#I wanted to be her SO BADLY in 2023 and she has my favorite character design of all time

[queeniecamps]

Little fun fact but that necklace David wears in my recent drawing is based off of this one I got off of Etsy bc of my obsession with Emma from Stoked

[lovebirdgames]

Progress Update - October, 2024

It is time…the first Quarterly Progress Update for our next game starts now! And we're kicking it off with a title drop!!! Drum roll, please! Tom, if you will help me out...

That's right! Heartbreaker joins the fray!

For the record that’s not the real logo, just a temporary one that I slapped together.

Before we get into it I would actually like to glance back at the past and detail what our development timeline looked like for Band Camp Boyfriend. It's possible this one might look somewhat similar.

2015-2017 - Writing 2017 - Commissioned art, created social media presence 2018 - Demo released on Itch.io in August Programming hell 2022 - Demo released on Steam 2023 - Full game released

The good news is this isn’t our first rodeo and I’m hopeful there won’t be so many growing pains this time.  We're also doing 4 routes and a shorter common route so that means less suffering for us. The bad news is I worked part-time 2015-2017 so I blazed through writing and now I work full-time…and I’m old…and my memory is failing me…but it’s okay, I’ve forgotten all the pain.

This time around we want to be sure we get all the writing down before we start commissioning art.  We had the tendency to keep going back and asking for more because the game kept getting bigger (saving up money was also a factor). We’re gonna make sure we know exactly what we want this time. We’d also like to save casting voice actors for much later in the process so they aren’t waiting around for years on end. So the demo for this game will not have voice acting. I believe I wrote about this a little before in our post-mortem. We’re learning from our mistakes, woohoo!

That said, this is what we’re hopefully visualizing for Heartbreaker.

2024-2025 - Writing 2026 - Big art commissioning year, a more exciting project reveal, hopefully demo release later in the year! 2027 and on - Programming hell! Casting! Soundtrack fun!

…If this was to line up with BCB that would mean 2031 release. Oh God. No, I wanna release it in this decade, thanks. This is very tentative and we’re determined to not take 7 years this time.

Enough about that! Here is what we’ve worked on this year!

Concept art: Lite was absolutely awesome (as always) and let us have sessions with her in which we worked on concept art of the main cast together. It was super helpful in bringing our visualizations to life and it will definitely aid in writing the story. I can't go on enough about how wonderful Lite is to work with, and it was amazing to watch her go. She would whip up a number of poses, face types, or hairstyles for us to choose from. It was really fun and we're very grateful for the time she spent with us.

The demo: That's right, the demo is written! Woohoo! Unlike Band Camp Boyfriend with its twisting, long-winded common route, Heartbreaker’s common route is a single day! Alex can sigh in relief because that’s one less nightmare in programming for her.

The demo will contain the one-day common route and the first two chapters of two different love interests’ routes (the other two are locked at the start of the game so you’ll just have to admire them from a distance). 

Brainstorming: Ahh my favorite part…talking long walks or going for coffee and coming up with ideas. Brainstorming is ongoing and includes character profiles, world-building, and route outlines. This game has a lot more lore and world-building than BCB, so it’s more of a challenge, but we’re here for it. I've already done a badly-drawn map of the setting. Just need to finish up some profiles for minor characters and do some of my own badly-drawn concept art. Then we move on to fleshing out the route outlines.

The first route: One goal I have is to try and finish writing the first draft of the first route by the end of the year! Which is insane because October is super busy for me, but I'm sure I can buckle down when it gets colder. It's a bit ambitious, but aim high, right?

That's all I got for now! Hope you're all feeling hyped and uh, patient, because we won't be able to show you any cool art for a while. ;v; Thank you so much for sticking by us and we appreciate every single comment that has mentioned looking forward to our next game! Enjoy the rest of 2024!!!

P.S. Today is my mom's birthday and yesterday was my sister's birthday, and also my best friend's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAYYYY to these very important people. <3

[maxphilippa]

Microphone ii

Favorite thing about her: WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN WITH. Oh my God she's like the best arc developed on season 2 and she is so consistent with everything and so so full of love and so complex and. I really just like the way she's written and how much respect they had for her once she was out on her own terms. Her design is one of my favorite things ever too, it's quite simple but so SO good and shaped, her main color being purple, her abilities, her love for others, how she doesn't want to hurt anybody. I just like everything about her. How she as a person isn't flawless but is still full of love. How even if she has a gokden heart she can still stand up for herself and hold grudges. She's just. So important to me.

Least favorite thing about her: I have a lot to say when the things I don't like about her are her alliance with Taco (not because it's bad for the story, again, Mic's arc is beautifully written, but because Taco sucks and I can feel Mic on a emotional level) AND the what the Fanon did to her. They treated her so SO badly.

Favorite line: "So now, I'm making my first good choice."

brOTP: oj, trophy, nickel, soap, cheesy, fan, tissues- basically almost everyone at the hotel

OTP: microknife, micropick, micro4

nOTP: ... taco...

Random headcanon: Painting became a sort of therapy for her at some point post s2. She used to do it a lot when she was a kid, but now she's just getting back at it. However, she doesn't attend Paintbrush's classes because 1: she can't focus with many people and 2: she's more of painting landscapes or recreating photos. it really helps her with thinking. as well, even if she's somewhat decent at cooking, she's GREAT at baking. definitely one of her hobbies.

Unpopular opinion: SHE'S INSANELY BISEXUAL SHE LIKES MEN AND WOMEN 💥💥💥 but also, she's one of the characters that suffers the worst treatment on the way the fandom treats her, and usually misses the whole point with the toxic friendship he had with Taco.

No, Mic would never forgive Taco. Yes, she meant it when she said the thing about Pickle. Their thing is a really good example of an harmful relationship. As well, Knife and her being best friends instead of siblings is WAY better if you don't want the romance (even IF justin has stated on may 1st of 2023 that they're okay with others shipping them now, on twitter), and Knife's and Mic's arc is just very very underrated and like. Why. They're so important to eachother. Did you know that in A Song For Microphone, On Knife's Edge appears there for a segment? Their arcs are entwined and yet they're just pushed aside.

Also I just really don't like it when people mischaracterize her for ships or only remember she's there for ships.

Song I associate with her: Missing Hell, Hermit The Frog (Marina), HANSEL (Sodikken), Copacabana, Ancient Aliens, and Curses.

My favorite pic of her:

[selkiesstories]

I was going through your grrm critical tag and I have to say you really hit on a lot of the points I always noticed with his writing but could not articulate and I think you're way better at being critical of him, than like 90 percent of the fandom that just glosses over his shoddy world building and weirdness lmao. I think that GRRM has a big problem with tone deafness, not being consistent about the supposed themes he's exploring, distorting history yet claiming realism, and just over all not understanding the implications of some of his more baffling writing choices.

Also, I think that fandom tends to project the plots, characterizations, and themes they want this work to be about, and not what is actually presented in the text. A lot of this is of course his fault for not finishing the books, because he uses a lot of POV traps, misdirection, vague retellings of events, ambiguity, which is all fine and well.....if the author actually delivers a resolution to the seeds that he plants thus giving readers some semblance of answers to these questions. I doubt Martin ever will at this point.

That being said, I think fandom also thinks he's some moral philosophy teacher that is imparting 'lessons' with a lot of his writing choices especially when it comes to the sexualization of pre-teens and teens in his work and I just.....don't think that's the case. I think he's a bit of Freak and uses 'well, this is set in medieval times' to place barely teen girls in unambiguously romantic/sexual relationships with older men. I also think the whole 'well, he's really doing a massive critique of incest' in his work and....I just don't see that as the case lol. I remember reading Fire and Blood and him describing how 14/15 year old Alyssa marries her brother Baelon and it's a great marriage, and relationship, and she was so hot for him her cries of passion could be heard through the castle on their wedding night lmao. I see fandom propagate that GRRM thinks incest is this disgusting terrible thing and is always framed badly and it's....not? lol. I'm not endorsing these narrative choices btw, I just think a lot of people don't want to admit that they like a series that would be considered deeply problematic in 2023 and instead try to twist themselves into a pretzel to make GRRM into the most Woke Author to have ever Woked.

Also, don't even get me started on this man choosing to have half his main characters be either literal children and pre-teens and then just treating them as if they are 25-years-old both in terms of mental and physical development (because he obviously has no idea how teens develop). Like, if you have no concept of a the differences between a 12 year old girl a 15 year old girl and a 18 year old you.....maybe don't have the characters start off so baffling young because it makes you look very Weird considering the writing choices in the series.

Aww thank you so much! I think I owe a lot to my realization that I just wasn’t enjoying the books and was under no obligation to finish them. I have no need to twist myself into intellectual pretzels to justify my preferred ending or why actually Martin loves my favorite character or why my ship is endgame. He’s never finishing the series anyway Obviously he’s the author and can say whatever he wants, but he also says that Daemon Targaryen is the most complex character he’s ever written.

Anyway the moral of the story I guess is to not overly identify with whatever it is you like to the point where you think that it has to be above moral reproach because otherwise it reflects badly on you as a person. That, and not insisting on historical accuracy in a story featuring dragons.

[girlwholikestoread]

My least favorite to My favorite books I read in 2023

24. May The Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor: I wanted to like this book so badly, I really did but this is probably the only book I read this year that I didn’t like. The story is about Jeremy Harkisis who is a transgender cheerleader and his ex-boyfriend Lukas who is the all-star football player; the two exes are both trying to earn the title of Homecoming King. Honestly I loved the idea of this story just wasn’t a fan of the direction. First I did like Jeremy for most of the book, honestly his attitude towards Lukas in the beginning of the book made me not want to root for them and he just seems so mean and selfish, I understand that was the point and usually I don’t mind reading about characters who are mean and selfish but learns their lesson at the end but, Jermey was just so unnecessary cruel to his friends despite all of them showing him support and kindness. I liked Lukas a lot and honestly he was the only reason I had any motivation to finish this book and I thought the ending was cute. Overall a big let down and Lukas deserve so much better.

23. Radiant Black, Vol. 3: Rogues’s Gallery: It was the first book I read this year because my brother insisted I read it. It was fine, I’m personally not a huge fan of the series but I think the story is pretty good. Overall I gave it 3 stars on GoodReads so not bad.

22. Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham: So this book was different…not in a bad way. I actually really liked this book but this went in a direction I did not expect. So the story about Tony Price who is a popular high school track star and a quiet boy named Eli Hirsch who has a chronic autoimmune disorder become unlikely friends. Seems like your standard romance, except it’s not. Eli has a special ability to see ghosts and most recently he’s been seeing a ghost of a fisherman, while that happens Tony gets bitten by a werewolf-like creator which turns him into one. The story was alright, I was a bit confused at times but I still mostly enjoyed it. The romance was also lacking. Tony and Eli have a few cute moments together but I wish there were more, and I wished there were more interactions between the side characters and the main character. Overall Loved the spooky art style, I would recommend this for Halloween.

21. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta: I Devoured this book, I couldn’t put this down because I was so invested. The story is about our main character Micheal who throughout the book will grow up and start questioning his sexuality, gender expression, and his relationships. The story is formatted like a poem which I really liked. Seeing Micheal throughout his life from his adolescent years to his adult years, seeing him grow and form meaningful relationships was such a great reading experience. Overall beautifully written story, I hope Micheal and Kieran ended up together.

20. Husband Material by Alexis Hall: This book was great. I loved Boyfriend Material and immediately bought Husband Material once I finished the first book because I needed to know what was next for Luc and Oliver. This book did great continuing the story of all the couples from the first book, and showing that Luc and Oliver were made for each other. I especially liked Luc's shitty ex-boyfriend from college. I really wanted more information about that relationship and seeing Oliver stand up for his parents was so satisfying…but then the ending happened. Honestly I liked the ending, I thought it fit Luc and Oliver who always has an unconventional relationship so them deciding marriage isn’t for them makes sense, I just wasn’t a fan of the execution of them making that decision. Overall much like Sherk 2 perfect squeal.

19. The Princess and the Grilled Sandwich by Deya Muniz: This book is so fucking cute! I loved the characters, I loved the artstyle, I loved the cheese pun, I loved everything! This book is about Lady Camembert and how her before she passed wanted her to marry so she can get her inheritance and rights to her father kingdom, which could only be given to a man and he only had one daughter; she decided to disguise herself as a man and inherent everything but is forced to live a low-profile in order to not lose everything. However she breaks this rule and goes to a ball hosted by Princess Bri, they form a friendship and slowly start falling for each other; the only issue is that Bri believes that Camembert is a man. This story was cute, fun, engaging, and the ending was perfect! Overall I devoured this book like a grilled cheese sandwich.

18. Sorry Bro by Taleen Voskuni: This book was so good! This book is about Nareh who after ending her relationship with her boyfriend who, while wasn’t a bad person just wasn’t for her, decided she wants to explore her options dating with both men and women. During this she meets Erebuni and she becomes her wingwoman and helps her find a new guy or girl. However during this they both start following each other, with Nareh falling hard first. The book was great, it was a bit slow and I personally didn’t find her issues at work a compelling subplot but thought everything else great. I loved Erebuni and thought she was so sweet and understanding and like Nareh and her mom talk after she came out. Overall Sweet and Sapphic

17. I wish you all the best by Mason Deaver: This was the first book I read with a Non-Binary MC. We follow Ben De Backer who on Christmas day decides to come out to their parents as Non-Binary, this however doesn’t go as planned and they end up kicked out of their home on Christmas and have to call their estranged sister Hannah and her husband Thomas who they haven’t met yet. This leads to them having to live with her and start a new school where they meet Nathan Allan and start a friendship. This book made me cry a few times. Ben goes through a lot in a short period of time. Building a relationship with their sister, trying to make new friends, and figure out how they feel about their parents. This book is amazing and Ben and Nathan's relationship is so pure and it’s hard to find sweet innocent romantic connections in books nowadays but Ben and Nathan were so sweet. Overall this book felt like a hug on paper.

16. I’ll Be Home For Christmas by Mason Deaver: We loved a Christmas squeal! This takes place once Ben and Nathan have graduated and Nathan is attending college while Ben is taking time off school and living with roommates. Ben flys to Hannah house for Christmas Eve and plans to bring a surprise for Nathan by bringing his dog back home. Unfortunately their perfect gift plan ended up blowing up in their face when it snowed in and flights started being canceled. This short story is very sweet and does a great job showing us how Nathan and Ben are now. Ben’s determination to bring Nathan his beloved dog was so sweet and the ending was the perfect ending. Overall Ben and Nathan are a couple goals.

15. Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell: I loved space adventures with a hint of romance, it’s one of my favorite combos. This book was written by the same author of Winter Orbit and it takes place in the same universe, however this isn’t a sequel since Kiem and Jainan aren’t mentioned and we have new main characters. In this book we follow Tennal, an absolut flirt who is constantly getting himself in trouble and Surit a Lieutenant who is very by-the-book. After Tennal gets himself in trouble yet again he’s forced to join the military where he meets Surit and they are forced to work together and forced to sync; and syncing is a type of merging of the minds. However Surit doesn’t want to sync because Tennal has made it clear he doesn’t want to be controlled. This leads to them coming up with a plan to get Tennal out of the military while keeping Surit rank. While this is happening they start slowing noticing a power struggle within the military. This book had me on the edge of my seats and I couldn’t stop listening, the romance wasn’t much which is fine because the overall plot was so intriguing it made up for the lack of romance. Overall Space politics are confusing but in a fun way.

14. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall: This is the funniest book I read all year. Hands down. Boyfriend Material is about Luc O’Donnell who is the child of two retired rockstars and because of this he’s constantly in the spotlight and usually for all the wrong reasons. Wanting to clear his image he needs to find a perfect boyfriend, which he does with a successful educated man named Oliver Blackwood. They enter a fake dating situation which benefits them both. Luc and Oliver's relationship moved along so naturally and Luc is so funny. All the side characters were great too and while I knew what the ending was gonna be I was still surprised on how it ended. Overall UK comedy is undefeated.

13. She Gets the Girl by Racheal Lippincott, Alyson Derrick: Sapphic slow-burns are perfect for the summer. In this story we follow Alex Blackwood who has lots of issues both in her family and her dating life and Molly who has a close relationship with her family but never had a real date or relationship. The two are polar opposites but come together to help each other out, Alex helps Molly get with her long time crush Cora Myers and it helps Alex prove to her ex that she’s a better person. Molly and Alex are so cute together, Alex encouraging Molly to come out of her shell was really sweet, and I related to Molly a lot. Overall Sweet, Sapphic, and I want to learn how to roller skate

12. Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli: This book was so cute. In this we follow Imogen Scott who is a huge Ally and very involved in queer media. She visits her best friend Lili who’s thriving in college making new queer friends and everything is great…except Lili told a small lie saying that her and Imogen are ex’s and that Imogen is bi. Not wanting to make her friend seem like a liar she plays along, however while doing that she starts falling for Tessa, who is one of Lili's new friends. Imogen is such a sweetheart and one of my favorite main characters, The cover is also one of my favorites this year. Overall “I’m not homophobic, I’m an Ally”

11. A Mark on My Soul by Jordon Greene: This is the only book I read that didn’t have a happy ending. In this we follow Noah who decides to come out as gay to his friends, family, and publically online. When this happens he gets a message from a “secret admirer” which turns out to be his best friend Parker who’s in the closet. This book ripped my heart in half and ended up sobbing my eyes out. I already knew how Parker's story ended because I accidentally spoiled the ending for myself but despite that I grew so attached to Parker and wanted him to be happy. This book was a hard read for me but I loved it so much. Overall Parker deserves better!

10. The Long Run by James Acker: Ngl I almost DNF this book. I didn’t like the first 3 chapters and since I was listening to this book on audible I also wasn’t a big fan of Sandro’s VA, but chapter 4 is where I truly got invested and I’m so glad I keep reading because I ended up loving this book. In this story we follow Bash and Sandro, who are both finishing their last year of High School and after kissing at a Party they form a friendship. This is a true slowburn because even though they kissed in the beginning they stay mostly platonic and do “dude-bro” stuff. I also love that Bash never makes the fact he’s Bi a big deal, he just accepts that he fell for a guy and doesn’t care. Sandro and Bash are so cute together and I loved them so much. Overall Bash the Flash and the Italian Yeti are my OTP

9. Time Out by Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, Carlyn Greenwald: I found out a lot of people don’t like this book and it honestly breaks my heart. In this we follow Barclay who's basically a sport legend in his school, at least he was until he decided to come out very publicly and the reception wasn’t what he was anticipating, because of this he leaves the Basketball team and help his friend Amy with school related politics where he also meets Christopher and together they help the voiceless have a voice. Barclay and Christopher's relationship is so sweet and wholesome I loved reading about them watching movies and kissing goodnight. I love non-sexual intimacy. Barclay is also great, he’s really kind and understanding given the circumstances of everything that happened to him. Overall everyone on GoodReads is wrong.

8. Snowflake Kisses by Jordon Greenee, Yayira Dzames: Skylar and Jacob are back! In this book we follow Skylar and Jacob who are spending their first Christmas together. Honestly this book is just vibes, no big conflicts, no third act breakup, no Jacbo’s dad, just pure sugary vibes. Seeing Skylar and Jacob have snowfighters, cuddle in the car, and get each other thoughtful gifts, everything was just so nice. Skylar's parents were also great and seeing them treat Jacob like family made my heart skip a beat. Plus I loved art. Yayira Dzames did an amazing job capturing the characters. Overall My favorite Christmas comic.

7. Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake: Small confession, I wasn’t a big fan of Iris in the first two books (Delilah Green Doesn’t Care and Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail). However I ended up liking her a lot at the end of this book. In this we follow Iris who has given up on dating and sticking to casual hook-ups after her two failed relationships. Unfortunately for Iris who’s a romance author she suffered from writer's block and needed to find inspiration. We also follow Stevie, a struggling actress with anxiety issues trying to get her big break while helping her ex keep her community theater studio open. When Stevie finds herself in a web of lies her and Iris start a fake relationship, this helps Stevie prove to her friends that she doesn’t need her feeling protected and helps Iris find inspiration for her needed book; they of course start actually falling for each other. Iris and Stevie have amazing chemistry throughout the book and I loved how patient Iris is with Stevie when it comes to sex and intimacy. The consent checks and making sure they both enjoyed each other was so hot. Stevie such as sweetheart and I related to her when it comes to how she views sex and her anxiety and Iris is great too. Overall Stevie has my whole heart.

6. The Sun and Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure by Rick Riordan, Mark Oshiro: Fun fact I didn’t read any Percy Jackson books before this but I liked this anyways. We follow Nico di Angelo the son of Hades and his boyfriend Will Solace the son of Apollo as they travel through the underworld to find their friend Bob who was left behind in Hades Realm. Despite not reading anything Percy Jackson related I loved his adventure, Nico and Will bounce off each other perfectly and I wish there were more books where the main couple are already together because seeing these boyfriends act like boyfriends made my heart flutter. It was such a fun ride from beginning to end and I enjoyed it so much. Overall I should read Percy Jackson.

5. The First to Die at the End by Adam Slivera: This book destroyed me…so 5 stars. This is a prequel of They Both Die at the End, in this book we follow the first ever Decker and see Death-Cast go live for the first time. In this we follow Orion Pagan who lost his parents young and suffers from a deadly heart condition and while he has big dreams for his future he doesn’t see himself living long enough to achieve those dreams and we also follow Valentino Prince who moves to New York with his twin sister to start his molding career, however that’s cut short when he gets the call at midnight. I cried like 4 times reading this book, it was amazing. All the side characters were great and I love multiple POV’s in books. Overall I need more Death-Cast books.

4. Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake: Jordan Everwood is hands down my favorite character. This is the second book in the Bright Falls series and I couldn’t wait to read this one. We follow Astrid who just ended her engagement and is trying to focus on work, we also follow Jordan who helps her grandmother renovate her inn to avoid having to sell. After a not so great first interaction they find themselves working together to fix the inn for a reality tv show. As they work together they start to get to know each other and open up to each other about their family, relationships, and jobs. I loved Astrid in the first book and was so excited to see her story continue and I loved her and Jordan's connection. Overall “You deserve a destiny Jordan Everwood”.

3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: This book was so good! In this we follow Monique who has just been assigned to write the autobiography about famous Hollywood Icon Evelyn Hugo and her glamorous and scandalous life. Evelyn is probably the most complex character I’ve read this year, out of all the characters she felt the most human, she made mistakes and did things she regretted but also had moments of kindness and had to make really tough choices. I liked Monique however if I had to change anything I wish we focused on her more, but what we have is great. Overall I need this to be a movie.

2. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo: This book has amazing writing, I stayed engaged the whole time and couldn’t stop listening. We follow Lily Hu who is a seventeen year old Chinese American living in ChinaTown. This story takes place in 1954 when the red-scare was a big threat for Chinese Americans. Due to this Lily faces many problems, her father may be deported, her friend group is changing, and she starts developing feelings for other women especially her friend Kath. She and Kath start going to an underground lesbian club called the Telegraph Club. This book was so good, I can barely put it into words. Overall Speechless

1. The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas: I loved this book! I knew this was gonna be number one because this was the only book I’ve ever dreamt about after reading. In this we follow Teo, a seventeen year old trans son of Quetzal who finds himself in a century old battle to the death. Teo has no training and is convinced he will not make it out alive. I adore everything about this book, the comedy, the characters, the world building, and the plot twist left me speechless. I cannot wait for part 2! Overall I already miss Teo, Niya, Sol, and Aurelio.

[crehador]

quickfire thoughts on fall 2023 now that everything i'm watching has had at least three eps out

EXCELLENT

sousou no frieren: still very easily anime of the season, beautiful in visuals and in story. a quiet, subtle look at loss and grief, and life continuing beyond that. the structure is working perfectly imo, it never feels like there are too many or not enough flashbacks, i feel connected at all times to both the present day party and the himmel-era party

migi to dali: still doing an exceptional job of balancing creepy and funny, i said before that the only thing i can think of with a remotely similar vibe is the movie hot fuzz and while i think there's a different flavor of comedy here, i still stand by that (and that's a compliment bc hot fuzz is an excellent movie)

kamonohashi ron no kindan suiri: although i wouldn't say this is mind-blowingly outstanding in any single way, it's very well-done in just about every conceivable way and comes together as an extremely solid series

BORDERLINE EXCELLENT

overtake: after four episodes i'm so tempted to put it with the 'excellent' shows but have to admit it's just not objectively on that level, it is subjectively one of my current favorites of the season though. silly at times, fairly simple story, but really effectively done so far

ADORABLE

s rank musume: feel like this one is largely going to slip through the cracks because it looks like your typical fantasy-action/adventure series, but doesn't stand out in that genre. the cute/soothing family moments are what stand out to me, but understandably that's not what most viewers of the genre are looking for. remains to be seen if a more action-y plot will build up, have doubts about how effective that will be

yuzuki-san chi no yon kyoudai: VERY CUTE with some very real moments and struggles, the cr subs debacle in the first ep however did it no favors

atarashii joushi wa dotennen: VERY CUTE i almost wish they'd cast literally anyone except umechan for shirosaki bc with him the similarities to cool doji danshi are just too much lmao however umechan is in fact perfect for this character so why not let him play it twice i guess

hoshikuzu telepath: moe yuri that isn't afraid to say rocket science is for autistic lesbians, what could be better?

wataoshi: YURI OF THE SEASON SORRY HOSHIKUZU TELEPATH HERE'S SOMETHING THAT COULD BE BETTER i actually would put these two on a similar tier but wataoshi gets the edge for me because rae is so unapologetically, exuberantly gay and that is just so nice to see

SEQUELS

houkago shounen hanako-kun: tragically only four half-length episodes but it's nice to see these kids again, ogata megumi's hanako voice just hits in a way the jjk yuuta voice doesn't, for me, so very glad to hear it again

arknights s2: i'm liking the art even more than i did in s1? not sure if it's actually changed/improved, and imo s1 was already good, but anyway just really enjoying seeing all the faves moving and speaking!

spy x family s2: still cute of course what more can i say

b-project s3: MAN I'M TORN i don't dislike this season (we are getting so many kitakore shots) but i am so stressed out for tsubasa and i just want to see her catch a break! i'm sure the season will end in an uplifting way, but all the stress she's under right now makes me want to punch things

dead mount death play s2: it was good and is somehow still getting better, s2e3 which just came out is one of the best yet imo

GOOD FOR THE ACTION BUT NOT TERRIBLY MUCH ELSE

undead unluck: i kind of... don't like anyone here lmao but the over-the-top, high-octane action is not badly animated, it's just not gripping me on any level beyond that. it does however have the op of the season

ragna crimson: again it's failing to get me really invested in the story/characters but the action is not bad i guess, cast for this one is absurdly stacked so i'm not going anywhere

shangri-la frontier: this one's doing a GREAT job with its pacing and action imo, it's introducing the game mechanics in a way that doesn't feel too fast or too slow. only issue is there really... doesn't seem to be any stakes? like at all? which is not a problem for me personally, it just feels a bit like we're waiting for another shoe to drop

WATCHABLE BUT...

bullbuster: i'm kind of vibing with this after three episodes but i really can't imagine it finding an audience, it's not mech enough to really appeal to mech fans and it's not... typical office drama enough to appeal to typical office fans. it's a strange little combo that just happens to work for me, personally

NOT GOOD BUT I LOVE IT

kawagoe boys sing: this is a ridiculous series, i would say not as wild as number24 but kind of getting there. like number24 but more vanilla, less homoerotic. i loved number24 and I'M LOVING THIS TOO there are some genuinely interesting characters already and though i still currently want to punt kick that teacher into the sun i remain cautiously optimistic that he'll see some character development. at some point. maybe

NOT GOOD. JUST NOT GOOD. SORRY.

bokura no ameiro protocol: really feels like some late-2000s/early-2010s male wish fulfillment dramedy. lots of weird and unnecessary het nonsense going on. honestly would consider dropping if it were 24 episodes but since it's only 12 i guess i'll stick it out. for kimuryo. who is unfortunately playing such a rancid character

[mini-and-mighty]

🎁💕🦋📚🔮🎨 for the writer ask game

Bailey! You're always so sweet, seriously makes me smile every time I see one of your messages.

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

So this is actually from my 2023 NaNoWriMo project; our protag Hadley has accidentally summoned a demon and decides to introduce it to her best friend, Beth.

Hadley rubbed the back of her neck anxiously. “No, but it’s…” She wracked her brain for something to say but there was no way to explain it without sounding like a crazy person. “Just, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

“Alright then. You can show her.”

“Show me– achk!” The choked off shriek that came from Beth was about what Hadley expected, although she was grateful that the girl hadn’t screamed outright.

She turned back to her roommate and held up both hands in a placating gesture. “Okay, okay, so I can sort of explain but the most important thing is that it’s not going to hurt us.” 

“Probably not.” Avorsael said. 

“Oh how is that helpful?” she demanded, watching the panic and mixed emotions play out across Beth’s face. 

“Who said I was trying to be helpful?”  

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Omg this one is basically impossible. I think my favorite would have to be 'Gentle Repose', since that one started out as a very short scene idea and turned out into a really sweet, fully formed fic. But it's hard to pick one favorite, even the cringey ones I posted at 12 y/o have a special place in my heart.

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

Really Bailey? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count. 😂

Of course it's Ahsoka Tano.  I've always said that I basically grew up alongside the character, but looking back at my writing, I can see that the version of her in my fics "grew up" too. I'm able to convey a lot more nuance and depth of detail (I think) that was really challenging as a young writer. 

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

Gods, there are so many amazing writers out there and I am continually blown away by the talent and passion, people writing entire novels simply because they love it.

Limiting myself to just five, as hard as that is: @dells-bells , @anxiety-banana , @lynnpaper , @webtrinsic1122 and @jedimasterbailey

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

Write badly. Be self indulgent, be cliche, dig out your OCs from middle school that were really just thinly veiled self-inserts. Write absolute utter nonsense and then rewrite. Writing is just dragging the ideas out of your head kicking and screaming, rewriting is where the real magic happens to turn them into a story.

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Well if someone made fanart of any of the fics I've written for my D&D character, Maggie Marigold, I'd probably lose my mind and frame the damn thing.

I would love to see anything from 'The Forging' or specifically the scene of Ahsoka and Barriss sharing a cot in 'That joins the Sky and Earth' because I put as much sapphic energy into that as humanely possible.

.

Ask me anything or reblog the original game so I can ask you questions too!

[authorangelita]

2023 FanFic WrapUp

Thanks for the tag @loves-2-read ! I'm so glad you're here to be a part of the Mac community!

1.How many stories did you post?

I posted 17 stories, some chapters of the Rewatch Missing Scenes series, and 1 meta post about Mac's Army uniform.  There was a total of 32,563 words!

2. Which ones were your favorites?

That's tough because I liked all of them for different reasons, and it's hard to choose favorites.  Observations was a really interesting and difficult one to write, and I'm so proud of how it turned out.  It's the one from James' POV where Mac is shot and turns to Jack for comfort.  Fubar is one that I really like how it turned out.  I had the idea of Jack watching Mac bleeding out but not being able to get to him, and it took a little while to figure out what that situation would look like.

No Better Company than Family is also a favorite.  I don't write Bozer that much, but I felt like I really got into his head for this one.  Plus it was about the team rallying around Bozer in one of his most vulnerable moments (the anniversary of his brother's death), and I cannot get enough of that. 

3. Which one was the most satisfying to write?

I wrote a lot of outsider POV fics in 2023, and I think the most satisfying was Charlie Foxtrot.  I introduced a new OC (Viv) to be the main character, which can go a number of bad ways, but I felt like she really worked and had a great POV of Mac and Jack's relationship, especially when Mac was badly injured.

4. The most difficult?

Aside from Observations, Hangin' Tough was hard because Mac was hanging upside down in a parachute tangle.  I wanted it to be realistic, so I spent a lot of time picturing how Mac was hanging and then figuring out how best to describe it.  It was a mess in my brain, but I finally got it written out. 

5. Rec something that you're proud of.

Caretaker + Ginger Ale + Sleep was another difficult one to write because it's from Diane's POV, and we just didn't get enough time with her on-screen to build a full character in my head.  However, I love the Foster Mac verse, and I thought this story worked well with Diane struggling to take care of a sick Mac.

6. Wow us with whatever big thing you might want to work on next!

Oooh! I have so many WIPs - Let's see.  I have the sequel to Out is Through that must be completed this year; it's been a long time coming.  There's also another story in that verse that will take place before Out is Through, but I don't want to give anything away about it except that it will be about grief.

In the Foster Mac verse, I have a fic where Mac moves in with Jack, Diane, and Riley.  And, of course, gets up to shenanigans with Bozer and Riley.

The next fic that will be posted will probably be the one where Jack is in the war room listening over comms when Mac takes a bad fall.  I really wanted to explore the idea of Jack hearing something happening but not being there to actually stop it or help. 

I've lost track of who has played, so if you want to play, please consider this your tag to do so!

[clarktooncrossing]

Giraffe's Eye View: Christmas Specials Special (2023) | Care Bears Nutcracker

Chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. Mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again. All the dogs in the neighborhood somehow learned to bark Jingle Bells in sync. Yet retail workers are still more annoyed with Mariah Carey. Snow is getting shoveled, tossed, and formed into sentient beings leading parades without permits. It makes for an excellent distraction as the Krampus abducts children for bad behavior. Fruitcake is exchanged only to find its permanent home in the garbage. Terrorists have hijacked the Holiday office party right before your boss can give you a Jelly of the Month Club membership as your bonus. And of course, the Turducken has returned to wreak its fiery vengeance upon an unsuspecting world! If all this doesn’t put you in the Christmas spirit, perhaps these following Holiday specials will!

Greetings people of today and robots of tomorrow! It is I, Santa Clark, your geeky giraffe friend with a deep love of Christmas! My obsession for the yuletide is rivaled only by Maleficent’s hatred for it, which is saying a lot considering she once teamed up with Mad Madam Mim to kidnap the literal Spirit of Christmas. Yes, that really happened. I know this due to my annual pilgrimage to the Island of Misfit Specials, home to obscure or nerdy festive media ranging from movies, TV episodes, and comics. It’s no easy journey. Constantly I find myself confronted by sinister snowmen, genocidal gingerbread men, and worst of all, crappy commercials. Getting stabbed in the foot by a candy-cane wielding cookie is one thing, but I swear I’ve seen that ad for Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium more times than I’ve seen Miracle on 34th Street! Sometimes at night I catch myself reciting that jingle. Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium: Where Christmas meets Convenience! Huh, maybe Maleficent had a point.

Nah, my deep-rooted appreciation for this time of year can weather even the most moronic marketing! It helps that most of the merry media I’ve seen have put me in the perfect Holiday mood! Examples include the time a Ninja Turtle found himself trapped in a truck full of stollen toys, a drunk department store Santa stumbling onto a wish-granting magic bag, Big Bird nearly becoming a popsicle, Gwenpool waking up in a world where Galactus took the place of jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas, a terrifying tree stump trying to slaughter some saps over a stupid ship war, and the year when Death gave the Little Match Girl the greatest gift of all. Needless to say, I thought I had seen it all. That is, until I took my friends on a trip to the Island, tasking them to find me new, strange, seasonal specials to review! Some of them were fair, finding me festive favorites as comforting as coco in front of the fireplace. Others were fiendish, wanting to feed off my misery like Gremlins after midnight. Regardless of how naughty or nice my companions were, I’ve compiled all of their suggestions into a makeshift advent calendar! So stay tuned everyday until Christmas to see how badly my buddies can shred what little sanity I have left.

On the second day of Christmas, my buddies gave to me...

For the record, it says something when nobody's even made a GIF for what I'm about to review.

Malicious as Molly was, she may have set the bar too high with Barbie. For along comes the fairy Claire (YourClairyGodmother), set on proving that the ‘all Canadians are friendly’ claim is a myth. Having recently reviewed a slew of their work herself, she saw fit to share her suffering with me by burdening me with a Care Bears Christmas caper of my choice. Oh how nice, my executioner allowed me to pick how I get to die! Mirroring Grumpy Bear’s dour attitude, I scoured the Care Bears Wiki to make my selection, all the while wondering how this franchise is still alive after all this time. Starting out in 1981 as greeting card characters, these bears became a beloved series of plush toys parents killed each other over at Black Friday’s. Not gonna lie, having Sinbad and Arnie fight over Funshine Bear would’ve made Jingle all the Way that much funnier. It’d certainly be more entertaining then what I ended up picking, that being Care Bears Nutcracker Suite. Dear Santa, I don’t remember asking for endless torment. At this rate getting my nuts cracked probably wouldn’t be as excruciating. Still, perhaps I’m being pessimistic. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and jump right in! After all, these bears beat out Black Cauldron at the box office. Surely they have something special to offer here.

Like terrible child voice actors. We’ve got those in spades here! Okay, I know it’s not nice to call out kids who are only here because of parental peer pressure, but A Charlie Brown Christmas set the bar so high two decades prior! Though to be fair, maybe this is like Hayden Christensen regaling Padme about sand. You can only do so much when the script serves you verbal fruitcake on a platter. Such as when one of the kids, tricked into portraying the Rat King in an elementary production of the ballet by his sister, rightfully laments how lame the show is. Seeing one of her students complaining, our blonde ballet instructor halts class in order to tell a self-insert fanfiction where she herself is Clara. Whoa, deja vuh.

For all of you fearful that this is going to get repetitive, put your worries at ease. The writers made no effort to make the narrative comprehensive here. Instead of a mysterious family member, our Young Clara stand-in Anna (Tara Strong) is visited by Funshine Bear (Susan Roman) and Grumpy (Bob Dermer). Right as they tumble down the chimney ready to help this privileged dork with whatever first world problem she has, a dimensional rift abruptly appears in her room, dropping out the titular Nutcracker (Michael Beattie) and an army of rats. Sadly this time they’re not led by Tim Curry and they’re even less intimidating than before. Whereas previously they at least had swords, now they rush forward into battle with nothing but the clothes on their back. As if that wasn’t idiotic enough, they’re easily frightened off by the two bears and Anna’s younger brother Peter (Stuart Stone) in a trench coat. Wow, I was wondering how they’d top the Mouse King getting taken out by a shrunken woman’s flimsy footwear. You fail at failing to disappoint, Care Bears. Good to know I don’t need to take any of the villains seriously. By chance is it too late to bring back that creepy book lady from the movie? She’d be a better foe than the Vizier (Don Francks), a Jafar wannabe decked out in purple that commands the cowardly vermin. He’s after the Nutcracker so he can, you guessed it, take over the world and ruin Christmas. How he’d ruin Christmas is never explained, though I doubt whatever logic they presented would’ve made sense anyway.

Regardless of the reason, our heroes elect to help Nutcracker in his quest to stop the Vizier, enlisting some Care Bears Cousins to help. Though really I assume it’s to expose kids to more toys they can buy, since Funshine and Grumpy managed to make an entire armada run away in fear. Why else bring in Brave Heart Lion (Dan Hennessey) or Lotsa Heart Elephant (Luba Goy) if not for promotional purposes? Remember kiddies, pester your parents into buying these new friends or else you’ll be a sad loser! Together with Baby Tugs (Melleny Brown) and Hugs (Tracey Moore), they leap into the dimensional portal to restore order to Toyland. Along the way they encounter a bunch of cranky citizens blaming the Vizier’s rise to power on a prince named Alan. Whoa, deja vuh times two. Before anybody asks, yes, once again the Nutcracker is clearly the missing monarch. The rest of our heroes only find out after battling more rodents on a runaway train, meeting a magical fairy that’s as useless as the owl, and getting turned into wood by the Vizier. Our story ends with the titular toy’s humanity easily being restored, the villains being beheaded for war crimes, and the ballet class from earlier never really putting on their pageant as their teacher Anna walks off with her boi toi. Whoa, deja vuh times three. All while the Care Bears watch on from the raptors, waiting to pick the kids off one by one for sport.

Do I even have to say it? Honestly, what point is there in me picking out the flaws? It’d be like stating how pretty Christmas lights are, there’s no purpose in proclaiming something so patent. For the sake of keeping you all from searching up this sugary-coated crap though, I’ll list off my reasons. The pacing was painfully slow, making this extended episode feel like the director’s cut of a Peter Jackson movie. Replacing the charismatic, complex characters of those works are cardboard cutouts who are criminally one-dimensional. Even Grumpy, who I maintain is the best character in this series, feels so one-note. Worst of all is the animation. Much as I dogged out Barbie Nutcracker, I can applaud the ambition on display. Somebody clearly put some effort into the final product. At no time did I feel the same could be said for this. This was some paycheck for an animator who clearly wanted nothing to do with these blasted bears. And if all the behind the scenes stories Claire told me are any indication, I might not be too far off. Needless to say, I did not care for this special. I also didn’t care for you suggesting it to me, Claire! So when Seerius dumps something rotten into your stocking, just know that’s from me! For now though, I need a better Holiday special featuring a character voiced by Tara Strong. 

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[vitos-ordination-song]

Thoughts on every translated Shuzu Oshimi work:

Avant-Garde Yumeko (2003) – Great despite being short! A girl becomes obsessed with dicks and wants to see one so badly it takes her life in unexpected directions. An early example of Oshimi’s interest in sexually forward girls. Makes a link between sexuality and art in a unique way.

Sweet Poolside (2004) – Silly story about a boy who’s embarrassed that he has no body hair and a girl embarrassed that she has too much body hair. Oshimi has clearly always been interested in gender anxieties and fluidity. The manga’s ending is great.

Devil Ecstasy (2005-2006) – I adored this one. It is probably the most light-hearted thing Oshimi’s written but it’s up there with my favorites. Trashy in all the right ways, cutesy yet campy; it’s got absurdist horror, ridiculous sexuality and gender themes, and cute couples. I was obsessed with the emo rock boy and his alt gf.

Yūtai Nova (2007–2008) – Similar to other Oshimi works; the first time he uses “self dissolution” and gender bending as themes. Not that good but might have been better if it hadn’t gotten discontinued.

Drifting Net Café (2008–2011) – To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of this one. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve seen this premise and theme done better elsewhere. This and the previous work are the only manga by Oshimi to feature sexual violence by men against women—from this point on, it’s always the other way around.

The Flowers of Evil (2009–2014) – I know this is one of Oshimi’s most famous and beloved works, but it’s not my favorite. I found it more intellectually stimulating than emotionally involving, I guess. But the story surprised me, which I can’t say for everything, and I really liked the ending. Also this was my first of Oshimi’s manga, and I immediately nailed him as someone fascinated with sexual domination/submission.

Shino Can't Say Her Name (2011–2012) – Short and sweet. The only Oshimi work that seems to have no hint of sexuality. It’s a story about a girl with a horrible stutter who ends up making friends and forming a band. Heartwarming stuff.

Inside Mari (2012–2016) – One of his best. Psychologically rich with compelling characters. The story is engaging and constantly throwing the reader curve balls. So much could be said about its themes of gender, sexuality, and identity, especially in context of Oshimi’s entire body of work.

Happiness (2015–2019) – I liked this one but I doubt I’ll ever reread it. Oshimi is great at making lovable characters in a short span of time, so I was definitely invested in the story, but it wasn’t that interesting to me ultimately. It was a fairly straightforward vampire horror. I do like that it pulled “humans are the real monsters,” and some of the scenes with the cult towards the end were truly harrowing—my morbid ass loves shit like that.

Waltz (2017) – A one-shot about a girl who meets a boy(?) who likes to dress up as a girl. I liked the ending. Not a lot to say given how short it is.

Trail of Blood (2017–2023) – The most important of Oshimi’s works to me. I can’t really talk about it but I think it’s a work of art that will continue to influence my life for years to come.

Miss Kusakabe (2020) – One-shot about a man in a shitty relationship with a domineering woman (surprise surprise). Didn’t get a lot out of it.

Lily (2021) – ANOTHER one-shot about a man getting dominated by a woman. Something you’d like to tell us, Oshimi?

Welcome Back, Alice (2020–2023) – I really liked this one. The characters ended up growing on me a lot, and I loved the themes—let’s all just quit with this gender bullshit. It’s funny that the plot is quite literally “non-binary kid enters a high school and transes all his classmates.” Maybe the trans conspiracists were on to something after all! But for real, the final chapters were beautiful and meaningful; essentially the story was about trying to envision a world where sex and gender don’t imprison us. I really admire Oshimi for being so open about his own feelings and experiences on these issues. He’s doing important work to dissolve the invisible divides people create, and I feel a kinship to him. Perhaps because I also have a weird BDSM fixation.

[gabriellaraelyn]

My Original Character 'Nephele' and Her Narrative in My Music

Since beginning my 'Nephele' project earlier this year, I've taken it upon myself as an artist to not only release sonically unique music, but a meaningful, complex story to go along with it. This post will be a deep dive into my thought process while creating the storyline.

Who is 'Nephele'?

Art depicting Greek Goddess 'Nephele' by Francie Klopotic

Nephele is a Greek cloud nymph that among other things, represents duality as well as the dark, mistrustful side of men. She was originally created by Zeus in the image of his wife, Hera, as a test for Ixion, who lusted after Hera. Later on, she was abandoned by her husband for another woman.

She was a woman created by and disposed of by men.

As such, I decided to name my character after her. My Nephele represents the dichotomy between escapism vs. reality in a young woman’s mind, brought on by society’s failure to her and the crushing hardships brought on by living under the patriarchy.

She is a 21 year old stripper and her story takes place around 1987.

She was a rebellious, troubled teenager.

She is running from her feeling of constant misplacement, struggling with the power dynamics between herself and men around her.

She is critical of the imperfect world, and as such, wields a very artistic mind.

She dreams up stories impossible to come true. Stories where she feels loved above all else, stories where she’s the heroin and the world rearranges itself to suit her needs and desires. It’s medicine to her, to numb the pain of reality. 

She struggles with self-worth and self-criticism, social anxiety and depression.

Her ultimate goal is to become a star, a famous singer.

Key Inspirations for the Nephele Project

Nephele is a hopeless romantic at heart, but rather than an easy, happy love story, the ones that grip her are the tragic, heart-wrenching ones instead.

Dance of the Damned (1989) is a movie about a rather existential conversation that takes place between a suicidal stripper and an immortal vampire who wants her as his next meal. Through this movie, I was inspired by the themes of power dynamics and the idea that

Romeo and Juliet (1968) is one of my absolute favorite movies. The idea for inspiration here is that Nephele uses this movie as a basis for all of the daydreams she has about love--they are sad, dramatic, and full of passion that defies fate. Such a love is what she craves; to be wanted so badly that destiny itself is ignored in pursuit of her.

The Phantom of the Opera (2004) is another one of my all-time favorites. The inspiration taken from this movie has to do partly in the actual sound of my music as well as the characterization of Nephele's antagonist. Sonically, I really liked the dramatic string bass, the synths, and the organ used in the score for the movie, so I incorporate those elements into the songs for this project. The Phantom himself influneced the character design I created for Nephele's antagonist, a masked man named 'the Music Man', whom I will talk about in another post.

Sound Design of 'NEPHELE: Act I'

'NEPHELE: Act I' is the name of the first album in my Nephele project, which will be coming out on October 13th (a Friday for the extra spooky vibes), 2023.

I have always loved 80s music, and so that was the very foundation for the sound on this album.

In terms of specific musical inspirations, I have a mix of modern & 80s artists such as: a-ha, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Modern Talking, Lana Del Rey, The Neighbourhood, MARINA, and Billie Eilish to name a few.

Artists like The Cure and a-ha have influenced me the most in terms of sound, while Lana Del Rey (I grew up on 2013-2016 Tumblr, so of course she raised me) has inspired the way I write lyrics.

The genres that this project falls under are Synthpop, New Romantic, New Wave, Alt-Pop, Dream Pop, and Darkwave predominantly

You can see these inspirations amalgamate yourself in some of the songs I have pre-released for this album here:

'DANCE of the DAMNED' is my most recent release, and it's the fifth full song off of the upcoming 'NEPHELE: Act I' album.

I'll explain in a future post what this song in particular is about!

My Hopes for Nephele

As an artist, part of the thrill is putting your work out there for everyone to perceive. It's a scary thing to do, because your creation isn't just your own as soon as it's out in the world, and it isn't up to you how others receive it. While this admittedly intimidates me, I also find it cool. You can relate to my music and art in ways that I didn't necessarily intend, but that fit you better.

With that being said, my intentions for Nephele are that she represents a desire for something more, something better, the deep-seeded need to be loved, and the sensation of missing something unidentifiable inside. 

She is a comfort character and a voice for any woman who feels incomplete, who is dissatisfied with life and who dreams of being more and being strong, who feels the weight of the world on her shoulders and want to make it a better place but feels powerless to do so. 

She is a representation of the journey of self-discovery and a journey of self-mastery.

She creates a space for maladaptive, daydreaming women

She opens the conversation for why we feel the need to self-soothe through fantastical creations of art and stories.

She is a voice for the quiet girl/woman with an overactive-imagination.

If you made it to the end of this post, I thank you sincerely for caring enough to read through it all! I hope it resonated with you in some way, and that if you do decide to check my music out, it does the same!

Keep in touch with me on other platforms:

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

Facebook

Website

(Oh, and p.s., I do have a new song coming out on September 15th called 'the MUSIC MAN', if you would like to pre-save it! Post to come elaborating on the track :) )

[millylouedward]

The Very Worst Books of 2023

I've shared with the world my favorite books from this year, so it only feels fair for me to release my diss track and spit all over some of the worst literature my eyes have ever seen.

When you read more than 50 books in a single year, there are bound to be some baddies. And I don't mean the kind that slay. I'm talking about the kind you want to drop kick into a dumpster fire where it belongs.

Let's discuss my criteria for the title of Worst Book. I'm not one to shame a book without valid reason. I don't think that's fair to the author.

The prose is flat, one dimensional, or uncreative

The plot lacks good foundation, structure, or has unignorable holes

My suspension of disbelief was not held

I found myself disliking the author's portrayal and direction of the characters which went beyond them being unlikable or unreliable

Generally speaking, I'm a nice person. I like to praise writers for accomplishing something so huge rather than rip them apart because I didn't like their book. Frankly, it was kind of hard to pick 5 of the worst books I read simply because I don't dislike books that often. But alas, here I have the chosen ones.

5. School Spirits - Rachel Hawkins

I went on a Rachel Hawkins binge this year. I read her Hex Hall series in an effort to heal my inner child. I could distinctly recall being 12 years old and begging my mom to buy me the first Hex Hall book at Books A Million. I'd seen it on the back of a J-14 magazine and I just had to have it. But she said no. And for over 10 years, I wondered what I had missed out on.

As it turns out, not much. The story is mid. It's just another Harry Potter rip off that lacks creativity. I still had a good time reading it, but it had a lot of problems. And somehow, at the end of the series, I just couldn't let it go. Don't look at me like that, YA witch school stories are fun! So I moved on to School Spirits.

This book had Issues. First of all, it's a spinoff of the original Hex Hall books and the series got killed before Hawkins could finish it. So it ends with two major plot points completely unresolved. Along with that, there were many smaller plot holes and simple continuity errors which made me think this book as hastily thrown together after the success of the original books.

However, if I'd been 14 years old and reading this book, I probably would've ate it up and left no crumbs. It's funny at times and has a good story. The characters are likable and true to their nature. Unfortunately, it's just the unresolved ending that pushed this one to the bottom of the barrel for me.

4. The Half of It - Madison Beer

I know what you're thinking. Milly, you must be so evil to rate someone's life story so poorly. But that's just it. This ISN'T a life story. It's not a memoir in the slightest.

Most of the chapters go like this: Beer tells us something happened. She only half describes something and doesn't show us anything. Then she gets into her feelings about it for the rest of the chapter. Then the next chapter would be an "Ask Amy" style section where she offers advice to her reader. Then the next is a journal prompt for the reader. Girlypop, I'm sorry but that is not what a memoir is. The whole time I was reading this book I kept wanting so badly for her to give me something, ANYTHING. It wasn't until the very last chapter when she finally showed the reader a scene that was super well described and I realized this is what I've been wanting from her the whole time.

This "memoir" was written exclusively for her superfans who know everything about her life and just want more of her heart. That's fine. But for the casual memoir reader, this was not a good book. Miss Beer could've put all of this on a Tumblr blog and it would've sufficed.

For a young reader though, I could see some parts of this book being beneficial. She poses a lot of thought-provoking questions. She went through something really challenging that some girls would want to end their lives over, and I think her sharing how she handled it and felt about it is really powerful.

3. Magpie - Elizabeth Day

(spoilers ahead)

How would you feel if you read a book, and then half way through it you had to read it again but from a different perspective? Well, that's what Magpie is. In this book, you're following a woman (Marisa) who is pregnant and living with her husband when they invite another woman (Kate) to live in their house and pay them rent to help with pregnancy/baby costs.

Except half way through, we find out the narrator is unreliable. And then we go back in time and see everything that happened from the beginning up to the point when we learn about the unreliability from the perspective of Kate. And even then, we still don't know how the story is going to end or who the real villain is.

It really felt to me as if the author had had one idea, got half way through, and then thought, "what if I do something else instead?" and then created Magpie. I honestly would have been totally okay with an unreliable narrator if I hadn't had to see everything happen again from Kate's perspective. The story would have been a much better read to me had we not gone the route of Marisa being the crazy one and sent the plot in a different direction.

2. Girlfriend on Mars - Deborah Willis

We have taken the space shuttle past a number of dying stars, and here we arrive at the black hole.

Girlfriend on Mars was nothing like I thought it would be. I was expecting a fun, goofy reality show up on Mars. Sounds like a good enough time for me. But this book was in the same vein as My Year of Rest and Relaxation. It's about two mentally unstable people who need to go to therapy and maybe move somewhere with more sun.

Aside from the characters giving me absolutely no reason to root for them, the writing is downright atrocious. There were so many grammatical errors in the ebook version that I wanted to barf. Quotation marks are stylized differently from chapter to chapter and I couldn't find any reason for them being so. So many pop culture references are made, and I think putting pop culture in a work of literature is vile. It ages a book faster than parmigiano reggiano.

There is also a major plot hole at the end that I could not forgive.

But, I did like "Season 2" despite it only being the last 20% of the book. I liked how real shit got when the two contestants made it to Mars. I thought this was the best part of the book. It was poignant and it stuck with me. I finally felt like all that reading wasn't for nothing.

1. Ugly Love - Colleen Hoover

(spoilers ahead)

A lot of people will hate me for this but this was one of the worst books I ever read period. Like, everything that could go wrong went wrong for me.

Let me just do a bullet point list.

The writing of the characters is weak and unrealistic. No one really develops as a character and their stage direction is confusing at times. Dillon was unnecessary and so was Cap.

The male stereotypes made me cringe so hard. Colleen makes it seem like men only want sex, men feel no physical pain, men have to keep their emotions bottled up.

There was mild homophobia in Corbin repeatedly being like "Are you gay? No? I wish you were gay."

Miles' poetry-esque chapters also made me cringe and came across as creepy and weird

He did WHAT with his teen stepsister in the shower???

Tate is not a character I can root for. She has no self respect, no drive, no personality, no growth. She's immature and lets people walk all over her. She lies about what she wants and cannot be honest with herself. She needs THERAPY. Nothing about her made me like her or want to see her happy.

The biggest sin here is that Colleen chose the wrong people to write the story about. I did not care about Tate one bit, but I did think there was huge potential in the story of Miles and Rachel. If I'd seen this story in a writing workshop, I would've told her to toss Tate and keep writing their story instead. Had we been able to get into Rachel's head, witness her pain at the death of her newborn, and see her and Miles find love again after being apart and maybe even having another baby together (and NOT being step siblings, bc ew) would've been an infinitely better love story.

I almost, and I mean almost put Girlfriend on Mars as my worst book of 2023. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was absolutely nothing I liked about Ugly Love. Even the ending, which was somewhat romantic, stung for me because I didn't think these people belonged together. They're the kind of couple that will break up during a spat and then get back together 2 days later like nothing happened.

I will be giving Colleen Hoover a chance at redemption when I read Verity in 2024. Who knows, maybe she'll top the list of my Worst Books two years in a row.

[willorcs]

I’m not planning on watching westworld, and I’m kinda curious and don’t mind spoilers. If you’re not busy would you mind giving me the low soak on the timelines and the William situation

This is going to be complicated because Westworld is a very very very complex show, and it’s very hard to explain the whole timeline and the William situation in just a few lines but I’ll try to do my best!

Since you seem to be interested in William, I will only focus on him. This show has many other characters and each character has their timeline and storyline so it would take a long time to explain the entire show to a person who has never watched it, so I will only focus on William.

Westworld takes place over the course of at least 37 or so years. We don’t know exactly in which year exactly takes place but we suppose that’s 2052 or so. That’s the “present” Westworld timeline but in the show, the timeline is always pretty unclear. When you start season 1, you don’t know exactly in which year you are in until the end of the season. Of course, you deduce that some parts can be the present, the past,  the future…but when you realize that the young William you’ve seen the whole season is actually the Man In Black in the future, is when you have to rethink the whole season 1.

Westworld takes place in several timelines:

2015-2018: When the engineers create the hosts (the “robots”).

2018-2022: When Westworld (the park) is opened.

2023: When the first “guests” (the humans) visit Westworld. A young William (Jimmi Simpson) and his friend Logan visit the park. William and Dolores fall in love, but at some point, Dolores runs away because Logan is an asshole and he starts to torture her. William tries to find her, and during that time is when William starts to become in the evil “Man in Black” we will see in the future. William finally finds her, but Dolores can’t remember him because the hosts live in a constant loop (when these “die”, the engineers reboot and “update” them so their storylines start again and again). 

2023-2030 or so: During that time William usurps Delos (the company who invests in Westworld. Logan is the son of James Delos, the CEO of Delos.) Logan and his father die, William marries Logan’s sister, Juliet and they have a daughter Emily. During that time William visits the park, again and again, to meet Dolores because he’s still in love with her, but at some point, he gives up on her and he tells her: “You’re really just a thing. I can’t believe I fell in love with you”

2051-2052 or so: The “present” timeline, when you see the older!William (the Man in Black (Ed Harris)) . He constantly torments Dolores but she confronts him (without she knowing that this man is William). She tells him that William will come back for her. This is when the viewers realize that this man and William are the same This is a heartbreaking moment for Dolores, but also it’s when her “awakening” takes place. During the whole season 1, we see a kind of “metaphor” called The Maze. The  Maze is not exactly a thing, but a kind of “path” to be self-conscious, but this is only for the hosts. Her awakening is through the pain (her name means “sorrows” in Spanish) so that’s pretty accurate.  Dolores starts to become a murderer that is searching for vengeance and killing any guest/human. During season 2, the hosts and even the guests are searching for a place called “The Valley Beyond”/The Forge”. The Valley Beyond is like a virtual Eden, and The Forge is more like a kind of “server” where the guests’ files and memories are “stored”. In the season finale, Dolores finds William and they ride to The Forge. Dolores shoots him and we don’t know what happens to him until the post-credit scene. Also during this timeline, William tells Julia (her wife) that he belongs to another (Dolores) and that Westworld was his real world. Julia committes suicide.

A distance future (probably 30 years) so 2072?: This is basically the post-credit of season 2. A very injured William entered into The Forge. We see that place in ruins. Suddenly his “daughter”, Emily (whom William killed in season 2 because he thought she was Ford ((Anthony Hopkins), the engineer who created Westworld. Ford is constantly “punishing” William and talking to him through other guests) greets him calling him William, not dad. This Emily is not his daughter, but a kind of A.I, a system of The Forge. Also, you realized this takes place in a very distant future, and that William is not the real William, but a copy and that he has been there in a loop for a long long time. This part is still very confusing, so I guess we will have to wait for season 3 to know what the fuck is going on LOL!

This is a very badly-written sum up of William. Like I said, Westworld is very hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t watched it, so I tried to do my best. William is a very complex character and most people don’t like him but I do love him. Also, I love this hate-love relation with Dolores. They both hate each other and they want revenge, but also they still love each other. Like William said: “I belong to another. I always have”. He’s referring to Dolores because he has always been in love with her, and that also was one of the reasons why Julia committed suicide. Julia knows since the beginning that William was in love with a host. Dolores hates him because he broke her “heart” but in the deepest of her, she will always love him. “Because that which is real is irreplaceable”. Dolores says this referring to the real world, but also to William because William love was real and not programmed or anything. She has very contradictory feelings because she hates him, but at the same time she obviously misses him and she needs him. So that’s why their story is so complex and dramatic. William and Dolores belong together because that’s their destiny. We don’t know what exactly will happen in season 3 (we’ll have to wait 2 years or so *sighs*) but I want to believe that a host of young William will confront the Man In Black or something like that, but this is only speculations.

I know you’re not planning on watching Westworld and I spoiled you a lot of things LOL…but still, I highly to recommend you to watch it!. This is my favorite show and I love everything about it. 

This was longer than I expected but it was really fun to write because I love talking about this show, so  I hope this is okay!