#I listened to Ma Belle Evangeline writing this | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

olivenight17 · 2 years ago

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Well, uh, it’s been a while, hi! So, maybe the lil caption on my blog is a lie, I may still write just a little bit. Mostly for my pleasure though and not for requests, although I might open them back up if I revamp the fandoms. Anyways uh, have this cause the Lackadaisy fandom grabbed me by the throat and ran off with me. @a-libra-writes surprise! I’m the sugar baby anon. Lol hope you enjoy what feels like a bunch of headcanons tacked on in a one-shot fashion lol, Asa Sweet man.

Asa Sweet x GN!Reader

You enjoyed the life you had with Asa Sweet.

It was a comfortable one. Not oftentimes cozy, filled with the hazy, golden lights and constant chatter of the speakeasy. It’s where you spent most of your time, after all Asa liked seeing you having fun in clothes he bought you in a place he worked hard to create, even if he wasn’t always in the room himself. It was hard to pass up, the Marigold Room had become a hotspot nowadays, and there was always interesting conversation flowing from one person to another.

And you remembered distantly being in bed with him after a long night, his paw trailing over your tail, and hearing him mumble, “you make the lights shine that much brighter, darlin. Some nights get so unsavory, and then I see you in a booth or a chair, smiling with that brightness to you, makes it all disappear.” It was a touching sentiment, and with him being so soft about it, well, who were you to refuse him that bit of comfort?

He always seemed at ease with you, you had noticed. Not much ruffled his fur, visibly anyways, and he made sure to stand tall no matter who it was he was dealing with. Plenty of times you had sat with him on his lap with his arm steady around your waist as he laughed and talked with various patrons and investors over a game of poker or black-jack. He made sure to tuck you right against his chest, an extra, glittering accessory to add to his charisma and power while he cut deals and traded hands. To you it was nervewracking, while you weren’t quite aware of every bit of the under-belly of Asa’s business, you knew a threat when you heard one, and you’d heard many veiled in honeyed words thrown at him over a game and drink. You’d never even seen him so much as flinch at one, just that charming grin he wore in public as he passed his own threats back.

Maybe you were biased from all the nights you’d spent with him, but those sweet threats sounded a lot better coming from his mouth than his business partners. The grin on his face turned just a bit sharper, just a bit more dangerous, and he looked more like a lion than a regular cat.

Although, as enticing as the danger of that smile could be, you liked it best when it was just the two of you in his office late at night.

“You don’t have to stay with me for this. I know it gets boring,” he told you every time you offered to stay. It could have been just because he wanted to be a gentleman, or because he wanted to keep you at arms length from any important information. You never really knew.

But you smiled up at him all the same and placed a paw on his suit. “What, and miss some time alone with you? Perish the thought, Mister.” You responded playfully back at him, a determined glint in your eye. Plus, he rarely refused you anything, and he craved the softness of your company most of all.

So, you were sat back on his lap, straddling his thigh in a bit more improper manner now that it was just the two of you. Most of all, you just liked taking the time to observe him in moments like these. The act he put on for others disappeared, melting into something a bit more real, less of a figure larger than life, and more like someone you could grasp onto. The smile on his face had gone into a more concentrated frown as he studied the papers in front of him(He was careful, he never handled paperwork that was overly sensitive when you were around, both for your safety and his comfort). His tie was loosened, courtesy of you and he gave you a gentle kiss as a reward, and his shirt held a few more wrinkles from the stresses of the day. His shoulders were hunched over his desk, tired after the constant meetings, and he always rubbed at his forehead with a quiet sigh when something was really perplexing him.

He looked like a man, not a terrifying gangster. Though you had seen both sides of him, it was the man who needed your attention the most, usually because he was never let out. Although there was a small glow of pride in your chest that you brought the man out of him the most. You were a good deal younger than him, and he was more than happy to show you places you’ve never been before. Fancy restaurants, shows in the theater, even allowing you the pleasure of opportunity to photograph yourself. You had managed to pull him into one of the photos once, he looked positively awkward and shocked in the picture, but you kept it anyways. It was a nice momento, and you smiled at the memory.

You sat back against his chest with a little sigh, letting his scent fill your nose. Soft and sweet, with the powdered grit of his cigar smoke tangling with it in the perfect combination. It was hard to catch it in the speakeasy with all the drinks and cigars everyone else was having pouring into your nose. But you liked his scent, it was masculine without being completely overwhelming like most men could be.

“Gettin tired, darlin? I can call you a car to take you back,” Asa’s voice drifted into your ear. It was lower than usual with the quiet atmosphere of his office.

You shook your head, turning slightly to fiddle with his tie some more. “Just reminiscing is all,” you told him before chuckling lightly. There was more of a sparkle to your eye as you looked up at him. “Honestly if anyone should be tired it ought to be you. It’s not as draining to just be your ornament, Asa.”

That pulled a more sardonic smile to his lips and he shook his head, taking a puff of his cigar, and you watched as it curled around his nostrils like a dragon. “Yeah, well thank goodness for that, being so tired doesn’t suit you. You can leave that work all to me.” The arm he had around your hips tightened as his golden gaze flicked over to you.

You just let out a hum, cupping his cheek and pressing a soft kiss to his face. “Leaves me the work of having to drag you to a bed and make sure you get some rest though, which I’d argue is harder,” you pointed out teasingly.

That got a chuckle out of him, and the sound rumbled in his chest against your back. “Hardly, all you gotta do is bat your eyelashes and I am humbly at your mercy.”

“That works when I ask for a new hat, not when I need to drag you from your desk at five in the morning. Clearly, you’ve never had to deal with yourself in peak work mode.” You huffed jokingly with crossed arms, though you couldn’t fight the smile crawling onto your face as he pulled you even closer against him.

His head dipped down to nuzzle against your cheek, then pressing into your neck, and you could feel the way he smiled at the resounding purr you gave him at the contact. “That’s what I have you for, honey. I appreciate you, you know I do. Unless this is your way of saying I need to show it a little more.” His breath ghosted along the fur of your neck, and he laughed at the flustered noise you made from it, pulling away to take another puff from his cigar.

You whined his name with a pout on your lips. Your arms crossed and you continued giving him a disapproving glare until he shook his head with an amused smile, leaning down again to press his lips to yours. The kiss was longer than the gentle peck he had given you earlier, and you could feel the smoke unfurling from his mouth and into yours, giving an even more heady sensation. His smoke was the only kind you could stand entering into your lungs, although the nicotine itself wasn’t quite what you were addicted to. Your eyes closed, and you pressed closer for more as you kissed him back. His lips were always so soft against yours, there was never a time where he didn’t treat you delicately, and he tasted as sweet as the candy he kept around on his desk.

You laughed into the kiss as an idea crossed your mind, and you snuck your paw into his inner coat pocket, grabbing a candy out of it as you pulled away. He kept some hidden there in the offchance he came across a kid or two. It wasn’t like he went out of his way for children, but if one crossed his path and he liked their spirit, he tossed a candy their way, and you found the little habit cute.

He gave a disbelieving snort as he watched you pop it into your mouth, and you simply grinned back at him. “You have your addictions, I have mine.” You shrugged nonchalantly, settling your head back against his chest. Your eyes flicked to the clock, it was getting late. Just late enough that you would have to start performing your duty of getting him to bed. “Although if you’re gonna tease me so much, maybe I will need you to show your appreciation more.” Your tail flicked up and across his lap, settling over his other thigh, and you grinned more at the little cough he made. Yet another habit of his, hiding when he thought he was more interested in something than he should be.

“All you need to do is ask, but you’re gonna have to ask me nicely. Think you can do that?” His perfectly manicured claw reached out to tilt your chin upwards, having you look into his eyes.

You could find yourself lost in those golden pools if you tried hard enough. Even so, you relented, sitting up a little more and adjusting yourself in his lap to face him more head on. Conveniently, your figure blocked the view of his mountain of papers, and he merely leaned back to enjoy the image before him. “Please, Asa? It’d be the gentlemanly thing to do to escort me personally to bed, and you’ll already be there so you might as well stay, and I sleep a lot better next to you.” Your tone was light with a practiced softness to it as your fingers trailed up through his fur gently. You’d learned quickly how to pitch your voice in just the right way to convince him of things when you needed to, whether it was to pull him from work or otherwise, it just slowly became part of what you had to do.

He looked you over for a moment longer, head leaning in slightly to the way your fingers brushed at his soft fur with a rumbling purr before he sighed. For a moment he looked older and more weary, but it was gone as soon as it came as he smiled down at you. “Alright, it’s getting unfair how good you are at persuading me, you know.” He gently ushered you off of his lap, and there was a resounding pop as he stretched his back out.

Mindlessly, he gathered his papers into as neat a pile as he could manage for his energy levels, before he shuffled over to grab your coat, taking care to slide it along your arms and up your shoulders. “Although, I bet you’d feel a lot comfier in my bed than yours, darlin. It’s bigger and you’ve already left your night clothes on my floor anyways.” He chuckled at the way your fur bushed up in embarassment at the comment, and he straightened to grab his own coat onto his body. “Just a suggestion, I’ll happily make sure you get to a bed either way, just name the place.”

You shook your head with a grin at his words, but did consider his offer as he finished putting his coat on, grabbing at his hat and briefcase next. Well, it couldn’t be helped, and secretly you did have a bigger preference for his bed given how much softer it was, the springs didn’t poke into your back as much. “Well, it’d be cruel to make you drive so far out of the way to my place when yours is a lot closer by. It defeats the whole purpose of getting you to sleep if you’re kept awake that long anyways.” You slipped your arm into his as he extended it out to you, and pressed yourself tight against him. “So, if you’re offering your place, I certainly won’t refuse.”

“Anything you want, you get. How can I deny a pretty little thing like you?” He pressed a kiss to the top of your head, and you couldn’t help but smile more at the affection as he led you out of his office, locking the door behind him.

The relationship between the two of you was just meant to be an arrangment, a transaction of enjoyment for money. But Asa liked mixing his business with pleasure, and through the time you spent with him, you found yourself enjoying his company outside of what he paid you.

You didn’t find yourself wishing it to end any time soon.

#lackadaisy #asa sweet #asa sweet x reader #lackadaisy x reader #eheh hi guysss #miss me?#I can’t promise this will continue but I did just wanna share #also anyways #I was listening to Ma Belle Evangeline while I was writing this #so now I just associate that song to Asa now #this is horrendous #I just desperately hope he doesn’t seem horribly out of character lmao

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dystopicjumpsuit · 5 months ago

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A soft Pabu playlist for your soft Pabu needs

I made a playlist of songs that gave me romantic Pabu vibes, and then I went on an unexpected hiatus and never had a chance to share it. But I listened to this nearly every day, and it became my unofficial summer soundtrack, so I'm finally sharing it for anyone else who wants some writing/drawing music for their Bad Batch/Pabu fics and art, or anyone who just wants to relax into the Pabu vibe.

It's great for dancing in the kitchen, BTW. 🩵💚🩷

Track listing below the cut.

Hold You in My Arms - Ray LaMontagne

Everything I Am Is Yours - Villagers

I'm with You - Vance Joy

Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Unchained Melody - Norah Jones

Melody Noir - Patrick Watson

Come Away With Me - Norah Jones

Believer - SYML

Dream A Little Dream Of Me - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong

Coming Home - Leon Bridges

I Can't Help Falling in Love with You - Temuera Morrison

Let It Be Me - Ray LaMontagne

I Love You More Than Words Can Say - Otis Redding

Aspettami - Pink Martini

Harvest Moon - Neil Young

hotline (edit) - Billie Eilish

Such A Simple Thing - Ray LaMontagne

My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski

Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman - Bryan Adams

Fields Of Gold - Eva Cassidy

Moonlight Kiss - Bap Kennedy

You Send Me - Sam Cooke

Stand By Me - Florence + The Machine

Nothing Can Change This Love - Sam Cooke

Ma Belle Evangeline - Jim Cummings

Fooled Around And Fell In Love - Elvin Bishop

Can't Take My Eyes off You - Temuera Morrison

Simply The Best - Billianne

Our House - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Real Love Baby - Father John Misty

Blue Moon - Billie Holiday

There Is Something on Your Mind - Big Jay McNeely

And I Love Her - Santo & Johnny

You Are the Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne

Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest

Taglist:

@secondaryrealm @sev-on-kamino @523rdrebel @wings-and-beskar @merkitty49

@anxiouspineapple99 @sinfulsalutations @arcsimper5 @starrylothcat @clio3kantarella

@cloneloverrrrr @goblininawig @ladytano420 @arctrooper69 @sunshinesdaydream

@littlemissmanga @stunkbiggu @starqueensthings @marierg @idontgetanysleep

@moonlightwarriorqueen @dudewhynotthis @sleepycreativewriter @tcwmatchmakingau @littlemissbshine

@multi-fan-dom-madness @heavenseed76 @wizardofrozz @bobaprint @sweetcream-coldfoam

@skellymom @pickleprickle @trixie2023 @mythical-illustrator @dickarchivist

@cw80831 @kimiheartblade @flyiingsly @lightwise @swcowgal

@reader6898 @cdblake1565 @epicy0n @starstofillmydream @msmeredithrose

@totallyunidentified @eclec-tech @euphoriacafe @hipwell @flo-barr

@dangraccoon @transactivecybermemory @etod @ivyyyyy @somewhere-on-kamino

@burningnerdchild @saneabandoned @heidnspeak @maniacalbooper

#yes of course temuera morrison makes multiple appearances #the bad batch #pabu #tbb pabu #sw tbb #fan playlist

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theodoresgirl · 2 years ago

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Secret Romance

Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert

Sleepy!Eugene x F!Reader Villagers AU / Secret Romance

Warnings: Badly writen and cringe (Imo), Not canon, Fluff/angst?

a/n: This is my first time writing for others, There might be things spelled or worded wrong !

Part 2

︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶︶⠀୨♡୧⠀︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶︶

6 : 23 am Monday, August 10th.

I woke up to light kisses on my neck moving down to my shoulder, His arms wrapped around my waist using it to hold me close to him. He must have snuck in after Rapunzel went to bed last night. ‘He must up stayed up all night waiting..’ I thought shifting a little and placing my hands on his arms. I felt him smile as he kissed the bare skin of my back.

“Morning..” he whispers against my skin, his stubble softly scratching my skin. “good morning” I hummed, he nuzzles his face in my neck his stubble scratching but oddly tickling me too. “Did you sleep well dear?” I whispered quietly weary of waking Rapunzel upstairs. Eugene nodded his head still sleepy.

I roll over expecting to see him awake but was greeted by him either fake sleeping or dozed off again. “Eugene, You don’t get to wake me up and then go back to sleep” I whispered pressing my lips to his. Eugene kisses me before sitting up pulling me with him. I sit on his lap his left hand supporting my back, and his right hand on my upper left thigh. His soft lips connected to mine. His firm grip held onto me.

He’d never admit it but, I’d say he’s in love. I know I am. He breaks the kiss and looks up at me, Staring into my E/C eyes. I smile softly moving a strand of his chocolate brown hair away from his eyes, his gorgeous brown eyes. The eyes I long to stare into on a rainy day.

Eugene goes to kiss me again but before he could, Noise from upstairs above us, followed by giggling and shushing of Rapunzal to Pascal. I let out a sigh, This was my least favorite part. Eugene kisses me again before getting up and heading to the door. “Coffee?” He asks slipping a pair of slippers on. I nodded pulling the covers over me. “with lots of sugar” He adds as he opens the door leaving my room.

Highly recommend listening to this while reading <3 /nf

#disney x reader #flynn riderxreader #flynn rider x reader #eugene fitzherbertxreader #disneyxreader #secretromance #Tangledxreader #fanfic #flynnriderfanfic

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greensagephase · 6 months ago

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So I had wrote out a massive paragraph talking about different songs that I hoped might inspire you for Nonviolent Communication regarding Gabriella and Miguel… However, tumblr had other ideas and decided to reload and delete all of my hard work.

So first things first, highly recommend you check out the song Happy/Sad by Nathan Lane featured in the Adams Family Movie where Gomez is singing to Wednesday about growing up because to me it reminds me of how Miguel would react to Gabriella and we all know Miguel is very Gomez coded.

Secondly, because tumblr’s cruelties, I just said fuck it and rather typing out every single song for you to go back and forth listening to I just made a playlist.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/74RQFVEFTmHizHTshKg5dS?si=mFg1O5fHTLy226vYohjnUw

Here is the link to it, I made it especially for you.

Last thing before I go.

Y/N x Miguel especially for NVC…

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.

Trust me.

Rue... I'm sitting here first of all, feeling so touched about the playlist!!! As Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) once said, if I had a nickel for every time someone made a music playlist for one of my writing projects, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird (AWESOME) that it happened twice!!! EEEEEEEE, THANK YOU OMG!!!!!!! You're the second person that's made one for me in almost 10 years (the first being my best friend for an old fanfic back in the wattpad days)!!!

Second... Rue!!!!!! I swear there's only like 13 songs I don't recognize at all, but the rest are in my liked songs already!!! The following songs: - "Isn't She Lovely" - "Your Song" - "Slipping Through My Fingers" (OH MY GOD HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THIS SONG FOR NC!?!?!?! IT BREAKS MY HEART EVERY TIME, I'M LITERALLY CRYING RN 😭😭) - "Butterfly Fly Away" - "Chiquitita" (no bc how do you know I'm a big fan of ABBA???? I love them and this song!!!) - "Thank You For The Music" - "Tu Sangre en Mi Cuerpo" (girl, you listen to Pepe Aguilar?? I'M SHOOK!!! And now I'm imagining Miguel and Gabby singing this together, brb... gonna go cry again😭) - "Matilda" (no, the way I was listening to this song the other day and thinking about Miguel??? "You can let it go/you can throw a party full of everyone you know/and not invite your family, cause they never showed you love" and "you can start a family who will always show you love/you don't have to be sorry for doing it on your own" tell me this isn't Miguel!! 😭😭I was already thinking of adding this one for a future chapter) - "Beautiful Boy" - "Yellow" - "The Scientist" - "Rivers and Roads"(I heard this one again a few days ago while on shuffle, and I was thinking this would be a good song for NC, hehe!) - "Promise" (this Laufey song always gets me omg) - "Pluto Projector" - "Heart To Heart" (one of my favs by DeMarco) - "Are you Lonesome Tonight?" (one of my fav songs by Presley, period!! Always gets me emotional) - "Ma Belle Evangeline" (The Princess and the Frog is one of my fav princess movies ever (probably the second; it switches with Rapunzel; depends on the day) and I love this song by Ray!!) - "Recuerdame" (YOU CAME STRAIGHT FOR ME WITH THIS ONE AND I WAS THINKING ABOUT ADDING IT BUT THEN DECIDED AGAINST IT BECAUSE I KNEW I WAS GOING TO CRY HARDER IF I DID😭😭😭😭)

these songs literally have me like this rn ⬇️

ALSO NOT "CHASING CARS" PLSSSSSS THAT SONG ALWAYS MAKES ME WANT TO CRY WITHOUT FAILURE - it's nearly 1am and I'm listening to it now and trying not to cry about it (again) AHHHH BUT YOU'RE SO RIGHT - IT'S FITTING!!!

I'm def adding some of these, Rue!!!!! Thank you for making this playlist for me, I'm so happy right now 😭😭 This was so sweet of you!!! Also, I'm sorry Tumblr messed up your post!! I've seen some people complain about tumblr doing that to them, it sucks!!!

But THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I LOVE THIS PLAYLIST!!!! I hope you're having a wonderful week so far, Rue!!! 💕💕🫶🏼🥹

Alondra❤️

#literally crying rn over some of these songs #i'm gonna go lie down and cry myself to sleep now #but no this playlist is WONDERFUL AND SAD BUT I LOVE IT SM!!!#Thank you Rue!!!!!#nonviolent communication #miguel o'hara #atsv miguel #spiderman 2099 #across the spiderverse #miguel spiderverse #miguel spiderman #asked and answered

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alpacavampire · 2 years ago

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I was doing my homework with random music in the background and when the disney song "Ma belle Evangeline" came on I started to imagine Edward and Harvey dancing together to that song so I decided to put my homework down and write this

It's not the best thing in the world, but I think it's good for having written it quickly

Also, this would become part of a fanfic I'm writing where Ed (Gotham) is the son of Harvey and Edward (Batman Forever) and they are retired villains living in Metropolis and Ed takes Oswald to meet his parents.

So, here is this little piece of the fic

@eagleflightdraws

Edward and Harvey were sitting on the couch in the living room listening to the music playing on the radio, Harvey was reading a book and Edward was drawing in his notebook.

Suddenly a soft Jazz song began to play and they both recognized it immediately, it was the song they danced to at their weddings.

First that wedding they officiated in Harvey's lair, when they were still villains; they kidnapped a priest to officiate the ceremony and then they both danced to that song before going to destroy the city.

In their second wedding, after having faked their death leaving their life as villains and having finished their recovery, they celebrated it in a small hall in Metropolis being their only guests Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent and their friends Helen and Crystal who were once Sugar and Spice.

Harvey could never forget his husband and his wedding outfits, first that white spandex suit with a bunch of bright green question marks, along with that eye mask Edward had designed based on him and his pink orange hair combed up.

Then that white suit with a pastel green shirt and his reddish hair combed sideways while still wearing many more bandages and learning to walk with the cane needing help to stand.

To his eyes at both times he always looked beautiful and still did.

Harvey put his book aside and stood up and then offered his hand to his husband asking him to dance.

—Oh darling, I'm too old for this— Edward laughed as he took his husband's hand and stood up with the help of his cane.

—We both are. What difference does it make?—

Edward let out a laugh as he held his husband by the shoulders leaving his cane aside.

They both started to dance slowly to the rhythm of the music completely forgetting their surroundings, for a moment they both felt like they were traveling back in time to their youth and let themselves be carried away by the music and their memories, as if time had frozen and never passed.

They both stayed like that until the song came to an end and they came back to the present then they looked at each other smiling, for a few minutes they saw their whole life passing in front of their eyes, and they were sure of one thing; they would do it all over again if they could.

After a few seconds of looking into each other's eyes they gave each other a small kiss and brought their foreheads together staying in an embrace and moving slowly to the next Jazz song playing on the speaker.

From the other room Ed and Oswald watched them smiling without realizing it.

Oswald looked at his partner and said softly, —I hope that 30 years from now you will remember our wedding song and we will dance to it together feeling like we traveled through time—

Ed laughed —Of course we will— he laughed and moved in for a kiss.

#twiddler #harvard #edward x harvey #riddlerbird #nygmobblepot #my au #fanfic #disney songs #Spotify

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studyof-love-and-life · 3 years ago

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October 19, 2021 - 59/100

Today I:

Finished my first essay

Read a bunch of articles about tolerance and bisexuality

Took notes for and outlined my second essay

Started writing my second essay

Finished El Abencerraje

I went to the library three separate times today and only left because of lunch and dinner, but at least I got a lot done for my midterm! And while I was down in the stacks I found an illustrated book from 1870 and it was beautiful! There’s something soothing about being surrounded by old books

Not much else to report on, other than I decided to name my little plants from the other day Ray and Evangeline 💛

🎧 listening to: Ma Belle Evangeline (Jim Cummings, The Princess and the Frog)

📖 reading: Alice by Heart (Steven Slater), El Abencerraje (anonymous)

#100 days of productivity #100 days of positivity #100 dop #studyblr #studyspo #studyinspo #study aesthetic #academia #academia aesthetic #langblr #language learning #trying my best #student #university #uni student #college #college student

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bobasheebaby · 6 years ago

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I've been listening to a few Disney songs to get myself ready to write my choices fanfic. I am thinking of going with Bella Notte from Lady and the Tramp and another part of me wants to do Ma Belle Evangeline from Princess and the Frog. Confused..help? What do you do when inspiration strikes to get a new fanfic going?

If you can’t choose, don’t!

I have several playlists on Spotify for my fics. I have general fic inspiration, character playlists like Bastien, feelings like angst, couple playlists like Athena & Percy, and series playlists like Crimson Rain and The Rise. I will throw those on and listen, if one song triggers more writing or emotion I will throw that song on repeat.

When I get inspiration I dive in, unless of course I have a million ideas like currently with Behind Closed Doors I will be in denial and try to ignore the idea until I give in and it gets a name, characters come together and I make a damn mood board.

So yea that’s my process.

Once I decide to go ahead with it, if it’s a large series I try to write down as much as I currently know as notes, try to get as much together as I can, if a specific part is screaming in my head I will put it down. I have so many different little documents of pieces of Crimson Rain or When Fairytales Break cause I wasn’t sure where it would go.

If it’s screaming at you, put it down on paper, either long hand, or in the notes of your phone but put it down or it WILL vanish when you want it. Making dinner and you learn a new fact? Jot it down! I carry my phone with me everywhere cause I don’t know when an idea will hit. My one fic came to me when I was making my son a peanut butter sandwich for his lunch for school.

#fic help #writer help #writing tips #anon #anonymous #fic anon #e answers

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neesieiumz · 2 years ago

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I hate my brain sometimes because why I listen to this:

And now I have a whole idea to write… let’s see if it gets done…

#neesiespeaks #Spotify

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thesnhuup · 7 years ago

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Pop Picks – June 11, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Like everyone else, I’m listening to Pusha T drop the mic on Drake. Okay, not really, but do I get some points for even knowing that? We all walk around with songs that immediately bring us back to a time or a place. Songs are time machines. We are coming up on Father’s Day. My own dad passed away on Father’s Day back in 1994 and I remembering dutifully getting through the wake and funeral and being strong throughout. Then, sitting alone in our kitchen, Don Henley’s The End of the Innocence came on and I lost it. When you lose a parent for the first time (most of us have two after all) we lose our innocence and in that passage, we suddenly feel adult in a new way (no matter how old we are), a longing for our own childhood, and a need to forgive and be forgiven. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand. As Wordsworth reminds us in In Memoriam, there are seasons to our grief and, all these years later, this song no longer hits me in the gut, but does transport me back with loving memories of my father. I’ll play it Father’s Day.

What I’m reading:

The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin. I am not a reader of fantasy or sci-fi, though I understand they can be powerful vehicles for addressing the very real challenges of the world in which we actually live. I’m not sure I know of a more vivid and gripping illustration of that fact than N. K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award winning novel The Fifth Season, first in her Broken Earth trilogy. It is astounding. It is the fantasy parallel to The Underground Railroad, my favorite recent read, a depiction of subjugation, power, casual violence, and a broken world in which our hero(s) struggle, suffer mightily, and still, somehow, give us hope. It is a tour de force book. How can someone be this good a writer? The first 30 pages pained me (always with this genre, one must learn a new, constructed world, and all of its operating physics and systems of order), and then I could not put it down. I panicked as I neared the end, not wanting to finish the book, and quickly ordered the Obelisk Gate, the second novel in the trilogy, and I can tell you now that I’ll be spending some goodly portion of my weekend in Jemisin’s other world.

What I’m watching:

The NBA Finals and perhaps the best basketball player of this generation. I’ve come to deeply respect LeBron James as a person, a force for social good, and now as an extraordinary player at the peak of his powers. His superhuman play during the NBA playoffs now ranks with the all-time greats, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, MJ, Kobe, and the demi-god that was Bill Russell. That his Cavs lost in a 4-game sweep is no surprise. It was a mediocre team being carried on the wide shoulders of James (and matched against one of the greatest teams ever, the Warriors, and the Harry Potter of basketball, Steph Curry) and, in some strange way, his greatness is amplified by the contrast with the rest of his team. It was a great run.

Archive

May 24, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I’ve always liked Alicia Keys and admired her social activism, but I am hooked on her last album Here. This feels like an album finally commensurate with her anger, activism, hope, and grit. More R&B and Hip Hop than is typical for her, I think this album moves into an echelon inhabited by a Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Beyonce’s Formation. Social activism and outrage rarely make great novels, but they often fuel great popular music. Here is a terrific example.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad may be close to a flawless novel. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer, it chronicles the lives of two runaway slaves, Cora and Caeser, as they try to escape the hell of plantation life in Georgia. It is an often searing novel and Cora is one of the great heroes of American literature. I would make this mandatory reading in every high school in America, especially in light of the absurd revisionist narratives of “happy and well cared for” slaves. This is a genuinely great novel, one of the best I’ve read, the magical realism and conflating of time periods lifts it to another realm of social commentary, relevance, and a blazing indictment of America’s Original Sin, for which we remain unabsolved.

What I’m watching:

I thought I knew about The Pentagon Papers, but The Post, a real-life political thriller from Steven Spielberg taught me a lot, features some of our greatest actors, and is so timely given the assault on our democratic institutions and with a presidency out of control. It is a reminder that a free and fearless press is a powerful part of our democracy, always among the first targets of despots everywhere. The story revolves around the legendary Post owner and D.C. doyenne, Katharine Graham. I had the opportunity to see her son, Don Graham, right after he saw the film, and he raved about Meryl Streep’s portrayal of his mother. Liked it a lot more than I expected.

April 27, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I mentioned John Prine in a recent post and then on the heels of that mention, he has released a new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, his first new album in ten years. Prine is beloved by other singer songwriters and often praised by the inscrutable God that is Bob Dylan. Indeed, Prine was frequently said to be the “next Bob Dylan” in the early part of his career, though he instead carved out his own respectable career and voice, if never with the dizzying success of Dylan. The new album reflects a man in his 70s, a cancer survivor, who reflects on life and its end, but with the good humor and empathy that are hallmarks of Prine’s music. “When I Get To Heaven” is a rollicking, fun vision of what comes next and a pure delight. A charming, warm, and often terrific album.

What I’m reading:

I recently read Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, on many people’s Top Ten lists for last year and for good reason. It is sprawling, multi-generational, and based in the world of Japanese occupied Korea and then in the Korean immigrant’s world of Oaska, so our key characters become “tweeners,” accepted in neither world. It’s often unspeakably sad, and yet there is resiliency and love. There is also intimacy, despite the time and geographic span of the novel. It’s breathtakingly good and like all good novels, transporting.

What I’m watching:

I adore Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and while I’m not sure his Shape of Water is better, it is a worthy follow up to the earlier masterpiece (and more of a commercial success). Lots of critics dislike the film, but I’m okay with a simple retelling of a Beauty and the Beast love story, as predictable as it might be. The acting is terrific, it is visually stunning, and there are layers of pain as well as social and political commentary (the setting is the US during the Cold War) and, no real spoiler here, the real monsters are humans, the military officer who sees over the captured aquatic creature. It is hauntingly beautiful and its depiction of hatred to those who are different or “other” is painfully resonant with the time in which we live. Put this on your “must see” list.

March 18, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Sitting on a plane for hours (and many more to go; geez, Australia is far away) is a great opportunity to listen to new music and to revisit old favorites. This time, it is Lucy Dacus and her album Historians, the new sophomore release from a 22-year old indie artist that writes with relatable, real-life lyrics. Just on a second listen and while she insists this isn’t a break up record (as we know, 50% of all great songs are break up songs), it is full of loss and pain. Worth the listen so far. For the way back machine, it’s John Prine and In Spite of Ourselves (that title track is one of the great love songs of all time), a collection of duets with some of his “favorite girl singers” as he once described them. I have a crush on Iris Dement (for a really righteously angry song try her Wasteland of the Free), but there is also EmmyLou Harris, the incomparable Dolores Keane, and Lucinda Williams. Very different albums, both wonderful.

What I’m reading:

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece on Christopher Steele presents little that is new, but she pulls it together in a terrific and coherent whole that is illuminating and troubling at the same time. Not only for what is happening, but for the complicity of the far right in trying to discredit that which should be setting off alarm bells everywhere. Bob Mueller may be the most important defender of the democracy at this time. A must read.

What I’m watching:

Homeland is killing it this season and is prescient, hauntingly so. Russian election interference, a Bannon-style hate radio demagogue, alienated and gun toting militia types, and a president out of control. It’s fabulous, even if it feels awfully close to the evening news.

March 8, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We have a family challenge to compile our Top 100 songs. It is painful. Only 100? No more than three songs by one artist? Wait, why is M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” on my list? Should it just be The Clash from whom she samples? Can I admit to guilty pleasure songs? Hey, it’s my list and I can put anything I want on it. So I’m listening to the list while I work and the song playing right now is Tom Petty’s “The Wild One, Forever,” a B-side single that was never a hit and that remains my favorite Petty song. Also, “Evangeline” by Los Lobos. It evokes a night many years ago, with friends at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, when everyone danced well past 1AM in a hot, sweaty, packed club and the band was a revelation. Maybe the best music night of our lives and a reminder that one’s 100 Favorite Songs list is as much about what you were doing and where you were in your life when those songs were playing as it is about the music. It’s not a list. It’s a soundtrack for this journey.

What I’m reading:

Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy was in the NY Times top ten books of 2017 list and it is easy to see why. Lockwood brings remarkable and often surprising imagery, metaphor, and language to her prose memoir and it actually threw me off at first. It then all became clear when someone told me she is a poet. The book is laugh aloud funny, which masks (or makes safer anyway) some pretty dark territory. Anyone who grew up Catholic, whether lapsed or not, will resonate with her story. She can’t resist a bawdy anecdote and her family provides some of the most memorable characters possible, especially her father, her sister, and her mother, who I came to adore. Best thing I’ve read in ages.

What I’m watching:

The Florida Project, a profoundly good movie on so many levels. Start with the central character, six-year old (at the time of the filming) Brooklynn Prince, who owns – I mean really owns – the screen. This is pure acting genius and at that age? Astounding. Almost as astounding is Bria Vinaite, who plays her mother. She was discovered on Instagram and had never acted before this role, which she did with just three weeks of acting lessons. She is utterly convincing and the tension between the child’s absolute wonder and joy in the world with her mother’s struggle to provide, to be a mother, is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. Willem Dafoe rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. This is a terrific movie.

February 12, 2018

What I’m listening to:

So, I have a lot of friends of age (I know you’re thinking 40s, but I just turned 60) who are frozen in whatever era of music they enjoyed in college or maybe even in their thirties. There are lots of times when I reach back into the catalog, since music is one of those really powerful and transporting senses that can take you through time (smell is the other one, though often underappreciated for that power). Hell, I just bought a turntable and now spending time in vintage vinyl shops. But I’m trying to take a lesson from Pat, who revels in new music and can as easily talk about North African rap music and the latest National album as Meet the Beatles, her first ever album. So, I’ve been listening to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy winning Damn. While it may not be the first thing I’ll reach for on a winter night in Maine, by the fire, I was taken with it. It’s layered, political, and weirdly sensitive and misogynist at the same time, and it feels fresh and authentic and smart at the same time, with music that often pulled me from what I was doing. In short, everything music should do. I’m not a bit cooler for listening to Damn, but when I followed it with Steely Dan, I felt like I was listening to Lawrence Welk. A good sign, I think.

What I’m reading:

I am reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I’m not usually a reader of biographies, but I’ve always been taken with Leonardo. Isaacson does not disappoint (does he ever?), and his subject is at once more human and accessible and more awe-inspiring in Isaacson’s capable hands. Gay, left-handed, vegetarian, incapable of finishing things, a wonderful conversationalist, kind, and perhaps the most relentlessly curious human being who has ever lived. Like his biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, Isaacson’s project here is to show that genius lives at the intersection of science and art, of rationality and creativity. Highly recommend it.

What I’m watching:

We watched the This Is Us post-Super Bowl episode, the one where Jack finally buys the farm. I really want to hate this show. It is melodramatic and manipulative, with characters that mostly never change or grow, and it hooks me every damn time we watch it. The episode last Sunday was a tear jerker, a double whammy intended to render into a blubbering, tissue-crumbling pathetic mess anyone who has lost a parent or who is a parent. Sterling K. Brown, Ron Cephas Jones, the surprising Mandy Moore, and Milo Ventimiglia are hard not to love and last season’s episode that had only Brown and Cephas going to Memphis was the show at its best (they are by far the two best actors). Last week was the show at its best worst. In other words, I want to hate it, but I love it. If you haven’t seen it, don’t binge watch it. You’ll need therapy and insulin.

January 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Drive-By Truckers. Chris Stapleton has me on an unusual (for me) country theme and I discovered these guys to my great delight. They’ve been around, with some 11 albums, but the newest one is fascinating. It’s a deep dive into Southern alienation and the white working-class world often associated with our current president. I admire the willingness to lay bare, in kick ass rock songs, the complexities and pain at work among people we too quickly place into overly simple categories. These guys are brave, bold, and thoughtful as hell, while producing songs I didn’t expect to like, but that I keep playing. And they are coming to NH.

What I’m reading:

A textual analog to Drive-By Truckers by Chris Stapleton in many ways is Tony Horowitz’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning Confederates in the Attic. Ostensibly about the Civil War and the South’s ongoing attachment to it, it is prescient and speaks eloquently to the times in which we live (where every southern state but Virginia voted for President Trump). Often hilarious, it too surfaces complexities and nuance that escape a more recent, and widely acclaimed, book like Hillbilly Elegy. As a Civil War fan, it was also astonishing in many instances, especially when it blows apart long-held “truths” about the war, such as the degree to which Sherman burned down the south (he did not). Like D-B Truckers, Horowitz loves the South and the people he encounters, even as he grapples with its myths of victimhood and exceptionalism (and racism, which may be no more than the racism in the north, but of a different kind). Everyone should read this book and I’m embarrassed I’m so late to it.

What I’m watching:

David Letterman has a new Netflix show called “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” and we watched the first episode, in which Letterman interviewed Barack Obama. It was extraordinary (if you don’t have Netflix, get it just to watch this show); not only because we were reminded of Obama’s smarts, grace, and humanity (and humor), but because we saw a side of Letterman we didn’t know existed. His personal reflections on Selma were raw and powerful, almost painful. He will do five more episodes with “extraordinary individuals” and if they are anything like the first, this might be the very best work of his career and one of the best things on television.

December 22, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished Sunjeev Sahota’s Year of the Runaways, a painful inside look at the plight of illegal Indian immigrant workers in Britain. It was shortlisted for 2015 Man Booker Prize and its transporting, often to a dark and painful universe, and it is impossible not to think about the American version of this story and the terrible way we treat the undocumented in our own country, especially now.

What I’m watching:

Season II of The Crown is even better than Season I. Elizabeth’s character is becoming more three-dimensional, the modern world is catching up with tradition-bound Britain, and Cold War politics offer more context and tension than we saw in Season I. Claire Foy, in her last season, is just terrific – one arched eye brow can send a message.

What I’m listening to:

A lot of Christmas music, but needing a break from the schmaltz, I’ve discovered Over the Rhine and their Christmas album, Snow Angels. God, these guys are good.

November 14, 2017

What I’m watching:

Guiltily, I watch the Patriots play every weekend, often building my schedule and plans around seeing the game. Why the guilt? I don’t know how morally defensible is football anymore, as we now know the severe damage it does to the players. We can’t pretend it’s all okay anymore. Is this our version of late decadent Rome, watching mostly young Black men take a terrible toll on each other for our mere entertainment?

What I’m reading:

Recently finished J.G. Ballard’s 2000 novel Super-Cannes, a powerful depiction of a corporate-tech ex-pat community taken over by a kind of psychopathology, in which all social norms and responsibilities are surrendered to residents of the new world community. Kept thinking about Silicon Valley when reading it. Pretty dark, dystopian view of the modern world and centered around a mass killing, troublingly prescient.

What I’m listening to:

Was never really a Lorde fan, only knowing her catchy (and smarter than you might first guess) pop hit “Royals” from her debut album. But her new album, Melodrama, is terrific and it doesn’t feel quite right to call this “pop.” There is something way more substantial going on with Lorde and I can see why many critics put this album at the top of their Best in 2017 list. Count me in as a huge fan.

November 3, 2017

What I’m reading: Just finished Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, her breathtakingly good second novel. How is someone so young so wise? Her writing is near perfection and I read the book in two days, setting my alarm for 4:30AM so I could finish it before work.

What I’m watching: We just binge watched season two of Stranger Things and it was worth it just to watch Millie Bobbie Brown, the transcendent young actor who plays Eleven. The series is a delightful mash up of every great eighties horror genre you can imagine and while pretty dark, an absolute joy to watch.

What I’m listening to: I’m not a lover of country music (to say the least), but I love Chris Stapleton. His “The Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning” is heartbreakingly good and reminds me of the old school country that played in my house as a kid. He has a new album and I can’t wait, but his From A Room: Volume 1 is on repeat for now.

September 26, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished George Saunder’s Lincoln in the Bardo. It took me a while to accept its cadence and sheer weirdness, but loved it in the end. A painful meditation on loss and grief, and a genuinely beautiful exploration of the intersection of life and death, the difficulty of letting go of what was, good and bad, and what never came to be.

What I’m watching:

HBO’s The Deuce. Times Square and the beginning of the porn industry in the 1970s, the setting made me wonder if this was really something I’d want to see. But David Simon is the writer and I’d read a menu if he wrote it. It does not disappoint so far and there is nothing prurient about it.

What I’m listening to:

The National’s new album Sleep Well Beast. I love this band. The opening piano notes of the first song, “Nobody Else Will Be There,” seize me & I’m reminded that no one else in music today matches their arrangement & musicianship. I’m adding “Born to Beg,” “Slow Show,” “I Need My Girl,” and “Runaway” to my list of favorite love songs.

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thesnhuup · 7 years ago

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Pop Picks – May 24, 2018

May 24, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I’ve always liked Alycia Keys and admired her social activism, but I am hooked on her last album Here. This feels like an album finally commensurate with her anger, activism, hope, and grit. More R&B and Hip Hop than is typical for her, I think this album moves into an echelon inhabited by a Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Beyonce’s Formation. Social activism and outrage rarely make great novels, but they often fuel great popular music. Here is a terrific example.

What I’m reading:

What I’m watching: