#and no headway!

[hellenhighwater]

the only--the ONLY!--thing I had on my to do list for today was work on any of the commissioned paintings that I need to get done. That was it!

So instead I've sculpted a bunch of clay leaves to make into a mobile, gave a kitten a bath, rearranged the sunroom and repotted a few plants, watered my tomatoes, got some eggs from the doves, read a book, did some laundry, made a book press, made a video about making a book press, bought a detail sander and halloween candy, taught Vice to do a double high five, accidentally melted my gardening gloves, went to the animal shelter, and forgot to eat for the entire day.

So I'm pleased to announce that all executives are functioning at 0% capacity, as per normal.

[monkesupreme]

Making Bruce the kind of guy to work through his thoughts out loud when he knows hes allowed to. This leads to him rubberducking off of anyone who will let him, including, but not limited to his boys and assorted JL members. He latches on, and suddenly, this is not Bruce's Case, its Our case.

Despite him doing this to anyone that will listen, Clark tends to be the most available victim due to his extreme patience, his investigative skills, and love of listening to people ramble at him <3

[theshadowrealmitself]

Other people having half Human half Vulcan children and Spock just receiving emails from the panicked parents he’s never met like “are their medical readings supposed to look like this???”

[twstinginthewind]

.... okay am I losing my mind a little or is there a McDonald's in the Heartslabyul gardens?

[sage-nebula]

"Suffer No Fools" - Shiver vs. Marina Analysis

It's been a few days since "Suffer No Fools" released, but I wanted to go ahead and release my analysis of Shiver's and Marina's verse since that's the one that has caused the most discussion within the fandom. I've seen a lot of debate over Marina's section in particular, with people unsure whether she was being sincere or sarcastic, and I think the actual answer is a little more complicated than one or the other, at least with regards to the first couplet of lines both she and Shiver sing. Of course, people are free to interpret this song however they wish, but after seeing numerous interpretations I personally didn't vibe with, I just wanted to put my own out there, breaking it down line by line.

So! Here we go.

Exchange 1:

Shiver: "Your haunting voice -- there's no escape. How nice it must be for your fans." Marina: "You're far too kind! I love your vibe. I can learn so much from your style."

Analyzing from dialogue only:

Shiver is insulting Marina's voice by calling it haunting and saying there is no escape, insinuating she wishes there was one. She says how nice it must be for Marina's fans, again implying that she isn't one.

Marina says that she loves Shiver's vibe, which on the surface could be a compliment, but given the context (a music battle) it could also be a Mean Girl "ooh I love your [thing] :)" passive-aggressive drawing-attention-to-something-ugly insult. More direct though, is the "I can learn so much from your style"; you can learn what not to do from someone just as much as you can learn what to do from someone. Marina's engaging in plausible deniability here.

HOWEVER. Lyrics are NOT the only thing that need to be analyzed from this first verse, which is arguably the MOST important exchange between these two. Instead, we need to look at how these lines are delivered.

Shiver is singing in a traditional Japanese folk singing style, specifically a style based on Shima-uta, which her voice actress has a background singing in. Unfortunately, I don't know the actual term for this style of singing, only that it's not kakegoe, something Shiver also does that is different from this. Anyway, in these lines specifically Shiver is singing in her Shima-uta style, a style that she has presumably been practicing since she was a small child, a style that is probably culturally significant to the Hohojiro clan. Singing in this style is not something that just anyone can do. It's completely different from singing in a (for lack of a better word) "western" style. The way you breathe is completely different. The way you incorporate your voice into your breathing is completely different. So by singing in this style, which Shiver has been doing practically her whole life and which, presumably, only she of the four there can do, Shiver is FLEXING on Marina regardless of what lyrics she chooses to sing.

But then Marina, who grew up under the domes in Inkadia, who presumably has never heard Shima-uta before she started listening to Deep Cut and heard Shiver sing, who presumably has had absolutely no training whatsoever on this style of song . . . mimics it perfectly and flexes on Shiver right back.

Could Marina's words to Shiver be interpreted as passive-aggressive in turn? Yes. But does it matter? No, not really. Because in this first verse, Marina's ACTUAL comeback is to take the style of singing that Shiver has been perfecting her entire life and throw it right back in her face despite having never (as far as we or Shiver know) practiced it herself. Shiver was flexing by presumably doing something Marina couldn't do, only for Marina to do it flawlessly, being every bit as divine with a voice so fine as Pearl said she was previously. Marina says "I love your vibe" so she takes it. Marina says "I have so much to learn from you" but does she really, when she can already do exactly what Shiver can, and has, just now, right in front of her?

And Shiver noticed, hence:

Exchange 2:

Shiver: "You remind me of my neighbor's little daughter . . . What's that saying? 'Octo see, octo do.'" Marina: "Glad you approve -- your praise has left me moved. Thanks to your notes, I'll find my groove!"

Shiver drops the Shima-uta singing, because now there's no point. Marina can also sing in that style, so it's no longer a flex. Shiver lost ground on that one, so instead we're back to the same (again, for lack of a better word) "regular" style of singing that everyone else is using. For that reason, we can go back to analyzing purely based on the words alone.

Shiver is calling Marina a copycat, essentially, because Marina copied her Shima-uta singing style in the previous verse (hence why Shiver had to drop it, as previously noted). Marina then gives her "glad you approve -- your praise has left me moved" . . . basically noting that by Shiver accusing her of copying, Shiver is saying that Marina -- someone who just tried the singing style off the cuff right there on the stage for the first time -- was just as good as Shiver, someone who has trained in that style her whole life. The audience saw for themselves that Marina was able to emulate the style, but Shiver saying, "you copied me!" is basically admitting that Marina was just as good as her in Shiver's own eyes, and Shiver is a pro. That's Shiver's aggravation handing Marina the win and Marina smiling wide as she accepts it.

Exchange 3:

Shiver: "Oh, look at the time. Isn't it getting late?" Marina: "Not at all! I could go on like this all night long."

This one doesn't even really need an analysis. For all that she prides herself on being "so cool even sharks call her cold-blooded," Shiver is known for being easily irritated and riled when she's losing due to her competitive nature. Marina successfully got under her skin, and this is her trying to end the battle fast because she didn't have any further comebacks. Marina, meanwhile, gives the classic "I could go on all night" because she's not riled at all, and is instead perfectly comfortable in this environment, knows what she's doing, and has had the upper hand from the start.

It goes back to another post I made about Experience vs. Inexperience. Shiver and Frye are still new idols, whereas Pearl and Marina have been at this for a long while. And while off the stage Marina is a sweet, kind, gentle person who will go out of her way to help others, and can sometimes be a little spacey or naive, she's also a 23-year-old literal genius who has been in the music industry for years now and knows full well what a rap / music battle is and knows her way around a stage. Personally, I found it to be a little infantilizing to insinuate that she "didn't realize Shiver was insulting her," when not only do I think she knew full well, but also she was the one with the upper hand not because of sick burns (that's Pearl's department), but because of sheer innate musical talent.

But those are just my thoughts! Everyone else is free to have their own.

[leapdayowo]

some pre-ISAT art 👀

Bummer :(( I thought I had taken a least one more process picture but I guess I didn’t :P oh well, this piece had more blocks of color to paint in rather than dynamic lighting/shadows so a timelapse probably would have looked better

Anyways, my brain latched onto Isa and Mira’s relationship right when they met each other and before they met the others 👀 I have a more light hearted painting at the sketch phase of them (I have a bit more time this week to work on stuff, so fingers crossed I can get some more art done!)

[yuwuta]

PLSSSS MORE YUUTA DRABBLES 🙏🙏🙏 I SURVIVE ON UR YUUTA WRITING IT’S BEEN TOO LONG IM HUNGRY 🗣️ FEED ME PLSSS

I wish I had to ability to write words for Yuuta without it turning into a 5k+ project but I don’t 😔 so I don’t have anything short for him I can promise to work on concretely buuuuuuut please enjoy this completely out of context scene from a scrapped roommates au with him 🥰

cw mentions of murder 😭

“Do you want me to kill him?”

“You have to stop jumping to that conclusion every single time I ramble about a failed dating attempt,” you roll your eyes, but there’s a smile on your face as you lean against Yuuta’s shoulder, “They always say pretty boys don’t last in prison. Plus, I don’t have bail money.”

Yuuta hums. Normally, a warmth spreads through his chest whenever you touch him, whenever you lean into him for comfort, but this time he finds himself feeling small, cold. Usually, when he offers you laugh it off, telling him murder isn’t the solution, crack some joke about how your situationship is going to be miserable anyway and that’s his punishment. There’s something about this response that he doesn’t like; as if you’d entertained his offer for a brief moment and concluded it wasn’t feasible; as if you have doubt in him. You shouldn’t, he hasn’t given you a reason to.

You ask him for the remote and he reaches for it mindlessly, pouting when you wrap your arms about his and begin to flick through movie options. Yuuta brings his knees to his chest, careful not to disturb you leaning against his arm when he tilts his head to rest it on top of yours.

He stays like that while you watch the movie, burying yourself in an hour and half of romantic comedy to get over your bad date. But Yuuta has a different movie playing in his head: a murder without the mystery and a romance that’s probably not safe for work.

By the time the lead in your movie is kissing her love interest in the rain, Yuuta has finished his production, humming to himself and mumbling his muffled words against the crown of your head, “I wouldn’t get caught.”

[thatsbelievable]

[donnyclaws]

Plugging myself hereee, disability is kicking me into the ground as of late. I've lost most of my capacity to work or even tank stress without getting sick and triggering flares, which is making it very difficult to try get my income and savings to a stable place. My application for disability was also rejected recently, so having to do the run around with re-applying, complaining & fighting for myself is also a giant kick in the head. I'm not quite well enough to handle freelance, school, or this kinda bureaucracy individually, let alone all at the same time.

If you like my stuff then feel free to check out my zines, I put a lot of work into them but I don't want to charge too much cause I believe zines should be cheap. I also have kofi & Patreon as tip jars. As well as a Toy.house for adoptable designs.

thank you 4 reading, stay safe (non-urgent) (donate to palestine first)

[tealeavesandtrash]

Wolfstar Micro Fic - @wolfstarmicrofic prompt: Prefect's Bathroom - 97 words

Sirius catches his hand, pulling him through the door with the muttered password Remus knows Sirius shouldn’t have. But he can’t find it in himself to care, not with the sensation of Sirius’ warm palm against his, the twinkle in his eye and grin on his lips that makes Remus weak in the knees.

The prefect’s bathroom is quiet. Curfew has passed and Remus should be finishing off his rounds if Sirius wasn’t such a distraction. But Sirius is toying at the hem of his jumper, fingers skirting over skin and Remus just melts into the touch.

[annabelle--cane]

I would really love to write some fic or meta about jon's dynamics with georgie vs with martin and the nature of trying to navigate intimate relationships as an addict, specifically with people who have had negative experiences with other addicts in the past, both because I think it's a worthy thing to dive into within the themes of the podcast that I've only seen a handful of people deliberately approach before and because I think I could make something that would turn out well. but unfortunately whenever I make a concerted effort to sit down and write about it, snakes begin manifesting physically in my home.

[ilions-end]

i keep thinking about how euripides makes it clear iphigenia still loathes odysseus for his trickery and part in her sacrifice, and then later she saves herself and her brother through trickery -- she prevails only at her most odysseus-esque.

also something about how both taurians and helen present elaborate trickery for self-preservation as a thing the women do when the men's violence (or threats of violence) keep failing. feminine-coded odysseus. i'm sure somebody must have written academically about this somewhere.

[despazito]

Take a shot every time someone from the former USSR moves to the imperial core and becomes a fervent capitalist bc they got to see Wal Mart (many are racist and dgaf about exploitation of anybody nonwhite)

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

he’s so endearing to me you don’t even understand

🩵

[hijinks-n-lowjinks]

first teaser for the final chapter of my itafushi fic and i’ve been tryin’ not to feel it