#I’d post specific lyrics with caps but it would just be like the whole song

[szfiction]

Rose-Colored Boy by Paramore is the Lawlu song of all time.

[someone-always-cares]

[image description: a q&a for the webcomic someone always cares. full desc under the cut because its long and wordy sorry]

post chapter 3 Q&A

first - previous - next

thanks for yalls questions!! it was fun to answer! if anyone still has questions feel free to ask whenever i am always 100% down to ramble. even if i did go slightly off topic in some answers

additional: went off topic with the hair question a bit. their bright hair is all part of the transformations. regular hair dye does exist though. best way to tell is that if the eyebrow matches the hair its probably not dyed. also, quartz’s hair is naturally ginger.

also for more on ages, check out the character bios here

also was gonna keep this in the tags but thought i might as well actually try to answer it: the question i found it hardest to answer was someone the song one. my taste in music is. a mess really. ive been listening to like the same 5 songs on repeat all day. more under the cut because i was rambling again and now its uhhh half 1am

if it helps at the time of answering that specific question i had home by cavetown on repeat, and that song reminds me of both rami and lewis. but that may be because i project onto those two a lot, and as a aro trans dude. who sucks with people skills, yeah of course i love that song.

specifically the vibes of like not knowing how to communicate (rami is fine with his friends but other people are different), the lines “ Turn off your porcelain face, I can't really think right now and this place, Has too many colors, enough to drive all of us insane” idk what the porcelain face line is supposed to mean but im picturing it as like. a mask. that you need to take off and stop hiding and rami does tend to hide when hes feeling upset, and the next two lines kinda could tie into that, like the feeling of when youre overwhelemed and just want the world to stop so you just hide somewhere. also the colours could go with chapter 3 with the chromatic abberation.

also the bit with “ my eyes went dark, I don't know where, my pupils are, But I'll figure out a way to get us out of here” just kinda sums up ramis whole hero thing with his powers and all. anyway this has turned into less what songs rami would like and why this particular song reminds me of him and lewis (lewis specifically has the hair cutting/chest hiding, [big transmasc mood], and also messy haired trainwreck who doesnt know who he is yet. also the ghosts bit)

i did end up picking upbeat songs because ramis a dude who like to try and be upbeat even if things arent. even if hes not really feeling it he will pretend to.

[full description: Anonymous said to someone-always-cares: “hi ily!!! do characters like quartz who have colored hair have that naturally or did they dye it?”

“its both natural and not! while most supers can do a magical girl ish transformation, including a change in hair colour, there are some exceptions.”

theres two small full body drawings of rami, one in civilian clothes, one fully transformed.

“if a superhero were to have a biological child, the child will inherit the powers of the parent(s). however, the child will not inherit the full transfromation. they do inherit any physical transformations, but not the outfit.”

theres a drawing of a woman in blue, quartz’s mother, fully transformed, holding her mask in her hand, smiling down at a much younger quartz as a child. hes smiling back up at her with the same blue eyes, pointy ears, and blue hair, but hes still in normal clothes.

“in the case of quartz, both of hisparents had superpowers, and he inherited those powers and the physical transformations.he can also pick and mix whatphysical traits to change.“

next is a headshot of adult quartz, his face split down the middle with one side having hair and eye like his mother, the other like his father. theres a list of traits from each parents, blue hair and eyes and pointy ears from his mum, and purple hair and eyes and pointy teeth from their dad.

 “Anonymous said to someone-always-cares:  Are all the characters the same age? If not, how old are they? Are they irl friends or just superhero friends?”

theres some headshots of rami and his team lined up with ages labelled: cam is 15, rami himself is 17, lin, mateo, and dante, are all 18, and cap is 20.

“rami and xandra were somewhat friends before she got superpowers, so when, after the incident with her old team, she found rami had developed powers, xandra stuck close to him. their other teamates started off as superhero friends but soon turned into irl friends too”

theres a headshot of lewis and jade. theyre both 17

“when lewis first decided to start being a vigilante,jade quickly found him and decided to help train himand offered to be a mentor of sorts, as they both have similar powers. that quickly derailed.”

“ cinder5555 said to someone-always-cares: How long does it usually take to make a comic page? I'm curious because they're so freaking good that they must take FOREVER”

theres a drawing of myself, a fluffy hair tired bastard in a hoodie, smiling

“Thanks! Ive been doing this shit since like 2017 and i still have no idea how long it takes me. i can get a page done in a day if i have nothing else to do or if its a simple page, but if i have work then maybe 2-3 days? i spend like, most of my free time doing this.“

another drawing of me, now looking frustrated muttering “how the FUCK does time work”

“but i can never do it all on one sitting.i will inevitably get distracted and zone out daydreaming mid drawing so its very hard to get an accurate read on how long it takes. so however long a piece of string is i guess“

the only qustion not from tumblr is a discord message from RuneStone Cabin:

“Q: Can you talk about the incidence of superpowers in this world? Like many people are supers, which powers are more or less common, how long they've been a thing for, stuff like that. Also does Omen know I'd die for them “

theres a drawing of omen pointing at a date circled on a calender marked “decembuary”, theyre saying “i know. i already wrote your death in my calender.”

then a giant wall of text reading: “Supers have only existed for a relativly short time, since the early 1940s. momento mori was the second person to have ever gained powers.

Only a small number of the population are supers! the chances are higher in more populated cities, but unusally london has oneof the higher percentages of supers. while nobody in universe has any idea of the origins of superpowers, it does seem that powers are more likely to occur in people who would actually use their powers.

as for what powers are most common, after making a badly catagorized spreadsheet of every superpowered character ive made for this world (70% of which will probably never even be seen), turns out that elemental powers are the most common. although not all elemental powers manifest as the straight up 'controling this element' as seen in characters like lin or tsunami. for example, iris's powers would fall under shadow elemntal powers, but theyre a lot more weird that just controlling shadows.there are some abilities that have never been seen before,such as ressurection or full on time travel (aka anything that could bring a character back to life), but powers are certainly allowed to toe the line eg healing, powers involving undeath, immortality, pausing or manipulating time.

aside from that, anything goes. you could get plain old superstrength, but you could also get the ability to create dogs with your mind. other not quite rules, more guidelines are that supers are immune to their own powers hurting them (unless they were pushing themselves too hard), although the way the imminuties occur may be inconvinient to the super.

while some powers may be 'more powerful' than others, powers dont really get to be way underpowered or overpowered in comparision to others. sure being able to talk to animals may feel a bit useless compared to someone who can lift 4 tanks at once, but nobodys going to end up with a power like 'can turn into a goose but only once' or 'can grow toenails twice as fast' or 'if i sneeze i can change my hair colour'. at the same time, youre not going to get someone with the power to snap their fingers and level a city, or instantly blow up the moon or whatever.

“Anonymous said to someone-always-cares: I love rami PLEASE tell me his favorite song(s) and why. I will die for you”

a drawing of rami saying out loud “i dont really have any specific favourite song, really? i just listen to whatever sounds catchy and then listen to that on repeat for hours until i hate it. i guess i do like upbeat songs? ones that make you feel happy even if the lyrics are sad”

“ un1c0rnhh said to someone-always-cares: tell me,,, please,, cam,,, are they a cat person or a dog person?? ily"

theres a drawing of cam a metre away from a cat lying down. she has her arm out and is making ‘psspsspss’ noises at it. end id]

FUCK i am so glad i didnt hand write all of that, it would have been a major pain in the ass to write it all and then have to transcribe all that next. but nope i could directly copy paste the asks and word answers. cheers if anyone made it this far down. if anyone wonders why this is uploaded late, you know now.

[bilgisticallykosher]

Reminder that I’m totally down to give specific warnings or descriptions or help people navigate through the video if anyone needs.

Warnings (aside from the obvious): Long post, lots of caps lock, long rambling with a large degree of incoherence. I titled this “me screaming at the new video” in docs. I was real accurate.  It took me over 2 hours to watch this thing because I kept pausing to not shut up. This is 5 pages in docs.

Okay, JUST looking at the cover, I-  are those tentacles? IS this a new side? Octoside? I can already hear all the names were going to give him. Oliver, Octavio, October wait no that’s already a Sanders shorts. Okay, intrusive thoughts, that's… Roman’s already a supplier of those. Fandom agrees, “Don’t think about your naked Aunt Patty.” So, maybe Depression? Anger? Or, is it Roman still, after all? Because I see the word Creativity there. Or tentaclereativity. So it’s still Roman, but I’m convinced that his opposite is Virgil, although I’m also sure that they implied Pride in the Halloween episode. Something about “proud of it” and then they said “let’s table that discussion for another time.”

Ugh, Roman’s been doing so wonderful on his own. He’s just been owning up to insecurities, and it’s been great. This is going to be highly related to him. Although, Patton looks like the one trying to block him out? Roman’s concerned, Logan’s miffed, Virgil is angry, and oh my god is that a MOUSTACHE OKAY I’M WATCHING. 

Content warning, oh my gosh, they were not kidding. Does that seriously say death and blood and gore? I’m just getting more hype. I mean, intrusive thoughts, I’m sure nothing will permanently, physically happen to them.  (Goodbye Fresh.) 

Dark circles under Thomas’s eyes, implication of sleep deprivation, or something with Virgil?

“The human connection will make me feel more like a person,” I came here to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now. Credits! Great job everyone! I know everyone worked real hard on this. 

Okay, Thomas in his robe, very reminiscent of Excepting Anxiety. Blasé attitude, too. Hmm, trouble sleeping (tires), overstating ‘everything going wrong,’ definitely seems like Virgil’s territory. 

Woah there he is. He’s, he’s really angry? And Patton’s voice is strained. What is happening, does Patton know……whatever, or WHOever? Yeah, he’s shifty eyed. He knows. Virgil definitely knows, and it’s not him. Oh man oh man. Oh, confirmed, they’re in on trying to avoid the conversation. GREAT TEAM WORK, PAT! Doing great, buddy. 

Roman’s rhymes are amazing. Definitely misery, though. Alright, so Thomas is having thoughts that make Virgil act up, and either he’s telling Patton, or Patton knows because of emotions. 

Roman’s so much better at summoning than Logan. And Logan knows?! Ooh, sore spot for them here. Patton oh noooo. That’s easy for you to say? 

I love the idea that, 1, Logan Falsehood’d as a reaction and an example on purpose, and 2, that he’s got a limit of one per day. 

ALRIGHT! I’ve got it. They don’t want Roman to know because he’s going to, intentionally or not, expand on whatever the thoughts are. He’s Creativity and dreams, it’s what he does and he’s not going to be able to help it, intrusive thoughts, this IS Roman-centric! Poor boy. (Kraken, sushi. Those tentacles mean something. Also the tentacle represents the C, I understand the title image now.) Yeah, they don’t want him inadvertently going into daydream mode. 

I have never seen this movie. These are freaking top-notch jokes, though. WOAH, THOMAS. Not good. Really not good. I’m still hype. Oh, is that the sort of death mention that

Television: [has hands]

Me: [strangled squeaking noise] 

Okay, I’m having, okay. Okay. Okay. I’m fine. I just. I need. Okay. I’m fine. Need a moment. Freaking out, in, a good way? I just. Really unexpected, even though I saw the hands. Oh my gosh. Can the others see him????? Because they’re looking at Roman they should see him. I didn’t know I could make that noise, but apparently I can. And I can hold it. And make it slowly go higher pitched. Okay. Okay. I’m fine now. Maybe. Okay. Hypening.

OH THEY CAN okay, oh dissonant voice. What sort of overdramatic staff is this dork NO ROMAN. 

THE DUKE?! WHAT!!! Getting heavy Warfstache vibes, btw, and why does he have a grey streak? Virgil and Logan are unconcerned about Roman, so I guess he’s fine. 

Is this a song? What is his outfit, omg. His mustache is fabulous. His eyes are kinda ringed.  in purple? 

What is happening, oh my god. Oh here’s the religious commentary, I guess. This is fine, I’m okay with this. But he’s playing Adam AND Eve himself. Dramatic dork confirmed. Oooh, you lack imagination. He IS Roman’s opposite, dang. I was so sure it was Virgil. Also YES green’s my favorite color! 

Hahaaaa! Tiny little aunt Patty naked post-it! Patton’s so distressed, Virgil ANGERY. A to Z is incredible. I missed some lyrics there; I’ll catch it when I watch it with captions the next five times. I mean, uh, no, I’d never… ten times. Nice blood spatter! What is he doing to them! What’s with the size thing? Is that a thing he can do? Or creative (heh) liberty due to song? 

SNAKE how’d I not guess that from Adam and Chava SNAKE IT’S SNAKE!

I don’t get the hand image. What is that? So far kind of the same sort of vibe from Deceit and Duke- oooh, both Ds. The whole, own up to who you are, stop lying to yourself. 

“You’ve got a fiend in me!” “Squeak!”

Oh, oh no, he’s really not quite like Deceit. He’s saying that these things make Thomas evil. Definitely not a Deceit thing to do. 

EDITING PRAISE! YOU GUYS. You guys are incredible, you did such a good job. 

“I’m your Creativity!” Officially calling those things fart trumpets. 

Oh, is he actually Creativity? Okay I’ll roll with it. Oh my gosh it’s only ten minutes into it and I can’t shut up. Virgil is so uncomfortable. 

Never bring [Jeffery Dahmer] up again got a GREAT face from Duke. Oh man. Is that true about him trying to repress those thoughts?

WHITE BEAR that episode of Black Mirror might make more sense now. 

Impressive hair blowing from Virgil, that’s the hair blowing equivalent of what Dr. Horrible did with his fingers in Brand New Day. 

Patton called Roman handsome, and I knew that second most handsome prince bit in the last episode was something he’d say, not just him trying to be all lawyer-y! (Ooh, foreboding music…)

Honestly, Logan was, if anything, even more chill about lying in CLBG, and Deceit in general (his scales are quite smooth). By comparison, he’s going off on the Duke. OOH, I KNEW THAT ABOUT THE WORD DORK! 

Ohhh my gosh the costumes are opposites! I, almost realized that, about color theory, and then forgot about the sash. And those shoulder pads are massive, Duke! Did you steal Roman’s puppet chin to make those? 

Joan! Haha, I love it, definitely something they would do. Interesting, you can hear an overlay of Joan’s voice, and Duke’s voice. Why can’t the Duke do it as well as anyone else? What did Virgil realize during the twin explanation? Hey, Cayin and Hevel, more Genesis. 

Did he mention friends and family? Oh my gosh, self-immolation is terrible, I looked it up. Like, uh, suicide for a public purpose, or to make a point? 

Laugh! Dork laugh! There’s the implication of them knowing each other. 

Oh, okay, okay. So, Virgil’s anxious, because in and of itself, whatever it was that he was thinking/obsessing over was bad. His anxiety is, well, cognitive distortions. That’s why everyone’s all bothered. Yeah, point to Logan on that oh my god, what is that camera angle, I love it.

Duke is JP confirmed. Ripped off nipples. JP from Wade’s (lordminion777) circle of friends, salty boys. That’s still their official name, right? Anyway, he’s JP.

Oh, I saw dripping off of that hand. That sequence is getting longer every time. 

Who are those, I don’t recognize them? “I’m about to smash the Hulk” you guys I think I love the Duke a little bit a lot. 

Patton, no, that’s- Patton! “That’s what repression is?” Ooh, tense Virgil moment with Logan. Yet, also touching? 

“Well THAT can’t be where the bar is.” !!!

Weird Duke blink during religion talk. It’s so funny looking at this though a Jewish perspective. It’s similar, but just a little off. And we don’t do the 7 deadly sins thing. 

Figuratively! 

Wait it’s coming from Virgil?! Uh, uh, anxious about being a bad person, subconsciously projecting it onto Thomas?

Patton too?! Oh, wait, yeah, this comes back to repression that makes sense. Oh my gosh, Logan. ! Can the Duke do the Deceit silence thing oh no, no he can’t. Close. Teeth are an improvement I think. 

Hey isn’t there an incorrect quote about Virgil drinking shampoo? 

Remus?! Oh my gosh are you KIDDING me? A new side, PLUS his name? Oh, oh that’s so clever, Roman. Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus. So clever! And definitely butt trumpets, from earlier, because AVPM’s Lupin had butt trumpets. 

Oh, direct shot and reaction at Virgil not hiding anything. And okay, I’ve changed my mind like 10 times, but I think I get it now. Haha, Logan! It was like a pop quiz! And Thomas cursed!

The scream darkened the room, that was awesome. But nobody cared. Ah, secretly a Patton and Virgil arc! 

Oh my god, Patton had a look of realization when Virgil was listing off things, is he going to tell him to not skip the callback?!

[Sad poopy noises.] Logan’s on fire today! Yes! 

Oh, he’s gone? Ha, nope! Oh it got worse, haha!

Patton, control, it’s happening! Oh, wait no. 

Virgil really used to fear him? And, oh, what were those exchanged looks during “just like old times”? Logan and Patton, and maybe Roman figured it out? Does Virgil know that? 

Roman! 

Nerdy Wolverine. Ahh, cool! Dukey problem! Oooh return of “I don’t like him.”

What, brother?! So that’s an actual thing now? But okay, alright, I guess Logan’s thing from before. NOPE EVERYTHING’S FINE NEVER COMING BACK. Romaaaaan.

Dark sides? “Others.” Oh, Thomas for sure doesn’t know. Oh dear. OH MUSIC it’s swelling oh my gosh, he’s going to tell, he’s going to tell.  Gasp! He told, and oh, so sad, and oh no he’s just sinking out?! My poor baby little precious oh I immediately see why Patton had a problem with coddling him.

Oh, oh Thomas is so confuddled. There’s going to be so many angst fics. I will read them all. 

Alright, actually a hilarious ad.  Way to incorporate intrusive thoughts into it! END CARD holy- REMUS! Oh the deodorant. And again. Nice knife, he’s going to- yep, deodorant. Oh he’s done, but he’ll have another- yep. What the heck is it, actually? 

THERE’S A SNAKE IN MY BUTT! PFF that’s going to be some fics also. Officially: I love Remus. 

Final thoughts; I’m in love, I was so wrong about “they wouldn’t throw a new side or plot relevance at us with all these warnings,” everyone freaking outdid themselves, this must have happened so soon after Selfishness vs. Selflessness, I love him, I really dug a lot of that humor, my taste in music is way worse than anything Remus threw at us (ask me about that), WHAT WERE THE THOUGHTS with the dripping hand bit, S v. S part 2 is definitely the next one, and I freaking love this video. 

[peonyun]

Director JK on Getting into Video-Making

or, GCF in Tokyo being brought up for the 5813th time and the members being done with KM 

Disclaimer: Put your tinfoil caps on, everyone! This post will be about Kookmin and my personal interpretation on the Entertainment Weekly interview with BTS, more specifically, when Jungkook got asked about how he got into directing and Jimin’s reaction along with the members’ (or the lack thereof). I do not claim my opinions as facts as they are just things I’ve observed about KM and decided to share my thoughts on them. Take it as you will.

Without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?

So, during the Entertainment Weekly interview with BTS, one of the questions asked was directed at Jungkook as follows:

“Jungkook, how did you get into directing?”

To which Jungkook replied:

Afterwards, Jimin added:

(I’m sorry but I can’t help but giggle at the members’ reaction to the two.. their reaction, or lack thereof, is actually one of the factors which made me question KM at first)

My thoughts:

Before I begin, I’d like to say first that personally, I think the “us” was referring to Jungkook and Jimin when they went on the trip to Tokyo.

So in the third picture, Jungkook mentions how “videos are moving so people can translate what the video is right away”, and what I’ve noticed is that many people (locals and non-locals alike) who’ve seen GCF in Tokyo for the first time think that it’s a video showcasing the love between JK and JM. Now for the people who watched GCFt already (or if you haven’t please do and tell me), what was your immediate impression of it? Well for me, when I first watched it, I was overwhelmed by the feelings of love that the person filming had for the one in focus.

My mind immediately went to think that the feeling I got was more of a romantic kind, rather than platonic and that there’s definitely something more between the two men, the feeling only getting stronger with the more intimate setting and vibe towards the end of the video. (I talked about it more in my Journey with Kookmin post, here)

Hence, if JK were to say that people can translate what the video is right away since videos are moving, (and that there are a lot of other elements such as the choice of music, which the tutorial video JK supposedly watched to get help with creating GCFt emphasized on by the way, and the added effects which can play a big role in getting the director’s message across to the viewers better instead of a still image) could he perhaps be confirming that what we feel about GCFt and our impression of it is not wrong? That he knows what we think about it and it may not be wrong? That it really is JK proclaiming his love for JM to the world in one short masterpiece of a video?

Additionally, Jimin’s reaction afterwards is also not helping with my borderline (or have I already crossed the line?) delusional thoughts as I’ve already stated that to my understanding, he is in fact talking about GCFt which only helps to fuel the KM train in my head which I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get off...

Anyway, what I’ve learnt from my time with BTS and ultimate bias Jimin is that you don’t underestimate Jimin. Like, really. This little slytherin is intelligent and so damn cryptic that I find myself just pulling my hair out trying to make sense of some of his random posts, which I don’t believe are all that random.

That’s why with JK’s answer and JM’s reaction, I feel compelled to think that it’s actually a subtle confirmation that we’re not that far off in thinking that GCFt is really what it seems: a proclamation of love from JK to JM. I mean, look at this:

“There was a time that I was so blue

What I got to do to show you

I'm running, running, just to keep my hands on you”

This is just one short clip from a whole 3 minutes 42 seconds video. But maybe you’re still not convinced? To which I say, okay, then let’s look at another GCF and this time, let’s look at GCF in Saipan, another favourite of mine.

First chorus:

“I don't wanna lie no more

I don't wanna hide no more

What I found in you, is so real

I don't wanna hide no more

I don't wanna lie no more

Now that I found you”

“Imma let you get the best of me”

Second chorus:

“I don't wanna hide no more

I don't wanna lie no more

Now that I found you”

“Imma let you get the best of me”

(All gifs/images does not belong to me, owners do contact me if you want it to be taken down)

Now, as you can see, Jimin appears both times when the chorus begins and the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory in my opinion.

JK also mentioned in the past that when he covers a song, he’s always check the meaning of the lyrics before recording the song. He also said to look up the meaning of the lyrics before listening to the cover song as it would sound different. Now, this tells me that he pays close attention to details like this and they are important to him and personally, I find it insulting to him when people brush things like this off with a bad excuse of “he probably doesn’t even understand the song/lyrics” because that just tells me that a) you’re underestimating his intelligence and b) you can’t be open minded enough to accept the possibility that the videos can mean something more.

Conclusion:

Honestly, I don’t know if any of the things we observe and speculate about KM is right and we may never know, but there are just so many things about them that intrigues me and makes me think that there just might be something more than friendship between them, things that can’t be brushed off with a simple statement. Things like GCFt which I think many would agree with me, seeing as how most of the people I know who follows KM started with GCFt. I also absolutely love and adore their relationship, whatever label they decide to put on it, because you can see clearly just how much they support and care for each other and for them to still love the other’s company that a staff actually said he’s never seen them apart is...something.

For the people who aren’t convinced, I’d still like to add that even if you don’t think that there is a possibility that KM might be more than friends, please don’t belittle their closeness because I’ve seen so many people who just can’t accept the fact that they are close and if not the closest pair in BTS. Let’s respect every member as well as each other and keep this platform safe for people to share their thoughts.

If you’ve made it this far on my (unnecessary) post, I hope it means that you enjoyed it or it helped you to pass the time at the very least! Again, this is just my personal opinion, I do not claim them as facts, these moments are mainly brought up for discussion and you are free to disagree with me. Do share your thoughts if you feel like it as I’d love to read them! 

Thank you for reading! 💗💗💗

[thesweatycollectiontyrant]

Favorite Shows

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why specific shows mean so much to me, and I want to profile them in sort of a “why” type of post. No sort of big thing, just have a lot on my mind and want to talk about it.

Tuck Everlasting

This show deserved such a longer life than it had on a stage in New York. If I were only allowed to choose one thing that I adore about this show, it would without a doubt be the score. Every facet of it. Orchestrations, harmonies, reprises and all of that good stuff. Luckily, I make these rules.

The meaning and heart of this show is so vast and beautiful. First and foremost, the relationship that Winnie develops with the Tucks is something a lot of people fall in love with. She finds a father she never had in Angus, a nurturing mother she’s never had from Mae, an older brother in Miles, and a best friend in Jesse. 

Something my friends and I discuss often is how natural of an actress Carolee Carmello is. She is nothing but honesty, truth, and transparency onstage. In this day and age, that’s something everyone should strive for. It’s truly a shame that she doesn’t have a Tony award yet (something I believe she earned in 1999). A little more about her character, Mae. Mae loves people, not things. Mae wears the same old clothes and is content with them. She rarely looks at herself in the mirror anymore by the time Winnie comes along, and her only prized possession is the music box that she has. She cares most about her family.

In terms of the immortality that the Tucks have, Jesse is often representative of the positives of being immortal. He’s young, spry, good-looking, and loves life and nature. Miles tends to be the figure for the negatives when it comes to living forever. He tends to skew Winnie away from the possibility of her also drinking from the spring and living forever. In “Time”, he explains to her that his immortality has done nothing but forced him to lose everything important to him., while Jesse tells Winnie in “Seventeen” that if she drinks from the spring that they can live together forever and live lives of happiness and possibly (probably) romance. 

With Angus, Winnie has just lost her father, and Angus has never had a daughter. He tends to be gruff, but has a big soft spot for Winnie.

Of course, there’s The Man in the Yellow Suit, Hugo, Constable Joe, Mrs. Foster, and Nana, but whenever I get around to doing a full post dedicated to this show, I’ll talk about them too.

The themes in this show are something to love as well. It covers growing up, time and death, and loyalty to family. The Tucks, being in their predicament have seen and been forced to let go of many important people and memories in their lives. When Miles talks about his relationship with his son and former wife in “Time” or when Mae describes her favorite memory of when Angus asked her to marry him in “My Most Beautiful Day”.

The last thing I want to profile about this show is some of the lyrics in this show.

“Looking back is something to look forward to.” - Mae Tuck in “My Most Beautiful Day”

There is so much to unpack there. Come on.

“Time truly divides.” - Miles Tuck in “Time”

“Watching life pass it by just floating on top.” Angus Tuck in “The Wheel”

Every time I listen to this show, I am undone. It is such a beautiful and intimate story, and I wish it could’ve had a longer life. I am dying to work on this show in any capacity. Someday, I want to conduct it, but until then, I’ll keep rocking out to “Live Like This” on long drives. Or short drives to the grocery store three minutes from my house to get my mom mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Big Fish

I got the opportunity to be in this show almost a year ago and it was so fulfilling. The script, at times, is bunk, and the story can move a little faster than some can process, but what this show needs to succeed is a strong cast that is dedicated to telling the story.

There’s so much in this musical that I adore and if I were to talk about it in depth this would be a very very long post, so I’ll just cap it with saying that I love the score and the relationship between Edward and Sandra. I also love the relationship between Edward and Will.

I love the revisions made to the show for the small cast version with Sandra singing “Magic in the Man” (though I do love “Two Men in My Life” with all my heart) and Will and Edward singing “This River Between Us” rather than “Showdown. In the version we did, we actually assigned “Magic in the Man” to Jenny Hill to give her some more of a backstory on her relationship with Edward and left “Two Men in My Life” in the show for Sandra.

The show is really special because I lost my grandfather two months before we did this show. It was a real restoration to my soul to be completely honest. He was a lively man with lots of stories that he always told and a character like Edward Bloom is a pretty good counterpart.

The score is so lush and beautiful. I could listen to it all day.

Fiddler on the Roof

This show kinda ended the Golden Age. I really love the Golden Age and I think that’s where my heart lies when it comes to my love of musical theatre as a whole. It was very influential to many shows in the future and I’ll always love it.

I’m not Jewish, but what’s special about this show is that it was remarkable to many that it resounded beyond the Jewish faith. The center of this show is truly about tradition, togetherness, family, and true love.

Tevye and Golde is one of the most unique and real relationships on the stage, especially for that time period. They didn’t marry for love; they married so that they could have children and a successful life. Each one of their children progressively wishes to marry outside of that ideal, Tzeitel marrying her childhood sweetheart without a matchmaker, Hodel being engaged to Perchik without a matchmaker or permission from parents, and Chava marrying outside of the faith, directly disobeying orders from the family and with no permission from parents or a matchmaker.

Tevye has to make many hard decisions throughout the show, allowing his daughters to marry men for love. The turmoil that he experiences when disowning Chava has always been hard to watch.

There are so many lovely and beautiful and amazing moments in this show, including “The Dream”, “Tradition”, “Matchmaker” (especially how they did it in the last Broadway revival), “Sabbath Prayer”, and “Chavaleh”. Danny Burstein refers to the score as “musical theatre mother’s milk”. It is nourishing like no other. I will always love this show.

The King and I

This was a show I truly learned to love my freshman year of college. Like many, I’ve known “I Whistle a Happy Tune” and “Getting to Know You” for a very long time. I got to see it with friends from college when it went to movie theaters and I was amazed by Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe, and Ruthie Ann Miles. Each of them gave such incredible performances.

I wish this show could be done more often, but it requires a mostly Asian cast. I am so thankful that there is more representation now than there was when this show premiered, so much so that the last revival was cast completely appropriate. Kind of ridiculous that it took this long.

The women in this show are what propels it. There is a chilling scene in particular when Lady Thiang finds Tuptim and confronts her about her relationship with Lun Tha. 

One thing I’ve always been fascinated by is race in the classroom. I’ve had the privilege of having teachers of all different ethnic backgrounds, including my preschool teacher. I’ve always been grateful for the opportunity to learn through all different lenses. I was moved to tears almost immediately when I saw the classroom scene when Anna is teaching all the children during “Getting to Know You” and then there’s the dance break where one of the wives performs a dance for Anna, and then Anna and Louis perform a dance for the children and wives, and then they morph them together! It’s just beautiful because that’s a symbol of people of different ethnic backgrounds coming together and teaching each other something so special that it’s beyond words: they dance. I adore that scene.

The relationship between Anna and Lady Thiang is also something I admire very much. The scene before “Something Wonderful” is also just gorgeous. There’s something to be said for Ruthie Ann Miles’ performance transitioning between Broadway and West End. As many know, she got into a near-fatal car accident while walking with her child and unborn child on the crosswalk, and both children were killed. In the West End, she used a cane because of the recovery from the wreck, which aged the character and made her a little less mobile, but it also made her more authoritative and made you want to listen to her and know what she was thinking. It was a brilliant decision to incorporate that into her character.

Getting to see this production, albeit in theaters, was an amazing experience.

John & Jen

I got to music direct this show my freshman year of college with two dear friends of mine as the siblings. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s real; all of it. I love it.

This score uses motif and reprises in a way that is really touching to me. If I were to choose a song that makes me happy, I’d say “Timeline”. It’s really groovy and it’s the biggest character shifts for the both of them. If I were to choose one that always makes me sad, it’d be “Hold Down the Fort”. Kate Baldwin and Carolee Carmello both were extraordinary in the role of Jen. It became so important to me when I got to do it. I’m thankful for this show.

Ragtime

This will be the last one. This show is so incredibly special to me. Other than something like Wicked, this show was one of the first shows I really got into. The story and score are so cohesive and they work together really well. I love Ahrens and Flaherty and their style is so broad, yet so specific.

Similar to my feelings on The King and I, Ragtime incorporates the lives of Caucasians, African-Americans, and Jewish Immigrants and they all learn things about each other through various encounters during the show. Some find love, some find hate, and it’s just an incredible show. I will never get enough of this beautiful story about justice and truth according the law.

Mother and Tateh’s relationship is one of my favorites in the mega-musical canon. *do y’all consider Ragtime a mega-musical? I do? or do I?*

The show requires a very large and very diverse cast that can sing and act incredibly well. Nothing is like the full orchestration doing this show. I love it so dearly. It has so many lessons we can learn from.

I really love these shows and they’ll always mean tons to me.

[wannawrite]

If Voices Could Kill...

Wanna One's Kim Jaehwan

The 'Our Two Lips' flower boys LDH PJH PWJ wanna one masterlist produce 101 masterlist 

fluff word count: 2342 • Jaehwan is really excited about his new job • especially when he finds out you're the niece of the branch manager • but his efforts may be washed by his new flower boy persona jfosjskdjs i'm sorry i had to do you so dirty Jaehwan you know I love you 😘 I love Jaewhan and he kinda is a mess bUt THERE'S SO MUCH MORE TO HIM THAN THAT I LOVE HIM SO MUCH thank you for requesting anon, youngmin's flower boy will be up soon!! - Admin L PS: this is such a mess i am so sorry, experimenting with my writing a bit, I want to improve but ofusodjsis idk

"Kim Jaehwan?" You mused in puzzlement, an amused smirk dancing on your lips. "Uncle, are you serious?" You had to stifle your laughs from pouring out of your mouth. Your hands smoothed the paper out, eyes scanning the paper and taking a good look at the man's application. Your uncle furrowed his brow, he neatened another stack of applications. "Why not? He seems like a hard worker and a good kid. Not to mention he's young and... goes to the same college as you. Have you seen him before?" 

You groaned in frustration and buried your head in your hands, allowing the paper to float away. "That's the thing," you muttered. "You probably should never see him." The air conditioner was set to one of the coldest settings but that was not the cause shivers than ran down your spine. Just the mere thought of Kim Jaehwan working as a waiter or barista - let alone a flower boy - made you shudder in the worst way possible. You held nothing against Jaehwan and in fact, you shared a class with him. He was a good-hearted person, always offering to help and a smart student. The thing is, he did more damage than help..... "Why? Is something wrong?" Your uncle asked again, chuckling. "Do you like him?" You threw your hands up, eyes widening significantly. "What? No! Uncle, why-why would you ever think that?" You protested, shooting him a disbelieving look. I came here today to help you sort out the papers of applications, not to be attacked. You spun a few rounds in the cushy office chair, sighing and considered slamming your head - or your uncle's head - onto the wooden conference table to knock some sense into it. "If you don't explain the situation to me, I have no reason not to hire Jaewhan. He is very handsome, what a bonus. Aren't you glad Aunt is making you help out a bit?" He teased, eyes twinkling. "You could really use a boyfriend, Y/N." I regret agreeing to help out with this stupid thing. Who is their boss? I just want to talk. If Uncle is one of the upper-class board members- "Ahhh, I get it. You like Kim Jaehwan and you don't want him to act nice to anyone else." Your fist hit the table the second you heard that, the slam was hard enough for the piles of documents to fly but your uncle only laughed. You blushed furiously and opened your mouth to retaliate but no words could be formed. Yanking the cap off the pen, you scribbled a rough tick mark next on Jaehwan's application. "Happy?" You growled out, face still hot. "Very. All I did was ask you to explain but you got so angry Jaewhan now has a job." Realisation set in and you let out a gasp. You had ruined the damn company running these stupid cafes and your aunt and uncle had pretty much lost their jobs. "No no no no no no no." In one swift movement, your uncle bundled the documents and packed them away into a cupboard. He grabbed his coat and gestured for you to follow. "C'mon. Your aunt is waiting for us. Cheer up, you didn't do anything wrong. I'll let you sob with ice cream later," he said, a smile on his face. I suppose seeing Kim Jaehwan almost every day this Summer wouldn't be terrible. The thought floated in your mind. He is really good looking. Let's hope he doesn't screw up.

Jaewhan was bursting with joy when he received the email about his new job. Well, partially because his best friends, Daehwi, Woojin, Jihoon, Sungwoon, Ong and Baejin, pretty much his entire clique had also been hired to work at Our Two Lips. Unfortunately, Minhyun, Youngmin and Justin ( wink wonk hint hint ) were posted to another branch further away but within walking distance. He raced to call his friends about the good news. Jihoon was the first to answer this call. "Jihoon!" He yelled, unable to hide his enthusiasm. "Uh, yes, hyung? Are you okay?" Jihoon asked worriedly. If he pressed his phone really close to his ear, he could hear the footsteps of Jaewhan running. "What's happening?" Jaewhan puffed and panted, clearly out of breath. Damn, I really need to work out more. Another day. "I'm fine!" He yelled as he pushed himself to run faster. "I will be outside your house in a few!" Jihoon jumped in shock, he clutched the phone tighter. "Wha-" "See you!" Jihoon glanced at the tall, Taiwanese boy who lounged on the bean bag of his room. "Uh, Jaewhan hyung coming over. What do you think he wants to tell us?" Jihoon wracked his brains but could not think of anything. Perhaps he wrote the lyrics to a new song? No, he would go to Daehwi for that. Guanlin shrugged in response, not taking his eyes off his phone. "Not sure, but we both need to tell him about....." He was abruptly cut off by the hammering on the front door which Jihoon answered reluctantly. "Hello, hyun-" " "I've been hired as a flower boy!" The older man blurted out loudly, hopping up and down. Guanlin nearly fainted in surprise, he tried to cover up his shock by half-heartedly letting out a cheer of congratulations. "Wow! Isn't that great? We're both going to be working at the same place!" Other than MNet, Jaehwan was sure he had not encountered a faker person - in that moment - than Lai Guanlin. He smacked his chest lightly, protesting. "Yah, hyung will make a better flower boy than you." Guanlin raised an eyebrow, threaded to perfection and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, really?" Jihoon genuinely did not need that drama, he rubbed his temples and pushed his friends further away from each other with a huff of frustration. "Guys, let's not fight," he pleaded before turning to Jaehwan. "But... how did you even get hired? Sorry, just curious." With his ego on the line, Jaehwan bragged about how his good looks and talent made the cut with ease. "The boss was probably impressed with me," he purred. "No offence hyung but you are literally the clumsiest, messiest hyung I have ever befriended," Guanlin retorted but not in a mean manner, just a... you-know-it-too kind of way. A part of him was genuinely worried for his hyung. How was he going to survive this? Hmph! Why is everyone doubting my abilities? Am I not the perfect flower boy material? Ahh, my dongsaengs are so cute, worrying about me for nothing. Jaehwan pulled the two younger boys into a hug which they happily returned. "Ahh, don't worry about me. I'll be the best flower boy there, the fan favourite. Hyung will teach you two." The boys exchanged glances which each other, faces screaming 'eek!' but they said nothing and simply hoped for the best.

You observed the current state of the cafe closely, picking at every little detail that others might have brushed off. Technically, this was your uncle's job to boss the workers and take care of the place but he was not the most articulate person and many things slipped past him. In fact, he was not even at the front counter but inside the kitchen, idling. You stationed your Summer work, laptop and a free cup of coffee in the cosiest corner of the cafe, bathing in the lukewarm sunlight. So far, all seemed to be brilliant. Daehwi and Jihoon seemed to be crowd favourites. That, you definitely took note of. They were cute but not your type. Perhaps, you did not even have a specific 'type'. It was confusing and it was not like you were interested anyway. It was a busy late morning at the cafe. Heck, there was even a queue for the place and you really wondered why. What was so great about this place? It's literally a regular cafe, just with cute, aegyo filled servers. You wrinkled your nose at that but supposed you would not boycott it since it was a business your extended family was involved in. The whole concept was intriguing and fun, you would admit. A different kind of fun... for some people.... A groan slipped past your lips and you squeezed your eyes shut, head starting to throb at the mere thought of him. Kim Jaehwan is going to be the death of me. Someday, hopefully, before finals come. The Jaehwan you knew in school and the Jaehwan that worked here were the same person yet he behaved differently. Yes, he was a mess in school sometimes but only with his friends. Other than that, he was a model university student who studied hard but played harder. The Jaehwan you knew was a considerate and helpful classmate even if his help was somewhat half-hearted. He was a joy to be around. Bonus! He was pretty cute too, chubby cheeks and all. Jaewhan was adoringly nicknamed 'boiled dumpling' by a couple of his fangirls. However, the flower boy persona of Kim Jaehwan took a 360 spin on who he was in school. Unbeknownst to the 'boss' - your uncle -, you had already received a total of two complaints from customers. They complained that flower boy JaeK ( wink wonk ) - you nearly punched someone because of that name - had uttered explicit and appalling words directed towards them. When you confronted the flower boy, he only smiled sheepishly. "What? I was learning from Ong," he had defended, keen on winning the debate. You had run a hand through your knotted hair, sighing. "What exactly did you tell them?" "Well, Ong had used 'If I were a gardener, I'd put our two lips [ tulips ] together'. So I did my own spin on it and said, 'If I were a gardener, you'd be my hoe." ( if someone actually uses that I might fight them wh00ps ) He had replied, mildly proud of himself. "Jaehwan, did you actually read the rules of working here?" "Yes. More than the pile of notes that professor dropped on us." "Can...you like....be more polite next time okay? It was rude. That was inappropriate," you had scolded. "There are other things you could say you know. Cute things? Actual pick-up lines?" I still don't understand this concept. It's so cringeworthy and creepy. It's okay. Only a few more weeks of being in this damned place. You would never forget that suave smirk Jaehwan shot you as he casually leaned against the counter, nearly messing up the decorations Woojin had painstakingly set up that morning. It made your eyes waver until they locked with his own. His compelling gaze bore into you, inevitably charming you. "You know, darling," he had begun. "I'm only saving those for you." Just remembering that incident made your face burn. JaeK was one charming asshole that you felt like you were falling for. 

The more you saw Jaehwan at the cafe, the more he stuck to your side like a leech at school. "Y/N!" You could hear him from a mile away, those vocals weren't trained for nothing. The boy had an angelic voice, you had to admit that. Also, you were starting to think that his clique despised you because of a number of times he had ditched them in favour of you but he was a nice person to talk to. A good listener, only interjecting when he felt it was needed. You enjoyed his company. Often, he would walk you back after a night shift when your uncle and aunt had left in a haste. They were in on it too. It was nice to see Jaehwan in two different lights. Stripped of his makeup and flower crowns, he walked you home after school or work - even if you did not live far from both. Sometimes, he would put his talent to good use and sing a catchy pop song or one of his self-written ones. That relaxed you and made you feel at ease. Other times, a serious student yet a playful friend at university. And of course, being a messy ass flower boy. You were not even sure why he picked that job. When you asked, he simply shrugged and replied with, "I'm not even sure myself. Perhaps I wanted to try something new." The whole situation brought you two a whole lot closer. To the point where you were comfortable with falling asleep on his shoulder on one late night bus ride home. The next morning, you awoke to find a pink flower crown on your bedside table. Your hands clasped around it, brushing over the faux petals. It had to be Jaehwan's. You wore it to 'work' later on, planning to return it but as you approached the counter, you realised he had already worn a spare one. Ong chuckled and ruffled your hair. "Ahh you guys are so cute," he said. "Almost like a couple," Jinyoung snickered as he carried out another tray. "I would support it," Daehwi added, grinning smugly from his spot next to the coffee machine. Your cheeks reddened but the thought of you and Jaewhan as a couple made your heart flutter madly. "Yah, don't go around and make people uncomfortable," Jaehwan chided at his friends, shaking his head which caused his flower crown to loosen. "Oh!" You echoed, leaning forward to fix it. "It's loose. Let me help." Simpers flittered around the two of you but you paid them no mind. Just as you were lowering your hands, beaming proudly at your 'handiwork', ( me, at my C5 graded art welp ) Jaehwan's hands wrapped around your wrists. He smiled and looked you straight in the eye. "Y/N," he murmured softly, his sweet voice seemed to lull you into a dream. It felt as if his voice or presence alone had entranced you into this bubble where a universe with only the two of you existed. Disregarding the pairs of eyes trained on you, you stared back into his beautiful orbs.

“Yes?”

"Let's be a couple for real."

[elizabethrobertajones]

It is I, plot twisty. I was wondering if you could link me to some stuff you have written about Castiel's trench coat (bc I'm 99% sure you have) I'm just so excited because I love the new one so much. Also, I happen to be the person asking about the Winchesters and plaid shirts in season 12. I loved the way you analyzed the clothes of the characters and your attention to detail, because that stuff mostly remains unseen by my humble eyes. (Also I think you have a tag for the clothes stuff?!?)

Aaah hi! Were you why I wrote a 1000 mile long post with a screen cap of every shirt Mary wore in season 12? You are most welcome back in my inbox, that was a ton of fun :D 

I think my trenchcoat tag (the serious one not the “sam shoe saga” where all the fashion nonsense goes) has largely got other people’s meta in it because so much awesome stuff has been written before I ever got there so I mostly just summarise what everyone else has said when asked :P It’s like the Car Is Dean’s Soul thing: I’m 100% behind it but other people are way more into it so… :P I mean I will write the trenchcoat stuff and sob about it but @floatingaboveclouds​ really picked it up a while back (and sadly she’s been not around much lately) and at the moment @gneisscastiel​ is sobbing about it all the time. 

Aah my “trenchcoat meta” tag isn’t even on my tag list… See, there’s always something :P

http://floatingaboveclouds.tumblr.com/post/100097338173/cas-trench-coat-meta

This is what I always think of as the Definitive Trenchcoat Meta just because I read it first, ages ago, and it really got me into it :P 

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/133234217428/excuse-me-while-i-need-a-moment

Some thoughts about VERY early Cas and coat stuff.

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/96865417548/interruptingpanda-savingsammyhuntingdestiel

Me being sad about it in 7x17

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/147044421392/dustydreamsanddirtyscars-8x07-a-little-slice

A season 8/9x01 look at it (I mean… written at LEAST after season 10 if I remember but from the POV of 8x07 about the early Carver era trenchcoat stuff we usually skip before going right to the new trenchcoat and all the nonsense they use it for :P)

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/105554354818/today-is-one-of-those-days-i-find-myself-having-a

Oh and more on the original coat and Cas’s identity (circa 9x23 at least)

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/117930210038/jimmys-clothing-meta-10x20-edition

Some overview on Cas up to 9x09 and Jimmy in general

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/149775846930/castiel-knight-of-hell-i-know-we-all-miss

This is a like 1 line meta on the new coat in 9x10

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/161446778708/littlehollyleaf-neven-ebrez-cas-jacket-is

Here’s a season 9 original - I think the first post really yelling about the discovery of the plaid under the collar!

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/164795829481/mittensmorgul-littlehollyleaf-drsilverfish 

This is a great one from 9x18 when it aired that I stumbled on recently but remember reading at the time so it was one of my Formative Meta Experiences (I just didn’t reblog a whole lot until the season 9-10 hiatus really started so all this great stuff is kind of lost to time to me unless I’m blog snooping and stumble on it >.> Thankfully I blog snoop a lot.)

I’m so frustrated because I can’t find my reblog (if I ever did) of the deleted scene gifs of Cas sewing the trenchcoat with commentary about him doing Human Things™… >.> My blog from before like… late season 10/the hiatus after… is really badly tagged so the good stuff is all a mystery :P

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/130068247568/littlehollyleaf-4persephone-i-actually-find

(I found another!)

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/97817693623/a-deep-shade-of-blue-is-always-there

Here’s a season 9-10 hiatus post from me where I talk about how the combination of coat and song got me to ship Destiel textually because it was all so intrinsically linked and the whole deeper symbolism of what the coat means to Cas and how the lyrics in that song used it.

https://justanotheridijiton.tumblr.com/post/98218136134

And the no need for words version… >.>

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/163908715733/gneisscastiel-replied-to-your-post

This one I wrote myself recently about Metatron in 9x22 trying on the coat and what I thought it meant in this context (as you can see I am still basically in a season 9 mindset about it :P)

https://justanotheridijiton.tumblr.com/post/142607939029/the-plaid-trenchie

Mel has all the gratuitous plaid shots…

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/101030511793/deathbyspookyopen-hallowedbecastiel-10x02

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/100110462763/can-we-talk-about-how-as-soon-as-cas-went-through

This from 10x02 but the first doesn’t take into account that in the shot of Hannah putting the coat over Cas WE can see the plaid, I guess just from her perspective she misses it or doesn’t understand the symbolism (especially not that everyone leaped on the meta idea of “being draped in the flag of heaven” and what her actions were doing :P) - Floatingaboveclouds’s original Trenchcoat Meta is circa this episode and explains it best and it’s sort of the words in the back of my head about that scene all the time now.

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/147389591616/cas-crowley-trench-coats-and-parallels

Something from 10x14 which makes perfect sense because the new trenchcoat was from 9x10 but I just skim read the post and I’m not 100% sure they really got into it like I would have…

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/116643283603/cas-trench-coat-meta-10x18-edition

For 10x18 and Cas taking off his coat there :D

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/131414819958/cas-trench-coat-meta-11x02-edition

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/131982763978/cas-clothing-meta-11x03-edition-part-1

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/131983260278/cas-clothing-meta-11x03-edition-part-2

Some early season 11 meta!

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/138413634723/heey-i-rewatched-11x06-and-i-think-cas-is

Some thoughts about Cas in the start of season 11 and parallels to Casifer and how he was wearing Cas’s clothes…

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/139716966318/why-is-casifer-shown-wearing-the-coat-in-the-next

11x15 and some more thoughts on Casifer

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/158190035758/do-you-think-cas-would-change-into-another-outfit

This is from earlier this hiatus giving an overview but I think I should add now with hindsight, talking about a full wardrobe upheaval, because there’s obviously different meaning in Cas going right back to something nearly identical to his original get up, and I’d rather muse on what that means when I know HOW he ends up with his new costume for season 13, so that’s a meta I’ll only write after 13x06. No leather jacket yet. >.> 

Here’s some interesting takes on it with a different perspective:

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/163901981347/a-study-in-trench-coat

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/163903036052/heya-hope-youre-having-a-good-day-onwards-with

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/163786906919/gneisscastiel-as-season-13-approaches-i-have

All of this is informing my thoughts right now on it and I know there’s a bunch of meta I missed… I mean just scrolling these posts I’m sure there’s gaps in trenchcoat-related events that I or others have talked about and uuugh even when I try and collect all the meta I’ve tagged badly in the past or was too shy when I was new to fandom and missed a whole bunch of the most important posts at the end of season 9 which drastically shaped how I read the show… I’m always happy to talk MORE about it :P

I guess adding this all up the one thing I can say about the new trenchcoat for season 13 is that is it a trenchcoat and that means it carries all this baggage, just as the 2nd one carried the baggage of the first, but it’s in a different form. If Cas picked it for himself, it will be like 9x10 and 8x07, where he chooses to go back to the original look. If it’s picked for him it will be a different story - more like 7x17 or 9x18 or 11x06 - times when he put the coat on hesitantly or was given a strong push to go for a choice that wasn’t particularly a choice, or because someone else was shaping his image for him. 

10x01-3 especially were LADEN with Cas identity stuff and included a lot of messing around with the trenchcoat, and it was also the first part of the show I enjoyed in fandom meta-ing with everyone else, so I have ideas about it very planted in my head :P I think I will always associate it with his angelic identity as the “flag of heaven” because of the 9x18/9x22/9x23 synergy about Cas, Metatron, and all the stuff going on between them. I think that whole chunk of the show with 9x14 as an outlier on one end and 10x18 on the other but mostly the end of season 9 and start of season 10 separated Cas out to tell a very specific story about who he was and what he wanted, and the trenchcoat played a huge part in that symbolism. And that starts with him picking a new one in 9x10 when re-asserting his angel identity (after joining in as a hunter in 9x09 in the same get up including the season 10-12 tie in an early appearance) and that act in itself was a sort of “be useful to the Winchesters or die human” scenario, and so I think like Dean on the phone in 9x09, I am very suspicious about Cas’s choice actually saying anything about what he WANTS when it comes to his identity, and the main block of episodes about this unpack it a lot more…

If Cas comes back in a new trenchcoat which is like the original flavour one, it might be like what it was used for in 8x07 - a “everything is okay” red flag that Cas put himself back together for appearances’ sake but of course he was being controlled by Naomi and it was the first scene Dean voices his immediate suspicions Cas did not come back naturally and there was something fishy about it - which of course he carries on worrying about until the Crypt Scene when it all becomes clear, and then Cas only stays in that outfit a handful more episodes until he becomes human and has to pick drinking water over maintaining the image and wearing his original battle armour.

There’s also the fact the trenchcoat IS the original battle armour to him and like in 9x18 or 11x06 the new one at very least feels like armour and we can see him using it as that emotionally… It’s not a bad thing for him to have a new old trenchcoat style to mimic how he used to be if it’s for his own strength and comfort… I just think that overall he’s headed in a different way than staying in the trenchcoat forever and a 3rd variation is going to be fascinating. I hope there’ll be a lot to comment on, like with the 2nd one when it was new there was like 2 seasons of heavy exploration of it as a meta subject before they sort of chilled out again and it became a more incidental feature. Or the times Cas had the original restored to him or like how it looked in Purgatory (see! even more incidents I couldn’t quickly find a post on :P)

And of course there’s the mystery about what Cas might wear while he’s dead, why he’s in a $2600 suit in the first scene of 13x06, and so on and so on. Season 13 has SO many more ways to fuck with us before we get to the new coat :P 

[microsuedemouse]

Yes mom please tell us your favourite Canadian David Headcanons Like I, the mere European, have no clue about Canada at all but I'd gladly embrace all of your Headcanons 😄😄

oh boy okay you asked for it pal

(for the record: you may consider all of this as canon to Run Away Home, and I will tag it as such, but you may also adopt these for your own use if you wish! lmk though, I’d love to know which ones y’all like!)

in RAH I’ve been headcanoning David as coming from Hamilton for simplicity’s sake - it’s where I live. let’s go deeper: when I was six my town and in fact the whole county of Flamborough was amalgamated into the city of Hamilton. much of Flamborough remains relatively rural. so:

David’s mom lives in a nice suburb somewhere and he grew up there on the edge between urban and rural areas, knowing people from both (okay so this is just my life shut up)

His grandmother and grandfather, though, owned a small farm out in the more rural area and he spent a lot of time there as a kid, especially in the summers.

he went to college at Mohawk and got an apartment in the city… this is truly just my RAH-specific background but here we are so why not share

He loves Hamilton’s art community and its nature and parks and many many waterfalls

He LOVES to go camping wherever he can, with a special fondness for Banff and Algonquin

like 80% of us, he got his first job at Tim Hortons. Unlike 80% of us, he did not utterly hate it and can even still eat the food.

he grew up watching a lot of American TV/consuming American media, like the rest of us, but he also loved the fundamental Canadian stuff - Fred Penner’s Place and Crazy Quilt and Mr. Dressup and Big Comfy Couch were all major childhood staples alongside things like Mr. Rogers. Like all of us, he cried when Mr. Dressup passed away and still has weird random memories of Nanalan’ that he doesn’t think he could explain if he tried. He owned all of Fred Penner’s albums as a kid and will still buy new ones, and see him live any chance he gets, because Fred Penner is a national treasure. (He has tried teaching Fred Penner songs at camp, but for some reason the kids never seem to be into it.)

when he outgrew little-kids’ TV he still watched a lot of Teletoon and Family Channel stuff. He’s seen all of 6Teen.

his coffee order is a double double (two creams, two sugars).

he unironically dresses like a Canadian pretty often - flannels and the good ol’ Canadian tuxedo (denim jacket worn with jeans) are totally normal to his wardrobe.

he learned to drive a tractor before a car.

Gwen is surprised and delighted when he tells her he’s been drinking since he was nineteen, and then she’s disappointed when he points out that’s legal drinking age in Ontario.

he normally drinks ciders (not especially Canadian but just my hc lol), but he does like a good Caesar or Canadian whiskey (he just calls it rye).

also: he learned how to open two capped bottles with each other’s necks (no bottle opener) at a bush party once. he likes that this information shocks Gwen and decides not to tell her that he ended up there because he absolutely misunderstood what a ‘bush party’ entailed.

(admittedly all of these drinking headcanons come out of a fic I started and haven’t gotten around to finishing. idk when I will so I’ll go ahead and share here)

he doesn’t love winter but it takes at least 40 cm (~16 in) of snow and/or a windchill of -30°C (-22°F) or lower to stop him from going about his day.

as I noted in that other post, he loves Letterkenny because it’s just so damn accurate - he’s known so many people like the characters in the show! It’s definitely cruder than he’d like and he’d die of embarrassment if the campers or someone found out how much he loves it, but it’s just so funny. (what he doesn’t realise is that no one at Camp Campbell would be able to make full sense of the show.)

he also loves a good Rick Mercer Rant

he’s enjoyed his fair share of Corner Gas, and some Trailer Park Boys, too.

He loves Murdoch Mysteries and got a kick out of Republic of Doyle as well.

He’s read all of the Anne of Green Gables books and grew up watching the cartoon often. He still gets emotional when he thinks too much about Anne and Gilbert.

Canadian music, MY DUDES. He loves the Barenaked Ladies, Great Big Sea and anything involving Alan Doyle, the Arkells (he’s from Hamilton, it’s basically required), Lights, Alanis Morissette, The Tragically Hip, I could go on….

like literally the rest of the country, he watched the televised final concert of the Hip - it was in August 2016, so he was still at camp and had to watch an online stream that wavered in quality, and then he watched a recording again when he got back home - and cried his eyes out at the end.

He’s been to every province at least briefly, but never to the territories - they’re next on his travel list. Canada is huge and beautiful and he wants to see as much of it as he can!

he speaks pretty decent conversational French, but gets really nervous when he messes up or forgets a word, and the more nervous he is the worse he gets. it snowballs and often ends in him panicking.

he’s a very, very bad skater and absolutely useless at hockey. he’s okay at lacrosse and downhill skiing. he can handle cross-country skiing or snowshoeing pretty well, though!

and he spent every winter tobogganing down local hills. okay, he still spends every winter tobogganing down local hills, even after it was outlawed. no one pays attention to that law.

he LOVES maple syrup. and maple taffy. and maple cookies. and everything else maple. he and his mom have been tapping the trees on her property every year for as long as he can remember.

he wouldn’t tell you he cares much about sports, but if you insult the Leafs, the Blue Jays, the Argos, the Habs, or the Ti-Cats, he gets suddenly and irrationally defensive. he barely follows the games so he doesn’t even know why he gets so defensive.

(if pushed, Ti-Cats over Argos, and Leafs over Habs, even though being a Leafs fan is outrageously depressing.)

He would probably take a bullet for Wayne Gretzky. Again, he doesn’t know why. He just would.

On the note of Gretzky: you know the little cheers that kids add to the lyrics of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’? After the line “you’ll go down in history,” many American kids add “like George Washington!” Like other Canadian kids, David says, “like Wayne Gretzky!”

He has been known to compulsively start singing “Don’t you put it in your mouth” when trying to stop campers from putting shit in their mouths.

He has also been known to remind kids to “stay alert, stay safe!”

He also still wants a house hippo. Damn it. We all still want a house hippo…

in general he makes a lot of references to Canadian ads that we all remember vividly but no one outside of the country knows about. “MoooOOOM, Aidan cut me in HALF again!”

if presented with enough rocks he will just start building inukshuks. sometimes he does this at camp and the kids wonder what the fuck these weird rock structures are.

his wallet is still full of Canadian Tire money. they have points cards now. and yet he can still never get rid of the Canadian Tire money. it is eternal

he has a rim roller on his keychain. once Max asked what it was and David only sighed deeply. “another free coffee…” he said distantly

he, like most of us, has a very love-hate relationship with Toronto.

he calls it T.O. or T-dot, usually.

one time he was talking to an American who goes to Toronto sometimes for business, and they made a passing comment about Union Station. David’s eye began to twitch.

He learned to drop his ‘eh’s while in the states when he was still a camper, because other campers used to make jokes about it sometimes. they slide right back into his vocabulary the moment he gets home.

he still pronounces ‘roof’ in a way that strikes the kids as weird, and still uses Canadian spellings most of the time - colour instead of color, grey instead of gray, etc.

the boy loves ketchup chips. and all-dressed chips. and poutine. and back bacon. and aero bars, and kinder eggs, and actual smarties. I could go on.

I just scrolled up and saw how long this list has gotten so I… I will stop. but oh my god, I could go on forever, probably. Canadian David is good shit. I will be your Canadian David consultant if you want.

[scarfninjawrites]

Scarfninja’s Jukebox/Music Writing Tag

Inspired to do this tag by @shaelinwrites even though I wasn’t tagged (you can see her post here). Of course, this gave me a great excuse to my another playlist on 8tracks again, which you can listen to here. 

The rules are:

1. List lyrics that best describe your characters from your manuscript (doesn’t have to be current)

2. List at least three characters/lyrics

Also, thanks to @sarahkelsiwrites for creating this. I love doing these sorts of posts so I hope to do it some justice. Here we go!

HOPE : “So you can throw me to the wolves/Tomorrow I will come back/Leader of the whole pack" Throne - Bring Me the Horizon 

To be honest, this song could pretty much describe like 90% of my characters. But seeing as Hope literally drags herself through hell, I think it’s best suited for her.

Hope is from the first arc of my first, giant project, which I refer to as The Saga. She’s the first of eight chosen to change the system of magic within their world. A bit of a stoic, you might be shocked to see how protective and loyal she is to her friends and family.

Also she has lightning magic. get it?

LOLA: “And I don't give a damn about my reputation/Never said I wanted to improve my station"  Bad Reputation - Avril Lavigne 

The second heroine of The Saga. Fun fact: Lola is actually the protagonist of the very first book I ever wrote. Also, like her successor, Rouge, I primarily associate her with the color red.

Lola is the closest thing I have to an anti-heroine. She has less gripes with doing morally gray things if it means achieving her goal. Admittedly, her motivation, returning ancient relics to where they belong, is a pretty pure one. But she has no problems with killing or blackmailing people, and she’s certainly not afraid of standing up to people.

She’s been discriminated against for her entire life for being a halfling, so she’s pretty jaded. 

ANDY: "One breath in this moment/We'll stay 'til we're chosen, and through it all/With our eyes wide open/We'll fight 'til we're broken/We rise and fall" Rise & Fall (Krewella Mix) - Adventure Club (feat. Krewella) 

The Saga’s third heroine, and another halfling. She’s also a knight, and has a strong sense of morality and holds her ethics in high regard. Probably the most honorable of the six Saga heroines.

Needless to say, Andy is not afraid of dying in battle if she thinks it will help. She takes her status as a knight and bodyguard super seriously. I can’t talk about her too much without getting into some spoiler territory, unfortunately.

I picked this song for her because I think it has a nice “breathy” element to it that she would really like. That’s probably a weird way of describing it, but it gets at her essence. 

SHARONA: "I'm such a star/Queen boulevard/Blaze through the dark/And never stop, it's how we ride/Comin' up until we die" Break the Rules - Charli XCX 

Sharona, or should I say, Princess Sharona, is The Saga’s fourth heroine and arguably its liveliest.

The best way to think of Sharona is if you take the easy-going nature of Son Goku and mixed it with pre-Angel Cordelia. Also while keeping Goku’s battle lust. Essentially, Sharona will do whatever Sharona wants. And if she’s bored, she will let you know in the bluntest terms possible. (”Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, this meeting is a complete drag so I’m going to leave now.”) If it weren’t for her older brother, Aodh , and his mastery of persuasion there would probably be more threats against her life.

Sharona is also easily distracted. Despite in being search of previously mentioned older brother, every time Sharona arrives in a new town, she immediately goes in search for the strongest person around to challenge them to a fight. And she will not leave town without fighting them.

In a contemporary novel, she would be your local party girl and upcoming Instagram model. Would constantly pose with her tongue sticking out and would drive a car with a detached roof just like music videos. 

CHRISSI: "I crawled over broken glass/To find a place in the sun/Was with me all along" Awesome- Darling Violetta 

The Saga’s fifth heroine has no magic or fighting skill, but she has a pretty unique skill. Chrissi is a “jademaker” or someone who specializes in making magically enchanted charms that help with the most mundane of tasks to enhancing entire armies.

In terms of personality, she’s a bit of a proto-Jenna; both are dreamers, and romantics at heart, are super optimistic about life and take a backseat to the hardcore action. Chrissi is a bit more confident in herself, however, and unlike Jenna, she got her formal schooling from going to an academy rather than a tutor.

Since the fourth and fifth arcs of The Saga have the shortest time gap (only four years), she’s actually introduced during Sharona’s story, and they have cute nicknames for each other - “Cupcake” and “Roni”. (Chrissi was only eleven at the time, cut her a break. Judge Sharona more). Despite all the teasing, Chrissi really looks up to her and wants to do well by her. In fact, Sharona was the one who encouraged Chrissi’s dream of studying and becoming a great jademaker.

CLARISSE/LIESE: "We play with fire/These yellow marks get glowing/Ember on the wire, I'm burning with you on this black tar road/When it feels this good, you don't let go" One Bad Night - Hayley Kiyoko

The last heroine of The Saga is also the youngest at fourteen. Until the night she was attacked by zombie (yes the story really goes there), she had no idea she was a fire mage. She was under the impression that her life would be normal (or rather, as normal as it can get in this world) and being inducted into an underground resistance was not part of that plan.

These lyrics were picked more for an on the nose reason - her fire magic. I think an older Liese would listen to a lot of Hayley Kiyoko and relate to her though, especially this song. More or less, she’s a pretty typical teenager thrust into a situation she’s unprepared for. Like Sharona, she thrives off of parties and people, though she’s got more tact and lacks Roni’s confidence.

Also, Liese is her nickname I chose because of one of my favorite video game characters. 

JENNA FELDBERN: "Waiting for love/Waiting for the same or/Dreaming on the other side/Hoping no matter how far I'll find my way to you/Following a rainbow" Rainbow - Colbie Caillat 

Hardcore romantic lesbian witch. Jenna’s story is probably the most easygoing I’ve ever written, and Elixir’s playlist (not the mini mix) has a lot of Colbie Caillat. This and One Fine Wire describe her best.

Jenna aspires to greatness, and wants to see if she has any secret witch abilities. It’s unlikely, considering the magic gene runs pretty low in her family. It was a major surprise that her mother was born a witch at all. Still, Jenna is determined to evolve her skills.

More to be revealed in my eventual All About My Novel post for Elixir of Heaven.

MELISSA: "My friends ain't gotta worry more/They meet outside the corner store/And walk the pavement, miss the cracks/I’d join them if I could relax" Hang It Up - The Ting Tings 

Melissa is from a short story I wrote called “From the Sidelines”. It’s essentially the story of a mistreated sidekick trying to do the right thing in the face of abuse and incompetence. 

In short, she’s Hermoine - super smart and gets everything done only for the “hero” to get all the credit. It’s only when she has her views challenged by the sidekick of the story’s villain that she has to really consider whether or not she can continue fighting the good fight the same way.

She also has a really cool friend she’d rather be hanging out with most of the time but can’t because of freakin’ Kevin.

ROUGE DELAVILLE: "We fight for the dream/We fight to the death/We fight for control" Fight Like A Girl - Emilie Autumn 

The second heroine associated with the color red. Rouge is from my Little Red Riding Hood reimagining Captain Rouge. Which is basically a retelling with sailing and magic.

She’s pretty similar to Sharona, though a bit more diluted. She’s also no where near as extroverted, and when actually trying to make friends, she struggles a bit. She’s kind of lonely. She’s also the only other noble character I have.

Still, Rouge has no problems speaking her mind, and has dreams of sailing across the oceans to see other countries. She’s definetely a fighter, and can often be seen training with either her gun or in hand-to-hand combat. She gets to sent to her grandmother to work at her shipyard, since her parents can’t tolerate her “bad attitude.” Rouge is also asexual and aromantic and has zero desire of being tied down in a political marriage, something that causes her endless stress. It’s also caused a strain in her relationship with her sister, Bianca.

I’ll be talking a bit more about her in my All About My Novel post for Captain Rouge, so I’ll cap it here.

MARIA VALENTINA: "Made of concrete made of gold/I am young and I am old/Preach the Son's eternity/You tell them lies/You tell them all" I Am Shell, I Am Bone - Gazelle Twin 

I’ve brought up this song a bunch of times, and I mentioned that it was one of the biggest inspirations for The Twilight Court, and specifically one of its main characters. I never revealed what her name was though.

Maria is one of the POVs in part 2 of the book. I can’t really tell you all that much more about her role, so here are some trivia facts instead: she’s also associated with the color red. She’s Italian and Catholic. Maria isn’t her real name. She’s unknowingly asexual and aromantic.

This was fun, so I might do another one soon, except with Disney songs.

Check out my other playlists!

The Twilight Court

Elixir of Heaven

Lola’s Novel (Dark Scarlet)

Also, I tag anyone interested in doing this.

[yespoetry]

An Interview with the Authors of 'DICTIONNAIRE INFERNAL' (And Download It For Free Here)

DICTIONNAIRE INFERNAL is a co-authored with Chris McCreary and Mark Lamoureux and was originally published by Empty Set Press on Halloween 2017. With the close of Empty Set earlier this, we have partnered up with ESP and are offering the chapbook as a free ebook. You can read a poem from the chapbook here, an interview with the authors below, and download the collection here and below.

Did you write this collection to any kind of music?

Mark: This is a hard question to answer, because I listen to music more or less constantly and I listen pretty widely (Bill Corbett once told me I have "big ears").  Looking at the poems in Dictionnaire Infernal I see references to Skinny Puppy, Big Black and the theme song for The Karate Kid Part II by Peter Cetera, but that was probably Chris.  I'm sure I was listening to a lot of other stuff, too, but it's impossible to say what.

Chris: In general, I write while listening to instrumental music. The band Earth is probably my favorite for this. That said, this chapbook does have a sestina, “Abraxas,” that is in part a riff on lyrics from the band Baroness, who we both admire. (After the chapbook was published, I sent a message to the band’s singer asking if he would want a copy, but I never heard anything back from him. This might be for the best - it would be mortifying if he read the poem and didn’t like it.)

Describe your favorite meal.   

Mark: There's the socially responsible answer to this question and the honest one.  

The socially responsible one is good moules frites and a bottle of burgundy.  Red wine with seafood because I’m a madman who lives on the edge.

The honest answer is a cheeseburger that they serve at a dairy restaurant where I grew up called Shady Glen where they fry a specific type of American cheese on the fry table so that it gets sort of brown and curled and bubbly, paired with a vanilla milkshake.  Said restaurant was more or less the inspiration for my chapbook 29 Cheeseburgers.  It’s definitely Americana kitsch where the servers all wear these anachronistic uniforms and these little paper hats. 

Chris: Jenn McCreary makes great vegetarian chili. If I could cap off that meal with coffee and a salted chocolate chip cookie or three, all would be right in the world for a moment.

Choose three books that you've always identified with?  

Chris: I’ve always felt an affinity for Tolkien’s hobbits, who mostly want to avoid trouble and stay at home with a book and a good snack. Maybe The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings count as two of the three books?  I think The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was probably formative for me as well, particularly in terms of its fatalistic dark humor. 

Mark: I’ve definitely always identified with Satan in Paradise Lost--he is actually an ethical person who has no choice but to fractiously rebel against his creator because that’s how he was made.  He feels bad about leading the fallen angels into a conflict they are destined to lose, but he doesn’t know how to do anything else. Like Chris, I was weaned on fantasy and science fiction books--the first book I ever took out of the school library of my own accord was Ursula le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea because I liked the cover.  I felt an affinity to the main character, the wizard Ged, who winds up in a conflict with his own shadow, which he liberated in a ritual he was not supposed to be doing.  The shadow winds up killing his beloved pet otak, which spoke to me at the time because my parents had just gotten divorced and my mother bought me a jet-black rabbit at the state fair that I named Obsidian that was eaten by a coyote about a week later. 

Before I read “serious” books, the first books I read were comic books and I was obsessed with the X-Men, particularly the character Nightcrawler, who was the most freakish of the already freakish team. There is a graphic novel called God Loves, Man Kills in which a televangelist tries to exorcise Nightcrawler, which I found particularly moving.  I have a drawing of Nightcrawler’s signature “BAMF” onomatopoeia that appears when he teleports done by his late creator David Cockrum for me at a comic book convention when I was 12 or so that is one of my prized possessions.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?  

“The Sphinx & The Milky Way” by Charles Burchfield (Mark)

“Torches Mauve” by Franz Kline (Chris)

What’s a gif or meme that you relate to?

Mark:  I see this as akin to Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog but with more screaming. 

via GIPHY

Chris: This meme is a pretty solid representation of chronic anxiety.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?  

Chris: In middle school, I thought a lot about nuclear war and assumed that we’d all die in a fireball at any moment. (There was a period of several months where I didn’t want to be in a room without a radio or TV playing because I wanted to be able to hear the warning broadcasts as soon as they started.) Now I imagine the apocalypse as slow moving, a game of inches where basic resources like clean water are hoarded by the wealthy. As for how I’d want to die… I hope I’m at peace with friends and loved ones, no matter the circumstances.

Mark: Under the Baron Trump administration, faculty at Trump National Stable Geniuses University College must, in addition to their yearly self-evaluations, submit paperwork detailing how they are employing The Art of the Deal Parts 47-72 in their curriculum to Make America Great Again Again Again in order to justify their annual rations of Trump Sausage and potable water.  I will forget about the deadline and be summarily executed the last semester before I retire at age 108.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?  

Chris: The Empire Strikes Back, The Fellowship of The Ring, and Heathers.

Mark: Labyrinth, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  (It was really difficult to just pick three). 

Where do you find inspiration lately?

Chris: The second season of the show Fleabag is one of the best things that I’ve seen in ages. 

Mark:  I have been writing poems to Bill Evans compositions lately, as well as finishing up a project where I “write” poems to episodes of the old Leonard Nimoy paranormal TV docuseries In Search Of.  I have done almost all of the hundreds of episodes, so I will need to find something else pretty soon.  

Where did you write most of your book? 

Chris: The poems in Dictionnaire Infernal are part of five years’ worth of poems that Mark and I have written together. Each April (aka National Poetry Month), we’ve written a poem a day and posted it to a blog. At the point when we were writing this particular series, one of us would choose a picture of a demon and riff on it, then the other person would finish the poem from there. I would often write my half of the poem first thing in the morning before homeroom at the high school where I teach or maybe later in the day while proctoring a study hall. 

Mark:  Likewise, definitely written either at home or at my office at Housatonic Community College. 

What was something surprised you recently?

Chris: This summer, we went to the shore for the first time in a few years. Our kids, who are now 16 years old (they’re fraternal twins), just got up and… went to the beach with a friend, aka without us. It was a jolt to realize that, Oh, right, they’re at an age where we don’t have to watch them in the water the whole time and scold them if they swim out too far. Although of course we ended up doing some of that, too. If I turned this anecdote into a piece of creative nonfiction, I’d begin to work some sort of metaphor here. 

Mark: At the risk of sounding cliché, as Chris mentions, parenting is pretty much a continuous stream of surprises.  To be honest, I was pretty ambivalent about becoming a parent, but ultimately I find it to be the best thing in the world.  Even at 2, my daughter is my best friend and we continue to discover surprising things about the world. I find it really easy to adopt the perspective of a small child and to see the world in that way, which is a nice panacea to the way I usually see the world. 

What do you carry with you at all times?   

Mark: Major depression and my iPod.  Yeah, I still have an iPod. 

Chris: Journal, iPhone, a 20-sided die, and an asthma inhaler.

Tell us a bit about your writing process. What works and what doesn't? What doesn't, but you keep trying it anyway?

 Chris: Left to my own devices, I’m a fairly slow, fussy writer who builds from scraps and takes a long time to shape those fragments into whole poems. I’ve tried to push myself to approach the process differently, often through the use of source texts, but the idea of a larger “project” tends to fall flat each time, and I end up writing more lyric poems with Duran Duran references in them. Collaborating with Mark over the years has freed me from my own obsessiveness - with those poems, I work quickly and don’t look back. Sometimes, though, there is still some Duran Duran.

Mark: I guess I am an ideal counterpoint to Chris because I tend to work quickly and improvisationally.  I identify with Jack Spicer’s adage that writing is dictation--it’s like capturing a mere segment of a steady flow of words.  Most of the “writing” occurs in revision and making things more (or less, depending) lucid and readable to other people, although I don’t necessarily concern myself with this too much.  It helps to have something to focus on, so I do a lot of what might be called ekphrastic writing, though the pieces themselves are rarely that ekphrastic.  Oftentimes I wind up with pieces titled for the source of the inspiration or improvisation that have little or nothing to do with the source content. I liken this to the jazz tradition of improvising upon standards. 

When I try to write something specifically “about” something starting from scratch, it usually fails pretty miserably.  Lately, though, I have been able to write more narrative things stemming from my quotidian life, which is definitely something I’ve had trouble doing in the past. 

 What are some of your daily rituals or routines?  

Chris: I’m trying to get better at establishing healthy routines. I want to meditate more regularly, for instance, but I have a tough time really establishing it as a daily practice. A lot of my established ritual is based around preparation and consumption of coffee, ideally La Colombe’s Corsica blend with Silk soy milk and raw sugar. 

Mark:  Routines are literally impossible for me - despite even my conscious intentions I will subconsciously sabotage anything that smacks of routine to my unconscious brain, which is troublesome when one is caring for a routine-oriented toddler.  I do my best to adhere to her strictly ritualized schedule nevertheless. The only part of my day that is really sacrosanct is reading non-work related stuff, sometimes for even just five minutes due to exhaustion, before I go to sleep. 

What was the hardest part about writing this book?

Chris: The most difficult aspect for me was the self-imposed deadline of finishing a poem every day, but it was also liberating. Mark and I have now completed five Aprils worth of poems - 150 of them! - without missing a day.

Mark: With these and some of the other ekphrastic projects Chris and I have done for NaPoWriMo, it is challenging to write something that isn’t merely a description or a riff on the song or image that we are writing to or about. 

Define happiness for you.  

Chris: Taking an unnecessarily long nap with my cat Frida.

Mark: Hanging out at the beach with my daughter.

Chris McCreary is the author of four books: [neüro / mäntic], undone : a fakebook, Dismembers, and The Effacements. His review of Arrive On Wave, the Collected Poems of Gil Ott, is forthcoming in Tripwire. Mark Lamoureux is is the author of four full-length collections of poems, It’ll Never Be Over for Me, 29 Cheeseburgers + 39 Years, Spectre) and Astrometry Organon. A fifth book, Horologion, is forthcoming from Poet Republik, Ltd. in 2019. Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body), and is the editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault. They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is the founder of Yes Poetry and the senior managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Some of their writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Them, Brooklyn Magazine, BUST, and elsewhere. Joanna also leads workshops at Brooklyn Poets. joannavalente.com / Twitter: @joannasaid / IG: joannacvalente / FB: joannacvalente

[swimintothesound]

Artistic Integrity and Commercial Success | Part 3

This is the third (and most negative) installment in a series of four posts on the same topic. This was originally intended to be the last, but I wrote more than I expected, and I wanted to end on a more positive note. View the first post here the second one here, and expect one more wrap-up coming soon.

The New Scott

Before I fully dive into Travis Scott, I feel like it’s important to give some personal context. I can’t decide if that’s because I think memories are important, or because I’m retroactively embarrassed at my own fandom given recent developments, but either way, here’s a quick rundown:

As previously discussed, Trav has released some of my favorite hip-hop albums of the past few years. His 2015 debut Rodeo is one of my all-time favorites, and one of the handful of albums released that year that made me “believe” in hip-hop as a genre. That’s a powerful notion. And even if the album has some wack bars, it’s production, aesthetic, and sonic approach are all so impeccable that I’m willing to overlook a handful of goofy lyrics.

As great as Rodeo is, it (and Travis Scott as an entity) are prime examples of style over substance. And don’t get me wrong, there are some legitimately great songs on this album, but as a whole, Rodeo undeniably relies on textures and production to make up for its lyrical shortcomings. I’ve already made it clear that I don’t think lyrics are music’s end all be all (even for hip-hop), but I can totally see how someone approaching this album from a traditional rap mindset could leave Rodeo disappointed if they came in looking for clever writing.

But this is all me preemptively addressing valid criticism. I personally think that every track on Rodeo is great for one reason or another, and my positive memories associated with the album are more powerful than any objectivity I can ever offer up. In fact, I loved Rodeo so much that the next summer I ventured further back into Scott’s discography and found myself spinning his prior release Days Before Rodeo. I listened to the mixtape more times than I ever would have expected, and it ended up becoming my second-most played album of 2016 and currently sits at my 7th most played album of all time on last.fm. So yeah. I like that album quite a bit too.

Many of the same criticisms of Rodeo could also be applied to Days Before, but (again) I’m willing to overlook those shortcomings for the overall experience of the tape. So as I ravenously devoured these two albums I found myself rapidly advancing up the next step of my obsessive fandom staircase. I collected everything Travis-related that I could get my hands on. From tracking his features to obsessively compiling my own B-sides album it was safe to say I was in full-on hype mode.

Now is when crushing reality sets in. I’ve already linked to this reddit comment detailing the history of Travis’ broken promises in the lead-up to his second album, but I think it bears repeating. Delays and false release dates are nothing new for Travis, but this timeline highlights the absurdity of this particular album’s cycle. As someone following Travis very closely at this time, it was disheartening to have nearly weekly promises that ended up broken and eclipsed by yet another revised “announcement” the following week.

Things began to look up in June of 2016 when Travis dropped the Young Thug and Quavo-infused “Pick up The Phone.” Already a known quantity for months at that point, and fraught with last-minute legal troubles, it was a relief simply to have a fresh Travis song. I won’t get too deep into it here, but PUTP was one of my favorite songs last year and more recently has gone on to become my most listened to track of all time on last.fm within a year. It’s a breezy, ad lib-riddled summer banger. The syrupy bass line filled with intermittent 808 taps and distorted steel drums combines into a drugged-out soundscape that serves as the perfect backdrop for the three artists sharing the track.

“Pick up the Phone” felt like a positive sign to me. I couldn’t stop playing it, and it became my summer anthem within a matter of weeks. If this is the type of stuff Travis had in store for us on his next album, then maybe all the delays will have been worth it. And according to Travis, all his singles and loosies up to this point weren’t even on the album, because he wanted to give listeners a ‘fresh experience’ on their first listen. So if “Pick Up The Phone” wasn’t even good enough to make the cut, then I was officially hyped.

Travis followed that single up weeks later with a small feature on G.O.O.D. Music’s “Champions” another summer anthem that celebrates the return of Gucci Mane and showcased a rotating cast of hip-hop’s current stars and up-and-comers. Champions specifically brings to mind memories of my graduation which happened around the time of its release. In fact, my nostalgia for this track is so strong that I’ve even downloaded the version ripped from the radio because the drops evoke waves of nostalgia in me. I still remember sitting underneath Portland’s Moda Center in a cap and gown surrounded by friends and checking my phone in between conversations to see the explicit version of the track had been officially released. This comment thread specifically made me laugh so much that I still have the screencap of it saved in my phone.

But I’m getting horrifically off-topic. All signs were pointing towards a great release as Trav continued to promote his upcoming album. As mentioned above, the lead up to Birds was essentially a weekly string of broken promises and unfulfilled blue balls. And I get that it’s selfish to “expect” an album, but when you repeatedly say ‘my album is coming out in X days’ or “tonight” I’ll start to get pissed after the third or fourth time.

In early August Trav ended up droppings two loosies on his Apple Radio show: “The Hooch” and “Black Mass” they were both cool… but I was glad they were just loosies he was tossing off on his radio show. Weeks later, September 2nd he finally dropped his sophomore album Birds in the Trap Sing Mcknight.

I remember I was on vacation at the time and without a music streaming service. It agonized me that I couldn’t listen to the album until I got home. All I could do was enjoy my vacation *shudders* and read comments online.

They were exceedingly negative.

How could this be? I’d seen this happen before. In some ways I was glad. Whenever the internet mob preemptively lowers my expectations like this, I’d come out the other side enjoying what they were bitching about far more than I would have otherwise (see: Mass Effect 3, and Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book.) But I saw the bright side. I knew that when I did get back home and sit down to listen to the album, I should lower my expectations. If your expectations are low enough anything can exceed them, right?

Right?

The Problem With Birds

Birds In the Trap feels like drab, dark, and lifeless background music. That’s not to say I don’t like dark albums, there’s a time and place for them… but it just feels so incomplete and half-hearted here. Birds is devoid of life. It is (intentionally?) poorly mixed, lacking of substance, and the album art looks like an edgy Myspace background circa 2006. Look. I’m not saying Rodeo was high art or that it even had anything new to say, but it’s far more substantive than Birds ever tries to be. What Rodeo brought to the table was a metric fuckton of different ideas and sounds that were all produced impeccably. It commands attention and each track sounds different from the last. We ended up with the polar opposite on Birds.

As a person that talks about music, it feels like a cop-out to just link to someone else’s review, but The Needle Drop’s dissection of Birds is a pretty spot-on breakdown of what feels wrong with the album. Going back to the idea of an album’s substance, Birds feels like the album equivalent of an item off the McDonald’s Value Menu. It’s about the lowest of the low (even for fast food) but it still qualifies as “food” on a technical level.

At the risk of making a horrific pivot (or just to take a break from negativity), check out this video about True Detective. If you can’t watch all eleven minutes skip straight to 2:40 and watch the section on Rogue One. I can’t tell if this is a hyper-specific example, a universal one, or just something that I’m trying to crowbar in because I’m in the mood to rewatch True Detective, but this video felt oddly poignant. Specifically, the line “when the plot is motivated by a writer or director's aesthetic needs instead of character motivation, something just inevitably feels missing.” To me, this describes Birds to a tee.

As mentioned ad nauseam, I do not go to Travis Scott for hyper-lyrical bars, so I didn’t expect that from Birds. What I did expect was thick production, varied textures, and (at the very least) some competent song structure. I ended up receiving very little of anything. It felt like Travis was chasing some aesthetic desire and forwent anything else that made his work interesting previously. And don't get me wrong, I like some songs off of Birds, but in the year since its release, I’ve realized that it has become symbolic of him not trying.

The single standout from Birds is “Goosebumps” a Kendrick Lamar-collab with a drowsy bloop-filled beat accompanied by one of the most infectious hooks I’ve heard since “Pick up the Phone.” And speaking of “Pick up the Phone” the song ended up on the album. This is after Trav promised that Birds would be “all new material.” After he had already released the song three months prior in June. After it had already been included on Young Thug’s JEFFERY as a bonus track in August. Similarly, the sparkly weekend collab “Wonderful” ended up on Birds as the album’s closer after having already been released as a Soundcloud throwaway at the end of 2015. And that was the album’s closing track.

The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth. Alongside these repurposed tracks were songs like “SDP Interlude” that just come off as half-finished, under-developed scraps of songs that Travis just decided to toss onto the album. It was underwhelming in every sense of the word and didn’t clear my already-low expectations. But maybe this was just a sophomore slump. A byproduct of constant touring combined with the monumental task of following up an excellent predecessor.

This is truly my hope, but with each new piece of music emerging from Travis’ camp, I become less and less hopeful in a return to form anytime soon. I’ll dive deeper into my thoughts on Travis Scott’s current output and future in the fourth and final post coming very soon.

Read Part 4 Here