#I hate that interests are only valid when they're obscure

[stromuprisahat]

You came here for Ravka. I came here to chain you to my stove.

Siege and Storm- Chapter 18

Skip your duties (that can help feed the country) to watch me be cool doing stuff! Anyone less important would do it for me!

This could've been sweetly melancholic if:

a.) The country they live off weren't collapsing and a few of Alina's lightballs could grant them at least a drop of much needed resources.

b.) Grisha don't get sick... and what has Alina's childhood, adolescence and life in Cofton been like? Malyen truly isn't bothered by it, is he? Either he's an idiot, who didn't connect the dots, and doesn't see it as weird, that Alina HAD been sick for such a long time, or he simply doesn't give a shit.

c.) Other Grisha... if he can't have her as ordinary otkazat'sya, he's willing to settle for ordinary Grisha. As long as she's NOT special, and has plenty of time to focus on him.

d.) As stupid as their party date was, it could've been something to distract Alina from her duties and the pressure put on her. This wouldn't be even spending time WITH Mal, just watching him be the skilled cool guy.

e.) Of course he hates the place that made Alina MORE than him. If it weren't for her time in Little Palace, she wouldn't even think about wanting more than to follow him around like a lost puppy.

Perhaps put some effort in it?

If Mal can so miraculously fit in everywhere, what's stopping him from taking his duties seriously? Not just mope around near Alina, but try to truly become captain of her guards? Learn about strategies and best ways to protect her, exercise and train action with the twins, look for more guards, train them and WITH them, consult Botkin...

Do more than just go where he's invited, act as if he WANTED to PROFESSIONALLY protect Alina instead of playing hero, when others can see it?!

Not to mention he can make himself useful even at those parties. If he does notice nobles hate Grisha, he can at least make a list. They're careless around him, why not listen? Why not consult with Nikolai to learn who they might need?!

He isn't there for Alina, he's there to drag her back into obscurity as soon as an opportunity arises.

Now, that he's doing something FOR Alina, he misses their period of stagnation, when she was slowly killing herself.

He admits it, while caressing her self-mutilation scar aptly representing their relationship.

And here Alina should pull: Never deign to deny. Instead her puritan shame kicks in.

I know Malyen isn't friends with anyone in Os Alta, but if he weren't such a jerk, he could've catch Nikolai for a moment and discuss a strategy. It's not like Kolya doesn't have an interrest in this too. ...and knows how to deal with Court gossip.

I think "We need to discuss what to do about everyone thinking you're a whore." could be added to post-strategy discussions with Alina too. If Malyen can sit in Alina's council AND act like her captain of guard, they deffinitely DO have to spend time together.

If only he'd become interested in reality and its requirements, quit seeing himself as a knight in shining armour, destined to save feeble helpless Alina, and acted according to her actual needs and requirements.

Perhaps sort his priorities differently and instead of bringing up his one-night-stand with Zoya and inviting Alina to make fun of Suli focus on your damn fucking job!

And you didn't read my mind!

And Alina accepts all the blame.

This could be Malyen spiralling. Or simply jumping to another reproach as soon as Alina attempts to address the previous one.

valid concern

digging into Alina's fear of corruption

reminding her right after she chose it (so the stress is really her own doing)

Yup! This is the crux of the matter.

Alina might operate under faulty assumptions, she had to be physically dragged back to Ravka, but eventually she's attempting to DO something.

Malyen saw what the system does to people like him, to his friends... so he decided to pack his gf and bail on it all. And when he finds himself back in the middle of it all, he's simply waiting to drag her away from it again, no matter what SHE wants.

The Collar is temporary, her position of Saint is temporary, her leadership of Second Army too.

They reacted to life-changing events in a way that made them two diametrically opposite people, but Mal's sticking around in hope for Alina's regression. And eventually he gets exactly that for all his trouble.

I'll keep the rest for an extra post since some extra shady bitch is chiming in.

[lucifers-sinnamon]

Nice to find another person who’s a “secret third thing” about Hazbin. I’m making a cosplay for it atm but I feel like I have to carry an essay around explaining my complicated feelings.

Hello follow “secret third thing”. There are more of us than you realise! I hope your cosplay goes well! ^^ And I heavily relate to your last statement. I can't just say “I like or dislike some parts of the show” or “I have a love-hate relationship with the show”, my entire being transcends both of these mere words and I can't just summarize my entire thoughts onto a single sentence. If I did, it'd be a 20k words essay/document that took 10 years to make or it's incoherent keyboard smashing or meowing or barking or mooing (hyperbolic). It doesn't help that I'm (kind of) a veteran of this show and I was there when the pilot first released and I remember immediately loving it and defending it from (valid and inauthentic) criticisms. You know the usual “they're in hell, of course it's red/full of bad people who make haha sex funny jokes and swears!” or “people who hate it are homophobes!”

So immediately from the start, I had this connection with this project (doesn't help that I was a fan of Viv's animations in the first place) and it took me a long time to actually see the bad™️, I had rose-tinted glasses on. It was only as time went on as Hazbin Hotel (kinda) faded into obscurity and was overshadowed by Helluva, I just lost interest. I guess, I forgot about it. After some time, I decided to watch a Helluva vid and immediately I hear that owl guy moaning in the phone begging for cock and I was “???”. I stopped watching after that. Which is funny because when I first watched the pilot, I thought the sexual jokes were funny, but when watching Helluva, it threw me off. I guess it's personal growth.

After that, I forgot about the whole Helluvaverse/Vivsverse again and went on to other fandoms and also the fact that I have a life outside the internet. When I first heard that Hazbin Hotel is going to be on Amazon Prime, I was... “meh”? Like I lost all the same love or spark I had with Hazbin. That I didn't even care anymore, well, I did care a little, in a “I don't like it the same way anymore and I don't think I'd enjoy this but I miss it.” way. And after that, I forgot about it again.

It's only recently I discovered that Season 1 has been released and that I saw a Hazbin Hotel critical post. And just like that, I got sucked into the vortex again and now I'm obsessed again. Like old me who really loved this shit possessed me except they got fused with the current me who is very critical about this show.

Sorry for the long rambling, bet you weren't expecting that from a “secret third thing about this show”. (sarcastic -> this is mostly directed to myself)

Nevertheless, I hope your cosplay turns out great, anon!

[midnightstargazer]

Why I Like Regulus Black

Regulus Black is one of my favorite Harry Potter characters, and I want to talk about why. I feel like there's a frequent misconception that people only like him for superficial reasons or in ways that are contradictory to canon, so here's my take on what I find interesting about him and why I think he appeals to me as a character.

Just to be clear upfront, this is not:

An argument that Regulus was a totally good person and did nothing wrong.

A criticism of other morally gray characters or their fans. I am not interested in playing the "only my problematic fave is valid" game.

An attempt to speak for Regulus fans in general. This is my opinion only.

All that being said ...

I like morally gray characters.

Regulus is not the first character I've liked who's done things I would absolutely not condone in real life. I don't tend to like straightforward "pure evil" villains (e.g., Voldemort) except in a "love to hate them" sort of way, but I often end up liking anti-heroes and more nuanced villains.

I also tend to have a very positive view of redemption arcs. That doesn't mean I think every villain can or should get one, or that they're all to my liking. But the potential for one is usually going to make a character more appealing to me, not less. I like the idea that people are capable of growth and change. Of becoming better than they were. And I tend to be pretty flexible on what sort of characters I'll consider redeemable. There are limits, but "teenager who joined the wrong side, quickly changed his mind, and then died trying to back out" is very much on the "not too far gone" side of the line for me.

I'm a fan of the Black family in general.

I don't love all of them, but the family dynamics and backstory are really interesting. Regulus is not even the most obscure name on the family tree who I have headcanons for. Not even close. *gestures vaguely to not-yet-posted WIP about these ladies*:

Sirius and Andromeda are other favorites of mine. I love their narratives of breaking away and taking control of their own lives. Regulus's story is a bit different. He stays behind. He tries to be exactly what his family wants. I imagine both he and Narcissa would be strongly affected by having an older sibling disowned, and all the more careful in their own choices as a result. I almost certainly find Regulus (and quite a few others in the family) more interesting as part of these family dynamics than I would without them.

Getting a bit personal for a moment ...

I grew up in an ultra-conservative area of the United States* and bought into some crappy ideas as a teenager. Not in an intentionally hateful or ignorant way, just in a "most people I know agree on this, so I guess it's true" kind of way. When I grew up, moved away, and went to college, I ended up rethinking a lot of things and forming my own opinions. So the idea of realizing you've been wrong, breaking away, and having to figure everything out all over again as a young adult? I find that super relatable. That's probably a part of why I like Andromeda and Sirius so much.

Regulus, in canon, doesn't do that, or only does it on a very limited basis just before his death. But there's the potential to explore that angle in canon divergence stories. It was very cathartic for me, in my first "Regulus lives" fic, to stick him in a situation where he's separated from the negative influences and slowly starting to question stuff he's taken for granted all his life.

*although my family was actually way more chill than a lot of my friends, teachers, neighbors, etc. For instance, they were fine with letting me read Harry Potter.

How I see Regulus

Now we're getting more into headcanon territory. Regulus is only described second-hand; he never actually appears on the page. So, naturally, fans have interpreted him a million different ways. If I'm going to talk about why I like Regulus, I should probably also mention what my take on him actually is.

I see him as being driven by a strong sense of duty. He wasn't forced to join the Death Eaters, but he knew or believed his parents would be proud of him for doing so and that played a part in his decision. When he chose to turn against Voldemort, he kept it a secret from them in an attempt to protect them (that part is strongly implied in canon).

Despite those loyalist tendencies, I also imagine him being stubbornly independent, trying to take things on alone rather than ask for help. The horcrux is a perfect example of this. He didn't tell his family, any friends he might have had, or anybody on the opposite side of the war. He went after it himself, alone, with just a house-elf for help and without letting anyone know what he was doing. There's probably an element of pride in this, but I'd say also a level of distrust, a feeling that there's no one he can rely on and that he doesn't want to show weakness.

I think it's reasonable to assume he shared the Death Eaters' prejudices and committed crimes for them. But I do imagine him as a lesser evil, so to speak, compared to people like the Lestranges. The way Sirius describes him - an "idiot" who was "soft enough to believe" their parents - is not flattering, but very mild compared to what he says about other family members. There's nothing to imply Regulus was a really cruel, bloodthirsty sort of person, and I find it hard to believe Sirius would be so quick to shift the blame for his choices to their parents if he had been. And there are other signs as well. Kreacher said Regulus believed that Voldemort would "bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns," which is awful but stops short of what actually happens when Voldemort takes power in Deathly Hallows. And, of course, there's his relationship with Kreacher.

House-elves are a whole other can of worms I don't want to get into right now, but I do think Regulus probably treated Kreacher better than their society would have expected. I'm not saying he was Hermione-level enlightened. He probably didn't see him as an equal or spend his free time campaigning for elf rights. But when the full story of Regulus's death is revealed, it's made clear that he was fond of Kreacher and upset by what Voldemort did to him. He literally drank a potion that caused him extreme agony rather than ordering Kreacher to do it in his place. That doesn't make him a totally good person, but it does hint at a softer side to him and a sort of nuance that isn't typical of the Death Eaters.

He clearly knew what a horcrux was and strongly objected to finding out about the locket, either on the basis of "that's crossing a line" or "actually, the Dark Lord probably shouldn't live forever." Or both. I've seen people question why a Death Eater would have a problem with horcruxes, and I suspect some of them wouldn't. Bellatrix, for instance, would probably be overjoyed to know she was entrusted with a piece of Voldemort's soul. But the idea of horcruxes being repulsive even to many Dark Wizards is actually foreshadowed a bit in Half-Blood Prince, where the author of Magick Moste Evile warns his readers against them. So I do think Regulus was probably not thrilled to find out he was working for someone who had one.

There can be multiple factors in why he did what he did: anger about Voldemort's treatment of Kreacher AND objection to horcruxes AND possibly doubts and second thoughts that had been building up already, since Sirius knew nothing about the specifics but was sure he died trying to back out.

Now, going after the locket on his own, without telling anybody who might have an interest in stopping Voldemort, was not the smartest decision. And I don't see his death as something that should be glorified. I've seen people claim that his redemption arc is more valid because he gave his life, and I disagree with that take and actually find it to be very troubling. Redemption Equals Death can work if it's a meaningful self-sacrifice, but Regulus's death didn't really accomplish much other than getting him killed, and if he had lived longer he might have been able to do more to atone. Like actually destroying a horcrux, for instance, or providing info to the Order.

But still, the fact that he did anything at all is a big deal. The fact that something - or multiple somethings - seemed wrong to him, and given the choice between "a lifetime of service or death," he decided he still couldn't keep serving Voldemort? That's huge. That says something important about who he was as a person. A weird combination of a damaged but not completely absent moral compass paired with an unexpected sense of integrity and courage.

Final thoughts

Most of what I described in the section above is personal interpretation, and there are other valid takes on what might have been going on. But I tried to keep it to just what I think can be reasonably extrapolated from canon, not random headcanons that I'm happy to admit I pulled out of thin air or adopted from fanon.

I see a lot of interesting contradictions in Regulus, and specifically, a lot of positive traits turned bad. Loyalty and dedication towards a family and a cause that don't deserve it. Capacity for kindness that remains so undeveloped it never actually leads him to question his prejudices. The willingness to admit he was on the wrong side and the courage do something about it, but it ends up being a pointless self-sacrifice.

I see him as someone who isn't inherently evil, who could have been a good person if he'd been brought up differently. Someone who might very well have changed for the better and made a positive impact if he'd survived. And yet whose life ultimately amounted to very little. I don't know about you, but that strikes me as a tragedy.

It also screams "opportunity" to the fanfic writer in me. I love "what if?" storylines. I love fleshing out characters who were not well-developed in canon. Regulus has hints of a personality and storyline that I find really interesting, but isn't a main character or developed enough that I feel like the story has already been told in a satisfying way in canon. That's exactly the sort of character I'm likely to end up reading and writing fic for, etc.

[selchwife]

man. this isnt me venting its just a really long ramble about fictosexual stuff lol

i read this scholarly article about fictosexuality (first ever?) and it's really making me think. in particular i'm Thinking bc how i found it was through a new york post article, and i saw in the tag that recently there was also a docuseries that touched on fictosexuality as well. i'm wondering if it won't get more mainstream public exposure as a concept/orientation soon.

it's a topic i've been thinking about for a few years. when i used to be on the reddits it was something that came up a lot, like it seemed like every other day someone would be insisting they were planning to make a documentary or write an article or something and plenty of people on there jumped at the chance to do any sort of interview or participate in anything even the slightest bit "official" in order to make their case about why it's totally okay actually. a lot of people would discuss wanting to be more open about their relationships or for there to be a way to validate their legitimacy in the eyes of other, non-ficto people and so on.

i used to really hate it, honestly. not because i think anything's wrong with being serious about fictional characters (....obviously lol), but because i just felt like it was pointless. i didn't ever feel like it was something that would receive any kind of mainstream exposure like in documentaries or news articles or academic research or what have you to begin with. and like, tbh i infinitely preferred it that way. i always felt like trying to Advocate For Fictosexuality would ruin the sense of privacy that i always found particularly comforting. i always preferred feeling like it's a very closed community that few other people would ever notice or take interest in, and which was therefore relatively safe from masses of spectators, onlookers, gawkers, etc & co. i felt like the worst thing that could happen would be if some major news outlet published some kind of human interest piece about it and Suddenly Everyone Knew and it was a Topic Of Discussion Among The Uninitiated. can you fucking imagine?

anyway, i still hope that's going to continue to be the case, for the most part. i'd like more academic interest in the topic, but The Public is absolutely free to leave me the hell alone. i prefer keeping this kind of thing private. i used to really agonize about whether to say i was single or not, for instance, and now i'm like "just lie. say you're single. it's technically true as far as they're concerned and also your gay marriage with your anime boy is sacrosanct, so don't tell randos all about it." i sort of inhabit a halfway space where i simultaneously am and am not single and only sort of identify as fictosexual and aside from participating in communities and spaces geared toward or sympathetic to this sort of thing i Keep My Damn Trap Shut! and i think it would be a real bummer if one day i woke up and, like, Mothers Of Three On Facebook were posting about fictosexuality bc it was in the huffington post or some shit

it does kind of feel silly to me in retrospect however to assume that it's something that would remain completely obscure and secret forever. the same slow sort of public exposure has happened to plenty of other niche communities so there's no reason to believe people won't eventually just Know about fictosexuality to some extent the way they do about fanfic writers or furries or whatever else. Fucking mortifying but it could happen

[zv5x]

Could you write more stalker HC's with Edward Nashton ? I hate most fix-it AU's with him, much prefer him as a delusional obsessive incel. Your writing is lovely, no pressure to answer my request immediately. Have a great night

Edward Nashton - General Stalking HCs

I sure can! And tysm! It means a lot! Hope your day is going well so far! And honestly I prefer that as well. What better way to help heal my insecurities then having the most obsessive boyfriend imaginable LOL tw :: violence , stalking , violation of privacy , use of the yandere trope , generally abusive relationships , toxic and delusional mindsets , Edward being Edward

❓ Any and all doubts that exist inside of Edward's head about the validness of his intensity when it comes to his partner are given quick rebuttals. He is simply a man in love, a man who's finally found a hint of purity among the sea of corruption, a man who wishes to cherish the gem he came across. Seeing nothing wrong with his actions, he'll take negative reactions from his love interest especially negatively.

❔ Because of his delusional lack of self awareness, Edward is only prone to hiding in the shadows in the beginning. Whether it be the stalker stereotype of watching you behind corners or sneaking into your home in the later hours of the night, all of those and actions related are quickly discarded in favor of interacting with you directly. First it began with a kind stranger bumping into you at your favorite small store and striking up a conversation with you, then you saw him more often, and soon enough, he was knocking at your door with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. Any signs of you being disturbed at his behavior are met with confusion. Though Edward doesn't know much about romantic relationships as he would have liked, he assumed gift giving was a common way to portray courtship. So, he must ask, what's the issue?

❓ Edward holds a strong belief about the gaining of knowlage, and so the only way to quench his thirst for such is to directly learn about the object of his affections. Whether it be smaller details such as your preferred orientation, what you do on a weekend night or much larger details about what you wish to see in a partner or what medications you take, all knowledge he gains about you is stored in dozens of notebooks, filled to the brim with information so obscure that perhaps even you wouldn't have known it about yourself before reading

❔Along with the notebooks, Edward also has littered among his bookshelves many photo albums, all sorted and detailed. Entire albums may be dedicated to photos specifically of you sleeping, while other less-filled albums may just contain photos of you interacting with him he was somehow able to gather with a small camera

❓ His followers are also alerted of your existence and his interest in you, and are encouraged to gather as many photos of you as they can if they are by chance able to catch a glimpse of you walking the streets of Gotham. Of course, Edward has a hard time containing his jealously at the idea of someone other than him gazing upon your divine body let alone taking photos, but they're his followers, and it's not like he didn't ask them too, so that jealously he will gladly forget about the moment one of them comes to him with a particularly aww-worthy shot of you.

❔ His computer is also a hotspot for you as well, given the amount of files he has dedicated to illegally required recordings of your phone calls, recordings of you sleeping or singing to yourself alone in your room. Edward hates the idea of dirtying the pure love he has for you, but the heat that encompasses his body whenever you make an especially cute noise, by mistake or otherwise, is something he just can't help. He'll have to warn you next time he sees you of the things you're known to do to him. Just in case, right? He would hate to rush things with you and overwhelm you, but at the rate things are going he might not be able to control himself for much longer.

[greaterlandscapes]

My Dean Blunt Rotation aka High Fidelity Left A Bad Taste in My Mouth

For the past 2 to 3 months, my listening habits were teetering to an end; mostly via burnout by spontaneously listening to local artists daily and less likely of a musical discovery drought, whereas my interests of a certain artist or genre hasn't found its, sort of, "eureka", moment per se. I've been feeling less enthusiastic over the things i listen to since my friends have gradually lost their flare when it comes to discovering/exploring untapped parts of the music realm. Thus, in return, my enthusiasm not being reciprocated. It leaves an empty feeling from someone who has been yearning social interaction, may it be media being latched on the topic - it's a feeling that's been guilt-tripping me ever since I was stranded in the other end of the metro. I feel closed off, exposed to the crippling loneliness the lockdown has punished us: a defacto solitary confinement in a national level. Our act of staying online is also an act of staying alive outside.

To be fair though, it's a valid move to not boomerang compliments/gripes over an art you haven't consumed due to someone's autonomy. Your able body being to consume the art you wish to finish with free time is a luxury in of itself. The art is then failed to serve its purpose to reach its goal: You have squiggly lines heading straight to oblivion rather than swirling in the earlobes of a wandering cyber nomad. We, eventually, need to find something that could help us exit, rather than escape, from capital. We, in return, do not shut ourselves from the outside. Instead, we then tend to avoid the stress of protocols and outdoor fascism; Not avoid the indoor liberalism that is eating us alive and online. It's a capital punishment we never knew we signed up for ever since the onslaught of the virus and the state. Art for art's sake is nonexistent now, always has been, it seizes to ever since we went inside. Feeding off of a holographic meatloaf coming from a glowing screen. We have a real-life Karen acting as a nightlight in our rooms.

The COVID lockdown made us listen to music — both for better, for worse. For one, it made us pass most days. You could say the same for any sort of media: film, mixed media art, or whatever pre-Covid activity that sprung up during our time in isolation. For music, however, there was an uptick of new listeners that made others Wheel-of-Fortune the fuck out of their music discoveries in sites like RateYourMusic, Bandcamp, or even Sophie's Floorboard. We've continued to expand and became more open change of opinions and be less of a jackass towards someone else's opinions. On second thought, our opinions have been catalogued, leaving more notes than actual footprints of our previous listens. Our new discoveries made new bands and re-emerging bands, bands who faded to obscurity, crawl back in the surface with newfound interest from younger listeners (ie Panchiko, Jai Paul, and Dean Blunt) and this glowing, previously unseen and unexpected overwhelming support from fans of departed artists (ie SOPHIE, MF DOOM)

For the other, we've hogged gratuitous amounts of media, resulting into losing our primary direction as to how we want to consume our media based on the preconceived notions of what we want in our art. There is goodness in becoming directionless when you think about it, but there comes a cost to our identity as music listeners. Instead, we end up widening our tangents, falling in endless rabbit holes, having zero chances to emerge from the surface. In fact, i refuse to call it a "rabbit hole" instead i'd rather call it a "pipeline" of sorts — transitioning casual music fans into a full on, different, unique versions of themselves that would define them when laws and protocols have eased in the outside world. Our act of staying online has either made most of us break our character or enliven our past selves. The music pipeline is now more apparent, stretching the norms of what was once alienated by a silent majority, but now accepted as an acceptable form of expression. The more music we are exposed to has made casual listeners stranged out or react in ways that our personality have betrayed us or deemed not as acceptable to them. Still, not changing anything that was prominent pre-pandemic. Liberal cop behavior is stronger, now more dangerous than it ever was once perceived by the outside world.

HIGH FIDELITY? NO, THANK YOU.

Imagine a situation inside of a record, pre-pandemic of course, where you do not feel like lifting a record out from the shelf, instead, you window shop just for the sake of windowshopping. Capital and media made us think that going to record shops is a semi-productive activity. The age of discovery has died ever since High Fidelity romanticized and normalized the incelage of horny record diggers. Does this movie age well, yeah sure it does, for old 90s nerds at least. But did it translate well over in the past 20 or more years of events and tragedies that unfolded in pre-9/11 America? No it didn't. It was an age of free expression, only liberals would dream of whenever they take a sip of Guinness beer in their favorite dive bar.

Mind you, over a couple of months ago, it was my only chance in seeing why this movie was the talk of the town back when it was released. There's music, yeah, and attractive leading leadies, yeah, it has everything a 90s kid would love to salivate and drop their gonads over while they watch this movie. I obviously did not live to see the movie on opening day but i could imagine the scent that came out of that movie theater with attendees donning windbreakers and The Who shirts with popcorn dressing stains on their plastic cups. If there was a Filipino counterpart to this movie, i'd bet corporate champions Eraserheads and Rivermaya would soundtrack their music over and have either Tado or have Boy 2 Quizon, but i sense it to age like milk more than it could age like fine wine due to the senseless jokes one can execute in a Cubao or Cartimar record store.

John Cusack is obviously the incel in question here: a damaged, vengeful ex who constantly fails to live his partner's expectations and weaponizes his personality over the situations that has nothing to do with his interests. I spent the entire time being absolutely disgusted over the spineless responses of John Cusack's leading character. The movie then treads on flashbacks with John Cusack's failed relationships and what he could do to move on from each and one of them. If i could stand a SONA for 3 hours then I can't stand John Cusack being the dull entry point to incel, making more reasons why you should hate record store clerks who don't give an iota of shits to someone's inviting rapport. High Fidelity is opium for massive music circle jerks who can't take a single breathe of fresh air or a single quota of touching grass. There's more targeting weak and inferior guys and hot women who dump dumb overconfident dudebros more than the actual "music recs" in the entire movie. The more I think about this movie, the more I realize how our personality is in line towards Dick, the record store being unmercifully dunked on by the movie's two leading characters. He's an angel in the world of cynical bastards, witnessing both demons pitchforking record store customers in the ass while they're purchasing the latest Sonic Youth album.

I believe that Jack Black, the dark horse of High Fidelity, has a pleasing personality more than an irritating demeanor due to this behavior in the record store. In fact, outside of the record store, Jack Black doesn't seem to take the business is your pleasure act pretty seriously. Unlike John Cusack's character he brought his obsession over involving a record in an important memory/point of his life. There is so much stuff that has happened outside of the record store, so much for Rolling Stone and NME being the bible of music at the time, endlessly christening and shilling artists that believe to become the second coming of the Beatles. The music references here however are treated as fluff than it is a mechanism that would drive the senseless plot forward. If anything, there are events pointed out in the event that doesn't have anything to do with the life of the characters.

If anything, this movie did a great job at capturing the feeling of music bros being dumped on the wayside by a mature set of characters and how their current conditions aren't perfumed by the studios' liking of having to Cinderella story the shit out of a bunch of normal record store owners. The reality is in the reaction of one's social capital being invaded and we're here to witness how those reactions panned out in 2021. This is a villainous depiction of music nerds being the salt of the earth, the bane of all media discussion, still reflective of the insufferable salt of cyberspace found in music forums like 4chan and RYM. High Fidelity is a pipeline of 90s musicology, a dreaded fever dream of an owner waiting for the decade to end, trends ossifying and re-emerged by the hands of nostalgia-savvy individuals. It was, at its time, every music-movie nerd's excuse equivalent of Scott Pilgrim VS. The World. There are memories worth remembering and cherishing, and this movie isn't one of them.

DEAN BLUNT, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

In the past two weeks I've been fancying myself into sitting down and listening to different projects from the ever elusive, UK-based sound artist Dean Blunt. The first time i chanced upon his music wasn't too long ago - albeit a recent one in the time of COVID - was when I randomly stumbled upon his records at a Spotify recommendations section under John Maus (yeah lol i know the implications whenever his name is mentioned) - but then i was enamored by his online presence so quickly I put everything down and dedicated an hour or two researching about this man's music.

Other than the fact that his album "The Redeemer" wasn't the best record to start off in journeying through his discography: ending up disgusted and borderline bored even and I was more likely to lambast this record's aimless, pretentious art-pop inflections. By the end of the day, it was a preference long solidified by his undying fanbase. According to his hardcore fans, the music isn't really music, evaluating it as a free form of sound art, rather than sticking to a structured and conventional cues; the genre is nullified by most analysts of the arts. The growing interest of the general public towards Dean Blunt's pranks and antics have long appealed to my tastes as a chaotic neutral individual. Pranks that are well executed to piss off UK gallery connoisseurs and entertain ironic attendees who'd shit on the art piece rather than participate in it.

More of the resources I've found about Dean Blunt online: numerous aliases and collaborations that lasted around almost 2 decades. The most notable of all them, at least for my money, are either Hype Williams, a duo consisting of Dean and frequent collaborator Inga Copeland, and Babyfather, an art performance parodizing the pirate radio culture in the UK. I have not delved enough in Blunt's body of work to evaluate everything and what i could synthesize from it. For now, I enjoyed it as a form of entertainment. Well, color me impressed because Dean Blunt isn't clowning around, he, in fact, makes blissful and transcendental music from left to right.

Dean Blunt was the only few artists that made me want to binge on their discography. His movements in his music has attracted this pesky listener who thinks that being mysterious is a plus. I mean, look at me who thinks The Paul Institute, Panchiko, and Burial are the greatest artists that have walked the face of the earth.

The most I've enjoyed from Dean Blunt's discography are his mixtapes and collaborations: preferably his Soul Fire and ZUSHI, both of which were packaged as B-sides or supplemental releases rather than major releases such as the Babyfather project or the Black Metal releases. His knack for blurring the lines between genres still fascinate me as of this writing, and it continues to amaze me how he doesn't seize to compromise his art, he's here to prove a point and it sells quite well despite the lack of direction in his music. Blunt's music has more aggressive and hazy texture than the hollow, wide, soulless structure of art-pop/hypnagogic pop released today. He creates terrains from the rubble of his country's current shortcomings. The music overlaps the actual intentions with abstract concepts, becoming deconstructed down the line. In Babyfather, noise music coincides with Blunt's amateurish rapping. In Black Metal, Blunt isolates himself along with the assisted skeletal guitar playing. Both projects throwing all tropes in a vaccum alongside Blunt, who he himself would sought to become a personification of a musical void.

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(Excerpt from the Babyfather album review in TinyMixtapes)

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Dean Blunt is an entity that wishes to become one person, but no, this isn't a figure in a specific art form; this isn't Banksy, this isn't Bob Ong, this is made by one person, clearly it is if you listen closely, and it's been entrancing me ever since his presence was felt on the horizons of the internet. Dean Blunt, what the actual fuck.

[muscariia]

first post. | obscure rants from Marius , 01.

Anyone who finds this, sup. I'm Marius. I plan on making daily posts about the most obscure shit ever, usually my interests in any format- art included. And to those who recognize it, yes, I'm named after Marius Pomercy from Les Misérables. I am not ashamed. This may be taken more as a vent, but trust me, it isn't. I find it interesting and unbearable. Now, let's start off strong with...

...I hate how easy it is to get stereotyped for liking things. For my case, I'm at risk of stereotyping because of liking Broadway [Musicals mainly] and Mycology/Mushrooms. Why? Simple, the internet. I myself see the stereotypes as completely valid things, but the major con is that now I am going to be placed under those stereotype umbrellas. I admittedly was one of those off the rails Hamilton fans, and no I am not ashamed I will hold true. HOWEVER, now I'm not one of those, and I genuinely enjoy the musical theatre and musicals- yet I won't escape that stereotype because, well, it's a stereotype. I like a few popular musicals, and I am a minor. By default, I am going to be seen at first as one of those people. As for mushrooms- kinda self explanatory, but cottagecore. People nowadays usually like mushrooms for the aesthetic; fully reasonable, but can become annoying when its their entire personality. There's also more mushrooms than just the A. Muscaria [oho that's where the name came from!], a.k.a. the classic red/white spotted toadstool. People only really care about mushrooms like A. Muscaria for the aesthetic appeal alone, and not the tiny details about it. As someone who now has a water bottle plastered with mushroom stickers, I have a nagging feeling people will assume I'm some cottagecore person. Alas, I'm worse, and I am fixated on Mycology. I also find stereotypes like this interesting. They aren't made up, overdramatic concepts of an entire fandom or interest, they're concepts made up because of the people they are based around. In 2016-2018, Musical fandoms were a NIGHTMARE. And because of this, the stereotype of shipping historical figures [Gods, I am so sorry Alexander.] became a problem, that still exists today because somehow, it still happens. Cottagecore became its own stereotype because of the people in it. This doesn't mean everyone with the Cottagecore community is like this; but again, the stereotype is what was the vast majority. Frogs fall under this category too. Liking frogs is a 'quirky' thing now, just like mushrooms and painfully, musicals. I would've gotten into how all this also has weird queercoding undertones to it, but I'm not going to make you all suffer THAT much.

If you like the rant, and maybe want to see a topic get spoken about more [don't worry about asking for the FreckleWish drama, I plan on that next.], don't be afraid to ask :]. Everlasting, Marius.