#and reading the title had me genuinely excited for that crossover

[museenkuss]

I like to think about how celebrity gossip magazines of the 00s have made way for YouTube influencer drama. A testament to the human nosiness.

And there is no NEED to be too deeply involved in one corner or another, but I do think that — as long as you’re not being malicious about it — having useless knowledge about somebody else’s life can be a fun little endevaour. Joyfully useless knowledge.

[lumeha]

Twenty questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @recurringwriter hell yeah thanks :D it looks fun to do

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

72 works, divided into 60 fics and 12 podfics :D (and I should record some of the podfics I have been wanting to record for a while, hm)

One day I will finally bring some of my old French works from ff.net to my AO3, maybe (I should do that today)

2) what's your total ao3 word count?

103,589

Which is honestly more than I expected, ngl. This does count the podifcs, but the podfics aren't exactly bringing a lot of additional words here

3) what are your top five fics by kudos?

me, forced to consider my Marvel phase in the face : ouch ? ... I know I write niche things for Fire Emblem but wow still. I am impressed.

Stay and help me to end the day (373)

cursed love, blind faith (353) (the one FE representative woo !)

Rewind // Press Play // Rewind (324)

A thousand years old adult who dies too much (317)

Have faith in me (when you feel ashamed of yourself) (281)

4) what fandoms do you write for?

Currently ? Fire Emblem (general, I'm writing for games from GBA era games to Engage in my WIP piles) and Yugioh, to everyone's surprise. I'm also occasionally writing for Zelda and even more occasionally for Persona, but these fics (the Persona ones) are usually stuck in WIP hell (sorry to the fics)

I've also, clearly, written for the MCU and also a lot, and I do mean a lot, of Bleach fanfic. Most of the Bleach fanfic is in French, though. Because I started writing in French. I'm pretty sure my first English written works are things I wrote on tumblr !

5) do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I try ! ... I'm bad at it, but I do try my best to answer.

I do not always know how to answer, that's honestly my biggest issue, but I'm always extremely excited to talk with people - I just have a terrible habit of forgetting if I did or did not answer ^^;

6) what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

To me, it's For all the pain of love, for which I just really wanted to explore Rhea's emotions regarding the Heroes' Relics, especially in relation to Catherine.

7) what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

(waves hands) have you read my latest fic I think I did a good job it's a cue and very happy ending (And try to remember your name)

the fun answer though would probably be cursed love, blind faith, because I genuinely love the ending and I think I made it happier than expected lmao

8) do you get hate on fics?

That has never happened so far and I'd be surprised if it happens (this isn't my tumblr where I get into my weirdest hot takes about video games)

9) do you write smut?

Not really.

... the only kind of smut-adjacent fics I write are usually locked into WIP hell and more on the ero-guro side than purely smut. Maybe one day I'll finish one. Maybe.

I do think the title of my RE8 vivisection fic is a banger, I have just never found a way to actually finish the fic itself lmao ?

10) do you write crossovers?

Rarely. It happens but overall : rarely. Also. Once again. Extremely usually locked in the WIP hell that is my WIP pile T-T; ... I have done some crossovers RPs, I have developed crossovers AU with people, but I just don't write them a lot because I feel like it usually deserves a lot more attention and length than my usual fics.

I think some of the fun ones that are floating as WIPs that will never be finished are the PoE/Patho one that's for clearly one person only, and the Transistor/Re-Animator, just for the sheer wtf of it (and I like it)

I will say, there is a lot on the cutting floor of the Fire Emblem 8, But Make It Pathologic fic (Smoke, mirrors and burning fire), which included : Eirika and Ephraim as the Stamatin twins, Valter as an Inquisitor, Gr...Grace ? More Grace ??? why was she the one I decided to keep ?? and more Knoll and Saleh interactions

(I do enjoy reading them though :0)

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know ? Good on them if they do, I mean, I hope they like my frenchness and that's what they stole ?

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes... by myself. No one is ever seeing it though lmao

13) have you ever cowritten a fic before?

A long, long time ago, but it's never really happened again. I'm just not great of a co-writer, I'm a lot better as editor if I have to work with someone (or the reverse) (I'm just a chaotic gremlin in terms of process okay)

14) what's your all time favourite ship?

... it's a little hard to say, ngl, because I still hold a candle for Dimitri & Felix but I need such a very specific kind of dynamic between them. Hm. But I guess it's them.

OH NO YOU KNOW WHAT

I.

Wild card answer. I have not even written them. I forget it's barely not canon. Daniil and Artemy.

I just genuinely get way too fucking in my head about writing Pathologic okay the game and the fans are too good about it for me to feel like I can do it but (shakes them) that ship

(the new guys in town are eating at my brain very heavily, though, ngl, I'm looking at u, Shark and Quattro)

15) what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Feels extremely ironic that I still want to finish it, for how long it hasn't been updated, but Wash the blood off my skin. Which is my Big Beast Dimitri fanfic, ft. a lot of dimilix. I love it. I love 'em. I'm probably never finishing that fic /o/ (or I probably would need someone to look at what I have for the next chapter and reassur eme it's not dogshit I guess)

16) what are your writing strengths?

I'm very good at purple prose :)

(the less funny answer is that I think I'm good at bringing an atmosphere in the writing ! :3 Like good at establishing a strong emotion from a snapshot, something like that !)

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

I'm very good at purple prose :)

(okay less funny answer but I think I can struggle a bit with giving a strong voice to characters, and oh my GODS what IS an ACTION SCENE they will make me SUFFER. I am getting better. But still.)

18) thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I don't really care ? I usually don't do it, but I would only do it if I'm sure of what I'm writing (meaning : yeah I can write bad Spanish, bad German, bad Latin, and good French)

....

probably necessary for bad Latin in the case of Pathologic fic though shout out to the Latin in Pathologic that's just accurate character writing

19) first fandom you wrote for?

Digimon - but that one has a fun little story. I wrote a like. 50 words story with a little drawing that I sent to a French Digimon comic magazine that existed when I was, like, 10. And they did print it. I sadly have lost my copies of the magazines, so I no longer have it, but I honestly would give a lot to find it again

Otherwise, the first I really wrote for with the idea of sharing it with other fans online was a Fire Emblem 7 fic and I am pretty sure I have it somewhere in my files but I somehow can only find the translation I've made one year.

20) favourite fic you've ever written?

A fic I haven't talked about so far lmao but currently it's To Follow. I had a ton of fun writing it, I think I got Rennac and L'Arachel down in terms of characters, and it was just a blast. And I got to write a little bit of disgusting stuff in the end with the part about the aftermath of the fight against the Demon King. What's not to love ??

(shout out to my French Bleach fic that's just me going OFF with inspiration for symbolism and 19th century romanticism - and yeah you're going to ffnet to see it : El Sueno de la rason produce monstruos)

In case you want to do it, I'm tagging : @meyerlansky ; @risualto ; and @soogymoogi

[bi-bard]

I Don’t Know What I Was Expecting- James Wilson Imagine (House M.D)

Title: I Don’t Know What I Was Expecting

Pairing: James Wilson X Reader

Requested: by @xxfrankenheartxx (can’t tag you, but I hope you find this)

Word Count: 1,008 words

Warning(s): Pregnancy, mentions of potential violence

Summary: Nerves can make people think stupid things... having a friend who enjoys acting like an asshole sometimes doesn’t help with any of those stupid things.

Author’s Note: I have been gone for so long and I’m sorry.

Support my work? https://ko-fi.com/khoward0 

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Oh, the glory of nervousness. I feel sick even though there’s nothing wrong. I was not very good at hiding my nervous feeling. I usually just avoid whatever causing it... but I can’t really do that when I’m dating the very thing that’s making me nervous.

We carpool to work, for god’s sake!

I forced a grin as James kissed my cheek. I let my smile drop as I walked toward the elevator. The doors closed and I sighed. 

It wasn’t James’s fault. The nervousness was all my fault. If I could just tell him the truth, I would feel so much better. If I just told him that I was pregnant, I wouldn’t be so distracted. I shook my head as the elevator doors opened. I forced a big smile on my face as I walked to my office, waving at kids on my way down the hall.

I worked in the pediatric unit. It was a dream. Kids may complain about a pill tasting bad but they couldn’t threaten to sue you when you didn’t do what they wanted. I opened the file sitting on my desk and let the first genuine smile grow on my face. Someone’s kid was finally going home.

“Hello,” I said, knocking on the door frame.

 The little girl and her mom popped their heads up. The little girl was playing with a stuffed animal on the bed, her mom half reading, half-listening to her rambling daughter. 

“Hi Dr. (Y/l/n),” the little girl waved excitedly at me. “I get to go home today!”

“I know,” I replied, going to sit on the edge of her bed. I made sure my eyes shifted from her to her mother and then back, “I just need to do a final check-up and then we can get you all ready to go.”

The little girl was a sweetheart. She was good during her final check-up. She even asked to try the blood pressure cuff on her stuffed animal. When the kids feel better and they get their energy back, that’s when I feel the happiest. It really tells me that I picked the right field for myself. 

The mom and I were standing by the door. The daughter was sitting on her bed, now dressed. The mom was filling out the discharge papers. She handed me the clipboard back. I checked over the pages.

“You’re so good with kids,” she commented. I just chuckled. “Do you have any of your own?”

My brain flew back to those tests I took late last night. Two positive tests tucked away in the bottom of the garbage can, “No, not yet.”

“Well, you’re going to be an amazing parent,” she continued. That made me feel better. 

“Thank you,” I looked back up at her. “Okay, you’re all set. I’ll walk down with you two.”

The mom didn’t speak again until we were standing in the elevator, “If you don’t mind me asking, you said you didn’t have kids yet... are you hoping to?”

“Well, I mean...” I hadn’t really had a conversation like this with a patient. 

“Are you expecting,” she asked after I had gone quiet. I just grinned at her. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” I said right before the door opened. I said goodbye to the mom and the daughter one more time before they left the hospital. 

I let out a deep breath before walking to Cuddy’s office. I knocked on the door and waved when she looked up from her papers. She grinned before she waved for me to come inside.

“Can I ask you for some advice,” I asked as I closed the door to her office.

“What about,” she leaned her arms on her desk.

“I’m... well... damn... I’m pregnant,” I said nervously, now bright red with my hands starting to shake. 

“Wow,” she just blinked at me a couple of times. “Have you told Wilson?”

“That’s what I need advice about,” I replied. She nodded.

“Just tell him,” she shrugged. I sighed. “Wilson’s a good man. He’s not going to walk away. He loves you. I would put money on him being more excited than you could imagine.”

“I know... it’s just... overwhelming.”

“I understand,” Cuddy checked her watch as she walked over to hug me. “Go get some food. Relax. That’s not a recommendation, that’s an order.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled before stepping back. She nodded and I left. 

I walked into the hospital cafeteria and immediately wanted to walk out. James was sitting at one of the tables, looking over a file with food sitting next to him. He had barely eaten any of it. I was about to abort my mission when he spotted me and smiled. I smiled back, walking over and sitting across from him. 

“Help yourself,” he pushed his plate a little closer to me. I chuckled.

“Thanks,” I mumbled but didn’t take anything. “I... I need to tell you something.”

“What is it,” he asked, looking away from the file so he could make eye contact with me. 

I clasped my hands together and tried to plan what I was going to say. Then, I realized that a speech would be completely useless. 

“James,” I said before sighing and sitting up straighter than before. “I’m pregnant.”

“Wow,” he replied. He scoffed a couple of times, eyes wide. It made me furrow my eyebrows. “That’s... unexpected.”

“Okay, what,” I asked. He looked genuinely shocked. “You do realize how bad you are at lying, right?”

“House told me,” James pursed his lips, glancing down at the table.

“How the hell did House-”

“He guessed.”

“Oh my god.”

“Told me to prepare myself.”

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“I’ll help you with that after our kid is grown up.”

I smiled at his response, “That’s a long-term plan, Wilson.”

“I actually like the long-term planning,” he grabbed my hand. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I felt so much better than I did this morning... even if I did have to kill House later.

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Masterlist

What I Write For

Request Guidelines

Musical Prompts

Small Moments With…

When Worlds Collide (Doctor Who Crossover Series) Masterlist

Some Original Characters

folklore/evermore Writing Challenge (and Masterlist)

[chitsangenthusiast]

fic writer review

tagged by @bisexuallsokka thank you 🧡 🧡 putting my tagging here so @maderilien @dickpuncher420 @marriedzukka @zukoscalzones @babydotcom if any of you are interested!!

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 27! only eight of those were written within the past two years tho lol

2. what's your total ao3 word count? 163,360.....which felt fake bc of the long break between writing so i counted only the recent fics and that's. still 91,749 holy shit lmao

3. how many fandoms have you written for and what are they? if i'm remembering correctly, then six! (atla, harry potter, that singular fruits basket fic when i was 14, kpop (shh), marvel, mdzs, and atla again lol)

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos? useless facts (clintbucky - and tbh only bc it's a 5yo fic lol)

hold me like you do, cover me in blue (zukka)

hands, knees, please, tangerine (zukka)

get a glimpse of this candy paint (clintbucky - also a 5yo fic lol)

don't go wasting your emotion (sangcheng)

5. do you respond to comments, why or why not? i actually didn't use to, but i do now. i feel like the 'leave a comment' game has changed significantly on ao3 and i like showing my appreciation back now! (oh man i have so many comments i still need to respond to omg)

6. what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? lmfao none. i'm not a huge fan of writing angst-based stories or endings, BUT i guess technically it's the mallrat in me can be considered for this one since chpt 4 did end with some angst (for now!)

7. do you write crossovers? if so, what's the craziest one you've written? i don't write fandom crossovers but i do like writing ridiculous au's, and i would say that the funniest jobs i've given any character was the clintbucky exterminator/locksmith story that never got finished lol (rip)

8. have you ever received hate on a fic? holy shit poor little 13yo kath used to get OBLITERATED for my characterizations lmfaoooo please know that my attempts at writing good characterizations now come from blood, sweat, and (literal) tears

(still salty i never received hate from the sangcheng troll last year tho. they loved to attack me on twitter but NOT my fics??? i feel slighted smh)

(more below! felt it got long!!)

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind? l m f a o

anyway keep me humming, keep me going is now the second fic that has a title from beyonce's song 'blow' bc those lyrics have a chokehold on me when i write nsfw!

10. have you ever had a fic stolen? no but i've had specific passages from some really old stuff that was stolen and very obviously rewritten/paraphrased, which is. harder to prove lol

11. have you ever had a fic translated? nothing recent but a few of my old hp fics on ff.net were translated!

but omg the best time it ever happened was a year ago when i found out that not only had a 15yo fic of mine been translated (and credited!), it had also been converted into a beautiful pdf!!! complete with cover art and border art!!!! wasn't even aware it was done bc whoever did it had only done it within the last few years i think, but it was such a wild experience to find it i have the pdf saved on my laptop lol

12. have you ever co-written a fic before? i have not! i don't think i've ever had a dedicated beta either, which probably explains a lot lol

13. what's your all-time fave ship? ALTAIR/MALIK they're not even my first otp (which draco/ron and zukka still go strong, followed by clintbucky) but THEY are the ones that seize my heart like no other ship has done 🧡🧡

14. what's a fic you want to finish but don't think you ever will? the zukka ba sing se/blue spirit poetry fic 😔 which is unfortunate bc i'm still so excited to write it/there's a lot written of it, but chaptered fics are nerve-wracking lol

15. what are your writing strengths? idk if ppl necessarily like it, but i really like my writing style! sure it's obvious i write for fanfic vs anything publishable, but i enjoy that lol

also ppl tell me i'm really good at banter, characterizations, and immersing them in the story, which is wonderful bc i do work really hard on that!

16. what are your writing weaknesses? finding the right words. in general, it's so extremely hard for me in that i don't have much of a mental dictionary/thesaurus i guess. it can be upsetting at times, especially when i know there's a better word or way to phrase the line but just have to let it go. i am simply not one of those people who can come up with big words (or words that are like. normal ones to use when describing smth lol)

17. what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages on a fic? it can be a good touch to the fic! i don't have very strong feelings on it, i suppose

18. what was the first fandom you ever wrote for? atla, tho harry potter is the one that actually survived the period of fic deletion i once went through on ff.net lol

19. what is your favorite fic ever written? everyone is going to know the answer to this one, but hmlyd hands down my actual baby <333 after a 4yr long break from writing, i knocked out 3 fics but it was hmlyd that really got me excited! writing it was a BLAST, my entire heart went into it, and it's one of my fics that i actually do genuinely go back and read frequently bc it makes me so happy lmao

tbh if i hadn't written hmlyd, i probably would've stopped writing for the fandom after hands, knees, please, tangerine and gone back to lurking lmao

(keep me humming, keep me going is a good contender tho. which goes to show that the fastest way to my heart is just inundating myself with tender competitive lovers lmao)

[passionate-reply]

What would Great Albums be, if not for defenses of albums lots of people hate? SPK’s Machine Age Voodoo is, of course, one of those albums, being the attempt of a noisy, drony early industrial group to make synthy disco magic. Did they succeed? Well, maybe not--but at least it’s interesting. Find out more by watching the video, or checking out the transcript under the break!

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! This time, I will be once again be coming to the defence of an album that’s been very divisive: Machine Age Voodoo by SPK, first released in 1984. Earlier in the 1980s, SPK had distinguished themselves as one of the most prominent figures of the nascent “noise music” movement, alongside acts like NON and Throbbing Gristle. Just two years before Machine Age Voodoo, they released their arguable magnum opus: Leichenschrei, an album that eschewed a traditional tracklisting, featured the mutilated visage of a victim of napalm burns on its cover, and sounded something like this:

Music: “Seite ((Klono))” / “Napalm (Terminal Patient)”

With their follow-up to Leichenschrei, SPK would take their sound in a very different direction. They abandoned the harsh, buzzing textures and nauseous, whirring drones of their earlier work, and set out in a remarkably more pop direction. While Machine Age Voodoo features verses and choruses, brighter synth textures, and winsome slap basslines, it still maintains a certain “industrial” identity, tying it into the same overarching web of related styles that SPK’s earlier work fell under. This album reminds me a bit of Depeche Mode’s mid-80s output, such as Some Great Reward, in its incorporation of both synth-pop structures as well as some accents of mechanistic clangs and bangs. Depeche Mode and SPK were, of course, passing by one another after coming from opposite directions on this spectrum, but the end results remain comparable.

Music: “Junk Funk” / “Machine Age Voodoo”

Listening to the album’s stomping opener, titled “Junk Funk” on most releases but made into the title track for the US market, I’m struck by just how upbeat of a track it is. Where many industrial acts are keen to portray modern labour as a punishing, soul-sucking, miserable endeavour, “Junk Funk” seems to make it into something of a party. Given that even Depeche Mode were penning tracks like “Everything Counts” with a dour outlook on capitalism, the seemingly playful aura surrounding this single really sets it apart--though not necessarily in a good way. As I mentioned earlier, *Machine Age Voodoo* has consistently been panned by fans of the group’s more aggressive earlier work, and I think the album’s affinities with light-hearted, and perhaps even silly, post-disco pop make it all the more easy to write off as ridiculous and asinine. But much like simply being in a style you don’t care for isn’t a reason to lambaste a work of art, simply being lighter in tone is no reason to reject something. Not all great art needs to be stone-serious, after all! While Machine Age Voodoo may not be a continuation of the classic SPK sound, I think it’s an album that has plenty of appeal for fans of lighter synth-pop, and one that I wish had managed to achieve a bit more renown among those who might be a bit more receptive to its style.

Naturally, the title of the album and the themes of its sometime title track invite us to consider the role that appropriation of “primitive” themes has to play. Ever since industrialization and colonialism began to create large separations between the lifestyles of “the West and the rest,” Western artists from Picasso to Gauguin have found themselves fascinated by so-called “primitive” ways of life, found among communities of colour whom they believed to live closer to the natural or archaic state of humankind, uncorrupted by capitalism. But followers of the religion sometimes known as “Voodoo” are living in the modern world as much as anyone else is, and the use of their faith as a symbol of barbarism or the unrestrained id here is presumptuous at best, and bigoted at worst--particularly given the reference to “funk,” a music style that, like Voodoo, is strongly associated with Black culture. The love for things “primitive” has served an important cultural role in the West, offering an apparent alternative to the crushing death spiral of capitalism, and serving as an outlet for questioning the assumed status quo and the truth of human nature--but at the same time, I think we can fairly criticize it for offering a stereotyped and tokenized view of cultures outside of the West. Machine Age Voodoo offers another, very different, perspective on the Other on its second track, “With Love From China.”

Music: “With Love From China”

Compared to “Junk Funk,” “With Love From China” is distinguished as one of the album’s more plaintive and less dancefloor-oriented tracks, and, in contrast to “Junk Funk”’s joyful embrace of “high technology hoodoo,” “With Love From China” portrays the titular Communist power as something quite sinister. While a simple read of the lyrics suggests that it may be a triumphant hymn to the state, the track’s plodding, dirgelike melody makes it hang like an ominous cloud instead. Arguably the most successful state to be built upon Marxist ideals, China is a prominent feature of lots of early 80s synth-pop, where it and other Communist states saw varying portrayals as anywhere from dystopian to utopian. Like the appropriation of “voodoo” earlier, the dread romanticism applied to China by SPK on this track says more about them than it does about China itself. I think both tracks, taken together, paint a picture of a sort of “anywhere but here” ideology, defined less by any strong feelings for these particular cultures, and more by a desire for an escape to the exotic, and an abandonment of all that is sick about the West. Overall, though, “With Love From China” isn’t necessarily a fair representation of the average track on Machine Age Voodoo, as the album consists mostly of higher-energy tracks, like “Metal Dance.”

Music: “Metal Dance”

Perhaps the track most clearly aimed at nightclub rotation, “Metal Dance” feels like a logical choice for the album’s first single. Less of a pop tune and more of a floorfiller, “Metal Dance” still hums with industrial touches, propelled by clunking metallic percussion and chant-like shouts that prefigure the synthesis of machine music and club fare that EBM acts like Nitzer Ebb would achieve later in the 1980s. With its succinct title and a compelling hook that implores us to “synthesize our dreams away,” “Metal Dance” almost feels like a love letter to the sheer concept of electronic music for dancing to--a consummate paean to the discotheque, even if it comes from what may seem like an unlikely, and perhaps dishonest, source. A similar embrace of dance music qua dance music is found on “High Tension.”

Music: “High Tension”

If “Metal Dance” sounds like a preview of later industrial dance genres like EBM, then “High Tension” feels like a throwback to the first attempts to “synthesize” an electronic disco, with its dense, complex production style, prominent bass, and lyrics that promote “danc[ing] ‘til you drop” as a response to “bad times.” Despite its compelling use of a well-textured vocoder, “High Tension” veers away from the worship of the machine that was central to “Metal Dance,” and its straightforward celebration of dancing itself makes it feel like the most likely genuine crossover hit on the album--not that it really had any. It’s also worth noting that the track’s bridge contains an early reference to “hip-hop,” back when artists like Man Parrish were freely using the term to describe club-friendly electro that didn’t necessarily include rapping. Times have changed, of course, but I think “High Tension” fits right in with other works in that style--even if, again, it comes from a group that nobody would have expected to make music like this!

On the cover of Machine Age Voodoo, we see a fantasy cityscape, defined by a massive tower crowned with the band’s name accompanied by a Communist-inspired red star. It’s as firmly removed from the vile and shocking imagery of Leichenschrei as the music contained within. But, just as the music has retained some degree of industrial sentiments, the cover is not without its own sense of subversion--it is, after all, apparently enshrining the ostensibly dangerous, foreign ideology of Communism!

It’s tempting to compare this image to the futuristic imagery of Fritz Lang’s classic silent film, Metropolis, particularly given that there’s also a track on the album that shares that title. But I think that the visual style employed here, with its blocky, cubistic rendering of form and lively use of diagonals to enrich its composition, is perhaps more reminiscent of the work of the Russian avant-garde of the 1910s. Even before the Russian Revolution, pioneering abstract artists, like the “Rayonist” Natalia Goncharova, were looking towards the exciting potential of the future, and making art that celebrated the beauty of machines in motion. The early abstraction of painters like Goncharova would go on to influence the abstract art associated with the early days of the Soviet Union, which makes it a particularly fitting affinity given the themes of Machine Age Voodoo.

After Machine Age Voodoo, SPK never returned to making more melodic music--perhaps unsurprisingly, given the album’s simultaneous failure to achieve crossover success, or retain the interest of their existing fanbase. They returned in 1986 with Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers, an album of dark ambient music that avoided slavishly copying earlier works like Leichenschrei, while still feeling like a worthy continuation of the spirit in which they had begun their career.

Music: “Invocation to Secular Heresies”

My favourite track on Machine Age Voodoo is “Seduction,” which is easy to overlook as it actually only appeared on the US release of the album. “Seduction” is striking for its blatant, wantonly sexual lyricism, which, when combined with SPK vocalist Sinan Leong’s competently sultry vocal style, recalls the best work of the experimental disco outfit Gina X Performance. And much like Gina X Performance, there’s a bit of subversively queer gender-bending to be had here, as a male backing vocalist repeats Leong’s line, “you call yourself a man?” I think that may be unintentional, a sort of happy accident, but I love it nonetheless. That’s all I have for today--thanks for listening!

Music: “Seduction”

[velkynkarma]

Why Brandon Sanderson Is an Amazing Writer (and Why You Should Read His Novels)

Last week I was recommending some novels to @bosstoaster and was really struggling to not fan squeal all over the place about just how incredible Sanderson’s novels are. Usually, when this happens, I try to pick 1-2 things I like about his writing to talk about, so I don’t talk a person’s ear off...but that usually means so much gets left out.

But I’ve been thinking about it since, so you know what? I can do whatever I want on my blog. So here’s my full, unadulterated breakdown of all the things that are so damned incredible (and consistent) about Brandon Sanderson’s novels (as well as his writing methodology). 

Does contain minor spoilers, but not for anything huge, and I tried to keep even the minor spoilers vague.

PLOT

Incredible world-building—that isn’t generic medieval fantasy-land

I love fantasy as much as the next person, and I enjoy most generic medieval fantasy stories if the plot or characters are great. But Sanderson’s always exploring different kinds of worlds, and entering them is always engaging. Magical cowboy western? A world continually buffeted by enormous hurricanes on a regular basis, so everything evolved to survive them, including the flora and fauna? A world where ash constantly falls? A world that is literally the embodiment of thought and concept? There’s always something exciting to discover.

Incredible magic systems

Like the generic medieval fantasy world-building, I’m used to the D&D style magic systems with energies and fireballs. Sanderson doesn’t touch these kinds of magic systems, though, and I’m continually stunned at just how creative the ones he does use are. Ingest metal, and use it to activate a latent power of yours? Bonding with the literal living embodiment of a concept in order to gain abilities? Re-writing the history of an item so it believes it can be different, and it changes? Using color as payment for a system based entirely around souls and soul coding? The list is long and always entertaining. He’s even written a whole article about how to design magic systems, which is also worth a read.

Really good at the ‘good’ kind of plot twists that leave you genuinely satisfied

I know we’ve all been frustrated by the recent trend that media seems to have these days: viewers or readers guess the direction the plot is heading in, and creators, in a panic, throw in a completely unrelated plot twist (changing the whodunnit, killing off a character, adding a resolution that makes no sense). Those suck. Let’s be real.

Sanderson does the opposite. He leaves the clues in his stories—they’re always there, and you can figure it out with the context clues, if you’re clever. If you’re not, he’s real good at throwing in twists that are hinted at, but still feel incredibly impactful and really satisfying. The end of The Emperor’s Soul still gives me chills, and I still love the twists regarding the big bads in Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive.

Also? He genuinely will catch you by surprise, sometimes. I consider myself to be a pretty experienced reader, and a decent writer. I can usually tell where plots are going for most stories. That’s satisfying, of course. But Sanderson has a way of still managing to sucker-punch me with a plot twist or reveal that feels shocking in a good way. I don’t see a lot of these coming, but the result isn’t disappointment, it’s a “holy crap—wow, how cool!” followed by an intense desire to reread half the story to pick out the clues that were sitting in front of me the whole time, now that I know what they’re actually for. 

Really interesting meta-level stories 

Depending on how invested you want to get, there’s a meta-level of interconnected story with the Cosmere. All of Sanderson’s stories are enjoyable on their own, and you’re never required to go deeper. But if you want to, you can, and suddenly there’s a whole second layer of information and characters in the background that you never really noticed, because most of his stories are actually connected to each other too. You don’t have to know who Hoid is or how he contributes to each separate story, you don’t have to be able to find the crossover characters that have literally crossed over from other books, and you don’t have to understand the whole Shards angle, and you can still enjoy all those books on an individual basis. But when you do know how to spot them in the narratives, it’s really fun, and you feel like you’re in on a great secret.

CHARACTER

Only male author I’ve ever read that actually writes GOOD female characters 

Brandon Sanderson seems to have hit on the not-so-secret secret that most male authors—who dominate the fantasy genre—haven’t seemed to figure out yet: women are people too. 

Consequently, Sanderson writes incredible varieties of female characters, each with their own personalities and quirks, who don’t necessarily fall into the “damsel in distress” or “masculine-coded action lady” stereotypes. See the politically savvy Sarene, the scholarly Shallan, the clever and artistic Shai, rebellious and somewhat childish Siri, the formal and analytical Steris. (These are literally just the ladies with names that start with S). 

But it gets better. Because even with action-hero ladies, they still have characterizations outside of ‘being a lady that beats people up like a man and strives to be as unlady-like as possible to prove she can beat people up like a man.’ Vin might be an action heroine, but she’s also a young woman who’s learning how to have a family, who’s scared of opening up to people, and who’s insecure about her place in the world. Marasi wants to be part of law enforcement, but admits to another character that she also likes the make-up and dresses and looking pretty—and she hates that people expect her to be a masculine action-lady that wears pants and starts fights, because she feels like she won’t even be seen in her field if she doesn’t, and like she has to represent all women. 

But I think the biggest example of this comes from his short story Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, which (despite its edge-tastic title), is about a mother trying to protect her daughter. Sanderson wrote it as a part of the anthology Dangerous Women, and in his post-script on the story in Arcanum Unbounded, he writes: 

“I thought for a long time about the nature of an anthology called Dangerous Women. I worried that the stories submitted to it might fall into the trope of making women dangerous all in the same way....I didn’t want to write just another cliched story about a femme fatale, or a woman soldier who was basically a man with breasts. 

What other ways could someone be dangerous? I knew early on that I wanted my protagonist to be a middle-aged mother.”

In short, Sanderson actually understands how women work and writes actual, believable, likable female characters, who are just people and not sexual objects or prizes for men to receive at the end of the novel. It’s something we need, and it’s refreshing to see.

But on that note—he’s not afraid to let his male characters be softer either

In the same way that most female characters in fantasy are forced to be masculine-like action ladies, most male characters are also forced into the same role. There’s this misunderstanding that male characters have to all be sword-swinging barbarians who can’t have emotions. 

Sanderson punts this misunderstanding out the window and will have none of it.

There are so many good male characters in this series too that don’t immediately make you want to cringe. Look at Elend, who’s an intellectual doing his best but genuinely screws up a lot, and is all but useless for the first half of the series as a combatant. Look at Wayne, and his heartbreaking moment at the end of Bands of Mourning, who grieves for a person who’d been family to him and isn’t afraid to show how much he cares. Look at Adolin, who seems like the quintessential sword-swinging action-oriented jock, but then completely subverts all expectations by patiently and carefully helping characters with mental illnesses deal with them on their bad days, and being unhesitatingly supportive of his autistic brother. Look at Gaotona, who spends the whole book trying to educate someone on how they’re wrong—only to learn from them instead, and realize he was wrong, and to admit to it. 

Men have their soft moments, written by a male author who’s not afraid to put those moments into his works. And that’s really good, too.

In general, just really good characterization

Sanderson’s characters feel like people. They have oddball quirks, realistic-sounding conversations, and occasionally do things that make no sense. Just like friends, family, coworkers, etc that you and I all no doubt know. Hammond’s philosophical rambling (and Breeze’s frustrated bickering over it), Lift making it her life goal to steal dinners, Wayne’s justification for his kleptomania since he ‘trades’ items instead, David’s weird speech patterns and idioms—these characters are just fun to read, and have extra layers that just make them feel more real.

His books have a strong non-romantic relationship focus

Media in general is inundated with romantic and sexual relationships, and doubly so for fantasy novels—especially when fantasy novels often have a ‘prize’ romance at the end of the epic journey. Save the girl, get the girl. It can be frustrating, especially for people who aren’t interested in romance as a genre (there is a reason a lot of us are reading fantasy novels, and not romance ones).

Sanderson loves focusing on all kinds of relationships though, not just romantic ones. Found family, real family, strong platonic friendships, mentorships, interesting rivals, bonds out of duty—they’re all in here, and Sanderson’s not shy about making it clear. Look at Kelsier openly telling Vin he wishes he and his wife had a daughter like her and admitting he sees her as one, or the way the rest of the team turns her into their little sister that they all teach and protect. Look at Wax taking in Wayne, a scared kid who’d gotten in over his head and didn’t know what to do. Look at Kaladin looking at an entire band of slaves and going, ‘yeah, you’re all mine now and I protect you all,’ and how he forms a whole family out of Bridge Four that ultimately turns around and takes care of him, too (and of course, a lot of Kaladin’s story is driven by his own relationship with his actual family, specifically his younger brother). Look at Shallan doing all that she does at the start of the series to protect her brothers. Look at Prof struggling so hard to protect his little band of Reckoners even as he struggles to protect them from himself. Look at Shai and Gaotona, how they’re set up as prisoner and jailer, and yet they grow to ultimately respect each other.

I could go on and on, but the point is, these non-romantic relationships are everywhere, and they are considered to be just as important as—and sometimes more important than—romantic relationships. 

But on the flip-side, his romantic relationships are very well handled

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a big fan of romance or shipping. It generally doesn’t hold my interest. In most books, I skim or skip the romance parts, because I’m just not invested in those relationships. They feel flimsy. 

I don’t do that with Sanderson’s works. They’re the only books I’ve ever read where I genuinely feel invested in the characters’ romantic relationships. 

Because here’s the thing: all of these characters that are romantically involved, are also good friends, and that’s the basis of their entire relationship to begin with. And that means these relationships are accessible to everyone, regardless of romantic inclinations or interests. 

Adolin and Shallan just joking around and bantering, with him teaching her how to use swords, with her rattling off witty repartee to defend him in verbal spars? When they just genuinely enjoy each others’ company, without having to constantly make out or have sex to indicate why they like being around each other? That’s genuinely fun. It’s some lovely character interaction. Maybe I don’t “get” the parts where they want to do more romantically inclined things, but I can enjoy that they legitimately enjoy being around each other, that they’re good friends as well as romantic partners, and that they trust each other. And that means I can still be engaged in their relationship instead of yawning and skipping ahead a few pages.

Which brings me to:

He also takes common romantic tropes...and throws them in the garbage bin

Sanderson has other ways of handling romantic relationships that I (as a person who doesn’t like romance) finds so impressive it deserves its own section. Because he takes common romantic tropes, and subverts them, and makes the characters all the more healthy for it. 

On at least two occasions (in Stormlight Archive, and in the sequel Mistborn series), Sanderson has set up a classic love triangle...and then immediately broken it. In one novel, one of the male love interests graciously offers to back out if it will mean the female love interest is happy, because he really just wants her to be happy even if that means he’s not around, and she chooses him anyway...whereupon he makes it clear he’ll definitely help her with her mental health and he wants to be supportive of her. Holy shit, what a wild notion, an actual supportive character in a love triangle. In the second series, the love triangle gets set up, but ultimately broken when the man ultimately chooses the arranged marriage over the ‘true love’ angle, and then realizes he actually, legitimately enjoys the company of the lady in the arranged marriage, and the ‘true love’ love interest realizes that actually, that would have been a terrible idea and she wants to pursue her career. Again, a refreshing and ultimately all-around healthy take for all the characters on something that normally has some nasty fallout. 

In Mistborn, my first introduction to one of Sanderson’s series, I remember being genuinely floored and in awe of Elend’s and Vin’s relationship...because Vin is still really nervous about opening up to people and not comfortable with intimacy, and Elend is completely okay with that. He takes it slow with her, lets her set the pace, and doesn’t force her to do anything before she’s ready. Vin is most comfortable just being around/near him without doing anything inherently romantic, just being in his presence, and he is completely cool with that. And that’s such a healthy thing to see in a romantic story, because it’s really important for readers to see that yes, it’s totally OK to not rush into things, and yes, it’s totally OK for people to take it slower or easier for an uneasy partner. 

I could go on and on, but basically, romantic relationships in Sanderson’s novels are also engaging because a lot of the time? They’re healthy, and friendly, and toss most dramatic romantic subplots out on their ass.

While on that note?

He doesn’t do sex scenes

This one might be a loss for some, but it’s a win for me. Depending on how I feel on a given day, I’m either ‘irritated by’ to ‘really uncomfortable by’ sex scenes in novels...and unfortunately they’re prevalent, especially in fantasy novels. I usually end up uncomfortably flipping through these pages, trying to figure out where the scene ends so I can get back to the actual story. 

I honestly can’t think of a sex scene in any of his novels though. In fantasy, it’s stunningly refreshing, and I feel super safe and comfortable reading his novels because I don’t have to worry about uncomfortable surprises. Plus, circling back to the above points, it’s kind of nice to see characters having established relationships without it having to be solely reliant on them having a good or bad sex life.

Has LGBT+ relationships 

Yup, they’re there, and edge past ‘strongly implied’ to ‘blatantly stated’ in some cases too. Offhand, I can think of a pair of men in the Stormlight Archive who are noted to be in a relationship with each other, and a lesbian gunsmith in the second Mistborn series.

What I find important is not just the inclusion of these blatant relationships, but also how it’s treated as completely normal and not taboo in the context of these worlds, too. Non-straight relationships aren’t treated like a scourge or a difficulty these characters have to deal with; it’s just normal in these realities. 

Additionally, what I really like about them is the way other characters will get called out about it if they do cross a line (usually accidentally). In the above cases, Kaladin makes an ignorant off-hand remark about his gay Bridge Four soldier and is immediately called out about it by the rest of the Bridge Four gang, whereupon he realizes he’d crossed a line and apologizes right away. In the Mistborn series, Wayne repeatedly makes passes at lesbian gunsmith Ranette, who spurns his advances. But when he realizes she’s actually into girls, he backs off and respects that, rather than insisting on her dating him. These are some nice little lessons on how straight people actually should react regarding their non-straight friends and family, and normalizes non-straight people existing in society.

Sanderson has also been openly responsive to and cool about people interpreting his characters in non-straight relationships or reading “implied” relationships/romantic subtext, even if he hadn’t originally intended to put them there. Offhand, I can think of one situation where a reader told him he probably didn’t realize “just how bi” he’d written Shallan in regards to her interactions with Jasnah, to which Sanderson’s response was basically, “Well that wasn’t on purpose, but alright, cool, cool.” 

Also very good about inclusivity for mental illnesses and disabilities

While we’re on the topic of inclusivity, let’s talk mental illnesses and disabilities as well, because Sanderson is great about including these too. In Stormlight Archive alone, we have: 

Renarin, who in addition to having some physically disabilities (specifically, seizures and being physically weak), is confirmed by Word of God to be on the autistic spectrum. And he’s treated with respect and support by his family members and friends. His father shows up to meetings or events he wants to go to, just so he can feel comfortable going to them to show interest in things men typically aren’t supposed to. His brother protects him fiercely in combat but also does his best to give him space to grow, and understands that his brother is incredibly intelligent but sometimes just needs a little time to organize his thoughts or figure out how to communicate. Kaladin understands his physical disabilities immediately and is able to give advice on how to deal with them. The entirety of Bridge Four adopts him as another brother. Jasnah finds another way. I could go on, but basically, Renarin is great

Kaladin has clinical depression, and possibly some form of PTSD, even if they don’t have the technical words for this in-universe. He really struggles with this a lot in the series. Despite that, other characters look out for him a lot, and this creates some genuinely tender moments. 

Shallan rapidly developing some identity disorders. Actually breaks down and admits this to another character. The other character is fiercely supportive of her despite that and doesn’t give up on her so easily

Lopen doesn’t have an arm, but despite being physically disabled, Kaladin still immediately values him and he finds a place on the team. He’s also just...legitimately chill about being an amputee, makes missing arm jokes all the time, and doesn’t seem terribly bothered by it. I believe Sanderson even stated that there’s no real tragic story behind the missing arm...it’s just Lopen. That’s it. 

Teft struggles with substance abuse and insecurity, but the entirety of Bridge Four is super supportive in helping him break it

There’s a character who ends up paralyzed from the waist down over the course of the series. She thinks she’s done for and her life is over, but her mentor keeps encouraging her to try things anyway. 

Honestly, this series is enormous—there’s probably a ton more I’m not even remembering off-hand.

All of this is usually handled pretty tactfully and often brings in some really heartwarming character interactions when characters struggle with issues and other characters help them overcome them. Do you like hurt/comfort and whump in fanfiction? Sanderson does this in actual fiction. It’s great.

WRITING METHODOLOGY

He actually takes the time to write good stories

Sometimes a long-awaited book in a series coughDeathlyHallowscough comes out and you just know it was rushed. You can see it in the way the plot threads are resolved, in the way some threads are just never resolved and end up hanging there open-ended, in the way the epilogues are short and empty.

Sanderson doesn’t do this. He’s pretty transparent about it on his Twitter, where he’ll post updates on his writing progress percentages. Sometimes he apologizes for a delay on a book, because he wants to make sure it’s done right or he works out a plot point just so, or he needs to go back and re-read some old material to make sure there’s no hanging plot points. 

This is good. This is great. This means he genuinely cares about his work, and he wants to produce good content. I will happily wait an extra couple months if it means the book that’s going to sit on my shelf for years to come has a satisfactory start, middle and end.

He’s always ready to give advice to up-and-coming writers, and he’s great about fandoms

Sanderson has a whole segment on his blog devoted to answering questions about writing. He also has a whole series of lectures available for free online. I’ve even heard him in podcasts and blogs in other things. He’s not shy about giving advice and encouraging up and coming writers, and he’s always so encouraging about it too. He’s also totally cool with fanfiction, unlike some big name authors out there who get very elitist about fandoms and the comparative “worthlessness” of fanfiction. 

Some of his novels are available for free, right now, on his website

A bunch of his novels and novellas are available totally for free on his website, which means additional accessibility for people who don’t have the cash for books, ebooks, or audio books, and don’t have time to get to a library. 

Many of them are also available as audiobooks, which means you can probably snag them through your local library’s audio book checkout system as well. 

In conclusion

Brandon Sanderson rocks, his stories rock, and everyone who likes fantasy should really give them a shot, for all of the above reasons. 

[glassworkspiderlilies]

giyushino week wrap up!

aaaaand that’s a wrap!! thank you to the moderators of giyushinoweek, and to everyone who liked/reblogged/commented on/sent me asks about my fics!!

it was a wild ride to write 8 fics in basically a week or so; i keep saying the fics were hastily or frantically written but LMAO considering how little fic i put out nowadays and how long it usually takes me to write because i edit as i go (which means i take f o r e v e r ), i was seriously just screaming like I JUST GOTTA DO IT I JUST GOTTA GO WITH IT I DON’T HAVE TIME the entire time haha. it was really good to be able to just think of a thing and run as far as i could with it, though!! it’s been quite a long time since i was able to do that, and it was really nice to have a project to work on in the back of my head. <3

ideally, if i work myself up to it, i’d like to revisit all of these and spruce them up to post to ao3, but we’ll see. :’) 

under the cut is just some thoughts on my process during this and also writing each of the fics, if you’re interested! favorite prompt, the most difficult parts to write, what the fic was originally was, things like that. 

thank you again, everyone!! back to hibernation and occasional slow snail pace writing i go, haha.

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re: writing process -i tried writing a fic per day during the week before the actual event, which...kind of worked!! ideally, i was going to write a mostly complete fic each day, and then spend the week of the event editing each one before i posted it. what really ended up happening was that i partially wrote several, but not all of them, during the previous week, and then spent the week of finishing up, editing, or writing the whole thing more or less the day before the prompt was “due”, LMFAO. my weekday schedule is pretty structured because of work--I have maybe an hour or two of free time before i have to sleep--so i doubled down a bit more on the weekends. i know like it wasn’t imperative that i meet the “deadline”, but i really, really wanted to!! i figured i’ve written a fic per day for fandom weeks before so why can’t i do it again, but BOY i don’t know who i was back then. i mean, i still did it (yay!) but it seemed so much easier then?? either i was just writing more back then or less afraid or...something, or it’s just been so long that i don’t remember what i felt, LOL.

-i was really quite nervous in the beginning to post the fics, since again, they’re pretty hastily written and my usual writing process is much more “careful” and drawn out. but, it was also freeing as the week went on to just post and not worry, because the point of the week was to have fun, and not necessarily to write the best work i expected of myself within a limited time. (oh, how the perfectionist in me still hisses, though.) still, i’m glad people liked them, and even the extra notes that i just kinda spit out for some of them. :’) i do wish that some had gotten more attention than others, but those ones don’t show up in the tags and i’m not sure why, so. alas. 

re: the fics -confession: as of now, i feel pretty neutral about all of them, since i wrote them in a frenzy. at some point i’ll probably go back and read them and feel differently (and catch my mistakes! oh no!), haha. -a lot of them ended up being AU, which is...??? unexpected?? but i think it was just easier to put them in an entirely different setting, so i could play a bit more loose with their characters, haha. 

day 1 - glance (or hug) -this one...im pretty sure was one of the ones i waited until the last possible minute to finish up. it’s pretty basic event-wise, one of the few more regular slice-of-lifey ones for the week. it was surprisingly hard to get down the “movement” of it all; a glance is hard to describe in detail and in any other way, but i had really wanted to create kind of this...fleeting, almost nostalgic atmosphere in the back and forth of “he keeps looking, she keeps missing”, if that makes any sense. oof, it’s still hard to describe what i had wanted to achieve even outside of the fic!!

day 2 - soulmate (or family) -this one was SUPER HARD to write!!! originally i had wanted to go with a “A sees flashes of what B sees” soulmate prompt, because i figured that would be SO disorienting and would be fun to play with. but i ended up not being able to run with that one. i had also wanted to do the “soulmates write on themselves and the words show up on the other’s arm” idea, based off of what i had started in a 100 word drabble i did, but that deserved wayyyyyy more exploration and angst i was able to write in the time i’d allotted. i do like the “tattoo” soulmate aus the best, i think, and i did want to explore the one i did more, buuuut. alas. soulmates aus are something i prefer to read rather than write, i think, they can get so complicated!! 

day 3 - AU (or touch) -i’ve already made enough notes on this haha, but this ended up being a little too ambitious!! it wasn’t originally supposed to stop where it did, but i just...kinda got stuck and couldn’t bring myself to continue it, because i knew it would just keep going and needed more thinking out. so i just stopped it at the scene break, and hoped it would be decent enough. :’) surprisingly people seemed to enjoy this one most of all????? or maybe it was just the au itself that was a appealing, haha. regardless, i was surprised at the amount of notes this got!

day 4 - demon & wedding -soooooo this might’ve been my favorite prompt LMAO, like when i realized what i wanted to do for this day, i got excited because like, oooh yeah, pain. definitely wanted to go in on this to flesh out and explore various aspects more than i did, but i think of all the ones i wrote, i might be the most pleased with this one so far. 

day 5 - moon (or angst) -honestly, it’s a surprise i didn’t choose angst for day 5. writing about shinobu’s death would’ve been so easy, but i’ve seriously been putting it off since i started writing for kimetsu no yaiba. both “a blade of honey” and “if not cut at dusk”, which are my longer fics, were intended to be about shinobu’s death scene and turned into something completely different, and i ended up avoiding it for day 5 even though it could’ve been so easy. it’s denial, probably! anyway, shinobu’s MAD BOLD here. she would never. maybe. there’s two shinobus that i think about--the "usual” one, modeling herself after kanae, and one who’s more in line with her younger self/inner feelings. i think i went with the latter for a lot of these fics, because i didn’t have to be as careful with dialogue. giyu might’ve suffered character-wise, though, woops. but again, maybe shinobu would, in the vein that she wants to win and have the last laugh, haha. still, i feel more like she wouldn’t. :P oh, also, do you remember ages ago, when AMVs were still widespread, that scene that was everywhere in naruto where hinata’s bathing/training at the waterfall and it’s like really pretty and cool and stuff? yeah. that’s what i wanted this one to be, a little, LMFAO. genuinely surprised that people thought this one was pretty spicy!!

day 6 - kiss (or ocean) -confession: i wrote all of this while i was at work LOLLLL. it was a slow day, i promise. this might’ve been the easiest one to come up with, because the “quick, kiss me!” to escape situation is a classic. the characterization is preeeetttyyyyy loose here, but it was also kind of fun, honestly. my day 5 and day 6 run in pretty similar veins though, so i had kind of wished the endings were a bit more distinct from each other. 

day 7 - date (or crossover) -honestly i had wanted to do like, a soul eater crossover!! really i was planning out an au, but i think a crossover specifically has characters of two series interacting, and then i was Tired and was like, i can’t do that. crossovers aren’t something i usually read, either, so the planning got too complicated and i gave  up. the date idea was also one that came much later and one that i finished up last minute; i’d wanted to make it a little more cohesive and come up with better things for sabito’s list, but. eh. it got longer than i expected too! ideally there would’ve been more of the college life, and sabito and makomo. i thought about doing another additional notes for this, but there was wasn’t enough i had wanted to add on. really it was just the majors for them i’d been playing with--shinobu as a med student (possibly a minor in horticulture/botany, SOMEHOW), sabito & giyu as hydraulic engineering majors (sabito more on fieldwork, giyu more on research), and makomo as a marine veterinary student. shrug!! the lines of “you do realize we were set up, right” and “this was a date, tomioka-san” were the highlight for me, haha. and i’m inordinately fond of the title.

day 8 - halloween (or n*sfw) -sexy stuff isn’t my forte at all!!!! so halloween it was, but. i was thinking of skipping out on this one, and then was like, oh what the hell, you’ve come this far, of course you’re going to go the last leg, too. already wrote enough notes on this one too, but yeah, this one really was quick, and just barely meets the prompt, i think, lmao. ended up being more of a fantasy au, which was fun, though there was a lot left unexplored. ultimately just glad that i was able to come up with something for the last stretch. :)

please feel free to drop me an ask if you have any thoughts or comments! i’d love to hear your thoughts on the fics for the week, if you’d like to share. :) 

thanks for reading!!

[sheyffer]

On Bradley (and the rest of this show’s glorified ableism)

Do I have your attention? Good. Because I have things to say.

This is the collective salt built up over the course of most of this entire season, so be warned. This will be long, and most of you aren’t gonna like this - so feel free to skip to the bottom line at the end of the post, I guess.

Without further ado:

So. If you’ve been following me or are a somewhat frequent visitor on the show’s tag(s), you might have noticed I like Bradley. With how much screentime he’s been getting lately, I should be happy, right? Well, I would be, but instead, it just made me feel terrible, week after week. People who’ve talked to me during those times will know. But let me explain.

- Bradley and me

Cheesy title, but what’re you gonna do. See, when MML first came around, I was pretty quick to declare Bradley my favorite character. The first few episodes were great, and I loved what they set Bradley up to be: A kid living in Milo’s shadow, dealing with the rightful bitterness coming out of that. His friendship (or whatever you wanna call it) with Mort and his crush on Melissa had great potential, and knowing these writers, I was expecting some great episodes in these directions. Not that we ever got any, but more on that later.

As the show went on, I noticed something else about Bradley. I know there are a bunch of “(character) is autistic” headcanons out there - and I’m not gonna say anything against those because they’re all valid -, and that Bradley’s also come up in these regards several times. I fully support that headcanon (partly because I’m autistic myself and he’s my favorite character so projection is bound to happen in one way or another), but there’s something specific I’d like to bring up: something I’ll call the switch, for lack of a better word. I will admit that I’m not spending time with other autistic people that often so I can only really speak for myself here... but man. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a (cartoon) character that so obviously has that very same issue (whether the writers intended that or not is another topic; again, see further down). I’m struggling with it a lot myself, as good as on the daily, and seeing actual representation of this in a show makes me feel incredibly validated - because, again, when does any character ever have this?

- A little tangent regarding that “switch”

I should explain what I mean in the first place, of course. Basically, I’ll only care about a topic if it actually affects me in some way, and if it doesn’t, my attention is basically zero. No matter how close we are, I probably won’t even attempt to fake interest when you’re talking about something that has no significance to me, because if I do, people tend to notice quite easily (and I prefer keeping things genuine because me being dishonest would arguably just complicate things further if people realized eventually). Better yet, with the stuff I am interested in, I often end up caring way too much -  so it really is kind of a switch, per se. My emotional investment is either full on or full off, no inbetween. Makes me an awful person to be around when you want to talk about anything beyond the fandoms or characters I’m currently interested in, for the most part, but I’m glad about the people who, for years, have stuck with and supported me anyway :’) Maybe you can see by now how Bradley reminds me of this, but here’s some assorted aspects:

Him failing to somewhat relate to Milo no matter how similar they kind of are in various regards

Him actually being friends with and hanging out with plenty of people he gets along with great (compared to having none whatsoever, as could’ve easily been the case if he really was just a jerk), though he's almost never the one to initiate the conversation unless it's Milo related

Him being straight up rude to those people at times, resulting in everyone getting mad at him (which I can’t really blame them for, but still)

And him in turn being way too emotionally invested in certain topics, see Milo and what Bradley believes to be him stealing the show (and Carla, of course)

Melissa puts it really well in Milo's World when she says Milo is so great because he always cares deeply about other people - Bradley quite literally can't get on that level, so it's no surprise he's this bitter, really. What's he supposed to do? He'll never have it in him to apologize for his salt because there's absolutely no reason to in his eyes. He simply doesn't care if other people are sad or hurt by his words, and not even voluntarily so: He believes he's right and doesn't grasp why people don't get him, which may just be because he's so emotional - and less rational - about it... and when he’s generally the quiet-ish grump who's not too bad but also just never quite the friend that genuinely cares about you as a person because he's just this apathetic, any emotional reaction you get out of him is immediately rendered an uncalled-for outburst. Not saying everyone else is awful to get mad at him, because I can't really blame them at all with how much of a jerk he actually comes off as (and him trying to explain is probably awkward phrasing in the "sorry but I don't actually care about your feelings, no offense" direction that immediately makes people get mad at him again), but don’t paint him as inherently awful. This is likely as hard for him as it is for everyone else, I’ve been there myself... but yeah. So much for that.

- The crossover and its aftermath

Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed by most of the second half of season one when it came to Bradley’s screentime, especially since he’d been such a prominent character early on. So when the crossover came around and he got that plant arm, I was like - great! A physical difference to go along with his mental issues and to give him even more reasons to get a little character arc and a push towards morally darker gray areas! This isn’t something they can ignore anymore, right?

Ha. Sure.

It was bad enough that in those first few episodes after the crossover, he had that arm and it was never brought up by either him or anyone else. And then we did get people acknowledging it exists - but it was either treated as a joke or, worse, something to “get over”.

Where do I even begin.

- Yeah, how about no

It’s bad enough that the writers confirmed they only added the plant arm because “it’s funny” - not because “hey, let’s give our main antagonist kid a visible reason to have an arc” or anything in a remotely decent direction. It’s worse that most of the viewers apparently agree, because I’ve hardly heard a negative comment on the matter over the course of these last few episodes. But seriously - how am I supposed to enjoy this (honestly great amount of) screentime Bradley’s been getting lately when all he’s reduced to is the comedic relief? Make Chad and his supernatural antics the hilarious one for all I care, but don’t use the kid who very clearly has physical (and mental) issues whether you actually headcanon him as having anything specific or not. All I got to see in these last episodes is Bradley rightfully pointing out his arm (Milo’s World, Ride Along Little Doggie), him being legitimately upset (The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club), or him honestly just being in the episode altogether (First Impressions), only to have other - main - characters make fun of, or belittle, or get mad at him and have them be portrayed as “in the right” with not a single ounce of sympathy for Bradley whatsoever. As for First Impressions: I’ve been that (autistic) kid excited for the first day of school but not getting in in time. It’s horrible. (Though I’m willing to let this one slide because it reasonably builds up his strong dislike for Milo)

- On an episode in particular

For what it’s worth, The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club isn’t all bad. Hardly an episode is. But it’s easily the most painful to watch for me, for numerous reasons. And that includes certain fandom reactions I’ve witnessed.

Carla. However hilarious or weird (or both) you or the characters may find this, he clearly doesn’t. Even if the writers only added it as a joke to begin with - I’ve had similar experiences myself. I’ve been in Bradley’s position, and sure, I can’t blame the characters for, initially, belittling him for this stuff. But for the love of all the gods I believe in, don’t just completely ignore the distress he’s going through and change the topic like that (while he’s still in the middle of the breakdown, no less). I expected better at least from Milo or Mort.

Zack’s “character development”. In any other situation, I might have appreciated Zack’s talk about feeling like being in Milo’s shadow. But not only is this literally what Bradley was supposed to be about this whole time - Zack immediately gets reassurance and comfort by the other characters. The best Bradley ever got was rude comments on being uncalled for. Goes right along with:

Only the good guys deserve happiness, apparently. Whenever Murphy’s Law does its thing and someone has an issue with it, Melissa and the others are quick to comment on how it isn’t Milo’s fault and whoever has the issue is clearly just being rude and uncalled for. Whenever Bradley does something mildly unpleasant, the very same characters get mad at him and are portrayed as being in the right. As people have pointed out before, Milo and Bradley aren’t all that fundamentally different - but because Milo is the protagonist (tm) and, in-universe, nice to people and (as I’ve heard) adorable, people treat him well enough, while it’s apparently the right thing to be awful to Bradley, because he’s the antagonist(/comedic relief) and not the nicest person around. (For the record, I like Milo and appreciate how supportive people are of his issues. It’s just the jarring contrast with Bradley’s treatment that bothers me.)

Bradley’s “character development”. It’s been a thing I’ve read about regarding this episode and that’s apparently been getting quite a bit of acknowledgement. And sorry, but what? Randomly making Bradley a nice guy who doesn’t mind being around Milo & Co isn’t “character development”. More likely than anything, it’s “oh no, we have three episodes left and can’t have any relevant-ish character not like Milo before this is over, but we don’t have enough time to even half-ass Bradley’s “arc” so let’s just make him be nice for the sake of this montage”. It’s more of a disservice to the kid than anything, especially when in this season in particular, pretty much nobody was nice to him, ever.

- What I’m getting at (took a while, I know)

I’m basically Bradley, for what it’s worth. Whether he intentionally has to deal with the switch or not, his portrayal is incredibly similar to what I’m like, socially and otherwise. Seeing him treated like this for episodes on end is absolutely horrible for me. And I’m an adult who dares believe they figured out their mind for the most part - what about kids? Actual kids (like me ages ago, who only learned about autism to begin with because of really liking Ferb and finding an autism-related post about him) who can relate to Bradley as much as I do because they’ve been there themselves, only for the Good Guys to treat him like this? Even if you ignore all this semi-projection-based talk about mental disorders, his plant arm is still very real and as much of a handicap as anything. It doesn’t matter that the creators added it (and Carla, and probably Bradley’s other antics) as a joke, there are people out there for whom this is anything but that. They deserve happiness as much as anyone, no matter if they’re not the nicest people around (unless, of course, they have really problematic views, but Bradley is far from entering that territory). If anything, they deserve people at least attempting to understand where they’re coming from - and writers who treat even the protagonist’s foil as more than just a joke.

(Disclaimer: No, I’m not saying nobody should call Bradley out when he’s being rude. Even things like the switch only explain his behavior and don’t completely excuse it - he should have to feel the consequences of his actions as much as anyone. But right now, nobody is making any attempt to help him change for the better; they’re making everything far worse, if anything. An episode of Milo, or Mort, or anyone really, actually being willing to so much as listen to his side of the story... that’s all it takes. And can’t be that hard to pull off, can it?) 

But since I’m already talking about this kind of stuff:

- And Elliot, too

If only Bradley was the only one. I’m not gonna say anything against Elliot being a jerk (World Without Milo did a good job portraying him in that regard), but even he deserves better than this. I’m talking, of course, about Safety First, in which Elliot has something I can only describe as PTSD, complete with a trigger word and everything. I will admit I haven’t seen the episode since it aired (and am not planning on doing so again), but man. It’s obvious enough how much the trigger word aspect was used as a joke, but then apparently we learn that you can just randomly be cured of your trauma in a few effortless minutes. How nice to know for a few people I know.

- The bottom line

I have plenty of issues with MML when it comes to plot, or pacing, or humor (which, maybe, deserve their own posts eventually). But this right here is by far my biggest problem of them all. Sure, it’s a show for kids, and sure, you aren’t supposed to take something with this kinda premise super seriously - but that doesn’t mean there aren’t aspects that should be. Whether the creators are aware of how their characters come across or not, there are parts even they should know not to be this disrespectful about. And maybe I could get over things like Carla on their own, but when so many little aspects are condensed into a single character, it really stops being something I can ignore. Especially when the characters interacting with him display such infuriating Protagonist-Centered Morality, and even more especially when it’s related to issues that could really use some proper representation in the media anyway, particularly in shows for this kind of audience.

I’m not saying this because I don’t care about the show (and could’ve stopped watching it easily if I have so many problems with it), it’s because I do. I know these people can produce fantastic content, P&F is a prime example. The first few episodes of MML are, too. But after that, it all kind of falls apart for me, with some gems here and there. And yet I still care about these characters (certain ones, anyway), and carry the hope that they will at some point get the treatment they deserve. Until then, I’ll be here writing fics to take care of that when the show fails to - you’re free to ask me about them if you’re interested, for that matter. 

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. Complain about my opinion all you want, I know it’s such a jarring wave of negativity in a fandom that’s hardly used to that - but hey. Someone’s gotta be the Bradley here. In more ways than most people with any relation to MML are comfortable with.

Take it or leave it.

[imperialsea-a]

ELIZABETH’S IN-DEPTH RP PLOTTING CHEAT-SHEET.

          Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.

          Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name: Rem (not that blue-haired anime girl or DN, it’s from my old blog!) OOC Contact: Contact me through the Tumblr IM system or my Discord! My Discord is: imperialsea#1818. Please tell me your URL if you message me there so I know who you are!

Now, onto the heart of the post!

   ♛   Who the heck is my muse, anyway? Elizabeth Eva Alexandria Cross, the only biological daughter of Kaien Cross, her father (a canon vk char), and Eva Liliya Cherie Cross, her mother (an oc muse)! Elizabeth is a vampire hunter by blood like all in her family before her! But, shh! Your character isn't supposed to know that .  .  .  unless they're also a hunter .  .  .  or a perhaps a vampire (since her family from both sides are famous hunters, but even then they don't have to know she's a vamp killer if you don't want them to) .  .  .  or they're some sort of ally to her / the hunters association since she can't just tell anyone her actual work on a whim. Where she's from, the existence of vampires are a secret from most of humanity and it's her job to kill the dangerous people-hurty ones and keep that nice and secret so as to avoid a world war! 'Nothing about her is complicated at all', I say, lying through my teeth like Bethy does to society every day by keeping her job and true lifestyle hidden :'D

Further information below the cut, please take time to read if you’re stuck on what to plot and how Bethy operates!

   ♛   Points of Interest:           - She was born and raised to fight against unruly beasts and composed foes alike. Despite her youth, she's a one-woman powerhouse and is not afraid to take herself down with an opponent if she deems it necessary. She's like the Smash player who hits the fake smash ball to take out an enemy on their last legs, even at the expense of her own life. She'll do it! Except in Smash she'd probably just win the match because she had an extra life and not, you know, not die forever for real in a last grand battle.

          - She's got vamp genes all over the place and is rare among hunters. She's biologically immortal like a Pureblood despite not being a vampire herself and is living testimony of what her predecessors took from Purebloods both by honorable bestowal of blood from the mysterious Hooded Woman, and straight up [insert painting of Jupiter Devouring His Son here]. Her great grandparent is 3k+ years old, her father is 200+ for devouring his own twin-- it's messy as mythology, but anime :'D  She herself is only 18 on default though (19 in K Crossover--), the youngest of her entire bloodline, and she can still be slain in battle even if she is much hardier than a typical human being. She's also sensitive to auras, and capable of sensing vampires.

          - Things characters might notice? She's ghostly pale and kind of looks like she stepped out of The Last Unicorn. She looks cold, sophisticated, and vaguely otherworldly-- she really doesn't radiate the friendliest of vibes unless she's doing something she loves, and the calculated yet seemingly effortless grace of her movements are prominent in and outside of combat. She is descended from an ancient royal line, and those posh, stuffy mannerisms and formal speech pattern live on through her even if the Adrasteian monarchy no longer exists.

          - She truly isn't a trigger-happy person, whatever the title of 'hunter' implies, and keeps a level head in most situations. Sure, Bethy looks as if she could bite someone's head off and can display some seriously threatening flashes of anger, but she's not going to do something rash and will only resort to drawing her weapons in a serious matter. She's here to save lives, maintain peace, and keep order, not disrupt it and set off a war! No pressure on her, right?

         - She is also notably, NOT a high school student, though she may be mistaken for a high school senior or young college student since her age fits the bill. Elizabeth actually graduated from her high school at age sixteen and took to hunting full-time immediately after. She was convinced to slow it down by her grandparents and began preparing for college when her assignment at Cross Academy arrived and, uh, pretty tragically, hasn’t been able to attend any classes due to her work demands. Come to choose between the world and personal fulfillment? Her conscience only let her have one choice; a hunter must hunt.

    ♛   What they’ve been up to recently:           - Work. There's hardly a time when this girl isn't working or planning what to do next, and the workload only grows after the previous president is outed as a dishonorable, self-serving traitor to the hunters. She's seriously injured after trading blows with him and is promptly benched to deal with the fallout and mental agony, but she's back within a year (and in K's crossover? Only six months later!).

          - Having said that, Elizabeth does have days off and will spend them quietly with her friends, or alone with music and a rejuvenating swim.

          - Depending on the time in her life? Her life circumstances vary drastically-- she can go from a young huntress travelling on her own as duty demands, or she can be a mother of five children and trusted right hand of the new hunter president, Zero Kiryuu. She lives for a long time, so she's always up to something! And of course, she's always motivated to fight for a better future. 

   ♛   Where to find them:            - Aside from work, check the beach! Or find her on methods of cross-continental transportation since she travels around the world for her job (she walks whenever possible, so it's rare to see her on a bus, but she’ll begrudgingly take one or a train)! Otherwise, a place like an aquarium, clothing store, or coffee shop, or any place in a city is your best chance.... write w me pls... q-q she is Around Somewhere.

          - If not found in any of those places and your character is someone inside Cross Academy, she can be found there, helping the prefects in some way and is familiar enough with the building to help out new students if they ask.

    ♛   Current Plans:           - Elizabeth is chained to her work as a hunter for as long as she draws breath, or until there is no need for her to end hostile vampires. Her ultimate goal is to keep the world from falling into a repeat, all-out war between vampires and humanity. Her living and family situation might change through the years, but that will always be her primary drive-- she's got an indomitable will.

    ♛   Desired Interactions:           - please ovq

          - In all seriousness, I’m up for pretty much anything. She needs more friends, more enemies, people to protect, people to be protected by, people she looks up to, people who legitimately unnerve her, everything! I just don’t feel comfortable killing her. Elizabeth fought really hard to get her future and deserves to find comfort after her entire childhood-young adult life was spent thinking the only thing of worth she had was her role as a huntress. I do really, really love angst though, so anything else goes, really c:

     ♛   Offered Interactions ( please sit tight for this! it will be divided into multiple sections! ) :           - IF YOUR CHARACTER IS HUMAN:                - She’ll assume your muse is an average civilian until shown otherwise (be it with unusual powers, whacky aura, combat prowess, or prior knowledge from a report or something-- a plot specific thing). Unless they truly know about vampires / work with the Hunters Association, Elizabeth will not be sharing any information about who or what she is without a legitimate reason (such as the human character being bitten by a Pureblood and thus is being turned into a vampire themselves). However, the other party being kept in the dark about vampires can open the door to a more relaxed Elizabeth without her professional, perfectionist mindset. She’s more likely to have a pleasant conversation with humans since they have no part in the hunt-- but in that same vein, she does aim to keep them at a certain distance and not develop a deep emotional bond (but she’s also a lot softer than she looks and acts and tends to care for others quickly, should they get along). It’s a tricky slope .  .  . She’s thawed out and the nicer aspects of her personality are far more prominent, but at the same time, she’s not being entirely genuine. Give her time and she’ll become more open about personal things, just, not her work.

               - Applies to her K Proj. Crossover.  Working with S4, Elizabeth takes some time to adjust, but ultimately loves the organization and the people within it. They’re an exception to her ‘no ties with average humans’ rule because....errr.... they’re not the average human she’s used to protecting and in that verse they’re aware of her occupation and peculiar heritage. She’s not as cold first impressions might suggest and loves Reisi’s weird af team building nights, it’s hard for her to not have a soft spot for them, even as an outsider and unofficial member (as in, she has none of the abilities the Blues have, but she has her natural abilities).

         - IF YOUR CHARACTER IS A HUNTER:                 - Elizabeth is a known figure in hunter society; her great grandfather, grandfather, and aunt were previous heads of the organization and each are still alive at present. So, it probably makes more sense if your hunter character at the very least knows about her-- unless they’re an off-series muse in which case go wild and do what you think is best! I always did like the idea of two vampire hunters chilling together with neither one knowing the other is a fellow hunter until they’re attacked by a vamp and they’re both like ‘Oh!’

               - A simple but always reliable plot idea is two hunters on a joint mission! It’s really important to know that Bethy does not take kindly to poor performance and expects her partner to take whatever assignment they have seriously. If not? Things get tundra-cold really fast-- o-o;; People’s lives are at stake and in her opinion, if a hunter wants to mope or complain about their blood-given obligation, they’re not fit to be hunters in the first place. ‘Can’t do the job? Then finish what you started with me if you have any shred of integrity, and get thee gone’ sort of thing. Otherwise, uh :’D;; she’s highly cooperative and always aims to reach the outcome with the least amount of damage.

               - As a teenager, she attended a hunter-run private academy in Adrasteia for four years. If it’s possible for your muse to attend (as in, they are from a vampire hunter family and can pass the rigorous entrance exams), throw em in for a slightly younger, less stringent Bethy? A national fencing champion at the top of her classes, and great granddaughter to the legendary hellfire headmaster, Elizabeth’s not easily missed! It could be the start to an amicable relationship to carry into future interactions?

        - IF YOUR CHARACTER IS A VAMPIRE:                 - Bluntly put, for vampires, it’s probably better to interact with Elizabeth after Cross Academy has fallen in the large battle that took place there. Her mother is revealed to have been alive and held captive as a vampire, she’s already friends with a hunter/vamp, her two friends turned out to be Purebloods, and ‘oh....my mother and father got together again and now I’ve got a younger vampire brother’ .....and her boyfriend’s half sister is also a vampire who marries the former vamp senate heir..... so...vamps everywhere; she simply accepts them as part of the family. Prior to that, while she isn’t hostile to vampires and certainly has no intention to attack a vamp unjustly, it’s not a place she’s eager to put herself in. Depending on how threatened she feels, she’ll even swallow her pride and keep her head down-- mostly.

               - If your muse is a hunter-turned-vampire, she doesn’t treat them as a vampire, rather, she still sees them as a compatriot, like in the case of Zero Kiryuu. Whether or not your muse received the blood of their keeper is up to you, but in the case that they haven’t-- she’s always there to assist in granting mercy whenever the time comes :’)

       - IF YOUR CHARACTER DOES NOT FIT INTO ANY OF THE ABOVE CATEGORIES / REGARDING OTHER VERSES:                - Please help me find something that works, I’m willing to try! Memes are incredibly helpful! Send one in, the tag is here, and we can go from there!

                  - My currently finished and ready-to-use Crossover Verse is K Proj., which can be read about right here.

      ♛   Current Open Post/s: Linked right here. There's no expiration date to these, and it doesn't matter if another person has replied to one, you are more than welcome to reply to one if it catches your eye at all.

      ♛   Anything else?:  YEAH, wow I am so sorry that got so long. Please note that this post may be updated periodically!

[aili]

Valentine’s Day Music Newlsetter 2019!

Welcome to the 13th Music Newsletter! Short intro for the newbies - I love music. I love sharing music with other people. In college I started a "music newsletter" email with some playlists (aka mixtapes) I've made and some song/band recommendations. Why Valentine's Day? Because I think this day should be about love in many ways - including love for music!

That brings us to today. The first Valentine's Day mixtape I put together was actually a physical mix CD that I mailed to my home friends while I was away at college. That was in 2008 (11 years ago!). A lot has changed since then, but my love of music has not. While I feel sometimes too busy or too old or too out of touch to know what I'm even talking about, I hope you'll get some enjoyment out of this - as much as I've been enjoying listening to these songs and picking them for you! 

*Click here to download Valentine's Day 2019 mixtape!

Click here to play Valentine's Day 2019 on Spotify!

*Note that the file downloads as a zip file, double clicking on it to open it up should give you the individual songs. Then move the songs to iTunes into a playlist!

1.) "Happy Unhappy" - The Beths New Zealand indie rockers The Beths debut album, Future Me Hates Me, is full of catchy, energetic sad-twinged songs. This song feels like it could have come out back in the 00s when we had to find new music by reading blogs and actually downloading MP3s - it feels closer to the Garden State soundtrack era of indie than the recent moody electronic vibe. It's a lot of fun! Sounds like Courtney Barnett by way of The Wombats, with a splash of Los Campesinos.

2.) “City Looks Pretty” - Courtney Barnett Courtney’s 2018 album “Tell Me How You Really Feel” is only her second studio album, but somehow it feels like she’s been around forever. The album features a “fuller” sound and more production, which may appear dulled next to 2015’s “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.” However, I feel excited by Courtney exploring a more mature sound and think it accurately reflects the albums depressive theme. “Sometimes I get mad / it’s not all that bad” is sung with a definite apathy compared to her shout-singing past record. As the bridge settles in, Courtney captures the depression symptom of lack of interest in things you used to enjoy. The city looks pretty when you’ve been stuck inside isolated for two weeks. 3.) “Screwed” - Janelle Monáe feat. Zoë Kravitz Janelle’s 2018 album “Dirty Computer” is an anthology of songs (and truly, poetry) that tell of reckoning with being a queer woman of color in an oppressive, violent society. It’s an incredibly personal album with her fans in mind - “I want young girls, young boys, nonbinary, gay, straight, queer people who are having a hard time dealing with their sexuality, dealing with feeling ostracized or bullied for just being their unique selves, to know that I see you. This album is for you. Be proud.” (Rolling Stone, 2018). My favorite part of this song is “See, everything is sex / except sex / which is power / you know power is just sex / now ask yourself who’s screwing you.”

4.) "BAGDAD - Cap.7: Liturgia" - Rosalía 25-year-old Rosalía Vila Tobella from Catalonia has an excellent 2018 album El Mal Querer. The album combines traditional flamenco with modern R&B. The album is a story of love and heartbreak over the course of 11 chapters/songs. This particular one might sound familiar due to the sampling of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River."

5.) "Gun" - St. Lucia St. Lucia's first release off of their 2018 album Hyperion caught my attention with its connection to a more traditional rock sound and the heavy-hitting, one-word title. The production and sound almost reminds me of Oasis or U2. Turns out that the album is indeed produced by someone who worked on records with PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, and U2. In interviews, Jean-Philip Grobler talks about how this song is generally about both gun control and power. "You said you wanted to feel a gun in your hands" in Verse 1 transforms to "You said you wanted to feel the blood in your hands" in Verse 2, highlighting the fact that guns are designed to kill. 

6.) “Apathy” - Frankie Cosmos With a catchy bass line, gorgeous lyrics, and endearing vocals, this song and entire album are not to be missed. As you may notice on this year’s playlist, this year I was super into what I would describe as punk-influenced, low-fi indie female vocalists. Pretentious enough for you? Haha. I just mean that there are a ton of young women blowing up in the indie music scene with a huge crossover in sound. As demonstrated in “Apathy,” many of these songs are short, lack a traditional pop music format, use low-fi production, and have a storytelling aspect of almost speak-singing. These elements are all found in traditional punk music, so it’s interesting and exciting to see these artists shaking things up and challenging the punk genre. Frankie Cosmos has a long history of creating music, under various projects using Bandcamp as a teenager. Her 2018 album “Vessel” is nothing short of delightful and another one of my favorites of the year. 7.) “Your Dog” - Soccer Mommy Soccer Mommy is Sophie Allison, singer-songwriter based out of Nashville. She opened for Paramore on their recent tour and she has launched into the indie music scene with a lot of attention in the past couple years. I love how her voice clearly carries so much anger as she sings about an emotionally abusive relationship. Her lyrics describe the agony of small, sweet gestures pushing her back to her ex, despite her wanting desperately to end it. Using the metaphor of being a loyal, sub-servient dog, she describes the way her SO treats her like she’s his property. Because the song lacks a traditional “pop” format (verse 1 / chorus / verse 2 / chorus / bridge / chorus), there is a sense of the story ending unresolved. Fortunately, she has an excellent album (one of my favorites) from 2018 called “Clean” where you can learn more of her story. 8.) “Pristine” by Snail Mail A stunning debut from 19-year-old Lindsey Jordan, “Lush” is a 2018 release not to miss. “Pristine” perfectly encapsulates teenage life and love - “it just feels like the same party every weekend. Doesn’t it?” There is such a sense of genuine hormonal angst that she is almost joyfully celebrating. Her album reads more like a diary - and how lucky she is to have these future memories and be able to approach them with such wisdom.

9.) "Uncomfortably Numb" - American Football feat. Hayley Williams Paying homage to Pink Floyd, legendary emo band American Football joins with Paramore's lead singer Hayley Williams for a devastating track about losing emotional sensation. "I blame my father in my youth / Now as a father, I blame the booze." I couldn't find too much information on the exact inspiration behind the track, but it's the second track released off their upcoming album out March 22nd. Hayley is usually front and center as a singer, and it's interested to hear her take more of a backing role, as well as explore a bit of a lower vocal range than she usually does.

10.) “Geyser” - Mitski Mitski absolutely killed it last year with “Be The Cowboy,” which was consistently rated not only in the top 5 best albums, not only top 3, but making MULTIPLE end of year lists as the number one album of 2018. It’s easy to see why, given the incredible breadth of music she wrote for her album. I see Mitski's influence reflected in the rise of fame in other punk-inspired female vocalists in the indie scene, building off her ability to capture the attention of a wide audience. Which is also very interesting because she incorporated elements of many other genres on this album (spot any disco on “Nobody”?) While it was difficult to pick one song for my playlist, “Geyser” stands out to me as not only an excellent album opener, but a fascinating look into Mitski’s own relationship with the art she creates. In an interview, she explains that this song is about her feeling like she has to create music because she would never be satisfied in life without it, but feeling sometimes stifled, stuck, and resentful when she puts music above basic needs such as her health and self-care. She needs her art to survive but it simultaneously kills her.

11.) “Me & My Dog” - boygenius It’s impossible to pick just one song of this album. Boygenius is the supergroup of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker - who each could also have one of their incredible solo songs on my playlist. Partially because they enjoyed each other’s creative energies and partially as a response to constantly being compared to each other as “women in indie,” the trio came together to create an EP of emo-influenced, folk-inspired gorgeous tracks about grief, loneliness, identity, and heartbreak. This particular song features Phoebe Bridgers in the verses and is a beautiful representation of the embarrassing and frustrating feeling of being in love with an ex. Please check out the individual work of these artists too!

12.) "bless ur heart" - serpentwithfeet Serpentwithfeet, aka Josiah Wise, has a gorgeous, intimate voice throughout his 2018 debut album, soil. This song starts off with a question of how his art will be received by the world. The rest of the song is a tender message of gratitude to his first love. It seems like Josiah questioned the choice to speak about his experiences with his ex in such a public fashion - with complexities of privacy, being open about sexuality, and possible painful memories on the table. Josiah's writing is very much like poetry, and his raw, unfiltered, un-autotuned vocals match the beauty of his words.

13.) "Bury A Friend" - Billie Eilish 17-year-old Billie Eilish is set to release her debut album, When We Sleep, Where Do We Go? next month. This song matches her goth aesthetic with a creepy story from the perspective of the monster under the bed. We learn that the monster is part of Billie herself, who is struggling with her own demons. 14.) "Loading Zones" - Kurt Vile A gorgeous guitar track, Kurt Vile paints a picture of his hometown Philadelphia and feeling on top of the world exploring his city's streets. He included a hilarious marketing strategy of sending fake parking tickets to fans in the mail to promote the song. Kurt Vile talks about the metaphor of "I park for free," which is how he sometimes lives his life - breaking the dumb rules because it's his life, his streets, his town. 15.) "Dylan Thomas" - Better Oblivion Community Center Is it possible to already be nostalgic for the late 2000's? Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers released this surprise collaboration last month and this is the standout track for me. Conor Oberst's incredibly recognizable voice is hard to match in terms of strength, timbre, and uniqueness. While Bridgers is young enough to be from a different generation than him (she also grew up listening to Oberst's music), he saw something in her that resonated with him. I love how they sing in unison on this track (and much of the album) and think their voices sound really good together.

16.) "Butterflies" - Kacey Musgraves Kacey Musgraves is bringing a breath of fresh air to country. After self-releasing three albums, she tried her hand at reality TV through Nashville Star over a decade ago. Golden Hour is her fourth album using a record label, and she just won Album of the Year at the Grammys! Her voice is beautiful and has an earnest, authentic approach in joining elements of country pop. 

17.) “Prior Things” - Hop Along “Bark Your Head Off, Dog” is Hop Along’s third album, released in 2018. Singer/songwriter Frances Quinlan has the ability to transform the themes of her songs. Layered with a multitude of different sounds and instruments, it could easily sound scattered and busy, but instead feels like we are huddled around a campfire with an enthusiastic, stream-of-consciousnesses storyteller. “Prior Thing” is the last song on the album and crosses time, space, and memories with the start of a hallucinogenic drug trip. She has the ability to take a phrase and transform the expected - pausing or elongating notes at unexpected places. This method keeps you invested in figuring out what the song is really about or what the conclusion is. 18.) "Kids" - Pup Emo/pop punkers Pup have a new album Morbid Stuff coming out on April 5th. Their songs are made for live shows - shouting/singing alternates, sing-a-long catchy lyrics reminiscent of the Hold Steady, and unison whole-band lines. Pup frontman Stefan Babcock said this song is about finding someone who agrees with your view of the world being a fucked up place, and enjoying small moments of solace in spending time with them. 

SPOTIFY

Don't forget to subscribe to my playlists on Spotify! Here is the link to listen to this year's mixtape on Spotify.

I try to add new songs at least once a week to this playlist: What I'm currently lovin' (updated freq)

-----

I hope you guys enjoy the new music and feel free to send me recommendations of anything you like!<3 aili

Previous Mixtapes:

Autumn Love mix | Autumn Love Spotify

Copenhagen mix | Copenhagen Spotify

Valentine's Day downbeat 2010

Valentine's Day upbeat 2010

Valentine's Day 2011

Philadelphia mix | Philadephia Spotify

New Crime mix | New Crime Spotify

The City mix | The City Spotify

Drive mix | Drive Spotify

Valentine's Day 2012 | VDay 2012 Spotify

King's Myth mix | King's Myth Spotify

Hold On mix | Hold On Spotify

Valentine's Day 2013 | Vday 2013 Spotify

Valentine's Day 2014 | Vday 2014 Spotify

Valentine's Day 2015 | Vday 2015 Spotify

Valentine's Day 2016 | Vday 2016 Spotify

Valentine's Day 2017| Vday 2017 Spotify

Valentine's Day 2018 | Vday 2018 Spotify

[aion-rsa]

Iron Fist Season 3 Would Have Been its Peak, Says Finn Jones

https://ift.tt/3pdqQV9

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is fielding a massive multimedia transition with star-studded television projects—launched with the current run of Disney+ series WandaVision—complementing the studio’s theatrical slate. While that initiative has relegated its former small screen endeavor, the Netflix “Street Level” Marvel shows, to the proverbial bin of forgotten toys, Iron Fist star Finn Jones maintains that his nixed Netflix series would have completed a poignant arc, as he reveals with plot details for the never-realized third season.

Iron Fist, like continuity-connected cohorts Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher and crossover team-up The Defenders, became the casualty of a shifting landscape when Disney decided to cut out the production and distribution middle men (namely Netflix,) and have Marvel Studios natively produce more directly-connected MCU television projects for its own Disney+ platform. However, Jones—also a Game of Thrones alumnus, who has since moved on to co-star on Apple TV+ series Dickinson—recently dished some intriguing details to Collider on what was planned for Danny Rand/Iron Fist for the show’s unrealized third season.

“I was so excited to get into that. It really was gonna be about Danny finally assuming the role of the Iron Fist, fully accomplished, fully charged up, and fully in control of his shit as well. It was gonna be this amazing story [with] Danny and Ward [Tom Pelphrey’s Ward Meachum] off in foreign lands as a buddy storyline almost,” explains Jones. “And then, you had Colleen [Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing] in New York, isolated with this new power, struggling to come to terms with her identity and with this power. At some point, we would have met again and probably formed this crazy power couple [or] superhero relationship.”

Pertinent to that notion, Jones confirms that Raven Metzner, who managed to turn things around as executive producer/showrunner for Season 2, had mapped out where things would be headed for Iron Fist Season 3, which he genuinely thought was moving forward. These plans were close to fruition before the dragon-heart-powered pilgrimage of his Danny Rand/Iron Fist officially came to an abrupt end in October 2018. It’s a shame, since the series—while unlikely to grace any Emmy categories—arguably managed to achieve a level of redemption and growth under Metzner in Season 2 after a meandering inaugural season by expanding its mystical martial arts mythology and having co-star Henwick’s Colleen Wing come into her own in an impressive, super-powered manner when she—as Jones mentioned—inherited Danny’s power of the Iron Fist.

Read more

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The series ended things in Season 2 with a teaser tag scene set in Japan, showcasing the Danny/Ward team in action, with Danny having inexplicably regained his Iron Fist powers—except now in both fists—which he channels through a pair pistols à la Dante from the Devil May Cry video games. Unfortunately, we’ll never get to see more of this buddy-movie-like dynamic. “It’s horrible. It’s like the death of a friend or a close family member,” laments Jones. “You’ve spent years building this other world within yourself and sharing this other person with the whole world. Usually, with films or plays, you get to see that arc through. There’s a journey. But with Iron Fist, it was like we just got to the peak. We were just getting there. We’d just turned the show around. We had just done so much great work, really getting the train back on the tracks.”

Interestingly enough, fans who have stuck by the legacy of the Marvel Netflix shows might just see a champion surface in the codified MCU, as implied by a recent rumor that Charlie Cox’s Daredevil will return on the big screen in the untitled Sony-produced franchise offering, Spider-Man 3, prospectively teaming the sonar-sensing Hell’s Kitchen hero with a fellow New Yorker in Tom Holland’s Wall-Crawler; a rumor that Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige somewhat teased when pressed for an answer. Yet, the potential multiverse implications of that film, along with what’s happening on WandaVision, and what could subsequently occur in the 2022-scheduled sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, renders further speculation a rather perilous endeavor at the moment.

However, the DNA of mysticism and martial arts that Iron Fist specifically established for its abandoned MCU-adjacent territory could prospectively resurface on the big screen with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which will see up-and-coming actor Simu Liu manifest as the character originated in Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu title in the 1970s. That film is currently scheduled to hit theaters on July 9, although that date might still be a tad too optimistic with the current rate of COVID vaccinations, and the fact that the film still conspicuously (in the middle of February,) hasn’t released an official photo, much less a trailer.

Marvel Comics

Indeed, the mythology of Shang-Chi will be immersed in a dynamic of mythical sorcery similar to Iron Fist, although, in this case, the titular hero—while believed to be the most skilled fighter in the Marvel Universe—does not possess any significant superpowers other than using his chi to perform near-superhuman feats. With such similar themes, the characters have obviously crossed paths in the pages of the comics, which opens interesting possibilities—especially if the rumored Daredevil Spider-Man 3 appearance primes the pump for more Netflix heroes to make the big screen jump.

While it’s doubtful that Finn Jones will be asked to reprise Iron Fist in any capacity, we could see characters and elements from Iron Fist imported to a prospective Shang-Chi sequel; something that could prove auspicious for the once-teased “Daughters of the Dragon” spinoff concept, in which Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing, Simone Missick’s Misty Knight and Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple would have assembled the team from the pages of the Iron Fist comic and subsequent standalone titles. Indeed, the prospect of that trio being retained for a big screen appearance is better than Jones returning as Iron Fist, since that character would more likely be recast (and you can follow me down the rabbit hole of potential MCU implications on that concept).

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Nevertheless, Jones clearly retains a bittersweet recollection of his time as Marvel’s “Living Weapon” on the late Netflix series, a run that only consisted of two seasons of Iron Fist and one season of The Defenders. “Really, Season 3 just had so much promise and it’s a shame to see it squandered and never get to reach its full potential.” He continues, “And then, within three weeks of it being released, all of [the Marvel Netflix shows] were wiped out. It was sad. It was stunted. It felt like losing a dear friend. It’s just a shame. There’s not much else I can say.”

The post Iron Fist Season 3 Would Have Been its Peak, Says Finn Jones appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3rLh3Hg

[playchoices]

Inside Choices: Rules of Engagement Series Finale

When Rules of Engagement: Book One launched back in September of 2016, everyone at Pixelberry was over the moon and, to be honest, pretty nervous. This was the first completely new book to come out after the initial three launch books, and we didn't know how it would be received.

Before that, the Rules of Engagement team had spent months brainstorming, outlining, and writing the planned trilogy. The art team magicked together luxurious cruise ship art in record time. What started out as the jokingly coined "love on a boat" book transformed into a globe-trotting adventure. The series is now over, but will return for a short holiday special book titled Newlyweds. For a final look at Rules of Engagement, I interviewed a few of its writers...

The curtains have closed on the Rules of Engagement trilogy. First, I've gotta ask... How do you feel?

Kara: I'm sad to see the story end! I can't believe it was just over a year ago that we came up with these characters and their stories. It's been a crazy ride, particularly since the Rules team pushed themselves pretty hard (we launched Book 2 and 3 with no break in between, which is really hard on the team!). I've really come to love all of the characters, even those that seemed less lovable at the start, and it's been such a fun product to get to explore the different voices of the siblings and their friends and love interests. I wasn't very involved in Book 3 other than the brainstorms, so it's been such a delightful surprise to see how the new writers have steered the ship.

Coco: It's very nostalgic for me. Rules of Engagement was the very first series I worked on when I started working at Pixelberry, so it's been a great cruise ship journey seeing the series through from joining in on Book One all the way to the end. We're all headed to other exciting projects after this, but Rules and its characters will always be very special to me!

Did the series go the way you expected? Were there any surprise detours along the way?

Ariel: A huge surprise for me was liking the cousin! Her arc felt really genuine, which is part of why it was easy to understand her point of view. Playing from her perspective really helped us see the good in her, as well Chaz's bird's-eye view of her. He brings out the best in her, and now they're the cutest couple!

Jennifer: This is kind of a spoiler alert for book one, but an unexpected thing that came out of Rules was tying Leo being the prince of Cordonia to the Prince in The Royal Romance. We'd always planned on doing a romantic royal adventure, but this twist wasn't part of the original picture. Kara and I are having so much fun working together on The Royal Romance right now, and doing it this way, as a spin-off, feels so perfect.

The Rules of Engagement cruise took the crew all over the world. What was your favorite place to visit, story-wise?

Coral: Istanbul was really different art wise and provided a look into cultures we didn’t get to see much of for a lot of the cruise. It was so cool to write scenes around the architecture there and and explore what made the city special. It also might be my favorite because so many important storylines converged there, such as the cousin and bookish sister coming together to light the lantern, and being able to emotionally connect.  

Coco: I absolutely loved getting to visit Iceland! The Aurora Borealis is high on my list of sights to see, and the art in that cutscene is so beautiful and colorful. It felt meaningful that we got to pair that setting with a very emotional talk between the bookish sister and Audrey that illuminates parts of Audrey's life that we hadn't gotten to hear about previously. My hope is that getting to travel virtually through Rules inspires people to look around their surroundings for the next adventure, even if that just means looking at your own backyard with a new perspective or curious lens!

There were plenty of plot twists, alongside heartwarming and hilarious scenes. What was your favorite moment of the whole series?

Kara: My favorite moment was when William Sloan takes you out for gelato in Italy way back in Book 1. It was one of the first dates I've written for Choices and I felt like I was getting to write the perfect date.

Ariel: One of my favorite moments was the scene where Chaz and the brother were shipwrecked on the island together. Every part of it was so fun from Chaz remarking on the beautiful shells to them falling in the hole. It made me laugh out loud!

Will we ever see the Rules of Engagement family again? Any plans for crossovers?

Kara: There are plans for an epilogue-style mini-book that'll take place after a slight time jump. While the story of Rules is complete, we wanted to show what life is like off the boat for the family... and what's next for them after the wackiness of the inheritance tasks has ended!

Coco: Yep! This shorter holiday special will explore how the family adjusts to life after the cruise, and especially how they struggle to remain close in spite of the many changes in their lives. We hope that it'll also be fun for players to experience the romance and excitement of newlywed life!

Finally, what's next for Team Rules of Engagement? Aside from Rules of Engagement: Newlyweds, of course.

Coral: I’m the newest member on the Rules team, so it’s really exciting to be able to keep working with a great teammate like Ariel on a new project. We have some amazing ideas we’re excited to share when the time is right!

Kara: Rules is probably the series that has had the most writers work on it over the last year. You can see that reflected in the zany humor, heartwarming sibling stories, family cultural heritage, and other elements that made it into each book. Every writer contributed something valuable and wonderful throughout this journey. Earlier on, some of the team moved off Rules to work on newer series, like LoveHacks and The Royal Romance (and another new book that's coming soon!). Others are just now getting ready to start exciting new projects that won’t launch until next year...

Can't wait! To those reading along, we hope you enjoyed this journey on Ember of the Sea. The holiday season is just around the corner, and the Choices team has a few surprises planned for the winter months!

-Jessica

[thejacketandthehook]

When Emma Met the Doctor

Title: When Emma Met the Doctor 2/?

Author: thejacketandthehook (aka everystareverywhere)

Summary:  Emma Swan was just living her normal day-to-day life when she suddenly met two time travelers willing to take her anywhere in the universe. And where they land will change Emma’s life forever. Crossover fic.

Rating: General

Word Count:  9874

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Once Upon a Time belongs to ABC and Doctor Who belongs to BBC.

Author’s Notes: Merry Christmas @distant-rose! I am your Captain Swan Secret Santa! (@cssecretsanta) When I noticed that you like Doctor Who and Once Upon a Time, I knew I had to write a Crossover fic (which was something that I had wanted to do for a while, but you gave me the push to do it). I am sorry this is late.

If you’re not familiar with Doctor Who, the first chapter goes into detail about the premise of the show and what exactly it’s about. (Don’t worry, Emma had no idea what was going on either, so everything had to be explained to her). The second chapter is much more set in Once Upon a Time.

I had originally planned on writing only two chapters, but this story is taking on a life of it’s own and now it’s going to be more than two. Hope you enjoy! 

Chapter One 

A30

Emma was lost.

All she was trying to do was find her way back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. But she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because she could not find her way.  

She spun around, just to see if anything look familiar, but unfortunately she was in a forest. So every tree looked like the one from before. She stayed on the dirt road, hoping that eventually she would just find that blasted time machine, but no big blue box was in view.

Emma continued walking when she bumped into someone. Before Emma clearly knew what was happening, the person grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her off of the "road" and further into the forest. Before she could yell more than a "Hey!" the person, a man, clomped his hand over her mouth and looked with anxious eyes out towards the beaten path.

While he was distracted, Emma started breathing heavily, her blood boiling, her heart pounding. If he didn't let her go within the next five seconds, she would not be held accountable for her actions. Her hands slowly made fists and her brow furrowed. His hand (which was had three heavy rings on it) was covering her mouth, but not to the point that she couldn't move it.

"What the hell?" she asked from beneath his hand. But because it was covered, it sounded more like "Hazz tzz hzz."

The man shushed her. His body was close to hers, to the point that if she moved five inches forward, they would be chest to chest. He was wearing a heavy leather jacket with a red vest underneath. Since he wasn't looking at her, she could only make out his profile which showed a longish nose and a bit of a chin. His hair was much like the Doctor's in its style, but it was much darker. Almost to the point of black. And unlike the Doctor, this man had a nice stumble going on.  

Emma was about to make another comment, this one including some words harsher than "hell" when she heard something she didn't notice before: the sound of horses. They were definitely running, at full gallop she would imagine. Was he running from a stampede? Then she turned her head to see not one, but six horses going by, two of which were pulling a black carriage, while the other four held men completely dressed in black, even their faces.

When they finally passed, the man backed up and let go of her mouth. "Sorry about that, love. But I don't need the Evil Queen finding me." He had a British accent. Of course he did. What was with all the British accents all of a sudden?

Emma stared at the man in shock. First it was because of what he said. Evil Queen? Was he serious? Then it was because of his face. Oh, he was handsome. He had a long, full face, with a pronounced goatee,  and the stumble certainly enhanced his jawline. But what made her really pause was his blue eyes. She was certain that she must have seen eyes that blue before, but she certainly couldn't remember. They were stunning.

And they were currently checking her out.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he smirked.

Emma rolled her eyes. She was no longer intrigued by his appearance (though, hot damn, really). She was now more annoyed. "What we have here is a really pissed off woman. Who was that? Why were you hiding from them? Was that seriously the Evil Queen? Like from Snow White?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "You don't know the Evil Queen? How is that possible?"

Emma gestured to herself. "Do I look like I belong here?"

The man once more looked her up and down. She wasn't exactly upset by that, since she kind of invited him to do so. But he was taking way too much time. "Can't say that you do, love."

Emma knew she stuck out in her leather jacket and tight jeans with boots. She may not have actually seen anyone about, but she knew how people dressed in fairy tales, thanks to the movies. But instead of feeling awkward about it, this man made Emma feel...like she was something of interest. Something exciting. And probably for him living in this forest, Emma's clothes were something interesting.

"Right. So, since I don't belong here, explain to me why you're scared of the Evil Queen."

"I'm not scared of her!" he proclaimed.

Emma folded her arms across her chest and stuck out her chin. "Could of fooled me. You ran when you heard the carriage coming and made sure that neither of us made a peep. I would say that is the actions of a guilty conscience."

"Not a guilty conscience. Just one that owes a lot of debts. And I don't exactly what to pay them back. At least, not until I'm back on my ship."

"Your ship...?" Emma started to ask when she looked down and noticed something very odd indeed. Instead of a left hand, the man had a hook. And honest-to-God silver hook. How had she not noticed that before?

But then it suddenly it came to her. She's in a land full of fairy tale characters. The accent. A ship. His hook. That could only mean..."Oh my God. You're Captain Hook!"

He smirked again. "Ah, you've heard of me."

Emma shook her head. This was getting ridiculous. "I can't believe you're freaking Captain Hook. I mean, they couldn't have been more wrong about your appearance, but still--"

"What, wait? My appearance? They were wrong? Who was wrong?"

"Not important right now. What's important is that I need to find someone. Well, two people actually. And I have no idea where to start."

"Well, I can certainly lend you my talents in finding whoever it may be."

"Aren't you good on water? And running away from a crocodile that ticks like a clock?"

His eyebrows pinched together. "What?"

She waved her hand. "Nevermind. I need to find a man and a woman. Their names are Rose Tyler and the Doctor. Have you heard of them? Or heard anything about them?"

He shook his head. "No, love. Can't say that I have. However, if we stick together we might be able to locate them. As it may be, I know a lot of people on land who might be able to help in the journey."

Emma sighed. "Well, I don't really have a lot of options and I do need to find them so that I can get home. Okay, you can come along as well. I guess."

Hook gave a genuine smile, and Holy. Crap. "It would be my honor." He held out his hand. "I'm Killian Jones, by the way, though people do call me Hook. What's your name, love?"

She took his hand. "Emma Swan."

He gave a small kiss on the knuckles before lowering her hand. "Emma Swan. I liked that."

~*~

"So, Doctor, what exactly are we looking for?" Rose asked, giving a small skip before taking the Doctor's arm and wrapping herself on it.

He simply smiled before saying, "What we always look for, Rose. Adventures."

She smiled as well. "Or trouble, as Mum would say."

"Ah, like I told Jackie, trouble's just the little bits in between. Certainly there would be nothing but peace and quiet in a small fairy tale town."

Rose snorted. "Have you actually read a fairy tale? There's always a witch or warlock or someone who wants power and therefore causes trouble."

"And the brave princess, prince, street rat, what have you, they save everyone. We might not need to do anything."

As appealing as it would be to enjoy the quiet, that actually upset Rose a bit. "Would be nice, to just enjoy the scenery."

The Doctor laughed. "I'm sure someone, somewhere will be having a crisis."

Rose smiled at that. "I'm sure." They were quiet again, when Rose asked, "How do you think Emma's making out? Think she found the T.A.R.D.I.S?"

"Hope so. Can't believe that she didn't want to go exploring."

"Some people can't handle it."

"Like that bloke, Adam was it? Fainted when he realized that he was so far from home."

"Hey! I thought we promised never to mention him again. Big mistake bringing him on board, I get that now."

The Doctor laughed again. Once he quieted down, Rose wondered out loud, "I wonder what Emma's story is. She seemed hesitate about coming on board, but she didn't say anything about a family or even friends. And now she's skittish about being here."

He shrugged. "We could ask her the next we see her."

Rose looked over her shoulder. "Maybe we should go back. Take her home, yeah?"

The Doctor stopped, causing Rose to stop as well. "Yeah, we should."

They turned around and headed back towards the T.A.R.D.I.S.

~*~

"So, where are you from?"

Emma looked over at Hook. She raised an eyebrow. "I don't do small talk."

"Do you talk at all?"

"I'm just focusing on trying to get home."

"And where is that?"

She shook her head. Somehow she knew he wasn't going to let it go. Not giving a direct answer, she simply responded, "It ain't Neverland."

He looked at her from the corner of his eye before responding, "Ah, but an orphan's an orphan, no matter where you're from."

She stopped and looked at him. "Why would you say that?"

"I had been on that island a long time, lass. I've seen the look in the Lost Boys eyes. The look of being betrayed by the ones who are supposed to protect you the most."

"And what, you see that in my eyes? That's bullshit."

He raised an eyebrow. "First the outfit, now the language. Are you sure you're not a pirate in this land you've come from?"

"No, I'm not a pirate." She turned and continued walking. "Where in hell are we?"

"The Enchanted Forest."

"Yeah, no, I got that part. But I mean what part of the Enchanted Forest? I haven't seen anyone else on this path. Where the hell are the villages?"

"You've got a mouth on you, don't you?"

"You have a problem with how I talk?" she turned towards him quickly.

"No, lass," he replied, "I'm simply trying to make out your character."

"And what have you discovered?"

He smirked. "Probably more than you would like. You're a bit of an open book."

She raised her eyebrows at that. "Oh really?"

"Aye."

She crossed her arms. "And just what have you discovered?"

He looked at her before standing up straight and answering, "You're an orphan. Based on how you hold yourself, I'm going to say you were quite young when you were left. Your outfit, though alluring, is meant to keep people away. Like an armor, almost. And you pride yourself on being unreadable, but lass, you should never go up against someone who knows exactly what you've gone through."

"Which is what?"

He shrugged, as though his answer wasn't that big of a deal. "Pain. Abandonment. Betrayal. I could go on, really."

He continued walking as she caught her breath. He was right on the button, actually, and that scared her a bit. How did he know...

That's when she tilted her head to the side a bit before running after him. She forced him to stop by grabbing his arm as she said, "You've been betrayed. That's how you know how it feels."

"I believe the saying is 'Takes one to know one.'"

"Yeah, it is. But what I mean is, you're more than just that pirate on Neverland who wanted to kill Peter Pan. I'll be honest, never quite knew why though. But how were you betrayed? Who hurt you?"

He clicked his tongue before continue to walk. "This isn't about me, love."

"Like hell, it's not," she accused as she walked beside him. "You can read me, but I can't read you? What about 'Takes one to know one'?"

"Fine!" he shouted as he turned towards her. "You want to know about me? I was betrayed, it's true. I know the pain, the heartache. It's not something I wish to go through again. I'm simply trying to make conversation."

"Why? As soon I find the Doctor and Rose, I'm outta here. Why do you care about me?"

He simply looked at her for a moment before asking, "Why do you ask such a question, as though you're not important?"

Her eyes grew large and she was certain her stomach fell. Why indeed.

But before she could respond, they heard a scream. Both of them went running towards the sound, cutting through the forest. Emma was sure that if she wasn't wearing her red leather jacket, she would have certainly scratched up her arms, thanks to all the small branches.

When they finally did make it to another road, all Emma could see was a carriage, a smallish one that was brown and had only one horse driving it. But there was definitely a scream coming from it. As Emma and Hook ran towards it, the carriage took off, as though there was someone driving it. However, except for the screaming woman, Emma did not see another person near that carriage.

"What the hell?" she muttered as she saw something from the corner of her eye. Out from another patch of trees, were the Doctor and Rose, clearly coming when they heard the woman screaming.

"Help me!" the woman screamed. She reached out a hand from between the bars. "Help!"

The four of them chased after the carriage, trying to get as close to it as they could without getting hurt. The Doctor reached out and actually grabbed the woman's hand, but he was no match for the speed, though he was the fastest of the four. The woman's hand slipped out of his and they both screamed, "No!" as the carriage moved faster.

The Doctor collapsed on his knees, taking deep breathes. Emma, Rose, and Hook caught up with him, Rose kneeling beside him. "Doctor? Are you alright?"

The Doctor  shook his head. "Too fast," he muttered. He then opened his hand, and in the middle of his palm laid a ring. Emma picked it up between her fingers to look at it closer. It was a silver ring with a green emerald. It was simple, yet elegant.

"I don't recognize that ring from any story," Rose muttered. Emma put the ring on her finger, to make sure she knew where it was.

"Me either. Hook?"

The man shook his head. The Doctor and Rose both looked at the new addition. Rose's eyes almost bugged out of her head when she got a good look at him.

"Hello! Who's this?" she asked.

"Doctor, Rose, I'd like you to meet Captain Hook. Hook, these are the people I was talking about. The Doctor and Rose."

"Pleasure," Hook said with a small bow.

"All mine, I assure you," Rose grinned. The Doctor huffed before saying, "Yeah. Nice to meet you."

"Wait - You're Captain Hook?" Rose asked. "Like from Peter Pan?"

"Er, aye. I think."

Rose shook her head. "Wow, was your appearance wrong in the movie."

Killian yelled, "What did they get wrong about me appearance?!"

"Pretty much everything," Rose smirked.

"Can we focus, please?" the Doctor asked. "A woman just went missing. Do we have any idea who it might have been?"

"No," Emma answered. "But did anyone else notice that there was no driver?"

The Doctor nodded. "I did notice that. Which means one thing."

"Trouble?" Rose asked with a smirk.

The Doctor gave a small smile. "Well, yes. But also magic."

"I didn't think magic was real," Emma replied.

The Doctor simply waved his hand as he replied, "Magic is different all over. Your magic, for example, is science. You use math and science and you can split the atom. Here, it's a little more complicated than that."

"I assure you, magic here is extremely complicated," Hook said.

"You don't use chemistry or equations?" Emma asked.

Hook raised an eyebrow. "No," he responded, unsure. "People use potions. Spells."

"Spellbook?"

"Aye."

"So magic was pulling that carriage?" Rose asked. When Hook nodded, she continued, "Anyway you could know someone that powerful to kidnap a woman and pull a carriage without being near the site?"

"Just because we didn't see someone doesn't mean they aren't nearby," Emma pointed out.

"Smart lass," Hook muttered. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Swan's right. It could be any number of people. Magic is quite common, unfortunately."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Do you not like magic, Captain?"

"Magic comes with a price," he said, as though he heard that saying many times in the past. "I've learned to just live without it."

"But wasn't there magic on Neverland?" Emma asked. "That's how everyone stayed young."

"Aye. And I paid the price for living with that kind of magic."

"You don't look any worse for wear," Rose flirted. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"I've well over two hundred years old," Hook replied.

"Oh, he's got you beat," Rose smirked, tapping the Doctor on the chest. "He's over nine hundred years old."

Emma and Hook looked at the young looking man. "Seriously?" she asked.

"And I didn't have pixie dust," the Doctor joked.                

"We're getting off track," Emma responded, holding up her hands. "We need to find that woman."  

"That carriage is long gone now," Hook pointed out. "I suggest we go into town and see if people there know anything about a missing woman."

They agreed before walking.

~*~

Rose walked up to Emma and gestured to the two men in front of them. "So, how did you two meet? I thought you were going back to the T.A.R.D.I.S.?"

"I was. I got lost. Hook was hiding from the Evil Queen and grabbed me so that I wouldn't be seen either."

"Hmm, romantic," Rose laughed.

"Oh yeah," Emma responded sarcastically. "Definitely the beginning of a love story."

Rose giggled. She quieted down before asking, "So what's your story? You know a bit about mine. From 2006 London. Mum and boyfriend waiting for me back home."

"Yeah, how did you meet the Doctor?"

"He blew up my job."

"Hmm, romantic," Emma joked.

Rose laughed as well before quieting down. "No, but seriously, there was an alien invasion in London in 2005 and he stopped it. I was right beside him, only because our paths kept crossing. Then he told me he could travel anywhere in time and space and...Well, I couldn't say no."

"So how long have you been traveling with him? I mean, I know you travel through time, but...I don't know how to ask this without being confusing."

"I know what you mean. And honestly, I can't tell you. I mean, you lose all sense of time in the T.A.R.D.I.S."

Emma hummed. "Makes sense."

"But you still haven't told me your story."

"Not much to tell," Emma mumbled.

"Oh, come on," Rose urged.

Seeing how there probably wasn't a village for a couple of miles, Emma sighed. "Fine." She was silent, but Rose didn't urge her again. Finally, Emma said, "I was abandoned when I was only a month old. I was found on the side of a road. I was then shipped off to foster house to foster house, never once finding a family that I could call my own. When I was sixteen, I had enough and ran away."

Emma grew silent. Rose asked in a low voice, "Well, since you're obviously not a teenager, what happened next?"

Emma shifted her shoulder, clearly uncomfortable. "What is with the sudden interest in my life?"

Rose held up her hands. "I'm just trying to - "

"Make conversation," they finished together.

Emma shook her head. "You can take a lesson from him," she said, gesturing to Hook.

"Life sucks, I get that," Rose finally said in a low voice. "And, though I had a tough childhood, it was nothing compared to what you've gone through.  And the Doctor and I...we just want to help people. Maybe we can help you locate your parents...?"

"No!" Emma said firmly. "They didn't want me, so why in the world would I go looking for them?"

Rose shrugged. "Aren't you curious about where you came from?"

Of course she was curious, who wouldn't be? But she didn't want to show that vulnerable side, especially to someone she just met. So instead, she shook her head and just said, "No."

After a moment, Rose nodded. "Okay." And she let the conversation drop.

About thirty minutes later, Hook finally yelled, "There's a village up ahead."

The village was something out of movie. It was certainly small, and the buildings were made with either bricks or some sort of clay that looked extremely strong. There were vendors all over the street, urging the four of them (or anyone really) to sample, just sample, the amazing foods they had. Everything they had made Emma's stomach turn and she simply shook her head no.

The four of them did ask people in town if they had heard anything about a missing woman. Though some offered information, it was clearly not someone who went missing recently. Finally, Hook suggested getting some refreshments in the local pub and a beer sounded really good to Emma at that moment.

The four found a table off to the side, and Hook went off to get drinks.

"This is fun!" Rose commented. The Doctor smiled as he took everything in. "Don't really read about pubs in a fairy tale story."

"Too much magic and destruction for the prince to go off and get a pint, huh," Emma observed.

When Hook returned, he gave each a stein before sitting next to Emma and taking a gulp.

The Doctor sniffed his drink before asking, "What's this?"

"Rum," Hook responded.

Emma nodded. "So some stereotypes are true." But needing a drink so badly, Emma picked it up and took a gulp. It's burned going down, but otherwise wasn't too bad.

Rose had just opened her mouth to say something when knights walked in. They were clearly not from the Evil Queen, but rather from the new King and Queen. As Emma had seen before, the knights wore silver garments and a red cloth over it which had a crest on it.

One knight stood forward, and cleared this throat before projecting, "We come with despairing news. The Queen, Her Royal Highness, Snow White of Misthaven, has been taken. Does anyone have any knowledge of this capture?" When no one spoke, the knight continued, "Ten thousand pounds will be given to anyone who has any information in her disappearance." Suddenly at least two dozen people got up and either ran over with information or ran out the door in hopes of finding some information.

The Doctor stood up, "We have some knowledge of what happened."

One knight walked over to them. He was a handsome man, with messed up brown hair and a beard. "Yes?"

The Doctor told the knight about what they saw in the forest. When the knight offered to give him money, the Doctor refused, stating he doesn't want to see a pound. ("Bleeding heroes" Hook muttered). The knight simply nodded before thanking him for the information and leaving.

Once the Doctor sat down, the four of them sat still until the knights left, taking most of the pub with them. Hook looked down at his drink before shaking his head, "Poor lass. Something always happens to her."

"Who? Snow White?" Emma asked. "I know that she ate that poison apple, but then Charming kissed her and everything was right with the world."

"Ah, but if only their story ended there," he replied. "Unfortunately, it did not."

"What happened next?" Rose asked, leaning forward. Even the Doctor settled in, waiting to hear the story.

"Well, I only know a few pieces. Life on the water, I don't always get the full gossip on land, and most times I hear it by accident," Hook informed them before he began. "But I believe I have this right. On the day of their wedding, the Evil Queen barged in and proclaimed that she would cast a curse that would make everyone miserable, except for her. Of course everyone was scared, but Snow and Charming kept their wits about them and within a few months, she was defeated and banished. However, her knights still travel to this part of the realm, mostly so she can get money or other debts back from whoever took from her."

"Like you?" Emma recalled.

"Aye. I do owe her, and I will pay her back, but I haven't been to the Jolly Roger. And now there are more pressing matters," he said with a small wink. Emma tried not to smirk before lightly shaking her head and urging him to continue.

"Well, the story continues that after the Evil Queen was defeated, Snow found out she was pregnant. They were of course so happy at the idea of bringing a new royal into the family and celebrated  every chance they got. But --"

"Someone barged in on their celebrations?" Emma guessed.

He nodded. "Pretty much. Rumplestitskin." Hook shook with anger, and Emma made a note to get back to why the old evil elf made the captain so furious. "He proclaimed that the child would never see the light of day."

"Why did he want the baby?" the Doctor asked. "Isn't that how the fairy tale goes? That he wanted the maiden's child?"

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "But that was somewhat different. That woman married into royal life and she had to guess his name, yeah?"

"Correct," Emma responded. "And she had to have three guesses, or something like that."

Hook raised an eyebrow at the three of them. "What in bloody hell are you talking about?"

"The story of Rumplestitskin," Emma responded.

"Well, my dear, the story with Snow White is quite different. You see, Rumplestitskin is also known as the Dark One."

Rose and the Doctor sat up straighter. "What does that mean?" Rose asked.

"Means he possesses all the dark magic. Nothing is too cruel for him."

"How awful," Emma muttered.

Hook nodded. "You don't know the half of it." It was clear by his tone of voice that there was a deeper meaning in his words, but once more Emma knew now was not the time to get into it. He then gave a small cough and the darkness that was in his eyes disappeared and he became the light Hook she was getting used to. "Anyway, the story goes that Rumplestitskin threaten their child, saying that if their child was born, they would always be a threat to him and therefore he would try to get rid of it."

"Oh my God," Rose gasped. The Doctor looked shocked as well, though he said nothing.

Emma asked, "Did he succeed?"

Hook gave a small shrug. "I believe he somewhat did. You see, the King and Queen had a daughter and had a celebration for her and everything. About a month after her birth, the Queen went to check on the princess during the night and found that she was missing. The entire kingdom went into a panic, and every square foot was looked over three times. But she was never found."

"She's still missing?" Rose asked.

Hook nodded. "Aye."

"What about Rumplestitskin? Did he take her? I mean, were they certain?" Emma asked.

"Well, that's the thing. They checked his quarters again and again and again, but there was no sign that the princess had ever been there. They captured him, I believe, and they have him in a cell. But...the princess is still missing and the King and Queen just never got over that. They still hope that one day their princess will return home.

"What a sad story," Emma remarked.

Rose nodded in agreement before a thought accorded to her. "Wait. You said that Rumplestitskin wanted to get rid of the princess because she was a threat. How could a baby be a threat? Would it be like Harry Potter?"  

Hook tilted his head to the side before replying, "I have no idea who that is. But I can answer your first question. You see, the child was born out of True Love. And there is a theory that a child born from True Love will have magic unlike anyone has ever seen before. The purest of magic, to be exact. And only pure light magic can defeat dark magic."

"Which is why Rumple is shaking in his boots over a baby," Emma added.

Hook nodded. "Aye."

The Doctor finally said, "Well, we must go find Snow White and then maybe we can help find the lost princess."

"And where do you suggest we start, Doctor?" Rose asked.

"Well, we start at the source. Let's find this Rumplestitskin."

[waldowski89-blog]

Two Lazy Weeks in the Making… (somewhere at the beginning of August 2017)

(Edit: Okay, the title sounds more dramatic than the actual bulk of this post but lets get into the ramblings of a madman who talks about nothing whilst trying to make it sound interesting. I’m also going to have to do a lot of writing as I want to catch up with all the post I’ve missed… which is a lot. Off we go into the post then)

(After Edit: Scroll to the credits music at the bottom and you can also listen to some albums/music that I listened to while writing this)

Hello again, I’m back! Not that I really left. I’ve been over on Twitch and Twitter mainly. So I’ve got lots of plans for social media stuff and am keeping myself busy. I know this shouldn’t be a diary type thing. Those can be boring. Especially mine seen as nothing much really happens in my life… honest!

I will be starting an Instagram account this week… yay! Please feel free to follow me on all my different accounts. It sounds like it’s all me me me (meme, har har) but I promise you it will all be entertaining… like a train wreck is entertaining. Tune in to watch a fully grown man go slowly insane. (Edit: That’s a laugh)

I’ve said before that: “Waldowski” is a character of mine and he is. However, my own personality seems to be… “shining” through in his work… or my work I suppose.

(12/8/17 (Edit: English style date)):

Right, so I wrote the top part a few days ago (Thurs 10/8/17 I think) and now I’m coming back to this. I’m going back to my old schedule and goals and adding a few things. When I do Twitch streams, which should be everyday. TWITCH STREAM ERRYDAY *AIRHORNS* I may do longer than an hour. I just bought Assassin’s Creed Origins too so stay tuned for that, exciting stuff! (Edit: I literally just bought it because I forgot to enter the discount code. What a mess!)

I was watching a vid earlier about Michael Jackson’s involvement in creating the music for Sonic 3. It was very interesting and I have heard about this before. The whole thing is pretty much confirmed now but it’s interesting to follow all the theories and research that’s been done into this. I won’t reiterate what’s already been said but I will link the recent vid on the subject. There are links in there too so hopefully I haven’t sent you into a research, insomniac inducing frenzy of a pit of information where you’re just holding a steaming cup of coffee with straggly hair and bloodshot eyes just looking for your next fix on that Michael Jackson/Sega music conspiracy… and breathe. Sorry for that long sentence, I got carried away.

Okay I’m back writing this again on 13/8/17. I’m going to finish this post tonight! I’m watching Key and Peele again. Those guys are funny, anyway, what I’m doing is writing out four pages by hand with my brilliant Parker fountain pen… okay… I think I’ve really lost it. I’m coming back out of retirement (secret link of more Key and Peele I didn’t post on twitter) (Edit: I put it in the Research section below too. Also, thanks to Philip DeFranco for the idea of a secret link. What fun!)

More plans are a: “Let’s Read” YouTube channel called: “Waldowski Reads”. I still have to get a few things to set that up first. It will be much like a let’s play channel but with me trying to read a book… funny, eh?

This kinda reminds me of when I’d do work at University. I’d have to set goals, plan things, etc… I have been doing this but falling behind lately. In any case none of that matters now. I’ve gotta move on and get on with actually doing stuff.

So, everything’s planned out for a little while for me. Anything happening out there? (apart from all the bad news of course. I already know about that stuff) I genuinely mean it too with following me on social media. I try to talk to as many people as I can nowadays.

Blergh, how did I do this before? A few months ago I’d bang out 1,000 words like it was nothing.

Oh my God, I totally forgot, Na Wri Mo (Edit: Almost, but it’s Na NO Wri Mo because it happens in November) is happening soon. Ugh, I’d always wanted to try it for years. What I’m worried about is one whether what I write will be any good, if I stick to it (quitting will feel like a massive failure for me) and if I’ll take it seriously (nothing should, I suppose) (Edit: Kinda gave up on the numbering of reasons, didn’t I ?) but I’ve had a tendency to let things travel into the realm of ridiculousness before… hmn, maybe that’s a good thing? It might turn out silly and fun for once. I’m not putting “The Vague Chronicles” in there either. Maybe the characters can crossover, I dunno.

It’s pretty much 12:00am as I write this. I’m gonna get it finished before I sleep anyway. So it’s four sides of handwritten A4 pages… did I already write that?

In any case, I keep liking vids on YouTube but they don’t stay liked (random I know but what else can I write… look at this shit. How the fuck is my Na Wri Mo (Edit: Pleb) project going to look? I don’t even have a plan Jesus Christ. Also yes I’m swearing… I’ve been drinking a little bit too. I’m not an example of how life should be lived… this is just an account of how I’m living mine)

Shit, I’m supposed to disappear. Well, at least in novel writing I am. Writing is about the characters not me, at least that what I’ve been told. I’ve also been told: “Write what you know”.

Back again. Been distracted by life. In… anyway what I was saying was ugh… it doesn’t matter I’m not supposed to be in the story, my characters are… but why do I become them sometimes? I have to… that’s the point.

So, this is the last page (handwritten anyway)

Damn, look at this, I’m letting myself get distracted at every turn. It’s 4:04 in the morning and I haven’t finished. I’ll have to type all this up tomorrow. Hello me! Weird right? You’re typing this up and I’m talking to you. (Edit: … yes very… I hope I get back to the point, whatever it was)

So, seriously. I dunno. This pen is kinda cool, right? Tired AndwewsiesTM. This will go up on Tumblr. I know I’m irrelevant at the moment. So drunk WHO CARES ABOUT THAT!? Nevermobf.

So, Assassin’s Creed Origins is coming soon… in October. Hopefully I’ll be ready to do a let’s play/stream hey I might even do an unboxing. It’s a collector’s edition with a figure and other stuff too. I’ll do it like the vid I’m showing someone now. Wink wink. (Edit: It was just me reading the handwritten version out… HUSHIES) She gets to see the handwritten stuff. This is her day after all! The best fan/troll anyone could ever hope for.

Gosh my writing is getting bad, so drunk. I’m okay of course. Oh! So there’s like four things I think I have to link in this “blog”. Um, the Michael Jackson Sonic 3 vid, the music from the Jetzons associated with that, the Key and Peele vid, oh and finally the AC Origins pic.

I’m back but for now… goodbye and I will see… MAY see you tomorrow. My name’s Waldowski and thank you to everyone who read this or listened.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ILY UWU!

AW

Research Links:

A Brief History of Michael Jackson's Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The Jetzons - Hard Times(Sonic 3 Ice Cap Zone Act 1 & 2 Remix)

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker - Sega Genesis - Angry Video Game Nerd - Episode 63

I’m Coming out of Retirement One Last Time...

Credits Music:

Thought Beings - Italo Nights

Tommy '86 - Disco Machine - [FULL EP]

Nightcrawler - Strange Shadows - [FULL EP]

VHS Glitch - Halloween Strangers [FULL ALBUM]

Bonus

Off we go...

Into uncharted lands...

[renaroo]

Wednesday Roundup 15/6/2017

So this is a day late but in my defense I had a ridiculous amount of comics to get through with no one to blame but myself here. And you know what? I genuinely enjoyed almost everything. But does that mean every comic was good this week? And even so what did I think was the best? 

Honestly I don’t know how to write these intros for people who wouldn’t be here to read my opinion anyway so let’s just jump into it. 

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine, Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, DC’s Detective Comics, DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester, DC’s Justice League of America, Image’s Motor Crush, DC’s Superwoman, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DC’s Titans, IDW’s Transformers: Salvation, DC’s Wonder Woman

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine (2015-present) #21 Tom Taylor, Leonard Kirk, Cory Hamscher, Terry Pallot, Michael Garland

Okay I need this issue to reread a million times over because there are just so many things I love all at once. Like, oh my gosh. I was almost in tears multiple times because relationships! Healing! Supporting each other!

Wade and Gabby alone could just about make this issue perfect, but then you have Laura and Daken hugging and worried about each other, and Old Man Logan being likable for the first time in any of my readings of him. There’s so much I enjoy, though I find the cover rather deceiving. This is much more of a Howlett family reunion than anything else, though I did enjoy Riri’s parts in it.

I just eriously adore these characters and it meant a lot to see them all come together like they have here and that cliffhanger HURT so much more for it. 

I will nitpick the art a bit because we’ve been doing so good about keeping Laura in the Wolverine costume which is much preferred to her X-23 wardrobes, for sure, but this issue it pretty much looked exactly like one of her old costumes without the midriffs and it was kinda weird. I know she took off a lot of her armor for skin contact but it’s... idk. It was weird. 

The main thing I’m happy about though is that as we go on, I realize that literally all of the Marvel books I’ve kept are going out of their way to not involve themselves in Secret Wars and it’s kind of beautiful. Laura and Gabby are stuck on an island that’s quarantined (and I can pretend Wade’s there with them instead of whatever’s going on since I dropped Deadpool for the summer crossovers, thanks Tom Taylor!), Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are literally off world, and the rest are non-616. So yay me!

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (2016-present) #8 Gerry Conway, Ryan Stegman, Jesus Aburtov

For those who don’t know, Mary Jane Watson is genuinely one of my favorite Marvel characters and is easily one of the reasons I ever stuck with the Spider-Man comics for as long as I did was because of my interest in her and wanting to see her and Peter.

I can also thank her for my genuine attraction to redheads probably.

But one of the main reasons that I’ve loved this book so much is because, as written by Gerry Conway, this is the Peter and MJ of my dreams. I love them so much, and the complications that comes from their relationship and from growing older, raising a daughter, and MJ’s desire to continuously be the glue to keep both Peter and Annie together logically causes her to seek out a way to continue being Spinerette without syphoning off Peter’s powers. 

It’s almost like growing old, having a stable relationship, trying to keep things fresh while raising a kid, are all dramatic and worthy of good storytelling in their own right or something HMM.

Anyway, yes it’s completely on the nose where this is going and it’s a little curious how MJ’s not immediately aware of the connection between what’s going on with her right now and the horrible, arguably traumatizing experience she and Peter had, but who knows what’s canon anymore lol

Basically, I sideye a bit from a story point of view, but this series continues to make up for it with the real thing that matters to me: these characters and their development.

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #958 James Tynion IV, Aluaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson 

Honestly I really love the slower issues where Tynion takes more time to make moments for the relationships between the characters and give us interractions we didn’t know we wanted -- Kate going with Luke and Jean Paul to a basketball game, Cass and Clayface being adorable by reciting a play, Bruce at a poker game with a bunch of assholes in homage to Almost Got ‘im!? It was a lot of fun honestly. 

...

Okay I take issue with Cass’ dialogue. I know she was repeating lines from a tape and such but it’s weird to see her make so much progress when just two issues ago she was almost monosyllabic. Like... I want to see Cass gradually learning, I want to feel her frustration with hitting walls, I want to see her struggle and achieve despite the struggle because that gradual progression was honestly something we weren’t delivered in the former canon. We have a great opportunity for it here. 

But y’know. I’m particular with Cass and it’s hard to say where her baseline for reading and speech even is in this canon because her dyslexia may be in tact but her circumstances growing up are completely different. So I don’t know. 

Now. I’m a sucker for Bruce and Zatanna team-ups because I’m a schmuck but I’m really excited for next issue. Had a lot of fun with this one. This feels like a decent pace for Tynion -- at least in my opinion. 

DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016-2017) #10 Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl, Adam Archer, Massyk, Sandra Hope

This comic is speeding toward an end and I’m not sure if I’m ready! 

From the beginning, for me at least, the selling point for Gotham Academy has been just how much these kids felt like real teenagers and real friends with all their various relationships and connections, platonic or romantic or something in between. And it’s powerful to see that coming to play as an advantage to completing Olive’s arc, but also as a disadvantage since the consequences of many of her actions hurt that much more.

I’ll save a lot of my thoughts for a complete wrap up of the series but overall, very happy and very grateful for the continuously good read that is GA

DC’s Justice League of America (2016-present) Volume 1: Road to Rebirth Steve Orlando, Jody Houser, Ivan Reis, Andy MacDonald, Stephen Byrne, Jamal Campbell, Mirk Andolfo

WE GOTTA GET THE BAND BACK TOGETHER. WE’RE ON A MISSION FROM GAD. 

In all seriousness, I’m a huge fan of Vixen and Ryan Choi as well as a big fan of Justice League International, as it was in its 80s glory. So my interests with this particular lineup were piqued from the beginning and I made myself wait for the first volume to dive in. 

For the most part, this is a team gathering exercise. Characters that have lacked the spotlight in the last few years -- Vixen, Ray, Killer Frost, and the Atom -- were given whole issues to reintroduce them to this continuity. And honestly those issues were great. I really, really love the updated origins for them and feel that they’re a good blend of honoring the past of the characters as well as adapting them for a new world. 

Lobo, Batman, and Black Canary took back seat, but considering that there were already tensions showing within the group, I think it’s safe to assume that giving the spotlight to the rest of the team won’t always last this long. Things are nothing if not explosive among these members.

I really did mean it when I said this is a team gathering exercise, because there’s no first case to unite everyone. There’s not any real antagonists or team-ups we see to speakof. It was just getting hte jLA together. 

And for me it’s enough to get me intrigued, though I’d completely understand if people told me it was far from enough for them. 

Now they just need to add Big Barda, Booster Gold, and Ted Kord and I’ll be satisfied. 

Image’s Motor Crush (2016-present) Vol. 1 Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr

I was not the biggest fan of this team’s Batgirl team though I appreciated the aesthetics and what not. There just never seemed to be a storyline that really interested me and I couldn’t be sold on the characterization for Barbara. So I kept hearing about Motor Crush for the last year and was really itnerested in it so I wanted until this volume came out and. 

Well, quite simply, I’m in love.

Tell you what, those biker gangs that kept coming up really confusingly out of place in Batgirl make a hell of a lot more sense now that I can see this team’s actual passion project. 

So I love Motor Crush a lot, I’m really invested in Domino, the mystery that is her origins and the powers of Crush itself. I love her relationship with her ex, Lola, I love her father -- I love just about everything and the cliffhanger really surprised me. 

I will say that while I love having a world that speaks for itself rather than constant narration, it’s a little hard to follow this world entirely, I’d like a bit more explained than what has been, but at the end of the day I’m very excited to see more. 

DC’s Superwoman (2016-present) #11 K. Perkins, José Luís, Ray McCarthy, HI-FI

You know, I have made it clear that I’ve been worried about this title for a while now, really just hoping it was going to find its direction and wow us with the great potential that is the Super Family outside of the main Kent triad. And I feel like that’s for good reason -- the end of Jimenez’s run let a lot of people feeling justifiably scorned, there was a mishandling of a lot of heavy and important subjects that were raised, and at least the initial stuff with Perkins taking over kind of left one wondering if they had a fully formed direction to go toward next. 

But I am really glad that I stuck it out for this long because the family of John, Lana, Nat, and everyone else is so important and so fundamentally different from the dynamics found elsewhere in the new familial renaissance of the DCU that I needed it. And I hope it continues to emphasize these relationships and how important they are to each other.

I’m still unhappy with how anxiety and mental illness is being handled in the title and find it lacking since it was brought up to begin with and now being ignored. That subject alone is making me rethink my disinterest in Green Lantern books as a whole because I have loved and felt inspired so far by what I’ve seen of Jessica Cruz and their handling of anxiety, and it’s why I picked up Silk at the high recommendations of a close friend. 

So I’d like for mental illness to be treated better in this title -- the least it can do after bringing it up and treating it the way it did at the end of Jimenez’s run, but there’s so much value in the non-nuclear family dynamic of the Irons household and of the uniqueness of Lana’s powers and her approach to fighting crime that it’s worth it. For me anyway.

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011-present) #70 Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Mateus Santolouco, Ronda Pattison

I knew the end of this storyline was going to be, at the very least, explosive but wow, WOW I had no idea how many twists and turns it was going to take in that time. That was a phenomenal ending to the Mutanimals storyline for the time being, and I just feel so bad for Slash, down to my core. I’m so worried about him, and whenever he will be allowed to recover.

At least I hope he’ll recover.

This series is seventy issues strong and i’m just so blown away by the way they still manage to keep me on the edge of my feet while so many different storylines and character developments are happening at the same time.

I mean, I even feel for Old Hobb here!

I do suppose a complaint I could hold here is that the titular turtles themselves have ultimately not been very front and center throughout this storyline, and that really showed in the conclusion, where for the most part they were lost to the colorfulness of the huge, colorful supporting cast that has been developed over the years. 

For me, personally, I think that’s honestly okay. We can’t have the same story over and over again with only the main four characters driving the narrative, and it’s been a long standing tradition in TMNT for a good 30 years now to sort of embody the concept that our main guys don’t really look for situations to get involved with but sort of fall into them naturally. 

Not to mention it’s probably a strength that 70 issues in, we haven’t once repeated plots or stories or put any of the characters on a loop of development to end up right back where they started. I don’t think the achievement of that can be understated, especially as we near that landmark #75!

DC’s Titans (2016-present) #12 Dan Abnett, Kenneth Rocafort, Dan Brown

Bleh. BLEH. I was holding out judgment on the twist of Wally and Donna and Roy ending up in some kind of love triangle because I wanted the context but honestly the context is kinda... bleh. It would be awesome if we lived in some world and time where Donna’s origins were not constantly retconned and thus the source of her characterization in every run of every thing she showed up in. Which is by no means a new problem but still.

And my opinion is... Wally and Donna are both going through a hard time and Wally is having to accept that his life is fundamentally different from the previous world he knew, that he can’t just badger people into returning things to the way they were -- especially Linda, who he loves but it’s a very one-sided relationship as a result of the parallel universe paradox and stuff. It makes sense to me that in a ploy to gain some sense of control over that, he and Donna both would try to take fate in an unexpected direction, into their own hands. 

But making it a love triangle with Roy just kinda keeps my eyes firmly rolled into the back of my skull. 

I overall like Lilith, Dick, Garth, and Karen’s development and characterization in this issue. I think they’re taking Lilith in interesting directions and I’m really curious about what her omen means for the future, since apparently there’s a traitor among them. And they set up plenty of reasons for various members to be that traitor in this issue but I can’t help but assume already that it’s going to end up being a twist. Good twist or not remains to be seen. 

IDW’s Transformers: Salvation (2017) John Barber, Livid Ramondelli

I’m going to be completely “original” here and say that I’m not a fan of Ramondelli’s at for the various Transformers comics. i know! I know. Shocking, never said before, completely going against the general fandom consensus. I’m such a brave soul. I know. 

Okay, joking aside though... I didn’t think the art was bad in this one-shot. Actually! I’d argue a lot of it was even good. He may not be my favorite artist and I’ll think that his colo gradients are butt ugly most of the time, but there was better handled action sequences than usual, the characters looked like they had weight, and we even got a range of expressiveness in the characters that is... well, frankly, not usual for Ramondelli. 

So other than that shocking revelation, I thought Barber performed good once more on tying the TF universe together again, answering some prior plot points and nicely knotting off loose ends. Trypticon being a Titan is not the biggest revelation in the world, but the development of Sandstorm and the Dinobots was great, and I loved just how devious Starscream truly is under Barber’s pen even though I’ve fully been enjoying the characterization for him in Till All Are One. 

But the most important thing of all: SPARKLINGS. SPARKLINGS. All I’ve wanted for years is baby transformers so I am HAPPY BEYOND BELIEF. THEY’RE NO LONGER A DYING SPECIES AND THESE PRECIOUS BABIES COULD BE BORN WITHOUT EVER KNOWING THE CIVIL WAR AHHHHHHHH

DC’s Wonder Woman (2016-present) #24 Greg Rucka, Bilquis Evely, Romulo Fajardo Jr. 

WOW! I mean, just wow! What a resolution to everything. I have so many emotions for Diana, for Barbara Ann, for even Veronica Cale of all people. Etta and Steve were great, the art was amazing.

It’s just such a relief and such... honestly just an amazing feat that Greg Rucka is beginning to wrap up this just phenomenal run of Wonder Woman 

I really enjoyed how everything turned out and it was so remarkable to see Diana’s resolution to save Veronica but also to not turn her back on her friends and loved ones as well as the torment it is for Barbara to not be able to get into Themyscira after all her life’s work.

And I liked Diana’s assessment of Veronica at the end, it was true and also blunt to the point of cruelty. But fitting also. 

It’s amazing what a turn around I’ve personally felt when it comes to Veronica’s character because in all honesty I was not a fan of her most of the time in the preboot, but Rucka really has fleshed her out and done something unique with her perspective now. There is tragedy but there’s also less deniability for her fault in all of it. 

I’m sad to be coming toward Rucka’s end on the run, but I’m also so happy to see the love and passion he’s put into everything culminating to what it is now.

This is a genuinely hard choice but I think if I go by what tugged on my heartstrings the most, what gave me the most joy overall and just feelings unrelenting from start to finish, I would have to say that my pick of the week is All-New Wolverine. I adore this series and I couldn’t be happier with this issue and how they’re keeping my precious Marvel girls faaaaaar away from Secret Empire. A close second would be Wonder Woman but really I would happily recommend my entire pull this week. It was a geat week for comics.

But that’s just my opinion! I’d love to know your thoughts. Agree? Disagree? Think I missed something I should’ve picked up this week? I’d love to hear from you!

[fostersffff]

It’s nearly the end of the year, and barring me entering some kind of wild hyper-focused fugue state, I don’t believe I’ll be finishing any more games by the 31st. So with that said, instead of doing a strictly best/worst thing, here’s a list of awards- both positive and negative- I made up to assign to games that I felt were worth talking about in some way.

The Exceeded Expectations Award

A tight race between Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Devil May Cry 5. I really don’t think anyone was expecting Three Houses to be the smash hit it would become, but the surprising and exciting E3 timeskip trailer was followed by a steady steam of promising information about the gameplay and story that wound up coalescing into fantastic experience. Ultimately, DMC5 wins out for Hideaki Itsuno making the unbelievably bold claim that the game would “exceed fans’ expectations” to an audience with the second highest expectations in the history of the industry, behind only Final Fantasy VII Remake, and then actually delivering on that claim with one of the finest action game experiences I’ve had in recent memory.

The Most Clearly Sent Out To Die Award

Daemon X Machina. It didn’t stand a chance in it’s release window and was cannibalized by its own publisher putting out like three other high profile games both before and after it. As such, this game will most likely be remembered by people thinking back to E3 2018 and going “whatever happened to that really cool mech combat game?”, and by people who did play it for the weird crossover DLC like Code Geass and The Witcher 3.

The Most Overrated Game of the Year Award

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition. Yuri Vesperia is every bit as good a character as people said he was, but if this is the peak of the “Tales” series, it’s decidedly not for me. It was honestly kind of upsetting to see that this game occupied one of my “most-played” slots on Nintendo’s "Year in Review” page instead of Valkyria Chronicles 4.

The Least Overrated Game of the Year Award

A Hat in Time. A lot of the praise I saw for this game came from people who were disappointed with Super Mario Odyssey back in 2017, and as someone who gleefully played Odyssey like five times in a row, I figured it wouldn’t resonate with me in the same way, but it’s every bit as good as people said it was. The base game was perfectly satisfying on its own, but it was an absolute treat to see how well both the Seal the Deal and Nyakuza Metro DLC turned out and how much better Gears for Breakfast got with every aspect of the game over time. The only genuine problem I have with it are the technical issues present in the Switch port, the most severe of which have been patched out at this point, and while it’s still not the optimal way to play, the issues with Hat’s Switch port didn’t really impede my enjoyment at all. Speaking of which...

The Be Careful What You Wish For Award

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. I really love the Switch both in concept and execution, and up until August of this year I was adamant that all but the most technically demanding games should try to put out a Switch port. That’s changed thanks to the Switch port of Bloodstained: it was goddamn near unplayable at launch, and even with the multiple-month-delayed SUPER PATCH, I still encountered an unacceptable number of crashes and atrocious visual glitches while dealing with a compromised-under-the-best-possible-circumstances version of the game. It was so bad I genuinely considered stopping near the end to restart on the PC version, but I soldiered on. It’s a shame too, because in terms of actual content, Bloodstained is a success story on par with A Hat in Time or Shovel Knight, but it’s gonna be a while before I give a better optimized version of the game a whirl.

The Returning Champion Award

Capcom. The four-hit combo of RE2make, Devil May Cry 5, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and the announcement of RE3make to close out the year following the kickoff of the Mega Man Apology Tour in 2018 firmly cements Capcom as being back after what felt like a full decade of mediocrity and disappointment across the board. Square-Enix gave them a run for their money here between Kingdom Hearts III, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Dragon Quest XI S, and Collection of Mana, but barring THE BLUNDER OF THE DECADE I think they’ve got this particular award in the bag for 2020.

The Dropped Ball Award

Super Mario Maker 2. I actually didn’t care all that much about no local multiplayer, but between that and the online multiplayer being offensively broken in terms of how awful the lag was, it seems like Nintendo let what should’ve been an evergreen Switch title flop to the ground and start gasping for air. Either that, or the original Super Mario Maker only succeeded because there was so little else to do with a Wii U. Granted, the recent Zelda update is super neat, but coming a full six months after launch with almost no fanfare when other Switch games like Splatoon 2, Mario Tennis Aces, and even Arms had more consistent post-launch support is such a strange and bad look.

The Stuck Landing Award

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. After six and a half years, Shovel Knight has delivered on all of its Kickstarter campaign promises, and while the original game and the Plague of Shadows campaign were excellent, Specter of Torment, King of Cards, and Shovel Knight Showdown all went far above and beyond what people were expecting of Yacht Club Games by creating new stages with remixed music, wildly divergent gameplay mechanics, a fully fleshed out card game, and a Smash Bros.-tier multiplayer game. It’s the only game I can think of in my entire history of playing video games where the price has gone up over time and I’ve found myself nodding in agreement.

The Still Good One Year Later After The Hype Has Faded Award

Mega Man 11. Still excellent!

The Achievements In Localization Award

Another tight race, this time between Collection of Mana in recognition of Square-Enix deciding to localize a 23 year old game from scratch when a total remake is coming out in less than a year’s time, Judgment for having two separate scripts for the English dub and the Japanese dub’s subtitles, and Trails of Cold Steel III for NISA doing a genuinely terrific job that had no obvious cut corners in a game with this much text that was consistent with the naming conventions established by an entirely different localization company, even hiring back like 99% of the other company’s voice cast. Despite all of that praise for NISA, this one goes to Judgment for what I hope will become a standard in the industry.

The Worst Ending and Voice Acting Award

While I appreciate how committed to the joke WayForward was, the ending of River City Girls gets worse the further away I get from it, especially since they could’ve actually alleviated so many problems with one extra line of dialogue from Hasebe and/or Mami about how they were the ones who “abducted” Kunio and Riki (by sending them to the spa) and that they also sent the text that kicks of the plot just to fuck with Misako and Kyoko. Also: in general, don’t hire e-celebs to do voicework for your project if they are not actual voice actors, either by trade or by aspiration. At least most of them were kept to shopkeeper cameos, but I’ll never understand the decision to cast Big Capital-“Oi” Irish Brogue Jacksepticeye as recurring character Godai other than “CLOUT PLEASE”.

The Best Ending and Voice Acting Award

Dragon Quest XI S. This game should be front and center when conversations come up about having to earn a happy ending, because the ending you get when the credits roll is perfectly satisfactory... but you can do better. And not only can you do better, you can get what is effectively the most perfect ending that can be in the entire history of Dragon Quest as a gaming franchise, which sounds like a dramatic overstatement until you see it. And, to contrast the previous award, I really appreciate how DQXI’s voice cast didn’t include anyone I was familiar with and thus I never had the experience of “oh shit it’s x from y”, but this award exists in particular for Serena’s voice actress, Jessica Clark, and her reading of the line “I hate to ask, but would you mind awfully not going anywhere for a little while? I think I’m going to cry...”

The Most Wrong I Ever Was About A Story Award

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. For years, I thoughtlessly regurgitated the opinion that “parts of FF8 are good, but it’s definitely a bad game with a lame romance and Squall is a terrible protagonist” based on the memory of playing the demo as a child and enjoying it, but seeing the internet at large bash it without mercy. I was wrong, because not only is it not bad, the central romance is totally compelling and Squall has become my favorite Final Fantasy protagonist, in the very same year that I finally also played Final Fantasy VII and came to terms with the fact that Cloud has been good all along, actually.

The 2019 Was A Ridiculously Good Year For Games In General Because I Didn’t Actually Play It That Much Despite The First Game Being My GOTY 2016 And This Game Is An Improvement In Every Single Possible Way Award

Dragon Quest Builders 2. I cannot believe how little of DQB2 I’ve played! And it’s so good!