#I do love how t’s tweet is very to the point but k put her own spin on it

[petrovna-zamo]

#showusyourcostume 🎃

[quack42069]

SFW Alphabet - GoodGuyFitz

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Fitz shows affection in public by small touches, he’s not big on PDA but he does like to give you random forehead kisses throughout the day, sometimes he’ll wrap an arm around you, now if it’s just the two of you...WOO this man is a man baby! He loves being held or holding you. He also loves to post random as photos he has of you even if you get mad at him.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

The friendship started when you both were in high school, you and Toby had a class together and when you went to hang out with her at lunch, that’s where you met fitz and that’s when you guys started talking. He is very protective over you, he loves you and often times he’s the shoulder you cry on and honestly he doesn’t mind it, he was never good with anyone when they cried but he tried especially hard to comfort and help you. He also loves to mess with you and occasionally he takes it to far and apologizes but he has a good idea of his boundaries and when and where to push your buttons.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

He loves cuddles! He especially loves when your laying down on your back and his head is on your chest and he’s laying on top of you kind of ? He’s not squishing you completely but he is just on top of you, he also loves when you play with his hair or rub his back/shoulders.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

At first he was iffy on settling down. He’s young and he wants to party and stuff, but when he met you he was okay with settling down, although you guys had a couple more years of partying left in you and so when you were 27-28 that’s when you guys started to settle down. He’s very clean, most of the time you just have to ask him to pick his socks up once or take out the trash and it’s done the second you ask. As for cooking he loves to cook with you! He likes when it’s you two in the kitchen cooking and listeing to music, occasionally dancing to the song that plays throughout the shared apartment.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

It would really depend. If he were to ever break up with you it would be because you cheated or you guys were getting to that point. He waits a solid week or two before officially breaking up with you just in case things get better and he’ll talk it out with you before breaking up, again unless you cheated, he would do everything in his power to fix the relationship before breaking up with you. As for you it’s the same thing, except you take a little while longer, keeping up with his bs and not really talking about what bugs you until finally you sit him down and ask him if he can be better and when he refuses to be a better boyfriend that’s when you take matters into your own hands.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He’s okay with it, he’s a okay with being committed to you and honestly he loves the thought of marriage and seeing you with a ring on your finger and being his wife. It takes him a good two years to officially let his guard down and when you hit that two year mark he gives you a promise ring. Then once you turn 26-28 that’s when he asks you to marry him.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He never wants to hurt you or scare you or anything. He’s like a giant teddy bear, and whenever he accidentally hurts you by either accidentally stepping on your foot or bumping into you he immediately apologizes and makes sure you are okay. Emotionally he understands how sensitive you are and takes that into consideration, in fights he is very silent and thinks before talking.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

He loves hugs! Again he isn’t big in PDA so hugs in public are very rare but around the boys or if it’s just you two he’s constantly wrapping his arms around your waist, carrying you, spinning you. His hugs are very special, often times he’ll wrap his arms around your waist while he’s behind you and place his chin on your head or he’ll wrap his arms around your shoulders and pull you in so your head is on his chest, he smells really good and he’s really warm so you don’t mind one bit.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

He said it about seven months into the relationship, he SAID it while you guys were talking on the couch but he knew he loved you long before that. He knew he loved you when you guys were once talking in his car, you told him some pretty personal stuff and when it pained him, like literally pained him to think you went through that he knew he loved you, he was angry at who hurt you and his heart broke a bit when he saw a tear roll down your cheek.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

He doesn’t get jealous often, he trust you a lot and the feelings mutual. That is until someone is excessively flirting with you and he feels a bit threatened cause your acting so nonchalant. Whens he’s jealous he’ll walk over and wrap his arm around you and introduce himself as your boyfriend and when the guy or girl is finally gone he will get a bit mad but when you explained you didn’t realize it was flirting he forgives you. You were absolutely clueless when he first tried making a move on you so it’s understandable and he never gets mad at you because he knows you most likey said you had a boyfriend and they just kept going.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

SCRATCHY AND YOU LOVE IT. His beard often tickles you and you always giggle feeling the scruff. His kisses are often quick kisses and most of the time forehead. He loves to kiss you on your forehead, moving your hair kissing your forehead and cupping your face in his hands. He loves when you kiss his shoulder/arm. Since you can’t really reach his cheek you often are leaning on his arm and you kiss his arm or shoulder whenever you can, he loves it because he’ll be holding your hand or your leaning on him and he’ll just feel a soft kiss on his arm and will melt.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

He is very good with them! If your little cousin is running around or a baby waves he’ll wave back with a smile or play around with your cousin, putting the child on his shoulders or throwing them in the air and catching them. If it’s a infant then he’ll be so gentle and while you hold the baby and cradle him/her the baby’s hand will be holding onto Cameron’s finger tightly.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Morning with Cam are either super productive or super lazy. Cameron wakes up before you most of the time and will do what he needs to do (cook,clean a bit,maybe read) and then he’ll bug you and make you wake up so you spend the morning with him.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

He is pretty big on sleeping early suprisingly. The night routine consist of him and you watching your show or a movie, then going to your room and brushing teeth and talking a bit, then you both read with some tea and go to bed, you usually fall asleep with your book so he’ll put your bookmark for you and then will put his book away, pulling you close to him.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

He waits to reveal things about himself, he didn’t really start fully opening up to you about EVERYTHING until about two years into your relationship, though he did reveal some things sometimes during your late night talks.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

He doesn’t anger easily. He is very collected and when he’s mad he tells you and will distance himself because the last thing he wants is to make you feel bad or upset. Although he has started to come to you to vent and will happily cuddle against your chest rambling on and on until he falls asleep. You usually stay quiet because you know he doesn’t necessarily want a solution he just wants to talk about it out loud.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He remembers a lot of things you say, your always in his thoughts and he’s constantly seeing things you’ve talked about or things you like that you’ve expressed.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

His favorite moment in your relationship was when you first met his family. He loved how easily everyone loved you and how you fit in perfectly with them. He knew you were the one and everyone told him that if he didn’t marry you it would be his greatest mistake.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Mans is your security guard. Literally like he is so afraid of loosing you or you getting hurt. If your ever out together he’ll make sure not only is he making sure your okay but so are the boys. He isn’t afraid of getting into a fight with someone for you and often times if they touch you they are knocked out in seconds. You hate when he fights and he never does it unless they’ve touched you inappropriately. On the other hand he loves when ever he’s getting hate or is being ‘canceled’ you’ll tweet and defend him telling everyone to calm their asses down.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He loves making you happy and loves making you feel loved and appreciated. He’ll spend days planning things out so you both have a good time and honestly you both prefer homemade cheap stuff then going out to fancy dinners, so he’ll take days planning a baking day with you or a picnic. He always writes you letters for anniversarys. As for everyday tasks if you ask him to do something consider it done, sometimes you don’t even have to ask and he’s already doing it. You both have your chores around the house and you both are on top of that.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

He doesn’t talk while you guys are in an argument. Sometimes you really want him to just flat out say what he’s thinking and feeling and he doesn’t and he takes forever to respond, he just doesn’t want to say the wrong thing and you understand that but sometimes you need him to just speak what he feels then and there.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Not really concerned, your always telling him how hot he is and that makes him very confident.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

When you first started dating, he would be fine, but now ? After all these years he wouldn’t be able to. He loves you so much that something would be missing for the rest of his life.

X = Random Headcanon

He started doing this thing were he writes letters to his future self. You became something he talks about when he writes to his future self asking if your okay, if you’ve had kids, how everything is going.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

You don’t do this but in general he hates when people are mean for no reason. That’s one of his biggest pet peeves. When someone’s rude or disrespectful for no reason it ticks him off so much.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Something he does without fail every single night is throw his leg over you or his arm. He always has to make sure your there and although it’s cute his leg and his arm is heavy and you can’t move as freely as you’d like.

Masterlist

[pluckyredhead]

What's the top 10 worst things about HiC

Oh god, it took me FOREVER to narrow this down. There are so many bad things about it!!!

Literally I’m not even going to address all the little talking heads therapy sessions and how thoroughly riddled with continuity errors and godawful characterization they are, because there’s so much else wrong with the book. Just trust that they’re a mess, even if King is trying to be Intellectual (TM) by putting them in a nine-panel grid. WE GET IT. YOU’VE READ WATCHMEN.

I’m also not putting “they killed Roy” on the list because it’s comics, characters die. The fact that this book was a slaughterhouse is a problem (see below, #2), but the fact that one of those deaths happened to be one of my favorite characters is a bummer but not necessarily evidence that the book is bad. (The book is so bad.)

But okay, so the rest of it, from least-worst to worst-worst:

10. That Poison Ivy cover: Clay Mann draws beautiful people but for some reason he decided that the cover to #7 should be a dead Poison Ivy on her stomach, cleavage pressed against the floor, her spine arched EVEN THOUGH SHE IS DEAD in order to lift her ass in the air so that the reader can see both T and A at once. This was leaked and then ultimately pulled before it hit stands and Tom King tweeted that he'd never liked it, but it’s very telling to me that either literally no one noticed how gross this cover fetishizing a dead woman was before the internet protested, or DC actively planned to use a sexy dead woman to sell comics. In their book that was supposed to be about trauma and mental health and recovery.

10b. Babs, a theoretical protagonist of this book, sexily peeling her pants down to show her bullet scars, which shouldn’t even look like that due to all the surgery she’s had: We get it, you’re only interested in women’s trauma if it’s sexy. She doesn’t even get to talk on this page.

10c. The full splash page of Lois in her underwear, saying “What do you want me to do?” like she’s inviting the reader to bone her in the middle of this story about death and trauma: Stop!!! Just stop!!!

9. The laziness of everything having to do with Booster: Okay yeah, I’m gonna be fannishly self-involved about another one of my faves here, but Booster is legitimately one of the main characters of the series, along with the Trinity, Harley, Babs, and Wally. And yet the “trauma” that places him at Sanctuary was part of a hastily shoehorned-in Batman arc directly before HiC that writes him deeply out of character (he carelessly changes the timeline when despite the fact that he’s spent 15 years protecting the timeline, including the Superman arc he starred in literally directly prior to the Batman one), instead of anything endemic to the character (because spoiler, Tom King doesn’t actually know anything about the character). The series then entirely fails to address it, hanging Booster’s emotional arc instead on his friendship with Ted...a friendship that explicitly does not exist in the Rebirth timeline. The Ted/Booster friendship/marriage is literally my favorite relationship in the entirety of the DCU, but you don’t get to rest a protagonist’s entire arc on a relationship that was retconned out of existence seven years prior and then retconned away again. Do the work. Don’t copy Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis’s papers from 31 years ago.

8. Interpretive hand jiving through the pain: You know how some people have to leave the room when characters do something very embarrassing on television? I’ve never been like that, just Jesus Christ I had to read this page between my fingers. Y i k e s :

7. Harley beating the Trinity in a fight: Come on. Harley couldn’t take a single one of them on her own, let alone all three. Don’t warp the characters to make your MC look more badass and keep the plot moving. (King also wrote Catwoman beating THREE SPEEDSTERS in his Batman run, which again: no. Absolutely not. Stop it.)

6. That Watchman reference: See above re: being so embarrassed for someone you have to read through your fingers. If you haven’t read Watchmen, the line “I did it 35 minutes ago” is extremely famous and absolutely a mic drop moment. It’s not a mic drop moment here. The characters are completely different and talking about completely different things. The only thing Heroes in Crisis has in common with Watchmen (besides copying the use of the nine-panel grid, like I said before) is that it’s about how heroes are fucked up, I guess? Which is hardly a bold statement in 2018; it’s actively cliche now, in fact. The only purpose referencing Watchmen serves here is to let the reader know that Tom King has read Watchmen, which is both pretentious because it is Art and ridiculous because it’s one of the bestselling comics of all time and millions of people have read it.

5. The abysmal “journalistic ethics” on display: There are so many characters literally and figuratively assassinated in this book that it’s easy to miss that Lois is one of them. But here’s a tip: when someone’s medical information is leaked to you, it is not in fact your obligation to share that with the world, no matter who they are. That is not information meant for public consumption, which we might assume Lois knows, since she doesn’t usually share the private business of her husband or her son or their cousin or any of their friends that she is also friends with. But suddenly she’s forgotten that because it’s on a zip drive? Not only does that show horrifying journalistic ethics from both Lois and Clark, who seems to think she had no other choice, it’s also ableist as hell - what, if someone has mental health problems or experienced trauma on the job they’re automatically a danger to the public? And despite the attempt to make this feel like a big twist, there’s actually zero point to it, because a) we never see civilians reacting to this information and b) there are literally zero consequences to publishing it in this or any subsequent comic. It’s never even mentioned again. If a tree publishes all of a superhero’s medical information and deep dark secrets in a forest and no one reacts to it in any way, shape, or form, does it make a sound?

4. The actual premise: I do sort of believe that Bruce would think “go to the middle of nowhere surrounded by robots wearing creepy robes and masks and tell your secrets to cameras which are then wiped and interact with no one” = therapy, although if that’s the case I don’t know why he keeps bothering to put people in Arkham, which at least allows them to talk to other humans. But under no circumstances do I think either Clark or Diana would go along with this horrible, horrible idea, that offers no genuine help to anyone. Not only does the fact that it’s implausible undercut literally everything that happens within the framework of Sanctuary’s existence, it’s just one of many examples of how almost everyone acts completely out of character all the time in order to keep the plot chugging along.

3. Bruce’s terrible detective skills: The World’s Greatest Detective spends like six issues seriously thinking that either Booster Gold or Harley Quinn is the killer. Booster or Harley! Booster has neither the temperament nor the ability to kill on that level and Harley would never hurt Ivy, plus neither of them are a match for Wally (who is believed to be dead at this point), and Bruce should know that. Again, weak characterization all around, but it’s especially egregious given that King wrote Batman for A HUNDRED ISSUES.

2. Wally’s character assassination: This is a three-parter:

2a. Logistical: It makes no fucking sense. Wally got his own corpse to the crime scene by traveling five days into the future and killing his future self. Everyone sees the corpse. Then Booster, Ted, Harley, and Babs talk him out of killing himself. But...he already did that and everyone saw the corpse, so now we have a paradox that’s never addressed.

2b. Moral: The comics have tried desperately to walk Wally’s actions back in the past two years, emphasizing that he didn’t mean to kill TWELVE PEOPLE, including one of his best friends. It was an accident! But he still framed Booster and Harley for literally no reason except to create a whodunnit, set them on each other which could have easily ended fatally for Booster, and then sent everyone’s private information to the media (which again, the comic frames as somehow noble and necessary, but which is actually deeply unethical). So you made this beloved 60-year-old hero into a villain...why, exactly? Just so it would be surprising? Cool, great work, Captain Edgelord.

2c. Metatextual: This comic spins out of Rebirth Special #1. The New 52 erased Wally from continuity and then brought him back as the younger, biracial Wally (and this isn’t the place to get into fandom’s response to that and DC’s response to fandom’s response so let’s just say they are both YIKES MCGIKES and leave it at that). Rebirth Special #1 brought him back, and the return of the “real” (white) Wally (again: yikes) heralded a new universe that was lighter and happier and contained way more fan favorites. It was literally branded as a gift to fans, embodied in Wally West.

In Heroes in Crisis, Wally is crushed by the weight of everyone being so happy he’s there and loving him so much while he’s struggling with grief and depression, and that’s why he snaps. It’s the metatextual equivalent of having Wally look at the reader and say “You’re happy I’m back and comics can be lighter now? Well, FUCK YOU, YOU RUINED EVERYTHING.” It essentially blames the reader for having Wally go evil, because the reader loves Wally too much.

King, what the fuck?

1. The overall message: Heroes in Crisis was sold as a thoughtful exploration of mental health and trauma, instead of just another bloodbath. Instead, it killed a dozen characters in its first issue and dicked around for another seven with an uninspired whodunnit before throwing a beloved hero in the garbage. But in the meantime, it manages to say:

Trauma is unavoidable.

But therapy doesn’t help.

Trying it does more harm than good.

If you’re struggling, you are a danger to others and don’t deserve privacy.

Good luck with that.

Therapy literally saved my life. This comic enrages me. This comic is harmful. Superhero comics as a whole have a lot to answer for when it comes to discussions of mental illness, but at least some random issue of Batman where Bruce thoughtlessly throws another “looney” into Arkham isn’t billed as a sympathetic take on PTSD. Our culture already discourages asking for help, and we don’t need a pretentious funnybook miniseries helping with that.

(If you made it all the way to the end of this post and you are struggling with trauma, depression, PTSD, whatever...please do look into therapy. I promise you it’s nothing like this comic.)

In conclusion, Heroes in Crisis is bad and it should feel bad.

THE END.

[gumptin]

wtfock review s3e7 or things get spicy AGAIN

- milan and zoe sleepover MILAN AND ZOE SLEEPOVER

- zoe paused MID WINE SIP when she heard the words “senne’s brother”

- “he will kill his brother” okay AND?

- wait lol there’s clips missing in this playlist oh no what happened BACK UP i see A MURAL

- M O Y O C H O K E B I T C H

- “how many chicks do you know who spray?” uhhhhh Noor???

- when jens says your exact words.... king!

- they just go and post this bigass painting of robbe’s face on insta

- milan ZEROED IN on that insta post bitch has 20/20 vision and he USES IT

- the only thing that matters to me in any remake is that they include the guru line so honestly anything could happen at this point and i wouldn’t care bc I got my favorite line

- “what’s wrong” DID YOU FORGET THAT HE LITERALLY GOT BASHED OR

- oh okay he didn’t forget Had Me Worried For A Moment There

- SANDER LITERALLY PAINTED ROBBES FACE ON A WALL NOTHING MILAN IS SAYING MAKES SENSE ITS LIKE THEY GIVE THE CHARACTERS NEW CONFLICTS BUT KEEP THE SAME REACTIONS/EFFECTS FROM OG AND IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE NOTHING MAKES SENSE

- look at robbe CLEANING we love a FUNCTIONING MEMBER OF THE FLATSHARE we love A HELPFUL KING

- if it’s viktor i’m ending this review right fucking here

- okay so bye ✌️ see y’all next time

- viktor stop dressing like a private school boy challenge

- a knife! NO!

- HUG HER YOU BITCH

- shut up about the mural SHUT UP

- homophobia? yeah moyo’s got it!

- this is kinda mean but aaron looks like a hobbit

- jens’ character in this season is just “gay rights!” personified

- put a picture of moyo on that dart board

- just two gays bonding over coming out trauma Nothing New

- senne needs like... anger management therapy

- just two gays and a sad girl  THATS LIFE BABIE

- for some reason i thot zoe knew

- zoe: robbe likes boys? Oh My God This Is Brand New Information For Me Wow!

- the PAIN in milan’s eyes when robbe says “are you crazy” SAKSKDKDMKF

- “everything is complicated” such as the plot to this show changing every episode?

- YASMINA!!!!!!!!

- yeah... i’m gay... keep scrollin

- amber is like that tweet about “collecting homos” like that’s every vilde character

- yeah... he’s gay... keep scrollin

- robbe said “Yes” with his WHOLE CHEST and EVERYTHING

- luca doesn’t care if ur gay but Actually She Does Bc She Wanna Get Groovy With Robbe And It Will Never Happen

- “dancing and singing and musicals” ew could never happen bc robbe HATES the arts we’ve established this much

- aaron has the right attitude i’ll give him that

- is yasmina a THEIF bc SHE STOLE MY HEART with that smile

- luca and jens should bond over being rejected by robbe

-luca: “we can do a rainbow version” robbe: “suddenly i became straight”

- jens does that finger motion thing and robbe’s like “I GUESS I GOTTA”

- MOYO GET THAT FACE OFF YOUR FACE

- absolutely no one is laughing huh... silence from the crowd

- do you really want to go to the spot where your face is just painted on a huge wall?? idk about robbe but i would cry if my face was on a wall like Who Actually Wants That

- okay imagine this scene... everything is exactly the same... but they’re on hoverboards

- what if you’re just walking around and you see a nice mural of some boys face and you’re like “what a cool piece of art” and then You See The Bitch In Question

- 420 bro... come on we blazin... fuck sander we lit

- that door said SCREEE

- aw fuck

- okay i’ve noticed two very loud door slams in this season during two very important scenes and i feel like it means something but i’m not smart enough to figure it out

- sander: *has eyes* robbe: oh jeez.

- leather noises

- IN EVERY UNIVERSE 🥺🥺

- what if someone just walked in while sander has robbe against a wall like.... they’re literally in public i

- SANDER WHAT THAT TONGUE DO

- okay gays.... that exact situation happened to me with my docs one time oh god????

-horny actions from robbers side... good for him

- aw they held hands while gettin it on maybe true love does exist

- last words: you have now idea how much i had to restrain myself from making b*ttom jokes about robbe...

[phoenix-downer]

Hello! I haven't played KH III yet but I plan to. I have come across some really hateful posts on tumblr and even twitter about Sora and Kairi being together. It appears some people are really upset that Sora and Riku didn't become a thing and have downplayed Sora x Kairi's relationship as something as forced and not having chemistry. I had no idea this was even a thing. Can you tell me where this hostility came from? I thought it was obvious that they had feelings for each other.

Hello! Thanks for the ask! There’s a lot to examine here, but I’ll do my best to try to tackle the whole issue with tact and empathy. Light/very vague spoilers for K/H/3, E/ndgame, and F/M/A follow (with slashes so they hopefully don’t show up in the tags).

First of all, I’m so sorry you’ve stumbled across those kinds of tweets and posts. If I could, I’d shield everyone from having to deal with such hatred and negativity about something they enjoy. Doesn’t matter what you ship; no one deserves to deal with that level of toxicity. 

Imagine going into a room and hearing people talk loudly about something you love, talk about how much they hate it and how much it sucks. Doesn’t make you feel very welcome, does it? But that’s exactly what’s happening here - you’re not the only one who’s noticed this. I have had to block or mute so many people because of the kind of bashing you describe. People purposely tagging their hate so that fans can see it, saying nasty things and picking fights in a way that makes you wonder what they get out of being so cruel and vicious. 

I’ve seen it so much that I’m extra sensitive to it now too; I block much more quickly than I did in the past. And I would advise other people to do the same. You don’t owe anyone access to your social media. They’re not entitled to your time or energy, either. You don’t owe it to them to read their hate. By blocking them, you take away part of their audience, you take away their attention. And the thing is, they want that attention. They want to make other people angry and miserable because they’re angry and miserable. And you don’t have to give them the satisfaction. 

Sadly, because twitter and tumblr have such poor moderation, no one running these sites is doing much to stop these people. In fact, the platforms even encourage that kind of behavior, because the loudest people get the most attention. So that encourages and emboldens the kind of nasty behavior you’re seeing.

Now, this is not to say there is never room for criticism, because there is, but that is a very different thing from what you’re describing, which is plain old bashing. Criticism and critique are offered in the hope that something will improve; bashing is done to express pure vitriol, and it isn’t productive for anyone. It might feel good in the moment, but in the end it just leaves people bitter and empty. 

There are plenty of people critiquing K/H and how the games went and how the various character arcs unfolded and how the relationships developed, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Shutting down all criticism isn’t healthy; it should be allowed and encouraged, as constructive criticism leads to healthy dialogue, both with other fans and with S/quare E/nix. And Square has listened to fans in the past; they’ve fixed issues with gameplay that occurred when 1.5 and 2.5 were ported to the PS4 and converted to 60 fps, for example.

Neither is there anything wrong with venting to a close friend in a private setting - DMs, PMs, on your personal blog or twitter account with the ship you’re criticizing censored somehow so that everyone who likes it doesn’t have to stumble across your venting. Heaven knows I’ve had to vent a lot to stay in the fandom without lashing out. The issue is when someone thinks it’s okay to force their anger and negativity onto other people who don’t want to see it or hear it. 

So the question is, why are we stumbling across such strong feelings? Because it’s clear people feel pretty strongly about all this. 

I don’t think there’s an easy answer as to why this is happening, but I’ll take a shot at explaining what might’ve happened all the same. I’m sure if you asked someone else, they might give you a different answer, and it’s worth getting multiple perspectives. This is just my two cents, and naturally, it’s going to be biased towards my experiences and preferences. 

The shipwars in the K/ingdom H/earts fandom have been nasty for years. From what I can gather, they got really bad when KH2 was released, though I’m sure there was probably drama before then. S*kai fans and S*riku fans did not see eye to eye on how that game went, and it’s all been downhill ever since. People on both sides have been mean and nasty, I’ve seen them be nasty, hurling insults and slurs and accusing each other of awful things to the point that the question of “who started it” is pretty much moot at this point. A more productive question would be, “how can we end it and get along, or at least start treating each other better?” 

Now, since I ship S*kai (obviously), I’ll share why this is such a touchy subject for me personally. I’ve been in fandom for a while now, and something I’ve noticed is just how much fans tend to hate female characters because of sexism and internalized misogyny.   

I was in the M/C/U fandom before this, and Sh*ron’s actress got death threats around the time C/ivil W/ar came out from angry shippers. And then P*ggy’s actress has likewise been harassed after E/ndgame came out by, again, angry shippers. I was a big F/M/A fan back in the day, and W*nry got so much hate from, you guessed it, angry shippers. I remember a friend back then rolling her eyes and bashing W*nry, and when I asked her why she hated her, she couldn’t really give me a clear answer other than that she was “whiny.” 

Heaven forbid a female character not be completely perfect. 

Over and over, I saw this pattern repeating. A female character gets hate because there is a popular alternate pairing that she “gets in the way of.” Even before I had the vocabulary to talk about it, the hatred just struck me as very gendered. I never saw that level of hatred for any of the male characters unless they were written to be hated (hello Shou T*cker). And I was likewise harsher on female characters than on their male counterparts. It took me years to realize what I was doing and to try to put a stop to it. 

So then I came to the K/ingdom H/earts fandom with all that background and baggage, dealing with years of people hating characters I liked and looked up to and identified with, and I saw the same thing happening again. Yet another female character getting nasty hate because of her gender, because she dared to like a boy who was shipped with another boy. Because she dared to fall in love. How dare she have feelings, how dare she be feminine, how dare she wear pink and have a flowery Keyblade. How dare her strength of heart be stronger than her physical strength. There is only one kind of strength that matters, and it’s how hard you can kick someone’s ass (wrong, wrong, wrong, and one look at the whole power of friendship thing this series revolves around would tell you that). 

How dare K*iri not be an instant expert at fighting, which is cruel and ironic because if she was an instant expert at fighting, everyone would be crying Mary Sue. How dare she sass and tease S*ra, she’s such a bitch. Oh, she doesn’t tease him as much in K/H/3 and is more gentle and supportive because he’s going through hell and nearly loses everything and she knows he needs her support now more than ever? She’s a complete pushover! 

See what I mean by how hard people are on female characters? K*iri can’t win no matter what she does. She could have the best character arc ever post K/H/3 and people would still find something to complain about. That’s not to say I don’t have issues with how she’s written, I just think the criticisms against her tend to be way overblown. There aren’t enough discussions about how she could improve moving forward (though I have seen them, and thank you to those of you who do have them!), instead people just write her off completely as useless and worthless and want to improve her character by… dropping her out of the story completely (and yes, I’ve run into someone who actually thought this would be a good thing and always felt the need to talk about it, and it absolutely drove me up the wall). 

And worst of all, she can’t win because S*ra fell in love with her. Really, it’s ironic that she gets as much hate as she does for something S*ra did. She had no control over S*ra falling in love with her, and yet she is absolutely despised by people because he did. She isn’t “good enough” for him apparently, whatever that’s supposed to mean.  

I share all this to explain why I was so sensitive to the issue coming in. I saw the same thing happening I’d experienced time and again and I was so exhausted. So tired of it. I didn’t want to deal with it again, and I was on my guard right from the start. Especially because it’s so normalized in online KH communities to bash K*iri and S*kai. The major ones, too, with lots of people and a wide range of (or lack thereof) of shipping preferences, not just dedicated shipping groups. Try to go an entire discussion without seeing it come up… it’s a lot harder than you might think. 

At first I tried to be patient and understanding. Other people have different tastes, and I wanted to be understanding of that. But after years of watching the bashing happen, my patience ran thin. I was sick of seeing it enabled in major K/H communities, sick of seeing mods refuse to put a stop to it, or worse, low-key join in with the bashing, sick of having to put up with so much negativity when all I wanted was somewhere to discuss something I enjoyed. Some people seemed almost gleeful, almost eager in their bashing; any time K*iri was brought up, they felt compelled to express their hatred for her. They were more obsessed with her than her actual fans were; felt more passionately (albeit negatively) about S*kai than some actual S*kai shippers did. 

When I reached that point, the point where I was tempted to be negative and snappy and rude, I knew I couldn’t engage with certain people anymore. So I stopped trying. I searched for S*kai fans here on tumblr and stuck with them. I didn’t want to add to an already tense situation, and thankfully, there are other people who feel the same way (but more on that later). 

And on the S*riku side of things, some of them have shared that they have been told nasty homophobic things for shipping S*riku. And for many of them, I’m sure S*riku is a way of expressing their identity, a way of exploring their feelings and expressing them in a safe, welcoming way with fellow fans who get what they’re going through. Representation has gotten better in recent years (though it still has a long way to go), but back when the K/H games were first coming out, things were different, and people had to take what they could get from canon and run with it if they wanted to see more content that represented them. 

I’ve also seen a few people say that certain S*kai fans went out of their way to message them and rub what happened in K/H/3 in their faces. That kind of gloating is bound to upset anyone, yikes. Canon has become the new gold standard for shipping in the last decade or so, and it has sadly been weaponized in the ever-nastier ship wars, when really, a ship’s value shouldn’t be based on how “canon” it is but on the joy it brings to people. 

So yeah, we have a situation where enough people on both sides were treating others poorly that everyone got defensive, because how could you not when people keep attacking something you love, especially if you feel strongly about it/associate it with your identity? And that made people more likely to lash out, and when they did, people got even more defensive, and the cycle repeated, over and over and over again. 

And you know how I mentioned I sought refuge with likeminded fans? I think that happened all over the fandom. People seek out those who will support them and support their beliefs and form identities and communities based around them… and that’s a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, it’s great to get so much support, especially if you’re seeking refuge from a particularly nasty ship war. Having a safe place to vent and unwind and finally get to talk about what you love without fear of getting hate over it is awesome.

On the other hand, things like echo chambers, confirmation bias, groupthink, and the false consensus effect flourish in those kinds of situations. If all you hear is that XYZ pairing must be canon or will be canon in a future game from the group of people you’ve surrounded yourself with, and everyone enthusiastically agrees because everyone ships the same thing you do and of course no one is going to rain on that parade, it can come as quite a shock when a new piece of canon comes out and doesn’t align to your expectations. Especially if you’ve spent years expecting canon to align with your expectations. 

We lose something when we can’t engage in healthy dialogue with people who disagree with us. Our perceptions get warped, our memories might even get warped, and what we could’ve sworn was canon… we might be surprised to see wasn’t, when we revisit the source material with a more critical eye or listen to someone who sees things differently than we do. 

But how can we have that healthy dialogue when there’s been so much bad blood? How can we listen to each other when there’s no trust? It’s nearly impossible, so instead we reinforce the beliefs and ideas our own communities already hold fast to, and the cycle continues. We draw lines in the sand separating “us” vs. “them” and don’t give each other a chance. Not only does this alienate people on opposite ends of the shipping spectrum, it also alienates multishippers because they’re considered “traitors” to both sides, and that is an uncomfortable place to be. 

I think that’s why you find the whole thing so jarring. I’m guessing you might not be as heavily involved with the fandom as I am, and have thus been largely immune from the perils of echo chambers and confirmation bias. So for you it must seem really weird that something that seems clear to you is so contentious to other people. I don’t say this to throw shade at anyone, because I know the same thing would’ve happened if the pairings had gotten switched around. It’s more of an observation of a phenomenon I’ve seen happen over and over again throughout the years. 

So all of that is to say, things are tense because of all these backgrounds and experiences and histories people bring into the fandom. No one exists in a vacuum, and things were already tense before K/H/3 even came out. K/ingdom H/earts has been such an important part of many people’s lives and growing up experiences that they feel a deep connection to it and almost a sense of ownership of it. It’s a shared story, a shared experience. It belongs to all of us, in a way, and yet it’s still N*mura’s baby.

And that’s where we run into more issues. How much say should fans have in a work of art? Does the creator get the final say in interpretation, or should she accept that once her creation has been released into the world, it’s up to other people to interpret what she meant? There are no easy answers to these kinds of questions, and they’re widely debated and discussed (see: the whole death of the author debacle). 

However, while I think feeling a sense of ownership and investment in a piece of art is totally fine, it crosses the line when it gets into the realm of entitlement. By this I do not mean asking for more representation, because that is a perfectly good thing to ask for; I mean demanding that the creators cater to your whims… or else. I mean contacting people who worked on the game on twitter and demanding they change the story to make it “right.” I mean directly telling one of the VAs you want her replaced because you thought she did a bad job. And yes, I am talking about actual stuff I’ve seen happen in this very fandom. All of that has also left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and other people I’ve talked to have felt the same. 

That being said, shipping in and of itself is not the problem. For every nasty tweet and bashing post out there, there are plenty of kind and good people who are just there to enjoy their ships. Lovely artists and talented writers and skilled gif makers and editors creating a wealth of beautiful content for something they love. People who would never harass others for their shipping preferences and are disgusted by those who do. Unfortunately, they’re not the ones getting the attention, and they’re probably not the ones you’re going to run into if you ship a different ship, as they tend to stick to their own spaces out of courtesy and respect. 

This means that the people you are more likely to run into are the ones who want to pick fights. The ones who bash and stir up drama and tell people to kill themselves for shipping XYZ. While there are plenty of people being cruel and nasty and toxic, there are good people in the fandom too. Kind, caring people who will see you as a person first and not an XYZ, even if they don’t agree with you on everything. They’re quiet(er), because kindness isn’t usually flashy and showy, but they’re here. You just have to know how to find them.   

Thanks for the ask! I tried to answer this as fairly as I could, based on my observations and things I’ve been stewing over for a while now, so I hope it sheds more light on the situation. 

[kidchameleon92]

“life story” 1

i’m not going to edit this at all going along. typos, bad grammar, mistakes. doesn’t matter. this is spontaneous thought.

disclaimer: i changed the word to “spontaneous” from “spurious” which means something completely different, so the first paragraph is already a lie.

anyway, it’s been a really weird and sort of bad couple months for me. mostly in my state of mind. i feel very stuck and very immobile when it comes to my art and career. and that is having a very negative effect on my brain. even though i’m putting out my favorite songs i’ve ever written. i’ve been meaning to write for awhile. i used to post when i lived in los angeles several years ago, just journaling my day to day life. but i haven’t for awhile. i guess i also used to write in a notebook while on different tours. but i think i’ve since thrown that away or hidden it somewhere.

point is: i just want to write to get things off my mind. and hopefully, maybe, it’ll help you (if you care to) get to know me a little more and on a more personal level. even if we haven’t met. and maybe it’ll make what i make (if you care about it) mean more to you. either way, mostly, i just want to rant a bit. so, this is my life’s story. i guess.

chapter 1: kid

i was born in a suburb of the twin cities in minnesota. my parents both grew up in minnesota and lived there their whole lives (until my mom recently moved to tennessee). my mom was a mortician, and my dad was an accountant. also an alcoholic. he cheated on her and left her and i when i was one year old. i remember growing up going to stay with him on weekends, except it was with him and his girlfriend at the time. except he was drunk a lot. and would drive drunk with me (a baby) in the car. so, that’s cool. anyway, my mom was really depressed, and that was not a good time (or so i’ve heard, because i was a baby, so idk).

i stayed with my grandparents a lot, because my mom worked full time. my maternal grandparents lived on a ton of land. my grandpa and i would ride motorcycles and four wheelers and sleep in a treehouse and all that. my other grandparents lived in the same town but in a small house. i used to go up to their cabin during the summer and go fishing and swimming and boating and all that. different g-parent vibes, but loved both a lot.

anyway, when i was three, my mom married my step-dad. he is from india and has had a lot of unique and challenging experiences, so that certainly brought a lot of particular lessons and outlooks into my life. i went there once when i was about 14. it was wild. but so, yeah. that kinda solidified my family unit. my dad got remarried later on as well. but the older i got, i saw him less and less.

so ... i loved video games. i played them all the time. a big part of my childhood. mostly nintendo. explains a lot. as a kid in school (4 years public, 3 years private, 1 year home, 3 years private, 1 year PSEO [look it up]), i was never popular whatsoever. i always wanted to gain some sort of acclaim or attention from my classmates, but was pretty much always looked down on for one reason or another. i remember in elementary school, i was the kid who was literally terrified of storms. probably because i had been in a tornado when i was six. but the moment it would thunder, all the kids would look at me to see if i was gonna cry. usually, i did. and the school nurse would take me outside and we’d walk around as a sort of therapy. i guess it helped sorta. i still get nervous in storms. but i don’t cry.

i also remember a time specifically that i got made fun of for wearing a denver broncos t-shirt. this kid just railed on me because it wasn’t a minnesota vikings shirt. so, one: i don’t even give a fuck about sports. but two: it stuck with me for some reason that someone would be a massive jerk over a t-shirt of a sports team. i guess that’s just because we as humans are messed up things.

anyway, in middle school, i started becoming semi-interested in music. i listened to the radio every night, listening to the top 10 countdown of big songs from that week. kanye, weezer, the click five, black eyes peas, green day. those were some anyway. besides that, i was just listening to like kelly clarkson and relient k or something. my mom had a steven curtis chapman cd in her van i thought went hard. but i started getting into popular music around then. i also started to write my own music. i used to take piano lessons from when i was like six or seven until i was 14 or so. but after i started writing my own songs, i hated practicing assigned pieces. i didn’t care. i wanted to play my own. so, the teacher said if i quit, i couldn’t be her student again. so i did. that’s fine. she said i was her most talented student. but i didn’t work that hard. so, that goes to show that natural talent and hard work have different roles, i suppose. 

chapter 2: girls and high school and such

in high school, i started LiKiNg gIrLs and stuff. i also was still not very popular. i also had started a band (with jack). i wasn’t very good, but i was just as obsessed with it as i am now. anyway, i liked this one girl from my church, and we talked all the time. but because we grew up in a pretty fundamental church culture, we weren’t allowed to date. which honestly, i fine, because looking back, no one knows what they are doing at 16 really. i definitely didn’t. i still don’t know what i’m doing. anyway ...

so, this girl and i half-dated for a couple years, and i was really clingy and annoying. but that’s just how i be. and i thought i was gonna marry her and stuff, because in a fundamental church context, you over spiritualize everything.

[[disclaimer: i am a christian, and i still go to church, but my theology and ideology on a lot of things has just evolved and changed a lot since i was young and since leaving the ultra-americanized/ultra-fundamental “christian” realm. main point being: we all are effed up bro and need saving. i’m an idiot always!]]

but now we’re back. girl “dumped” me and started dating another guy named “patrick” right after, even though she technically wasn’t allowed to date until she was 18. but apparently, she just wasn’t allowed to date me. so, that was cool. anyway, i was angsty, but then i got over it. because i was 17, so life big time goes on.

then i met another girl from canada while i was finishing school and going hard at my band stuff. we hit it off, and i started visiting her up there. and she visited me and all that. it was cool. and then all of a sudden, she really started hating me. and to be fair, i was weird and clingy and sort of a lot to deal with. but we kept dating. all the while, i was sort of leaving behind music to try to get into nursing school. yep, nursing school. but i got rejected, which is great. and so, i decided to go to audio engineering school in canada. and she was gonna go to college in the same city. this is great! so i thought. she dumped me (well, i sort of broke up with myself for her) about a month after we were living in the same city. wack. but it made me buckle down and work my ass off in school. i was top of my class one semester. yeah, i’m not that dumb. sometimes.

towards the spring of the next year, i happened to meet a girl who was at my church with one of my friends. she seemed chill. just talked a little. nothing crazy. happened to hit her up on twitter just to say hi. no intention. we talked a bit. nothing after that. then all of a sudden, a couple months later, i was tweeting about reading harry potter for the first time (note: fundamental upbringing). she happened to tweet me back about it. and long story short, we went out on a date. a sort-of-date. and what was supposed to be a lunch turned into an all day and half the night date. anyway, we got married a year later. after a lot of immigration paperwork and expenses. that’s a whole other post. that sucked. it’s a lot. and it’s why i feel bad for people who have nothing who are trying to come here to flee danger in their own countries. again, another post.

chapter 3: married, and other hard things

so, i forgot to say that before we got married, i lived in los angeles for a year after school. i was doing more sound for film work. on set stuff, post-production. got to do work with like ... james franco, matt damon, emma roberts, william shatner. some cool stuff. but jack’s old band came through on tour, and i saw two shows. and i was like ... bruh. i gotta do music, what am i doing? so, i literally moved back to minnesota within like two weeks, worked as a nursing assistant for a little bit and got married. then moved to nashville like two weeks later. i guess i could’ve stayed in los angeles. but nashville felt like the move at the time. everything happens with a purpose.

so, we moved here, and she couldn’t work for three months because of immigration stuff. so, i was like, well, guess i need a job. so, i got a job managing a home for a couple people with intellectual disabilities. it was super hard. mostly because the company was really, really bad. so, i got another job working as a staffing coordinator in an office for a home health care agency. that was a little better. still tough. but less overwhelming. a couple months after i got that job, i got an offer to go on a country tour playing bass for someone. and i was like ... well, this is why i moved here. so, i quit and went on tour. and shawna actually took my old job. interesting.

i was gone for three weeks, and it sucked and the pay was bad, but at least i was doing what i wanted. but then i got an offer from my friend to do some tech work on a much bigger country gig. i hadn’t done it before, but it was better pay and a better position. and on a bus and nice things and all that. so, i went for it. i pissed the other girl i was playing for off. but that’s show biz, baby. but like, i found a replacement for myself and paid to fly him out to her shows and stuff. so, really she won.

anyway, i toured with this other artist for four years. and i learned a lot. it was very, very challenging, both mentally and physically. and some people are just hard to work with. but i still gained so much valuable experience and insight into touring from that. i also started playing guitar for another artist who was small at the time, but has now had a couple number one hits. but his label fired me because i didn’t look country enough. we’re still homies though, so it’s literally fine. because i do indeed not look country enough.

at the same time, i was doing my own solo music and also producing and writing with and for other people. i’ve had the opportunity to write and produce for everything from independent artists to major label to billboard charting albums to whatever. songs on major television networks. i’m still very un-rich though, if that tells you anything. 

but really, i just wanted to do my own music. and i literally couldn’t get it to go anywhere. i had no idea what the “secret” was. what was i missing? money? connection? power? actually probably all of that, to be honest. this industry is wacko. i was pretty close to giving up.

chapter 4: milkk

i read a satirical article on vice.com about “how to start a trendy band” or something. i thought it was funny. so, i called jack. he had just been kicked out of his old band for no reason. i was like, “bruh, let’s do this article.” and he was like, ok. so, we sort of did. and i’m not gonna go into all the early details, because i’ve done a million press interviews about how our band started. and i don’t wanna say it again. google it.

this was the first time that i actually saw people care about my music. it was a high. it was like a dream. and we hadn’t even had any big song or anything. just the fact that people were listening and engaging was mind blowing to me. but just like with anything, the more things went, the less i found satisfying. the more “likes” or “follows” on socials didn’t feel like enough anymore. the streams didn’t seem good enough. the chart positions on the debut album didn’t seem that great. the hype wore off a little after the debut album hype. and that made me insane. probably because we as humans are not built to be satisfied by the things in our life. “Vanity of vanities!” it’s in ecclesiastes. like the bible one.

chapter 5: now

anyway, that’s bad. i had (and have) let my mind convince me that i have to achieve something in order to be happy or fulfilled, when i know that that stuff will never fulfill me. i could play the biggest stadium and have the biggest song in history, but after a burst of dopamine and excitement, it would be empty. and i know that nothing here will do that. at least, that’s what i believe. my hope is outside of myself.

but that’s hard to internalize when you are so passionate about something, and have been for so long, and all you want to do is create things for other people that they can appreciate and be influenced by. but it’s probably also selfish. like i openly admit i like the idea of fame and presence. and it probably ties all the way back to wanting acknowledgement and attention as a kid, from being unpopular and ridiculed and, honestly, left by my dad. maybe i just therapied myself.

but regardless, i know i can’t put my identity in all this stuff. it’s hard, and it’s harder when you create stuff. because it’s so deeply tied to you. but it’s still not “who i am.” i know who i am and what i believe, but i’m still a mess, so i can’t enact that in my brain perfectly. in fact, far from it.

anyway. it’s late, and i’m going to post this and attempt to not worry about how it does on social media. stupid!!! i just want this out in the world for you to read. hopefully it’s helpful for you in some way. but mostly, it was just cool to write this out, for my own sake.

i’ve been blessed in some amazing ways. my family. oh, yeah i forgot that i have two kids. i love them a lot. i don’t talk about them on social media much. but they are very special to me. and we’ve always been taken care of, even when times were tight or i didn’t know when the next paycheck was coming in or i thought my wife was about to die or whatever. the Lord provided for us every time. and i am grateful to have what career i have. it may be “small” and nothing to look at by the big industry standards, but i believe in what i make so much, and i’m just grateful that anyone cares about it at all. and i will continue to do so until the day i die. because i have to. 

it’s what i was born to do, for better or worse. and no one can tell me otherwise.

[ladyshinobi]

Episode 83: A Really Reconstructive Recap

Crops have been watered

Skin has been cleared

Faith is restored

Juliantina is a Thing

(Did I just ACCIDENTALLY write a poem? lol.)

Due to some unexpected and Inconvenient AF Food Poisoning (that I'm really HOPING stays on the Moderate to MILD side of things lol) I hadn't been able to post the recap(s), I'm doing a bit better now so time to get back to business.

Also I just discovered the episode guide I was using for reference is SHIT? lol, and that apparently my recaps are actually one number behind the actual ep (Recap 79 is actually for Ep 80 for example) I'll get to manually fix the previous ones, but these last few will be properly numbered, just letting you know in case you've reblogged any of my previous madness, with that said...

EDIT: Actually I went back and checked and the episode is listed as 83 by the twitter account that posts the Juliantina Story so at this point I’ll just stick to it? SO basically ignore the changing episode number thing.

Let's get to it:

______________________________________________________________________

Too little too late Chino! as much as I'm on board with his redemption arc, his toxic AF ways should not be easily forgiven nor forgotten, I think the best is for him to go his own way and leave Panchito, Lupe and Juls do their own thing.

Its SO nice to see Lupe and Juliana so carefree and relaxed for a change, and Lupe having Sexy-Chino-Filled dreams? NOW it makes sense why she was willing to chase him down across the world LOL. Also poor Panchito? Maybe some Hitman Roleplay will help him give a more memorable performance next time XD.

O M F G ...This scene was one of the most RIDICULOUSLY HILARIOUS things I've watched in a while, Sergio's "Rest In.......Peace??" got me dyingggg lol. Even Barbara recognised Lucho's Fuckboi Aura XD. I think its nice He got a chance to say goodbye and Val got a proper chance to THANK YOU, NEXT him so now she'll be able to finally move forward.

She wasted NO time before asking about her Dad...And Lady Death wasted NO time herself and showed the fuck up. Is it weird for me to think she's actually NOT a threat to Val? I think by now its been roughly established Lady Death chose Beltran and Jacobo specifically due to the fact Juliana and Valentina are actual soulmates and were bound to meet somehow? Which ...I mean...LEGENDS ONLY.

Barbara also dropped another MAJOR revelation: Leon is alive! If only someone with ALL the info including Leon's new identity would just show up and help clear things out...

Oh HI THERE BELTRAN!!  

I'm about to unleash some galaxy-brain level shit so get ready lol...

FUN FACT: Maca & Arturo (Beltran) played a MARRIED Couple on a Show called "La Bella Y las Bestias"? I have NOT watched it but apparently he killed her parents but she doesn't know it and still marries him which...LOL?...and people think Amar A Muerte is wild ...Gurllllll XD.

Anyway ...back to the EP, ALL the pieces are coming together FINALLY! this Finale is gonna be CRAZY and I can't wait. Luckily Val knew nothing so Chino won't be able to find Juls and Lupe that easily, as I said before, at this point I think the Valdes family is better off going their separate ways. Also Val calling him "The Electrocuted One"? I CAN'T XD.....SO MANY GOOD LINES on this episode.

I guess you guys were right when you said someone was gonna transmigrate into Sergio's body, turns out it was THE FANDOM itself lol: From reminding Val of the magical power of phone calls to actually taking her to Juls, the dude DELIVERED.

Also being thirsty AF about Juliana is a thing most of the fandom has in common anyway?......so yeah XD.

I love how that fuckin' Costa Rica plot line has turned into a running joke even within the actual show lol. Val was SO SCARED they had actually gone there for a moment....#SAME Gurl, SAME.

In a world of instant gratification and endless binge watching you gotta give some  respect to Telenovelas' actual formula of giving you almost daily content while STILL being able to drag that angsty shit down just enough and THEN giving the audience some epic OTP worthy payoff.

Its a formula this Novela has DOWN TO A T, That reunion was PERFECT, they got my usually-stoic-and-chill ass smiling like a fuckin' idiot trough the whole thing and you know what? ...I ain't even mad  about it lol. 

Also Lupe signalling her support for them on EVERY CHANCE she gets and being super extra nice to Val? Suegra Of The Year.  

Now would you kindly open your CHEMISTRY textbooks on page 49, so I can better illustrate this next scene...

Once again, huge shoutout to the casting director/anyone who had ANY say in casting Maca & Barbs on these two roles, listen, there can be SO MUCH on the page, the director can do an excellent job on sharing the vision and the emotional intensity of a scene, but a level of natural BELIEVABLE interaction such as this comes only when the actors have actual SYNERGY and COMRADERY at a very high level (and THAT's what jumps out of the screen) it only happens when you put the right people together, and HOLY CRAP they have DONE IT here, Flawless Casting 101.

*Reads Maca's Tweet where she says the "No me provoques" line was NOT on the script and that it came out naturally?* 

POINT PROVEN.

Daddy Leon/Jacobo is IN THA HOUSEEEE and shit is about to get REAL! Can't wait to see how Val is gonna react, and for Eva to finally get what she deserves.

Oh shit...Only 3 EPs left...

Let's hope I won't transmigrate into a tennis ball or a grumpy parrot before the finale? Fingers Crossed XD.

Not feeling the "The show is OVER" Blues yet, but this Monday is gonna be interesting for sure...

K, Thanks,Bye.

[delulumultifan]

“Blue” In Lover Analysis (Part 2)

Part 1

7. Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince 

The starting is a callback to TS earlier song, ‘You Belong With Me’ as most Tumblr accounts had talked about. She was the American golden girl. Then maybe it was the bearding that was too much. Media started picking on her saying she goes on many dates.(Shake it off)  ‘Be careful, or she will write a song about you’ etc  

But it doesn’t reflect how she feel. She always has to put on fake smile for the cameras. She compare the lifestyle that she has to that of a school. Which is rather interesting. We as outsiders think that they have more control and freedom since they are popstars but they are most likely to be in an institution. There are laws and structure, roles to play so to speak.

They whisper in the hallway, ‘she’s a bad bad girl’ can either refer to herself (TS) or KK. Just have a look at KK’s IG comments. Quite a few of them are harsh.

‘We're so sad, we paint the town blue’

Very clear there. If we go with the Kaylor narrative they aren’t happy that they are stuck with their roles so they painted the town blue. Usually, the phrase would be paint the town red which would mean to have fun flamboyantly. But I’d say in this case they did the opposite. Paint the town blue could be seen as something big and serious which had to be dealt with.

‘I see the high fives Between the bad guys’

Scott and Scooter and the whole BMR that went down recently.

Whoever this person is, TS clearly want the ‘Prince’ to stay with her since the Prince is the only one who cares. Also, this song just cement to me that TS and KK had/is still living together with the line ‘you should come home’.

PS: Voted most likely to run away with you reminds me of Big Sur, The Getaway Car and come on this song has Kaylor all over it. Not to forget, Halsey said in a tweet she’s the Prince and Taylor replied with heart emojis. The Prince is a gal.

 8. Paper Rings 

Playful and upbeat tune.

The opening line though very bold of TS. Very Kaylor song too. I’d imagine that the VSFS after party to be wild with drugs and alcohol along with all the other stuff. But it’s a cute song. Despite the fact that they can’t be together, she’d gladly wait for the time where they can be official. Paper rings could mean the marriage certificate. After all that’s what one is after if one is planning on having picture frames and dirty dreams of a person.

Blue is mentioned here again.

‘In the winter, in the icy outdoor pool When you jumped in first, I went in too I'm with you even if it makes me blue’

However for this case, it’s a lighter tone. This blue I would say is because she was really cold and literally turn blue cause K decides to race her to the pool or something. (Lots of fanfic had that scene involving either the beach or swimming pool)

The line also ties with the next which is about painting that person’s brother’s wall blue. Now unless K has a secret brother we don’t know about, this line breaks the Kaylor narrative.

But, the following line would shed that this person was a friend of T before they became something more. Now who else had been stamped the BFF of TS apart from Selena Gomez?

That’s right KK.  

9. Cornelia Street 

NYC is their city. Come on let’s be real. Ever since KK convinced TS to stay in NY instead of moving to London, NYC is theirs.

They lived together. There was the whole interview thing where TS was casually stating that the other room is KK’s and TS has a bunch of snacks which are KK’s favorite.

The roof theme is repeated theme meaning it’s referring to the same person. King of My Heart has the roof theme along with drinking. TS was asking the person for assurance that they fancy TS and not her stuff in KOMH. Which in a way is a bit of the same undertone of Paper Kings.

The creak on the floor line reminds me of the photo which Kaylor fans and myself suspected it was TS + KK instead of JK + KK. (The one they made while it was still under construction)

KK had posted it this year if I’m not mistaken.

The song ends with TS saying casually to someone that she rented a place in Cornelia Street.

My guess is TS is trying to tell us Kaylors about KK and her.

 10. Death By A Thousand Cuts 

Having to beard sucks. Gotta pretend that they aren’t close anymore and put up a fake front. It’s never easy. TS drink to forget about it/escape from it but it doesn’t change anything. TS gave this person everything. Her heart, hips, body, love, time, wine, spirit and her trust. She too much but it wasn’t enough for this person because they (both of them) decided to go for the whole bearding thing.

Another thing as someone pointed out before, she said OUR country which eliminated Joe from this since Joe is you know a London Boy.

11. London Boy 

We all know that every album, TS will have a beard/’muse’. Thus, there would be a track about someone. Another example is Forever Always about Joe Jonas. Style being Harry Styles and so on. This song is no different.

Dig deeper and you’ll find more stuff. Mentions of Motown a nod to the famous Kaylor photo of her and Karlie doing make up to the tunes of Motown. King of My Heart also mentioned about Motown.

Just substitute him with her and it’d make sense. Karlie has an adorable laugh and dimples along with that accent. Joe on the other hand doesn’t have dimples.  

12. Soon You’ll Get Better 

Andrea. Please be well.

TS stated before that this song is about different kinds of love and nothing beats the love for a mom.

Part 3

[killiancygnus]

Serendipitous Melody 19/22

Summary: Everyone has dreams. You might dream of becoming an astronaut or teacher, or you might want to become a doctor and save as many lives you can. Emma Swan’s childhood dream was being a singer. But with life getting in the way and never finding the courage to overcome her fears, she never had a chance to follow it. That is until a little push from her friends lead her to cash on an opportunity; and, who knows, she might even get more than what she’d wished for.

Rated: T

Word count: ~4.4k

A/N: *hides behind a Christmas tree* Hi! I’m so so sorry for the delay! This chapter was a bitch to write and between life and uni, I didn’t have much time to write in the past month or so. I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway! It might take me a while to update once again though because I have exams until the end of February but I swear chapter 20 will be long and angsty so I hope you won’t mind. Don’t forget to let me know what you think about this update!

Thanks to the wonderful @the-reason-to-sail-home for her mad betaing skills.

Tagging some friends: @mahstatins, @villains-happy-ending , @stardusted-nymph, @allisonchameron, @kmomof4, @hencethebravery, @katie-dub, @captainwiley , @irishswanff, @thejollypirate, @dassala , @imhookedonaswan, @ofshipsandswans , @legendofthephoenixcs, @yayimallamaagain and @londonsbridge

If you want to be tagged too let me know :)

Links: Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9- Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 / AO3

The ominous clicking of his father’s cane echoed down the halls as Neal sat on the couch next to the fire, quietly sipping a glass of wine. He knew his father knew was aware of what he had done. There was little he couldn't find out. The leverage and the ties he had made it impossible for the people he had on his watch list to keep any secrets, and that included Neal too. He was well aware of that but he didn't really care, he never did. It wasn't like he was ever going to reach for him first. All his father always cared about was getting what he wanted - a trait he had inherited, Neal had to admit - but this time, it so appeared they had a few interests in common.

“Calling her wasn't a wise move, son,” Mr Gold said entering the room, his tone flat but revealing a hint of annoyance.

Neal didn't even turn to face him.

“For as much as we'd like to believe that, neither she nor Jones are stupid. They'd put two and two together. And if they didn’t, miss Mills would,” he continued, pondering each word as he walked around the couch so that Neal would see the strained grin on his face. “You were selfish and careless, not to mention foolishly impatient. Our plans might go downhill because of what you have just done.”

Neal placed the glass on the small table next him. “The plans that don't seem to be having the effect they were supposed to, you mean.”

“What you were expecting? Her to leave Jones’s side after the first difficulty arose? Her to run back into your arms as soon as you stumbled back into her life with a phone call?”  

At hearing his father words, Neal shot up, hands clenched into fists. “I have done my waiting!” he shouted. “You have your personal vendetta for what happened to mother and I understand that, but once again there’s something that for you is more important than me. Emma has been the first and only person that truly cared about me. She was mine! I was stupid enough to let both her and my son go, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean I won’t stop fighting for what is mine. And as it happens, our interests are very much alike; that's why we are here, working together, no matter how much I might not like it. So yes, excuse me for being a little impatient.”

Mr Gold bit his lower lip, his jaw set. He was trying not to yell back at him in rage and keep that coldly stern face of his, Neal could see that. He didn't care about how much he had enraged or hurt his father, though. He meant what he said, every single word of it. But honestly, it shouldn't have been news to him. Their relationship had always been somewhat dysfunctional, especially ever since his mother died.

“Son, I…” he started, not really knowing what to say. “You might be right. However, you must remember that this article's purpose was just to undermine her securities, weaken her for when we'll strike again. And you know what will happen then.”

“Hell will break loose,” Neal whispered, the reflection of the fire in his eyes making them look even wilder than they actually were.

Robert Gold smirked, taking a step closer to his son. “Oh, that it will.”

Saying Neal’s call had shaken her was an understatement. She wouldn't talk much about it, but he could see it in her eyes. She had been dealing with the Henry situation and all the hateful messages and nasty articles that were directed at her, which both left a veil of hurt and hopelessness in her eyes. It was only after that call that the carefree and joyful part of Emma, that it took so long for him to see and help her set free, became just a fond memory. All the walls around her heart he had managed to break, she had started to build back up that night.

It pained him to see her like that, so fragile, so vulnerable, nevermind the stoic masks she would put whenever she realised her feelings were written all over her face, but he didn’t know what to do. All he could do was hold her, show her how much he loved her, try not to let her think about anything that was weighing on her, and yet he could still see the uncertainty she tried so hard to hide.

Those bloody tweets had gotten to her in a way he didn’t know how to make better. It wasn’t like he could publicly condemn those people without arising more questions about his and Emma’s relationship. And that was definitely not the time to come out as a couple.

It was a mess. A bloody fucking mess. And the words that fucker whispered in her ear that night on the boat sure as hell hadn’t made things any easier.

They had informed Regina about Neal’s threats as soon as possible the following morning. At least she did look surprised this time at this new turn of events, but the small flicker of genuine shock on her face was soon replaced by a calculating look.

“Miss Swan,” she said before him and Emma could unstick their legs away from the narrow space between the desk and the chairs’ legs and leave her office, “I've been doing some thinking since the last time we met. Sit.”

Killian and Emma shared a confused (and from her part worried) glance as they sat back down.

“In light of the most recent developments, I think it's time for you to properly meet my - our - son. What do you say, Miss Swan?”

From the corner of his eye, Killian noticed Emma staring agape at Regina. Conscious that no word would fall from her mouth anytime soon, judging by the deer-in-the-highlights look she had, he spoke, “Wait a second. Are you suggesting Emma to tell Henry she's his mother?”

“That's exactly what I'm saying, Jones.”

“Why?” Emma stuttered, finally able to mutter a word, “Neal is threatening to do everything he can to get to him, including destroying my reputation and now you want him to meet me?”

“I have to admit it’s not the best of ways for him to meet his mother, but as you said, Neal won’t stop before he gets what he wants. Henry deserves to know who the man is who will make everyone constantly worried about his safety and who will try to throw shade over Killian and you.”

Emma opened her mouth to protest but then shut it without even saying a word. Killian sighed. Regina was right, he knew that. The kid couldn’t just stay in the dark, especially not with that curious nature of his. He was far too observant and clever for his own good, he would find out both about Emma and his father sooner or later. It was better for him to hear the story directly from his mother or Emma herself, as things seemed to be headed to.

“Maybe,” he started tentatively, feeling Emma’s attention focusing on him. “Maybe you could drop him one day next week after school. He’s been wanting me to teach him to play the guitar for ages. I could teach him the basics, and then me and Emma could talk to him.”  

Killian ignored Emma’s pointed look and just looked straight ahead at Regina.

“Yeah, that could work,” she agreed, and then smirked, “It seems like there’s a brain behind the eyeliner, after all.”

Killian glared at her and made to talk back a witty remark when Emma’s uncharacteristically feeble voice interrupted him. “Wait.”

As two pairs of eyes landed on her, Emma cleared her voice and straightened her back. “I don’t think it’s a great idea. I mean, it is but he might get suspicious. As far as I know, he doesn’t own a guitar and unless you are hiding a past as a rock star, of which I’m very sceptical about,” she said for Killian’s amusement, gesturing at Regina, “you don’t look like you own one either. Knowing Henry, he would wonder how he could practice in between lessons.”

Regina pursed her lips in annoyance. “I’ll talk with Robin. I’m sure he’ll share one of his guitars with him, Miss Swan. Do you have anything else to say?”

She only gave Emma the time to shake her head that she continued, “Wonderful. I’ll drop Henry at yours Friday afternoon. Try to bring him back in one piece, please.”

And that was how they found themselves Friday afternoon, sitting on the sofa, waiting for Regina to arrive with Henry. Thank goodness Friday was only a few days away from that meeting, because Killian thought Emma would combust with nervous energy, judging by how much her left leg was trembling, making him feel like he was sitting on one of those massage couches.

“Emma…” Killian sighed, putting a hand on her knee to still her movement.

Blushing, Emma willed her leg to stop twitching. “I’m sorry,” she apologised, looking up at him, “I’m just -”

“Nervous. I know love.”

The soft, reassuring smile Killian gave her didn’t even have the time to fade away from his lips, that the intercom buzzed, making Emma jump on her seat. Trying to suppress a chuckle, he leaned in to give her a sweet, gentle peck on her lips before going outside to fetch the boy.

By the time he made it to the swimming pool, a small figure run up to him and threw their hands around his waist.

“Killian!” Henry shouted.

“Hello to you too, lad,” Killian laughed, ruffling his hair. “Why don’t you go inside and put away that backpack of yours? I’ll be right behind you.”

Without making Killian asking him twice, Henry bolted towards the door. Killian didn’t move right away though. His eyes met Regina’s through the windows of her car, and it was only after he gave her a nod, that he turned around following Henry inside.

As soon as he got back in, he was happy to see Henry already chatting away with Emma about his latest favourite book. Hearing him walking in, she lifted her gaze up and smiled a beautiful, happy smile he just couldn’t help return.

“- And it’s not a normal book of fairytales. They are all twisted and linked together. Like Captain Hook is actually good even though he…”

“Well, of course,” Killian agreed, interrupting the boy’s excited babbling, “I’m always a gentleman after all.”

“Not you Killian! Captain Hook!”

Killian winked at Henry’s offended exclamation, making Emma burst out laughing. “I don’t think he sees the difference,” she said in between giggles, putting a hand on Henry’s shoulder, as if she sided with the lad. Rude.

“Anyway, if you guys have to play the guitar, you better go upstairs and get started.”

Nodding at her suggestion, Killian climbed up the stairs, shortly followed by both Henry and Emma, on the lad’s insistence. Not hearing Henry’s steps behind him anymore after turning in the corridor towards the music room, he gave a quick look behind his back and stopped. “Where are you going, lad? The music room is this way.”

“I know,” Henry replied from the other end of the corridor, “But the bathroom is this way!”

Chuckling, Killian shook his head and took Emma’s hand leading her inside the room.

“Everything alright, love?” He asked, leaving her hand only to put it on her hips with the other and bringing her close. “Butterflies stopped flying around your stomach?”

“Yeah,” she smiled, putting her arms around his neck, “those kind of butterflies did, as for the others…”

Giggling, he captured her lips in a short loving kiss. “Good,” he whispered against her lips, “Although, there’s no need to flirt with me, Swan. I’m already yours.”

“I know, but if I don’t who’s gonna keep your ego all happy and fed?”

“Well…” Killian started, not wanting to pass an occasion to see Emma’s unamused face. She was adorable whenever she did that. He told her many times, but somehow she had always been pretty unconvinced about it. To him she was always beautiful, that was true, but it hurt him to think that she didn’t think the same of herself.

“Will you stay here watch us?” he asked, once she stopped side-eyeing him, uncertainty once more appearing on her face.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll stay for a bit and then I’ll go downstairs baking some cookies. I’m sure Henry would like some later, boys his age are usually hungry all the time, right?”

Killian smiled, before leaning in and leaving a kiss on top of her nose. “That’s a wonderful idea, love,” he whispered, as his lips travelled down towards hers to kiss her one more time.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but it did feel like minutes when Henry’s voice made them jump apart. “Eww, gross!” He screeched, making a disgusted face from behind the door before trotting in.

In spite of the deep blush covering her cheeks, Emma was the one who recovered first. “So,” she started, stopping to clear her throat in embarrassment, “are you ready to start?”

“Duh,” he said, taking a seat on the circular couch, where a guitar was waiting for him, shortly followed by Killian.

He started showing Henry how to hold the guitar and where to put his fingers to play an easy song. Emma stayed there for a while, watching them with a smile on her lips, deep in thought. He couldn’t tell what was going through her mind, though. He could read her quite easily most of the times, but apparently it wasn’t the case that day. It was only after Henry managed to play his very first song without much hesitation, that she left, not before giving the boy a round of applause and making his cheeks go red.

They played for a couple of hours before they considered it enough for a day. Killian was sure though, that if it wasn’t for the delicious aroma coming from downstairs, Henry would have wanted to continue until Regina would have come pick him up. However, as soon as he smelled cookies in the air, he asked if they could stop and sprinted downstairs, much to Killian’s amusement. That kid had far too much energy for his own good, maybe making him eat cookies wasn’t the smartest idea, but he was about to find out a lot about his past, he could eat all the cookies he wanted if that meant he’d be more inclined to take well what Emma was going to tell him. A little bribery never hurt anyone.

After tidying up a little, Killian followed Henry downstairs and sat on the far end of the sofa pretending to work on his phone. It was the perfect spot: there Emma could easily see him if she needed some reassuring or him to come help her out, and he could hear what they were talking about.

“Hey! Are you hungry, kid?” Emma asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice. “Yeah? Then what are you waiting for? Take a seat.”

After a few moments, Henry exclaimed gulping down a first bite of cookie, “They’re so good! How many can I have?”

Emma chuckled at the lad's contagious enthusiasm. “Well, considering your mom is pretty scary when angry and I don't know how well you handle sugar, I'd say we can be safe with two more, kid.”

Whooping, Henry wolfed down the rest of the cookie in his hands before taking another. “My mom calls me kid, you know?” He said, once his mouth became free to talk once again. “My biological mom, I mean. Her and I email sometimes.”

At his words, Killian put down his phone and sat up, closely watching Emma’s reaction. Her posture was stiff and she was nervously playing with her nails under the table, but aside from that, she definitely didn't look like someone whose son had just made a pretty much spot on and completely out of the blue remark.  

“Yeah, I know,” she nodded, her voice wavering a little.

Henry frowned, the cookie up in the air and on its way to his mouth now forgotten. “How?”

“Because I'm her. I'm Emma.”

Henry stared at her agape for a few long moments. “You’re my mom?”

“Yeah,” Emma breathed out, her voice so small Killian almost couldn't hear it. “I guess you must have many questions, don't you?” She added with a nervous chuckle.

Seeing the way the lad had basically frozen, Killian couldn't help hold his breath in worry for his reaction, much like Emma he suspected. Slowly, Henry put the cookie down on the napkin and stood up, looking straight at Emma. In spite of the fear he was going to bolt, she held his gaze.

It all happened in a matter of seconds then. First mother and son were staring at each other, then he threw his arms around her neck, letting Emma hold him tight after the shock wore off.

Killian smiled at the scene, finally relaxing too.

It was only after they broke apart, that the lad demanded answers. Answers which Emma then calmly gave. She told him about her childhood, about his father. She told him about David and Mary Margaret and the time she spent in prison. All bits and pieces, not enough to disclose all of the worst things in her past, but definitely enough for a child to understand why his mother decided to give them up.

He listened attentively, never interrupting her, as if he understood how hard it must have been for her to talk about all of that. Sometimes Killian would find himself at loss of words for how perceptive Henry could be for such a young lad. And this was definitely the case. He truly did seem to understand both the said and unsaid.

However, he was dying to ask something, Killian could see that in the shining of his eyes. So much like his mother.

It was only after Emma finished talking though, that he spoke, leaving a speechless Emma and Killian behind. “So, since you are my mother, would that make Killian my step-father? Because that would be so cool!”

At that, both Emma and Killian’s eyes widened and as they could read each other’s minds they spoke as one. “What?”

All the seriousness of the moment gone, their home was filled with the sound of Henry’s laugh.

It took a few weeks, but she finally started to be free to go out without being followed by journalists and paparazzi, all wanting to hear what she had to say on the matter sprung by that Mr Gold’s magazine. Social media, instead, was still a mined camp for her, that she now tried with all her might to avoid.

It wasn’t easy, though. There were still times where she couldn’t not see what was being said about her, where people’s comments and assumptions drove her so mad that yes, she wanted to break her no comment policy and explain them at length exactly what were her opinions on the words that had been pointed at her. No matter how she was feeling, though, Killian was always there. He was a reassuring and calming constant in her life, the only one she could reach out to during the day, without worrying about the hour nor the moment.

As if on cue, just as things started to get better, shit began truly going down.

Another article was published: “An Enchanted Farce” GOLD’s cover shouted in big, bright red letters just above a blurry but not questionable picture of them kissing. Not just kissing, though. Were it so it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but her back was up against the wall of a dimly lit corridor of the Enchanted’s studios with Killian’s body pressed against hers still wearing his characteristic “coach clothes”.

It was a scandal.

People started shouting at favoritism, of course, and many things were said, especially on the internet. Killian took the least of the lash, his doting fans swearing he’d never do anything like that and pitying him for being played by “the Swan bitch”. She was called many names - slut definitely the most recurring one - and blamed for “using Killian just to assure herself a place in the final”. Her talent and fairly new and moderate fame, once again questioned.

It was overwhelming, for the both of them, but to Emma, who had just managed to move on after the previous article lash out, it was the last straw. And like no time had passed at all, she found herself back curled up on the sofa, reading all the trashy magazines she could get her hands on and spending far too much time scrolling through her Twitter notifications once again.

Consciously, she knew it wasn’t her fault at all, but she couldn’t help blaming herself for what had happened. She didn’t regret kissing Killian that night, she didn’t really regret anything regarding her relationship with Killian. Her mind was swimming in “what if’s”, and Killian was… She didn’t know how to explain it but he made her happy, in a way she had never been. But if something life had taught her was that happiness wasn’t in the cards for Emma Swan, and all this mess proved it.

She had ruined their lives, she had ruined it all. She knew how risky it would have been to act on their feelings while the show was still on, she feared what could have happened if someone would find out. She should have known better that night. She shouldn’t have let him kiss her in that corridor, but she didn’t think that night and this was the result. Her reputation ruined, possibly forever, and his career too. He should be furious. Music was his life, the one thing that helped and accompanied him through all the things, both shitty and good, life threw at him. He had worked so hard to follow his dream and now thanks to her, it could be the end of it. Why wasn’t he furious?  

“You should stop reading that crap, Emma.”

Emma looked up at him with bloodshot eyes, Killian’s voice putting a halt to the whirlwind of thoughts in her head. “Why?”

“Because this,” he reached forward, taking the magazine resting on her lap and flipping its pages quickly as if to prove his point. As Emma stood up to take the magazine off his fingers, he continued, “This is hurting both you and us. It’s putting thoughts in your head that aren’t even remotely true. I’m not gonna say it’s gonna be easy, I’m not gonna say it’ll go away tomorrow, but eventually this will be behind us, all buried and forgotten. That can’t happen though until you stop blaming yourself and you start truly trusting Regina to deal with this mess.”

Killian let her take the magazine from his hands and Emma dropped it unceremoniously on the couch. “And how wouldn’t it be my fault, huh?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest and looking straight in his eyes. For a moment she thought she must have looked crazy, bloodshot eyes, tear stained cheeks and all, but she didn’t care. “Enlighten me.”

“Well, for starters as far as I recall there were two of us that night at the studios. You couldn’t have known there was somebody behind the corner taking pics just as much as I couldn’t have.”

“You’re right,” she said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “But I should have thought something like that would have happened. After all, since when do good things stick to Emma Swan?”

At that Killian arched an eyebrow in confusion, his expression equal parts frustrated and dazed. “That's not…”

“You know what? You should have known it was too risky, too!”

“What? Emma you can’t be serious,” he almost shouted, the higher tone of his voice crashing with his words that very much sounded like a plea.

“I should have stopped you from kissing me that night because this is exactly what I was worried about back then,” she said, her voice rising little by little at every word.

Killian’s expression darkened. “Are you saying you regret that kiss? Our real first kiss? Do you also regret what you said me back then about your feelings for me? Or has it all been a lie since then?”

Emma’s eyes widened at his questions. “Yes...I mean, no!” she exclaimed before passing a hand over her face, trying with all her might not to let her voice quiver, or even worse break down in tears. “Don’t you see I ruined everything? Your career is at stake because of me. You got too close and now you are dealing with its repercussions.”

“I don’t bloody care about my career!” Killian positively growled. “If it meant being able to be with you, I’d give everything up and be a fucking music teacher, or do something else. But look at you: what would you do for me? You are throwing everything that there was between us out of the window just because that fucker of your ex and that bloody crocodile of Gold are making things less than easy. This is exactly why you’ve never been and would never be happy. You run when it gets too hard without even realizing what you already have. Now I’m going to ask you again and I want you to look at me when you answer: did you ever love me?”

He was right, she knew that, just as part of her knew she wasn’t being fair and reasonable. She was too upset though, too scared. In that moment, all she could think of was that he’d be better off without her, and it fucking hurt. She was hurting them both, she realised as tears welled up in her eyes.

She didn’t know where she found the strength, but eventually Emma willed her eyes to meet his as she pronounced those final three little words, that seemed to weigh like a ton of bricks on her tongue. “Yes, I did.”

Her mind didn’t register the hurt in his eyes. Or she didn’t let it, she wasn’t sure. All Emma did, instead, was grabbing her purse and walk away, slamming the door behind her.

As she drove off the walkway, she didn’t even feel the tears streaming down her face.      

[scoutshonours]

t a s k :   c h a r a c t e r   a s k s .

💔 Have you ever experienced heartbreak?

As many dates as they have been on, only one true heartbreak stands out to them: "His name was Victor. We were seven. We never talked, but I watched him from afar, and he was a good football player. One day, I gathered up the nerve to pick him a flower. He ate it." At this point, they erupt into laughter. "I thought that meant he hated me, I was devastated!" As the laughter fades and they wipe away moisture that has gathered at the corner of their eye, they add, "But no, I had a girlfriend for a while when I was younger, we lasted almost three years, which is an eternity at that age, but it was a mutual decision. We just weren't compatible as partners anymore, so we went back to being friends, and we still talk here and there."

🎬 Who is your biggest celebrity crush?

"Oh, that's a good question… I feel like I'm generally drawn to older people, someone like Sandra Oh, like, someone who has their life together and knows what they want, you know what I mean?"

👫 Who would you put before everyone else?

"My parents." It's the only answer that makes sense to them: without their parents (and specifically the kind of parents they have been to Scout), Scout would be lost. If they weren't so busy all the time, they would feel a constant ache for home.

📱 What was the last text you sent and who was it to?

"Hm…" Scout whips out their phone and frowns down at it. "Depends on how you define 'text'. Does WhatsApp count? Messenger? Skype? Discord? Twitter? Snapchat? Instagram? You'll get completely different answers depending on how you define it. I guess I'll go with the last message I sent on any given app: I messaged the volleyball club committee group chat to remind someone to bring pens to the pub quiz tonight."

🎵 What was the last song you listened to?

"Staring at the Sun by MIKA, I really love his music, it's just fun and enjoyable, which is what music should be, I think."

💻 What was the last Tweet you posted to Twitter?

"Oh, I do social media for the Medical Society at uni, so I just posted a reminder for people to sign up for an event later this week; we have limited space available, so we really need people to respond ASAP. That reminds me–" They look back down at their phone and begin typing furiously, completely ignoring the person in front of them. A moment later, they lock their phone and look back up. "Sorry about that. Now my latest tweet would be a reminder for the pub quiz I just talked about. Our social media person has been really busy, so I've been helping out by posting for them. I'm on my phone anyway, I don't mind."

💤 What did you dream about last night?

They laugh self-consciously. "I don't remember, I usually don't, it's all blank. My mom says it's 'cause I don't get enough sleep, but I don't know."

👚 What is your favourite confidence-boosting outfit?

They leap up from their bed and stride to their closet, which they swing open. Within is a mostly warm palette of clothing. They grab a denim miniskirt, a pair of long, white knee high socks, and a yellow tank with a simple illustration of a bee on it. "It's pretty simple but I love showing off my legs and cutting my waist like that, and I feel like it's kind of flirty."

👟 What are your most frequently worn pair of shoes?

"I'd love to say my platform boots 'cause they're amazing, but they're not very practical when you have to go from a walk with the dog, to a lecture, to the library, to outdoor training, to the pub… yeah, I stick mostly to trainers in my day-to-day."

📷 What was the last photo you took of?

"My dog!" They grin and hold out their phone, which displays the animal in question. It is quite a dopey photo of a German Shepherd sleeping halfway in its bed, halfway on the floor. "She's so cute, I love her."

🛏️ What is your favourite sleeping position?

“Spooning with someone,” they say, half-jokingly half-seriously. “No, uh, on my side, you know, the classic foetal position. It’s comforting.”

🛁 What is your favourite shower gel scent?

“I like lemony scents, like that one yellow gel from Lush, it’s really nice.”

👜 What would you typically find in your bag?

“Depends on the bag.” They pull out two: one is a Kånken-like backpack in light blue, and another is a brown leather over-the-shoulder bag. “This one,” they pat the over-the-shoulder, “fits my wallet, keys, earphones, a water bottle, bandaids, a lip balm, hand lotion, and hand sanitizer. Whereas this one,” they pick up the backpack, “is for school days, so I can get all of that,” they gesture to the smaller bag, “in here, plus my calendar, my laptop, a change of clothes, a deodorant, a couple of school books, a notebook, and a pencil case. It’s a tight squeeze, but it fits. You’ve got to be prepared for everything.”

⛰️ Where is your favourite place to escape to when stressed?

They laugh as though the idea of ‘escape’ is a pipe dream. “I guess the internet? I don’t have time to find a magic garden or something, so I just scroll through social media and reply to messages from friends.”

📚 Which fictional character do you aspire to be like?

“Hm… I’m trying to think of someone who made the world better… Katniss Everdeen but nice?” They laugh. “You know, I don’t know. I don’t read much, and the TV I watch is mostly reality, if I’m being honest. Or home renovations, they’re really satisfying.”

🍷 What’s your go-to drink to order at a bar?

“Double vodka lemonade. It’s simple, quick to order and receive, and it tastes nice.”

🦴 Have you ever broken a bone?

“Oh, too many! I played a lot of sports as a kid, so I’ve broken my right arm twice, my left leg once, and my toes… I don’t even know. I chipped a tooth, too, if we count teeth as bone. That’s why I’m ambidextrous, by the way; my right arm was in a sling for most of third grade.” 

💭 How do you want to be remembered?

“I spend a lot of time thinking about that,” they say, leaning back in their seat, “which I guess is kind of selfish, but I’ve only got this one life. I want to help people, both people living right now and people of the future. That’s why I want to be a surgeon, so I can help other trans folks and other people who want gender-affirming surgery. There’s also not a lot of research on hormone blockers or even HRT, so I’d want to at least help facilitate that kind of research. Also, facial feminization surgery isn’t usually available through the NHS, and neither are hair transplants. Oh, and some people want surgery without transitioning in any other way, and they’re completely left out of the conversation right now.” They laugh self-consciously. “That was a bit of a rant, but I’m really passionate about this. Everyone deserves to have bodily autonomy.”

❤️ How would you describe a perfect date?

“I love something a bit more out there than just a lunch date, although those can be very nice! But I’d love to go rollerskating or to an amusement park, something with an activity built in so you can create those kinds of memories together. But I do love a good meal and a talk, there’s nothing wrong with that!”

📓 How did your high school teachers describe you?

“Teacher’s pet,” they laugh, “completely. Teachers have always liked me, they like when someone puts in an effort - not that others didn’t, and not everyone can, but I think they’ve generally liked me.”

✨ How would you describe your aesthetic?

“Trendy? Hip? One of the cool kids? That’s what I hope, anyway, I like to look good.”

👪 Do you aspire to be like your parents?

“If I become a parent, I’d want to be a parent the way my parents are parents… That didn’t make much sense. Essentially, yeah, I love my parents and I think they’ve done really well, but I do want something a bit different in terms of professional life and whatnot. But I wouldn’t be upset if I ended up like my parents, they’re really nice people.”

☎️ If you were in trouble, who is the first person you would call for help?

“Depends on the kind of trouble.” They laugh. “I keep saying ‘depends’, don’t I? Well, it does! ‘Cause some of my friends are good with a screwdriver and a hammer, and others give really good advice for personal problems, and others would get up in the middle of the night to pick me up if I was somewhere unsafe. Actually, I think the last one applies to everyone, really, I’ve got tons of nice people around me, it’s great. But I guess if I was in an accident or something, I’d have someone call my parents, they’d be on the first flight here.”

⌚ What advice would you tell yourself sixteen year old self?

“Hm… I guess ‘remember to be kind to yourself’ is a good one. We could all use a reminder like that. And stop wearing infinity scarves, they aren’t cute.”

🐈 If you could adopt any pet, what would you choose?

“Another dog! A sibling for Laika. I’ve got my future house and pets sorted out already, in my head. I mean, Laika will live forever, so she’ll be there, and I’ll have two siblings for her, and maybe the house will be big enough for a partner, we’ll see.”

🍽️ If you could invite anyone, living or dead, to a dinner party, who would you choose?

“You know, I’m sad I never got to meet my mom’s parents. From what she says, they were nice people. My dad’s parents, too. I know they’re not on speaking terms with my dad, but if they had to accept my dinner invitation and show up, then maybe I could hear their side of things. Maybe I could help. I know my dad misses them, you can see it in his eyes.”

🌹 If you had to get a tattoo, what would you get?

“Oh, I have a couple already.” They pull up their sleeve to reveal a pair of lovebirds on their inner upper arm. “That’s my mom and dad. And I got this matching one,” they pull up their other sleeve, but only a fraction, to reveal an ornate flower design on their wrist, “with my ex, actually, when we were still together, but I don’t regret it; we’re still friends, and it’s a cute tattoo.”

💢 Have you ever been in a verbal or physical fight?

“Never. I don’t like fights, I think people have their reasons to do things, and if someone got hurt, you can talk it out. People aren’t evil, they just don’t think sometimes, or they’re uneducated. Either way, it doesn’t get solved with a fight.”

🎓 If you could change what you studied at school, what new subject would you choose?

“I’d love to say law, so I could still change lives for the better, but I’m not sure I’d have it in me to care enough about corporate law and all that to really excel. Same with politics. I guess neuroscience or psychology would be interesting, and you could still use it to help people. Like I think I’d be a decent therapist.”

[mannyloah-blog]

LIFE IS FUCKING WILD, YALL.

So, today I was going to write about some exciting things coming up for 2018, just personal goals and accomplishments, but I got some tea and I can’t not blog about it because I love airing out my dirty laundry and stirring the fuckin pot.

So, remember the post I made about how I ended a “relationship” and felt bad and just wanted to take everything back and start over? WELL, she’s cancelled. Those feelings, D O N E. So, if you didn’t read that post, it basically talks about how I feel bad because I let my insecurities get the best of me with the person I was seeing. W E L L B I T C H, turns out, that’s not the case… at all. Sure, I did things that were over the top and my texting sometimes got outta hand, but everything that I would “start” fights about were 100% accurate. Get that? It wasn’t just me getting into my head and letting my past relationships get the best of me, it was him, doing fucked up shit.

Let me clarify. So, I was talking to a guy for over 5 months, right? We were very on and off and he hurt me HELLA times, but for some reason I saw something in him that wanted me to continue to give him chances. What that was? Who the fuck knows, to be honest, he sucks all around. I could go into detail and give off a giant list of why he’s a piece of shit and a lowlife but I’m not feeling that petty. So anyways, we would get into it a lot because I always felt like I was just a filler for him. Ya know, the girl/guy you talk to just until you find someone you want to be with? I had a right to feel this way, because it’s been proven in the past that it was the case. Anyways, I would get really angry at shit that he would (or more so wouldn’t) do and start a fight. I ALWAYS was the one who ended up apologizing because he would play that it was just me overthinking of being irrational and I would always just agree.

So after a bunch of shit went down and we had our last fight, he told me he thought we were better off “just friends.” Obviously that killed me because I don’t let myself catch feelings for people that often and I’m fairly closed off. So knowing for these past few months I let myself become vulnerable and open up, really did suck. So I did everything I could to try to fix it, I won’t lie about that, but my man wasn’t budging. After a few days, I just started to get over it. I let myself be sad and hurt, but I put my big girl pants on and I was like you know what, I’m not gonna push for someone who doesn’t want me because I’m better than that, I deserve a lot more than that. So I revamped my tinder and started just casually talking to people, just trying to get my mind back into regular life and what not. I mean, I was still a little upset over it, because after talking to someone almost every day for that long, feelings just don’t go away overnight. I was trying to fill up the lonely space. But as each day passed, it got better and I was fine. I’m not going to say I’m over it 100%, but after today, bitch I might be.

I thought a lot about how I messed things up and was taking “personal notes” on how I could better myself for future relationships. Well, turns out, I didn’t need to cause it was never me. Sure, there are things I could have handled differently, but at the end of the day, it was ALL him. My insecurities and suspicions that I would start fights about, ALL TRUE. I found that out today. He was seeing people behind my back. Which in hindsight isn’t bad because we weren’t together and I told him that I didn’t care if he was, but I did tell him to be honest with me and just tell me straight up, but my man couldn’t even do that. Dude got jealous every time I tweeted about a guy (regardless if it was my friend or get this CLIENTS OF MINE) or made stupid whore jokes about me and my friends on Twitter, but it was all because he was out there doing me dirty.

He used me as a filler for a SECOND time and at this point I can’t help but laugh. I made up this person in my head as to who I thought he could be, but turns out the things my friends would tell me were true. I can’t pretend like it doesn’t hurt me a little more, I’m only human, but at the end of the day, its the clarity I needed to get over it. I was for some reason holding onto this little strand of hope that things would turn out okay and we could maybe fix it, but fuck that. I never deserved to be made out as some crazy bitch who let her thoughts ruin everything. He had me believing that we were us and that we had something good, but it never was and I’m happy I see that now.

So here is me, saying fuck you, fuck your lies, fuck all the shit you put me through, and if I didn’t make it clear: F U C K Y O U.

Also, your dick game is mediocre at best.

[lolbtsaus]

Youtuber!Jimin as a Father

And now it is time for the first half of the Busan line, an absolute angel who is so fucking sweet and his voice is oh my god it’s so good like his voice is the type of voice that’s so well suited for lullabies (plz just imagine Jimin singing lullabies to his bby with a really soft smile on his face) I need a BTS lullaby album PLZ rap line can rap really slowly or softly or something I just I need it, Park Jimin aka chim chim

For the original youtuber!Jimin post, click here, for his proposal, click here and for father!Jimin, all of the father related posts are here

For everyone that hasn’t read the original father!chim post, he has one daughter, there’s also a version where he has a younger son

Just a quick summary of youtuber!chim, he has a mixed channel, he uploads a lot of different types of videos

Vlogs, dance routines, covers, Q&As, a couple of tags here and there, like it’s just whatever he feels like filming and wants to share with the world

We all know Jimin is an updater, chim is the one that’s constantly taking pictures and videos and all of the boys are really amazing about keeping us updated on as much shit as they can (which I’m so grateful for bc their schedules are so jam packed) but Jimin is definitely super super close with all of us and he have that same relationship with his viewers

He’s always posting selfies, pictures with you, pictures with your pets, tweeting a lot, snapchatting a lot he’s just always keeping everyone updated

So once he finds out he’s gonna be a father, he’s gonna wanna tell them

He makes an entire video for it and he has one of the ultrasound pictures that he keeps looking at and he’s so :D the entire time bc that’s his bby his lil bby is busy growing and soon he’ll be able to hold them and kiss them a lot and give them so much love and support and he’s so excited 

He does a baby haul and spends half of the video just smiling down at the tiny onesies and the toys and at one point, he almost tears up bc he’s so happy looking down at the lil onesie with “daddy’s princess” on it bc in just a couple months she’ll be wearing that

Side note, that’s one of the first outfits he puts her in when she gets home and you can bet your ass he’s posting a million pictures

His stories on both Instagram and Snapchat suddenly become nothing but her and then when bby boy is born, it’s nothing but the two of them

She’s constantly in his videos, nearly every video he makes after her birth involves her (same thing goes for bby boy)

For the first couple of months, he tries to keep her face out of the shot or will cover it during the edit process 

But once she figures out she's mobile it's game over

Editing a smiley emoji over a sleepy bbys face is one thing but getting one over a wiggly toddler mm mm not happening

He doesn’t wanna hide her not at all he lo v e s her so much and is so so proud that he HE gets to call her his daughter bc wow what a gem but he also wants to be somewhat private while still showing that part of his life

Like he’s “shown” his family members (at least his mother and his brother) but their faces weren’t really showing to the point where you could point them out walking down the street and I think he would try to take that same approach with her

But then she’s up and moving and he doesn’t want to just not document her bc she’s a huge part of his life and he doesn’t want cut her out of all of his videos (bc she’s almost always around him)

So he decides to keep her in the videos and start showing her face more and if she doesn’t wanna film with him, he won’t force her to, e v e r

They’re always so super cute, both visually and personality wise, I mean they’re two smaller versions of Jimin have you ever seen bby Jimin that shit was ad o r able (he’s still adorable tbh)

Bby girl is either in these super super cute dresses or she’s in pajamas no in between she either wants to go all out and have a full on matching outfit with accessories and her hair styled or she wants to just be in her dinosaur pajamas with fuzzy socks on and her hair in a ponytail maybe some pigtails

Bby boy is the same way, it’s either a full on outfit that gets very planned out or he’s in matching dino pajamas with his hair sticking up in every which way

Either way, they look adorable and their eyes are so happy and warm and you can tell they’re so well taken care of bc if you think Jimin is letting those bbys be sad for a singular second, you’re in for a surprise

They’re always being kissed or hugged, whether it’s by you or Jimin or by each other, it’s just always lots of affection

He kisses them about fifty times per video

Forever complimenting them, has a million nicknames for them

"You look so cute lil lovely !!!!!!"

"You're so pretty I love you that's my kid isn't she the greatest"

"Cuties are here"

He makes a few "trying ___ videos" like trying (insert country here) candy/sweets

He gets her to do them with him He could honestly spend a l l day long just watching her try things bc her reactions are his favorite

Like he tries this really sour candy with her and her entire face just scrunches up and she can't decide if she likes it or not so she keeps going to eat it

He's cr ac k ing up he can't even focus on the candy in his mouth bc he's so entertained by her

 But of course he makes sure she's all good and that it wasn't t o o sour for her

She gets s o excited when she sees anything chocolate and he immediately turns :D seeing chocolate in the box bc he knows she's gonna love it

He barely has time to unwrap it before she’s asking for a bite and she always gives a thumb up when it comes to chocolate

They do covers with him sometimes and he's so so happy the entire time

They may not sound the b es t bc they're kids but he couldn't care less those are his munchkins singing their lil hearts out

He also does dancing videos with them and it’s so endearing to see them copying everything he’s doing and seeing them run around after him and seeing him go from being really serious and into it to :D the second they walk in

His favorite video he makes with them is a video he makes for Christmas

It’s off them sitting by the tree in their lil Christmas themed onesies and singing different carols but the cutest part is that he doesn’t give them the actual lyrics so they just have to try and guess and you can hear him laughing behind the camera the entire video

At one point, the camera just starts shaking and he has to put it down bc he’s laughing so hard and we all know how much Jimin flings around when he laughs so the fact that he was able to film for so long is amazing bc nothing makes him laugh more than his bbys his mini mes

He could rewatch that video a million times and still start laughing the second he hears bby boy start to mumble instead of sing bc he’s not totally sure what the lyrics are

It always makes him so so so so so happy to watch it and he’s so glad he can rewatch that moment for the rest of his life

[o-behave]

PUTTING A SPRING IN YOUR STEP

8 mental shortcuts for physical training (and other life endeavours)

By Pete Dyson, Senior Consultant at Ogilvy Consulting’s Behavioural Science Practice

“no pain, no gain”  “champions train, losers complain” “be badass”

These are the kind of toxic mantras that people think are needed to motivate people to walk, jog, gym, cycle, swim, box, yoga and much more in between. It sounds convincing, but there’s a problem. All this bold talk only pulls on one lever…..motivation.

There’s a big wide world beyond motivation; context, timing, opportunity, ease, understanding, social structures and many more factors that affect behaviour. What follows are lessons unearthed by me; a full-time behavioural science strategist and a part-time triathlete competing at National and European races. So, some tips are peer-reviewed and others are just plain ‘Pete-reviewed’.

Here we talk here about physical training goals, but many could be applied to learning a language, instrument, skill or even relationships (maybe).

1.      Patience: consistency and timing is everything

Think of consistency like baking a cake. Even the best ingredients won’t bake in 5 minutes, there are no shortcuts here, it’s just physics. You have to take the long view and trust that over 30mins (aka 6 weeks for human fitness) the physiological effects will take place. Spontaneity is not a virtue, if you keep putting your mix in the oven for 5 minutes and out for 5 minutes, you’ll never end up with a cake, you’ll just have a luke warm stodgy blob. Training is just the same, it massively rewards a consistently good temperature.

2.      Positivity: thinking faster

New research is shedding light on a long-held suspicion that the mind limits the body. Professor Samuele Marcora of the University of Kent studies this 'psychobiological model' by testing how changing people’s thoughts can change the power in their legs.

A series of studies have proven: self-talk (effectively cheering yourself on) increases cycling speed; being shown fake numbers suggesting you’re doing well makes you do even better; being shown smiley positive images increases the time to exhaustion; being told you are beating virtual competitor (you don’t even know) increases your maximum power output.

I highly recommend a book called Endure by Alex Hutchinson that summarises all this work and much more.

3.      Peak End: avoid burn out

Many people in the gym and jogging in the park are absolutely killing it. It’s very impressive but quite confusing because people remember things based on the peak of the experience (the best/worst point) and how it ends.

The training-oven (yes, let’s continue that metaphor) works brilliantly at 160 degrees but it’s very costly to go to above 200 degrees.

Digging deep and bringing on the pain-face will be etched into your memory, which is fine if you can get up and do it tomorrow, but not if it puts you off doing it. In this case pain does not equal gain. Personally, I re-frame faster running sessions as ‘push as hard as I can such that I still want to run tomorrow’. Following the nice ending rule, a sociable warm down of high fives, some banter and sugary drinks is the sweetest ending you brain can get.

4.      Defaults: Getting out the door

Any session is 100% better than no session. Try to ‘hack’ your way out of the door, because once a session begins then you’re basically there. Here are some ways to reduce hurdles. Here’s an ABC….

A pre-packed bag: get everything in a rucksack the night before, leave it by the bed

Breakfast in bed: have some cereal next to the alarm clock, ideally a coffee-drink too.

Count yourself out of other options: Sometimes I’ll purposefully leave my bike at work so I have to run in.

This particular advice is Olympian-approved, in so far as I tweeted it in response to a Twitter competition evaluated by Alistair Brownlee. He trains 3 sports 35 hours a week. He’s a good judge.

5.      Future Self: Don’t let second thoughts come first

Even when highly motivated, I can still feel there’s a little voice (usually just before putting my kit on) that says ‘do we have to do this?’ or ‘maybe tomorrow would be better’. In this case, I don’t live in the present. I think of it like this ‘I thought it was a good idea yesterday, nothing’s changed since then, so stick with the plan”

Also, I’ve noticed no correlation between how I think I’m feeling and how I actually perform. Whether it’s tired legs, exhausted mind, slightly sniffly; all this goes out the window once the warm-up is done. Don’t judge by your present by your mood alone.

6.      Targets: give me a reason!

Some people are more motivated intrinsically; the pursuit of self-improvement and contentedness. Others are more extrinsically; achieving a certain standard and getting validation from other people. In either case, nothing beats having a race, an event or a specific target. It works amazingly to focus the mind and you can construct whatever purpose you want around it. Live that imagined reality!

Note: ideally, it’s not a terrifying target, because so called ‘panic-training’ almost invariably leads to injury of the body or mind.

7.      Commitments: be social

Relying on just your personal willpower is a fool's game. There are loads more sources of commitment and dedication.

A cheap one involves making your goals public; speaking, tweeting and sharing targets is ideal. Signing up with someone else is basically the crack cocaine of training motivation; it bonds and blinds you both to even needing to search for the willpower.

A friend of mine pursues a more expensive commitment strategy by signing up to the most luxurious gym because the sunk cost of a big monthly bill makes the gym more appealing. The utilitarian in me wish that he could make that £100 donation to charity instead, which might actually be more motivating as research has shown people running for charities, loved ones and good causes are more motivated.  

8.      Temptation Bundling: treat yourself

I believe it was Dr. Katherine Milkman that coined the term ‘temptation bundling’ to describe the act of pairing treat activities like trashy TV, podcasts and gossip with tough activities like the treadmill or house-work. Her research demonstrated that if people were given an addictive audiobook (like Serial) that only worked at the gym, then their pleasure and consistency rose considerably.

Caution: watch out for temptation-bundling’s evil younger brother called ‘moral-licensing’, where doing one small good thing acts as a constant excuse for indulging afterwards. Many Sunday afternoons and evenings have been lost to this vice.

There are many more than 8 mental shortcuts. The best ones are those you find yourself, which for many people is a hidden benefit of physical excursion – it helps you find out more about yourself.

References / Further Reading:

Brown, R. (2004). Consideration of the origin of Herbert Simon's theory of “satisficing”(1933-1947). Management Decision, 42(10), 1240-1256.

Hutchinson, A. (2018). Endure: Mind, body, and the curiously elastic limits of human performance. HarperCollins.

Marcora, S. M., & Staiano, W. (2010). The limit to exercise tolerance in humans: mind over muscle?. European journal of applied physiology, 109(4), 763-770.

Rogers, T., Milkman, K. L., & Volpp, K. G. (2014). Commitment devices: using initiatives to change behavior. JaMa, 311(20), 2065-2066.

http://thebrainflux.com/temptation-bundling

Seiler, S. Seiler’s Hierarchy* of Endurance Training Needs. https://twitter.com/stephenseiler/status/793391463694491649

Sibley, B. A., & Bergman, S. M. (2018). What keeps athletes in the gym? Goals, psychological needs, and motivation of CrossFit™ participants. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 16(5), 555-574.

Schwartz, B., Ward, A., Monterosso, J., Lyubomirsky, S., White, K., & Lehman, D. R. (2002). Maximizing versus satisficing: Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(5), 1178.

Zhang, Y., Fishbach, A., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2007). The dilution model: How additional goals undermine the perceived instrumentality of a shared path. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(3), 389.

[theconservativebrief]

I love celebrities and I love spending my money in inadvisable ways (I’ll never own a house regardless!), but I think the only thing I have actually purchased at the direct suggestion of a famous person is a pair of $80 Adidas Superstar sneakers.

These are the shoes Lorde wore in her “Green Light” music video and the Vevo-sponsored video for the choral arrangement of “Hard Feelings/Loveless,” and on many other occasions, including when she had the flu at the 2017 VMAs and appeared totally unhinged.

Do I regret this? Obviously not. It’s a classic, reliable sneaker, and Lorde is so beautiful and talented. I bought another pair after the first one got ruined by New York City’s hellish streets.

But it did make me wonder about a question many brands would like a clear answer to: Will people buy things just because celebrities tell them to? More importantly, will they do it more than once? Basically: When Lorde puts on a pair of Superstars, she’s not doing it for money. But would it be worth it for Adidas if she did?

Lorde performing at the 2017 VMAs in Adidas Superstars. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

This is trickier to answer than it seems on the surface. The status quo would say “yes”: Rappers are still getting paid to talk about Sprite, and thin people are still getting paid to talk about flat tummy tea. But it’s actually fairly opaque; a quick search turns up dozens and dozens of marketing and advertising executives and strategists asking, “Does influencer marketing actually work?”

We know that Coach has paid Selena Gomez $10 million and seen results as vague as “a significant spike in engagement and followers,” and we also know that brands are increasingly turning away from famous people and toward the far cheaper resource of thousands of normal people to do their outreach for them.

So what does the world of celebrity-influenced spending look like on the micro level? What are normal people — the people I work with, live with, or occasionally tweet at — spending their money on, and who told them to? I need to know! To that end, I asked them all the same question: What’s the silliest thing you’ve ever bought because of a celebrity?

Off the top, what I find interesting is that nearly every person who responded to my request started their admission with, “Not sure if this counts,” as if I were going to reply, “Actually no it doesn’t count; what you did is rational and smart not like all the other idiots I’ve been talking to.”

Sorry, friends! Not the case. If you bought something for no other reason than that a celebrity talked about it or wore or used it or was affiliated with it, it counts.

Here are the most ridiculous celebrity-inspired purchases my friends, colleagues, and Twitter acquaintances have ever made, from $3 bottles of juice to $95 cologne to a five-digit government loan.

Justin Bieber in Germany in 2012, in a sweatshirt. Just Jared

“Doing Real Stuff Sucks” sweatshirt, Justin Bieber

In 2012, while employed at a teen magazine, I bought this sweatshirt because Justin Bieber was photographed wearing it. The typography was good! The message was funny! (In retrospect, though, was it? Chalk it up to post-grad angst.) After some internet research, I figured out it was made by a Polish company, to which I promptly paid 169 Polish zlotys ($50) for a version with white lettering. The fit was weird, but I wore it anyway.

—Julia Rubin, editor at The Goods by Vox

Dior’s Sauvage cologne ad campaign featuring Johnny Depp. Dior

Dior Sauvage cologne, Johnny Depp

Two years ago, I was Christmas shopping for my dad at Macy’s and saw that Johnny Depp, an objectively terrible person, had endorsed a cologne called Dior Sauvage. [Note: This costs $95!] Intrigued by Depp’s rakish pirate looks in the in-store promotional displays, I stopped, spritzed one of those little paper strips, and inhaled. It smelled amazing — rich, spicy, dangerous. Exactly like a dad should smell.

I bought my dad the cologne, which he loved, and a year later, I was in the market for new cologne and bought it for myself. I continue to go on first dates with guys who tell me I smell amazing.

I am filled with shame.

—Casey Newton, Silicon Valley editor at The Verge

8Greens dietary supplement. 8Greens

8Greens dietary supplement, Min Jin Lee

I bought these 8Greens fizzy tablet supplements ($14) because I saw them on the Strategist three times under their “What [X celebrity] can’t live without” column. I love the Strategist, I love being told what to buy, and I will happily click on affiliate links. Anyway, I didn’t really care the first two times I saw these tablets because the recommendations came from Brooke Shields and Molly Sims. Brooke Shields has vouched for some shady products in the past, including those serums that are supposed to grow out your eyelashes but could spell big trouble for your eyes if it gets in there.

But the third time around, it was mentioned by Pachinko writer Min Jin Lee, and I was like, “You know this HBIC doesn’t play around when it comes to sensible goods.” Also, it was included on her list among other boring items like very thick socks and earplugs, so I felt like I could trust her.

I was vulnerable to purchases around this time because I was just on the edge of getting a cold, which is exactly what these tablets are good for. I haven’t taken them yet because I felt better by the time they arrived, but now I feel prepared for when I feel like I’m about to get sick.

—Dami Lee, tech reporter at The Verge

Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit, Kylie Jenner

I bought a Kylie Lip Kit in college. [Note: This sentence was originally relayed in all caps.]

Candy K. I think it cost $29 plus shipping, which was, like, a full shift of my part-time job. I was enraptured by the idea of a lipstick that lasted all day, and Kylie’s Insta was the first time I had heard of matte liquid lipsticks. This was when they first launched and there were only a few colors, but they always sold out immediately, so I’m pretty sure I logged on during class to buy it [this phrase was also in all caps!] when she announced the next release.

But it turns out that to wear matte lipstick, your lips cannot be even a tiny bit chapped, and it dries them out even if they aren’t. So I hated it and am still confused about how it looks so good in pictures. Then I found out that her formula is basically the same as ColourPop’s and theirs cost, like, $6. But I didn’t even like it enough to buy any of those.

—Katie O’Brien, media publicist

Kim Kardashian West’s latest Kimoji perfumes. Kimoji

Kimoji perfume, Kim Kardashian West

At this point, I own three different Kimoji perfumes — the first one was a gift that I love, because 1) it’s a Kimoji heart and it’s genuinely adorable, and 2) it makes me smell like a cotton candy orgy. But then [Kardashian] stopped selling them and you can’t buy the Hearts series anymore, which made me anxious because I hate change.

When Kim released her next set, I bought the Kimoji Cherry perfume right away. It didn’t smell as good. Then I bought the Kimoji “vibes” perfume. It definitely didn’t smell as good.

Now I have three different Kimoji perfumes that I douse myself in sometimes before bed. They’re $45 each. I like to smell nice when I’m falling asleep, but also I just feel like a dumbass for spending so much money on Kim Kardashian fragrances. Perfumes last a long time. I’m going to smell like Kim well into my 30s.

I never watched Kim’s show but respected her as A Business. With recent Kanye events — since she’s married to him — and her becoming a weird PR mouthpiece for President Trump, I wouldn’t call myself a fan anymore. But she’s one of those people who’s too big to ignore because she has a hand in defining our larger pop culture.

Is she still a smart businesswoman? Absolutely. Am I complicit in a system of hero worship that has both helped fund her empire and given celebrities like her unprecedented political power? I reek of it, literally.

—Megan Farokhmanesh, culture reporter at The Verge

Merch from Kanye West’s 2016 Saint Pablo tour. sohosoles/eBay

Saint Pablo T-shirt, Kanye West

Kanye West made me spend $100 on a long sleeve Saint Pablo tour T-shirt. At least now I have something to wear when I go to a barbecue at my MAGA hat-wearing uncle’s house.

—James Rainis, music publicist

Marilyn Manson’s absinthe brand. Mansinthe

Mansinthe absinthe, Marilyn Manson

My ex and I once split the cost of a bottle of Marilyn Manson’s absinthe. It’s called “Mansinthe,” and it costs $66.66. I don’t like absinthe. I don’t even like Marilyn Manson! Still unsure as to why I did it. I think I’m very suggestible, or something about the idea of owning a whole bottle of absinthe appealed to me. For the record, we did drink all of it, but I still regret it.

It tasted like watery licorice. I felt like an idiot every time we took out the bottle and realized just how much it cost, but the good news was that it wasn’t exactly enjoyable to drink and also didn’t really get you drunk, so no one ever wanted more than one glass of it, and the bottle lasted us for, like, six months. So an okay investment, I guess? This was in college, and I would rank it as probably the second-worst investment I ever made in college, right after buying a pet snake.

—Shay Collins, information specialist at Cornell

Michael Jordan visiting his alma mater in North Carolina. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina, Michael Jordan

I went to the wrong college. [Cost: $55,000 in student loans]

—James Dator, producer at SB Nation

Martinelli’s apple juice, Aziz Ansari

I started drinking Martinelli’s after I saw Aziz Ansari talking about how good it was [on Master of None]. A few months after, I realized, “Huh, this isn’t discernibly tastier than regular apple juice, a beverage I’d never purchase. Over the course of, like, three months [I probably spent] approximately $90. They’re, like, three bucks a pop and I drank it semi-regularly.

I feel a little silly because I could have been drinking cheap-ass Minute Maid apple juice the whole time or, better yet, going with a beverage that isn’t so rich in sugar. But it’s not a steep enough purchase that I’m full-on embarrassed, which isn’t a coincidence. I don’t think I’d buy anything really high-stakes based on celebrity persuasion. [Note: Congratulations!]

—Charles Bramesco, freelance writer

Victoria Beckham at a book signing in 2001. Anthony Harvey/Getty Images

Asymmetrical bob, Victoria Beckham

I spent years and [lots of money] getting and maintaining the Victoria Beckham asymmetrical bob (you know the one) in middle school. For years, I lived in shame for having fallen prey to such an aggressively heinous fad and for having ruined five years’ worth of photos, but now I feel proud to have stanned one of our living icons in her earlier, tackier years. She also has one of the best celebrity memoirs, which I spent money on. Also, earlier this year I considered purchasing a watermelon cake, which she posted on her Instagram for her birthday. VB forever, one of our best celebrities for two decades strong.

—Tamar McCollom, publishing assistant

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Oakley sunglasses, Tom Cruise

I 100 percent asked for Oakley sunglasses for Hanukkah [at age 11] because Tom Cruise wore them in Mission Impossible 2. I think they were, like, $80. They were really expensive for kids’ sunglasses. Then I realized I looked like a dumbass and basically never wore them.

—Seth Rosenthal, writer at SB Nation

I am not trying to embarrass my friends. I only copped to having bought the Lorde sneakers, but quite honestly, there are so many celebrities whose taste and opinions I have cared about deeply for all of my adult life that I can no longer see where I end and they begin. I can tell you some things I almost bought at the urging of famous people, because most of these almost-purchases still live in my Chrome bookmarks, for another day when I’m weaker and needier and have a lot more discretionary income.

—Randy’s Donuts gray hoodie (price unlisted, and you can only order them over the phone?) because Harry Styles was photographed wearing one on July 4, 2016.

—Calvin Klein Eternity perfume ($73) because Jake Gyllenhaal was announced as the face of the campaign in October 2017, and I spent one calendar year of my life writing a weekly newsletter about him at no one’s request and for no money or acclaim.

—Airfare to Atlanta ($500) to visit 2 Chainz’s Haunted Pink Trap House ($65) and buy a souvenir T-shirt on which 2 Chainz is styled as Freddy Krueger ($30), because I love Halloween, I love spectacle, I love Wes Craven, and I love this iconic photo of Lil Wayne having to stand on top of a couch to get up high enough to put 2 Chainz’s tuxedo jacket on him at his wedding. He’s so tall!

—Kim Kardashian’s coffee table book of selfies ($23) because someone on Twitter — who has a lot of followers and a handful of New Yorker bylines — said that if Kim were to photograph herself naked every day until she was 90 years old, it would “actually” be really important performance art.

—A smiley face manicure (approximately $50) from Los Angeles nail artist Britney Tokyo because Playboi Carti has it and it makes him look rich and whimsical.

I don’t need any of these things, but typing them out, I still want them. What I love about Seth’s Mission Impossible story is that it has exactly the same logic as all the other stories, except it took place when he was a child. Buying something because a celebrity says so is childish — a doofy decision-making process based on nothing except whim and delusion of grandeur and failure to have a solid opinion of one’s own. And it’s really fun!

It’s also — as I hope these anecdotes illustrate — very hard to predict, and brands should not try.

Original Source -> Lorde’s Adidas sneakers, Marilyn Manson’s absinthe, and other things celebrities compelled us to buy

via The Conservative Brief

[netunleashed-blog]

Google: An A to Z of search results

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=22585 Google: An A to Z of search results - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=22585 Image copyright Getty Images Google now handles more than three billion searches a day. The vast majority are for complete words or phrases. But premature pushes of the enter key mean many end up being for single letters too.Most of us simply go back and try again.But some of those unique-character searches throw up intriguing results and serve as a snapshot of popular culture.So, we went for a run round the alphabet to see who or what the search giant associates with each letter.The results were sourced from queries made via an anonymous Google UK Search, ignoring ads, recent news stories and dictionary/wiki-based results.They were carried out via a browser cleaned of cookies and other tracking data. Your own personalised results may differ, and the ever-evolving nature of the web means some may have changed in the period between writing and publication.Ali-A - YouTube channel Image copyright YouTube More than 14 million people follow the British video-maker's YouTube channel, in which he shows off his gaming skills.The popularity of his Call of Duty videos led to him being awarded several Guinness World Records in 2015, but these days you're more likely to find him blasting and dancing his way through Fortnite.B - a smart digital banking service Image copyright Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank's app makes the most of its compact name, beating BBC iPlayer into second place in the UK.But the same search in much of the rest of the world yields the B Corporation's impact assessment test. The non-profit organisation measures how socially and environmentally responsible other organisations are, and awards them a certificate if they get a high enough score.C - the programming language Image copyright Geeksforgeeks This guide to the four decade-old coding language comes courtesy of the GeeksforGeeks website. It's the place to go if you want to learn the difference between function prototypes and _Noreturn function specifiers.D - another programming language Wired magazine described D as the "next big programming language you've never heard of" four years ago.It's probably safe to say most of you remain untroubled by its existence.But a recent survey indicated that it's currently the 23rd most commonly-used type of code. And some big-name firms are listed among its users including Facebook, Netflix and eBay.E! News Image copyright E! News NBCUniversal's celebrity-obsessed news service trumps eBay for the top spot in the UK and most of the world.But Google's Estonian search results are an exception. There the country's native e-Estonia portal takes precedence, inviting locals and foreigners alike to sign up for a government-issued e-residency ID.Facebook Image copyright Reuters Inevitably, the people-connecting and sometimes data-leaking social network tops the list.Bearing in mind that the only countries the platform is currently banned in - China, Iran and North Korea - are also ones without a local Google Search, its dominance of the letter F is complete.Google Image copyright Getty Images It's no shock that Google claims the G title.But perhaps what is surprising is that G-Technology - one of hard disk-maker Western Digital's brands - comes second.That puts it ahead of Google's own G Suite of apps, including Gmail.@halsey Image copyright Getty Images The US pop star's one-letter Twitter account helped place her in this list.The 23-year-old rose to fame via self-recorded songs and videos posted to social media ahead of the breakthrough track Closer.Curiously, her ex-boyfriend is the rapper G-Eazy - seen on the left in the image above - whose Instagram account ranks highly for "g" in Google's US-based results.I - music video Image copyright YouTube The YouTube promo for Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning song takes the vowel's top placing.The stylish video - which features a cameo by funk pioneer George Clinton - has been viewed more than 67 million times since its 2014 debut.J Cole - YouTube channel Image copyright Reuters The American hip hop star's contraction of his first name - Jermaine - has worked in his favour in the UK.But elsewhere in the world, Samsung's Galaxy J phones, Japan's J1 football league and the Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin lead the way.K - YouTube music video Image copyright Getty Images The band behind this song - Cigarettes After Sex - is known for a sub-genre of music known as "dream pop" or "shoegazing". And K's slow beat and ethereal vocals certainly deliver on that promise."Listening to this song while it's raining, looking out of the window towards the cold dark damp forest," reads one comment below the YouTube clip, which seems like the perfect environment to be swallowed up by its mood.L-com cables Image copyright L-Com This North Andover, Massachusetts-based firm is one of the list's more obscure entries. But if you're in the market for data cable components it offers quite the choice.More curious is an entry close behind: the Twitter account @L. Its profile image of Pooh Bear is accompanied by the description: "Go Away. Please. I want to be alone."M Restaurants Image copyright M Restaurants While the Gaucho chain of steak restaurants sinks into administration after over-expanding, one of its former managing directors is taking things slower with this new brand, which is currently limited to three locations.Switching over to Google's Russian service, a search for the same letter yields Mail.ru - one of the country's biggest tech firms. Its bare bones home page resembles that of Yahoo from yesteryear, but the firm is a powerhouse that also owns the nation's two biggest social networks: VKontakte and Classmates.Netflix Image copyright Netflix Netflix is arguably the biggest tech success story of the past decade. But it could all have been very different.Its former marketing chief Barry Enderwick revealed a while back that when it originally planned to move into video-streaming, the intention was to do so via its own set-top box. "In 2007, we were so far down the path with the Netflix-branded streaming device that we were shooting promotional videos for it," he revealed."Then the handbrake was pulled - and hard."Instead Netflix opted to stream its service to others' hardware, and recently temporarily overtook Disney to be the world's most valuable entertainment company.O - Cirque du Soleil's aquatic show Image copyright Cirque du Soleil/Tomasz Rossa The Canadian circus water-themed spectacular turns 20 later this year and remains one of Las Vegas's most popular attractions.Cnet took a deep dive into the tech underpinning the show last year, revealing that its 75 performers are outnumbered by 122 technicians behind the scenes, most of whom are certified scuba divers.Android P - developers page Image copyright Google Will it be Popsicle, Pistachio, Pancake or - and admittedly this is a long-shot - Pontefract cakes?Google likes to keep the sweet-themed names of its new Android operating systems under wraps until their release dates. But many of the features have already been confirmed, including device-usage feedback and improved battery life.Q Magazine Image copyright Bauer Media The music magazine pre-dates its movie-themed stablemate Empire by several years, but these days Q's print edition lags a long way behind in terms of circulation.Even so, the fact it has survived more than 31 years, well into the digital age, is an achievement in itself. Melody Maker, Smash Hits, Select and NME's physical edition all folded on its watch.Its high Google placing, however, is the result of a twist of fate. The original intention was to call the magazine Cue - as in "cue the music" - but its founders reportedly feared it would be mistaken for a snooker publication and opted for the letter instead.The R Project for Statistical Computing Image copyright R Foundation Somewhat confusingly, the R Project's programming environment is based on the earlier S computing language and can run much of its code unaltered.In any case, it is targeted at statisticians and others involved with data analysis, who prefer to do their work by writing functions and scripts rather than clicking their way through Excel spreadsheets.Astrid S - BBC Music Image copyright Getty Images Singer-songwriter Astrid S got her break on a Norwegian TV music competition - Idol: Jakten på en superstjerne - in which she came fifth in 2013.More recently, the 21-year-old topped her home country's singles charts with Think Before I Talk, though she's better known abroad for providing vocals to Blonde's Just For One Night.While she can claim S for her own in the UK, in Norway she's placed much further down Google's results behind Tesla's Model S car and a video of Sia singing about the letter S on Sesame Street.Twitter Image copyright Getty Images The tweet-filled social network takes top spot for the 20th letter of the alphabet. And for double points, the owner of its @T account is Tantek Celik - a Turkish-American computer engineer who helped develop the Macintosh version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer.U - 'The Unbank' Image copyright Ffrees Family Finance "U is not a bank," its website declares, just in case there's any doubt about what being an "unbank" involves."You get all the benefits you'd expect from a bank," the Yorkshire-based firm then adds, before clarifying in its small print that it doesn't offer overdrafts.Over on Google Japan, a search for the same letter brings up U-Next, which claims to be Japan's biggest on-demand video service with themed sub-sections including "flashy police action" and "women who love bad guys".V - 1980s TV series' IMDb page Image copyright x The top-ranking entry for V - courtesy of Amazon's Internet Movie Database (IMDb) - is for the original 1983 sci-fi mini-series rather than the 2009 reboot.The story centred on lizard-like aliens attempting to take control of Earth and had been inspired by the anti-fascist novel It Can't Happen Here.The same book has also inspired some liberal commentators to criticise the presidencies of George W Bush and Donald Trump.W - Luxury hotels Image copyright Marriott There are now more than 50 locations in Marriott International's premium hotel brand, which targets the wealthy young.The chain now has Africa in its sights with openings planned in Egypt and Morocco. But it also abandoning its original Lexington Avenue spot in New York, with critics suggesting the hotel is "no longer unique or trendy" and would probably cost too much to upgrade.Apple iPhone X Image copyright Apple Apple's top-end smartphone is now outsold by the second-rung iPhone 8, if market analyst reports ring true.But the handset proved a sizeable chunk of the public were willing to spend £1,000 on a phone, and made the "notch" a thing.Now, there's just the matter of what to call the successor... the X2, XI or Y? Presumably XS might be too close to the bone.YouTube Image copyright Getty Images YouTube's chief recently revealed 1.9 billion people log in to view at least one video a month on the platform. Many of them, of course, watch a lot more.Despite this, many of its clips have never been watched at all. You can help address that via this site, which serves up YouTube's previously unclicked content.Z Hotels Image copyright Z Hotels This chain is much lower down the luxury scale than W Hotels, but it's also a lot more affordable. Just don't expect a lot of space around your bed.In much of the rest of the world, Jay-Z's video for his song Legacy takes the top spot. Which seems like a decent pay-off with which to leave you. Source link

[rachelbelitardoblog]

13 Super Effective Tips on how to Motivate Your Kid to Practice Music    

Think back to when you have been in school. You had your academic classes along with your after-school pursuits. You knew your day-to-day regimen: Math, English, Science, and so forth. Then right after school: piles of limitless homework!

With lots of distinct topics, it’s no wonder including time for you to practice music can appear like a burden to a child. That is wherever you can be found in - it is possible to assistance shift your child’s mindset!

What’s the bottom line? It is as much as you to assist your youngster see music within a diverse light!

Instead of treating music like any other subject, produce a distinction so your child sees music as a thing she or he wants to do. The best approach to shift your child’s mindset should be to allow her or him play an instrument they are actually serious about.

“If you want your kid to be motivated to play an instrument, music should be different than other educational topics,” says Bobby K. from Guitar Chalk. “Your little one shouldn’t see music being a forced discipline, like Math or Geography. This in the end comes right down to selecting the appropriate instrument, which can be going to be the one particular the child is fired up about and really wants to perform on his or her personal.

“For me, that was the guitar, which had me training (voluntarily) three to 4 hrs a day at 11 years old. That couldn’t have occurred with piano due to the fact piano wasn’t “my” instrument. It had been just one more subject. But guitar was different in that it felt like play, not college work. Receiving your little one right into a related scenario, wherever their instrument does not feel like just another school topic, is unquestionably essential. If it is not happening, that might be a signal that it is time to switch instruments.”

This also usually means it's possible you'll must be flexible. While it could be costly to allow a kid to start and prevent numerous distinct actions, make an effort to function with her or him to uncover a single he or she enjoys and it is intrinsically motivated to practice.

Like this tip? Click right here to tweet it. 

Place Your Little one in Handle It is no secret that when we’re advised to try and do something, we don’t usually desire to get it done. Throughout the program of the day, there are plenty of unique people (moms and dads, teachers, older siblings, coaches) telling youngsters what to try and do. Add music to that list and it’s no wonder motivation looks to dwindle!

Combat this trouble by putting your little one in management. Let her or him figure out the practice routine, that way they’re extra most likely to stick with it.

“Kids hear adults tell them what to carry out all the time; to catch their awareness, let them program their very own practice routine,”  says Nicole Weiss, LCSW Psychotherapist and Coach. “Start using the end in mind. Essentially, you need to get your youngster to produce the determination that he or she requirements to practice so that he or she can perform the way she or he desires to perform. Following the selection is produced, the mother or father can assist the kid research and find out how usually an excellent musician practices. The little one then sets a schedule determined by the reality that, to be good, a single need to practice.”

Not merely will this allow your child to truly feel a sense of handle, it's going to also help him or her to understand the worth of practice.

“The little one helps make the schedule, then the mother or father reinforces it,” Weiss says. “I’m confident many moms and dads studying this would say…’yeah but will they do that daily?’ That is exactly where you can be found in - but you've much more excess weight inside your reminder. It had been the child’s desire to make the purpose. Moreover, the reward must be for accomplishing very little targets. Such as: ‘practice each and every night this week and we can download that song you would like.’ Reward the work.”

More: Motivate Your Youngster to Practice With a Reward Technique

Assist Your Child Understand the Gift of Music Show your child that playing a musical instrument is actually a special privilege and a chance that isn’t automatically available to all people. Educate your little one to value music and all it has to offer you. Assist them find out that music can improve their existence.

“I feel that we’re here in this globe to try and do great matters with all the present of our lives, and we’re here to serve many others,” says Heather F. from Music for Younger Violinists. “Learning to perform [the violin] assists us in each of these regions - we’re drawn up right into a amount of greatness by way of the discipline demanded to examine this art form, and within this process, we cultivate a gift that we will share with many others.”

This also contains helping your child create a adore for music. Take them to concerts or exhibits, perform music in the home, and assistance them learn what they like.

Numerous adults wish they'd caught by using a pastime or endeavor they began like a youngster, like taking part in a musical instrument. Whilst this could be a complicated idea for young children to grasp, educating them to appreciate music might help them fully grasp why practice is significant.

In line with this informative article from MusicTeachersHelper on motivating college students to practice, “…I cannot count how many instances I’ve heard adults say to me, ‘I quit taking piano when I was young and it had been this kind of a blunder. I wish I could go back and take lessons again.’ Mothers and fathers may help young children know the worth that musical talent brings to society.”

Don’t Make Practice an Obligation This a single might appear a bit counterintuitive, appropriate? Following all, you have invested the cash in an instrument and lessons, so you want your youngster to create probably the most of it. Plus, in case your son or daughter wishes to be good, she or he desires to practice!

The important thing right here would be to not make practice look like an obligation, as in contrast to other fun pursuits. For example, in case your son or daughter loves to perform video games or play outside, don’t permit him or her to try and do this until soon after finishing practice.

Utilizing a fun action like a reward will develop the mindset that practice may be the obligation that stands during the way of the enjoyable activity, and this might create resentment or dread for practice.

As Why We Educate Piano suggests, “Don’t set an arbitrary amount of practice time, with out precise objectives, after which reward them with playtime or video video games afterwards. This just reinforces the notion that playing piano is not really entertaining and video games are fun.”

Strategy Performances With regards to any sport, pastime, or endeavor, it is significant to maintain your eye about the prize. Precisely the same point applies in regards to your kid mastering an instrument; your son or daughter must have a objective in sight, otherwise, she or he may perhaps question the have to have to practice.

“If you ought to hold students engaged and excited about their music education, make sure they’re carrying out constantly during the yr,” says Anthony M. founder and writer from the Music Parents’ Guide. “There are other profound effects on much more scheduled performances for all school applications, also. We, as moms and dads and teachers, need to have to foster a rising curiosity as well as an excitement about music in our children’s lives. Constant performances are the ideal technique to do that and carry on to inspire our children.”

It gets improved:

Not just do performances assist to boost pleasure, in addition they do the job to hold young children accountable. Inquire any music teacher - even the most unmotivated student will be additional probable to practice if it means steering clear of embarrassment at a recital!

Let Your Youngster Pick out Simply because you loved enjoying piano like a child does not imply your child will love enjoying just as substantially. Your youngster could have other interests, and it is crucial to permit him or her to investigate unique endeavors.

“First of all, I believe it is important that the youngster select the instrument they are gonna understand,” says Matt T. from Unlock the Guitar. “I’m a guitarist, and I’d adore nothing over my son for being thinking about mastering guitar, but he’s undeniably drawn on the piano. Plus, if an instrument is thrust on them, practicing it'll also be thrust upon them. Letting the little one pick out the instrument turns this on its head, and into your favor, even when they didn’t choose the instrument you would have liked them to play.”

Be Their Cheerleader Let your little one know you are his or her most significant fan, in particular early on when your little one may possibly feel annoyed or discouraged.

Eighty-eight notes school of music suggests listening to your kid in your house as often when you can and creating encouraging remarks about their progress. Also, make sure to inquire them how their lessons went.

Consider a real curiosity within your child’s musical journey. Your son or daughter will likely be enthusiastic to play for you personally and display off new abilities!

Enable Them Engage With Music Your youngster is extra possible to practice music if he or she feels linked on the course of action. Aid your son or daughter develop an interest and curiosity for music.

To assist your child keep engaged, turn out to be a a part of the method. Whatever you'll be able to do to obtain involved is most likely to increase their interest and determination.

“Motivating your youngster by reward or punishment will halt operating really speedily; instead, enable your little one get curious about music and develop an inner want to engage with music,” says Jonas G., the founder of flowkey.”Let your child perform around with diverse instruments. Pay attention to music and sing together. Your child will naturally choose to imitate you, so a big motivation for young children to practice is seeing their moms and dads engage with music themselves.”

Develop Problems Rather than telling your little one to practice, enable him or her set certain objectives and difficulties. This may assist them progress quicker simply because they’ll perform on accomplishing distinct duties or mastering unique competencies. This concept could be utilized to any instrument.

Practiceopedia writer and practice professional, Philip J., has a wholly distinctive consider: “Don’t inquire your kids to ‘practice’ - they will not understand what to accomplish. Alternatively, give them bite-sized, clear challenges to complete: (1) Get the job done out a fingering for measures 24-35 (2) Steadily speed up area B to 85bpm. (three) Be able to perform the left hand in the coda from memory.”

Having trouble coming up with all the ideal challenge? Verify out Phillip’s web-site, thebootcampedition.com, for a substantial collection.

Celebrate ALL Accomplishments Learning to play an instrument can be a long journey total of peaks, valleys, and plateaus. Even though you will undoubtedly be proud once you watch your kid carry out, it is vital to celebrate the small victories along the way.

When verbal praise is vital, chances are you'll also wish to produce one more strategy to celebrate achievements; familyshare recommends holding a journal of your child’s accomplishments. Whenever you put it in creating, you are much less very likely to forget. If journaling isn’t your matter, you can retain a white board within the fridge, or make a chart that you can display within the house!

Celebrating the small victories will help your little one continue to keep a positive mindset when they are struggling or possessing difficulty tackling a whole new notion or song.

Allow Them Play Music They Like While you will find always certain signature songs and classics for a variety of instruments, your kid will reduce curiosity if she or he does not like the music they’re playing.

Do the job with your child’s instructor to make sure your kid is playing some music they certainly delight in.

Based on the Academy of Music and Dance, “As little ones get to be about ten many years old, at times younger, they begin to build preferences for musical design, largely influenced by radio, Television, and no matter what they’re most exposed to in your house. They're going to also normally gravitate to what ever their close friends are listening to, specifically for boys at close to age 13 and women all over age 11.”

Use this like a motivational system; make it possible for your son or daughter to play a minimum of one particular acquainted song as part of their weekly regimen.

Make Practice Fun This need to come as no surprise - no one wants to practice when it’s dull! Integrate entertaining video games, actions, and challenges, as well as your child will appear forward to practice!

According to PianoDiscoveries, “appropriate targets and favourable reinforcement will make training pleasurable and rewarding. Really number of small children are self-motivated in their practice. Most need incentives and reminders to keep them focused and moving forward.”

Inquire your child’s music teacher for some inventive ways to make practice more pleasurable!

Discover the best Teacher This brings us to our final method and a single of your most important: find the proper teacher! Whilst practice is finished outside of lessons, if your youngster connects with his or her teacher, they are much a lot more likely to practice on their own time.

In line with Music Central,”…finding the best instructor will make or break the entire practical experience. Really don't be afraid to try out a fresh teacher if your child is not connecting. The ideal teachers usually are the ones who not only teach, but understand how to be a good friend and mentor to your little one.”

Discover a instructor who understands your child’s finding out style, and also a particular person who’s able to teach ideas inside a way that keeps your little one interested. When your son or daughter likes her or his instructor, they’ll be extra willing to get route and practice continually.

Amid the several challenges that mother and father face in dealing with children’s music lessons (choosing the instrument, locating a good teacher, and so on.), finding young children to practice would be the most daunting of all. The severity of the challenge as well as the importance of practice make it tricky to think that there are so handful of content articles addressing this. What’s additional, dad and mom and music teachers generally resort on the failed techniques they don't forget from childhood in desperate attempts to motivate little ones to practice. A prevalent instance of this challenge is the “practice for thirty minutes” rule, during which a music teacher will advise that the child practice 30 minutes each day and commonly increase this time as they get older. In attempts to enforce adherence to this arbitrary commitment, parents will frequently “pay” the youngster for 30 minutes of “work” with a thing rewarding like watching Tv, enjoying outside or playing video video games. The challenge with this process is it makes the 30 minutes of training a little something to be endured as a way to do some thing which is valued. But what on earth is so sacred about 30 minutes of practicing? Exactly where did this normal unit come from? How is it improved than 27 minutes or 34? To transform practicing into a rewarding activity, mother and father ought to inspire reaching everyday musical aims. For instance, as opposed to saying that 30 minutes of practice is enough no matter what on earth is achieved, you may say, “Today the goal of practicing should be to perform the primary eight measures of one's piece without having any mistakes.” Whether or not reaching this aim will take twelve minutes or forty minutes is not important. What on earth is vital is the fact that the little one understands the musical goal of every day-to-day practice session and feels motivated to be as efficient as you possibly can whilst training so that you can reach that objective and really feel that sense of accomplishment. If your aim is playing the initial eight measures on Monday, the logical target for Tuesday should be to perform the following eight. Pretty quickly, the kid will acknowledge the cumulative purpose of the week: to play the whole piece no cost of mistakes. This leads to additional determination, a lot more energy through practice and most significantly, pride in what they have achieved. Despite the fact that this system achieves greater good results, furthermore, it necessitates much more hard work from the mother and father; it’s quick to look at the clock and check thirty minutes, but goal-related practicing indicates setting day-to-day aims for the youngsters, monitoring the ease or issues your youngster experiences with his music and setting new, much more demanding objectives. Do not stress! Right here are some strategies to assist you: First, divide the week’s objective or teacher’s expectations into 7 equal parts and make sure your little one understands every single one. On some days, your little one could possibly choose to function toward two days’ really worth of aims, in which situation, it’s sensible to give them the option of skipping the next day’s practice session. Daily goals need to be attended to every day and should involve playing scales or other technique-building expertise; advancement on unique pieces may be additional spread out, provided that the youngster continues to move forward using the piece. Though it may be tempting, really don't bargain with practice time. Though in attempting to skip a day, your kid may well definitely mean, “I will practice double tomorrow,” this sets the standard that practice time is negotiable. Progress should be measured and appropriately altered each day (if wanted) by analyzing the quantity of energy, disappointment and completion/advancement in reaching the day-to-day aims. Yes, this can be more perform than monitoring 30 minutes every day, but in the end, this can be much easier than the agony of forcing young children to adhere to the mandatory thirty minutes of meager, unmotivated work. It will eventually also make everyone’s life a bit more fulfilling!

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