% speculation.

Part of my reasoning for that speculation is in the following scene:

So, in the manga/BotA, Sebastian and Ciel run into Druitt, and the scene plays out like a well timed joke when Druitt asks them how they know him and they go like this

and it’s funny.

The exact same punchline is in the movie but it looks like this

like, the idea of the joke still comes across, but the expressions aren’t as humorously exaggerated and the joke isn’t as funny as a result.

This is also a scene where I don’t want to hear any “this scene looks bad because of money” arguments because drawing the simplistic expression from the manga would have been easier and less time consuming.

Again, let’s look at the comedic scenes from Higurashi:

This particular style probably wouldn’t look good in a Kuro adaption but the idea is that you can deform facial expressions for the sake of joke and sometimes it will make the joke funnier.

The point is also that Higurashi is a really well directed show despite being poorly animated. Can you tell I’m pushing Higurashi?

Please do not misunderstand this point: BotA for the most part has fine facial expressions that communicate the desired emotion. It’s fine. My point is that they probably should have been more daring with their creative choices to make certain scenes more emotionally/comedically effective.

In fact, part of the appeal of animation as a medium is the ability to play with reality through drawings.

Or just, you know, just draw a kid looking sad from a nice angle.

Conclusions:

Kuroshitsuji: Book of the Atlantic is obviously not the worst movie ever. In fact, there are quite a few scenes with good animation, good framing and competent direction.

(Ooh, I should have mentioned this earlier, but there is a legitimately good cut where Sebastian and Ciel are reaching for each other and it shows blood appearing before you see Seb get stabbed. This was a good choice and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was not in the manga.)

I can totally see someone saying this movie looks good, and that’s a perfectly justified opinion, I just strongly disagree when looking at the overall product and how it compares to the manga and pretty much every other decently made show/movie.

I’m just upset because this arc in the manga is amazing and the most cinematic, and it clearly was not adapted to its full potential. And now it probably never will be.

Please let the impossible happen and let Bones or Madhouse get the rights for the Green Witch arc and make an amazing adaption. Pleeeaaaassseee.

When I die I want A-1 Pictures to lower me into my grave so they can let me down one last time.

That being said, if you have not seen this movie and (for whatever reason) are dead set against ever reading the manga; give this movie a watch. The story’s utterly fantastic and it’s a...watchable...movie.

But here’s the moral of this whole post:

Book of the Atlantic does not look bad just because it looks cheap. .

Book of the Atlantic looks bad because it looks bad.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Tal-- *passes out*

#kuroshitsuji #black butler #book of the atlantic #higurashi no naku koro ni #text

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midnight-in-town · 7 years

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Translation Ducky made: “Ciel could have survived.” BABY, NO, YOU SHOULDN’T BE OK WITH “it’d be fine if Ciel sacrificed me!” I’m not ok. My god. Though I’m a little peeved the flashbacks are continuing, I wholeheartedly agree that this deserved a chapter to itself. (But seriously Yana, we get it now.) We just need the contract, the ring and action of Seb killing the cultists, right? (Where u @ Elizabeth.) I feel like it’ll take a lot of curves to avoid OC’s name. The lack in the flashback

Hi Anon! No worries though, you’re free to have a different opinion about our!Ciel’s name, and it’s not because I personally think we won’t learn about his true identity in this arc (if at all) that I’m right or anything, as always. :3

I can totally understand people being annoyed with him not being “called” in the flashbacks (or in future chapters), but personally I’d rather have him only referred to as “Ciel” in the story, so I’m not particularly bothered by that, haha.

To address the rest of your asks:

what’s left of the flashback?

I think it’s likely that next month will be the last chapter because there shouldn’t be much left to cover + it will be the last chapter of volume 27, so in my opinion next chapter will cover until this moment:

In other words:

Ciel will be taking the ring from his brother’s belly

Seb will annihilate everyone else

Ciel will ask Seb to burn it all to the ground (his brother’s body included?)

“I name you after my dog”

Ciel will be going home to Tanaka and find out that the whole house burnt down for a reason yet explained.

Ciel will possibly meet Ann and get Vincent’s other ring back from her

Ending the flashback on our!Ciel facing his dead family would be very moving and symbolic, that’s why I think Sensei could stop it there. And if so, then April’s chapter will have us back in present time and might be a recap chapter (like ch121).

However, Sensei may also decide to continue with the flashback for a little while longer into vol28 and possibly take us until Ciel officially became “Earl Phantomhive”, which means that we could address the following moments…

Ciel finding out/being explained about the Watchdog duty (this is when I’m hoping Frances or Tanaka might explain stuff about the family but I’m probably dreaming since it’s not really the point of that flashback),

Ciel meeting Elizabeth (or more generally the Midfords) again,

Ciel meeting his father’s Evil Nobles (Dee, Klaus, UT, Pitt…) as the new Earl Phantomhive.

Overall I think it depends on if the whole point of the flashback is to show why our!Ciel took on his brother’s identity, or if it’s also to explain all of his initial motivations when he became “Earl Phantomhive” (if so we’ll be joining up with Seb’s record).

I guess we’ll have to see next month, no can do. :3

About Lizzie “instantly” switching side

I hope we agree there that, presented like that, it would be bad writing if such a thing were to happen xD without mentioning that it’d make Lizzie incredibly shallow as a character (something that the Campania arc debunked completely).

In the first place, as I explained before, I’m not exactly sure what to make of Lizzie’s role in this arc and because of the awkward pacing in Kuro, Sensei tends to have me on the fence with this kind of theories.

So, currently, my personal take is that Lizzie is hopefully not taking a side despite how confusing the situation must be for her, it’s just that…

real!Ciel possibly currently needs her more than our!Ciel does (or so she thinks).

That’s why, when this balance inverts, because our!Ciel will very possibly break down when confronting his brother, she will most likely decide to support him instead (as always, just my opinion though).

What Lizzie knows or doesn’t know isn’t clear at this point. We don’t even know for sure why she is so sad, but (and that’s the difference with Soma) Lizzie had her suspicions about Ciel hiding something before this arc rolled in, so my personal take is that her crying has more to do with…

the twin being involved in something extremely fishy than “omG I fEll in loVe wiTH the wrong CIel”.

Besides, wouldn’t you agree that, since our!Ciel’s issues are partially expressed through thinking he disappointed his family because “the best twin” died instead of him…

…Lizzie’s role isn’t to “switch back to his side”, but rather to reassure him that he shouldn’t have had to become his brother for her sake or anyone else’s in the first place ?

So the concept of Lizzie taking a side, although it’s one I considered for a long time during this arc, is really irking me nowadays and that’s why I hope Lizzie’s sadness isn’t about our!Ciel lying but rather about the whole arc itself.

Sorryyyyy for rambling! I hope it makes sense? :3 Please have a nice day Anon!

#kuroshitsuji #ciel phantomhive #elizabeth midford #2ct #sebastian michaelis #kuro137 #anon #answers #kuroshitsuji theory #my analysis

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xtruss · 5 years

Text

Blue Jay!

Whooping Crane L8-11 (left) and mate L7-11 on nest with newly hatched LW1-17 in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, April 2017.

A Whooping Crane's Killer Got Off Easy, Frustrating Conservationists! The Louisiana man will face no jail time and no fine after shooting one of the most endangered birds in the world. What a shame?

Last month, a Louisiana man was sentenced in a federal district court to 120 hours of community service and two years on probation for shooting and killing a Whooping Crane, one of the most endangered birds in the world. The decision was far lighter than conservationists had hoped and advocated for.

According to court documents and those familiar with the case, 53-year-old Gilvin Aucoin shot the crane with a .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle while working on a crawfish farm in 2018, allegedly in an attempt to scare the bird away. He will face no jail time, no fines, and will not be asked to forfeit his firearms, though he will lose his hunting and fishing licenses while on probation.

“I had a strong feeling that Aucoin was going to get off pretty easy, but I did not anticipate how easy,” says Lizzie Condon, the International Crane Foundation’s outreach coordinator and Whooping Crane specialist. Condon, who attended the hearing, had hoped for at least a heavy fine. “We really wanted to have one on [Aucoin’s] record because, in my opinion, there has not been really strong sentencing administered in Louisiana, where this is a huge problem.”

Louisiana has the highest rate of Whooping Crane shootings in the country—11 birds have been killed in the state since 2011, when its nonmigratory flock was established by the ICF and its partners as part of a larger reintroduction effort. The flock lost two other members to shootings in Texas, bringing its total number down to fewer than 70 birds.

Despite the Whooping Crane being severely endangered, Aucoin benefitted from a Department of Justice rule called the McKittrick Policy. It requires proof that a defendant was aware they were killing an endangered animal in order for them to be prosecuted under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). With prior knowledge being extremely difficult to prove, the federal government instead charged Aucoin with a misdemeanor violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).

How a Whooping Crane killing is prosecuted can have a significant effect on the severity of the sentence, though the exact punishments still vary widely. A Texas shooter charged with violating the ESA in 2016 was fined $25,810 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service as well as five years’ probation. The sentence for a 2011 Alabama shooting tried under the MBTA, on the other hand, resulted in a mere $425 fine. A sampling of the past decade’s Whooping Crane shooting cases show a pattern of harsher punishments for shooters tried under the ESA, making the McKittrick Policy especially important.

Tough sentences act as more than just a deterrent: Hefty fines and restitutions reflect the fact that a single Whooping Crane can cost more than $100,000 to hatch, raise, and monitor into adulthood. Once abundant in parts of the Midwest and southern U.S., the birds were hunted to near-extinction in the early 1900s. In recent decades, the ICF and others have successfully reestablished several flocks. But despite efforts to protect the birds through education and advocacy, 42 Whooping Cranes have been shot dead in North America since the species was classified as endangered in 1967.

The crane killed by Aucoin, known as L8-11, was considered one of “the most valuable birds in the flock,” according to an ICF press release. He and his mate had been successfully nesting and mating since 2014, when they produced the first pair of Whooping Crane eggs laid in Louisiana outside of captivity. This makes his loss “particularly devastating,” Condon told the Associated Press.

The crawfish farm where L8-11 was killed was adjacent to the property where he had lived and nested with his mate for the past five years. According to Sarah Zimorski, a wildlife biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the owner of the nearby property became worried after noticing the bird’s absence.

“The landowner contacted me in the evening and said that he was concerned, that he thought something was wrong,” she says. “He was only seeing one bird, and it was continuously calling and flying around the property.” Whooping Cranes mate for life and spend most of their time together, so the report alarmed Zimorski and her colleagues. “That was a huge red flag for us right away,” she says. The crane’s body was later recovered using GPS tracker data.

It is unclear why Whooping Cranes are so often the victims of shootings, but records show that hunters are rarely to blame.

It is unclear why Whooping Cranes are so often the victims of shootings, but records show that hunters are rarely to blame: A 2018 report by the ICF found that 72 percent of shooters identified since 1990 were not actively hunting at the time of their crime. Instead, the majority of perpetrators are illegal poachers who consider the cranes a nuisance, a threat to crops, or merely a convenient target.

"Louisianians are proud of their sportsman’s paradise, a common slogan of the state, but there is nothing sporting about shooting this or other protected species,” say Erik Johnson, Audubon Louisiana’s director of bird conservation.

At the hearing, Aucoin’s lawyer, federal public defender James Klock, argued that a fishing license suspension would serve as a suitable punishment for Aucoin, who enjoys fishing recreationally. More severe punishments like fines or jail time, Klock argued, would be inappropriate for his client due to his low income, clean criminal record, and a lack of malicious motive. “It wasn't just senseless,” he said. “He wasn't trying to profit.”

While the ICF and other conservation groups were not permitted to make statements at the hearing, a few of them, including Orleans Audubon, attended a private meeting with the U.S Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana a few days before. An unusual occurrence, the gathering lasted more than an hour and gave the crane advocates a chance to discuss the prevalence and severity of the issue directly with court representatives.

“I did not feel they really understood the gravity of this crime and why so many people care about it,” Condon, who was in attendance, says. “They were comparing it to other wildlife violations that, while they should be taken seriously, are happening to other species that can easily repopulate themselves.”

In addition to the meeting, several of the groups were permitted to submit letters to the court in support of a tough sentence. Magistrate Carol Whitehurst emphasized that she read every letter, including those from Orleans Audubon, Audubon Louisiana, and the Louisiana Ornithological Society. “There are many people here who take this offense very seriously, and that includes me,” she said. Ultimately, however, she gave Aucoin the lenient sentence.

Although Condon was disappointed by the outcome of the hearing, she hopes any headway made with the court will carry over to other shooting cases. “I think the silver lining is that we have started to develop a direct relationship with the justice system in that part of the country,” she says. “They need to help us, as they do with so many crimes, to create some deterrents so that this doesn’t happen in the future.”

The opportunity for a tougher sentence is not far off: Next month, the arraignment for yet another Whooping Crane shooting case is taking place. The defendant, a Louisiana man named Kaenon Constantin, allegedly shot and killed two Whooping Cranes in 2016. He is being tried under the Lacey Act, which prohibits the transport of endangered animals. Although few details about the case are publicly available, it represents the culmination of a 3-year investigation.

Meanwhile, the ICF recently introduced 11 new chicks to the Louisiana flock. While they should help bolster the group's numbers, the fate of the young birds remains uncertain. “I actually went and saw the chicks,” Condon says. “It’s really sad to think that at least one of them is going to get shot. Statistically, probably two or three of them will get shot in the state of Louisiana.”

— National Audubon Society

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kiss-my-freckle · 6 years

Text

Dialogues

A collection for you, @moreryanandjames

1x1

Red: You got rid of your highlights. You look much less … Baltimore.

1x3

Red: So, you went with the gray?

1x4

Red: That’s a pretty blouse.

1x7

Red: Agent Keen, I have a tip. You’re a winter, not an autumn. Stop wearing olive.

1x7

Red: You’d look positively radiant in a Guayabera dress. I know a little shop in Reston. We could stop before our flight.

1x7

Red: I brought you a souvenir. What’s your feeling about guava? Liz: Anxiety. Red: Oh, you’re in for a treat.

1x8

Red: I find it so reassuring the movie stars, the pop singers they really are just like the rest of us.

1x8

Red: I don’t know how you do it. I had that done once. I couldn’t bear the tickling.

1x8

Maltz: Yeah, sure. Give us a minute, please? Ray, look at you. You look great. I mean, the elasticity is amazing. You been juicing? Red: Beets, mostly. Some celery, carrots, a lot of ginger. The kale makes me dyspeptic.

1x9

Red: Donald, never let it be said that I valued a Zegna Venticinque tie over a human life, even yours.

1x9

Red: Donald! Donald! Feeling any wittier yet? Any strange cravings for Beluga caviar or Marcel Proust?

1x12

Red: If I tell you, you have to promise me you’ll try the fertilized duck eggs. It’s a daring and unique dining experience. You’ll think you’ve died and gone to hell.

1x12

Red: We brought a little something for Julian – a care package. It’s a Tibetan singing bowl. What do we have here? Some jackfruit, vitamin D, kola nuts. But we’ve got to get him to eat more protein. He looks like hell. He isn’t vegan, is he? Anyway, I’ve also --included a couple of my favorite Richard Pryor records. I want to try and inject a little levity into the proceedings. I mean, Julian looks so crabby all the time. House arrest can be grueling. Borakove: Didn’t you spend, like, four months - in Phonthong? Red: Seven. Borakove: How did you survive? Red: Naps. Occasional calisthenics.

1x14

Red: Wow! And I like your clutch.

1x14

Red: Who decided on this paneling?

1x14

Red: You smell nice. Something new?

1x18

Red: I come bearing gifts - pimento cheese sandwiches, toasted with the crusts cut off. Eartha Kitt’s recipe. It’s a fantastic story.

2x1

Red: Hello, Harold. Please apologize to Charlene, your side gate may need a new lock. A get-well present. It looks so soft. Shea butter?

2x2

Red: Lizzy! I’d like to introduce you to my manicurist, Rosa Heredia.

2x12

Red: Oh, that’s a shame. Dendrobium? Ruth: My own hybrid. I call them “Snows of Everest.” Red: Lovely.

2x14

Red: You’ve changed your hair.

2x14

Red: Come on. I got to be worth as much as that fake Xuande Ming vessel was. Sorry, Santos, but those cat’s eye Chrysoberyls are brown, not green. An expensive forgery, but a forgery nonetheless.

3x1

Red: I must say, your hair, the way it frames your face is very becoming.

3x6

Red: I love mauve, but a soft creamy yellow will just open up the entire room. We also need to land on cabinet options and millwork today.

3x12

Liz: I’m pregnant. Red: Yes. I’ve known for some time. Liz: How? Red: Everything. Your body, your skin, a look in your eyes, different tastes for different foods, nausea, distracted, moody.

3x12

Red: Oh, I should probably mention, I booked a pregnancy massage for you. She’ll be here at 9:00. Her name’s Edwina, she’s a registered nurse, and she smells absolutely divine.

3x14

Red: I see your new home is a work in progress. What colors are you considering?

3x14

Lady: Who the hell are you? Red: Her fairy godmother. I hear it’s her birthday. We’ve come to celebrate.

3x17

Red: They went with ruby fringe tulips and pink peonies. You’d be impressed.

3x20

Red: As an adult, it’s easy to dismiss this stuff as girlish frivolity. You forget the wonder it creates, the light captured, secret wishes evoked. It renders even the darkest days sparkly.

3x20

Red: I’d imagine it to be a challenge, playing Rachmaninoff’s C-sharp minor “Prelude” without the benefit of C-sharp.

3x21

Red: What a garden. I love daffodils. They say gifting a bouquet of daffodils ensures happiness, while presenting just one means bad luck is on the horizon.

4x7

Red: What do you do to stay in such incredible shape? Calisthenics? Or Jazzercise?

4x7

Red: Maybe we should be workout partners.

4x7

Red: I’ll see you in dance class, Samar.

4x18

Red: Ah! Springtime in Vienna. The market’s are a bit crowded, but the flowers - oh, my gosh. A simple walk to the U-Bahn is full of glory.

5x1

Hawkins: Who are you? Red: Your Fairy Godmother.

5x2

Red: Oh, my goodness. Look at those Guan vases. And that flatware. Did you know Nancy Reagan - She could dress a table specifically for that night’s guest at a moment’s notice. Russian Silver for a tea with Gorbachev, Italian silver stag-head stirrup cups for a last-minute supper with Sinatra. Can you imagine?

5x2 Liz: What color is that, pumpkin? It looks like a pumpkin. Red: His wife says it’s Tuscan Sunset.

5x3

5x3 Red: Shh. You hear that? There it is again. A piping plover. Their breeding grounds are along coastal beaches and alkali marshes, so to hear that bell-like call from a shorebird this far inland - my gosh, poor little fella must be lost.

Red: I use Epsom salt baths.

5x4

Red: We were camping in the altogether under the most delightful autumn moon in the Forest of Dean when a wild pig came out of nowhere and gored my left flank, so to speak. And Melissa here not only slew the beast and salved my wound with a honey of - Dr. Lomay: Yarrow. Red: -yarrow compress, but also made the most scrumptious pork pie in the monarchy.

5x10

Paris: Shall I set a third place for lunch? Liz: No, thank you. Red: You may want to think twice. He’s making a turbot with a matsutake mushroom broth.

5x12

Red: I feel terrible, Mariko. I know it’s a small consolation, but I’ve made arrangements for you and Tadashi to stay in the hotel. A two-bedroom suite is yours until it’s safe for you to go back to your home. Room service, 24-hour spa, tickets to any of the shows in town. I hear there’s a revival of “The Music Man” that’s supposed to be marvelous.

5x12

Red: What makes her happy? Does she like a good foot massage?

5x15

Red: If only there were something you could do to help me think of a constructive way to develop the property. Any good ideas? Headmaster: No. Red: Really? Headmaster: Absolutely not. Red: Maybe a massage parlor. The athletes would love it!

5x16

Red: Mr. Garvey, might I suggest you enjoy what little time you have left - crab cakes, scalp massages, perhaps a double feature of “The 400 Blows” and “Jules and Jim” - whatever floats your boat.

5x18

Red: Excellent. I’ll be at the Louvre. When you’re done dotting your I’s and crossing your t’s, you can find me gazing in erotic wonder at the beauty and power of the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

5x19

Red: This apartment. Right here. Oh. My God. To have been the proverbial fly on Clyde Tolson’s duvet. Liz: Clyde Tolson lived here? J. Edgar Hoover’s lover? Red: This was their secret hideaway. Imagine the conversations. Cooing over JFK’s lovers. Slandering Dr. King. What peignoir to wear to bed. When I saw the apartment was for sale, I couldn’t resist. Liz: You own the apartment where the homophobic head of the FBI carried on his affair with his boyfriend? Red: Allegedly. I wouldn’t admit this in mixed company, but J. Edgar and I have a surprising amount in common. For instance, we both always get our man.

5x19

Waters: You look awfully comfy. What kind of fabric is that? Red: Oh. A lightweight merino. Super 120, natural stretch. I swear by it. Waters: Marty, do you think you can do that same multi-colored puppy tooth in that collection?

5x19

Waters: So, what do you think of this one? Red: Oh, John, yes. I like that. But go with the Snowy River Collection in the Glen Urquhart plaid. It worked for the Duke of Windsor. And, just my opinion, consider a vest. Waters: You think? Are vests in again? Red: Vests have never been out.

5x19

Red: What’s that smell? Is that lavender? And mint. Is that your head? What kind of products do you use? I’m dying of curiosity. Garvey: Wouldn’t that be nice. Red: You smell that? Dembe: Yes. It’s lovely. Red: I’ll say. Absolutely lovely. Whatever it is, you and I need to get some.

6x1

Red: I’ve turned over a new leaf. Spinach. Steamed. No butter, no oil, no salt.And very, very little taste.

6x2

Liz: Have you lost weight? Red: Five pounds. Seven pounds when it’s in the morning.

6x1

Red: I recommend Cairo. Beautiful, historic. And thanks to a combination of the Muslim Brotherhood and international Islamophobia, completely abandoned by Western tourists. You and Picasso will have the pyramids to yourselves.

6x1

Red: I prefer to keep my nips and tucks to myself.

6x5

Red: The suit is actually a prunelle weave blue with a subtle overlay of red. So in the right light, it goes quite plum.

6x5

Red: A bulge at my waistline? I’d prefer that the witness leave my bulges out of this entirely. I want that struck from the record. It’s embarrassing.

6x7

Red: Okay, I will not be judged by anyone who likes Schumann. I refuse to be sent to my death by Philistines. Judge Wilkins: I love Schumann. “Fantasie in C Major” was played at my mother’s funeral this past summer. Red: I’m sorry for your loss.

6x6

Red: For the love of - please tell me that’s not a Vermilion Flycatcher. Nurse: What are you talking about? Red: That little fella right there. What the hell are you people doing with a Flycatcher in your aviary? They’re endangered. That little guy should be in an open habitat or desert scrub, at the very least. Nurse: Look, I don’t know nothing about birds and desert scrub and all that. Red: You know what? Never mind. I am absolutely dead wrong. That is a Red Factor Canary. Probably domestically bred. He’s perfectly fine.

#dialogues

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thefuturebelongs · 8 years

Note

All 170?

Ask me! I'll answer honestly 1: How tall or short do you wish you were? - I wish I was either like 5'10 or 5'3 2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not) - german shepherd, Great Dane, corgi, hedgehog or Newfoundland 3: Do you have a favorite clothing style? - uh comfortable  4: What was your favorite video game growing up? - probably Super Mario 64 5: What three things/people do you think of most each day: - my knee, my future job/plans, my relationship  6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say? - Uncontrollably Inquisitive 7: What is your opinion on [insert person/thing here]? - uhhh 8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic] - meh usually phlegmatic 9: Are you ticklish? - not really 10: Are you allergic to anything? - very mildly allergic to cats 11: What’s your sexuality? - whatever floats my boat 12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa? - cocoa and then coffee 13: Are you a cat or dog person? - dog 14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson? - lord of the rings elf 15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber? - not specifically 16: How tall are you? - 5'6ish 17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? - I hate my name but I don't know what I would change it to nor would I ever 18: How much do you weigh? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!] - HA 19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? - no 20: Do you like space or the ocean more? - SPACE 21: Are you religious? - I used to be ha. I find religion fascinating but I'm too scientifically based 22: Pet peeves? - open mouth chewing, slow drivers and bad grammar 23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]? - diurnal. Like I already am.  24: Favorite constellation? - Orion or Perseus  25: Favorite star? - meh Betelgeuse 26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls? - no? 27: Any phobias or fears? - I don't like the same but nothing irrational  28: Do you think global warming is real? - global climate change is real and you're an idiot if you disagree 29: Do you believe in reincarnation? - uhhh it would be cool! Ha 30: Favorite movie? - Lilo and Stitch 31: Do you get scared easily? - I jump/blink/react easily but I don't scare easily  32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime? - um 4 dogs, 2 turtles, 2 frogs, like 18 fish, 3 hamsters, and a guinea pig 33: Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking.] - what 34: What is a color that calms you? - like a dark sea foam/wave color 35: Where would you like to travel and/or live? - travel everywhere I've never been and live in Germany or England or Australia or Netherlands or Arizona or Colorado or Seattle ha 36: Where were you born? - New Jersey 37: What is your eye color?- dark brown 38: Introvert or extrovert? - introvert  39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs? - no 40: Hugs or kisses? - I do love me some good hugs 41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now? - a few select friends I haven't seen in awhile 42: Who is someone you love deeply? - my girlfriend 43: Any piercings you want? - nah 44: Do you like tattoos and piercings? - TATTOOS 45: Do you smoke or have you ever done so? - no and no 46: Talk about your crush, if you have one! - currently dating mine 47: What is a sound you really hate? - chewing or slurping 48: A sound you really love? - rain on a window or a baby cooing haha 49: Can you do a backflip? - no way 50: Can you do the splits? - I used to be able to 51: Favorite actor and/or actress? - ha currently @natvanlis and Elise Bauman or John Kraskinski or Meryl Streep or Emma Watson 52: Favorite movie? - currently Interstellar because I'm a nerd 53: How are you feeling right now? - bored 54: What color would you like your hair to be right now? - I've considered an ombré but then I remember I'm half Asian and my hair should never be anything other than dark brown/black 55: When did you feel happiest? - when I'm all comfy in bed on a lazy Sunday morning and then sun is just coming in 56: Something that calms you down? - love me some classical music and nobody pestering me ha 57: Have any mental disorders? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!] - not that I know of 58: What does your URL mean? - it's the beginning of my favorite quote 59: What three words describe you the most? - adventurous, inquisitive and unrealistic 60: Do you believe in evolution? - yes 61: What makes you unfollow a blog? - I don't remember following them or I no longer care for what they post 62: What makes you follow a blog? - they has cool stuff 63: Favorite kind of person: - someone who knows how to laugh but also knows when to be serious 64: Favorite animal(s): - all doggies, tigers, cuttlefish, elephants and pandas 65: Name three of your favorite blogs. - that's a lot of work 66: Favorite emoticon: 💁🏻 67: Favorite meme: - I have no idea 68: What is your MBTI personality type? - INFJ 69: What is your star sign? - libra? 70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog? - HA no 71: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most? - I wear my under armor leggings a lot but I do like my knee maroon pants 72: Post a selfie or two? - uh maybe 73: Do you have platform shoes? - what is this, 1975? 74: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself? - um my record for expert minesweeper is 95 seconds? 75: Can you do a front flip? - maybe into a pool 76: Do you like birds? - sure. I like the peregrine falcon  77: Do you like to swim? - well I did swim competitively for like 17 years  78: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you? - depends on who I'm with 79: Something you wish didn’t exist: - Donald trump. Or mosquitoes  80: Some thing you wish did exist: - Hogwarts. Or flying cars  81: Piercings you have? - one in each ear  82: Something you really enjoy doing: - traveling and taking pictures 83: Favorite person to talk to: - a very small select group of friends 84: What was your first impression of Tumblr? - what the fuck do I do 85: How many followers do you have? - like 240 or something  86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes? - yes. Barely. Thanks to my knee.  87: Do your socks always match? - 86% of the time 88: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely? - I can go beyond my toes  89: What are your birthstones? - opal 90: If you were an animal, which one would you be? - it'd be cool to be an albatross 91: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be? - maybe some big annoying hibiscus  92: A store you hate? - uh I don't think I hate any stores 93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day? - 1-2 at absolutely most 94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds? - hm fly 95: Do you like to wear camo? - like old school camo... No 96: Winter or summer? - Autumn 97: How long can you hold your breath for? - currently like a minute ha. In high school, the longest I ever held for was 2min 26sec 98: Least favorite person? - don't have one 99: Someone you look up to: - not really sure right now 100: A store you love? - Dick's hahaha 101: Favorite type of shoes - sneakers 102: Where do you live? - uhhh temporarily in Cleveland 103: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why? - I love steak 104: What is your favorite mineral or gem? - hm sapphire I guess. Or basic ass diamond 105: Do you drink milk? - yup 106: Do you like bugs? - only the pretty ones 107: Do you like spiders? - no way Jose 108: Something you get paranoid about? - my future 109: Can you draw: - I like to say I'm a good doodler 110: Nosiest question you have ever been asked? - I've been asked quite a few. Usually sex related 111: A question you hate being asked? - So what do you do? 112: Ever been bitten by a spider? - who hasnt 113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach? - absolutely. I could fall asleep to them 114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days? - sunny with big fluffy clouds 115: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now: - you know who 116: Favorite cloud type: - cumulonimbus  117: What color do you wish the sky was? - blue is fine 118: Do you have freckles? - nope 119: Favorite thing about a person: - the way their eyes wrinkle when they have a big genuine smile 120: Fruits or vegetables? - both 121: Something you want to do right now: - travel hahaha. Shocker.  122: Is the ocean or sky prettier? - ocean 123: Sweet or sour foods? - sweet. Never sour 124: Bright or dim lights? - bright 125: Do you believe in a certain magical creature? - uh no? 126: Something you hate about Tumblr: - how much time I spend on it 127: Something you love about Tumblr: - how much time I spend on it 128: What do you think about the least? - putting make up ha  129: What would you want written on your tombstone? - not sure. Maybe some punny quote ha 130: Who would you like to punch in the face right now? - nobody 131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself? - I care a lot. About everything  132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures? - yeah 133: Computer or TV? - oohh hmm both. Can't decide. No. Computer.  134: Do you like roller coasters? - YAS 135: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness? - on occasion  136: Are your ears lobed or attached? - lobed 137: Do you believe in karma? - sure 138: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are? - 5.07 139: What nicknames do you have/have had? - my mother calls me wubby or pest, my sister calls me Libby, some family calls me Liz even though I hate it, and everyone else calls me Lizzie  140: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends? - nah 141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink? - nope 142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others? - I would like to hope a good influence 143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help? - giving but I'm horrible at picking out stuff 144: What makes you angry - inconsiderate people 145: How many languages do you speak fluently? - ha English and I should be fluent in mandarin but I'm not 146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries? - boys or girls. Whatever. Someone human 147: Are you androgynous? - no 148: Favorite physical thing about yourself: - I have nice calves. I guess ha 149: Favorite thing about your personality: - I'm very empathetic and sympathetic  150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person. - Alisa, Bethany and Candida 151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose? - Ancient Rome 152: Do you like BuzzFeed? - yeah 153: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? [If you have one.] - Tumblr ha 154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons? - yeah 155: Do you like to play with others’ hair? - I love hair 156: What embarrasses you? - people bringing up something I was trying to avoid 157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious: - public speaking 158: Biggest lie you have ever told: - I have no idea 159: How many people are you following? - like 85 160: How many posts do you have on your blog(s)? - no idea, like 6000? 161: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s)? - zero I think 162: How many likes do you have on your blog(s)? - not many  163: Last time you cried and why: - a few days ago and for personal reasons 164: Do you have long or short hair? - long 165: Longest your hair has ever been: - ha last fall it was just above my butt. Whoops.  166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religon? - I never grew up religious and I'm such a scientific-I-need-proof kind of person  167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created? - yes. I love me some Big Bang theories and string theories and shit 168: Do you like to wear makeup? - on occasion 169: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds? - ha no 170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully? - sure

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