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wolf-zer0 · 4 years ago

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Ya want some WORLD-BUILDING????

Have some world-building!

*REMINDER* This is based on characters, not real people. I’m not going to be writing any shipping/smut content, especially involving minors. Please be respectful of content creators’ boundaries!

The Crystallos Empire (AKA the Antarctic Empire)

Largest the countries (takes up most of the southern half of the map) but agreed to stop expansion after a bloody battle with Valeriana

Centered on a large snowy mountain in the middle of the tundra

Mostly stays out of other countries’ business, but will step in as a last resort

Has some of the most well-known citizens in the world because… they’re pure chaos

Attack at your own peril

Has vast deposits of ores and gemstones, and the metalwork from Crystallos (mainly weaponry, armor, and jewelry) is highly sought after

The only known food export is potatoes. Wonder why…

Associated Colors: Royal blue, light blue, crimson, gold

Aesthetic/Vibes: gothic vibes, white stone and large stain glass windows, not particularly opulent or extravagant but still impressively royal looking, think catholic cathedral but brighter and with less Jesus (can you tell I’m a recovering catholic yet?), spires shooting into the sky that’s visible even during a blizzard, cavernous halls full of sunlight and echoes, snow that can comfort and kill in equal measure

Notable Members:

Philza Minecraft:

Angel

Visible wings look like a harpy eagle

Probably the most powerful person in the world

Didn’t mean to start an empire it kinda just happened

Also didn’t mean to adopt kids but his Dadza alarm went off

Usually kind but will not hesitate to use violence when necessary

Technoblade:

Is pig.

With braid.

At least 8 feet all

Extremely adept fighter, skilled in almost every form of combat.

Not a people pig, prefers his potato farm to being a prince

Hella protective of his family but will not hesitate to bully when given the opportunity

Wilbur Soot:

Muse who can influence people through song

Can’t totally control people (yet) but can subtly push them in a certain direction

The public face of the imperial family

Would rather insult than fight but can and will cut a bitch if he needs to

Because inspiration is fickle he’ll have some … strange episodes (see: the Sand Incident)

Tommy Innit:

Child.

Chaos incarnate.

Is he human? Is he not? No one’s sure yet.

But he’s a gremlin and a hellion and willing to throw down at any moment.

Has a surprisingly caring side, but no one outside his immediate circle has ever really seen it.

The Kingdom of Valeriana (aka Dream SMP)

Oldest of the countries

Located in the middle of a massive forest at the center of the main continent

Home of the Fae Courts

Ruled by a single king who is chosen by a tournament held every 100 years

Known for causing chaos in other countries, but after an Incident with Crystallos they have kept their meddling to annoyances rather than outright declarations of war

Considered the most magical of all the countries, and traditional enchantments almost all come from Valeriana

Associated Colors: neon green (duh), bright yellow, forest green, light brown, blood red (more saturated than Crystallos), rose gold

Aesthetic/Vibes: spooky art nouveau (idk what else to call it), lots of plants and nature but with an edge of danger, poison gardens and carnivorous plants, hedge mazes that lead everywhere and nowhere, laughter deep in the forest, deer with eyes just a hair too human, Alice in Wonderland on steroids

Notable Members:

Dream:

Current king of the Fae

As long as he’s touching the ground, he knows where everything and everyone is

Can terraform

Unlimited in the boundaries of his kingdom

Much more limited outside of his realm

No one has ever seen what he really looks like, even before he took the throne

Since people outside the kingdom don’t know who he is, he’ll wander the outside world and challenge random people to fights

Never says what happens to the losers

Only one person has ever beaten him: Technoblade

He might have a lil obsession around Techno, but it’s fine.

A little competition is healthy.

Sapnap:

High Lord of the Summer Court

Dream’s right hand man

Likes fire a little too much probably

George:

Human that Dream took a liking too and yoinked from the mortal world

Dream and Sapnap made him immortal but he hasn’t realized it yet.

Skeppy:

Changeling who started growing diamond-like scales across his body

Is vaguely allied with Dream simply because he’s Fae, but is more loyal to BBH

Like a lot of other Fae, likes to make challenges but he makes them less deadly. Not totally safe, just less deadly.

Badboyhalo:

Demon who was kicked out of hell because he was too nice

Found Skeppy in the Overworld and the rest is history

Cursed by the Demon King that the moment he says a swear word, the entire world would end, but can never tell anyone that he is cursed

The Merchant’s Guild

Not quite a country, more of a international power

Oversees the largest and most important businesses in the world

Makes sure that no laws are broken between different countries and everyone gets a fair shake

Has a very large reach, so some members have dabbled in espionage for various groups

From the outside it looks like the whole thing is kept together with duct tape and hope, but its actually pretty functional

The main members are just… a lot.

More concerned with keeping things working than influencing other nations (although there are still jokes about it)

The most valuable thing they trade in is information

They have a lot of fingers in a lot of pots, but are trusted with their information

Associated Colors: dark blue, teal, deep yellow, burnt orange, copper

Aesthetic/Vibes: art deco babie, angles and lines, very modern and streamlined, sleek suits instead of armor or robes, whiskey in a crystal glass, wars won by words not weapons, knowing when someone’s lying without them saying a word

Notable Members:

Schlatt:

Ram-man with a plan

Not that bad of a dude, but is in a position where he is constantly in possession of highly sensitive information and that does things to someone’s mental state

Drinks pretty regularly but not a full blown alcoholic

Trying his best

Can be a snarky asshole sometimes

Quackity:

Lucky duck. literally.

Duck man with an uncanny ability to absorb good luck from people (typically Fundy) and apply it to himself

No one knows when or why he joined the guild, but now he’s there

Pretty damn smart, but hides it behind humor

Fundy:

FOX!

With BEANS!

Trying his goddamn best but life (and Quackity) make it very difficult

Usually is stuck with the shit end of the stick when getting jobs/contracts/etc.

Wilbur being his dad is an inside joke that’s gotten a life of its own.

(No Fishfuckers Allowed!!!)

Puffy:

Badass sheep lady who captains a ship and commands her own armada

Schlatt’s sister

Also part of Storm’s Landing’s council and acts as the main liaison between them

Do not fuck with her she will kick your ass.

Storm’s Landing

Port city that became a country after becoming a safe-haven for seafarers

Led by a council of important people, with the head of the council known as the Admiral

Closest ties to Crystallos and the Merchant’s guild because:

1) Clingy supremacy!!!!

2) it’s a good idea for a guild to have good ties with a large sea power

3) all the dads for Tubbo

Associated Colors: navy blue, scarlet, white, brass

Aesthetic/Vibes: Nautical (obviously) with heavy “Age of Exploration” vibes, barnacles crusted on treasure chests, think tall ships and pirates and shit, respecting the ocean because holy shit she’s gonna smash your boat to pieces on a whim because she can, has an edge of darkness because when you go deep enough who knows what you’ll find down there (maybe mermaids???)

Notable Members:

CaptainSparklez:

elected to Admiral after the previous Admiral went missing on a routine voyage

(idk who it used to be, I just wanted to make him new at leading)

not 100% sure about the whole thing, but handling it pretty okay

still answers to “Captain” instead of “Admiral”.

Niki:

If Storm’s Landing had a queen, would be it unquestionably

Never gets robbed even though there’s a well known “underbelly” in town

Could probably end wars with her croissants

Has a significant history of empathic abilities in her family, so she can tell how people are feeling at all times

Eret:

Owns a magic store in town that really only shows itself to people who need it.

Having a bad mental health day?

He’s got a warm blanket and a cup of your favorite warm beverage waiting.

Dysphoric?

She’s got the perfect outfit and affirming words already prepared.

Trying to find that specific book but can’t remember the title or plot, only vaguely know the color of the cover?

They’ve got it.

Ranboo:

Not sure why he decided to move to a seaside city when he’s not chill with water, but now he’s here and he’s too anxious to leave

Known for teleporting around town randomly when nervous, and the people who find him are always willing to let a hand if he gets lost

Tubbo:

This boi! Has so many dads!

Epitome of “Kindness does not equal weakness.”

While a lot of people underestimate him, he’s not some fragile little flower

He hasn’t fully grown into his ability to speak to animals (he can only understand bees right now)

He’s just as much of a shit stirrer as Tommy.

When they meet up, look out. Something’s getting destroyed.

The Astral Academy

An independent university focused on advancing knowledge in the arcane arts and engineering

Not a country, but has the political power of one due to their vast resources and building prowess

People can’t enter unless they are invited or have been given entry as a student

There are a bunch of potential doors scattered around the continent that could lead to the Academy, but no one is sure where the real entrance is

Associated Colors: royal purple, lilac, sepia, sky blue, silver, bronze Aesthetic/Vibes: bright academia, massive libraries with bookshelves stuffed to bursting, workshop benches covered in scrap and prototypes, open air observatories, runes waiting to be translated, the crackling energy that comes from successful collaboration, falling down a research rabbit hole, bursting with pride after a project is a success

Notable Members:

Sam

Purpled

Ponk

Punz

Antfrost

Jack Manifold

I don’t know much about these characters, so if you have any ideas please let me know!

Zero’s OC Land - The North Haven

Smallest and newest country

Recently gained independence from under a cruel dictator (not schlatt lol)

Located in a pine forest at the base of a huge mountain range

Has pretty good relations with the other countries, but outsiders don’t know much about them

Main exports are wood carvings and leather goods

Associated Colors: Maroon, dark brown, black, pewter

Aesthetic/Vibes: medieval but with a modern twist, dark wood lit by a roaring fireplace, snow-covered woods without a living soul in sight, half timber houses and detailed wood carving, no outrageous ornamentation or extravagance

Notable Members:

Tyr:

Lord of the North Haven

trying to keep his people safe and protected

one of the few remaining Spirits (higher in power than the Fae, but lower than angels)

Spirit of Justice

lost a hand in the war for North Haven’s independence

didn’t want to become the leader but does a pretty good job at it

Adopted 5 kids and is trying his best

Bragi:

Heir Apparent

24 year old human

can influence the world by speaking (not singing) but has to be careful about which words he uses

has a book full of phrases that have proven effects (a spellbook of sorts)

has a friendly rivalry with Wilbur

Freya:

Spymaster

actually the oldest but abdicated because she feels she’s not the right person to lead a country

age unknown because she’s the last known [REDACTED] (it’ll be revealed, but I wanna build suspense)

has gyrfalcon wings and heightened senses

chronic insomniac

Forseti:

Official Librarian

20 years old

hybrid with an unknown entity

has black fingers with sharp claws

always wears gloves to hide them

can create portals to places he’s been or to people he knows (the second is much riskier, but not impossible)

knowledge sponge

wants to join the Astral Academy but is too nervous to apply

Odin:

Older Twin

The “Sensible One”

17 years old

Has an uncanny sense of direction

Can’t get lost no matter what

Can manipulate magnetic fields

Loki:

Younger Twin

The “Hot Headed One”

17 years old

can manipulate fire

idolizes his older siblings, particularly Freya

The Institute

Creeping around in the background

Up to bad things

Something’s going on in the world, but no one’s noticed yet

They will though… soon

Aesthetic/Vibes: minimalism (the worst kind of vibes imo), think laboratories or empty hospitals, harsh artificial lights and cold floors, labyrinths of monotonous hallways with no doors

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jondalars · 5 years ago

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movies, tv shows, and books of 2020

((* is a rewatch/reread; currently watching; can’t get through))

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Archaeology by Walter Shepherd

The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen by Howard Carter, A.C. Mace

Hot Rod (2007)

Dare Me (s1)

Secret Societies: A History by Arkon Daraul

Ad Vitam (s1)

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden *

Лучше, чем люди (s1)

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Cheer (s1)

The Good Place (s4)

Despite the Falling Snow (2016)

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Under the Skin (2014)

The Invitation (2016)

Hustlers (2019)

The Magicians (s5)

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Mandy (2018)

Anne with an E (s3)

About Time (2013)

Spring Breakers (2012) *

God’s Own Country (2017)

Frances Ha (2012) *

The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson *

Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

American Honey (2016)

6 Balloons (2018)

It Comes at Night (2017)

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) & *

Berlin Syndrome (2017)

I, Claudius by Robert Graves *

Earthquake Bird (2019)

City of God (2002)

Click (2006)

The Society (s1*)

Roma (2018)

Bojack Horseman (s6)

Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020)

Ready or Not (2019)

From Dusk Till Dawn (s1*, s2, s3)

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

The Little Hours (2017)

Teeth (2008)

Altered Carbon (s1)

Horse Girl (2020)

The Lighthouse (2019)

Parasite (2019) *

Ragnarok (s1)

McMillions (s1)

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)

Honey Boy (2019)

Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina by Robert Graves

The Farewell (2019)

Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison *

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones *

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

Good Time (2017) *

The Pianist (2002)

American Vandal (s1*, s2*)

The Engineer of Human Souls by Josef Škvorecký

Anna Karenina (2012) *

Shameless (s1*, s2*, s3*, s4*, s5*, s6*, s7*, s8, s9, s10)

The Inheritors by William Golding

Animal Farm by George Orwell *

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (s1)

Raising Arizona (1987) *

Freaks (2018)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Lost Girls (2020)

Rat Race (2001) *

The Skeleton Twins (2014)

Pamela by Samuel Richardson

Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Uncut Gems (2019)

Emma. (2020)

Emma (1996) *

Roswell, New Mexico (s2)

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

The Platform (2019)

Twin Peaks (s1)

Mansfield Park (1999) *

A Ghost Story (2017)

The Duchess (2008) *

20th Century Women (2016) *

A Single Man (2009) *

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (s1)

White Oleander by Janet Fitch *

Clue (1985) *

Summer Night (2019)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Outbreak (1995)

Myths Every Child Should Know by Hamilton Wright Mabie

The Leftovers (s1*, s2, s3)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) *

Zombieland: Double Tab (2019)

Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales trans. H. Oskar Sommer

Lives of Celebrated Female Sovereigns and Illustrious Women by Mrs. Anna Jameson

Twilight (2008) *

The Social Network (2010) *

Law & Order: SVU (s2, s3, s4, s20)

Little Women (2019)

New Moon (2009) *

Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor by Donald C. Johanson & James Shreeve

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen *

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Love Wedding Repeat (2020)

The Big Sick (2017) *

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins *

Emma by Jane Austen *

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins *

National Treasure (2004) *

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne *

The Death of Stalin (2017) *

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge

Upload (s1)

Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievitch

The Bling Ring (2013) *

Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Killing Eve (s3)

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Contagion (2011)

Can You Keep a Secret? (2019)

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino

Notting Hill (1999) *

The Host (2013) *

Joker (2019)

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

The Elite by Kiera Cass

The One by Kiera Cass

Seberg (2019)

Inception (2010) *

The Princess Bride (1987) *

The Lovebirds (2020)

Moonstruck (1987)

Galavant (s1*, s2*)

Underworld (2003)

The Master (2012)

Waco (s1)

The Awakening by Kate Chopin *

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Man Up (2015) *

The Haunting of Hill House (s1*)

Democracy by Joan Didion *

Community (s1*, s2*, s3*, s4*, s5*, s6)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath *

Hannibal (s1)

Plainwater: Essays and Poetry by Anne Carson *

Before I Fall (2017)

The Disaster Artist (2017) *

Anna Karenina: Vronsky’s Story (s1)

Love (s1, s2, s3)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (s1, s2, s3)

Persuasion by Jane Austen **

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

Dovlatov (2018)

The Politician (s2)

Rant by Chuck Palahniuk *

13th (2016) *

Uptown Girls (2003) *

Lovesick (s1 ,s2, s3)

Crash Landing on You (s1 & *)

Clueless (1995)

Well-Intended Love (s2)

Athlete A (2020)

Dark (s3)

The Half of It (2020)

Guns Akimbo (2019)

Splice (2009)

The King: Eternal Monarch (s1)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro *

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis

The Old Guard (2020)

I May Destroy You (s1)

Blindspotting (2018)

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion *

She’s the Man (2006) *

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (2012)

Zodiac (2007) *

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

The Untamed (s1 & *)

The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara *

The Hater (2020)

Stay (2019)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold *

The Great (s1)

The Assistant (2019)

The Umbrella Academy (s2)

Straight Up (2019)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Burning (2018)

True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)

Mo Dao Zu Shi by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Mo Dao Zu Shi (s1, s2)

The Legend of Korra (s1, s2)

Nightcrawler (2014)

3% (s1*, s2, s3, s4)

The Runaways (2010) *

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) *

#Alive (2020)

The Boys (s2)

Palm Springs (2020)

Normal People (s1)

Radioactive (2019)

Man of the Year (2006)

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Logan Lucky (2017)

Crush by Richard Siken *

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)

Schitt’s Creek (s6, Best Wishes, Warmest Regards)

The Devil All the Time (2020)

Underworld by Don DeLillo

Happy Together (1997)

Hubie Halloween (2020)

American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)

Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys (s1)

Deaf U (s1)

Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (s1)

28 Days (2000) *

Pride & Prejudice (2005) *

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

The Iliad by Homer trans. Chase and Perry *

Murder Mystery (2019) *

War and the Iliad by Simone Weil and Rachel Bespaloff *

It’s Okay to Not be Okay (s1)

Holidate (2020)

The Princess Switch (2018)

Blackpink: Light Up the Sky (2020)

Sense and Sensibility (s1) ((2008))

Pride and Prejudice (s1*) ((1980))

A Christmas Prince (2017)

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson *

Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake by Frank W. Abagnale & Stan Redding *

Easy A (2010) *

Nine Plays of Chekov by Anton Chekov

Survivor (s1, s2, s3, s4, s5, s6, s7, s8, s9, s10, s11, s12, s13, s14, s15, s16, s17, s28)

Bad Teacher (2011)

Ocean’s Eleven (2001) *

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson *

Happiest Season (2020)

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb (2020)

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe *

Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo *

100 Days My Prince (s1)

The Stranger by Albert Camus *

The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus

The Wilds (s1)

#personal #2020 #starting the year strong by finishing a book at 1 am on NYE?? sure #why am i still watching anne with an e... i #can u believe... the sparrow and the society having the same drop by drop quote #also... altered carbon talking about roman roads being their greatest invention and then... claudius the god saying the same #what does it all mean #back to back to back??#wooow watching 10 whole seasons of shameless... just for mickey.... yikes and lol at me #emma. was.. not good((( so we had to immediately watch the good emma #roswell nm s2 auto dvred so uhhh guess we going for it #is summer night the worst movie ive ever seen? ---- yes #god.. 20 whole seasons of svu who am i #upload was v cute #alex.. galaxy... i #america singer.... lOOOOOOOL at myself god it was bad #hm i don tthink i ever watched community s6.. some of it kinda seemed familiar but also it didnt?? LET HIM FINISH #atla is so good i know yall know but i did not #hotmen and momo and sokka tripping in the desert together.. perfect #crash landing uhhhhh well!!!!!!#you watch 2 korean shows and netflix shows you a whole new home page of recommendations loool #idk if u remember this but last week i shot your bear and punched you in the stomach #the untamed iii burnnn!!!!#am i going insane over cql/mdzs... mind ur business #midnight sun... edward pls stop so many.. thoughts lmao i remember rly liking the leaked version i wonder how diff the first 10 chaps are #dont think thats the version of the iliad ive read before but it gets marked as a reread anyways #guess i have to watch all 40 seasons of survivor...

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lost-in-books94 · 5 years ago

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Reading Log 2020

Oh my gosh, how can I forget to do a reading log???

Here we go again...

1) Little Women- Louisa May Alcott (re-read)

2) The Secret History- Donna Tartt (re-read)

3) Angel Mage- Garth Nix

4) A Heart So Fierce and Broken- Brigid Kemmerer

5) Red, White & Royal Blue- Casey McQuiston (re-read)

6) Heartstopper: Volume One- Alice Oseman

7) Heartstopper: Volume Two- Alice Oseman

8) The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue- Mackenzi Lee

9) Captive Prince- C.S. Pacat

10) Heartstopper: Volume Three- Alice Oseman

11) The Last Nude- Ellis Avery

12) Our Dark Duet- V.E. Schwab

13) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall- Anne Bronte

14) The Devouring Gray- Christine Lynn Herman (re-read)

15) Even the Darkest Stars- Heather Fawcett (re-read)

16) House of Earth and Blood- Sarah J. Maas

17) Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen (re-read)

18) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms- N.K. Jemisin

19) The Midnight Lie- Marie Rutkoski

20) The Mime Order- Samantha Shannon

21) Havenfall- Sara Holland

22) The Priory of the Orange Tree- Samantha Shannon (re-read)

23) The City We Became- N.K. Jemisin

24) All the Wandering Light- Heather Fawcett

25) The Song Rising- Samantha Shannon

26) Villette- Charlotte Bronte

27) The Beautiful- Renee Ahdieh

28) The Shadows Between Us- Tricia Levenseller

29) The Deck of Omens- Christine Lynn Herman

30) Aurora Rising- Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (re-read)

31) Wicked Saints- Emily A. Duncan

32) Heart of Iron- Ashley Poston

33) Becoming- Michelle Obama

34) A Short History of Nearly Everything- Bill Bryson

35) Aurora Burning- Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

36) The Cruel Prince- Holly Black (re-read)

37) The Wicked King- Holly Black (re-read)

38) The Queen of Nothing- Holly Black (re-read)

39) The Nicomachean Ethics- Aristotle

40) The Scarlet Letter- Nathaniel Hawthorne

41) The Princess Diarist- Carrie Fisher

42) Moonscript- H.S.J. Williams

43) Nevernight- Jay Kristoff (re-read)

44) Godsgrave- Jay Kristoff (re-read)

45) Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy

46) Darkdawn- Jay Kristoff (re-read)

47) Wishful Drinking- Carrie Fisher

48) Frankenstein- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

49) A Room with a View- E.M. Forster

50) The Court of Miracles- Kester Grant

51) Jo & Laurie- Margaret Stohl & Melissa de la Cruz

52) Lady Susan- Jane Austen

53) A Little Life- Hanya Yanagihara

54) No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference- Greta Thunberg

55) Mansfield Park- Jane Austen

56) We Rise: Speeches by Inspirational Black Women- Amanda Meadows, Barbara Jordan, Condoleezza Rice et al.

57) Falling Kingdoms- Morgan Rhodes

58) Daughter of Smoke and Bone- Laini Taylor

59) Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

60) Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold- Stephen Fry

61) The Archived- V.E. Schwab

62) The Unbound- V.E. Schwab

63) Good Omens- Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman (re-read)

64) The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires- Grady Hendrix

65) War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy

66) White Fragility- Robin DiAngelo & Michael Eric Dyson

67) The Damned- Renee Ahdieh

68) Northanger Abbey- Jane Austen

69) Hamlet- William Shakespeare

70) The Master and Margarita- Mikhail Bulgakov

71) The Good Immigrant- Nikeh Shukla etc.

72) The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde

73) Shockaholic- Carrie Fisher

74) Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies- Scarlett Curtis etc

75) The Umbrella Academy, Vol 2: Dallas- Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba

76) The People in the Trees- Hanya Yanagihara

77) Out of Orange- Cleary Wolters

78) Rebecca- Daphne du Maurier

79) The Umbrella Academy, Vol 3: Hotel Oblivion- Gerard Way & Gabriel B

80) City of Bones- Cassandra Clare (re-read)

81) The Sandman- Neil Gaiman & Dirk Maggs (audiobook)

82) Much Ado About Nothing- William Shakespeare

83) Gideon the Ninth- Tamsyn Muir

84) The Soul of a Man Under Socialism- Oscar Wilde

85) De Profundis- Oscar Wilde

86) A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes- Stephen Hawking

87) The Lost Book of the White- Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu

88) City of Ashes- Cassandra Clare

89) Mortal Engines- Philip Reeve

90) City of Glass- Cassandra Clare

91) City of Fallen Angels- Cassandra Clare

92) Predator’s Gold- Philip Reeve

93) City of Lost Souls- Cassandra Clare

94) City of Heavenly Fire- Cassandra Clare

95) Infernal Devices- Philip Reeve

96) The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger

97) Murder on the Orient Express- Agata Christie

98) Clockwork Angel- Cassandra Clare

99) Fire and Fury: Michael Wolff

100) Clockwork Prince- Cassandra Clare

101) Clockwork Princess- Cassandra Clare

102) The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue- V.E. Schwab

103) The Bane Chronicles- Cassandra Clare

104) Midnight Sun- Stephenie Meyer

105) The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath

106) Heroes:Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures- Stephen Fry

107) Harrow the Ninth- Tamsyn Muir

#reading log

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chiaknight · 9 months ago

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"Who's that?" Someone asked as a big, blue engine backed into the sheds.

"It's Duchess!" Gordon cried. "And she's got new paint!"

"That's not the ONLY thing that's new!~" Sang Duchess. "Look closer!"

"Why, bless me," Wheeshed Edward, seeing her shining brass nameplates. "You've a new name, too!"

"Alice!" She gushed. "Isn't it lovely? The Fat Controller gave it to me. Oh, Alice must be the most perfect name for an engine there ever was!"

The other engines rather liked their own names, but they agreed that Alice's fit her perfectly.

"New name, new railway, new paintwork..." rumbled Gordon. "You're practically a new engine!"

"Yes," answered Alice the Royal Blue engine. "A new engine with a wonderful new life!"

~~~~~~~

(Here it is, the first concept piece I ever made for Alice when I was first planning her out! It depicts the very final scene in her character arc after a long, rocky journey with the Fat Controller's engines. It's a bit old, but I'm still proud of it!)

#thomas and friends #ttte #thomas the tank engine #gordon the big engine #edward the blue engine #alice the royal blue engine #ttte oc

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gaysparklepires · 6 years ago

Text

24. Surprise

Read on AO3 - Links up top.

“Um. Thank you, Alice?” I blinked at her a few times, and then shot a confused glance at the smug smile on Edward’s face. “But I stopped aging three days ago.”

“Trifling details,” Alice said, dismissing my words with a quick shrug. “We’re celebrating anyway, so suck it up.”

I laughed, shaking my head. There was rarely a point to arguing with Alice.

Her grin got impossibly wider as she read the acquiescence in my expression.

“Are you ready to open your present?” Alice sang.

“Presents,” Edward corrected, and he pulled another key—this one longer and silver with a smaller blue bow—from his pocket.

I struggled to keep from rolling my eyes in amusement. I knew immediately what this key was for—the “after car.” I wondered if actually seeing the thing would suddenly spark a post-transformation interest in sports cars.

“Mine first,” Alice said, and then she stuck her tongue out foreseeing his answer.

“Mine is closer.”

“But look at how he’s dressed.” Alice’s words were almost a moan. “It’s been killing me all day. That is clearly the priority.”

My eyebrows pulled together as I wondered how a key could get me into new clothes. Had she gotten me a whole trunkful?

“I know—I’ll play you for it,” Alice suggested. “Rock, paper, scissors.”

Jasper chuckled and Edward sighed.

“Why don’t you just tell me who wins?” Edward said wryly.

Alice beamed. “I do. Excellent.”

“It’s probably better that I wait for morning, anyway.” Edward smiled crookedly at me and then nodded toward Jacob and Seth, who looked like they were crashed for the night; I wonder how long they’d stayed up this time. “I think it might be more fun if Jacob was awake for the big reveal, don’t you agree? So that someone there is able to express the right level of enthusiasm?”

I grinned back. He knew me well.

“Yay,” Alice sang. “Beau, follow me.”

“There’s no point in resisting, Beau. Best get it over with.” Royal grinned at me.

I was glad to see that the new comradeship between us was still there in his smile. I hadn’t been entirely sure it would last after I was changed. But maybe we had fought together on the same side long enough that we would always be friends now. I’d fought for my humanity the same he would have if given the chance. That seemed to have washed away his resentment for all my other choices.

Alice shoved the beribboned key in my hand, then grabbed my elbow and steered me toward the back door. “Let’s go, let’s go,” she trilled.

“Is it outside?”

“Sort of,” Alice said, pushing me forward.

“Enjoy your gift,” Royal said. “It’s from all of us. Esme especially.”

“Aren’t you coming, too?” I realized that no one had moved.

“We’ll give you a chance to appreciate it alone,” Royal said. “You can tell us about it… later.”

Emmett guffawed. Something about his laugh made me feel like blushing, though I wasn’t sure why.

I realized that lots of things about me—such as disliking surprises and being embarrassed by gifts in general—had not changed one bit. It was a relief to discover how much of my core traits had come with me into this new body.

I hadn’t expected to be myself. I smiled widely.

Alice tugged on my elbow, and I couldn’t stop smiling as I followed her into the purple night. Only Edward came with us.

“There’s the enthusiasm I’m looking for,” Alice murmured approvingly. Then she dropped my arm, made two lithe bounds, and leaped over the river.

“C’mon, Beau,” she called from the other side.

Edward jumped at the same time I did; it was every bit as fun as it had been this afternoon. Maybe a little bit more fun because the night changed everything into new, rich colors.

Alice took off with us on her heels, heading due north. It was easier to follow the sound of her feet whispering against the ground and the fresh path of her scent than it was to keep my eyes on her through the thick vegetation.

At no sign I could see, she whirled and dashed back to where I paused. “Don’t attack me,” she warned, and sprang at me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, squirming as she scrambled onto my back and wrapped her hands around my face. I felt the slightest urge to throw her off, but I controlled it.

“Making sure you can’t see.”

“I could take care of that without the theatrics,” Edward offered. “You might let him cheat. Take his hand and lead him forward.”

“Alice, I—”

“Don’t bother, Beau. We’re doing this my way.”

I felt Edward’s fingers weave through mine. “Just a few seconds more, Beau. Then she’ll go annoy someone else.” He pulled me forward. I kept up easily. I wasn’t afraid of hitting a tree; the tree would be the only one getting hurt in that scenario.

“You might be a little more appreciative,” Alice chided him. “This is as much for you as it is for him.”

“True. Thank you again, Alice.”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” Alice’s voice suddenly shot up with excitement. “Stop there. Turn him just a little to the right. Yes, like that. Okay. Are you ready?” she squeaked.

“I’m ready.” There were new scents here, piquing my interest, increasing my curiosity. Scents that didn’t belong in the deep woods. Honeysuckle. Smoke. Roses. Sawdust? Something metallic, too. The richness of deep earth, dug up and exposed. I leaned toward the mystery.

Alice hopped down from my back, releasing her grip on my eyes.

I stared into the violet dark. There, nestled into a small clearing in the forest, was a tiny stone cottage, lavender gray in the light of the stars.

It belonged here so absolutely that it seemed as if it must have grown from the rock, a natural formation. Honeysuckle climbed up one wall like a lattice, winding all the way up and over the thick wooden shingles. Late summer roses bloomed in a handkerchief- sized garden under the dark, deep-set windows. There was a little path of flat stones, amethyst in the night, that led up to the quaint arched wooden door.

I curled my hand around the key I held, shocked.

“What do you think?” Alice’s voice was soft now; it fit with the perfect quiet of the storybook scene.

I opened my mouth but said nothing.

“Esme thought we might like a place of our own for a while, but she didn’t want us too far away,” Edward murmured. “And she loves any excuse to renovate. This little place has been crumbling away out here for at least a hundred years.”

I continued staring, mouth gaping like a fish.

“Don’t you like it?” Alice’s face fell. “I mean, I’m sure we could fix it up differently, if you want. Emmett was all for adding a few thousand square feet, a second story, columns, and a tower, but Esme thought you would like it best the way it was meant to look.” Her voice started to climb, to go faster. “If she was wrong, we can get back to work. It won’t take long to—”

“Shh!” I managed.

She pressed her lips together and waited. It took me a few seconds to recover.

“You’re giving me a house for my birthday?” I whispered.

“Us,” Edward corrected. “And it’s no more than a cottage. I think the word house implies more legroom.”

“No knocking my house,” I whispered to him.

Alice beamed. “You like it.”

I shook my head.

“Love it?”

I nodded.

“I can’t wait to tell Esme!”

“Why didn’t she come?”

Alice’s smile faded a little, twisted just off what it had been, like my question was hard to answer. “Oh, you know... they all remember how you are about presents. They didn’t want to put you under too much pressure to like it.”

“But of course I love it. How could I not?”

“They’ll like that.” She patted my arm. “Anyhoo, your closet is stocked. Use it wisely. And... I guess that’s everything.”

“Aren’t you going to come inside?”

She strolled casually a few feet back. “Edward knows his way around. I’ll stop by... later. Call me if you can’t match your clothes right.” She threw me a doubtful look and then smiled. “Jazz wants to hunt. See you.”

She shot off into the trees like the most graceful bullet.

“That was weird,” I said when the sound of her flight had vanished completely. “Am I really that bad? They didn’t have to stay away. Now I feel guilty. I didn’t even thank her right. We should go back, tell Esme—”

“Beau, don’t be silly. No one thinks you’re that unreasonable.”

“Then what—”

“Alone time is their other gift. Alice was trying to be subtle about it.”

“Oh.”

That was all it took to make the house disappear. We could have been anywhere. I didn’t see the trees or the stones or the stars. It was just Edward.

“Let me show you what they’ve done,” he said, pulling my hand. Was he oblivious to the fact that an electric current was pulsing through my body like adrenaline-spiked blood?

Once again I felt oddly off balance, waiting for reactions I wasn’t sure my body was capable of anymore. My heart should have been thundering like a steam engine about to hit us. Deafening. My cheeks should have been brilliant red.

For that matter, I ought to have been exhausted. This had been the longest day of my life.

I laughed out loud—just one quiet little laugh of shock—when I realized that this day would never end.

“Do I get to hear the joke?”

“It’s not a very good one,” I told him as he led the way to the little rounded door. “I was just thinking—today is the first and last day of forever. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around it. Even with all this extra room for wrapping.” I laughed again.

He chuckled with me. He held his hand out toward the doorknob, waiting for me to do the honors. I stuck the key in the lock and turned it.

“You’re such a natural at this, Beau; I forget how very strange this all must be for you. I wish I could hearit.” He ducked down and yanked me up into is arms so fast that I didn’t see it coming—and that was really something.

“Hey!”

“Thresholds are part of my job description,” he reminded me. “But I’m curious. Tell me what you’re thinking about right now.”

He opened the door—it fell back with a barely audible creak—and stepped through into the little stone living room.

“Everything,” I told him. “All at the same time, you know. Good things and things to worry about and things that are new. How I keep using too many superlatives in my head. Right now, I’m thinking that Esme is an artist. It’s so perfect!”

The cottage room was something from a fairy tale. The floor was a perfect quilt of smooth, flat stones. The low ceiling had long exposed beams that someone as tall as Jacob would surely knock his head on. The walls were warm wood in some places, stone mosaics in others. The beehive fireplace in the corner held the remains of a slow flickering fire. It was driftwood burning there—the low flames were blue and green from the salt.

It was furnished in eclectic pieces, not one of them matching another, but harmonious just the same. One chair seemed vaguely medieval, while a low ottoman by the fire was more contemporary and the stocked bookshelf against the far window reminded me of movies set in Italy. Somehow each piece fit together with the others like a big three-dimensional puzzle. There were a few paintings on the walls that I recognized—some of my very favorites from the big house. Priceless originals, no doubt, but they seemed to belong here, too, like all the rest.

It was a place where anyone could believe magic existed. A place where you just expected Snow White to walk right in with her apple in hand, or a unicorn to stop and nibble at the rosebushes.

Edward had always thought that he belonged to the world of horror stories. Of course, I’d known he was dead wrong. It was obvious that he belonged here. In a fairy tale.

And now I was in the story with him.

I was about to take advantage of the fact that he hadn’t gotten around to setting me back on my feet and that his beautiful face was only inches away when he said, “I’m sure you’re dying to see the closet. Or, at least I’ll tellAlice that you were, to make her feel good.”

“Should I be afraid?”

“Terrified.”

He carried me down a narrow stone hallway with tiny arches in the ceiling, like it was our own miniature castle.

“That room is extra,” he said, nodding to an empty room with a pale stone floor and large, airy windows. “Esme wasn’t sure what to do with it.” He smiled crookedly, “Given your hobbies and interests, perhaps we can make it into a kitchen for you.”

I grinned widely, “I’d like that,” then I laughed, “someone will have to feed the boys, after all.”

He laughed as he continued down the hall. “Here’s our room. Esme tried to bring some of her island back here for us. She guessed that we would get attached.”

The bed was huge and white, with clouds of gossamer floating down from the canopy to the floor. The pale wood floor matched the other room, and now I grasped that it was precisely the color of a pristine beach The walls were that almost-white-blue of a brilliant sunny day, and the back wall had big glass doors that opened into a little hidden garden. Climbing roses and a small round pound, smooth as a mirror and edged with shiny stones. A tiny, calm ocean for us.

“Oh” was all I could say.

“I know,” he whispered.

We stood there for a minute, remembering. Though the memories were human and clouded, they took over my mind completely.

He smiled a wide, gleaming smile and then laughed. “The closet is through those double doors. I should warn you—it’s bigger than this room.”

I couldn’t bring myself to even glance at the doors. There was nothing else in the world but him again—his arms curled under me, his sweet breath on my face, his lips just inches from mine—and there was nothing that could distract me now, newborn whatever I was or not.

“We’re going to tell Alice that I ran right into the clothes,” I whispered, twisting my fingers into his hair and pulling my face closer to his. “We’re going to tell her I spent hours in there playing dress-up. We are going to lie.”

He caught up to my mood in an instant, or maybe he’d already been there, and he was just trying to let me fully appreciate my birthday present, like a gentleman. He pulled my face to his with a sudden fierceness, a low moan in his throat. The sound sent the electric current running through my body into a near-frenzy, like I couldn’t get close enough to him fast enough.

I heard the fabric tearing under our hands, and I was glad my clothes, at least, were already destroyed. It was too late for his. It felt almost rude to ignore the gorgeous white bed, but we just weren’t going to make it that far.

This second honeymoon wasn’t like our first.

Our time on the island had been the epitome of my human life. The very best of it. I’d been ready to prolong my human time, just to hold on to what I had with him for a little while longer. Because the physical part wasn’t going to be the same ever again.

I should have guessed, after a day like today, that it would be better.

I could really appreciate him now—could properly see every beautiful line of his perfect face, of his long, flawless body with my strong new eyes, every angle and every plane of him. I could taste his pure, vivid scent on my tongue and feel the unbelievable silkiness of his marble skin under my sensitive fingertips.

My skin was so sensitive under his hands, too.

He was all new, a different person as our bodies tangled gracefully into one on the sand-pale floor. No caution, no restraint. No fear—especially not that. We could love together—both active participants now. Perfect equals.

Like our kisses before, every touch was more than I was used to. So much of himself he’d been holding back. Necessary at the time, but I couldn’t believe how much I’d been missing.

I tried to keep in mind that I was stronger than he was, but it was hard to focus on anything with sensations so intense, pulling my attention to a million different places in my body every second; if I hurt him, he didn’t complain.

A very, very small part of my head considered the interesting conundrum presented in this situation. I was never going to get tired, and neither was he. We didn’t have to catch our breath or rest or eat or even use the bathroom; we had no more mundane human needs. He had the most beautiful, perfect body in the world and I had him all to myself, and it didn’t feel like I was ever going to find a point where I would think, Now I’ve had enough for one day. I was always going to want more. And the day was never going to end. So, in such a situation, how did we ever stop?

It didn’t bother me at all that I had no answer.

I sort of noticed when the sky began to lighten. The tiny ocean outside turned from black to gray, and a lark started to sing somewhere very close by—maybe she had a nest in the roses.

“Do you miss it?” I asked him when her song was done.

It wasn’t the first time we’d spoken, but we weren’t exactly keeping up a conversation, either.

“Miss what?” he murmured.

“All of it—the warmth, the soft skin, the tasty smell... I’m not losing anything at all, and I just wondered if it was a little bit sad for you that you were.”

He laughed, low and gentle. “It would be hard to find someone less sad than I am now. Impossible, I’d venture. Not many people get every single thing they want, plus all the things they didn’t think to ask for, in the same day.”

“Are you avoiding the question?”

He pressed his hand against my face. “You are warm,” he told me.

It was true. My skin still held a measure of warmth, but the difference between our body temperatures wasn’t as severe now, it felt closer, more natural.

Then he pulled his fingers very slowly down my face, lightly tracing from my jaw to my throat and then all the way down to my waist. My eyes rolled back into my head a little.

“You are soft.”

His fingers were like satin against my skin, so I could see what he meant.

“And as for the scent, I already told you; your scent is still beautiful and tempting to me.” He smiled, “But in an entirely different way.”

“Oh?” I laughed. “That’s probably for the better, then.”

“Exactly. So the answer is no. I am purely full of joy, because I am missing nothing. No one has more than I do now.”

I was about to inform him of the one exception to his statement, but my lips were suddenly very busy.

When the little pool turned pearl-colored with the sunrise, I thought of another question for him.

“How long does this go on? I mean, Carlisle and Esme, Em and Roy, Alice and Jasper —they don’t spend all day locked in their rooms. They’re out in public, fully clothed, all the time. Does this... cravingever let up?” I twisted myself closer into him—quite an accomplishment, actually—to make it clear what I was talking about.

“That’s difficult to say. Everyone is different and, well, so far you’re the very most different of all. The average young vampire is too obsessed with thirst to notice much else for a while. That obviously doesn’t to apply to you. With the average vampire, though, after that first year, other needs make themselves known. Neither thirst nor any other desire really ever fades. It’s simply a matter of learning to balance them, learning to prioritize and manage…”

“How long?”

He smiled, wrinkling his nose a little. “Royal and Emmett were the worst. It took a solid decade before I could stand to be within a five-mile radius of them. Even Carlisle and Esme had a difficult time stomaching it. They kicked the happy couple out eventually. Esme built them a house, too. It was grander than this one, but then, Esme knows what Roy likes, and she knows what you like.”

“So, after ten years, then?” I was pretty sure that Royal and Emmett had nothing on us, but it might sound cocky if I went higher than a decade. “Everybody is normal again? Like they are now?”

Edward smiled again. “Well, I’m not sure what you mean by normal. You’ve seen my family going about life in a fairly human way, but you’ve been sleeping nights.” He winked at me. “There’s a tremendous amount of time left over when you don’t have to sleep. It makes balancing your... interests quite easy. There’s a reason why I’m the best musician in the family, why—besides Carlisle—I’ve read the most books, studied the most sciences, become fluent in the most languages.... Emmett would have you believe that I’m such a know-it-all because of the mind reading, but the truth is that I’ve just had a lot of free time.”

We laughed together, and the motion of our laughter did interesting things to the way our bodies were connected, effectively ending that conversation.

#Breaking Dawn #Breaking Dawn Revamped #Breaking Dawn Gay #Beau Swan #Beau Cullen #Edward Cullen #The Twilight Saga #The Twilight Saga Revamped #The Twilight Saga gay #Breaking Dawn rewrite #Twilight rewrite

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clairen45 · 7 years ago

Text

Cracking the Mirror

The mirror scene in Ahch-To is probably the most puzzling we have ever had in Star Wars, the one we keep on getting back to, commenting, critiquing. I have seen many fascinating metas on Tumblr about this scene, usually wondering what Rey sees in there, what she should see, and what we, the audience, think we did see there. Maybe, we can less focus on what’s in there and really pause at the mirror itself and what it stands for. Because, come to think of it, mirrors in this franchise are a rare commodity, and since we are finally given one, let’s wonder what it brings to the story.

A story is a mirror that one carries along the way... Stendhal

The mirror is first and foremost a device, a tool, created by men that testifies to the many ways man has been trying to appropriate and define his own identity and image. Before mirrors were engineered and become quite a casual commodity, people could only get glimpses of themselves in a fleeting reflection in the water or in the eyes of people looking at them. You had no idea of what you looked like except as defined by the gaze of the others. The gaze of the others is still very much present today, but, thanks to mirrors (and cameras), we can get firsthand an idea of what we look like, and sometimes take control of our own image (hello selfie!). This is huge. At the same time, how truthful can a mirror be? We still look at our reflection through the prism of our own expectations, desires, fears, and insecurities, and a mirror in itself can be warped or broken, or photoshopped (I see you Instagram filters) . It is sometimes partial, and limited. At any rate, it is always a frame, and an inverted image of who we are.

Novelists and writers were quick at seizing the analogy between their work and that of a mirror. It is quite cliché to consider that most of the works of art, and that also include the visual arts, are more than often meant to be a reflection of our cultures, societies, and of individuals. We can easily project ourselves onto characters and stories, because they, one way or another, reflect ourselves, our feelings, our desires, our fears, our expectations, and our insecurities. And like real loooking glasses, these works of art, whether fiction or documentaries, can be warped, broken, partial, and limited. And they are always a frame. They don’t even have to be realistic. Through the Looking Glass is actually a good example to keep in mind because there again, it was very much a story about stories, with Alice going through the looking glass of fiction, and entering a world that is all about exploring the imaginary and the creative power of words. Fairy tales and nonsensical works have a lot to say about ourselves. There are many ways to view Lewis Carroll’s looking glass, but I will keep that notion for now.

So what a genius stroke to have us, puzzled audience, going back to that Ahch-To mirror to look for answers about our story. Like Rey, what do we see in there, and how much does that tell us about our expectations and about ourselves? And what is true of this scene in particular is true of the whole franchise as a whole. RJ has been pretty clever in the way he portrays his characters. Like Luke, we project much of ourselves into this story, maybe sometimes to the point of losing ourselves. And like Rey, we come to look for answers. And thus, like Rey, we are bound to be disappointed. For what we get, after all, is always shadows on a screen.

This movie is metafiction in its very essence: a story that tells us about stories, the way fiction is created, and our ambivalent relationship with it. The infinity of Rey is like the infinity of versions of the same story we could have had, variations, retelling, rewriting. But also the infinity of interpretations we can ascribe to a story. And when we finally demand ONE, one legitimate version that will answer our questions about “what is that story? what is it about?”, what we get eventually is just the fiction itself. Nothing more, nothing else. Remember Luke in the cave? That scene is afer all the pendant, the mirror image of this one. What is Yoda’s answer when Luke asks about what he will find in the cave? “Only what you take with you”. If we apply this again to metafiction, this is just as relevant as to what Rey sees in there: what you find in a fiction is always about yourself, what you bring in there, what you take with you and project onto a story. Which is why we never get to watch the same movie or read the same book as the others in the end... Because, Narcissus that we are, we will only and always read about ourselves between the lines.

To be honest, the mirror as a metafictional device is a common trope. It is often used by painters with their self-portraits, and even sometimes as a trick inside the painting to provide with an image of the painter reflected inside the painting. For instance, this one by Dutch painter Peter Claesz

And this is obviously not one of those infamous goofs that people look for in movies, when you happen to see a cameraman reflected in a mirror or a window... In a way, this device works a bit like a mise en abyme, a literary term that I like to refer to as the laughing cow effect: a picture within a picture within a picture.... Or a text within a text within a text... A movie within a movie... Well you get the picture!

And as far as Star Wars goes, you can talk about mise en abyme, in the sense that, as we have so often discussed, the ST keeps on mirroring themes, shots, scenes, lines of dialogue, costumes, characters of the ST and the OT. The use of this device can be interpreted as a homage, as a critique, or a subversion. Mirrors, no matter what, are always an inversion of something. So the ST, in many ways, is a mise en abyme of previous Star Wars movies. That was obvious in TFA, but it is still true in TLJ. TFA was very much looking inside a mirror at the OT, TLJ is very much about going through the looking glass. Which mirrors (ahah) what Rey does in there.

What? A mirror in my Star Wars? !!!!

Let’s pause there. Yes, a mirror in Star Wars. Unheard of. I insist. You would think that with the amount of intricate over the top dresses and hairdos, you will get Leia and Padmé prepping in front of a mirror? Nope. Nada. No mirror in Padmé’s apartment. I checked. The one time she is styling her hair (that is to say, languidly brushing her curls on a balcony in ROTS), she is enjoying the view and not her reflection. When Leia fixes her buns on the Death Star post trash compactor mess, no pocket mirror in view. Do we get Leia in her apartments? Nope. What about reflections in water? Nope. In windows? N-O to the no.

Enjoying the view, my friends, not looking at ourselves. Our gaze is on a galaxy far far away (or the green screen). The closer we got a mirror image of a character in the OT and PT is that:

Feast your eyes on your face in .... the cave, Luke. Coincidence that it happened in a cave? Shall I venture, probably not?

So why so shy on the mirrors, guys? What gives? So we have lightsabers, hyperdrive, blasters, and countless trickets that serve whatever purpose, but no one has a mirror in this galaxy? Like really? Didn’t bother inventing one? Ummm? Let’s apply theories.

1.Leia and Padmé probably do not style their hair themselves and have handmaiden and droids to help with that. Sure, but that doesn’t mean they would not enjoy a look at the final product. Check for the pesky piece of parsley between the teeth, the smear of blue milk around the mouth...gee, I don’t know.

2.this is a noble story with a big picture in mind, mmmokay. It is about the fight between good and evil, not about the petty satisfaction of checking oneself out in a mirror. Ummm.... I’ll come back to that. There are a lot of meanings you can ascribe to looking at yourself in a mirror. And believe you me it would have done Padmé or Anakin good to have one long go at the looking-glass before making most of their galaxy-shattering decisions. Just saying... Especially in a story that is so much about duality, fearing to become someone else, and so forth and so on.

3.Well so far, it’s a story about boys. Boys do NOT check themselves in mirror. As a reminder: Narcissus, Dorian Gray, and just for the heck of it, 3 pictures from Disney movies...

Ok, granted, there is one little boy (not a man) and two lions. And they are NOT using a looking glass, just water. Like Narcissus. And they are not checking out themselves to see if they look good, they are asking important questions about identity. Because that’s what boys do! Dammit! Like, you will seriously make me believe that Lando or Poe would never check themselves out in mirror? Well, there is that dude in Disney, just so you know...and other peacocks I am sure.

What about reflective surfaces in the PT and the OT? We are bound to have some. Well, here they are:

C3P0, Padmé’s Naboo Royal Starship, and Vader’s helmet: shiny, mirror-like surfaces that always lead back to Vader.THE Darth. Interesting connection, because, in the end, Luke, as we saw in the cave, is afraid to find Vader’s face looking back at him “in the mirror” (so to speak): he is afraid of becoming like his father. The three examples I suggest are reflective but they are not mirrors. They do not reflect anything or anyone in the movie. They still function as symbolic mirrors though. Vader is the mirror that Obi-Wan and Yoda show Luke as a cautionary tale: do not become like him, do not turn to the dark side! Which is even more ironic since Luke keeps on saying he wants to be like his father, that is his final answer to the Emperor after all: “ You have failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me”. From the audience’s perspective, faceless Vader is also the mirror on which we are projecting our fears. As for Luke, he is what we fear, what we don’t want to see in ourselves. What about C3P0? What does he reflect? As the comic relief, golden mirror to Vader’s dark mirror, he helps us face our fears, he voices our concerns, he helps us go through the trials very time we laugh at him. A blundering fool, he is also very much us, a twisted mirror of ourselves we can laugh at.

And what about Padmé’s ship? Ah, well, that is after all the only looking-glass that Padmé will have, a very symbolic and very significant one. It is the ship that takes her to her future husband after all. In folk tales, you have numerous superstitions about mirrors and finding your future husbands. One is about putting a mirror under your pillow to dream about your future husband, others include an apple and a brush, and Padmé will share a fruit with Anakin and will be brushing her hair, so she does end up having the three (though she is already very much wedded and bedded when we see her with the brush!). This ship plays an important part in the story in each move of the PT: first it allows Padmé to meet Anakin and allows Anakin to follow his destiny as a Jedi by leaving servitude and his home planet; in AOTC, it plays a part in Anakin and Padmé’s coming together, but it is also linked with the death of Anakin’s mother and his first outburst of sheer violence; in ROTS, it is central in the final tragedy of the story when Padmé flies to meet Anakin on Mustafar, with Obi-Wan hiding onboard, and it will finally carry away a dying Padmé in labour. So the ship/mirror is a vessel of love and a vessel of death (also materialized with the glass coffin).

And what do we get in Claudia Gray’s Bloodline, another ship, Leia’s ship, which is, revalingly named Mirrorbright. So a ship as a mirror. Again... But then, Claudia Gray’s novel belong to a different part of the story. It is part of the path to the ST. And that is indeed the crux of the problem why we did not have so many mirrors before. It is indeed because the OT and the PT were boy’s journeys, where mirrors traditionally do not play an important part. Whereas in girl’s journeys, well, they are unavoidable. Enters Rey... enters the mirror. And also, in the process, let’s not forget that Disney is in the wings, and, oh boy, Mr Mouse knows a thing or two about mirrors. Let’s give a peek at what they usually stand for.

Mirrors of power and the power of mirrors

Because mirrors were so rare and precious they soon became associated with power and magic. So, most often, mirrors will be associated with a figure of power, a king, a queen, a wizard, a witch or a sorceress. But most of the time, because of the notion of the mirror as a vanity piece, it is associated with a female figure. Examples of note: Galadriel’s mirror in The Lord of the Rings, the queen’s magic mirror ins Snow White, the Snow Queen’s distorting mirror in Andersen’s tale, or Circe’s transforming mirror in The Odyssey.

A mirror gives to its owner a very important power indeed, the power to see. And if you are talking about seeing, you might as well be talking about seers. A seer has a power of divination, he can see the past, the present, the future, “things that were, and things that are, and things that yet may be” to quote from LOTR. This is linked to another important magic propriety of the mirror: the mirror is a portal, a vessel, that can carry your gaze to somewhere or someone else, that can reveal the truth of things, what lies beneath, that gives access to the hidden nature of things and of people. Most of the time it is associated with evil powers. It can reveal what people are truly like, as with Ursula in Little Mermaid,

or accentuate flaws and what is bad within people’s hearts as in Andersen’s tale of the Snow Queen, or reveal the way the owner of the mirror sees the people, as it is the case for Circe, for whom all men are pigs and animals.

Which is why the mirror scene almost always features in scenes of transformation or changes, either physical or psychological, whenever the characters are about to make life-altering decisions, and question their identities. Examples:

It can be an actual looking glass, or any other symbolic reflecting surface, usually water, like in Galadriel’s case, but think also in The Black Cauldron, of the pig Hen Wen which can create visions through water.

In the case of divination, it is a portal through time, but it can also become a portal through space and become an entryway to another place, or another dimension. It is the case for Alice, for example.In Star Wars particular universe, this resonates through three different examples: Padmé’s ship that has a mirror like surface, Leia’s ship in Bloodline which is named Mirrorbright, and the recent Star Wars Rebels episode, A world Between Worlds, that actually features a portal onto other dimensions. This, in my mind, underlines the crucial part played by mirrors in this new trilogy and how mirrors can tie in the different episodes together, literally, or symbolically.

Now, let’s look more particularly at the relationship between women and mirrors in classical stories.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall... you know the drill

Well, the first idea is not very positive. Many feminist studies have brought forth and underline the idea of the mirror as symbolic of the patriarchic discourse that frames, reifies, and stifles women’s agency. Through representations of women with and within mirrors, women become solely objects of desire and beauty, subjected to the male gaze. hence countless and countless of paintings of women looking at themselves in mirrors... Women entrapped by their own beauty, vain, and often oblivious to what is going on around them, preferring the mirror to the open window. Do they have an agency, do they own themselves, does their beauty belong to them? No they don’t. No it doesn’t. The mirror is always a frame, and like the genie’s bottle, it gives less powers to the genie that it actually binds it to the owner of the bottle, aka here, the beholder. A woman exists solely in the male’s appreciative gaze , otherwise she doesn’t exist. Mirrors in paintings are here more than often both to multiply and highlight attractive parts of the woman, or to give access to parts that are not seen. The female subjects is even sometimes trapped within different mirrors, not to mention the one that is the painting itself, the gaze of the painter or the audience.

Mirrors are normally there to guide about desire, and teach you a lesson about what and who should be desired, and considered desirable. Narcissus’s story is supposed to tell a story about how auto-erotic desire is not considered ok: loving yourself too much will be the death of you, so to speak. But, revealingly, in this particular cautionary tale, the hero is male. I am not sure whether the morality of the tale would have been the same had the example been female.Vanity, as attested by countless paintings and women’s magazines, is more than encouraged in women, as long as they make themselves desirable to the gauging male gaze.

It is very revealing that in Snow White, the most famous tale featuring a mirror, the voice in the mirror is always interpreted as male.

An older and a young woman are not competing in order to be the most powerful, but to be the prettiest, to the point of killing themseves, either literally because they do not qualify anymore (the evil queen turned old hag must be ditched and put away), or symbolically by turning into inanimate objects. Snow White, dead in her coffin, is still a prize for the young prince who is ready to take her home and add to his collection of trophies and knick-knacks. And it is a Glass Coffin after all. Same difference. These women are framed in the mirror, and framed by the mirror. The Queen’s looking glass is a coffin in the end for both women. It is lethal and poisonous. The evil queen may well be the designated bitch of the story, but she is as much a victim as Snow White of the infectious discourse of the mirror (see for instance Gubar and Gilbert’s wonderful work about it).

The patriarchal voice in the mirror is very normative about what the “good girl” should be, look like, or act as.The good girl is for instance, the angel in the house of Victorian times. See for instance Jane Eyre, when Jane, preparing for her wedding day with Edward Rochester, gets a nightmarish vision in a mirror, a female creature who plays with her wedding veil, and tears it in two. As many critiques have argued, Bertha Mason, the madwoman in the attic, is very much a double for Jane Eyre, the angry soul within herself that she must tame, but who sometimes escapes and lashes out, for instance at the beginning of the novel in the infamous crimson room.So Bertha’s apparition right before the wedding might be a manifestation of Jane’s unconscious who rebels at the idea of being “framed” by the very possessive Edward Rochester. It is as if the woman walks out of the patriarchal mirror (and attic) that usually confine her to act out for Jane and expose some of her fears.

The male discourse in the mirror is also eminently present in the concept of The Phantom of the Opera. In Leroux’s novel, as transcribed also in the wonderful musical, Erik’s voice is the voice in the mirror.

It seemed to command me, personally, to come, to stand up and come to it. It retreated and I followed. ‘Come! And believe in me!’ I believed in it, I came . . . I came and — this was the extraordinary thing — my dressing-room, as I moved, seemed to lengthen out . . . to lengthen out . . . Evidently, it must have been an effect of mirrors . . . for I had the mirror in front of me . . .

In the musical: “Look at your face in the mirror -I am there inside!”. You can easily argue that Erik is not a patriarchal voice, which I totally agree with. He is still a voice though that is robbing Christine of her agency, and that manipulates her, that turns her into a vessel for his own desires and needs.

Besides, the patriarchal voice does not necessarily have to be male, as Disney has reminded us again and again. Women are more than complacent in this framing of other women, mostly because they have internalized the patriarchal voice. Look at Disney’s Tangled, that normally does not revolve around a mirror in the original tale. The young girl is also “framed”, imprisoned for real, but also by a woman’s speech. Mother Gothel’s motives are not too far from the evil queen’s in a way. Just like her, she fears growing old and less beautiful, aka less desirable, less valued as a woman. Because a woman’s power does not, in most tales, go further than her desirability in the male view. Rapunzel wants to go out, get some agency, but instead she is maintained, inside, as an object who is valuable only for her long hair. Long hair is not very practical, but it is sure valued as something appealing.

Or look at these other framed girls. Mulan is transformed so as to fit male expectation of what a desirable young bride must look like.

And as for Aurora, this is moments before marrying the Prince... and symbolically dying. Symbolism not lost here, for a tale that is normally about menstruation. This will be Maleficent that she hears calling her on the other side of the mirror, but her status as a bride and her death come really with great timing in the way the themes are interwined... Needless to say I am not so thrilled by the prospect of Cinderella’s glass slippers (even less so when you consider that shoes are the punishment of choice i the traditional tale for the evil queen in Snow White).

The ultimate framed girl is maybe the Lady of Shallott, in Tennyson’s poem. Like Rapunzel she is trapped in a tower. But she is also denied her own gaze on the world. She can never look outside, for fear of being cursed. The only gaze she is allowed on the world is through the medium of a looking glass. So, she is symbolically trapped in a mirror.To what does she owe this curse and what is this curse in question? We do not know, neither does she. Probably just the curse of being female.

Can the voice in the mirror be tamed?

Well, yes, so to speak, and that is perfectly illustrated in the Disney linguistics under the trope of “girl in love looks into a mirror”. Like that one:

Who has evolved from: Gee, I can’t stand the way the patriarchal discourse is keeping me in prison and depriving me on any agency. Exhibit A:

To being reflected in the water alongside love interest during a magic carpet flight, Exhibit B:

Oops, wrong one, but you will remember from the movie.

That type of framing fits the pattern of girl must fall in love, girl must marry, at least she marries someone who is looking positively at her and sends her back a good reflection on to herself and her own agency. So yes, the voice in the mirror can be tamed, that means choosing the right partner.

The Case for Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast, in particular Disney’s version is a particular case, and is much more interesting and further developed than Jasmine’s example, because in the end Jasmine is featured in the mirror in the typical vanity piece: she is looking lovingly at herself as the object of Aladdin’s love, while making herself pretty. Belle’s case is another pickle altogether. Like Jasmine, it starts with patriarchal discourse and framing, with not one but two male voices trying to frame her: Gaston who wants to marry her because she fits the perfect picture he has in mind, and the Beast... Gaston needs Belle to satisfy his own vanity, and the Beast needs Belle to turn back into a prince. So in both cases, at the beginning of the story, it is a matter of selfishness and appearance. But in Gaston’s case, the framing is quite emphasized.Gaston is also both a prisoner of the mirror (his narcissism) AND the voice in the mirror. Look at the ways Gaston is framing Belle in a storyline as well as visually on the screen:

Gaston loves mirrors... the Beast not so much. Enters the magic mirror. The first time we see it it is between the Beast’s hands. The magic mirror does what a mirror symbolically always does: show you the object of your desire. When Gaston looks in a mirror he sees himself. When the Beast looks inside his magic mirror, he sees Belle. And he realizes that she is too good for him, and that, as he now stands, he is unworthy of her love. By seeing the object of his desire, he first truly takes a good look at himself, something he fiercely refused to do all these years by destroying the mirrors in the castle or his portrait.He also gently puts the mirror down, refusing thus to frame her or define her as solely the object of his desire.

Then Belle gets to see another mirror when she starts roaming the castle: it is broken and reflects multiple facets of her. This is already something interesting, because the Beast is the one that broke the mirror. So for a male to break the symbol of patriarchal discourse, this is rather good omen for the way their relationship can develop. Symbolically, it also means that Belle is multi-faceted, that she is not the prisoner of one discourse, one image; that she has the potential for different identities, adventures, and choices; that she is not confined purely within one frame.The mirror is open.There are also some missing pieces, it is like a puzzle. And the way it is fragmented echoes the puzzle created by the Beast about his own portrait, which foretells that these two are made for each other, that they complete each other.

Next time we get the magic mirror, the Beast gives it away, on his own free will, to Belle. Which symbolically means that he is relinquishing some of his power, ready to share his agency, and the patriarchal discourse with her. He also relinquishes ownership of her image: he gives her image back to her. She has sole custody of her image. She is not confined within the looking glass, as, say,Snow White in her glass coffin, or Cinderella in her glass slippers. Just saying.

And Belle gets to choose what she wants to see in there. She is not imposed a given image or just her own reflection. The object of her desire is her father: she is not ready for womanhood and a relationship, she is still looking back into the past and not forward into the future.

Belle gets to keep the mirror. So she has power inside her hands, she is very much her own agent. When Gaston, the symbol for limiting patriarchal discourse, threatens to put his father into an asylum in order to get her to be his wife, she uses her agency by brandishing the mirror. Gaston was calling her discourse bullshit, he was denying her words, she will show him. And now appears the Beast, that she now looks at most tenderly and lovingly. The Beast has become the object of her desire and she still hardly understands at this point. But, more importantly, the magical object, the mirror has come full circle between the hands of Belle. She used to be framed in it, now she is the one framing the object of her desire in it.

Gaston of course snatches it away from her, and uses it as a weapon. He is the ferocious “wounded in his pride” patriarchal voice. He will try one last time to “frame” what love and desire should stand for, what Belle’s place and fate should be, so he locks her up and plans to kill the Beast who has relinquished all power. But, at this point, Belle and the Beast are beyond the frames of the mirror. They have acknowledged who they love and desire, and accepted each other as they are.

This is a very interesting use of mirror in a story, I must say. And it already probably raises lots of parallels in your mind with Reylo... as it should.

From the Mirror to the Speculum: know thyself and the broken glass

So, what about Rey and mirrors in TLJ? Revealingly, A LOT of the stories that I have tried to recall in the scope of this mirror study are usually matched up with the ST themes and storyline. Snow White, for instance and her glass coffin like Rey’s pod (and Padmé’s own coffin admittedly), Beauty and the Beast, Jane Eyre, or the Phantom of the Opera. A lot of reflections too in The Lion King 2, a movie that has a lot of possible parallels with the ST thematically speaking. I am pretty sure the connections are not lost there. And there is this particular art design realized for TFA, but omitted (why?) from the book The Art of The Force Awakens.

They used a photoshoot that Adam Driver had done with a model for a magazine to imagine a concept art that prominently features a mirror, on the right. This was in the developing stages for the new ST, and I think a good reason why they would not include this specific picture is because it was letting too much out on what they were trying to achieve, or what they had in mind for these two. But the mirror is there, and, if it played no part in TFA, it does play a big one in TLJ.

But before looking at this particular mirror, let’s look again at the “path” that leads us there, and at other possible reflections. There is first the Mirrorbright lullaby, a traditional song from Alderaan, that Claudia Gray uses in Bloodline, which centers around the moment when Leia’s true lineage is revealed and thus when Ben learns the truth about his connection to Vader.

Mirrorbright, shines the moon, its glow as soft as an ember

When the moon is mirrorbright, take this time to remember

Those you have loved but are gone

Those who kept you so safe and warm

The mirrorbright moon lets you see

Those who have ceased to be

Mirrorbright shines the moon, as fires die to their embers

Those you loved are with you still—

The moon will help you remember

The combination of lullaby as a genre and moon as a theme screams motherhood. The moon is linked with fertility, and rebirth. The theme of the song is that people who are now long gone are still with us through the love we bear them. In Bloodline, the song can remind Leia of the loved ones she lost on Alderaan, but in the context of the ST it resonates in her loss of Han, Luke, and how she grieves for her lost son. As a path to the ST it is important, because it ties in with previous dead ones: Anakin and Padmé, especially in the context of embers... See for instance @fluffycakeistainted’s great meta about ashes and embers, and the comparison between Reylo and Anidala. And in the aftermath of TLJ, it is also interesting because Rey and Kylo parted amid embers, and are last seen grieving for what could have been. Could we get a moon or moonlit scenes in episode ix?

Another interesting item from “path” to the ST, is in Claudia Gray’s Leia Princess of Alderaan, and comes from Holdo. I think there is much to make of Holdo’s cryptic lines and their influence on the fates of the characters in the ST, between “the spark that will ignite the fire” and this specific line: “Mirrors bend light”. I am unsure what to make out of this at this point, but I really want to keep this idea in mind for episode ix possibly.

Now in TLJ itself, there are three important points I want to underline before tackling THE mirror from Ahch-To cave.

Phasma as a mirror. Sure, as a chrome dome, her shining uniform is supposed to look super cool and super badass. Contrary to Vader and C3P0, you can actually see items and people reflected in her armor. I wonder if it might mean something else. Especially since she is usually positioned as Finn’s antagonist. She is Finn’s mirror, the image that he left behind, what he does not want to be. She is his particular foil and nemesis. She is the mirror in Finn’s own storyline.

The “oculus” in Snoke’s throne room. This is akin to the wizard’s magic glass. It is not a looking-glass but a magnifying glass. Like a Devil’s Mirror, the purpose it serves in TLJ is emphasizing bad things, here the destruction of the Resistance fleet.

The many reflecting surfaces in the scenes where Kylo appears. In the throne room or on the deck before Force bond 2. They are revealing of the duality of the character. In this particular scene, what I find particularly interesting, is that when he will turn he will indeed see his image reflected... in Rey, through the Force bond. I will not develop this particular point because I think it has been done before, but the way they fight and move mirror each other...

Ok, so, thank you for indulging me and having read that far. So, what about that mirror scene? The pièce de résistance... It appears to Rey at the moment when she has given up on Luke being the hero that will save the day and help her find answers about herself, and right after Kylo tells her what happened between Luke and him. All the truths she was holding on to are shattered: the hero and the monster. So she turns back to herself and what she has always wanted: the truth about her parents, and to have her parents back. If the Light had no answers, maybe the Dark will.

Of course, the first degree of the analysis is very much about the classical “know thyself”, the quest for identity. She first gets an infinity of replicas of herself, before asking the mirror to “show them” to her, fingers barely touching the surface. Then, two dark figures walk towards her, gasp, fuse, re-gasp, somewhat look like someone that could be Kylo, major gasp, and then turn into her own reflection. Disappointment. For everone and not just Rey.The story is very much about herself. To come back to previous references, she is like Belle roaming the castle: the mirror is cracked, reflecting many possible identities and lives for her.

And hell breaks loose because the whole story is a flashback she tells Kylo, who becomes her mirror image in the flesh, sitting on the same terracota stools, holding out the hand, fingers barely touching the surface, her tear mirroring the scar on his face. As itself, the first degree is revealing enough. What she has come to find in the mirror is Kylo himself, whether we see him or not reflected there. Here he is, minutes later, and the scene speaks for itself. We also get another added power associated with the mirror, when they both get visions through the encounter, apparently of the past for him, and of the future for her.

The second degree is not that far from the mark either. The entrance to the cave is, as many have pointed before, very reminiscent of female genitalia. So for Rey looking and gaping at the entrance of the cave is pretty much like using a speculum. She is taking interest in her sexuality, in her womanhood, with a visual imagery that is VERY reminiscent of the way Caravaggio painted Narcissus looking at himself. I can’t include the clip for now, I will as soon as I can, but seriously, compare the way she bends over the entrance with that:

Down the hole, she falls, you would say much like Alice, and like Alice and Narcissus she almost drowns. Inside the cave, traditionally the image of the womb, a mirror. Replicas and reproductions could point to the fact that Rey, as a mother, has the potential to replicate herself, to live through the generations out of the children she can bear. It is also that laughing cow effect again... Something of the matriochka doll concept: even in her mother’s womb, a baby girl already holds within herself all the eggs that represent potential new babies, so a girl within a girl within a girl...

As I have pointed out before, mirrors are also supposed to reflect the object of desire. It is very significant that this mirror scene happens RIGHT AFTER the half-naked encounter with Kylo, and the flustered reaction she gets from the sight. But Rey is, at this point, unable to understand or process this desire. Just like Beauty when she gets the Beast’s magic mirror, she asks to get a peek at the past, her parents. She mistakes what she really wants. The same mistake that she did before and that Maz highlighted on Takodana: “the belonging you seek is not behind you”. She did not ask for what she really desired because she was unable to identify it yet, and so she did not get the right answer to her question, just a blurred vision. Through the Force vision, she gets something that changes her perspective though, since she throws herself with wild abandon at the mercy of Kylo and Snoke, so sure she is of what may happen.

Ok, so, guilty as charged, I also “speculated” a bit about what appears in the mirror. That’s what we are expected to do: the whole point of the mirror scene is to have us speculate after all. I will argue that it is awesome that we didn’t get any clear vision in this mirror. Just Rey’s face. For all the reasons that I have listed above in my detailed exposé on mirror scenes.

No patriarchal voice or discourse, Rey is the agent and the narrator of her own story: hurray!

No framing as the good girl, many different possibilities

No foil images: her opposite, her antagonist, an alien or corrupted version of herself, nothing hidden is revealed

If we had seen Kylo for sure in the mirror people might have still been tempted to interpret it as a clear sign that they are meant to fight, that he is her enemy in the mirror, since the image is prompted by fear and the Dark side

Cracked mirror is always a better option for a heroine, it leaves ways of escaping the frame, of not remaining a prisoner

Going through the mirror for Rey does equal in her journey accessing the truth, the path to reality. She is the heroine of her story and not the footnote to someone else’s story, she is a message and not just a messenger. She acknowledges that Kylo and her share something unique. She has a more nuanced approach to the whole picture. It is key in the letting go of her search for idealized parents.

Because she failed to find the appropriate reflection in the mirror, she goes and seeks the one that she needs.We DON’T NEED to get Ben/Kylo in the scene. We shouldn’t get Kylo in the scene because it is much better that she goes identifying him as the true object of her need and desire on her own, outside of the mirror. This is a great subversion of the mirror trope in the heroine’s journey. It is not in the mirror that she really learns to know herself, what she needs, what she wants or who she is meant to be with. It is not in a mirror that she gets visions of her fate, her future, or any access to power. She gets ALL THAT when she touches fingers with Kylo: that’s her real mirror scene. And it’s one that she chooses, initiates, provokes: she is the one looking for him after the cave scene (from the novelization), she is the one talking and framing the discussion, she is the one initiating the touch, and dragging him inside HER frame, and not the other way around.

I leave it there for now. This was quite a long one and I fear a bit rough because as a process it got interrupted many times. I hope it can spark discussions.

#reylo #reylo fandom #reylo meta #reylo fam #mirrors in star wars #disney parallels #star wars meta #themes in star wars

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writinggeisha · 6 years ago

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White: French beige, Navajo white, alabaster white, albino white, antique white, arctic white, argent white, ashen white, beige, birch, biscuit white, bisque, blanched almond, blanched white, bleached white, blonde, bone white, buff, camel, canvas beige, linen white, marshmallow white, milk white, mocassin, mother-of-pearl, mushroom, neutral white, nude, oatmeal white, off-white, old lace white, opal, paper white, pearl white, piano key white, polar white, porcelain, powder white, pure white, raw cotton white, coconut white, contrast white, cotton white, cream, diamond, dove white, ecru, eggshell white, flax, flour white, fog white, frosted white, ghost white, goose white, hemp, ivory white, lace white, latte, light tan, lily white, sandstone, seashell white, sheep white, sheet white, shell white, shining star white, silvery white, smoky beige, snow white, solid white, spotless white, sugar white, toothpaste white, vanilla, waxen white, wedding white, whey, white, white chocolate, white smoke Yellow: Chardonnay, French fry yellow, Titanium yellow, amber, banana yellow, bleached blond, blond, buff, bumblebee yellow, butter yellow, buttercup, butternut squash yellow, butterscotch, cadmium yellow, canary yellow, champagne, citrine, corn yellow, lemon peel, lemon sherbet, lemon yellow, linen, lion yellow, maize, marigold yellow, mellow yellow, metallic gold, mimosa yellow, mustard yellow, ochre, olive, omelette yellow, palamino, papaya, parakeet yellow, pencil yellow, cream, custard yellow, daffodil yellow, dandelion, duckling yellow, egg yolk yellow, electric yellow, flax, flesh tone, gold, gold yellow, golden bronze, golden yellow, goldenrod, highlighter yellow, honey yellow, lemon chiffon, lemon drop, pineapple yellow, popcorn yellow, raincoat yellow, saffron, school bus yellow, squash yellow, straw yellow, sunflower yellow, sunglow yellow, sunset yellow, sunshine yellow, taxi cab yellow, topaz, vanilla, wheat, yellow, yolk yellow

Orange: amber, apricot, basketball orange, blood orange, bourbon, burnt orange, butterfly orange, candlelight orange, candy corn, cantaloupe orange, carnelian, carotene, carrot orange, cheddar orange, cinnamon, mango, marigold orange, melon orange, neon orange, old gold, orange, orange juice, orange peel, orange sherbet, orange soda, orange-red, papaya, peach, persimmon, pumpkin orange, copper penny, coral, dark orange, dark salmon, dayglo orange, ember orange, fall leaves orange, flame orange, ginger orange, gold, golden orange, goldfish orange, ice pop orange, light orange, light salmon, rust orange, safety orange, saffron, salamander orange, starfish orange, sunrise orange, tabby, tangelo, tangerine, tawny, tiger orange, tiger stripe orange, traffic cone orange, yam orange

Red: Bordeaux red, Indian red, alizarin crimson, amaranth, apple red, auburn, autumn leaf red, barn red, beet red, blood red, blush, bougainvillea, bourbon, brick red, bright red, burgundy, burnt sienna, candy apple red, cardinal red, carmine, carnelian, cerise, cherry red, chestnut red, chili pepper red, magenta, magma red, maroon, orange-red, paprika, pepperoni red, persimmon red, pink red, pomegranate red, poppy red, rabbit eye red, radish red, rare steak red, raspberry red, red, red apple, red berry, red carpet, red licorice, red lipstick, red nose, red pepper, red potato, red rose, red velvet, claret, copper, coral red, crab red, cranberry red, crimson red, dark cerise, dark red, deep pink, devil red, faded rose, fire engine red, fire red, fire truck red, flame red, florid red, fruit punch red, garnet red, geranium red, henna, hibiscus red, hot pink, ketchup red, ladybug red, lipstick red, red wine vinegar, redwood, rosewood, rouge, ruby red, russet red, rust red, sangria red, scarlet, sports car red, stop light red, stop sign red, strawberry red, tawny port red, tawny red, terra cotta, tomato bisque, tomato red, torch red, vermillion, watermelon flesh, wine red, winter apple red

Pink: Pepto Bismal pink, Persian rose, amaranth, apricot, ash rose, baby cheeks pink, baby pink, bacon pink, ballerina pink, ballet pink, ballet slipper pink, begonia, blush pink, bougainvillea, bubblegum pink, cameo, carmine, carnation pink, cerise, cherry blossom, mulberry, neon pink, orchid, pale pink, pastel pink, peach, peach puff, peony pink, petunia pink, pig pink, pink, pink Cadillac, pink champagne, pink cheeks, pink diamond, pink grapefruit, pink lemonade, pink sherbet, polka dot pink, powder pink, conch pink, coral pink, cotton candy, cranberry, cupcake pink, dayglo pink, dusty rose, eraser pink, flamingo pink, flesh, flesh-colored, fuchsia, grapefruit pink, hibiscus pink, hot pink, jellyfish pink, lavender pink, light plum, lipstick pink, magenta, rose, rose petal, rose pink, rose quartz, rosy red, ruby, ruddy pink, sand pink, seashell pink, shocking pink, soft pink, strawberry jam, strawberry milkshake, sunset pink, tea rose, thistle pink, tongue pink, tulip pink, turnip pink, worm pink

Purple: Concord grape, amethyst, aubergine, beet purple, bilberry purple, blackberry, blackcurrant, blue violet, blueberry, brandywine, bruise purple, byzantium, cerise, claret, currant, dahlia, magenta, mauve, monster purple, mulberry, opal purple, orchid purple, pale plum, pansy purple, passionfruit purple, pastel purple, periwinkle, plum, prune, purple, purple cabbage, purple jam, dark raspberry, dark violet, eggplant purple, fandango, grape crush, grape jam purple, grape jelly purple, grape purple, heliotrope, hyacinth, inky purple, iris purple, juice purple, lavender, lavender blush, lilac purple, quartz, raisin purple, raspberry, rhubarb purple, royal purple, thistle, true purple, turnip purple, violet, violet red, wild berry purple, wild grape, wine, wisteria

Blue: Caribbean blue, Caribbean turquoise, Dodger blue, Pacific blue, Prussian blue, Tiffany blue, alice blue, aqua blue, aquamarine, azure blue, baby blue, blue belle, blue ice, blue jean blue, blue-green, blueberry, bluebird blue, bluebonnet blue, cadet blue, lapis lazuli, light blue, marine blue, marlin blue, midnight blue, navy blue, neon blue, nighttime blue, ocean blue, pale blue, pastel blue, peacock blue, police officer blue, pool blue, powder blue, ribbon blue, robin egg, royal blue, sapphire blue, cobalt, cornflower, cyan, dark blue, dark slate blue, deep sky blue, denim blue, dolphin blue, electric blue, frostbite blue, glacial blue, heather, iceberg blue, icy blue, imperial blue, indigo blue, inky blue, jay blue, lake blue, slate blue, snowflake blue, stained glass blue, steel blue, stone blue, summer sky blue, surf blue, swimming pool, teal blue, true blue, turquoise, ultra blue, ultramarine, verdigris, violet blue, washed denim blue, whale blue

Green: Granny Smith apple, Kelly green, Kermit green, Persian green, absinthe, algae green, alligator green, apple green, aqua, army green, artichoke green, asparagus green, avocado green, bay leaf green, bluegrass green, boxwood green, broccoli green, cabbage green, cactus green, caterpillar green, celery green, chartreuse, chive green, chlorophyll green, iceberg lettuce, iguana green, ivy green, jade green, jadestone, jungle green, kelp green, key lime green, leaf green, leprechaun green, lettuce green, lichen green, light cyan, lime green, lizard green, melon rind green, metallic mint, mint green, moss green, myrtle green, neon green, olive drab, olive green, parrot green, crocodile green, cucumber green, cyan, cypress, dark khaki green, dark olive green, dollar bill green, drab olive, eel green, emerald green, evergreen, fern green, forest green, frog green, grass green, grasshopper green, green, green apple, green olive, green pepper, green tea, green-yellow, holly, honeydew green, pea soup, pear green, pickle green, pine green, pistachio, sage green, sea green, seafoam green, seaweed green, shamrock green, spinach green, spring bud green, spring green, sprout green, spruce green, summer grass, swamp green, tea green, turtle green, verdant, verdigris, wasabi green, zucchini green

Brown: October brown, acorn brown, auburn, autumn leaf, barbecue sauce brown, bark brown, bay, bear brown, beetle brown, biscuit brown, branch brown, brick brown, bronze, brown, brown sugar, brunette, burnt sienna, burnt umber, butterscotch brow, cafe au lait, camel brown, cappuccino brown, caramel brown, cardboard brown, chestnut brown, kangaroo brown, khaki, leather, lion brown, liver brown, mahogany, maple brown, maple sugar brown, maroon, meatball brown, milk chocolate, mink, mocha brown, mud brown, nougat, nude, nut brown, nut brown ale, nutmeg, oak brown, pancake brown, peanut butter brown, potato brown, pretzel brown, raisin brown, cinnamon brown, cocoa, cocoa brown, coffee bean brown, coffee brown, coffee stain brown, copper, dark chocolate brown, dark citrine, deer brown, desert sand, dirt, doeskin, dun, earth brown, earth yellow, earthenware brown, fallow, fawn brown, football brown, fox brown, freckle brown, ginger brown, golden brown, hazel brown, rich earth, roan, root beer brown, rosewood, ruddy brown, russet brown, rust, saddle brown, sand, sandy brown, sea lion brown, semi-sweet chocolate, sepia, sienna, sorrel, steak brown, tan, tan brown, tan-nude, tawny, toast brown, tumbleweed, tweed brown, walnut brown, wheat,

Gray/Grey: argent silver, ash gray, battleship gray, cadet gray, charcoal gray, chrome, cloud gray, cloudy day gray, concrete gray, cool gray, cool grey, dim gray, dolphin gray, dove gray, overcast gray, owl gray, oyster gray, pewter, pigeon gray, platinum, rainy day gray, rhinoceros gray, river rock, salt and pepper gray, sardine gray, seal gray, shark gray, silver, elephant gray, fog gray, grandma gray, granite gray, gray, grey, gunmetal gray, haze gray, hippopotamus gray, iron gray, koala gray, metal gray, mist gray, moon gray, smoke gray, soot gray, steel gray, stone gray, storm gray, stormy sea gray, taupe gray, thunder cloud gray, warm gray, wed sidewalk gray, wool gray, zinc gray

Black: Mars black, black, black cat, black coffee, black licorice, black pearl, black pepper, black tar, blackboard black, blackout, blue-black, bow tie black, kettle black, kohl black, licorice black, mascara black, mica, midnight black, molasses black, night sky black, ninja black, obsidian, onyx, outer space black, caviar black, chalkboard black, charcoal black, coal black, ebony black, eclipse black, eyelash black, fig, gothic black, hearse black, ink black, jet black, piano key black, pitch black, pupil black, raven black, sable black, shadow black, smoky black, sooty black, spade black, spider black, tar black, tarmac black

https://www.words-to-use.com/words/colors-names/

#tools #links #colours #lists #word lists

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kahran042 · 2 years ago

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Contradictions to convict by

If you want to write a series of Two-Minute Mysteries/Encyclopedia Brown-style solve-it-yourself mysteries, here are ninety-four fun facts that could be used as clues. I wanted to have 108, but I just couldn’t think of that many. :(

1. A katana is a single-edged sword! 2. A Macintosh user would say "trash can," not "recycle bin"! 3. A professional chess player would say "knight/rook", not "horse/castle"! 4. A red sapphire is a ruby! 5. Alexandrite changes color in different lighting! 6. Alligators are only found in the United States and China! 7. American football and rugby both use oblong balls! 8. An international Street Fighter II champion would say "Boxer/Claw/Dictator", not "Balrog/Vega/M. Bison"! 9. Association football is called soccer in both the United States and Japan! 10. Basketball wasn't invented until 1891, and was written as two words until 1921! 11. Bats don't lay eggs! 12. Belgium's royal title is King of the Belgians, not King of Belgium! 13. Cacti are New World plants! 14. Calico cats are almost always female! 15. Cambodia is an elective monarchy! 16. Cats and Starlight Express both have characters named Electra! 17. Charizard/Gyarados is not a Dragon-type! 18. Chocolate is toxic to dogs! 19. Cologne is in Germany, not France! 20. Costa Rica doesn't have an army! 21. Crossbows use bolts, not arrows! 22. Dogs can't climb trees! 23. Dromedary camels only have one hump! 24. Electric eels live in fresh water! 25. Female lions don't have manes! 26. Ferrets are not rodents! 27. Frogs don't have scales! 28. Georgia is both a country and a U.S. state! 29. Heraldic dragons always have four legs! 30. Humans don't have gizzards! 31. Iolite and cordierite are two different names for the same stone! 32. It's impossible to land on Mediterranean Avenue on one's first turn in Monopoly! 33. James Buchanan was the only bachelor president! 34. Japan doesn't have a president! 35. Kangaroos can't walk backwards! 36. Lance corporal is not a U.S. Army rank! 37. Lions don't live in the jungle! 38. Little House on the Prairie and Thomas the Tank Engine are both the second book in their respective series! 39. Lord Stanley never saw a Stanley Cup game! 40. Louis XVI was the grandson of Louis XV, who was the great-grandson of Louis XIV! 41. Ludwig van Beethoven was deaf! 42. Macarons and macaroons are not the same thing! 43. Major is not an RAF rank! 44. Malachite is opaque! 45. Manx cats don't have tails! 46. Marie Antoinette was Austrian, not French! 47. Mario's first appearance was in Donkey Kong, not Mario Bros.! 48. Mercury and Venus don't have any moons! 49. Mercury is a liquid at room temperature! 50. Only six of the Pleiades are visible to the naked eye! 51. Ostriches don't bury their heads when scared! 52. Pablo Picasso was Spanish, not Italian! 53. Paella is Spanish, not Mexican! 54. Passenger trains don't have cabooses! 55. Royal, Prussian, and navy are all shades of blue! 56. School buses don't have seat belts! 57. Siam is an old name for Thailand! 58. Snowflakes are always hexagonal! 59. Sodium chloride is the technical term for table salt! 60. Spain was neutral in both World Wars! 61. St. Petersburg was the capital of Russia from 1732 to 1918! 62. Stags mate with hinds, not does! 63. Strawberries don't grow on bushes! 64. Texas was an independent country from 1836 to 1846! 65. Thailand and China don't share a border! 66. The barbarian is the only third-edition SRD class to use twelve-sided hit dice! 67. The book's title is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, not Alice in Wonderland/The Wizard of Oz! 68. The British national anthem during World War II was "God Save the King"! 69. The capital of Australia/Brazil/Turkey is Canberra/Brasília/Ankara, not Sydney/Rio de Janeiro/Istanbul! 70. The Caspian Sea is landlocked! 71. The day before Boxing Day is Christmas Day! 72. The emergency number in England is 999! 73. The Erector Set wasn't invented until 1913! 74. The flags of Ireland and Ivory Coast use the same colors, but in reversed order! 75. The Japanese language doesn't distinguish between singular and plural forms! 76. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia didn't exist until 1932! 77. The official language of Belize is English, not Spanish! 78. The original Mobile Suit Gundam wouldn't have been called "First Gundam" until Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam came out in 1985! 79. The plural of cyclops is cyclopes, not cyclopses! 80. The Space Needle wasn't completed until 1962! 81. The U.S. Flag Code wasn't published until 1923, and wasn't adopted by Congress until 1942! 82. The wife of an earl is a countess, not an earless! 83. There are cities in Maine called Paris, Dresden, Palermo, Vienna, Poland, Belgrade, and Lebanon! 84. There are no fish in the Dead Sea! 85. There are no mountains in Florida! 86. There is no such language as Swiss! 87. There is no U in Qatar! 88. Tigers are bigger than lions! 89. Ultima IX was the last one, but there were ten numbered Ultima games! 90. Uranus wasn't discovered until 1781! 91. Vermont is the only landlocked New England state! 92. Water, not Normal, is the most common Pokémon type! 93. Woodlice are crustaceans, not insects! 94. Worker bees are always female!

And here are some unisex names for anyone who wants to do a rehash or variant of The Case of the Dentist's Patient/The Case of the Missing Roller Skates: • Alex • Andrea • Ariel • Ashley • Avery • Carol • Chris • Dana • Dylan • Jamie • Jordan • Leslie • Meredith • Morgan • Robin • Ryan • Sam • Sandy • Sasha • Taylor • Toby • Yuri

#conviction by contradiction #fun facts #unisex names

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ashandhisocs · 2 years ago

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oh yeah babey it's my OCs -- fandom version

Prowl

Fandom OC - Steam Powered Giraffe

Having been with me for about four years now, Prowl is the first OC who I really took the time to give a detailed backstory, family, and personality. She is a robot made of a gold alloy who was originally designed to fight in the war, but was unfinished before the war ended, and forgotten by her creator. Her core, which is her consciousness, was the only finished part of her. As such, she is technically older than her three siblings, but her body was not built until about five years after the completion of her youngest sibling, Clash. She still has combat capabilities, her blueprints having been followed by her creator's son, but chooses not to use them and instead enjoys singing and learning different instruments.

AUs: Becile!Prowl - Basically an "evil" version of her.

Wonderland!Prowl - An Alice in Wonderland AU created by a friend of mine wherein Prowl was originally a knight, but now represents the role of the Cheshire Cat.

Adrian

Fandom OC - Steam Powered Giraffe

Adrian is Prowl's personal mechanic and a Walter Worker. She was originally an independent engineer who worked with the two most powerful types of matter in this universe, Blue Matter and Green Matter, but after an incident wherein she was very careless with mixing the two, Walter Robotics took her in as she healed. The incident, an explosion which briefly opened a portal to another dimension, irradiated Adrian so badly that her injuries were permanently altered by Blue Matter. Her hands and eyes, which she should have lost or heavily burned, now exist in a half-there half-gone state. They both exist and do not at the same time, with her eyes constantly covered by a blue fog under her bangs and her hands shifting on a spectrum of holographic blue to non-visible. She often covers her eyes with a blindfold which she is still able to see through somehow (likely due to the finicky nature of Blue Matter) and her sleeves are long enough to hide her hands.

AUs - Becile!Adrian - Also basically an "evil" version of her, except the concoction which caused the explosion contained more Green Matter than Blue. Green Matter has necromantic properties; as such, Adrian is supposed to be dead, but is basically a zombie. Her eyes are removable from their sockets and she often holds them with her Doc Ock-like robotic arms which she installed into her back, allowing her to see almost 360 degrees around her.

Azul

Fandom OC - RWBY

Azul is first and foremost obviously not canon-compliant at all, both because she's an OC but also because I had her cast as the Winter Maiden before the most recent volume(s). She is a bluejay faunus and has been the Winter Maiden for about three years, though nobody knows this because the Winter Maiden two iterations prior disappeared and with her, Ozpin's ability to trace the lineage of the power. The power transferred from that iteration to Azul's younger sister, Royal, who was murdered with Azul unable to do much except hide. The power transferred to Azul, who decided that she was tired of hiding away and being afraid, and applied to Beacon.

Ashton Emberlynn

Fandom OC - RWBY

Ashton was originally a student at Atlas Academy with their teammates Timberwolf, Pyrite, and Carnelian, but they all tragically perished on a mission gone very, very wrong. Ashton had gone to find help, but when they returned, their team had lost the fight against the Grimm. Haunted by the memories of them at Atlas, Ashton chose to transfer to Beacon mid-year, although they were not assigned a team because nobody was available to form one. They did not receive a team in time for the fall of Beacon. Ashton has an odd color palette that often puts people off regardless; with silver hair that ombres into a grey just shy of black and bright red eyes, they are often compared to Grimm. It is unfortunate how correct these people are. Ashton is indeed part Grimm, though this is only part of their closely kept secret-- they are also the biological child of Salem herself, the product of an experiment in which she wanted to see whether her Grimm genetics were passed down. Ashton is the perfect evidence that they are, but so too is her magic, and as such Ashton possesses the ability to traverse shadows and transform into a Grimm, albeit a small, runt version of one.

Akari

Fandom OC - BNHA

From a very young age, Akari learned to distrust the world and its plans for her. Her mother was neglectful and unpredictable, making Akari and her twin's childhood tense to begin with. The day Akari got her quirk changed everything, though, and not necessarily for the better. Her quirk allows her to "steal" the senses of others through skin contact to amplify her own. She never received quirk counselling due to her mother's refusal to have much of anything to do with her after this development; her inability to control her quirk caused enough incidents that her reputation quickly soured in both the eyes of her peers and her teachers. Meanwhile, her twin developed a healing quirk, which became the final nail in the coffin as their mother suddenly cared deeply for her, but hurt Akari in several ways. Akari ran away at age nine and made a friend named Shou, who was also running from an abusive situation. Heroes found the two of them and took them home; Akari lived to tell the tale, but only a few days later she saw on the news a report of a murder-suicide-- with Shou's father as the murderer, and Shou and his mother the murdered. Akari lost her faith in the heroes that day, and not even a week later, ran away again. This time she was found by the League and taken in, becoming the villain Thief from that day forward.

Emi

Fandom OC - Bleach

Emi can split her life into three eras-- before, during, and after. She was once a respected Shinigami of the Gotei 13 and friend of Urahara, Yoruichi, and the future Vizards. She was part of the Shiba, though not a member of the main family, but a distant cousin. One day her life would change irrevocably; she was assigned a mission that took her to Hueco Mundo, one that she had no idea was truly organized by Aizen, who wanted to observe how the Hollow reiryoku in the air might affect a Shinigami. He would be surprised to find that, in order to survive, she had resorted to killing and consuming Hollows, which had permanently changed her DNA. He decided to make her into an arrancar, one of the first, and she would later become an Espada. However, both her experiences surviving on Hollow reiryoku and becoming an arrancar would damage her memory severely, leaving her to become very quiet, distant, and often lost in her head. She is a terrifying fighter in that she uses this to her advantage, hiding in her mind as she sustains injuries without batting an eye, battling until her body gives out on her. Her zanpakuto is a church grim and she is friends with a deer-like hollow calling itself Shika.

Lucille

Fandom OC - BOTW/AOC

Lucille is a Sheikah whose life took a drastic turn when she was blessed by Hylia to bear the mark of the Sage of Shadows, and later the Sage of Spirit. Cousin to Impa, Lucille thought she'd never have to deal with any sort of responsibility other than listening to her cousin panic over her duties as the heir, but boy was she wrong. Terrified of this sudden burden, Lucille takes her horse Noir and runs as far as she can, ending up at Rito Stable, where she meets Revali, who is coincidentally looking for a missing Sheikah bearing a blessing that might just win their war against Ganon. . .

Amethyst

Fandom OC - Soul Eater

Amethyst was once on top of the world. She had the perfect weapon partner, they were just shy of their ninety-ninth soul, she was acing all her classes. . . and then, on a mission gone south, Amethyst's partner dies, and her whole life is flipped upside down. Suddenly she's a year from graduation with no weapon partner, no souls, and no one to lean on. There's also the fact that she can't remember the battle that killed her partner, and her dreams are surreal nightmares of that day that make no sense whatsoever. In some she sees a woman claiming to be her mother deliver the killing blow; in others, it is a Kishin egg, just as she was told. Amethyst wants-- no, needs-- answers. Thistle is lucky to find Kari when she does, a fellow third-year who has coincidentally recently lost her meister partner. Though Kari warns her that her soul is incredibly difficult to resonate with, Thistle is desperate, and the two of them decide to work together. . . as best as two complete opposites can.

Rei

Fandom OC - Bleach

Rei has always been a bit odd in the eyes of others. There's plenty to blame that on, from her queerness to the spirits she sees, but she's never cared to try and figure it out. She has two priorities-- to protect her younger brother, and to survive. When her mother kicks the two of them out, her priorities go from difficult to near impossible as she tries to figure out where to go from there. As time passes, Rei grows more and more desperate, until her savior arrives in the form of the strangest man she's ever met-- Urahara Kisuke.

Unbeknownst to her, Urahara's been looking for a powerful weapon in the form of the zanpakuto Gemini, and he's positive he's found it-- in Aki, Rei's younger brother, who practically screams duality with his dual toned hair and heterochromatic eyes. His reiryoku is an untapped well that Urahara intends to help him access, with the added benefit of having the wielder of Gemini under his control.

Rei is incredibly grateful to Urahara and his family, but things quickly begin to sour as Aki disappears for days on end with Urahara and refuses to tell her where he's gone. Urahara is no help, and is in fact openly hostile at times, clearly creating a chasm between Rei and her brother. She wants to find out just what's going on, but she's plenty occupied with the spirits inside her head calling themselves Gemini.

Coincidentally, Aki shows no signs of hearing his zanpakuto in training, unable to reach out to what should surely be Gemini.

Blythe

Fandom OC - Sword/Shield

Blythe is amazed and a little stumped as to how he's gotten to where he is. He started this journey thinking he might beat a gym leader or two and then watch Hop dominate the gym challenge and become champion, but suddenly he's standing across Leon as the crowd goes absolutely wild at Blythe's win, and things get very real very fast, because Blythe was in no way prepared for the burden that is being the champion. Everyone wants to know everything about him, but the truth is they hardly know anything about him-- starting with his pronouns. And, to top it all off, he's pretty sure Hop is pissed at him, because Blythe not only beat him by a landslide every battle, but demolished Leon's team as well, embarrassing him on public television for thousands of people to see. Of course he didn't on purpose, but he's sure that's how Hop sees it, and probably Leon too.

Ash

Fandom OC - Legends Arceus

When Ash wakes up on a sandy beach an unknown number of years back in time, his first thought is, what the hell am I going to do if they're transphobic?? It doesn't help that the village already treats him strangely for being from the rift in the sky, and that it's near impossible to survive in the wilderness when you're cluelessly reliant on technology like Ash is. He wants nothing more to fit in, but he has to face the facts-- he's the odd one out.

Akira

Fandom OC - Demon Slayer

Akira wasn't always strong enough to stand as a Pillar. Years ago, when Akira was hardly a teen, his entire family was slaughtered by an incredibly powerful demon known as the Mistress of Spring, whose ability to grow fatally toxic flowers has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of humans and demons alike. And, oddly enough, the Mistress has taken a personal interest in Akira, taunting him with the heirloom she stole. Since that day Akira swore to avenge his family and trained day and night, following what was left of his family's records of their unnamed style. Under the light of the stars Akira finally figured it out; his family had carefully hidden the secret of the Star Breath, and Akira had managed to preform the first style. He realized, then, that he could use this to his advantage, and mastered the style by training day and night, eventually presenting it to the Ubuyashiki family, who accepted him as the first Star Pillar. Now with access to better resources, research, and manpower, Akira works towards his mission of ending the terror of the Mistress of Spring.

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metalshockfinland · 5 years ago

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Photo Credit: Jeremy Saffer

Screw your pumpkin spiced lattes, WEDNESDAY 13 is here to usher in the real start of the Halloween season. Yesterday, The Duke of Spook and his devilish ghouls known collectively as WEDNESDAY 13, released their highly-anticipated new album, “Necrophaze”, with Nuclear Blast Records. Featuring ghastly guest appearances from, Alice Cooper, Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR), Alexi Laiho (CHILDREN OF BODOM), Jeff Clayton (GG Allin’s MURDER JUNKIES) and Cristina Scabbia (LACUNA COIL) among others, “Necrophaze” is the horror-themed record of the season, seething with a cauldron of monster riffs and haunting lyrics that will have listeners feening for more.

Watch WEDNESDAY 13’s new commercial for “Necrophaze”:

youtube

More from »Necrophaze«:‘Zodiac’ Trailer – https://youtu.be/AFhqlXv1nCw‘Decompose’ Visualizer – https://youtu.be/mdqrNZOwzzc‘Bring Your Own Blood’: https://youtu.be/B1iZ6KHx7KQ‘Necrophaze’: https://youtu.be/qY7i3Y04ejo

Purchase »Necrophaze« here: http://www.nuclearblast.com/w13-necrophazeOrder »Necrophaze« bundles here: https://theoraclemanagementmerch.com/collections/wednesday-13

Heavily influenced by the real life night terror occurrences of Wednesday himself, historical serial killers, and a slew of 80’s horror films, the ideas behind »Necrophaze« are bizarrely familiar, frightening, and a hell of a lot of fun. Being a collector of both media and toys, WEDNESDAY 13 was inspired by a craving for variety to create dual album artwork for this release (seen below). The covers showcase either end of the horror spectrum with a “Creepshow” comic book vibe for the LP artwork, and the eeriness of something akin to John Carpenter’s “The Fog” adorning the CD.

»Necrophaze« was recorded by Michael Spreitzer, producer, recording engineer, as well as the long time guitarist of DEVILDRIVER, and is the first WEDNESDAY 13 record to feature guest spots, which include performances by Alice Cooper, Roy Mayorga of STONE SOUR (who provides an eerie, authentic, 80s inspired synth soundtrack-score to the album), Alexi Laiho of CHILDREN OF BODOM, and Cristina Scabbia of LACUNA COIL. Also making an appearance on the album is Jeff Clayton: member of legendary punk bands ANTiSEEN & GG Allin’s MURDER JUNKIES.

Left: Cover artwork

right: alternate vinyl cover artwork

Left: Cover artwork, right: alternate vinyl cover artwork

Catch WEDNESDAY 13‘s spectacular horror show on one of the following dates in Europe.Tickets On Sale @ https://officialwednesday13.com/tour/Meet & Greet VIP Packages Available @ http://store.officialwednesday13.com/

WEDNESDAY 13»Wisconsin Death Trip« – 20th Anniversary Tourw/ STATIC-X, SOIL, DOPE27.09. UK Nottingham – Rock City28.09. UK Leeds – Stylus29.09. UK Southampton – Engine Rooms01.10. UK Newcastle – Northumbria Institute02.10. UK Glasgow – The Garage03.10. UK Manchester – O2 Ritz04.10. UK Birmingham – O2 Institute05.10. F Magny-le-Hongre – File 706.10. B Antwerp – Trix07.10. D Hamburg – Markthalle09.10. D Cologne – Essigfabrik10.10. D Mannheim – MS Connexion Complex11.10. CH Zurich – Dynamo12.10. I Pinarella di Cervia (RA) – Rock Planet Club13.10. D Munich – Backstage (Werk)»Wisconsin Death Trip« – 20th Anniversary X-Mas Tourw/ STATIC-X, DEVILDRIVER, DOPE, RAVEN BLACK12.11. USA Baton Rouge, LA – Varsity Theatre13.11. USA New Orleans, LA – House of Blues15.11. USA Ft. Lauderdale – Revolution Live16.11. USA Tampa, FL – The Orpheum17.11. USA Destin, FL – Club LA02.12. USA Chicago, IL – House of Blues05.12. USA Des Moines, IA – Wooly‘s06.12. USA Sauget, IL – Pop‘s Concert Venue07.12. USA Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre08.12. USA Colorado Springs, CO – Sunshine Studios Live10.12. USA Salt Lake City, UT – The Royal*11.12. USA Boise, ID – Knitting Factory*12.12. USA Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory*13.12. USA Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre*14.12. USA Seattle, WA – El Corazon*15.12. CDN Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre*17.12. USA San Francisco, CA – Slim’s*18.12. USA Fresno, CA – Fulton 55***no DEVILDRIVER & DOPE**STATIC-X & WEDNESDAY 13 only»Hell Has No Mercy 2020«w/ THE 69 EYES, THE NOCTURNAL AFFAIR, THE CROWNED24.01. USA Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory25.01. USA Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall26.01. USA Syracuse, NY – The Westcott Theater28.01. USA Flint, MI – The Machine Shop Concert Lounge29.01. USA Chicago, IL – Reggies30.01. USA Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe31.01. USA Lincoln, NE – The Royal Grove01.02. USA Denver, CO – The Oriental Theater03.02. USA Seattle, WA – El Corazón04.02. USA Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre06.02. USA San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill07.02. USA West Hollywood, CA – Whisky a Go-Go08.02. USA San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick09.02. USA Mesa, AZ – Club Red11.02. USA Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill12.02. USA New Orleans, LA – Southport Hall14.02. USA Orlando, FL – SoundBar.15.02. USA Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade16.02. USA Nashville, TN – The Basement East17.02. USA Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel19.02. USA Richmond, VA – The Canal Club20.02. USA Pittsburgh, PA – Crafthouse Stage & Grill21.02. USA Cleveland, OH – The Odeon22.02. USA Reading, PA – Reverb

WEDNESDAY 13 Usher In Halloween With Release Of “Necrophaze” + New 2020 US Tour Dates With THE 69 EYES Announced Screw your pumpkin spiced lattes, WEDNESDAY 13 is here to usher in the real start of the Halloween season.

#“Necrophaze”#Wednesday 13

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thefeedpost · 6 years ago

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All The New Albums Emerging In March 2019

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Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in March. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.

Friday, March 1

2 Chainz — Rap Or Go To The League (Def Jam) Absolutely Not — Problematic (No Trend Records) Andreya Triana — Life In Colour (Hi-Tea Records) Andrew Leahey — Airwaves (Skyline Music) Angel-Ho — Death Becomes Her (Hyperdub) Ari & Mia — Sew The City (self-released) Austin Meade — Waves (7013 Records) Bobby Long — Sultans (Compass Records) Browbeat — Remove The Control (Indelirium Records) Bryan Adams — Shine A Light (Polydor Records) Bus — Never Decide (Bus — Never Decide) The Cactus Blossoms — Easy Way (Walkie Talkie Records) CFCF — Liquid Colours (self-released) Charles X — EID2 (Ambiguous Music Group) Chrome Waves — A Grief Observed (Disorder Records) Citizen Cope — Heroin And Helicopters (RainWater Recordings) Criminal Hygiene — Run It Again (Dangerbird Records) Cube — Decoy Street (Superior Viaduct) Darkwater — Human (Ulterium Records) Dear Boy — The Strawberry EP (Easy Hell) Della Mae — The Butcher Shoppe EP (Rounder Records) Delicate Steve — ‘Till I Burn Up (ANTI‐) Desert Ships — Eastern Flow (Desert Ships) DJ Plead — Pleats Plead EP (Nervous Horizon) Durand Jones & The Indications — American Love Call (Dead Oceans) Fate McAfee — Diesel Palomino (Slough Water Records) Fews — Into Red (PIAS Group) Frankie And The Witch Fingers — ZAM (Greenway Records) Gang Of Four — Happy Now (PledgeMusic) Gold Connections — Like A Shadow EP (EggHunt Records) Hand Habits — Placeholder (Saddle Creek) Hawksley Workman — Median Age Wasteland (Isadora Records) Heretical Sect — Heretical Sect EP (Caligari Records) Hozier — Wasteland, Baby! (Island) The Japanese House — Good At Falling (Dirty Hit) JD Simo — Off At 11 (Crows Feet Records) Jon And Roy — Here (Blue Heron Music) Jonathan — To Hold (LAA) Jonny Kosmo — Jonny Kosmo (Slimehouse) Kerchief — Fluke (Mint 400 Records) Ian Brown (of The Stone Roses) — Ripples (Black Koi) In Flames — I, The Mask (Nuclear Blast) Laurice — Bad Boy (Mighty Mouth Music) Lemaitre — Fast Lovers EP (Astralwerks) Little Simz — GREY Area (AGE 101) Living Hour — Softer Faces (Kanine Records) Lonesome Shack — Desert Dreams (Alive Naturalsound Records) Lost Leaders — Promises Promises (PledgeMusic) Mansionair — Shadowboxer (Glassnote Records) Mary Bragg — Violets As Camouflage (Tone Tree Music) Masked Intruder — III (Pure Noise Records) Maxïmo Park — As Long As We Keep Moving (Cooking Vinyl Limited) Mike Edel — Thresholds (PENNANT) Mike Tramp — Stray From The Flock (Mighty Music) Mint Field — Mientras Esperas EP (Innovative Leisure) Motherhood — Dear Bongo (Forward Music Group) Nude Shoes — Suburban Ceremonies EP (Know Hope Records LLC) Octo Octa — For Lovers EP (Technicolour) Pink Mexico — Dump (Little Dickman Records) Pinty — City Limits EP (Rhythm Section International) Pond — Tasmania (Marathon Artists) Pool Kids — Music To Practice Safe Sex To (Skeletal Lightning) Potty Mouth — Snafu (Get Better Records) Primer — Novelty (YHS Records) Quaker City Night Hawks — QCNH (Lightning Rod Rec.) Queensrÿche — The Verdict (Century Media) Reese Wynans — Sweet Release (J&R Adventures) Rock Goddess — This Time (PledgeMusic) Royal Trux — White Stuff (Fat Possum Records) Scott Gilmore — Two Roomed Motel (Crammed Discs) Shy Girls — Bird On The Wing (Keep Cool Projects/RCA Records) Sigrid — Sucker Punch (Island) Sisters Of Suffocation — Humans Are Broken (Napalm Records) Skinny Lister — The Story Is… (Xtra Mile Recordings) Statement — Force Of Life (Target/Mighty Music) Steve Poltz — Shine On (Red House Records) Stillhound — Strangers Will Not Thank You (self-released) Swan’s Chamber — Swan’s Chamber EP (Leaving Records) Swazi Gold — Jehovah’s Whispers (Research Records) Tanya Tagaq — Toothsayer EP (Six Shooter Records) Teen — Good Fruit (Carpark Records) Tics — Agnostic Funk (Tomatenplatten) Tim Bowness — Flowers At The Scene (InsideOut Records) Tom Walker — What A Time To Be Alive (Relentless Records) Ulysses Owens Jr. — Songs Of Freedom (Resilience Music) Upsahl — Hindsight 20/20 EP (WHIPPIN) Vesper Wood — Instar (Otta Viktoria Records) Wearemarvin — Wearemarvin EP (La Pochette Surprise Records) Weezer — The Black Album (Atlantic While She Sleeps — So What? (Spinefarm Records UK) Yves Jarvis (formerly Un Blonde) — The Same But By Different Means (ANTI‐)

Friday, March 8

Adam French — The Back Foot And The Rapture (Virgin EMI Records) Alice Phoebe Lou — Paper Castles (self-released) Amanda Palmer — There Will Be No Intermission (Cooking Vinyl Limited) Astralingua — Safe Passage (Midnight Lamp Records) Babybird — Happy Stupid Nothing (Psycho Mafia Recordings) Bencoolen — Daydream (self-released) Black Lung — Ancients (Ripple Music) Buckcherry — Warpaint (RED MUSIC) Caleb Elliott — Forever To Fade (Single Lock Records) The Coathangers — The Devil You Know (Suicide Squeeze Records) Crypt Trip — Haze County (Heavy Psych Sounds) Dave — Psychodrama (Neighbourhood Recordings) David Gray — Gold In a Brass Age (IHT Records) Dead Swords (feat. Alex Rosamilia of The Gaslight Anthem) — Enders (Human Blood Records) Dido — Still On My Mind (BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd) Drinking Boys And Girls Choir — Keep Drinking (Damnably) Dwilly — Crayola EP (CloudKid) E.B. The Younger (Eric Pulido of Midlake) — To Each His Own (Bella Union) Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine — 8:47 EP (Big Machine) Flight Of The Conchords — Live In London (Sub Pop) Foals — Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 (Warner Bros. Records) Gesaffelstein — Hyperion (Columbia Records) Helado Negro — This Is How You Smile (RVNG Intl.) High Tides — Paradise Daze (Rad Cult) Hobby Club — Video Days EP (Heist Or Hit) I Was A King — Slow Century (Coastal Town) Indoor Pets — Be Content (Wichita Recordings) Jim Jones And The Righteous Minds — Collectiv (MaSonic) Jnr. Williams — Where We Start EP (Arista / Insanity Records) Juice Wrld — Goodbye & Good Riddance (Interscope) Justus Proffit — L.A.’s Got Me Down (Bar None Records) Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe — Gnomes & Badgers (Seven Spheres Records) Kyle Dion — SUGA (self-released) KOKOROKO — KOKOROKO EP (Brownswood) Leggy — Let Me Know Your Moon (Sheer Luck Records) Leo “Bud” Welch — The Angels In Heaven Have Done Signed My Name (Easy Eye Sound) Liily — I Can Fool Anybody In This Town EP (Flush Records) Love Trap — Rosie (Wild Honey Records) Manics — Binary EP (Dim Mak) Maren Morris — Girl (Columbia Nashville) Matt Shapiro — Fade In EP (self-released) MDD — Reverse The Contrast (HANDS) Meat Puppets — Dusty Notes (Megaforce Records) Meadows End — The Grand Antiquation (Black Lion Records) Minke — The Tearoom EP (Chess Club/RCA Records) Misery Index — Rituals Of Power (Season of Mist) Munya — Blue Pine EP (Luminelle Recordings) Nick Waterhouse — Nick Waterhouse (Innovative Leisure Records) Patty Griffin — Patty Griffin (Thirty Tigers) Rosie Tucker — Never Not Never Not Never Not (New Professor) The Royal — Deathwatch (Long Branch Records) Sasami — Sasami (Domino Recording Company) Savage After Midnight — 11:59 EP (RED MUSIC) Shady Bug — Lemon Lime (Exploding In Sound Records) Stella Donnelly — Beware Of The Dogs (Secretly Canadian) Ten Fé — Future Perfect, Present Tense (Some Kinda Love) Tredici Bacci — La Fine Del Futuro (NNA Tapes) The Wild Reeds — Cheers (Dualtone Records) Vasco — Tender Luv EP (Big Beat Records) William Basinki — On Time Out Of Time (Temporary Residence Limited) Xeno & Oaklander — Hypnos (Dais Records) Youth Fountain — Letters To Our Former Selves (Pure Noise Records)

Friday, March 15

Amongst The Pigeons — Begging Your Pardon (Marowak Records) Angel Dust — Pretty Buff (Roadrunner Records) Arre! Arre! — Tell Me About Them (PNKSLM Recordings) Beach Slang — MPLS EP (Bridge Nine Records) Benjamin Francis Leftwich — Gratitude (Dirty Hit) BESTA — Eterno Rancor (Lifeforce Records) Black Therapy — Echoes Of Dying Memories (Black Lion Records) Bouncing Souls — Crucial Moments EP (Rise Records) Brian Jonestown Massacre — Brian Jonestown Massacre (A Records) Buvette — Life EP (A+LSO) Chai — Punk (Burger) The Cinematic Orchestra — To Believe (Ninja Tune) Clever Austin (Perrin Moss of Hiatus Kaiyote) — Pareidolia (Touching Bass) David Leonard — The Wait ()Integrity Media Deafkids — Metaprogramação (Neurot Recordings) Dexter Story — Bahir (Soundway Records) Elizabeth Colour Wheel — Nocebo (The Flenser) The Faint — Egowerk (Saddle Creek) The Fall — Bend Sinister/The ‘Domesday’ Pay-Off Triad-Plus (Beggars Banquet Music Ltd) Fallujah — Undying Light (Nuclear Blast) Gary Hoey — Neon Highway Blues (Provogue Records) Hearing Things — Here’s Hearing Things (Yeggs Records) Huntly — Low Grade Buzz (Barely Dressed Records) Hvob — Rocco ([PIAS]) Iota — Tales (Small Stone Records) Julia Rakel — indie fEElz EP (Rama Lama Records) Just Friends — Nothing But Love (Pure Noise Records) Karen O and Danger Mouse — Lux Prima (BMG) Lauren Jenkins — No Saint (Big Machine Records) Louise Lemón — A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart (Icons Creating Evil Art) Low Life — Downer Edn (Goner Records) Matmos — Plastic Anniversary (Thrill Jockey) Merely — Hatching The Egg (YEAR0001) Nanami Ozone — NO (Tiny Engines) Never Loved — Never Loved EP (Equal Vision Records) Nick Sanders — Playtime 2050 (Sunnyside Records) Noncoonah — Dead Roses, Digged Up Zombies, Broken Pieces Of Diamonds, Live Cats (Ernest Jenning Record Co.) Over The Rhine — Love & Revelation (Great Speckled Dog) Redwolves — Future Becomes Past (Argonauta Records) Seahawks — Eyes Of The Moon (Cascine) Shy FX — Raggamuffin SoundTape (Digital Soundboy) Skylephant — Songs For The Fragile Collective (Musical Bear) Snarky Puppy — Immigrance (roundUP Music) Sontalk — Stay Wild (Sony Classical Records) Sowflo — New Shoes (Space Duck Records) Stephen Malkmus — Groove Denied (Domino Recording Company) Ted Russell Kamp — Walkin’ Shoes (PoMo) Their Throats Are Open Tombs — Of Psalters And Snakes (The Fear and the Void Recordings) Todd Snider — Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 (Aimless Records) Turning Jewels Into Water — Map Of Absences (FPE Records) Wyclef Jean — Wyclef Goes Back To School (Heads Music)

Friday, March 22

American Football — American Football (LP3) (Polyvinyl Record Co.) Andrew Bird — My Finest Work Yet (Loma Vista Recordings) Anteros — When We Land (Distiller Records) Apparat — LP5 (Mute Records) Aubrey Logan — Where The Sunshine Is Expensive (Resonance Records) Avey Tare (of Animal Collective) — Cows On Hourglass Pond (Domino Recording Company) Bad Suns — Mystic Truth (Epitaph Records) Bill MacKay — Fountain Fire (Drag City) Blue Angels — Sue EP (UNO NYC) Bonnie Tyler — Between The Earth And The Stars (earMUSIC) Brian Carpenter’s Beat Circus — These Wicked Things (Innova Recordings) Brim Liski — Duels (Latenight Weeknight Records) Burning Rain — Face The Music (Frontiers Records) Casey Cavanagh — Old Souls EP (Old Souls Music) Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah — Ancestral Recall (Ropeadope) Crows — Silver Tongues (Balley Records) Dean Lewis — A Place We Knew (Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd.) Delta Heavy — Only In Dreams (Ram Records) Dominanz — Let The Death Enter (Mighty Music) Donna Grantis (of 3rdEyeGirl) — Diamonds & Dynamite (eOne Music Canada) Emily Wells — This World Is Too ____ For You (Thesis & Instinct) Ex Hex — It’s Real (Merge Records) Fred Everything — Long Way Home (Lazy Days Recordings) Ghost Light — Best Kept Secrets (self-released) Guest Singer — I’m Irrelevant Now EP (Heist or Hit Records) Ian Daniel Kehoe — Secret Republic (Tin Angel Records) Ibibio Sound Machine — Doko Mien (Merge Records) Jack Savoretti — Singing To Strangers (BMG) Jayda G — Significant Changes (Ninja Tune) Jenny Lewis — On The Line (Warner Bros. Records) La Dispute — Panorama (Epitaph Records) Lafawndah — Ancestor Boy (Concordia) Lambchop — This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) (Merge Records) Laurel Halo — DJ-Kicks (!K7 Records) Lil Yee — Live 4 It, Die 4 It EP (G-Affair/EMPIRE) Lucy Rose — No Words Left (Arts & Crafts) Luther Dickinson And Sisters Of The Strawberry Moon — Solstice (New West Records) Mary Lattimore And Mac McCaughan (of Superchunk) — New Rain Duets (Three Lobed Recordings) Matt Anderson — Halfway Home By Morning (True North) Matthew Logan Vasquez (of Delta Spirit) — LIGHT’N UP (Dine Alone Records) Niggght — Violent Delicacy EP (Kozmik Artifactz) Nilüfer Yanya — Miss Universe (ATO Records) No Win — Downey (Dangerbird Records) Obsidian Sea — Strangers (Ripple Music) Orville Peck — Pony (Sub Pop) Parting Gift — Ensom (Fearless Records) Problem Daughter — Grow Up Trash (Wiretap Records) Rachael Sage — PseudoMyopia (MPress Records) Red Sun Rising — Peel EP (Razor & Tie Recordings) Ritual Howls — Rendered Armor (Felte) Robin Trower — Coming Closer To Day (Provogue/Mascot Label Group) RPWL — Tales From Outer Space (Gentle Art Of Music) Shawn James — The Dark & The Light (Parts + Labor Records) Shlohmo — The End (WEDIDIT) Sleep In. — The Stars On Your Ceiling (Know Hope Records) Sleeper — The Modern Age (Gorsky Records) Slow Caves — Falling (Old Flame Records) Spiral Stairs (Pavement’s Scott Kannberg) — We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized (Coolin’ By Sound) Stillhound — Stillhound (Lost Oscillation) Strand Of Oaks — Eraserland (Dead Oceans) Substancia — Ancestor Boy (Concordia) Taali — I Am Here (Rainbow Blonde Records) Tamaryn — Dreaming The Dark (DERO Arcade) Terry Allen And The Panhandle Mystery Band — Pedal Steal + Four Corners (Paradise Of Bachelors) These New Puritans — Inside The Rose (Infectious Music) Tyson Meade — Robbing The Nuclear Family (Shaking Shanghai) Wallows — Nothing Happens (Atlantic Records) We Show Up On Radar — Zanzibar Whip Coral (Fika Recordings) Wild Belle — Everybody One Of A Kind (Love Tone) Yawners — Just Calm Down (La Castanya Records)

Friday, March 29

A Brilliant Lie — Threads: Weaver (A Brilliant Lie) American Pleasure Club — Fucking Bliss (Run For Cover Records) Ben Folds — Live At Myspace (Sony/MySpace) Betty Carter — The Music Never Stops (Blue Engine Records) Billie Eilish — When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (Interscope) The Bobbleheads — Myths And Fables (PopPop Records) Brutus — Nest (Sargent House) C Duncan — Health (FatCat Records) Chris Cohen — Chris Cohen (Captured Tracks) Clint Alphin — Straight To Marrow () Coughy (feat. members of Speedy Ortiz and Ava Luna) — Ocean Hug (Joyful Noise Recordings) Facs — Lifelike (Trouble In Mind) Fennesz — Agora (Touch) Garcia Peoples — Natural Facts (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) Ian Simmonds — All That’s Left (Pussyfoot Records) Jo Schornikow (of Phosphorescent) — Secret Weapon (Keeled Scales) K Á R Y Y N — The Quanta Series (Mute Records) L.A. Guns — The Devil You Know (Frontiers Records) La Bouquet — Sad People Dancing (ANTI-) Laura Stevenson — The Big Freeze (Don Giovanni Records) M. Lockwood — Communion In The Ashes (Black Mesa Records) Magic Circle — Departed Souls (20 Buck Spin) Mahawam — Is An Island EP (Molly House Records) The Maine — You Are OK (8123) Matthew Herbert Big Band — The State Between Us (Accidental Records Ltd) Mechanical God Creation — The New Chapter (Argonauta Records) Mekons — Deserted (Bloodshot Records) Mdou Moctar — Ilana (The Creator) (Sahel Sounds) Musket Hawk — Upside Of Sick (Unholy Anarchy) Nightmarathons — Missing Parts (A-F Records) O.A.R. — The Mighty (Black Rock Recorded Music, LLC) Ohtis — Curve Of Earth (Full Time Hobby) Okey Dokey — Tell All Your Friend (self-released) Oshiego — The Book Of Wonders (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) Quelle Chris — Guns (Mello Music Group) Randy Randall (of No Age) — Sound Field Volume One (Dangerbird Records) Reaches — Wherever The Internet Goes, Sorrow Follows (We Be Friends) Rita Wilson — Halfway Home (Sing It Loud, LLC) Section H8 — Phase One EP (Flatspot Records) Show Me The Body — Dog Whistle (Loma Vista Recordings) Simple Creatures (Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth) — Strange Love EP (BMG) Small Feet — With Psychic Powers (Barsuk Records) Son Volt — Union (Transmit Sound) Stella Parton — Survivor (Raptor Records) Steve Earle & The Dukes — GUY (New West Records) The Strumbellas — Rattlesnake (Glassnote Records) Suzi Quatro — No Control (Steamhammer) Tom Williams — What Did You Want To Be? (Wire Boat Recordings) The Underground Youth — Lust & Fear (Fuzz Club) Unkle — The Road: Part II / Lost Highway (Songs For The Def) White Denim — Side Effects (City Slang) Whitechapel — The Valley (Metal Blade Records) Yngwie Malmsteen — Blue Lightning (Mascot Records)