#Single Review: Sabotage
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thejoyofviolentmovement · 1 year ago
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New Audio: Angry Blackmen Share Woozy "Sabotage"
New Audio: Angry Blackmen Share Woozy"Sabotage" @ANGRYBLACKMEN_ @deathbombarc @pitchperfect
Chicago-based hip-hop duo Angry Blackmen — Quentin Branch and Brian Warren — features members, who individually spent their time stretching their creative arms and tapping into different sounds for a couple of years, before Warren suggested that they collaborate together as a duo towards the end of 2016.  Branch and Warren exploded into the underground and experimental hip-hop scenes with their…
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silverskye13 · 8 months ago
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I don't know why I have a Goodreads
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tskumoyuuma · 1 year ago
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people really need to watch movies outside of hollywood. not every movie needs to have a big satisfying ending where everything is answered and you have no questions. sometimes a movie is more about what happens instead of the end
#personal shizz#so i watched leave the world behind#it was all right#i felt some of the dialogue was stilted in some places#like a lot of 'i didnt like you before but i like you now' and#'we dont agree but this time i agree with you'#like we kno these characters dont get along you dont need to actually tell us#but other than that i think it was interesting#people are upset tho cause of the ending#'they dont spell out exactly how the world is ending and we dont see them reunite#even tho theyr all heading in the same place anyways n all of them r more or less ok. wah wah'#like. idk maybe the point of the movie was how easy it is to be distrusting towards others to the point of self sabotage#and not 'ok but who REALLY is behind this'#anyways. very good acting. the camera work is very nice#always love to see a movie that knows it doesnt have to be still for every single scene n can get funky with it#its not a masterpiece but it is. all right#certainly not a complete waste of 2+ hours i can think of so many movies that are ACTUALLY that#some of these reviews tho man...#'theres no character development' they literally beat u over the head w the character development#see my point about the dialogue#also 'was waiting for it to start but then it finished' WHAT DO U MEAN#it literally 'started' with the fucking boat. what kind of start were you expecting#actual nuclear war ??????#ok i was joking but i really do think thats what these people were expecting#'isnt this about the world ending wheres the complete and utter destruction i was promised'#iv just.. never seen so many audience reviews where the point has completely flown over their heads#so once again i am saying ... watch more non-hollywood movies#watch less blockbusters mayhaps#watch an actual indie movie every once and a while#not that this is an indie movie
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emeryleewho · 8 months ago
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Saw a fun little conversation on Threads but I don't have a Threads account, so I couldn't reply directly, but I sure can talk about it here!
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I've been wanting to get into this for awhile, so here we go! First and foremost, I wanna say that "Emmaskies" here is really hitting the nail on the head despite having "no insider info". I don't want this post to be read as me shitting on trad pub editors or authors because that is fundamentally not what's happening.
Second, I want to say that this reply from Aaron Aceves is also spot on:
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There are a lot of reviewers who think "I didn't enjoy this" means "no one edited this because if someone edited it, they would have made it something I like". As I talk about nonstop on this account, that is not a legitimate critique. However, as Aaron also mentions, rushed books are a thing that also happens.
As an author with 2 trad pub novels and 2 trad pub anthologies (all with HarperCollins, the 2nd largest trad publisher in the country), let me tell you that if you think books seem less edited lately, you are not making that up! It's true! Obviously, there are still a sizeable number of books that are being edited well, but something I was talking about before is that you can't really know that from picking it up. Unlike where you can generally tell an indie book will be poorly edited if the cover art is unprofessional or there are typoes all over the cover copy, trad is broken up into different departments, so even if editorial was too overworked to get a decent edit letter churned out, that doesn't mean marketing will be weak.
One person said that some publishers put more money into marketing than editorial and that's why this is happening, but I fundamentally disagree because many of these books that are getting rushed out are not getting a whole lot by way of marketing either! And I will say that I think most authors are afraid to admit if their book was rushed out or poorly edited because they don't want to sabotage their books, but guess what? I'm fucking shameless. Café Con Lychee was a rush job! That book was poorly edited! And it shows! Where Meet Cute Diary got 3 drafts from me and my beta readers, another 2 drafts with me and my agent, and then another 2 drafts with me and my editor, Café Con Lychee got a *single* concrete edit round with my editor after I turned in what was essentially a first draft. I had *three weeks* to rewrite the book before we went to copy edits. And the thing is, this wasn't my fault. I knew the book needed more work, but I wasn't allowed more time with it. My editor was so overworked, she was emailing me my edit letter at 1am. The publisher didn't care if the book was good, and then they were upset that its sales weren't as high at MCD's, but bffr. A book that doesn't live up to its potential is not going to sell at the same rate as one that does!
And this may sound like a fluke, but it's not. I'm not naming names because this is a deeply personal thing to share, but I have heard from *many* authors who were not happy with their second books. Not because they didn't love the story but because they felt so rushed either with their initial drafts or their edits that they didn't feel like it lived up to their potential. I also know of authors who demanded extra time because they knew their books weren't there yet only to face big backlash from their publisher or agent.
I literally cannot stress to you enough that publisher's *do not give a fuck* about how good their products are. If they can trick you into buying a poorly edited book with an AI cover that they undercut the author for, that is *better* than wasting time and money paying authors and editors to put together a quality product. And that's before we get into the blatant abuse that happens at these publishers and why there have been mass exoduses from Big 5 publishers lately.
There's also a problem where publishers do not value their experienced staff. They're laying off so many skilled, dedicated, long-term committed editors like their work never meant anything. And as someone who did freelance sensitivity reading for the Big 5, I can tell you that the way they treat freelancers is *also* abysmal. I was almost always given half the time I asked for and paid at less than *half* of my general going rate. Authors publishing out of their own pockets could afford my rate, but apparently multi-billion dollar corporations couldn't. Copy edits and proofreads are often handled by freelancers, meaning these are people who aren't familiar with the author's voice and often give feedback that doesn't account for that, plus they're not people who are gonna be as invested in the book, even before the bad payment and ridiculous timelines.
So, anyway, 1. go easy on authors and editors when you can. Most of us have 0 say in being in this position and authors who are in breech of their contract by refusing to turn in a book on time can face major legal and financial ramifications. 2. Know that this isn't in your head. If you disagree with the choices a book makes, that's probably just a disagreement, but if you feel like it had so much potential but just *didn't reach it*, that's likely because the author didn't have time to revise it or the editor didn't have time to give the sort of thorough edits it needed. 3. READ INDIE!!! Find the indie authors putting in the work the Big 5's won't do and support them! Stop counting on exploitative mega-corporations to do work they have no intention of doing.
Finally, to all my readers who read Café Con Lychee and loved it, thank you. I love y'all, and I appreciate y'all, and I really wish I'd been given the chance to give y'all the book you deserved. I hope I can make it up to you in 2025.
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capquinn · 1 month ago
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Does Quinn do elf on a shelf with Bug and Cub?
girl, you can bet on dad!quinn taking his role as elf on the shelf co-coordinator with the utmost seriousness. like, truly — he’ll be treating this like it’s a full-time job with a performance review at the end lmao
“Okay,” he mutters, crouching on the floor and studying the tiny elf with an intensity that could rival his game tape analysis. “What if we set up a zip line? Between the bookshelf and the tree? They’d think that’s cool, right?”
You try to stifle your laugh, leaning against the counter, arms crossed. “A zip line? You realise you’re talking about a kid who lost her mind last year when the elf just sat in a bowl of marshmallows?”
“Exactly,” he says, looking up at you with that boyish grin that still makes your stomach flip, even after all these years. “We’ve gotta step it up this year. Bug’s smart. She’s going to start asking questions if we don’t bring our A-game. Plus, it’s Cub’s first Christmas. He deserves something special.”
“Oh, our A-game?” you tease, quirking an eyebrow. “This feels a lot like your game plan. I’m just here to make sure you don't go completely overboard.”
Quinn scoffs, picking up the elf and turning it in his hands like it’s a puzzle he’s trying to solve. “Overboard? I’m not the one who suggested having him write notes in icing last year.”
“Okay, first of all,” you point a finger at him, “that was adorable. Second of all, it was your idea to have him spill the sprinkles everywhere.”
“True,” he concedes, but the glimmer in his eye says he isn’t done brainstorming.
By the time you both finish setting up for the night, the elf is precariously perched on a zip line Quinn had insisted was the perfect length — stretching from the bookshelf, past the twinkling Christmas tree, and down to the TV cabinet. The elf itself? Nestled in a repurposed Easter basket at the end of the line, surrounded by a chaotic tumble of candy canes as if they'd crash-landed in spectacular fashion.
“This is good,” Quinn says, stepping back and crossing his arms as he admires the handiwork. “It’s believable.”
You snort. “Believable? It’s an elf on a zip line, Quinn.”
But even you have to admit, it's fantastic. The candy canes, the tiny basket, the zip line stretching across the room — it's chaotic and whimsical and perfect. Bug is surely going to lose her mind, and Cub — well, he might not fully understand what’s happening, but you just know he’s going to be wrapped up in his sister’s energy, his tiny hands clapping and his little laugh bubbling up as he mirrors her excitement — and honestly, you can't wait to see their little faces.
And so the next morning arrives, and Bug’s shriek of delight breaks the stillness, and she’s off like a shot, her little feet pounding against the floor as she charges into the living room.
“He’s flying!” she exclaims, her voice an awed whisper by the time she reaches the elf. Her hands hover over her mouth as she stares at the zip line, her excitement bubbling over into giggles.
Cub trails behind her, still mastering the art of crawling, his chubby hands slapping against the floor with determination. He babbles loudly, clearly swept up in Bug’s enthusiasm even though he doesn’t quite understand what’s happening. When he finally reaches the Easter basket at the end of the zip line, his tiny fingers curl around a stray candy cane with the single-minded focus only a baby can muster.
“No, Cubby!” Bug gasps, darting forward and shielding the basket like her life depends on it. “You can’t touch him! He’s doing his elf job!”
Quinn appears just in time, crouching down to scoop Cub into his arms before he has a chance to undo all his handiwork.
“Whoa, buddy,” he says with a soft laugh, lifting Cub high into the air and eliciting a delighted squeal. “The elf’s got important work to do. No sabotage today.”
Bug tugs on Quinn’s sweatpants, her expression solemn, her wide eyes darting between him and the elf.
“Daddy, did he really fly here? Like… magic?”
Quinn lowers himself to her level, balancing Cub on his hip as the baby grabs at his hoodie string. “Absolutely,” he says, his tone serious, though the twinkle in his eye betrays him. “Do you think I could’ve set up something this cool? That’s all elf magic.”
Bug’s mouth drops open, her hands clasping dramatically in front of her chest as she whispers, “he's the best.” Her awe is palpable, her gaze glued to the tiny elf perched on the string.
Cub, meanwhile, has no patience for elves. His hands pat Quinn’s chest insistently, demanding attention with a flurry of babbles. Quinn leans his forehead gently against Cub’s, his voice soft as he whispers, “don’t worry, Cub. You’ll figure it out next year.”
You lean against the doorframe, watching the scene unfold with a fond smile tugging at your lips. Bug turns to you, bouncing slightly on her toes.
“Mommy! Do you see? He’s so cool!”
“I see him, Bug,” you say, stepping closer to circle an an arm around Quinn’s waist, leaning into him. “Looks like the elf pulled out all the stops last night.”
Quinn tilts his head, brushing it lightly against yours. “Told you the zip line was genius,” he murmurs, his voice low and smug, though the warmth in his gaze softens the teasing. He nudges you lightly with his hip, the playful gesture drawing a quiet laugh from you.
Bug grabs his free hand, her eyes alight with anticipation. “Daddy, do you think he’ll do something even cooler tomorrow?”
Quinn glances at you, sharing a small smile like it’s your own little secret, before turning back to Bug.
“Oh, I’m sure he will,” he says, his tone full of playful assurance, giving your hip another gentle nudge as if to say, we’ve got this.
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dertaglichedan · 2 months ago
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Trump Plans To Revive Keystone XL Pipeline Project on Day One
It’s been quite some time since we covered the Keystone XL Pipeline, a proposed extension of the existing Keystone Pipeline System designed to transport crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska.
The project’s goal was to expand the pipeline system’s capacity by allowing the transport of up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day over a distance of approximately 1,210 miles. The aim was to provide a more direct route for Canadian oil, and provisions were included for adding American-produced oil from the Bakken formation in Montana and North Dakota.
The last time we reported on this Keystone KL, it included a review of the number of jobs that were not created because Biden terminated this project (initially authorized by President-elect Donald Trump.)
The report, which the Department of Energy (DOE) completed in late December without any public announcement, says the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and would have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4-9.6 billion, citing various studies. A previous report from the federal government published in 2014 determined 3,900 direct jobs and 21,050 total jobs would be created during construction which was expected to take two years.
Now, people familiar with the incoming administration’s plans indicate that Trump will revive the project on Day One.
Trump believes declaring the 1,200-mile Canada-to-Nebraska crude project back on the table would drive the pro-oil message he delivered in his campaign, said people involved in the transition team discussions about the idea. Trump also wants to show he can defy President Joe Biden, who reversed Trump’s initial 2017 approval of the project, which was strongly opposed by the climate movement. “It’s on the list of things they want to do first day,” said one of the people familiar with Trump’s plan, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. …During his latest presidential campaign, Trump railed against Biden’s decision to revoke the Keystone XL permit. “Why does Biden go in and kill the Keystone [XL] pipeline and approve the single biggest deal that Russia’s ever made, Nord Stream 2, the biggest pipeline anywhere in the world going to Germany and all over Europe?” Trump said during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, referring to the gas line that was hit by sabotage in 2022. “Because they’re weak and they’re ineffective.”
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chefkids · 1 year ago
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Spoon Theory
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This is arguably the single most important The Bear meta post I will ever make so please bear with me.
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The first spoon we see in the entire series is when Carmy takes Sydney's spoon to try her stew. This is right after he cut his hand from not being able to find his sharp knife, and before he has to meet with Natalie to get Mikey's jacket, which was stressing him out. She "gave him a spoon" and a bit of positivity when he needed to calm down and get some energy by knowing at the very least Sydney can cook well.
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Needing a spoon is needing help. When he hands over the brigade to Sydney he is waving around spoons the entire episode, when she really needed his help and his "spoons". Later on Sydney is not afraid to just ask him for his help.
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With the risotto she gave him a "spoon" that would help the restaurant, that brought in a good review and customers, but he didn't have enough of his own "spoons" to deal with it as he was stressing out over the window that just got shot through and the IRS needing the missing tax returns. Right before trying the risotto Carmy had told Richie he is afraid of something good happening. He is afraid of Sydney and him doing well, because the better it gets the more it will hurt him when something goes wrong. That is why he keeps self sabotaging the restaurant and doubting Sydney.
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After Sydney quit, she is still using her spoons for mental energy to make sure Marcus is okay and to try and figure out her next steps career wise. Carmy grabbed a spoon to open the tomato can lid, which he really didn't need because he could've just used the can opener, and then found the money. When he finds the money they both know they would be fine on their own, she could find another job, he could fix up The Beef. But they still need each others emotional spoons to achieve their passions, so he reaches out and she comes back.
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In Season 2 she did need his "spoons" to help create the menu and decide on the details for the restaurant, but he barely gave her any because he was still so caught up in his past trauma and the literal and metaphorical forks in his life.
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Fixing the table really didn't physically need more than one "spoon"/person. But he needed her there to work through his mental block. With the inspiration food tour, she did it on her own and she didn't physically need him for it, she needed his emotional spoons.
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When they are not communicating well with each other and Carmy is trying to reach back and be involved again, he gets as close as he can to her spoon without actually using it.
And now the dark side of spoons.
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The originator of spoon theory has lupus and first came up with this theory at a restaurant to explain what it was like living with the condition to a friend. They could've easily said Sydney's mom died of cancer or an accident or anything else. But this is all so intentional, out of all the things it is Lupus. I don't want Sydney to be sick as much as the next person, but Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that has higher likelihood of developing when you have a family member with it, and can be triggered by environmental factors such as stress. It is an invisible illness and Christine's own handle is butyoudontlooksick, which could really explain Sydney and what she has going on behind her walls that people can't see. She has been a rock to so many people and over exerting herself, but there might come a time soon when Sydney will genuinely need other peoples "spoons", especially Carmy's, because she's all out.
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Now that Carmy said he is choosing to give Syd his focus aka his "spoons", will he actually be able to follow through?
Read The Fork Theory next
Read The Knife Theory
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boreal-sea · 10 months ago
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The Hamas charters
Hamas has had two charters, the first in 1988 and the second in 2017.
I have posted about this before, where I reviewed the charters and exposed their antisemitism, but I cannot find that post, so I'm making a new one.
The 1988 Charter:
Hamas is also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement.
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" "Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious." "Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement." "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad." "In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised."
Hamas was not formed to find a peaceful solution, it is a nationalistic militant group formed to wage what they consider to be a holy war.
Hamas' original charter states that they believe Jews have "infiltrated" all kinds of organizations and have caused several wars, all with the goal of achieving Zionism. When they say "the enemies", they mean Jews. This document does not differentiate between Jews and Zionists and uses the terms interchangeably. Article 22 is where the antisemitism really hits the fan. The following is all one single long paragraph; I've broken it up to single out the individual antisemitic conspiracy theories:
"For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream."
Antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews are all immeasurably wealthy? Check!
"With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others."
Antisemitic conspiracy theory that that Jews control the media? Check!
"With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there."
Antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews have caused many wars throughout history? Check!
"With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests."
Oh hey it's the Judeo-Masonic antisemitic conspiracy theory!
"With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there."
And of course the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews secretly control the governments of major countries around the world. I remind you, all of this was in one single paragraph.
This document is wildly disorganized, so we go back to blaming Jews for wars, this time, WWI:
"They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it."
I just cannot believe anyone who claims Hamas is not an antisemitic organization. Hamas blames Jews for both world wars and is claiming Jews literally "rule the world" and control the UN.
"They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion."
Jews are also apparently behind drugs and alcoholism and want to annihilate Islam. This would almost be funny if this document was not the charter of a real-world organization.
This document goes on and on. It cites the "Protocols of Zion", which is a known fake document written by antisemites and not by Jews:
"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."
So that's the 1988 charter. THIS IS WHAT HAMAS IS FOUNDED ON. These are their FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS. You cannot separate Hamas from this document, nor all the foulness and hatred it contains.
The 2017 Charter
Let's look at the 2017 charter now. For fairness. Maybe they've cooled down the antisemitism or desire to kill every Jew in the Levant?
"The Zionist project is a racist, aggressive, colonial and expansionist project based on seizing the properties of others; it is hostile to the Palestinian people and to their aspiration for freedom, liberation, return and self-determination. The Israeli entity is the plaything of the Zionist project and its base of aggression." "The Zionist project also poses a danger to international security and peace and to mankind and its interests and stability."
Um. No, not really. They've decided to pretend they're separating Zionism from Judaism - "I'm not antisemitic, I'm just anti-Zionist!", but the message is the same.
"Hamas is of the view that the Jewish problem, anti-Semitism and the persecution of the Jews are phenomena fundamentally linked to European history and not to the history of the Arabs and the Muslims or to their heritage."
Uh, that's some major denial of literal history there, Hamas. Islamic and Arab countries have absolutely perpetrated violent antisemitism against Jewish people. Like, a lot of antisemitism.
So, through historical revisionism wherein they claim antisemitism is a "Europe" problem, and by pretending to separate "Zionists" from "Jews", the 2017 charter downplays its antisemitism and focuses more on Palestinian liberation. Notably though, it still calls for violent resistance, and though it cedes they would accept the 1967 borders (aka, full Palestinian control over Gaza and the West Bank), it states over and over that Israel is "illegal", and that it does not recognize it as a legitimate state. It does not, at any point, recognize that Jews are native to the region, of course. Zionists are "colonial invaders" and nothing more. It is more polite about its antisemitism, but the antisemitism is still very much present.
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ominoose · 10 months ago
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𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐳𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲
Pairing: Jake Lockley x AFAB!Autistic!Reader Summary: Short fluff self-insert with Jake because fandoms gotta become cringe again. Also shout out to Bigfoot enjoyers! Warnings: None WC: 779
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“And so like, they weren’t even just screaming, they were vocalising! Phonetically they were forming words, like there was cadence to it, y’know?!”
“Mh hm.” Jake nodded, nursing the coffee mug in his hand, watching the short woman pace back and forth across the kitchen, her own cup of tea completely forgotten and abandoned on the table like many others over the ages. Poor things.
“And- And the University of Wyoming studied the recordings for a year! And guess what!”
The man was an expert at this, and knew well the question was rhetorical, there wouldn’t be enough time to actually get a ‘What?’ in there. Instead, he widened his eyes a little as he took another sip of bitter coffee, waiting expectantly for the next revelation.
“They said the noises were from lungs that were larger in capacity than humans! And it was an actual deliberate language!” The huge grin, wide eyes and shaking of her hands marked the clear importance of the sentence, this was not a finding to be taken lightly.
“No way.”
Coming home from a late shift in the cab, Jake usually would’ve poured a glass of whiskey, kicked off his shoes, loosened his tie and claimed the couch to binge some shitty reality tv. Sue him, it was entertaining to be invested in drama that was less world ending over godly feuds and more Becky's boyfriend kissing her ex. If his girl came to sit beside him and let him use her thighs as a stress toy, it was the recipe for a perfect night.
When he came home tonight to see his beautiful girl practically bouncing on her toes, hands stimming, actively chewing back a smile and practically bursting at the seams with some hot info instead, how could he not walk over and get his fill? After all, she info-dumped with more passion than any gossip the Kardashians could give. As her man, it was his solemn duty to share her burdens, even if that burden was her excitement over some Bigfoot evidence from some random American woods.
“I also heard that the area the sounds were recorded historically had a lot of Chinese settlers- and the vocalisations have a large resemblance to Mandarin! I mean that, like, implies the Bigfoot community only either cropped up at that period or something but, like, it’s still insane I mean can you imagine we haven’t encountered Bigfoot yet because they all speak Chinese and can’t understand us?” How she spewed so much without taking a single breath was a mystery in and of itself, those crypto-whatsits oughta look into that.
“Who’s ‘we’, bebita? There’s only one American in this room and that’s me. Stop trying to steal my guy.”
“Your guy?” The smile on her face grew, adoring that he entertained her info-dumps and enamored with his cheek, “Since when did Bigfoot go to New York?”
The Latino shrugged, completely nonchalant as he drained the last of his coffee.
“When he calls my cab to take him there.” The curl of his lips betrayed his own amusement and the short woman giggled as she bounced into his lap, hands patting his shoulders.
Stimming was still a relatively new concept to Jake. To him, he understood it as needing to shake off big feelings, good or bad, before they drowned you. He could understand that, feelings were a fuckin’ lot even to him, and he didn’t have autism (no matter how much his amor tried to peer review him, he’d dodge those accusations like he dodged the Avengers).
Seeing her stim to him, with him, over him, that was intimate. That coiled into his very soul, snug and warm. Knowing her feelings for him were so strong, so intense she had to literally, physically, manage them before they made her heart explode? It was literally impossible for the thoughts in his head to try and do some self-sabotage. No one could tell him she didn’t love him, not even himself.
That wasn’t even accounting for the obvious fact that she felt safe enough to shake her heart around right in front of him, with that beautiful smile too. She’d kill him before any bullet or cultist ever could, and he’d accept it with open arms.
“You think that Mothman guy and Bigfoot are amigos? Think they’ve ever hooked up?”
The light in her eyes when he casually sprinkled her other hyper-fixation in there, always making a point of showing he remembered each and every detail of her spiels, could lead him out of the darkest black hole.
“You’re weird, Jake Lockley.” Her giggle was girlish, high pitched and sweet as honey, “They’re divorced, actually.”
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literary-illuminati · 7 months ago
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2024 Book Review #28 – The Dead Take The A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey
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Oh I wanted to love this book so very much. On paper it’s basically made for me – incredibly messy fuckup of a heroine, cosmic horror through the idiom of wall street corporate sharks, grimy and gory urban fantasy full of knifing people in back alleys, the works! For the first fifty pages or so, I thought I was in love – which just made the disappointment as the wheels came off all the more bitter.
The book follows Julie, ‘barbed wire magician’ (it’s at least as unpleasant as it sounds), professional monster hunter, and all-around personal disaster. Her life takes a turn for the even messier when a) her best friend/comically oversized unresolved crush shows up at her door begging for help running from her abusive husband and b) unrelatededly but more or less simultaneously, her ex-partner-and-also-boyfriend, looking up to clean up embarrassing loose ends on his rise up the elldritch corporate ladder, baits her into trying to summon a guardian angel from a sabotaged tome and ends up releasing a metaphysical parasite that starts murdering its way through the city’s occult underground. From there things just get messier.
Drilling down as much as I can, my issues with this can be summed up as it feels like a first draft. There’s stuff there on the page – character arcs, relationships, bits of scenery and action setpieces, even themes! - but it’s all just..there. Exaggerated line sketches no one ever went back and turned into full illustrations. It’s most painful with the characters – every one of them is a caricature, precisely and exactly what they first appear to be with the same beats hit again and again every single time they appear on screen. Which more or less for the quirky supporting cast but like – we get multiple chapters from the perspective of the aforementioned abusive husband, and something like a fifth of the book is from the POV of the sleazy corporate striver ex. At no point does either one get the slightest bit of nuance or pathos – Tyler’s chapters in particular end up reading like bad SCP field reports, with so much self-destructive instituional backstabbing and betrayal it all ends up being slapstick.
Sarah the love interest gets a special anti-shout-out here. Like, I know I’m just picky about and have a low tolerance for romances, but I swear – the single most important dynamic in the book in terms of both wordcount and narrative signposting is her and Julie’s romance, and it is just So. Bad. Every single scene she’s in is dedicated to rubbing your face in how fragile and traumatized and selfless and adorable and good-hearted and damaged she is, and the entirety of the romance is essentially one of those jokes about how lesbians will spend six years living with each other awkwardly waiting for the other to ask them out but stretched across 400 pages. I spent half the book patiently waiting for any hint of hidden depths or surprising twists to her character, but nope! Just a perfect domestic angel.
The setting actually has something of a similar issue. It feels like an exaggerated pastiche of urban fantasy, assuming the reader is already familiar with all the tropes and conceits and making only the most perfunctory possible gestures towards exploring or justifying them. This can absolutely work, but if you’re doing it you kind of need to use the genre as the background or setup for something else that the book is actually about – deconstruction or satire or character study or Wacky Hijinks or something. When what’s gruesome action and drama is supposed to be the star attraction, the grounding and verisimilitude of the world is actually pretty key.
A really tight, tense plot could have absolutely redeemed the whole but, well, nope. The literal entire plot hinges on Tyler, in the course of one conversation several drinks in at a crowded bar, baiting Julie into looking for a particular type of tome from a particular store so she’ll try the ritual he had swapped out with one to curse her – but then also that he didn’t know what the ritual he swapped in actually did. The big evil wall street law firm has a corporate culture that should have collapsed about 48 hours after it was founded, and absolutely nothing about it makes sense for a place with lasting institutional power. Everyone’s morality and perceptiveness changes as the plot requires. The pacing feels like they had to pull a happy ending out of their asses at the 2/3 mark and shove the rest of the book into a sequel. It’s just, it’s bad!
Also the prose starts at fun and evocative and keeps pushing into Lovecraftian levels of adjective-addiction, and neither the A-Train nor the dead are actually at all important to the story.
Just, argh. This could have been good! The first 40 pages were a really fun schlocky monster-of-the-week story! The first ritual summoning the Proctor was basically perfect! I wanted to love this!
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thejoyofviolentmovement · 1 year ago
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New Audio: Angry Blackmen Team up with Fatboi Sharif on Brooding and Nihilistic "Dead Men Tell No Lies"
New Audio: Angry Blackmen Team up with Fatboi Sharif on Brooding and Nihilistic "Dead Men Tell No Lies" @ANGRYBLACKMEN_ @deathbombarc @pitchperfect @fatboyprospect
Chicago-based hip-hop duo Angry Blackmen — Quentin Branch and Brian Warren — features members, who individually spent their time stretching their creative arms and tapping into different sounds for a couple of years, before Warren suggested that they collaborate together as a duo towards the end of 2016.  Branch and Warren exploded into the underground and experimental hip-hop scenes with their…
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mainepdf · 9 months ago
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my full review of ttpd (a month late, shhh)
tw opinions. if you like a song that i don't or vice versa or you don't agree with a comment i made, good for you! get it off your chest, get it off my desk!
fortnight
One of Taylor’s weaker openers, it’s a nice song, not much going on though
the production is boppy, not much going on once again
Interesting how Taylor sees her muse as living a good life without her and a nice domestic scene with his wife watering flowers but for her, her husband is cheating on her, implying she thinks she will never be happy, maybe because of how this relationship went or her general perception of relationships and her experiences with them. That is my interpretation of the song.
The outro with post and taylor's harmonies SLAPS
Like I said, this song feels a bit lacking of substance both thematically and technically, it doesn't do it for me, i don't hate listening to it, i just don't love it.
i think it might be a song that grows on me over time but it won't ever be a fave for me.
i also think in light of the music video, it's lost some of its spark for me, as that music video made no sense to me. i don't think it deserved to be a single.
the tortured poets department
“You left your typerwriter at my apartment, straight from the tortured poets department” implying that this thing of which she is now part had been introduced to her by the muse
The muse has probably compared them to poets like Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith and probably romanticised their relationship into the work of a tortured poet, but that’s not real life.
Taylor brings back to reality that now because of his self sabotage that brought both of them down in this relationship, he has lost the one who will decode him, hold him, know him
the above are just little analyses i like making as i listen to the song, they have nothing to do about whether i like the song or not, it's just me trying to make sense of it. you'll see that a lot.
i do not like the charlie puth line. at all. why is it there?
also don't like the tattooed golden retriever line, the image of a tattooed golden retriever is terrifying.
i was so off-guard about the namedropping in this song, sorry i had no idea who dylan thomas or patti smith were.
this song is trying too hard to be poetic, i think (which one could argue is the whole point of this song), but it doesn't stand out much to me. the themes are interesting though.
this is a pretty weak title track, personally. i feel like it doesn't encapsulate the essence of the album (which i am confused about tbh, ttpd has a lot of aesthetics going on for itself). it has nothing on little fearless and evermore.
my boy only breaks his favourite toys
so we all thought this song would be pretty petty, but i honestly don't think it is extremely so. there's a sort of pity for the muse, that the breaking of his 'favourite toys' is a form of self sabotage and that they could've had it all.
i love how it starts so defeated, "oh here we go again", which i think is in reference to the muse's self sabotage ruining her life
it also feels a bit reflective and nostalgic of the fact that it wasn't all bad, which i quite liked. i liked the contrast of feelings.
"once i fix me, he's gonna miss me" is a devastating line btw
so is "he saw forever so he smashed it up"
song is a bop, i like the lyricism, overall i enjoy this song :)
down bad
i enjoy the cunty synth here ahaha. for all the jokes the fandom makes about jack fucking around with the synth while taylor sings the most soulcrushing lyrics, it is so real especially for this song.
taylor has never sounded so good while swearing. "fuck it if i can't have us" is such an earworm.
i feel like this is the most petty song in the album, mainly because of the "teenage petulance" in the lyrics
the callback to new romantics in the bridge is so insane, i noticed it immediately.
the production is so mystical and giving space alien vibes, i enjoy it.
so long, london
the intro is giving big ben bells and/or wedding bells
the fast beat vs the slow melodies is such an interesting juxtaposition (to my lit teacher, i hope i used this word right XD). i think it really highlights the conflicting feelings this song explores ("i'm just mad as hell 'cause i loved this place") and also how taylor isn't able to keep up with how quickly the relationship is dying (the production) and she's still sifting through her feelings to find acceptance (the melody)
"how much sad did you think i had" something something "how long can we be a sad song" something something "don't want no other shade of blue but you"
the bridge is just the most devastating strike to my heart
"you sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days" is one of my favourite lyrics on this album
track 5 is track 5ing
this song is a masterpiece, i genuinely love it so much
but daddy i love him
get this song out of my face, i hate it so much. blocked on spotify.
why did taylor have to waste good lyricism and production on such an awful premise and "fuck you" to her fans dishing valid criticism of her association with matty?
the baby line is hilarious though, because i did indeed fall for it the first time
like you can talk about taylor's agency all you want but everyone knows what the implications of this song are and i feel hurt and offended that this is the attitude both taylor and some swifties are taking.
"the most judgemental creeps" um, is this fucking play about us?
fresh out the slammer
her voice sounds beautiful in this
love the country twang in the production
it's giving getaway car thematically
i think it's interesting to see this song so soon after so long, london, where she says she was "going down with [the ship]" but she was literally dreaming about running into the arms of another man and was "[doing her] time". like ok girl!
vibey song but not for me. i don't have much to say on this.
florida!!!
IMMEDIATE FAVE, i had claimed this since day 1 and i was so right
cunty production, i can tell florence had a lot of influence. no more synths! bring out the drums!
at first, i had no idea what was happening in this song, but when taylor talked about it being about reinventing yourself, it made a lot more sense to me and i love that interpretation, it rings so true.
can i be honest and say that i thought it said "arms" not "home", like that doesn't even make sense 😭
florence's verse fucking slays, my only gripe is that her voice in the verse is kinda quiet compared to the instrumental. could've used some better mixing here.
"me and my ghosts had a hell of a time" is a banger of a line
the bridge is immaculate, has been in my head since i first listened to it.
this song is amazing, there is nothing like it, pure perfection. top song on the album.
guilty as sin?
obsessed with the beat
hedge maze = labyrinth = the mind, idk i just loved that connection
we have reached the ovulation song lmao
did you know it took me so long to realise the chorus was talking about masturbation? like i knew the song was horny, but i didn't realise it was THAT horny.
i think i called this a mature, sadder false god in my notes. that uncertain, sensual, desiring tone is probably what motivated that connection in my head.
WHAT IF HE'S WRITTEN MINE ON MY UPPER THIGH ONLY IN MY MIIIIIND
the bridge is so beautiful, i am a sucker for religious imagery.
overall i'm obsessed, beat good, lyricism good, i love it
who's afraid of little old me?
now i know this is the fan favourite, and i understand why. it gives an eery, angry vibe, and i also enjoy it. to some extent.
namely, the part i enjoy most is the circus imagery, i liked how she leaned into the circus animal metaphor to depict her struggles in fame and her relationships. it's like a badly behaved circus animal about to be put down absolutely losing it and raging about its plight, which i enjoy as a means of storytelling and expressing emotion. i also enjoy it as a callback to mirrorball and what happens when the mirrorball finally has had enough of shattering in a million pieces and performing for a largely uncaring crowd.
... which is why i don't like the asylum lyric. to me, it doesn't add in anything significant thematically when the rest of the song hardly has similar strains of discussion. not to mention the ableist overtones and trivialisation of the asylum experience but i just don't like this lyric. it weakens the premise of the song.
the production is also off in some places, it feels muted and underwhelming compared to the premise of the song.
it's an okay song, i 100% like the acoustic demo better that she came out with recently. some changes in production and the omission of that asylum lyric would put it higher up for me.
i can fix him (no really i can)
good thing this song is short because she couldn't fix him at all and i don't like this song.
"the jokes that he told across the bar were revolting and far too loud" euphemism for bigoted, taylor?
production is boring, the melody is also pretty boring. the lyrics are good, but not enough to save the song, in my humble opinion (it is after all my review here)
"good boy, that's right" taylor GET UP
the 'woah maybe i can't' is funny though, i'll give her that
loml
slayed, devoured, left no crumbs, left me emotionally devastated
the lyricism is absolutely beautiful, the sadness is tangible
the first time i listened to this, i was on the train, and i was so emotional, it was the perfect music to stare out the window to.
the impressionist painting line is also absolutely brilliant, took me out when i heard it. one of the best lyrics on the album.
the bridge and outro are the reasons i need therapy, destroyed me
loss of my life theorists won but at what cost.
i think some of taylor's simplest songs melodically have some of the most beautiful prose and emotional connection, i think she needs to tap into that more.
10/10 no notes.
i can do it with a broken heart
extreme whiplash hearing this after loml. similar whiplash to what taylor felt, i think, going on tour after such a heartbreak
someone pointed out that the almost metronomic beat and the faint counting in the background is like what taylor hears in her in-ear monitor on tour and i think that's really cool.
obsessed with this song so much
it has been stuck in my head since i first heard it
i never expected this to be the cuntiest song on the album but i am not disappointed at all.
"i cry a lot but i am so productive" is so mecore if i was actually productive
the ad libs at the end are also perfect
is it just me or can i hear crowd noises in the background?? am i imagining this??
i'm afraid the fandom is gravely misunderstanding this song. some are saying that taylor hates us because we were "shouting 'more!' " when she was feeling like this. some are saying that she doesn't resent us at all and that this song absolves us completely. those are both two extremes and my interpretation lies somewhere in the middle. this is not a callout to fans but also some factions of the fandom were (or are) being assholes demanding reputation tv and double albums all the time. acknowledge the nuance.
10/10 obsessed, fave song after florida!!!
the smallest man who ever lived
this song is good.
bridge of all time, indeed, she went OFF
the verses feel a bit meh to me but i love the chorus.
"you didn't measure up in any measure of a man" HAHA TAYLOR IT TOOK ME A SECOND TO GET THE DOUBLE ENTENDRE
this song is indeed petty, but it also feels defeated to me? like taylor just sounds tired of it all and quite hurt, that's what i got from it.
i also love the performance of this song on the eras tour. she is marching with an army and they keep taking hits throughout the song, until she eventually falls at the end. something something "the great war" something something "fighting with only your army, frontlines, don't you ignore me", etc.
the alchemy
i feel a little let down by this song? because from the name, i assumed this song would be using the concept of alchemy being a medieval science of turning things into gold or finding a universal cure as a metaphor for a broken/dying relationship.
also i don't understand how this is meant to be a love song, sounds really sad to me? like almost defeatist in terms of how the relationship.
why am i being bombarded by football metaphors?
i mean, it sort of plays on the idea of alchemy being a sort of magical transformation, but to me, it just feels like a synonym for chemistry.
" 'cause the sign on your heart says it's still reserved for me" is a cute lyric though.
it's quite formulaic as a song and there's not much going on for me. anyway.
clara bow
i really enjoy the concept of this song being the torch of fame being passed onto different women, from clara bow to stevie nicks to taylor swift to whoever's next.
once again, it's quite simple melodically, but this is where she shines! the typewriter while she was writing this must have been on fire!!
i also love how it plays on the concept of being put onto a pedestal as a famous woman and how you're only appealing until people decide you're not
"it's hell on earth to be heavenly" is such a perfect lyric.
the namedrop of herself GAGGED me on first listen, i was amazed.
it's a perfect closer to the first half, putting everything into the perspective of her fame and passing the torch onto something else because society has decided out with old, in with the new.
the black dog
the thing about the location settings makes me so ill, he didn't even think to turn it off for her. they probably shared locations to make sure they could check up on each other, and it was still on. it is such a tiny thing but so devastating.
the buildup on "old habits die screaming" ohhhhh this is amazing
the best laid plans... hoax...
"i still miss the smoke" people are making parallels to daylight but my first thought was lavender haze, like missing the lavender haze, you know?
the priest lyric is so devastating if you think about the fact that taylor thought she'd be meeting a priest about this relationship for a different, happier reason...
obsessed with this song, it's so beautiful.
the quietness of the verses and the loudness of the chorus, i am genuinely entranced, it is cinema.
imgonnagetyouback
do not ask me to compare this song with olivia rodrigo's "get him back", they're both on different levels thematically and tonally even though they use the same double entendre.
what narcotics did she put in this bridge XD
so boppy, and sensual, i adore it
i remember going on a long search for the literary device that is present in "i hear the whispers in your eyes", decided it was antithesis with the help of my followers. not at all relevant, but wanted to add it.
the albatross
i can make a lot of parallels to peace with this song.
it's so eery and mythical, i love it, treats taylor like a fable, an urban legend.
aaron dessner is a fucking legend, i am loving the production on the anthology
my folkmore girlie self is loving the anthology for real
i love the bait and switch to "fake news", exposing these rumours for simply that, and saying that she's not the dangerous one, the "jackals rais[ing] their hackles" are.
i am always a sucker for when taylor changes from third person to first person narration, it's so important to me. bait-and-switch, you are everything to me.
10/10 no notes.
chloe or sam or sophia or marcus
heartbreakingly beautiful. just a general melancholy around the breaking down of a relationship and is so so perfect.
the hologram lyric is not about cheating at all. the relationship is long gone, this is taylor envisioning her muse in a new relationship but she isn't there, hence the hologram. i've seen some people say it was about cheating, that interpretation doesn't make sense to me.
"you turned me into an idea of sorts" -> "the idea you had of me, who was she?"
random thought, but the lyricism on the anthology is so much better and natural as compared to the first half. i enjoy the bops on the first half but it also suffers from trying too much to be poetic (i think i said this about the title track especially). there are so many overloaded lyrical runs and random references that leave me confused and overwhelmed. the anthology however feels so much more quintessentially taylor.
don't have much to say on the song itself, i quite like it.
how did it end?
the intro literally makes me ascend!!
i really love how this song investigates and criticises the inherent curiosity people have around big news like a breakup, constantly probing for details.
once again, the simpler songs contain the best lyricism and melodies!!
this song both explains and expresses confusion about the end of the relationship, so i love the paradoxical nature of that.
"we learn the right steps to different dances" is such a devastating line and i think sums up the end of many relationships so succinctly.
the second chorus is giving right where you left me: "did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen?" etc.
THE BRIDGE, TAYLOR HOW DO YOU DO IT
the d-y-i-n-g part is just so devastating. taylor uses the themes of death and haunting so well on this album.
i know i've said this like 10 times, but this is just so so beautiful.
so high school
the guitar in the background is giving hits different, it hits different when it's you!!
despite the happy tone and lyrics, i do feel the sad, anxious undertone, the key example being the marry, kiss, or kill me part (the echoed "kill me", "it's just a game but really")
the aristotle and grand theft auto line has been used countlessly to shit on taylor's songwriting, and personally, i don't like this line. just doesn't hit right for me. however, i think it's unfair to pick cringe lyrics and ignore all the beautiful, meaningful ones to shit on taylor.
i do love the imagery with high school games like truth or dare and spin the bottle, really cements the "so high school" of it all.
this song is okay to me, it feels too american for me to enjoy it more lmao.
i hate it here
i love the poet and finance guy line at the beginning, it expresses a sort of desperation to get to know this person, to uncover their insecurities, deepest secrets, and love them anyway. it may also be introspective of taylor herself, idk.
calling comfort a construct is so quietly sad. convincing yourself since you've never had it, it can't be real because it's better than being cursed or doomed to never have it (see the prophecy)
this song is so escapist, but also so cynical about the escapism, it clearly isn't a preferred option, like it's not just escaping into childhood and nostalgia for the sake of it, it's because the real world fucking sucks.
the chorus slays, and is quite relatable.
the use of the word "precocious" is so interesting to me. she used it also in "but daddy i love him" if i remember correctly. like she resonates a lot with the feeling of being stunted in childhood or having seemed to never grow up -> "i have this thing where i get older but just never wiser" -> "i never grew up, it's getting so old" -> "i hit my peak at seven", idk i find it an interesting recurring theme in taylor's discography.
the 1830s line, and just that entire first half of the verse. i know why it's there, i know what it's doing, i know it's not meant to be taken seriously. still i don't like it. it also feels weird that she is calling out racism as a staple of the 1830s or whatever when she has shown us she is perfectly fine with dating a racist. you can say i'm being overdramatic. you can say i don't get it. idc. i try to ignore this part because this is a very good song and i love its themes and production.
"nostalgia is a mind's trick" i really love this because the entire song is so nostalgic for childhood and escapism but then she's like "actually nostalgia sucks" or it's not what it seems. no, the past would not have been better.
production feels like seven. themes quite different however (thematically, it would be robin, i think.)
the bridge combats the cynicism of the second verse which is so interesting to me. i love how opposing views on nostalgia and escapism are presented, the nuance is there.
the bridge is so mecore, i feel it in my bones.
thanK you aIMee
i really enjoy the small town as a microcosm for the giant music industry and reducing kim to a bully in this analogy.
this song is so cathartic for me, i really enjoy it in the lens of a friendship breakup.
she's so funny in this song "and so i changed your name and any real defining clues" while clearly spelling out her name in the song title.
the bridge fucking slays, likely thing for taylor to do.
it's such a breath of fresh air to have such a cathartic moment in an album that's largely dealing with huge emotions in huge ways, it's so interesting here as an addition to the anthology.
i look in people's windows
it's such a beautiful song and it's criminal how short it is
her voice sounds heavenly, i love how breathy it is.
it's giving "the outside" which is why i love it so much, i think
i think this not only works as a song grieving the end of a relationship but expressing the feeling of being left out in a current one; i definitely relate to it in that sense.
"does it feel alright not to know me?" is so so heartwrenching, i cannot do this
the prophecy
i am a sucker for mythology references so i'm already drawn in with the title.
once again, the song itself sounds so beautiful.
"i got cursed like eve got bitten" except she didn't get bitten?? the curse came after she ate the forbidden fruit?? i'm a bit confused here
WAIT NVM IT'S THE FACT THAT SHE DIDN'T GET BITTEN THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF THE SIMILE, HEAR ME OUT
saying something so factually incorrect and comparing it to her own experience implies that the latter is ALSO incorrect. she didn't "get cursed", she cursed herself!! which also defies the notion of "the prophecy", ohhhhhh i find this so interesting.
i think the notion of "a greater woman" or "a lesser woman" speaks to the expectations placed around women in relationships, they mustn't appear too desperate for love because that's undesirable but if they are nonchalant, they are also undesirable, it is worth exploring in terms of this song.
this song is so so sad and sadly so so relatable, i definitely find some comfort and resonance in this and it makes me really sad :(
i love the references to mythology and folklore made here, "the pricked hand" very obviously referencing sleeping beauty.
i always love it when taylor repeats the first verse at the end of a song, i think it speaks to the cyclical, circular nature of this specific feeling, that no matter how much she begs and pleads, "the prophecy" will never change.
cassandra
another mythology reference!!!
this being after "the prophecy" is so so deliberate, godssss
the piano is giving "mad woman", which i think is so fitting
"so they killed cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst" that's not actually why cassandra was killed in mythology but go off queen
"they say what doesn't kill you makes you aware" is an unreal run
that being said, i love it when taylor takes common sayings and aphorisms and gives them a twist. she does it a lot in this album, one of my favourite examples being "old habits die screaming" as a twist on "old habits die hard"
"blood's thick but nothin' like a payroll" i am hooked completely oml
10/10 no notes
peter
more folklore references, let's go!!!!
this song is so hauntingly beautiful, the lyricism is so poetic and flows perfectly, genuinely this is what i love about taylor
as a folklore girlie, i am WINNING with the anthology
i can't get over the "jet stream" line here vs "jet stream" in "call it what you want" 🫠
once again, a bridge that fucking slays, how does she keep doing it
it's so interesting how taylor grapples with the concept of childhood and precociousness in this album with so many mentions and callbacks to childhood and feeling stunted as a child and now, it really is an ode to "you're stuck at the age you became famous" (which is sad in many aspects but also problematic in others)
the chorus is also just so perfect, everything about this song is perfect.
the bolter
obsessed does not even cover it
what a banger start to a song
the chorus reminds me a lot of "illicit affairs", i think, interesting connections can be made there
"as she was leaving, it felt like breathing" as in a sigh of relief that it's over, but also she does it so often it is quite literally as quotidian and simple as "breathing"
i love taylor's tendencies to make songs in the third person narrative voice, i think her best storytelling comes out like this.
"there's escape in escaping"- i think this is sort of a commentary on how the identity of "the bolter" is like a coping/defense mechanism to ensure that she doesn't get hurt in a relationship, in that there is an escape from her insecurities, her worries, and the eminent pain she will face in the relationship by quite literally escaping.
but there's also often the bait and switch ("then it was bought by me", "i'm the albatross, i swept in at the rescue") but i find it so interesting that this song does not do that, if only i can make a meaningful analysis there, but my running theory is that she deliberately chooses to distance herself from the identity of "the bolter", bc while she does dote on this character and is rather affectionate in how she tells the story, she doesn't feel like attaching herself to it, in that maybe it's an identity she no longer wants to hold or that, like she frequently says, she doesn't believe these songs or stories are about her anymore and that they take on new meaning..
anyway i am loving this song, 10/10
robin
WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS SONG, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL
it's so sweet how she is consoling the child, ensuring them that they should enjoy this time they have now, and that they will be kept safe from their future.
but it's so sad in that regard, like, "we don't wanna hurt you so we're not telling you how this will pan out to protect your childhood innocence".
this once again cements my preoccupation with taylor's discussions around childhood and youth, she mentions frequently how that was taken away from her too soon and how she has felt "precocious" because of it. it's so important to understand and this song should NOT be overlooked.
i really like it.
the manuscript
this song is so heartbreaking, i want to punch the wall
i never thought about the fact how doing the atw short film would have rekindled these old memories and feelings, and this song is surely a direct result of that. not surprising, in hindsight, but it still compelled me when i first heard it.
once again, youth being taken too soon!! precociousness!!
someone needs to take the word "precocious" away from me
"but the story isn't mine anymore" HHHHHHHHH THIS IS THE WHOLE POINT
very nice song, beautiful closer to the anthology and the entire album as a whole, "these stories used to be about me but now they're about you".
overall thoughts
i hate to say it, but i think this album is in a desperate need of editing; there's so much going on, most of which is compelling and worth exploring, but everything is disjunct with each other and i know this work is meant to feel messy, don't start with me there, but it shouldn't be messy to the point where it's confusing and overwhelming. there are so many concepts and metaphors that are so intriguing and clearly important in taylor's music but the final products of those become half-baked in mediocre production or mixing. this album feels rushed and is soaked with questionable decisions. for example, i think "i can do it with a broken heart" should have been a single and title track because i think it's such a central part of her experiences recently and clearly something permeating the rest of this collection, and how she learns to move on and cope in light of heartbreak. there are several moments where the lyricism of the album feels overwhelming and overcompensating, as in trying too hard to contain meaning. the best lyrical moments on this album are seamless and subtle, and very prosodic as well. taylor tried to deviate from that formula quite a bit and it didn't always work out for the best in this album. she is not as adept at throwing in conversational lyrics as her peers, her strength is in prose and storytelling. the production is also getting a bit old, it's very sonically cohesive, almost to the point of it being boring, and i think taylor needs to get a bit more experimental sonically, and also ensure that the melody and production work together in more different ways, and that maybe the melody is not relying on the production but vice versa. the album is certainly not all lows, but the lows are particularly lower than in other instances of her discography.
that being said, the highs on this album are absolutely breathtaking. the majority of the anthology and quite a few songs on this album captured me instantly. this album is quite mellow, and could have benefitted from another bop or two, but the ones we received were astounding!! this album also had some really strong lyricism, especially in the anthology, and it was so intriguing seeing the many metaphors and situations she used to express her feelings. her storytelling in particular really shone in this album in songs like "the albatross", "the bolter", "clara bow", "cassandra", "the manuscript" among others. i love the themes and ideas that taylor explored in this album, and overall the premises really compelled me.
in terms of rankings, i've separated the two halves. the first half (ttpd) is second-last and the second half (the anthology) is 8th out of 12 (not 11 because ttpd is split in two).
if you've read this far, congratulations, have a treat of your choice. please be mindful and respect my opinion, thanks!
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lazerv4 · 7 months ago
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Thoughts on Total Forgiveness
Just my raw thoughts not a review or anything
Total Forgiveness starts with Ally Beardsley and Grant O’Brian pitching the show they are about to embark on to Sam Reich their at the time President of Original Content at CollegeHumor (now CEO of Dropout). The pitch is simple, student debt is a cripplying problem and they came up with the accordion method, what if instead of many years of suffering under their loans they could instead make the suffering happen in 4 months and pay their debt as they gamble on challenges between the two of them for money which the show would award weekly. Sam hesitates but greenlights the show much to the delight of Grant and Ally who get right to work on the first challenges which end up being Grant has to interview a lawyer specializing on student debt while covered in leeches and Ally has to interview an ex partner about what went wrong while they eat the spiciest food Grant can find. Afterwards we see the actual challenges go through as Grant does his assigned interview while bleeding profusely and Ally has what can only be derived as a cringe nightmare of an experience with their ex eating thai so spicy they almost throw up, then when they are both done we see them together, they both look like they’ve been through hell and that is just the first episode.
Episode 2 begins a little bit meaner with Ally getting an Oompa Loompa makeover and getting their driver’s license renovated while Grant wears a dog shock collar for barking the entire day which leads to him spending the day mute, this is where we start to see the main dynamics of the show develop with Ally embracing the horribleness and Grant trying his best to have fun with it but struggling a bit.
Episode 3 is a kinder episode to Grant with him simply going camping which apparently he hates, meanwhile Ally is buried alive for an entire day in a sort of sensory deprivation coffin while they are still in the office.
Episode 4 meanwhile has Grant performing a cringe inducing stand up show purposely sabotaged to be terrible with the caveat that if a joke doesn't land he has to say “it’s all love” which just makes it so much worse, on the flipside Ally has to publish an excerpt from their teenage diary, a move which severely backfires on Grant as it seems like a growing experience for Ally that improved them as a person all things considered, no suffering all money.
At this point not a single point has been lost and both Ally and Grant are giving their all to the challenges and still enjoying themselves to some extent since the point of the show is to compress suffering they do struggle but nothing too bad has happened yet, this is where that begins to change.
Episode 5 is one of the hardest things I’ve had to sit through. Grant gets the challenge of being locked in his studio apartment with 8 family members for a weekend which while I’m sure it was a nightmare, it doesn’t translate to tv. All’s challenge this week was to sing the United States national anthem at a minor league baseball game and to make it way worse, they apparently don’t even know the lyrics so they completely fucked it up and even have a random laugh in the middle of it, it’s the sort of horrible second hand embarrassment that is legitimately hard to endure and I have seen some people say this and another upcoming Ally challenge are borderline unwatchable because it’s just too cringe, but if you can get through it the series has more for you.
Episode 6 is the phobia episode where Grant must face needles and Ally must face snakes, for Grant he just has to inject himself so B12 with the alleged most painful needle which he does albeit it leads to one of my favorite gags when he says “I’ll be fine in 5 minutes” after he pulls the needle out only for the show to cut to him having a full panic attack with an oxygen mask. Grant won his challenge and valiantly faced his fear but as for Ally, well things would go different for them. Ally’s challenge involved that some night, any night at all, Grant would come in with a live snake and Ally would have to sleep with it on their bed. While Ally had been a very ambitious and fun loving contestant, this broke something and they just completely refused to engage with the snake and complete the challenge leading to the first loss and the domino effect which would shape the series into what it became.
Episode 7 is where challenges start to get unreasonable, with almost 4000 dollars on the line this contest had to get difficult so both Ally and Grant came up with this, Grant wanted Ally to spend their whole week piss drunk which at first Ally enjoyed and it annoyed everyone else but quickly it started getting to them and by the end of the week you can see their health suffer because of it and the remnants of a broken person just trying to finish the last day to claim the win, while Grant broke Ally’s body their mind seems unbreakable. As for Grant, Ally came up with a really strange and complicated challenge, basically Grant had to get an erection with no stimulation while being timed which ended in a really bizarre contraption so this could be shown without well showing Grant’s genitals. This challenge has been often called unreasonable and impossible by many people and to an extent it is but Grant still accepted it and attempted it as hard as he could, an attempt that proved unsuccessful leading to his first loss of the show.
As of now Grant has earned $10750 while Ally has $13250, as the gap starts to widen so do the challenges as the series starts to lead to it’s climax.
Episode 8 is the real turning point of the series with Ally getting the other famously cringe and unwatchable challenge in having to become a herbalife shill to her new roommates and do unreasonable actions Grant assigns via an earpiece to try and make them quit but their will somehow remained strong which showed how much fun Ally was having with this whole show as the chaotic person they are, meanwhile Grant was having a rough time. Ally’s challenge to Grant was to sell all his earthly possessions at a flea market and try to earn a thousand dollars which a some points seems maybe doable but very quickly while Grant still doesn’t realize it, it’s very clear to the viewer and to the crew that Grant won’t be able to accomplish this. He leaves this challenge defeated and returns to his empty apartment with now nothing to his name except around $600, not only did he lose the challenge but he also lost everything he had, this is where we first start to see how this show has damaged Grant and Ally’s friendship and also emotionally damaged Grant who seems barely still holding it together by the end of the episode which leads you wonder, how can this escalate further?
Episode 9 got mean, Grant challenged Ally to get a neck tattoo with the name of their new girlfriend who they've been dating for 2 months while Ally challenged Grant to shit in public as performance art (again his genitals are covered but chest up everyone can see him). The challenges this week feel very mean spirited and with Ally now being up $24250 to Grant’s $10750 things are heating up and they are starting to feel more like bitter rivals than loving friends doing a dumb show together. Going with Ally first while Sam seems hesitant to approve this challenge Ally wants to do it and still seems have fun with it as a big dumb joke even if it’s their first tattoo it’s just a gag to them and they don’t mind the embarrassment with them even bringing said gf to the parlor so they can watch the tattoo be made. Meanwhile Grant struggles, even before the exhibition opens we can already see he is stressed and uncomfortable, he doesn’t seem like he wants to do it but the money is too life changing to not go through with it so he presses on, he is notified that when he is done he can pull a string that will drop confetti to signify he has completed the challenge and so he gets on the toilet in front of a lot of people. The atmosphere is not tense, it’s closer to something sad and depressing, something akin to the feeling of exploiting someone and when Grant pulls the string and the confetti falls, you can’t help but feel awful, a big thing through this episode has been Siobhan (another dropout cast member) giving some advice to Grant and Ally separately about how to mend what they are breaking and she stays as everyone leaves to speak with Ally as Grant angrily prepares to go home. As Ally approaches to tell Grant everyone was an extra, the mood is again tense, he just replies he is “done for the day” and that it was “funny” as he just walks away checking with the crew really quick to see if he can leave and then just exiting the building silently. This episode seemed to be the tipping point for Grant and what would have ended their friendship with Ally as even with this the gap just widened and made everything seem worse and worse while making each other more antagonistic towards the other that while Ally had been taking as dumb fun, they had now realized was hurting Grant and something had to be done if this friendship was gonna survive this show, let alone a 10th episode.
Episode 10 is just titled “Finale” with no allusion to the challenges like all the previous episodes so you go on not exactly knowing what to expect. It begins with other dropout cast members talking about the strain this show has had on Ally and Grant before going into the challenge pitching part of the show where Ally is alone with the production crew struggling to even come up with something until they says they have a pitch and the show cuts to Grant alone with the crew as well, they try to check on Grant to see if he is ok and he clarifies he doesn’t blame anyone and he is not the victim of the show but he is struggling. He is not sure what to pitch except something horrible and life changing so he is gonna go through Ally’s challenge first, cut to Jess and Katie (dropout cast members) in Santa Monica, they have a letter for Grant that Ally wrote the challenge is just to enjoy the day at the beach with his friends while wearing a dumb outfit and to decompress the show a bit to see if maybe he has it in him to forgive them. The show cuts to a montage of Grant having fun for his $10k prize just hanging in the pier and doing dumb stuff with Jess and Katie.The mood is so different, so fun and afterwards Grant talks a bit about what the show has done to their friendship and how he is regretful Ally couldn’t be there with them before announcing he now knows what his challenge is and shot fades. We start the scene in a bar called “State Social House” that same night as Grant and Ally meet in the empty bar and Grant reveals the challenge is to have 3 mezcals with him, while they begin drinking they also talk about their sentiments regarding what the money has done to their friendship, the reminique about what they've been through and what living with debt has done to them, how they hope to remain friends after this and even hopefully for the rest of their lives as they approach the third drink to which Ally comments about prompting Grant (a seasoned bartender) to want to smell and check it’s profile, this leads Ally to telling Grant to just drink it and take the $10k and to make the gap smaller to which Grant replies that he can’t accept that, at this point Ally has made their choice so they drop the mezcal on the floor on the most shocking moment on the entire show. What is next is just pure friendship and love for the people around you. Grant starts crying and they hug in the sweetest moment in the show, this is the moment that turned around the show according to Sam in a “episode 11” interview. The show then cuts to Grant paying one of his loans and he becomes able to finally be able to start paying his loans instead of just interest, Ally also talks about their loan consolidation as the show begins to wrap and we get the final scene with is a small dinner they set up and the talk about everything they learned about loans and how they are designed to make people’s life worse before the show ends with a toast to it’s history and a tally of the remaining debt before finally saying goodbye one last time.
Total Forgiveness did eventually get a reunion episode 11 sort of podcast thing but that is mainly talking behind the scenes about how of the rails the show went and how it was almost cancelled before the final episode essentially redeemed the whole thing from feeling like like a dystopian torture system as well as how Ally and Grant expected Jackass but got something much deeper, something about the effects of debt on people, something like most of dropout special. Total Forgiveness may not be for everyone, it can be a hard show to sit through, but for those able to go through with it the way it develops as an allegory for its own themes is fantastic and beautiful and in some ways the only example of prestige reality tv I can think of. It is truly one of a kind and a beautiful little show that can’t and shouldn’t be replicated, it should stand as a monolith and be cherished for all it accomplished in showing the struggles of debt. Ally and Grant did something incredible that would only be possible at a platform like dropout and with how the show turned out and how it stands along with other titans at dropout they should be proud.
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chryblossomjjk · 2 years ago
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bts fic recommendations | 01.25.23
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→ hi friends! this is a little segment i do every tuesday (reviewsday get it, aren’t i funny, pls tell me how funny i am) where i read and review two-three fics. as a content creator, i know how big of a role other creators play in your growth, therefore, i want to do my part in making sure everyone gets the recognition they deserve! so with that being said, please check out the amazing fics listed below. make sure to like, reblog, and leave feedback! ♡ #reviewsday #kikirecs
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scent of eager suds - @rkivian (knj x reader | smut, angst, pwp, fluff)
summary: you missed each other, too fucking much. but your head had stayed down in futile hopes of remaining stubborn, forgetting that there is a wedding ring on that tricksy little finger of his for a reason.
so..... genuinely convinced you are the reincarnate of shakespeare babe bc like:
"He would spend a considerably scant amount of time on such a task, yet fulfil it so thoroughly that the constant aching between your legs seemed more equitable than you would like it to be."
LOOK WHAT YOU DO WITH WORDS!!! like everything is so precise. i can tell there's so much thought put into every single word of this piece and woah.. the writing is fucking stellar, seriously. like just the words you use throughout this displays how the reader feels about being vulnerable with joonie: cruel, vengeful, venomous. u put pwp but like you characterized the fuck out of this reader and it's so good...
also... this is thee kim namjoon. like as someone who is v much similar to the reader and self sabotages relationships, ppl who love you enough to recognize that trait and do their best to prove u wrong
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AND YOU DID THAT ALL THROUGHOUT THE FLITHIEST NASTIEST SEXIEST SMUT EVER PLS HE'S SO HOT LIKE HE TRULY JUST WANTS TO MAKE HER FEEL GOOD INSIDE AND OUT AND IM GATEKEEPING HIM!!!! this was so so so beautiful and thank you for sharing with plebeians like me :') <3
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the one where jin is drunk off his face and you get friend-zoned - @indgio (ksj x reader | fluff, crack)
saf everything you write just comforts my soul. it's missing jin hours around these parts and this is exactly want i needed. i don't know how to explain it but this gives me run episode vibes? like... this is legit kim seokjin. I COULD TOTALLY PICTURE HIM DOING SOME SHIT LIKE THIS LMAO WHAT A SWEET BABY!
also love this oc fr. like from the opening paragraph i could already tell she's the most adorable, most precious being, and you proved it throughout the rest :') <3 taking care of ur drunk partner trope will never not get me and you did it so splendidly ugh will definitely be coming back to this when im sad and 3am and missing my seokjin :'( thanks for this ily <3
"tell me more about this girlfriend of yours."
but jin looks at you with a frown, as he downs the water. "no. get your own."
^also for whatever reason this took me tf out lmao
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the one where jungkook will always protect you, even from the fictional - @indgio (jjk x reader | fluff, humor)
bby istg your writing is so... refreshing? like i always think i need these super crazy, convoluted, heavy plots for my fics to be good, but your writing is proof that doesn't have to be the case. your writing is so effortless, yet so beautiful. like once again, genuine comfort content that i don't see too much of anymore. going through your masterlist has really inspired me to take a new avenue, because your fics are just so fucking addicting. i just love the slice of life vibes so much uGh okay enough nutting over u and onto the fic sehfbjsehbdhwb
pov ur saf in my brain BC THE AMOUNT OF TIMES IVE DAYDREAMED ABOUT THIS EXACT SCENARIO IS MENTAL ILLNESS (was just picturing binge watching AOT w him :'))
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this jungkook is such a golden retriever ass boyfriend my heart can't take it. the banter ?? the protectiveness ?? THE BITING THE EAR ??? naur im in love it's settled. adding him to the list of fav jungkook portrayals on tumby. will be thinking about him when im bored in the back of my lecture tomorrow. thank you for daydream fuel &lt;3
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stfu yes it's wednesday get off my back >:'( i posted this early last week and was just trying to even the timing out that's all... im lying. anyways, love u lmao
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jandjsalmon · 6 months ago
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2024 FRC - July 🍁
Hello everyone! I hope you have been enjoying your summer! I've never been so grateful for a/c in my life because it's been super warm and lovely here. We finally got the gang back together for a family photo and in a completely unplanned but super fun way - they all showed up in band shirts - the *same* band shirts. I think that illustrates some pretty good parenting there I think. 😏
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Anyway, I am just about finished with the @fanfic-reading-challenge I have two number tasks (12mill and 15 mill) that I haven't cracked yet and then there are five tasks that I can't complete until December. But other than those, I can read whatever I want now. I'm excited to go back and reread old favourites.  If you have a favourite fic that you think I’d like - please let me know!
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As for my monthly recs for you - I hope you'll give these ones a chance. Read and review - tell the authors how awesome they are.
my heart, oh my heart by @auspicious-goblin (Carmy/Claire - T 1/1) - I don't read a ton of 'The Bear' fanfiction (mostly because I don't ship the predominant ship) but once and a while something just jumps out at you and this is one of those stories. It's actually less shippy and more about trauma and identifying self-sabotage (which is seriously what the show is about to me). The characters are written SO well - and the ending feels really earned. It's not a long fic, but it's one I've thought about a lot since reading it. I highly recommend.
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Leprechaun by @he-aint-heavy-hes-my-leprechaun (Sweeney/Laura - T 7/7) - There are several post-S2 fics in the American Gods fandom... but none of the others have a super fun fake-marriage trope and characters written so in character that you'd think you're watching the show. This is a delight.
Harvest to Home by @writeradamanteve (Bughead - E 13/13) - If you've been around here for a while, you've probably already read this fic (maybe multiple times) - but this was our first taste of this amazing author's talent and it was SUCH an awesome time to be in fandom. This is completely AU - set on a farm in UpstateNY - and you'll fall in love with every single character. Even Cheryl. SO SO good. I was so happy to reread this one this month.
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Sending love to all of you - hope you have a wonderful August. 🌞
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ash-and-books · 7 months ago
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Rating: 5/5
Book Blurb:
In this sly and dazzling contemporary fantasy, the most notorious nine-tailed fox in Korea pairs up with a trickster god–turned–detective to track down a wrathful demon . . . before it can destroy the mortal world.
“Enchanting fantasy . . . With an intoxicating mix of action, mystery, and deliciously angsty romance, this reads like the most bingeable K-drama.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Kim Hani has retired from a life of devouring souls. She is, simply put, too full. Once known as the infamous Scarlet Fox, she now spends her days working in a coffee shop and annoying a particularly irritating, if unfairly handsome, trickster god as often as she can.
That god is Seokga the Fallen. Exiled from the heavenly kingdom of Okhwang, he now begrudgingly resides in the mortal realm, working toward his redemption and suffering through his interactions with the particularly infuriating, if sneakily charming, gumiho barista at his favorite café. 
But when a powerful demon escapes from the underworld and threatens to end all of humanity, Okhwang’s emperor offers Seokga an enticing bargain: Kill this rogue creature, as well as the legendary and elusive Scarlet Fox, and he will be reinstated as a god. Hani, however, has no intention of being caught. Seokga might be a trickster god, but she has a trick of her own that he’ll never see coming: teaming up. As Seokga’s assistant, Hani will undermine and sabotage his investigation right under his overly pointy nose. Sure, she’ll help him kill the demon, but she certainly won’t allow him to uncover her secret identity while they’re at it.
As the bickering partners track their case down a path of mayhem and violence, the god and the gumiho find themselves inescapably drawn to each other. But will the unlikely couple stand together to prevent the apocalypse, or will they let their secrets tear them—and the world—apart?
Review:
A fallen god turned detective, who is desperate to regain his powers... and the only way to do so is to hunt down and kill the infamous Scarlet Fox and a powerful demon that has escaped from the underworld... the only problem? Said Scarlett Fox is actually is actually his new assistant and she'll do anything to make sure he never finds her... yet being together for so long despite their dislike for one another... something else begins to grow between these unlikely too... but can it last with a demon on the loose and secrets between the two people who normally would only care about their own needs? Kim Hani was the Scarlet Fox, a famous gumiho who consumed thousands of souls and got away with it.... and now she works in a cafe, despite hating coffee, and her greatest joy is ruining a very grumpy god's coffee order every single time she see's his arrogant, smug, and cold face. Seokga the Fallen, he was a trickster god before he staged a coup against his brother and was banished... and now the only way to get back his godly powers is to kill thousands of demons... and working as a detective has definitely helped. Seokga hates everything about earth, the only thing he actually likes is it's coffee, yet his barista, a certain snarky, rude, and gets under his skin gumiho refuses to make him a good coffee. Seokga is nowhere near the number of monsters he needs to get rid of to get his powers back, so when his brother offers him a deal: capture and kill both the famous Scarlet fox that has come back, and a new powerful demon that has escaped the underworld in 16 days and his powers will be reinstated. Seokga takes the deal, but the only way he'll actually accomplish it is with the help of his new assistant... who turns out to be Hani. Hani is determined to thwart Seokga from ever finding her true identity, and if it means working as his assistant and throwing his case, she'll do it. Despite how much they both get under each other's skin, they both know they have to stop the evil demon on the loose before it brings about the apocalypse and destroy everything. The more time they spend together the more they begin to realize that what they use to find annoying about each other might actually have been them realizing that they are completely perfect for one another... yet Hani is still hiding her secrets and how can she expect to tell Seokga the truth if he is going to sacrifice her for his own powers... or will he ? Can they survive both the demon and each other? This book was the PERFECT mixture of kdrama, romance, adventure, and everything I could ever want. SOMEONE MAKE THIS INTO A KDRAMA NOW PLEASE. I adored Hani and Seokga so much, they both irritate and tease each other, yet care so much for one another. The moment they realize they like it each other, it was absolute perfection. The book has a bit of an open ending and I WOULD LOVE A BOOK 2 PLEASE. I AM DESPERATE FOR MORE HANI AND SEOKGA PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. I had a blast with this book and absolutely devoured it, I could not put it down at all. It's the ultimate grumpy x sunshine read, Seokga is a trickster but cold and grumpy while Hani is a mischievous trickers who is sunshine and smiles. They both are so much fun as characters and this book just perfectly captures the magic of kdramas and mythology and romance. Seriously, you need this book!
*SPOILERS: The demon reveals the truth and Hani dies trying to kill it. she makes a bargain with Seokga's brother before she dies: if Seokga kills her or the demon he'll get half his powers back for each one. Hani sacrifices herself and has Seokga stab her so he can get his powers back and kill the demon, he does but he mourns Hani. He admits that he knew all along and would never have hurt her. Seokga is a god again but he begs his brother for a new bargain, to have Hani reincarnated, he doesn't care what he has to give up to have her back. His brother agrees, in exchange for Hani being reincarnated Seokga must remain loyal (no more coups) or the bargain is over. He tells him Hani could be reincarnated any day and that he has to wait. In 2018 he finally sees the red thread of fate on his finger and he begins to follow it towards Hani.
Release Date: June 4, 2024
Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)
*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*
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