#I feel like a lot of these aren't really anything 'new' as far as music I've shared :S

[n7viper]

HI <3 For the music meme: Mae 2, 5, and 18 Mihri 6, 15, and 20 (hope they're not too many??? lol)

Ahhhhhh, Ali! Thank you for sending this!! :3 sorry for taking forever to answer it 😭

(Music Meme)

I put some lyrics in here for a few, so it got a bit long. I'm gonna tuck it all behind a cut~ (also, pink for Miss Mae and green for Miss Mihri!)

2. a song I associate with my muse’s past picking WCAR for any sad OC stuff is a little too on the nose most of the times considering that they tragically lost their clean vocalist a few years ago and are very open about talking about it If There's Nothing to See - We Came As Romans

The years I'll never forget Good and bad all the same Every hardship we met And dreams we got to create We were so young, we were so vivid We were so young, awake and driven

5. a song that makes my muse sad I’ll be honest, I haven’t nailed down what Mae would listen to, really. So take this instead because it makes me cry and think of her a bit: King of Anything - Beartooth

They want me to be this perfect thing Like everything is fine Like everything is okay But I'm not close to perfect I'm not close to sane I'm not the one to worship And I'm not the one to blame But you made up your mind And you put me on your stage Just take it all back I'm not the king of anything

18. a song that plays while my muse trains/works-out HEALTH just feels right for me when thinking of Mae's music taste, so we'll go with this. She feels like a very industrial/electronic girlie, but I might be making the connection of futuristic space game = electronic. Oops... HATEFUL - HEALTH

6. a song that makes my muse want to dance This came to mind first. I tend to skew more towards EDM when I think of wanting to dance, but this song would be right up her alley 😂 Party Monster - The Weeknd

15. a song that my muse would play at their wedding What sorts of music do people even play at weddings?? This is something I feel like you could vaguely shuffle to. I mean, people dance to Mr. Brightside… Dying Breed - The Killers

20. a random song from my muse’s playlist I always mentally roast her like “ugh, she would love this kind of music...” as if I don’t also listen to this kind of music The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES

[httpiastri]

ollie bearman x crawford!reader

the instagram story was subtle enough. or, at least, so you thought.

ollie didn't seem to agree.

it was a video of you in the newly bought sundress you'd decided to wear to the sprint race today; twirling around in your hotel room, the geotag of "silverstone circuit" in the top right corner. but none of this is what ollie cares about: it's the choice of background music.

they say home is where the heart is, but god i love the english. you know i love a london boy…

the poor boy nearly had a heart attack when he saw it in the paddock. he thought it was super obvious; "i love a london boy" could only mean one thing.

your relationship with ollie is still secret from everyone, including your brother, to ensure that people won't get involved in your private business. besides, once the news is out even in just the racing world, you know it will spread and get big in no time; that's the way it usually is with formula drivers. especially fan-favorites like ollie. so, for the moment, you've decided to just enjoy wherever this takes you, without caring what anyone else thinks. but now, he's scared you've blown it.

your instagram account is on private, so you aren't afraid of fans snooping around and seeing it. but still, it worries ollie; your brother follows you, and that is much worse than fans, he reckons. when you first started going out, you thought it would be natural to tell your twin brother about it, considering the fact that ollie is one of his best friends – but ollie disagreed. the whole dating your best friend's sibling-thing never went well in the movies, and that's all he had to go after.

the song echoes in his brain all morning. during the driver meeting, his pre-race briefings, even as he watches the f3 sprint. he likes my american smile like a child when our eyes meet; darling, i fancy you. all morning leading up to the race, he's distracted and can't think of anything else, though his mechanics and engineers think he's just focused on the race ahead of him. ollie needs some kind of closure, and it isn't until he spots you walking down the f2 paddock that he finds an opportunity.

it's not long before ollie is supposed to get into his car that he sees you on your way to the dams garage. the sundress you showed off in your instagram story looks even better in the real world, and he can't help but swoon at the sight of your smile lighting up the paddock just as much as the sun. he snaps out of it just in time, because when you walk past the prema garage, he swoops out and grabs your wrist, pulling you in.

"ollie-" is all you can get out because now he's pulling you along with him so fast that you can barely even keep up. you manage to nod and greet a few of the prema workers on your way – most people recognize you as jak's sister since you spent a lot of time in the paddock with them last year – but soon, ollie has managed to find you a secluded corner far in the back with no one around.

you rest one hand on his shoulder as you try to catch your breath, looking up at your boyfriend with pinched eyebrows. "you..." he starts, letting out a sigh. "your story on instagram..."

"what about it?"

you weren't usually one to tease him, so he assumes you are actually sincere in your current confusion. the thought of your story may have been etched into his mind for the last few hours and the reason behind his displeasure might be totally clear in his head – but you never were one to read thoughts, which he sometimes forgets. "jak is going to know."

you don't look any less confused by now, which makes ollie feel even more impatient. "why would he know?"

"the song choice. london boy, really? it's so obvious." he pauses for a moment. "you can't do that."

his words are meant as a warning, but the smile on his lips tells a whole other story. no matter how scared he is that your brother will find out that you've been hiding this relationship from him, he can't stop himself from finding it just a bit amusing. and with the way that you're still watching him with such an innocent look and your other hand is also reaching for his shoulder, there's no way he can hold back a grin.

"sweetheart, it's one of the most popular songs out right now. in the entire world. no one will even bat an eye. plus," you tilt your head. "i'm an american girl in england, so london boy is an obvious choice."

"you could've chosen so many other songs about england, but you had to choose that one?"

the chuckle leaves your throat instantly. "you're not even a london boy, ollie."

he knows he's lost. he knows he's just worrying about nothing, he knows there's a much bigger risk that someone finds out about you being here with him in the prema garage than jak connecting the dots from just your story. but he can't give up just yet.

"i'll forgive you. but on one condition," he says, and you immediately nod at him. "give me a kiss. for good luck."

there's not even a second of hesitation before you get onto your tippy toes, reaching up to him. your lips are pressed onto his once, then twice, then thrice. you're both smiling into it, and his hands cup your cheeks, holding you close when you part for the last time.

"you know," he starts, thumbs drawing circles into your cheeks. "i fancy you."

the giggle that leaves your lips is like music to his ears. did he actually study the song? "oh, oliver," you say, trying to pull off your most british accent. "darling, i fancy you, too."

[xmads-omensx]

Dating Him

Masterlist

Content warnings: none

Pairing: Noah Sebastian X Reader

When you both first started dating, Noah was very shy in comparison to you. He liked the relationship, of course, but wasn't exactly used to it.

On your first date, he was very nervous and somewhat excited, so his lisp was more prominent, but you didn't pay any attention to it.

After your fifth date, which had taken place at his house so he could show you that Naruto really is a cinematic masterpiece, the words "can I be your boyfriend?" fell out of his mouth before he could do anything to stop them.

Ever since day one, your relationship has been perfect. There were small arguments here and there, but never a fight. Any issue was cleared up relatively quickly.

He notices everything about you. Were those new jeans? Had you gotten a haircut? Did you dye it? Every single detail he noticed and made sure to compliment.

He had a list on his notes app of all your favourite things, your go-to orders at every coffee shop and restaurant the two of you frequented, your size in every item of clothing imaginable, your favourite bands, your favourite songs, your favourite foods, your favourite season, he knew every. single. thing. on that list.

He's a quiet guy, so if the two of you went to someone's party or a social event, he would let you do all the talking and stay practically glued to your side as you provided him with a sense of comfort.

You would always hear any new music he was working on first, no matter what stage it was at, or what it was for, you would always hear first. The only time you wouldn't would be if he was writing a song about you, and he wanted it to be done before he showed you. Those songs never got released, but they existed just for the two of you.

He isn't the best at sharing all of his feeling with you, but he's very good at making you feel loved, be it through small touches as he passes you, a kiss on the top of your head when your cooking, or playing with your fingers as you watch TV.

Since he's on tour a lot of the time, and in the studio when he's home, he loves to plan 'date nights' that would range from a movie night in with a takeaway, a dinner at a nice restaurant or wondering around the city aimlessly looking for something cool or interesting.

You spend a lot of nights together watching ridiculously niche animes that neither of you have heard of before when you can't find anything to watch, which is obviously very hit or miss with if they're any good or not.

When you aren't together in the mornings, he will send you a good morning text along with his plans for the day, and if you aren't together at night, he will call you to say goodnight, and text you after the call is over just to make sure he got his point of you having sweet dreams across.

After you have been together for six or so months, he starts to get really goofy. I mean just doing dumbass shit for no reason at all. He will start making stupid jokes, telling you absolutely awful pickup lines, and just being a general menace to your peace of mind.

His favourite thing to do after a long day at the studio is to lay on top of you, with his head buried in your neck, and let out an impressively big sigh before going to sleep. His soft snores will eventually send you off to sleep as well.

If you work from home, he made a small space in the home studio for you, so that if both of you have a lot of work to do, you can still be together. You just put your headphones on while you work on your computer.

First and foremost, he is a gentleman and would do literally anything for you. He will open doors for you, pull chairs out for you, help you do up zippers that you can't reach, help you put your jackets on, and help you reach things that are too far out of your own reach.

[nihilo-sensei]

The Infamous Chuuya-SSKK Car Ride

Two. Fucking. Hours.

Akutagawa and Atsushi have been arguing for two hours almost non-stop and there's still an hour to go in the trip. If you had asked Chuuya before he climbed into this four-wheeled prison what the most annoying thing on Earth was, he would've said without hesitation that it was dealing with Dazai. That was a more innocent time, a time before life had decided to punish him for his every felony, misdemeanor, and wasted gallon of milk. He wasn't sure if these apparently nuclear-powered bickering machines being confined to the backseat was better or worse for him. Probably better; at least one half of the invective wasn't being spewed directly into his left ear.

As much as he wanted to blame a member of the Armed Detective Agency for all of his misery, he was disappointed to say that it had been his subordinate and fellow mafioso who started this. Granted it hadn't taken much to get the weretiger to dive down to Akutagawa's level, but he was just trying to make conversation, asking if Chuuya listened to much music. Honestly, the gravity manipulator would've been delighted to spend a three-hour car ride talking about music, even with an ADA member. It was kind of nice that the kid had reached for some common ground between them. Akutagawa really hadn't needed to cut Chuuya off before he had a chance to answer by saying, "No one cares, weretiger." That one admittedly rude remark had sealed Chuuya's fate for the rest of the ride out to the countryside. Thanks, Aku.

"You better not get in my way when we get there, weretiger. The Port Mafia doesn't need Least Beneath the Moonlight."

"I guess I'll leave the job to Brash-ōmon, then. Get over yourself."

How are they still coming up with new insults? Chuuya hadn't even had the energy to tell them to shut the fuck up passed the 35-minute mark, about 25 minutes after his throat started to hurt from trying to match their combined volume. It was like they didn't even hear him. They were in their own little world together.

That was what he'd been warned about, though, wasn't it? Akutagawa and the tiger boy had… tension. He had heard about it from Dazai, but hadn't given it much thought. After all, why would he bother listening to anything that mummy's asshole says off the battlefield? He would happily throw Dazai off a building if he wasn't sure it would make that freak even happier than it would make Chuuya. Something about this train of thought makes Chuuya feel like a hypocrite for some reason. Where was he?

"At least I don't dip my bangs in Wite-Out!"

"Your impoverished ass could only afford one bang!"

Oh right, this thick fog of something making itself at home in Chuuya's backseat and inside his pounding skull. He had thought it was just a joke or an exaggeration, but this much passion for each other? Could all of that really just be simple hate? No, this doesn't really feel like hate. But if they don't hate each other why tell themselves that they do? That's so self-destructive. They should just confront their feelings like adults. Even if those feelings aren't romantic they could still find themselves good friends, they have a lot in common. At least they'd stop making their sexual tension or whatever everyone else's problem.

Why does Chuuya feel like a hypocrite again?

—

Chuuya stares into the rear-view mirror. The new Double Black had practically passed out five minutes into the drive to Yokohama. Not surprising after the mission had turned out to be far more complicated then they had anticipated. He wasn't complaining, he really couldn't deal with another three hours of angry sound waves bouncing around an enclosed space. Truthfully, they'd earned the rest. Even when the situation was going to shit they'd worked well together. Atsushi kept Akutagawa's mind on the civilians while Akutagawa's support kept Atsushi calm and focused. Chuuya sees now why Dazai put them together, not that Chuuya would ever openly tell the man he was right.

So he'd let the pair sleep, only debating whether he should wake them up after the blessedly silent car had crossed the Yokohama city limit. He had glanced into the mirror and caught sight of something that made him suddenly redirect as much attention as he safely could to it. The Sun had set halfway through the drive so he had had to wait for the car to pass the next street light to get a good look at it, and sure enough he saw exactly what he thought he had. At some point in the drive Atsushi and Akutagawa had leaned into each other while they slept. Atsushi's head was now resting on Akutagawa's shoulder while the mafioso's head rested on top of the weretiger's. Chuuya smiled. Definitely not hate.

As the car nears the ADA office, where Atsushi was to be dropped off, Chuuya pulls into a gas station with a new mission in mind. After he puts the car in park he takes out his phone and hopes that fatigue keeps the pair asleep and unaware while he does what needs to be done. He gambles on using the flash and wins a nice, clear picture that's going to absolutely make his fucking day the next time Akutagawa decides to make him sit through another "that goddamn foolish weretiger" rant. But was it really fair to make just Akutagawa suffer when Atsushi was about as responsible for Chuuya's three-hour ordeal earlier? No. And isn't the ADA all about that justice shit?

Chuuya opens his text thread with Dazai, taps his thumbs to the screen a few times, and hands down Atsushi's sentence with the push of 'Send'. He only has to wait a few seconds before the weretiger's irritating superior responds.

Mackerel (21:04): Oh my god, thank you so much for this! How useful my dog is becoming!

You (21:04): I seriously can't do this with you right now, Dazai. Those little bastards almost wiped me out on the way to the mission. They argued the entire time. I'm fucking tired.

Mackerel (21:05): Impressive, isn't it?

"Impressive" was one way of putting it. "Never gonna happen again" was another.

[allyricas]

I love gay Eddie and bisexual awakening Steve. It's solid and popular for a reason. It works, makes a lot of sense.

But...I also love flirty-cluelessly-queer Eddie and comfortable-with-his sexuality Steve.

Eddie does flirt. With everyone. It was pretty clear he was flirting with Chrissy. He was flirting with Steve. Calling him big boy and getting up in his personal space, being all cutesy.

So, imagine Eddie just casually flirting with Steve and it doesn't mean anything to him. He's just being Eddie. He isn't even aware that it's flirting. He really considers it teasing. The man is dramatic and silly. He loves to make a scene. So "teasing" people is fun for him.

Eddie who is a super senior running a DnD club for outcasts, loves Lord of the Rings, plays in a metal band. I think Eddie is always into some sort of hyperfixation to be trying to bang chicks or dudes.

There was totally a phase were he was obsessed with folk and old country music (Woody Guthrie much). There was the Jane Austen phase (It fits, c'mon). The time he tried to learn to crochet. His lasting phase with fantasy novels. His intense love of metal music. He knows a lot about music in general. Obscure shit. Oh, those handcuffs-definitely from his magic phase. Tell me, 12 year old Eddie didn't want to be a magician. He probably did card tricks, the whole deal.

Eddie would be the kind of guy who'd spout all sorts of random knowledge. He probably has one specific time period in history he could rant about for hours.

The man has raging ADHD (takes one to know one). He's a self-professed nerd and outcast. The only thing that might be considered "cool" is that he plays in his band. But even then, he's a total nerd about it.

Eddie is hot as hell. That is undeniable. But Eddie has been too damn busy being a fucking nerd to date or hook up. I think he's so focused on his interests, it could easily not have been on his radar. Same way he's failed senior year twice in a row despite being smart as hell. The shit they are trying to teach doesn't interest him and that makes Eddie fucking struggle.

He's bouncy and hyperactive. He probably has terrible tunnel vision when he gets into a book or movie or campaign. Dating has thus far not been interesting enough especially combined with how he's treated by the people in Hawkins.

So, yeah- he flirts and teases. He thinks it's harmless fun. With Chrissy, it was a way to make her feel safe and lighten the mood. With Steve, it's a way to disarm him. It's King Steve afterall. Why not play up the metalhead freak persona. Let him think he's weird.

It isn't until Steve starts flirting back and gives Eddie butterflies that Eddie realizes this is not heterosexual behavior. And he knows a lot about that because he was accidentally flagging for a whole goddamn year. Because he wanted to look metal as fuck and thought the bandana was badass.

Steve calls Eddie princess. Calls him pretty boy. Throws in a babe. Everytime Eddie refers to him as big boy or Stevie, Steve just smirks and comes up with a new pet name that wrecks Eddie (who has no idea what is fucking going on). Throw in the boys getting high together with no inhibitions and Steve actively trying to romance him and Eddie's in a full blown sexuality crisis.

best part: Steve thinks Eddie is gay because of the bandana that he wore all year. Add in all the flirting and then Steve's really putting the moves on totally clueless Eddie. And say what you want about Steve, but he has game. I can just imagine Eddie trying to frantically figure out why all of the sudden he wants to make out with Steve "the hair" Harrington and Steve's like...aren't you gay?

(if anyone knows of steddie fics anything like this, please rec them!)

[kai-tus]

we're so far behind lmao

Autism+ As well as being plural, we have AuDHD, maladaptive daydreaming, and sone vague mixture of personality disorders.

Infinite We've heard enough about Autism Speaks to hate it. Looking into it more would only upset us. It's painful knowing just how many allistics don't know why the puzzle piece is bad. Before we learned of it, we saw a particular youtube short where a spray paint artist made a painting dedicated to autistics. It included the puzzle piece. Our mom once made puzzle piece earrings. It's the little pains.

AuDHD Ah yes, our specialty. No, not really, we're actually quite terrible with handling the ADHD. Doing anything in life that isn't related to our interests is hard enough. And then you got people like our parents saying that they're both a part of the same spectrum. No. No they aren't. Not in the slightest.

Music Music is our current therapy. It helps us control our daydreaming. It helps us process our emotions. And sometimes we just simply want auditory stimulation. Music is just very awesome.

Verbose Infodumping. We don't do it often, since we actually get more scatterbrained the more we wanna say. But we absolutely love talking about queer shit. It's just so interesting how diverse one's experiences with one's identity can possibly be. The possibilities are infinite! Just today, actually: We found an aroallo Tumblr community that didn't allow ace or ace-spec people in, so we asked about that and explained our complicated experience with attraction and asked if we were still allowed in. It basically ended with us pointing out that the community uses the green and yellow aroallo flag, which was SPECIFICALLY intended to include ace-spec people, so there literally wasn't a hell of a lot they could say lmfao. The misinformation is WILD with some identities. Oh crap, I'm infodumping right now LMAO.

Individuals Before we learned more about autism, our only knowledge of it came from our brother, who was diagnosed at 3 because he has much more overt traits than we ever had (nevermind the fact that we hated eating anything green for a while when we were littler, even green jello). But this led us to internalize it and push us into a little bit of denial over it. Not a lot, since a week of intense research was able to clear that up (a week is LONG TIME for us, considering the fact that whenever something like this happens, we spend hours researching it, sometimes even entirely abandoning chores and homework until it's over). But we did eventually learn that autism is unique to every individual. Now, our brother and us have more 'typical' traits of autism, but our closest friend has moreso 'atypical' autism. His traits don't really line up a hell of a lot with ours, but we still kinda get each other more than any allistic ever will.

Neuroscope I've never heard this word before now, but it does have a point. Many times have we wandered into a new Discord server, truly enjoyed being there, and then eventually found out that most of the people there are heavily neurodivergent. NOT a coincidence.

Non-speaking We are not non-speaking (even tho we REALLY wanna be but the current state of our life doesn't really permit it yet), but our brother is. Our family keeps trying to encourage him to say words, and every time they do it's like we can literally feel one of our brain cells die. We dislike that they keep trying to get him to talk. He and us once had a perfectly normal conversation completely without words at all. And he can communicate without words. But their motivation is that they wanna understand him to understand how to best help him. I can kinda understand that, but not fully. We don't need to hear him tell us what he needs for us to know what he needs, because we understand him better. Of course, when we try to tell them what he needs, they don't listen. Classic allistic.

Community We've found a lot of solace in neurodivergent spaces ever since we figured out that we're NOT "just lazy". We're still trying to figure out how to function, but it's still very nice to have support and know that we aren't alone :]

TL;DR: Ableist family tries not to be ableist but FAILS miserably; Brain stuff is wacky and complicated; M u s i c; We know way too many pride flags LMAO

[lemon-russ]

Today's parade of fleas comes with a complementary/ optional musical accompaniment

BABY SAID - Måneskin

Lots of this was written at 3am on my phone and deep in my Unwell (tm) brain land. I love putting them in situations.

Part 5/ ???

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 7.5 :: 8

Cato Sicarius x F!Reader

(Cato POV 3rd person this time though)

CW: Talks about sex, Cato being a bully (verbally)

Summary: Cato does not want to talk about the events occurring from the discovery of the new emotion of horny

word count: 2,096

He couldn't even begin to explain to himself why he just did that. He sits on the floor of the cave, staring ahead with a blank, tense look, thinking about how sometimes, he does things, and sometimes, they have consequences. Like this awkward, confused silence.

The ambassador sits a few feet away, sharing a similar look. She was flushed still, hair a mess, dress barely holding on after the rock wall of the cave shredded the back of it. By the throne she looked good like this- No, stop that, doesn't he learn? This whole thing was insane and now he's going to have to live with it, and yet he's still sitting here daydreaming of how she'd look on her back and fully naked next time.

But there isn't going to be a next time, because that was a moment of insanity. They had been arguing, why did he kiss her? Okay, he knows why, but he doesn't want to actually think about that, because it's a stupid reason. She'd been insisting he didn't care about her- which is correct- but for some reason some sort of madness overcame him and he wanted her to think he did care. Okay, maybe he cared like, a little. Not anything weird, it's not sentimental to not actively wish death on someone. He'd go so far as to say it wasn't even overly familiar to wish someone does not die.

But that feels like a long leap between I'd be displeased if you perished and pinning her to a wall and fucking her mindless. Which he will admit, he did do. And he was excellent at it, of course. Cato Sicarius is the greatest at all feats of combat, and what is sex but really sticky awkward combat? He smirks to himself a bit. Another grand mastery to mark down, even if it was one he might prefer to keep to himself. But, unfortunately, unlike regular combat, your fighting partner here stays very much alive- hopefully- and can do things like ask you what was that about and what the actual fuck was that about Cato, no, seriously, what was that. He grimaces and takes a deep breath, letting it out tiredly. Not physically tired of course, he was superior in all things, including this, and was not so weak as to tire so fast- not that that matters, because, again, it won't happen again. But if it did, it could happen right now. Theoretically. Space marine stamina was second to none.

She glances over at him, expression mirroring his internal conflicts. “So….” She says softly, a small frown tugging the corners of her mouth. He clears his throat. “So.” He returns, frowning back. Emperor this was awkward. Truly a fitting punishment, to be forced to endure such banal things like talking about feelings after sex. He shudders to himself.

She frowns a bit deeper. “Are we going toooo…. Talk about that or….” She asks in a nervous voice.

Ah, excellent, she was giving him a choice. He sighs in relief, smiling genuinely for the first time in what feels like a week. “No, thank you.” He says politely, standing and brushing off his pants. What a weight off his mind, maybe he could do this sex thing more often-

“Cato.” She says, displeased. He frowns. He didn't know it was a trick question, but apparently he'd gotten it wrong. He groans. “Can't we just, pretend it didn't happen?” He pleads with an exasperated look. “What happens on dirt rock planet stays on dirt rock planet or something?” He grumbles, checking outside for the armies. Night had fallen, but he didn't see anything new at least.

“You seriously aren't going to explain what that was about?” She says, growing more frustrated. His eye twitches. This, this is why astartes are not supposed to take women to their beds. They can't move on from things and need to talk about unimportant drivel like motivations and futures and labels. Uhg. He rolls his eyes, giving her an annoyed look. “What's there to say? Your face when you got angry was attractive and I fell to baser reactions after a long and stressful day of saving you from perils.” He said dryly, crossing his arms and leaning against the cave wall, facing out and keeping watch.

She groans, “That's your excuse? You just, decided today was the day to grow a heart and feel human needs and you take it out on me?” She says tiredly.

He huffs out his nose, frowning over his shoulder at her. “I have two hearts, actually. Maybe you should read up more on the superior anatomy of an astartes and spend less time droning on about weather with nobles.” He frowns back out at the landscape. Was that a light…?

She growls in frustration. “Unbelievable. No, actually, very believable. It's my fault, really, for fucking you and thinking maybe you were having some sort of emotional breakthrough-” he hushes her, making her fluster in anger, but his eyes are trained on the light outside, and she catches the hint and just huffs out her nose a little. She quietly scootches over to see what he's looking at. Daft woman, a mortal's eyes can't see that far in the dark.

“I don't see anything…” she murmurs. No shit. Maybe he shook the last cobwebs of intelligence from her skull when he slammed her against that wall. He just hushes her again, making her pout. He glances at her annoyed little face and briefly considers repeating his misstep- no, focus Cato, there's enemies around. And he's pretty sure she can't take being fucked any dumber before she loses her ability to form speech. He smirks to himself at his little internal diss as he scans the landscape again.

He sees a search party now, combing the area back and forth in lines. Fuck. That is very, very bad for them. “Time to go” he says quietly, scooping her up onto his shoulder, making her squeak as air was knocked out of her a little. He frowns a little and glances at her kicking and annoyed little form. Well, maybe there was a few minutes before that party found them- no, no she cries like a banshee when she comes, they'd find them in minutes.

He sighs, moving her onto his shoulder upright. “hold onto my armor” he instructs, standing with her clinging to the neck of his armor, sitting on his power pack like he's giving her a piggy back ride. He puts his helmet on, “We're going to be running and calling for a pickup.” he says, ducking out of the cave and into the cold desert night. She shivers and he grimaces. Right, she barely has clothes on. Not that he cares if she's cold, but, it’s probably not great for their cover if her teeth chatter. He sighs and reluctantly tugs his cape off its holds on his back. “Here. Your ridiculous outfit choice once again forces me to do everything for you, wrap yourself in this.” He grumbles. She blinks at him, expression something he couldn't read, and takes the cape, using it like a blanket and tying it around herself. She smiles a little at him and he grimaces. “Stop that.” He demands. “Don't look at me like that. It freaks me out.”

She raises her brow and sighs. “Lets just get home.” She says, rubbing the bridge of her nose, mumbling something about mixed messages. That's stupid. His messages were very clear. He never mixes them. He huffs and starts heading away from the search party into open dark desert.

He moves at a light jog, and after a few minutes, she makes a sharp noise, making him stop and look up at her. Shes frowning, “ah- sorry, don't mind me, I'm just sore from… well… the power pack is a little hard to sit on right now.” She mumbles, glancing away awkwardly.

He sighs. “squishy, breakable mortal.” He says tiredly, pulling her off his back with a squeak. “Aren't you meant to push children out of there? How could I so damage you by doing what nature intended for it.” He grumbles as he moves to cradle her bridal style instead.

She's surprised a moment as he holds her, then frowns a bit. “I don't think astartes count as things nature intended to happen to it…” she grumbles, pink staining her cheeks as she glances away. He chuckles to himself as he starts jogging again, “Ah yes, nature could not predict the perfection of the space marine. Maybe we should create genetic enhancements for women, allowing them to not break the moment they are touched in any capacity.” He speculates to himself. “The basics, really, hardened bones, healing, sturdier flesh, some spare organs. Maybe increased pelvic capacity so an astartes lover doesn't rend you more useless than usual.” He says, smirking down at her behind his helmet. “Then I wouldn't have to work so hard this whole trip to just keep bullets out of you. It has been a huge trouble for me, you know.” He says with slight annoyance.

She groaned and rolled her eyes. “Are you seriously still doing this? You admitted to me already that you care about me and didn't like seeing me hurt.” She says with a tired scowl.

He nods, “Yes, which is also deeply disturbing. Now I have to keep you free of holes and breaks, because if I don't-” he stuttered in his gait, taking a small breath. He was thankful for the helmet, it was hard to school his expression right now, and it hid the terrified grimace that assaulted his face muscles at the thought of her becoming injured. He let out a tense sigh. “Well, it is quite annoying that for some reason I will be the one to suffer if great harm comes to you.” He grumbles a bit.

She blinks up at him- ah, there's that stupid puzzled look again. It'd be cute almost if it wasn't so agitating that she could apparently not comprehend simple thoughts at random. He sighed. “What is that face for? Shall I say it slower with smaller words?” He asks dryly.

She frowns and knits her brow, but was still looking at him like he'd grown another head like a chaos spawn. “You are possibly the most stubborn or most dense man I've ever met, and I can't decide which it is. Maybe both.” She says, shaking her head. The action makes some of her hair fluff around her face and he scolds himself when he thinks it's cute. “What in the Emperor's name are you on about now, you senseless creature?” He asks in exasperation.

She rolls her eyes. “I don't think I have the time or crayons to explain the entirety of the concept of interpersonal relationships and emotions to you right now, Cato.” She says tiredly, laying her head against his chest plate. He smiles at her cuddling to him- wait stop that she insulted you, do not smile- he forces a frown. “You do not need to explain these things to me. I know them well.” He huffs indignantly. “I am Cato Sicarius, master of many things, including psychology.” He says, pouting under his helmet. He already solved psychology this morning.

She chuckles for some warp damned reason, actually laughing at emperor knows what. He frowns down at her as she giggles herself into a fit. “I fear your mind may have sustained one too many hits, knocking what's left of your brain against the inside of your ceramite skull.” He says with a small scowl. “You seem to be losing more and more of your senses every passing moment. Perhaps it is good I did not actually render you unconscious to make you easier to handle. You probably wouldn't be able to speak again.” He says with an annoyed tone as he picks up the pace and voxes an SOS signal with their location up to the flagship.

She laughs more, snorting a little and shaking in his arms. It makes him crack a smile himself against his will. “You are mad, Woman.” He grumbles, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. That's what it all comes down to, he decides. Women are simply all completely mad. Boom, he solved women, the eternal enigma. He smiles to himself. He was on a roll today, but that's expected. He's Cato Sicarius, there is no mystery he cannot unravel.

[thelawsofdaylight]

I'm sorry if this isn't approriate, but I don't really understand why you find Les Mis a good target for a climate protest? I get that the musical has themes that align with the protesters but like... what was the good outcome? Are there really People in that audience that don't know climate change is happening? How Will this change their mind? What action is meant to be brought on by trowing soup at paintings or disrupting a performance? Does that actually help the cause of combatting climate change at all? Does it help make people more aware, does it have an effect on the mechanisms of polluters? Isn't there anything more focused that these resources (both money and the incredible bravery and drive of the People themselves) could be better focused on. These protest feels so different from like, people chaining themselves to a private jet or the schoolchildren going up to parliaments by the thousand to demand policy chances to better their future. All of the JSO actions feels so performative, I just don't see how they are actually doing anything of even the mechanism by which they are meant to accomplish anything? Which doesn't mean that the people involved aren't great people or that the reaction of the Les Mis crowd wasn't fucked up. Just... what was even the goal?

Hey! I know it's been a while since I made that post supporting the JSO protestors but I've gotten a few asks like this in the time since (and am still getting them) so I'm responding to this as the most good-faith one in my inbox and hopefully it answers others that have been asked to me in the past couple weeks as well. Disclaimer: If I'm responding to things outside the remit of this ask, it's likely that it's because someone else sent an ask about it and I've been juggling them all in my head as I've been thinking on a response.

I think in order to answer the first part of the ask we have to tackle the second. 'What has this action achieved' only works as a comprehensive criticism if we look at it in isolation to all of JSO's other actions. What I mean by this is: JSO launched by blocking oil refineries for days on end. In the two years they've been active they've done similar actions, including but not limited to disrupting fuel distribution centres, petrol stations, interrupting fossil fuel conferences, and, most recently, trying to stop the relocation of asylum seekers to prison barges. Their actions go far beyond blocking roads and disruption of public events. I think this is important to establish as I don't know how much of a working knowledge anyone not in the UK Climate movement actually has about JSO and I think it's good we're all on the same page.

But if they do all that (effective, important) direct action, then why target Les Mis? What does a West End show have to do with fossil fuel companies and climate change? And in response to these questions I'll ask one of my own: were you aware of the fact that JSO tried to stop migrants from being deported until I mentioned it just now? A lot of these actions, the ones that actually target infrastructure and confront those directly responsible, get little to no media coverage. When news of the Les Mis action first broke out, I saw so many people on Twitter with the same reactionary takes: why target Les Mis when the Conservative Party Conference literally happened the same weekend? And that's a fair and valid point- if it wasn't for the fact that JSO were at the conference. I know this because I was there too. They had a huge bloc in the march and went on to do other actions in the city after the march had ended. The whole thing, the entire 10,000+ strong protest, got maybe 30 seconds coverage on the local news and not even a mention of JSO's presence (or of climate change in general for that matter.) JSO's previous actions directed at fossil fuel companied themselves get very little, if any, coverage compared to their big flashy sports/awards show/performance interruptions.

So yeah, some of JSOs actions are 'performative'. But I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that even performative actions have their place within the wider struggle. I understand not liking public disruption as a tactic and I understand the issues with it, but I also think it's worth reflecting on why groups like JSO use it.

Editing my draft here to report that earlier today they smashed the frame of a painting that was previously vandalised by the Suffragette movement in 1914. That's a performative action, sure, but you have to admit it makes a point. Just like the tageting of Les Mis, a play about an unjust society and the people striving to change it, makes a point about hypocrisy. It gets the media coverage. We can debate all day about the usefulness of that coverage and if chasing media headlines should be our goal in the first place... but at the end of the day, it's been proven that JSOs membership grows every time they do something like this. It gets more people to join, which means next time it comes round to blocking key infrastructure, they'll be in a stronger position to succeed.

This isn't to say don't criticise them at all! I actually think criticisms like this one are a key part of organising and, done with care, can only make our movements stronger. I have my own issues with JSO- namely, the carelessness with which arrest is actively encouraged/promoted as the only valid form of resistance- but that's a whole other conversation and one that doesn't undermine my support and solidarity for the activists who are doing those actions (and sacrificing a whole lot in the process.) I think mass direct action movements are rarely ever perfect but I also think we need to show solidarity first and foremost when people are trying to do the right thing, especially if how they're doing it is in conjunction with or as a response to other tactics.

[jmdbjk]

Are they or aren't they?

I know I'm not the most jikook-centric blog around here and I don't go on and on about them every time content drops. (Or do I? 🤔)

I am not here to convince anyone of anything. I just say what I think about what I see and that's pretty much all there is to it.

I guess I take it for granted that most see what I see and it’s not necessary for me to point out the obvious all the time.

But for some reason today, I started thinking about Jimin and Jungkook and what they are to each other and how that has manifested itself to us this past year. Even though we see very little of it all, speaking for myself, I still see what I see and its all fine.

A super-long ramble:

The past year's solo era has definitely been an eye-opener for me as far as learning more about ALL the member's individual personalities, of how they work and how they view each other.

As far as Jimin and Jungkook, as time goes on, I don't sense anything that makes me feel whatever they are to each other has diminished at all. If anything, I feel like it is even more intense.

It is not so much what I see between Jimin and Jungkook because dang, there has not been very much to see with them in the same room has there?

But if we aren't seeing them together, I just sound delulu right? I just said I say what think from what I SEE... how can I see anything, you ask?... well...

Hear me out...

I see Jungkook figuring out this new phase himself... he has said in the past he still had some maturing left to do. I think he has shown us plenty of his true self and maturity this past year.

We know all this because he's shared a lot with us via his lives. He's been living his introverted life his way until its his time to get to work.

He likes to cook. He likes to watch TV. He loves to sing. He's keeping up with his boxing training. He has a goofy sense of humor. He's trying to be a normal person and go out in the world and eat at restaurants and attend concerts and hang out with friends. We've seen him being his "rebellious" 25 year old self. We know he has serious stalkers and he is very direct about it. He shows no fear to us.

We know he's most comfortable when he knows we are there with him. Unfortunately we've also seen him suffer through loss and we've seen him working through some feelings that have made him emotional. We've seen quite a bit from JK.

He has spoken to us about serious things and not so serious things. He is very good at phrasing things and expressing things clearly.

Jungkook is figuring it all out.

Kookie has spent a lot of time showing us himself and where he lives. He has had a lot of time to do so.

I see Jimin, on the other hand, has returned to being somewhat more like the Jimin we knew before the pandemic. The perfectionist workaholic. Also a new (to me) layer of sweetness and gratitude that exudes from him no matter where he is, interacting with fans at a radio station, in the audience of a performance, interacting with others in general and during his lives or just walking through the airport, Jimin is thankful for it all. This extra-strength gratitude manifests itself in the way he takes his time to thank just about EVERYONE and how he always seems genuinely surprised to see the outpouring of love.

Earlier last year it was obvious to me (me who pays very close attention to Jimin) that he was not himself. During photoshoots and promotion recordings he was not engaged. His mind was elsewhere. They all looked less than thrilled don't you think?

But since about last October, Jimin has been the happiest I've seen him in AGES during his lives. His music is making him happy. Working is making him happy. He says it at least once during every live: "I am happy."

And the sassy has returned. Jimin is SO HAPPY that we are seeing the re-emergence of a more assertive Jimin during a live broadcast! We haven't really seen this Jimin since... a long time.

This most recent live, I see a Jimin who is doing well and taking control of his life again. A Jimin who knows what is coming and is going to meet it head on.

From what I've seen, I can say that Jimin and Jungkook's time together was most probably curtailed this past year. I think a lot of people agree with that assessment. We infer this because Jimin was working his ass off and therefore he was elsewhere busy with schedules. I think the bulk of this was for his Face album but he was also busy with his new brand ambassador responsibilities. Side note: I saw that Robert Pattinson was getting $12 million dollars for his deal with Dior so I think its safe to say Jimin is getting at least that if not more for his deal. And he also has the Tiffany deal... Jimin is doing very well...

So where does this leave any sort of relationship (whatever it may be) between Jimin and Jungkook? How can they be "together" if that is what they are? Or how can they even be "close"?

JK has made it clear and obvious that he is very thrilled to see Jimin commenting during his lives. We've all seen it. He spontaneously combusts when he would see Jimin commenting.

[When someone commented that Jimin did not come live to tell us the Rainy Day Fight story so Kookie proceeded to spill the tea.]

My opinion from what I see: I think JK started looking for Jimin in the comments after a few times of having him show up there. I think he craved the interaction with Jimin. The knowing that Jimin was aware of him and took the time to acknowledge means something to JK.

And finally it clicked and Kookie realized "wow, turn on notifs and I too can know when JM goes live!" And so he did when Jimin was in the car and JK proceeded to have a full blown conversation while Jimin was on his way home from work.

When Jimin's album release date got closer Jungkook was giving us spoilers of some of Jimin's work via some of the songs on the playlist while doing a live broadcast. We weren't aware those were spoilers until Jimin's album and other songs came out: Muni Long, JVKE, the butterfly hair twisty thingy, playing Letter on the guitar... and then just outright telling us something amazing was coming out at midnight when Set Me Free Pt. 2 dropped.

... something amazing... I'm pretty sure JK knew how much work Jimin put into this first album and what it meant to Jimin to purge some emotional demons that had been plaguing him for some time. I would even say that JK was proud of Jimin and therefore, made sure to hype it up even though we saw that JK had some sort of emotional moment by himself on White Day back in March.

The lives progressed into Jungkook just outright spending either the entire live or big chunks of time totally ignoring Armys and focused solely on Jimin content.

He turns on a live because there is some sort of comfort to him knowing Army is present and then he turns his attention to Jimin...

He does all of that on purpose. Without just saying the words: "I adore Jimin and support him wholeheartedly" he has proven that he feels that way with his actions. He figured out a way to express this even when Jimin was who knows where.

If he didn't want us to think that, he wouldn't have done what he did, would he? Why would he spend so much time focused on Jimin?

We know JK's stopped having a presence on social media except for Weverse. And using just Weverse Live, he's been able to accomplish more visible support for Jimin than any other member has shown for any other member during this solo era.

And if he's doing all of this on Weverse, what else is he doing behind the scenes, in person, with Jimin?

We know they spent time recording Run BTS episodes last year.

We know of at least one instance of JK visiting Jimin while he was working hard.

Having Jungkook's support is probably one of the best feelings for Jimin.

"But Jimin asked JK to visit again and JK said 'no'." And yet JK contradicted himself telling Jimin he'd come to a music show recording but Jimin said it was too late, and that it was ok because JK had already visited him during this dance practice above.

"Jimin said that JK has not cooked ramyeon for him yet." Jimin also said it is off limits, he's eating a high protein diet. JK has also mentioned in the last year that he should be eating less gluten so sounds like they both avoid the type of noodles that are high in carbs and gluten. FYI: "ramen" is technically the Japanese style noodles with a milder flavor and "ramyeon" is the Korean version which is spicier. I have a habit of calling it "ramen" when I mean "ramyeon".

"Jimin doesn't hug JK like he does Hobi." Uh... yeah he does:

And then we have started seeing this pattern... coincidence? Not anymore... of Jungkook coming on live right after Jimin has left the country. And then we get the same thing from Jimin the other day after Jungkook leaves.

My opinion from what I've seen:

These two are very close and have worked out how they deal with separation. They spend time together when they can. When they can't they share things like everyone else does, by texting and phone calling and face timing and all that.

From what I've seen them say during their own lives, I think they spend time together talking about work. I especially think JK has participated in helping Jimin rehearse, practice and just generally hanging out. I think they spend time eating together and watching tv or youtube together.

I think they are fine and are navigating their relationship (whatever it is) very well, regardless of their careers and impending military service, existing as global superstars as well as being normal day-to-day Jeon Jungkook and Park Jimin. They are making it work because they've been doing this for at least ten years already.

So, long ramble to say, I will continue to not state the obvious every time we see something, because to me, its obvious everything is going well for them.

[merp-blerp]

EVEN MORE Things about Cinderella's Castle I'm excited about already as a big Cinderella fan

Part One, Part Two (This), Part Three

I did this once, guess I'm excited enough to do it again!

The songs sound wonderful! Can't wait to hear what they sound like with the cast and I can't wait to see what Lauren does with the choreo! NPMD blew me away and I can't wait to see how this show will kill me. "Cursed Crazy", "Step On Your Grave", "Ash To Ash", and "Ever After" are my favorite demos so far.

I think it's so cool that "Step On Your Grave" is such an angry song. I know it takes place while Ella's cooking her step-family dinner, but it would be really interesting if a reprise took place after Ella learns she can't go to the ball (that is if the story works the same way as usual). Normally, if Cinderella gets a song during this moment, it's very mournful, like say "In My Own Little Corner (Reprise)" from 1997 Cinderella. And that's great! But giving Ella a song like that, but with a "No Good Deed" from Wicked vibe would be so original and new as far as I'm aware! Cinderella has every right to be sad at her abusive situation, but also every right to be angry! Imagine she wants to follow them to the ball not to have a good night like usual but to kill her step-family on the way or at the ball somehow. Whether a rendition of "Step On Your Grave" is at a moment like this in the show or not, Ella deserves a song like that I think and I'm glad she's got one.

"Step On Your Grave" has a lot of allusions to Ella once being a princess in the making before the step-family or something came along, and Ella mentions her father having a sword, so I wonder if the Ashmores are fallen royalty or had royal tie-ins of some kind. Like maybe Ella was arranged to wed a prince or something.

"Ever After" has some elements of grief and that's so special I think. Cinderella often loses someone or something under her step-family, like her family or her former life, but the grief aspect isn't brought up too much very often in adaptations, the most significant time I can think of it being brought up is in 1997 Cinderella. It'd be nice to include that element in this show. I can't help but wonder if Ella's father's death was accidental in this show. "Ever After" kind of reminds me a bit of "Cool As I Think I Am" from NPMD sound-wise; some smart musical person should mash them up once "Ever After" is released. Ella also might be kinda regicidal in this song too, so... POOR GIRL'S JUST SO CONTEMPLATIVE!

I genuinely doubt "Trappings of Starlight" has much to do with the Starlight Theather from Hatchetfield, but to add to that craziness, the "Uh-oh-oh-oh," reminds me of the vocalizing from "Axe Man" from NT2. And "Should we shun her?" in "Castle On A Hill" reminds me of "Should we kill him?" in "The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals". I don't think it means anything though. It seems pretty clear that The Lands That Are and Hatchetfield aren't going to have much overlap.

"Ash To Ash" seemingly referencing Ella's mom! I get this feeling that Ella's mom was a witch or enchantress of some kind and that's why she was burned. And it sounds like the Fairy Queen and Ella are maybe plotting revenge on someone or a system, maybe? And I wonder what QF means by saying Ella is "Terrible as I". Maybe she means terrible as in great or fearsome, like, say, "Oz the great and terrible" or something. And the lyric, "I shall wrap thee in these cinders, Ell" makes me wonder if her dress will be made with starlight + the cinders on her body—what a wicked idea! I love how far the Langs took the whole cinders and ash thing. With Ella's surname being Ashmore and this being a duet with the Fairy Queen, I'm very curious about the title and if there's a double meaning; are Ella and the Fairy Queen related in some way? This retelling will be so good!

In the subtitles for "Ash To Ash" in the 4/13 livestream, I assumed "Q+C" was supposed to be "Queen (Fairy) + Cinderella", but listening to the song a second time, it sounds like C's lines overlap Ella's very slightly, which would make it hard for one person (Bryce) to sing alone. So C is likely not Ella in that song. Maybe it's Crumb? Some in the chat said it probably just meant chorus, so we'll see eventually.

All the little motifs that exist already! Like "Will it Ever After Happily?" in "Castle On A Hill" and "Ever After". Or the talk of Ella painting in both "Ever After" and "Last For Ever". "Ever After" has so many! AAAHHH!

The Lyrics in "Castle On A Hill" being "A queen and her vanity, a beast and his agony" have me Thinking™. Are the prince's parents Beauty and the Beast? Is the prince a beast? And there's also the Excalibur callback??? Since Nick said there would be no other fairytales involved in this story, it might just be more of a reference than literal, but it's still cool.

The lyrics to "Cursed Crazy" make me wonder if the citizens blame Ella for the Ashmore family's demise for some reason. The idea of Cinderella not even being able to find potential solace in the townsfolk is so sad! There's so much to think about!

Dying to know what "'Cause my love will be fierce, and your love will be missed," in "Trappings Of Starlight" will mean. It's such an intriguing line. As well as who is the character singing the song. We seemingly don't know who they are yet.

Seraphim Fairy Queen is such a cool idea, especially with all the talk of God(s) or a god in "Ash To Ash"! No pressure on the Langs, but it'd be so cool for them to be able to go through with that design concept, even if it's through minimal tactics. I can't wait to see who this Fairy Queen is. Is she the prince's mom??? A Sleeping Beauty-type character we could follow in a future show??? Ella's mom??? Ella's girlfriend??? This will be so cool!

There are more characters that we haven't been introduced to yet! We can still get Ella a girlfriend guys! Genuinely excited to see who they are!

The fact that the trolls eat rodents and other smaller creatures has me a bit worried about Sir Hop and Crumb. Maybe Ella was going to cook them for her step-family, but became friends with them instead, protecting them from getting eaten.

Not to get too Crazy, but what if the characters singing with Ella in "Last For Ever" are her parents, resurrected, or never actually dead or something. Probably not, but what if???

I have a feeling I'll be making more lists as we learn more about the show, so if I have any more thoughts I'll try.

[where1endandyoubeg1n]

money rock is definitely the most divisive season of schoolhouse rock. chances are you haven't seen it if you don't have the series on dvd or didn't tune into disney to watch, but the people who have seen it seem to hold a similar opinion.

on one hand, there's songs like tax man max and the check's in the mail that are top 10 material for songs in the whole series(which is ironic since they're both the most outdated in the season). a lot of them have very distinct instrumentals that hold an even wider array of instruments than songs of the original series- a good example is the steel pan drum in this for that. they really toy with fun musical genres, such as a bossa nova/elevator music vibe in 7.50 once a week that features a strange but catchy cowbell breakdown, or the showtuney feel of tax man max, or the country twang that adds some nice spice to dollars and sense. they were really willing to stretch their horizions a bit here, and that's also obvious with their experiments with the schoolhouse rock artstyle. you have the ones that stay faithful, like this for that, tyrannosaurus debt, and tax man max, but some slight departures that feel true to the originals yet very fresh. 7.50 once a week and where the money goes are stellar examples of that. the character design is still very shr, but the lines are cleaner and the animation is a little more adventerous due to their slightly bigger budget. becky sue of dollars and sense as well as her animals on the farm are good examples: still obviously schoolhouse rock, but a little more stylized in a different direction. then there's walking on wall street and the check's in the mail, which have extremely distinct animation that barely harkens to old schoolhouse rock. it's choppy, lineweight is played with lots, and character designs take larger departures from the old seasons. and it looks stellar. especially in the latter. everything feels fresh but familiar.

however, it's not without it's drawbacks. there's more forgettable songs than a normal schoolhouse rock season; i watched all the episodes in a big blend when i was little(i owned the dvd, hah) and couldn't tell the difference between old and new shr since i was a dumb lil baby. however, i could hum at least a few motifs or mention at least a couple interesting moments in the animation for every single song in every season. except this one. the only ones i could give you more than one thing on were dollars and sense(obviously, since that one was the big episode of the season), 7.50 once a week, and walking on wall street. and as much as i sing the praises of tax man max, it is the only shr episode i watched when i was younger and as of a month ago, before i rewatched, i could tell you nothing on. gun to my head i could at least remember the tuba opening to where the money goes or the first chorus to the check's in the mail, but i wiped tax man max from my memory. it's just not a sticky season, and i think that just comes down to the fact that it's teaching money. it's literally called money rock. those lessons have to be taught far more straightforward than any of the other subjects. it's very tough stretch it into anything really cool or revolutionary, a problem similar to a few songs in america rock. you can't personify the concept with a character like bill or verb or the prepositions, and you're hard-pressed to be able to twist and morph the concept like in telegraph line or conjunction junction. tyrannosaurus debt does it well enough with equating national debt to a dinosaur monster eating the money, but there's not too much wiggle room. this is little fault of the creators and just comes with the subject matter, however it negatively impacts the season. some instrumentals are also really bland, too. tyrannosaurus debt is a big offender, and while the steel pan drum in this for that is cool for a few seconds, it gets unimpressive quickly. the characters also aren't super memorable. like, i've not seen people putting the caveman from this for that or lester the investor from walking on wall street on a pedestal like lots of other characters(though becky sue and tax man max are icons). sometimes they get a little boring.

in conclusion: i yapped for about 30 minutes? holy crap. this is a long post. anyways, money rock good(but not great). feel free to tell me what you think.

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2024: Payday

Metallic Rouge

Metallic Rouge hasn't ended yet, but I am quite certain that at this point it's unsalvageable. I can give it one thing: it's going for a specific ~vibe~, and nails it. Why anyone would want to evoke the ~vibe~ of "deservedly forgotten 2000s sci-fi seasonal" is beyond me (I won't provide an example, because if I could remember it it wasn't forgettable enough), but there you go. Truly, Bones have outdone themselves with this celebration of their 25 year legacy.

It's hard to even start, but the one thing everyone is certain about is as good as any: The plotting and structure of this show is a complete mess. Some consider this "ambitious", but I don't think an ambition of "let's throw in every half baked thing we can think of and try to glue it together with proper nouns" is worth celebrating. We've got insipid and illogical worldbuilding that ultimately goes nowhere, brave political statements on the level of "slavery sure is bad but don't be rude about it", metaphor bombshells like a character who schemes behind the scenes and styles themselves the "puppetmaster" and constant plot twists that explain things long after I've given up on even trying to make sense of anything. That's where the ~vibe~ comes from: everything that has ever vaguely annoyed you in a mid anime is somehow in this one all at once.

This wouldn't be so bad if it had characters that are entertaining on their own, but here we meet the most bizarre creative decision: the one thing it has going for it is the Diet Dirty Pair banter between Rouge and Naomi, which elevates a few episodes to "decent", but of course they spend half the show seperated. And by themselves, Rouge likes chocolate and is as dumb as a brick with charisma to match, while Naomi is sassy and mysterious and that's it. The rest of the characters (and naturally, there are far too many of them) are either irritating or at best just bland.

So if this is Bones pulling out all the stops, at least you should expect the production values to be high, but even that is a mixed bag. Metallic Rouge looks quite mediocre for the most part until it's time for a dedicated Sakuga Cut™, which might be a fight or alternatively just a random one of the dozens of boring hallway conversations (that Crunchyroll of all things is treating this as a joke really says it all). And even the fights aren't all that great, because this show somehow manages to have bad sound mixing and music beds that I'd call interesting in theory but don't work well as a score. At least it has a stellar OP, but even that seemed a lot better before the show actually came out.

I might bump up the score a point if it ends exceptionally well (which it won't), but even in that case... it's still bad. Please go back to sourcing your deep plots from Weekly Shounen Jump, Bones. ~3/10

Bucchigiri...

Bucchigiri..., on the other hand, has the exact opposite problem: While Metallic Rouge is a convoluted tangle of inconsequential plot, this show is just happy to phone it in. It almost feels like a rerun of fall 2021, where Metallic Rouge is the new Fena and Bucchigiri... is the new Takt:Op. It leaves an agreeable first impression, with a bold, colorful look, unusual setting, expressive direction and kinetic animation – but everything not entirely superficial is an excuse, and a "dog ate my homework" level of excuse at that. If all you want is bromantic burly brettyboys going through the motions, get your fanfic pen ready, but don't expect the show itself to provide significantly more than character designs. It doesn't help that the main character is particularly bad, with his gimmick being "annoying disinterested horndog". These non-characters keep going in circles slapping each other's asses and being not very funny for two thirds of the show, until a very generic "sensitive best friend is tempted by evil" drama plot appears because even yaoi shippers realize that eventually something has to happen, which boils down to Matakara going around slapping everyone's asses again, but now it's supposed to be sad. And then that doesn't work at all, because for character drama you need characters. Who knew.

Of course the funny bit is that this is pretty much what I asked for. I gave SKOO shit for only being good at the wacky parts while the heartfelt drama and more fleshed out characters fell flat. Well, now the director's followup work is just the wacky bits and feels completely hollow for it, and then the exaggerated drama lacks anything to back it up. Maybe just do better, I suppose. Oh yeah, and this also hasn't ended yet but with how completely predictable it is I feel like I've already seen the final episode. ~4/10

Undead Unluck

You can take the Shounen out of the Jump but you can't take the Jump out of the Shounen. I don't usually touch the Weekly Shounen Jump brand for good reasons, but Undead Unluck definitely had one of the strongest first impressions for one in a long time, if only because it has leads that aren't Goku and Vegeta again. But it also had a flashy, devil-may-care attitude with absurd nonsense happening left and right, a bonkers setting that is actually interesting in its own right and production value to back it up. In short, it was Fire Force with arguably better characters. When it's firing on all cylinders, Undead Unluck is a very fun time.

The problem is that Undead Unluck is firing on all cylinders about as often as a Cadillac V8-6-4 with a flaky ignition distributor. Primarily it has a massive padding problem: The amount of recapping and flashbacks to things that just happened is patently ridiculous and I say that as someone who has watched two seasons of My Hero Academia. If you include things like OP and ED, I feel like calling roughly a third of this show's runtime literally repeated content is not a wild exaggeration. And that's only literally repeated content – since this is Weekly Shounen Jump, there is also a lot of restating of facts and tedious explanations. I can't even blame this just on Jump Editorial, because a lot of the time it seems to be in service of hitting the right cliffhangers – but if both source and adaptation have severe pacing issues, it all compounds to the worst pacing in any show I've seen a considerable amount of.

And then, even in the coinflip of time when it's actually doing anything, it's obviously not always at its best either. This is honestly acceptable from a show that goes wild – with these you have to take the bad with the good. I didn't care much for the lazily metafictional final arc for example, but it would be perfectly fine if it didn't (quite expectedly at this point) do its core statement twice in as many episodes in a row, only with more screaming the second time. It's good when it's good, sure, but it would have to be outstandingly brilliant to make the whole thing worth it – which it isn't, so it's not. 5/10

Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete (Gushing over Magical Girls)

My standard line regarding any extra spicy fanservice anime show has always been "you know you can find real porn on the internet easily, right". Gushing over Magical Girls (which is, aint gonna lie, a genius title translation) is a pretty good example why: Even though it is pretty damn explicit, it still isn't on the level of actual porn, and then the extended moaning and wriggling sequences just take up so much of the time that it gets tedious pretty fast. And a lot of the "other" content of the show is just blatantly an excuse to make the porn happen. There's some edgy comedy too, but I think characters like Kiwi are more annoying than anything, so that didn't do much for me either. Then the middle section of the show is an excursion where our protagonist villains go sex up a couple of more villainous villains, which feels like it's missing the point even by its own standards. Also, be aware that with hentai content come hentai production values, and this one is definitely below average. None of this is particularly unusual.

However, I kept watching this one, and the reason is pretty simple: I don't actually object to spiciness in principle, and in the beginning the show did a pretty good job of portraying Utena's awakening to a bunch of fetishes. That she then started an awkward on-and-off anonymous BDSM relationship with an actual magical girl was even better. I honestly have to say that this is a brilliant concept, even if it wasn't executed to a level where I was certain it was intentional. Also, while it's arguably the "main plot", it's a fairly small part of the show and when it didn't show up much in the middle I was sure the show had lost me. I do have to admit though that against all odds, Gushing does stick the landing, with a final episode that really pays off that plotline in the best way you could reasonably (see above) expect. It's a bit of a rough ride, but this show delivers.

So I'm two minds about Gushing over Magical Girls. If you just consider it a hentai OVA that somehow escaped to television (which is not an unreasonable standpoint), it feels surprisingly ambitious and well thought out. But as a regular TV show, it just has too many weaknesses to ignore. Still, even though I can't call it good, I still think it's a more interesting curio than the score might make it sound. 5/10

Hime-sama "Goumon" no Jikan desu ('Tis Time For "Torture", Princess)

Oh no, this has "torture" in the title, what could it mean? Yeah, I think at this point everyone knows that it's a joke (one might even say... The Joke) and let's leave it at that. It feels like every season there's some fluffy and cute comedy that I quite enjoy for no profound reason. The Alleged Torture here simply doesn't do anything wrong, manages to find just about enough angles to its one joke to not get boring, and features nice designs and enough production value to deliver a smooth ride all the way to the end. It occasionally does something beyond its one joke, and that tends to turn out cute and chill as well, like Tortura's modest OL home life. Really the only thing I don't like about this is the manzai reaction antics of the sword – explaining the joke is always questionable, but it's especially so when there is exactly one punchline that never changes. In any case, this one is hardly essential and there are many others like it, but sometimes you just want something sweet and inoffensive that still puts the effort in. And this is definitely one of those. 6/10

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (Apothecary Diaries)

I feel like I should like this show a lot more than I actually do. This is because it is made of great ingredients: Very nice looks, a setting with tons of potential, mostly interesting characters and in particular an amazing main character. Maomao is just great, she has tons of personality and a funny oddball charm that is tempered by a smart and stoic attitude. The beginning of the show, where Maomao plays the streetwise intruder into the stilted world of court intrigue and manages to cut through the bullshit like nobody else could, is pretty excellent.

However, as the show went on, it became clear that I just don't agree with the direction the plot takes. Of course it turns out that Maomao is actually deeply involved into the court drama in half a dozen ways (without ever telling the audience about it, which smells of retcon). Of course the focus shifts to other characters like Jinshi or later on Lakan, who are far less interesting. Of course there is a romance with Jinshi on the horizon. I don't want to be that guy that is mad that a show doesn't turn out to be what they had wished it to be, but it's still a letdown.

And that's not mentioning that the daily business of the show, various levels of detective work, is hardly solid gold either. It's just bad at mystery writing – most "cases" turn out to be massively contrived and then Maomao walks in and just guesses the solution out of nowhere. The large-scale mystery (who is Jinshi, really?) is not much of a mystery at all but Maomao can't figure it out because apparently she has to solve these complicated and tiny problems before she can realize the simple and obvious large one. And then there's the drama, which is effective enough in the moment but seems to be mostly built on a foundation of allegedly smart people acting much more stupid than they should.

So overall, I think this is still a good show simply because Maomao is fun to watch no matter what, but I just don't think the writing can quite hold up its part of the bargain, and that is kind of a bummer. 7/10

Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern

Bang Bravern arrived with a simple, but quite amusing thesis statement: What if you had a tacticool, Armored Core-like mecha setting but then everything changed when a super robot show invaded. That's pretty funny. It also just so happens that Masami Oobari knows that the likes of Top Gun tend to have a certain undertone, and also made Bang Bravern explicitly homoerotic. That's even funnier. Add to this the fact that the epic super robot action genre is inherently hilariously over the top, and you have the makings of a very amusing show. Now, I could just leave it at that, because that's what Bravern is. An over the top and self-aware love letter to the super robot shows of old, with a couple of additional comedic angles.

In other words, it's like all super robot shows that have been made in the last two decades. Yeah, Bravern is undeniably quite entertaining, but I also don't think it's anywhere as unique as people seem to think it is. The "super in a world of reals" joke in particular doesn't really come into play that often, apart from when that side of the show keeps introducing dozens of characters that then proceed to not do anything apart from standing on the sidelines. The gay love affair does matter more often, but seems to run into diminishing returns because once you've done "come inside me" (which it does in like episode 3), you really have nowhere to go. And besides those two, well... it's charmingly exuberant and features all the goofy tropes, but it lacks the absurd hugeness of a TTGL or the meaningful subtext of a Gridman – and that's only shows that I have actually seen as a non-fan of the genre. I suppose fans will gladly take it anyway, because the genre is somewhat rare nowadays, but Bravern doesn't exactly blow me away. Still, you can't deny the fun. 7/10

Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)

So here we come to the big dog. The show that's pulling Doraemon numbers on Japanese TV, has been riding a comfortable #1 spot on MAL for months, and has inspired an unfathomable amount of porn. And the real surprising thing is that it's the first show in a very long time that I think comes even close to deserving that level of hype, especially early in its run when it absolutely isn't the kind of show you'd expect to do this – apart from the production values being about as good as TV anime gets, naturally.

Frieren starts out as an uniquely focused narrative that explores as many angles as it can out of a complicated mess of legacy, memory and regret through the lens of a pretty simple and generic RPG trope. It achieves this almost entirely through one of the best casts I've seen in a long time – Frieren may not be quite as charming a protagonist as Maomao, but she has much more depth and more importantly, every character that matters in her show is almost as good, and their relationships are even better. In its first-cours adventure mode, when we're just wandering around having more or less episodic encounters and plot points that drift in and out of focus with a wistful tone but splashes of goofy comedy, Frieren is quite excellent and would have been my show of last year if I had considered it eligible.

But then it slams in a new gear with the elegance of a tractor driver who thinks clutches are for pussies. Suddenly we're doing a proper Shounen Exam Arc and we're getting a lot less of this and a lot more of this. Now to be fair, this is a long running manga and it probably could not have kept doing flashbacks to Frieren being too dense to realize that Himmel was hitting on her 80 years ago forever. But still, the mage examination arc just really isn't Frieren at its best. It's not even that the content is particularly bad (maybe apart from the really quite rough beginning), and I do understand the long-term benefits of introducing a bigger cast of characters for future use, especially when they turn out to be quite good eventually... but it all just takes way too long. There's still great moments here, but that's usually a small segment of the established good stuff or, failing that, Frieren dropping a sick ass spell. Yeah, I won't even blame this on the action, because said action is incredibly well done and still quite brief, but you really didn't need a full season of theorycrafting and skill discussions to get those explosions. In short. Frieren temporarily turns into Full Metal Alchemist with better leads, and while this would be high praise for almost any shounen manga, it isn't for the one that has demonstrated it can do far better.

There is one real upside to this distraction arc though: Unlike, say, the plot problems of Apothecary Diaries that are here to stay, none of this irreversible, which Frieren immediately makes clear by snapping back to its best behaviour the second they leave the designated raid zones. The ending is as good as any part of the show, with the skillful writing and great tone we have come to wish for. Frieren may not be as consistently excellent as it first appeared, but it is still pretty damn good – and not on a purely superficial level either, because it obviously can have outstanding writing when it wants to and the fundamentals are rock solid too. 8/10

Yubisaki to Renren (A Sign of Affection)

And the top spot of the season goes to... a show that may not be the most ambitious, but does absolutely nothing wrong. Yubisaki to Renren is a fluffy romance where a very cute girl meets a very nice boy, and then no drama happens because not everyone in the world is a fucking idiot. I think my delight with this says more about the absolute state of romance anime than it does about the show itself, but I also have to say that while the plot of this show might be simplistic, it takes great care to set everything up in such a way to get away with said simplistic plot.

Obviously the core of the setup is that Yuki is deaf. But, quite smartly, the author doesn't make the story about Yuki's problems with not being able to hear, but rather about how her world is just... limited. And Itsuomi is a dude with an uncommonly wide worldview and experience. Opposites attract, and there you go. The show basically gets all the grounding it needs from that simple setup for free, then throws in a bit of complicated history among the larger cast. Then just make Yuki incredbly cute and Itsuomi an uncommonly levelheaded adult who will take measures to prevent any pointless drama before it gets out of hand, and you have a show that's just 100% a good time all the way through. So the leads (i.e., the thing that matters way above all else in a romance) are great, and the rest of the cast is more than fine too, even those who would instigate such drama – it can't get annoying, because they never succeed.

Really if I had to say something negative about this show it would be that it's still superficial compared to a show at its skill level that does go hard. I mean, it's about two nice people falling in love and nothing goes wrong, which isn't exactly a lot. There is maybe also the idea that Itsuomi may be a bit too perfect, but I'm just more than happy to see a male lead in a shoujo romance that is neither an abusive jerk nor a bland cardboard cutout. In a perfect world, something like Yubisaki to Renren should feel a bit bland and generic, but in the real one, there just isn't much like it. 9/10

[airasora]

Oooh I want the last anon but I’d LOVE to hear more about your thoughts on AI. I currently consider myself pretty neutral but positive leaning with it and am curious as to what the pros are in your opinion! I’ve only really learned about it through chat bots and the medical technology so far!

Thank you for asking and wanting to learn more about it! I will try not to ramble on for too long, but there is A LOT to talk about when it comes to such an expansive subject as AI, so this post is gonna be a little long.

I have made a little index here so anyone can read about the exact part about AI they might be interested in without having to go through the whole thing, so here goes:

How does AI work?

A few current types of AI (ex. chatgpt, suno, leonardo.)

AI that has existed for ages, but no one calls it AI or don't even know it's AI (ex. Customer Service chat bots)

Future types of AI (ex. Sora)

Copyright, theft and controversy

What I have been using AI for

Final personal thoughts

1. How does AI work?

AI works by learning from data. Think of it like teaching a child to recognize patterns.

Training: AI is given a lot of examples (data) to learn from. For example, if you're teaching an AI to recognize cats, you show it many pictures of cats and say, "This is a cat."

Learning Patterns: The AI analyzes the data and looks for patterns or features that make something a "cat," like fur, whiskers, or pointy ears.

Improving: With enough examples, the AI gets better at recognizing cats (or whatever it's being trained for) and can start making decisions or predictions on new data it hasn't seen before.

Training Never Stops: The more data AI is exposed to, the more it can learn and improve.

In short: AI "works" by being trained with lots of examples, learning patterns, and then applying that knowledge to new situations.

Remember this for point 5 about copyright, theft and controversy later!

2. Current types of AI

The most notable current examples include:

ChatGPT: A large language model (LLM) that can generate human-like text, assist with creative writing, answer questions, and even act as a personal assistant

ChatGPT has completely replaced Google for me because chatGPT can Google stuff for you. When you have to research something on Google, you have to look through multiple links and sites usually, but chatGPT can do that for you, which saves you time and makes it far more organized.

ChatGPT has multiple different chats that other people have "trained" for you and that you can use freely. Those chat include chats meant for traveling, for generating images, for math, for law help, help creating gaming codes, read handwritten letters for you, and so much more.

Perplexity is a "side tool" you can use to fact check pretty much anything. For example, if chatGPT happens to say something you're unsure is actually factually true or where you feel the AI is being biased, you can ask perplexity for help and it will fact check it for you!

Suno: This AI specializes in generating music and audio, offering tools that allow users to create soundscapes with minimal input

This, along with chatGPT, is the AI I have been using the most. In short, suno makes music for you - with or without vocals. Essentially, you can write some lyrics for it (or not, if you want instrumental music), tell it what genre you want and the title and then bam, it will generate you two songs based on the information you've given it. You can generate 10 songs per day for free if you aren't subscribed.

I will talk more about Suno during point 6. Just as a little teaser; I made a song inspired by Hollina lol.

Leonardo AI: A creative tool focused on generating digital art, designs, and assets for games, movies, and other visual media

Now THIS is one of the first examples of controversial AIs. You see, while chatGPT can also generate images for you, it will not generate an image for you if there is copyright issues with it. For example, if you were to ask chatGPT to generate a picture of Donald Trump or Ariel from The Little Mermaid, it will tell you that it can't generate a picture of them due to them being a public figure or a copyrighted character. It will, however, give a suggestion for how you can create a similar image.

Leonardo.AI is a bit more... lenient here. Which is where a lot of controversial issues come in because it can, if you know how to use it, make very convincing images.

ChatGPT's answers:

Leonardo.AI's answers:

I will talk more about the copyright, theft and audio issues during point 5.

3. AI that has existed for ages, but that no one calls AI

While the latest wave of AI tools often steals the spotlight, the truth is that AI has been embedded in our technology for years, albeit under different names. Here are a few examples:

Customer Service Chatbots

Professional Editing Softwares

Spam filters

Virtual assistance

Recommendation systems

Credit Card Fraud Detection

Smart home devices

Autocorrect and predictive text

Navigation systems

Photo tagging on social media

Search engines

Personalized ads

The quiet presence of AI in such areas shows that AI isn't just a future-forward trend but has long been shaping our everyday experiences, often behind the scenes.

4. Future types of AI

One of the most anticipated types of AI that has yet to be released is Sora, a video AI tool that is an artificial intelligence system created by Google DeepMind. It’s designed to help computers better understand and generate human language. Think of it like a super-smart computer assistant that can read, write, and even understand complex sentences. Sora AI can answer questions, translate languages, summarize information, and even help with tasks like writing or solving problems.

Unlike traditional AI systems that mostly focus on text or images, Sora AI can create short videos from text descriptions or prompts. This involves combining several technologies like natural language understanding, image generation, and video processing.

In simple terms, it can take an idea or description (like "a cat playing in a garden") and generate a video that matches that idea. It's a big leap in AI technology because creating videos requires understanding motion, scenes, and how things change over time, which is much more complex than generating a single image or text.

The thing about Sora AI is that it's already ready to be released, but Google DeepMind will not release it until the presidential election in America is finished. This is because the developers are rightfully worried that people could use Sora AI to generate fake videos that could portray the presidential candidates doing or saying something that is absolutely fake - and because Sora is as good as it is, regular people will not be capable of seeing that it is AI.

This is obviously both incredible and absolutely terrifying. Once Sora is released, the topic of AI will be brought up even more and it'll take time before the common non-AI user will be able to tell when something is AI or real.

Just to mention two other future AIs:

Medical AI: The healthcare industry is investing heavily in AI to assist with diagnostics, predictive analytics, and personalized treatment plans. AI will soon be an indispensable tool for doctors, capable of analyzing complex medical data faster and more accurately than ever before.

AI in Autonomous Systems: Whether it’s in self-driving cars or AI-powered drones, we are on the cusp of a new era where machines can make autonomous decisions with little to no human intervention.

5. Copyright, art theft and controversies

While AI opens up a world of opportunities, it has also sparked heated debates and legal battles, particularly in the realm of intellectual property:

Copyright Concerns: AI tools like image generators and music composition software often rely on large datasets of pre-existing work. This raises questions about who owns the final product: the creator of the tool, the user of the AI, or the original artist whose work was used as input?

Art Theft: Some artists have accused AI platforms of "stealing" their style by training on their publicly available art without permission. This has led to protests and discussions about fair use in the digital age.

Job Replacement: AI’s ability to perform tasks traditionally done by humans raises concerns about job displacement. For example, freelance writers, graphic designers, and customer service reps could see their roles significantly altered or replaced as AI continues to improve.

Data Privacy: With AI systems often requiring massive amounts of user data to function, privacy advocates have raised alarms about how this data is collected, stored, and used.

People think AI steals art because AI models are often trained on large datasets that include artwork without the artists' permission. This can feel like copying or using their work without credit. There is truth to the concern, as the use of this art can sometimes violate copyright laws or artistic rights, but there's a few things that's important to remember:

Where did artists learn to draw? They learned to draw through tutorials, from art teachers or other artists, etc., right?

If an artist's personal style is then influenced by someone else's art style are they then also copying that person?

Is every artist who has been taught how to draw by a teacher just copying the teacher?

If a literary teacher, or a beta reader, reads through a piece of fiction you wrote and gives you suggestions on how to make your work better, do they then have copyright for your work as well for helping you?

Don't get me wrong, like I showed earlier when I compared chatGPT with leonardo.ai there are absolutely some AIs that are straight up copying and stealing art - but claiming all picture generative AIs are stealing artists' work is like saying

every fashion designer is stealing from fabric makers because they didn't weave the cloth, or

every chef is stealing from farmers because they didn't grow the ingredients themselves, or

every DJ is stealing from musicians because they mix pre-existing sounds

What i'm trying to get at here is that it's not as black and white as people think or want it to be. AI is nuanced and has its flaws, but so does everything else. The best we can do is learn and keep developing and evolving AI so we can shape it into being as positive as possible. And the way to do that is to sit down and learn about it.

6. What I have been using AI for

Little ways chatGPT makes my day easier

I wanted to test how good chatGPT was at reading "bad" handwriting so I posted a picture of my handwriting to it, and it read it perfectly and even gave a cheeky little answer. This means that I can use chatGPT to not only help me read handwritten notes, but can also type out stuff for me I would otherwise have to spend time typing down on my own.

I've also started asking chatGPT to write hashtags for me for when I post on instagram and TikTok. It saves me time and it can think of hashtags I wouldn't have thought of myself.

You might all also be aware that I often receive bodyshaming online for simply existing and being fat. At least three times, I have used chatGPT to help me write a sassy comeback to someone harassing me online. It helped me detach myself from the hateful words being thrown at me and help me stand my ground.

And, as my final example, I also use chatGPT for when I can't remember a word I'm looking for or want an alternative. The amazing thing about chatGPT is that you can just talk to it like a normal person, which makes it easier to convey what it is you need help with.

Custom chatGPTs

I created a custom chatGPT for my mom with knitting recipes where she can upload pictures to the chat and ask it to try and find the actual knitting recipe online or even make one on its on that could look like the vibe she's going for. For example, she had just finished knitting a sweater where the recipe failed to mention to her what size the knitting needles she had to use, which resulted in her doing it wrong the first time and having to start over.

When she uploaded a picture of the sweater along with the recipe she had followed, chatGPT DID tell her what knitting needle she had to use. So, in short, if she had used her customized chatGPT before knitting the sweater, chatGPT would have saved her the annoyance of using the wrong size because chatGPT could SEE what size needle she had to use - despite the recipe not mentioning it anywhere.

I also created a custom chatGPT for my mom about diabetes. I uploaded her information, her blood work results, etc. so it basically knows everything about not just her condition, but about HER body specifically so it can give her the best advice possible for whenever she has a question about something.

And, finally, the thing you might have skipped STRAIGHT to after seeing the index...

My(un)official angsty ballad sung by Holli to Lina created with suno.ai

Let you be my wings

7. Final personal thoughts

While AI is absolutely far from perfect, we cannot deny how useful it has already become. The pros, in my opinion, outweigh the cons - as long as people stay updated and knowledgeable on the subject. People will always be scared of what they don't know or understand, yet humanity has to evolve and keep developing. People were scared and angry during the Industrial Revolution too, where the fear of job loss was at an all time high - ironically ALSO because of machines.

There are some key differences of course, but it was the overall same fears people had back then as people have now with AI. I brought this up with one of my AI teachers, who quoted:

"AI will not replace you, but a person using AI will."

While both eras involve fears of obsolescence, AI poses a broader challenge across various sectors, and adapting may demand more advanced skills than during industrialism. However, like industrialism, AI may lead to innovations that ultimately benefit society. And I, personally, see more pros than cons.

And THAT is my very long explanation to why my bio says "AI positive 🤖"

As a final thing, for anyone wanting to stay updated on AI and how it's progressing overall, I recommend a YouTube channel by Matt Wolfe. He was my AI teacher's recommended YouTube channel for anyone who wants to stay updated on AI:

[philhoffman]

Loving Phil comes as easily to me as breathing. Easier, sometimes. From the first moment we met through the screen. Much like Paul Thomas Anderson, I saw PSH make a single gesture—a little smirk, barely able to restrain his soft smile, intelligent and warm—and fell in love with him. Or, more accurately, I saw him and was overcome by the feeling he was special, that he would be an important person in my life. And now here we are.

I’ve found myself saying the same thing a lot lately—“There are no words,” or something to that effect. The enormity of Phil’s loss, his absence over the last 10 years, is mind-boggling. It’s crushing. There are many great works of art and music and literature and film about grief and loss, warnings about what pain this intense could feel like, but even the masters can only capture a fleeting moment of it. It truly exists beyond words. 

Equally impossible to capture in words is the good, the beautiful, the glimmers of hope and love. It's often beyond mere glimmers—seeing the world through Phil's eyes is a sledgehammer of life. For a few years I've kept a notebook just for my thoughts to him. I was thumbing through it last night and read an entry in which I said the enormity of the happiness I felt since he entered my life was unlike anything I'd experienced before. It's far beyond a crush on an actor, lol. It's—words are failing me—absolutely everything. His films, his soul, his eyes, his community, all the words, the way he's shaped how I see my life, my relationships, my future, my world. I can't overstate it, really. He's stitched into the fabric now, the blood in my veins, his heart beating in my chest, arm around my shoulder. The most important artist and person I've ever known.

So there won’t ever be enough words to fully capture what every frame, every laugh, every freckle, every moment means—but there are a couple words that say enough for now, tonight, 10 years after Phil’s death. Like—I love you. Like—I miss you and I’m sorry and 46 is so, so young. Like—every night and every day, somewhere in the world, someone is watching one of your film’s and laughing or crying or raging or smiling along with you. You said you hoped the art would outlive you, outlive all of us, and it does, it will, and you’re always part of it and with us and remembered.

Like—now having the privilege to know your wonderful family and community, it’s easy to see how you turned out to be such a kind, thoughtful man and generous, passionate artist. Their refrain is true—great actor, even better friend.

Like—countless individuals are in recovery and alive because of you, whether they’re 10 years or 100 days or 1 hour sober. The support you offered friends and strangers during your life, the impact of your death from a drug overdose—I can’t begin to guess how many people you helped, how many even I've spoken to who credit you with helping to save their lives.

What I'm writing now is one of the hardest things I've ever tried to say in my life, I can't stop tearing up. I hope I get it right. This is the 10th anniversary of Phil's death—his life is now a decade away from us in the past, a milestone I've been dreading, a reality that shocks and breaks my heart.

Grief is timeless and endless. There are moments when it hurts just as badly as that first day. But with time, hopefully, that most intense pain bubbles up less often. It comes up on anniversaries, special occasions, when the sunlight and the breeze hit you just right, when little signs and reminders show up—but not every day. I think that's healthy. When I was relatively new to this loss, the pain fresh but I was deep, deep within it, I used to think, "How did anyone who loved him survive? Why aren't we all screaming all the time?" I understand now. Today I fell to the floor and cried and screamed about it—yesterday, too—but I don't every day, not anymore.

The grief is ever-present but it changes. The change hurts. It can feel like a betrayal, like guilt, like abandonment. That's the season of grief I'm in, weird complicated emotions I'm struggling with. I've felt it in my gut ahead of this anniversary and kept it bottled up so tightly, ashamed. "Letting go" are the words that kept coming to mind, but I fucking hate that phrase. I'm not letting go of anything. But tonight I heard from two of the people closest to Phil, who both shared the same feeling that this year is different. That maybe Phil is telling us that it's okay to move forward—not move on, move forward—and find new ways to love and honor and remember him. Let go of the ways that aren't serving us or him anymore. There will always be new ones. He is buried so deep in our hearts, in who we are, that we could never be separated—we will always find him.

In a way, a weight is lifted off my chest. In another way, I've been crying so hard I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Nothing is going to change in my day-to-day, I think. I can't even imagine what would. But this is a new step of our journey, I can feel it in my chest. Of my journey, at least. I'm terrified and hopeful and so, so, so deeply in love and in gratitude with this incredible, larger-than-life, beautiful force of a human who changed the world—the whole world, and my world. Blessed doesn't begin to cover how I feel knowing my life is tied to his, that I'll be learning from him for the rest of my days. I'm still beyond devastated his were cut short so soon.

I love you, Phil. The man, the spirit. Nothing else matters more than that. I love you.

(Oh, and I'll always buy the donuts. For you, for us. Always. I promise.)

[shyfoxsky]

Gif Credits: DailyShirbert on Tumblr, PopularCultureSource on Tumblr

It's that time of year again for me to question foxes! If you know me from Instagram, you'll know this is pretty normal, and if I'm new to you, then welcome, my name is FoxSky, and I started out as a therian believing myself to be a red fox, which is where my name came from.

This isn't anything unusual, me considering foxes again. These guys are about as integral to my identity and journey as a therian as my actual theriotype. I started out as one, and no matter what, I keep coming back to them. Some part of me even wants to consider them as a theriotype on the side, call myself a polytherian. It's just how my identity has always been, dancing with these little ones throughout the eight and a half years I've been awakened.

Though, one weird thing I've noticed is that as my identity has become more complex and I've understood it and my self-image more and seen myself more in detail, considering my body type and the black accents along my face, ears, back, and tail, I've been looking a bit more at cross foxes than red foxes. These are the same animal, cross foxes are just a partially melanistic color morph of a standard red fox (not a cross between a red and silver fox (simply a fully melanistic red fox) as I was told multiple times when I was a teenager in the community and being a pet or fur farm fox was all the rage so all the foxes could be unique from each other on Instagram with cool coat colors), but it's still an interesting development. I think that as my personal identity has changed, not just my animality, but also my personal fashion style and music taste and aesthetic, I've begun to unintentionally incorporate my place in the emo subculture into how I see myself as an animal. My red hair has always been something that's carried over, as I simply see myself as a ginger creature, both in a human and nonhuman sense, but now I'm starting to see the addition of my black attire doing the same and becoming fur accenting alongside the red. Where I used to roleplay warrior cats as a straight ginger cat, now I lean far more into calico and tortoiseshell. It just feels more right to me.

I don't know if I am a fox or not. A lot of people in my personal life, especially my mate, associate me with them and see me as one more than as a wolf. I don't know if I'm hesitant to call them a theriotype because I don't want to believe I am the same creature I am now that I was nearly a decade ago or if they genuinely just aren't me, but as of late, I don't think it really matters. It's nice to have a set theriotype that I can use as a placeholder for my human face here online for all of you to see me as, but in my day to day, it isn't that serious. Wolves and foxes are very different, but also very similar. They're both carnivore-leaning omnivores that live in the same areas and habitats and are both extremely skittish and wary, the main differences being their body sizes and prey sizes, sociality, and certain things like denning habits, but that doesn't detract from the similarities. Some days I don't feel fox at all, and some days I feel almost entirely fox. I think the main difference comes in that I rarely if ever don't feel like a wolf, but I do go decently long periods without even thinking about foxes. I don't know if that's a normal thing for polytherians or not, but I have bigger things to do than worry about all that, like finishing my degree, getting my first job, and moving in with and getting married to my mate. So, for now, I'm content with a Venn diagram where wolves overlap my "Me" circle pretty much entirely and foxes overlap those two about halfway.

If anybody's wondering what exactly spurred all this by the way, it's because my mate bought me the lego 3-in-1 fox set to build together for a date night and it made me feel some way that I needed to jot down.

[obsoleteozymandias]

HIIII is it okay if i ask for a twst matchup? im a big fan of ur blog!! :3

so a bit about me, im a she/her but honestly i don't mind any pronouns, my gender expression is all over the place and i like experimenting a lot!

im an optimistic and sensitive person and i always try my best to be kind, polite and friendly towards everyone. being all happy and sunshine-y comes naturally to me 😼 i can be a bit moody due to my social anxiety but i try really hard to just be myself and do whatever i want, regardless of what other people might think of me😇😇

im creative and curious and i like having fun!!! my friends often describe me as weird, but like in a good way, as if im some strange whimsical creature. im super artsy and express my weird style proudly, both in the way i dress and how i present myself ‼️‼️‼️ i know physical appearance probably doesn't matter, but for a long while ive had a buzz cut despite being very feminine otherwise :3 fun times. nowadays im trying to grow a mullet

hobbieees. oh i have many. overall i enjoy anything crafty that requires using my hands, so i spend my free time drawing, building stuff, playing instruments, sewing clothes or plushies. i like to study, both for school and to satiate my personal curiosity on random topics :Dddd i also really like the outdoors and often explore new local and even far away places just for the fun of it ✌️ i constantly try new things and activities and just try to live my life to the fullest

i like nature, art, animals, bugs. iam a huge bug lover. the stranger the bug the better 🙏💞 i like learning new things, i like space, horror movies, sweet food, music, mangos, flowers, funky earrings. i like a lot of things.... on the other hand there's not much things i dislike, except for the usual like.... idk bad people, hate, drama. but yeah everyone dislikes that. specific things that i don't like however are getting yelled at, being babied/underestimated and having to deal with ppl who are way too pessimistic. it can be exhausting!!

there aren't any characters i wouldn't want to be matched up with, but my favs are floyd, malleus, jack and sebek if that helps! 🥳

ok this was really long 💔 thank u for reading it all!!! hope u have a great day!!! 💫

My first fan! Your reward: the satisfaction of knowing I’m twisting my hair and kicking my feet and giggling while I read this. Also, apologies for the delay.

== Twisted Wonderland ==>

I match you up with…

Lilia Vanrouge 

Pre-relationship:

Lilia is glad to have another sunshine-y person around such a dour school. You two are fast friends, and he wonders if you wouldn’t be better suited to RSA what with your kindness and positivity. 

Regardless, he’s glad to have made such a lovely friend. 

He’s your number one fan when it comes to embracing your hobbies or weirdness. He does the same, and so the two of you spend a lot of time talking about your passions and exploring new things together. 

He buys you strange clothes and trinkets all the time, like a crow collecting shiny things. Some of the stuff he brings you is truly strange, and you’re not sure how he got his hands on it…but it’s the thought that counts, right? 

He will 100% want you involved in the pop music club, whether that’s playing an instrument or making posters. He just likes having you around whenever he can; you’re like a ray of sun to him. 

Confession: 

Lilia denied his feelings for you at first. He knew that his history was violent and much longer than yours, and he felt that he could never expose you to that part of himself. 

But one way or another, you find out, and when you accept and embrace him, I imagine he feels such love and affection for you that he almost confesses right there and then. 

He takes his time to plan the confession: taking you on a trip to see something cool, and then asking at just the right moment, like the romantic he is. 

Relationship:

Lilia would want to take you to see the world with him. You two would spend all vacations in different countries and cities, taking in the world and spending all of your time together. 

Some dates are just the two of you staying home and learning together, though. If one of you sees something they’re interested in, the whole evening can be spent learning about it side by side, exchanging kisses between paragraphs and documentaries. 

The best part of the relationship is that you and Lilia push eachother to experience new things, whether that be you showing him creepy bugs, or him taking you skydiving. 

You two never fail to bring out the best in one another, and have so much fun along the way.