#anyway this probably makes me sound pretentious but i don't really like a lot of dedicated pose websites/books

[sforzesco]

Do you have any particular websites/books/etc you go to for pose references? Your art is always so dynamic I love it.

ALAS not really, it's been seven or eight years since I've used something dedicated to pose references (I don't use the 3D modeling features that clip studio offers either), so idk if what I did use are even active anymore

mostly I do a lot of anatomy studies (this is relaxing for me lmao) and gesture drawings as warm ups (more or less daily) so I feel comfortable in my ability to put on a page what I'm imagining, although sometimes I'll seek out something specific like a sculpture if I'm looking for a certain visual vibe

THAT SAID I'd recommend checking out Mike Mattesi's Drawing with Force for anyone looking to add dynamic energy to their art!

[awriterinthenight]

"I'm Lockwood" -Anthony Lockwood

requested by: anonymous

words: 1420

warnings: none really just Lockwood staring a lot, oh and I added that the reader can like see little memories with her ability just add a bit to the character

I let out a deep breath before approaching 35 Portland Row.

I'd spent all day looking for a smaller agency to join due to personal reasons, but all of them rejected me because either I wasn't reputable enough and they didn't want someone that could potentially get their agency in trouble. Or, if the agency was willing to accept me, the agency had a not so good reputation, and as much as I need a job, I also like living.

I knocked on the door three times, and waited as a boy in glasses and frazzled hair asked, "You here about the job."

I nodded my head, "Yes, I was told on the phone I was being interviewed by someone Lockwood, are you him?" I asked politely.

He just scoffed saying, "No, but you probably won't stay long enough to learn my name. Come on, come inside, the last person should be out in a minute or two."

I followed him inside the house. The inside was...well...interesting, but not in a bad way. I quite liked its randomness and the chaos that seemed to flow.

I was too busy admiring the house, so when a girl ran past me screaming, I was very caught off guard. I made a face, knitting my brows together turning towards the boy, "If being an agent doesn't work out she would do well as being an actress for horror movies with the scream she has," I say, looking at the door she just ran through.

He seems to just roll his eyes, trying to hide his small smile at my comment. He walks into the room where a girl and another guy I'm pretty sure is Lockwood, "Alright, last one," the boy with glasses says, as he sits and gets comfortable in an armchair.

The guy turned around and looked at me standing in the doorway, "Hi, I'm Lockwood, why don't you take a seat and we can start the interview," he said gesturing to the couch.

I sat down watching him as he also took a seat in front of me. He smiled at me before turning towards the girl leaning against the wall, "Lucy, why don't you make us some tea and grab some more biscuits," he asks.

Before Lucy can leave the boy with glasses stops her, "Woah, why do we have to waste more tea bags and biscuits. I reckon she's a bolter anyway," he snarks.

Lockwood sighs saying, "At least give her the benefit of the doubt and pop the kettle on," he tells Lucy and the other boy, before turning towards me. He looks at me for a second, as if unable to speak or find words, before clearing his throat, "Alright, so I assume you have up to your 4th grade," he asks as just a formality.

I nod, "I have all my stuff right here," I say grabbing the folder containing my stuff out of my bag, "But, I don't have a recommendation letter. Things at my other agency ended quickly and quite unpleasantly. I hope that won't affect whether I get the job or not, will it?" I ask a bit nervous.

He smiles again, looking up at me through his eyelashes, "I can assure that will not compromise your chance of getting the job. You seem quite impressive. Won a few fencing competitions I see," he says looking through my folder.

I shrug, "I'm good with a rapier I guess," I say, trying to not sound too pretentious.

He just smirks, setting down the folder, "So what is your talent, George's talent is touch, mine's sight, and Lucy's is her hearing," he says, as Lucy walks back in with our tea. I grab a cup, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Lockwood still looking at me.

"Touch mostly, I can touch something, and then get a picture of the person the object is connected to, or a memory, and sometimes if its strong enough I can hear it," I answer, explaining my talent a bit more.

"Well we can always use another person with the talent of touch," he says, "Now, I know this might seem strange, but I don't believe in hiring an agent based on recommendations. I like to see their talent in person, so if you could tell me what you feel or see when you touch each object I'll think you'll do just fine." He hands me an object covered by a cloth. He removes the cloth revealing a pocket knife, "Now what do you feel or see," he asks, placing it in my hands. When he does they briefly graze mine, making his face turn pink a bit, but he tries to hide it.

I hold on to it as I start to feel a happy feeling. I can see what looks like a man hunting, but he's smiling the whole time. I open my eyes to see Lockwood looking at me softly. When I notice he starts to stumble over his words, "So, umm... so what did you feel or see," he asks a bit frantically, as he takes the knife back.

"I felt a happy feeling, I could see what looked like a man hunting, but he seemed like he was in his happy place," I say, trying to hide my smile from Lockwood's actions.

He smiles back at me, "Perfect," he says looking at me, "This belonged to my uncle. He loved hunting, before he died of a stroke, but he was always happy hunting." He grabs the next object and opens the case, "Now what about this," he asks, handing me the object, this time seeming to purposefully graze my hand this time, making me have to try not to blush.

I take the watch but it feels different from the other one. This one is full of death and horror. I throw the watch onto the table, shocked from its intense feeling. "Why would you make me hold that, especially in a job interview," I say, frazzled from what I just felt.

Lockwood seems to try to look for words, "It's just part of the process, I swear you won't feel anything as horrible as that," he says calmly putting his hand on top of mine.

I lean forward again nodding, "Alright then, what's the next item," I ask, wanting to speed up this interview.

He uncovers what looks like a skull in a jar. He looks at me a little too long before saying, "I promise you this one will be fine," he assures me.

I put my hand on the jar and try to feel something. All I get is what sounds like mumbles and the feeling of discontent, which isn't unusual from the dead. "Just mumbling, and like every other spirit, doesn't want to be dead," I say looking back at Lockwood, who's already looking at me.

"Alright, just one last one then the jobs yours," he says, uncovering the last item, a toothbrush holder. I give him a weird look making him smile and look a bit flustered.

I grab it, but I feel nothing. There's no feeling, no words, no memories. I open my eyes, "There's nothing," I say, placing the cup down harder than I mean to. Across from me George starts to laugh.

"What's he laughing at," I ask confused.

Lockwood sighs, keeping up his smile, "Well I should hope you don't feel anything, this is just a normal toothbrush cup," he tells me lightly. But I don't take it that way.

I scoff, "I thought this was supposed to be professional, but clearly it is not," I say standing up, "I'm leaving." This causes Lockwood to stand up quickly catching my arm.

"Wait, just hear me out," he says, and I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt, "Its just to make sure you're telling the truth. Most people lie about it. We never meant to upset you, so if you still want the job it's yours," he asks, still holding on to my arm.

I sigh, "Fine, I'll take the job, but no more dumb shenanigans like that, or I will leave," I warn him.

He looks at his hand holding my arm before removing it, turning a slight shade of pink, and starting his sentence stumbling over a few words, "Of course, no more jokes, and the job is yours," he says sincerely.

I just nod, saying, "Good."

"Good," is all he says in response.

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S02E10 - The French Connection

The episode from which I found out that there are some islands close to Canada that belong to France somehow. And apparently now there's also a crime show set in those islands?

From Wikipedia: Saint-Pierre is a Canadian police procedural television series, slated to premiere in the 2024–25 season on CBC Television. The series stars Alan Hawco as Donny "Fitz" Fitzpatrick, a police officer with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary; after one of his investigations gets uncomfortably close to the corruption of a powerful local politician, he is exiled to the French territory of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, where he partners with local police officer Geneviève "Arch" Archambault (Joséphine Jobert) to to solve local crimes.

Now, wait a second. That's about half the plot of this Hudson and Rex episode!

Anyway, on to the episode.

A girl carrying baguettes on a bicycle???

"I hope he's not some pretentious Godard-quoting chain smoker." Just once, look around before you speak.

I got you now, mister Black Coffee. That's more milk than what I put in my latte.

We've already established some of the most popular stereotypes for French and Canadian people. Valerie is already snobbish and Charlie has already apologized once.

While on duty?

Oh my god his face when the dude spits out the gin in the spit bucket lmao

I like many kinds of drinks but I admit that gin leaves me uninterested. I don't know what it is about it.

Well, hello there, Aaron Ashmore, twin brother of Shawn Ashmore. For anyone who doesn't know, this not the guy who's on The Rookie, but he is the guy who was on Killjoys, with Mayko Nguyen.

People keep handing Valerie drinks and Charlie keeps saying "we're on duty". Just give up.

Why does he look so happy to be digging through trash???

Claire just said that there's no law against lying to the police. What?

Valerie, when you doubt Charlie, it's funny. When you doubt Sarah and Rex, you sound like a twat.

Well, don't sound so proud about it.

"You're more comfortable with dogs than people". Probably, but that's because people are often twats.

Charlie's face is pure comedy in this episode. So funny.

Sarah gets to go undercover AND drink gin. Well, if we call that drinking.

She says "you guys" but only looks at Charlie. You're not even subtle.

Charlie: Oh, hell to the no. This is a trap.

Valerie is not wrong here. That's gross, not to mention unsanitary. He'd put so much milk in it that it must have gone bad by now. And judging by his reaction when he takes a sip, it probably has. Never drink coffee with dairy that's been left out for more than two hours, folks.

I only wish I could capture the following scene with Sarah and Jesse competing on who's going to deliver the new evidence that they have found out. But I think Sarah's "I'll fucking murder that twink" face is very telling.

Now, cognac, I like. Although, according to google, the most expensive cognac is Henri IV, not V. I'm sure they've written that intentionally. The real cognac is worth up to 2 million dollars, by the way. People are crazy.

Charlie does not understand any of this and to be honest, neither am I. Any bottle of wine that costs more than 20 Euros is a scam. Any clear alcohol like whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, that costs more than 50 Euros is also a scam.

"No CCTV cameras anywhere. You might say that it's the perfect place for murder". I don't remember a lot of cases outdoors that were solved by watching CCTV cameras either way. Which makes sense. I mean, how many CCTV cameras does a city like St. John's need?

This is such a funny episode, really.

We must do this at least once in any Rex adaptation. I bet it's in the contracts lol

Joe: *counts* One [Valerie], two [Charlie], *skips Jesse* three of you [Rex] are going on a trip. lol poor Jesse.

*tries to speak French and gets guns pointed at him* Come on, it wasn't that bad, was it? (Yes, I'd have put that line in there if I could.)

That's why he'll move soon!

The chase scene was good too.

Ugh, Valerie has her finger on the trigger. No.

Joe: "Can anyone explain to me why I was asked to comp a 300 dollar cognac bill?" Justice isn't cheap, Superintendent. Although for that many bottles... I mean, I can't find cognac that cheap here.

We had whiskey glasses in S1, what the hell happened?

Well, I enjoyed that. I didn't remember it was such a funny episode. And I maxed out the image limit again.

[lokisis]

(Can I treat this askbox like an actual email?)(I have conflict to create)(if this is too meta, tell me so I can adjust future asks ^_^)

To: Pink

Cc: Blue, Spamton

Hi guys! How's everyone doing? Are things going good? Here's a pretty photo that I took, of a city from the Pacific Northwest of the "light world"

Being dramatic and cryptic is really fun! Here's some more pompous and /totally/ nonsense statements that I can make. Don't take it seriously. Don't listen too closely. Why would I tell the truth? But then, why would I lie?

:)

Pink, there is an abandoned machine that, in the light world was a drawing of the dream of a Lightner (presumably the dream of a certain ghost monster—who I will not name at this time).

But here (cyber world) it's a big robotic machine with wings, abandoned and tangled in vines and rotting away in a hidden room in the queen's mansion. If you ask Swatch (mansion butler) about it, they will likely refuse to tell you much of anything about it, but they know about the machine because they helped in making it.

For some reason (which I know but won't explain) spamton really really wants to get this machine (he's not meant to get it)(and probably banned from the mansion for repeatedly attempting to steal it)(from what I've seen, he's also scared of swatchlings for similar reasons)(hard to say for suresies)(I'm kind of working with literal actual subtext—like the storytelling kind—here. So. A lot of uncertainty.).

Funny thing is—it's doomed from the start. The vines that I mentioned, will become green cables or strings like a marionette, and while he would be powerful, he wouldn't be free. And, cutting the strings will just cause him to fall, and the machine to break, and killing him to the fullest extent that darkners are capable of dying. (In the versions of events that I can "read," he gets turned into an item) (hard to explain)

If I got enough of the details correct, you'll be able to confirm soon. But, I'm sure it's so blatantly obviously a lie, that it won't have any truth at all.

Of course, you won't believe a word you hear from me. Right?

I'm really just here to have fun, and sounding pretentious is tons of fun! So, once again, that was a nonsense story with zero actual meaning, just meant to waste everyone's time ;)

Have a wonderful day.

Bye!

- Marrow

Wh- hey!!

He doesn't need to see this.

Not yet, anyway.

(It functions more like mail, so only the recipient and nearby ppl can see it. They're still "emails" but it's bc they're already "e" yknow?)

[cherrylng]

Muse Relay Interview Part 1 - Dom Howard [INROCK (October 2012)]

New album 'The 2nd Law ' released 3rd October. Muse Relay Interview / Part 1 - Dominic Howard.

To be honest, the old sound feels like crap to us now…

Dominic Howard/Muse INTERVIEW: P.G. BRUNELLI/INROCK

Charming and polite, Dominic Howard is the only member of Muse who enjoys the single life. Despite being a member of a big band that is so big worldwide, he himself is not at all discreet. This very big man, who is not recognisable from the outside, is now sitting by the poolside of a Shoreditch hotel in London's East End. Like him, this place is not very discreet from the outside, but it is in fact a fashionable and luxurious place, with a pool and a wonderful restaurant on the seventh floor overlooking the London skyline. There are a lot of pretentious people walking around with a confident attitude, as if they belong to some exclusive members-only club. Well, they probably do, but it's interesting to watch their world-conquering attitude. This is because, although they don't show it, there is a humble man right next to me who has actually conquered the world. Despite the rain, Dominic wears sunglasses under an umbrella. Perhaps it's a habit in Los Angeles, where he moved to be near frontman Matthew Bellamy. During the recording of the new album 'The 2nd Law', Dominic also made various suggestions and contributed more than ever to the album's production.

Breaking with the past seems to have been Muse's motto this time round? Dominic Howard (dr.) : That's always been our motto.

Do you think the reason for that is because mentally you're in a different place? Or is it simply because you're tired of playing the same old tunes? Dominic: In our case, we've been on tour for quite a long time, so that's a natural way of thinking about it. We tour for two and a half years and it really starts to feel like work. So when you've been on tour for that long, you get stuck in a rut with the way you play, the way you express the songs, the way you put on a show. If you start making an album with that feeling, there's a fear that you're going to repeat what you've done in the past, which is a theory that you can't explain. We don't want to touch anything that has to do with the past or is connected to the past anyway, so we can dig deeper into ourselves to explore new ideas.

"The last album had some parts that were too specific, but this one is more varied and experimental, and every song has some kind of surprise in it."

You played your second album Origin of Symmetry in its entirety at Reading Festival last year, does that represent a complete break with the past? Dominic: Yeah, it was a break with our distant past. We'd just celebrated the tenth anniversary of the release of that album, and we hardly played any songs from it, so it was nice to look back on it after all these years. It was fun to play it in a completely different way. At the same time, it made us realise how different we are as a band compared to the past, and how different a place we're trying to go to. To be honest, for us now, the sound we had back then feels like crap… It's a really cool album, of course, but it really shows how much we've changed. We played the album in its entirety and then played some new songs as an encore, and we were surprised at how different it sounded. It felt like the new songs made a lot more sense to us.

Chris (Wolstenholme, b.) says you wanted a different drumming style? The beginning and end of the songs are in a completely different style. Do you think this album is the most forward-thinking you've made as a drummer? Dominic: Yeah, I definitely think so. Especially in terms of production. We spent a lot more time playing together on this album than practising individually. Through that, we tried to get used to playing with three people and to understand the meaning and the feeling of each song. In terms of production, I really feel like we've made the most progress so far. The same goes for the electronic sound, I emphasised that aspect more deeply than ever before, and I had a lot of fun with the programming aspect as well. Electronic and programming are my favourite areas, and I love working in that environment. In our case, we basically worked in the same way as electronic artists, but we used real instrumental sounds. We layered a lot of drum sounds on top of each other. We use a lot of crazy drum sounds anyway, and there are a lot of songs that are made up of snare drums and big '80s sounds.

Which songs are you referring to, for example? Dominic: 'Panic Station' has a really interesting funky drum sound. It's got trumpets in it too. It's simple, but it's got an ongoing groove to it. I just wanted this song to have a big, loud, '80s-ish influenced drum sound. We've never done that before.

There's a similar funk-ish sound on 'Big Freeze', is there any connection between the two songs? Dominic: I'd say they're connected in that we used that big snare drum sound. 'The 2nd Law: Unsustainable' also takes a slightly different approach, in terms of the sonic concept. It's influenced by dubstep and electronic music, but we've done it in our own unique way by playing it with real instruments. We use orchestras for the build-up parts and then we actually play them during the climax parts. We wanted the drums to sound electronic, but with real drums, so we layered them on top of each other like never before.

This is only the second album you've produced yourself, but with such a complex sound, you must have had a lot more confidence in the production side of things than last time? Dominic: Yeah, I don't know if you can tell from listening to it, but we were quite confident this time. We knew exactly what we were doing in the studio compared to last time, and that's why we were able to experiment. Last time, we were in a studio in Italy and we tried producing for the first time, and it sounded good, but at the same time it was too idiosyncratic. That's what my manager said to me, and I think it's true. I guess you could say that we were trying to establish our own unique sound in complete isolation from the rest of the world. In fact, that was the goal of the last album. We were trying to establish a sound that was rooted in the roots of the band. This time, on the other hand, we're more experimental. There's a lot of variety on this album, there's a lot of different styles. Every song has some surprises. In terms of sound, in terms of production, and in terms of style. Anyway, we had to have a certain amount of confidence to do something so experimental.

People said that the last album was like you did whatever you wanted and got drunk on yourself, didn't you? The last three songs of the trilogy were particularly so. That's gone on this one, hasn't it? Dominic: Yeah, those three symphonies are definitely different. We're focusing more on the sound of each song this time.

Was it hard to decide which songs to include on the album? You must have had a lot of choices? Dominic: No, not at all. In our case, in the end, there's no song that we don't like or that we like but won't finish. If we decide that a song doesn't have the potential to be good, we don't go any further with it, and we never finish it halfway. In other words, if a song has potential, we record it straight away and use it as is. We never record 25 songs and then choose songs for the album. If we write a good song, we finish it and record it, that's it. Anyway, this time we emphasised the songs themselves rather than the big symphony pads, so we're not so drunk on ourselves like we were on the last record, and we were able to experiment a lot more in terms of sound rather than weird and quirky arrangements.

By the way, I understand you live in Los Angeles now. When did you move there? Dominic: I haven't moved completely, I kind of live half in L.A. and half in London. But I've been living in Los Angeles for 18 months now.

Did you move in after Matthew (Bellamy, vo./keys:/g.)? Dominic: Yeah, because we work as a team a lot. Also, a good friend of mine called Tom lives in L.A., so I thought I'd move there too. By the way, Tom does video work for us and he's the camera director at our shows. I've been working a lot in the US, especially in Los Angeles, for the last couple of years, and I really love it there. Matthew and Tom met their partner (Matthew's partner is Kate Hudson) in Los Angeles. We had some time off after the tour, so we decided to escape the English winter and go to Los Angeles. I love the vibe and the music scene in Los Angeles. Hollywood is really rock 'n' roll. It's always had that rock 'n' roll vibe from the past. Especially in the '80s. I like that a lot. I like that there are still old venues like the Roxy, the Troubadour, and the Whisky. They haven't been turned into supermarkets like in London, or tube stations like Astoria. If you go down the Sunset Strip, there are rich, luxurious houses and hotels all over the place, but next to them there are 200+ metal fans queuing outside to see a show at the House of Blues. It's a really fun city and I've made some great friends.

Both Matthew and Chris now have families, and there may be babysitters on the road soon, what do you think about that? Dominic: I think it's nice to have that family feel, isn't it? Yeah, I think it would be fun. Chris has had a family for 13 years now and Matthew is a father now, so there will be some changes, but I don't think it will affect the band too much. We've got to get a family bus for now.

Can you name a few of your personal favourite songs and talk about their background? Dominic: 'Panic Station' is a very important song and I think it will eventually become a single. I think that song will help to dispel the misconception that we're a hard-headed, serious band. We use a lot of symphonies and orchestras, so you might get that impression, and I think there are a lot of people who actually think "Muse are a weird band who are drunk on themselves", but this song shows that we're just having a bit of fun with the joke. It's a bit of '80s disco funk, influenced by David Bowie's 'Scary Monsters' and stuff like that. Especially vocally. We have four singers, as well as trumpets and saxophones, who have worked with Madonna, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, and they also played on Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'. So it's a really fun song and I like it because it shows another side of Muse that we don't normally show. It's a song for a live performance. I also like a song called 'Animals', which is a very raw sounding song, just the three of us playing music in an unobtrusive way. It's about us just jamming to a groove, and we wanted to create the atmosphere of three people having fun playing in one room. If you listen closely, there are a lot of parts where it sounds like we're improvising. I also really like 'Supremacy'. It's got a big, stadium-grade riff and it's got a big sound, which is what we wanted with that song…

"'Panic Station' is a good opportunity for us to dispel the misconception that we're a hard-headed, serious band."

Like Black Sabbath? Dominic: You're the second person today to point out the Black Sabbath influence. It definitely sounds like Black Sabbath. I think the last album was so unique because we didn't want to write songs with the idea of playing them live, and we didn't want to think about playing them live at all anyway. We just wanted to work in the studio and forget we were a live band. But this time, on the contrary, we wrote the songs with that in mind, remembering that feeling of playing in a stadium live. That's why it sounds like a live show. There's also a bit of Ennio Morricone influence again, which we touched on a bit in the past, and it's been a while since we've done that, so it was quite fun to do something again that we haven't done on the last few albums. Anyway, this song has a great snare drum, bass drum, and cymbal sound, it's like a movie. I think it should be the theme song for the next James Bond film. It's got a very cinematic feel to it.

You're even going to perform at the closing ceremony of the Olympics, so maybe it wouldn't be a dream to get an offer for the Bond theme song. By the way, how many backing musicians do you have on stage these days? Dominic: Morgan (Nicholls, keys. and other backing vocals) is the only one. He's the only one we need at the moment, but we'll see what happens.

If you're going to do 'Panic Station' live, you'll need a trumpet player too, won't you? Or just programme that part in advance? Dominic: Hmmm… Yes, you can programme it, but it's still very different from the real thing. We want to play live with a real brass band, and we're going to perform with a real chorus on 'Survival'. Maybe we'll do a few small shows before the album is released, focusing on those kinds of performances. If it happens, we definitely want to use real musicians. All the trumpet players, all the chorus members, all the brass bands, all the strings. We might not be able to tour the world with it, but if it's financially feasible with a small production, I'd love to do some of those as special shows.

Translator's Note: Dom coming into that hotel in Shoreditch like a cool motherfucker ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Part 2 of the relay interview will be Matt Bellamy and was released on the November 2012 issue of INROCK. Luckily, I've already bought it alongside with this current issue. Unfortunately, there is also a Part 3 to this relay interview, and now I have go find the December 2012 issue that covers Chris' interview.

[ask-team-misfit]

*Destino approaches Lief, carry a body pillow of themselves.*

Destino: If it isn't bugaboo himself. You know, I love the lack of sleepwear you possess. Really going fully rebellious with this I see. I appreciate a good fuck you to the rules. Stick it to the man as they say. Oh wait, you don't own any? Oh, that is rather embarrassing for you. Anyway, this conversation isn't about you. It's about me and my plus one.

*Destino shoves their body pillow into your face. Something about this body pillow is giving you off vibes but you can't quite tell what it is.*

Destino: Have you acquainted with them yet? Body pillow Destino truly is a great listener. The best, I'd say. Probably the second most handsome thing here. Me being the most handsome 'mon of course. It appears you don't have any friends here either. What a shame. What's happened there? Did you decide not to bring any? Or, and this is a wild guess, you didn't have any to bring in the first place?

Lief: "Oh, great. Lovely..."

At the sound of Destino's voice, Lief felt a part of him get seriously peeved. Perhaps he should have seen this coming, that a Pokemon the likes of this Absol would be attracted to such a large gathering in the end. Though it didn't make the realization that they really were here any less bothersome.

Much of what he proceeded to hear was eye-rolling, but otherwise in line with his initial expectations. With a look of annoyance at being called "bugaboo", he started to respond, thinking them to be finished at first.

Lief: "You know, you have got some ner-"

He'd get cut off before he could even begin. Not just by Destino's conceited rambling that he only half paid attention to at this point, but also from the body pillow being shoved against his muzzle. To say it was uncomfortable to smell full blast would be an understatement.

But towards the latter half of Destino's blabbing, he heard the one thing that truly ticked him off.

He'd usually wave it off; he'd usually dish it back in his usual snark tenfold, and play it off like it didn't matter.

But it felt different today. It truly, seriously ticked him off.

Perhaps it was the already poor mood he was in shortly before he got here. Perhaps it was the thoughts relating to why he was so bummed out that he personally found bothersome to feel and even more bothersome to talk about.

Perhaps it was that he ultimately came by in an attempt to escape from that, only to have it thrown back in his face and said plain for anyone to hear.

With a shove as hard as he could muster, he pushed the body pillow, and Destino, well away from him.

[ ID: A grayscale drawing of Lief, a hybrid of Sylveon and Ribombee, with a mono-color background. He is shown from the neck up, with his face slightly angled away from the viewer towards the left. He appears seriously disgusted or angry. His eyebrows are furrowed to the extent that wrinkles are visible between them, his eyes are squinting slightly, and his mouth is open in a grimace. End ID ]

Lief: "Don't you ever shut up?!"

It simply came out of him. He felt anger before he could really think about it.

His antennae crimped up, being their most crooked yet. His wings were rigid and fully open, lightly quivering.

Lief: "Like what, do you wake up every morning and practice this shit in front of a mirror? L-like, 'Oh BOY, I wonder who I'm gonna completely piss on today!' Certainly says a lot about why you're so absorbed with yourself, you pretentious prick."

He marched towards Destino with a glare, progressively raising his voice the more he ranted.

Lief: "You have got some serious nerve, coming up to me, acting like a royal pain in the ass, talking about ME not having friends and pushing that disgusting thing right in my face...!"

As if to emphasize the words "disgusting thing", he shoved them back twice, proceeding to get in their face outright. If he hadn't knocked them over clean at this point? He probably did with how hard he shoved right then.

Lief: "When you're the one that caused this mess! If you hadn't poisoned my brain with your 'brilliant advice', maybe I would actually have someone here, and MAYBE I wouldn't be feeling so pissy about what is a perfectly normal part of my goddamn life!"

His fur completely stood on end. He was red in the face, gritting his teeth like he was a stone's throw away from attacking them.

It certainly didn't help that he seriously considered it. Particularly with the way his tail was raised.

[pathetickuroo]

a ranking and analysis of “epic: the musical” songs so far, from someone who knows a lot about theater and not a lot about mythology

RANDOM DISCLAIMER: to reiterate from the title, i know a lot about music and theater, but NOT a lot about greek mythology. i'm trying to slowly read the odyssey as sagas release so that i'm never too far ahead but i can still have a sense of where things are going. aside from that, i have very basic foundational knowledge from vague exposure to pjo (but i never got into pjo myself LOL)

(also no one better spoil the odyssey for me in the tags or the comments i swear to god this is supposed to be about the SONGS)

putting it under the cut so people can scroll past if they want; this is long as fuck and i'm not gonna pretend it isn't.

9. the horse and the infant

i almost placed this one higher SOLELY BECAUSE OF "PENELOPE… PENELOPE, AND TELEMACHUS". (side note: low placement absolutely does not mean bad. i love every song in epic. like, excessively.) i'm probably going to talk about odysseus's voice A LOT. i love it. the reason i got into this in the first place is because back when early auditions were happening, one of the demos came up on my fyp and i was baffled by the vocals. from a plot standpoint i really like what this song does lyrically and what it shows of odysseus in particular but also how the gods interact with the mortals. zeus is immediately talking down/condescending to odysseus (which is fair because. it's fucking zeus, and also a detail that was pointed out to me by my friend), who reacts saying he "knows" he's ready for, essentially, whatever zeus throws at him… until he finds out zeus is making him kill a baby. the first two songs in the musical (this and "just a man") both reveal so much about odysseus, which is of course good because that's who we're supposed to sympathize with.

anyway. love this song. fuckin bangs.

8. just a man

normally with these early character-establishing solos i like them a little at first and then always skip them after that first listen. that's just a Thing for me. like, i know who you are now, i don't need to hear it again. but not this song. this was the first song that really told me i was gonna obsess over this musical for a long time and that it was going to ruin my life. my ONLY criticism, and it's not even a big one because it doesn't truly bother me/disrupt my listening experience at all, is that it's hard to hear any distinct emotion from odysseus for most of it. BUT I CAN'T EVEN BE MAD BECAUSE HIS VOICE IS SO STUPIDLY GORGEOUS. maybe that's hyperbole but i feel like you can't blame me for that. again as far as plot hearing odysseus's internal struggle about killing the baby is very foundational for our understanding of the character. also, the dual meaning of the lyric "when does a man become a monster" which as others have pointed out refers (most likely) both to odysseus wondering if fulfilling his end of the prophecy will make him a monster and also wondering when, if this baby grows up, it will cause whatever destruction zeus foretold… i have a lot of feelings. i like this song a lot. a LOT.

SECOND RANDOM DISCLAIMER: at some point, you will probably start to think i sound pretentious. i like my own funny words and think i am a magic man. you are allowed to not like my funny words.

7. open arms

i would like to briefly touch on how much i love steven dookie's voice before we proceed. ok thanks. ANYWAY, this to me is our first real shift away from the musical theater genre-sound, something that i love about modern theater and particularly composition. the vocal style is less theater-inspired to me, too--until the lotus eaters show up--which really speaks to the message of the song in my opinion. the laid back sound after the sort of chaos and pain of the past few songs is refreshing to me. as far as characterization it solidifies what i feel we already knew about polites just from that little bit of him we heard in full speed ahead, but shows the more caring side to his positivity (the "you can relax, my friend" refrain and variations). i also love what it shows about the dynamic between odysseus and polites, establishing further that polites isn't just a soldier but a friend. this is one of the songs that i don't have a lot to say about, truthfully, but mostly because every time i listen to it i'm just enjoying the sound LOL

6. full speed ahead

SIX HUNDRED MEN. SIX HUNDRED MEN UNDER MY COMMAND…. this is where we really meet some new characters, and their introductions--true to form for the show--show a lot about them, both right away when they show up and all the way through the end of the song too. eurylochus, the battle-minded second-in-command to odysseus, and polites, the kind-hearted best friend to odysseus, both make their positions very clear not only in their verses but i feel also in just the way that they greet odysseus/each say "captain" (but that could also just be the different qualities of their voices). re: vocals, more vocal excellence from odysseus (have i mentioned "and ithaca's waiting etc" yet?), and polites sounds so fucking good constantly, and eurylochus has such a consistent tone through his whole verse. re: polites, a lot of the other voices in this musical are kind of standard fare (respectfully! i love theater voices genuinely) for what you imagine theater actors to sound like, but polites (played by steven dookie) has such a unique tone for this medium and i love it so so much. the soldier ensemble is insane too. from a compositional standpoint i LOVE the call and response, particularly on "so, captain, what's the plan? (captain, what's the plan?)" + that section where the soldiers echo odysseus that comes right after that. i didn't think this would beat just a man when i started this, but i was very wrong. very very wrong.

5. polyphemus

i don't want to talk about plot OR musicality, first. i want to talk about sound design. the choice of the particular sound effects that were used with the reverb and the overlapping noises from the sheep paint a very clear picture indeed of polyphemus's cave. (something that definitely did not hurt to accomplish this end was the teaser video where odysseus, eurylochus, and polites were in the dark holding candles (? i think, some kind of small light sources at least).) audio panning was also present in the intro for this track, i would say up until polyphemus starts to sing it's pretty prevalent, and audio panning is my favorite thing you can do to establish spatial understanding in non-visual media. okay, moving on. in this song, odysseus directly parrots polyphemus's words and melody, and this is a theme that continues in the other songs the two are both in. this also, to me, shows that one of the layers of his plan is to make himself seem more agreeable to polyphemus (which in itself as a fact i think is rather clear in terms of plot, but i think the specific methodology from a compositional standpoint is fun). AND JUST TO SAY: the moment at the beginning where this suddenly becomes a horror musical made my heart drop through my ass in the best possible way. i had to stand up for the rest of the saga because sitting down limited my range of motion too much and i had to go insane. in terms of characterization, we know that odysseus is smart and resourceful mostly from what we hear about him from others, but i feel like this song is the first one where we see that firsthand. i love this song.

4. warrior of the mind

the first song i had to just sit with and loop for a while (i did the same with just a man, but several days later upon relisten). athena's vocals never fail to astound me, teagan earley's tone is so clear and strong, and this is kind of specific but i like the choices she made on vowel placement, particularly on that last "mind" in the first chorus. also, i'm not even going to beat around the bush: i'm a trumpet player, i've been playing trumpet for theater and in other contexts for almost a decade now, and when i heard that low trumpet line underscoring the first establishment of the melody in the chorus, i KNEW an octave kick was coming and i was THRILLED when it delivered so perfectly. i don't know if it's synth trumpet or a live musician, i assume synth just for ease of production, but either way, i'm obsessed with it. absolutely a fantastic composition choice when it comes to ramping up the energy of the second half of that chorus. again in regards to composition: obsessed with odysseus's harmonic line in the second chorus. it took me a while to pick the notes out because i go a little harmony-blind sometimes when i'm too busy ooh-ing and ahh-ing but once i got that line in my head i was all about it.

(did not think this section would be so wordy, but) what this song shows about athena in my eyes is her fondness for odysseus--which sounds obvious until you remember how zeus interacted with him vs how athena does. athena gets close to talking down to odysseus sometimes, yes, but in more of a human, sarcastic way ("you'll see where it ends"). one could argue that the entire intro is her condescending to him in some way, certainly, but when she almost immediately also establishes that she sees the merit in his skills and his mind and has for some time now, it takes away the sort of preachy sound that was there when zeus was doing it. again in the characterization vein it shows odysseus's spirit, the more childish side of him (of course, because he was younger for much of this song) that we don't get to see in the songs that are set in the "present" period. in warrior of the mind, we see odysseus, the boy. in all the other songs, we see odysseus, the king.

anyway. i adore this song. if that wasn't, like. clear.

3. survive

THE ECHO OF THE HORSE AND THE INFANT. MY JAW WAS ON THE FLOOR. people other than me have said that this could be a way of showing that the fight with polyphemus is the will of the gods and i can see the merit in that standpoint but i also think that this is, in this telling at least (which is a distinction i make because i started the odyssey literally today and read maybe 10 pages before i had to go to class so i don't concretely know the details), showing that this is the first real conflict odysseus and the soldiers have been in since the seige of troy. also interesting to note: this song, if i'm not mistaken, is actually in compound meter at least in certain parts (before u fight me on this take a second to count it both ways, i'm not even entirely sure because of how i've been feeling the pulse). also, this reestablishes what i said earlier about polyphemus and odysseus parroting each other, but in this case i think it's polyphemus trying to do as much damage to odysseus and the soldiers as possible, certainly more like mocking them than trying to communicate on their level. (but also, melodic repeats are kind of just how music works, lol. remember when i said u might start to think im pretentious?)

now, maybe this is my sympathetic lens for odysseus showing, i fully admit that bias and own up to any way it may skew my judgement, but in that first chorus, i feel like odysseus isn't just trying to rally his men but to find the will in himself to fight as well. after the long war in troy and being confronted with polites's ideology, i would certainly be weary and sick of fighting. something about "it's just one life to take / and when we kill him then our journey's over" sounds so self-consoling to me. idk! maybe just me!

i'm, uh. not gonna talk much about the plot at the end, there. for obvious reasons, as someone who foolishly got attached to polites. we're gonna gloss over that. (fellow polites likers, how we feelin, though? we all coping?)

2. remember them

if you'll recall from many many paragraphs ago, i mentioned that in "just a man", i felt like there wasn't much emotion in odysseus's voice. this? the intro of this? this, to me, kind of makes up for that. and i mean the VERY beginning, the anger/intensity in that first verse. something that i noticed, that the fellow polites likers will be upset with me for pointing out, is that starting on "mark my words now" and through eurylochus asking "but captain, what'll we do with our fallen friends?", the guitar in the back is playing the melody of "we're up, we're off, and away we go" from "full speed ahead", the first song we hear from polites in. (sorry guys, if i was burdened with this knowledge you will be, too.)

this song and "polyphemus" both do a really good job of establishing horror-style tension. eurylochus's "there are more of them?" and what i would call horror sirens on the strings in the beginning of polyphemus are what i mean, here. it gives that nice stomach-swoopy feeling that recreational horror is so fond of. the ramping tension when eurylochus is pleading with odysseus to order them to run is fantastic too.

re: odysseus vocals. "my friend is dead! our foe is blind! the blood we shed, it never dries! is this what it means to be a warrior of the mind?!" will never NOT make me insane. it makes me want to scream, genuinely. and via the lyrics and instrumental sound we understand the ruthlessness of odysseus's vengeful side as well. again, possibly my sympathetic lens, but "let's grab the sheep and away we go" and during the argument up to that aforementioned point, odysseus just sounds tired to me.

also, i'm sure we all collectively shat our pants when we heard athena. i don't have much to comment on the matter further than that, but know that i was losing my fucking mind as soon as i heard her voice.

last thing: odysseus's choice of words when revealing his name is interesting to me. the "infamous" odysseus? infamy has a very negative connotation and maybe that's just him acknowledging that to polyphemus he'll always be painted in a negative light due to his actions in the cave, but it's an interesting choice in verbiage to me.

1. my goodbye

you were a fool if you thought this was ever gonna get anything other than first place of all the songs that are out so far. hearing athena and odysseus tear each other to pieces was so satisfying on the second listen with the new understanding that the partnership was sort of exhausting on both ends. i confess that my first thought right after i finished this song the first time was "HOLY FUCKING SHIT" but my SECOND one was "bro really wrote a breakup song and thought we wouldn't notice (but said with a positive connotation)". as far as i understand it, and i've asked questions about this so i'm fairly certain, there was nothing romantic in nature about the relationship between athena and odysseus (which i see as a good thing), and the song sounding like a breakup song is more a fun creative choice. and i DO think it's fun, in that case! so with that interpretation in mind, when i go back to the lyrics now, i think about how odysseus's original idea that he and athena would be friends was shot down and in this song i start to feel that maybe despite athena's best efforts they DID consider each other as friends. and of course i think that's intentional--that's why "you're not looking for a mentor, i'm not looking for a friend" cuts so deep.

there's also something in the way the two characters argue with each other that i find so compelling. i feel like athena is really trying to be right, or maybe not that she's trying to be right per se but that she's trying to make odysseus understand why he's wrong. odysseus, on the other hand, seems to be trying to hurt athena as much as possible, in as few words as possible. athena's argument has one core idea, and it's that odysseus is reckless/unfit to be her disciple because he's too emotional. odysseus, on the other hand, brings up several points, like 5 or 6 different little gripes about athena that he's probably been holding onto for who-knows-how-long. it just shows how the focus is entirely different on both parts and i like it a lot LOL

vocals absolutely deliver of course, that goes without saying. and i made that point earlier about how i felt odysseus didn't show much emotion in voice, and maybe this is just me being the #1 jorge rivera-herrans defender or something but i feel like a sort of detached-ness was intentional this time. like odysseus saying, "you can't fire me, because i quit." that's not entirely me being biased, i think the language reflects it too: "this way, you'll close the door and have your damn goodbye." that sounds dismissive to me, and the way that he previously frames athena leaving as something that would be good for him ("this way, you won't plague my life").

anyway….. less of a ranking and more of a song analysis where the songs just so happen to also be ranked. this was originally gonna be on my priv twitter, but the character limit was driving me up the wall, so. here.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

What is something you wish more people understood about you or if you prefer about your job or hobbies?

Hey Lovely!!

Ahhh, oh gosh SO much, honestly.

So I'm a graphic designer by trade, and an illustrator and freelance designer as my side gig, and my hobbies are art-related as well.

FOR SURE, I have to say that I wish people respected designers as the creatives we are. I've GENUINELY had clients who think all I do is hit a "design ad" button and BOOM it's done, and don't think they should have to pay me because – and this is ONLY because I've been doing this for 20 years – I can finish a print ad in under an hour, and booklets under 5, not taking into account the AMOUNT OF CHANGES and STUPID things I have to talk people out of to not make them look bad.

Some other things:

Microsoft Word is not a design program. I HATED this when I worked at the Paper. Good fucking LORD the amount of times I've had to rebuild an ad because the client couldn't resize it themselves and couldn't understand why if they moved something everything fucked up is astounding.

Canva is good for mocking up design, but I'm sorry, you're NOT a designer if you learned design in Canva. I know it sounds gatekeepy and pretentious, and I am sorry about that, but even with Canva you need to know SOME principles of design to get something appealing out of it. A designer, after-all, MADE your templates you're working from. We're everywhere. We're a silent bunch that's under-appreciated. You're never going to get the precision and nuance and a proper eye that you'll get from a designer. Sure you'll get quick and dirty designs, work fine for socials, but I LOATHE when people send me shit they made in Canva that I have to, once again, rebuild because they can't figure out how to resize in Canva and complained to me that Canva isn't making it look nice when they export it (to be fair, that's a them problem, the tools ARE there for you to do that stuff)

When your designer tells you one thing and you're trying to push for another, your designer is trying to save you the embarrassment of your "vision". We know what we're doing. We spend most of our days knowing market trends and what will make eyes go to your advertisements and products.

Strokes don't fix everything.

I can't read your mind. PLEASE, if you wanted an element there from the start, you need to tell me, and not tell me I'm a fucking moron who should have guessed by the blobs you drew on a napkin as your layout.

Fuck AI; I see the benefits of it for smaller things like content aware fill to add a bit more height to a stock photo I'm using, or the smart-select to route a photo faster, but literally that's all I see useful for it.

I know there's loads more I'm missing, but I've seen SO much that I'm numb to a lot of things and tend to just "autocorrect" stuff without even thinking anymore.

I love my job though, I really do. The joke in my industry is that "I get paid to play in Photoshop all day long" and there is some truth to it after doing this for nearly 20 years. But I wish people would understand that we are trained professionals who want to make them look good, and to do that I need time and money. We are literally background characters for the main protagonists, and the pay isn't great unless you're really lucky (which I am, but it took me 12 years to finally get in where I am), and I wish people would stop saying my job is easy.

It literally is not. Think of it as retail, but you deal with the same people every single day nitpicking the tiniest things over and over again despite you telling them countless times that 6pt font is probably the smallest you should go, but no 3 pt must be on this ad.

Anyway. 🙃

My favourite though is Layout Design. I love designing the booklets and mailers we do at my job, because I get to be super creative. My boss is pretty lenient with me, since "you've been here longer than all of us, you know better than me how this works", so I get to have fun.

Thank you for this question :) And gonna promo myself here, if anyone ever needs design or layout services, I'm your gal :)

[eff-plays]

okay disclaimer up front this is probably gonna get REAL pretentious because i'm so far up my own ass i can see the sun about as well as spawn!astarion. anyway that aside i'm like a paragraph into the rant you linked and completely losing it at "teenagers shouldn't even play this game legally!!" i played the game at 19...? 18 and 19 year olds either do not exist or aren't... teenagers..? cool cool cool

anyway my point is i ALSO played bg3 while in a pretty dogshit relationship and like, this is really fucking embarrassing but astarion's whole thing was a fairly significant part of getting me to realize it was dogshit and that if your partner throws a hissy fit when they don't get their way that's not acceptable behavior. even if they're really traumatized and sooo sad about it. my point is the way some AA fans talk i think they'd be the kinda person to yell at me for not staying with my ex LMFAO

I don't think this sounds pretentious at all, and I think there's a lot of people in similar situations as you were in!! (Glad you got outta there, btw!!) That's what makes his story very important to many, plus the fact that it's written in such an honest and realistic way makes it easy for people to recognize themselves in it. And, I thought, makes it pretty blatant what the warning signs are.

But I guess we live in the same society that thought Edward Cullen and Rhysand are heartthrobs. Let's just hope those people confine their unhealthy preferences to fiction and don't impose them on others. But given their weird thoughts around power dynamics and masculinity, I'm not too optimistic.

[cartooncartoonpanic]

#006 Sins of the past

You approached Princess Morbucks and her friends...friends probably isn't the right term considering she was yelling at the boy and didn't seem to know the girl. It was entirely possible that they had only met today. Of course you did wonder how such a passionate argument could have broken out between strangers.

"You should know exactly how serious I am about this, Dexter. There's a huge vaccum in the market for villains right now since Mojo disappeared, and since I'm so generous I'll even fund your evil schemes." As always, Princess is pretentious and demanding. No surprises there. You do listen closely though, since you want to know exactly where Mojo might have disappeared to. It's possible that Blossom didn't tell you the entire truth

"I've already told you. I don't do that anymore. I broke off our contract for a reason" The guy in the lab coat, supposedly named Dexter, now speaks. He speaks in a thick accent though you can still tell he's upset. He has curly red hair and wears headphones though you can't tell if they're playing any music

Princess: "Didn't you used to be in a rivalry with Mandark? He's the top ranking right now?"

Dexter: "That's not my problem anymore"

Princess: "So you're just letting him be better than you?"

Dexter: "I already hurt someone important to me once, I don't want to risk it again"

Princess: "What, is this all because you fell in love with a Powerpuff girl?"

Dexter: "It's more-"

Princess: " I saw Blossom here and she hasn't said a word to you, so clearly she doesn't feel the same~"

Dexter: "That's not-wait, isn't that the reason you quit too?"

Princess: "Literally shut up right now"

Dexter: "Because I recall reading a tabloid magazine about how Bubbles left you because you che-"

Princess: "ENOUGH!"

All 3 of you were silent and just stared at her until you spoke.

"Wait, who's Mandark again?" The black haired girl looks like she's about to say answer you but then changes her mind. Princess speaks instead because of her need to dominate any given conversation.

"Oh...you're here. Greeeeeeeat". Of course she doesn't like you. Your last interaction ended with you and your brothers refusing to let her join you. But you were also like, 5. She still seemed petty though.

"Of course you wouldn't know someone that famous. Is it because you were never a real villain? But anyway he's like...mad scientist guy. Reads a lot of nerd shit but actually makes it kind of cool. It's called like...cloud rock or whatever"

"It's called steampunk...For someone acting like she's the grand authority of villainy, you really need to do more research. Anyway I saw him here earlier. He has like black hair, and some stupid cape"

"Oh uh-" You remember that description exactly fits the guy who you just punched. Thinking about it further, a future supervillain interning on whatever weird project had them kidnapped made a lot of sense.

"I may have taken him out...Didn't kill him but uhhh" You showed your now stained gloves, expecting a freakout but they seemed almost uncomfortably calm. The black haired girl looked as if she wanted to say something but realized she probably shouldn't. The guy in the lab coat seemed to smirk a bit. Princess, as always, looked annoyed.

"So...if whatever villain contract you were talking about is open, you should probably be offering it to me, if anyone" You weren't sure if it was something you actually wanted...but job security sounds nice. Even with someone as annoying as her.

"Yeah that's...never gonna happen. If a hero just wants to rely on physical strength and powers that's one thing. But villains have to be smarter. And you...I don't think you have that. Sure, your dad was a real villain. Regardless of my personal feelings I can't deny Mojo's impact. But you and your brothers...you were just a scheme. A means to take down the Powerpuff girls. And that's all you'll EVER be"

Rage flashes through you again but unlike last time you hold back, though your gaze is terrifying. She knows enough about you to know that you can shoot lasers out of your eyes.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

As promised here, I'm continuing a series of posts on NewJeans and why I think the group holds real potential. What I want to briefly talk about this time, is the quality of their music.

Credit: @/haerin1sta

*

Not exactly sure how this is going to come across, but the truth is very few groups in k-pop give me a quality sonic experience. I mean, for a lot of groups, I get no joy from playing them out loud in my space. BTS is one group where the music is so dynamic, textured and layered... I know this probably sounds pretentious, but BTS's music is the perfect blend of cohesive + complex + simple to suit my taste. I enjoy sitting back in my living room, dimming the lights and drawing the blinds, to hear Dis-ease play over my Bowers & Wilkins 800 D4 speakers. It feels like an actual pleasure. I get this with BTS, nearly every time. There's a handful of other groups whose songs I sometimes feel this way about, but there's been no other group that consistently gets me this way lately more than NewJeans.

At least I'm pretty sure there's no other group that gets me to break out a subwoofer more than NewJeans, after BTS.

All their songs have such a deep and rich bass.

It's almost sickening. Listen, k-pop has done R&B for years. The sound isn't new to the industry by any means, but the way NewJeans does R&B you can tell whoever makes their shit, cette personne a eu le cœur brisé par une personne noire.

Take for example a song like ASAP. That moment the bass comes in at 0:40, during the chorus - it sounds heavenly on my speakers. The whole song feels kinda magical and odd, like Christmas in July, and I suspect one reason why is the chord progression which I recognize to follow that of many Christmas hymns... and the deep heavy bass.

You might not hear it right in this clip because of how Youtube compresses their sound, but I think one can still tell the pitch shifts slightly. The tweaky game-beat percussion that fills up the rest of the song feels disorienting but that's also the point. By the time the second chorus comes in, the contrast it creates feels like you're diving into a pool of cool water on a hot day. It's so good. It's like that weird genre-mix thing SM likes to do in their songs, but with NewJeans it's so much more effortless, weirder, and cooler.

*

This is Minji.

*

This is Danielle.

*

This is Haerin.

*

This is Hyein.

*

This is Hanni.

*

All five girls have clean, clear vocals and very distinct vocal colours. One reason their music is so good, is because all their songs put an emphasis on their vocals. For example, listen to the pulled stems for Hurt.

The first 2 minutes and 50 seconds is pure acappella heaven, and then you realize it's placed in the center. The mix is so full and centered, it's perfect. The other stems in the video from 2:50 too are such a delight to listen to.

The sense of easy excellence is everywhere in NewJeans' sound and concept. They don't need to force anything, they don't need crazy ornamental riffs, or ridiculous beat switches to capture and hold attention. All the harmonizing that needs to be done is already in the music. It's simple and for that reason, good. Hurt for example is just a well made song.

It's so fun to play in the car. It sounds like a joint Andre 3000 would produce.

Another song that absolutely blows me away when I play it, is Cookie. Can you even try to imagine what the intro on Cookie sounds like with subwoofers?

It's mad.

*

Ador encourages the girls to fully participate in several aspects, from songwriting (the members have been writing their songs since debut and 4 out of 5 members are credited on their songs so far), to making their choreography, to applying their ideas towards their marketing. It's really remarkable for a rookie group, but I also feel this is a culture HYBE has been trying to create at all their sub-labels.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to more music from NewJeans. Get Up was a solid treat - my ranking of the songs on it so far:

New Jeans

Cool with You & Get Up

ASAP

ETA

Super Shy

*

(Haerin - dancer and vocalist)

*

(Danielle - dancer and vocalist)

*

(Hyein - dancer, vocalist, and maknae)

*

(Hanni - dancer and vocalist)

*

(Minji - dancer and vocalist)

*

(I don't have a bias in NewJeans. And that's the first sign for me that this is a solid group.)

[irritablepoe]

How do I approach reading poetry?

hiii, omg, i'm glad you're asking hehe :3

first of all, there's no "correct way" of reading poetry ofc, and i'm also no literature student, so i don't have the correct words for everything, so just keep that in mind :)

at first you have to figure out what poems you want or have to read, depending what you're reading it for (like for fun or education yk). i personally think that to feel the poem you have to read it to yourself multiple times and assigning your own meaning to it (if you find it in the poem ofc, some poems are just not for everyone and that's okay :3). to understand the poem you might want to add some historical and periodic context, and maybe also some basic personal context of the poet themselves (though, this is probably only relevant when they are classic poets). my tip is to find out the leitmotif of a specific period which probably makes the poem make a lot more sense.

just for an example: romanticism was mainly a movement as a reaction to the rationalization of nature (meaning science and the industrial revolution) in which emotions were being conveyed through the metaphor of nature and the desire to experience it (kind of like a rebellion against rationalism? there's a lot more to it with patriotism/nationalism and stuff but that's like the main thing). so in the literature in this period, nature and wanderlust were a big leitmotif here. i mostly know german poets so the best example of this would probably be eichendorff and brentano here, though idk how good the translations are but it's just an example anyways here.

i'll link a website here (all poems) and here (all poets), it's the poetry foundation and you can find and explore a lot there, there are also articles and stuff, it's really cool!

i don't read as much poetry as i'd like to but i'm just gonna try and explain how i personally do it:

i read it a first time, which gives me a general idea of what it's about and i'm probably going to get a few ideas on which period it is from (only specific ones though, as i said, i'm not an expert by any means). also i really really focus on it. i think poems can't really be read like a book, it's more like you taking a bite out of it and savour it with each verse yk? i know it sounds a little pretentious but you gotta go along with it a little bit, it's poetry after all...

i reread it and maybe take note of verses that i really connect with. although i'm fascinated by how history can influence texts, i'm a big fan of making my own interpretation as well. if i really like and connect to a poem i google the poet and look at their life (if i haven't done it before that is). oftentimes similar poets or poets of that time appear on the wiki page and i've realized that you're kind of "jumping" from one author to the next and check them out (not only with poetry but with all sorts of things). example would also be that if you look at goethe's life you're bound to cross schiller as well and then you're probably going to check his works out as well, you know what i mean?

the last thing i do is look at the structure, yes yes, i know, my german teacher would kill me for this and yes yes the poem can carry a lot of meaning behind what is said however, if i don't notice it the first few times i read it, it doesn't seem as meaningful to me, i'm just saying...

sometimes i like listening to poems too, i highly recommend rachel oates on youtube, she has some great poetry herself and i want to buy her book so badly! she reads some of her favorite poems in some of her videos and the way she reads them is just *chefs kiss*

yeah, uhm, that's pretty long and idk if that helped. i googled the question too just now and it focuses more on the structure and the reading aloud of the poem itself so idk if that helps more

thank you again for the ask! this was quite fun :D

[ryo-maybe]

I am a couple hours late to the party but allow me to be the one who doesn't wear a mask: I like 14, but man can it be a slog to play through sometimes. I admit, the story gets better after ARR, but having to trudge through the entirety of ARR can be ... exhausting. Unappetizing. You get bits and pieces here and there of interesting things, sure, but the other expansions have the benefit of only needing to fill 10 levels worth of story, not fifty. Yes, 14 is a game and I'll rec it, but _fuck_.

Yeah, despite a big chunk of the fanbase - from what few glimpses I've seen - often making a sport of making up reasons to believe the game is a dead piece of overly optimized shit, I do think there is legitimacy to the swathes of players who are dreading whatever changes they're cooking up for DRG and other classes going forward, considering what they did to SMN and PLD. Accessibility is fine and dandy as long as you also don't sand away the weird corners responsible for each class's distinctive identities. That and I'm so fed up with the 2min window and the apparent aversion for DoT's that seems to become more prominent with each new change lmao

While I wouldn't say ARR is straight up bad, it's also hardly the kind of mindblowing experience that would get one hooked without the promise of things getting so, so much better. Even putting aside the story, the gameplay up to level 50 (and, hell, for a lot of classes, all the way up to the 80-90 range) is absolutely snooze-inducingly boring. Considering the significant investment in terms of time and dedication required of a new player, it's frankly a lot to ask to stick with it unless something really clicks with you or you've got pals who'll tag along and make the experience less of a pain for you.

Like I said before, I think it's kind of a miracle that the game clicked for me like it did, which probably speaks wonders of its potential (or my insane dedication when the monkey brain activates), but both the beginning and the endgame are anything but pristine experiences with plenty of aspects worth picking apart.

Anyway the game would be infinitely less insufferable if the translation team didn't insist on shaving away all semblance of personality from the script in favor of making it sound more pretentious than it's trying to lmao

[kassymalone]

Your plots and characters are so engaging, how do you do it? Where there any books or book series that may have helped shape your style of writing, or did you just keep writing fanfics until your writing kept improving and you developed your own style?

Hello, quiet one! Thanks for the compliment, and the question!

I wouldn't say there's one particular book or series that inspired me. Last time I moved house, over 20 of the boxes were just my books! Not even kidding... I've got horror, I've got romance, I've got sci-fi, dragons, LGBT+, bildungsroman, thrillers, manga, high fantasy, reference books... it's a lot. Variety is the spice of life!

I think understanding why you do or don't like what you're reading is very important to engagement. The last book I remember absolutely hating was something I thought I would enjoy (haunted castle in Japan? Yes please!), but the writing was so verbose and the characters so flat, their actions made no sense in reality and there was a subplot about suicidal depression that seemed to disappear after the first chapter...? It was frustrating to finish, and I've always thought that a bad example can be an excellent teacher.

I was always called a daydreamer as a kid, not paying attention and 'away with the fairies' (which was completely true), but I was always thinking of stories. Even to this day, on the bus to and from work I'm thinking of the next chapters, playing it out twelve different ways before picking the one I like the most to actually write down. The second I don't need to be paying attention to the real world, I'm off with my characters seeing what would happen if things went this way this time...

God, this sounds pretentious. Sorry.

As for characters... what makes a character engaging is very difficult and highly subjective. My personal rule is 'it has to make sense'. For example, using Sun and Moon in the fic I'm currently writing, if I randomly put in that they enjoyed making bread, that would make no sense. They're robots, they can't eat, they hate mess, they don't like any humans enough to make the effort anyway, Sun doesn't have the patience for baking and Moon would just point out that there's sliced bread in the kitchen l already. Could there be another story where them baking bread does make sense? Sure, but the way I've written this one!

And finally, you've kind of hit the nail on the head - I have A LOT of experience in this. The first story I finished writing was 80 pages long, and I was very proud of it, but I was 11 so it was probably pretty bad XD I seem to recall there was a dragon involved? I've been writing ever since, both fanficiton and original stuff. I put it aside for a few years in my early twenties during those horrible years I was trying to be 'normal' (because none of the adults I knew at the time had any hobbies, so I thought it was something I had to grow out of, but that's another story...), and the second I picked it up again my mental health improved so much, I can't even tell you.

While my life-long dream of actually being published may never come true (turns out it's really fucking hard, who knew?), just being able to write makes me incredibly happy. I think wanting to do something really shines through in the end result, and if you're really engaged with what you're writing then the reader will be able to tell.

Plus, y'know... practice, practice, practice.

[lgcdavika]

✧˖*°࿐ character update 004

when it came to the company and coaches asking questions, davika had learned not to get ahead of herself. she's careful, strategic, and no one is out to get her. they were just that, questions, plain and simple.

"how do you choose who you spend your time with?" the question was relatively easy, and she smiles with utter confidence as she answers the coach's question. "that's easy, I choose who I spend time with based on pleasure, the joy of their company, or chemistry, some people just vibe, and I don't like complicated things." time is currency, it's the one thing that she cannot get back if wasted. every second and every hour spent with what seemed like shallow relationships and connections, it's all part of the plan. the grand scheme of things. though she may be living a tedious and complex lifestyle, it is anything but. she knows what she needs to do, where she needs to go, and who she needs to be with to get there.

the next question catches her off-guard, "who is the most important person in your life?" for a second there a straight-forward answer almost escaped her. but she's quick to find a reasonably normal and acceptable response, "it's like you're making me choose between my mom and dad, my dad would not like that," she laughs, the sweet and infectious kind that made her shudder. looks like it still works with the way the coach was as amused as she looked. "i'd have to say my parents. they've been supportive of me growing up, they were always there for me. they did everything to make me feel like i can do even the impossible". the words left a bitter taste in her mouth, and like a boulder slammed right into her chest. davika is the most important person in her life. she made all of this happen, so it was only right that she put herself above all else.

she was quick to stop herself from going that awful place in her head again, and instead focuses her energy on being making this a delightful conversation. "if you were in desperate need, who would you turn to?" davika crosses her arms and hums, chewing on her bottom lips, brows knitting as she pretend to think hard about it. "the coaches, of course!" she beams with pride with a firm nod, "they're here, and easier to reach, i'd say my parents but they're so far away. or even the police, depending on how dire the situation is." she laughs with the coach, who seemed to have accepted her stupid reply with how she made it seem like she was her parent's little darling. but who will she turn to if she was, indeed, in desperate need? again, plain and simple, seyoon and seunghyun. she can recite their numbers better than she can her parents' anyway.

the next question made her want to roll her eyes and throw up. "have you ever felt truly loved by someone else?" as if being love was the defining moment in someone's life, try being the subject of someone's revenge. now, that is true passion. but of course, davika perfected the art of saying what needs to be said to pacify without sounding too pretentious. "besides my parents, i've felt truly loved by my friends. we've been through so much together and we've always supported each other, and i think that's you make someone feel truly loved, by being there and supporting someone." is it really? davika can't recall a single moment when she felt truly and sincerely loved by someone. not ever. she wondered if the fleeting moments and split seconds she indulged in delusions count. probably not.

davika was done with the questions. the annoyance was going to start clawing at her features and her words any second now. "how do you show someone you care about them?" the last thing she needs right now is a lesson on relationships. "by being honest." she begins, partnered with a kind smile that took everything in her to put on her lips. "contrary to what people think, it's difficult to be honest. there's a lot that goes into it, you have to be careful about delivery, word choice, timing, nuance. tact, you know. that's how i show i care." the thing is, you never show you care. if you do, people get complacent, smug. if you do, it's over and you just set yourself up for failure.

[bugeyedfreaks]

Previous anon about ppgxrrb post (the first one lol)

I agree with a lot of what you say about the shipping of ppgxrrb and how the fans just depict them as ultra hot bad boys. Its a breath of fresh air to see others’ perspectives on this, cause as I said before I admit I am a fan sometimes but even seeing a lot of ooc works puts me off. I understand if older fans/people only like it because of nostalgia (I’m one of those) but I’m more baffled with seeing new/younger that also likes to ship them, I can see them just liking the Boys cause they think gender bent/evil/alternate versions of the main protagonist are just fun in general, but I don’t understand why a lot of new fans that also ships them, maybe its because of fanart/fanfic.

In regard of that fic (assuming we’re talking about the same thing) I think the reason why it was praised so much and put on high pedestal was because the standard of the ppgxrrb fics were pretty low (at the time anyway) and for me personally it does felt I’m watching the original when I read it, (aside from the shipping thing, but I only read it for the character writing mostly) imo probably the closest thing I can get to what an older/teenage ppg would sound/read like, it just had shipping… lol but also yea I agree with you about the other villains not getting enough fanfics for themselves, its unfortunate cause ppg has so many great villains and the fandom just chose the least interesting ones (rrb)

Also I love how you described Boomer, he’d definitely be a whiteknight type then probably go “bubblevicious” when he doesn’t get what he wants, in fics he’s usually the first, quickest and easiest to be redeemed which is just very boring and probably the reason why Blues (BubblesxBoomer) is the least favorite of the 3 ships.

Yeah, I think on the most basic, superficial level, taking NOTHING about the personality or history of the characters into account, if you were to show someone who never saw the show a lineup of the Powerpuff GIrls characters and ask them, "Who are the girls' boyfriends?" they would choose the Rowdyruff Boys. Just because of their character designs they're the easiest characters to pair them off with. And I don't use "superficial" or "easy" as an insult, like... it just is what it is by the very nature of it. On a little less of a basic level, they're probably the only boys in the show (including the boys that are in the girls' class like Mitch and Elmer and Harry, etc.) that would be considered "attractive" enough to match up with them. Which, y'know, I could go into a whole rant about the superficiality (negative this time, haha) of that and how that way of thinking feels very creatively limiting... but, yeah, when you're a new fan and you see all this fic/fanart, not to mention how the ship is ultra visible and popular, it's the simplest entry point.

We're totally talking about the same fic. 😂 Again, I've really tried to read it and have an open mind about it, and I guess the mere fact that (from what I remember) the girls occasionally do have fights in it is enough to make it different from a standard PPG/RRB fic where the girls' superpowers are completely forgotten about (a la the City of Clipsville girls)... but the villains and the crimefighting STILL just feel like an afterthought (and maybe it's just my pretentiously high standards for them talking, but I remember really disliking how the dialogue of some of the few villains that are even included in the story was written). For the most part it just seems like it's all just fancy set dressing to disguise your average high school teen fanfic. I remember trying to read it again a while ago and I got to an early point where like some characters were suddenly like making out and I was just like... ew, no, not for me. 😩 That doesn't make me feel like I'm watching the show, that just makes me sick to my stomach! Stuff like that just pulled me way out, I couldn't enjoy it.

And I guess that's also a thing I dislike about some of the fanfics, like... if the RRB are going to have any similarities to the girls it's going to be their negative attributes, but that doesn't seem like an issue that ever gets explored. It seems like, despite whether or not people write them as still having problematic misogynist qualities, Brick always just turns out to be the hot intelligent one, Butch is the tough dude bro, and Boomer is the sweet, sensitive boi. How boring IS that?! 🤣 It doesn't seem like anyone's really challenged themselves to see things from any different, meaningful perspectives, and I have always felt that way. It is a bummer though that, when I have found the rare fanfic that has great writing and feels like the show characters and tells a story that's interesting and new (or even has a ship for the girls that's completely off the wall but... somehow actually works!)... it's because I had to dig through all the PPG/RRB content to find it. And I've seen many people who've written cool stuff get frustrated enough about that difficulty of visibility that that they take down their fics, or they get discouraged from writing anything else, or they even get harassed for daring to write anything against the norm. It bums me out.