#Or rather i made one with the same song in BETTER QUaLITY

[jadeddangel]

The Owl House x Reader

General Headcannons for The Owl House x Reader

Older!Luz Noceda:

Her love language is physical touch and gift giving

She's a cuddle bug

If your sick or not feeling well she'll refuse to leave your side

The kind of girl to write poetry that doesn't make sense

But you can still tell that she does it cause she loves you

She's a horrible cook but don't tell her that

She buys or makes charms for your staffs

She kisses any kind of small wounds that you have

Luz let out a loud gasp "ay! Mi amor! Tu estas bien? Does it hurt?" Luz asked frantically as she held your hand looking at the literal smallest paper cut on your finger before digging in her pocket and pulling out a small bandaid and putting it over the cut and kissing over the band-aid " all better mi amor!"

"Uhm Luz? Why do you just have bandaids?" You asked confused. Luz straightened her lips into a line "uhm.. a good witch is always prepared?" Luz said questioningly

She buys you themed band-aids from the human realm

she tries to teach you Spanish

She's not the best teacher but you can see her effort

Older! Amity Blight:

Her love language is acts of service and words of affirmation

She's really big on arts and crafts

She likes to make you things

She likes to let your palismans play together

She likes to do things like make your laundry and things

Cause in some part of her mind she thinks it'll make you love her more

She's rather shy with PDA at first

She's a touch starved baby

Ghost and your palisman were cuddled up in a little window hammock that amity had made for them

"Hey amity? Do you think our palismans live eachother like we love eachother?" You asked curiously

Amity blushed a bit "oh quiet take your nap you were so adamant on it earlier" amity said defensively

It doesn't matter if you've been dating for years

She still gets flustered if you say anything too sweet

She shows her love with actions rather than words

So she often makes you food

She's an amazing cook btw

Eda The Owl Lady:

Her love language is quality time and gift giving

She likes giving you shiny things

Like rings, jewels, anything that shimmers or shines really

She doesn't particularly like her curse being around you

But after she makes her piece with it she's fine cuddling you

Whether that's in her harpy form or in her full form

She's starting to realize that it won't hurt you

Eda groaned holding her head. "Eda? Dear? Are you ok? Is the owl bothering you again?" You asked sweetly sitting up in edas nest. Eda sighed and nodded "its just getting worse and I don't know what to do it just.. it's like it wants to be with you? If that makes sense?" Eda tried to explain as you nodded along.

"Yknow, eda I don't really mind the owl.. it's rather sweet after you guys had that heart to heart, so how about you just let it put? And if anything goes wrong I'll have elixir on hand" you reassured the older woman

That night was one of the first of many that eda let the owl interact with you

Raine Whispers:

Their love language is the same as Eda's, quality time and gift giving

They can't really cook anything but eggs

They're so sweet

They really like to make little songs/ lullabies for you

but they're willing to learn anything you'd be willing to teach them

They're not really touch starved

But if you so much as lock your pinkys together they're melting in your arms

They loves you with their whole heart so when they're performing or teaching your the only thing on their mind

In all truth the thought of you probably helped with their stage fright

They gets flustered so easy

Raine was playing their fiddle for their class they were playing the song they had made for you.

Raine finished the song after a few moments before bowing and putting their fiddle away gently

They had a smile on their face at the thought of you in the next classroom over listening to them play... just for you

They always sat and ate lunch with you in their classroom

The Collector:

His love language is gift giving and acts of service

Game nights literally every damn night

He likes to hide your things all over your home

He always takes your petty arguments as a joke

He may not be the healthiest but he's definitely always there for you

He's a cuddle bug

Practically clinging to your side where ever you were

He isn't shy about pda in the slightest

The collector was clinging to your sleeve "nooo don't leave!" Collector whined trying to tug yoy back into the house

You sighed "baby please I'm begging you just let go of me I'll be back soon, I've got a class to teach" you bargained

The collector let go of you gently "fine.." he pouted

He's beyond clingy

It's a problem sometimes but you manage

Older!Hunter:

His love language is acts of service, quality time, and gift giving

He makes you little cravings of animals

Especially wolves

Definitely his favorite earthly animal

He's touch starved

Please give him hugs and kisses

Really likes to hold your hand

His hands are rough and calloused after the years of being a golden guard and then his hobby of carving palisman

He likes to visit earth with you for small dates every now and then

Hunter held your hand gently as he led you through a forest on earth, hunter had been planning this small, somewhat simple date over the past month

Hunter had set up some fairy lights and a picnic deep in the woods, he had been quiet and mysterious the whole walk but soon spoke softly. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you or anything" hunter joked

You laughed a bit but paused as you saw the at area "oh hunter.. this is beautiful "

Hunter smiled and helped you sit down "yea.. just like you" he said sweetly

He was sweet and romantic like this alot of the time

He's corny but it's relieving to know that he really cares for you

[brunhielda]

As I am unable to indulge in my yearly Independence Day tradition this year, I instead reccomend it to total strangers on the internet.

(If you are reading this and it is not July 4th, USA, this is still a decent recommendation in general)

Watch 1776, the movie musical from 1972. (It is available on Amazon and Apple TV for less than $5, and is free with Hulu)

“Why?” I hear you ask, “would I watch that old thing when I have Hamilton?”

Firstly- I will not compare quality. The two shows are apples and oranges and the only thing they have in common is the subject matter being the Revolutionary period of the USA.

I will openly admit that Hamilton has much more dynamic staging/dancing, and there is simply no rap to be heard in 1776.

That said, reasons you absolutely SHOULD watch it:

1) You have already seen Hamilton. Presumably you have not seen 1776. It will be something new.

2) The line “Sit down John, you old f-!” from Hamilton is a reference to this musical, so you know Lin Manuel Miranda is a fan.

3) The main character, John Adams, is played by a much younger William Daniels. You may know him as “Mr. Feeny.” And yes. He is glorious.

4) You will enjoy such fun quips as-

“I have better things to do than stand around listening to Benjamin Franklin quote himself.”

“Hold on John- that was a new one!”

(Arguing with God)

“A simple plague of locusts I’d accept with some dispare. But no, you gave us Congress! Good God Sir, was that fair?”

“May my horse be turned to glue if I can’t deliver unto you a resolution on Independancy.”

(Said horse- a paid actor- turns around to bite him)

Jokes from old congressmen about being so old it hurts to piss.

Jokes about bull testicles.

(Refusing to help write the Declaration)

“I cannot write with any style or proper edicate! I don’t know a participle from a predicate! I am just a humble cobbler from Connecticut.” (He is so relatable for that. The whole song is one big- everyone is trying to ditch this “group” project)

5) Thomas Jefferson being too horny to work is a major plot point.

6) The most romantic subplot in this film, and I mean, actually beautifully romantic, is John arguing with his wife, Abigail, via letters. Best part about that is these parts are straight from their real historical letters. Perfect in every way. 🥰

7) The discussion on Slavery is intense. I will say this version of events paints Jefferson rather rosy, but it was written before we knew what we knew about him, and he is documented as fighting hard to end slavery with the founding of the nation. It is bizarre, knowing that, that he continued on in the manner he did. People are multifaceted, and some just get worse with age.

But the part in this movie that is worth watching is the argument the South gives back. Thier argument is basically “If we are sinning by this practice, then you are sinning with us, because you benefit.” While it is a lack luster argument to keep doing as you are doing, it does allow a nuanced understanding of privelege before the term was even used in that manner.

It also delivers a bone chilling example of the triangle trade in the form of a song that has haunted me since childhood.

“Molasses to rum to slaves. Who sails the ships out of Boston? Laden with bibles and rum? Whose fortunes are made in the triangle trade? Hail Charleston! Hail Boston! Who stinketh the most?”

8) “Cool Considerate Men” is also bone chilling, as a bunch of conservative congressmen dance calmly while listening to a casualty report from Washington. The song will never not be relevant.

9) In the same way, “Mama Look Sharp” will always always bring me to tears. It is a song from a Messenger Boy sent with Washington’s missive from the front. He sings about his friend calling for his mother as the young boy lay dying on “the green.”

The green was where people held meetings and parties and festivals- the green is the old fashioned version of “the Town Park.” The first battles for freedom were faught in town parks, where boys crawled off under thier favorite tree to die.

In light of everything that we have heard about fighting for freedom around the world, the line “The soldiers they fired! Oh Ma, did we run. Hey! Hey! Mama, look sharp,” is making me cry right now, and I haven’t even heard this song in a year. 😭🎶

10) “Is anybody there??? Does anybody care?! Does anybody see what I see? I see Americans, ALL Americans, FREE, forever more! Is anybody there??? Does anybody care?! Does anybody see what I see?”

The older I get the more I relate to John Addams screaming into the void because he simply cannot fix all the problems by himself.

There is more I could say about this musical, but at that point it would just be telling. Go watch the film. It’s funny and fun and poignant and powerful, and might make you cry. As good broadway often does.

[mothrocks]

So I recently caved and watched Hazbin Hotel. I like animation, musicals, and animated musicals, so I feel like I'm kind of obligated to watch this new animated musical cartoon. After watching the show, I can't help but compare it to other animated productions that have also been released within the last year, namely that of Disney's Wish. I have a lot of thoughts, so here's this essay I spent like 2.5 hours writing :D

Slight disclaimer, I do acknowledge that Wish and Hazbin Hotel have very different themes, target audiences, production methods, pipelines, all the things. As someone who just enjoys animation, I'm going to disregard this for the most part, largely because I just want to ramble about the animation industry as a whole and probably could for hours.

Hazbin Hotel features a cast of characters trying to rehabilitate the sinners of Hell to save them from dying a second (and seemingly final) death in the afterlife. I have my own thoughts on the show itself, but I generally thought it was good. You can tell there was passion behind it and that they were allowed a lot of creative freedom, rather than having to pander as much to studio higher-ups.

I'm choosing not to summarize Wish and trusting that if you've read this far, you have at least a fragment of an idea of what the movie is about (not that there is much of a memorable plot, anyways). I don't like Wish. The characters are static and flat; there's no growth or character development and we have little to no reason to root for the main character, Asha. The story overall is unmemorable. The animation is fairly lackluster and looks unfinished. Lastly, the songs, one of the most important parts of a Disney animated musical, are just bad and incohesive and don't fit whatever vibe Disney and its producers were going for. I want to add that I don't think these qualms are the fault of the creatives behind this movie, rather, the fault of Disney executives stepping in.

Compared to Wish, Hazbin Hotel has interesting and dynamic characters, a solid art and animation style, and a wonderful soundtrack. Hazbin Hotel, despite being a show about the afterlife, has life and soul to it. This isn't to say I'm a big fan of the show, I do have criticisms of my own. My question is, how does Hazbin Hotel, an animated adult cartoon practically birthed from the internet, manage to be infinitely better than Wish, a movie by fucking Walt Disney Animation Studios? The fact that Disney, the studio behind The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast (or even more recent things like Moana and Encanto), is the same studio that produced a movie as flat and lifeless as Wish is baffling to me.

My speculation as to why this show is so much better than Wish is specifically because it was cultivated from random people on the internet who were passionate about their projects opposed to a company like Disney, who made Wish just for money (and to promote their anniversary). Disney has changed from what it once was and no longer takes risks in their storytelling or animation, only pursuing whatever writing, casting, or cost-cutting decisions that will line their pockets best. As someone who grew up watching these movies so much as a kid and learning about animation and storytelling and music from them, it's so disheartening to see any creativity within this corporation be crushed. Walt Disney Animation Studio's latest animated films since 2018 (Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen II, Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World, and Wish) have all been lackluster in one way or another, with Encanto being the one exception. Disney has historically had dips in the quality of it's content, but this new trend in addition to the rise of streaming platforms (and even the introduction of AI) leads me to have little to no hope for Disney's animation going forward. Passion projects such as Hazbin Hotel are what makes me have any semblance of hope for the future of animation as a whole. Seeing one of the leading animation producers dwindle to this extent and kill any creativity brought to the table is just sad.

[weirdstuffinthewoods]

Music in I Saw the TV Glow

Possible spoilers ahead so read at your own discretion (I’m bad at determining how much information is too much)

I’m a firm believer that one of the most important facets of I Saw the TV Glow is its soundtrack. I don’t know if Schoenbrun has an uncanny ability to track down music that perfectly encapsulates the feeling of teenage ennui or if they’ve just got really great taste. Seeing this in a (mercifully silent) movie theater really let the soundtrack form an immersive layer around me, and the moment the first notes hit, I was 15 again. Unsure of myself, extroverted on the outside but barely connected to my insides, and feeling like I was just playing a role I’d molded from what I assumed people wanted of me. The dreamy, atmospheric chords that wound around soft lofi voices with only a guitar or a keyboard called to the part of me that wanted to connect but didn’t know how.

There’s something to be said about the order of songs on the soundtrack, although it’s been awhile since I listened to an official soundtrack that was a compilation rather than a score so maybe changing the track order isn’t as radical as it feels. For now, I’m just going to talk about a couple of songs, although I’m sure as I listen obsessively to the rest, I’ll have way more to talk about.

Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl by yeule

We start with the opening credits song that haunts my TikTok fyp, Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl. This is a cover of the original sung by Broken Social Scene. The original has a whisper quality- repeating lyrics over a simple acoustic melody with strings rising in the background as the refrain starts. It feels like a girls’ garage band of the grungy 90s, almost the vibe we need but not quite.

The covering artist, yeule, is a nonbinary Singaporean who is said to “…incorporate elements of ambient, glitch, and Asian post-pop…” (Wikipedia) which makes this version much better suited to an analog horror about 90s TV nostalgia. In yeule’s version, the same acoustic melody opens to a new beat made up of interchanging robotic and static tones, while in the background, strings wait for their chance to swell in the space between the verse and refrain. It sounds like an android is slowly waking up to be this jaded pop singer who’s just existing at this point, not living. The lyrics are the same as the original, and speak of someone that’s changed, either the singer or maybe a friend that left them behind.

You used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that.

Now you’re all gone, got your makeup on and you’re not coming back.

Bleaching your teeth, smiling flash, talkin’ trash under your breath.

Park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me.

In the context of the film, it feels like the crisis of identity both main characters face. This isn’t my home, you’re not my dad. The memories don’t feel like they’re yours, they belong to someone else. You’re different now, but also you know you were different then, and you’re only different now because you’re hiding in a disguise you hate. And, at least in Owen’s case (depending on your interpretation of the film’s ending), you’re not coming back. You’ll just dream about the person you know you are because you’re too far into the mask to find them again.

The bass joins in on the refrain and the ambience grows with glitch noises interspersed throughout. A strange sort of beauty begins to show and blooms when the drums kick into the chorus. You’re a teen again. It’s raining, you’re like Owen in the car, stretched across the backseat and staring at the ceiling, full of a feeling you can’t name that’s so much more than just being bored.

On TikTok, this song has become associated with a trend of kids, all much younger than me, sharing their stories of transness that was rejected by the people in their lives. A lot of them have detransitioned for safety and comfort, what little they can find by pretending it was a phase. It’s what drew me to this film, because the piece reflected their state of just physically existing in a world they don’t feel is theirs. For a lot of them, this film gave them hope or gave them new determination to make space for themselves, and I love that about it.

Another Season by Frances Quinlan

Immediately after this, we jump to the closing credits song that plays to a theater full of sobbing patrons who got it and laughing patrons who didn’t, Another Season. The jump is jarring, especially when you’re driving away from the theater in a throat-closing rush of tears (ie: me) and you’re brought straight from the introduction of this neon haze that is the suburbs to this fuzzy, pink screen that watches you come to terms with what you’ve just seen. The static breaks to silence except for a soft, melancholy acoustic melody. A soft voice speaks as if to a friend, and the chorus repeats, “If this isn’t over, what else could take shape? How will you remember it?” In the moment, especially post-there is still time, it feels like a call to action as you leave the theater crying. What could happen next? How are you going to remember your life? There are definitely multiple interpretations to this film, but I wanted to feel hope at the end, so for me, putting this song over the credits felt like Jane saying, “yes, it’s scary, and I’m leaving you to wonder what happened to Owen, but what we aren’t going to do is wonder what’s going to happen to you because there is still time.”

There’s so much more to look at in the choice of music and its juxtaposition with the visuals, but I’m going to leave this here for now with the opening and closing. Suffice to say, go see this movie. Support indie film, make the journey, it’ll be worth it if this resonated with you (but also why did you read this?? I’m sure there’s at least one mild spoiler in here).

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 16: Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (When Do I Get To Sing "My Way")

So, well, what an era this was, right. Comeback of the century! Gratsax just has that certain *something*. It's brilliant! One of the best albums ever made if you ask me. The fully electronic style is so perfect for Sparks and they just do it here like it's nothing and like they've been at it for many years. Of course there's the hiatus that took place in the years before it to keep in mind but even then, this album is a HUGE accomplishment and an incredible standout in a catalog of releases that's already full of standouts of all sorts. And it's definitely a personal standout for me too, thinking about how it's been almost a year since I first heard it really freaks me out! It was such a different time for me I feel like, but many things are also exactly the same as back then. It's weird to feel nostalgic about it now but there's really no better word to describe what this feeling is like exactly.

I think this album is meant for vinyl listening in a way. It just fits it so well!! And it's not just the quality to the sound that it has this way (and I don't mean that it sounds necessarily "better", more like just, different and that somehow complements the music even more), but also the ability to have an actual good view of this wonderful album cover that's among my top favourite Sparks things ever. So cool looking! So funny and memorable! One of the finest instances of the music sounding exactly like what the cover looks like. (and learning that the cover is a homage to a SPECIFIC magazine rather than just tabloids in general, that only made it more amazing because it really does look so alike, stuff like this is really cool to me for whatever reason lol)

Also I like the fact that I bought this silly little "disco" lamp around this time last year, so plugging it in for extra vibes during listening makes it all just kind of perfect. And another thing on the visual aspect of it all: this is such a good era for music videos, they're all SO GOOD! Some of my very big favourites for sure and the My Way video might really be one of the best music videos EVER MADE.

But ok, let's get to the point now. Something that stood out to me right away is that every song here is so unique but they fit together so well anyway (not first instance of such thing happening either). There's really lots of variety! I also remember this album fondly because of how it was the first one I listened to with my parents and when my Sparks obsession truly started to become one of the most noticeable things about me to other people, lol. But finally feeling more free and confident with sharing my favourite things that mean so much to me with others is such a wonderful thing anyway, I'd even argue that it helped me live my life more fully than before! And yeah, it's mostly a remark they (my parents) made, that this album nails the balance between keeping to a certain style and offering something new with each song. It's such a wonderful journey!

Alright, once again getting carried away a bit here even though I had no ideas earlier for what to say today. Highlights time then, which is also a bit of a problem because besides one special favourite this album has no spectacularly outstanding highs or any lows, it's all just equally amazing. But I'll try anyway, as I always do.

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

When Do I Get To Sing "My Way": my parents absolutely love this song and well, I do too. No suprise that it's among their most beloved and well-known songs, it really has it all, and it's one of Ron's very best when it comes to lyrics, without a doubt

Frankly, Scarlett, I Don't Give A Damn: so so atmospheric and special, I really like the vocal filter of sorts that's used here, it's just, so cool sounding all around!!

I Thought I Told You To Wait In The Car: this was my LEAST favourite at first but I grew to really like its unhingedness and the part with all "the CAR!!"s on top of each other is just peak of it all and funny as heck

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil: one of my favourite of Russell's vocal performances! This one and Scarlett are a bit of a duo to me, both simply beautiful songs

Tsui Hark: I LOVE the sound of this one, the piano plus the synth and the spoken word lyrics make this kind of combo that makes it feel like I've already known this one for years and it's just... always existed (which is a term that will apply to a lot of 21st Sparks material anyway, so, that's something to look forward to)

The Ghost Of Liberace: such a big comfort listen to me, I just love this one, makes me feel so at home!!

Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins: shoutout to these too because I feel like they might be easy to overlook as these very brief pieces, but they're that extra element that just, really cements this album as a wonderful whole with something to unify all of it into this package of wonder of all sorts

...And then there's the many bonus tracks also, which I'll just mention briefly since I almost forgot about them and because, yeah. I love them all, but the closest to my heart are Love Can Conquer All, She's An Anchorman, She's Beautiful (So What), Mid-Atlantic & This Angry Young Man (Ain't Angry No More) ((and the RON VOCAL VERSIONS OF THEM)) and Katherine Hepburn (love the whole Christi Haydon EP (and Christi is so cool and awesome I need to say that too today) and I should listen to it more, the Boris The Spider cover is fun as heck also)

And now bonus video for no reason from (almost) a year ago, because again, the nostalgiaaaa. (Back when I didn't have a shelf for my record player yet so it took up half of the space on my desk lol)

[presidenthades]

Once again, I am doing a series of my behind-the-scenes thoughts for The Golds while I do light edits for formatting, typos, and continuity. Here’s Chapter 7!

My original expected chapter count for this fic was 7 (one stanza of “The Song of the Seven” for each chapter title), but as I started increasing the number, I realized I needed to get creative with chapter titles. For this chapter, I picked the penultimate lyric “close your eyes, you shall not fall” because much of the chapter consists of Aegon helping Jace not “fall” into a further downward spiral, and there’s a certain amount of faith required by all parties that everything is going to be OK in the end.

Originally, Jace’s road to recovery was going to be even rougher than in the final version. She refuses to eat or drink anything, and her family gets pretty desperate to the point of doing stupid things to get her to eat. But I felt like that was unnecessary angst and trauma, and she’s already been through enough, so I dialed it back.

Similarly, she was going to have bad perinatal depression up until and after she gave birth, and there was a sequence where she refused to even hold Cheeseball for some time after he was born. But again, it made me feel like I was whumping on Jace and Aegon for unnecessary pain, so I focused more on the “comfort” rather than the “hurt” part.

This chapter is in Aegon’s POV because it was originally supposed to be the second half of Chapter 6 before I realized it was way too long. After I cut it in half, I debated rewriting it in Jace’s POV, but she’s stuck inside her head a lot this chapter whereas Aegon has a lot more action and growth. We return to Jace in Chapter 8 when she’s feeling more like herself but still recovering.

Orwyle is not a popular character in the fandom, which is understandable. He only gets like one minute of screen time, but that one minute made me think a lot about his character. When he’s a junior maester, he suggests a new poultice to try on Viserys instead of the traditional leeching method, and he shows a bit of doctorly compassion to Rhaenys when Vaemond’s body is being prepared. In the book, Orwyle’s defining trait is that he’s cowardly (he literally rewrites history to make himself look better to the Blacks, and he flees from the ship taking him to the Wall). But I was intrigued by how he ends up working at a mid-level brothel and teaches the girls there to read (how he gets caught later). He didn’t have to teach them how to read, but he chose to anyway (to his own detriment).

Overall I consider Orwyle as someone who’s very talented at his job (healing and teaching), and is actually a pretty empathetic person (good quality in a doctor), but he’s not strong-willed and is willing to cave on his principles to stay alive. Not exactly a villain, definitely not a hero either. So he’s going to do his job and do it well, regardless of his patient (especially in this AU verse where there’s less conflict).

After three years in the Stepstones, I’d be shocked if Aegon didn’t learn first aid (same with Aemond). He’s not necessarily interested in healing and such, but he’s capable of basic combat-adjacent medical tasks. So he knows how to clean and bandage wounds, and he can recognize common healing herbs.

I don’t think I need to explain that Westeros has a pretty poor understanding of mental health and doesn’t know what therapy is 😅. For most people who’ve undergone trauma, they would probably be told “carry on, as you were, etc” and they have to just “get over it.” But Jace is a princess who doesn’t have to worry about earning a living, has an overprotective husband, and is pregnant with a very important baby so her health and comfort are of paramount importance. So she luckily has a supportive environment dedicated to her recovery.

As is stated later in the chapter/fic, Jace fires her remaining LIWs because she’s convinced herself that it’s her fault they were injured/killed, and sending them away from her service will keep them safe. Irrational to be sure, but Jace has always been prone to blaming herself for things. She’s also worried that firing the LIWs will reflect poorly on them, hence her trying to compensate them monetarily. But the offer is insulting to Rhaena, who acts as a LIW primarily out of love. If Jace were more herself, she would’ve realized the implications of her offer equating Rhaena’s love/loyalty with a monetary value.

Initially, Jace’s list of “safe people” is very short: Aegon and Luce. Aegon is self-explanatory. Of all her sisters, only Luce makes the initial list because a) they’ve always been very close and b) Luce was there when they found Jace at the Garden, so there’s an added feeling of security. Although Aemond was also at the Garden, he isn’t on the list because their prior relationship wasn’t nearly as close as the other two.

When Rhaenyra touches Jace’s face while trying to feed her, Jace flips out because the Tyroshi grabbed her face when forcing down the dreamwine and later during his attempt with moon tea.

A little irony in Aegon offering to be Jace’s taste tester, when you think about how he dies in F&B 😢.

During Chapter 7 of the Handbook, Luce picks up three dragonglass daggers from the blacksmith. I mentioned them in the Handbook commentaries, but I’ll reiterate that she intended for Jace, herself, and Joff to each have one, as the three full-blooded daughters of Rhaenyra and Laenor. Jace clearly hasn’t been using her dagger, except to display it on her mantel maybe.

Daemon has decided to develop an emergency protocol in case any of the Targ girls are kidnapped again. I’ve been debating writing a oneshot about it.

Castle kitchens are hot, loud, messy places, and a princess would have no reason to ever go there. In a castle as large as the Red Keep, there are probably multiple kitchens. I imagine the Holdfast has a king’s privy kitchen and queen’s privy kitchen solely for prepping their food, and probably other kitchens too. I imagine the largest kitchens to be in the main part of the Red Keep, and that’s where Aegon puts Gyles and Ronnel. It’s a longer walk to get the pies to Jace and Aegon, but Gyles and Ronnel have a much wider social circle of other servants. It’s also where Aegon has his little office of petitions, and he likes being able to run out and grab pies whenever he wants.

Gyles and Ronnel are used to Aegon, so they’re relatively chummy with him. But they’ve never met Jace before, have only ever seen her at 1000% gorgeousness during her wedding parade, and have heard plenty of Aegon’s stories about how perfect she is. Of course they treat her with more respect and awe than they treat Aegon 😛.

I like to think that Ronnel does become a knight one day, and he wins a tourney in Jace’s name 🥰. And he’d probably take on a house name like Baker to honor his father.

I was trying to figure out how orange juice was made before things like juicers were invented. England had cider presses for apples, but citrus wasn’t really a thing for them back in the Middle Ages. Eventually I stumbled across the citrus reamer, which is definitely something they could’ve carved/created back in the day, but I COULD NOT get over how phallic it looked 😂. Naturally, Aegon finds it hilarious. I’m debating whether Gyles truly is innocent or if he’s messing with Aegon and has a great poker face.

I lingered on the details of how the pies are made because it’s important that Jace sees the process for herself and internalizes that pies are safe foods, they aren’t drugged, Gyles is trustworthy, etc.

I wanted to make sure that Jace wasn’t in a depressed, traumatized torpor all the time, because that isn’t how it works. She can have “good” moments when she’s moving around and seems normal, and then there can be “bad” moments when something triggers her, or she’s having an off day, and she spirals. The important thing is that she’s overall making progress, and it’s OK if she has days when she takes a few steps back.

We got more info in Chapter 8 on what Jace and Luce talk about in the garden. Luce is thinking about her upcoming nameday, which is the earliest date that Rhaenyra will allow her to be betrothed. But then there’s another year until her sixteenth nameday, when Rhaenyra will allow her to get married. Luce is pretty impatient, so she wants to figure out how much canoodling she can get away with during the year in between. So she asks Jace, because she’s positive Aegon didn’t keep his hands entirely to himself before the official wedding 😏.

Aegon is now very loath to ever let Jace out of his sight again, unless he’s 100% sure she’s safe in their room. The Joff incident in Chapter 9 probably doesn’t help.

Luce always haggles, even if it’s about how much distance Aegon has to stay behind her and Jace.

Aegon immediately gets bored of guard duty. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some form of ADHD: Impulsive, restless, moody, hyperfixation (usually on Jace, but he can get really into his sleuthing).

Hypersexuality sometimes occurs after trauma/sexual violence, hence Jace’s uncharacteristic behavior after the garden scene. And knowing Jace, she’s probably (wrongfully) blaming herself somehow for “leading on” the Tyroshi.

Luce heard the Langward knight gossiping about Jace and got upset, then Aemond beat up the knight to make her feel better, as one does.

Court life means people are always going to gossip and run with the most salacious rumor possible, and it reignites Aegon’s desire for a private life, where he and Jace can live according to their own devices without worrying about what other people think. Unless he pulls a Maegor, he can’t do anything to stop the courtiers from acting like courtiers. So he comes up with the Dragonstone solution, but it’s only a temporary solution. As Otto says in Chapter 10, they are inextricably a part of the game, and Aegon and Jace can only hide away in Dragonstone for so long.

When they were kids, Aegon came up with many plans that got them all in trouble, so Luce recognizes the face he makes 😝.

Aegon has a very soldier mindset of “just pack some clothes and leave,” without thinking about how complicated it is to actually pack a princess’ household. Luckily Luce knocks some sense into him!

I don’t know what winter roses are supposed to look like except that they’re blue, but I liked the idea of petals close together huddling for warmth. And I completely made up Valyrian roses. Not sure if they actually came from Valyria or if it’s named just for the appearance.

Despite everything that happened, Jace is STILL WORKING 😭. What else do we expect from a girl who worked on her wedding night, I guess…

KL has a well system (it’s a big deal during Jaehaerys’s reign), but I imagine the public wells and fountains get real dirty real fast, especially in poorer parts of the city. When Jace was at the Garden, I imagine the girls had limited clean water to offer her for drinking and washing because they have to walk pretty far for good water. So Jace is thinking about that as she writes her well cleaning proposal.

I’ve been thinking a while about writing an Otto POV fic, and one of the ideas I jotted down for myself was that Otto is secretly a nerd about public infrastructure and sanitation. Oldtown seems to be a much cleaner and better run city than KL. I like to think about Otto adopting pet projects that make the capital less smelly and dirty. So Otto is naturally a supporter of a well cleaning project, and I’ve mentioned before that he likes Jace. Also he’s very invested in the pregnancy being successful, so he’ll do his part to reduce stressors.

Once again, the key to influencing/manipulating Jace is not by appealing to her own desires, but by appealing to the happiness and well-being of her loved ones. Aegon knows this, and it’s a good thing he adores her too much to use this power for evil.

Aegon’s household is basically just Gyles and Ronnel, so his departure preparations are quick. I’m sure he has personal servants assigned to him who handle his laundry and such, but he probably bribed them years ago to leave him alone so he can have privacy and sneak out. And he became rather self-sufficient in the Stepstones (although as royalty, he would’ve had servants there too for menial stuff), so he doesn’t want anyone helping him dress or shave or bathe or whatnot.

Aemond is such a bro, holding down a knight so Aegon can beat him up 🥲. Aegon knows Jace would disapprove of him breaking someone’s jaw for gossiping so he’s careful not to leave any evidence on his person.

Aegon also knows how to push Aemond’s buttons, so he easily convinces Aemond to join the Dragonstone vacation. Aemond would probably have invited himself anyway once he found out about the guest list.

While Jace has been reducing the governing work she does during pregnancy, Rhaenyra has been doing more of it. In canon, Rhaenyra seems content to isolate herself with her family at Dragonstone, so I carried over that attitude of savoring domestic bliss into this verse. But here, Jace is an overachiever, and I think her example kickstarts Rhaenyra into being more active too. So Rhaenyra has work obligations, and social ones as she’s been ingratiating herself at court again. It would be difficult to pack up her entire household (much larger than Jace and Aegon’s) and disappear to Dragonstone for 2-3 months, so she can’t immediately leave like the kids can.

Like Aegon, Rhaenyra is a bit paranoid now about letting Jace out of her sight. She’s also had a longstanding petty grudge about Jace picking Aegon as her #1, so she strongly disapproves of Aegon’s plan to take Jace away, even though Dragonstone is very close and technically her castle.

Aegon is not what I’d call emotionally mature, and he’s a troublemaker by nature. So he deliberately responds to Rhaenyra with things he knows she’ll hate hearing. And in the end, he forces Rhaenyra’s hand by telling Jace “of course Rhaenyra would love for us to go to Dragonstone” 😇.

Poor Daeron is too pure for Daemon’s Torture 101 class. Meanwhile Joff has an avid clinical interest in human anatomy, and Daemon is having the time of his life. Targ family bonding!

The Tyroshi put a collar on Jace, so Daemon put a collar on him to make things fair.

The Tyroshi knows he’s never going to escape, and he’s already endured an awful amount of torture/mutilation. At this point his goal is to die swiftly, so he tries to provoke Aegon into killing him.

I haven’t 100% decided the Tyroshi’s backstory, but I’m imagining him coming from one of the powerful conclave families in Tyrosh. There was absolutely no need for him to go to Westeros and make money through usury and slavery; he chose to because he thought it’d be fun to “get one over” the Targaryens by conducting a trafficking ring in their own capital (I imagine Tyrosh having an ancestral hatred of Valyrians, even though a lot of their culture was inherited from them as a result of being part of their empire). Just in case it wasn’t clear what kind of sadistic sociopathic person he is.

Joff has been brooding a lot about Laenor’s death ever since they found Old Willow, and now her guilt is carrying over into recent events with Jace.

We will learn more about the wet nurse in Aegon’s memory in future fics 👀. She calls him “Uncrowned One” because in this verse, he’ll be another Aegon the Uncrowned.

“Three children you shall have with your wife, black or green or something in between.” In canon, Aegon has three kids with Helaena. In this verse…well, I feel like I’ve dropped a lot of foreshadowing about him and Jace 😊. “In between” refers to how there isn’t a strong black/green divide in this verse, but there’s a new faction (gold) that includes people on both sides.

“All of them shall break like your legs and wings.” In canon, all of Aegon and Helaena’s children die terribly, and Aegon and Sunfyre end up crippled. In this verse, there is a close call during Cheeseball’s birth; if the maester and midwives had chosen to save Jace, the process for extracting a stuck baby is really gruesome.

“Unless you keep this little shadow close to the sun.” Jace has gotten a lot of sun imagery in this fic, and Joff is kinda obviously the shadow. It’s because of Joff’s intervention that the birth ends well. So there’s a way to avoid the “broken” part of the prophecy, but the condition must be met.

Aegon is a skeptic when it comes to witchcraft and prophecy, but there’s a reason his subconscious brings to the memory at this moment. Don’t leave Joff behind!

Aemond finds it extremely undignified that Vhagar, the largest dragon in the world and a veteran of multiple military conflicts, has been relegated to delivering baggage.

The stained dancing slippers that Jace finds in her room at Dragonstone are the same slippers that someone (Luce) accidentally ruins in Chapter 3 of the Handbook.

Valyria is strongly inspired by Classical Greece and Rome, so I decided to give them Roman-style bathhouses, which were often decorated with mosaics and has a hot room, warm room, and cold room. The Targs (or whoever built the castle) imported this to Dragonstone, and the volcano means they can get hot water very easily. Aegon was in the guest quarters last time he visited so this is his first time seeing the family bathhouse.

Some commenters suggested that Luce and Aemond are probably canoodling during their trips to the Dragonmont. There might be some of that going on, but Aemond is a huge dragon nerd, so I can imagine him geeking out about exploring the Dragonmont while Luce is disgruntled about him being oblivious to her attempts to make out 😂.

Gerardys is hoping that Jace will be OK with him and the midwives helping her by the time it’s time to give birth. But in case she isn’t OK, he decides to put one of the Targ girls on a midwifery fast-track. He picks Baela because she’s the strongest of the bunch, and acting as a midwife can be very physically exhausting.

Meanwhile, the mysterious bangs in the tower are Joff and Daeron trying to figure out ways to light the glass candle. This involves blowing up some stuff along the way.

Hyrkoon the Hero is part of ASOIAF lore, one of the potential alternative names for Azor Ahai. I decided that he’s the main character in quite a few fairy tales/myths, and every hero needs a sidekick. I invented the sidekick Santus the Swine by combining a half-pig character in Chinese folklore and Don Quixote’s Sancho Panza (whose name is supposedly derived from the Latin Sanctus), and it wasn’t until afterwards that I thought about the Pink Dread (which never happened in this universe because Jace stopped Aegon). I guess Aemond really can’t escape the pig references in any universe 🐷.

Anyway, Aegon’s really lucky he didn’t get himself and baby Jace killed when he shoved their wagon down their stairs. And Jace not being cut by the Iron Throne is a sign, maybe??? 👀👀👀 And yes, there is much symbolism in little Aegon helping baby Jace climb up the throne 🥺.

Chapter 8 commentary here

[doc42]

“But that’s not how the story goes.” (Second verse, same as the first)

“Then guard the king,” Ser Jon Darry snapped at him. “When you donned that cloak, you promised to obey.”

Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “When this battle’s done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but … well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return.”

“We shall talk when I return.”

“We shall talk when I return.”

And perhaps Rhaegar felt he will return because he saw Daenerys in a vision when she ventured into the House of the Undying long years after he went to the Trident.

Viserys, was her first thought the next time she paused, but a second glance told her otherwise. The man had her brother's hair, but he was taller, and his eyes were a dark indigo rather than lilac. "Aegon," he said to a woman nursing a newborn babe in a great wooden bed. "What better name for a king?" "Will you make a song for him?" the woman asked. "He has a song," the man replied. "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire." He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany's, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door. "There must be one more," he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. "The dragon has three heads." He went to the window seat, picked up a harp, and ran his fingers lightly over its silvery strings. Sweet sadness filled the room as man and wife and babe faded like the morning mist, only the music lingering behind to speed her on her way.

But that only happened because Daenerys ventured into the House of the Undying, defying concerns and fears of her entourage, so... Did she in some small way bring about her and Jon Snow’s destinies, “the Song of Ice and Fire”, when she looked back? 

Rhaegar himself was following an older vision already, the dream of Aegon the Dragon and the Song of Ice and Fire, but a drop in an ocean... that vision must’ve made him more certain that he is on the right path because we know it had this most tantalizing quality of dreams: it was true.

Bran closed his eyes and slipped free of his skin. Into the roots, he thought. Into the weirwood. Become the tree. For an instant he could see the cavern in its black mantle, could hear the river rushing by below. Then all at once he was back home again. Lord Eddard Stark sat upon a rock beside the deep black pool in the gods wood, the pale roots of the heart tree twisting around him like an old man's gnarled arms. The greatsword Ice lay across Lord Eddard's lap, and he was cleaning the blade with an oilcloth. "Winterfell, " Bran whispered. His father looked up. "Who's there?" he asked, turning ... ... and Bran, frightened, pulled away. His father and the black pool and the godswood faded and were gone and he was back in the cavern, the pale thick roots of his weirwood throne cradling his limbs as a mother does a child. A torch flared to life before him. "Tell us what you saw." From far away Leaf looked almost a girl, no older than Bran or one of his sisters, but close at hand she seemed far older. She claimed to have seen two hundred years. Bran's throat was very dry. He swallowed. "Winterfell. I was back in Winterfell. I saw my father. He's not dead, he's not, I saw him, he's back at Winterfell, he's still alive." "No," said Leaf. "He is gone, boy. Do not seek to call him back from death." "I saw him." Bran could feel rough wood pressing against one cheek. "He was cleaning Ice." "You saw what you wished to see. Your heart yearns for your father and your home, so that is what you saw."

How cruel of the Undying to then show Dany the slaying of Rhaegar that made her what she is, a reincarnation of his fire, just as they proved they could bend time just so Dany and him could touch eyes with each other.

Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman's name. . .  mother of dragons, daughter of death . . .

He saw Dany standing there at the other end of time and he thought he was seeing Visenya, the third and the last head of the dragon he was trying to bring back from the mists of distant past, with a baby dragon on her shoulder, and he knew the dragons will return... and perhaps when he went to the Trident he thought he will see them again.

But that’s not how the story goes.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Okay, I Am Still spoilers under the cut. Let's do this.

Oh boy, that was something.

Seeing Jungkook made me so happy and at peace. His bright smile makes me happy. I felt so much love for him, so real and deep that it's surreal I feel that way and that my love for him has grown so much throughout chapter 2 - and that I've loved him for 5 years now... When the first Golden performance was played, I really felt so serene and present. I wanted to close my eyes. My problems felt so far away and I was grateful to be alive and to be alive at the same time as Jungkook. I often think this, but as long as Jungkook is happy, then at least one person I really love is okay, and that makes living a little bit easier. So I often plead to myself for him to be happy and have a happy ever after (as much as possible in a world where sickness and death are guaranteed). So, thank you, Jungkook, for every bit of comfort and happiness you give me, and for filling my heart when I feel that it is so hollow. I'm so proud of you. I was so proud seeing your journey.

I was also so moved at the end of the movie... Magic Shop played, then the black screen thanking Army showed up (tears), followed by Jungkook shaving his hair for the military... His hairstylist cried... It was sweet and sad, I love how much everyone loves Jungkook. He hugged his hairstylist was sweetly and acted bravely. And then Jimin showed up and Jungkook acted silly for him... The doc ended. with Jungkook making a funny face... It felt very Jungkook. It left me feeling happy, sad, grateful, touched, and overwhelmed all at once.

I guess the documentary also made me feel bad for how critical I am of him. It's just my nature. I feel things very deeply or very shallowly...

Now, other thoughts and criticism:

Most of the doc was rather underwhelming. I paid too much to see something that could've been available for free on YT. It had about the same quality as LSRF's docs tbh. They could've hired a really good producer instead.

I get the story they were telling, but it left much to be desired. The timeline was all over the place, and they overall showed very little given the material they must have. They could've dug so much deeper and shown so much more of Jungkook - which is what I believe he probably wanted. They showed so much old footage, like some of his performances and interviews. It was all about showing his success, talent, and perseverance. That's great and all, but it doesn't make the doc insightful or new.

I wanted to really see the process of creating Golden. Not just him recording stuff and traveling the world, but discussing the songs, the MVs. Why did he release the explicit version of Seven - what was that discussion like? Why he decide on collabs? How did he choose the songs? Why did he decide to make an English album after 3D - was it an easy choice or was he unsure about it? Did he give his input on the MVs? The doc doesn't answer these questions or truly show the decision-making process behind Golden, behind Seven, 3D, and SNTY. So it's less about Golden, and more about Jungkook's growth. I guess Golden is only about Jungkook proving something, but they could've done more, dug deeper, showed more of Golden since the doc is marketed as a "making of" Golden.

Still, it did show candid and very Jungkook-like moments and how his confidence in himself grew. It showed what his goals were, and I really relate to what he said about not knowing what the end goal is but that at least he's learning. I also don't know what I want my career to be yet, but I'm learning stuff and hopefully I'll figure it out.

I just expected more substance. Showing him perform and being interviewed was unnecessary. We've already seen all of that. Some performances and interview moments are fine, but there were too many imo. I also didn't like the quotes from some of the producers. Tbh, Jungkook would've made a much better documentary than Hybe. I was still satisfied in the end though.

On another note, I witnessed the Taekook effect for the first time irl. Some fans started yelling when V showed up - they either love V or Taekook, or both. No one really reacted with Jimin or Jikook...

This was my first time seeing BTS on the big screen. I'd never done it previously because I don't want to give Hybe money and because it didn't feel worth it. I was also very afraid of watching it with other Armys. I expected fans to yell when JK appeared shirtless, which they did, and they laughed and cooed a bit too much, but overall fans were quiet. Thankfully. That had been my biggest concern... The Portuguese just can't be bothered with anything.

Speaking of Portuguese, I paid 11 Euros for a movie that was translated into Brazilian Portuguese? I never thought an official movie would be shown in Portuguese from Brazil in Portugal. It is not the same as Portuguese from Portugal. A lot of the translation sounded off.

Anyway... what did you guys think? I have to eat now before I pass out. I'm so weak my arms and legs are tingling. And I bit all my nails during the doc because I was hungry lmao.

Edit: Forgot to add that beginning the doc with baby pictures of Jungkook was too cute. Also, I loved all the moments of Jungkook Jungkooking. Cause of death: Jungkook and his big, pretty eyes, and cute mannerisms, and perfect heart.

[pinkpinkmermayyy]

I finally watched Wish. And I gotta say, it's not as bad as people say it is. Don't get me wrong, it's not good by any means. But it's still not so awful I felt frustrated and sick to my stomach after watching it. But it's also not so bad it's good to the point where it becomes a guilty pleasure for me like the live-action Bratz movie. It's just...bad. But not horrible. It had potential. It COULD'VE been good if the writers actually gave a single damn, and knew what they were doing. Or, alternatively, if they simply spent a few more hours on the damn movie. But alas, they did not, and since we're in the bad timeline, this is what we got. The music is what really weighs it down, with just about every song being meaningless, badly-written, and having terrible grammar/confusing metaphors that don't hold up under a microscope or even make any sense at all, really. The only thing stopping them from being completely insufferable is the fact that the actors are legitimately good singers, making it a crying shame that none of them weren't given better material to work with.

The characters themselves, though, are unfortunately very boring, one-dimensional, and contradictory/confusing in their writing. The setting, plot, and worldbuilding are all very bland and haphazard as well, to the point where I actually laughed out loud during the climactic scene at the end where the king brutalizes Asha with his evil magic. It was that ridiculous! The side characters, both human, animal, and star, were all boring and pointless(except for the Star ig) and I really have a bone to pick with Gabo especially. He goes from thinking that Asha killed her family(for no reason, mind you) to shaming Simon for being a bad friend and betraying Asha to the king, both in the SAME SCENE!!! It's like...all of the characters are this inconsistent honestly.

And I don't buy that people would be happy to "forget without regret" when it comes to their wishes. It just makes no sense to me. The writers should've come up with a better excuse for why the people of Rosas put their faith in the wishing system rather than "they forget what they wanted in the first place but are totally all right with that!" especially when Asha acts like this is a new revelation. Like come on, guys, you work at Disney! Give us something! But they gave us nothing. Because they are lazy. A shame.

Also the costumes in this movie were boring and bland af, and everything was really monochrome and lifeless. It definitely fails in comparison to the costume designs in Encanto, The Princess and the Frog, and even Tangled. Everything just feels so dull, cheap, lazy, and uninspired. Though I do like Asha's design aside from her outfit, she is very pretty and it's sad what this movie does to her. This movie in short didn't feel like a Disney 100 Anniversary. In fact, it didn't even feel like a Disney movie at all. It felt like a student film that was inspired by Disney, or like those direct to video films made for really little kids that have a low budget and even lower-quality CGI. Just a massive disappointment. I'm afraid that Disney is no longer the gold standard of animation that it used to be. Oh well. 😔

this is what really ticks me off about wish. I would be fine if it was just terrible if it ended up not being amazing or even good, but it’s mediocre. And that drives me INSANE because I see so much potential in the story and characters and the villains but they just let it bite the dust and left us with this infuriatingly mediocre movie that was supposed to be the 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL FOR DISNEY! That’s supposed to be something fantastical and amazing and have that wow factor but it’s just so bland and it makes me angry. Also the fact that it was originally supposed to be traditionally animated but they changed that also makes my blood boil.

[cherrylng]

2001 'Origin of Symmetry' Interview - Matthew Bellamy [CROSSBEAT Muse Special Book]

"You're playing mellow songs all the time, and then suddenly you can't help but explode and play the heavier stuff, because you keep doing the same thing and you get bored of it."

2001 interview revealing the background to Origin of Symmetry. Interview by Akiko Mima

The quality and scale of the songs on 'Origin of Symmetry' have improved dramatically. Some of the songs were already performed live when you came to Japan last year, so the songwriting process seems to have gone smoothly, but what was the most difficult part? 「For this album, it was difficult to manage the equipment and decide on the recording method. There were so many options. We ended up mostly sticking to a simple three-piece band format, because we got confused with too many instruments and equipment. 'Megalomania' and 'Space Dementia' are big, heartfelt compositions, and we struggled to find a good way to reproduce them with just three people. Especially as we did most of it on piano and the harmonies were quite complex.」

Yes. This time around, you made a new attempt in terms of sound-making, actively incorporating synths, piano and strings. Is this because you wanted to broaden your sound without sticking to a three-piece rock band? 「We want to break the limits of a three-piece band. Especially when I write songs, I'm half piano, half guitar, and I want to somehow incorporate that into the album. Of course, I also love bands like Ben Folds Five, and I want to show that a three-piece doesn't necessarily have to be guitar-oriented.」

What do you think is the difference between the first album and the new one? 「Well, I think it's that we're more confident. We've become more sure of our skills as musicians. Overall, we're sounding more like a three-piece band.」

The combination of your emotional vocals with the overall intense guitar sound of "Bliss", "Space Dementia" and "Plug In Baby" is impressive, but what is it that drives you to such intense emotions? 「Maybe it's that……. Uh, what's that? (laughs)…… Ah, yes. I think that people today have a vague fear that something is wrong with humanity, compared to people in the past. They have a premonition that in another 100 or 200 years there will be fatal environmental destruction or disasters, don't they? Young people are using all kinds of things as a medium to connect with other people in this situation. I also have the feeling that I need to be more connected to the world, and I think I'm driven by that. I'm not very good at conveying messages, but one thing I can say is that using too many words can be intimidating. So I'd rather stimulate people with music than with words. I want to make people realise the connection between people through sound.」

But usually artists want to express themselves first. Is that not quite the same thing? 「I don't think I can give you a definite answer, but the name of the band "Muse" was also given with the intention of inspiring people to be creative in the world…… Maybe (laughs). For me, music is a way of expressing what I can't communicate in my everyday life.」

What is it that you wanted to achieve with this album? 「It wasn't a very difficult idea. I just wanted to make life a bit better (laughs). I just wanted to make a better album than the last one, that kind of thing. There was no big concept, just a constant expansion of our knowledge of what was going on around us. Especially making this album, I learnt a lot about music and myself. Touring and meeting new people has also been very informative. I just want to keep absorbing information.」

What does the album title 'Origin of Symmetry' mean? 「It has to do with the artwork. There are about 15 artists involved, each doing something in a different form. It could be a two-dimensional painting or a three-dimensional statue. But they are all given a common theme. That's 'bringing order to chaos'. In other words, finding symmetry in chaos. It's the same with the songs, there are different styles, but the basic idea is the same. The title also ties in with my idea of "consciousness". For me, "consciousness" is the evolution of all elements. When objects are broken into incredibly fine particles in the Big Bang, they eventually make up the nucleus. When the nucleus becomes conscious, it becomes an atom. The atoms go back and forth violently with each other and eventually build elements. This process repeats itself and eventually evolves into planets and stars. The countless stars in the night sky were originally one star that exploded a long time ago. When you think about it, you realise that in the very beginning all the planets and stars were united under one consciousness. That's why, I think, humanity is in a violent collision with each other, i.e. in a state of chaos.」

I think the vibrant and dynamic sound of the new album is the result of repeated live performances. Muse is a band that places a lot of importance on live shows - what is the stage like for you? 「It's where I can feel myself as I am. I'm also happy to be able to present myself to so many people. Especially when you live in a city surrounded by a lot of people, you tend to become closed off, don't you? So it's fun to be able to expose myself freely on stage. Especially when you have friends close to the stage, you can be more honest with yourself. I think everyone does something similar in their own way.」

Yes. I also think that Muse's music is characterised by 'strange contrasts'. Within a single song, movement and stillness, hope and despair, light and shadow, heat and cold coexist. When you write songs, are you always aware that there are two sides to things, or multiple sides? 「Maybe I am. I don't know if it's completely conscious. At least not intentionally. But I do think that life is always about how you reconcile between the poles. In any case, I'll be playing mellow songs all the time, for example, and then suddenly I explode and I can't stop playing heavy stuff. Sometimes I mix mellow and heavy in one song. If you keep doing the same thing, you get bored of it.」

I see. And one more thing. I think there is always a sense of "pain" behind the intensity of Muse's sound. 「It's not "pain", it's me in an extreme state. Otherwise, it's the result of pushing my body to the limit using my emotions. Some people might see it as "pain", but for me it's the greatest pleasure. Well, it's not so much pleasure, it's more like a great emotional experience. I can't say it well. No, I can say it, but I'm embarrassed. For example, let's say I'm having the ultimate sex (laughs). It's the greatest pleasure, but if a child who doesn't understand sex sees it, it's just pain. What you see in music is also an extreme state of enjoyment for me.」

Yeah, yeah (laughs). Even in the song structures, many of the songs start off calmly, but then change key and become hard. Are you trying to express that kind of worldview in these songs too? 「I don't know. I wonder if it's just a quirk? (laughs) It's true that it's something that's inside me. In the end I'm making a sound that I find interesting, and that sound is somewhere between calm and extreme.」

Well, you go from calm to angry quite often, don't you (laughs). I wondered if it was the same for you, by any chance. 「Yes, of course, there are times when I feel limited by my physical condition or social situation. I just don't know the specific cause. I'll have to think about it next time (laughs).」

Considering when you started out in music, how do you think you have changed as a songwriter? 「Hmmm. I think I've gradually become more open than before. I'm no longer ashamed to be honest. In the beginning, I was worried about whether what I was sending out was reaching listeners in a meaningful way, but now I'm more satisfied with myself as I am.」

With the saturation of various technologies and methodologies, the concept of 'rock' is also changing, isn't it? Radiohead are a band who have found a new way of life for rock by dismantling the conventions of rock, what do you think of their kind of methodology? 「In the end, we're all human beings in the same way. Some of them use music as a tool to communicate their thoughts. But it doesn't matter what technology, equipment or style you use to communicate. What is important is the emotion in the music. People create different styles. Not only music, but also religions are very diverse. But the reality is that the world is now integrating so many different cultures that categorisation is becoming less and less meaningful. Whether you are a Christian or a Hindu, you are looking for the same thing. It's the same with music. Even if a band's style of music suddenly changes, you have to understand that it's still the same people who are making it.」

As for Muse, are you aiming to create a sound that will be ahead of its time? 「(laughs) I'm still too afraid to talk about that. Hehehe.」

Or is it always the individual listener that you are aiming for? 「Yes. I want to value the individual. I just want to keep making good music, but I don't want to be famous for it. In any case, any band that says they want to make a sound that's ahead of its time is going to be ridiculed by their listeners.」

"I genuinely believe that there can't be a new sound, that we're just taking what's been ingrained in us for thousands of years and mixing it with what's old."

Hahaha. But artists are all about "new", aren't they? They want to keep evolving, rather than going back to tradition. 「I think the 'new' is just a mixture of the old and the modern. Tomorrow, a new pianist might emerge and people might say that his style is innovative, but in fact it's a style that's been used for hundreds of years. Of course, it's important to keep learning new things to feed yourself. But I believe that there can never be anything genuinely new. I think it's always just a mix of old stuff. You're inheriting something that's been ingrained for thousands of years somewhere. If you try to trace the origin, it will be chaos, a big mess.」

Translator's Note: I've spent 2 days scanning more magazines to be uploaded onto my hard drive. Still quite a lot to go through, really.

[the-musical-cc]

A HANDY GUIDE TO KNOWING WHICH FRANKELDA ENGLISH DUB YOU ARE WATCHING BY SOMEONE WHO'S GONE THROUGH BOTH:

It's been brought to my attention that some, ahem, unofficial streaming sites have the old english dub done in what was likely a severe time crunch by a studio that... wasn't really prepared for the task back in 2021, rather than the new and improved one released at the beginning of this month, which results in people meeting excitement over the english version with puzzlement and even indignation having experienced the former rather than the latter.

Here's a few pointers to help you spot which one you're watching:

Titles. @figmentedjedi brought it up in a post already but the 2023 dub has Frankelda herself read it where the old one has Herneval do it.

2023 dub has inserts for anything shown in screen that is written in spanish and otherwise incomprehensible without translation, included the titles of the stories Frankelda reads.

New dub consistently and constantly misses loops and just leaves characters flapping without anything coming out. The best example to this is Nemo's counter during the Gnome's song, where he's very clearly singing but nothing can be heard.

This is where the whole 'Old dub didn't really have any involvement or even revision of the Ambriz Brothers' comes in stronger but you know how the show's title is 'Frankelda's Book of Spooks'? Well, there they call the creatures in her stories 'Scares' for reasons I still can't discern, my best guess is they didn't really have any quality control on board with the project. Long story short, if they say 'Scares', it's the old dub.

If El Coco calls himself 'Boogaboo' and is autotuned AF in his song, you're watching the old dub. New dub has him introducing himself with both El Coco and The Boogeyman and has the same voice actor that voiced him in spanish doing the song. Trust me, it's night and day.

I feel kinda bad about pointing this out because I still insist the actors in the old dub seem to me to have been doing the best they could with what they'd been handed and this seems to have been completely on the production... but the english in the old one is rather clumsy. To be clear, in order to translate from spanish to english, you are often better off pretty much rewriting the sentence AFTER having understood it in it's entirety because the grammar and even the sentence structure can be vastly different between one another, so translating literally and word by word often results in complete nonsense or at least very, very awkward wording both from english to spanish and viceversa. This wasn't done here and it results in a lot of times where understanding what was said takes you a bit because the structure of the sentence was all wonky.

That aside, grammar as a whole wasn't as thoroughly consulted as it could have been. So there's quite a bit of fumbles. The ones I remember the most is the Mermaid saying 'All these innocent childs' and Nemo saying 'Chores' instead of 'Homework' (Tarea can both mean homework and stuff you do around the house so that was probably where they got confused) The new dub is a lot more competent in this aspect.

This one's more of a nitpick I guess but in the old dub they have no idea whatsoever of how to pronounce some of the kids' names. Tere becomes Terry, Uli becomes Julie.

They also call Pan de Muerto 'Bread of the Dead', which... it's not that it's bad but who even calls it that? We don't call Croissants 'Crescent moons' so I see no reason to, and if you have no idea what Pan de Muerto is, that name makes it sound unpleasantly like something made FROM dead people. 'Day of the dead bread', which is used in the new dub is not only clearer to what it IS, something that is consumed in the Day of the Dead, but they use it alongside the original name because that IS its name. I never understand when dubs want to completely erase the cultural identity of what they are representing, and they did a wonderful job going around that in the 2023 dub where the old one even calls them 'Breadrolls' at one point.

This is where I insist the actors at least had some idea of what they were doing for the most part but the old dub adds some reactions that were never there for the original latam track and weren't put in the new one either.

Both Totolina and Francisca's grandma in the old dub sound like they're trying for a really posh british accent (Which is hilarious in context, as it was Francisca's DAD who came from... I wanna say Cornwall as it seems more likely given the time period and provided lore, but her mother's side of the family are locals to Hidalgo.) where the new dub has a very neutral english. She is also voiced by Debra Wilson, and particularly 'You can transform', the witches' song, takes full advantage of her range and energy.

This one's even a little bit obvious but the new dub was released with a visual remaster, making it so the old dub is only available with the old visuals. The newer one is, then, only available with the remaster. Here's a couple of pics for comparison of one of the moments where it's the most evident.

Pre-Remaster:

Post-Remaster.

Finally (And this should make it a lot easier.) the songs are wildly different between one version and another, and you can reference what the new dub versions are easily because they've been posted both on Spotify and Youtube under the Water Tower Music account and the Frankelda's Book of Spooks topic. If the songs don't have those lyrics, then you're watching the old dub, simple as that.

Hope this helps and happy watching! Do watch the original with subs if it's at all possible because, I insist, it's amazing.

[ccchloister]

It's so strange how the problems that come with existing online have forced me to find words to explain concepts that I assumed were mostly universal. I thought knowledge, talent, expertise, hard work and persistence were skills that were valuable and should be encouraged in everyone. A.I. has taught me otherwise.

A.I. might as well stand for Anti-Intellectualism, because that's the spirit behind the excitement. It literally takes the skill and labor out of skilled labor. Learning is being treated like an inconvenience, a problem to be eliminated in the name of efficiency. Entire disciplines are being treated as grand sacrifices in the name of mass production and instant gratification.

Why does art need to be efficient? It's not food. It's not medicine. It's not shelter. How fast are people shoveling content into their gob that between social media, streaming, and physical media, it's still not enough? Technology has already pushed creators to pumping out content at an unhealthy and unnatural rate just to try to appease social media algorithms. Now that same output is being used to train new algorithms to pump it out even faster while cutting creators out entirely. It’s sick and cruel. And instead of this exploitation being treated like an injustice that needs to be corrected, I'm told "It's inevitable. Adapt or die. Don't put your work online if you don't want it taken", delivered either with condescending pity, callous apathy, or malicious glee.

If A.I. fans aren't taking the "hardened pragmatic realist" approach, then they are shallowly aping socialist ideas, blaming capitalism for exploitation, not the tech. A very "guns don't kill people, people kill people" take. Just because exploitation of creatives is not a new concept doesn't mean A.I. isn't responsible for making it INFINITELY WORSE. They’ve also decided that people shouldn't be pursuing art and knowledge for the sake of profit and that the skilled creators trying to protect their labor are greedy, elitist gatekeepers trying to keep art from "the common man" (because creatives aren't the common man, apparently). It's that same resentment and distrust of experts that's typical of anti-intellectualism, except creative fields are in this weird place where they aren't even respected the way STEM is, so there's an extra layer of belittling and disrespect to the othering. Consumers feel entitled to art, but they don't understand how it's made, and they definitely don't respect it as a discipline.

The glut of creative content available for "the common man" to consume has never been greater or more accessible, but it's still not enough. It's not enough to just consume art. They want ownership. They want the sense of accomplishment that comes from making something, without having actually *made* it. And despite their finger-wagging at creatives wanting to protect their careers, they also want to make some money. Etsy is flooded with A.I. prints, kindle is filled with A.I. books, spotify is loaded with A.I. songs. There’s even A.I. kickstarters. Along with replacing writers and animators, CEOs want to replace actors, voice actors, and models with simulacrums they can make do whatever they want, forever, and A.I. fans are hoping they'll be the ones hired to facilitate that process. Even without actively profiting, A.I. still devalues the work of skilled laborers. Why commission a skilled artist when for 15 dollars you can buy a machine that will give you infinite works of the same or better quality, instantly? Do you have faith in consumers to prioritize ethics over convenience? Do you think it's right and fair and good to make compensating skilled creators an act of charity rather than a necessity?

A.I. users overestimate their contribution to the final product, thinking their idea is so unique and their vision so strong, that of course they should claim ownership… conveniently ignoring all the infinite little decisions A.I. made for them based off the knowledge and fine motor skills of millions of artists. It's like they think fully realized Good Ideas are a natural resource waiting to be excavated, and traditional creators had the unfair advantage of pickaxes, physical strength and a knowledge of geology to find the rich veins. Now A.I. is providing scanners and and powerful machinery so "the common man" doesn't need strength or knowledge to quickly mine those same veins first.

But that's not what art is, and that's not how creation works. Art is communication. Imagination is fostered through life experience, observation and processing information with your human brain. It's something every living person could do, because every person is unique with unique life experiences. Creation is practice, study, experimentation, problem solving, and adapting to limitations. There is nothing stopping anyone from doing these things. Natural ability has been grossly overvalued: most people with "talent" were not making hyper-realistic paintings at 13 like Picasso. What happens is a child shows a slight aptitude, the adults in their life notice and give them positive reinforcement, and then they are motivated and encouraged to pursue that interest. So instead of treating the naturally talented as having an unfair advantage, why not blame the adults in your life for not encouraging your interests at a young age. Or if you want to be brutally honest, blame yourself for not pursuing your interests despite a lack of external validation. You have agency.

I try to imagine, what is an A.I. fan's idea of a perfect future? One where no one has any advantages that another person doesn't, where "everyone's special so no ones special"? Where all labor is automated and no one has to do anything they don't want to and everyone spends their infinite free time bettering themselves for it's own sake rather than for money? Every time they mention the evils of capitalism and how we need universal basic income and other ideas of a post-work society it makes me want to pull my hair out. We don't *have* those things. We aren't even close to those things. So it is functionally useless to factor that into your argument. Who is Tech to use A.I.'s elimination of thousands of jobs in non-Tech industries as a bargaining chip to try and incentivize the government to create safety nets for those displaced? Since when has your government prioritized it's citizens over corporations? Have proponents always been this naive, or only when trying to assuage concerns over the consequences of their new toy?

Even if we did achieve that techie utopia, what makes them think most people will use their free time productively, exercising their brain for it's own sake? Because speaking for myself, I can have every good intention of using my time to create and learn, but those things frequently lose out to short term, dopamine-driven feedback loops like social media and video games. Without any external incentives, I guarantee far less people will pursue learning for its own sake if the knowledge-based roles that keep society functioning are filled by machines. Think of how we've had to reintroduce exercise into are lives just for exercise's sake. Hows that going? Again, speaking for myself as an overweight person: Not Great. I might intellectually know physical fitness is important, but the difficulty and unenjoyable nature of exercise and the benefits not being immediate and obvious means it frequently loses out to activities I do enjoy. I know not everyone is like me, but many, many people are. Now replace physical fitness with cognitive abilities. Abilities that require work, who's benefits are totally abstract, and would be wholly unnecessary for living in an A.I dependent society. If that doesn't give you chills up your spine, then you must stand to benefit from a culture of stupidity that's hopelessly dependent on tech. And I hate you.

No ones going to read all this.

[eyeforabargain]

how do you feel about the new live action remake? a lot of people are saying melissa and halle are better than original you and ariel and people are starting to forget about the animated

//I had Ursula answer a question about Melissa in character a few posts back, so I'm gonna answer this one with my own opinion, and then I'm not touching this movie ever again.

I personally gave up on Disney live action remakes a while ago. Up through the 2019 Lion King, I tried to watch them all so that I could "keep up" and have an "informed opinion" with which to critique them. However, I realized after Aladdin and The Lion King were so demoralizingly bad that I was basically force feeding myself content that brought me no joy and just made me feel bad inside. It wasn't healthy, it wasn't worth my time or money, and tbh I know enough to have an informed opinion about any Disney live action remake without engaging with it.

So all that to say that I have not watched the live action Little Mermaid and I will not be watching it either. I've heard bad to mediocre things about it from trusted people I know who have seen it. From the clips I've seen on YouTube and my TikTok fyp, Melissa McCarthy BUTCHERED Ursula and Halle Bailey seems like she's just there for exposure to launch her singing career rather than actually being a decent actress with any investment in the character. The things they kept in the remake sound like they were done shoddily compared to the original, and the things they added (like the siren voice thing and the Awkwafina Scuttle song) were bad ideas from the word GO.

And that's the thing about these live action remakes - they're always every single time a mediocre retelling of a much better animated movie that rips off the older film while also simultaneously being shady and taking shots at the originals based on dumb internet nitpicks people had. That's all of them, and from everything I've seen and heard, that was this movie too. I know people wanted this one to be better and different because it had diverse casting and good representation. However, I think people went to bat for it for understandable political reasons without waiting to see the quality of the film and now that it's out and it's doing the exact same mediocre shit that the other live action remakes did, everyone is trying to bend over backwards to create a narrative about it being the huge success and big moment for representation that they thought it would be based on the casting. But there's only so much mileage that has before the recency bias fades away, and quite frankly, even if "representation" is the only end goal, we deserve better representation than this.

So I don't think this movie is ever going to replace the original or that people are going to forget about the original. It's just brand new right now and Disney's pouring millions into marketing this movie right now, but ultimately we know the fate of this movie because we've seen the fate of 2015 Cinderella, 2017 Beauty and the Beast, 2019 Aladdin, 2019 The Lion King, 2020 Mulan, and so on - they have their moment, they fade out in a few months, people forget about them, and Disney goes right back to promoting the animated line up. This one might hold on a BIT longer because it makes Disney look better in the Representation Matters department, but tbh I don't think it'll last for much longer either.

Jodi Benson IS Ariel. Pat Carroll IS Ursula. They originated those roles, and nothing will ever take that away. Halle and Melissa are just their sloppy seconds, unfortunately. And at the end of the day, I'm a firm believer in Walt Disney's ethos of "quality will win out." This soulless cash grab of a movie won't be the last one standing no matter how much money Disney throws at it.

[somecallmejohn]

Random thoughts on Wish

Since I generally make lots of posts about Wish, either because of something I thought or cause of an ask, I thought I’d share some random thoughts that I’ve either shared before or that I don’t feel like they deserve their own posts

It’s the first animated movie in a long time whose Greek dub I really liked just as much as the original one. Maybe it’s that I’m older or whatever, but most modern Greek dubs don’t seem to have the quality they once had where the voices just matched the characters and sometime around 2017 and onward I just stopped watching movies in Greek unless I was at the cinema and they stopped showing the subtitled version. Granted Disney movies were usually the only ones with a decent dub and some really good ones like in Luca, Moana and Coco, but still they weren’t the same as the dubs for older movies like Hercules, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin and Mulan whose dubs are so good that I can’t watch them in their original dub and with Wish I often switch from one dub to another. I’d also argue that the Greek version of “This is the thanks I get” is better (sorry Chris Pine)

Speaking of songs, I actually really like the songs in the movie(except for “You’re a star”, I don’t like that one). Granted this movie’s soundtrack isn’t one of the best ones like Encanto’s, Frozen 2’s or Hunchback’s (or literally any from the renaissance movies), but I still like it fine. This wish, this wish(reprise), Knowing What I Know Now and At All Costs are songs I like to relisten to even when I’m not watching the movie

I forking hate Valentino, he’s like if they took Olaf from Frozen 2 and multiplied him 10 times and combined them into one character and he makes way too many butt and fart jokes than there need to be in a Disney movie. If I were to ever do my own rewrite I’d delete him completely.

Id like to remind to the people who prolly weren’t paying attention to the movie (you know who you are) that Asha suggested Magnifico to return the wishes he wasn’t going to grant, she never suggested him to grant them all, she just wanted people to have a chance to make their own dreams come true and not live without the most important part of themselves, because again wishes aren’t just some piece of clothing that you can give away and never miss (despite what she said earlier in the movie because she didn’t know how big their importance was and she just lived believing the partial truth Magnifico gave to the world) but they’re literally part of one’s soul and yes they did give the wishes willingly but under the promise that they would be granted but even if there wasn’t any promise Magnifico withholding the most important part of each citizen of Rosas like he’s some hoarder doesn’t make it any more ethical either and him being (implied) traumatized still doesn’t make what he did right, especially the things he did after he for his ego bruised by a 17 year old. Also before any of his defenders reblog to argue, why don’t you tell me first about how Ariel was a selfish brat who should have paid the consequences of the deal she made and that Ursula was the real hero of The Little Mermaid because she was so kind as to give Ariel a chance to be human.

I’m 70% certain that if the movie was about 20-30 minutes longer, it would have been better as one of the issues I personally saw is that things were happening too fast and plot points felt rushed.

The 7 teens should have had more screen time considering how much they were marketed as well.

I’m fine with the fact that Amaya didn’t end up as a villain, I really like her as she is in the movie.

I think Asha and Starboy work better as a Peter Pan and Wendy type of duo rather than a (movie)Howl and Sophie where there’s an implied romance, but ultimately they’re not meant to end up together but still work great as a duo,

I lowkey wonder why Asha and the teens hang out with Gabo, he doesn’t seem like a fun person to be around with his constant pessimism tbh

I genuinely believe that despite its flaws, it’s not a bad movie

I also believe that in like a decade and a bit, that it’s gonna be looked at more fondly like Treasure Planet, Atlantis and Black Cauldron are

Bazeema and Hal’s designs are so pretty it’s a shame they didn’t have more screentime

Those are enough for now, of if I think of more I might do another one.

[thesinglesjukebox]

KEHLANI -"AFTER HOURS"

We're staying out late tonight...

[6.89]

Katherine St. Asaph: An immaculate vibe, a great hang, a simmering build; the feeling of realizing you'd love to linger indefinitely, transmuted into sound. [8]

Alfred Soto: At ease in ruminative mode, Kehlani hasn't recorded many club bangers these days. The Nina Sky interpolation gets them to shake the mopes, or, rather, coaxes them to put their fluttery wishcasting into a kinetic mode that occasionally suits them. [7]

Taylor Alatorre: "In a room full of strangers... it feels like we're alone." Okay, pretty standard club dichotomy there. So then why would you foreground the former over the latter by turning the chorus into this communal come-hither chant? Makes me feel like I'm being courted by a hive mind or polycule or both. Maybe that's part of the weirdness that comes with adapting the "Coolie Dance" riddim to a song about one-on-one intimacy; it didn't have to be, though. [5]

Jackie Powell: It’s difficult to know Kehlani’s true intent with “After Hours." Are they trying for a dark horse R&B hit with hints of afrobeats? Is this a reggae track? Or are they paying homage to Destiny’s Child? (They released a remix of the song that plops their vocals on top of the instrumental to Destiny’s Child’s “Cater 2 U.”)  Kehlani tries to accomplish all of the above, but it’s hard to say whether they execute. The song features a sample within a sample. The first sound is the percussive rhythm that rose to popularity via Nina Sky’s "Move Ya Body," but that sound is a sample in itself, a beat originally made by Jamaican artist Cordell 'Scatta' Burrell in his song "Coolie Dance Rhythm." "After Hours" could have easily begun after that eight-second sample, which prompts the question as to why they needed it. Were they trying to bring in more mainstream listeners who would recognize the first seconds immediately? It isn’t clear. The track becomes most compelling when Kehlani gets to their refrain and then the subsequent pre-chorus. Kehlani has an overdubbed call and response that builds and builds and is quite sexy, but disappoints by the time the chorus hits. The payoff is weak, and the supposed hook sounds like an extended version of Tyla’s “Water,” especially with the echoing backing vocals that aren’t Kehlani’s. In the original “After Hours,” there is a trace of Destiny’s Child's signature sauce: the harmony on the call-and-response sections. But the “Cater 2 U” remix slows the song’s tempo and completely changes the vibe of the song. Is this a song for the club or for the hotel room they take their lover to the night of the ensuing hookup?  [6]

Ian Mathers: Just a fun, light party track, and I mean that as a compliment. I'm actually kind of glad this only uses the same riddim as "Move Ya Body" instead of interpolating it like the intro made me think might happen. But while I'll be happy to hear this come up on the radio etc., I suspect every time I hear that intro I'm going to be a just a little disappointed it's not Nina Sky. [7]

Jonathan Bradley: There are no shortage of songs in 2024 sampling the hits of the '00s, but Kehlani's Nina Sky flip sounds more like yet another take on the Coolie Dance riddim than nostalgia bait; this is how dancehall is supposed to work. "After Hours" is light and pleasant, with an ingratiating synth line that finds new use for old trop house parts. Kehlani is the least essential part, but they don't need to break a sweat to make this replayable. If it were summer here, I might bump my score up by a point. [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I've long been in favor of Kehlani using as many 2000s R&B samples as possible. This is further vindication — over a vague outline of Nina Sky, they sound like they're having more fun than they have in years; the searing, melodramatic quality of their voice works much better as an invitation to debauchery than, say, a duet partner to Ty Dolla $ign.  [7]

Will Adams: The use of the Coolie Dance riddim is smart; the club is still pumping, but the soft synths and half-stepping bass suggest that closing time is approaching, and there's someone who wants to take you home. That transient moment creates heat for "After Hours," even though I'd rather have that interaction while "Move Ya Body" is playing instead. [6]

Nortey Dowuona: After Cordell and Everton Burrell released the Coolie Dance riddim in 2003, they probably had no idea that 25 artists(!!???) would flood to use it almost immediately, but they did expect it to be successful and used. When he and his brother were their most successful, most of the riddims that were produced were given directly to artists in both reggae and dancehall, who, in exchange for the song, would have "gentleman's agreements" with the producers, who would plow through their equipment to create the riddims yet depended on those agreements to work. Each song was meant for a dub plate, to be performed so the artist could eat. The producer, however, got left in the dust. Khristopher Riddick-Tynes of the Rascals, as well as Alex Goldblatt, who is the co-producer of this sweet little gem, didn't even count Cordell or Everton as producers but merely as songwriters, since they took the riddim from this little gem produced by Lionel Bermingham and Elijah Wells. Cordell does get a songwriting credit and a cameo in the video, as well as Diovanna Frasier, choreographer, and Daniel Church, who can rock a pretty solid Jeremih impression. Now, Kehlani does deliver quite handily in the vocals department (with assistance from Jaycen Joshua and his trusty sidekick, Mike Seaberg), but the creation, completion and delivery of one of the best songs of the year depends on at least seven other people who you don't know and couldn't pick out of a lineup unless you're a Mixed by the Masters fanboy. They're the ones who create the spellbinding songs we're listening to while we miss last call to keep on talking, and I think they deserve just as much lucre and recognition as the Bay's worst-kept secret. [10]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[taegularities]

Oh I was entertained to the fullest and till the very last devoured the whole thing in one sitting like 🍗💋

Firstly I love it more than before everytime I read your recent works it's just gets better your writing is just getting better with every fic and the whole description just crunchiest shit 🫦🫦 which is so rare to get such quality in this fanfiction community and very few who just do it WE LOVE IT BABE the growth and hard work you put in these ffs so much love and appreciation for you and lots of respect

Personally love this inner monologue of jk's you did in this just OH MY FUCKIN GOD like for a good minute even after knowing he gonna be assy musty bitch I was rooting and feeling for this guy so much.

My thoughts were like okay it's just little insecure narcissistic eittiy bittiy baby boy we are dealing with who is about to get his shit wrecked up and down but DASH 💨 we got some other route I knew it exact the moment Chaos coming when oc mentioned the college and her friend like yes bitch ✨✨✨✨ you are fucked 🤭🤭 we are getting a HIT 🔥🥵 SHOW

And is it bad to say I feel little bad for the unreleased song unfortunate how poor song isn't getting released anytime soon #justicefortheunreleasedsong

WOW LIKE WOW scrumbley delicious smut gosh RID you really outdid yourself with this one just 👩🏻‍🍳🍳 I wanna know how you writing this good smuts lately so much better than some actual publishing authors 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Now coming to the oc's friend I understand her and sympathize her and nor I wanna sound like some completely unsympathetic person BUT !!!! like C'MON GURL HE WAS A CLEAR CUT VISIBLE RED FLAG he put on display of himself and still you went in like your friend is able to see more into your whatever relationship than you at all we clearly DELUSIONALLY BLIND 🦯 too our own goodness but that was very dumb 😭😭 of her I'm sorry like we can't even blame her people even IRL be doing shit like that. I'm not victim Shaming at all like yes what the fucker character of jk did was absolutely disgusting and deserved Karma he got at the end

But how come she never thought of her friend who was constantly there for her like if you would have asked oc to commit murder I'm sure she would have gone all 🤺🤺 not that we support such stuffs 🙅🏻‍♀️ but some 🦨 nasty deserve

Being for real if not legal action she and oc could have pull some smart move revenge prank back on him if only she genuinely listened to oc I don't know I feel bad how she just didn't give much thought and went away so fast after that fuckers bullshit talk

Btw I Love that playlist thingyy you did cherry on top loved how similar taste we share (⁠´⁠ ⁠❥⁠ ⁠`)

And about jk's character dynamic I feel like he always prefer himself in way he chased himself in people from very childhood getting full on best treatment and praise from all side clearly made him little narcissistic and self obsessed with zero expectations of returning back anything to the point he thought of anyone but him and his Chase for more appreciation and undivided love in different people all the time till he get's bored from them when they start asking back for the some love YK which is what we get to see with jangmi like all he wanted was typical love me all you can without wanting back in return till I get board and toss you I'm sure even after all that he keep on doing same shit with others assholes like him never stop any lower

Untill he got faced with something to Chase more just like parallel to his career we can see it's like he wants to something to engage with on constant like a spoiled brat child who is more so anticipated of opening the gift rather than receiving or appreciation of others hope it's all making some sense ⊂⁠(⁠◉⁠‿⁠◉⁠)⁠つ

And I kinda I wish there was more of uglyness from oc's side yes I'm through and through satisfied but still I was wishing more of a femme fatale crazy havco taking place her making him all tangled up in love  and obsession full-on blinded by her to the point he can't still imagine her do something like this just swapping off floor from his feets like ⛽🔥📛👩🏻‍🚒🚒

Really love you appreciate you for putting this out here for us 💖🙏🏻

~🦴🔫 anon

32k in one sitting is insaneeee 😭 omg did i get better? thank you.. as someone with a creative hobby, this is all i could hope for :') gosh, i bet there are so many people out there who are amazing and do even better stuff than i do, but you're so sweet and i'll take the compliment 🥺

glad you liked the jk pov :P he's super secure and insecure about himself at once!! definitely is a narcissistic, whiny baby either way :') yes!! the world missed out on the song bc it was my time, one of the greatest tracks ever made, but what can we do 🤣 THANK YOU FOR LIKING THE SMUT. i am quite proud of it, if i say so myself, like i do think it was one of the better ones i've written so far :D how i'm writing such good smut lately? who'd know 👁 LOL

you right you right, the friend was certainly naive, but i guess that was just part of her personality, you know? like, jangmi was an extremely kind, extremely giving person. she trusted others and she believed in love, she just gave that trust to the wrong person. she hoped she could change him, or make him love her; just a very "oh a bad boy, i can fix him" kinda mistake. oc isn't like that – she sees through people fast.. and she tried to convince jangmi, but love is love and it does make you blind and you only really see the issues once the loved one is gone in one way or another. things would've turned out so differently if she'd listened to her best friend though sigh :') and oh, oc definitely wanted to take legal action! or hurt jk in some way, but jangmi, as someone who really really liked kook, did not want to go that far.. she was not the type of person to take revenge or pull a prank.

hehe okayyy, i put a lot of thought into the playlist!!!! so happy you enjoyed it!! any fav song on it?

yup yup, the top notch treatment he got from his family, and as the younger sibling too, certainly shaped him. made him selfish for sure; for him, nobody is good enough, and he def deffff doesn't expect anything from anyone!! except maybe attention and love, but he won't settle for long enough to actually give anything back. proceeds until he gets bored and then moves to someone else. chasing someone else was new for him, which is why oc intrigued him so much haha she didn't give a shit about his advances :P

yeahhhh, i think oc has a lot more in her than we know, but since the fic was already too long and we didn't see much of her thoughts or anything from her pov, it was a bit hard to go the full femme fatale route 🤣 not sure if he would've ever fallen in love with her, tbh.

i appreciate you so so much, babe!!!! thank you for dropping such a long fkn review??? i'm sorry i got to it so late, but i wanted to give a thought out response. literally, never stop and ily <33333