#a video about it popped up in my recommendations on youtube and now i’m kind of obsessed

[cicadasides]

really drawn to the idea of commonplace books. i think i’m gonna start one tomorrow !!

[child0feden]

STITCHIN’ UP MY HEART

max verstappen x cosplayer! youtuber! reader

♡ general dating headcanons for max with a cosplayer partner!

୨୧ i’m so crazy excited for lollipop chainsaw repop so you know i just had to include a cosplay of my favourite girl ever, juliet starling! i really hope you guys are liking the headcanons so far, i’m actually finding them easier to work with than smau <3

♡ view my formula 1 masterlist here

reading music recommendations: superhero by hiroaki takahashi - everglow by shift up - snake eater by cynthia harrell

♡ you guys met after he stumbles across one of your videos on youtube!

୨୧ he knows what cosplaying is, obviously, and though he’d never really looked into it that much before there’s just something about your face in the thumbnail and the beautiful smile on your face that makes him click on it…

♡ he watched it all the way through <3

୨୧ he thought you were one of the most creative and passionate people he’d ever came across on the web and loved how softly you explained things to the viewer, speaking into the camera as if he was really there next to you and you’d been friends for years

♡ your videos very quickly became a source of comfort for max, he felt like you were such a well meaning soul and just loved your voice

୨୧ eventually, he gets the courage to send you a message on social media, professing his love for your videos and how passionate you are, offering you a vip paddock pass if you’d ever like to come to a race and chat with him

♡ to say you’re confused would be an understatement… who is this verified guy in your messages? f1? i mean, you know a little about it like how a lot of people watch it and it’s people driving fast cars but you don’t watch it

୨୧ but max’s message is just so sweet and heartfelt, you almost can’t believe it came from someone as famous as him… you thought most famous people were supposed to be snobby?

♡ eventually, you message him back! extending your gratitude for his viewership and kind words, making sure he knows how much they mean to you and you agree to visit the paddock, mainly just to have a conversation with max as you’re now enamoured with how sweet he is

୨୧ max practically screams in happiness when you accept his offer, already thinking over how he’ll greet you in person, and sends all the details over to you

♡ when the day to meet finally comes, you dress casual, not really knowing ( or caring ) about the “ right ” way to dress for an f1 race

୨୧ when you meet him, he’s surprisingly a little shy! having watched your videos, now seeing you in person for the first time, it feels like the roles are reversed, it feels like he’s not famous at all, just an awestruck guy meeting a celebrity

♡ you guys have a casual chat over some hot drinks in the paddock, conversation flowing smoothly and peacefully… yeah… you think this is nice… you think he’s nice… you could get used to this

୨୧ little do you know he’s thinking the same <3

♡ eventually, you have to leave but not before making sure he has your number to call you later, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek and bidding him a thank you and goodbye

୨୧ he didn’t want to wash that cheek for a week…

♡ fast forward like, two years and many dates later anddd you’ve been dating for a year and a couple months

୨୧ he’s absolutely your #1 fan, your biggest cheerleader

♡ you make almost all of your costumes by hand, purchasing fabrics and stitching it all

୨୧ so whenever max is out without you and sees some fabric he thinks you’d find useful, he’ll always buy it for you!

♡ sometimes you stream some progress of making your costume and there are SO many fan favourite moments of max popping in and out of the room to check on you

୨୧ him coming to give you some snacks and a drink ( usually a red bull ), asking how the costume is coming along, getting jimmy and sassy out of the room because they keep playing with the threads… even sometimes popping in just for a quick kiss which fans especially love

“ it’s looking good so far liefde, when do you think you’ll be finished with it? ” ( he just admires you with soft eyes and a smile as you tell him how many more days you think it’ll take to be done )

♡ he loves showing people on the grid your latest cosplay photoshoots! he’s like a proud mother, holding his phone up to engineers and other drivers so they can see and telling them all about how long it took you to craft the costume

୨୧ but they don’t mind, max is the happiest they’ve ever seen him with you and some of the drivers ( most of them ) actually think your cosplays are awesome, especially lando! he asks max to pass on recommendations of future cosplays to you and whenever you’re there with max, you and lando are non stop talk machines…

♡ his absolute favourite characters for you to cosplay are really badass girls, he thinks you look especially good in those and your personality fits them so well

୨୧ but he also thinks it’s so fucking cool when you cosplay male characters, keeping your hair the same and just slightly gender-bending the character

♡ one time you cosplayed as john marston from red dead redemption and it just completely rerouted his brain wiring… you think he might have a thing for outlaws now

୨୧ well honestly, you being a cosplayer introduced him to a lot of new attractions that he’d never think of himself having…

♡ when i say he was gagged when you cosplayed as lady dimitrescu from resident evil village, i mean he was fucking gagged

୨୧ he couldn’t get over it, when you walked out of your closet after putting on the costume he was slack jawed for at least two minutes! he almost didn’t want anyone else seeing this one because it just did something so special for him

♡ and don’t even get me started on the time you cosplayed dixie clemets from rumble roses…

୨୧ have you cosplayed aphrodite from god of war III just for max’s eyes before and it ended in your bodies being tangled in the sheets your shared bed, soft lips meeting in a dance of deep love and hushed sounds of pleasure filling the room?

♡ yes, yes you have…

୨୧ and obviously you don’t just cosplay characters because they look cool, you’re a huge gamer and are actually knowledgeable on the characters you’re cosplaying

♡ he absolutely loves when you go on rambles about the character you’re cosplaying! it mainly happens while you’re crafting the costume, you’ll go into a spiel about why this character is so damn good and he’ll just stare at you with his lips turned up in a smile and this look of pure adoration in his eyes ( which is sometimes captured on stream )

୨୧ often times you play games cuddled up on the couch together and he’ll point out characters he thinks would make a great cosplay

“ oh, look at her liefde! that design is pretty, no? i think you’d look pretty in that… ” ( he thinks you’d look pretty in a potato sack )

♡ obviously max streams racing games and what not but you actually get max into playing story games too!

୨୧ though he likes to keep those reserved for just the two of you, very rarely streaming them

♡ one of his favourite types of games to play with you are couch co-op games! brothers: a tale of two sons, unravel, it takes two, overcooked

୨୧ and of course, moving out… oh boy, that game has you guys either laughing so hard and giving yourself stitches or yelling at each other so loud about just going in the right damn direction

“ no! not that way liefde! oh my god, over here, please just come over here and help me with this ” ( you’re never actually angry of course, soft chuckles constantly slipping out in between yells )

♡ whenever you cosplay a character that requires a lot of make-up, he’s always right there waiting for you when you’re done with a make-up wipe in hand, gently helping you remove it all

୨୧ he really helps out a lot with stuff! whatever you need, he’ll try and help… holding down two pieces of fabric while you stitch them together? he’s on it! searching for a very particular patterned fabric? he’ll be looking at online stores every spare second he has! he says it feels good to help you

♡ and what a good helper he is…

yncosplays: this month’s cosplays so far! the latest being my favourite girl, juliet starling ( and a special someone’s head as nick ) this is my favourite one so far… watch how i made it here!

maxynforever: is that max’s head… ?

> f1lover: oh my god, it is 😭

maxverstappen ✔️: beautiful as always liefde! i’m always blown away by your talent to craft these costumes… though i must ask, was making a replica of my head to hang off your hip absolutely necessary?

> yncosplays: yes, yes it was <3

maxverstrapon: i don’t know wether to be impressed or slightly freaked out about seeing a replica of max’s head on her hip…

[noonaishere]

Online/Offline [C.S] - one hundred and three | I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing

“Aww!” You said as you spawned in and saw that Virtual Byeol was on the floor next to your bed. “Our digital furbaby!”

San spawned in a second later. “Oh she of ones and zeroes~” he sang.

“She of ones and zeroes~” you echoed.

You both laughed.

“Shall we take a tour about the grounds, my former fake boyfriend?” You asked.

“Mmm, indubitably,” he said like a fancy rich man.

“Do they have monocles in this game? You need one.”

He laughed.

The two of you walked around your palatial estate and checked on everything. The world was on the Realms servers, so it’s not like anything could change since neither of you had logged on since the last time you played together on stream, but it was nice to see that everything was in its place. You, also: didn’t remember exactly where everything was, and you wanted to get a look at it all to refresh yourself.

“Hmm.” He said.

“What?”

“I think I want to change the garden a little.”

“Why’s that?”

“Youtube recommended a video to do a kind of… hanging gardens thing, and I kind of want to do that with some of it.”

“Ooh, that sounds nice. Do you want to send me the video and we can start working on it?”

“Oh-- yeah. Do you want to change everything? I remember you liked the way it was before.”

“A lot has changed between then and now. I’m up for a remodel.”

You couldn’t tell, but because he paused for a moment before saying, “Okay,” you thought he might have smiled. 

The two of you got to work: he sent you the video to watch, but he streamed it privately for you to see anyway. The two of you making note of what you wanted to do and where it should go in the landscape.

“You know… what I think?” You asked.

“You hate it?”

“What? No! I already told you I liked it.” You laughed.

“Then what are you thinking?”

“Wait a second, why did you think I’d hate it?”

“Because it’s kind of a project.”

“You-- you’re silly. Were you not involved in my months-long sting operation?”

He laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re not afraid of complicated things.”

“I invented complicated things, pal. The world was so simple before I showed up.”

He laughed again.

You chuckled at him. How could he have forgotten your - if anyone else knew about it - most famous antic so quickly?

“So what were you thinking?”

“I’m thinking… The hanging gardens will cover the house, right? Like if you look at it from far away.”

“Mhm. Should we not do it then?”

“NO. We should, but we raise the house as well.”

“Raise… the house?” His avatar moved away from you and ran backwards a few - whatever the in-game equivalent of yards is - as he looked at the front of your house. He stared at it a few more seconds before turning back to you--

“This is very dramatic.”

“The suggestion makes me feel dramatic.”

You laughed at him.

He looked back at the house and back at you. ���You realize this would mean changing everything about it, right? We’ll have to break all the lower blocks just to move it up.”

“Yeah. But I think we can do it.”

He looked at the house again.

“We have nothing in the world but time. And you don’t stream anymore so how else are we supposed to hang out outside of work?”

“True… we could just hang out in person.”

“That’s true too. But I like building things with you.”

He paused. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Let’s do it.”

“Yesss!” You ran towards the house. “Com’on, let’s break shit!”

“Wait! We need a plan!”

Somewhere in the neighborhood of two hours later, the two of you were breaking blocks to redo the garden, since that would be the easier of the two projects. The house itself would need a big replanning that you might actually have to break out a pencil and paper for. Breaking blocks was easy at least.

You talked about anything and everything as you both ran around tak-tak-tak-pop!-ing blocks. 

“Yeah, so apparently she’s liked him this whole time.” 

“Woww…”

The conversation lulled into a comfortable silence, and you knew now was the moment where you could finally bring up what you wanted to talk about.

“So, uh, I wanted to ask you about something I was told.” You started. tak-tak-tak-pop!

“...Oh.” tak-tak-tak-pop!

“‘Oh’? Why do you sound like you know what it is?” tak-tak-tak-pop!

“Because… you had to find out at some point.” tak-tak-tak-pop!

tak-tak-tak-pop! “Uh-- did I?”

tak-tak-tak-pop! “Yeah.”

“Well, you haven’t said anything this whole time, so…” tak-tak-tak-pop! “I guess?”

“I guess.” tak-tak-tak-pop! “But with Quack around, it was bound to happen.”

You paused. “Wait, I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing.”

tak-tak-tak-pop! “I-- no?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?” tak-tak-tak-pop!

“I asked first, you have to answer.”

“I… I thought we were talking about how I’ve been watching your streams for years.” tak-tak-tak-pop!

You were silent. You heard a few more tak-tak-tak-pop!s as you stared at San’s avatar and processed what he had said. The noise stopped. He turned to you. 

“Y/n?”

“WHAT???”

   previous | main cast | masterlist | next

a/n: The penultimate secret! What will she think about it?

Send an ask or leave a comment if you want to be added to the tag list! 🧋 Any comments, reblogs, or asks are appreciated! I love talking with you guys and seeing what you’re saying about the chapters, it keeps me going 🥰

@rachs-words • @stayatinykatsy • @dinossaurz​​ • @conwunder​ • @tinyelfperson​​ • @anythingrelatingtojinyoung​ • @jaytheatiny •

[staybabblingbaby]

Chan x Youtuber (Discover Part) a1 d1

[Caution: These are not full fics, or even full parts of fics for some, these are part of my writing progress archive!]

Concept: Reader is an anonymous Youtuber who does English covers of various k-pop songs, including Stray Kids. Bangchan comes across one of these one night and falls in love with Reader's voice. They develop an online friendship, and Bangchan might be in love with more than just the voice.

Word Count: 962

Notes: I had a lot of fun narrating the video. I've seen it a lot in Idol novels that I read online, and it really is a fun and new perspective to use. The username may stay, it may change, i might get rid of it entirely idk. Kind of also contemplating using 'You' instead of 'person'. Idk we'll see how it goes as i work on it. Feedback would be much appreciated for this one. No editing notes rn, I'm not rlly feelin' it.

Warnings: None that I know of? It's just silly fluff idk what u want from me.

Masterlist link :D| Prev Part

It was 2am on a random Tuesday in Seoul. Bangchan lay staring at his ceiling for the nth time that month, silently cursing at his insomnia. He rolls over for the thousandth time to stare at his wall instead. His eyes drift his phone on the nightstand, and he idly wonders if he should spend some time teasing STAY on Bubble.

It’d definitely relieve the soul-crushing boredom of being unable to sleep, but he doesn’t really feel like receiving their well-intentioned scolding over his sleep schedule right now. He rolls back onto his back and heaves a tired sigh.

With resignation, he sits up and grabs his phone. He’d like to avoid being scolded, but receiving STAY’s love is always comforting. Vlogs and edits it is, then.

He hops onto YouTube with deft fingers and begins his latest STAY-binge. The thought of STAY’s reactions when he reminds them that he watches their stuff brings a smile to his face. They always freak out so cutely.

Soon enough, he’s zoned out and mindlessly scrolling through, giggling along to memes and watching vlogs with all the affection in his heart.

He runs out of content from the accounts he regularly watches pretty quickly. He’s only killed about 30 minutes, and even though his mood has improved significantly, he doesn’t quite feel up to going back to staring at his ceiling yet.

With a light heart, he descends into the familiar uncharted territory of his recommended feed. He manages to kill another hour or so before a particular video catches his eye.

[Learn Music Production With Me! | Cover Me by Stray Kids (English Cover) | EP.4]

The thumbnail features someone with brightly colored hair slumped over a desk, their face smooshed against the wood and their arms dangling limply beside them. Their features are obscured by a fabric mask, but bright blue tear-tracks are drawn on over top.

Bangchan can’t help but be amused by the image. He could definitely relate to the frustrations of learning music production. He actually felt a bit flattered and flustered that this person was using his music to learn from.

Officially intrigued, Chan clicks on the video.

It opens with a shot of the person from the thumbnail from the back. They’re sat at the same desk, which Chan can now see hosts a towering hutch with full shelves decked out in flower-shaped fairy lights. He spots a large section of SKZ albums tucked between other albums and books on the hutch’s shelves.

There’s a microphone on the desk, the boom arm pushed to the side, and a bulky set of headphone’s on the figure’s head. Despite the microphone’s distance from the person at the desk Chan can hear the furious clicking of a mouse as clear as day.

This scene plays out for a moment before the clicking suddenly stops and the person freezes. They slowly remove their headphones and sigh loudly. A very crisp [“Fuck!”] Takes him by surprise and he can’t help a soft laugh as the video pauses and begins to rewind.

[“So turns out I’m a big ol’ dumb-dumb and I’ve been doing this wrong this entire time.”] A voiceover begins to explain. The rewind quickly covers what Bagchan assumes is hours of work, and the voice over continues, [“Well, not wrong, per say, but I was definitely doing it the hard way. Wrong Equation right answer sort of situation. I.”] The voice chuckles ashamedly, [“I could have done this whole thing in a third of the time. I’m so embarrassed. Let me show you.”]

The rewind stops and the video switches to a different angle. The camera is obviously sitting on the desk this time, looking at the person from the side. The angle is much closer. The person waves awkwardly at the camera with both hands and rotates their chair to face it properly.

[“Hi all, I’m Grimm’sTeddy and this is episode 4 of me failing to learn how to produce music. We’re onto week 6 now, because I was quite seriously fighting with this program the entire time.”] A caption appears on the screen, [Shoulda watched more tutorials, buddy].

The video continues along the same vein for a while, a mix of Grimm talking and explaining their process while being unknowingly roasted by the occasional caption when they do something wrong. The video mostly shows the screen they’re working from, only switching back to the vlog-style camera when Grimm is being particularly dramatic about their struggles.

Around the 10 minute mark, Grimm discovers the feature of the program that triggered the reaction from the first clip. There’s a bit of grumbling and self-deprecating jokes, and then the video’s pace speeds up by quite a lot. Apparently the process is a lot less entertaining when it’s going smoothly.

Finally, 12 minutes in, the full cover is revealed.

Bangchan is, quite honestly, entranced.

There’s something almost desperate in the tone Grimm sings with, something raw and hurting. The cover is incredibly faithful to the original. They’d changed some words to preserve the melody across languages but were clever enough with it to preserve the meaning.

Bangchan finds himself impressed. Sure there are mistakes, and a lot of polish is missing, but the voice sticks in his head like glue. He goes to the channel’s page to find the first video in the series almost without thinking about it.

It turns out the video he’d watched was from several months ago, just after they’d released the song initially. There were only 2 videos after it, the series seemingly ending at episode 6.

Chan ends up watching the other 5 videos that night. He falls asleep with his phone on his chest at 5am, after making sure to leave a comment on each video.

[seraproto]

Achievements In RETRO Games?

Note: The following article will also be a video on my YouTube later. If you see references to that it's because this is a script. Video version is out now!

Howdy Earthlings, if you’ve watch my videos or read my posts you’ve probably seen me mention how important I think it is to have a wifi enabled retro handheld or to use a frontend like Retrobat or Daijisho. That’s because of a feature and site called Retro Achievements. Retro Achievements is just that, achievements like you’d expect from modern gaming but on retro games. It’s a cool website that has users contributing achievements for various retro games. To me this adds so much replay ability and is such an important feature to me that I will check if a game has achievements before I decide whether I’m playing it on original hardware or emulation. Yeah, for me this feature puts Emulation ABOVE original hardware. Sorry but the novelty of playing on original hardware isn’t as cool as the novelty of retro achievements. So I’m going to give you a mini guide on how this all works so you can start earning too.

What Is Retro Achievements?

The short version is RA is a way to earn achievements for retro games that are emulated. It’s a website that is user submitted and tracks all the achievements you have unlocked, what games you’ve earned for, what you’ve contributed, has a leaderboard, and tracks a ton of stats about your gaming habits. It’s kind of like social media too as you can look up people’s accounts and see what they’re playing and follow them. This is really cool because you can see what kind of games I play when I’m not streaming and even leave a comment on my page. You can also see how many people are tackling the achievements for a given game.

Why use Retro Achievements?

If you weren’t one of the people foaming at the mouth when I said “Achievements for Retro Games” then I don’t know what to tell you. Sometimes our dopamine deprived brains need little treats as we play the game to encourage us to finish it. It also makes playing games we’ve played before more interesting as some of these achievements ask us to play in creative ways to earn rarer achievements. I also like that it tracks my gaming stats so I can go “Oh, I have all these points but I haven’t finished a game in 6 months.”

How Does It Work?

It’s very easy to get started. You go to https://www.retroachievements.org then sign up an account. You use this account information to log into an emulator in the emulator’s settings. Not every emulator is going to have support for this so what I suggest is getting a front end or emulation station to handle the log in. Front ends are also very convenient, like on android Daijisho handles picking emulators for me as well as putting my games in a launch list like you’d see on a console. I recommend checking out this video from Retro Game Corps on how to set up Retrobat. It can be a little annoying to set up but once you do you’re not going to want to go back, it’s super convenient.

Then once you sign into RA through a front end or emulator you pick a game and start playing. It’ll tell you if the game has achievements or not and how many you have unlocked with a pop up. Some front ends also let you check whether they have achievements using a little trophy icon. Note that you need to be connected to wifi for this to work. Hence why I make a big deal about getting a retro handheld with wifi. Once you’re logged it and connected to the net it’s automatic, you don’t even need to check the site or whatever. Although you should check back in after 100 points so you can add a profile picture.

What games have achievements?

No achievements for you, Jimbo.

As I mentioned, not all games are going to have achievements. Since the achievements are made by users and there are 1000 GBA games not all of them are going to be blessed by our achievement lords and saviors. So games that have achievements are going to be ones are popular for the most part. But the best way to find out is to just try. I’ve been surprised by what has achievements. Like you wouldn’t expect Pokemon Mini’s games to have achievements but they do. Even more surprising the translations also have achievements.

Let's A F***ING GO!

Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, yep, 100% has achievements. Digimon Anode version on wonderswan with a translation patch, also yes. 3 game pack! The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Hyphen Attack of the Twonkies, no achievements. The Polar Express? Yes surprisingly. As you can see, it’s a bit of a coin flip. More recent ones are also less likely to have achievements because people are less likely to be emulating them. For example Halo 2 has no achievements. Sometimes your front end might not be able to find achievements for a game like Pokemon Conquest is showing as no achievements because it thinks I’m playing a romhack of it and that’s happening regardless of the version I play. If anyone knows how to fix this on Daijisho, I’ve hit a brick wall. For the most part though you won’t have this issue.

The popular ones have achievements, and translations from franchises too. It’s mostly games you’d actually play. But don’t despair Jimmy Neutron fan singular, if you want achievements for a game you can add them yourself or you can request it be added. If someone feels like it they might add achievements for you. Remember that this is a volunteer system so if your game reeks understand that people might not want to do it. I think you need to be a frequent user to request though as I don’t have any requests I can make. This is probably to prevent spam or trolling.

Additional Features

If getting all the achievements on Hardcore Mode isn't hard enough you can always try to go for perfect boss fights.

Retro Achievements doesn’t just track achievements as I said. There are tons of additional features if you use the website. One such additional feature is Hardcore mode, and this can be used without using the site. It’ll be a toggle in your front end’s RA section. Anyway, you know how some weirdos complain that using save states isn’t a legitimate way to play retro games. Well if you turn on hardcore mode you won’t be able to load save states and if you do you’ll disable hardcore mode. Hardcore mode gives you extra achievement points for playing games the LeGiTiMaTe way. It incentivizes and rewards you for playing the games as they were InTeNdEd. You’ll be able to finally look your Shigeru Miyamoto body pillow in the eyes without feeling shame. Go ahead and do it, he missed you.

Hardcore achievements are also tracked on the site. So you can see how many have earned an achievement and how many were earned hardcore. As you might guess, hardcore play isn’t as popular and some achievements might be hard to earn without a save state. That means as you get further down the list you’ll see less playing on hardcore. For example, speedrun style achievements have significantly less hardcore players because it’s easier to set a state before the timer starts. The rest of these features are going to be site based, don’t worry the site is very light and loads quick so you can easily check it on mobile.

Achievement of the Week is a weekly achievement contest where an achievement that takes only a couple hours to unlock is picked. Then players compete to earn it by the end of the week. Once you earn it you’re added to the leaderboard. This expands into the achievement of the month, and has a monthly, weekly, and yearly leaderboard. This feature has a lot of rules like lifelines and stuff, I’d suggest checking it out for yourself if interested.

If you want a place to keep track of a retro backlog then find a game then click “Want To Play”. If you see this and you’re someone high up in RA, please consider changing this to “Backlog” I think it’s a more commonly used term and it’s less wordy. Maybe “Wishlist” or “Play Later”. It’s weird that on the suggestions list it’s called “Backlog” but isn’t on the front side. Want to Play feels verbose. Anyway, click the want to play button or if you’re searching in a list you can click the plus then you can hover on your profile picture at the top right and click “Want To Play”. This will take you to a list of games on your backlog. You can sort by system and search. I don’t use this because I just play whatever I’m in the mood for. But if I stream Achievement Hunting this would be a useful feature.

If you don’t know what to play you can hover on your PFP and click “Game Suggestions” and the site will recommend a list of games for you. Some randomly selected, and some based on your interests.

If you want to challenge yourself with something new you can check out the plethora of custom leaderboards. You can comment on game pages, these are useful for seeing tips on how to beat certain achievements. You can view popular games beign played, what new achievement sets are being worked on, what games and who recently beat them, and that’s just what I’ve seen. There is tons of features and information on the games and player habits. If you’re not using retro achievements already you should definitely be using it.

How To Use Retro Achievements

You stuck around to the end, I must have sold you on it or you skipped to the end. Either way, set up is incredibly easy. I’ll be showing you how to set up retro achievements on your emulator but quick note. I will only show you how to do it on Retro Bat for windows and Daijisho for Android. If you’re using a Retroid Pocket device I recommend using Daijisho over the RP Launcher. I also don’t recommend logging into individual emulators unless you only play games on one system. Instead you should use a frontend, you only need to log in once and it’ll handle logging in for every system launched from it. Also launchers like Retrobat and Daijisho are very customizable and pretty. It’s way better than looking at an emulator’s launch list. Again, I’ve linked in the description a Retro Bat guide from Retro Game Corps. It can be a little annoying to set up but it’s worth the pay off. If you don’t feel like using one of these then you’ll need to find another guide. Lastly, if you end up liking retro achievements you should join their Patreon for only a dollar. This is an awesome service and it makes great games even greater.

Step one, make a retro achievements account. Go to retroachievements.org then click sign up at the top right. I’ve already done this, but you’ve signed up for a site before, you know what to do.

Next is if you’re using retro bat to open up the menu, click game settings, then click retro achievements, click the enable toggle then put in your info. You can go through the toggles below for stuff like leaderboard mode or hardcore mode. If you’re cool with playing without save states and want more achievement points then enable hardcore. That’s it, now you launch games and you’ll earn achievements as you play.

If you’re on Daijisho you go to settings, scroll down, then click “Retro Achievements”. Tap account credentials and put in your username then web api key. You can do this by clicking the web api key button and it’ll open up your browser. Login, then go to your settings. Scroll down, click the copy button. Then go back to Daijisho and paste it into the web api key box. Then click save. Click the toggle to enable RA then you’re done. Sort of, you may need to go into Retro Arch to enable hardcore mode. Launch a game, click your retro arch quick menu button. Go to achievements, then click hardcore mode and turn it on. Easy peasy, you’re all done. Go play something.

[dino-mp3]

blog intro :)

3-23-24

Hello I’m Dino! I wanted to make an introduction post for my tumblr since I decided I wanted to start posting to motivate myself and others! I thought it would be nice to list my personal goals, interests, etc. :)

also pls ignore any grammar issues I don’t feel like putting this through Grammarly :,)

Goals

Work towards a 4.5 gpa: I have currently maintained a 4.2 gpa for this school year I wish it was 4.5, but I have 2 b’s :( So I’m going to work towards a 4.5 for this last quarter and senior year!

Become a better speaker: My ultimate career is to be a lawyer! With that comes working to be a better speaker. I get quite nervous when it comes to taking to a large group of people and start to talk fast. On top of this at my mock trial meet I messed up my direct horribly because of how nervous I was to talk in front of the judge and jury :,)

Get best lawyer during Mock Trial Comp: I won best attorney this year, but I don’t think I deserved it…I want to be more confident in my win this time around!

4 or 5 on AP Exams: I want to get a 4 or 5 on both my AP Lang and APUSH Exams in May! I need to study and practice hard though, but I’m willing to put the hard work in ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

Practice flute more often: I play the flute for my schools band and while I have only been playing for 7 months now I have to keep up with people who have been playing for 5+ years :,) With that I want to practice more to keep up and for my personal interest of just becoming more skilled with the flute!

Turing in homework on time: I have made a bad habit of turning my homework in late which is so bad oml I need to get out of it

Exercise: I want to start working out regularly to lose some weight :) While I’m at a healthy weight I just want to lose a few pounds for aesthetic purposes, but in a healthy manner!

Love myself more: I forget to remind myself that I have gotten so far and I have evolved over the years. I want to make sure that I know that I’m worthy of love even when I’m at my lowest.

Interests

Music: I’m a big fan of all genres (even some country songs too) but I’m a big listener of k-pop! But here is a list of my favorite groups + musicians: Red Velvet, Melanie Martinez, Laufey, Idelwork, Frank Sinatra, NMIXX, Ive, Megan Thee Stallion, Flo Milli, Poppy, Lesserafim, Aespa, Newjeans, Infinity Song, Kiss of Life, and many more!

Media: I’m not going to list every kind of media I’m into but here is a small taste! Big fan of ARGs, Indie Horror games (puppet combo specifically), Mascot Horror games (FNAF + Poppy Playtime), Anime (although I haven’t watched anything recently, but my fave is TBHK), K-dramas and Thai-dramas, YouTube video essays (TRO, iNabber, Primik, Stephanie Soo), Cartoons (Owl House, Gravity Falls, Amphibia, MLP, stuff like that), RPG + Dating Sim games (Shooter game HATER here), Sitcoms, Snoopy/Peanuts, Miraculous Ladybug (biggest MariChat lvr) Twisted Wonderland (Azul my love) and a BUNCH more things I’m into, but I’m not going to list them all like I said :,)

Hobbies: Doing my nails, playing my flute, writing fanfics (don’t judge I BEGGG), reading (pls recommend books for me to read, I love the classics too), deco (for my photo cards and notebooks lol), and makeup!

I think that should suffice for my introduction, though it looks a bit long…I’m a blabber could you tell?

Anyways thank you for sticking around for the end! If you want to see any updates on my goals or read my blabber about my interests don’t hesitate to follow me! (Also follow me on Ao3 @/dino_mp3 if you’re an Azul lvr bc all my fanfics are about him) This tumblr is more of a casual stop for me to be more myself and work towards a better me :) But thank you again and I hope you have a good day/night! Don’t forget to drink water :D

-Dino

[mysticmermaid108]

I’m gonna talk a bit, stick with me.

Rewind to about 4 years ago. I was in Middle School and had started working on an Invader Zim book. A little project titled “The Rise Of Irk”. I loved writing, and it was so cool to rebuild this world and these characters. But I had hit a bit of a roadblock, and wasn’t sure how to continue the epic story. I needed a twist of some kind, I just wasn’t sure where to go.

But then, one day, Film Theory’s video about Invader Zim popped up in my YouTube recommended.

I watched that video about a dozen times, it was so awesome, and it really inspired me to finish the story. Funny thing, shortly after that I ended up meeting who would eventually become one of my best friends after geeking out over that video together.

Fast forward to now, so many amazing people have joined me to help make my dream come true, and turn that little book into an Animated web series. And I couldn’t be more excited.

But also, I couldn’t be more thankful. MatPat is just one of the many people I have to thank for that inspiration.

Thank you legend, we’re all gonna miss you, but I wish you nothing but the best going forward.

[taehyungfirst]

Hiii ☺️

I stumbled upon this guys review the other day of Layover tracks that I really enjoyed and thought you might too. It's so nice to hear someone echo my thoughts that Tae's aura, level of uniqueness and uncompromising authenticity makes him a legend/icon in the making.

https://youtu.be/1bCjCcWl4WE?si=gvQ-DNOAgb58yLEo

Now when it comes to my favorite things about Tae, I would have to say it is his ability to take his hardships and struggles and turn into positives that become infused in his overall character. He never indulges in embarrassment, humiliation, or self pity for too long. If he messes up, he quickly laughs it off and turns it into something cute and charming but then also quietly does his best to makes the necessary improvements. I also love how he is not afraid to show parts of himself that would be considered less appealing especially in an industry that is built on curating a perfect image. For example, attempting to grow out his beard for fun or happily showing off his pimples. I also love how he is able to connect with so many different people regardless of language or cultural barriers which shows how empathetic he is and frankly is not mentioned enough.

Hello dear! First of all, thank you so much for the recommendation, I don’t usually watch a lot of youtube reviews, but this one was genuinely interesting. The guy reviewing did such a great job, and he really hit the nail with his insight. When he mentioned Van Gogh (I’m assuming he’s not really a Bts fan) I was amazed because we know Tae loves him, and he said some things I noted so that I could share with you because I liked them:

“There is something so artistic about V’s vision and his soul as a person that bleeds through all the videos, in such a beautiful soulful easy way […] V soul is so beautifully expressed throughout his music videos, they don’t feel like k-pop, they dont feel like music videos, they feel like an expression of who he is as a person.” I really really liked this part because I absolutely agree with it, Layover is a masterpiece and the music videos are so quintessentially Taehyung that rewatching them is always so easy, and every time you discover something new (this time I found out a cloud in SD video had the shape of a god, I haven’t noticed that before because I was too focused on Tae in the shot ahaha). My heart fills with pride seeing people recognizing just how much of a good insightful artist Taehyung is, how much he takes from the world and transforms it into art. Into something his, something unique. So really, thank you for the recommendation!

And about the things you like about Taehyung I couldn’t agree more, he will always be one of a kind, always felt like a best friend more than a kpop idol.

[asteria7fics]

How did you come up with the idea to make TSOB?

You know, I’m surprised to say that I don’t think I’ve answered this question on Tumblr before!

The short version that I tend to tell people is this: I was bored at work one night, working the closing shift, and I had an epiphany. I thought to myself, “Isn’t it weird that I take so much comfort in terrible characters? Like Agamemnon, and Cartman-… wait a damn minute!”

Seriously, it occurred to me that Agamemnon and Cartman actually had quite a few similarities, and then I realized that Kyle would make an excellent Achilles, and the rest was kind of history.

The long version? Well, how much time have you got?

I can’t really pinpoint the moment when I got really into Greek Mythology, and Classical/Ancient Greece in general, but it’s been an interest of mine for several years now.

I spent hours just exploring Greece in Assasin’s Creed Odyssey (as well as taking detailed notes in the historical tour mode), watched so many YouTube videos, read a great many books, etc.

Reading was actually where my love for the Trojan War in particular began. Idk man, there’s just something about those characters, and that conflict, that I adore.

I could give you a list of contemporary novels I’ve read and really enjoyed, but you didn’t come here for book recommendations ahaha so I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say it was the only thing I read about for like a year.

Fast forward through a really intense k-pop obsession (it’s still a majority of the music I listen to. I’m listening to Ateez as we speak) and I’m in the throes of a new interest. Fucking South Park.

I really did just, get the idea one day. I was around season 15 of my first time watching the show (though I had a ton of stuff spoiled already, hence why I made Heidi and Cartman exes), and I had just started reading fanfiction. I had no intention of actually writing the damn thing, but the more I spitballed ideas with a few select coworkers, the more I realized the thing needed to be written.

Who else but my crazy ass would write this thing, really?

I suppose I should also add another, small piece of inspiration. Right before getting into South Park I actually decided to be surgically sterilized. I won’t go into detail as to why I made that choice, but the idea crossed my mind while developing the story to have a side plot where the adults are losing their minds over all their condoms going missing (because, yah know, they were needed for warfare!) and the whole town gets caught up in this big debate over if the man or the woman has the responsibility to be sterilized, should a cis & straight couple choose to be done having children.

Obviously this would have been a Randy and Sharon heavy debate, and I’m glad I didn’t include it as a proper plot point. In my mind though it does still occur, the kids are just totally oblivious to it. Likewise, the adults are totally oblivious to how ridiculous their kids play war is getting, until of course there are real consequences to the whole thing.

There’s one bit that alludes to it, when Annie has gone to the little girl’s house to discuss getting her Switch back and the girl’s parents are arguing about something they ‘don’t understand’. A fun remnant of a plot point that didn’t quite make it in!

Anyway, I’ve already broken down the story beats and how they correlate with the original text in this post, though if you were wondering where Cartman and Heidi canonically get their inspiration, I like to imagine they binged this show while they were together. It’s actually a pretty entertaining retelling, I would definitely recommend it to a casual enjoyer of Greek Myths!

Wow, that was a lot! If you actually read all of that, thank you!

And thank you for this ask, friend! (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡

[moonsunlovers]

Hi ! I read your blog and really admire your observation skills. I want to bring your attention to some things I personally observed

1) During JK's live where he listened to letter. So he was playing songs from YT, right? And he searched up "지민"(Jimin) in the searchbar and scrolled down on recommended searches ("Jimin- jaman- jimin") till he found " 지민 pyeonji" or " 지민 편지" which weverse translated to dear.ARMY. Now if you search "지민 편지" on YT, the 3rd video that pops up is the FMV made by elisssa which is a beautiful Jikook compilation with thumbnail of Jimin piggybacking on Jungkook after a show. When he scrolled down, he saw the thumbnail and smiled at 0:10. (https://youtu.be/OM2EH_VKxW4?si=_mbBZqLzVxdztL7Z). I am absolutely sure this was the reason for his smile. Finally, the video he ended up playing was the lyric video that shows up 2nd for the search. He didn't play the Dear.army live clip as many claim. I know this because I pay attention to music and the one he listened to didn't have acoustic instrumentals like in the live clip. He reacted to the original song.

So my conclusions are:

Jungkook now knows that there are jikook FMV/compilations to letter with above 500k views. And his reaction was just a cute smile. Infact i have never seen jm and jk mind their ship or mentions of the ship.

He didn't play the live clip for whatever reason but maybe because it was too much for him to watch the live version? especially after crying about army's songs? He was in an emotional state after all.

Phew..

2) The JK bday post made by JM on Instagram. I'll just say it- Jimin's pants are sketched. Badly. With a phone editor. While JK's pants/trousers are clearly visible with cloth texture and everything, Jimin's are just plain dark , 2D, with a wobbly waistband. Lol. Even if you change image settings, nothing changes. As someone with decent amount of photo editing knowledge, i am 100% sure of this. Reminds me of the jkk selfie from that exhibition where Jimin's black shirt was clearly sketched. So what do we do with this info? Lol. Maybe jm was in underwear. Yes.

I will never say with 100% confidence that jikook are absolutely dating but their bond is definitely for the history books. Have a good day/night.

Hello dear. Thank you for passing by my blog leaving such an interesting ask and also the little compliment you made me, I appreciate it so much. I have been looking in detail at the things you’ve pointed out and my observations about them are the following:

1) The video search. I have to say that I’ve search “지민 편지” from different accounts and the video edit you said doesn’t appeared in the first ones. Maybe it’s because now there’re trendier ones but you have to scroll down to see that specific video. It’s possible that Jungkook saw it that day or maybe he saw something else that made him smile like that. Maybe he was just smiling at Jimin in the thumbnails of almost all of the videos or he was remembering a fond moment. Whatever it was I’m sure it was Jimin related and was a really sweet gesture. You can see the man melting looking at him in the screen.

About Jungkook having knowledge of this kind of content I think we can be sure that he knows about it pretty well. I mean he watched a video of bts teasing Jimin, is obvious that he has been watching compilations in YouTube and is almost impossible to not cross by to one of this type. The same goes in twitter, Instagram and tiktok. The boys must know everything we’re into as a fandom so I wouldn’t be surprise if they had searched for fanarts and other stuff before. Jimin and Jungkook don’t seem bothered by fans shipping them together in general, at least they haven’t expressed themselves like Tae has done with taekookers so probably they are okey with it. Although I have to say that I feel like Jimin is trying to keep it low this year and doesn’t want to talk about Jk that much and the things that they have going on for some reason. Maybe it’s because the military service is approaching, maybe is because of the breaking into his apartment and his private life… I can not tell the motives behind this decision but I think is pretty obvious that he has been protecting his private life with more tenacity than before, and that includes Jungkook, and that decision alone speaks volumes.

2) The birthday photo. I have to say that I didn’t notice this and is pretty interesting!! You have an amazing eye for the detail anon!!! I’m not sure if only the top part of the pants are drawn or the whole thing. Maybe he was trying to hide his underwear showing or he was plainly in something more compromising. Maybe we’ll see the behind the scenes of this photo in the program that Jikook has recorded, who knows. Whatever it is I’m sure Jimin is comfortable enough to be just in underwear in front of Jungkook, I mean, we know that he usually goes naked at home and this guys have been living together for half their lives. And if we want to be more delusional, we know that in their Tokio trip the bathroom of their room had a huge window. So, yeah, no privacy whatsoever for Jikook.

On the other hand, being more objective, what makes me think that maybe he was just on his swimming trunks and there’s no reason to panic is because obviously there was other people with them, somebody else took the photo for them so probably the staff was there too, I don’t think they would be in underwear or something “compromising” if other people were around.

Although my answer wasn’t maybe what you were waiting for Anon I hope you continue to send me this type of asks because I enjoy them so much. I love to look into the details and try to put everything coherently together. Jimin and Jungkook have an unique and wonderful bond in which we don’t need to exaggerate or create things in order to find something extraordinary between them.

See you next time!

[foxgloveinspace]

this is hella random but-

if you ever want to info dump about the call of duty guys (ghost and soap i think? are those call names? soap is weird lol) please do! that ship has started popping up more and more in my feeds and now i am thoroughly intrigued. mostly because yes give me more ships with everyone suffering ptsd, but also i had no idea call of duty had any sort of plot line or recognizable characters?

i’ve played it only a handful of times and it always just seemed to me like a “create a character then join a server and shoot people” kind of game i didn’t think it had any story lol

but yeah. pls fill me in if you so desire :) i am so curious

I’m the wrong person to ask, cause I haven’t played the games yet😔🤣.

I own a couple of them, but I haven’t played yet just cause… last year I was in a weird place with video games really, is the only explanation I have. The campaigns (the plot parts) are not too long if you wanna watch them on YouTube (I also haven’t done that,,,,,, I should do that if I’m not gonna play the 2020s games, just cause I know that people where Not Happy with the last game, but I should freaking play the ogs cause they are RIGHT up my alley oof).

There’s a couple things you gotta know, if you wanna get into to it: There’s two different series of Modern Warfare, the og, which came out 07, 09, and 11. And then the remakes (which is what got the fandom So Big), which is from 2019, 22, and 23. They are, the same story told differently, and they are Very Different. The characters have very different personalities depending on the series.

(This is why I tag things as ghostsoap, or 09 soapghost so I can keep track of the different characters lol).

Ghost and Soap are their callsigns, yeah. It makes the ship names fun though! (Ghosts first name is Simon, Soap’s is John (Ghost calls him Johnny, so the fandom runs with calling him that lmao)).

Ghost wears a mask, and doesn’t have a canonical face clam! Which is really cool to me, cause we get so many different versions of Simon from the fandom🖤 and also, masked characters make brain go brrrrrr.

I am mostly in it for the fic, and there’s tones of good fanart. Not to say I don’t know anything at all, cause I have read the fandom wikis/synopsis of the games (though I’m a little rusty on my knowledge,,,, again I do want to play the games, I just.. wasn’t in a video game mood all last year). I’m just… sometimes info dumping is hard.

But yeah. The fic is freaking good. Like, I was looking for military themed romance novels the other day and I legit couldn’t bring myself to start any cause I’m worried it won’t live up to ghostsoap🤣🤣🤣.

I was gonna give some recommendations, but I uhhh…. I have realized I mostly bookmark the good smut, and only have a couple fics that aren’t smut, but they are SO ANGSTY🤣🤣🤣. And then one long fic, but it’s ghostroachsoap (roach is a player character from the first mw2).

Gosh. What can I say about ghostsoap…… they are black and red coded characters??? (Not Actually, but in the fandom way. Ghost is black, Soap is red. I don’t know if that’s even still a fandom thing lmao).

I…. I don’t know what else to say, haha.

[muserinterface]

confessions of an ex-jikooker turned jm solo

I’ve been a Jikooker first before an ARMY.

The first K-Pop group I stanned was Seventeen, and I’ve heard about BTS every now and then but never bothered to check them out. I was scrolling mindlessly on Youtube when a video recommendation popped up about Jikook and their bond. I took the bait, watched it, and became an Army a few months after.

Jungkook was my bias, and then Jimin stole my attention around 2021. Being a Jikooker was a fun time, since we were constantly being fed content. I loved their bond, the company emphasized their closeness, and there’s definitely some palpable tension between them.

During the FACE era, things took a turn for the worst. I lost trust in the company, seeing how they left Jimin high and dry in the midst of his newfound popularity as a history maker and record breaker. They did not support him, not even one bit. I felt hopeless, requesting Like Crazy to radio stations everyday to getting inevitably blocked by them.

Fast forward to today. I am utterly disappointed about how Jungkook turned out. He’s become the typical macho, alpha male prototype. His interviews shone light to who he really is. He has become arrogant and airheaded. He’s confident about how well he’s going to do because he’s backed up by big players of the industry. He’s expressed his ambition to become a giant global pop star. Sure, there’s nothing bad about having ambition, but not through cheating. He thinks he’s above BTS and sees his members are competition. Scooter and Bang PD has fed the idea into his brain that he can be the breakout star in the group, but why can’t they prove that organically?

Moreover, the difference between how each member was promoted left a bitter taste in my mouth. I love Jin and J-Hope, and I feel like they were also robbed of their full potential. It’s disgusting how HYBE turned out: greedy, power-hungry, and corrupt. They didn’t even bother acknowledging the achievements Jimin made, but instead dimmed the light. What kind of company would not take advantage of the heights Jimin brought the company during the phase where people were wary if BTS can be the same after military service?

I have grown utter distaste for Jungkook. It hurts my feeling because out of all the members, I least expected him to turn out like this. I have been a Jikooker for a long time, but now I’m done.

[lunathequeerscientist]

when you get this ask you have to answer with 5 of ur fav songs and then send this ask to 10 of ur favourite followers :) (no pressure <3)

Ooooooooooh YES an opportunity to open THE ABSOLUTE FLOODGATES of my music preferences! Hmmmmhmhmm heheheheee *rubs hands together maliciously

Okay, so:

1.

AAEERREEEEREEEEEREEE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE SHELTER (by Porter Robinson & Madeon)

(I’m so sorry I don’t know who this picture’s original artist is, I just found it on google, who ever it was, you are AMAZING ✨)

THE MUSIC VIDEO is just BY GOSH SO GOOD! It’s literally better than most movies I’ve watched. The story, the art, the colours… and the story! DID I MENTION THE STORY!!! AEIIIAJDJFNSNJ okay I won’t spoil it but I’ll have to literally bite my nails clean off gooo shoooo before I explodeeeee… oh… Oh… HERE IT COMES TAKE COV-

2.

Anyways, moving on

My next favourite… ooooh see this ones interesting because there are a bunch of songs here, it’s kind of like, you know when you have multiple favourites and you can’t really choose except I already have a favourite but that’s only because that favourite is relatively more favourite than my other favourites thanks to it’s possession of a feature or features that favourites it out of my other favourites… ish? Yeah? Yeah… ? *hopeful stare

Oki let me try again: i likey many song :D

This spot gets awarded tooooo.... a nightcore remix of Wake me up when September ends, uploaded by Syrex (unfortunately I cant seem to find the original video I usually listen to, the cover art on this is sliiiiightly too graphic for my liking (dw its not explicit or anything) but the original was perfect!)

This was one of my first nightcore songs, and something about it just felt so… magical 🌈 and 🌟mystical🌟… like a sort of window into another dimension? I still come back to it as my comfort song, kind of like a sonical blorbo…. A blorbo song? A slorbo? Yeeeaaah!

In a similar position but possibly not to the same extent are other nightcore remix songs like Drivers License (also uploaded by Syrex) and Fly me to the moon(also Syrex) and some others

3.

Now I do indeed enjoy a spot of classical music (mainly rather popular songs though) and what else do I say than frikin Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Oh ajsjdbdk do I love Tchaikovsky! “Canons are not instruments!” Tchaikovsky: *slow evil grin* “Your gonna love this” *starts 1812 Overture -need I say more

✨Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikov✨

Okay I lied actually I do enjoy more than a spot of it, I listen to it classical music sometimes obsessively, all the way from grand masterpieces while looking through my homework as a cunning super villain surveys their chaos to frilly piano pieces. Oooh speaking of, Un Sospiro by Franz Liszt, that is by far one of my favourite piano pieces… maybe close to Piano Conerto no 1 in terms of favouriteness? Maybeeee?

4.

I do also love some pop and dancey and songs. I think One Last Time by Ariana Grande definitely sticks on this list and is one of my all time favourites. The music video is amazing too! There also others like Solo Dance by Martin Jensen, Style by Taylor Swift (oooh another of my favourite artists btw) Don’t lose my number by Phil Collins and Heaven (DJ Sammy and Yanou)

5.

I (mostly) love my YouTube recommendations, and most of the time its cute (and very VERY impressive) animatics galore, and some of the music I’ve heard on them just sticks with me and lives rent free in my head. The one on this list has to be Sincerely, Me (from this animatic). Now I don’t know much about the song out of the context of this animatic, however rumour has it that it is rather twisted (again, I have actually no idea where it’s from, I never followed it up) but it’s so insanely catchy I find myself head-playing it on repeat and listen to it to scratch that very specific itch… the animation is absolutely 🌟amazing🌟 too in that video, and I keep coming back! Also I’d like to show you Think U Know by Ikson, found in this animatic by none other than cudlil :P I love her channel, and all the music she uses!

So there you go! Now I know it may seem a bit like a genre rank, but I assure you it’s not. It’s not, it’s not not ntotntotntotn noooooo

It’s just that I sort of categorise songs by the way they make me feel, and most of the time the ones listed from 2-5 can be interchanged (meaning I like them all equally)

Oooh oooh! And ofcourse, Thank you so much for the ask! 🌈🌟

[stepsofthepalace]

Still discovering new things about myself every day…

I’ve been having a lot of thoughts about this and I think I just need to write them down and get them out so I can stop running over them again and again in my head.

YouTube kept recommending me this video about signs that you could be asexual. I kind of dismissed it the first couple times, being like “well I don’t need to watch this, bc I’m not.” I’ve known about asexuality and had ace friends for the better part of a decade, and I’ve been pretty sure I’m demi for much of that time.

But then the video kept popping up in my feed… and I watch a *lot* of YouTube, particularly putting it on in the background while I’m working since I’m generally doing fairly low-mental-effort computer work a lot of the time and I like to watch videos/listen to podcasts/listen to music while I do it

So I finally decided to put it on for curiosity’s sake. And wow… I got slammed in the face with several things in that video that hit a little too close to home. Like, stopped me in my tracks, causing me to rewind and listen to what they said multiple times over kind of close to home

And Loveless by Alice Osman was referenced at one point in the video, and since I was already having a mild panic about what this all meant, I checked it out of the library and read it in less than a day. I full on sobbed at one point reading it

And all this is also happing while I’ve been (somewhat unenthusiastically) planning a date with someone on hinge. I had recently updated my profile to demisexual instead of lesbian after a date where the other person had clearly been interested in sex on the first date if I was open to it (which there’s nothing wrong with that but I was very embarrassed and wanted to make sure I was clear about it from the start now that I was not interested in that).

So this girl I was planning a date with asked me what demisexuality looked like for me (especially since she was more open to casual sex) and I was weirdly thrown by the question - particularly since I think I had just watched the video that day or the day before. I ended up unintentionally leaving her on read for like two days just trying to parse through my feelings about the question

Also also, I watch a lot of JaidenAnimations videos, and she made a video about being AroAce a while back (maybe like a year ago?) and there were a few things she’d said in that video that had hit a little close to home, but I’d more or less written it off. And now because of this new video, and the book, I’m remembering my feelings about her video and it’s causing even more questions and mild spiraling

Anyway, I’m still going on the date this weekend, but it’s hitting at a weird time for me - after the video (or videos) and the book, and trying to do more research in my limited free time right now, I’m starting to think I might be fully ace. And I never thought this was the case until recently, but I think I may be on the Aromatic spectrum too…

Like I don’t think I’m fully Aro, but maybe demiromantic or even grayromantic. Bc I’ve had crushes before, but they’re very few and far between, and honestly I think some of them were just friends that I felt extremely close to and and wanted to hang out with all the time (like I’m not really sure if I ever wanted to date them, or even kiss them, or if I was just misinterpreting my strong platonic feelings??)

The only person I *know* I had romantic feelings for was the one girlfriend I had in sophomore year of college - and I was friends with her doe the better part of a year before those feelings made themselves known. But that ended pretty spectacularly after a very short span of time

For years I thought I was still just traumatized from that experience. I thought it exacerbated my fear of intimacy, that I was being too prudish, that I was picky, that it was just my anxiety getting the better of me, that I was a (very) late bloomer, etc

Ive always made a shit ton of excuses for why I didn’t/don’t date much (“i don’t have time right now,” “I don’t like dating apps/I find them tedious/stressful”, “I plan to move in the near future so what’s the point,” “I’ve gone on a couple dates recently but nothings stuck”) but now I think I understand that there’s more to it than that

I’m half a year away from turning 30. My sister was married with a baby by this point. So many of my current friends or my old friends from college are married or getting married, and so many of those who aren’t are still in long term relationships, moved in with their significant others and gotten a dog together

I don’t know if I really have a final point to this post other than that I think the closest label I’ve got at this point is potentially asexual grayromantic lesbian (boy what a mouthful). It’s nice I guess to understand more about myself, but it also adds to this feeling of dread that I’m never going to have what my friends and siblings have. That I’ll be a forever-third-wheel (or fifth, seventh, etc depending on the size of the group)

It makes me think of an analogy I use a lot for why I think having 2 kids or 4 kids is better than having 3 kids. If you go to an amusement park, it’s easier if you have an even number - because then everyone always has someone to sit with on the rides (I acknowledge that this analogy is very monogamous and it doesn’t really take polyamory into account, but it makes sense to me bc I’m monogamous). But what I’m worried about is that I’ll never have that person to ride with. That I’ll always be the extra person making the group an odd number

Any way that’s all definitely too much information, but I’ve been spiraling a bit as I try to come to terms with this and figure things out more decidedly. I probably should have just written this in a journal or seen a therapist or something (not that I can afford one), but there’s something nice about yelling it into the void and the void potentially saying something back, idk

If you did read this whole thing for some reason, thanks

[tomorrowxtogether]

SOOBIN: “Seeing MOA, I felt more assured about myself and more determined”

TOMORROW X TOGETHER ‘minisode 2: Thursday’s Child’ comeback interview

2022.05.20

SOOBIN spoke in an even, measured tone, using the word “determination,” at times, to describe the way he sings, dances, practices, performs and even his relationship with MOA. At all times, a deep passion underpins the calm he exudes—like when he said/says he’s “placing great emphasis on trying new things” for the latest promotions.

​Your pet hedgehog, Odi, recently celebrated his first birthday. How are things with you two?

SOOBIN:

I tried to give him different kinds of snacks for a change of pace but he won’t eat anything other than mealworms. I’m just going to give him mealworms like always. (laughs) When I look at YouTubers, their hedgehogs are so gentle and are okay when you pet them, but Odi doesn’t really like people unless they give him mealworms. (laughs) But now he comes out from his shelter sometimes and doesn’t run away when I turn on the lights. He doesn’t like when you touch his back, but he’s okay with his stomach, so I pet his belly like this. I love how warm and soft it feels.

Has living with Odi had an impact on your everyday life?

SOOBIN:

Before I got Odi, every day was exactly the same: practice, go home, sleep. I even always saw the same people, so the days were becoming boring. Having Odi has given me a lot I have to do, and after I come home I watch him and play with his feet before going to bed, which has become a daily routine. I’m just grateful and happy he’s there waiting for me. I have a lot more small things to be happy about.

Other than Odi, what other simple pleasures have you found recently? For example, it seemed like you were into console gaming and anime.

SOOBIN:

I don’t game lately, but I do watch anime. I just watched one recently, in fact, so I’ve been talking with HUENINGKAI nonstop for two days about it. When you watch anime, you need someone who can share your feelings. I think I can talk about it a lot thanks to Huening. Actually, whenever I recommend something to him, he says he’s already seen it all. (laughs)

How did you get into anime?

SOOBIN:

There was an anime I watched in grade school when my friend recommended it to me. I didn’t watch any more anime after that, but I started thinking about the show again out of the blue after I debuted. I remembered I liked it, so I started it again from the beginning and then happened to watch some other shows and found out there’s all kinds of good ones. I used to watch a lot of emotional animes with beautiful art styles and stories I could get invested in, but these days I also watch a lot of action-packed ones.

​You keep sharing interests like that and others with MOA. You also did a V LIVE titled “SOOBIN’s Inside KPOP” back in January.

SOOBIN:

I was just going to go on V LIVE, turn on some music and talk, but I loved the second and third generations of K-pop so I couldn’t hold back and ended up singing and dancing along. The fans said that, if that’s what I’m going to do anyway, I may as well do a K-pop V LIVE, which is how I ended up doing that video. I had so much fun watching other singers rehearse and put on live performances when I hosted Music Bank. I felt blessed. Because I ended up doing what I love as a job, I mean.

You hosted Music Bank for over a year. Did that have an effect on your own performances as well?

SOOBIN: 

When we were on hiatus and I would see performances like that, I kept thinking how I wanted to put my heart and soul into a performance like that, too. There were so many really talented people so I learned a lot about performing. When we were working on the comeback, I didn’t have a sense for what kind of concept we should have, so I watched some performances from other artists of our generation.

This is your first album about a breakup. Were there any places in particular where you focused your effort on how you expressed your emotions?

SOOBIN:

I think “Opening Sequence” was fine since I’ve sung a lot of sad songs with themes similar to breakups. “Thursday’s Child Has Far To Go” is an upbeat song, but I thought that, within that, there should be some sadness. I was actually sensitive about my voice since I thought it doesn’t convey excitement very well. But I think my voice was actually a good match for the feeling of the song.

The first song, “Opening Sequence,” opens with your vocals.

SOOBIN:

I felt like that opening line was the highlight of the song when I heard the demo, but they gave that part to me. I told them, “I think you gave me the wrong part. I don’t know if I can pull this off.” But the producer was firm with the decision, saying, “We gave it to you because we thought you’re the right one for the part, so just try to be confident.” I worked hard on the recording since I got the part. (laughs)

And your voice sounds stronger in “Good Boy Gone Bad” than ever before.

SOOBIN: 

When I first heard “Good Boy Gone Bad,” I said, “Wow, I’m doomed.” (laughs) This is awkward to say myself (laughs) but I have a reasonably kind-looking face (laughs) and I’ve never yelled at anyone in my life. I thought it was going to be a big issue. And “Trust Fund Baby” was the hardest song I’ve ever done. When I sang the whole thing through, most of the parts were easy to get through, but I got stuck on the part that goes, “I can’t be a lover,” and felt like the part wasn’t for me but the part eventually went to me anyway. I have a love-hate relationship with the song since it was so tough for me. But now I’m good at performing it live and got a lot better.

​You mentioned before that you’re working to improve the high end of your vocal range. Do you think it’s a result of all that practice?SOOBIN: My vocal range has actually improved a lot. I had to really give it my all singing our songs and my vocals were unstable, but now it’s so incredibly easy I can’t believe it. So I could’ve sung in falsetto for this album, but I felt ambitious and told the producer I wanted to sing in my normal voice. I ended up using falsetto anyway, but I think I’m getting past that limitation.

Is there anything else you experimented with on the album that might not be immediately obvious?

SOOBIN: 

The A&R team said, “We want to get some lyrics from you. You give us unique lyrics that nobody else writes.” When I’m given a topic, I write out a whole story with the speaker in mind, then extract any parts I think would make good lyrics and put those in. I liked writing novels and other things for fun in elementary school and even as late as middle school, so it wasn’t unfamiliar to me. I wasn’t writing it because I felt like I had to get some lyrics in this time; I just had fun writing about whatever I wanted, since there were topics I would want to write about anyway.

Which topics did you find particularly interesting?

SOOBIN: I thought the theme of “Opening Sequence” was uncommon, which was like a movie played in reverse like a series of flashbacks so the last scene becomes the opening sequence. Since it’s a boy who’s shocked by the experience of his first breakup, I thought memories flashing before his eyes would be a good way to express it. The other songs I wrote when the deadlines were right around the corner, but this one came to me quickly.

It seems like you tried a lot of new and different things. The choreography was once again impressively intense. What was it like practicing for it?

SOOBIN: I like and am good at dances that require a lot of energy and have big movement. But “Good Boy Gone Bad” was hard for me at first because the moves aren’t big, you have to be relaxed, and a lot of it was completely different from what I’m most confident doing. “Opening Sequence” isn’t like the K-pop dancing I’ve always done; it’s more like contemporary dance, constantly flowing and with lots of parts where we stretch out our arms and legs. Two days in and I still didn’t have it memorized and it felt like my limbs were rejecting it. It really threw me for a loop while learning it, but now I feel like I learned some new moves, which is fun.

​How did you overcome those difficulties?

SOOBIN: It wasn’t anything special, just blind hard work. Mindlessly so. As for the facial expressions, they were the opposite of what I’m confident doing—for example, bright, smiley expressions, so it made me feel less confident and my self-esteem dropped. But I changed my mind by thinking that, if I could pull off such a punishingly difficult concept, then I would have the ability to pull off anything after that. I figured it could lead to either a slump or to a turning point, so I decided to use the album as a chance to change myself.

Did changing your mindset also bring about some change in you?

SOOBIN: I changed my mindset right before we shot the music video, actually. I had no chance to improve if I was half given up and I would have regretted it if we filmed it while I was in that state. It’s better to work hard and then have regrets than to regret giving up. I think I felt a sense of urgency because this important task was right in front of me. During the shoot I kept going into the bathroom to practice my facial expressions and gestures. The staff stood up and clapped and said, “He’s like somebody else entirely.” That’s when I realized it might be an opportunity to grow and I felt more confident. If that kind of success carries over into the promotions, I think I could grow a lot.

I’m really excited to see that music video.

SOOBIN: I don’t know which takes they’ll end up using, but I saw a side of me even I didn’t know about when reviewing the footage: I’m kind of sexy there. I didn’t know I had it in me. (laughs) I just hope the director only uses the good takes.

I can feel that you always put the effort in and constantly challenge yourself.

SOOBIN: What’s contradictory about me is that, even if I’m bored and struggling with something repetitive, sometimes I’m too scared and worried to take on a new challenge. Even when it comes to ice cream, I don’t try any new flavors, just eat the ones I know I like, you know? When I was trying to embrace these things I wasn’t familiar with, I could feel my body rejecting them. I tried really hard to convey them properly, telling myself that I can do it, and now I’m determined—determined to turn any crisis into an opportunity.

Where do you find the motivation to keep improving yourself like that? It must be pretty tiring.

SOOBIN: I think I’m more the kind of person who looks for and enjoys the little things than who hopes for something big to make me happy. It’s nothing big, but I like watching Odi when I get home, and then when I’m done with the day, have a bite of hwachae or bingsu. I feel great after that. I think I recognize and enjoy things that others would just pass over. I think that positive thinking is what keeps me going.

​Back in September, you wrote, “I’ve been trying to figure myself out ever since The Chaos Chapter,” on Weverse. Do you think that positive thinking has an effect?

SOOBIN: My personality made it so that my life mostly revolved around other people. The other members kept telling me, “You should prioritize taking care of yourself,” but I just said, “What do you mean? I’m taking good care of myself,” and moved on. And then, for no particular reason at all, I found myself only paying attention to other people. I guess I wasn’t treating myself right, and I think I started living a more self-centric life starting with The Chaos Chapter.

How is a SOOBIN-centric life different from before?

SOOBIN: This might sound mean (laughs) but I started to pursue the things I wanted to do more and lightened up on the things I used to do out of obligation. In the past, I would wear myself out trying to play the leader role, but I think it’s okay now since I lessened that load. The other members do just fine on their own and they do a lot to help me out, too, as a leader.

Maybe that’s why you look so at ease in TO DO. You looked content even when the other members were playing pranks on you. (laughs)SOOBIN: I don’t really have much of a reaction when the others make fun of me or pull pranks when we’re off camera. I was sort of determined to show something—anything—when we first debuted. I tried to give a reaction each and every time they made a joke and I tried to break the silence when it happened. I was trying to be more excited than normal and went a little overboard with my expressions, but I guess what you see now is the real me.

Have you found any advantages to sticking to the real you?

SOOBIN: Some idols sometimes struggle with the fact that the way they conduct themselves in front of the camera isn’t their usual self. But I can say this 200% in all honesty: MOA can be rest assured that what they see of me on V LIVE is exactly the way I am in everyday life. I love that there’s no divide between the person Choi Soobin and the idol Choi Soobin.

I guess there’s no division between the person Choi Soobin and idol Choi Soobin because you want MOA to see you exactly the way you are.

SOOBIN: MOA can see me with nice hair and makeup on stage or on TV anytime, but I have to wait until another time to tell them about the things I’m interested in and the way I feel inside. It’s fun to give MOA a look at parts of me I think they would like. I think it’s a meaningful act to talk about myself to the people who like me. I want to open up about almost every part of me like a friend would.

​And you finally got to see your cherished fans at the fanlive event.

SOOBIN: I was really excited to see them after so long. It was fun. Doing those performances that were meant for MOA but ended up only being a camera and no MOA at all discouraged me a little bit from feeling like I should work hard to entertain anyone. Once I saw MOA, I felt more assured about myself and more determined.

That reminds me of what you said there: “We’re only special because MOA are there for us.

”SOOBIN: As you know, I cried at the fanlive. I welled up when I saw a fan in front of me crying, but I fought it back. But there was something I kept thinking over and over: Why was that fan crying? What exactly does being in concert with us mean to them that would bring them to tears? That meant that we’re receiving so much love, love that even makes them cry. I was feeling so emotional and grateful and finally I was just so touched that I started to cry.

You must be looking forward to promoting since the situation is getting better now, ahead of your album release. How are you feeling right now?

SOOBIN: It was certainly a long time between comebacks. I really feel like this album is totally different—an adventure and something brand new that TOMORROW X TOGETHER has never tried before. That’s a worry for me, but I hope MOA will welcome it, like it and enjoy it. They’ve certainly waited long enough. And I hope I make it through and grow, and rise above? (laughs)

[oaklies-side]

I’m bored and procrastinating on an animation, so instead of actually doing it, I decided to rant about animation! Here are tons of my tips and tricks for animating. Feel free to use any of them to improve your own works fellow animators! This post will be divided into four sections; Motivation and burnout, Art/drawing tips, Transitions, and Programs. Please keep in mind I am in no way an expert or claiming to be one, however I do art for a living, and I’ve been animating for nearly six years now, so I feel like I probably know a thing or two. Motivation and Burnout: -Take constant breaks however often you need. This can be every 30 minutes, every time you finish a scene, hell, even every time you finish a frame. Stretch, watch a short YouTube video, get something to eat, ex. I personally don’t have a break schedule, just whenever I’m bored, tired, or have finished an amount I feel satisfied with for the day. Find what works best for you! -Listen to something as background noise. This can be songs you really like, a podcast, a musical soundtrack, youtube videos, streams, audio books, or whatever else your heart desires. You can listen to white noise or rain sounds or something like that, but I personally prefer something that engages my brain. (You can also use this to encourage breaks. If you’re at a bit of a podcast that you just can’t focus on whilst drawing, take a five minute break to focus on it alone! Your favorite song to bop out to comes on? Stand up and dance around in your workspace, sing along, just have fun!  -Have a food or drink next to you! I always like having something to munch or slurp on when drawing or animating. Make sure these snacks are smaller though, I’d recommend dedicating actual meal time to break time.  -This is a bad habit of mine and I’m sure many other artists, but if you’re demotivated, don’t try and trudge through unless there’s some form of deadline. If you’re simply animating for YouTube or something, just take a break! There’s no shame in doing so, and you’ll find that you actually work much faster when you are motivated, so the break helps with efficiency rather than hinders it. -Set goals for yourself! Make them reasonable and not too out of reach. Say something like, “I’d like to draw 20 frames today.”, “I’d like to finish this storyboard by the end of the week.”, “I’d like to finish this scene today.”, “I’d like the animation to be done within a month and a half.” Make some bigger ones as well as smaller ones to give yourself short bursts of motivation, but also to keep that motivation going in the long run. Art/Drawing Tips: -Choose a simple style. This one kind of goes with motivation, but choosing a super complex art style often leads to the product just never being finished, especially if you’re a beginner. -Practice drawing. Bring a sketchbook with you everywhere and just draw. The better you get at drawing, the better you get at animation -Study other artists work. You can even trace! (Don’t post/claim it as your own EVER), but tracing for personal study is absolutely fine. It helps you figure out the shapes the artist used to make their character look how it does.  -Never be ashamed to use references, they help a ton. -Color matters and can make an animation really pop. Choose a simple palate, what I normally do is assign one color per character, have a color for background objects, and maybe some others if I really want a certain scene or object to stand out against the rest. -Shape language is a really cool tool. Learn it.  -Don’t worry about developing a style. Just draw. The style will come along the way.  Transitions: -(First off, please note that in this section, I say the word ‘character’ a lot. However, these methods apply on objects too! Just wanted to clear that up, you can use them on more than just people.) -Yes, frame by frame looks pretty, and you can use it in that sick action sequence, but also, try making things easier for yourself when you can. The following points will be describing some of my favorite easy transitions.  -Bounce back effects, the one I use the most. Basically, think of a ball bouncing. This ball will smoosh down against the ground, then spring back up, looking elongated as it does so. Or think of a car jerking forwards, before coming back a bit and to a complete stop. These are both bounce back effects. If your character is just changing poses, I’d recommend doing the ball method. smoosh your drawing down, then spring it back up. If your character is moving across the screen, move them just a bit further than their final destination, then bring them back. This makes animation look smoother and saves a ton of time.  -Smear or smudge frames! These are usually used when a character or object is going really fast. Smear the drawing and add a bit of motion blur in the direction a character is going.  -Partial movement frames! Not sure what the technical definition of this is, but this is when a character isn’t fully moving, just a small bit of them is, say they’re waving, or their hair is blowing in the breeze. Copy paste the rest without this bit, and only worry about redrawing that part! -Tweening, okay.. I know what you’re going to say, because the animation community these days is so against tweening. I’ll admit, it doesn’t look the greatest when using excessively, but in small amounts? It can look good. Don’t overuse it, but don’t completely avoid it either. (Tweening is when different body parts are drawn on different layers so that movement can be done without redrawing. However, this only really works for simple movements, so use it sparingly.)  -Even when you are drawing frame by frame, these methods can be important. More so smear and smudge and bounce back, but tweening in some cases as well. You can incorporate these tricks into your frame by frame animation to make it look better as well. They aren’t just used to trick the minds eye into thinking there are in-betweens when there’s not. Programs: -Study your program. This’ll make things go much faster and allow for shortcuts. Animation is all about shortcuts. -Start out with something cheap or free. You don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a drawing tablet and expensive programs when you first start. Draw on your ipad or phone if you have one, use flipaclip, imovie, ibis paint, kinemaster, or other free programs. Animation takes a ton of time and if you find in a month that you hate it and want to quit, you don’t want to have waisted hundreds or thousands of dollars.  -That being said, the creative cloud is pretty sweet. If you’re invested and have the money, I’d recommend it.  -Procreate is also amazing. I love it and actually use it to this day, even with having the creative cloud. You can’t do any complex editing but you can make some neat stuff on there.  -Decide what kind of animation you want to do. Do you want it more frame by frame? Get a program like procreate, flipaclip, or adobe animate. More drawn and edited? Try using a drawing and editing program combo. One of my friends uses ibispaint and imovie on her phone. I used to use ibispaint and kinemaster. I now use photoshop and premiere pro.  -Watch tons of YouTube tutorials. Google stuff. Chances are, you may find an easier way to do that thing that’s taken you five hours in the past. And that’s it! Thank you for reading all the way through, I hope these helped! Feel free to ask questions, I’ll try to answer any I may get. Cya! Happy animating