#February Music Recap

[moonchild-in-blue]

Well well well. Guess who has their recap already.

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

🌈 Harry&Louis and rings 🌹🗡

This post by @cosmicleeds from Nov 2022 sent me on a little 2024 Harry&Louis and The Rings deep dive.

Let's start with The One Ring - Harry's Peace Ring.

The Peace Ring was the successor of the (what is long-believed to be) dark silver Promise Ring that Louis gifted Harry on Feb 12th, 2012 in Stockholm. Harry and Louis entered the restaurant without any rings and Harry excited it with this one:

"The first ring that Harry was ever spotted in was a simple dark silver band (which sometimes appeared black) worn on his right middle finger or left index finger [x link leads to a timeline by @bulletprooflarry from 2015, incl. pictures of Harry wearing it on his left index finger].

I always felt that the dark silver band was very personal to Harry and he might have been hesitant to wear it all the time or maybe was not allowed to (just my personal interpretations), because at some award shows, he didn't wear it at all, i.e. The Brit Awards in February 2013. (source)

The dark silver ring made its first appearance on Feb 13, 2012 in Stockholm, after Louis had returned from an extended ski trip with his [...] beard, Eleanor Calder. [It] was spotted constantly for about 14 months while stunting was at its peak, until it was replaced with the Peace Ring [...in April 2013]." - via this article from NoStuntsMagazine from July 2022 + this short timeline post from 2021 by @onlyforthekings

The Peace Ring was first spotted in April 2013 and the simple dark silver band disappeared quickly after. It was always rumoured Louis gave it to Harry during a dinner at a restaurant called Rosso in Manchester, as Louis had tweeted about the restaurant, and Rosso Manchester had tweeted to Harry and Louis multiple times, but to this day it was never confirmed they were actually at that restaurant during that month. Los Angeles Airport on April 27th, 2013 on Harry's right index finger and 2013 and in Paris one day later, on the same finger.

The Dancing Bears Ring Harry got it around mid 2013 and it, too, is a ring tightly linked to the general theme of Gay/Queer Pride since it closely resembles a rainbow bear design by The Grateful Dead. Harry wore that ring pretty consistently up until 2019. (image source)

The Grateful Dead rainbow bears design compared to Harry's ring. It's the exact same! (x)

September 23rd, 2013 in Adelaide, Australia. Harry wearing the Peace Ring and the Bear Ring. (source)

Differently from the dark silver ring in early 2013, Harry did wear his Peace Ring and Bear Ring to award shows, i.e. the American Music Awards in November 2013. (source)

Back to the Peace Ring -- Harry wore that ring (and that ring only!) consistently for 8 years ('till 2021) and since then wore it on tour and special occasions, as well as showing it in his Tour Highlight videos. Meaning: he wears his Peace Ring for over 11 years now.

At the Grammy’s on March 14th, 2021 for the first time since he got it 8 years ago, Harry did not wear his Peace Ring, but a Bird Ring instead. Same at the Brits on May 11th, 2021.

4 months later, "[in] Denver on September 7th, 2021, [was] when he wore the Peace Ring [again]. [...] After that night, another 8 months passed. Finally on May 19th, 2022 the Peace Ring was back [...] during one performance in New York." Harry wore the ring for 17 public appearances in 2022, including the My Policeman premiere on Sep 9th. All this comes from this awesome post/these timelines with photos, made by @ishipmutualrespect. Definitely check it out, especially about very recent ring sightings.

Lastly, the Peace Ring made an appearance in his IG video recap for the Love On Tour tour 2023, where he shows his rings for a few seconds.

(gif credit, made by @delicatepointofview)

The Turquoise Ring "Harry added the Turquoise Ring in 2014 and wore it consistently for a while until, I believe, it broke. [...] it’s Louis’ birthstone (December birthstone is turquoise) and [...] turquoise is a blue/green stone (and, as you know, blue & green are Larry colours)." - via this post from 2017 by the wonderful @twopoppies "The turquoise Ring [...] is also the birthstone for December— who do we know born in December? Turquoise is also a literal mix of blue and green.." 💙💚 (x)

The Rose Ring Another ring was added to his collection -- one that again is tied to Louis' and his relationship. The Rose Ring that Louis bought for Harry in early 2017 at Dover street market.

"The rose ring popped up [...] in London [...] in March 2017. It also has a caterpillar inside. And Louis probably definitely* bought it for him. There’s also a lot of speculation about this being connected to Harry’s rose tattoo which is, of course, connected to Louis’ dagger tattoo." - (x) *content linked to is unfortunately no longer available

Harry sadly lost his Rose Ring at an Ariana Grande concert in August 2019. There's even a video of him searching for it with a flashlight in the crowd, poor bub 😔 You can hear him saying "I've lost my ring."🥀

(I also read that the H and S Rings that he got afterwards replaced his lost Rose Ring)

The Red Stone Ring "I’ve seen talk about it being Louis’ birthstone (he’s a Capricorn and the Capricorn birthstone is a garnet) and that it’s possibly also another engagement ring." (x)

It's almost important to note that during the 1D era, Harry often obviously messed and fiddled with all these rings that are tied to Louis whenever they were asked about marriage, kids, etc. And he did it very obviously so. I always thought that very meaningful and symbolistic.

This was while Louis said "Sometimes people get engaged for years…” (Harry plays with his Turquoise Ring)

Ring fam is all together 🌈 (RIP Turquoise Ring and Rose Ring, you are missed)

My personal thoughts Harry's bought and got gifted a lot more rings over time, of course; especially after 2018 and I'm sure that, i.e. the Pearl Ring might also be a Louis-ring, but I couldn't find many resources about it. (Feel free to add on to this post everyone!) The mentioned rings are the ones I personally find most significant, because they so clearly tie to Louis' and his relationship and to Harry's sense of self (Dancing Bears Ring as a Pride ring) and he's been wearing them for ages. They're all such Harry Staple rings. I really loved the Rose Ring that Louis got Harry in 2017 🌹🗡, it was so significantly tied to their matching tattoos and was so Harry. Classic, striking, delicately detailed, with big personal meaning referencing their shared history, and with a little secret stashed inside of it. The sad loss of the ring in 2019 could also possibly mean Harry has become more cautious about when to wear certain rings in general. I could imagine that the Turquoise Ring and the Red Ring Harry got himself to remind himself of Louis, but honestly, who knows? These two have always loved to spoil each other right from the start, haha ("Wrapped it myself. It even has a bow on it.")

And in the special case of the Peace Ring -- I never had any doubt that it's an engagement/promise/wedding ring, in whatever sense they wanted it to be. Since later that year, Sep 28th, 2013 became a very significant date to them (a believed-to-be wedding-of-sorts-date, since same sex marriage wasn't yet legal in the UK in 2013) and it's noteworthy that they didn't wear any type of rings right after that date or even got any tattoos. (Louis got his rope/infinity symbol in June 2013, Harry got his rose tattoo in early Sep 2013 and then nothing anymore until he also got his anchor on Jan 11th, 2014, covering up the "I can't change.." tattoo that he got in July 2012. (H&L tattoo timeline until 2018: here)) So I can imagine the Peace Ring had already been a symbol for their strong bond and that symbolism only got strengthened that day. Would I love to know more about that day? Absolutely. Do they owe that information to us? Absolutely not.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that Harry's Peace Ring stood and stands for their commitment to each other; for Harry belonging to Louis. We all know how possessive they were of each other from day 1, probably heavily increased by how much they had to constantly pretend they weren't in love with each other and with someone else instead. Also I find it such a beautiful fact that Harry has been wearing his ring for almost 12 years (in April 2025). I mean, gosh, Louis and him will have their 15th anniversary in 2025. That's huge! :') And I think the ring stands for all that -- for the essence of their relationship; that they are forever each other's ultimate peace, love, and home.

•

RESOURCES 💍 ☮ Harry's Rings tag by @daisiesonafield-blog ☮ A timeline from 2021 of Harry's rings on Twitter ☮ Peace Ring Masterpost/timeline posts by @ishipmutualrespect ☮ extensive Rings on Tour post by @ishipmutualrespect ☮ dedicated tumblr to when the Peace Ring appears: @thepeaceringtimeline ☮ Peace Ring Pride - NoStuntsMagazine from July 2022 ☮ Peace Ring tag by @daisiesonafield-blog ☮ Twitter account for the Peace Ring that is funny and cute

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

01/31/2024 Daily Recap

TLDR; Cast & Crew Sightings; Watch Parties; OurFlagMeansDeadloch; LubeAsACrew; Stats; UK News; Upcoming Events; Other News; Favor To Ask; Love Notes; DailyDarby/Tonight's Taika

== Cast and Crew Sightings ==

Probably the cutest sighting would be Con O'Neill's dog Cooper

== How To Help ==

How to help docs have been updated with queerties and other stats!

How To Help Save OFMD Task List - US

How to Help Save OFMD Task List - Outside US

== Watch Parties ==

Today was Day 2, episodes 3 and 4 of Deadloch!

I realised I totally forgot to crew reactions up for Deadloch yesterday! Sorry all! Here's some from todays watch!

On to episodes 5/6 tomorrow! Same time same place!

== LubeAsACrew ==

The second Lube as a crew was widely successful! Trending at #7! Thanks for catching it @_irene_adler!

Everybody had a lot of fun with it, here's some highlights!

Our lovely friend over at @Astroglide left some fantastic tweets for us, I'm including a few that stood out.

== Stats ==

Some interesting stats today! Thank you @meowzawowza_ on twitter for these details!

More stats by @lucyrosebutler regarding How well OFMD is doing in the US!

== UK News ==

Reminder! 5 days until S2 airs in the UK!

Thanks as always to our lovely @lamentus1 for the update in the UK!

"I tweeted at 13 lucky TV Guide journalists in the UK all about Our Flag Means Death and the efforts of the fandom and also why the show is so great. I have a document with their twitters and email addresses. Email will be my next line of attack! If anyone wants access to the UK TV Guide press list let me know! We were thinking that we should introduce a spoiler free way for people who are starting to watch season 2 on the BBC to interact with the campaign on Twitter. I think it might be to encourage them to follow #OurFlagBBC while encouraging anyone posting spoilers under that hashtag to add #ofmd2spoilers so that people can avoid seeing spoilers. One other thing that’s coming up later in February is that Chxrlotte on our UK crew will be releasing an Our Flag Means Death inspired track on her label on 24 February! She has a ton of gorgeous tracks that are often inspired by shows like OFMD and Good Omens, and the new one is about Ed and Stede. I’ve had a preview of the new track and it’ll make you cry! @shutupchxrlotte's Twitter Her other stuff is on Apple Music and Spotify here"

Please have a listen!

== Upcoming Events ==

#StewAsACrew

Reminder! Feb 4th is National Homemade Soup Day! More deets! Be sure to share your soup/stew pics with these hashtags:

#StewAsACrew

#SaveOFMD

#AdoptOurCrew

Not a soup bitch but still want to help?

You can politely menace: @CambellSoupCo and @CampbellsChunky with our petition hashtags!

==New Watch Party!==

Muppet Treasure Island - Feb 7th 2024

4PM EST, 1PM PST, 9 PM GMT

Watch Party Hashtags:

#MuppetPirates

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

== Other News ==

Warner bros stock is still dropping! Sure looks like cancelling OFMD wasn't a very lucrative plan. Thanks @iamadequate_ for this!

Max still has billboards up for OFMD in Hollywood! Thanks @LeanneBrodie13 for catching this!

Also, @_irene_adler caught some audacity from Max in trying to monetize OFMD merch for Valentine's Day.

== Favor to Ask ==

I've been working on a bit of a side project of putting together an OFMD Renewal Repository for resources that doesn't require anyone to log into ... twitter, IG, tumblr, facebook, etc. It's still WIP but I'd love some constructive feedback if anyone would be willing to take a look and let me know what they think. I won't be replacing the tumblr recaps with it, but will be posting them there minus the gifs at the end so they can be shared to other platforms if needed.

My specific questions are:

Are there more categories / different information you'd like to have added?

Is it generally easy to find information?

Is this a bad idea? (too many places with this stuff already?)

Other feedback welcome!

I am totally cool with constructive feedback, feel free to dm me :)

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies. Do you ever worry you're too much? Like you talk too much, or feel too much, or come off too strong? I know I do some days.

Just remember, on days you're feeling too much, you're probably shining your brightest. What other people think is too much is just you, and you're allowed to shine! Don't ever let their inability to see your worth stop you. Saw this on IG today and thought of you call. Gnight crew, all the love <3

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

These gifs go together, I don't make the rules.

[foxes-that-run]

have you seen the whole niceboy ed saga? Any theories on who he might be?

i feel like he is doing it for attention and promotion taking advantage of the swifties…. i read all the theories but was wondering if there is a chance for Harry to be behind it.

Ed…Harry Edward Styles….all the polaroid pictures, and now the clip with a motorcycle, I don’t know just wondering if there is something with real meaning behind it.

Niceboy Ed

I think the most likely theory is that Taylor is Niceboy Ed and it is using it to announce/promote the re-records. Before 1989 TV it used the 1989 TV colours, referred to events in the 1989 era (Kentish Town, polaroids) and the ice cream emoji 🍦like the this photo.

The provided explanation is that Niceboy Ed is a friend of Joe's, but frankly that makes no sense at all. Especially now 2 years have passed and nothing came of a pretty successful campaign for a Sony artist. Taylor has met a lot of people who want to be famous that aren't (see The 1975 in 2014😂) yet never helped them like this.

To recap/expand

16 September 2022 - A Joe stan account (no, really! 😂) posted to Twitter that Niceboy ed was a friend of Joe's, where they got this info??? The account kept posting about Joe until a month after the break up, so it seems likely it was connected to Taylors team.

17 September 2022 - The same account posted an explanation where they said he was part of Joe's 'frosty crew' and posted a much since shared photo of Joe with some guy as 'proof':

19 September 2022 - Taylor used the Niceboy Ed sound of Life you Lead in the 'Making midnights' Tiktok., then liked 100+ posts using the sound, she wanted us to all notice the sound. I am not aware of Taylor using someone else's music to post before, (especially to promote hers!) It's 15 seconds long, it was the perfect opportunity for a snippet of the upcoming album. I don't believe Taylor would do that to promote anyone, especially not an unknown artist that was friends with or was her boyfriend. At this time people were already speculating they were ending, if not already broken up from. The YLM date and TTPD has supported that they were not on good terms at that time. This was a year before 1989 TV was announced, but we don't know when Niceboy Ed actually started. The lyrics hint at Taylors re-records:

Taken twice You're still a part of me There's still some harmony In my deepest rights On and on and on

24 September 2022 - Niceboy ed posted to Instagram soft yellow posts with a blond baby boy promoting Life you Lead (1/3) hinting that there would be 3 songs/posts, and there now are

4 October 2022 - Niceboy ed went live with a soft pink screen and posted that Heaven would be 2/3. The songcredits only refer to Niceboy Ed and music is copyright Niceboy Ed and no label or licensing deal.. the way Taylor Swift appears.

5 October 2022 - Niceboy ed's first 2 songs are on Spotify and the lyrics seem to reference Taylors masters. The Spotify visuals are a field and a train line in Kentish town.

On Google Maps you can see that the photo posted looks to have been taken at the rail overpass and across the road in 2022 was a bar called "the Rabbit Hole" (right black awning here) which may be a longbow, but given the amount of 1989 vibes from Niceboy Ed I associate this with Wonderland. Kentish Town is also home to Kenish Kebabs that appears in End Game, the owner said that it was "a certain ex boyfriend lived nearby", that quote (and the music video) were during her relationship with Joe, he is not the Ex. The kebab shop is similar to one in the 1D Midnight Memories MV and the area is both near Harry's current home and where he and Ed Sheeran couch surfed with the 1D guitarist in Tufnell Park while Harry dated Taylor. (Joe also grew up in Tufnell Park)

3 February 2023 - Moonlight appeared, this one with a pale blue, it was removed soon after but is on spotify now.

22 March 2023 - April 2023 Life you Lead by Niceboy Ed was track 5 (1989 is TS5) on the Eras Pre Show playlist. There are internet rumours it was removed after the break up, but I can’t find any evidence of the playlist changing till Europe a year later which is also after 1989TV came out.

4 April 2023 - Niceboy Ed posts 10 underdeveloped polaroids. Fans could sign up for emails and revealed polaroids with messages, the emails had Sony Music UK as a street address, (but on Spotify Niceboy Ed, and unknown new artist seemingly signed to Sony owns full rights to the songs with no licensing.... OK, sure, Harry's work is licenced to Sony, but Taylors is now owned outright.) and a sign up for discord

April 2023 - The spotify canvas's are also updated to a blue sky and lights on a road, reminiscent of 1989 and Style

22 April 2023 - Niceboy ed posts a photo of a piano, (that is still there October 2024) and 'live from somewhere, wherever you are' that phrase was used

August 2023 - 1989 TV announced. the vinyl variant colours that match NBE announced then

27 October 2023 - 1989 TV released.

5 October 2024 - After 17 months of silence Niceboy Ed posted this video of a motorcycle, went live and updated his socials for a black and green grab from it. Harry of course rides a motorcycle. He used and ice cream emoji🍦(think back of 1989 TV) before and a circus now. 🎪 (I assume back of Rep TV)

7 October - niceboy ed shared This motorbike and piano https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGdJVbHYt

ASCAP

The writer/produced of the songs are niceboy ed and Merru and they are published by Sony Music. In the BMI database "Edward Thomas Oliver Green" is the writer/composer of all songs:

Mick Green / Mick Greenberg being Harry's most well known alias, which he has said he used to book hotels and published I Love You under.

Colours

Would you look at that ... and polaroids.... OK.

Photos of the kid

There is all sort of speculation about this kid being Taylor, Joe, Austin Swift, Ed Sheeran, Aaron and Jack. I'll add that Harry was a blonde toddler, but this kids face is too long for any of them IMHO. I think these photos are AI generated, composite or a model.

Notes on them others have noticed is that there is a reflection, (they are a photo of a photo), the glasses appear edited in and the apron is Postman Pat who was big here and in the UK but I gather not the US.

[destinedarts]

🎧 OST for the The Dragon Prince Season 6 Trailer "Standing Defiant" 🎙️

WHOEVER WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PUTTING THIS TRAILER TOGETHER NEEDS TO PAY FOR ALL OUR THERAPY BILLS ASAP 💀💀💀💀

Trailer below for comparison. Okay, did they seriously just put Dark Mage Callum as a thumbnail— We're doomed, y'all. 💀

Check out the teasers' soundtracks, Aerial View and Gargantuan!

Lyrics

Head between your knees Can’t you hear the call Can’t you hear it screaming for relief

Waiting for the chance There’s a hidden strength To set free

When you feel it It’s surreal, it’s No surprise we rise

The earth shakes, the sky shivers The stars fall out of alignment We are the sinners The new stars standing defiant Oh-oh Oh-oh

Hanging off the edge Waiting for a sign Waiting for somebody to defend

Don’t you wait too long There’s a map inside of your head

When you feel it It’s surreal, it’s No surprise we rise

The earth shakes, the sky shivers The stars fall out of alignment We are the sinners The new stars standing defiant

They won’t bring us down They can’t shake us now They are running from this war We’re raging like the perfect storm

They won’t bring us down They can’t shake us now They are running from defeat We’ll see them all upon their knees

The earth shakes, the sky shivers The stars fall out of alignment We are the sinners The new stars standing defiant Oh-oh-oh Oh-oh Oh

Since it seems like it's harder to find the lyrics online. You can find them in the Lyric Info for the song on Extreme Music. 😅

Notes: Yes, got Extreme Music to make their updates. 😊 So lyrics are 100% correct now. There's also a bunch of extra Oh's they didn't write down and no echoes jotted down either.

Further Notes

The only other time they used a lyrical song was for Season 3's Recap video: Make This End. 3 seasons later, we're here. As someone said in the yt comments, you know the season's gonna be fire if they're using a song here too. 🔥

Like usual, the song is available on Extreme Music and other distributing platforms such as Spotify. "Standing Defiant" was composed by Devin Hoffman, Figero Scripp, and Lily Marly as the singer.

It was also released in February 5, 2024. 😳 Meaning the trailer finished sometime between then and June 3 when it was first uploaded on the S6 Trailer playlist. Not gonna go into that story of how we discovered that title leak. 😂

Keywords: Cool, Electronic, Epic, Heroic, Punchy, Struggle, Thrilling

👀 me looking at that word "Struggle" right there 😨

I'm comin' after Netflix if they purposely searched for this song with the word "struggle" 👿🗡️👿👿🗡️👿🗡️

Edit: I just texted Villads since I already knew he made the edits for many trailers. He also chose the music for this as well.

And error: looking at the subtitles for the Netflix-issued trailer. Netflix is incorrect for "The Sun shivers." It's clearly "Sky". I mean seriously, nobody's gonna have the money or time to get the singers to customize a song just to fit the scene. 😂 They just buy the song off the music producer's platform.

[amadeusgame]

Devlog: MAGWest Retrospective + Demo Update Soon

Read on itch | Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee ~ Episode 1 ~ Waltz

It's been a week since MAGWest, and this is meant to be an update both for people who attended and found this game (hi!) and people who have been following this game and are awaiting updates.

For those from MAGWest: the version of the game you saw at the booth isn't publicly available yet, but will be this month. More details below.

Devlog Contents

MAGWest Recap - how it went, feedback received, what that means for the game's upcoming release.

New Public Demo - coming this month. Will take the MAGWest build and add a couple more scenes so it (more or less) covers what the currently live demo does in terms of story.

Full Game - coming SOON. By end of year is the goal I'm really pushing for.

Full devlog below the cut.

All game links here: linktr.ee/amadeusgame

MAGWest Recap

Truthfully, MAGWest was exactly what I needed to get this first episode finished. It gave me a deadline to make a new public-ready build, it gave me a deadline to make a new trailer (which accidentally turned into an anime-ass opening, and I think that was the best possible decision I could have made for it), and it let me meet a lot of people who have the same priorities that I do face-to-face.

I started working on this game when I was studying music composition in grad school, wanting to write music for games (...before deciding to just make the whole thing myself). It feels only natural that I found so many like-minded people at a convention specifically celebrating video game music.

(forgive my terrible phone camera quality)

I have a very small audience, primarily because I've been stubborn about sticking to a particular vision and making something near-unmarketably niche. My goal is to make something a small handful of people will deeply connect with. But prioritizing such a small, specific audience has made it difficult to look at pure metrics, as the numbers are (obviously) not very large.

This convention gave me the opportunity to see those "numbers" in person, talk to the people behind them, and realize that every single Steam wishlist or Itch follow is someone who has in some way engaged with my game and found it appealing. I had fascinating conversations with a lot of people, and I really connected with folks who were excited about what I'm making. It was incredibly motivating.

One thing that really felt... amazing, honestly, in a way I was genuinely unprepared for... was the overwhelmingly positive reception. People really loved Amadeus! They had such nice things to say about the art, music, story, and atmosphere. I received a proportionately tiny amount of critical feedback; almost everyone had nothing to say except that they loved it. I obviously did receive some critique (more below; I know exactly what to prioritize when tweaking the mechanics for the public build) - but I was anticipating a much more mixed reaction. The reaction wasn't mixed at all! A clear majority of people who stopped by seemed to really like it.

One person finished the demo, and without any prompting, said it reminded them of a different VN called Umineko. I will probably be riding that high for the rest of my life.

The current online build I released back in February is something I'm very proud of, but it is pretty rough around the edges. This new build is SO much more polished. I was able to put it in front of an audience of strangers and let it speak for itself, and people loved it. The foundation for a complete game is ready.

To everybody who stopped by my booth at the convention: thank you so much!

As for the notes on what to fix, the following points will be addressed in the new build:

It's very unclear that after exhausting all 3 options, selecting one again will progress the story. This is the #1 thing to fix as it came up a lot from many different people.

There's one interactible where Amadeus often gets stuck trying to walk to it.

Instead of reducing opacity on the non-active speaker in the Witch negotiation scene, it would be less visually confusing to add a grey overlay.

Need to adjust keyboard controls for backlog tome so that they don't overshoot parts of text when scrolling back through a long backlog.

Will add an option for an "instant" text appearance speed.

New Public Demo

The new demo will effectively be the build I presented at MAGWest but with the above adjustments and a few more scenes. And it's coming this month, October 2024!

It will be comparable to the current online demo in length and content, but there have been so many narrative and mechanical changes that it should feel almost like a new game. Unlike the old demo, which was written when I was still undecided on certain plot points, this new demo will reflect that I now know exactly where I'm going with them. >:)

That said, the full game should be coming not too far after the demo update, so whether you feel it's a must-play or not is entirely up to you. Its most important role is to accurately represent what the full episode will be like so nobody feels like they have to pay money for a game they aren't sure they will enjoy.

(I may elect to use Steam's new feature where people can review demos, though, so if I do that... well. Feel free to leave a review!)

Brief overview of everything new coming in the updated demo:

Rich text & more fonts

Witch redesign

UI indicates what you are interacting with before you click

Background is highlighted along with cursor change when hovering over interactibles

Speaker name is no longer part of the spoken text itself and is displayed in its own box above

Text appearance can be paused mid-scroll for dramatic effect

Menus and settings now navigable with keyboard controls. Also fixed an issue where some text scroll settings weren't working properly across scenes

Backlog redesign

"Cycle through all interactibles" mechanic

Glossary mechanic (to encourage big brain theorizing)

Save + load from 3 save slots

Anime-ass opening cutscene

Narrative adjustments to reflect more thorough planning

...Fun little secret new mechanic :)

Full Game Release

Coming Soon (TM)!

I still can't be more specific than that because I don't want to keep announcing release dates and then pushing back. November is looking... painfully over-optimistic; but "by the end of the year" I think may be doable. I will have a much better idea of how long it will take to finish the complete game after I've released the new demo, because I'll have a better idea of how long it actually takes to implement all of my new mechanics in multiple scenes.

I can't give a release date, but I can give a status update:

Music - all tracks are written but a few need more TLC/development.

Sound - I could release with only the sound design assets I currently have, but boy, I'd love to add some more. As time allows.

Art - still need to draw a few more backgrounds and portraits.

Narrative - fully written, but most scenes post-demo need more revisions.

Mechanics - almost COMPLETELY DONE! The small number of tweaks listed from the MAGWest build need to be implemented, but otherwise it is feeling great. I can draw a hard line in the sand here and say "we are good, build it and ship it."

Build - this is what is going to take the most time, and is why I can't give an estimate until I have built the new demo and seen how long it takes. The new mechanics exist, as do most of the audiovisual assets, but I need to build the remaining scenes.

I learned from MAGWest that I am very bad at estimating how long playtime of my own game is, and it varies dramatically based on read speed and how much you enjoy clicking on things; but I would roughly estimate that the demo will be between 30-40 minutes of playtime, and the full game will be somewhere in the ballpark of 2 hours. This will be Episode 1 of 5, and I make no promises that the episodes won't explode in scope from one to the next. One thing at a time: I'd love to get this first episode to you all very soon. Thanks to MAGWest for being an important goalpost and momentum boost on the way there!

Look forward to a big update this month, and I'll continue to work hard on getting this game finished. Happy werewolf season!

[dreamaze]

.⟡. 2023 Year in Review .⟡.

cc year in review — every month in 2023 : link your favorite and/or most popular post from each month this year

tagged by: @shorelinnes, @xiaojuun, & @gnanii, thank you lovelies! ♡ tagging (no pressure, & the gifs were extra!): @ye-xiu, @eggheons, @nervousnotion, @honeyimissjoo (if you’ve already done this, feel free to drop the link! ♡)

Hello!! A brief(ish) recap before the actual list. It’s been a pretty wild year in wingsland, mostly thanks to finishing up my second master’s degree in December (finally, BYE!). Looking back, I’m surprised at how much content I actually created, but this has been a refuge and source of comfort for me while running on fumes between work and school and general adulting. 2023 also marked some changes in my listening and sources of inspiration. I fell more out of interest with txt (apologies to all followers who were here for them… this is the second time this has happened, oops?) but fell even more in love with Monsta X while discovering some other new or new-to-me artists (more on that in another post). Reason was my first official comeback with them, and it really lit a fire in my brain. I have a few ongoing series that I intend to continue, whether they’re gifs or audio compilations. I giffed a LOT of besties (minhyuk + hyungwon, the soulmates of soulmate besties). It brings me so so much joy to work on those sets and the various audio edits or just being excited about musical details in my music box tag. I also managed to squeeze in a few angsty mv sets along the way, because tbh I feel like I am thriving most as a creator when something is pulling at the heartstrings. I know mbbblr has been quiet lately (and must seem exceedingly so to those who were around years ago), but I will keep being noisy about them until mx6 is reunited and beyond. Thank you for sticking around with me ♡

(P.S. I am calling these my favorites and audience favorites because what even is popularity on tumblr, and also I am horribly indecisive and can rarely stick to one. Please enjoy the occasionally unserious post descriptions!)

January ⟡ My favorite(s out of an unusually prolific month): ‘Beautiful Liar’ lyrics + reflected shots, control imagery, & Minhyuk/Changkyun choreo; besties livestreams ft. minhyuk about to get his ass kicked by an indignant noodle & besties again not fighting ⟡ Audience favorite: Reason concept ver.3 (where did all those notes come from) followed by Hyungwon in Love Killa/Gambler/Beautiful Liar

February ⟡ My favorite: Besties Lone Ranger recording, Honey PD ’괜찮아’ Recording (ft. bonus honey threatening offering to kiss minhyuk on the lips), Hyungwon ‘Beautiful Liar’ mv + photoshoot behinds, & the following ⟡ Audience favorite: Unofficial art director Lee Minhyuk

March ⟡ The (only) favorite: Hyungwon FRED x Marie Claire (my favorite photoshoot coloring of the year)

April ⟡ My favorite: Minhyuk in Reason era & besties ft. not-very-tsundere hyungwon ⟡ Audience favorite: Hyungwon John Varvatos x GQ

May ⟡ My favorite: Besties All In mv + filming (for the 7th anniversary of All In) & the following ⟡ Audience favorite: Lights album preview

June ⟡ My favorite: Overdrive & “always you and me” besties ⟡ Audience favorite: Minhyuk x Singles

July ⟡ My favorite: Hyungwon x MV water imagery ⟡ Audience favorite: 1/2 of besties enlists (sobwail)

August ⟡ My favorite: Fighter performance video (…ft. besties), besties massage (fail), & the following ⟡ Audience favorite: Changkyun x Marie Claire

September ⟡ My favorite: Jaechan ‘Time’ ⟡ Audience favorite: Minhyuk vs the prop pear

October ⟡ My favorite: Besties with or without mx ⟡ Audience favorite: A pretty Joohoney

November ⟡ The (only) favorite: Minhyuk x Floun

December ⟡ My favorite: Giuk 'My Blue' & the consequences of putting besties next to each other in dance relays ⟡ Audience favorite: Hyungwon Givenchy Beauty x Singles

[smileymoth]

music autism so bad i lsitened to a song so much in january-february that its like 8th in my youtube music recap even though i havent listened to it not once since end of february

[aarontveitisonfire]

From PLAYBILL November 18, 2024 via Schmigadoon! producer Cinco Paul IG

Schmigadoon! Stage Musical Finds Its Cast for Upcoming World Premiere

Javier Muñoz, Ann Harada, Alex Brightman, and Isabelle McCalla are among the stage favorites bringing the musical TV series to the Kennedy Center stage.

By Logan Culwell-Block

November 18, 2024

Casting has been revealed for Kennedy Center's upcoming world premiere stage version of Apple TV's Schmigadoon!, set to take the Washington, D.C. theatre's Eisenhower Theater January 31-February 9, 2025. Ann Harada will reprise her performance as Florence Menlove, joined by newcomers Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice) as Josh Skinner, Sara Chase (The Great Gatsby) as Melissa Gimble, Kevin Del Aguila (Some Like It Hot) as Reverend Layton, McKenzie Kurtz (Wicked) as Betsy McDonough, Isabelle McCalla (Water for Elephants) as Emma Tate, Javier Muñoz (Hamilton) as Doc Lopez, Brad Oscar (Something Rotten!) as Mayor Menlove, Emily Skinner (Suffs) as Mildred Layton, and Ryan Vasquez (The Notebook) as Danny Bailey. Casting is by The Telsey Office. Christopher Gattelli, who choreographed both seasons of the series, will direct and choreograph the stage version, which will feature a book, music, and lyrics by series creator Cinco Paul. Press notes indicate audiences can expect songs from the series' Grammy-nominated score plus new tunes. David Chase is serving as music supervisor, with orchestrations by Doug Besterman and music direction by Steven Malone. The musical will follow the plot of the show's first season, which saw a couple, struggling to save their relationship, who suddenly find themselves in Schmigadoon, a magical world populated with characters, plots, songs, and dance numbers inspired by Golden Age musicals like Oklahoma!, The Music Man, and Carousel. The production is being presented by special arrangement with Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video, which produced the series. The series premiered on Apple TV+ in 2021, with a second season in 2023 that sent its characters to Schmicago, complete with parodies of '70s musicals like Pippin, Godspell, and Sweeney Todd. Read Playbill's exhaustive recaps of all first and second season episodes for a deep dive into the series' many musical theatre Easter eggs, references, and parodies. The upcoming production will also include scenic design by Scott Pask, lighting design by Jen Schriever, and sound design by Haley Parcher. Tickets are available at Kennedy-Center.org.

[hummingbird-games]

Dev Diaries

November 2, 2024

Let this be the last time I write this update so I can friggin POST IT!! 🤣

Since we last chat, a few things have happened, so here's a recap:

You can preview Langston and Ryan's game 2 routes!!! (Happy Anniversary to my first game child)

HSD artist is wrapping up on the requested sprites for the next update. That goes live.... Sunday February 2, 2025!

I finished the first draft of Ryan's route. Yeah. Wild. The hardest part of writing (for him) is over. Also I like opening up the document and staring at it to make sure it's real and not just a figment of my imagination. Langston bby we're coming for you next!!

We're on Bluesky?! Yeah lol I meant to say something sooner. I have no idea how I'll treat that platform yet, but we're there!

Loved VN

Now setting aside the bullet points for a moment, we'll touched briefly on the #LovedVN project. There's been a sliiiiiight delay art wise on that front, and honestly, it's anyone's guess if it'll come out this year--I opened the project file a few days ago, and marveled at how much is still not done. That's on me and my bony shoulders. Like I haven't even commissioned the key art yet! 😔

Future Projects

There's an idea I'm holding close to my chest only because it's still more abstract than concrete, and I won't be working on it until Loved is finished and playable. There is also a different project that almost saw the light of day, and I wanna talk about it.

The Josei After Dark game jam came and went and I seriously entertained submitting something. The Afro Jam also came and went, and this was supposed to be a two-for one idea...I recruited my sibling for the character sprite. I sat down and made 4 music tracks because I knew there was a specific sound I wanted, and I did not have specific sound money. I had a placeholder UI with the intention of either recruiting someone after the jams or finally rolling up my sleeves and adding bare bones UI design to my developer toolbox.

Well. We didn't make either deadline LOL! I decided to shelve it. But tbh, I had too much fun writing this script to keep it out of sight.

placeholder bg + placeholder UI teehee

Not so secret thing about me, stories typically come to me when I can't find it in the media I consume. And because HBG projects are free to play for the foreseen future, I'm the prominent player I'm trying to impress, so I make games for me and then hope other people like them too.

This project is called Oh, Boy. It's another bite size game with seven endings!! I had to make a guide for because as I was playtesting I was getting confused and missing my own endings! Anyhoo, I have plans for this one, so more details to come in a future dev diaries or a regular post!

And that's all folks! Gemini out 🫶🏾

am I wild to drop this at the VERY end?? under the cut?? no, not at all

[mahounomanga]

Kurumi-tic Miracle

In the early days of the genre, it was relatively common for magical girls to have more open-ended power sets. Rather than having one or a few set applications, their magic could do just about anything. Since the turn of the millennium, most magical girls have powers designed for a specific task, such as fighting evil, but today I want to take a look at a character from the early 2000s whose powers can do anything she puts her mind to.

Kurumi-tic Miracle is a 2003 manga by Chitose Yagami. It stars a run-of-the-mill schoolgirl named Kurumi Nanami, who lives with her grandfather in the oddities shop he owns, together with her pet hamster, Momo. One day, while helping clean the shop, Kurumi discovers a mysterious magic stone that affixes itself to her wrist in the form of a bracelet. With this magic bracelet, any wish she makes will instantaneously come true. Initially she uses this power to pursue her crush, Naoki, but as the two gets closer, it becomes clear the magic stone has a bit of a history, and the potential to cause problems.

Kurumi-tic Miracle was serialized in Ciao magazine from the February 2003 issue to the April 2003 issue: a three chapter run. These chapters were compiled into a single tankobon volume on June 21, 2003 by Shogakukan under their Flower Comics imprint, along with a couple of Yagami's older one-shots. A digital re-release, also by Shogakukan, was made available on July 10, 2015. Official translations were released in Indonesian and Chinese, but not English. However, a fan translation by the group Da Gurlz Translationz is available for all five chapters, including both one-shots, and can be found on various unofficial manga sites.

The series was created by Chitose Yagami, a shoujo manga author who debuted in 2001 with Magical Project, a one-shot which was later included in volume 1 of Manga Mitaina Koi Shitai! a.k.a. Fall in Love Like a Comic, one of her more popular works which was even officially printed in English by Viz under their Shojo Beat imprint. Much of Yagami's work contains elements of romantic comedy, middle/high school slice of life, magic and the paranormal, and working in the entertainment industry, be it modeling, music, or manga. She is still active to this day, both professionally and on social media. Her most recent manga, a BL series titled Shoujo Manga no Hero ni naritai no ni Heroine Atsukaisareru Ore., began serialization in 2021 and is still ongoing. None of her works would get career-definingly popular, but Kurumi-tic Miracle was successful enough to land her her first autograph session, so that's cool. It seems she didn't do much adapting of existing work, save for contributing to a shoujo Inazuma Eleven anthology in 2011. That same year, her manga Oresama Kingdom (Kings of My Love) got picked up for a direct to video anime adaptation, running for 14 episodes of 11 minutes apiece until 2013. This was the only manga of hers to get an anime adaptation, and it got a Nintendo DS game too, also in 2011. This was the second video game based on a Chitose Yagami manga, the first being Kiss x Kiss for the GBA in 2004.

Speaking of video games, this came up a lot in my research so I just want to point out that this series is unrelated to the 1997 Playstation game Kurumi Miracle, in which a young witch whose name is also Kurumi goes to an island to hone her magic by helping the local townsfolk.

Because Kurumi-tic Miracle is so short, it's difficult to recap the plot without giving spoilers, so if you'd like to go into the series blind, I advise you to do so before reading the rest of this post.

The manga starts off as a pretty straight forward slice-of-life romcom with magical hijinks, but the more we learn about the love interest Naoki, the clearer it becomes that something is amiss. He has a rather distinctive ring, and he seems very interested in Kurumi's bracelet. It turns out there is another magic stone, and the person who controls it wants them both to himself. The plot reveal is that this person is not Naoki, but his little brother, Satoru, who found the other stone by chance and became corrupted by its' power. He has bequeathed unto Naoki a fraction of that power for the purposes of collecting the other stone.

The magic systems in Kurumi-tic Miracle are really interesting to me. Because the scope of what they can do is so broad, the characters are limited only by their imagination, which gives us a stark contrast in how Kurumi and Satoru use their powers, despite those powers deriving from the same source. Kurumi's magic tends to be cuter, more harmless, and at times downright childish. Satoru's magic is scarier, emblematic of his ruthless attitude, and representative of a genuinely serious threat.

To pad out the tankobon release, two of Chitose Yagami's one-shots were included. The first, 2003's Dokitto Boys X Love (just Boys X Love in the fanslation), is sort of a comedy-of-errors in which a teenage girl accidentally switches bodies with her favorite male idol, and the two have to stick together as she learns his routine. It's not especially groundbreaking, but it's cute. The second is titled Otokomae!? Jajauma Musume, which I thiiink roughly translates to Boyish Selfish Girl. The fanslation uses the title I Love Tomboy. It was originally published in 2001 and according to Weblio was Yagami's second ever manga after Magical Project. It's a romantic comedy in which a tomboy attempts to become more feminine to win over her bully... which sucks. It sucks so bad. This one-shot is infuriatingly gender essentialist and sexist. A lot of effort goes into categorizing what separates girls from boys, all of it very stereotypical, and even though the resolution is that the protagonist is more comfortable being herself, the message is lost in all the steps it takes to get there. She does have some personal struggles with wondering if she's really a boy after all, and there's a plot twist that the elder sister figures who helped her throughout were actually crossdressers the whole time, so I'm sure you could read some queer subtext into this if you wanted to, but that is VERY clearly not what was intended. I hate it.

Taken on its' own, Kurumi-tic Miracle strikes me as a diamond in the rough. Most of the flaws I can point to in the main story could easily be alleviated if it were given more room to breathe. Three chapters just wasn't enough for me to get fully invested in these characters or their world. Despite this, the core concept shines through. This manga had some genuinely intriguing ideas about its' magic systems and how they can be applied for creative problem solving at a time when that modality of magic was becoming increasingly rare, despite the magical girl genre as a whole reaching market saturation at around this time. It's short and cute, even if it's not particularly substantial. It's very of a type, but if this is a type you tend to enjoy, I highly recommend checking it out.

[taekooktimeline]

July 15, 2023 (posted) -

ARMY asks Jungkook questions about “Seven” in his Spotify interview. He’s asked who the first person to hear “Seven” was and he says “Taehyungie Hyung,” with the brightest expression. I’ll never get over the Taehyungie Hyung nickname (😭), but I also want to draw attention to the fact the question asked who the first PERSON was to hear his newest song, not who the first MEMBER was. Taehyung was the first person out of everyone Jungkook knew to hear his newest solo. That’s really special and significant and shows (again) their closeness, and how they support each other in their pursuits.

He says he “played it for him first” not that he sent it to him, indicating they were together when Jungkook shared his newest song.

This is super sweet, and is another of many instances we see Taekook sharing their pursuits with each other and supporting one another. Taekook respect each other as musicians and even though the music they create is different, the first person they share it with is each other. It’s another example of how close and supportive they are.

Jk jokes that they don’t share the same taste in music. Jk’s big, bright smile after he says this is so sweet (I love his smile in general). I agree with others that he was obviously joking (and the little caption says as much). While the style of music they make is different, we know they share playlists, play the same songs in their lives, recommend the same artists and songs on their IGs (when Jk had IG) and sometimes those songs shared are from more obscure artists. Plus, my friend who is fluent in Korean posted the following:

“음악 결이 안 맞아요 (the translation missed the nuance) 결… is hard to translate

Where as It means

We have different music styles”

Jungkook is saying that they make different music and that they have different music styles as musicians. This is consistent with what we have seen and known of the two over the years with their shared playlists and recommended musicians and songs.

Jk isn’t finished talking about Tae🥰

https://twitter.com/peachesminty/status/1680762355452641281?s=46&t=StSwHjW0_Domk_lHUFMaCg

Snippet - https://twitter.com/jjklve/status/1680526364762308608?s=46&t=StSwHjW0_Domk_lHUFMaCg

Raw snippet- https://youtu.be/f6FsAbGSqNI and Tae interview https://open.spotify.com/episode/1vUeOvM2Z69G4xzsf10sVs?si=qJz-I3zfSsahKGeGpezxjw&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A35ltzomNTBi2lqCtoL4Drt

This isn’t the first time Tae has been the first person to hear Jungkook’s work. During BTS’ November 20, 2020, comeback live, Jungkook explained “Stay” was originally the last song for his mixtape, but Tae heard it and had the other members and company hear it. They listened to it in the practice room and agreed to have it on their BE album.

Recap -

https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline2020/641203143698530304/november-20-2020-live

And on November 27, 2020, an interview with Weverse Magazine was released. Jungkook reiterates Taehyung heard “Stay” first and then the other members heard it.

Recap - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline2020/641203143698530304/november-20-2020-live

And on June 13, 2022, Tae went live and confirmed he heard Jungkook’s “My You” a month ago, then repeatedly praises the song.

Recap (which includes at the end a more comprehensive recap of the times Tae has hyped and praised Jk’s work) - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline2022/687452923679145984/june-13-2022

This isn’t comprehensive, but here are some examples in prior instances of Taekook sharing playlists and knowing / recommending the same artists and songs.

May 12, 2016: Taekook sing karaoke together. Tae let’s Jk pick the songs, saying he knows all of the songs he does - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline2016/624267536691757056

February 7-13, 2018: Jimin and Hobi saying Taekook share playlists - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline2018/625075227856158720

September 2019: Jk immediately recognizes Tae’s playlist - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline2019/625211123706331136/september-2019

April 11, 2023: Jk recommending “oh no, oh yes” to Tae - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline2023/718035311903588352/april-11-2023-tae-goes-live-around-215am

March 4 (Jk) and July 18 (Tae) sharing artist CHS - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline/723206835313704960/july-18-2023

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 0: Getting to Know the Boys Part 3: Team Power

Hey, friends! Welcome back to this crazy project I set out for myself -- writing up a bit about each of the 40 contestants on MNET’s Build Up before I dive into the recaps. Last post, I covered Team Soul. This post will be about Team Power. Let’s do it!

Same caveats apply: 1) I’m pressed for time, so proofreading will suffer; please be kind! 2) screencaps will be awkward due to technological issues and 3) All of these guys are amazing vocalists; my critique is splitting hairs and just my opinion at the end of the day. 

Choi Haram

I also have almost no information about Haram, except that he’s a musical actor. In his teaser, V08, I Want to Fall in Love  by Johan Kim, he sings in that classical “musical actor” way, which is just not my favorite style of singing. That doesn’t make it bad! He also is singing a ballad. Which does mean it’s bad! Ha ha, jk.

I'll do my best to evaluate him even though the song is a ballad. I'm a hero, right? His soft tone he uses in the verses is just too breathy and nasal for my taste. But I do like the belt on the chorus part -- nice work. This guy definitely knows how to sing. I wonder what he’ll sound like singing more of a pop song. 

Kim Minseo

This is Kim Minseo, 21, who also appeared on a show I’d never heard of called “The Origin - A, B, or What?” It “was a new type of survival program that combines balance games along with K-pop,” whatever THAT means, and it created the group ATBO. On the Wikipedia page for that show, it says that he was born in January of 2003, making him 21 now, and it also says that he lived in China for ten years and can speak Chinese. I wonder if he and Wumuti will ever speak some Chinese together? 

I really, really liked his teaser performance of Rolling in the Deep by Adele (V39), slight pronunciation issues aside. It was actually kind of cute how he sort of just gave up on pronouncing ‘underestimate’ halfway. He has a distinct, real voice that shows some training but also some rough edges. For me, he’s one to watch. Watch? Listen to? Whatever. 

Yoon Inhwan

Yoon In-Hwan, V23, is one of the enigmas of the show -- I have no information about him. For me, his mini audition showed an unpleasantly throaty, nasal, thick vocal color that I didn’t exactly love. He sounded like he had just drunk a whole gallon of milk or something. I don’t know if that’s how he always sings, or if he just was feeling unwell that day or what. As promised, he did have a lot of power, and he also had a good sense of pitch. Hopefully he’ll do better going forward!

Jo Hwanji

I haven’t been able to get a decent screengrab thus far, but Hwanji is the guy in the uniform in episode 1. He’s only 24 -- isn’t that surprising? Before this, he went on other shows called Phantom Singer 3 and Fantastic Duo 2.

He’s another musical actor, but in his teaser song V26 he breaks the musical actor mold by singing an upbeat retro swing song by JYP -- yes, that JYP -- called Swing Baby. I like the song, and I also like the way he sings it. Clean but full, with fun little growls to brighten things up, varied dynamics, impeccable pitch, and the power he promised. Good stuff! He’s also so hilariously square. I mean it literally. He looks like a Pixar character. It’s cute. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him.

Lim Junhyeok

Junhyeok, age 30, debuted as part of the JYP-based k-band Day6 in September 2015, singing and playing keyboards. In late 2015, it was revealed that he’d been chatting with a female fan online, and that they might have been dating. The controversy built, and he felt obligated to leave the group in February 2016, getting to enjoy less than six months with the group. God, that must have been just heart wrenching for him. I can’t imagine.

Afterward, he joined another band called Be Blossom, but stayed only about a year. Since then, he was on a survival show called The Unit, which was about rebooting debuted idols’ careers. (A few other contestants of Build Up also went on The Unit, too.) He also continues to compose music, which I think is actually his first love. 

His teaser song performance, V05,  was I Love You by Shin Hyo Bum, and you can see in the silhouette that he’s playing the keyboards as he sings. I didn’t love his performance, unfortunately. It felt a little shrieky to me at times, and his softer notes were a little too breathy for my taste. He definitely belongs in the Power group, though. He can sure belt when he wants to -- it’s the softer segments that challenge him. Maybe it’s just my bias against ballads acting up, as well. 

It’s kind of a bummer, because for whatever reason, I like him. I can’t help but cheer for a guy who (a) was kicked out of his group after six months for dating, like, omg, how dare a young person want to date! (b) is a bit on the older side (c) composes music and plays instruments and most importantly (d) shows up to a survival show in a goddamn hoodie. Like, yes, king. So I hope that I grow to like his vocals better as I hear more from him. 

Side note: The Korean family name “Lim” is often transliterated as “Im” since that’s actually closer to how it’s pronounced. So if you see his family name written as “Im,�� that’s why. (Nayeon from Twice has the family name of Lim/Im -- hence her album name.)

Park Jeup

Park Jeup makes himself known by wearing an enormous bow on the first day. It’s just such a choice, when he’s so masculine looking. Own it! Yes!

Anyway, he’s 30, and is a member of IMFACT. He’s been on a bunch of singing shows, as well as The Unit, which would have put him in company with Lim Junhyuk (former Day6) and Hyukjin from Fave1.

His group IMFACT debuted in January 2016 and put out several albums and singles, but none of their songs have even one million views on Youtube. Most of them don’t even break 500,000 views. In 2022, all the members of IMFACT left their agency (Star Empire). The group hasn’t officially disbanded, but the members are listing themselves as soloists. They really weren’t a bad group, and it’s a shame that they never caught on, but it’s just such a crowded landscape. Their song Only You spent some time on my playlist a few years back, and Jeup’s voice in that song is really sweet. 

I tried my best to give his teaser song a try -- he was V34 --  but I just dislike ballads so much that I can’t judge him fairly. Vocally, though, he sounds well trained. He has a surprisingly high pitched timbre considering his appearance. 

Here is a performance he did in 2018, in which he made the MNET reaction editors play the instant replay buttons like a xylophone. I think there was some sort of gas leak in the studio that day, because, yeah, his voice is nice but people are having spasms in their excitement and it’s a bit much. Also, he's singing another ballad so it's kind of a no from me.

A song that’s a bit more palatable for me is this cover of Exo’s Monster on The Unit. 

Jeup doesn’t seem to be the main vocal, but he is the one who sings “I’m sorry…. You make me… so crazy, you know you do.” He also does the higher harmony line/descant/whatever it is over the “Come here girl, you… call… me… monster” line. And he pulls it off!

I recognize Jeup’s skill, technique, and passion for the art. I’m not as sure that I love his timbre for whatever reason. I hope his voice grows on me, in part because I always have a soft spot for hard working nugu idols, and in part because I always gravitate toward the older, more broad shouldered idol types, like Baekho from NU’EST and Wyatt from ONF. Jeup, fighting!

Hyukjin

Hyukjin is 30 and is from a group called Fave1, where he’s lead vocal and lead dancer. He also appeared on The Unit, so he may also know Park Jeup and Lim Junhyuk.

Ok, so his background is kind of sad, fam.

His first group, 100%, debuted in 2012, so he’s been at this a while. There were originally seven members, but two quit, and then one member, the leader Minwoo, passed away in 2018. That had to be so hard on Hyukjin and the rest of the team, to lose not just their friend and teammate but also their leader. The group disbanded in 2021, and three of the four remaining members formed Fave1 at a new agency. So they’re kind of like Loosemble or Vivez that way. 

100% started off doing ok -- their older songs had 1 or 2 million views, good for the time period -- but their more recent songs max out at around 400,000 views. Fave1, unfortunately, is really not doing nearly as well as even 100%. Their songs usually have views measured in the thousands, and their videos look like they were shot on someone’s iPhone. Really, the whole thing is kind of heartbreaking. 

In his teaser, Hyukjin was V22 , and sang a quasi-heavy metal song -- think Dreamcatcher style -- called Lazenca, Save Us. It was a unique choice, that’s for sure! I think he was hoping that it might make a splash for being the guy who did THIS song. I’m not sure how I feel about his performance. I think I need to hear more of him to make up my mind. But I mean, gotta respect someone who comes out of the gate with that! I think his natural voice is not quite as deep and rich as it should be to successfully pull off this kind of thing, but he displays strong sense of pitch and a lot of power. It does gets a bit shrieky and it sounds like he’s hurting his throat. I’m looking forward to seeing what else he can do because I just want to see him succeed.

Ok, that's about it for this post! Sorry if it was a bit of a bummer. So many sad stories in this industry. In the next post, we'll be visiting with Team Unique, and then we'll finally get into the recaps! See you soon.

xoxo

BPR Noona

[locallysourcedradio]

Okay! It's now February and I'll do like these little music genre recap just to keep track of everything.

We started the year with Latin Rock (shout out @snowfloral-lake for indoctrinating me)

-cuarteto de nos.

-mägo de oz

-and other miscellaneous bands and artists

Then we went back to ambient mid January. With The caretaker posting Everywhere An Empty Bliss and An Empty Bliss Beyond This World.

-The caretaker

-James Primate

-C418 (like his recent stuff, not minecraft)

-Leyland Kirby

-nobonoko

-and other small artists or video games soundtracks.

Idk what happened in late January but apparently I wanted to do irreversible damage to my eardrums with hyperpop, breakcore, and alike.

-Gynx

-♡GOJII♡ (idk that's how it's writen. Their early work i mean)

-4lung

-Femtanyl (absolutely incredible artist ngl)

-Machine Girl

-MAILPUP

-And other random artists.

[adamsvanrhijn]

2023 recap + 2024 resolutions

this year was great and also it sucked! thank you for joining me for it, or any part of it, on tumblr.com <3

my year in Poasts

posts that got notes? not necessarily. but posts that reference or are representative of the things i would like to remember from the month in which i made them

january: my new job tomorrow

february: who is the most likely to get white girl wasted at a gay bar (ie i got tumblr polls and it significantly impacted my social media usage)

march: me as soon as i have the opportunity to be in the same room as claybourne elder / i got the fucking enjolras/marius version of the us tour

april: first new fanfic posted since 2022

may: drunk work bonding happening Now

june: me and the bad bitch i pulled by being autistic

july: people liked my bracelets :-)

august: blorbo behaviors (ie i learned how to make gifs!)

september: not much happened in september apparently but i did make blorbo kissing his boyfriend gifs

october: not much happened in october either although i did post some fic. we're officially in the "all time spent on work and blorbo and having mental illness" era which will continue until december. so: he kissed his fucking hand

november: more blorbo what do you expect

december: we're so fucking back / are you finally in scotland

2024 resolutions/goals

reread les misérables

post or update fanfic 12 times/equivalent of once a month

create & post basic gifsets of all of the johnoscar scenes with subtitles

create & post a cool gif or gifset that is fancier than my other gifs in both aspect ratio and photoshop techniques

read or reread 12 books/equivalent of one book a month in addition to les misérables

take one (1) ballet class / take barre classes because i'll have a membership / use up my orange theory classes

hang out with some online friends in person again

save $$$ (i have an attainable number but tumblr doesn't get to know it)

try a new food

take a class in something new to me

send the rest of my fucking wedding thank yous

2024 ideals

move to scotland to live with my wife and actually settle the fuck down <3

kitchen renovation

stop buying things i literally do not need

get a better medication regimen going Before moving

reduce screentime drastically

listen to new music

[eseomo]

Music recap:

ASSMIX 5000 XTRA / 20 August 2024

ASSMIX 5000 / 08 August 2024

Mokola International (Osai and all their Friends x Begho x Seo) 01 August 2024

Fuck a Degreeee. / 03 July 2024

§eo / 02 April 2024

Alien Zone / 17 March 2024

Butterflies (ZOiD x Seo) / 08 March 2024

Synthetic Fears / 14 February 2024

Time travelers inc. / 01 January 2024

Epic dreamy escapade (Deluxe) - Moonbather / 25 December 2025

Epic dreamy escapade - Moonbather / 01 December 2023

Gargantuan Chest of Ancient Mumbo Jumbo / 17 November 2023

Tea Break VI (Deluxe) / 11 November 2023

Earth Glitch / 31 October 2023

Tea Break VI / 31 October 2024

Moonlit Beach - Moonbather / 3 March 2023