#Single Review: Sabotage | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

boreal-sea · 8 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.

#hamas #hamas charter

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ominoose · 8 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

“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.”

#jake lockley x reader #oscar isaac #omiwrites

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literary-illuminati · 5 months ago

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2024 Book Review #28 – The Dead Take The A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

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!

#book review #urban fantasy #horror #the dead take the a train #Cassandra Khaw #Richard Kadrey #sff

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sebbyisland · 1 month ago

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This chapter was special because we FINALLY got a glimpse of all the Arakawa school drama from the biggest instigator himself!

Before I dive into the most recent chapter, let's do a quick review of what we know about Issho Arakawa, grumpy old man extraordinaire:

he's an asshole.

He had at least two reasons for expelling Shinta/his cohort: preserving Rakugo tradition, AND personal desire to protect the legacy of Shiguma's Art as the technique of a powerful performer, not the weakness that Shinta showed him

He has two distinct personas as a Shinuchi. A relatively polite and respectful old man, which he presents during public events, and a Demon Rakugo Master, which he presents towards members of the Arakawa school that he has acknowledged.

He is kind, despite always being a bit gruff about it. When he paid the hospital bills of a local bartender, he tried to do so anonymously, and even then, only said that he was doing it because she makes a type of drink he likes. In the end, he not only helped support the livelihood of a single mother, but eventually took on her son as a rakugo student.

He's mentored Kaisei with the intention to have a student who can reach his ideals that "break the mold of seniority," aka someone who has become such a master of their craft that they rise up the ranks quickly, built to reach Ookanban status

To better understand Issho, we also need to consider the minor antagonist of the series, Zensho Arakawa. Zensho's behavior was repeatedly out-of-pocket to everyone's chagrin, often comically so, but eventually it was revealed that he was an asshole to cover up his own insecurities. Interestingly, Zensho also acts like an overenthusiastic lackey to Issho Arakawa's Villain, taking on loud and obnoxious methods in the same of preserving Rakugo tradition and honor. His enthusiasm is a bit of a surprise given they don't have much of a relationship. Issho barely even acknowledges Zensho's presence. We never see them directly interact unlike how Issho does with Ikken and Shiguma. This is because Zensho only knows Issho as the Demon Master of the Arakawa school, and this Demon Master identity is just as shallow as the Welcoming Old Man identity that he uses as a front for his interactions with the public/non-competitors. However, whereas Welcoming Old Man Issho is trying to make rakugo seem down-to earth-and pristine to attract new audiences, Demon Master Issho is trying to uphold the rakugo craft as exclusive, the ultimate pinnacle of entertainment, an ancient and illustrious art.

Through the glimpses of Issho in the story, it's apparent that Issho is a bit nasty and intense by default, but as of late, he's reached some pretty extreme levels in the name of his Demon Master schtick. Again, we see Issho reach for impossible standards by telling Maikeru Arakawa he needed to have made every single person in his audience invested, or he's not a real Shinuchi. This speaks to not only Maikeru's skill that such a petty reason cost him Issho’s vote, but Issho's character. Issho is a bit of an asshole for not trying to correct Zensho when he was sabotaging Maikeru's performance, but his colleague Ikken Arakawa mentions that he likely let it all slide because he wanted to test Maikeru's character. In other worse, even though Issho and Zensho are not close by any means, they overall were aiming for the same thing. Both Zensho and Issho were okay with intentionally testing Maikeru's character by rigging his Shinuchi test against him. Zensho pulled the trigger, but Issho didn’t try to treat the wound when he was the only one with the authority to do so smoothly. And then he’s mad Maikeru couldn’t completely jump over a hurdle that shouldn’t have been there in the first place! That's asshole behavior.

However, unlike Issho, who likes to manage a two-faced personality for the sake of his goals, Zensho is honest to a fault. He feels everything intensely and shamelessly, for better or worse. Zensho has some of the most expressive panels in the series! Whether it's grief, anger, annoyance, or self-satisfaction, he does it to the extreme. It's because he has the ability to feel so deeply that he is able to connect with Maikeru's performance despite literally trying to ruin this man's whole career.

Issho is the other side of that same ego. The straight man to Zensho's funny man. He's not concerned with how people respond to him, he's more concerned with how he presents himself to people (remember, this was also his main critique of Shinta)

The problem with Welcoming Old Man Issho is that he hides his true feelings from the public, who are all just wondering when he'll cause another scandal as Demon Master Issho. This actually did the opposite of his intention, which is to increase rakugo appreciation in the modern world. Unlike Shiguma, who has made a reputation by connecting with the locals, Issho formed a reputation by sensationalizing rakugo in a national scandal. He says that he's doing this all for the sake of traditional storytelling, but the consequences of his actions don't line up. This is how the narrative signals to us that the issue with Demon Master Issho is actually much deeper that having giving people the "harsh truth." The biggest problem with Issho's Demon Master persona is that the truly ideal rakugo he clings onto doesn't exist. If it did, it’s dead by now and meant to stay dead. He was warned by Kiroku* himself: This (rakugo) is a graveyard for stories.

I love how the chapter opens up with this glimpse of Kiroku and absolutely no preamble. It's a shock to you, the reader, and no doubt a shock to Issho Arakawa, who is currently being told that within rakugo is a "graveyard" of storytelling art. I choose to interpret his words as referring to rakugo as a whole since we know this exact problem has become Issho's primary anxiety as the Head of the Arakawa school (I want to think we'll get more details behind this conversation in the future but regardless, it's a safe inference that Kiroku's words impact how Issho approaches rakugo). However, as we now know from the current Shiguma Arakawa, there is also a very real grief that weighs on Issho Arakawa to this day: guilt surrounding the death of Kiroku, the former Shiguma Arakawa.

Wow! Imagine being told by your highly esteemed rakugo mentor that you destroyed his legacy while he's on his literal death bed! Cowabummer.

In all seriousness, though, it seems that Kiroku is pointing out that Issho (formerly known as Kisoba Kashiwaya) was not able to honor the kind of rakugo that he held so dear. Does Kiroku hate Issho for this? Issho sure seems to think so, but I wouldn't be so quick to judge. Kiroku's face is obscrued from us, the audience, but also in Issho's memories. This opaqueness implies that there is more to Kiroku's words that maybe Issho was not able to fully grasp, even now.

Regardless of Kiroku's intent, Issho felt incredibly inadequate following Kiroku's passing, to the point that he guards over the legacy of rakugo with an iron first, as if trying to prove something to Kiroku's ghost. In the panels leading up to the scene at Kiroku's death bed, the younger Issho Arakawa is panting with exhaustion, like he just ran a long distance. Kiroku is sick in bed. He's not going anywhere. But Issho ran to him because he values his remaining time with Kiroku immensely, and likely with the urgency of knowing he would pass soon. I wouldn't even be surprised if this was the first time he had spoken to Kiroku in awhile, too, but he was still running when Kiroku called for him. Much like how anyone runs to their love one's sickbed at their call. In other words, even the IMPLICATION that he has failed Kiroku would be utterly devastating.

Issho clings on to his ideals of a "real" rakugoka because as long as he protects those ideals, he can repent for being responsible for killing those ideals by his own hand.

And really, why wouldn't he be his fault?

He was known to have the "eyes of a wild beast baring fangs at it's prey," among previous rakugoka generations. Does that describe someone who can uphold tradition to you? Who is suited to lead an entire rakugo school on his shoulders?

When he had to deal with a stressful reality of his rakugo mentor passing away before his very eyes, he couldn't find it in himself to grin a bear it, care-free, like Shiguma can. He's too caught up in his own grief. He's too selfish, as Urara says. "We can do anything if we work together," Shiguma says, but would he really want to work with someone like Issho? Someone who might as well have killed Shiguma's legacy?

To put it in other terms: Issho's Arakawa’s cut-throat personality, crippling guilt, aloofness, and long-term close relationship with the care-free Shiguma Arakawa who used to happily call him "aniki," all fit him closely into the "shadow/moon themed shonen rival" trope. And what do we all know about shadow rivals (think: Sasuke Uchiha, Katsuki Bakugo, Seto Kaiba)? THEY HAVE PAINFULLY FRAGILE EGOS.

It's become abundantly clear that for as much as Issho talks about how Shinuchi needed to be amazing performers who can prevail under any scenario: Issho Arakawa has the most fragile ego of them all. He is eagerly pushing the next generation to do what he couldn't do for Kiroku. This is what Shiguma Arakawa means when he says Issho Arakawa is "lost in the past."

This isn't to say Issho is 100% doomed. He's a Shinuchi and Head of the Arakawa school for a reason! He didn't just train Kaisei like a showpony, he MENTORED him, he nurtured his fighting spirit in a way other teachers probably wouldn't be able to--because he understands. Furthermore, it's because he wants to honor the name of rakugo that he holds competitions like the "Rookie Cup" in order to bring in fresh new talent and perspectives. As much as I've been calling out Issho, as much as EVERYONE has been dragging on Issho, he is genuinely interested in training a new generation of rakugokas to not just appreciate, but innovate the craft. He's a man who leads because he WANTS to, and not one of his peers would say that he doesn't suit the role. He has just enough ego to make it work.

At the end of the day, it makes complete sense why he would be appointed the head of the Arakawa school instead of the other Shinuchi. Just like how it makes complete sense why Shiguma was the one to carry on the tradition of Shiguma's Art, not Issho. Maybe Issho Arakawa "killed," Kiroku, but he didn’t truly fail him.

I would even go so far as to say that even if Issho "killed" Kiroku, it doesn't mean Kiroku was disappointed in him. We simply don't have enough information to to figure out what, exactly, created tension between Issho and Kiroku. I have a couple of wild guesses, like maybe Issho wanted to refuse becoming the head of the Arakawa school, but Kiroku tried to make sure he would be there as a leader after he passed by telling him "it's okay that you're taking on my title, and it's going to be different. YOU get to lead the Arakawa school. I'm not gonna be there. I'm dead, and you killed me." IDK, that might be a bit too emotional, but I definitely don't think it would make sense to let the student who failed you become the head of the rakugo school YOU founded. It makes more sense if the lesson Issho needs to learn here isn't that he majorly fucked up and needs to spend his whole life atoning, but maybe that the most he can do is carry on Kiroku's memory while also making way for new possibilities. What's done is done. The original Shiguma Arakawa is dead.

Right after we get the flashback of the younger Issho Arakawa getting accused of "killing" Kiroku, we jump back to Issho of the present, muttering the incantation from "Shinigami." Keep in mind, this spell was meant to rescue someone from the brink of death because it "wasn't their time" yet, so to speak. What is linking these two scenes? Death. Specifically, a death that was undeserved (the patients) and/or unfair (the protagonist of the story). I think that Issho mutters the chant while reflecting on Kiroku because he believes the original Shiguma should never have died. Keep in mind, Issho doesn't even know that Shiguma performed "Shinigami" at this point, he hasn't read the news until Ikken shows him in the following page. That means that it was his own rumination that made him think of Shinigami, that made him think of the futility of avoiding death. Something he would only do when he was alone, without anyone else to hear him....

I LOVE the idea of Issho's grief over an unfair death propelling his strict rakugo ideals because it's a direct parallel to the unfair death of Shinta Arakawa, who he explicitly DID single-handedly "kil” in order to protect those same ideals.

If anything, the lesson that the cast has been slowly forced to learn about accepting Shinta’s death is going to be very similar to what Issho eventually must learn in order to resolve the Arakawa school drama. In other words, the original Shiguma is seriously giving Shinta Arakawa some fierce "Haunting the Narrative" competition, and I love that for him.

Issho is truly one of my favorite types of antagonist because his goals are not actually at odds with the protagonist. He's literally just a typical bitter old man like idk what to tell you guys.

*I know his final rakugo title was Shiguma Arakawa but I refer to him as Kiroku (as in Kiroku Kashiwaya) because that makes it easier to differentiate than "former Shiguma" and "current Shiguma"

#akane banashi #guys listen i love Issho so much look what i can do--#issho arakawa #seb out #ወሬ #the way my akane essays just get longer and longer as the series continues lol #akane banashi 128 #this was all kinda messy but like. im thriving. sorry the the flow is a bit messy but i think my points make senes???

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yandere-daydreams · 2 years ago

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ur probably getting a lot of these (im sorry if ur busy T_T) and u already *kinda* mentioned him but my sick brain needs to know. what would alhaitham fuck instead of darling. he seems like he would be pretty good at keeping him composure so… 🫢🫶

tw - manipulation, forced dependency, slight infantalization.

alhaitham would fuck your first academic journal.

scrawled in crisp blank ink, piled into a leather-bound journal, and given to him for one last review before you submit the final draft. he edges himself while he flipped through the pages, idly scanning over passages on the culture of nations long gone and languages that have all-but faded from memory as he pumps his fist over his cock and bites back any airy grunts or hitches moans that might seep through the thin walls of his office. he limits himself to a single two page spread when he finally finds himself hunched over his desk, his tip brushing against course paper as he fucks his fist to the curves of your handwriting, the faint traces of your scent left on the pages, the thought of your fear-stricken expression when you're called before a council of elders and informed that your plagiarism has not only been discovered, but deemed worthy of immediate expulsion from the akademiya as a whole.

you may try to argue against it, to say that you'd gotten the scribe's personal approval, to insist that your journal must've been tampered with, but he's practiced, learned to copy every little quirk of your handwriting, mastered the art of replacing a few of your pages with that of his own creation without any visible signs of sabotage. as much as it pains him to see all your research go to waste, he knows that this is the most efficient way to show you where you truly belong - in his home, aware of your role as his lover, content to be dependant on him rather than striving aimlessly for an impossible future as a burnout scholar.

getting to paint the fruits of your useless labor with his cum first is just a perk.

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere imagines #yandere genshin impact #yandere alhaitham

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myvirtuesuncounted · 7 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!

#diya's musings #ts #ttpd review #ttpd #fave

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thejoyofviolentmovement · 10 months 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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#alternative hip-hop #Angry Blackmen Dead Men Tell No Lies feat. Fatboi Sharif #Angry Blackmen HEADSHOTS!#Angry Blackmen OK!#Angry Blackmen REALITY! EP #Angry Blackmen Riot!#Angry Blackmen Sabotage #Angry Blackmen Stanley Kubrick #Angry Blackmen Talkshit! EP #Angry Blackmen The Legend of ABM #Chicago IL #Deaethbomb Arc #experimental hip-hop #Fatboi Sharif #hip-hop #New Audio #New Single #Single Review #Single Review: Angry Blackmen Dead Men Tell No Lies feat. Fatboi Sharif

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lazerv4 · 5 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.

#dropout #total forgiveness #ally beardsley #grant o'brien #tv shows #rambles #ramblings

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chryblossomjjk · 2 years ago

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bts fic recommendations | 01.25.23

→ 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

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

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

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

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 :'))

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 <3

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 · 3 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. 😏

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!

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.

Sending love to all of you - hope you have a wonderful August. 🌞

#2024frc #2024 fic reading challenge #reading fics with jandy

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pocima · 5 months ago

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My seasonal music highlights: spring 2024 🦋

Welcome back to my silly little songs of the season reviews, you can check out this winter’s installment here ⭐️ one fave song per artist, no particular order, there will be a mini review section and trust I loved these songs as well, just couldn’t yap as much about them, you know the drill. GIF source: Supernova by aespa.

*: Full album review guaranteed to be presented in my year-end favorite project list

☾ Adulter8 - Sega Bodega*

Father… you have raised the bar yet again. Sega Bodega’s new album Dennis was by far my most anticipated project of the year, which unquestionably delivered the excellence I was expecting and more. I was so captivated by Adulter8’s intricacies that I couldn’t help but play it at least 92 times within first week of the album’s release. What starts off with an 8-bit-like sequence escalates into one majestic pre-chorus and afterwards the best beat drop I’ve ever heard in my life. The lyrics are a result of a thesaurus browse, simply the distorted “dilute, adulterate, diminish, reduce me to nothing, seduce”, effortlessly accompanying the elaborate Arabic-influenced instrumentals. Those beat drops though… especially the first one… that build-up… calling that “top-notch” would be insulting. I felt like my soul left my body for a split second when I was first listening to it at 12AM. I cannot even attempt to comment on the greatness of that singular drop. The song is overall just incredible and addictive, and will most likely end up as my favorite song of the entire year. I don’t even feel the need to comment on more for now because come on, this is Sega Bodega, this is off of Dennis, this is Adulter8. If you get it, you get it.

☾ Mine - aespa

The looooooong anticipated release day of Armageddon the album was a national holiday for Synkcity. We’re seeing such bright times after all these hate trains, mismanagement from SM, the sabotage from rival companies coming to light and what-the-hell-not, honestly. After nearly three whole years and three EPs, aespa finally present their full-length debut. Needless to say, singles Supernova and Armageddon are top-notch, continuing aespa’s all-smash title track streak. However, there was an album delight that blew my damn mind, and it was Mine. Hearing the first chorus in the highlight medley was enough to keep in mind that the track would be one of the best b-sides of the album, but I regretfully have to admit I didn’t think it would be one of aespa’s biggest guns as a whole. My jaw fell harder with every. second. of this. song. Karina and Ningning’s breathy, sassy, forceful, majestic raps kickstart the track along with tambourines that feel like digital diamonds jingling up in front of you. Winter comes through with the earth-shattering second half of the prechorus, and Giselle kills it by spitting one of her most plate-shifting rap verses. A major reason why Mine is my personal favorite off of the album is because how much everyone shines in their own right. Winter and Ningning are back at being one of 4th gen’s iconic vocal duos (as well as their pleasing rap lines), Giselle retrieves her well-deserved main rapper position (SM you can still catch it), and Karina effortlessly wraps both the vocal and rap roles around her fingers as she always does. That bridge? That bridge is disgusting even for four of the bridge architects of K-pop. The girls absolutely outdid themselves on this. The instrumental track may be less maximalist than the title tracks’ or, say, Set The Tone’s, but oh boy are they vehement and so hypnotic. The drums, the synths, especially the ones in the last chorus… it all forms together to make the song nastier and nastier as it progresses. Everyone involved in this walked into the studio with a mission to change the trajectory of music. I’m afraid I’m in this MY lifestyle for long. aespa truly are unsteppable.

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☾ Fácil - Empress Of*

For Your Consideration promoted Empress Of into my new favorite indie popstar, and Fácil is my chosen earworm off of it. Every song on the album is so sultry and charismatic, and Fácil has this distinguishing sharpness in its sound, courtesy of umru, to top it off. Empress Of’s ear for memorable melodies and catchy lyrics especially come in clutch here, with casual melodic beatboxing in the background and the looping “tócame aquí, tócame ya, ya, ya, ya”. The self-made hisses and snares go hand in hand with umru’s signature punchy splices. Multiple layers of vocals linger in the entire track, from panting and breathing to sensually delivered lines in the higher range. The bit I’m gonna point out next is more self-indulgent (and I’ve pointed it out on my page previously lol) but nevertheless, I felt like the casual bravado and the combined danceability and grit of the track was akin to candy bOmb by OnlyOneOf, and the more good music with similar vibes, the merrier. Can’t get enough of either.

☾ Hypertonic - TAN (+ my Soda origin story 😙)

TAN have proven themselves to be masters of old gen K-pop revivalism since they came out the gate with their 2022 debut Du Du Du. The group first came to my attention with Walking On The Moon and later in 2023 with the hit Fix You, which went multi-platinum on my personal devices. For some strange reason, I still didn’t fully open my eyes and get into them despite their almost unmatched title tracks. That is until they released the first-day diamond-certified Hypertonic. Hypertonic, as a song, is pretty much everything I could ask for from a new gen pop boyband: in-your-face electronic production, intriguing composition, high-powered vocals and raps, and a full song structure, despite the track duration falling slightly below 3 minutes. The gritty synth heavy instrumentals are robotic and over the top in the best way possible, giving you the feeling that they’re straight out of 2000-10s Japanese EDM archives. The verses, chorus, rap and bridge hit all the right spots, going with the instrumentals instead of being overshadowed by them or vice versa. The high notes in the bridge and outro couldn’t have topped off the track’s overflowing energy any better. Now, I wanna bring up how I was particularly taken over by the first half of the second verse. I mean it when I say “taken over” because I was so obsessed with that particular member’s flawless line delivery that I was scrambling to learn their names. The particular member turned out to be their main vocalist Jooan, and it all made sense because he was behind the perfect vibratos (earned by his musical theater education), a good amount of high notes and runs (along with brilliant lead vocalist Hyunyeop) and bits that blew me away in previous songs I’ve heard from the group. Honestly, I was starstruck by all of TAN at first Kprofiles browsing sesh. I mean, what’s there not to love about a band of superb singers (+ superb main rapper Jiseong who’s obviously included in the “singers”), dancers, songwriters, producers (the self-production makes the music even more impressive), choreographers and overall artists who are intensely passionate and excellent at everything they do? This type of multi-skill and well-roundedness is exactly what I seek and keep up with in both K-pop and outside of it. Jooan though… you will pay for being the cause of some of my most humiliating K-pop fangirl posts. Love me a mind-blowing vocalist (duh), dancer, rapper, songwriter, producer, sound engineer, overall a true all-rounder with an irresistible face card. Please give these dudes’ music a stream or two because they really have no business not getting their flowers from K-pop fans and tasteful people.

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☾ Malena - Domiziana

Somebody took “after your biggest flop comes your biggest slay” a bit too literally, and I am more than satisfied with that. After the colossal washout that was Domiziana’s previous single Katholisch Erzogen, which was merely another one of the examples of cheap blasphemy for shock factor accompanied by a fake-creepy beat straight out of the Tiktok “musician” archives, Malena turned everything around. Not only was it a massive bounce back from whatever she had going on with that disaster, but also an upgrade in her whole career in every single way. The production is arguably her most minimal but most defined and well-executed to date, with the amapiano influences and siren-like background vocals doing wonders. The vocals and lyrics are her best by a landslide as well. The whispery, high head voice stays, but this time with more emotion and variety in delivery. We listen to a story about cheating, betrayal and a lack of commitment, enriched with references to the cult classic movie Malena, the namesake of the track. The music video is set in Domiziana’s mother’s hometown, Catania, with different sets, cameras and editing. Malena ends up being an incredible audiovisual experience and the current highlight of Domiziana’s work. Maybe it’s just her highs and lows, maybe it’s her taking her career more seriously than ever, hopefully the latter. May she beat the one-hit wonder allegations (mind you, Ohne Benzin doesn’t hold a candle to this masterpiece) and continue to serve like this.

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☾ Lipgloss - Terror Jr

A portion of pop music fans constantly ask for the good old 00-10s to be brought back, meanwhile some others wish to move on and focus on more future-oriented, complex sounds instead. Lipgloss masterfully combines both, delivering nostalgia yet nonetheless sounding shiny and brand new. The simple repeated chorus, casual lyrics and the vibe of the production overall feel 2016, and fans have likened the song to Terror Jr’s Bop City era’s sound. Still, the natural execution of this song makes it solid and refreshing on its own rather than a pathetic attempt at reviving what pop used to do. It took me a bit too long to find out that the experimental pop duo’s producer David Singer-Vine was ½ of The Cataracs, a producer duo behind numerous 2010s pop hits such as Like a G6 by Far East Movement and In The Dark by DEV (along with the entire The Night The Sun Came Out album). As a solo artist he produced songs such as Gold by Kiiara and Stuck With Me by Tinashe. This made the Terror Jr experience make a lot more sense: listening to their music feels like taking a trip to the present in a fancy time machine, with hosts who have a nice grasp on the past and the future. Special shoutout to that music box all over the instrumentals by the way, that scratched my brain just right.

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☾ Perfect - Cosha

I didn’t call the MurMurs EP the “free therapy album” when it first dropped for no reason, you know. Alternative R&B hidden treasure Cosha returns to heal us all after her 2021 re-debut album Mt. Pleasant, with more of her sublime melodies and vocals. In the EP, Cosha keeps switching from soulful, serene and down-tempo (Fire Me Up, MurMurs Interlude) to drum-heavy, danceable and inviting (Relish, Glow). Meanwhile, Perfect pinpoints that sweet middle ground. Firstly, the beat is absolutely hooking. The drums, bass and recurring plucks pull me in the most, and Cosha’s higher-range head voice is pure magic, especially in the chorus. The second verse has this slight beat switch that brings forward the bass that I’m obsessed with, and then we’re back to that divine chorus with even more adlibs, high notes and harmonies. It’s laced. I feel like the whole project, but especially this specific song, would suit many people’s tastes, so this is especially a deep cut recommendation of mine to everybody.

Mini reviews

❥ Nasty - Tinashe: I feel so bad that this is going into the mini reviews section because the song has been on rotation since it dropped, I don’t believe I need to elaborate on its earworm factor. Obviously, Tinashe has an ear for hits, and the production is relatively simple yet so effective. So glad that it’s going viral and Tinashe is getting the hype she deserves.

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❥ You know what (Hey listen) - 4s4ki: I’m afraid as long as 4s4ki keeps making music, she will keep appearing on all my favorites lists. She just can’t miss no matter what genre or sound she tries out. This one’s for the people that get their head in their hands and slide down a wall at 1AM. Give us vocals, give us guitar breakdowns, give us a REAL love song, give us everything, queen.

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❥ Hard dreams - Gesaffelstein feat. Yan Wagner: Real techno’s been so back since Gamma dropped. The visuals for this album still hold their title of being the best of the year, by the way.

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❥ Botoxxx - Isabella Lovestory: She SLID on that bridge. Love to see the budget in the MV. We need the sophomore album.

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❥ Caught Up - FLO: The guitars? The vocals? That key switch in the bridge? FLO’s discography is still flawless. We need the debut album.

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Thank you for reading, feel free to give feedback on the song recommendations or review formatting ☻

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