#as we all know Poland aren’t gonna do anything anyway

[gulski2]

I know a lot of y’all want Poland to win, but I need France to reach the final, as they’re gonna be my last line of defense against a Messi win and the insufferable reactions that’ll follow it

[phantaloon-books]

Alright I got a couple comments asking for a continuation so here's part 2 of neil finding out the feds were onto smth when they recommended witness protection program

part 1

(Also thank you so much, I genuinely didn't expect such a good reception, everything I write is purely self indulgent)

Andrew is gonna fucking lose it. It's been over three weeks and not a single word from Neil fucking Josten. He's never hated him more, and this time he means it when he says hate. Actually he's not sure he hates himself or Neil more, but he feels hatred and rage and that's what matters. But of course the rabbit just left. Once a rabbit, always a rabbit.

He wanted so desperately to believe that, that Neil chose to run, that he chose to leave him them and keep running because that's what he knows best. Even if believing Neil chose to leave hurts him more than he'll ever admit, it's the best thing to believe. It's best to believe that Neil left than to believe something happened. It's best to believe Neil grew tired and bored of him them than to listen to the worry and dread Andrew's been feeling for months. It's best to believe Neil didn't want him than to let himself think of worst case scenarios.

But he can't make himself think that Neil left willingly and because he wanted to (and not it's not because he wants to believe that Neil wouldn't leave him). Neil would never run without his things, not without his stupid binder and money and contacts, not without clothes or any resources. If he ran away he would do it properly. He wouldn't leave with running clothes and his stupid flip phone. And most importantly Andrew knows that Neil has been restless lately. He's seen the way Neil checks every corner or every place, observes the people, looks for threats. He'd left those habits behind, so something has to have happened. Neil didn't just leave him.

The best thing is the other foxes aren't convinced Neil would run either. He had no one to run from, and he had a family now. And even if he was feeling overwhelmed or anxious, he would have come back. He wouldn't have taken three weeks. So they know, they know, Neil didn't leave because he wanted or needed to. And they're all anxious as hell about that bc if he didn't leave where is he?

They narrow it down eventually, and conclude that he got in a fight and is dead in a ditch somewhere, he had an accident in a coma in a hospital somewhere, he somehow got lost and/or lost his memory, someone killed him accidentally or not and his body is buried somewhere far away, or he's been taken. And Andrew cannot take the stress that he doesn't know where the fuck Neil is any longer.

He almost killed Kevin and several federal agents when Neil went missing for a few hours. This time, he hasn't tried to kill anyone yet but that hasn't stopped him from tearing every dorm apart and the stadium and the police station and the hospital and getting in fights with the FBI. He's desperate enough that he called Browning, hell, he's desperate enough that he contacted the Moriyamas, which wasn't a pleasant experience, but Ichirou had promised Neil protection and this definitely called for mafia intervention. So far neither the FBI or the Moriyamas had helped - yes they had, they informed him regularly that they were looking for Neil, but they had nothing, no clues no trails, and Andrew couldn't believe their incompetence, like for fucks sake the Moriyamas were yakuza, they ought to know what could have happened to one of their most valuable assets. And anyway if he ran, and wasn't taken, they for sure would be behind him, looking to kill him of course, but they still couldn't find him.

Andrew hasn't tried to kill anyone yet but he will soon if he doesn't find Neil, and he's sure he will start with himself. He can't remember the last time he slept or ate well, or went to exy practice, but he doesn't care. He can't care until he knows something. The lack of knowledge is driving him crazy. At this point knowing that Neil is dead and has been rotting in the countryside of Poland would be better than not knowing anything.

He hates this so much. He hates Neil for disappearing. He hates whoever went and got him. He hates the Moriyamas for not being able to find him and not keeping him safe in the first place. He hates himself for becoming so attached. He should have known better. He knew better. He knew it was a bad idea to feel all the things he feels for Neil, especially because it's Neil, the unpredictable rabbit. But he fell for the fake hope that they would make it, that he wouldn't be hurt again, that Neil would stay. He knew letting someone in again could kill him. He knows that if they don't find him, it will. He can't keep going like this. He was stupid enough to feel hopeful, but he won't be able to live once the hope dies.

He's laying in Neil's bed. He knows it's pathetic, but frankly he doesn't care. Everyday is worse than the last one. He's slipping and when he falls it's game over, he's going to make sure of that. If Neil genuinely cared, he'd be pissed at Andrew for even thinking about this. No he'd be upset, but not pissed, about the fact that he's considering taking his life over this. But he opened the door to feelings, and he won't be able to cope with them and he won't be able to close that door again. He's giving up.

Faint buzzing interrumps his thoughts. Someone's calling him. He couldn't stomach the runaway song that matched with Neil's but he couldn't stomach changing it either, so he leaves in on vibrate now. He looks at his screen. It's an unknown number. Most likely the FBI or the Moriyamas or a random police station ready to take him out of his misery and just tell him they found Neil's body. The code says it's from Minnesota. He considers not answering, but he might as well get over it.

He flips the phone open, "I only care about this if you are from the FBI or the literal mafia, so if you aren't from either, feel free to hang up." The other line stays silent for a few seconds, but when he looks at his phone, it's still going. The person didn't hang up. He doesn't have the patience for this. "I'm just gonna hang up then-"

"Andrew, wait." It's barely a hesitant whisper. The voice is absolutely shattered, rough and hoarse and very painful-sounding. There's wheezing too and labored breaths. But god. No matter how wrecked he sounds, he'd recognize that voice anywhere. In half a second he's up and falling from the bed in his haste, alert at last. He can't believe it. He wants to but he doesn't want to believe the call is real.

"Neil? Neil is that you?" He hates how vulnerable he sounds, but the thought dies quickly. There's no way, no way this is real. A sob breaks through the line, and oh it sounds so full of pain and fear.

"Andrew, I-I need you to stay safe. I don't know if they're coming for you, for the foxes. I need you to find a place where you're safe. Call Browning or Ich- the little Lord and make sure they can protect you guys for a while."

Okay that's definitely Neil even if he didn't answer the question. And Andrew's heart is going a thousand miles an hour, he doesn't feel his body anymore.

"Neil where are you? I'm coming to get you, I'll call Browning but where are you?"

"'Drew," another sob, and this one manages to break Andrew's walls more than than the whispered 'Drew', "promise me you'll stay safe, don't come looking for me, you can't take them down, please don't come looking for me."

The exhaustion and terror in his voice doesn't sit well with Andrew. The Neil he knows is not this. "For fucks sake Neil just tell me where in Minnesota you are, I'm coming to get you."

"No- no you're not, I'm not calling you because I want you to come. I just need you to promise you'll be safe."

"Neil who took you? Where are you? I can send the FBI or the japanese shits over, I swear to god I can send them to come get you if you just tell me where you are and who took you. I'll - I'll try my best to keep the others safe, but who took you?"

"I'm sorry, Andrew, I- I didn't mean to, please believe I didn't mean to leave, they- some of the Butcher's pals found me, I'm so sorry- I put all of you in danger again."

"Okay, that's something we can work with, now where are you Neil?"

"Andrew-" his breath hitches, he gasps and whimpers, "I'm so sorry, I have to go, I need to leave Andrew. Please stay safe. Look I- I love you okay? I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier."

"Neil wait don't hang up-"

And the line goes dead.

The world is falling apart, collapsing all around Andrew. He's numb but he feels encompassing terror. He can't feel a thing, he can't think. He was so close. It feels like Neil just slipped past his fingers, like he just let go of Neil and let him fall to the darkness. He thinks he may be falling too. He needs to call Browning. He does it instinctively, he doesn't register he has his phone to his ear until the FBI agents voice is calling to him. He also goes with what he's gonna say with the same instinct he pulled in Baltimore, knowing he can't mention certain mafia.

"Neil just called me, I have no idea from where, I have no idea how he got a hold of me, he didn't say a thing, he refused to say a thing other than we're in danger, the foxes, and that whoever took him will come for us- oh and apparently it's someone involved with the Butcher."

How he managed to be as apathetic and unattached to everything he said is beyond him. But whatever he says and whatever Browning says, FBI agents are now guarding them in the locker room of the Foxhole Court, with mattresses and mats laid down on the floor. and he doesn't know how they got here and he's cuffed all over again, but this time to Renee even if he doesn't remember being violent. Even the stupid rookies are here, looking extremely panicked and terrified despite most of them not giving a fuck that Neil was gone just hours ago. The other foxes - Neil's family - are pressing Andrew for answers, but he can't deal with anything at the moment.

He needs to call Ichirou too. That's the call that matters, because that's the call that can bring Neil home because he can't do that himself while cuffed to Renee and being guarded by the fucking FBI. He somehow convinces the agent to let him make a call, to his therapist he says, to grant him privacy even if that's utter bullshit. He's dragging Renee into the eye of the storm but oh well, why did they cuff him to her in the first place, it's not his fault. He calls the Moriyama representative he's been dealing with and thank Renee's god the woman answers.

"I need to talk to- to Lord Ichirou, it's about Neil Josten's whereabouts, I got important information about him." He can feel both the condescension from the other end of the line and poorly veiled shock from Renee. "I know where he is, I know about who's got him, I need to talk to Lord Moriyama."

He isn't sure how he managed it. He doesn't know how he convinced them to let them talk to their mafia boss, or how he's able to keep his cool for long enough to actually talk to the man himself. He thinks having Renee there, who asks no questions and keeps her hand on top of Andrew's with no hesitation, is part of the solution but he's not admitting that. Either or, he talks to Ichirou (he can't deny he's not terrified of messing up with the man who keeps Neil alive, but he's not admitting that either), reminds him of how Neil is important to the Moriyamas, both as an exy player and as a Wesninski, and how Neil, Kevin and Jean are loyal to the Moriyamas, hints at how Ichirou promised protection. He has perfect memory, but he will never remember how he convinced Ichirou Moriyama to send people to Minnesota and look for him all over the state and surrounding states, all he knows is that Ichirou stuck to his promise, all is good, he didn't fuck up.

Weeks pass again, nothing happens. There's no news from the Moriyamas, the FBI keeps telling him they're doing what they can. Andrew is done. No one came looking for them at least, which is nice bc they didn't die but it doesn't feel worth it when Neil wasn't back. He feels stupid for hoping he would come back safe and alive. The Moriyamas might as well have killed him for being such an inconvenience. Things are going to hell. Andrew was an idiot for falling so hard for Neil Josten. It was a mistake. He should have known better.

His anger is gone, and numbness has settled. It was becoming a habit for him to remain lying down most of the day. It was also becoming a habit for the foxes to take care of him when he did this. He can't even bother to shower if someone doesn't remind him every day, or eat, or drink water for that matter. He's a mess and he would be incredibly embarrassed if he cared a little, but he's slipping and he doesn't mind falling. Nothing is fine. Until it is.

It comes in the form of a text one morning, while he's lying on the couch in the living room. An unknown number again, New York code, and it only reads, "Threat has been dealt with - I". And what the fuck does that mean. It tells him absolutely nothing. If Ichirou bothered to text him he could at least be clear as to what the fuck that meant. Was Neil even alive? There is a soft knock at the door. Of course, someone bothers him when no other fox is at the dorm. They couldn't ditch every class to make sure Andrew didn't combust spontaneously.

He truly doesn't want to get up. He doesn't want to go answer the door. It's too much a bother. If it's someone important they'll either knock again aor shout for him to open up. He curls up in bed. He honestly wants to disappear. There's another knock, a little harder than the first. But there's no voice, no demand, no nothing. Maybe it's a Moriyama. Maybe he'll feel so disrespected or whatever he's gonna barge in and end his misery. Whatever. "Fuck off", he shouts from the couch, hoping for the best. There's another knock, for fuck's sake, can they just walk in already? Another, and he's up. Pissed and going for the door.

"Fucking hell, what do you want?" His anger is back with a passion, and he's practically stomping to the door, throwing it wide open, "Just barge through the fucking door, and get it over with-"

He has to stop exploding when people don't answer to him right away. Maybe he should work on his patience. Because frankly it has been working against him at the worst times. No it's not his fault. It's the idiot's fault for appearing at out nowhere and stealing his breath away. Everything is Neil Josten's fault.

"Hey Drew," said idiot's voice is impossibly more hoarse than when he called him before. Andrew can't tell if his heart is beating too fast or not at all. He thought he was a mess, but Neil looks like he's been through hell and back. Well, he's been through hell and back too many times before, but he's never looked this bad, and he was a mess after Evermore. His face is beaten so badly, so swollen, if he didn't know him and those stupidly blue eyes so well. Even his eyes are different, there's no spark, they're dull and hazy. He's wearing a large hoodie and sweatpants, so Andrew can't see the damage beyon his face, but at least his hands remain okay, there's no new damage. "Looks like I still have it in me to leave you speechless, huh."

Andrew takes a deep breath and he sighs. And his heart breaks. Neil. Neil. Neil is here. Andrew wants to craddle him and hold him and never let him go again. He doesn't care if it's soft, Neil is here. He raises his hands, frames Neil's face like he has before. He presses a hand to Neil's neck, looking for a pulse, and he finds it. He's alive.

"Neil," he breathes, and he feels. He feels. "You're alive, I thought, you-"

They're both silent. Andrew doesn't notice when Neil raises his hands, framing his own face. They've been here before.

"I'm not leaving you, I promised right? You're not getting rid of me that easily. "

He hates feeling this much, "You've got some explaining to do, but- it can wait."

"That's good yeah, because I'm not sure how much longer I can remain conscious and the Moriyamas weren't the best at patching everything up, so I'd really appreciate it if you call Abby."

He doesn't trust himself to open his mouth, so he guides Neil inside, holding on to his hand like a tether. Neil deflates, he grimaces as Andrew helps him to the couch. He's obviously hiding something below the clothes. Andrew stands to call Abby, but Neil grips his hand tightly. When Andrew looks up, he sees the fear and exhaustion he heard on the call weeks ago. Neil isn't able to keep up the act of being okay for long.

"Stay, pl- just," he looks away, and Andrew doesn't know how to feel about the pause, he didn't say the word, "can you stay?"

And he does. Things aren't fine. Neil is a mess. So is Andrew. They have to work through stuff. Andrew clearly has to work on the apparent dependancy issues. But they'll have time now. Neil is safe. He's alive and safe. He lost consciousness not long after he sat down, but Abby, Wymack and the foxes are on their way. They're not fine. But Neil is lying next to him, and he isn't gonna let him go again. They'll be fine.

[nyaheum]

My yearly list of Eurovision songs after the first impression (I mean, for like, half of them. I heard snippets of some songs.). Judged on music videos, because...if I only listen to the songs on Spotify, my eyes get bored. :’)

(oh, and don’t talk to me about iceland’s placement, I know this might be unpopular)

X. Belarus

Fuck Belarus, all my homies hate Belarus. Not even going to grace them with a rating.

Norway (TIX ��� Fallen Angel)

...no. :( And it’s not even because Keiino didn’t win, I just wholeheartetly hate this song. And I’m kinda sorry to TIX, because he seems like a cool dude and his stage outfit is absolutely hilarious, but oh my god do I hate this song with an absolute burning passion.

Poland (RAFAL – The Ride)

eye emoji mouth emoji eye emoji – well, this is a non-qualifier if I’ve ever seen one. Can we just...skip this?

Belgium (Hooverphonic – The Wrong Place)

Nap time! This song annoys me. I cannot explain it, but it gives me a headache and my whole body is revolting against this song. I am not kidding. Objectively, I don’t even hate it, but there’s just something about it...that makes me go...hnghgng…

North Macedonia (Vasil – Here I Stand)

eye emoji mouth emoji eye emoji ver. 2 – I am not trying to sound mean, but does North Macedonia do any music that is not dramatic power ballads? I’m serious. (And I don’t like it, sorry. :((...except for the high notes, I like them. When he can hit them live.)

Estonia (Uku Suviste – The Lucky One)

This (the music video)...is soft porn. I am slightly scared of Uku. I don’t know why. But, uh...this is better than last year’s song? Still, it wouldn’t qualify under my watch, whoops.

Georgia (Tornike Kipiani – You)

He stopped yelling angrily at the microphone. :((( Nah, but this isn’t my thing. It’s great that they are doing their own thing, it’s just not really my thing...it also reminds me of a song I know, damn.

Austria (Vincent Bueno - Amen)

He looks like a german youtuber. I don’t know hich one, but he looks like one. I also canot tell if he’s 18 or 38, lol. (For some reason he also reminds me of Alex Albon, which is even weirder.)...oh, uh, the song? Idk, I don’t care for I. It’s fine.

Spain (Blas Cantó – Voy A Querdarme)

Confession: I’m probably the only person who actually doesn’t like the sound of Spanish all that much. Whoops. Apart from that though, I’m not the biggest fan of this song. Can’t really say more about that. Meh.

The Netherlands (Jeangu Macrooy – Birth Of A New Age)

Listen: I really like the tone of this voice. It’s great. I am not a fan of the song. There’s something just very off about the loud percussions (?) in the background that make me go absolutely crazy when listening to this. My sensory-overload-prone ears hate it, and I’m sorry...the part before the last chorus on the other hand I love. The whole song could have sounded like that and I would have loved it. (...and I can’t unhear “You are my broccoli – You know my broccoli!” ;-;)

Azerbaijan (Efendi – Mata Hari) Whenever I see Efendi, my brain still goes “Cleopatrrrrra!”, oof. This song sounds like a song I know. Which...is super unprecice, but I genuinely don’t know which one. I do like that they kept the weird pre-chorus thing from Cleopatra (and reference the song later on), but I must say that I liked Cleopatra more...but it’s a party song, so I think it will be fun on stage!

Romania (ROXEN - Amnesia)

I didn’t like her song last year, I don’t enjoy this all too much and I’m kinda sorry but also...I don’t want to apologize for my taste in music, lmao. I want her hair though. Give me her hair.

Denkmark (Fyr & Flamme – Ove Os Pa Hinanden)

Ring ding ding, native language bonus. This is also way more fun than I thought it would be, hah. VERY retro, but I don’t hate that? :D (this and sweden really aren’t any different in terms of how much I like them)

Portugal (The Black Mama – Love Is On My Side)

I can appreciate this. I just wish it was in Portuguese, honestly. I don’t really know if I like the English for this song. That being said, I don’t know if you can make these very specific tones (you know what I mean) in portuguese without it sounding super off, so…

Ireland (Lesley Roy – Maps)

Okay, you do you Ireland. :D

Israel (Eden Alene – Set Me Free)

This exists. :D

Cyprus (Elena Tsagrinou – El Diablo)

Cyprus came to party, and I can’t be mad at that. I just don’t know why everybody in the YouTube comments loves this SO MUCH that they are sure that it will win if it gets the jury votes. I don’t think it’s as good as Fuego or She Got Me were, but maybe I just have no taste in party music. I don’t party. (Only if you got a 2000s playlist and some iced tea.)

France (Barbara Pravi – Voilà)

FRANCE sending a BALLAD? In MY Eurovision? It’s more likely than you think. It’s good, objectively. Personally, I don’t really care for it all that much and feel like I already know it.

United Kingdom (Embers – James Newman)

A good, modern song? In my british eurovision song? What happened on the Isles over quarantine? Are you guys okay? Did you find yourself? Have you taken your last breath (breath!) and looked at your past results? I’m impressed enough to put this relatively high, wow.

Serbia (Hurricane – LOCO LOCO)

*adore delano voice* party! Oh, and native language bonus...for a party song! I’m...impressed, actually. I cannot decide wheter I prefer this or Hasta La Vista, but I think it’s this one? The flows smoother, if that means literally anything.

Bulgaria (VICTORIA – Growing Up Is Getting Old)

*shrugs* I think a lot of people will like this. And I get that. I think I even understand it...yeah. I didn’t like her song last year either. It’s just personal preference, I think. I just want to have fun during Eurovision, hah.

Finland (Blind Channel – Dark Side)

Finland: FUCK YOU!!! Germany: Fuck you. <3

That’s all I’ll say, we know how the Finnish are, this is not surprising, lmao. (And I’m one of those children that grew up on Rammstein, so I legally cannot dislike this.)

Croatia (Albina - Tick-Tock)

Tick-tock, can you hear me go tick-tock? My heart is like a clock, I'm steady like a rock-...oh wait, wrong tick-tock! Still, really enjoy this song’s chorus – I actually enjoy it so much that it makes up for the utter loss of interest I experience once it’s over, chrm.

Sweden (Tusse – Voices)

I mean...let’s be honest, it’s a generic swedish pop song. It sounds like every other Swedish entry, and I think that bothers me. I know, that sounds kind of...weird, looking at my choices higher up in the list, but...meh. I think this will easily qualify for the Final and place high, and I am totally okay with that. It’s just not...what I wanted, I guess? :D (and i’m sorry but as a german-speaker I cannot get over the name “tusse”) (oh, and tusse seems to be super cool)

Albania (Anxhela Peristeri - Karma)

Oh, we’re going to war in 130 A.D.? Fine, let me just pack my spear and- oh, Albania has already sent a singer? Ah, well, might as well give up and just vibe.

Czech Republic (Benny Cristo - omaga)

This sounds fun. Not a winner or anything, but fun. I’ll probably still be on Twitter when he’s performing, whoops.

Slovenia (Ana Sklic - Amen)

Wait, there’s TWO songs called Amen? And why do I actually kinda like this? Oh well, might as well just accept it. (Her voice though...mhmmhmhm…yes please)

Iceland (Dadi og Gagnamagnid – 10 Years)

We just vibin’. I liked Think About Things more, but I’m very much biased here...because I’ve known that song for a year now. But this is still very good, and very on brand. (And I understand like...half of the lyrics, but I am okay with that.)

Australia (Montaigne - Technicolour)

not australia flexing at all of europe that they can hold big gatherings! D: oh, but I like this way more than last years song. I feel like Montaigne can show her GREAT voice way better in this song. (Even though her outfit and the sound of the song reminds me of the UK song that had...a dude run on the stage. I can’t think of the word for it right now.)

Malta (Destiny – Je Me Casse)

Destiny’s voice is just….wow. This is very different than All My Love, but it’s fun. The topic of the lyrics kinda remind me of Toy, and I like that…..I don’t really like the music video (especially the dancers in the colorful dresses? idk), but I’ll just ignore that.

Germany (I Don’t Feel Hate - Germany)

Confession time: I actually actively enjoy this song. Everybod is shitting on it, but it’s FUN and it has a good message, and Jendrik seems like the nicest dude ever and...it doesn’t deserve all the hate it’s getting? It’s completely self-produced and just fun. Stop being mean. :(

(...also someone on youtube said “pewdiepie” and I can’t unsee that now so fuck you >:((...no, no I don’t feel hate, just rethink your life choices)

Moldova (Natalia Gordienko - SUGAR)

What in the “Eis.de ist in der Kiste” is this music video? And I thought I would absolutely hate this song, but I actually don’t mind it all that much. It’s actually fun. Oh no, I’m splipping, someone catch me, aaaaaahhhhh….(and that poor cake dude. Is this song about cannibalism? Does she want to eat him?)

San Marino (Senhit – Adrenalina)

Catch me hum the chorus of this song at least once a day...but honestly, without any malicious intent: what the actual FUCK san marino? This is so much better than Freaky, and even though I do not believe for one second that this will win, the simple outragiousness of bringing Flo Rida to Eurovision deserves attention. (Bringing someone like Flo Rida to ESC sounds more like Scandinavia/Bulgaria, doesn’t it?)

Russia (Manizha – Russian Woman)

Not gonna lie, I miss Little Big, but at least they are sending something that’s at least as weird. I love that. Russian Rap is cool as fuck anyway, so I’m fully here for this...but I’m glas this song doesn’t have a music video, this just has to be a live performance. (Oh, and another strong woman!)

Ukraine (Go_A – SHUM)

I’m SO glad Go_A are back. But, let me be completely honest: I know why they had to change the lyrics, but I still liked the first version better. BUT I feel like the new one will grow and me and it will climb one or two places, because the Instrumental just slaps SO HARD. (Makes me feel like putting on a Cybergoth outfit and start dancing at a German industrial park, lmao.)

Latvia (Samanta Tina – The Moon Is Rising)

Does this count as my guilty pleasure this year? I loved her song last year, and this sounds similar, so...I like this too. It sounds modern as fuck (well, for Europe, you know) and I can definitely...”vibe” with that. I genuinely really enjoy this, and I don’t know why. (Even though I prefer last years drop.) A lot of “strong, independent women”-songs this year, and I’m not complaining.

Switzerland (Gjon’s Tears – Tout l’Univers)

Just so we’re clear, this and Italy share the exact same spot. I just cannot compare them at all. Gjon’s voice just takes me hostage throughout this whole song and won’t let me go. And everything that isn’t english/is in the countries offical language immediately gets plus points from me. As if this song needed them anyway.

Lithuania (The Roop – Discoteque)

Aaaaaand...dance break! Good, I just love them so much, it’s not even funny anymore. And I’ve been singing this song randomly since it came out. I can’t stop. It has burned itself into my brain. Let’s dis-co-teque right at my home! *waves arms around with no sign of coordination*

(and does anyone else feel like he’s serhat, just with a different alignment? Like, they are both chaotic, but serhat is chaotic neutral and he’s either chaotic good or chaotic bad, it really depends on the way he looks at the camera)

Italy (Maneskin – Zitti E Buoni)

Italy delivers, as they do every year. Not only do I really like this song (it is very much my genre), THIS is an aesthetic I can get behind! Knowing Eurovision, I doubt it will win, but damn if it won’t be super fun! (I am so glad this won Sanremo, hah.)

[booknerdateen]

Halloween Book Recommendations!👻☠️🎃....Part 1

Hello, my loves!! If you saw my last post, then you know what’s coming. If not, let me tell you....I wanted to do a Halloween Book Recommendation post (long one) in the beginning of the month since it’s pre Halloween month-as I call it for right now. That didn’t happen for the last couple days because I was busy. But here we are! Now...be amazed of allllll the choices you got and even if some may not be your genre or type, that is okay!

📖 The Diviners Trilogy by Libba Bray

This series is one of my favorites...sadly I haven’t finished reading the 2nd book (Lair of Dreams), but with my Halloween binge I am planning on rereading and finishing it. This is 1920’s New York...nuff said. But anyways, we have different persoectives told in 3rd person (I have no idea which 3rd, cuz those I can’t remember for the life of me), who has abilities to see ghosts/future, etc... aka Diviners. Basically physics in other words. In the first one, they battle out this evil monster dude (which is creepy...the monster dude). Lair of Dreams deals with this mystery illness...I can’t say much for this one since I haven’t finished it yet. Before the Devil Breaks You is the 3rd and final book and I don’t know what that one is about.

The audiobooks-y’all do them-I have no comments. I read The Diviners physically (I didn’t really get into audiobooks till recently this year). I did try and listen to Lair of Dreams, but it wasn’t for me. i may give it another try, so no promises on this though. I have heard that they are really good, so hopefully they are as well for you.

📖Stalking Jack the Ripper Series by Kerri Maniscalco

This series is one of my favorites! I’m gonna say that for so many here, but I love this one to pieces to where I preordered the 3rd book (Escaping From Houdini) and also the 4th and final one (Capturing the Devil. CTD is being shipped on the 10th this month (6 DAYS) from my Barnes and Noble location, so I don’t know if it will arrive that day or not.

Anyways, this series follows Audrey Rose Wadsworth in the late 1800s dealing with the Ripper murders. The second involves Dracula, third is Houdini, and the fourth is H.H Holmes. Yes, America’s first serial killer! Sorry, I’m very excited about that. Being a girl in the 1800s/1900s, you’re not really have much to live for. Audrey rather do things that guys can do (forensics in this case), then being at tea parties. I don’t blame you, girl! Then, Thomas Cressworth comes in as well and they both solves these crimes together with the help of Audrey’s uncle (a mortician). If that doesn’t get your interest, then Idk what will.

📖Confessions Series by James Patterson

This series is more mystery than horror. I personally love James Patterson and he has always been one of my favorite authors. This one follows the Angel siblings after their parents’ mystery death (that mystery is the center of the first one (Confessions of a Murder Suspect). These siblings aren’t necessarily ordinary in some since. I don’t want to give away anything, but meds has the reason for that.

Tandy Angel (main character here) solves these murders/crimes throughout the books. The second one contains school murders (not shootings, thankfully) (Confessions: The Private School Murders). The third (Confessions: The Paris Mysteries) takes place in Paris, France. I have not read this one nor the 4th one (Confessions: The Murder of an Angel) so I don’t have any opinions on these ones. It is really good and if you’re a sucker for mysteries and James Patterson boos, then here you go!

📖The Women’s Murder Club by James Patterson

Another Patterson series...I’m a sucker for them. At first, I had called this the Number series because I didn’t know what the series was called and the only thing I knew was that they have numbers in the title.

Meet Lindsay Boxer (main character), homicide inspector for San Fran; Claire Washburn, medical examiner; Jill Bernhardt, assistant D.A.; and Cindy Thomas, San Fran Chronicle writer. 4 amazing chicks who kick butt, form the Women’s Murder Club to solve these murders. Freakin girl power! The chapters are quite short, sometimes longer, but usually short, which if you’re good with that, then cool, if not, that’s okay! I’m pretty sure the latest book of the series published is the 17th one...maybe 18th....one of those two. These are the ones I currently have.

📖The Merciless Series by Danielle Vega

If you love horror, possesion, all that stuff, you’ll love this series. I first discovered it on Facebook when the book trailer popped up. It was a interesting trailer and caught my tention. Couple years later, my senior year of high school, the book fair came (appears twice a year, this was the first appearance) and I had to buy it. It was $8 bucks, originally $10.99. If you are very religious, then maybe not this series. Lots of said people said its Mean Girls and the Craft mixed together.

The first two books follows Sophoa Flores as the main character. Sophia, being the new girl, befriends the 3 populare chicks (Plastics), who they want her to befriend this outsider (Brooklynn). Mean Girls basically but little bit reveresed. Then things happen. Spoilers, so I can’t really clarify it. Second is and it’s what the 2nd is also called....The Excorsim of Sophia Flores...DUN DUN DUNNNN. The third (Origins of Evil) is where Brooklynns story begins, so we know how Brooklynn became and what not. The 4th and final (The Last Rites) features a little bit of Sophia, but this main character is Berkley Hubbard, fresh out of rehab. Honestly, these books do scare me, but not like how when I watched the Conjuring the first time. Perfect read for Halloween season!

📖Mrs. Peregrine Series by Ransom Riggs

Now, I have not been able to finish the dang first book, so Idk. From what I have read and remeber, it is really good! It’s kind of horro...I don’t particularly think it is, but others do. This has mixed media, mainly pictures, but fascinating ones! The four books follows Jacob Portman and his friends of peculiar aka they have abilities and their adventures they have. If you’ve seen the movis, then you understand what I mean. Ransom’s writing is one of my favorites and having pictures/media in them makes me happy. I am a visual person, so the pictures help me a lot.

Anways, the first book is where Jacob is in the peculiar world where the peculiars live in this never ending time loop of the same day, but they rewind time before bombs happen aka Poland in WW 2. I’ve heard so many amazing things of this series! Jesse the Reader (booktuber) LOVES this series and he will recommend it to the end of time.

📖Visions Trilogy by Lisa McMann

These three books involve visions. If you have seen Medium (with Patricia...I cant remember her last name), then you will love Visions. They don’t involve any ghosts, so that’s a difference from Medium.

Here we have (Crash) Jules Demarco, who is seeing visions of this explosion everywhere. She realizes this explosion will happen very soon and she has to stop it before it happens. Not much, I know, but the next one (Bang) (sadly deals with a school shooting), her crush gets the visions this time. The third one (Gasp) has this random character who the two save last book ends up getting the visions then. This vision is a boat accident...a ferry to be precise, but nothing like Titanic...at least I don’t think so. This was a good series and really liked them. Easy to read in 1 day...unless y’all are busy and or a slow reader like me.

📖The Asylum Series by Madeleine Roux

Horror, ghosts, random past lives stuff! I only have the first two books (Asylum and Sanctum), but I think there is a third and one or two novellas. I love these guys! You get some pictures and letters in the books, so cool!

Here is Dan Crawford, who is spending the summe at the New Hampshire College Prep program. Abby Valdez and Jordan (no last name was given) are his new found friends at the program. The catch of all this, the newly built dorms is where the Brookline Asylum used to be. The three friends uncover secrets of their pasts and families and such. It’s such a good series.

📖The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer

The infamous Twilight books. Y’all may have expected this or may not have. I do not have an opinion on this series just yet. I recently read Twilight for the first time and really liked it. That said, hopefully I will get to the other books and see where my opinions lie.

Everyone knows what this series is about, but if not, come to me. Isabella (Bella) Swan moves from the heat of Arizona (I feel you Bella) to the rainy world of Forks, Washington. There, she meets the Cullen siblings...mainly Edward...who happens to be vampires. Bella and Edward get closer and start dating and what not. Ah yes, the infamous woods scene where Edward is like “Say it!” to Bella, it actually happens in the car so casually. This series contains a love triangle of a human, vampire, and a werewolf.

📖The Chronicles of Vladmir Tod by Heather Brewer...okay it’s formerly Heather, but it is now Zac Brewer

I love this series...even though I only read the first two books and a little bit of the 3rd one. If you love vampires...well half human half vampire then yessss! Half human, Half Titan....Half human, half ghoul....if y’all watch anime, then you probably get the two references. Okay...onto the synopsis!

Vladmir Tod is the equivalent of...dang it what is the word....ahhh disgrace cuz he is half human and half vampire. In the vampire world, humans and vamps dont go together. He is raised by his Aunt Nelly, who of course knows he is half vampire. His best friend, Henry also knows. Throughout 8th Grade to 12th Grade, he’s gotta deal with bullies and vampire slayers. What a hard knock life for this dude.

[jlf23tumble]

1D Day, Hour One

God only knows what this hellscape will look like on December 18, so if I’m gonna recap each hour of 1D Day, I might as well do it now, eh?? 1D Day is a gift that none of us really deserved, and yeah, it has a ton of shitty moments, but much like X Factor itself, the true gem is Louis Tomlinson and how much he runs this entire show (and lbr, the band itself), Jesus, god, do I love him.

Anyway, 1D Day aired 7 hours of live content on November 23, 2013 to promote Midnight Memories, and yes, yes, we’ve all seen the gifsets, but like anything else with this band, it’s tremendously better in context. I watched this whole thing a couple of years ago, when I first got into this fandom, but I didn’t know all of the dynamics then, so it’s extra fascinating to me now. We’ve all binged worse shit than this that took way longer, and I promise you won’t regret an hour a night for a week--but if you’d rather read my hot take, here you go, under the cut! Note: these are really shitty screengrabs, and for that, I am truly sorry.

A horrible announcer introduces the D by saying they weigh in at a collective 792 pounds, and all I can wonder is does this mean they have daily weigh-ins, why is it that specific? This focus on their weight is just gross to me. C’mon, writers, you’re better than this (j/k, you aren’t).

The three-foot bubble between Louis and Harry is established pretty early on, with Harry doing the prettiest sitting in all the land before bolting to his feet immediately because Louis happened to walk by his couch. A very real question: Was this bubble a requirement that Ben Winston constantly whispers into their headpieces, or did sbb decide, hey, let’s make it obvious that we have to CONSTANTLY adjust where we stand, even if it’s two feet away because that’s not enough room for Jesus?

There are some truly hilarious guest “stars” to announce, the first being the giant video head of David Beckham, which pops up and immediately starts speaking, so we're already off to the races with a) fuckups and b) Louis’s annoyance at said fuckups.

Liam takes a good hard look at his future:

Harry isn’t allowed to gaze at Becks, he’s off by the listening booth, which is a giant red call box because they’re Briddish, pip pip, cheerio. Unrelated, but I low-key feel like Harry's coked up or else really taking the piss with all his “LIVE BANDDDDDDD,” JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!,” etc., not to mention how fast he’s speaking, the way he grinds on the guitarist’s lap while Louis fonds at the sky, and all the yelling with arms aloft.

The best part of the rundown of the guest “stars” (or breast stars, if you’re Niall) is that we’re only in the first 10 minutes, so everyone’s giving it a go, but then we get to Mr. Simon Cowell, and Niall claps five times to stony silence (me as Harry constantly staring at Louis from three feet away):

Piers Morgan comes out to describe the “grilling” he’s going to give them later, all angry—genuinely angry—that they’re trending on twitter because they keep saying that he smells. And they don’t stop, even here, they keep yelling, “What’s that smell? You stink, etc.,” and he’s such a dick that I want to bottle this moment and spritz it around my house daily.

This mild trash talking continues, with Piers promising “tears from Piers,” but Slytherin Niall pulls the fingernail out of his mouth, smiles that sneaky smile, and says, “Yeah, but this isn’t Piers Morgan Day, is it, this is 1D Day,” and I want a transcript because there’s so much talking, but all of it trashes Piers, and god, I love my sons.

Anyway, they keep winding Piers up (Piers: “I’m going to find out what you’re most embarrassed about,” Liam: “The way you smell,” Piers, genuinely in a rage: “Don’t say that”), and he keeps talking about how he’s interviewed heads of state, etc., the implication being that this is below him, but Niall counters that Oprah and Barbara Walters have, too, and they would have much preferred Oprah, to the point where Piers admits they couldn’t afford Oprah (lmaooooooo). 

We move on to Harry, spinning a twitter wheel that means they’ll follow whoever it lands on, which seems like a cute idea. I’m guessing it’s the official twitter handle?? I don’t know or actually care!

Louis can’t read the teleprompter, and he mutters later that it’s because it makes no sense rather than being too hard to actually see, but me as Niall, already yawning at the 25-minute mark (the bubble is preserved, though, whew):

I’m guessing Scott Mills is the “host” of this show because he comes out with a stick (??) and an agenda (Scott’s no Dermot…he has a face for radio, as they used to say back in the day). This whole section just features a lot of Harry and his pinned sleeves staring at Louis, and honestly relatable:

The next task is toilet paper roll stacking, with two judges from the Guinness Book of World Records on hand to see if this band of hyenas can beat the current world record and stack 28 (!!!!) rolls in 30 seconds. Two reasons to love Louis: he interrupts this idiocy to ask, “How did you two get into this, is this a full-time job you do every day?” (I was wondering the exact same thing), and this is his face for this challenge:

Sadly, they fail, and Harry’s the one who has to tell the judges, “Well, sorry for wasting your time!” with a cheery wave from the ladder. Uh oh, though, the bubble, we’re at two feet:

Much better!

This is still too close for Ben Winston’s comfort, so we split up the teams in what feels like a college course with a lot of money to run fake broadcasting drills. Zouis gets to report from the field, with some tweet rapping; the weather guy, sports guy, and lead broadcaster experience some technical difficulties, prompting Harry’s infamous, “SOMETHING’S GONE WRONG,” and we’re off to Poland:

For a production company that seems hell bent on “no homo,” there are lots of things that raise my brows, like this big “handsome” (Harry’s words) he-man who’s going to pull a “boohs” full of 1D fans over a line, so the boys have to guess how long it’s going to take him…by writing all over his mostly nude body (I’m the eye contact that Harry and Louis maintain during this):

Dude pulls the boohs successfully, so yay! Next up is Wrong Direction, the world’s worst lookalikes (HONESTLY, I’m embarrassed for everyone in this segment on Hollywood Blvd: the idiots who are “fooled” by this, the guys themselves and the low-key insult of it all, myself because this went on for way too long):

I’ll spare everyone the individual matchups because yike, but the real Wrong Direction comes to the studio, with all the guys dressed up like their matches, and the real D is polite, albeit mildly “wtf are we supposed to do about this” (me, too, Zayn). Points to Harry for at least trying to strike up some conversation: “Did you have foon, acting like us?” We’re supposed to vote for the best one on Google+ (lolololololol).

Scott takes two girls who look like they’re legit about to pass out into the red call box so they can be the first people to listen to the new album. While they listen to something none of us can hear, we get some VT (that’s “videotape,” god, I hate the whole lingo lesson we got earlier) of Spain and some fans, all of which feels like lengthy filler. I feel for the people Scott mentions as being asleep during this because there is a LOT of fill. Maybe make this shit shorter, just a suggestion!

Next up is Jamie Scott from his home somewhere in the middle of the night; he wrote most of Midnight Memories along with Louis and Liam, and he gives them an 8.5 in terms of how they did on a scale of 1-10 (and that’s AFTER Louis insults his pillows with the alphabet on them, “In case you forget”). There’s a lot of Lilo hand-shaking in celebration, and some enthusiastic clapping from Harry (a little too enthusiastic…I’m gonna imagine that someone tells him to tone it down in his earpiece because he looks around quite a bit):

A few things happen that don’t really interest me: the first listen of “Through the Dark” (this is skipped in the vid), a remote report from Radio Disney (Harry: “HOLLYWOODDDDDD!”) and a fan who wins the chance to come visit them later in the day, and then we’re back to Scott, who looks exhausted, and it’s only been 40 minutes.

All is not lost, because the next VT is the totally unnecessary yet extremely vital coverage of the D’s exercise regime. I’ve seen so many gifsets of hottttt and sweaty Lirry, but you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Niall’s American accent while he stretches: “Welcome to my workout dvd! I’ll be with you for the next 45 minutes to  give you the lowdown of how I stay in shape.” PLEASE @ NIALL, DO THIS.

I really WANT to be Harry and effortlessly pump out pushups, but in reality I’m Zouis, popping some robot dance moves and drinking Red Bull. The weird shorthand throughout this is that Liam is an animal (Ziam + a whip = fire), Harry’s into flirty sexercise, Niall wants an arse like Kim K’s, Zayn’s a slender boxer, and Louis…just fucks around? Missed opp for footie Louis.

The first performance is “Story of My Life,” and we’ve all seen it before, but godDAMN, Zayn sings like an angel. Lots of technical problems in the audio, prompting quite a few Louis/Harry hand gestures, but still, in spite of it all, they sound amazing individually and together.

Even local asshole Piers Morgan is impressed, as he comes out to tell them that they were surprisingly good, along with a bunch of other neg bullshit. This is another one of those segments that it pays to watch the whole clip of, and Jesus, do I want a transcript. They head over to the couches, and Piers points at Louis and says, “You have the most reason to be nervous,” but Louis’s like, “Yeah, but I’m not,” and wow, #goals.

Everyone gets a couch, and the upshot is that Piers is a terrible egoist who thinks he’s a fantastic interviewer, but he really isn’t…all the questions are shit, and these five eat him alive. Everything he asks falls flat, and it’s so masterfully, subversively handled, from Louis’s iconic “define girlfriends” (and the underappreciated attempt by Harry to define it for Piers later: “Like in primary school, if you hold hands with a girl and you're eight, is that a girlfriend?”) to the obsession with smells (Piers asking Niall, “Why do you always smell,” claiming it’s a fan’s question, and Niall answering that it’s because he had colic as a child, so can only fart; Piers asking Zayn, “Who stinks the worst,” and Zayn saying that they all smell quite good, actually) to Piers demanding to see Zayn’s tattoo and relentlessly attacking him for it being a gun (Louis keeps interjecting that it’s a watergun, but go off I guess, paraphrasing).

But the best is always Louis. “What’s the weirdest thing a girl has done to impress you?” “Tweeted Piers Morgan.” Later, he says pointblank to Piers, “You do stink.” But then…but THEN, it’s the Four interview 1.0, only instead of Ben trying to get Louis to deny gay rumors, it’s Piers, who does it twice: “What’s the one rumor you wouldn’t want to hear about yourself?” Louis’s answer: “That I’m not good at football.” “Are you good?” “No….I just wouldn’t want it confirmed.” Piers tries AGAIN: “What’s the worst thing you’ve had to read about yourself?” but Louis turns it around and says he hates reading about one of the other boys being dead (!).

Because he’s the worst, Piers takes it to the ladies and asks how many girlfriends they’ve had and how many times they’ve kissed a girl. Harry says he’s kissed 8 ladies (which prompts a good scoff out of Zayn), and everyone else says 5 or 6, 3 or 4, etc., with Louis declaring he’s only had one proper relationship (no genders mentioned), so maybe 2 (lmaooooo). Piers gets all excited that he’s kissed more girls than this hot boyband has, and I wanna say, you’re almost there, “friend”…keep working it through.

There’s more antics w/r/t Piers, like his poor 2YO daughter crying, and him trying to blame it on Harry Styles not answering her dad’s sex questions or stupid questions about embarrassing things they’ve caught the others doing, and yeah, I don’t think they’ll get into the big ot5 gang bang on live TV, but ask anyway, I guess?

The last person to suffer sitting next to Piers is Liam, and I love him always, but especially for saying, “How’s it going there, stinky?” when Piers takes a seat to ask him why he’s so sexy. Piers tries to “joke” that the sexy question is for him, but nobody says anything, and then he asks Liam AGAIN before admitting that it’s a shitty question, so then he asks about them all wearing tight jeans, and godddddd, why does anyone let him interview anyone?? 

The good news is that Piers can tell he lost, so as he tells them that he thinks they’re pretty okay, actually, but, “You’ve gotta stop calling me stinky,” and you know they never will.

Scott says it might feel like much longer, but it’s only been an hour, and Zayn’s lookalike won, so we can all rest easy. This hour closes with a review of the highlights, and it’s ham-fisted and awful. Shocking!!!!

I can’t do one of these every single day, but I’ll do hour two sometime soon! Hope you enjoyed this, @justlarried, lol!

[stolligaseptember]

shenannygans replied to your post “okay, just because i’m literally freaking out over the scope of this...”

I‘d love to read an in depth explanation why it isn‘t real. What I saw so far seems real to me and tbh I‘m really worried.

This is article 13. This is the article that everyone is (apparently) freaking out over.

I personally think that the hysteria that has been spreading is because of a very delicate mix of the far-right and the anti establishment hijacking the American net neutrality movement to push for their own agendas, a misguided SJW culture that’s way too America-centered here on tumblr, and just a general misunderstanding of how the EU works.

(Remember how the first thing that most britts googled after the EU referendum was “what is EU”? Yeah, it’s a bit like that.)

So, being upfront and transparent about this; I really don’t care about if you think the ideas being presented up in article 13 is horrible or whatever, because I personally haven’t really decided on it yet. What I want to set straight is that the apocalyptic death of “the European net neutrality” isn’t what article 13, or the directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, is about.

Now, I know that EU and its bureaucracy is a literal hellscape. I’m a law student, and I’ve studied 15 points of EU and constitutional law, and 10 points of international law, and it wasn’t until I studied intentional law (2 years later) that the EU law finally started settling for me. (And from the sound of it; for the rest of my classmates too.)

So I know that the EU is complicated and stupid and that they don’t make it easier for themselves, but I just want everyone to know that the EU isn’t the life-sucking demons that the far-right is painting them up to be. They can be a massive pain in the ass, but they aren’t an all-powerful despotic.

And here’s why;

So starting with the basics of the overall law making process in the EU; Article 13 comes from a directive. It’s often been compared to GDPR, which is, weird, but also understandable, seeing how big of an impact GDPR had. But GDPR had such a huge impact because it was a regulation.

There’s two different ways the EU makes laws; through directives and regulations. Regulations, like GDPR, are directly applicable on all member states, are directly incorporated into member states’ national law systems, and can be directly plead for by EU citizens. Hence the huge impact.

Directives, on the other hand, are frame regulations with goals set up by the EU, and then it’s up to each and every member state to incorporate the directive into their national law systems and make sure that those goals are met. That is why the wall of text up there is a literal hot mess that makes little to no sense; it’s because it sets up a framework of what the EU wants to accomplish, then it’s up to the member states to come with their own solutions of how they want to accomplish that.

So, unlike GDPR, the copyright directive isn’t going to change the internet overnight once it’s voted through. It’s going to have to go through several different national law procedures, with various different outcomes, which could take years and, in some cases, might not even change anything at all.

(There are ways in which directives can be directly applicable for EU citizens, but then it has to be battled out through the EU court, so let’s make a noise if it comes to that, then, shall we?)

So you can’t fight this at an EU level. I mean, I guess you can, but be honest with yourself, did you even vote in the EU parliament election? Do you even know who’s representing you in the EU parliament? Do you even know what the EU parliament is, or what it does?

If you want to fight this, it would be so much more effective to do it on a national level.

First of all, depending on which member state you live in, this might not even effect you. The most common procedure when it comes to directives is that the national parliament/government looks at the goals the directive sets up, goes “lol ya our national laws already live up to this” (even if the national laws doesn’t live up to the directive, because, honestly, no one really gives that much of a damn, and the commission has too much to do to keep track of all the directives they spew out), and then everyone goes on with their lives.

But let’s say that your government would actually take measures to incorporate the directive into your national law system. Now, the law procedures are different in every country, but unless you live in a quasi-democracy (looking at you Hungary. And Poland.), you as a citizen, or at the very least an association of citizens, get to have a say in the matter.

They will most likely draft their own proposal of how the directive will be incorporated into your national law, and then you can take a stand if the change is for something good or bad. Call all your national politicians, twitter bomb them, whatever floats your boat. But the directive isn’t going to actually affect you until it reaches the national level.

The European net neutrality is not going to be killed over a night through a directive.

First of all, because that’s not how a directive works, and second, the EU doesn’t have that kind of power, even if they wanted to.

The EU is an odd bird in the international community. It has its own, unique way of operating, and it’s the only “semi-above” association of nations so far in the world. But it’s still an association of nations, and the union’s entire basis is the surrendering of sovereignty from each member state. And while that scope of sovereignty is a constant battle between the union and its member states, that sovereignty still always originate in the member states.

And no member state has surrendered enough power to allow the EU to censor the entire internet.

Copyright laws are also so weird. Like, I can’t speak for any other country, but in Sweden we already have copyright protection for every human made creation. It’s already forbidden by Swedish law to use others copyrighted material without their consent. (We’re one of the countries that would most likely just go “lol ya our national laws already live up to this” if the directive was passed.)

But copyright laws are so incredibly futile.

In Sweden we have laws forbidding piracy copying of just about everything. Still I can (illegally) stream countless of episodes of my favorite TV series, and movies, and music, and download pictures left and right, and no one really bats an eyelash. It’s a shitty thing to do, yeah, sure, and the copyright holder has every right to chew me out over it.

But the point still stands; we already have regulations of it, but nothing really happens.

Copyright infringement is simply too big of a problem, and not acute enough, to be solved. Like, yeah, it’s shitty downloading copyrighted material, but it’s a little more urgent to actually pay attention to our collapsing environment and the impending third world war.

So copyright regulations are statement regulations. They tell us that “yeah, this is a shitty thing to do, please don’t do it”, and then most of us do it anyway. Because a proper sanction system isn’t in place. And it’s most likely going to take a hell of a long time before it does, if it ever.

And it’s not going to come from the EU.

Because then there was the goddamn “link tax”. I just. Oh god.

First of all, “link tax” is the literal worst name to use, because the EU is outright and strictly forbidden to deal with taxes. That’s one sovereignty posts that absolutely no member state is willing to give up. The EU has nothing to do with taxes whatsoever.

So again, this would be dealt with and regulated on a national level. Even if it would be a tax or a fee, it would go to the national economy, and not to the EU. The EU is directly funded by the member states budgets (which they are actually discussing right now, tbh), import duties (because while the EU has no right to deal with taxes, import duties are an entirely different matter because of the inner market), and fines from when you don’t follow EU regulations (which, once again, the commission is way above their ears trying to sort out (hello Sweden’s continuous refusal to become a part of the Euro)).

So if the “link tax” would in any way end up benefiting the EU, it would be through a fine, which would only happen if your member state refused to incorporate the directive. Which is a long way to go, and tbh, isn’t that likely.

And as you can see above, article 13 doesn’t mention a “link tax”, or links, or taxes, and neither does the rest of the directive.

So, no, the EU isn’t gonna make you pay for linking stuff. That’s ridiculous.

And you wanted an in-depth explanation of why that fucking video isn’t real, and I barely even touched the video and haven’t even started going through what article 13 even says, but I’ve already talked my own ear of and this probably makes no sense so. Don’t be afraid to ask me more-head-on questions, and I’ll try to answer them as best as I can!!

Just. Don’t freak out. The internet is safe, for a good long while still, no matter what happens to the directive once its voted on on June 20th.

The memes are still safe.

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Montenegro to Eurovision with 6 young souls

(this is a pre-vamp review so take this whole thing as “something I wanted to publish but my schedule was withholding until it was specifically time for them to be reviewed”, therefore, this is a bit of a retrospective review. Will tackle on its revamp later!)

Montevizija, which finally has an official Twitter account (we all should forget the times some dude named Vasilije pretended to having made one), offered us another batch of 5 songs for another year, actually revealing all of them beforehand this time and not just the snippets! Joy to the world I guess.

You gotta love Montevizija for it being the most underrated ex-Yugoslavian national final btw. Granted, it only lasted for 2 editions as of now, and it will take years to grow bigger as a thing, but so far, for us the NFs that are ingrained to our brains more are Dora, EMA and Beovizija (and even Skopje Fest when THAT was used to pick an act and not just served as a festival like it originally was meant to be), therefore Montevizija seems more shunned. But what do you expect when the lineup of 5 for two years in a row is not exactly as stellar as hoped for? Well, there are gems here and there, but they haven’t really won on either years (or at least not on the 2nd year if you call Vanja’s song a gem too), and yet somehow they find someone who call them great. But for me this Montenegrin entry is not. :L

And who is up there to be colossally blamed for its existence? None other than this group of 6 refering to themselves as D mol (with “mol” decapitalized for whatever reason... they used to have hyphen separating the ‘D’ and ‘mol’, but now they scrapped it altogether, an anime death I’ll never forget). Worth noting that I, as a 19 year old, have this particularly ugly feeling I must get rid of, and that’s the one of “feeling old”, already at my age. And this is how I felt seeing that the band whose song I am not fond of today is made up by members that are of 16-17 to 21-ish years old!!! So my heart insists that I shouldn’t go too hard on these poor younglings, even if this is just me, currently tackling the brethren of my age. Prepare as I’ll go to shred their composition they’re going to Tel Aviv with, “Heaven”, to bits.

Although, what I call “shredding to bits” is merely just nitpicking the reasons the original version (keep bearing in mind that I haven’t heard the revamp yet) sucks imo, and idk, the new “Heaven” miiiiiiight just grow on me, but I heavily doubt about it because I never cared for it in the first place (youhouuu, they were my last in Montevizija ‘19 for a reason), and I’m rather looking forward for the new faves from the 8 songs I haven’t listened to yet rather than those that were already chosen. And even the Eurofans were not quite fond on the revamp, as some think the additional ethno sounds made it sound worse (and of course there are some that kinda like it or think of the song as their guilty pleasure). So why shouldn’t I? :O

Anyway, old “Heaven”. The first sounds on here to grace my ears on this song consist of one light piano note being tapped to an exact rhythm and a confused baby girl stuttering. And I’d’ve maybe enjoyed this more ironically at some point if it weren’t for the latter sound effect being re(ab)used later in the song!! Ugh I hate it. The lyrics are fine I guess... though isn’t it ironic the only English song in Montevizija’s lineup this year won?? It’s like the Montenegrin people were openly cringing when being the only ones to understand Vanja comparing his life to cat’s and mouse’s and calling his heart “the most expensive toy” in his song and then they were like “you know what? Let’s let the WHOLE Europe understand how terrible our lyrics are! ^_^” (no but for real, who still uses “I’m in heaven, falling straight into your heart” as a pick-up line? Did they travel through time from 1998 to 2019 or something???)

Speaking of the 90s, the whole song smells like a dated cliché of that period. You know, the kind of “the high school prom song from that 90s teen sitcom’s who you’re forced to watch when your elderly aunt is in the house with you and there’s nothing else on TV” dated. Dated even more than “Chain of Lights”. Seriously though! It includes the pathetic “wah wah” bassline, mid-tempo beats, the boy/girl-group harmonies... catch me puking sugar-coated cheese to this, no thanks. Oh and if you already read my “Zero Gravity” review (which you probably never even bothered to after seeing how much text would you have to read), I definitely mentioned that I’m not a fan of those “two verses-two choruses” songs, and especially those kind of ones that aren’t sounding like something suited for radio (e.g.: Poland 2018, “Light Me Up”)... this obviously sounds like something from the radio of the times the at-the-time senior highschoolers are currently over 30 or slightly over 40, and that should be 4 and a half minutes long. These verses could just not be more ridiculously dragged out for the choruses to prevail and get stuck in our brains... fucking welp [sic] me already.

Well, if there are any brownie points I could give this, it’s pleasant, it’s harmless if I don’t take into account the cheese vibes this emits, and all this bunch are made up by up-and-coming talented singers that clearly deserved a better song...

And the staging concept in their NF was cool tho (illustrating their power of D mol), and I applaud the couple chemistry I guess

Oh and this below is one of the most underappreciated memes this Euroseason:

*stares into your soul in Montenegrin*

So yeah. Oh and the Rizo(tto) guy who is self-aware of his hotness and the hotness of the much older Eurovision guys this year, but he’s not doing it for me so that I could be in heaven falling, so he’s getting a hard pass.

All in all - a nostalgia cash-in made to appease the housewives from Podgorica to Skopje, from Novi Sad to Štúrovo, and nothing quite else, sung by a cool bunch of people that if anything are deemed this year’s "great people with an unfortunately too dated song and a shitty draw” by me. I don’t know much of their personalities but I do believe that even if they like what they’re singing, they’d be much better off doing a better sounding throwback, at least. So that even the disappointed-by-”Heaven” Eurofans could at least call it “so dated but a BOP!”. And hey, I’m aware of those fans that will likely be pissed at me for not bopping along to this, but I said what I said about it and yet again, if revamp changes my mind, I will change my opinion, but right now I’d not prefer to. Grumpy Adio.

Approval factor: Hell with the no. I would like Vanja back instead. At least he made himself a somebody to be cared about even if the Eurofans didn’t quite adapt to his song in return.

Follow-up factor: somehow, both “Inje” and “Heaven” were/are seen by the masses as instant NQs, so it somehow doesn’t sound like Montenegro is following a great path so far. And after this year anything that audience favours and wins can be seen as a way better follow up after something meh coming after something wrose.

Qualification factor: For the n-th time, I’m yet to check the revamp out to state where this will actually go, but being put 2nd in the draw is a massive stab in the knee, as demonstrated by even the national finals this year (Electric Fields in Australia Decides, Aly Ryan in Unser Lied für Israel, Lisa Ajax in Melodifestivalen final... the only glaring exception is ZENA in Eurofest but is it me or these producers did this just so they could be all like “heeeey we put a winning song on 2nd just to show that a NF song can win from ANY draw! ANY DRAW!!!” lol nope), and from it only a few lucky souls have crawled out victorious (Nathan Trent for example, the draw might have pushed him down in the semi but he got up again!). D mol, for as young and developing in talent as they are, don’t seem to be such. You can be young and pitied for your personality, but you always can at the same time have a song that completely crushes your chances to do well and sweeps up the last shards of hope right in front of your eyes despite being an angel worthy of protection (Ari Ólafsson, anyone?). Unless the D molians work all their magic and the random ethnic vibes into their favour for some reason, but for now it ain’t gonna work.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

And even then, what was so interesting about Montevizija 2019?? Let’s see...

• First off, let’s address one meme of the beginning of 2019 that Facebook may or may have not used purposefully to upgrade their automatic “facial recognition” skills - the 10 years challenge. Our first one of this season is the sassy maneater who spent her ESC stint by trying to unlove a guy so hard that he just couldn’t oblige - Andrea Demirović. Her decade-later A-game happened to be this one song she sang in her mother-tongue: “Ja sam ti san” (I am your dream). Now, I wasn’t particularly into it - I enjoy some electro tracks out there (like hello, “Igranka” is one of my favourite Montenegrin entries, and 2013 entries overall as well) but this one just ended up being the right amount of cool AND overbearingly unsettling for me to not really fancy it. Kinda like “Red” by HyunA - I can only bop to this if I don’t care about the fact I actually hate it, oops. (Or maybe it is just because Andrea once again used a composition done by one of those “rent-a-NF-songwriter” people. Which is at least better than collabing Ralph Siegel who’s stopped being relevant ever since starting to work with San Marino, or even since the hilarious attempt of a peace song sung by the original common framework, six4One. But since Michael James Down has co-contributed to one of the better Montevizija songs last year, I will not allow myself to think it’s thanks to those kind of songwriters.) Nevertheless, the Eurofans actualy kind of loved this song, but sadly, Montenegrins and the international jury did quite not, and she didn’t land on to the superfinal 2 (as opposed to a superfinal 3 last year, to which she could have easily qualified if it still were a 3). Here’s her song to y’all anyways (and the performance too, which just needed to include some random monster dudes dancing around... why? Because Eurovision! ^^):

• Speaking of Andrea, during the results part there was this one shot of hers where she was pictured just casually chilling on her phone, not giving a damn that she’s being underrated on the scoreboard. Not only she was badly rated, but this moment was such an universal #mood!

• In between the finally final results announcement (which I didn’t really know when exactly was it taking place because the winner wasn’t really said out loud before the event I will describe next was taking place??) there was this lottery going on of who would be the lucky two audience observers that’d win tickets to Tel Aviv... hilariously enough though, it somehow malfunctioned and there were some sort of errors regarding the announcement of the RIGHT winner <3 but the winners happened and I hope they’re getting to go to Tel Aviv at some point during the Eurovision events! Hope they don’t feel startled by the lack of taken seats this year.

• Unlike Eesti Laul, Montevizija this year took up the job of showcasing tweets of Eurofans, and somehow this fellow fella ended up seen by a handful of Montenegrins AND international viewers. Take a wild guess which of them know what a daddy Serhat is.

• And who could not forget the magic flying envelope for to announce the winner of the NF:

there must have been some Harry Potter magic in there :O

As for what touches the other songs, well there’s the last year’s fan fave Nina Petković with another song, but it’s no “Dišem”, so don’t even bother. Or bother, but imo it’s just okay-sounding, nothing that groundbreaking or pleasant enough to be competitive. The other few songs were also nice but I’d like not to make this longer as my other write-ups, to be fair. Sucked to be Mr. Kállay-Saunders who, as the international juror chosen for this national final, had to rank its songs... as that NF happened right on the same day his second A Dal 2019 performance was taking off. Not that the international jurors were supposed to be present in Montenegro on the day of this NF, anyways...

Anyway, despite all this goddamn criticism (that could’ve flown more smooth had my computer not restarted in the middle of me doing paragraphs for this review), I’m fare welling the D mol-ians and would like to wish them a heavenly Eurovision experience. ^_^

[rageprayer]

get to know your followers 💕

i got tagged by @plutosmoons, thank you so much! ^___^

Rules: Answer the questions (which you can change if you don’t feel like answering certain questions) then tag 20 followers you want to get to know better!

1. Nickname? i've never had a cool nickname but people in school used to call me gluten (or any variation of rye/wheat/oat boy) because my surname in my language literally means 'an ear of wheat' :') i actually liked it just because it was a running joke between all of us

2. Gender? male. i'm trans too

3. Star sign? taurus sun scorpio moon leo rising

4. Height? i'm 164cm which is like, almost 5'4 i think? i'm a smol boy

5. Favorite feature? i'm just gonna list some things i like about my body ok are you ready - my pupils are always slightly asymmetrical, and noone knows why. it happened around the time i started getting migraines and my right one is constantly slightly more dilated than my left. it's just a neat random thing that looks cool - my nose. i have hands down the best nose from my entire family and i'm damn proud of it, it's cute - my hands and lower arms in general, i've always liked them but i have like. visible veins on there now which is.. my kink tbh. i have really small wrists and my forearms are covered in scars which i used to hide but i love them now and i'd never get rid of them, even if i could. i also really like the shape of my nails. - i've been on t for so long that my midsection/hip area and neck/shoulders/arms actually have some definition to them now and ngl, it's kinda hot. i constantly stare at myself in mirrors @__@

6. Favorite plant? i fucking love plants, all of them. BUT my favourite ones are any that have purple leaves instead of green, they're like the goths of the plant world and i want some in the epic garden i'm gonna have someday. in terms of flowers i am obviously in love with roses and anything that blooms dark purple or black, but also dandelions! they are rays of sunshine and the fact that they're so common just adds to the magic. joy really is everywhere my favourite trees are pine trees - they smell amazing, and poland is covered in pine forests so they just really remind me of home and i feel connected to them. my favourite plant of mine that i'm growing (i love them all equally though, they're my children) is currently my tomato bush because like, it's turned into an actual bush. it's only in a box on the balcony but i had to put a stick in there to support it because of how big it is. and i grew it from seed too :o

7. Favorite animal? dogs! i will always have at least one dog, i love dogs with my whole heart and i want several when i have my own place and space for them all :D some other animals i really like are rats, bats, spiders and ants

8. Favorite Bands? What have you been listening to lately? i'm changing this because i suck at picking favourites. i actually haven't been discovering much new music lately; in terms of albums, it's been type o negative's october rust and bloody kisses, and this fabulous remaster of depeche mode's violator (i am IN LOVE with what they did to personal jesus at the end, seriously. so good. if you scroll down the comments far enough there's some people hating on it but honestly? i don't know music and it all sounds gr8 to me so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) i'm not religious at all, but i discovered this collection of russian hymns and it's one of the most haunting and beautiful things i've heard in a while. the fact that i can kind of half understand the words just adds to the mysterious magical feel it has. i really like the first one on there, and it kind of makes me wish i could sing in any way because like, it's SO beautiful, i actually had a dream about it. also lots of adam lambert, placebo, some random fifth harmony songs from the reflection album and helena by mcr because it was stuck in my head all day yesterday >__< (yes, i am perfectly aware that there is no coherency here. i thrive on chaos)

9. Dogs or cats? dogs all the way, but i can apprecieate a good cat. i'm not one of those weird cat haters

10. Number of blankets you sleep with? two, and i hug pillows because i'm l o n e l y

11. What’s your dream trip? somewhere warm because i am so. tired. of whatever the heck this is and i need the sun. i'm thinking warm but not too tourist-y? if i do go somewhere, i want to see interesting things but also be surrounded by nature. honestly take me anywhere though. surprise me. i love going places and i have no expectations show me a big rock or something and i'll be like !! WOW

12.  What’s your dream job? i have no idea .___. i know i want to be self-employed eventually because the perspective of having to arrange my entire life around strict work hours is depressing at best, but i don't know what i actually want to do

13. When did you make this account? i don't remember precisely, i know it was a few months before i started using it so i'm guessing sometime in summer 2017

14. How many followers do you have? i'm choosing to keep that a mystery, but my follower count is actually quite close to the number of people i follow so that's cool

15. How many pets do you have? I HAVE A DOG i love him so much he's an angel <3

16. Best places to visit in your town or country? my town isn't the biggest or most exciting place to be, but we do have a very nice central area with some impressive views over the river, a very old cathedral, some good cafes poland is mostly fields and forests, we have the sea up north and mountains at the bottom, and a cool lake region too

17. Favorite ice cream flavor? mint chocolate chip, pistachio, coconut and lemon sorbet. anything fruity is good too

18. How often do you read? not nearly as often as i used to. i read things on the internet all the time but i haven't touched a book in a few months, and i don't really have the attention span for it anymore. which is sad because i used to regularly take things out from my school's library and i loved reading so much, my brain just doesn't work like that nowadays. it's also really hard to find interesting books without some hetero bullshit in them, but maybe i'm just looking in the wrong places

19. Favorite study locations? this is irrelevant because i'm not in school anymore lmao

20. Favorite book series? Favourite movie? yes, i’m that bitch that chooses films over books. fight me about it. i’m sure you’ve all seen me post about it, but my current obsession is the lost boys. i actually wasn’t that impressed by it the first time i saw it, but it really grew on me when i realised just how gay it was. gay vampires are like. My Thing and the tension between david and michael is SO there i just can’t unsee it. it was filmed in the 80s too so it has that sligthly odd vibe to it and i love the idea of a group of vampires on motorbikes so much, it’s so cool

Now tag 20 of your followers! i'm tagging 13 of you because i do what i want (no pressure though, you absolutely do not have to do this if you don't feel like it)

@sinistergouache @bugzrule @cerise-cutie @gendermenace @bitchinpoison @softvamps @necrocomicon @garbage---rat @sableyesmaw @queer--cryptid @gutlessghostboy @killrot @that-spooky-boy

i'm also officially tagging any of my followers who aren't mutuals but see this and want to do it anyway, go for it!

[will-you-be-my-savior]

asks for 08/27/18

sorry about Friday.

anonymous asked:

Uh hey, been kind of busy here but wanted to check in on everyone. How are you all doing lately? - MWT

Tord: amazing!

Matt: yeah! also, hi mayhem!

Tom: *chuckles* those two are just riding high cause the red army finally took Poland… well that’s why tord is happy i don’t know about matt.

Matt: i’m happy cause tord is happy!

(i only respond to asks on weekdays, mod angel and mod demon respond on weekdays and Saturday. no one really responds on Sunday. -mod x)

anonymous asked:

Congrats on taking Poland. -MWT

Tord: finally! *spinning in his chair*

Matt: *happy bat noises*

Tom: thank you.

anonymous asked:

So you guys are just celebrating for now? Or did the 'Finally took over Poland' party happen already? - MWT

Tom: the “party” was low key and stupidly formal. this one is just drawing it out as long as he can.

Tord: can you really blame me?! it took almost a month! and we finally did it!

Tom: *sigh* so how have things been for you mayhem?

anonymous asked:

Well, I can understand why he wants to draw out the party. He worked long and hard on taking over that place. As for me, I've mostly been updating my research and took on a small case involving a mind reader that was scamming people into thinking she could predict the future for large amounts of money. She didn't go too far with me and just quickly apologized and ran when I tried to call her out. Kept scratching at her arms and had a weird look in her eye too. - MWT

Tom: … you ran into a mind reader… *holding back laughter*

Matt: so your case went well then! good!

Tord: *not even trying to hide his laughter at the mind reader’s misfortune*

(these boys are assholes for laughing at someone’s pain and suffering… but the mind reader probably deserved it)

anonymous asked:

It was an easy case, though I don't get why she acted so off after I confronted her. Maybe she was just sick? Also don't get why that's so funny to you two. - MWT

Tom: *still trying to keep himself from laughing* that is probably for the best.

Matt: *makes an “i don’t know” noise*

Tord: *laughing harder*

anonymous asked:

So what country's next on your list to take over? -MWT

Tord: we’re thinking either Germany or Ukraine.

Tom: he can’t decide which people would care less about.

Tord: we don’t want any major powers after us.

spooncryptid asked:

Hewwo!! How have you boys been??

Tord: good!

spooncryptid asked:

That’s good!! I heard you got Poland?

Tom: yes we did.

Tord: *celebratory shout*

spooncryptid asked:

//jumps at the shout// oh! Well That’s great! I told ya you’d get em!!

Tord: i guess you did didn’t you? well thanks.

anonymous asked:

Ukraine and Germany might both get a lot of attention. If Russia's annexed any part of Ukraine in your world at least. And Germany is kind of in the UN isn't it? And a lot of people are aware of it. Maybe go for the smaller ones that aren't as well known? - MWT

Tord: of course, we would use much more subtle methods for either of them.

Tom: we could go for Denmark…

Tord: … maybe…

spooncryptid asked:

Don’t mention it, so is anything going on today other than celebrating??

Tom: not really. today is mostly a recoup day.

Matt: any soldiers that don’t need to stay in Poland are being recalled to spend time with their families an relax.

anonymous asked:

Definitely, don't want to make it obvious until you're able to handle the rest of the world coming after you. Now I'm really curious about what other beings are in your army? - MWT

Tom: i don’t pry.

Matt: i don’t think about it.

Tord: i don’t know and don’t particularly care. if they want me to know then i won’t bother with it.

anonymous asked:

That makes sense. Let them come to you when they feel comfortable. Took years for my roommates to admit two of them weren't even human and the third practiced magic. - MWT

Tord: what my soldiers are or are not is none of my business.

Tom: most of the army doesn’t know supernatural creatures even exist.

Matt: they think we were science experiments!

spooncryptid asked:

That sounds nice!! Are you guys doing anything to celebrate?

Tord: nah. we already had that boring dinner with the generals.

Matt: we’re just gonna relax and spend time together.

anonymous asked:

that sounds fun! how about celebratory cake (★^O^★)-shy anon

Matt: We don’t really plan on doing anything, but cake sounds great!!!

anonymous asked:

Huh, well I guess it would be hard to know who would react well and who would react badly to the existence of other beings. My roommates at least know I'm more interested in learning about other beings through actually asking and observing, with permission of course. I mean, I've befriended a Selkie because I punched out some drunk jerk trying to steal the poor girl's seal skin. You don't know who's gonna take advantage of an innocent being like that. - MWT

Tom: selkie are generally rather timid! how’d you manage to get her to stay after you gave it back?

anonymous asked:

I think she was too busy processing that a human actually willingly helped her. And I might have started on about how some idiots just don't respect others and how wrong it is to steal a selkie's skin. And how it should be the selkie's choice if someone actually does get to have their skin, even if that answer will always be no. Cussing out the guy in Norwegian might have helped too. She was actually from Norway and was happy to meet someone that spoke the language too. - MWT

Tom: *chuckling* yeah that would do it.

Matt: was she pretty?

Tord: … have we met a selkie?

Tom: even if we had it would have been none of our business.

anonymous asked:

She was pretty, but not really my type. We're still friends, and chat whenever's she in town. I think she finds it funny I mostly ask her about the other beings she's met and not her own species. - MWT

Matt: … wouldn’t it be rude to only talk about her species when you hang out?

Tom: … well, you have excellent manners.

anonymous asked:

I honestly never asked her questions about her species. Though she did mention that Selkies and Leviathans tend to get along when in the same areas. So that was pretty cool. Apparently, Leviathans help catch them their preferred prey in exchange for chasing shrimp out into the open and getting hard to reach food for them. - MWT

Tom: …

Matt: …

Tord: … that also explains a bit…

anonymous asked:

so... how about the cake?! ٩( 'ω' )و-shy anon

Matt: CAKE!

Tom: … alright.

anonymous asked:

red velvet? vanilla? coconut is good too! what kind is your favourite (о´∀`о)-shy anon

Tom: were not really picky.

Matt: cake is cake.

Tord: am i the only one with any preference? i say chocolate!

anonymous asked:

Explains what? Why she likes me? I guess someone would appreciate a researcher not constantly bugging you about your own species. - MWT

Tom: *sigh*

Matt: that too.

Tord: … it probably isn’t the same in your universe anyway.

anonymous asked:

What isn't the same? Something wrong other me? - MWT

Tord: … well being around certain supernatural beings, at least in this universe, sometimes allows some unusual traits to “rub off on” the mundane… like how i’m way more durable them any human should be.

anonymous asked:

That does sound like a difference between our world. I'm pretty sure most of why I'm still alive is just pure luck honestly. I still get hurt easily like any other human, even though I'm pretty sure the Tom here is extremely durable. Same with another of my roommates. Never rubbed off on me. - MWT

Tord: i said certain traits. your tom isn’t the same as my tom, and doesn’t have the exact same traits to transfer, but perhaps that uncanny valley affect comes from all the interaction with the supernatural you have.

anonymous asked:

I never really started encountering the supernatural until College honestly, I've had it since I was in primary school though. But I don't think I've picked up any traits other than an unusual amount of luck, but the Matt here might have cast some kind of spell to boost mine so I don't get myself killed. - MWT

Tord: what if it happened when you were a baby? the transitive traits never really go away, they don’t even really fade. how do you really know?

anonymous asked:

True. I was adopted so there's a chance something happened before then that caused that. If traits can rub off on people here. - MWT

Tord: right! if it is the same.

anonymous asked:

what do you mean “rub off”? could you shapeshift if you stuck around tom long enough? (O_O)-shy anon

Tord: of course not! specific traits! not everything under the sun!

Tom: but it would be funny to watch if he did just randomly shape shift into some thing. i can just imagine the panic.

anonymous asked:

Looks like it’s time for world war 3!

Tord: i’d hope not!

anon-hive-mind asked:

with the attention you seem to be... “attracting” we’d expect there to be another world war soon

Tom: what attention? no one even knows there’s a war unless they are a part of it!

Tord: the general populous thinks the red army was defeated a long time ago.

anonymous asked:

what kind of “specific traits”? (*´꒳`*)-shy anon

Tom: for creatures like me it’s generally things like durability, strength, or sensory abilities.

anon-hive-mind asked:

well, for starters, you can’t takover a country without people knowing about it! unless of course... the battle is upon /different fronts/

Tord: of course you can! you just need to make it look like you didn’t win and change literally nothing in the government!

Tom: the change comes later when the media has died down.

anonymous asked:

oh! that sounds cool! b...but i already have sensory issues (＞人＜;) (should i stay away?) -shy anon

Tom: you don’t really need to worry about it. you’d need uninterrupted proximity of at least a few days.

anonymous asked:

Still, it would be fascinating if certain traits in beings could rub off on others. The durability could actually help a lot of anyone who might be more fragile than others even. Whether or not they're human. Unless traits only pass to humans. - MWT

Tord: unfortunately it is only to the mundane. meaning only humans and animals.

anonymous asked:

Well, that sucks and seems a little unfair. -MWT

Tom: in this universe the mundane are kinda like blank slates where the supernatural are full. the mundane can be etched and written on to the moon and back but the supernatural don’t have any room left.

anonymous asked:

I guess that makes sense. Kind of wonder what kind of traits the more unusual beings could pass on to human. - MWT

Tom: the most extreme trait I’ve ever seen transferred would be electricity resistance. that guy got hit with lightning seven times in one night and didn’t even flinch.

anonymous asked:

That is awesome, kind of jealous of that guy. - MWT

Tom: don’t be. he can’t leave his house any more for fear of being mobbed by people who want to interview him.

anonymous asked:

Okay, that part sucks, but not having to worry about being struck by lighting is still something to be jealous of. - MWT

Tord: i’m glad i don’t have to worry about that either. *gestures to his robotic arm* this thing acts as a battery that absorbs any electric current i may intercept.

anonymous asked:

Smart idea for that arm. Maybe I should build something similar for myself. - MWT

Tord: … you want to cut off your own arm?!

Tom: DON’T!!

Matt: *distressed squeaking*

anonymous asked:

I didn't mean a robot arm! I mean like something I could wear. - MWT

Tord: oh thank god.

Tom: *rapid breathing*

Matt: *sigh*

anonymous asked:

What made you think I wanted to cut off my arm? I said something like, not exactly that. I like having two arms and two of my roommates would beat me to a bloody pulp if I did take off my arm. - MWT

Tord: we weren’t the smartest teenagers…

Matt: he cut off this own ear when we were fourteen.

Tord: yes and i am ashamed to this day. thank you so much for bringing it up…

Tom: to be fair i did reattach it for you.

anonymous asked:

Other kids hurt me enough that I never tried stuff like that. And WHY did you even think cutting off your ear was a good idea? - MWT

Tord: …

Tom: he wanted t- *tord is covering his mouth*

Matt: to replace it with a robot ear.

Tord: *groan*

Tom: *removes tord’s hands* he wanted to see if his sensory software would work. he knew i could put the ear back.

anonymous asked:

That was kind of a dumb reason. The organs you hear with are further in the skull, removing the ear itself won't get rid of hearing on that side of the head. - MWT

Tord: i was better at mechanics then i was anatomy okay!

Tom: he’d also been awake for six days perfecting the code.

anonymous asked:

Staying days at a time does not help with getting work done. I at least try to sleep a couple hours at night or if I'm doing an all-night investigation, I'll sleep a few hours during the day. And that's on top of inventing to earn a living. -MWT

Tord: i was a stupid teenager! LET IT GO ALREADY!

Tom: …

Matt: … does someone need a nap?

Tord: no. i’m calm now. i am not a child matt…

anonymous asked:

Well I guess spending nights coding is better than all the fights I got in back when I was a teen. - MWT

Tom: … were you ever really the instigator of those?

anonymous asked:

Sometimes. Though honestly, it was mostly me lashing out at even a bit of namecalling or defending myself. - MWT

Tom: …

Tord: kids can be assholes.

Matt: they were wrong. no matter what they said about you, they were wrong.

anonymous asked:

I know they're wrong, my roommates like to remind when what a panic attack happens. Bullying can still lead to some nasty mental scars though. -MWT

Tom: …

Tord: …

Matt: *upset bat noises*

anonymous asked:

Don't worry, with my roommates around I've been kind of getting over all that. They're there to remind me I'm human and not whatever those brats thought I was. - MWT

Tom: good…

anonymous asked:

Still won't ever go to a class reunion though, else I might try to fist fight all my old bullies. - MWT

they are trying really hard not to encourage such behavior… but they really want to!

anonymous asked:

Still, got a better life now than back then. Roommates that don't think I'm possessed because of bullies, I somehow befriended the leader of a cult/hivemind that collects information, and I'm doing two things I love. Pretty sure none of those brats from school are in careers they enjoy. - MWT

Tom: … you know how you have that uncanny valley thing going on for everyone but me? yeah, every time you mention this information guy i get that feeling… you sure you can trust him?

anonymous asked:

3301's a good guy, I give him copy of my notes for the book I've got, and his group helps out with finding out what's behind a crime. They're trying to protect nonhumans from being discovered too. - MWT

Tom: doesn’t have to be a bad guy… just be careful around him okay… if he has info in the creatures who’s to say he doesn’t have info on you.

anonymous asked:

He's got the same info as me. We've all been trying to solve this mystery in-case another case like mine comes up. - MWT

Tom: … my best friend betrayed me… he broke me down until i was nothing, and he did so with information i thought i could trust him with… i don’t want the same things to happen to you…

Matt: *distressed bat noises*

anonymous asked:

I can understand your worry, but don't worry, I never gave him personal information. Just what you'd know if you had a coworker you kind of get along with. - MWT

Tom: …

Matt: …

Tord: i don’t think they’re gonna stop worrying unless they meet him.

anonymous asked:

I could ask him to talk with you the next time I meet up with him. - MWT

Tord: you could try.

anonymous asked:

Though a warning, he's some kind of Cicada creature that's lived for thousands of years. He does hide under a cloak though. - MWT

Tom: oh!

anonymous asked:

He's kind of creepy looking but he's got a good heart. Always does his best to help out the younger being in the town. - MWT

Tom: oh…

Tord: your friend has just won his favor.

Matt: does he know anything about hybrids?

anonymous asked:

I'll have to ask him about Hybrids the next time I see him. Only hybrid I know is the cambion I live with. - MWT

Matt: good, maybe certain hybrids have a name!

Tom: knowing what to call myself would be nice…

anonymous asked:

Did any of you go through an emo phase? And if so, do the others tease you about it still?

Tord: … you’re not gonna believe this… matt.

Tom: we don’t mock him about it cause he still had better fashion sense then either of us.

spooncryptid asked:

I’m always happy to share my girls!

thank you spoon. it was not too long by the way.

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

Dyou wanna know a random fact about Eva I didn’t include? (Cuz it’s noncanon and somewhat meta)

… i’m intrigued…

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

She’s the Oc that I was thinking turned me(??) into a cat gremlin

… she’s dead meat…

-Mod x

spooncryptid asked:

Aww :3c glad to see you care about me

oh sweetheart it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with matty! tord too but mostly matt.

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

Woa, it’s so nice to have friends that’ll commit murder for me <3

murder is the least they will do…

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

Mmm, I’m honestly scared to ask

tord is a military leader and tom is the child of a wrath demon… do you really even need to?

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

True... it’s scary imagining that that easily could’ve happened to me though

tom and tord have immeasurable amounts of patience.

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

Mm, so I just would’ve ended up dead

if i hadn’t warned you off… or if you had sent one more ask before spilling the whole unwilling transformation thing yes.

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

Thank goodness god x is on my side

god x? a little too much there, tone it down a bit okay.

-MOD x (not god)

spooncryptid asked:

I mean... ok

… i made the story yes but once the characters were set i don’t control their actions so to speak… it’s hard to explain. tord will be tord whether i want him to be or not.

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

I suppose

i’m just the middle man at this point…

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

So you’re demigod x?

… oracle x… maybe.

-mod x

spooncryptid asked:

Ooo, mystical

… you’re not gonna let this go are you?

-mod x

anonymous asked:

A war I bound to happen wether you want it to or not. What can you expect when trying to take over the fucking world?

Tord: well duh! we’re just trying to put it off as long as we can.

anonymous asked:

I’m sure there are much stronger forces than some militia in Norway. I’d be careful if I were you...

Tord: you act as if i don’t know that.

anonymous asked:

Just saying. Watch your back, Red leader.

… this is my world anon… i don’t tolerate bullies. if you’ve read the blog you should know these boys are paranoid as it is. if you wanna go down this road you better do it off anon or with a signature, or these questions won’t be seen. if you’re brave enough to make these claims then you’re brave enough to use a name.

-mod x

anonymous asked:

Okay, jeez. Just trying to have a bit of fun. I’ll be on my way then, enjoy your world.

… you don’t have to go. the boys are messed up and i don’t enjoy torturing them. an anonymous voice in the distance saying they need to worry would be too far but if they had a single source it would be… tolerable. you can keep going, just make sure they can connect the words to an individual or you’re gonna actually break them. (like full on mentally break them… no one wants to see that.)

-mod x

endragoneel asked:

today has been ... a long day! so, how’re y’all doing?

Tord: tired.

Tom: same.

Matt: fluffy.

(if you were wondering about me too… okay -mod x)

anonymous asked:

Ha, nah. I’d rather just leave. A perfect world, your world, just seems a bit boring.

… you think my world is perfect?! HA! you just happened to hit one of the very few buttons that would interfere with the plot. you can’t break them… yet. but that doesn’t make them perfect.

endragoneel asked:

(glad you’re doing ok <3) need some rest boys? oh man that’s a mood... but i have homework... i read somewhere about a cake! y’all ever get to that? maybe you can make it together!

Matt: no… shy anon disappeared…

Tord: unfortunately we aren’t the kind of tired you can really rest with.

Tom: maybe another time.

endragoneel asked:

i didn’t mean anything like that!!! i’m just tired too aa - but anyway, congrats on taking poland!

Tord: *attempted cheer*

Tom: that was pathetic…

Tord: oh bite me.

Matt: *bites him*

endragoneel asked:

maybe this was a bad time to come haha— MATT DONT DO THAT!!

Tord: he’s fine, not even using teeth.

Tom: sometimes sucking makes him feel better. he really wanted that cake.

endragoneel asked:

go make the cake anyway! i’m sure it’ll be fine if you save some for shy anon : D

Tord: noooo, i don’t wanna.

Tom: oh stop whining, i’ll do it.

Tord and Matt: wooo.

endragoneel asked:

yay! cake it is~

Matt: cake!

endragoneel asked:

what kind are you making?

Tom: tord said chocolate so… that.

anonymous asked:

Coconut.

??? this confuses me so much.

-mod x

endragoneel asked:

nice~ got a special ingredient?

Tom: … not really, it’s just cake.

endragoneel asked:

eh my mum does when she makes cake! it’s the best~ matt seems excited!

Tom: my mom didn’t make food… she tried to make me eat the souls of the damned…

endragoneel asked:

... well then,

Tom: what do you expect from a wrath demon?

endragoneel asked:

i never... thought of it? although i have wondered what souls taste like...

Tom: it can very. usually depends on the color.

endragoneel asked:

how could you tell colour? could you tell mine? !!O:

Tom: color is representative of sin… are you sure you want to know?

endragoneel asked:

maybe not... but i’m very intrigued actaully... more yes than no? or maybe we should focus on the cake insteadb

Tom: … yellow.

endragoneel asked:

... what sin?

Tom: you won’t understand… gluttony.

endragoneel asked:

aye ... i can actually see it strangely... i’ve over stepped my boundaries here i think...

Tom: it’s fine. not many people have the soul-sight and even fewer know what each color means. i don’t blame you for being curious.

endragoneel asked:

to be fair, i have played undertale one too many times to be curious of the actual definition of a ‘soul’—

Tom: a soul is the core parts of a being from which all other parts grow. without a soul the being is nothing more then an empty shell.

anonymous asked:

YAY! you and matt are making cake (*´꒳`*) -shy anon

Tom: just me thank you.

(tom is mad you abandoned them earlier after you mentioned cake)

anonymous asked:

lmao i think it’s about time i get serious when i come here. what exactly is a wrath demon?

Tom: a demon… that consumes wrath… kinda self explanatory…

anonymous asked:

oh no... i didn’t mean to abandon you! (*´-`) will you accept an apology? -shy anon, i bow to say sorry

Tom: … fine. just don’t do it again.

anonymous asked:

i can decorate the cake for you! ( ´∀｀)-shy anon

Tom: go for it, less work for me.

anonymous asked:

what should it look like? (⌒▽⌒)☆-shy anon

Tom: i don’t care. it’s just gonna get eaten anyway. just do something “pretty” so matt’s happy.

anonymous asked:

would a poland flag be festive? (*^ω^*)-shy anon, who needs to go to bed >~<

Tom: huh, it’d make tord happy.

anonymous asked:

lmao what demon are you then?

Tom: i’m not a demon.

(it is literally 2 in the morning here… i’ll answer more tomorrow -mod x)

[kurhanik]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Alphabet Questions Tagged by the amazing @firefly-kid <3 thank you!!

(A)ge: 22

(B)irthplace: Poland

(C)urrent Time: 8:44 pm (WHEN I STARTED THIS) 00:39 now

(D)rink you last had: Mint tea

(E)asiest person to talk to: Such questions always stress me out because, hey, I LOVE ALL OF MY FRIENDS SO MUCH (for real, i'm just going to stick to the literal "easiest" part of the question, because heck, i love you guys), but anyway, my friend Ferron is someone I can talk with about anything, saved me so many times and aaaah, I just can't believe we know each other for like...idk, 12 years??? Wild. Harshai's someone I can't imagine my life without. Lajn legit saved my life a few times and...honestly I could trust her with anything too. And I can't believe that Cycha's still so patient with me, after so many years!!! And I love joking with you and everything, aaa. But then, finally, the obvious answer's Cyrulik and Bejdak, I just jffkfjkfj can't believe how easy, how /right/ it feels to talk with you. And to overshare...I honestly can't believe all the acceptance and love i recieved from you, i just. brb crying

(F)avourite Song: Waaay too many, but the ones that feel very special to me right now would be Percival's "Karanfile", "Farewell old friend" from TW3 OST, Gintrowski's  "Tren Fortynbrasa" and Bregovic's "Marushka", as for general ones,  maybee "Dilaudid" by The Mountain Goats, Grechuta's "Chodźmy", "So Long Ago, So Clear" by Vangelis, "Start wearing purple" by Gogol Bordello, "Nim Wstanie Dzień" in Fetting's interpretation, "This is a film" by Iggy Pop and Bregovic...and heck, so many more

(G)rossest Memory: I can't think of any atm and....well i think i don't want to

Mmaybe just the time when I was @ university plein air and that one girl really...........overshared...many things about her life.....when she was drunk......and didn't really understand the concept of No Touch and Personal Space, yehhhhhh i think i'm gonna remember that forever, just honestly can't stand being touched by anyone i'm not comfortable with and this situation was vERY not ok

(H)ogwarts House: I'm the kind of Hufflepuff who's obsessed with their house, so well, that. Houses were always my fav part of the series. (I suppose I'm Huffleslyth too)

(I)n Love: With my incredible wife, my amazing friends, and way too many fictional characters, some of which this blog is dedicated to.

(J)ealous Of People: Who control their emotions better and aren't as obsessive as me, I guess. Also, welp, many artists that are better at doing bussiness than me... but hey. Tryin to control it

(K)illed Someone: I've killed too many people in The Witcher 3 because of my bad decisions and I sure regret that. Wait......what?

(L)ove At First Sight or Walk By Again: .....well listen i really thought that the love at first sight thing is fake but....you see......stuff..happened...it sure happened

(M)iddle Name: Eve

(N)umber Of Siblings: 0

(O)ne Wish: For my friends and wife to be happy and find peace On the more egoistic side.........well as childish as it is I'd like to work in That One Studio someday. One day

(P)erson You Called Last: My dad i suppose, I use my phone once a month

(Q)uestion You’re Asked Most: ,,How are you’’ even tho my answer is "depressed" 90% of the time kfjfjkfjkjkf

(R)easons To Smile: my wiFE, Cyrulik and KACS in general, all of my incredible friends, my job and having nice/succesful days @ job, anything Nilfgaard related, CDProjekt's terrible (amazing) jokes, Supergiant Games, good art, birds, plants, my city, my dog and my birds, Spring, warmth, love, eeeeeh honestly just. all of sudden i have so many reasons to smile. depression who (k it's still very much there but at least i remember how to smile now)

(S)ong You Last Sang: Ederlezi by Bregovic

(T)ime You Woke Up: ...whICH TIME because i wake up like 3 times today? Let's say it was about 8

(U)nderwear Colour: Idk blue i think

(V)acation Destination: Anywhere @ Ukraine or Kaunas or Trakai

(W)orst Habits: being obsessed with my work and loosing opportunities (and hEALTH) (and social life) because of it, hhhhhhhhh.

(X)-Rays: Teeth

(Y)our Favourite Foods: BORSCHT. Kutia. Too many things i can't eat anymore. Most things with spinach, pumpkin, eggplant.

(Z)odiac Sign: Aries

Not tagging anyone bc i always feel awkward about it but I’d be HONOURED if any of you would do it and tag me <3 i love reading about my friends and followers, ok

[moonprincess92]

The Rebelcaptain Food Travel AU round robin

What the hell is the Rebelcaptain Food Travel AU Round Robin?  Basically, this all started with a video of Diego Luna eating stuff and naturally, our brains just went to ‘rebelcaptain food travel au’. Jaded made a moodboard for it and @sambargestuff made the comment that it would be cool if different writers from all over the world in the fandom came together to write this story, since we are from so many different places, and we all apparently took to this idea with gusto, hahahahha. 

So what is this fic gonna be about?  Cassian is a famous food/cooking show presentor about to film a new show that showcases food from around all of Europe. Jyn is a freelance camera operator who gets offered the job to film this show last minute after their usual camera person can’t make it. 

Together they, along with their crew, travel around Europe for 3 & 1/2 months filming episodes based around all the different countries (AND MAYBE THEY FALL IN LOVE A LITTLE ALONG THE WAY, EEYYYYYYY)  

Sounds cool, but how is writing this fic going to work?  Basically, each chapter will be based around one city and/or country in Europe. A different author will write each one. I will write the first chapter that is set in London, England and if absolutely no one else wants to take a crack at it, I will also write the last one. 

Sounds cool as, how do I sign up?  Just let me know! Reblog this and add, reply, send me a msg, whatever you want just tell me what country/city you would like to write about. I will collect everyone’s responses to see whether there’s still interest in this idea and make a list. Then, we’ll go from there!

I want to do this, but I know nothing about food :(  It’s ok, you can always base your chapter more about the country, or the relationships, or the funny comments the show gets on Youtube, or anything else really. 

But I’m from X country and someone’s already doing that one :(  It’s ok, we can have six Germany chapters and zero Croatian, it’s totally fine if someone is already doing a country you’re interested in! 

I want to write about X country but I’m not actually from there :(  It’s ok, so long as you are comfortable writing about whatever country you want to pick. The whole idea of this is that people who are familiar with somewhere get to write about what they know, so this fic will hopefully feel authentic and realistic! I mean, maybe don’t write about Greece if you’ve never been there, don’t know anyone from there and aren’t familiar with Greek food, but perhaps you lived a year abroad in Romania once? Use good judgement and you should be fine. 

I’m from America/Asia/Oceania/Africa and don’t feel comfortable writing about Europe :(  It’s also ok! If anyone wants to we could always write a sequel based in other areas of the world! I’d love to be able to include absolutely anyone who wants to do this. For simplicity and organisation’s sake, we’re going to start with Europe, but there’s no telling where this could go in the future. 

Are there rules? Deadlines? Exactly how committed to this do I have to be?  The idea is that this is a fun way of everyone being able to come together, so there’s not going to be too many rules and/or limitations, and definitely no deadlines. We want to keep things as light and no pressure as possible. There will simply be a set of guidelines to give everyone a clear sense of what we hope to achieve with this project, which I’ll put in a seperate post 

Blah, blah, shut up Jordan, just give me the list of countries already  FINE lol, list of potential countries in the order that they’d be written in are:  England (story starts here)  Ireland/Scotland/Wales  France  Belguim  Netherlands  Germany  Denmark/all the Scandinavia  Czech Republic  Poland  Eastern Europe (Lithuania/Estonia//Ukraine/etc)  Southern Europe (Romania/Bulgaria/Croatia/etc)  Greece  Hungary  Austria  Italy  Switzerland  Maybe Spain and Portugal?  End of the story back in England! 

This list is not exclusive. We can add/take away countries as needed. Again, if more than one person wants to write about a particular country, maybe we can organise it as each does a different city there. 

Anyway, I think that’s enough info for one post. Again, for the guidelines I’ll link to the other post. I’m also going to tag some people who I believe have expressed interest in this in the past. 

Again, if you are potentially interested in being a part of this, please reblog & add or reply which country and/or city you’d like to do!!!!! 

Thanks so much guys xoxo 

Tagging: @ibonekoen, @k-lara7, @pingou7, @cornholius, @redstyxsora, @imsfire2, @scruffyhappaboreherder, @ruby-red-inky-blue, @thenewleeland, @polynesianhermione, @firefeufuego, @rinsantago, @rxbxlcaptain, @finns-roses, @the-space-narwhal

[theplaguezine]

DARK TRANQUILLITY

Interview with Mikael Stanne by Daniel Hinds

(conducted August 1999)

Dark Tranquillity really established themselves as the forerunners of the melodic death metal movement in the 90s, with such albums as The Gallery and The Mind's I.  Their unique blend of fast, thrashy death metal and highly melodic riffing and leadwork helped make them a household name in the metal community relatively quickly.

With their latest album, Projector, the band has taken a turn to explore new vistas, utilizing clean vocals and a more organic sense of melody than before.  On the eve of the album's Stateside release, vocalist Mikael Stanne braved a hoarse voice and overseas connection to give me the low-down on one of Sweden's finest…

How would you say Projector differs from previous DT albums? I think it differs a lot.  We tried to experiment a lot more with this album, to kind of break free from what we'd done before.  Going in and writing for this album was really different for us because we wanted to keep all alternatives really open.  We got back from touring a lot for The Mind's I and we were like, 'Nope, we don't want to play this really fast stuff anymore.'  We wanted to do something else, like focus more on the emotional parts of the music than we have in the past - take it a bit further.  And the vocals had to change for the music, but I think that's the basic change - it's more open, more dynamic, more emotional.

Were you scared at all how people would react to the changes? Not really.  We thought about it, but we just said, 'This is exactly what we want to do,' so if people hate it, that's fine.  If people love it, that's fine, too, it doesn't really matter.  We just realized that we had to do this album, otherwise we couldn't go on playing.  We couldn't do another Mind's I or another Gallery or whatever.

Has the songwriting process itself changed any? Yeah, a bit.  We're started writing using portable studios and computers and stuff, so we can make a lot of the arrangements at home and then present it to the other guys.  Then we work on it from there and develop each idea.  It's an easier process, since we know each other so well.  Also, our drummer Anders contributed a lot to the music now.  It's much more open and we feel we can do just about anything.  It's really interesting and kind of a new start for us.

Are you looking forward to playing the new material live? Oh yeah!  This Friday is the first show, we're going to play a festival in Finland, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Why the title Projector? Well, it came from the time when I was writing the lyrics, about a year and a half ago.  I was having problems sleeping and just a lot of problems that I didn't really want to write about, but felt that I had to eventually.  I started digging up all this stuff that I didn't really want to talk about and once I got it all to the surface, I had to see all these things from a different perspective.  That's why you kind of put your distance to it.  The more I thought about it, the bigger it got and that's what the 'projector' is:  it kind of blows things out of proportion in order to make it more real and to see it with fresh eyes and from a new perspective.  That's what it meant to me, to put light on small things and make them huge, make them a monster.

Could you tell me about some of the specific lyrics on the album? They kind of deal with things that I hate, things about myself.  Mainly, weaknesses and errors and all the stuff that you do and you hate but you can't do anything about, you know?  I've come to realize that recently, that I do so many stupid things, I had to change my ways.  As a step towards being better, I write about it first and expose the problem.  A lot of it is about relationships between people, both my personal ones and other people.  Basically, what really annoys me about hanging around in the city with the people I socialize with.  The lyrics cover different aspects of this.

DT has always been blessed with cool artwork and I was curious how important the visual presentation of the band is to you. We've always been interested in the graphic side and artwork and everything.  Me and Niklas always kind of developed the concepts for T-shirts and the covers and everything, so it's always been a big part of it.  For me and Niklas, anyway.  We drew the first demo covers and EPs and stuff, so that's always been going on.  Now Niklas is self-employed and doing graphics.  He really wanted to do this whole concept for the album, with all the involved imagery.  He does all the T-shirts and homepage and everything, to create an overall feel for the music.

I understand you've done a video for one of the tracks on Projector. We just finished it the day before yesterday, actually.  It's for the song "ThereIn" and we did it with a couple of friends of ours.  We basically left ourselves in their hands and they did a video, which turned out pretty cool.  Not as good as we expected, but it's okay.  These kind of videos never get shown anyway, so there's no point in spending a lot of money on it.  It represents the song and represents us, so it does what a video should do, without being too much.

There is a major tour in the works for DT soon.  What details do you have so far? Right now we're just doing festivals, but on September 17th, I think we start and go for six or seven weeks with In Flames, Children of Bodom and Arch Enemy through Europe.  It's going to be our biggest tour yet.  That will be a lot of fun.

Sounds like a pretty killer line-up. Well, I think it is, it's a great package and we're all friends.  It's going to be crazy and hazardous to our health. (laughs)  Hopefully, we will do an American tour in November.  We've been talking about it a lot.  We were supposed to do it in August, but we didn't really feel right about that, so we'll do it in November, perhaps December.

Any new stops on this tour? Umm…yeah, Poland, I think that's the only one on this tour.  We also go to Japan in September, just for a couple of shows, and that's gonna be great.  We'll probably go to Mexico as well.  After that, we can retire. (laughs)

Do you get to see much of these countries you visit or is it mostly 'do the show and move on?' Pretty much just move on, yeah.  Sleep all day, eat, do soundcheck, do interviews, play, then leave. (laughs)  Sometimes we get a chance, though.  Sometimes we'll have a number of hours to just stroll around the city and that's great, but usually…  Like when we went to Rome, we were like, 'Oh, great!  We've gotta see this!'  We didn't see ANYTHING!  A big line of people, the inside of a bus, the inside of a club and that's it.  It can really suck sometimes, but it's great anyway.  The people are usually more interesting anyway.

Do you enjoy playing the big festivals? We actually haven't done many festivals, just a couple small ones.  When we were with Osmose, they weren't into doing festivals, as they thought of it as a waste of time more or less.  Century Media is really trying to get is on the festivals, though, so we're doing Wacken this year and Friday this really big one in Finland.  A couple others, I'm not really sure yet.

How did you get in touch with Century Media? We contacted the manager that we heard about and said, 'We want to have a record contract, can you help us out?'  So he sent out the record to several labels, and a lot of them were really interested and we started negotiating with like 6 or 7 labels.  Eventually it came down to Century Media because they were the most open-minded and agree to our terms more than the other labels.  We found out what a shitty, shitty industry that we're in.  All these labels wanted to change us, to have us re-record the album, and do all this and that and tell us what kind of image we have to have for the video, etc.  That's what we said in the beginning with Century Media:  you cannot control us in any way.  And they were like, 'Yep, totally cool, we agree to that.'

Did you have good luck with Osmose and Spinefarm? Yeah, all these labels have been great.  Spinefarm did a lot for us in the beginning.  They aren't really a record label, they're more a distributor in Finland.  That's their main thing and that's why they are kind of limited in their capabilities.  Osmose did fabulous work and we cannot thank them enough for bringing out our records, but we just felt it was time to move on and since the album is kind of different, we thought 'let's make a record label change.'  It felt like the best thing to do.  Of course, it's been great so far and hopefully it will just get better.

Are you at all surprised by the level of popularity that DT has achieved so far? Oh yeah!  We're just a couple of friends hanging out and playing, that's what we do.  Like in the beginning, when Skydancer came out, we didn't know what to expect, we just thought, 'This is not music that people get into nowadays, it's really a weird album.'  But people got into it and we were like, 'whoa! Cool!'  But it doesn't really affect us in that way.  At the end of the day, what matters is what we think about it and if we love it, that's okay.  If other people like, that's great.  But it's still really hard to think of it in that way and when people say that we were founders of this 'Gothenburg sound,' it's so hard to think of it that way.  We've just been playing forever.  It's nothing that we really think about, but of course it's very flattering that people buy the records and come to our shows.

DT has done a number of tribute albums and I was curious what your take on that whole market is and if there are any bands that you think deserve a tribute but haven't got one yet. It's a fun thing to do.  It's flattering that a label asks us to do one, that they want to hear our interpretation of another artist's music.  It's an opportunity for us to go into the studio and record some more, and that's always interesting.  It's a challenge to do covers, too.  I don't listen too much to the tribute albums, but if there's one of my favorite bands that have a tribute album, of course I'm going to buy it.  Sometimes they're good, sometimes they suck all the way through.  I listened to this Depeche Mode tribute album, it was pretty good.  Smashing Pumpkins were on it.

How did you first get interested in playing music? Like in '87, all of us in the band, we lived on the same street.  We hung out every day, just sat around listening to records.  We were nuts about music and calling up musicians and being really pathetic.  We were kind of bored, as well, just sitting around talking all day, so me and Nicky decided, 'Let's start playing and see if we can be as good as these guys that we listen to.'  So we started practicing and practicing and after about 5 months we decided we could play reasonably, and we asked our closest friends if they wanted to join a band.  They were like, 'yeah, why not?'  Nobody knew anything, so we just rehearsed and rehearsed, just to have something to do and our intention at the time was to do aggressive music that was also melodic.  That's more or less always been our goal, to mix the really extreme stuff like Kreator and Sodom and the mellow stuff like Helloween and Blind Guardian.

Okay, it's 1999 so here is the obligatory Y2K question.  How do you think things will turn out? Of course there is going to be some problems, that's inevitable, but I don't think it will be such a big thing as it is all hyped up to be.  I spoke yesterday about it with a friend of mine who works at Microsoft, and he said everyone is calling in, really worried, and all this paranoia.  But it really isn't that big of a problem.  It's going to be interesting to see like the suicide rate on New Year's Eve is going to be.  I think it will be weird and a lot of people will freak out, but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show. (laughs)

www.darktranquillity.com

[somuchbetterthanthat]

What do you think the barricade boys would be like today. Like with everything going on.

I was thinking about this, and I thought “oh my god, I have zero idea, that’s why it’s so hard to really write les amis in modern AU” but, I can try to actually give the beginning of an answer (and I’m ready to hear everybody’s opinions on this, really, because I think, depending our own situations, we’re gonna imagine something different for all of them.). This turned extremely long.. sorry.

I think the easiest to pin down are Feuilly and Grantaire, to be honest. 

Grantaire, would be That Guy who never went to vote to an election because “what’s the point? They’re all the same.” Or maybe, the first time he was able to vote was for a presidential, he voted someone, they didn’t pass (or they did and disappointed him) and he was disappointed and he went “whatever, voting is not as cool as I was told it would”. Grantaire won’t say he avoids the news because the bullshit around him actually affects him, and he totally won’t ever admit how much he loves being friends with people who ARE optimist and who sees humanity’s beauty and want to make things better. Grantaire is also the guy who is Totally in Favour of Women’s Rights, Especially the Sexual Liberation Part of It *wink wink*. He… probably had unfortunate sentences like “girls don’t like the nice guys, they just want assholes” (i mean he basically already say unfortunate things like that in canon). Irma probably said once to him “Dude, you are an asshole, and I don’t see women running to your feet, so shut the hell up.” In my opinion, he’s also a white man in his twenties, with all the blind prejudice it can bring. He’s bi, but not that comfortable with it. 

Feuilly, and dear god will I fight anybody on this if I must, is a STUDENT. (Or was a student, depending on which age you give them). Feuilly still struggles with money, because he’d live in fucking Paris, but Feuilly would NOT struggle to study, because FRANCE’S UNIVERSITIES ARE CHEAP (in comparison to some other countries, I mean), and also there are different financial help for people like Feuilly who don’t have the financial means to pay everything from their pockets. It’s still highly probable Feuilly would work anyway, probably in retail or tutoring!, though. Feuilly would spend his time reading and Getting Angry or Passionate about everything that’s going on in the world, that won’t change in our modern world. It’s not about Poland anymore, but oh man Feuilly would rant hours on the situation of Syrians refugees. He probably sat in baffled, horrified silence after Trump’s election. He makes sure people know about what happens in countries the media aren’t interested in. In fact, I could see him write long articles on international problems. 

To be honest, I really don’t know If I can do this for all of les amis (perhaps not as detailed). A lot of this is only my personal opinions on how they might be in modern France. 

In a world where Law school isn’t the only available school for people who don’t want to graduate for School, what do Bossuet and Bahorel do? I can see them, of course, going to university, again and again, but? Would they really not get a diploma…? I mean, okay, poor Bossuet probably doesn’t because of Circumstances, but for Bahorel, I don’t know - he can still have gone to study Law in the first place, find it filled with Terrible Arrogant Competitive People, went “nope” and just. Tried a lot of other things, accidentally majored and got a diploma in at least two of them, and somehow ends up with the most diploma in the group???? Which is baffling because Bahorel would also clearly be a Stylist. He has a page and everything. People don’t get it. I dunno. 

Concerning politics activity, Bahorel would still be the person who Knows Everybody In Paris, which means he goes from group to group - Bahorel probably knows the most radical leftist you can find in Paris, and he has tried to infiltrate an extreme-right meeting once or twice (but that ended up badly). Bahorel probably is the Main Messenger of l’ABC. He’s also probably very good at corrupting students and making them think “maybe being Far Left is actually quite cool”

Jehan probably is vegan? I have no idea what radical art movement is actually scandalizing the Good Society, but he’s probably part of that in some way (with Bahorel). Street art..? I truly have no idea here, so I won’t embarrass myself trying to say something. He still writes a lot of poems, he’s still very erudite, and he’s probably still very rich. He probably gives a lot of money to charity - for women, children, and animals, and he’s an active participant in at least one of them. He’s very big on the “nature doesn’t belong to human and we should be respectful of it” sustainable development movements. 

… Of course les amis would probably all be for sustainable development cause they’re not idiots but. you know.

I can’t see Joly as anything else than a doctor, and I tend to think he’d go for caring for kids in particular. He’s good with them. To be honest, when it comes to politics, Joly and Bossuet are the hardest for me to pin down - I have zero doubt they’re as invested as the others, but I don’t think they’d have as much “clear” role if you know what I mean? Joly probably organizes things for the children at hospital, like having people come here to visit them and make them laugh (Bossuet would probably help with that, and, in fact, probably so would Grantaire), or making sure they can see That Movie that just got out, etc. Joly would also be highly invested in the cause of nurses, which are having a hard time in France right now. Bossuet, drawing from his own experiences, would probably help people in situation of poverty - homeless people, etc. Perhaps he’d help in Le Refuge, which is an association that helps lgbt kids in France who are homeless. 

As for Joly, I can’t see Combeferre as anything else than a doctor, apart if he’s a teacher. Combeferre could totally be a teacher. however, Combeferre would probably be a family doctor, after trying a lot of different specialization. In fact, Combeferre probably went for medicine after trying a bunch of other things, and probably did at least two years of “prépa” (I have zero idea how to explain what it is. Two years of school that prepares you to a test that will allow you to enter prestigious schools all over france?) in like, physics or something because he used to plan to become a scientist. Combeferre is fascinated by technology and how it can help; probably works on making teleportation a thing during lost hours; has contacts all over the scientist words, and spends a lot of time with Jehan speaking about how we could actually already put into place green energy all over the world. Combeferre also tutors kids, he’s involved in feminist groups, and of all his friends, he is the most socialist while everybody else is pretty far into radical left.

Would Courfeyrac be a lawyer? Honestly, I could see it! There is something about Courfeyrac that feels right about this, choosing to defend the innocent and all, he’s a paladin isn’t he - of course he would be a real life lawyer, not a fictional one, and I don’t know exactly which branches of law exists for him in modern-france, but he would be for the one who comes closest to helping either children, group of people being wronged, etc. He probably also gives free lawyer advice for those who don’t even know perhaps they hAVE rights. Courfeyrac would deal with everything social media in the group, and he would still have an uncanny eye to notice people that might fit and belong in their group. He’s charming in a less intense way that Enjolras might be, which makes him an easy “first contact”. 

 As for Enjolras, well, duh, he’d be a printer. He’d be involved in particular with everything that touches the right of workers, what the EU means for France’s companies, and what generally speaking international market do for workers that might not have a chance to fight against the competitive prices of other countries. Chances are, the printshop would also have an editorial branch to it, too. Which brings me to my point-

I think les amis de l’ABC would have a newspaper of sort: they’d started with a blog, and somehow it turned into a very political, humanist newspaper, of which Enjolras would be the principal editor: all of les amis might write articles from times to times - Bahorel, Bossuet, Courfeyrac and Jehan are the one who find other authors to fill in. Grantaire probably writes the horoscope, and it is mocking and still very PoliticalTM, but the tone is humouristic and there are a lot of puns and les amis are much too weak for puns.  

They would also have a branch dedicated to tutoring students of all ages, particularly in “difficult neighborhoods” (which would go hand in hand with Valjean’s center, which is a vague idea of mine that i like). That’s Combeferre and Feuilly’s responsibilities, though Joly chimes in when he can, as well as Courfeyrac and Enjolras. 

They would, obviously, protest - that’s a French Given. They would be, as I said, very active on social media (Courfeyrac on youtube, please and thank you, videos of Enjolras speaking, etc.). A lot of their stance might be on visibility and education: which wouldn’t stop them from direct action when it needs to happen. Les amis de l’ABC would very much be far left, though I don’t think they would like the idea of two big parties anymore, because that’s a feeling that every french people feel nowadays, i think, or so it feels anyway. 

And while I said “he” all the while in this post, because I put them all from canon to modern era, obviously not all of them would be “he”. Les amis de l’ABC would be boys, girls, trans, non-binary, they’d be white or black or brown-skinned, atheists, muslims, catholics, jewish people, etc. Les amis de l’ABC would be very diverse. Also, probably bigger than they were in canon-era - apparently there wasn’t that much of them because of political restrictions of the time-period, but nowadays they could be as much as they can freely, so, there’s that.  Of course, that doesn’t change the idea that Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Feuilly, Bahorel, Jehan, Bossuet, Joly and Grantaire might be the “core” of their association/group. 

I don’t… actually know if that answer your question at all? I hope so?  

[50shadesofsubtextao3]

October 1, 1938

Sam and Dean were trying to slip out the front door when Dean heard his father’s voice behind them. “Where are you going, boys?”

“Just outside to get a little air,” Dean said.

“Before you’ve done the dishes?”

Dean cracked his face into a smart-aleck grin. “Well, you see Dad, I was thinking that maybe it’d be a good idea to go with Sammy on his run today. I gotta be prepared if Hitler decides to take over America after he finishes Europe.”

His father sighed and Dean admired the strength it took to keep himself from rolling his eyes. There was just enough truth, and fear, behind the statement to keep John from laughing outright. Last month, Jewish ghettos in Germany were attacked by Nazis and homes, synagogues, and businesses were ransacked and set on fire.

“You’ll go out when I say you can go out. And you can go out after you wash the dishes and clean the kitchen.”

Sam looked ready to put on his puppy dog eyes, but Dean grabbed his arm, “Yes, sir!” he mock saluted and pulled his brother into the kitchen.

When the door closed behind them, Sam began to protest. “You didn’t even put up a fight, Dean. It’s Saturday! We were gonna go see that Clark Gable movie at the Grenada. Besides, this mess is all Dad’s anyway. Look—” Sam swept his arm in the direction of the empty beer and liquor bottles on the counter, “—all of these are his—”

“A couple of those are mine,” Dean cut him off. “Some things just aren't worth arguing about. He’ll still let us go out. If you’d help me clean instead of complaining, we’d go faster. Hell, he might even let us take the car.”  

Sam was only fifteen, and Dean knew, or at least hoped, that he would grow out of his resentment against their father. It wasn’t like John was father of the year or anything, but he had never recovered after their mom’s death and Dean always gave him the benefit of the doubt. Plus, Dean suspected there were some deeper, unspoken issues from his service in the Great War. He knew Sam hated when Dean went along with John, but it wasn’t going to hurt anyone to give him what he wanted every once in a while, just to make life easier.

Just like Dean promised, it didn’t take long to clean with them both helping, and John did let them take the car. She was still new, and Dean adored her. She was a black, 6-cylinder 1937 Chevrolet Master Town Sedan, and Dean treated her like his child.

They still left in plenty of time make it to the Granada. Dean even had time to pick up Lisa at her house. Sam opened his mouth to protest when Dean turned the car onto her street, but one look from his big brother made him snap his jaw closed.

He turned off the car outside the brick house and told Sam to jump in the back while he went to get her. He walked to the front door and knocked twice before Lisa’s father opened the door. He put on his biggest smile, the one he used to sweet talk people. “Mr. Braeden, I was hoping to take Lisa to the theater today.”

Benjamin Braeden eyed him. He’d always thought Dean was trouble but hadn’t forbidden Lisa from seeing him. “Just the two of you?”

“No sir,” he pointed to the car where Sam waved from the backseat, “my brother is with me.” He may have thought Dean was trouble, but he thought Sam hung the moon. Everyone did. They both smiled at Sam and he relented.

“Alright, son. Let me get her for you,” he pointed a finger at Dean, “but I want her home by 9. No excuses.”

“Thank you, sir.” Dean smiled as Mr. Braeden retreated into the house. Dean whistled to himself as he waited, and after a minute, Lisa stepped out of the house with her jacket slung over her shoulders and her dark hair curled down her back. Dean resisted kissing her while her father could be watching and led her to the passenger side of the car, opening and closing the door for her. As they pulled away, she scooted closer to him, their legs brushing against each other.

“Hi Lisa,” Sam piped from the back.

She turned and smiled at Sam as her hand found its way to Dean’s thigh, out of Sam’s view. “Hey Sam, how are your classes this semester?”

They went to the same high school, but Lisa was a senior and Sam was only a sophomore. It was a small school, but they didn’t have any friends in common and only caught up when they were around Dean. “I barely have time to read a book for fun anymore. Everything I read is for homework.”

“Such a twit, Sammy,” Dean laughed.

Lisa play-slapped his arm. “Be nice to him. Just because you were a scrub though school doesn’t mean everyone else should be.” She turned back to Sam. “Don’t pay him no mind, kiddo. He tells me all the time how proud he is of you.” Sam smiled and looked back out the window to watch the businesses on Mass Street pass them by.

Lisa’s hand had ridden all the way up Dean’s thigh by the time they pulled in front of the theater. Dean grabbed it and pulled her out through the driver’s side door while Sam jumped over the front seat and slid out the passenger side. Dean bought them all tickets and they sat in the back of the theater. By the time Clark Gable followed Myrna Loy to South America, Dean and Lisa were too busy to pay attention to the movie, and by the time the lights turned back on, they had forgotten there was a movie playing at all.

Sam was able to drag them out with the promise of food, and they walked the few blocks up to Round Corner Pharmacy for sandwiches. Lisa had her chair pulled close to Dean while they ate, but once his food and soda were placed in front of him, all other thoughts disappeared.

Dean held Lisa’s hand as they walked back to the car and twirled her in circles. Sam rolled his eyes when Dean twirled her to his chest to kiss her, then spun her out before their lips made contact.

Sam climbed into the back seat while Lisa sat close to Dean again. She made sure to have a leg on each side of the gear shift so every time Dean switched gears, he had to reach between her legs. She slid back to the passenger side when they reached her house, and Dean again went around to open the door for her. They held hands as they walked to the front door, but Dean resisted kissing her goodnight in fear of what her father might say.

The drive back to their house was quiet, and Dean turned on the radio to Fred Astaire singing “The Way You Look Tonight.” Dean sang with the chorus.

Sam let the song finish before speaking up. “Are you in love with Lisa, Dean?”

Dean stopped singing and flashed a look over to his brother. “What?”

“Are you in love with her?”

“Where is this coming from kiddo?”

“She’s graduating in the spring. Do you think you’re going to marry her? Settle down with her?”

Dean paused for a minute before joking, “You trying to get rid of me, Sammy?” Sam didn’t laugh and Dean sighed, “I don’t know. She’s great, you know, but I’ve never, ever told her that I love her. And I don’t think I’m ready to settle down. It isn’t all about feelings and emotions Sam.”

“Yeah, I know. But it isn’t all about sex either. You aren’t leading her on, are you? Are you sure you know what you want?”

Dean had to catch his thoughts. “I mean, I like working at the garage, even if working for Dad isn’t ideal.” He paused and considered whether to tell Sam before he continued, voice softer. “I’ve been thinking about joining the service. The Marine Corps, like Dad.”

Sam’s eyes went huge. “Are you kidding me! You are so ready to be just like Dad that you’d join the service? What happens if we start fighting Hitler? You’d get yourself killed if another war broke out.”

“FDR doesn’t want to go to war. I know Hitler is angling toward Poland, but England and France won’t let him take it.”

Sam rolled his eyes. They both heard so much about what was happening overseas that it was pointless to argue about it, so he changed his tactic. “So, what happens to Lisa if you join up? Would you make her wait for you if you aren’t even sure how you feel?”

Dean sighed. “Why are we even talking about this. It’s none of your business what I do with my life.”

“I just care about you. And I’m worried that you’ll be stuck in Lawrence working at the garage forever. You’re smart Dean, you could be doing more.”

“Marines would get me out of Lawrence,” he said. “And the garage is a good job. We’re lucky Dad managed to stay open through the depression, that it’s even there to work at.”

Sam looked down, guilt playing on his face. “I know Dean, but just think about it.”

Dean cut the engine and looked at his brother. “I know you worry about me, but it’s my job to look out for you, not the other way around, okay?”

Sam sighed resigned. “Yeah, I get it. I’m here to talk when you want.”

Read on AO3

[wearecounterfeit]

Radio17 interviewed the guys and Craig - their tour manager in Warsaw. You can hear it here.

We have also transcribed Counterfeit’s part for you. 

It’s nice to see you again. You’ve kept your promise and come back to Poland, but why only for one show?

Jamie: You just stuck the microphone in my face. Like it's, like it's my fault. It's not my fault, this tour is a lot longer I think so you know like spread ourselves a bit thinner over various different territories. So of course you know it means that we came here last time and we did like three shows I think last time you know so for this time we have to do a few like less shows in territories that we did more shows in last time just so we spread ourselves out a bit more. But we'll be back again.

It took 25 days to you to do the record. Which songs do you like the most?

Sam: Okay, well, 'You Can't Rely' for a starts is one of my favourites. It's all of, it's quite personal for all of us I think. It's one of the last ones that we recorded. That we kind of wrote before going in, we were writing it as we started. We put it off for a little bit when we were recording and then we, once we were all comfortable with it we smashed it out.. In the recording process I would say, not necessarily to play live but from the recording process that's one of the ones that sticks out as a memorable one for me. Roland: I like playing 'Washed Out' it's quite an aggressive song with a nice soaring chorus, it's cool it gets me pumped up on stage. Tristan: Yeah it's a good mix, mine is 'You Can't Rely' as well. There's a lot of dynamics to the song, you've got a few instruments on their own and then it builds all into a massive chorus which is groovy as well so, yeah it's definitely my favourite. Jimmy: I also like 'You Can't Rely' but I do really like 'Addiction'. Jamie: I don't like any of them. I hate them all. They're all disgusting. They're all repulsive and no I mean erm, to play live I really like 'As Yet Untitled' I think it's a really good fun song for me to play live - Jimmy's just cracked open the nuts - annnnnd I also like 'You Can't Rely' as well I think it's one of those songs that's like a bit more thought out, it's slightly older I think than a lot of the other songs on the record, it's got a bit more maturity to it purely just because it was the last song that we wrote so. Our song 'You Can't Rely' is kind of the shape of what's to come from the band and I quite enjoy that. I enjoy like progression and development, so maybe that one as well.

On Together We Are Stronger you are singing about your experiences. Do you thing that new songs will be different, brighter?

Jamie: I don't know, I met someone the other day and I was like, I was talking about this record and this person they had met was a songwriter and I was saying y'know like. I was so fortunate enough with this record because, I changed the way I was living and I'd been living a certain way for like a large majority of my life. And I changed the way I was living and I changed the way I was behaving and I basically like sorted myself out. And from that there came this like huge flood of like inspiration. But that's from ten years of doing something a certain way, how am I going to write another album, how am I going to write album 2 and she was like you need to get your heart broken. Goddamit. I don't want to get my heart broken. Maybe I'll buy a dog. Maybe I'll buy a dog that doesn't live very long. Is there any breeds that don't live very long? Pugs. That sounds heartbreaking. Tristan: Yeah they're pretty weak aren't they. Jimmy: Just buy an old dog.

Sam, you didn’t come to Poland last year because of your exams. Was it hard to you to say that you can’t go on tour?

Sam: What did I say, I mean everyone was like pretty accommodating to it, I was like y'know gotta finish off my bachelors I've been away for three years in Denmark working on it. And I was like, I'm really sorry but I've got exams I think, it was fairly chilled at the time. I missed it hugely, I was on facetime for some of the shows with Cris - our merch guy. And I got, it was very emotional, it was also very strange being on that side of the crowd for it. Very surreal. I think. In a live sense anyway when it was going on. But yeah I had exams. But I smashed them.

On scale from 1 to 5 how tired you were after the tour last year?

Jamie: 5, 7, 11, 40. No, no it was horrible, I was so tired. I was so tired, are you kidding? This band is like running a marathon every night. It's fucking great, I love it. But like, it gets hard, it's hard work y'know. It's tough. So, yeah we were all exhausted.

This tour is much longer. How did you prepare? Eating junk food?

Jamie: Eating chips and nuts and peanuts and stuff. I don't think any of us really prepared in any other way really. Sam: I think it's just about getting the diet right, as long as you can kind of maintain a somewhat healthy diet on tour. Jamie: You're having a full fat coke. Chips.. Sam: I've just had, no, I'm not eating the chips, I just had rice and chicken for those that are interested. Um. I will not take that. No I think it helps, I think it's important because it's quite easy to end up just eating crap every day, especially for me.

Jimmy, if you had to describe each of your bandmates in one word, what would you say?

Jimmy: So for Sam, the word would be.. Fabulous. For Roland - it would be darling. Tristan - I would just say.. Yeah he's a complicated character, hmm where can I go with Tristan. Y'know what I'm just gonna go with sexy. Jamie, oh wow sleep bud.

How about you?

Jimmy: How about me? Oh god. Jamie: Useless.

With dot or without? Does it matter?

Jamie: It's always at the end of a sentence. Always important. Miss it and we'll come find you. I'll kill you.

I always put the dot. Do you have any song that when you hear it, you starting dancing and moving your body?

Jamie: Shout Out To My Ex by Little Mix Tristan: Mine would be something like Slipknot - Before I Forget Sam: That's what makes you wanna dance?? Tristan: Yeah man. Jimmy: Probably The BeeGees - Jive Talking. Roland: I don't know, I can't think of anything. Jamie: Vengaboys. Sam: Nothing makes Roland dance. Tristan: Electric Six? Sam: No, who was it. Diana Ross, Upside Down. If that comes on, there's no stopping me.

[dadlezal]

Polish team after the team competition in Vikersund, RawAir Tournament, World Cup 2016/2017

Piotr Żyła (x)

J: Congratulations for the record of Poland! You’re a giant! Tell us, the regular mortals, how is it like to beat Poland’s record twice? Piotr: I don’t know! (laugh) [...] Well, actually, the longest jump wasn’t the best one, the best was the first one - it was really, really good. The second one was also okay, just the startgate was a bit higher. [...] I’m really satisfied after today because I didn’t expect that... after yesterday - that one can jump 100 m further. (laugh) [...] Well, yeah, I guess you can say it was a crazy, very crazy day but very succesful for us. Each one of us did his good job, everyone was jumping very far and... it was a beautiful day!  J: Yesterday the coach interrupted us because you had to consult an important thing immidiately [coach Horngacher was angry with Piotrek after the qualification], Adam Małysz said you were looking for tricks on the inrun... Tell us, what was wrong. Piotrek: It’s a special hill and I know how to jump on it. [...] Well, I knew that you can’t just jump like this in here but I did it anyway in quali. I was over-active. [...] J: Okay, so what’s the receipe for the Poland’s record? Because all the factors were on the right place today: pepper on your plate, 509 came by [that’s a long referrence...], Zenon Martyniuk [Polish singer] playing in the air. What do you think, where did those good jumps come from? Piotr: From what you just said! (laugh) [...] What was most important was that the ones who were a “threat” for us in the National Cup were behind us and we’ll keep fighting for our good jump.

Kamil Stoch (x)

J: Big congrats for today’s jumps! I guess we can say it was a crazy day, a crazy competition! Kamil: Yeah, I think today was a very good competition and the quality was very high - not only for the ones around the hill but also for the ones in front of their TV screens. Far jumps, also a bit of drama but everything ended up good for us. [...] I really think the first jump was the better one - from this gate, with this conditions - it was a very good jump. The second one - not so much but, uh... a flight for 243 meters is a completely different world. J: When you looked at the standing after the 1st round - 3rd in the RawAir, were you surprised? Kamil: Uh... That was strange, I didn’t know what it was but thank you for telling me this, now I know. (laugh) J: Piotr took the record from you. Any anger? Kamil: Nooo, it’s a joy! Today wasn’t about about rivalry or winning, today was only about the will of far flights and I think each one of us thought the same way and it’s a great thing that Piotrek jumped the record. 

Maciej Kot (x)

[...] Maciek: Crazy is one of a few words you can use to describe this competition. It was sort of historical, amazing and I haven’t seen so many long jumps in one competition in my entire life - two world records, two records of Poland. J: Some people say that you could land a bit further in your second jump. Maciek: Yes, definitely! It’s hard to say how far would that be but I think that the 250 meters border would crack but... 250 meters long jump is a flight into unknown. [...] I, uh... I didn’t know how to act. I didn’t have that experience. I had a lot of speed and I saw there was no red lines anymore and... the automatism worked. And it works when you’re in danger. So it was a spontaneous decision about shorting this jump, so it wouldn’t end up with an awful fall. But I know that if I had this opportunity in the second jump, I would know what to do, how to act and that was missing today. [...] Yeah, the “Flying Cat” nickname was confirmed today. [Piotrek and Maciek were watching movies and listening music together before the competition]. [...] I think what worked for Piotrek was the well-known technique. He admitted himself that he’s done “something he shouldn’t have done but did it anyway” and asked me to remind him before the competition what should and what shouldn’t he do, and I kept on reminding him that. I was joking that I, again, have a partial input in this record. (laugh) So, uh... I’m very happy for the result.  [OMG, I AM SCREAMING! THEIR FRIENDSHIP IS, LIKE, I DON’T KNOW, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL?]

Dawid Kubacki (x)

Dawid: I wasn’t really that into setting personal bests today. I needed to get back to good jumping and that I achieved. Maybe these wasn’t shocking jumps but they were okay. [...] My back still hurts a bit but it’s nothing really bothering. I wouldn’t blame my health for anything anymore.  J: Many people say it was a crazy competition. Do you remember any crazier one? Dawid: Shoot, I don’t know! (laugh) I have a pretty bad memory in general but the competition was great - exciting, with long jumps, good jumping, so - for me it was super. Super that I could be a part of this. [...] J: Many so called “experts” said that you aren’t “flighters”, that Austrians and Germans were gonna catch you and you... made a bigger distance. Dawid: Yes, we were fighting ‘till the end, didn’t give up and that paid off. I think each one of us is brave enough, so even though we get that kind of comments, we don’t give up and keep fighting. We just proved it today.