#I could always just watch a slime tutorial but I think it would be more fun to see it live with just that very little knowledge I have

[saltysunflowersugar]

I HAVE NEVER SEEN RIDE THE CYCLONE OR EVEN LISTENED TO ONE SONG FROM IT BUT I'M GONNA TRY AND GUESS THE PLOT FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S POSTS AND STUFF I'VE SEEN IN TITLES AND THUMBNAILS FOR SLIME TUTORIALS

ok, so there's a bunch of kids in school uniforms, and I guess they ride a rainbow roller coaster called The Cyclone, and I think I briefly saw something about a fortune teller and a rat, so maybe they go to the fortune teller and he tells them someone's fated to die or something? Also there's this girl with black eyes who has two names, sometimes they call her Jane Doe but other times they call her Penny Lamb, she apparently has a ballad about her but I don't know I'd she sings it or it's someone else singing about her, my guess is either she was bullied for having black eyes, or she might be a ghost or whatever and the black eyes are supposed to indicate that? And I have no idea what else happens but apparently there's some kid named Noel, he's gonna die, and I don't know how (maybe he falls off the cyclone or something?)

[lyrakanefanatic]

Tig character hcs except this time it’s not their kids and just them!!

- I just KNOW the hawthornes made vines, and then Nash would have to be the one to edit and record them all 💀💀

- max used to make taylor swift music videos and then have her brother record them (yes, she has a brother that’s mentioned like once in the first book 💀💀)

- Avery is taller than libby by like 🤏 much

- Jameson “hates” cats but pets every cat he sees

- Libby used to make baking tutorials when she was 12

- Xander met maxs parents once and then was traumatized by them ever since (he’s scared of them)

- grayson has a 7 step skincare routine

- Xander once tried to surprise tackle nash but accidentally gave him a concussion so he was banned from doing that for a couple months 💀

- avery and Jameson have movie marathons that consists of eating Libby’s desserts and binge watching classics (or horror movies)

- grayson has a light blue skincare fridge

- when xander was little he tried to smuggle candy so he could eat it late at night and then they got maggots living in his room after that 💀

- Tobias was soooo mad

- libby has fed more cupcakes than she would like to admit to tiramisu

- thea used to have “fashion runway shows” in her bedroom, which meant wearing 748248 different pieces of clothes ontop of one another, and somehow managed to convince little xander to do it with her

- he still has the photos to haunt him to this day

- Grayson will NEVER EVER EVERRR admit it, but he likes rom coms. So sometimes, when it’s late at night and everybody else is asleep, he will binge watch a romcom or two. It’s his guilty pleasure and as much as he pretends to hate them and gaslights himself into thinking they’re cringe, he still loves them

- Rebecca never really got much attention from her mother, but sometimes Tobias would spend the day with her and show her cool puzzles. She would always look forward to those days, as it’s the one time she doesn’t have to worry about pleasing Emily (💔)

- Nash definitely had a girlfriend when he was 13 and when they broke up he started wearing all black and turned emo for two weeks. When his little brothers started catching on and asking Tobias what happened, he would just say “nash is going through a phase 😇”

- before Jameson learned Latin, he learned all the bad words and then started saying them to EVERYBODY (Tobias shut it down pretty quickly, but then they had to actually learn Latin so there wasn’t much Tobias could really do about it 💀)

- max almost died once because she decided to go ham on the pills that her parents had on the top cabinets

- Avery watched every single chipmunks movie about a million times because her mom used to think they were HILARIOUS

- when Gigi was little, she was sooo clumsy and would break everything, so it got to a point where even when Savannah would accidentally break a vase or something gigi would still get the blame for it 💀

- Grayson chased Jameson around the house with a knife once

- when they were little the Hawthornes would take April fools sooo seriously, which meant multiple things exploding, whipped cream being thrown in peoples faces, and just so much more chaos

- xander was a slime kid when he was little. He would have sooo much slime and would be constantly making it, and he also tried to do those “making slime without glue” things 💀

- when Avery was born and Libby saw her as a baby, she was so happy and was crying because she’s always wanted a little sister 💖💖:(

- max had a dream one time where Xander cheated on her so she called him crying at 2:54 AM while being half asleep and shouting about how he could do this to her

- she hung up not long after that and went back to sleep, but when she woke up she realized it was a dream (she still gets made fun of for it by xander to this day)

- xander asks libby if she can make him blueberry and lemon scones because they’re “better when she makes it” 🫶🫶

- when Rebecca and Xander were little, they tried storing WILD ANIMALS under xanders bed because they wanted a zoo 💀

- one of the animals ate through the walls, so that’s how Tobias found out

Okay I think that’s all!!! Lmk if u want me to do more, bc it’s actually rlly fun lmao

[trainerfangirlsmile]

I went to see the second to last show in the Anastasia The Musical run in Mexico and oh my god:

So first of all, this was the first Mexican production that I ever saw in an established theater as opposed to a tour production (that was the Cats Mexican Tour back in 2019) so I was a little excited about that fact and how it would feel.

I had heard one negative comment about it, mainly how the sets and costumes didn't make justice to the original production (this couldn't have been MORE WRONG they were absolutely breathtaking)

There was a young girl (couldn't be more than 9 y/o) that was asked if she had seen the original movie and her answer was no, which made me think that for a lot of young kids the show could've been their first approach to Anastasia and I think that's beautiful

Now onto the musical itself:

The 3rd call for starting was made by little Anya and her voice was so adorable! She also made the call for starting the 2nd act during intermission

Most of the songs were adapted from the Madrid version rather than from the Latin American Dub of the movie (where the songs were sung by a popular Mexican singer called Thalia) and while at first it slightly disappointed me, it didn't affect the value of the production at all, I found myself vibing to the music all the time

Gleb's actor had a higher-pitched voice than Ramin, which at first surprised me, but he also managed to make a much more awkward Gleb that you could, not root for per-say, but understand him and his motivations from the start? One of my friends knew nothing about the changes in the musical, but this is how they felt about it (also please take into consideration it had been some time since I had last seen a "grand duchess slime tutorial", I may have forgotten some stuff)

Vlad was a delight to see on stage, he was funny and charming, every time he came on stage you knew you would laugh, also he was shorter than Lily's actress, and it made funnier some jokes, we stan an unhinged couple

Dimitri amazed me. He was very tall and had a great singing voice, I was so nervous for the adaption of My Petersburg, but you can imagine my surprise when he made a great rendition of it, also ohmygoshhhh him in In a Crowd of Thousands? I kid you not, his yearning almost made me faint, seriously, he and Anya left almost no space for Jesus and I was over there in the second floor gasping for air when he said "your highness", the chemistry was off the charts

Lily was a riot the whole time she was on stage as well, funny, sarcastic, you named it she had it. Land of Yesterday was one of my favorite choreographies from the original production and it did not disappointed me!

The Dowager Empress had this ring in her voice that kinda reminded me of older Mexican dubs? Which makes no sense considering her age but at the same time it does considering her character, such talent she has! She and Alix's actress also made it more obvious through their short interactions that they weren't in the best of terms which I thought it was a great Easter egg for historical fans

The ensemble was amazing! They were all so incredible to watch, during Quartet at the Ballet, the dancers got such a big applause that it warmed my heart, they were seriously so amazing!

A song I was surprised that shook me emotionally was Stay, I Pray You; I had always enjoyed the song and think it is beautifully written, especially because it reflects how one may feel leaving your country "by choice" (I may be projecting a bit into it) but seeing it live and in my native language just broke me, beautifully done by the cast

Mariana Davila as Anya was such a treat to see live! I wish I had been able to meet her at the stage door, because she was just breathtaking! Her voice was so beautiful and it left me speechless so many times during the 2 ½ hours of the show, I hope she gets so many more roles and that I can keep watching her! Again, her chemistry with Dimitri was amazing and she also looked beautiful in Anya's dresses.

I left this as my last point because I think it was my favorite part but, as I had said before, a lot of the songs were adapted from the Madrid cast which, if I remember correctly, had been adapted from the Spanish Dub of the movie.

A lot of movie fans had voiced their disappointment at not being able to hear songs like Once Upon a December with the original lyrics, and Mariana had said that they had tried to change them to the ones we were used to

Upon starting the show and realizing the new lyrics, I thought, "Well, maybe it was just for some specific shows or dates" and proceeded to enjoy the show

AND THEN COMES THE END OF ACT 1 AND GUYS

Journey To The Past was sang with the exact same lyrics as the Latin American Dub from 1997.

I am not joking when I tell you that the second that I heard "No me falles no..." I looked towards my friends and was already getting my eyes welled up with tears, it was such a flashback to being 5 years old coming home from blockbuster on an early December day and just, gosh, it was too much emotionally, I really cried throughout the whole song

Also, last year, I went on an exchange program, and some of the trips I was able to make were to Paris (since it was really close to were I was studying at the time) and just, seeing the images from Paris was also a reminder that I had been able to make many dreams come true in the last year, including watching this musical

It didn't help that the lights started from the seats towards the stage, it was so poetic, I still feel emotional thinking it and it has been like 23 hours since I experienced this.

Mexico is so talented, I hope we can continue to enjoy these experiences, and not only in the capital city, everyone in all the 32 states deserves to have a magical time

[emisirrelevant]

WE ARE THE TIGERS/WATT WEEK DAY 5

Happy We Are the Tigers Week Day 5 everyone!!

Today's prompt: Mistletoe

You probably know the drill by now, but here I am, presenting you with another song commentary/analysis to celebrate the day. Since the prompt is Mistletoe and I really couldn't come up with anything super creative, and I can't draw to save my life (shoutout to those who have been blessed with talent in the fanart department) today's song commentary/analysis will be Wallflower, as Mistletoe is a plant, and thus reminded me of the song, which also has a reference to a plant.

Okay, now that I'm done explaining my reasoning for picking the song, let's get into it.

•Um I absolutely LOVE how this song starts. Such a catchy little hook.

•Oh GOD I cannot WAIT to hear Lauren and Wonu sing this together as Riley and Cairo again.

•"Nobody remembers 4th grade Riley" way to start a song lol

•"she will never speak up" she just has other methods of communication, ok, and if that involves murder, well-

•"She's scared to be wrong" Well Cairo got her there, tbh

RILEY IS A WALLFLOWER

•"The type of little kid who gets paralyzed with fear when she gets called on" OKAY sorry Cairo but I can't defend you here, I was this person in school irl so

•"It was me who decided you could be so much more than they could see" HIT AFTER HIT, whatever Preston put in this song... MAN, I love it

•"If I never saved you what would you have done" I wonder if either of them ever thought how toxic/dependent their relationship with each other was

•"You would be no one" Singing this instead of saying it, idk if that softens the blow or is just equally as bad-

•"So forgive me for doing what's best for you" Alternate universe, what would it have been like if Cairo and Riley didn't see each other's situations like this- like what if Cairo didn't feel like she needed to "save" Riley and vice versa

•"So forgive me for trrryyyyYYYing to make this easier" WONU GIVING VOCALS here

•"I'll always be on your team" Until your best friend gets arrested

•"You are nothing, you have nothing, without me" again, if my best friend told that to me, much less SANG that, idk man. For musical purposes though, damn.

•"Everyone remembers sophomore Cairo" how Cairo says nobody and Riley says everybody, says a lot about their personalities and I love this little detail.

•"Cause she'll never be wrong, anything but wallflower" Can we get an opposite word for wallflower to call Cairo?

•"But who has your back every single time you crack" The way Riley sings this line later in The Breakdown tho

•"See it's me who's beside you constantly making sure you don't see how much everyone is trashing us for"

•OOH YES and this is my favorite part

•ALL THE HARMONIES YESSSS

•SING IT ICONS

•They are the moment right now

•I also loveeee watching this in the slime tutorial, the stage blocking in this song is great

•One thing I did note when listening to the song again, is how Cairo sings that line about having Riley's back, but interestingly Riley when she sings about Cairo never does. Cairo says she stepped in to save the other kids from teasing Riley, but Riley just sang about how Cairo mouthed off and got into fights, not even if she helped Cairo at all.

•I wonder if that's really subtle foreshadowing now that I think about it.

•OH MY GOD AND THEN THIS PART I LOVE IT SOOOOO MUCH

•When they both separate and sing their own part of the song-

And Riley's like "SO FORGIVE ME FOR DOING WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU"

And meanwhile Cairo's all like "BUT WHO HAD YOUR BACK WHEN YOU HAD A HEART ATTACK"

•AND THEN THE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE BACK WHEN THIS IS ALL HAPPENING OH MY GOD

•Chef's kiss chef's kiss chef's kiss

Is it really a duet with your bestie who may not actually be that, giving enemies to lovers if you don't sing "YOU ARE NOTHING, YOU HAVE NOTHING, WITHOUT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

•"Riley is a wallflower" DUH DUH

•I love how it ends like that, like Cairo has to feel like she needs to be the one who has the last word

•This song is a 10/10 about those kinds of friendships/relationships.

I love my cheerwives.

[saint-starflicker]

John Griffin: Sountracks mainly, maybe promotional reel, no full pro-shot or slime tutorial, do not cite the Deep Lore to him he was there when it was workshopped and as a result his Jason contains multitudes. A mystery beyond our ken from the ancient ruins of the year Nineteen Ninety Nine. I cannot vote for him. He is an enigma. This character's Creator sought to get back the old soundtracks from eBay and contain them, because this version of Jason was too powerful to have those talismans out in the world. It's like one of those sword-and-sorcery adventuring-party stories. His Jason must be contained and kept secret from the uninitiated.

John Hill: My very favorite Romeo, not my favorite Jason. His performance of Cross is unsurpassed, though.

James Snyder: Soundtrack only and that sounds very distinctly Jason McConnell all right, nothing to complain about. I voted for this compromise candidate.

Jonah Platt: Lindsay Pierce steals every scene with Ivy and Jason together and I don't much understand what Platt is going for in those scenes, but the dynamic with Payson Lewis in the Jason and Peter scenes is above and beyond. I think John Hill plays it as a cocky teenager doomed to be out of his emotional depth the moment before he shifts to archetypal Tragic Hero mode, while Platt plays Jason as...the asshole hottie that high school girls from dysfunctional homes lust after, because if he's disdainful or kind of an asshole to everybody else but he's nice to you then you know you're special but really the more important bit of knowledge should be that he's kind of an asshole to everybody else and you are next, girl, Peter, run! Or is his raw-nerve intensity and 0-to-60 mood swings compelling even before things start to go wrong for him?

Jan Forrellat: He's like the visual equivalent of James Snyder without being a visual of James Snyder. I look and Jan Forrellat is like...standard-issue Jason McConnell, all right. He's the one in my head in all the fanfictions about Jason.

Kim Jin-Wook: Another standard-issue Jason McConnell. I am puzzled by how little I have to say, I think there is nothing wrong with his performance so there is nothing outstanding either. This is equilibrium amounts of Jason McConnell traits.

Jahlil M. Burke: The camera was always so far away, but from the body language I think he plays Jason as just an ordinary kid, like the-boy-next-door ordinary. Would be interested to watch his dynamic with Matthew Corr, the-boy-next-door Peter. I imagine they'd have to come out to Claire together something like 8 times before she starts to believe them.

Seongwoo Jeon: why is this jason a kdrama villain? That's interesting, though! That's an interesting bunch of artistic choices.

Ezequiel Rojo: I like that he looks like he could be twins with the actress playing Nadia. Because they're actually playing twins.

Jaime Barcelon: Access to evidence that he'd ever played Jason McConnell is, if possible, even more limited than Mr. Deep Lore up the top of this list. I think his casting brought a racialized dimension to the work that I'm more confident textwalling about. (This version of Jason probably wouldn't even be allowed to date Maronne Cruz's Ivy because she's too dark.)

Justin Ivan Brown: mark me, this is himbo tumblrman material

Dalles Wilie: Totally subverted the standard-issue Jason for a stronger narrative choice. If he were in that poll, he would sweep.

[mygalaxypoetry]

Sagau with Creator but...

Tw: None, I don't think so

Note: Idea popped at night so, I may or may not remember this :)). I also haven't watched season 6 so please don't attack me :(

-----

You honestly didn't know how you got to Teyvat in the first place. You just went to bed after playing Genshin Impact and watching season 6 of My Hero Academia and now here you are...

At the exact same location you spawned in since AR1...

"Sh#t, do I have to start over?" You cursed, getting up and dusting of the sand.

Thank God you still had some decent clothes on, ain't no way your going through this world in yo PJ'S.

You do what any player would do and go through the tutorial part of the game. Running, getting waypoint, climbing, etc.

The slime didn't attack you, surprisingly, but you shrugged it of because it did spawn quite late.

You appreciated the scenery of Mondstat from afar before going to the first Statue of the Seven, swimming over the small body of water.

Your hand made contact with the statue and as always at the start, the anemo powers came to your body.

"..."

"Wait a minute, where's my weapon?"

You felt your pockets, nothing. You tried summoning it, raising your hand and thinking about it, also nothing.

'... Crap'

It took you sometime to finally find your stats and...

You didn't have a weapon, just a pair of gloves and a costume. [Could be your OC'S Hero suite or just a made up one]

Sighing from disappointment and contemplating your life choices, you put on the gloves and suit.

'How the Hell am I gonna survive with some basic shi-'

Something hits your leg. Out of pure instinct, you kicked whatever hit you onto the other side. It turned to dust before your very eyes.

"... what the fuck was that..." you asked yourself as more slimes started spawning.

You kicked, punched and elbow jabbed all of them. They all turned to dust supposedly from one attack.

You looked at your hand and it seemed to have green electric sparkles around it.

'... is this One for All?'

[wasp-coffee]

for the emoji ask:

🍦🎬 📚 🌸 💁

When I was, like, 12? My school went on a trip to this outdoors center in the middle of nowhere for a week and it was pretty cool. I mean the weather was terrible, the wetsuits stank, and kayaking sucked but the food was amazing and it was sort of the shared misery of being forced to participate in team-building exercises with the guys that made fun of you for X, Y, Z. It was great, I'll always remember it, especially with the coma-inducing amount of sweets everyone managed to cram into their suitcases.

Top Gun (1986) (shocker!), The Mummy (1999), Whip It (2009), Anastasia (1997):

I really don't need to say anything about Top Gun... I'm sure EVERYONE is well aware of how I feel about Top Gun.

The Mummy is both iconic and hilarious, I must've seen it upwards of 100 times when I was younger and it still holds up (yes the CGI sucks but IDGAF). Starring Racheal Weiss and Brendon Fraser it truly is bisexual culture. Its a great film and a fun watch.

Whip It is THEE rollerskating movie, directed by Drew Barrymore (icon) and Eliot Page (Icon) it has a brilliant cast of mainly women and is just a fucking masterpiece tbh the soundtrack is great. Everyone should go watch Whip It (not sponsored).

Anastasia is an absolutely amazing musical with the wackest animation that the late 90s could offer, with MEG RYAN as Anya and Angela Landsbury as The Dowager Empress. All the songs are fucking bangers, it's a beautiful film with a hilarious antagonist AND a broadway musical based on it (slime tutorials readily available on youtube, but you didn't hear that from me).

JUST THREE??? Hm okay... (please don't @ me) -I'm going off the books I think I reread the most (I haven't sat down to read properly in ages so bear with)

The Infernal Devices its a series but it counts as (1)I've read it upwards of ten times after I found it at the library five? (jeez) years ago. I now have my own copies and the spines make a beautiful picture. Here's some quotes:

" And you are still with me. When I breath, I will think of you, for without you I would have been dead years ago. When I wake up and when I sleep, when I lift up my hands to defend myself or when I lie down to die, you will be with me. You say we are born again. I say there is a river that divides the dead and the living. What I do know is that if we are born again, I will meet you in another life, if there is a river, you will wait on the shores for me to come to you, so we can cross together." 

“I could not tell you if I loved you the first moment I saw you, or if it was the second or third or fourth. But I remember the first moment I looked at you walking toward me and realized that somehow the rest of the world seemed to vanish when I was with you.”

“Patriotic?” Will looked smug. “I’ll tell you what’s patriotic,” he said. “In honor of my birthplace, I’ve the dragon of Wales tattooed on my—”

The Hunger Games - I must have read it on repeat the summer I bought it (thank you duty free!) The poor book is fraying at the corners and the spine is in smithereens but here's a quote:

“Yes. I killed him. And buried her in flowers," I say. "And I sang her to sleep.”

The City of Heavenly Fire (another Cassandra Clare book ik ik and its YA I can hear the chorus of groans already) Its the last Mortal Instruments book and its fucking good okay.

“His eyes were green.”

“We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss.”

I want to note here that I do have a lot of other books on my shelves but these are the ones I've read more than most. I have a whole shelf of classics and another for non fiction but these are just the books that I feel made an impact (or a crater) on me the first time I read them.

An ambivert I think? It depends on where I am and what's going on.

Uh I don't know, It's dependant on the situation really. How rude? I mean is it like someone shoving past or cutting a line or verbally? If it was, like, someone saying something rude I'd usually just let it slide - put it down to ignorance - but if someone's rude to me and then someone I'm with I'd probably say something. I have a no tolerance policy for people treating my friends like shit.

[notafraidofstopping876]

Just some random thoughts on the Dear Evan Hansen movie...

Below the cut for anyone who cares to read....

So I’ve listened to the cast album several times and watched a slime tutorial but have yet to see it onstage....and I have a very long history of mental health problems both within myself and within my family, so that’s where I was coming in...

Overall I was pretty happy with it and definitely cried, this is just literally a random thought dump 

*Seeing Evan at the beginning with his twitching and racing thoughts and nervousness made me feel SO SEEN.(I have severe anxiety and depression myself)

*Was Ben Platt probably too old for this role? Probably. But his performance was truly incredible and I’m glad it was preserved in this way.

*Honestly I did not feel as bad for Evan as I thought I would....really and truly after the lies began I didn’t feel hardly any sympathy for him at all. I didn’t even cry during “Words Fail” just because I felt zero sympathy for him after the lying and manipulating.

*Sincerely Me was very well filmed.

*Alana was a lot more sympathetic. I loved her new song, Amanda did a killer job. And I understand more now why Alana posted Connor’s letter, but it still doesn’t excuse it.

*Acting was good all around. Best performance I’ve ever seen Amy Adams or Julianne Moore give. Singing was also good all around, usually once Hollywood casting takes hold of a musical there’s one “singer” who sticks out like a sore thumb (looking at you Russel Crowe and Pierce Bronson) but everybody sounded good.

*I cried for the first time during “Requiem” just because that song always hits way too close to home. Long story short a family member was in and out of the hospital after multiple suicide attempts in a two year period so....yeah 

*LOVED seeing Demarius Copes, even briefly. I’d met him several times because of Newsies on tour and I loved getting to see him on the big screen. 

*Second cry was “You Will Be Found” just seeing how many people were bonded together and uplifted

*When Cynthia said to Larry “Because he wasn’t yours” I audibly gasped. Like, shit. 

*Third and biggest cry was “So Big So Small” because of course it was. May have reminded me too much of my Mom caring for me during my episodes. 

*The resolution of the movie was SO WELL EXECUTED. It solved my biggest problem with the stage show: that Evan never faced consequences for what he did. The fact that he openly admitted what he did and was shunned for it, and then the fact that he actively tried to make things right as best he could by getting to know who Conner really made him a lot more redeemable to me.

*THE VIDEO OF CONNER AND THE GUITAR I LITERALLY GASPED. THAT WRECKED ME. 

Overall I was pretty happy with it....but I will say that while I think it’s great that Dear Evan Hansen is bringing up conversations about suicide and mental health, and I think it’s great that so many people find hope/catharsis in it....I don’t know if it necessarily does that for me.

That’s just me personally, I’m not saying it’s bad. But even when the musical came out, even in that Tony season, there were shows that I found even more cathartic and beautiful (like Come From Away) and shows that I also felt dealt with trauma and mental illness in a meaningful way (Bandstand and even to an extent Anastasia) and it irritates me that so many of those shows were brushed aside because of Dear Evan Hansen’s popularity.

So while I don’t think I’ll ever go out of my way to see the musical onstage, I’m glad the movie exists and I’m glad I watched it. But I don’t think I’ll ever rewatch it multiple times like with the Come From Away proshot.(For the record that musical made me UGLY CRY and belly laugh and made me feel every human emotion that is possible in a ninety minute time span)

[ranmanjuu]

not a request but can you imagine oda forces trying to play smash against the anti-oda or they all play minecraft together

i’ll expose myself here. i have never ever played smash (although minecraft steve being announced is super pog) so i can’t tell ya that part bud. but i can with the blok game. (disclaimer that this request was made after i closed it yet my heart said No, you actually Want to do this so here i am. most probably will be short).

‎

welcome folks, to SengokuSMP.

oda forces:

—nobunaga:

would be the one that steals your iron and shit. commits thefts willy nilly, and no one is exempt from this. if he needs it, he’ll get it with or without your consent.

would kill an iron golem for the few iron it gives

before he got his own base (cause i think he’d just spend most of his time mining and getting materials to protect himself) he’s probably just barge in the nearest bed and sleep in it, regardless of the owner.

his base would probably be built by hideyoshi or sumthn.

he prefers playing pvp more than just survival. since mc placed a kind of restriction for the end (and therefore blocking them from completing the game), he goes onto servers and practice his battles even in a block game.

1.9 axe-shield pvp. he’s tactical in knowing when to strike and block and to back down, and is immaculate with his crits.

—hideyoshi:

probably spends the first few days around nobunaga to protect him. he always fights off the mobs near him even if nobunaga can handle himself.

always reminds people to sleep every night, so that the phantoms don’t come. even though a lot of the players prefer to just stay up.

built a base for nobunaga near his mine cause he needs A Place and not just mooch furnaces and beds from other people.

spawned iron golems for “protection” but nobunaga keeps killing them cause it just gets in the way

would be the one to make mines 4 blocks high so you don’t Bump your head thing, probably like 3 block width and even staircases. would also be the one to make a safety railing across any bridges he finds.

if an ally, he’d greet new players and give them some extra stuff so that they have Something to start off with

i feel like he’d be a pve player idk why

—mitsuhide:

no one knows where he is most of the time. nor his base.

unless you see his nametag (which, most of the time, he’ll see yours first) it’s kinda hard to find him when he’s off and alone.

mf is the black market of the server. whatever potions, potion ingredients, or shit like that, he has. he probably owns like several wither skulls enough to summon a wither.

he would sneak around when mc is mining and just like. scare the shit out of them. the cave noises don’t help.

(the newest screenshot hasn’t been released yet but,) y’all know the warden? the new mob? cause it’s reliant on sounds, if anyone is ever in its proximity he’d throw like snowballs at them so that it goes after them. little shit.

bow skills?? perfect. even in a game his accuracy is spot on. you know those obstacles people make with like slime blocks and maybe mlg 360s? mf can do that

he probably knows enough redstone to make traps, too.

somehow knows what everyone has/doesn’t have.

—masamune:

prank ass bitch.

he probably has like a Source of tnts in his base or something. if anyone is moving out of their old base, he’ll either blow it up or burn it, whether they wanted to or not.

fuck it. he’ll do it even if you’re not moving.

probably doesn’t often sleep and would rather fight off the phantoms than anything.

he probably wants to defeat the dragon quick, cause it’s supposed to be the game’s ultimate goal. but because of the previous restrictions you put, he just goes off and fights other players (cough kenshin, nobunaga)

and when he does kill you, expect like half of your items to not be returned.

also one of the casual thieves in the server. he just doesn’t care that it Belongs to someone and just yoinks

also a pvp player, although i find him leaning more to 1.8 style. he will jitter click you out of existence.

has dogs because idk he gives off that vibe also they Attack.

—ieyasu:

does not log on much lol. he got on once and then Never Again. it’s only when you ask him that he begrudgingly does get in in his own contrarian way.

definitely goes wayy far out for more isolation cause he doesn’t want to get caught up with whatever shit masamune has.

the only major thing he did besides mining and everything was that he got a cat. and almost no one knows about it, other than you because:

“ieyasu has made the advancement [Best Friends Forever]!”

“mc: :OOOOO!!!!”

yeah, you never told anyone.

the longest time that he logged in at first was probably when he found out that cats sleep in beds and just. sat there as the night goes by in his bunker just watching and hearing it purr. he’s a bit irritated when the others tell him to sleep, but then see that the cat went and slept on him that secretly made his heart soft.

and then you insisted on going to his base which took a considerable amount of time, and even with his denying, you decide to decorate and expand his base! you also got to name the cat, but you never knew since you just said like “i’d name it [...]!” and later ieyasu found a name tag and actually did name it that.

—mitsunari:

he doesn’t run a lot i don’t feel. primarily because he was wonky with the controls from the start.

i feel like he’d have the brain to be a redstone engineer. he spends more time like, making those cool machines than anything (probably those that’d help out everyone like an automated farm, etc.)

thing is he forgot that he could die, so most of the time he’s just starve to death without even noticing it.

much like in real life, he always forgets to sleep. and that’s why phantoms are his number 2 in his cause of deaths.

doesn’t have an actual base. hideyoshi built a small one for him, but mitsunari kind of never uses it and just logs off on the spot. at this point it just became a part of the main buildings for everyone or something.

he doesn’t do an awful a lot of collecting and often asks others for some. and when he is given it, he goes “thank you ^^ <3″ and does like the happy-shift thing. it’s honestly too cute for it to be just pixels.

probably knows a lot about minecraft stuff too, it’s just that he never uses any of it.

—ranmaru:

he was so excited the first time you told him that he was invited to the smp of sengoku warlords! would probably frequent the most.

i think he’d just vibe really. not exactly going extremely into pve or pvp or redstone or building, he plays it at a very slow place and more like an animal crossing player would.

like, he builds a small farm and stuff. it isn’t as efficient as mitsunari’s, but it is what it is. also has an animal pen with loads of one animal category and he tends to let people use it with the exclusion of some (coughs masamune) as long as they breed them again or something.

and while he doesn’t go for the big projects, he is kind of a builder? he has the Aesthetic sense while building his house and stuff yk. would maybe lean into the cute, cottagecore stuff.

favorite food in game is probably cake! it takes more effort than most other foods and it just looks cute so he likes making them.

totally has shaders on.

is scared shitless of cave noises at times. you could play 11 near him and he’d just straight up panic and log off.

‎

uesugi-takeda forces:

—shingen:

i find him to be maybe one of those builders that stick to large projects and stuff idk why

he does other things too, mainly pvp (he likes to just head over to nobunaga’s base and kill him sometimes. not that the man doesn’t accept the challenge). would probably also be more into 1.9 pvp because he’s a very calculative person in fighting. yes even in block game.

but the first thing he built once he’s set from collecting materials, was a “restaurant”. for what, you ask? why of course he takes you on a minecraft date. that was the top of his list the moment you even told him about the smp

once the others found out (which was not that long) he just started bragging. kenshin burnt down the building later on.

but he always escorts mc or some shit while spewing out his Lines in chat, sometimes doing the bow in game thing. in response, there are several barfs in chat, and a list of people coming to kill him.

mf likes to combat log on kenshin when he’s on a Killing Spree for the shits and giggles.

—kenshin:

first time you told him about it, he was very happy to learn something about mc’s modern times, even if it’s a children’s game. unfortunately, he didn’t know what an ‘smp’ meant.

so when he logged on and saw that there were Other people, his smile turned into a deadly frown as he just began punching them to death. he only stopped when they ran off and you intervened.

he tried having you stick around longer when you were giving him a tutorial of how to play the game.

at first he only collected material to get stronger. and by that only sword because he sees no need in getting armor (he doesn’t die in battle irl, he can’t die in a simple game). but WRONG cause he got killed by shingen who, even though he had a stone axe, had iron armor while kenshin got nothing but an iron sword.

he doesn’t make a base (why do so many here don’t make bases istg). in fact, he doesn’t log on much.

at first, he only goes on if mc is on. it’s only when he sees that mc appreciates some of the work the others have put into things (like shingen’s builds, mitsunari’s redstone, etc.) is when kenshin tries to Do Things Too and kinda fail.

this man kinda has no aesthetic sense in the block game. but you give him a for effort.

1.8 pvper. he can definitely do 1.9, but more the former mostly cause his deadly anger makes him jitter click like crazy. often challenges others (consented or not) which mostly includes masamune and nobunaga, and he often surprise attacks shingen and sasuke.

—yukimura:

honestly a normal player in survival.

he makes a decent house, has some pretty strong gear, and just helps around his allies a lot (mostly {try to} drag kenshin away from trouble, scold shingen for being too close to mc {though it’s a him problem ngl} and just being a messy caretaker).

i feel like he’d enjoy tekkit tbh. sasuke would probably introduce it to him and he’d just generally enjoy it.

but this is about the smp

he got lucky the first drowned he killed dropped a trident and it’s been his favorite weapon.

probably tried at one point to build kenshin a small base but he wouldn’t listen so like. shrugs.

he’s a bit iffy with playing alongside the enemies in the same server, but they are kind of divided into two. and mc did say it was just for fun and games and they didn’t want to see actual wars be dragged into this, so he just lets it go and has fun.

he looks forward to beating the enderdragon a lot, when the end is available.

—sasuke:

oh Boy he’s having a field day. his adored sengoku warlords? playing minecraft, his childhood game??? absolute pog.

even though it was you who proposed the idea, the one who set up the server in the first place was sasuke, since he has more knowledge on that stuff.

since he got his bearings quicker than the rest from experience, and he was earlier to log on due to testing and stuff, he mostly helps you with building like the main hub, like the center place for everyone and generally things that involve helping the overall smp.

can mlg water bucket, through a lot of trial and error. he uses it mostly to make dramatic entrances where he drops from a hill and just not take damage.

^ speaking of Dramatic Entrances, he probably has a chest full of ender pearls for those specifically.

although he helps a lot with guiding everyone, at times, he pulls out the ol’ “sleep in the nether :)” suggestion just to troll

ngl he’d stick to his ninja thing and successfully make a redstone-wired door and has his banger secret base in it

—yoshimoto:

the s in smp doesn’t exist to him.

he’s just a collector, really. one of his first priority isn’t even materials like stone, the moment he finds any kind of flowers he’ll pick it up. it’s only when yukimura and sasuke actually Give him shit does he start living a not broke life.

probably dies a lot to mobs and stuff

but like legit, this man spent a long time collecting all 13 discs and almost every flower (yes, even the biome only ones) because he wants to take it all in. nevermind the fact that he can just listen to the discs online and all.

he’s immaculate in his aesthetics. even with just wood he makes his base look really cool ngl. 

some parts of it are plastered with every painting there is in minecraft, or just item frames, or flowers in their pots. every decoration you can think of, lamps, campfires, even armor stands, he has them.

you gotta give him credit, it’s a lot of effort.

he often afks just to listen to the music even though, again, he could just listen to it online.

got into a bit of a spiel with ranmaru, since he unknowingly dyed a lot of his sheep (he did categorize it with color though). and so they made an agreement to just have every color sheep, and put them in different pens. so they just shared it now

he saw the cave updates and went silently bonkers because how pretty some look (like the lush caves? hello??)

he has like. 14+ texture packs and 4 different shaders ready at his settings.

[regrettablewritings]

Preferences: Guilty Pleasures

Characters: Okoye, Lucifer Morningstar, Dewey Finn, Peter B. Parker, Ahkmenrah

Okoye

Okoye is straightforward and stony upon first impressions. And, admittedly, even afterward. The only real difference is that, if one gets to know her better, they might find shock in the fact that in spite of her appearance, she Dora leader actually likes sweets. However, it’s not sweet things in general that Okoye feels guilty for enjoying: It’s Starbucks.

Starbucks is the antithesis of everything Okoye is associated with: Supremely un-Wakandan, a chain establishment, and overall just not worth the absurd cost. Not to mention superbly unhealthy when compared to the rest of a fighter’s typical diet. But yet you can bet that every time she needs to go out of the country or off-continent, there’s an invasive shout for joy at the possibility that she might be able to get her hands on a Frappucino (followed by an internal scolding).

She can’t even explain exactly why she likes it; there are plenty of good, even healthier sweet things back in Wakanda -- heck, back anywhere else!

But it’s a bit like when someone craves the cheap taste of school pizza over a legit pie cooked in a stone hearth: She just loves the sugary sweetness, the application of whipped cream to an already tooth-rottingly saccharine icy drink, the addition of chocolate. But Bast, she also hates it. But ever since T’Challa practically shoved a grande cup of caramel frappucino into her hands, she hasn’t felt entirely the same.

Against her better judgement, she’s more or less unintentionally tried 45% of the menu drink-wise. She doesn’t particularly care much for the food part of the establishment, though if she should ever find herself in one during the fall, she might indulge in a chunky slice of pumpkin bread under the conviction that it’s healthy enough for being gourd-related. Never mind that it’s just a cinnamon mixture with more sugar than actual pumpkin-derived anything.

Really, of all those mentioned on this list, Okoye is the one who probably feels the most disappointed in herself whenever she indulges in her guilty pleasure: It’s a betrayal to her patriotism, to her dignity, and to her attempts to eat healthy. But damn, if this type of betrayal doesn’t taste so addicting . . .

Lucifer Morningstar

The thing about Lucifer is that it’s actually a bit hard for him to feel any regrets over liking anything; he’s the Devil, after all, so his whole thing is about embracing the things that make you feel good. And even besides that, he’s mostly managed to skate by in his time on Earth by categorizing things as Stuff He Likes, Stuff He Tolerates, Stuff He Doesn’t Bother With, and Stuff Humans Seem to Enjoy But He Doesn’t Quite Get. It’s a tad restricted of a system but you can’t argue with results.

However, just because something is difficult doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. The Devil can, in fact, recognize absurdity in liking certain things. Hence why, to a point, he’s fallen prey to his own bizarre pleasures: The Devil has guilty pleasures, and it’s in stupid YouTube videos, Vine, and TikTok.

After he finally drank the Kool-Aid and got himself a smart phone, it was only a matter of time before Lucifer fell down the rabbit hole that is YouTube prank videos and strange uploads about nonsense and animal humor. It was also only a matter of time before he found himself stumbling into Vine compilations. The Celestial is terrifically mystified by the creative power of humans, managing to tell entire stories and peak comedy in only a span of seven seconds. But he’s also quite loathe to have realized it’s been long defunct by the time he’s discovered it.

He’s even more loathe to find himself making references in his daily life: He has actually quietly blurted out, “I sure hope it does” in response to seeing a Road Work Ahead sign, causing Chloe some confusion (and Lucifer lots of embarrassment). He has referred to a culprit as “Jared, Age 19″. Since discovering Vine, there has been at least one night wherein he and a bed mate were sitting there with barbecue sauce on his tiddies, but that was by sheer coincidence.

But eventually the Vine compilation well dried up, and the inevitable transfer over to TikTok happened. And Luci honestly doesn’t know what to make of TikTok. He would describe it as Vine’s Molly-addicted cousin based on its obsession with dancing, but the dances are so stationary that even that doesn’t seem quite right. The videos on the platform are also much more . . . bizarre. And some of them admittedly trigger a fight-or-flight response in him, to which he always chooses the third option of freezing if only so he can keep watching the train wreck unfold before his eyes.

The trouble with TikTok, he’ll admit to himself, is that it’s not as easy to find iconic content the same way he could with Vine. However, this isn’t to say that he hasn’t found anything worth watching over and over and over again . . .

(Let’s just say the “Wolf Pack Compilation” lives in his head rent-free, and he’s both too amused by it and too overwhelmed by its vibe to try and evict it.)

Dewey Finn

Dewey is . . . a special case. Given that he associates messy living and indulging in one’s pleasure a part of the rocker lifestyle, he’s generally quick to embrace whatever makes him happy. He’s very upfront about his interests and is arguably almost incapable of feeling shame. But it’s in there: Deep down. No, not in himself -- in his Spotify. Specifically, a Spotify account made on an email he never uses because it was made specifically to create this separate, uber secret playlist.

One marked “Actual Musical Bops.”

Dewey hates musicals: They’re cheesy, uninspired, gaudy, ridiculous, totally aimed at chicks with weird fantasies that he could never aspire to, and the music is just overall unimpressive. And yet, somehow, against his music elitist nature, a handful have managed to slip through the cracks. At the very least, a handful of numbers have clawed their way past his defenses and into his ear, where they now live rent-free.

In spite of his best efforts, the problems are that he’s a New Yorker, so it’s inevitable that he hears a song or two; and also that, as an instructor (to wealthy New York tweens whose families can afford frequent tripes to the Great White Way, no less), he’s definitely going to wind up hearing about some shows and their stand-out numbers: Against his will, he knows the lyrics to “My Shot”; he has cried in the secrecy of his apartment to “When I Grow Up”; in the never-necessary reason he needs to remember how many minutes there are in a year, he sings it inside his head; hell, he’s even found himself trying to figure out the electric guitar riff from “The Phantom of the Opera” during his down time.

What’s all the more embarrassing is that, given how he presents himself as a music elitist, there’s just no way he can come back from this if anyone were to know. He has to catch himself when he finds himself humming “Johanna” in the teacher’s lounge. He scowls at himself when he can’t sleep and gives in and starts playing “No One is Alone.” He wants to kick his thick ass every time he realizes he’s excited to have stumbled across a “slime tutorial” on YouTube, this one with better quality than the last. The reason he actually put a password on his phone wasn’t out of privacy like a sensible person would, but out of a need to make sure that no one ever found out that he had downloaded the entire Beetlejuice soundtrack, including jankily-recorded songs that never made it to the official cast recording for whatever reason!

And should anyone ever find out about any of this, Dewey has a plan: “Oh, I’m doing research. I’m studying these songs so I can give the kids a lesson on what not to do as actually competent musicians.”

But the lesson would never actually come. Mainly because he keeps prolonging his “research” . . .

He’s also developed a bit of a soft spot for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic due to some students gushing about it, but he would rather sooner die than ever be associated with the term “brony.”

Peter B. Parker

Peter is at a point where he’s too tired to really care about the idea of guilty pleasures. The way he sees it, there are bigger priorities at stake than worrying about someone finding out about your love of some hokey activity or food or form of entertainment.

Besides, he’s a New Yorker: There’s way weirder stuff for people to just not pay any real attention to. Hence why he thinks nothing of his bizarre eating habits. And no, this isn’t referring to his disastrous appetite: This is about his tendency to eat food with his hands. Foods that, well, he really should probably utilize eating utensils for.

To be fair, this habit has always existed in him in some form or another, especially since, as Spider-Man, he often needs to eat food on the go. But during the time he spent living the life of a depressed bachelor, it came out in full force. On the rare occasion he wasn’t eating a food that deserved to be eaten by hand, he often found himself loathing the idea of doing the dishes afterward. There would be days he’d feel only slightly less depressed; enough to make a box of Kraft Mac n Cheese in the pot, but not enough to avoid cutting out the middle man.

He’s thankful the craptastic apartment wasn’t also see-through because if it were, he’s positive his neighbors would’ve thought they were bearing witness to a man’s breakdown as he wept into a pot of macaroni and cheese, his hand full of the stuff, while wearing a Spider-Man costume. (And, to be fair, they actually would be.)

In addition to this, there were also those nights where he would be prepared to actually tuck in to a plate of spaghetti, only for some crime going on elsewhere in the city to drag him away. By the time he’d return, the plate would’ve been cold and his energy too depleted to want to even dream about cleaning more than he already had to.

The great news is that he’s thankfully done a 180, now able and willing (if begrudgingly) to clean up after himself. But bad news is that this feral man will still eat a fully-loaded baked potato like an apple. In a park. In front of women and children. He’s just too tired to care anymore. He’s aware of the guilt in this as a concept, but he’s also aware that he needs to take whatever happiness he can get out of whatever he does. And if that means eating everything by hand, then so be it!

Ahkmenrah

Funnily enough, Ahkmenrah doesn’t seem to experience much of any shame for enjoying the things most might feel the need to hide: He’s constantly curious and has missed out on a lot over the centuries, so why should he feel bad for wanting to indulge in them? Celebrity gossip is just a more fun version of the palace gossip he’d grown up hearing as a boy; reality TV is like watching a play, but with much more fights, less deaths, and more faulty romances; and sloppy meatball subs are like a feast for a man of his time!

Besides, he’s a king: Kings shouldn’t have to feel embarrassment over what the common folk might think.

And yet . . . It took some time, but eventually Ahkmenrah did experience it: Guilt in his pleasures.

He couldn’t even recall where it had all started. Maybe he was searching for more content to swallow after the most recent season of his new favorite show had ended? Whatever the case, he wound up biting off more than he could chew when he stumbled upon . . . fanfiction.

The adorable yet sad thing is that he didn’t even think anything of it at first. It wasn’t until he brought up a ship he’d invested his last few nights awake exploring on the computer: Nobody knew what the crap he was talking about, so of course he felt the need to explain it. But the more he talked, the more perplexed his friends looked. And the more he could feel his cheeks and ears burn.

Oh, he thought. Is this . . . embarrassment? Is that what this feels like? Oh, this is just foul.

Thankfully, nobody pressured him to keep talking about it, but the poor king sure as heck didn’t feel much of a desire to talk any further about it. But he needed to talk to somebody about his newly acquired “feels” as those online were calling them.

Joining fanfiction-oriented sites was the next obvious step, of course, but he’s experienced mixed feelings about it: On one hand, it’s nice to talk with people who share similar views and excitement about a fictional couple. But on the other, the digital wars that have broken out both disturb him and bring out the worst in him.

Like, of course there are bigger things to deal with than whether or not So-So is better off with Him-Ham, but if you truly think that Blah-Blah and Himhaw are a healthy relationship, then you can go do a service and bury yourself in the desert sands to provide substance to the hungry beetles with your flesh --

Suffice to say, a lot of the guilt in this pleasure seems to come from the fact that Ahk can get a little too emotionally invested if the work is really good. He tries to limit his interactions to commenting and praising certain works, and encouraging content creators. However, he’s also contemplated contributing his own pieces of fiction to the fandom . . .

[chaoticpanenergy]

Alright, Sanders Sides fandom (+ Six the Musical fandom). 

I watched this *ahem* neato slime tutorial about Six the Musical and then listened to the soundtrack on Spotify and then overanalyzed the lyrics on genius.com and I have a lot of emotions about this story. So what do I do? I make a Sanders Sides au/analysis for it, obviously, putting WAY too much thought into different interpretations of which side could be which queen. Let’s jump in.

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine in the golden-yellow and black costume. Catherine who knows when she is lied to. Catherine who puts herself first when it comes down to it. Catherine who deals with disrespect but knows her worth anyway. Catherine who “keeps her cool” and stays in control of herself. Catherine must be Janus, lord of the lies, self-preservation, whose calm facade has cracked so rarely.

But then again, Catherine is a leader. Catherine is concerned with loyalty, and what is right and wrong, and that is why she stands up against the divorce—it is wrong of Henry to divorce her, according to her morals. Catherine can swallow her pride, and Catherine seeks a solution to the last, giving Henry so many chances. Catherine handles her situation with grace. Catherine must be Patton, the Hufflepuff, Morality, loving and kind and endlessly forgiving, always trying to do what is right and guide others to do the same.

But then again, Catherine strives to “keep her cool.” To look at things with a level head. She speaks up and reasons with Henry, and in return asks for his own reasoning. She refuses to be made into a joke or looked down upon. Catherine is stubborn and verbose. Catherine must be Logan, the voice of reason, who does his best to keep a handle on his temper and appear as professional as possible, who explains and reasons and is logic above all, who is terrified of being seen as a joke, who is desperate to just be heard for once in his life.

Anne Boleyn

Anne in the green sleeves. Anne who has no filter whatsoever, Anne who says whatever comes into her head. Anne who makes jokes about her own beheading. Anne who says “don’t be bitter/cause I’m fitter/why hasn’t it hit her?/he doesn’t wanna bang you/somebody hang you.” Anne who is “sorry not sorry” about everything she says. Anne who is the most gleeful and up-front about “x-rated” content. Anne whose energy is boundless. Anne who is disliked and cast in a negative light by those around her. Anne must be Remus, the darkly creative, responsible for intrusive thoughts, who would never hide anything going through his head and sees no reason to regret this, the “evil twin.”

But then again, Anne who didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” Anne who desperately cries “what was I meant to do?” over and over again as every choice she makes has no good outcome for her. Anne whose comments are more harshly received than she sometimes means. Anne who does not take it well when she comes second to someone else. Anne must be Roman, the ego, stuck in a damned-if-I-do-damned-if-I-don’t situation towards Janus throughout the “Putting Others First” saga, who often lashes out instinctively only to immediately apologize, who strives to be Thomas’s hero.

But then again, Anne whose actions are surprisingly logical from her own point of view. Anne who uses phrases like “obviously” to describe what took place. Anne who gives back tit for tat and no more when she feels disrespected. Anne who is blunt, perhaps more so than is good for her. Anne must be Logan, who always does what makes the most sense to him, who considers what is fair and equal, who can come across as harsher than he means.

Jane Seymour

Jane who is patient. Jane who is steady. Jane who forgives over and over again and makes allowance for behavior she does not deserve to tolerate. Jane whose family is of the utmost importance to her. Jane is overlooked for her kindness and meekness but is so, so strong. Jane who makes puns about her own name. Jane must be Patton, who adores his family, the punster, who is established as the dad friend from day one, who gives and nurtures and forgives endlessly, who is resilient and strong and supportive.

But then again, Jane sticks with the positions she has chosen. Jane who is easily overlooked. Jane who acknowledges the often-sucky realities of life and does not let it bring her down. Jane who is strong as stone and unshakeable. Jane must be Logan, who will not back down, who can be relegated to the sidelines too easily, who is down to earth and who chooses to see the wonder in the ordinary despite all the bad.

But then again, Jane knows she could be rejected at a misstep. Jane who loves, and is loved, but believes that love could “disappear.” Jane who withstands hardships and heartbreak and fear. Jane who uses storm imagery constantly. Jane whose strength and love is akin to stone, something rarely used as a positive metaphor. Jane must be Virgil, who worries he will be rejected for his dark past, who withstood being shunned by those he “lo—cares for” in the past, who is prickly and can cause harm but has grown and matured, who will not be reduced to a single facet of himself even if that makes him more “complicated,” whose logo is a stormcloud.

Anna of Cleves

Anna who is bold. Anna who is unafraid to speak her mind and gets what she wants. Anna whose physical appearance led to her rejection. Anna who is the epitome of “me time” and “self care.” Anna who has no problem being sassy and gives as good as she gets. Anna must be Janus, who advocates for self care and putting oneself first, who is a drama queen, whose sarcasm is off the charts, who has been accused of trickery (sometimes justified, sometimes not), who thrives on attention, whose snake face led to instant distrust from everyone around him, who will go to any length to be heard.

But then again, Anna who demands attention. Anna who gives herself every luxury that occurs to her on a whim. Anna is the only character to openly curse, and gives it a double meaning. Anna who revels in the portrait that caused her rejection and takes pride in it. Anna is the first to make fun of Henry's genitals. Anna must be Remus, who revels in everything he is told not to, who is impulsive and whimsical and unfiltered, who calls Logan a dork and later reveals the inappropriate double meaning, who takes up space unashamedly.

But then again, Anna who constantly reminds us of her royal position. Anna who leans into the queenly activities and possessions. Anna who is flamboyant. Anna who dances when her jam comes on the lute. Anna who rejects criticism of herself. Anna who is “looking cute.” Anna must be Roman, the ego, who put “Flamboyant” by Dorian Electra on his playlist, who is creativity embodied and dances and sings and acts, who “has got to slay,” who reminds us constantly of his princely status.

Katherine Howard

Katherine who comes across at first as flirty and confident only to later reveal that she is insecure because she has only ever been valued for her appearance. Katherine who idealizes and daydreams about someone caring about her for herself and not her looks. Katherine who uses self-confident language to mask her insecurity. Katherine whose language is so flowery and filled with vivid descriptions. Katherine who desperately wants to be approved of and loved. Katherine must be Roman, whose confident facade hides insecurity, who is a hopeless romantic, who is a storyteller, whose language is filled with descriptors and metaphors, who desperately craves approval and validation, who is the romantic side.

But then again, Katherine gives others the benefit of the doubt. Katherine who looks for friends everywhere she goes. Katherine who constantly uses euphemisms and language that might be considered childish. Katherine who is sweet and sincere. Katherine must be Patton, who censors his language and can skirt around topics that are too unpleasant, who forgives and gives second chances, who is kind and soft, who makes friends almost as easily as breathing.

But then again, Katherine who has been let down over and over again. Katherine who tries again and again after every disappointment. Katherine who is anxious to be approved of. Katherine must be Virgil, who dealt with the “scorn” of those he admired for so long, who has persevered through everything, who deals with self-doubt, who always tries again.

But then again, Katherine who thinks she ought to know better, but never does. Katherine who is so, so tired of this same shit every time. Katherine who is too worldly and disillusioned. Katherine who hopes and tries again every time she gets let down. Katherine must be Janus, who put “You’re a Cad” on his playlist, who was rejected time and time again by Thomas and the others but kept trying, who went on a whole ramble about how society is out to get you and the only person you can really trust is yourself.

Catherine Parr

Catherine who brought all the queens together despite their differences and their fights. Catherine who was separated from the person she cared about before eventually reuniting with him. Catherine who uses her voice defiantly because she is tired of being silenced. Catherine who doesn’t need love to get by. Catherine who loves music. Catherine who sometimes loses hope, but keeps going anyway. Catherine must be Virgil, the bridge between “light” and “dark” sides, who cannot be silenced, always listening (to Thomas or to music), who cared about the “light” sides long before he was accepted as part of the group.

But then again, Catherine who prioritizes herself and her own story. Catherine who sings her song “for me.” Catherine who is a little bit cynical about love stories, which we’re normally taught to idealize. Catherine for whom the rules of society are a trap. catherine who demands control over herself. Catherine who rejects the rules of the queens’ competition when they restrict her. Catherine must be Janus, self-preservation and self-care, who feels restricted and endangered by the rules of society, who dismisses Patton’s urge to help those in need with a “yeah, sure, whatever, if that’s your thing,” who pushes Thomas to be true to himself.

But then again, Catherine who “built a future in her mind” with her love. Catherine who loves art in all its forms, and consumes and creates it with abandon. Catherine who wants to tell her story on her own terms after being silenced for so long. Catherine must be Roman, endlessly creative, romantic daydreamer, struggling with balancing his wants with Thomas's needs and feeling silenced because of it.

But then again, Catherine who writes, and is scholarly. Catherine who fights for equality and takes steps within her power to make specific differences. Catherine who champions education for women. Catherine who cannot stand being boxed in and made to be less than she truly is. Catherine who bottles up her rage at the unfairness of it all for as long as she can. Catherine whose feelings are pushed aside. Catherine must be Logan, the teacher, who pushes his emotions aside until he cannot hold them back anymore, who feels like he is not seen for who he is, who cares deeply about things being fair and equitable, who outlines action steps, who always asks more questions.

--

The queens are each multi-faceted characters full of depth—they’re human, gorgeously and heartwrenchingly so. It makes sense that there are multiple Sides that could easily fit into each of their roles, and I haven’t even covered every possible interpretation. There are dozens of possible lineups to come up with here, each that I love to think about. What’s your favorite? I’d love to hear.

[hquirks]

hello !!! omg yalls admin names are so CUTE it makes me hungry it’s currently 1am where im at 🤤 anyways if the boys at karasuno were youtubers instead, what kind of videos do u think theyd post? discussion is OPEN

Hi anon!! We’re glad you like our admin names !! We were pretty hungry when we made them hehe. Also thank you for this ask and for being our first anon!! We had a lot of fun doing this!! We were laughing so much while we were facetiming as we did it!! So thank you again and much love! Hope you enjoy!! ❤️ - Noodle ✨, BananaMilk 🐯, and Frice 🌊

Karasuno as YouTubers AU

School: Karasuno

Genre: Headcanons, fluff, crack

Warnings: one mention of alcohol

HINATA SHOYO & KAGEYAMA TOBIO

Hinata definitely dragged Kageyama to make this channel

He only agreed if they did things they both could do

So, they have a whole Volleyball 101 series like how to receive, block, set, etc. They also help teach like volleyball fundamentals and strategies!

They also do exercise and stretch tutorials

Kags would have a series of good and healthy food while Hinata would vlog about his days which mostly are about playing volleyball and biking lol PLUS interview his friends especially during training camps like Kenma and Bokuto.

They do lives sometimes but they always end up fighting/bickering somehow and it becomes popular content 

SUGAWARA KOUSHI

Actual DIY king!!

He has a DIY channel for pen pals, bookmarks, socks, candles, slime, etc.

He will even do the really weird life hacks to see if they work or not

Very soft and pastel with a sprinkle of chaos because it is Sugawara 

Vibes of those angry home cafe videos like one minute he’s making really cute cakes but another minute he’s punching the air and pouring chocolate all over his hand

His videos are popular not only because he’s so sweet and friendly (and chaotic) but also because he’s so pretty (has many girls and guys in the comments like “are you single uwu”)

SAWAMURA DAICHI

You know that dad on YouTube with the “how to…”? That’s Daichi

Examples of the videos are like “How to fix your tire” or “How to manage your finances” 

He also loves to tell about his life and just gives advice like “What it means to be responsible” or “Tips for proper and open communication”

Also has “funnier” bits like “How I managed 11 demons (10 children + 1 vice-captain)” 

(it’s 30 mins and most of the time it’s actually just chaotic bits of volleyball practice from their school and even when they are at the Japan camp)

(also the boys from the schools (read: Bokuto and Kuroo) take the camera at one point and just bombards the video)

NISHINOYA YUU & TANAKA RYUUNOSUKE

We all know they have a joint acct!! Their channel is like Korean Englishmen/Jolly

They love to vlog whether it's about school, their trips, volleyball practice, just anything!!

They also love to do all the challenges and trends

Their most viewed video is of them trying do the fire noodle challenge bc they almost DIED eating it 

(they chugged a whole bottle of milk between themselves and even went to the store to buy more and bathed themselves in it)

TSUKISHIMA KEI & YAMAGUCHI TADASHI

Their channel is like Buzzfeed Unsolved/The Watchers !!

Yama is Ryan and Tsukki is Shane. Chaos and debates obviously happen. 

Would collaborate with Tanka and Noya or the other first years to go to a local haunted house place together and record their reactions/experiences. Buzzfeed unsolved way. 

Separate sections: tsukki makes a playlist of music and yamaguchi local food restaurant reviews(think Worth It). 

Reaction videos to music videos (it’s fun to watch them because tsukki usually maintains his cool stance and yamaguchi is completely honest with his feelings. Tsukki mostly criticises and analyzes musical technicalities, but sometimes when he’s amazed you can see his eyes widen. 

YACHI HITOKA

Her channel is mostly drawing tutorials + speed painting!!

Also does Adobe product tutorials, very technical but also cutesy aesthetic like she has a her own character (that’s a baby chick) at the corner of her videos

Vlogs where she live records her drawing + sometimes rants about the torture of rendering 3D animation

She actually vlogged the one time she spent 28 hours at the library trying to render a video that was 1 minute and 30 seconds long...

She does some baking videos and sometimes does collab with Asahi’s channel!! Because of their height differences, the top of Asahi’s head is often cut off from the screen 

Kiyoko makes frequent appearances at Yachi’s channel and everyone loves when she comes on

SHIMIZU KIYOKO

She would have an ASMR channel that mostly focuses on her hands and the objects she’s using

She doesn’t like showing her face or having anything attached to her so no one ever knows it’s her (she’s uncomfy with all the attention vs. when she’s on Yachi’s channel where the attention is shared)

But she becomes like one of the top ASMR channels bc her vibes are really soft and also super aesthetic

Also, SOUND QUALITY !!! exquisite !!! best crunches, taps, scratches, etc. 

Her most popular ASMR video is the one where she roleplays as a witch

NARITA KAZUHITO & KINOSHITA HISAHI

They have an anime/Marvel channel together!

Top 10 Anime Betrayals, Top 10 Anime Deaths, Best 2020 Anime Shows, Could this character beat Goku discussion/debate, etc. You name it. They have it. 

They do reaction videos to anime shows/movies/marvel trailers. 

Civil War Debate: Who Was Right (a lot of differing opinions so its LONG), All Marvel movies Ranked, Funniest moments in Marvel compilations, etc. 

Their most popular video is when they made a funny video pretending to be BNHA heroes and have quirks. They invited the other 2nd years as well and it was a MESS but they had fun making it and editing it with bad effects and all.

ENNOSHITA CHIKARA

Of course our choir boy has a singing channel (covers, original songs, collaborations, etc.)

Plays guitar and sometimes posts acapella videos

He does youtube live with his fans and talks about his day, what he is working on, his favorite songs/musicals, etc. He answers their questions too!! 

Ennoshita does a collaboration series with Takeda sensei (our musical lover) reacting and discussing music videos/songs. Very knowledgeable and calming vibes

He does it with the Karasuno team too and those become his most popular videos because they are SOOO chaotic and funny. Complete opposite of when he does a collab with Takeda sensei

AZUMANE ASAHI

Mainly a cooking channel that specializes in easy recipes!!

He also does a miniature food series.You would think he would have a hard time but he is very adept with small instruments.

Bakes sometimes due to Yachi’s influence, loves to bake bread from scratch.

Fashion tips : “How to layer clothes,” “How to find your aesthetic”, “How to do monochrome looks right”, etc. 

He did a makeover series on the Karasuno team where he diagnoses and dresses them up from head to toe

One of his popular series is “How to cook/bake without a recipe” and the Karasuno group are invited to do it in teams! It is pure entertainment lol.

BONUS~

Coach Ukai and Takeda sensei make frequent appearances in Daichi’s channel / Hinata & Kageyama’s channel

Takeda sensei also goes food hunting with Yamaguchi sometimes and will leave reviews for the restaurant drinks (alcohol

[ayashiki-i-i]

Last Friday, I had the absolute joy and privilege to see Be More Chill in London!

(Yes, last Friday, this has been sitting in my drafts for over a week because I couldn’t figure out how to appropriately convey my delight with this show, and also yes, joy and privilege, call me dramatic but I swear to god nothing on this Earth makes me appreciate my life quite as live theatre.)

I have loved this show for a very long time. Not quite since its first Two Rivers Theatre run, but very early on from when it caught the internet’s attention. I was at the start of what was to become a viral sensation, and I was with the show, rooting for it, hoping for it, ever since. I feel like I walked the journey from crossing million hits on Spotify to the Broadway alongside the cast and creators. I felt immensely happy and proud for these people I never met when they announced their off-Broadway return, and I honest to god cried the day they opened on Broadway. Needless to say, I was overjoyed, literally jumping with happiness, when they announced they will stage a production on West End. Or technically off-West End? I’m still very confused how The Other Palace is not West End and Victoria Palace literally around the corner is West End... Anyway. I have not walked into that theatre on Valentine’s Day with low expectations.

And my Mount Everest high expectations were far, far exceeded and shot somewhere into the stratosphere.

I really can’t with words describe how much I loved this show. Joes Iconis and Tracz managed to hit some very special spot with this musical. It’s truly hard to describe, but this show just makes you happy. It makes you involved and interested. And I gotta tell you, I think we hit the press night, because there was a bunch of people (very respectfully) scribbling on their pads and iPads during the show, so this wasn’t an audience primed and geared for this type of musical. And that’s not even counting all the parents chaperoning their teenagers. And I can guarantee you everyone had a great time. During the intermission I went to get a drink and witnessed several conversations between aforementioned parents that all pretty much amounted to “wow, this is actually good!” It’s honestly such a treat to be in an audience that’s genuinely enjoying themselves.

This show is funny, and heartfelt, and charming. So charming. It has somehow a vibe of a really well done high school production, which could maybe sound like a criticism but i swear it isn’t!

I haven’t seen much of the previous productions, except few clips from the Two Rivers bootleg slime tutorial, but I really tried not to watch too much, hoping against hope there will be a revival one day (I try not to watch shows I have a chance of seeing one day. I’m fortunate to have the chance of having the full experience live so I try not to ruin it for myself lol). I gobbled up all the official promo clips and videos from the NYC revival, being super unlucky and managing to plan my New York trip in that small window when BMC just closed Off-Broadway and before it got on Broadway. I haven’t even listened to the Broadway recording, because by the time it came out I knew they’ll be staging a production over here. So i went in quite blind. With all that previous ado, this is how it was:

The book is so good. So so good. Many times when I fall in love with an album, the actual musical doesn’t hold up because the book doesn’t compare (hi, Dear Evan Hansen). But BMC is as engaging and fun between the songs as during them. Tbh I don’t love the changes to the songs they made, but I don’t really hate them either... Now having listened to the Broadway recording they reverted somewhat back to the original album on West End and I’m happy they did, but still. Especially Pitiful Children did not deserve the cuts. But I mean its still mostly the same album and it’s brilliant and fun, and ok, Looser, Geek or Whatever is a bop.

(Although I always kinda liked that Jeremy didn’t have a typical big “hero song” because he keeps mentioning how he isn’t a hero and it was kinda ironic that his own show refused him the hero treatment, but the song is solid.)

This cast is EVERYTHING. I’m sorry all previous casts, I love you and I respect you but i really think the British cast is (so far) the peak? Obviously as I said I don’t have the full picture to compare, but honestly these guys are all so good and I can’t imagine anyone else in these roles, they set the bar so high. Yes, even Michael. Omg I’m so sorry George Salazar! This role is his in a very special way, and I feel blasphemous saying this! But that’s what makes Blake Patrick Anderson so special, because I didn’t think I will ever be able to accept another Micheal than George Salazar. But from the first moment Anderson appears on stage, you don’t think of George Salazar. This right here is a Micheal and that’s it. I think he’s slightly less... Manic, than Salazar, and more caring, but also more stubborn, and nerdy. My friend said after the first act the character’s problem is that he’s a bit too likeable and it’s almost unbelievable he would be a social outcast and she was right. The dude is so damn likeable! So charming, so positive. And then Micheal in the Bathroom hits and omg does it hit. Also Blake Patrick Anderson has a really long name is very pretty. A+ snack. I’m in love. Scott Folan is, uh, I don’t really love him vocally... Ok I liked him until Loser Geek of Whatever. I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t his day. Or maybe that song is just written for Will Roland and no one will ever measure up? Tbh I haven’t seen Roland sing it live so who knows, maybe it is one of those songs that’s hard to perform without yelling a bit. Praying circle for the West End cast album? However Scott Folan’s acting is a masterclass. He’s so awkward in the first act, so sad, but also sweet. Actually I said i didn’t love his singing but when his voice cracks all over in his first few songs it’s superb and also his “Christiiine~” is really beautiful and lovely, so, dunno *shrugs*. And then in the second half he totally sells his confidence and assholer-y and like... They seem like two different jeremys, the squipped and un-squipped one. But ultimately he just gives such good-kid vibes. He seems like the perfect midpoint between Will Connolly’s shy Bambi and Roland’s geeky recluse. This Christine is absolutely feral. Like, you have no idea. Some people commented on the video of I Love Play Rehersal from the rehearsals that this Christine is not chaotic enough, so I’m seriously worried how chaotic Stephenie Hsu was? :D In any case Miracle Chance I thought was perfect, the ideal mixture of quirky but relatable, sweet but strong. Also she is hilarious. I’m pretty sure she got the most laugh out of the audience, not just because the actress’s absolutely perfect comedic timing but also that role is so well written. Like you really can’t get the full idea of this character until you watch the show, you know? It’s very layered, but each layer is easy to get so she makes a really fun character to watch. The Squip is hot. Like so hot. And his costumes are wonderful. And I know I’m not the only one who didn’t love Jason Tam’s accent as Squip and like... I think I know what he was going for but it just doesn’t work for me. This Squip is a lot more like Eric William Morris, just more hot. Oh yeah I mean the dude is fantastic actor too, and his voice is something impressive, but mostly I was just thinking “hot” whenever he was on stage :D James Hameed’s Rich is vocally stunning. By far the best Squip Song I have ever heard. Also he has Pickle Rick tattoo?? It’s fucking brilliant I HATE IT! :D Millie O’Connel is perfect of course. She has such a presence on stage. It was hilarious when she came out after the show, with her hair down and make-up off and said hi and people mostly kinda ignored her cause... She’s really a hurricane on stage and when she dials it down just a notch I really think people don’t connect her to her stage persona :D

(Also like, massive kudos to The Other Palace’s stage door, cause they allow you to just hang around the bar where the cast has to go through to leave the place, so no dirty alleyways stage dooring in rain and cold and possible pickpockets around.)

I really loved the staging, and it’s very small, very minimal, which isn’t something I normally like, so well done! They definitely dialled back from the Broadway (the bean bags are back!) and honestly the minimal props and simple set really suit this show. It adds to that almost-like-a-really-good-school-play charm. But also they have this massive LED screen as the background so they can change and move and animate their backdrop and it’s honestly so impressive. The artwork is so perfectly in line with the show’s aesthetic. And it’s building up and up towards the show’s climax which I thought was pretty subtle and pretty neat creative decision.

Ugh this is so long I didn’t think it would be so long :D But I have one criticism I cannot not mention. And I kinda always had this, but seeing it live it jumps out on me more - I don’t feel Jeremy and Christine :| I mean don’t get me wrong. The actors have amazing chemistry, their added song is the one that I actually really like and it makes sense, there’s so much more meaningful interaction they have in the show than the songs wold suggest. But. It still doesn’t quite sit well. Besides the fact that I don’t think the show’s narrative is about Jeremy getting the girl - that’s not really his character arc. But also, although they’re not incompatible, he gets the girl he doesn’t even really know, and she definitely doesn’t know him. I think I would prefer if they just stayed friends at the end, but if there had to be romantic conclusion... Well, I mean who doesn’t ship boyf friends, but seriously if Michael was a girl I’m pretty sure he’d be the romantic endgame for Jeremy. You know the type, the old friend who was by the protagonists side and believed in him all along? Yeah. But besides that, i was surprised to find I kinda liked Jeremy with Brooke too? I mean they have the same problem as Jeremy and Christine, with not knowing each other and all that, but at least it’s mutual, and they seemed to have a spark. But maybe it’s just because I unexpectedly really, really loved Brooke (she doesn’t have much space on the album and no one ever really talks about her, why does no one really talk about her???). She defies a lot of her archetype, she seems like such a sweet person. I guess I would just like to see more of her, and more depth to her, which a romance with the protagonist would’ve given her.

But tbh the show devotes a lot more time than I thought it would for Christine and Jeremey’s relationship to develop and it isn’t unrealistic, so it ended up being a pretty minor issue, which i though would be a bigger one.

Tl;dr (oh my god why is this so long????) this show is everything I wanted and more. The West End cast is amazing, charming and delightful and each of them is perfectly cast to really embody their character, while giving some fresh outlook on characters I thought I knew very well and filling very big shoes of the original cast I thought couldn’t be replaced. Also I didn’t talk to any of them but they spend a long time hanging out with the fans after the show and seemed genuinely super nice and pleased with the love the show is getting. The book is more than an equal partner to the music I already was in love with (also Joe Iconis was at the show I saw! I didn’t talk to him because I’m me and I will forever regret it!). The Other Palace’s staging and direction is wonderful, and the choreography is impressive and very on brand with the rest of the show, very modern, very electro and robot. I enjoyed every second and the standing ovation at the end was well deserved.

Just to re-affirm how much I loved this show - just few days after seeing it I booked a ticket to go see it again almost immediately lol. So if anyone is seeing it this Wednesday 26th Feb and you can telepathically pick me in the audience come say hello!

(Or like, drop me a message like a normal person if you’re also going alone and want to meet with someone to seem less like a weirdo! :D)

[solarpunkvegan]

solarpunk vegan stim boards

Hey guys! So, I’ve just started doing research for creating my own stim boards where everything shown is sustainable. This means no plastic, nothing non-vegan, etc. I’ve sketched a few ideas, come up with some themes, and I’m looking into how to make these things in a sustainable way. Things like slime, floam, kinetic sand, water beads/orbeez, wax melts, and more. Some of these things might be impossible to do in a truly sustainable way, and if so, I won’t do them. If they’re not possible I’ll try to replicate some of them in a new way, so instead of slime or floam I’d put my hands in dirt/soil/sand/mud, instead of water beads, I’ll use glass balls in water, instead of melting wax I’ll film vegan butter melting. As an example, today I’ve researched some eco glitters and found one that uses zero plastic but also uses shellac and so I won’t use it. I’ve also learned that you can make glitter with salt and food coloring so I’m researching sustainable, natural food dyes.  Some examples of things I know I can (probably) do sustainably: time lapse of baked goods rising, cutting into pretty cakes, food in general, incense/candles burning, bath bombs, watercolors, paint w/ palette knives & painting in general, confetti made from using hole punches on leaves/flowers, dying fabric w/ natural dyes, crystals catching the sun, plants moving in the breeze, time lapse of plants growing/drying, moving water, latte art, wind chimes, bird watching, herbarium bottles, land art/earthworks, plant mandalas/danmalas w/ stop motion, calligraphy, making smoothies, bubble tea, public domain/stock footage of animals, close ups of brushing/styling hair, petting animals/close up of fur (sanctuary or pets), sustainable makeup being applied (maybe nail polish?), flowering teas, homemade soaps, sand castles, and more.  (All of these will be researched of course) Most of these things will be new to me and the plan would be to make an entire video out of each thing. For example, when I make a bathbomb from scratch following a tutorial I’ll film my attempt and results. Then footage from that video will be used in a future stim board. Each video will explain how something is and isn’t eco-friendly, so I’ll explore for example, how most bath bombs are made, what parts are good or bad and why and how to make your own that’s eco-friendly. The stim boards will have links to each thing used, so if a board contains a cake, a bathbomb, and an eyeshadow, I’ll link a video for each one, me making the cake, reviewing or making the eyeshadow, etc.  Unfortunately, some of these things will not be good my first (or 30th) try. I cannot for the life of me make latte art or calligraphy. But I can try! My failures will probably make for a funny blogpost but will not get a video or be in a board. I’m also new to gif making so I have a lot to learn. (My background is in video editing & photography). I would also like to make things like what you can see here in these amazing videos by Shanks FX: https://bit.ly/35F48Nm I’ve always wanted to do these regardless, and I think they fit into stim boards nicely.  My boards will include things that are sometimes called “living photos” which are essentially just looping gifs. I made a whole project surrounding these in college, the fun part is combining an actual still photo with moving video and blending them together. One example I’d love to do is the steam rising off a cup of a hot drink. The intent with these is to not have any obvious cuts, but seamless loops. I know a lot of these already exist, but I’m attempting to make 90% or more of these entirely on my own. Footage of animals or moving streams are something I can’t really film right now, or ever in some cases, but if I can do it myself I’d like to. As for themes, I’ll definitely take requests, but one theme I’m excited for is bees. I see a lot of bee stim boards which usually involved destroying beehives, they’re gorgeous but I would like to make some that celebrate bees without destroying their habitats & food. No honey will be used (though I could film a honey replacer like beefree dripping on one of those sticks you always see). I’d use public domain/stock footage of bees and beehives, and do other things that represent them, a cake, makeup, showcase the flowers that are good to plant for bees, etc. I’m open to themes around fictional characters, but I want to have some basic themes under my belt first like aquatic, forest, high tech solarpunk, cottagecore-like, art nouveau, tiny living, zero waste, etc. I’m also really interested in all things vintage so I might make one w/ a record player. At the risk of getting too ambitious, another idea I had was creating soundscapes for the boards, if the board is on tumblr it could include a music player and/or a link to a youtube video w/ the soundscape. The board itself could be its own youtube video that loops w/ the sound. Or if it’s on my blog it could have a music player w/ each board. I’ve taken some sound classes in college but I’m no expert, so this might be unrealistic. If you have any suggestions and/or critiques I’d love to hear them. All of this is subject to change as I’m just starting on research now. Actually making the content will take even longer as any ingredients I need might not be readily available right now and I’m going out as little as possible. Thanks! (:

[stephhannes]

in 2019, we’re coping

i’m like the magellan of mental illness- the amerigo vespucci of anxiety, the sir francis drake of sadness.

by that, i mean i’ve been doing a lot of navigating in the last seven months, but instead of discovering new land, i’ve been discovering how to cope. i’ve been out here navigating the fine line between mentally stable and a little batshit.

here’s the thing: 

i used to feel like a marionette, soulless and puppeteered by my grief. now i’m like a sentient doll, a chucky or annabelle if you will. just as spooky as a puppet, but with more agency. on a particularly good day, i’m like a teddy ruxpin with mascara.

i could have gone to therapy to learn healthy coping mechanisms and how to express my emotions in a productive way, but that’s not who i am! i could have gotten a job or started volunteering to hold me accountable to a reasonable sleep schedule, to get me out of my bedroom more often than biweekly, but i didn’t have the energy for that. instead, i’ve spent the last seven months exploring the best activities “things i don’t have to leave my bed for” has to offer.

the main thing i’ve found myself doing is falling into what i refer to as “the youtube khole.” i feel like everyone has experienced this on some level in their life. you set off to watch one buzzfeed video as a way to reward yourself for studying for 45 minutes, only to find yourself three hours later still watching buzzfeed videos. this is such a universal concept, that a beautiful representation of a late-night internet tangent was illustrated in Eighth Grade, when kayla cracks open her macbook and takes buzzfeed quizzes, scrolls through twitter, watches slime tutorials, watches talk show clips - all set to enya’s orinoco flow (here’s the clip for reference).

this is child’s play in comparison to the weird and useless alleyways of the internet i’ve found myself in. every once and awhile, i would surprise nathan with my weird amount of knowledge about completely random things, and i completely attribute that to these weird youtube kholes i get into. one day i watched hours of videos on beekeeping. i went through a phase where i solely watched people who made videos about eating at disneyworld. i listened to this one guy talk to scammers for 12 hours straight one day. i spent a week watching videos of people play arcade games. i WISH i could be like everyone else and find solace in like…. pimple popping videos, but those give me anxiety, so instead i’m just out here watching ASMR videos titled “1990s ASMR - Nihilistic Life Insurance Saleswoman Roleplay” and “1300s ASMR - Nun Takes Care of You In Bed {You Have the Plague}”.

my second favorite coping mechanism is online shopping. nothing fills the void quite like an amazon package at your door. i’m impulsive, and nothing speaks to my impulse more than a 50% sale at forever 21. every time i buy online from them, i remember why i shouldn’t. nothing ever fits when it arrives and i can’t return it because when you shop from the bottom of the clearance barrel, there’s no returning. yet, every time i get an email from them announcing another sale, i find myself crawling right back to the sprawling hellscape that is their website, much like the hellscape that is a physical forever 21 store. at heart, i will always be the poor sack of garbage i’ve always been, so most of the time i just do some online window shopping. this is where i open 6 tabs of different stores, fill the carts with items, and then close the tabs and leave the items to die, never actually purchasing them- that’s honestly just as satisfying to me as actually buying things.

i have made the same twitter poll three times now because i need someone to talk me down. the poll is “should i buy airpods? will airpods make me feel whole again?” and i thank god for everyone who has ever voted no. i feel like that exact question can be applied to everything i’ve bought in the last seven months. “should i buy these candles from bath and body works? will these candles make me feel whole again?”

the closest i’ve gotten to feeling whole was buying an amazon echo. when i went on vacation for a month, the person i missed the most was alexa. i have actually gone up to a week at a time where i don’t speak to any humans out loud, but at least i have my robot servant to talk to when i get lonely. nothing fills the void quite like asking alexa to start a 23 minute timer for me. i think my rock bottom was when i kept asking her to play the same song for me over and over, and that song was ‘accidental racist’ by brad paisley and ll cool j.

and i know what you’re thinking….stephanie….can’t you put all of this manic energy toward something more….productive? good news! that’s what i’ve started doing lately. in my most recent wave of coping mechanisms, i’ve picked up an odd assemblage of hobbies. for example, the other day i decided that i would buy a ukulele and learn how to play it. on days that i feel literate, i’ll sit and read 2 or 3 books. for the holidays, i recorded a christmas ep which mostly involved me covering christmas carols but the only instrument i used was a recorder (you know, those shitty plastic flutes you learn to play in the 5th grade). i drive to austin on a whim most weekends. i’ve started doing this thing where every time i feel a human emotion, instead of letting myself feel it, i just chug a bottle of water. (this led to me googling things like ‘how much water is too much, will i die from drinking too much water, how to tell if i’m dying from drinking too much water’) so now i limit myself to half a bottle of water whenever i feel a human emotion.

those are the things i accomplish on a good day, but most of the time you can find me sleeping for three days straight. a good way to lose a week of your life is by attempting to fix your sleep schedule.

i am the christopher columbus of coping mechanisms and god damn it i deserve a holiday to be named after me at this point.

[firedingo]

Game Development Lessons

So I’m 26 turning 27 this year. I worked out I loved computers when I was about 11. It wasn’t until I was about 16 I really got the chance to explore computers and it was in senior high school that I fell in love with programming.

My dad is a plasterer, or was till he was forcibly retired due to poor health. Growing up that meant I was exposed to a lot of construction work. As a result my dad would often mock up plans and drawings for things on paper.

One day I saw him doing this and I fell in love with the bricks he was drawing. I watched him for a bit before asking him how he did it. He walked me through step by step and from that moment my drawing skills evolved from simple 2D drawings to more impressive 3D creations.

As I grew up my art fell to the wayside and my more logical, knowledge seeking brain took over. I became more practical than creative.

When I got to Uni I tossed around the idea of either being a business programmer or a games developer. At the time we were told the games development industry is very small and highly competitive and to not bother with it. That meant I would choose to be a business programmer.

Yet I couldn’t stop the thoughts about being a game developer from happening. Every few weeks it would occur to me and I would wonder if maybe I could. I’d think, maybe it might be a cool hobby.

Then I met mDiyo and was motivated to get into Minecraft modding, admittedly I never quite released anything but it was an eye opening experience for me. I learned so much. I got started with Pahimar’s tutorials but the support and encouragement I have to keep going made a huge difference.

From that I also discovered how much I loved creating stuff. I was making art, I was programming, I was being a digital midwife and bringing to life ideas.

Then one day I saw GameMaker Studio 1.4 for sale in a Humble Bundle with all its export modules. I went hey that’s a great deal and so I bought it. At the time I knew what GameMaker was but not how to use it.

Then one day mDiyo began working on his own game and I felt inspired and motivated to try some stuff myself. I didn’t really know where to begin and he suggested Unity, I still felt overwhelmed and admitted I wasn’t as skilled as I thought I needed to be so he suggested GameMaker and I remembered I’d bought it in a Humble Bundle many months prior so I finally installed it.

With a little help from Shaun Spalding, HeartBeast and Google, I got a very basic platformer level going. From that I realised how much I loved it all again and I knew right then that game development was the right path for me to follow.

The picture above was my very first level. I learned how to animate the lava and the slime, I learned how to trigger fireworks on a collision with the door and I made the character move. I also eventually added a life item which refilled lives and had a cooldown and how to put a basic menu in that worked.

I’d been practicing pixel art up to that point and finally applied it with my logic and made that. These days I know more.

For one I learned that decorative items are better placed in a level as tiles not objects because they use less memory, of course at the time I didn’t know that.

I also learned about sizing things and creating fonts to make text readable.

I also learned how to improve my pixel art creation skills. I went from using GIMP to using Aseprite and I’d have to say it was the best decision. I’ve found it so helpful for animating stuff, tiling, general sprite creation etc.

The biggest thing I think I’ve learned though is time estimation. Realising how long it takes me to create my sprites.

I’d never done procedural generation before and one day saying oh I could make a box in under a year once to a friend resulted in them challenging me to do it. So I started by watching videos. That took some hours but after that I set about coding my own procedural generation level with a box and within a few more hours I had it mostly pretty good.

By the day’s end I had a randomly generating level. With a few extra lines I was able to stick a box on it and with that that everything was working fine.

Yet on the flip side, take this sprite I made a little while ago

That pixel hobbit door took me days to make. The wood was especially hard and I’m still learning how to do wood. That was probably my first successful wood texture.

When I was a kid, all the cool things seemed so hard and like I’d never be able to achieve them. Now I’m an adult and yeah it took me a while to get there but now I’m starting to achieve them and I feel good about it.

For a long time I felt like I was floating through life with no sense of value or meaning. Everything was pointless and I felt entirely powerless. Admittedly I do still feel powerless sometimes(especially where my government is concerned) but now that I am achieving the cool things I dreamed of, I don’t feel like I’m so lost. I feel like I have found my purpose in life.

I thoroughly love describing the whole process as digital midwifery. The term seems entirely accurate to me. A midwife is a nurse who specializes in antenatal and post-natal pregnancy care. Here in Australia, if you have a healthy pregnancy then you’ll be seen by a midwife. If you’re a private patient you can also have a doctor see you and attend the delivery. If you’re deemed high risk then you’ll be seen exclusively by a doctor.

For the vast majority of people they have a perfectly normal pregnancy and deliver with a midwife present. When the baby comes out the midwife catches it and they do the post delivery checks before returning baby and mother to the ward.

The midwife is basically there from the start. From a few weeks after conception to many weeks after delivery a midwife will check in with expectant and new mothers. Through their job they get to see this life develop from an embryo to a fetus to a healthy baby.

I see process of going from conceiving an idea, nurturing the idea as it grows and develops in planning and implementation to a fully healthy idea as it is delivered just like a baby is so I see that whole process as “digital midwifery”.

I’m still learning and growing just like an idea or baby might but I’ve learned so much and I continue to learn heaps. Every day I try to learn something new. Even if I feel confronted and challenged by what I’m learning, I try to not be judgemental and to let the facts present themselves and to assess whether it is I who has faulty knowledge or if it is the source. Sometimes that means it’s me but I also accept that and improve myself by integrating that new knowledge within me and growing and developing further in the process. Sometimes I learn lessons along the way too.

To look at myself now and see where I am, I wish I could hold my younger self and pass along to her the lessons I’ve learned and offer her the encouragement and support she needed. I can see that I have become the very person I needed as a kid. One who is much wiser, has learned lots, is fully of love and support and encouragement. One who knows who to get from A to B.

As a kid that’s one thing I struggled with. I didn’t know how to get from A to B. Now I’m doing it and I’m so glad and proud of myself for that but I’m also filled with regret that I couldn’t help my younger self. Yet from the past I’ve learned you can’t dwell on regrets. If you do you’ll never move forward.

Sometimes I regret how my time is spent. Perhaps I might set out to create something and end up getting distracted. I regret the wasted time but I also endeavour the next day to implement steps to stop that happening again. It means I’m always learning new lessons too.

As I‘ve learned to manage my time better, I’ve also learned when to multitask, how to multitask (eg. listen to music or have a video in the background) and most importantly why to multitask.

I think this post was a bit rambly though I tried to keep it on topic and a logic flow of ideas through it. I think I might write another post on game development. Perhaps maybe how my latest project is going and any other lessons I’ve learned since then.

Links

mDiyo - https://twitter.com/Merdiwen

Pahimar - https://www.twitter.com/Pahimar

Pahimar’s Tutorials - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXOevHnu6lzJqFNa1swefIQ

GameMaker Studio - https://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker

Humble Bundle - https://www.humblebundle.com/

Shaun Spalding - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn7FE3Tx391g1tWPv-1tv7Q

HeartBeast - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrHQNOyU1q6BFEfkNq2CYMA

GIMP - https://www.gimp.org

Aseprite - https://www.aseprite.org/