#bc they already have two things that actually translate to a million things: 1. the vast majority of characters in pop media

[dynamicks]

I have two very simple fucking principles

1. Hey. Dont ruin other peoples fucking fun (let people interpret and alter a character how they want)

2. Hey. Dont ruin other peoples fucking fun (dont erase minority identities of a character)

[eremiie]

i saw this post here and just wanted to dissect everything lmao

aot 139 spoilers 

“Eren admits that he literally killed 80% of the world’s population, he then says he only did it so it would look like eldians stopped a threat”

eren admit to killing 80% of the population bc he did... he’s admitting to what he did, and he says that he wanted to paint them to be the heroes— but not only did he do that, he ended the curse of ymir and gained freedom for his people. it wasn’t just to paint them as heroes

“He also did it so the rest of the world couldnt murder them”

he didn’t “also” do it for that reason, it was an effect, the rumbling ended up killing so many people that they can’t wage war on the eldians like eren says, it keeps them a little safe which they needed especially since some of humanity knows that paradis is what started the rumbling. it’s a cause and effect type thing. because eren killed 80% of the population that remaining population won’t be able to retaliate and try to kill the eldians since there are so little of them

the tybur family is treated like some of martyr and apparently pulling the strings which led to the deaths of millions of innocent eldians was actually a GOOD thing

this scene was interpreted wrong, armin says “...so you want us to be like the tyburs after the great titan war? we’re supposed to protect paradis from reprisal from humanity outside the walls?” he’s asking eren if that’s what they’re gonna do, he never says it’s a good thing. then that’s when eren explains that either way so much of humanity is destroyed that they wouldn’t be able to retaliate if they wanted to

Armin THANKS him for it

armin thanks eren for doing what he did to free them. not thanking eren for for mass murder period. it’s because of eren that the curse is lifted and that they are free and that’s what armin’s thanking eren for. mass murder is inexcusable, and eren knows that. that’s why after he panics and goes “but i dont want to die!” he comes to a realization that all the people he killed didn’t want to either, that the only way to atone for his sins is by dying himself. even if he didn’t die he would’ve probably been executed, or imprisoned for the rest of the life. just like in mikasa’s ova, “eren’s death is inevitable, no matter what reality you go to eren will always die because he carries death within himself.” 

in another translation of the chapter armin thanks eren for being the bad guy so that they could win. he knows what eren did was bad. he’s not excusing it, he just understands why eren had to do it and that eren had no choice if he wanted them to be free. 

from the get go freedom was one of the themes of eren’s character. if eren lived the whole entire world would be ruins and eren would’ve been even sadder than now, there would be nobody and it would’ve been worse than it is now. eren killing everyone was definitely not the ending to go. the ending we have could’ve been executed differently, sure, but in my eyes since i get the gist i think isa did an amazing job portraying what he had in mind. 

“Armin is more upset with Eren saying he doesnt know how he feels about Mikasa moving on than mass genocide”

once again, armin isn’t all that upset with eren because he understands that eren had a path laid out for him that he had no choice to follow. the point of eren committing mass genocide keeps getting brought up as if it’s not know that mass genocide is a terrible thing. it is and that’s why everyone was so angry about it from the get go, that’s why that one plan of blackmailing humanity with the rumbling and not actually go through with it was brought up once— because they knew how cruel it is. armin knew how cruel it is as i believe it was him who brought that up

he’s upset with eren about mikasa’s feelings in like a banter kind of way. it’s like “this whole entire time this is how you felt but you couldn’t tell her that and let her suffer???? don’t forget what you said to her, she went through hell!” kind of thing. they had already talked about the whole mass genocide thing, mikasa was the next topic of discussion

“Eren then finally shows some fucking emotion and cries abt how he doesn’t want mikasa to be with anyone but him”

in another post i say, "okay so first i think the issue is that a lot of people fail to realize that the way eren acted all throughout season 4 isn’t eren really, that is him putting his emotions at bay so that he can complete something that he laid out for himself for his friends.eren from season 1-3 still exists, and that’s lowkey the eren that was talking the whole time in chapter 139— you can see the how he cares for his friends, you can see the desperation again, the compassion, everything in between.” 

eren is still that s1-3 eren, season 4 eren just had to put his emotions aside so he could walk on the path that ymir put in front of him. 

him crying over mikasa was one of his selfish desires coming to light, and it was realistic. it’s finally dawning on him that he’s gonna die, he’s finally getting to sit down and ponder about mikasa, he’s getting desperate, he’s panicking, and that compassion that he’s always had for his friends is showing through again. this gives realism to his character— it makes his character all the more human. one second he’s complaining about how he doesn’t want to die and wants to be with his friends bc its crashing on him, and the very next second he’s trying to be at peace with himself, realising that the only way to atone for what he caused is by dying. one second he’s complaining about how he wants miksa to be with anyone but him, the next second he’s coming to terms with himself and that mikasa needs to move on, because he loves her and wants her to live a long and happy life even if it means without him. the selfishness that showed for that mere second makes his character realistic. it shows that he’s still whiny, that little whiny angry boy from s1-3. he was never heartless and he was never cold. he was and is still eren jaeger, and you get a glimpse of the eren we know in that scene.

The founder ymir was apparently in love with the king???? another women stupidly devoted to a man, great.

i’m not too in depth with ymirs story so im not gonna speak too much about this because i myself do wish that whole love thingy went more into depth. i get how mikasa and ymir parallel each other, but other than that i’m not too sure myself, and i’ll admit that. it could be a case of stockholm syndrome, it could be that bc ymir was infatuated with living and she was confined to such a familial role she wanted to live in that role again with the king bc he’s the only person who gave her that familial lifestyle. i’m not sure. but if anything mikasa was im pretty sure the only character “devoted” to a man in aot. and it was because of the role eren played in her life, she’s not a bad written character, she has her developement. which i explain here

apparently mikasa’s unhealthy devotion to eren is what took her out of it????? in fact the series overly romanticizes mikasa’s love for eren despite the two having no chemistry and eren being an ass to her

in a sense, but that’s a simple minded way of saying it. ymir’s devotion to king fritz was unhealthy, eren describes it as “agony of love” because it was pretty unhealthy obvi. like i said ymir and mikasa parallel each other, and seeing mikasa be able to let go and kill the one she loves was that realization for ymir that she was able to do the same thing— that’s how i interpret that scene personally.

and in mikasa doing so, killing eren lifts that curse of ymir and frees ymir regardless, so ymir was happy about that as well. thanks to mikasa for cutting eren’s head off. 

the series doesn’t necessarily over romanticize mikasa’s love for eren in my opinion. how i see it is that since eren is a big part of mikasa’s character he was necessary for her development as well, and her development was to let eren go because of how infatuated she was with him. this being said the series points out how unhealthy the way she loved him was especially in s1-3, and her love becomes more healthy when she gets her development in chap 139, finally being able to let eren go and move on. compare that to in the s1 when eren almost dies and she’s ready to die as well. thats development if you ask me. 

one of the themes of the show is sacrifice, and almost every character has made one, mikasa sacrifices eren— she kills him and she chooses to go through with that decision despite how much she loves him. 

eren was definitely mean to mikasa in s1-3 because she was overbearing, and thats one reason why i say the way she loved him was unhealthy at first. eren wasn’t able to reciprocate her love in the way that she loved him because it wasn’t healthy. eren also wasn’t able to reciprocate it because the last thing he was focused on was the concept of love. once again he had a path laid out for him that he had no choice but to follow, and mikasa didn’t have any play in this path until the very end, so the boy who keeps moving forward does just that and doesn’t pay her much mind, doesn’t get to sit down and think about his feelings for her, what she is to him.

(and i dont think i even need to explain the “mikasa i’ve always hated you seen, the chapter covers that enough)

they do have chemistry time to time, the eren v dina fritz scene, the scarf scene, “what am i to you”, little stuff like that goes into play and gives them these little sparks of chemistry. they couldn’t always grasp onto the full scope of the relationship they had and it was only some times they were able to do that with everything going on.

apparently the titans are just gone now….??? i cant even tell if its because Eren died or because Mikasa really made Ymir calm down

... eren controlling rumbling, eren dies rumbling stops, ymir finally lifts curse bc 1) eren died 2) shes able to come to realization that like mikasa lets eren go, she needs to let fritz go and the curse go. ymir lifts curse, eren’s goal is complete, if titan curse is lifted there are no more titans

Characters who murdered thousands and were the cause for AOT’s entire plot in the first place are now treated as heroes to the eldians… despite the shit that they did.

everyone in aot did some “shit” they all are murders, eren commited mass genocide, reiner commited mass murder, annie murdered so many people, reiner, armin destroyed thousands of people in one go, they all have killed somebody. they are seen as “heros” because they stopped the rumbling that was going to kill everyone else...... idk about you but if you just saved me from a horrid death, my racist opinion on you doesn’t really matter because you just saved my fucking life lmao, yes despite the shit that you did— because they have killed people too, and they were ready to kill the eldians still until armin told them that they killed eren, that they saved their lives and eliminated titans for good.... like whew???

the series went from “The military is cool” to “the military did a lot of fucked up shit” to “the military is SUPER cool”, and buffed it up

i’m not really sure where you got that tbh,, like the military wasn’t really a big thing up until the whole marleyan thing??? and they didn’t have much plot in the story besides it existing so like i’m not sure what to say ab this, i can’t really remember many times the military was even mentioned until now, but if anyone wants to elaborate on this for me that’d be nice

oh and they buffed up the military because since paradis had eren jaeger who started the rumbling, just in case, they had to be ready to fight again if the rest of humanity wanted to do something. after marley they updated all their technology, why can’t they update the military as well? it’s realistic, new weapons, new military, and all that

The military was buffed up bc the eldians are scared of the rest of the world retaliating, so Eren didn’t really fix shit except giving the Eldians an upper hand in the war

eren jaeger was the one who always screamed “i will kill all titans, we will get freedom” ya de ya de ya.... didn’t he do both of those things????? i thought those were some of his main goals as a character, he fixed those issues, the issues that have been issues since the start of the show

the rest of humanity don’t know the full scope like the eldians or marleyans, they’re probably just as scared and like in real life not all nations are at peace with one another. this is just another realistic factor— attack on titan is becoming a world closest to the real one we live in, there are militaries, there are still conflicts, there is still all these little aspects that bring the manga even more to life.

in my opinion it’d lowkey be weird if the rest of the world was just like “oh yeah those mfs that started the rumbling we love them haha” no... it killed 80% of the population like eren said... that’s not something to love.

Historia has a really disturbing speech about how the fight isnt going to end until either the Eldians or the rest of the world are exterminated, despite Gabi has an entire arc about her being deradicalized and learning to see the other side of things.

and yes i am not kidding, the heroic conclusion is that there’s still going to be a war, eldians are going to commit mass genocide (which was proposed by eren) and people straight up thank eren for the evil shit he did.

“this fight will not end until either eldia or the world dissapears. this is what eren said and he may be right.” she doesn’t say that it’s for sure gonna be a fight until one or the other is wiped out, she says there’s a possibility of this being the case because of the fact that these nations aren’t at complete peace yet. 

not everyone is gonna be able to see the other side of things, and this applies to the whole word— us as humans will never be able to agree on one thing, and that’s what this shows. no matter what the cycle of hatred will always continue, and this applies to real life and this manga. we are human beings and that’s what makes what historia says even more real. “this is the world we live in, a world without titans.” titans are no longer their conflict. now it’s only like the real word— humans against humans, and as far as humanity existed it’s always been humans against humans. historia’s speech shows that.

the heroic conclusion is that as a human race nothing will always be agreed upon, eldians are going to fight if they need to like our military fights when they need to. people are thanking eren for freeing them and ending the curse of titans that they suffered with for 2000 years. nobody’s thanking him for his actions of mass genocide, they are thanking him for the motive behind his actions, and thats what makes him so heroic.

that he endured and did something so terrible so that anybody who lives after him can be free, and humanity can continue existing as humanity should’ve existed from the beginning.

and that concludes this for me, thanks for reading<3.

[wolffnichols]

Hello!!! I'm sorry you're not feeling good ❤❤❤

1. If you were to write a 911 episode, what would happen in it?

2. What's something you really want to do but haven't gotten to yet?

3. Is there any buddie fics you'd like to see as a movie? (Ofc same actors and everything)

Hugs and love 🤗❤

Thank you so much Joey this means a lot ❤

1. Oh gosh there's like SO much I would love to write. Okay so tbh there are two different episodes I would want to write. One would be a crossover ep that somehow had almost all the mains from both shows. I personally LOVED the crossover from last season and excited to see how they do Athena next Lone Star, but I would just love to have even more characters interact and the ones that already had see that continue. I have a lot of ideas that I personally would just love to write it.

The other one I would love to write is obviously the Buddie Getting Together episode. I mean we all write plenty in fics, but to actually write the episode?? Amazing! If I were to write that episode I would also have Bathena and Madney and Henren all have mini side stories that parallel and help put to light the Buddie™️ of it all. There are so many ways and possibilities I would want it to go (definitely haven't thought about it a million gazillion times. nope.) but just to be able to get to write it??? I'm dying just dream about it 😭

Ohhh I would also LOVE to write a bottle episode or a musical episode. I also have a lot of thoughts™️ and Ideas™️ about these too.

2. Literally so much I don't even know where to begin 🤣. bc of my chronic stuff (both physical and mental illnesses) I haven't really been able to do much in life as an adult. So there's so much I really can't pinpoint just one thing right sorry!

3. Oohhh gosh what an amazing question!! There are SOOO MANY! I want to at least mention a few but alas my brain is mush aksjhs. But the first one that comes to my mind is the awesome fic Breathe by @kitkatpancakestack. It's so good and sooo sweet but also has a lot of emotion with Eddie dealing with his PTSD and past drama (and also Buck's past trauma too.) And it has the perfect backdrop of the beach with Buck teaching Christopher how to serve (the 118 fam is still there too). I love it so much and it literally has everything that fits a great romance movie! It honestly felt like one in the best way and I can see it be so easily translated into that. Also, seeing everyone by the beach all the time??? Sign me tf up! It was also such a comfort read for me, so it would such a great comfort film too (which I desperately need rn astkjf)!

Thank you so much for these wonderful questions hon! They really helped a lot!! ❤❤❤

help distract me :)

[unforth]

Hello unforth! Thank you for your wonderful blog, and the the untamed art blog!! I followed you years ago for destiel, and you were one of the people that got me into the untamed. I watched it last summer and have been binging various cdramas ever since!! I had a question for you about reading. After watching the untamed I read the novel, and didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I think you’re someone who prefers the show, but if not, sorry if I’m remembering wrong… hoping you understand. I want to try reading other novels but I found the romance in mdzs to be kinda off. I guess I’m wondering if you have a recommendation for the best novel you’ve read so far? It would be great if it’s one with fanfic but if not I’m still curious to try! I hope this didn’t come off as rude about the untamed, it’s just a personal preference. Thanks in advance, and thanks again for all your work in fandom!

Howdy! *waves*

You have not misremembered, I definitely prefer the Untamed to the novel of MDZS (and I'm with you, no shade on people with different preferences, of course!). I also didn't enjoy the novel of MDZS as much as I thought I would, though I think some of that was because I read the Exiled Rebels Scanalations translation which - again, no shade, translating that was a HUGE job and kudos to them - but I do here from native speakers that some questionable translation choices were made, which can detract from some people's enjoyment of the novel (and can enhance other people's, it just depends how those translation choices relate to each person's personal likes and dislikes).

Now, I can tell you what I've read and what I've thought of each one, happily - I don't know what turned you off about MDZS specifically, beyond an aspect of the relationship dynamic, so it'll be hard for me to say which of these might appeal to you more? But, here's a list of which danmei novels I've read, and my opinion. The list is shorter than you'd think - danmei novels are long and I read slow, lol.

Note that all of these end happy, for various definitions of "happy," and the main ship is canon in all of them. Also note that I tried to avoid spoilers, but sometimes it's hard to even talk about the ship dynamic without some mild spoilers.

These are (roughly) in the order I've read them; I just finished the last a few days ago. All art is by the official artists, but I'm not always sure what their names are, sorry - I've tried to figure them out for my art blogs but it's REALLY hard.

1. Mo Dao Zu Shi, by MXTX.

(since I'm writing this post for you, and you're already familiar with it, I'm not putting in TW and plot)

My take: I figure knowing my opinion of MDZS will help you assess all this? There are things I loved about MDZS, including the book, but MDZS is still obviously trying to figure out pacing. Whereas in SVSSS, the storyline doesn't always flow that smoothly and the ending is rushed, in MDZS in my opinion the biggest issue is that she clearly didn't plan some things ahead. For example, Miangmian and Wen Ning are both introduced within a few pages of when they'll be needed to Do Shit. It shows that she hadn't quite worked everything out as she was going, and every once in a while was like, "shit shit I need a character for this thing" and hastily added them. The plot itself is better paced, though, though I could have wished for a less talky denouement. When it was the only one I read, I also often thought, "this author doesn't understand consent," and, "this author has kinks I don't share." Now that I've read all three of her books, I completely retract the first one. MXTX absolutely understands consent, and was intentionally playing with it in MDZS. Not sure if the evidence of that got lost in translation, or what, but...yeah.

Relationship Dynamic: ...the second of those opinions, I still kinda feel. The consensual non-con is just not really my thing, like I'm okay with it in small doses? And I don't love some aspects of Lan Wangji's domineering attitudes and Wei Wuxian's act of bare tolerating it. And don't get me wrong, now that I'm more familiar with her work, I think it was an intentional writing choice and I also think they're both largely roleplaying it a lot of the time...but I still don't personally enjoy it much.

2. Scum Villain Self-Saving System, by MXTX.

Genre: modern transmigration into a fantasy xianxia world.

Where to find it: English translation by BC Novels | donghua season 1

Trigger warnings for: graphic descriptions of suffering, non-con of the "fuck or die" variety, and body horror...I can't think of anything else rn?)

Plot: SVSSS is MXTX's first novel, and is a satire of classic stag harem novels. Shen Yuan, the protagonist and half the main ship, is reading a serialized web novel by "Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky" about a demon named Luo Binghe who has a harem of over 3,000 women and has done all kinds of ghastly awful things. He hates this novel but has read all, like, 3 million words of it or something, and trolls every chapter...until one gets him so angry that he dies...and then he wakes up in the book right around when the book starts, in the body of one of the early antagonists, a cultivator named Shen Qingqiu who abuses a young, innocent Luo Binghe physically and emotionally and, ultimately, is horribly tortured to death. Shen Yuan, in Shen Qingqiu's body, thus sets out to not be horribly tortured to death by Luo Binghe. Hijinks ensue.

My Take: In terms of my opinion of it...SVSSS secured for me that MXTX is a much more brilliant author than I thought when I'd only read MDZS. She understands tropes and subverts them brilliantly throughout the story, and from a writing standpoint, I was impressed with her. However, from a plot standpoint...she's got all the ideas but hasn't, imo, yet figured out how exactly to bring them all together. The pacing is off at times, and the ending felt abrupt to me. It's also the only danmei I've read where I ship a side ship more than the primary one (which is, of course, Shen Yuan (as Shen Qingqiu)/Luo Binghe. (also, oops...I read SVSSS after TGCF and just put them in the wrong order, oh well, not gonna change it now.)

Relationship Dynamic: In terms of relationship weirdness...it's hard to sort in that regard, because, like, it's supposed to be weird? I think it's a really interest book but I'm not sure I'd recommend it in your situation. Bingqiu's main dynamic is...uh...tolerance and obsession? They're kinda hard to describe. Shen Yuan often seems like he's just kinda putting up with Luo Binghe, whereas Luo Binghe is...god. So hard to describe, lmao. He's a big clumsy ox in a museum full of porcelain dishes and he really, really loves his Shizun. (also note that Shen Qingqiu is Luo Binghe's teacher. They don't get together until after they're not master/student, but if that's not your thing, another reason to avoid.)

3. Tian Guan Ci Fu, by MXTX.

(art is by Starember)

Genre: historical China (loosely), xianxia (note that I'm still figuring out exactly how stuff gets classified so sorry if I get one wrong, but I think I kinda get it???)

Where to Access It: English Translation by the astonishing yummysuika | manhua (this is an official translation by Bilibili! It's a few chapters behind the actual release, but still...) | donghua season 1 is on Netflix | a live action adaptation is juuuuust getting started on script reading and filing

Trigger warnings for: MCD, temporary MCD, body horror, graphic violence, epic levels of mind fuckery, uh...genocide?...again, racism/colorism, probably other stuff, sorry, I can't take as long as I'd like to for this post so I'm not being as thorough as I oughta be.

Plot: TGCF is about Xie Lian, an 800 year old man, and it commences at the moment when, unexpectedly, he ascends to godhood...for the third time. Unfortunately, when he ascends, he accidentally does some damage in Heaven, and he has to repay that, so he gets sent back to earth to deal with a ghost who's been causing some problems. Hijinks ensue...and then fucktons of angst ensue...then more hijinks...then more angst...and basically it broke my heart like four times and I am grateful for it every day? The main ship is Xie Lian and a ghost named Hua Cheng, but it's hard to even talk about without some spoilers because of some identity shenanigans. (they're VERY mildly identity shenanigans, but still).

My Take: So, you asked what my favorite of the danmei novels I've read is? It's TGCF. TGCF is one of my favorite novels ever, and it has a growing fandom, a donghua that's on Netflix, and a live action that's just starting to film. TGCF is the culmination of the skills MXTX developed through her first two works, imo. She clearly plotted it out all from the start, and while Book 1 especially often seems kind of random - lots of elements are introduced and then kinda...apparently...forgotten? And never explained? But she actually DOES bring it ALL together and it's flat-out masterful. I'm a big fan, obviously.

Relationship Dynamic: it again depends on your preferences and what you didn't like about MDZS, and there's no way to talk about it without spoilers, so consider yourselves warned. Xie Lian ascended to godhood first at the age of 17, and right around then he also saved the life of a 10 year old boy...and that boy is Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng is a follower of Xie Lian's, in that Xie Lian is literally a god, and Hua Cheng is literally one of his followers. However, they're separated for almost 800 years, so the age difference is largely irrelevant, and while some people complain about Hua Cheng's behavior being stalkery and obsessive, I honestly think they're dead wrong. It's more like when you read a celebrity/fan AU, and it starts weird, and then they really genuinely fall in love. Like, the fan may have been in love the whole time, and how they felt about the celebrity before they really met might feel slightly ooky, but it's how they act AFTER they meet their idol that matters more, and...yeah, Hua Cheng is great, they're both great, antis fight me. Xie Lian is easily one of my favorite characters EVER, he is all my favorite tropes in one horribly, wonderfully fucked up martyristic idealistic sweet kind laid back package. I would kill for him, lmao. In terms of their relationship dynamic...they love and respect each other? There's really nothing that weird about it other than the aspects of the "fan" Hua Cheng that get revealed over time - and he's always terrified that when Xie Lian realizes what a fanboy he was, Xie Lian will be upset or disgusted, but of course Xie Lian never is. They adore each other. It's glorious. Highly recommend. :D There's also no explicit content in TGCF (unlike MXTX's other two books).

4. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (aka 2ha) by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat.

Genre: original world, xianxia, time travel, dimension hopping, it's so many things, 2ha is so hard to describe lmao

Where to Access it: English Translation by the amazing yummysuika (things are complicated, though, and it's not finished) | a manhua is in the works and should be out this year | a live action called "Hao Yixing" or "Immortality" is already filmed and could theoretically air literally any time cause it's completely ready, but when will it actually come? Who knows!

Trigger warnings: all of them. Literally. MCD, temporary MCD, murder, suicide, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, rape/non-con, abuse, manipulation, gas lighting, torture, graphic violence, body horror, literal graphic onscreen horrible blood murder of a small child (I had to skip that chapter), teacher/student relationship sort of but not exactly, probably other stuff, this book is dark as fuck, and a lot of these tags apply to behavior of one half of the main ship toward the other, but...it's complicated, and there are reasons things happen, and those reasons aren't "well they're just a bad person."

Plot: This is another one that's hard to describe because there's sooooo much mind fuckery going on, but I'll try. 2ha is about Mo Ran, who rises to be the Emperor of the World, Taxian Jun, but slaughtering all who oppose him...and who is so miserable that he commits suicide, only to wake up in his 16 year old body. This is pretty much perfect from Mo Ran's point of view, because he's gone back so far that the love of his life, his fellow disciple Shi Mei, is still alive. He has a chance to fix everything that went wrong, starting with preventing his awful evil Shizun, Chu Wanning, from letting Shi Mei die.

Spoilers: the main ship in this book is Mo Ran/Chu Wanning.

Hijinks do NOT ensue. There are no hijinks in 2ha. It is all pain all the time (but I swear it ends happy).

My Take: ...well, from a structural standpoint there are some pacing issues. The book is incredibly long (over 300 chapters, over 1 million words) and there are definitely some chunks that could just be excised and it'd still be fine. However, other than that, it's pretty amazing and absolutely masterful how it's plotted. As a reader you'll spend 100+ chapters thinking you know what's going on, and who the good guys are, and who the bad guys are, and how they relate to each other...and then Meatbun starts in on revealing what's ACTUALLY going on and she then spends 200 chapters repeatedly punching you in the face! Like, I went in knowing a LOT of spoilers, because the tags were so dark that I felt that for my mental health it was important I have a general idea what was going on, and I STILL ended up sobbing my eyes out (and I am NOT an easy crier and don't usually cry at books) over something I knew was coming.

Relationship Dynamic: That's about the only thing that the title accurately conveys about this book. "The Husky and His White Cat Shizun," sounds so soft and fluffy, right? That's how they get you, ha. But, Mo Ran is absolutely a big dumb husky who wants to do the right thing (well, sometimes he does) but just completely fails depressingly often. When he sees someone he likes come in the front door he WILL jump all over them and bark in their face as his way of trying to communicate affection. And Chu Wanning is equally absolutely a cat. He is emotionally constipated, poor at expressing himself, uptight, touch starved, desperate for affection, and so lonely my chest hurts when I think about him. And for how they relate to each other...well, picture that big dog greeting a loved one at the door...except that loved one is the most hide-bound proud white cat you can imagine.

That's their dynamic.

(However, also...there are multiple timelines at play, and Taxian Jun does some truly awful things to "his" Chu Wanning in the original timeline, and many of these things are graphically described, and while it's ultimately all explained, it still all HAPPENS, so if you're going to have trouble reading fucktons of abuse between the main ship, I would not recommend this book)

5. Thousand Autumns (Qianqiu) by Meng Xi Shi.

Genre: historical China (like, references actual people, as far as I can tell), xianxia

Where to Access it: ...reading Thousand Autumns is HARD, it's split over like four websites/translators. This Carrd can kinda help? I can get you the rest if you want | donghua season 1 | I heard there's a live action in the works? But I don't know more than that.

Trigger warnings: graphic violence, mentions/threats of sexual violence (but it's all stopped before things really go wrong), starvation, description of child death (from starvation), near-death, emotional/mental abuse, major semi-permanent character injury, god, minor character death, they're major characters depending on your pov, I can't actually think of others, after writing about 2ha it feels positively fluffy). Note that there's not really any explicit content, just implications of smut, and not til basically the very end and extras.

Plot: Yan Wushi, sect leader of a demonic sect, has just come out of an extended seclusion to improve his cultivation when he and one of his disciples come across a man who is wounded to the point of near death. This turns out to be Shen Qiao, the sect leader of Mount Xuandu. When Shen Qiao awakens from his wounds, he's lost his memory, AND he's blind, and Yan Wushi decides it would be great fun and an excellent use of his time to fuck with Shen Qiao by trying to turn him evil - because Yan Wushi is certain that ALL people are inherently evil, and shattering Shen Qiao's veneer of righteousness will just help prove that.

Spoilers: it's not a veneer.

Not spoilers: Not many hijinks ensue, but there are a few hijinks, and even when it's not hijinxed, it's still not that painful...usually.

My Take: despite that synopsis, a lot of the plot of Thousand Autumns is actually political, and I like political plots, so I liked that aspect of it. However, it has some serious pacing issues imo, and it's also hard to read in English atm because it's not fully translated; it's close, now, much closer than when I read it a few months ago, so it'll be easier to read soon. Or maybe I shouldn't say it's pacing problems, but rather, it's more of a sequence of multiple major plots, strung together, with the growing relationship between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao playing out in the background. I think if I'd known there was no "one big plot" that would have actually helped me, because it kept feeling like, "Oh, THIS is the main thing," but it never was. Things would feel climactic...except then there'd be more. So it's probably better to actually think of it as more...episodic? And the episodes/stories build, and interrelate, and do have a culmination, but not all of them directly tie in, and not all the threads end up coming together/getting resolved.

Relationship Dynamic: early on, Yan Wushi is definitely abusive and manipulative, intentionally so, and I would argue that, imo, Shen Qiao falls for it. However, mid-way through, there's some big reveals, and after that when they're reunited Shen Qiao no longer takes any shit and Yan Wushi continues to act like he doesn't care even when he clearly does. They're not a typical ship in ANY WAY, and I'd say their relationship is more founded on mutual respect than on love. Indeed, in the author's notes at one point MXS actually says they doesn't see them as the kind of couple to ever exchange love declarations, and I thought that was really interesting and it really helped me to understand how they worked together because I'll own I struggled with at times. Yan Wushi is self-interested, often cruel, and ethically and morally dubious. Shen Qiao, on the other hand, could probably ascend to Daoist godhood, he's so pure. Yet...they DO work. I'd say "opposites attract" but that's ALSO not their main trope, not exactly. They're a VERY hard ship to explain, and I know some people who've read the whole book and still don't really...get them...and I've had to really think about them to wrap my head around them...but the more I've thought about them, the more I like them.

6. Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo.

Genre: historical fiction set in either actual China or make-believe China, I'm not sure if this is directly incorporated any real people

Where to Access It: English Translation by Perpetual Daydreams | manhua (untranslated, I'm not sure if there's anyone translating it into English) | I think there's a live action in the works? Not sure beyond that though.

Trigger Warnings: suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, drug addiction, drug abuse, chronic illness (different character than the drugs), manipulation, abusive, awful parents and parental figures (not all, but definitely some), some homophobia (but way less than there could have been), probably other stuff

Plot: After 7 years away, Zhong Wan returns to the capital of the Empire with the three children of his benefactor, the seven-years-dead Prince Ning. Prince Ning was executed for treason against the previous Emperor, and Zhong Wan has done all he can to protect and raise the three kids, but he's got a lot of worries about returning to the capital and what could happen to his charges if they get pulled into the politics surrounded the Emperor. But, even worse, he's got even more worries about being reunited with Yu She, nephew of the Emperor, with whom he has more than a little history...and about whom he has been lying for the past 7 years, claiming that he is Yu She's lover, in a bid to help use Yu She's reputation to protect Prince Ning's children.

Hijinks ensue.

And so does a political nightmare.

My Take: TYQHM was a hard book to get into because there are just so many characters and it's all about politics - this is NOT a xianxia or wuxia novel, and these characters are NOT cultivators. There's basically nothing supernatural in the whole book; instead, it's about Zhong Wan and Yu She figuring out their own histories, and accepting each other, while trying to survive in a political world that increasingly wants both of them dead. However, I adore political plots, and when all was said and done I really enjoyed it, and I'm trying tooth and nail to claw other people into the fandom with me, so far with basically no success. It only has like 15 works in English on AO3. And so not only does it not fit that requirement of yours...

Relationship Dynamic: ...I think you would also probably not like the relationship dynamic? Zhong Wan is a bit like Wei Wuxian-as-Mo Xuanyu, except more...genuinely? Like, it's his actual personality, not an act, in quite the same way. I don't mean the "flamboyantly gay" part...usually...he definitely has his moments...but he's just...like, he's been through so much that he'll basically say anything, and drag himself entirely through the mud, to distract people who might hurt the three kids (they're like 16, 13, 13, now I think? It was never THAT clear to me, tbh...certainly, all are at least 10...) and, later, Yu She. He has zero face, and doesn't mind having negative face when he feels the situation demands it...and Yu She, on the other hand, has MAJOR depression issues, is sure he deserves nothing, and mostly wants to destroy everyone around him and then kill himself, at least until Zhong Wan starts giving him a reason to live again. But, more than that...Zhong Wan is like the fucking epitome of a bratty subby bottom. He wants to get fucked SO bad. And Yu She is an incredibly reluctant dom, hilariously so at times, uncomfortably/manipulative so at others. When all was said and done, I was pretty fond of them both, but there were definitely moments that made me grimace, and given what you say of how you felt about MDZS, I think this one is less likely to be to your taste?

Bonus 7: Guardian by Priest. I never finished the novel version of Guardian because the translation had some issues that caused me not to enjoy it, so I won't get into it too much, but again, Guardian is a very different book than any of the others, because it's modern fantasy(ish, like, it's still deeply embedded in Daoist-related tropes but it's more "magic spells" and less "cultivation." Like, in terms of what it's like, it felt more like Japanese modern Onmyoji style stories, to me, than it felt like the ancient Chinese wuxia/xianxia cultivation stories.). I'm not gonna get into lots of details, because I read part of the book more than a year ago, and have seen the show (which is VERY different) like three times, so I can hardly even remember what they're like in the novel. There was definitely some weirdness, though? If you're potentially interested, I'd suggest starting with the drama instead. The plot for that is...

Plot: Zhao Yunlan heads a Special Investigation Unit in the human world tasked with maintaining a treaty between humans and the dixigren ("undergrounders") who are (in the show) aliens (in the book...it's the world of the dead). While doing this job, he keeps running into this professor, Shen Wei, who definitely knows more than he oughta.

Hijinks ensue.

And then it murders you with feels.

The live action streams from YouTube - here.

(Warning: uh, I don't want to give spoilers, but my "guaranteed happy ending" does NOT apply to the Guardian TV show...but it does apply to the book, as I understand it.)

*

Anyway, this was a terrible use of my time but it was definitely more fun than what I should be doing, and it's probably way more information than you wanted or needed, but since I wasn't sure what exactly you had in mind, I figured...might as well be thorough?

(Today's hyper-focus fail: this post, ha...)

[curiosity-killed]

Fic writer meme 2 electric boogaloo

Ty for the tag @veliseraptor & @mikkeneko ^-^

Tagging @aurumdalseni @gusu-emilu @hoarder-of-stories-27 @xihe-jun @perkynurples if you wanna but no pressure!

(under cut bc LONG)

How many works do you have on AO3? 

118

What’s your total AO3 word count? 

994,456 which makes me happy for no good reason except that it means I have written well over a million words total (including original fic and unpublished works) and that I will tip over that mark on AO3 itself when I post my next wip 🎉

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? 

7: Voltron, MCU, Assassin’s Creed, MDZS/CQL, Supernatural, TGCF, and WOH

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

Oh this actually makes me happy bc the middle three are my favorites of my own fics 🥰🥰

a bow for the bad decisions (2671)

upon this altar (1121)

whipstitch (1095)

of swords and wings (975)

the dead horse (965)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yep! I generally try to respond to comments both as a thank you and because I find the conversations there super super rewarding! That said, I generally don’t reply to comments that: annoy me (okay sometimes I do bc I’m petty), are super old and I forgot to reply, or are from someone reading a finished fic chapter by chapter (I am SO appreciative and delighted by those comments but I feel bad replying like a week later when you’ve already finished the fic orz so I usually just reply to the latest comment)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

off hesperus LMAO yeah uh…can’t think of anything that really comes even distantly in second

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Nah. My first fic was a crossover of MCU & Norse myth but I don’t really enjoy reading or writing crossovers

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

mm sort of I guess? I’ve gotten people with their pants in a twist especially over whipstitch (the iconic “wwx whump fetishist who only wants lwj to nut” DOES live in my mind rent-free and crack me up ngl) which is why I turned off anonymous comments till about after it was done. Mostly I’ve just gotten people yelling about how much they hate certain characters I clearly care about which is less hate and more ?? Sir this is a Wendy’s

Do you write smut? if so what kind? 

Very rarely & usually the half-finished kind bc I get bored partway through writing it 😅

Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

Not that I know of! I hope not lol

Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Yes!! and if she leads was translated into mandarin by AlllltheFish …I am still jazzed about it

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope!

What’s your all time favorite ship?

I’m boring but I don’t really have one? I tend to like different ships for different reasons that make them meaningful and important to me in a given moment so 😅 if I had to pick, I’d probably say AltMal and Hualian—the hurt/comfort, acceptance, and individual characters make them pretty lasting loves for me

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

:’) so many.

nah, in all seriousness I don’t like to say things are abandoned because I tend to circle back to old ideas eventually. Ones I actually don’t think will ever be finished are: (1) the post-canon tgcf fic from the POV of hua cheng’s middle brother, (2) the AU where wwx grows up on Baoshan Sanren’s mountain, (3) the sequel to ‘i have watched you down the mountain’ where lxc and lwj work together to prevent some of the canon tragedies, and (4) the hualian pygmalion AU that was my first long-fic i started in this fandom 

What are your writing strengths? ah I hate this question despite having just answered it lmao I think I’m good at sort of immersing a reader in the story? Like I tend to write pretty visceral descriptions and stick to a relatively deep POV and based on reader reactions, that seems to somewhat effectively make people feel...a lot...??

What are your writing weaknesses? My biggest weaknesses come from structure imo. I have a really really hard time planning stories which leads to me getting stuck partway through the story and either having to force myself to trudge through it or abandoning the story because I don’t know what happens. Pacing is another definite struggle zone—I have a tendency to bounce from “30k of introspection” to “oh fuck all the plot has to happen RIGHT NOW.” And I almost never proofread! So there’s uh some struggle zones

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Depends on the moment and purpose? In the context of CQL/MDZS & TGCF I tend to leave it for terms that are a) hard to translate well and b) well-known in the fandom/audience I’m writing for (e.g., familial terms like jiujiu or xiao-shu, martial family terms, occasionally units of measurement). 

I don’t mind it in certain other settings, again going back to where it would be difficult or clunky or lose important meaning in translation or if it’s used like…purposefully?? God I’m making no sense but like…I think there are times when another language is more effective, and perhaps more importantly, the switch matters. Like...there’s a part in Station Eleven where a character is suddenly cut off from his loved ones and sort of watching the apocalypse happen in real-time and his thoughts get kind of hung up on tu me manques—not ‘I miss you’ but the French where the structure more emphasizes ‘you are missing from me’—and I think that’s a great example of times where the switch matters both because of how it makes the reader shift their thinking briefly and of filling out a character and the emotional impact of a moment.

....no idea if that makes sense

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

MCU ;____;

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Three way tie between whipstitch, of swords and wings, and upon this altar, with whipstitch just barely beating out the other two! 

[kae-karo]

Can you do an analysis on the last dan vs phil video?

hell yeah i can in the beginning…

nerds nerds nerds ‘in the beginning…..there was a tree…..’ cue phil’s lil laugh smh cowards release the footage of y’all recording this bit i would Die for it i wanna see y’all being cute-ass dorks together thanks

dan’s voice cracking tone when he’s trying to stop phil

‘n they didn’t tell anybody’ dumbasses u told three million people smh

the fucking dvp montage god this whole intro is just a testament to what dorks they are

‘emotional stability’ what the Fuck

we’re the only ones fighting for emotional stability here jfc

‘after,,,,,d- after da long ass time’ dan u spork

they pulled up the first clip of the dvp board i’m not sobbing ur sobbing

phil recognizing he’s doing the same intro voice i’m Soft

cute

dan forgetting what he was gonna say after his big ol dramatic ‘that is right everybody’ we stan a mess

“bitch there’s no space” did u mean

ahem anyway

phil ruining all dan’s dramatic storytelling gives me Life

how did i not know just dance 2 was one of their most popular vids???? it has 7.4m views??? (for anyone as curious as me, sims #1 has 8.2m and is the most popular, followed by just dance, then fnaf #1 with 7.2m then akinator of all things with 6.4m?)

phil liked yasuhati???? i stan immensely i loved yasuhati as y’all know

it’s a grand finale u spoons stop saying grand ‘final’ that just. sounds wrong lmao

dan spent an hour making that crown i’m crying he’s so cute as is phil’s reaction giggling at him 

they ran out of kitchen foil why did i need to know this

they literally fucking kept the present they crushed what’s wrong with them

‘look at what his ass did to this’ as if we don’t know what that ass do

dan keeping up the ‘i’ll ebay this’ joke i think someone’s catching the capita£ester

i love their adorable editing making each other disappear n phil chopping dan’s head off it’s endearing

cereal eating contest at least dan knows he’s lost (dan is the Actual psychic)

‘y’all fricken want us touching each other??? do you????? here ya fuckin go u animals enjoy’

me when dan makes bad innuendo puns

why does phil look so pleased with himself????

hi i know i say it every video but there is nothing more beautiful than phil looking at dan while he’s talking it just makes me weak????

he tongue

also important dan eye roll content

dnp each picking a game they think they can win and then they do win amazing

dan’s confused ‘should’ve put some in??? oh yeah i should’ve cheated’ immediately followed by his oh fuck yeah i probably should’ve

i would just like to point out that at this point we’re literally watching two dorks with their eyes shut psyching each other out for an entire thirty seconds

‘i’m getting so moist right now’ dan we already know ur kink is staring at phil okay we got it

phil looks like he knows he’s gonna win and i love him

why are they such dorks phil trying to make dan lose i’m being thrown violently back to pinof 4

also ofc dan has a strategy to win this of course he does of course i expect nothing less

i think dan,,,,,,broke the sound barrier there ;)

oi hi there lil rosy patch welcome back

caption this

‘it was the longest i’ve ever had my eyes open in my entire life’ dan is such a dramatic gay i love him like babe,,,,,,,u don’t have to hyperbolize everything okay

‘i don’t know why but i stared at u for like a minute’ ‘yeah’ 

dan screaming when phil touched the crown dan,,,,,,,do u have even one (1) ounce of chill

look i’ve never seen dan fixate so much on anything except phil

‘stop enjoying these rolling chairs so much’ hi daniel do u recall not a month ago when u wheeled ur bf around the flat bc i do recall u having a bit of fun there 

phil knowing he has noodly arms and dan immediately going ‘don’t u dare say that abt my husband’ is a mood

buster howell

dnp being terrified of snapping their arms in an arm wrestling contest is such a mood literally that’s like my reason for never ever wanting to arm wrestle

‘when i literally snap phil in half’ try not to look so pleased abt that dan

‘i’m not very good at fighting talk am i’ why did this immediately translate in my head to dirty talk katie u need to Stop with the phanfiction

oh my god they put the board down and my first concern was all the stickers were gonna get moved off or fall off or w.e

disappearing chins

sorry ik it’s been there but the cactus has fairy lights on it

nerds fighting over who moved who’s limbs

dan u can’t call phil out for leaning when ur leaning urself okay 

he looks exactly like he did in the dk vid

rosy patch, rosy patch, we love u lil rosy patch

hi phil’s lips look particularly pretty here

what’s wrong with them who gave them permission to be this cute n domestic

dan u can’t look that offended when u offered to play that game

(offended but fond is dan’s only mood toward phil)

doesn’t count what bloody doesn’t count daniel u dork

hi why are u so giggly looking at phil okay that’s not Legal

very dry eyes and an aching left arm, that’s how you know you’ve had a good time thanks dan thanks didn’t want that didn’t need it goodbye

the way he trails off into a laugh though that’s some good shit right there

“we said it at the same time” of course u did 

okay so pika @wlwphil​ said that dnp exist in a feedback loop of stupid bc they don’t talk to anyone but themselves i think this vid exemplifies that idea quite well tbh especially the rock paper scissors bit these nerds are so isolated in this lil loop that they massively psyche each other out over rock paper scissors i’m crying

“we know each other so well” hi yeah we know

i think it’s quite interesting that dan’s not interrupting phil like he usually would n talking over him? he’s letting phil talk? & waiting for a moment to interject?

dan puts in lil mind sneks does he phil does he really

dan having no plan which is his plan while phil’s got his first eight moves planned out 

dan’s lil shut up

okay okay okay hold up here i wanna talk abt this (hi anon who said i just like to talk abt everything u right son u right) these idiots are staring at each other n dan says ‘you should admit to them right now that i win most rock paper scissors’ and phil, whilst still staring at dan, says ‘he does’

phil. phil ur talking to ur audience. but ur staring at ur man. i’m just. this shook me. this truly genuinely shook me and idk i don’t even have a good explanation it’s just so,,,,,,,unlike them???? i guess??

phil nobody consented to this stop

i’m living for dan not realizing this

what,,,,,what

phil wins: face #1

face #2

break for the weird heartbeat in the background

phil trying to psyche dan out i love him

face #3:

if u notice we have a careful progression of dan going from slightly fond to more fond (but offended) to horrified but fond. phil goes from victorious to massively victorious to ‘i think the universe is about to explode from how victorious he is’

dan shouldn’t be allowed to sound so fond abt losing that’s illegal people can’t do that

the return of cannot believe

bow to me biatch

jiggly camera

i’ve invited ur mum ‘no u haven’t’ i find it super cute that literally every time there’s a ur mum joke directed at kath phil has to deny it?

dan’s sweatpants n slippers

dan pulling out the catti/bratty voices from undertale i love it

philip michael lester, with this…

oi don’t touch it!

now prance, king

dan’s cheeky lil grin

this guy

dan waiting patiently to be thanked

excuse me daniel and philip what did u cut out we went from y’all’s hands being down below shot and then they’re up next to ur face???? excuse me

hi we missed a lot that’s not allowed

cutes

sorry i love when dan does this with his lips it cute

phil has this incredible ability to deliver jokes with such seriousness i mean honestly it’s a genuine skill like???? when dan delivers jokes u Know it’s a joke but phil man,,,,,he could be completely serious if taken out of context

hi i just like that dnp called each other philip and daniel in this vid good content

yes phil all or nothings are valid

i’m here for them like indicating the other has to say some Significant thing at the end of the vids it’s real cute

[spitestudies]

hello everyone!! as a high school junior taking 4 aps, 3 other classes, preparing for the act, trying to do college research, stage managing a musical, and trying not to lose my mind, here are some fun n handy tips for not Dying when ur schedule is hell!  

if you found this post helpful maybe give it a like/reblog and check out my other posts here!

01 | PLANNING AND PREPARING

so much of getting and staying organized has to do with organizing your time in advance.  there are a million ways to do this--google calendar, a bullet journal, a planner, some post-it notes.  my system involves three parts: a google calendar, a planner, and an online to-do list app.  

google calendar: this is mostly for events.  i can see when i have rehearsals, classes, doctor’s appointments, etc.  this helps me see how much available time i have and budgeting it properly.  

planner: i take this with me to school, and i use it to right down when i have assignments and tests.  i use the ban.do planner, but these are a bit pricey, and really anything will do.  just somewhere to put down tasks so you can keep track of them

getplan.co: this app is, honest to god, the only reason i am still alive and breathing.  it plugs into your google calendar and then allows you to create and schedule tasks around events.  @studycxlture has an amazing post about plan here that i def recommend checking out!

general tips about planning: 

plan out the events of your month at least two days before it starts

set aside a night (i like sunday evenings) to set up a system for the upcoming week and go over what you have planned so you don’t forget anything

you are NOT gonna remember that assignment that teacher told you about.  write it down.  

you do not need a fancy system.  it’s okay to try lots of different things until you find what works 

never spend more time planning out tasks than completing them.  unless you have that much free time, don’t dedicate two hours to making a lovely weekly bullet journal spread.  

color codes!!! are a life saver.  i have one with a color for each class (red for english, orange for spanish, yellow for history, green for science, blue for math, etc) as well as some for my extracurriculars (pink for the musical, teal for model un, etc).  

always have ur planner open when ur working, so that you can make sure u r actually completing all the tasks u said u were gonna complete

02 | STAYING ORGANIZED 

oh my god oh my god oh my god staying on top of your work is SO important when you’re busy.  being able to find your worksheets and keep track of your homework and your million responsibilities is essential to being successful.  to stay organized, i have an expandable file folder with tabs for each class.  because i take most of my notes in notebooks instead of binders, this is a good way to keep all of my handouts, worksheets, and syllabi centralized.  

also, make sure you have a way to keep your online materials organized.  create a folder for each school year, and within that folder, create more folders for each class.  from there, it’s up to you about how you’ll organize files. you can create even MORE folders (yeet) for things like homework, notes, study guides, etc, or folders for each unit you study.  the possibilities are endless!!!! isn’t technology exciting

here r some pieces of advice for staying organized: 

have a series of folders/binder/expandable file folder to hold your worksheets.  or one for each class, though i prefer to keep all my papers in one a) to save money and b) to save space.

label your notebooks/binders so that you know which ones to bring home with you

never just shove something into your backpack.  never.  i’m gonna manifest into ur classroom and FIGHT you if u do that.  it’s not good, it’ll end up getting lost or crushed under the weight of all ur textbooks, and you’ll end up panicking when u can’t find it 

have ur planner on u at all times

keep a good filing system of ur stuff at home.  u don’t need to carry around every single bio assignment you’ve gotten back, but by the time ur final rolls around ur gonna want 2 b able to look at all the materials you’ve gotten during the semester

that being said, throw stuff away when the year is over!  i, for one, know i’m never gonna think about calculus after this class is done, so i will be recycling all of my papers (save the earth) and moving tf on 

keep a recycling bin in your room!  even if it’s just a paper bag, it’ll make throwing paper in the trash way less tempting (save the earth)

u don’t need a ton of pens.  i’m being a giant hypocrite saying this but you really don’t need all that stuff.  if you want it and you can manage it, great, but if it’s just another thing to keep track of, leave ur staedtlers and ur mujis and ur fineliners and ur calligraphy pens at home, and just take the essentials with u to school

03 | MAKING THE MOST OF UR TIME

in order to succeed, it’s v important to make every second count.  this doesn’t mean studying 48 hours straight (pls don’t), but try not to waste time. whether this means you spend fifteen minutes napping, doing some reading for english, or having a quick snack, make sure u are being productive and healthy!  i, for one, sometimes have 1-2 hour breaks between school and rehearsal, and i like to use these to walk to the grocery store by my school and get some food and then study in the deli.  

some ideas for being productive! 

carry a clipboard around everywhere.  this way, u don’t need to spend as much time transitioning in and out of tasks, u can just put ur work onto the clipboard, and put it in ur backpack at the end of a break, and then the next chance u have to work on it, just take it back out.  easy peasy

work during commutes! nOT if ur the one driving the car though that’s VERY dangerous and distracted driving = bad.  but if ur on the bus, or ur mom is driving u to school, that might be a good time to go over some notes you took last night, or some reading you need to catch up on.  nothing too insane, please don’t do ur chem labs on the public bus but.  u know.  

read over the notes you took that day on the ride home.  this will help reinforce the information in ur brain, and it’s not super difficult. i go over my apush notes during the 40 minute drive home and sometimes talk about them w my mom, which gives me a much better grasp of the material

don’t waste time on social media.  either delete instagram altogether, or log off/mute notifications before u start work.  same with tumblr.  don’t start scrolling obsessively if u have three tests to study for. 

power naps!!!! napping for about 10-20 minutes, maybe on the way home or to practice/rehearsal/whatever u gotta do, can help u feel refreshed!  anything longer will make u more tired tho, so be sure to get up when u say ur gonna get up.  

study smarter: when ur going over material, u don’t need to handwrite 60 beautiful flashcards.  use quizlet instead.  don’t revise if it’s not gonna help u.  prioritize which assignments r gonna be most impactful over the little ones u can easily make up

take good breaks!! breaks r VERY important and should be utilized properly.  here r some good suggestions for things to do: 

throw in a load of laundry

empty the dishwasher

stretch/do some jumping jacks

drink some water!

go for a walk

talk to a family member 

get a snack!

read some fun novels n such

scream?

!! in case of emergency !! the following tips should only be employed when ur short on time.  don’t use these just bc u can, this is just when it’s about getting close enough to grasping material, not actually grasping it

do every other math problem assigned, and either star the ones u didn’t do, or get the answers from the back of the book.  this way, u get some practice but u also save time

sparknotes ur reading beforehand.  this way, u can recognize what’s going on.  it’s not v good for developing ur reading comprehension, but assignments will go by quicker

NEVER google translate ur language homework, but u can use word reference for helping u find the right word and proper conjugations

flagpole it: didn’t study enough for a test?  are u guessing on like 10 of the questions?  if it’s multiple choice, but the same answer for all the ones u have no clue about, unless that answer choice seems highly unlikely.  then pick a different one.  this way, ur statistically more likely to get some of the ones you guessed correct. 

when u have an online assignment due at midnight and it’s 11:53 and u haven’t started, find another assignment you’ve already completed that has a similar document name.  for example, “scarlet letter chapters 9-11″ instead of ur actual assignment “scarlet letter chapters 12-14″.  submit the other one, and then when u finish the other assignment (either that night or the next morning) email ur teacher and apologize, say u accidentally submitted the wrong document

if ur parents will let u (if ur in high school) or u can let urself (if ur in uni), it’s okay to skip a day to catch up.  just make sure u actually work, get the notes u missed, and talk to ur teachers/professors abt the material u missed.

04 | STAYING HEALTHY 

ur health comes before any assignment, test, or extracurricular.  i know lots of ppl r probably telling u that and it doesn’t seem like they mean it, but i mean it.  no exam is worth sacrificing ur mental, physical, or emotional health for.  yeet!  so here r some things to keep in mind

eat!  ur fuckin!  breakfast!  whether it’s a smoothie or oatmeal or a cup of orange juice or an apple or an elaborate french toast dish, u need some food in ur stomach so that u have the energy to start ur day

remember to take ur meds if u need to!

drink water!  drink! water!  have a glass when u wake up, and then at least one with every meal, and one before u go to bed.  hydration is v important.  if u can, invest in a water bottle and take it with u to class.  

pack a lunch!  and if ur staying later after school, pack snacks!  tech week for me is always hell because i get to school at 7:30 am and don’t usually leave until 11 that night.  it’s v important to stay nourished and hydrated so that u don’t get dizzy or faint.  

remember!  that u are beautiful, and ur body is beautiful, and it deserves 2 b loved! especially by u.  

get 6 hours of sleep.  aim for 8, but six at the very least.  if ur done with ur work, go to bed early!  don’t just stay up for no reason.  

shower everyday, or every other day at least.  give yourself those 15 minutes as a break from work or school or anything else that’s keeping you busy

write down ur thoughts in a journal?  

talk to a friend if ur feeling sad, or just feeling things very intensely.  share ur joy with other people!  vent ur sadness and anger so u aren’t carrying it around everywhere. 

make some time to have fun.  see a movie w ur friends or ur bf/gf/datefriend or ur family over the weekend.  go to a museum.  hang out at the mall.  sleepover at someone’s house.  taking breaks is healthy.  

make an effort to have dinner with ur family if u can (also if u like ur family.  i know some ppl have bad relationships w them so skip this step if that’s u).  it can be nice to reconnect w everyone, even when ur stressed or they’re annoying u, it can be nice.  

remember that it’s okay to be imperfect!  u don’t need to be good at a lot of things.  i got a b for the first time last semester, i just got a c on an apush test, i failed my driver’s test again yesterday.  but i also aced my math quiz, i celebrated six months of knowing my best friend, i walked my dog, i helped put a production together.  it’s okay to have rough days and bad days and bleh days, as long as you keep pushing through them and working for the days to get better.  

i love u!!! stay hydrated and nourished and get enough sleep.  put on some lotion if u have it available.  brush ur hair.  if u ever wanna ask a question, my ask box is always open!  <3

[commodorecliche]

hey babe!! I just have a little q for u. Do you have any advice for writing porn/mature scenes into stories? I struggle with this more than anything, and end up making the rest of my piece really awkward trying to write my way around it instead of writing it. Any advice? Sending via ask bc maybe someone else will benefit from my question too.

Woo! I’m finally getting to answer this ask - I’ve been out and about with the fam today. And it was just… not an opportune time to talk about writing about people doin’ the do. But I’m home now and can actually answer this. 

I’m going to put this below a cut, because obviously this is long and NSFW (duh). R18+ below the cut. You’ve been warned! 

Okay so smut can be understandably very difficult to write. From my experience with reading smut, I’ve noticed that the biggest and most glaring issue is that people don’t know how to make it realistic. And ‘realistic’ can refer to a lot of different things: it could be because something is anatomically impossible, it could be because they are over-exaggerating the feelings/sensations descriptions to the point where they are over the top, it could be because the writer is inexperienced and doesn’t know what certain sexual acts entail, it could be because they keep calling a character’s penis their Love Hammer. Staying realistic is accomplished via simplicity: like having the tone of your smut stay in line with the tone of your piece, or maintaining your characters emotional states throughout the sexual experience. But all in all, it’s pretty easy to tell when smut is bad: bad smut just doesn’t feel realistic.

A lot of people’s go-to advice when asked about writing smut is to tell people to go watch porn in order to learn about sex better - but I actually disagree with that tip. I don’t disagree with it from any moral stance or personal preference, either. I like porn. But of course, some porn has it’s moral, feminist, and ethical issues - but those are things that are best left to another post. Porn can certainly been enjoyable and sometimes even helpful. But the reason I would tell most people to just skip trying to learn about smut from porn is because most porn nowadays is astoundingly unrealistic. It’s not made to be informative about sex or how sex works/feels - it’s made to be entertaining to a viewer. And for many people it is. But it isn’t realistic, and a lot of stuff that happens in porn just does not translate well to the page.

If you are curious and feel that something visual would help you get a better understanding of sex, then I would recommend looking up lower budget/amateur level porn. It typically is more realistic as far as the experience of both partners goes.

But aside from that, something that will really help you better understand writing smut?: go read smut. Go find smut that you LIKE. Read a bunch of smut.  Take notes about it. Find smut that sounds AWFUL to you. Find smut that sounds AMAZING to you. Find smut that turns you on. If it turns you on, or makes you feel emotional, then odds are it’s good smut. Naturally, everyone has their preferences as to what they like in smut, but it’s pretty easy to spot bad smut. (I’ll get to that a bit later)

Okay, Lindsey, so how do I understand smut better to WRITE it?

1) Understand the tone of your piece.Tone: The tone of your fic as a whole needs to match the tone of your smut. For example, if you are writing a fic that is heavily emotional, where the focus is mostly on their first time together, or on their emotions/feelings, then suddenly tossing in a nasty, kinky, graphic sex session to top it all off is going to ultimately feel out of place tonally. (That isn’t to say that situation CAN’T be executed well, but it takes skill. But if you’ve got a fic where characters are… learning about their feelings for each other, waxing poetic about how much they mean to each other, being sappy and emotional together, and then toss in a “OH, FIST ME DADDY” scene, it’s gunna feel… off.)

2) Understand the characters you’re writing.Characters: Understand the characters you’re working with. Whether these are your own characters or someone else’s characters (fanfic), you need to examine the personalities that have been crafted for them. Are they a character who would become deeply emotionally involved with someone? Are they a character who is emotional, but also very physical? Are they a character who is reserved/shy sexually? How experienced are they in bed? If they are experienced, then what kind of experiences have they had before? Etc. Because your understanding of a character is how you are going to want to portray them in bed. If they are a shy, inexperienced virgin, guess what? They probably won’t be rushing to swallow a cock. And they sure as heck aren’t gunna be taking a dick the size of a baseball bat up their tush immediately.  Build up to it, make the smut work with their characterizations. 

3) Understand the nature of the relationship you’re writing.Nature of the relationship: This goes along with the previous point, but what kind of relationship do these two characters have? If they are getting together for the first time, have they been friends since they were kids and are deeply emotionally invested in each other? Is this a casual hookup? Are they in love? Have they had sex before and are just now realizing they want to have something more serious together? Have they been in a long term relationship for years and are intimately familiar with each other? Are they sexual strangers? Is this a case of “love/lust at first sight”? Is this relationship meant to last? Etc.

4) Understand what kind of sexual encounter you’re writing.Nature of the sexual encounter: What kind of encounter is this? Are these two characters in a relationship and unable to contain their desire for each other? Are they having a sordid quickie in the bathroom at a party? Are they having soft, slow, meaningful sex together in the quiet of a bedroom? Is this the first time they’ve ever met? First time they’ve slept together even if they already know each other? Are they nervous? Are they desperate and hungry for each other and frantic to have each other? You can make any of these work with any kind of relationship, btw:

“These characters meant for this to be a casual hookup, but they accidentally got a little too emotionally invested".“These two characters have been together for years, they adore each other, and they love to experiment with each other sexually, so sure honey, get that fist up in there.“ “These characters have been pining over each other and are finally getting together.” etc. 

You can have a lot of fun with smut, you just have to figure out what kind of smut you’re wanting to portray. And a lot of that is going to depend on the points above.

Okay, Lindsey, that’s super. I’ve got a grasp of all that stuff, but it still feels clunky! What would making actually WRITING the smut easier?

1) Learn. Anatomy. And learn about sexual acts. Don’t be afraid to look up blowjob tips or look up guides on how to rim/eat out/finger somebody effectively. Go read people’s personal accounts of sexual experiences. Go read comments where people talk about what they like in bed. It’s super helpful.

2) For the love of god, avoid as many ridiculous euphemisms as you can. Think of sex in a much more grounded sense - don’t think of it in metaphorical terms. Some subsitution words are okay, obviously. A penis can be a dick or cock, sometimes even a member, but even that sounds a bit ridiculous sometimes. A hole can be an entrance, a rim, etc… But for the love of god, avoid nonsensical euphemisms. I have seen smut that legitimately, without any hint of irony, called a penis a “meatstick”. Meatstick is not sexy. If you were in bed with someone, and they said “Oh yeah, baby, you like my meatstick?”, you would laugh your ass right off that bed. You would laugh your ass all the way back to your house after you left that moron naked and alone in their bed. Nobody is in bed and thinks to themselves “god this meathammer sure is just the bees-knees”. Sex is sexy! You don’t need to dress it up with ridiculous euphemisms. You don’t need to call a dick a meathammer to make it sexier. Call a dick a dick. Call a pussy a pussy. Call a clit a clit. Call an asshole a hole.  

(**Note: I am speaking from a cis perspective about this. Writing trans characters in sexual situations is something that I feel a trans individual should advise, rather than me. I do not feel it would be right for me to try to offer advice about how one should or should not refer to sexual organs when it comes to a trans or nonbinary perspective, as that is not a perspective that I have experienced. (This is especially important I think regarding body dysphoria; I want trans individuals to have THEIR say about what is or isn’t appropriate as far as genital descriptions. And this may come down to personal preference, like a lot of smut.)  If any trans individuals would like to weigh in on this or offer advice, please feel free to comment! But… I still stand by my assertion that you should never in a million years call a penis a meathammer.**)

3) Don’t forget that sex can range from strictly physical, to strictly emotional, to a mixture of both. And depending on the tone you want to set, you should pick what kind of range you’re working with. If it’s more physical than emotional, try to focus on the physical aspects of it - what are they physical sensations? If it is more emotional, then show how the character is feeling as the actions take place. Most of the time, you’ll be working with a mix of physicality and emotionality. And even strictly physical sex can have emotional sensations (happiness, euphoria, frustration, etc…) Tell us the actions that are happening, of course, but don’t forget to show us how the characters feel about them too.

4) Foreplay, foreplay, foreplay. Even if this is a one night stand, foreplay is a must. Jumping straight into the sex can be wholly unsatisfying for both parties. Let them kiss - let them bite each others’ necks. Let them suck hickies into each others’ skin. Let them touch, let them tease. Nibble ears, play with nipples, dig fingers into hipbones, grind pelvises against thighs in desperation. Let them be hungry for each other. Like someone once told me: If this sexual encounter isn’t a “hit-it-and-quit-it” situation, don’t treat it like one.

5) Avoid too much dialogue - especially lengthy dialogue. Once sex starts happening, your characters likely won’t be having lengthy conversations about the meaning of life, ya know? Dialogue can certainly happen, but it’s not like a normal conversation. It’s breathy, it’s strained, it’s needy, it’s curt. It’s filled with moans and whimpers and uneven breaths. 

If it’s desperate/quick/needy sex, keep your speech curt and to the point: “Yes”, “God, fuck”, “Please”, “You like that?”, “More”. If it’s more relaxed/emotional sex, your speech can be a little lengthier, but not by much: “You’re so beautiful”, “God, I love you”, “I’ve missed you so much”, “Tell me you love me”, “Please, I want you”, “It’s okay”, “Kiss me”, “God, you feel so fucking good” (PS, don’t be afraid to let them swear).

6) Focus on the big picture - don’t just focus on the actions, or even just the emotions. What sounds are they making? How are they breathing? Are they nervous and whimpery? Are they aggressively desperate and growling with need? Do they moan? Is it hot in the room? Are they above the covers? Under them? Do they hiss when they’re touched? Are they breathless? Do they bite and kiss and lick? Do they rake nails down each others’ backs? Give us a whole picture. (And as with any writing: SHOW DON’T TELL. Don’t say “He breathed rapidly”, say “He panted” instead.) Paint us a picture, give us a scene to visualize.

7) Think about what YOU enjoy. Seriously. If you’re ever in doubt about whether or not something sounds sexy, or if it would feel good or not, think about your own sexual experiences and about what you like. Whether you’ve been with a partner or just on your own, or even just remembering your own fantasies. You likely understand sex and sexual sensations more than you think you do. If you ever are unsure, think of your own feelings, your own emotions, and your own sensations. It can really help.

Got any examples, Lindsey?

Making smut sound realistic takes some skill, but of course, like with any skill it just takes practice. The more you write it, the easier and more natural it will be. And the better you understand sex (whether from experience, observation, reading, etc…), the more easily you’ll write sex. Below, are two examples: one is an example of “do” (using a snippet from one of my own works, hopefully that isn’t too... idk, pretentious? it’s what i had on hand lol) and an example of “don’t” (using a notoriously bad, published erotica scene).

Do:

Shiro presses down into him, body rolling against his - fluid and pliant and wanting, going wherever Keith would have him go. He only moves away when Keith ushers him to do so. Nimble, determined fingers push at the waistband of Shiro’s pants, urging them down as best he can. Shiro understands - he’d have to be a fool not to - and he leans up, ridding himself of his pants and briefs as Keith unbuckles his own and does the same.

They’re naked now and Keith’s body feels the same as it always has. Shiro finds comfort in the familiarity. He eases between Keith’s legs once more, folding himself down close, his elbows resting at either side of Keith’s head. He cages him, encases him, guards him off from the world, lowering his mouth to Keith’s with a gentle roll of his hips.(from my fic, “Coherence”, there is more smut in there if you want to see more of how I write it, this is just a little snippet)

(for the love of god) Don’t:

He came again so hard that his dick wrenched out of her hand and a shot of it hit him straight in the eye and stung like nothing he’d ever had in there, and he yelled with the pain, but the yell could have been anything, and as she grabbed at his dick, which was leaping around like a shower dropped in an empty bath, she scratched his back deeply with the nails of both hands and he shot three more times, in thick stripes on her chest. Like Zorro.(from “Winkler” by Giles Coren)

Takeaways: 

- Don’t be afraid to research- Don’t be afraid to talk about how things feel- Don’t be afraid to talk about what things/characters are doing- Don’t be afraid to emulate your own experiences- Don’t be afraid to show the physicality of it- Don’t be afraid to show the emotional aspects of it- Stay grounded, stay realistic

So yeah, that got a lot longer than I meant for it to be, but I hope that this was at least somewhat helpful! If any of y'all have any specific questions/concerns that I didn’t address here, please feel free to reply/message/inbox me and I’ll do my best to answer!

Thanks for taking the time to read this monster-length wall of text, too… I hope it helps!! 

[violyntfemme]

rules:

1. always post the rules. 2. answer the questions given by the person who tagged you. 3. write 11 questions of your own and tag 11 (or however many) people to answer them.

I was tagged by @hisreindeerjumper (first set) and @futuredescending (second set) so I am answering two sets.

Sorry this took so long but I started it last night as the meds were kicking in and it quickly devolved into incoherency :) 

1. what fandom have you been involved in that’s your favorite to date? Kingsman, hands down. Things are a little rough now and then lately, but I am hoping we find that live and let live attitude we all had less than six months ago, both before and after K2

2. what did you want to grow up to be when you were little? An archeologist, or a writer, or a fashion designer. I can’t draw and I hate chipped nails so really only one of those were going to work out for me.

3. favorite places to shop online? My Pretty Zombie cosmetics. 

4. first kiss! tell me all about it! and i you haven’t been kissed yet, how do you want it to go down? do you want to be kissed at all? It was at my grandmother’s house. I was 13, he was 18. He played the guitar and I thought he was a god. It was horrible though. I mean I knew nothing about kissing and he, like a typical guy, thought that he had to inhale the lower portion of my face. 

5. who was the first author that you read with a voracious hunger? Poppy Z. Brite. I still have my original, and falling apart, copies of Lost Souls and Drawing Blood, along with most of her (now his) books that have been released. I read and re-read them a million times.

6. what color looks best on you? Black. Always.

7. do you read your horoscope? If I come across it, but I do not seek it out.

8. what are you most proud of in your life? My published LGBT erotica. You think it would be becoming an attorney. Nope, it’s my porn that makes me proud. 

9. favorite food & why! Milano Cookies, dark chocolate preferably. They are wonderful with a cup of tea. They remind me of staying up late with my mother watching old BBC shows.

10. what scent do you have the strongest memory association with? CK One. I can’t stand it now, but one sniff and I am back in 1995 instantly. 

11. favorite tea flavor! Earl Grey, more specifically, Hooded Figures blend or a London Fog.

------

1. What is the nicest thing someone has done for you? When we had a rare ice storm and it was super cold out, my husband got up while I was getting ready for work and turned on my car to warm it up and de-ice it. Then he took some small rugs, the kind you wipe your feet on, and placed them over the ice as a path so I could get to my car safely (since I use a cane). Inside the car was my coffee and lunch waiting for me. This is the kind of thing he does on the reg. I don’t know why the man stays with my salty and bitter ass.

2. Do you have NOTPs? If so, why are they NOTPs for you? In Kingsman, Roxy/Eggsy. I am not hating on the ships at all, they just don’t work for me because I can’t see any tension between the characters. Roxy and Eggsy are my number one BROTP though and any fic that can capture that relationship well has all my love. In Sherlock John/Mary/Sherlock or Sherlock/Mary. I cannot stand her. Well, I take that back. The Mary that lived in John’s head in the last two episodes, her I actually liked quite a bit.

3. Summarize the worst film/book/song/story you’ve ever read/watched? Girl gets cursed by an old woman because Girl denies the lady a loan extension. Cue the worst. movie. I. have. ever. watched. My husband and I hated it so much that every time we watch something shitty we say that was terrible, but it wasn’t Drag Me to Hell terrible. It is the movie that all shitty movies are measured against. My best friend loved it and he is no longer allowed to rec movies to us. 

4. What are some fandom/fic things that irrationally annoy you? The mob mentality that crops up when there is a disagreement over anything. It happens in every fandom. Conversation devolves into vague-blogging and and passive aggressive tags. We are adults. Somebody doesn’t like what you like or vice versa? Cool. You keep liking your shit the way you like it and they can keep liking their shit the way they like it. There is more than enough shit for all of us to like. There will never be a shortage of shit, trust me on this.

Don’t agree with someone? Wonderful. Either talk about it like an adult and have a conversation or leave it alone. For example, there is a topic that I 100% stay away from in the Kingsman fandom because it makes me very uncomfortable and anxious. I do not agree with the popular opinion of the fandom regarding this topic. However, I realize that it is a popular topic, which very few, if any at all, of the rest of the fandom has an issue with, so I either blacklist it or take a little tumblr break until the conversation dies down. Because I am an adult and I am responsible for my internet experience. 

5. Write a summary for the fic you want to write but never will? Q has been clean for years, before even MI6 got their hands on him. The day James leaves with Madeline, however, Q finds himself in a ratty hoodie and torn jeans, walking down the same street where he once traded favors for whatever drug he needed that day. Cocaine for coding, X for laughter, morphine to forget. He just needs it this once. Morphine to forget James and whatever they were becoming before Swann, well, swanned, in. Cocaine to get him to work the day after. 

He has this under control. He does.

Until he doesn’t. Until Q is one needle away from existing and Geoffery, the addict, is about to take his place again. 

Until James comes back and sees what he left in his wake.

6. Someone writes a story that perfectly hits all your buttons. That story includes: _____, ______, and _________.  HC, Dom/Sub and ANGST. Kill me with the angst (bonus points if one of the pairing is in a downward spiral of self-destructive tendencies). 

7. I’m stealing @colinfilth’s question once asked on twitter bc it was SO GOOD: what is the fic one would write that clued your readers in that your identity had been stolen? A fic where there is a MCD of one people in the pairing, or the pairing the fic centers around does not end up together in the end. I want everyone to suffer terribly, cry and gnash their teeth, but they have to end up together and happy by the last sentence. It literally can be the last sentence that brings them back together, but it HAS to be there. After much pain and suffering of course.

8. Most embarrassing celebrity crush, past or present? I thought George Hamilton was the shit when I was really young for some reason. For the life of me I can’t even remember why or what show he was in that I watched. 

9. How much research will you do for a fic? Wing it? Get lost in a wikipedia hole? Read actual books on a topic? Google translate? Get consulting with native speakers? I will go as far as I need to to make sure whatever I am writing is as correct as possible. I don’t have a brit picker though because I am too introverted to ask, so that is an opportunity I have in my fics.

10. The one thing the creator of your current fandom could do to kill your fandom love. Not give us multiple shots of Whiskey’s ass in those Levis. 

I jest. A little.

Honestly, even if the movie sucks, I will still be here because the fan fic is phenomenal and I love the people I interact with within the fandom. And if the fandom falls apart, I will still be here by myself, re-reading the fan fic that has already been written. 

My questions:

1. What is something you loved as a child that you still love as an adult?

2. What is a show/book/band/movie that you love but are embarrassed to admit to?

3. If you have a day completely to spend as you please, what do you do?

4. What book or fic can you literally read over and over again to the point where you could probably recite it, but you still read it?

5. If you wear makeup, what is the one thing you could not live without?

6. Who is a role model for you? (Fictional or Real)

7. What fandom were you in, that you are no longer in, that you miss even though you won’t go back to it?

8. What is your aesthetic?

9. If you had to choose on to give up, would you give up reading or listening to music. Why?

10. What is the one thing that you feel as if you must do before you die? The number one spot on your bucket list.

11. How long have you been friends with your best friend(s)?

I’m tagging @opalescentgold, @timetospy, @mannersmakethmoi, @privatelyvex, @alethiaii, @plotqueen and @eggsy-youcheekytart, and anyone else who hasn’t done it yet.

[onestowatch]

Existentialism, Creative Independence, & Her Debut Full-Length: A Q&A With VÉRITÉ

An existential crisis is defined as, “a moment at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life: whether this life has any meaning, purpose, or value”--it is also the basis by which rising New York City-based songstress VÉRITÉ constructed her already highly-acclaimed debut album, Somewhere In Between. 

Released on June 23 via Kobalt Music Recordings, the 13-song collection is a raw examination of the universal uncertainties associated with identity, love, and finding purpose in life--what she describes as “somewhere in between living and dying.” Yet, don’t let that fool you into thinking that the album is not meant to be enjoyed--sonically, VÉRITÉ single-handedly radiates melodic left-field pop and rhythmic undertones that keep us singing along from start to finish. It’s no wonder that the young artist has accumulated over 100 million Spotify streams to date and is set to embark on a headline tour this fall. 

Listen to the Somewhere In Between album in full, and then get to know the prolific writer behind it in our Q&A below.  

OTW: So tell us about how you originally got into music.

VÉRITÉ: I’ve been playing music for for a very long time. I started playing classical piano when I was six or seven, and then I started playing in bands when I was like 13, and I was in an all-girl punk cover band. We were not good [laughs]. I started writing when I was 16 so I had an overly-ambitious indie folk rock band, and then I started this project when I was around 21, 22.

OTW: Got it, and would you say you’ve reached the truest form of yourself?

VÉRITÉ: Yeah, it just felt right, and it hasn’t stopped since. 

OTW: And I understand you were independent for like the longest time, if not still?

VÉRITÉ: Yeah, I still technically am. Kobalt is an amazing strategic partner-- they are handling all of the distribution in the U.S. and internationally, and so I’m really lucky to have them come on.

OTW: Why did you chose to remain independent otherwise?

VÉRITÉ: Because I want to be in control of when I release music and what that music is. I think I just saw a trend around me of people signing away their ownership at a really early stage and then losing momentum at a point when something didn’t go as planned and the label pulls the plug or takes a step back. I just always wanted to have this forward momentum, and this has kind of allowed for me to keep that going.

OTW: So do you plan to remain independent moving forward?

VÉRITÉ: Yeah, I believe so. I mean I don’t wanna limit myself, but I like where I am at right now; it’s a good place to be.

OTW: Any tips for artists who are on a similar path?

VÉRITÉ: Yeah, get a job.

As depressing as that sounds, get a job and fund it yourself--you can do it. It’s not going to be fun, you won’t sleep, but ultimately it’ll take a very small investment from yourself to get something started. 

OTW: Makes sense. So you’ve released a few EP’s out before the Somewhere in Between album. How would you say your music has evolved from The Echo to Sentiment to Living, to now?

VÉRITÉ: I feel like the themes of the EPs are all very similar--they’re all this hyper-analyzation of my surroundings and me having an existential crisis, but I think there’s a definite progression sonically. The first EP was definitely this toe-in-the-water experimentation of, “What do I want to sound like?” and then I think Sentiment was like, “Okay, I can do this,” and branching out, and with the last EP, there was more of a honing in and confident approach to finishing the songs. It was me taking control of how I wanted things to be placed, and now having all those under my belt, I’ve just learned a lot about myself and about production and composition. 

So this album I is most straightforward representation of like how I want to be seen and how I want to sound like.

OTW: And what is that?

VÉRITÉ: I just wanted it to be a statement piece--I didn’t want to be shy, I didn’t want it to be drenched in reverb or hazy in any way. I wanted my vocal to be upfront, the lyrics to be upfront; it’s a lot of heavy percussion, it’s a lot of in-your-face sub-bass. I’ll probably give it a month, and then he next album will be hopefully better because I just want to keep learning for myself.

OTW: Cool, and what’s the story behind the title, Somewhere in Between?

VÉRITÉ: Well, it comes from the title track “Somewhere In Between,” and the first lyric is, “Somewhere between living and dying.” So it’s very broad in a way, but everything is about existence and the human condition and analyzing “why we are here?” and “what do relationships mean?” and “how do I interact?” and “how do I exist?” So yeah, the album exists in that broad space.

OTW: And I understand you worked with a bunch of awesome producers on this one?

VÉRITÉ: I’ve definitely worked with a lot of producers, but then narrowed it to three producers who I definitely trust and worked with on the last EP. So the writing process was really scattered, delegating responsibilities and timelines and getting everyone in line with the vision.

OTW: So you essentially A&R’d your entire album?

VÉRITÉ: Yeah, which was much more of an undertaking than I realized it would be when I started, but I’m really happy that I did. I think that is another area that I’m much more confident in my ability to manage people and get them to see what the greater vision is and then give them precise instructions on how to get there. So I think everybody that worked on the album feels good about what they contributed, but it’s still cohesive.

OTW: Do you have a favorite lyric from the album?

VÉRITÉ: It might be, “somewhere between living and dying.” I also like the first lyrics of a song called “Better.” I just like the first two verses--start like “fixed and false” and then “tried and true.” I just like the alliteration.

OTW: I love “Phase Me Out” too. What would be your top relationship advice for someone in that situation?

VÉRITÉ: I think for me,  all the relationship-sounding songs on the album are me basically taking a step back, being like, “I don’t need anyone.” I think my relationship advice to anybody would be to get to a place where you don’t need anyone, and then figure out how to coexist with people, which I’m currently trying to do. So maybe the second album is like, “How do I, I don’t know, talk to people?” [laughs] 

I think this album is very much figuring out how to not need people, in a positive way, for my self-worth.

OTW: What would you say makes you different from other singers in this alt-pop space?

VÉRITÉ: I feel like the alt-pop space is so oversaturated--I’m surprised that I found a little lane for myself. I don’t consciously find the differences--I just made a decision to be super upfront and involved and candid. I try and translate that to the music as well, and so I feel lucky that it has resonated with people in the way that it has, and so I’m going to continue doing that. Also, I play live, you know, I play instruments, I am involved in the writing, I’m involved in the production, and so I feel like being that creative force within the project helps.

OTW: What is your live step up like? Do you have a band?

VÉRITÉ: Yeah, I have a band--we have like drums, bass, and I have a little synth keyboard with little vocal processing. I like to be busy because I don’t dance, so I have to fill my time somehow onstage.

OTW: What were your favorite moments with the Betty Who tour?

VÉRITÉ: The Betty Who tour was great--her and her crew were so good to work with. I think my favorite moments are always the moments that no one sees...we all went a little crazy in a gas station right outside of Seattle and definitely started dancing. The store clerk just looked at us like we were on meth. 

OTW: [Laughs] So what are your plans now that the album’s out?

VÉRITÉ: Touring and more touring. My goal with the album is to push it out as far out as possible and so whatever needs to get done, I will do.

OTW: Last question: who are your top Ones To Watch artists right now?

VÉRITÉ: Oh goodness. I feel like I just want to say Anderson .Paak, but he’s just so established. You guys just actually posted about Brika--II think she’s dope. And the girl SUMif who opened for me in San Francisco is also dope.

VÉRITÉ North American Headline Tour Dates:

August 23        Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle

August 24        Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall

August 25        Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus

August 26        Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall

August 28        Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

August 29        Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry

September 1   Seattle, WA @ Barboza

September 2   Vancouver, BC @ The Cobalt

September 3   Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge

September 5   San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

September 7   Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour

September 9   San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar

September 10  Dana Point, CA @ Ohana Music and Arts Festival

September 12  Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar

September 15  Austin, TX @ Stubb's Jr.

September 16  Dallas, TX @ Three Links

September 17  Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs)

September 19  Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl

September 20  Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506

September 21  Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel

September 22  Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

FOLLOW VÉRITÉ:

http://veriteofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/veritemusic/

https://twitter.com/verite

[douchebagbrainwaves]

PEOPLE JUST IGNORE THAT—OR WORSE, IT'S HAPPENING

The route for the ambitious in that sort of environment is to join one and climb to the top. Raphael so pervaded mid-nineteenth century taste that almost anyone who tried to draw was imitating him, often at several removes. That's even rarer. In the third century BC Archimedes won by doing that. I haven't had to yet. They were all terrible. I believe all have either closed a round or are likely to soon. They could take everyone and keep just the good ones. A lot of the same things we said at the last two. Investors will probably find they do better when deprived of this crutch anyway.1 Facebook didn't, and they've done better than most startups.

Good design is often daring. And you know what? One reason is that to make Leonardo you need more than his innate ability. If the tests a society uses are currently hackable, we can study the way people beat them and try to plug the holes. Why do they do it? In some cases we may have to wait for startups to have traction before they put in significant money. Startups can be irresponsible and release version 1s that are light enough to evolve.2

Including, I hope, the problem that has afflicted so many previous communities: being ruined by growth. As a kid I had what I thought was a huge fleet of toy cars, but they'd be dwarfed by the number of startups in this country, at least to yourself, I could have thought of that. Actually we're the opposite: incubators exert more control than ordinary VCs, and we haven't yet evolved ways to protect ourselves from them. My vote is they're a bad idea. When oil paint replaced tempera in the fifteenth century. They want to get rich, but they may not always be true.3 Fortunately I discovered that when a startup needed to talk to corp dev when they're either doing really well, you can pick a time when you're not in the middle about some of the books.4 Though of course forbidding bad behavior does tend to keep away bad people, because they didn't have materials or power sources light enough the Wrights' engine weighed 152 lbs.5 Facebook didn't, and they've done better than most startups. Are meanness and success are inversely correlated. Why?

In the US this process still shows many outward signs of corruption. Ramen profitability is the least obvious but may be the most powerful forces in a startup depends mainly on how smart and energetic you are, and much less on how old you are or how much business experience you have. Good design is often slightly funny. Have one person talk.6 And it certainly doesn't matter how many of them there are, any more than we'd expect naive solutions for keeping heroin out of a prison to work.7 The aim is not simply to make a lot more people investing tens or hundreds of thousands than millions. If investors get too involved, they smother one of the things the internet has shown us is how mean people can be. If I spent half the day loitering on University Ave, I'd notice. It's good to talk about the needs of people you know personally, like your friends or siblings. Another sign of user need is when people pay a lot for something.8

Raphael so pervaded mid-nineteenth century taste that almost anyone who tried to draw was imitating him, often at several removes. In Florida, which Bush ultimately won 52-47, exit polls ought to be very hard to contain parents' efforts to obtain an unfair advantage for their kids.9 You feel this when you start to examine the question, it's surprising how much different fields' ideas of beauty have in common. Exception: If one of the founders is not competitors but investors. Most founders who get contacted by corp dev already know what it means. Whereas if you can choose when you raise money, you can pick a time when one failed to do something weird at first. Google, presented at some point to investors who didn't get it and turned them down. You don't have to interrupt working on the company isn't. In the big angel rounds that increasingly compete with series A rounds, the investors won't take as much equity as VCs do now.10 The biggest constraint on the number of startups in this country is a policy that would cost practically nothing. Comments have much more effect on new comments than submissions have on new submissions.

The government could not do better than to piggyback on their expertise, and use investment by recognized startup investors as the test of whether a company was a real startup. And this illustrates another advantage of investing over hiring: our relationship with them is way better than it would be a good thing. Don't worry if your company is just a few months old.11 It's a crowded market, I remember one founder saying worriedly.12 In some cases we may have to wait for startups to have traction before they put in significant money. I were a boss making people work this hard. If you're ramen profitable, you're already avoiding these mistakes. The good things in a community site can do is attract the kind of people who could start a startup do. Chasing hot deals doesn't make investors choose better; it just makes them feel better about their choices.13 One forgets it's owned by a private company.14

However, that doesn't mean you should talk like some kind of zenlike detachment from material things.15 And now I have both an additional reason to crack down on it, and that would cost nothing: establish a new class of visa for startup founders. There's still debate about whether this was because of the Bubble, or because they saw a movie star with one in a magazine, or because they're a bad idea. Don't be Evil? Startups and yuppies entered the American conceptual vocabulary roughly simultaneously in the late twentieth century. Aiming at timelessness is a way to evade the grip of fashion. In short, the disasters this summer were just the usual childhood diseases.

Notes

I realized that without the methodological implications. The shift in power from investors to founders is exaggerated now because it's a hip flask. Thought experiment: set aside a chunk of time, default to some abstract notion of fairness or randomly, in one where life was tougher, the increasing complacency of managements. Com.

One YC founder told me they do the opposite way from the creation of wealth to study, because such companies need huge numbers of users to recruit manually—is probably a bad imitation of a running back doesn't translate to soccer. The real decline seems to be clear in our own, like selflessness, might come from.

Throw in the cupboard, but half comes from ads on other sites. It doesn't take a lesson from the CIA runs a venture fund called In-Q-Tel that is more efficient: the energy they emit encourages other ambitious people, instead of crawling back repentant at the mercy of circumstances: court decisions striking down state anti-takeover laws, they seem like I overstated the case of journalists, someone else to lend to, but I managed to screw up twice at the mercy of circumstances: court decisions striking down state anti-dilution provisions, even though you don't have the balls to ask, what that means the investment community will tend to use some bad word multiple times. This trend is one that we wrote in verse. For example, will be maximally profitable when each employee is paid in proportion to the writing of literary theorists.

According to Michael Lind, when politicians tried to shift back. Which in turn is why it's such a low valuation, or one near the door. Where Do College English Departments Come From?

You can get very emotional. If they're on the x axis and returns on the software business, and tax rates will tend to be redeveloped as a result a lot better to make a lot of investors started offering investment automatically to every startup we had to bounce back. There are circumstances where this is a significant number. Incidentally, this phenomenon myself: hotel unions are responsible for more of it.

Then it's up to his time was 700,000 legitimate emails. Many famous works of anthropology.

This is one of his first acts as president, and the fucking fleas. These false positive rate is 10%, moving to Monaco would only give you such a low valuation, that all metaphysics between Aristotle and 1783 had been Boylston Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard is significantly better than having twice as fast is better than their lifetime value, don't even want to get all the free OSes first—A Spam Classification Organization Program. There was one in a place where few succeed is hardly free.

We could be overcome by changing the shape of the next year they worked. Those investors probably thought they'd been living in cities.

Those groups never have that glazed over look. At first literature took a back seat to philology, which means you're being gratuitously troublesome.

If all the red counties. They hoped they were friendlier to developers than Apple is now. Now the misunderstood artist is a bit more complicated, because time seems to have lunch at the fabulous Oren's Hummus. If they really mean, in the twentieth century.

That you're not convinced that what you're doing is almost always bullshit. We thought software was all that value, counting users as active when they're on the side of being absorbed by the surface similarities.

This of course some uncertainty about how the courses they took might look to an associate cold-emailing a startup, and are paid a flat rate regardless of how hard it is certainly an important relationship between the Daddy Model, hard to predict areas where Apple will be interesting to consider behaving the opposite. The Sub-Zero 690, one of the things we focus on their utility function for money. The 1/50th of a press hit, but even there people tend to say that a their applicants come from meditating in an equity round.

Realizing that much to maintain their percentage.

This seems unlikely that every fast-growing startup gets on the Daddy Model may be that the angels are no false negatives. They'll have a different idea of happiness from many older societies. I never get as deeply into subjects as I make it harder for you, they have zero ability to solve a lot about how to appeal to investors. This is actually a computer.

Give the founders. In retrospect, we love big juicy lumbar disc herniations, but explain that's what they give it back. Financing a startup. The original version of everything was called the option pool as well.

Thanks to Steve Huffman, Dan Bloomberg, Ben Horowitz, and Trevor Blackwell for sharing their expertise on this topic.

[ariescorpsautotraders-blog]

2017 EXPENSIVE CARS

THE 10 MOST EXPENSIVE CARS IN THE WORLD

2015 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster MSRP $441,600.00   440,000.00

$4.8 million – Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg ccxr trevitathe top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg ccxr trevitathe top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg ccxr trevita Koenigsegg makes its first appearance on our list with the CCXR Trevita, and it does so as the most expensive street-legal production car in the world. Why so much coin? With no exaggeration, the car is literally coated in diamonds … and diamonds aren’t cheap. For the Trevita, the Swedish manufacturer developed a new exterior finish called the Koenigsegg Proprietary Diamond Weave, which involves coating carbon fibers with a diamond dust-impregnated resin. We can’t even fathom how much the touch-up paint costs. Underneath the lustrous finish lies a 4.8-liter, dual-supercharged V8 with a total output of 1,004 horsepower and 797 pound-feet of torque, which means it should have little to no trouble overtaking semis on the freeway.  The car’s specifications — in both performance and price — are nearly comical at this point, and just three were ever made. Find out more here. $4.5 million – Lamborghini Veneno

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million lamborghini venenothe top ten most expensive cars in world  million lamborghini venenothe top ten most expensive cars in world  million lamborghini veneno Poison. That’s the name Lamborghini chose for the modified Aventador you see above — translated from Italian of course — built to celebrate the automaker’s 50th birthday. We can’t speak for the company’s motivations, but the name is fitting for a vehicle that looks so positively deadly, so undeniably venomous. The car is absolutely stunning from every angle, and to this day, we’re not convinced it isn’t an alien spacecraft surveying our planet for eventual takeover. It just doesn’t seem real. The only thing more remarkable than the look is the price — a whopping $4.5 million. The Veneno is fast, and that should come as no surprise. Its 6.5-liter V12 spins all the way up to 8,400 rpm to deliver 740hp and 507 lb-ft, surging the car to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds. Find out more here. $3.4 million – W Motors Lykan Hypersport

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million w motors lykan hypersportthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million w motors lykan hypersportthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million w motors lykan hypersport Next Previous You may recall the Lykan Hypersport from its starring role in the blockbuster Furious 7, where the Lebanese supercar crashed through not one, not two, but three skyscrapers in Dubai. In a franchise filled with high-end exotics and one-off custom creations, the fact that the Hypersport got so much focus is a testament to its magnetism. Let’s start with the styling, which includes jewel-encrusted headlights, scissor doors, and an interior ripped straight from science fiction. It looks like a pissed off armored car from the future, and its performance is right on par with its image. The Hypersport boasts a 3.7-liter, twin-turbo flat-six that yields 770hp and 708 lb-ft. It’s not just Dominic Toretto who benefits from this level of performance, though, as the Abu Dhabi police force has drafted the Hypersport into patrol duty. Although it’s mainly used for marketing and public relations purposes, the high-flying stunner assures that the authorities can keep up with any baddie who tries to get cute on the freeway. Pedal to the floor, 0 to 62 mph is accomplished in just 2.8 seconds, and top speed is a downright scary 240 mph. Read more here. $3.4 million – Limited Edition Bugatti Veyron by Mansory Vivere

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million limited edition bugatti veyron by mansory viverethe top ten most expensive cars in world  million limited edition bugatti veyron by mansory viverethe top ten most expensive cars in world  million limited edition bugatti veyron by mansory vivere Next Previous This list wouldn’t be complete without some version of the mighty Bugatti Veyron. We’re shining our spotlight on the the Mansory Vivere edition here, because not only is it one of the fastest cars in the world, it’s one of the most expensive. Augmented by German witch doctors Mansory, the 1,200hp Veyron starts out as a Grand Sport Vitesse Roadster, only to be adorned with a gorgeous carbon-fiber body, a new spoiler package,    upgraded LED lights, a revamped cabin, and a redesigned front grill. Further classifying the Veyron as a work of art, maps of historic race events like the Targa Florio are laser etched into the exterior and interior. Oh, and it can do 254 mph. Find out more here. $3 million – Ferrari Pininfarina Sergio

the top ten most expensive cars in world ferrari pininfarina sergiothe top ten most expensive cars in world ferrari pininfarina sergiothe top ten most expensive cars in world ferrari pininfarina sergio With an asking price of $3 million, the Ferrari Sergio isn’t the most expensive car on our list. It is, however, one of the most highly-coveted vehicles in the world, as only six were ever made. Crafted by legendary Italian design house Pininfarina, the Sergio is essentially a Ferrari 458 Spider with a completely new body and interior. That means a 4.5-liter V8 sends a whopping 562hp to the rear wheels, but because the Sergio is lighter than the 458, it’s quicker and handles better. The new body doesn’t just save weight — it’s chock-full of interesting details like aerodynamic headrests that are built directly into the roll cage. With so few examples built, the Sergio’s purchase process wasn’t as simple as strolling up to a Ferrari dealership. No, each owner was chosen by automaker itself, making it one of the rare invite-only vehicles in automotive history. Find out more here. $2.6 million – Pagani Huayra BC

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million pagani huayra bcthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million pagani huayra bc pac go apertathe top ten most expensive cars in world  million pagani huayra bc 1 of 23 With an AMG-sourced V12 and the fastest road-legal Top Gear lap ever, the Pagani Huayra is a beast through and through — it’s named after the Incan God of Winds, after all. That wasn’t quite enough for Pagani, however. At the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, Pagani debuted the Huayra BC, a lighter, hotter version that takes no prisoners. Right off the bat, you can tell the BC is playing a different game from the standard Huayra. It’s fitted with an enormous active rear spoiler that generates 1,102 pounds of downforce at 155 mph, as well as a wider rear track, new side skirts, and a bevy of sexy aero goodies. Despite the additions, the BC is a true featherweight, tipping the scales at a paltry 2,654 pounds thanks to the extensive use of carbon fiber and other lightweight materials. The whole deal will cost you a cool $2.6 million (or it would have, if all 20 units hadn’t sold already), but you clearly get a lot for your money. With 789 turbocharged ponies on tap, the BC may actually live up to its godly name. Read more here. $2.5 million – Ferrari F60 America

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million ferrari f americathe top ten most expensive cars in world  million ferrari f americathe top ten most expensive cars in world  million ferrari f america To celebrate Ferrari’s 60-year tenure in North America, the Italian brand built 10 examples of this stunning bombshell. Based on the F12 Berlinetta, the F60 is undeniably patriotic as it wears a Stars and Stripes color scheme, American flag seat inserts, and classic racing livery all around. Better yet, you can experience the glory with the top down, as the F60 features a lightweight fabric top that can be operated at speeds up to 75 mph. The supercar is mechanically identical to the F12, but the Berlinetta isn’t exactly a Fiat Panda to begin with. Its 6.2-liter V12 churns out 740 glorious hp, enough to propel the car to 60 mph in only 3.1 seconds. The ultrarare flag-waver harks back to Ferrari’s bespoke past, as the company built several region-specific sports cars in the 1950s and 1960s. Find out more here. $2.5 million – Bugatti Chiron

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million bugatti chironthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million bugatti chironthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million bugatti chiron Next Previous How do you follow up a classic? You make something even better. With a starting price of $2.5 million and a gorgeous new body, the divine Chiron outdoes its predecessor in every conceivable way. While the Bugatti Veyron redefined what an automobile could do, the Chiron laughs at those who said the Veyron was the last of its kind, pushing the boundaries of performance even further into the stratosphere. The supercar’s monstrous specs are made possible by its reworked quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16, which now produces 1,500hp and a monstrous 1,180 lb-ft. Sixty mph is dealt with in a rather quick 2.5 seconds on the way to the Chiron’s top speed, which is limited to 261 mph. It’s still not the fastest car in the world — that title belongs the Hennessey Venom GT — but cars like these aren’t just about speed; they’re about making statements. We think you’ll agree this Bugatti makes a very strong statement indeed. Read more here. $2 million – Koenigsegg One:1

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg onethe top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg onethe top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg one Next Previous You can buy a lot with $2 million — a really nice house, about 80 Mazda MX-5’s, or the Swedish “megacar” shown above. A logical thinker could probably think of a better way to spend your life savings, but megacars don’t give a damn about logic. Because they’re mega. And after reading what the car is capable of, $2 million might actually be a steal. The limited-edition One:1 is based on the Agera R, and it earned its poetic moniker by employing a 1:1 kilogram-to-horsepower ratio. The figure on each side of the colon? 1,340. That’s right, this car has 1,340hp, and can theoretically top 273 mph because of it. Simply put, this is one of the fastest automobiles ever made, and with its F1-style honeycomb core, carbon-fiber intake manifold, and ventilated ceramic brakes, it’s one of the most advanced as well. Just six examples of the speedy Swede were built, and each one was sold quite quickly. Keep an eye out on Craigslist — you never know. Find out more here. $2 million – Koenigsegg Regera

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg regerathe top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg regerathe top ten most expensive cars in world  million koenigsegg regera Next Previous When we think of hybrid hypercars, we generally fantasize about the “holy trinity” — aka, the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, and Ferrari LaFerrari. Somehow, Koenigsegg always gets left out, despite the fact that the Swedish automaker makes a vehicle that outshines its electrified competition in many ways. Powered by a twin-turbo 5.0-liter V8 and a 4.5-kWh battery pack, the $2 million Regera produces an outstanding 1,500hp in total, a stat made all the more impressive when you consider the car’s low weight of 3,240 lbs. Zero to 60 in 2.8 seconds is impressive to be sure, but the Regera’s 0 to 186 mph sprint is even more mind-blowing — the feat is accomplished in only 10.9 seconds. By Koenigsegg’s internal estimates, the car will be able to reach its top speed of 248 mph in just 20 seconds or so, which is a triumph over physics as much as it is a bragging right. Why just an estimate? Apparently, the brand can’t find a road long enough. Read more here. Honorable Mentions

$8 million – Mercedes-Benz Maybach Exelero

the top ten most expensive cars in world maybach exelero imgthe top ten most expensive cars in world maybach exelero imgthe top ten most expensive cars in world maybach exelero img Next Previous By far the most expensive car on our list, the Exelero makes its appearance under Honorable Mentions due to its one-off status. The Maybach was also built way back in 2004, but that actually makes its sticker price more impressive. Adjusted for inflation, the Exelero would cost around $10.1 million in the U.S. today, which is close to the GDP of a small island nation. Money and Maybach are about as closely related as peanut butter and jelly, but the two-door further justifies its cost with a 700hp, twin-turbo V12 and luxurious amenities. $2.7 million – LaFerrari FXX K

the top ten most expensive cars in world  car ferrari fxxkthe top ten most expensive cars in world  car xx renderthe top ten most expensive cars in world  car ferrari fxxk Next Previous The Ferrari LaFerrari is a vehicle held back by one thing — the law. Emissions standards and safety equipment add considerable bulk to a near-perfect machine, so for the track-only FXX K, the car bows only to physics. The “standard” car’s output of 950hp was boosted to a downright silly 1,035hp in FXX K guise, and its various body modifications have increased downforce by up to 50 percent. Even the tires are space age, as the slick Pirellis feature embedded sensors to keep tabs on longitudinal, lateral, and radial acceleration, as well as temperature and pressure. Until Ferrari invents some sort of road-going hyperdrive, this is about as good as a performance car gets. Find out more here. $2.2 million – Lamborghini Sesto Elemento

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million lamborghini sesto elementothe top ten most expensive cars in world  million lamborghini sesto elementothe top ten most expensive cars in world  million lamborghini sesto elemento

The Sesto Elemento embraces minimalism like few other cars on the planet — its chassis, body, drive shaft, and suspension components are all crafted from carbon fiber, meaning this 570hp demon weighs less than a Honda Fit. As you might expect, the upshot is incredible. Zero to 60 mph comes in a motorbike-rivaling 2.5 seconds, and the car will sniff 200 mph if you have enough road. With that type of acceleration, you won’t notice the lack of infotainment, massaging seats, or hand-stitched upholstery, because this car is meant for one thing — speed. It does have air conditioning and a stereo, though. Why an honorable mention? Like the FXX K, the Elemento is confined to the track only. Read more here. $1.9 million – Lamborghini Centenario LP 770-4

the top ten most expensive cars in world lamborghini centenario  x cthe top ten most expensive cars in world lamborghini centenario  x cthe top ten most expensive cars in world lamborghini centenario  x c

Ferruccio Lamborghini, the man who founded one of Italy’s most iconic car brands, would have turned 100 years old in 2016. To celebrate, Lamborghini created the Centenario, a $1.9 million magnum opus that is equally at home on the racetrack as it is on a bedroom wall poster. Longer, larger, yet lighter than the Aventador supercar, the carbon-fiber Centenario features an exterior that is both beautiful and functional. The aerodynamic bumper fins, hood vents, wheel blades, and powerful rear haunches are all sculpted to keep the limited-edition vehicle glued to the ground, and Lambo says the Centenario is twice as aerodynamically efficient as the Aventador. And then there’s the power. Simply put, the Centenario is equipped with the most extreme engine Lamborghini has ever built, as the 6.5-liter V12 pumps out a whopping 770hp at 8,600 rpm. Given its low weight of 3,351 pounds, the Raging Bull demolishes 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds, and it’ll scream its way to 220 mph given enough space. Read our interview with the head of Lamborghini’s research and development here. $1.4 million – Ferrari LaFerrari

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million ferrari laferrarithe top ten most expensive cars in world  million ferrari laferrarithe top ten most expensive cars in world  million ferrari laferrari This 950hp hypercar is so prestigious that its name literally translates to “The Ferrari” in Italian. The automaker’s first mild hybrid, LaFerrari equips a 6.3-liter V12 alongside an electric motor and trick Kinetic Energy Recovery System, which results in a shade less than 1,000 ponies and 664 pavement-crushing torques. Few cars on the road are more striking, and even fewer accelerate faster. With a dry weight of less than 2,800 lbs, this dragon-like performance car accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3.0 seconds, and it’ll prance to 124 mph in under 7. Flat out, it’ll top 217 mph. The only thing quicker than the car itself is how briskly it sold, as all 499 units were snatched up faster than you can say “bank loan.” Find out more here. $1.4 million – Aston Martin One-77

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million aston martin onethe top ten most expensive cars in world  million aston martin onethe top ten most expensive cars in world  million aston martin one Next Previous To be sure, 1.4 million is a popular number in the supercar world, because that’s what it took to get your hands on this limited-edition Aston. We say “took” because all 77 units have been spoken for, so if you were hoping to channel your inner Bond with this car, your luck has unfortunately run out. Arguably the most classically handsome car on this list, the One-77 is built around a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, with a handcrafted aluminum body providing its sophisticated, aggressive look. Under the vented hood lurks a naturally aspirated V12 that displaces 7.3 liters, which is a lot. It produces 75 hp and 553 lb-ft, which is also a lot. Those numbers make the One-77 the fastest Aston Martin ever made, as this spy chaser will top 220 mph in the right conditions. From a stop, it’ll do 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. Read more here. $1.2 million – Zenvo ST1

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million zenvo stthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million zenvo stthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million zenvo st Next Previous Assembled on Denmark’s island of Zealand, the Zenvo ST1 is less of a car and more of an uncaged animal. It creates an absolutely obscene amount of power by combining a 6.8-liter V8 with both a supercharger and a turbocharger. Just how much is obscene, exactly? How about 1,104hp and 1,054 lb-ft, all channeled to the car’s rear wheels.Unfortunately for the Danish outfit, the mostly hand-built ST1 has been surrounded with controversy since its debut. During Top Gear’s 21st season, the program tested the supercar around its famous track, only to be met with constant breakdowns, slower than expected lap times, and a good old-fashioned engine fire. Zenvo disputed Top Gear’s claims, stating the show only published the vehicle’s sluggish laps and that the fire was caused by hours of extreme driving. Nevertheless, the vehicle’s murderous looks and monstrous grunt are nothing to shake a stick at. We certainly wouldn’t kick it out of the garage. Find out more here. $1.15 million – McLaren P1

the top ten most expensive cars in world  million mclaren pthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million mclaren pthe top ten most expensive cars in world  million mclaren p Next Previous McLaren has its roots in racing, originating as a dominant Formula One team before expanding into mass production. Those racing roots poke through in their cars, marvels of carbon and steel that showcase British engineering at its best. McLaren’s design philosophy is embodied in the P1, a lightweight speedster that can easily break speed limits and the bank. The first thing one might notice about the P1 is just how slight it is. The svelte body is designed to be aerodynamic, with the ornamental trappings of typical cars removed for the sake of speed. Titanium and carbon fiber are used throughout to keep the P1 lightweight, part of McLaren’s singular desire for performance. The P1 looks impressive, but how does it drive? Quite fast, it turns out. The P1 can go from 0 to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds. It has both a twin-turbo V8 engine and an electric motor, which can be used in conjunction with each other. Front and rear wings adjust automatically to changes in speed and downforce, reducing drag to keep the P1 gliding. A rocket on wheels, the McLaren P1 is a dream for anyone who wants to feel the power of a Formula One car in a street-legal package. It’s a shame that it’s completely sold out. $1.1 million – Rolls-Royce Phantom Serenity

It used to be that owning a particular make or model car was a sufficient display of wealth. Today, however, it seems like every YouTube rap sensation or Saudi Prince can afford a Maybach. Rare models just don’t seem rare any more. Enter the bespoke car. Luxury manufacturers have begun to emphasize customization, creating unique takes on high-end models that are as much pieces of art as they are automobiles. Case in point: The Rolls-Royce Phantom Serenity, a unique version of the well-known Phantom coupe with a tranquil pearl paint job and an interior that draws on Japanese artwork. While the outside of the car is the very portrait of austerity, the interior is a temple to opulence, with silk upholstery inspired by the textiles of imperial China. Blossoms drawn in classic Japanese style adorn the walls of the Serenity, emphasizing the zen aesthetic. The technical aspects of the Phantom are well-documented; it handles well and can go from 0 to 60 mph in under 6.0 seconds. What makes the Serenity unique is its singular aesthetic, a commitment to luxury that makes it seem more like a royal litter than a car. Rolls-Royce is banking on the Serenity as a harbinger of things to come in the luxury car market, of a future where the wealthy commission bespoke cars just as the princes of Italy funded renaissance paintings. Those who want this rare beast may be out of luck; so far, only one exists. It’s important to note that a car doesn’t have to be expensive to be good, but it doesn’t exactly hurt either. These dream wheels, titans of pavement and pocketbook, are some of the most jaw-dropping vehicles to ever grace the asphalt, and it will take something truly special to top them.