#been having this newfound confidence ever since my artist name change

[doodlipop]

✿ End of a Rainbow ✿ Color has been mysteriously disappearing all around a world of sunshine and rainbows. Even the people themselves lose all but one of their colors! It is up to Sundae Twist and their party to solve this colorless mystery. This is a fun little project I'm coming back to after a few years! More info below.

Overall, this is a redraw of a game pitch illustration from a few years ago! I wanted to make it closer to my vision so I went extra cartoony. Since this is originally a game pitch for class, here's some ideas for the mechanics. ✿ RPG ✿ Turn based battles ✿ Rated E ✿ Mini games I'll be working on redrawing the other concept pieces for this project. Perhaps even dwell on the idea of turning this into a comic if not a game.

[griffinnorth]

I'm ready to talk about something I've been working on for a long time...

APOCALYPSE CHILD: A New Original Webcomic

I've been working on this project semi-secretly for awhile now, and I finally have enough work done on it that I feel confident and ready to share with you all what I'm working on.

What is Apocalypse Child?

It's a whole new original webcomic separate from Guild Wars 2 and Tora Steals Things ( @torasteals​ ). Almost every artist I know has a passion project or two that's been with them from their childhood and this one is mine. I've been world building and developing it for years, and I finally started the script for it roughly a year ago. It's near and dear to my heart and I'm both elated and terrified to even let you all know that it even exists.

Is it anything like Tora Steals Things?

No. Oh no this is a completely different beast...

Tora Steals Things is an episodic and mostly comedic series with a few darker stories here and there.

Apocalypse Child is an adventure story with an actual overarching plot, far less goofs and gags, and a generally more serious tone.

What's it about?

A nerdy archeologist, who wants to be a father, tries to raise a strange kid who might bring the world to ruin. That's its most basic premise.

In more detail...

Apocalypse Child is a story about Thunder, a mysterious and terrifyingly powerful boy who may be the most dangerous creature alive; Buzz Clarwin, the nerdy archeologist trying desperately to raise him as his own out of the kindness of his heart; and Roy Ilzura, a runaway Prince and the archeologist's best friend who is trying to save him from his newfound "son."

The three travel the world together - trying to piece together the mystery behind Thunder while exploring ancient magic ruins, fending off assailants from a secret society hellbent on murdering the boy, and discovering hidden truths about their world's long dead Gods.

If you like modern fantasy settings, ancient ruins, found family dynamics, fight scenes (lots of them), pretty boys (...look I'm not gonna deny it), elemental powers and races, and road trips (no I'm not kidding) - then this is probably your jam.

Cool so when can I read it?

There's no release date for this yet, but I can tell you where it is in development:

16 chapters of the first draft are finished

3 chapters are more or less ready for thumbnails

77% of the character designs are done for chapter 1

60% of the environment designs are done for chapter 1

Once the design work is done, I should be able to move into thumbnails and finally start the first chapter.

And from this day onwards, you'll actually get to see all this design work as I continue development!

What does this mean for Tora Steals Things?

It means a lot of things, but namely it means a change in its current update schedule. TST is now going to be updated every two weeks instead of every week, starting today. (It'll still be two weeks early for patrons on my patreon though)

This wasn't an easy decision to make, but it's one that had to be done. I've been trying to work on both Apocalypse Child and Tora Steals Things at the same time which simply wasn't working. TST eats up a lot of my time and doesn't leave a lot of room for other projects. In order for any of my other work to shine, it needs to take a backseat.

What can I expect to see in the future and where?

Changing TST's schedule to a bi-weekly one actually opens up possibilities for me on what I have time to work on. It means not only will I have more time for Apocalypse Child, but also other art. Here's what you can expect going forward:

Apocalypse Child Design Work:

This includes character design sheets, environment sketches, and concept art. I have a lot of this already so you can expect to see that here as early as next week.

New (and Old) Art:

Ever since starting Tora Steals Things, I've been hesitant to share any art not related to it which has resulted in me sitting on just a ton of art that no one beyond close friends have seen. Some of this art is a decade old! You can expect to see this art finally released for viewing here.

I'll also be making new illustrations going forward so you can expect to see those too.

You can find this design work and art being posted on my main blog here @griffinnorth​ , on my twitter (SoulBreather), on my instagram (griffinsdnorth), and two weeks earlier for patrons on my Patreon.

(Some of this art is NSFW btw, but those will only be posted to twitter just FYI)

Also there isn't a strict schedule for these like the comic, but you can expect to see something every week as usual - it just won't always be the comic like before.

Going Forward

As an artist I'm changing my direction and expanding what I create and share with you all. It's incredibly liberating to finally share with you some of the work I've been doing in secret for years, and I hope you're all as excited for it as I am.

There's a lot of cool stuff coming your way and this is just the start!

If you have questions, feel free to ask me!

[lietpolsecretsanta]

TO: @aph-poland || FROM: @bonjourxrenae

Hello and Merry Christmas to my Secret Santa Recipient! OwO I am very excited and honored to be your Lietpol Secret Santa this year!

I absolutely adored the prompts you had given, and I wrote a fic for you using as many of them as I possibly could! Specifically the “Gift of the Magi,” “Christmas During the Commonwealth/First Christmas Together,” and “Secret Pining for Best Friend” prompts! (I also drew a small picture to go with it… I’m not an artist type, but I got a little inspired ;;; I hope it’s okay!)

—————————————————————————————————

What can I give Him,

Poor as I am? –

If I were a Shepherd

I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man

I would do my part, –

Yet what I can I give him, –

Give my heart.

- Christina Rosetti (1872)

Only two markas and seventy-two fenigs to his name. Poland had counted them in his hand over and over, paced the floor of his small farmhouse until the numbers felt like gibberish in his mouth.

In spite of the success of the Golden Unity in the summer – the celebrations and feasts which lasted weeks on end – it hadn’t been the best harvest season. An early frost had decimated most of their crops, yet a decent earning had been made from the untouched grain. Winter had come early, and it was astonishing just how much the prices for kindling and firewood had risen. Though there hadn’t had much need for large dinners at Advent season, even the most basic ingredients for a loaf of bread had gotten much more expensive. It was the same for everything else.

It was a far cry from living in separate rooms within the palace gates, but the two of them – Poland, and his partner Lithuania – had decided on this quiet life of agriculture. They had wanted to work hard and know honesty, for they were of their people.

Poland counted again. Still only two markas and seventy-two fenigs. The sight made his stomach turn in worry, and he laughed to himself. Usually Lithuania was the one who worried the most about finances. This year was different! It was the first Christmas they would spend together here, and what a way to spend it, indeed!

It had occurred to Poland in the past century just how he had become accustomed to Lithuania always at his side. It had not been the easiest transition for Lithuania or his people, and yet he had always met those challenges with an open mind. He had been strong in adversity, and in his leadership, he had been stern and fair. It had earned Poland’s respect, and eventually his trust.

But only now, in the meager glow of the fireplace, did Poland come to grips with how he had changed in turn. He had gained confidence and a newfound perspective. He found himself lying around on haybeds less, and the proof of his labors showed in the hay-scratched callouses of his fingers. He’d become less selfish – and it would only be now, on Christmas Eve of all nights, that he had come to realize why.

It was Lithuania – and Poland’s feelings for him had grown into something other than an inkling that he would be an important person in his long life. In fact, Lithuania had become the most important person. A warmth had come to settle in Poland’s chest and spread to his cheeks, a warmth which gave way to a profound ache. It was possible that he was the only one who felt this way, that he was not the most important person to Lithuania. He had contemplated staying silent, had contemplated letting their friendship stay as it were in order to avoid rejection.

Even so, tomorrow would be their first Christmas together as a Commonwealth. Even with only two markas and seventy-two fenigs, Poland had wanted to give Lithuania a gift to show just how far he had come as a nation, and as a person, thanks to him.

Lithuania had once told Poland of his greatest possession. It had been an ancient blade forged for one of his first rulers, and had since been passed down through the ages to other great rulers and men. Lithuania had told him the story in quietly greening fields in the springtime; he could recall each hand the blade had touched. The names that passed his lips each brought a proud smile. He explained that it had been a reminder of who he was and where he had come from. Poland had listened closely, had felt himself resonate with that statement, and he hoped he could once day hold that smile for himself.

The sword itself was beautiful. Even after years of disuse, it had not rusted or dulled. As a fellow admirer of weaponry, Poland could not deny how special it was…

He pocketed the money and sat at the table, eyes rimmed red both from a lack of sleep and blotting out stubborn tears in the heels of his palms. What was he to do with such a small amount of money?

His hand then flew to the golden cross which hung around his neck on a sturdy thread. He traced over the precious metal, fingertips brushing the intricate detail. It had been given to him long ago by someone who had once cared very much about his well-being – a caretaker who attended him before he began his duties as a nation. Since it came into his possession it had served as a source of comfort, a talisman that filled him with courage and faith when he needed it most.

How he needed that courage and faith now…!

Poland stood from the table, wiped once more at his eyes, and steeled his resolve. He grabbed his cloak and walked quickly down the road until he came across the village. The vapor of his breath trailed behind him as he stepped timidly into the local smithy.

Kowalski was an older gentleman, having plied his trade alongside his father and his father before him. His skin was red from the heat of the forge’s flame and he glowed with a fresh sheen of sweat. Even in his old age, he seemed impossibly strong and large.

Poland took the necklace off of his neck and held it out to him. His arm trembled. “How much is this worth?” he asked.

The goldsmith carefully plucked the cross from his hand and examined it with an appraising eye: the gold filigree, the artfully set rubies all seemed to glint in the light of the forge.

Finally, he looked up to Poland with a smile. “I can offer you thirty markas for this piece.”

Poland was about to accept, when he noticed something that caught his eye. “… Would I be able to trade it for that? I can also give two markas for the trouble.”

He gestured up toward a gorgeously embellished scabbard. Gold and bronze decorated the throat, chape, and finial in intricate coils of patterns. The wood had been of the highest quality. It looked as if it had been made specially for Lithuania, and there were no others quite like it hanging there upon the wall. It was perfect.

Kowalski thought long and hard on it, until he finally relented. He took the cross and the two markas from Poland, and gave him the scabbard in return. Having thanked him repeatedly, Poland took back off into the snow with the scabbard clutched in his arms, and seventy-two fenigs to spare.

Now Lithuania had a suitable scabbard for his sword and he no longer had to wrap it in heavy cloth to protect it from the elements. He could also hold it at his side should he ever need to. I wish to be your sheath, to protect you and to uphold your strength. That was the form Poland chose for his feelings.

Their dinner simmered in the cauldron over the fireplace.

After a time, Poland began to fidget in his seat. Lithuania was never this late coming home…

He had begun to wonder if this had been a good idea after all. He had been quite content with being Lithuania’s friend, but now that they were a Commonwealth, many changes were expected of them. Their partnership had been hard wrought from the beginning, and now that Poland had become comfortable, there was this new feeling within him that threatened to change everything all over again.

He reached for his cross, but his hand came up empty.

Then he heard Lithuania’s footsteps crunching outside the door. Poland clasped his hands, elbows on the table. He had prayed many times in his life, many small prayers for everyday things. But now, Poland prayed fervently, “God, give me the strength to see this through. Please… let Lithuania still be my friend.”

The door opened and Lithuania tapped the snow from his boots before entering in. He wore a cloak similar to the one Poland had, though his had been tattered from many years of use. His hands were raw from the icy wind, and he cupped them over his mouth to breath warm air over them. Poland could see how tired he looked – for the past few days, he had seemed restless about something.

Lithuania’s expression changed as Poland rose from the table to greet him. He seemed worried.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, craning his head closer to examine him, “your eyes look red… are you ill?”

Poland rubbed at his eyes. “I’m not ill.”

“But you don’t look well.” Lithuania guided him back to the table and eased him into his chair.

“Don’t fuss over me,” Poland insisted, “I’m fine. In fact, I have a present for you.” He watched Lithuania’s face light up, and a small flame seemed to bloom in his chest at the sight.

Lithuania withdrew a small parcel from his cloak and placed it before Poland. “I have one for you too. I insist you open it first.”

Curious, Poland pulled at the twine that held the gift together. What spilled into the palm of his hand was something that shimmered and coiled in the glow of the fireplace.

A sturdy golden necklace chain.

“It’s for your cross,” Lithuania explained quietly, “I had noticed you keeping it on a thread… and thought you may like a new chain for it.”

Poland felt tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. It was a gorgeous chain, one that had been perfectly selected for him. And yet…

“Liet… it’s beautiful,” he said, clutching the glittering gift to his heart. It was all he could manage to say before the rest of the words were caught in his throat.

“Then why do you look like you’re going to cry?”

Poland got up and carefully retrieved his gift for Lithuania. “… I had sold my cross so that I could get you this. It’s a scabbard for your sword…”

This time, the look on Lithuania’s face was unreadable. He studied the scabbard, as if he were trying to process the connection between the gift and what Poland had just told him. He looked from his hands to Poland, and back again.

Poland blurted out, “I can always find another cross or pendant to wear with this! But I had wanted to give you something special, since this is our first Christmas as a Commonwealth… and we’ve been doing so well, in spite of this harvest… and I thought… this would be my way of telling you how much I—”

Before he could finish his thought, Lithuania had gathered him up in a hug. It wasn’t until he felt those arms fold around his waist that Poland returned his embrace.

“Thank you, Poland. This is a wonderful present.” His voice was low, and his breath brushed the top of Poland’s ear. It promptly warmed the rest of him as Lithuania pulled him close.

Unable to bear it any longer, Poland bashfully pulled away. “Well!” he said, changing the subject with a forced laugh, “why don’t we see if it’ll fit your sword? I think it will, but maybe it needs—”

“I sold it.”

“…I’m sorry?”

Lithuania sat down at the table and smiled up at him. “I sold it,” he repeated, “so that I could afford the chain.”

“But Liet, that sword meant a lot to you—”

Lithuania laughed softly. “It’s alright. I know who I am and where I come from. I don’t need an old sword to remember that.”

Poland felt his heart sink with guilt. “I see…”

“What’s important to me,” Lithuania continued, “is where I am now and what I do from here onward. And there is no one else I’d rather be moving forward with than you.”

A pause. Poland started a little. “…You really mean that?”

“Of course. We’re partners, after all.”

Upon that statement, Poland met his eyes. He saw how the glow of the firelight made them sparkle like embers, that earnest, sincere smile of his only drew Poland closer. There was something older in those eyes, something wiser than even the Magi themselves could behold.

Poland couldn’t help but fall all over again.

Then he pulled him up from his seat and spun him around in his arms, smiling wide and laughing. “Well, we’ll have to work hard so that next year’s harvest is the best!” And in his heart, he had truly meant it.

A sheath to protect and uphold one’s sword of strength.

A golden chain to support and uphold one’s cross of faith.

Poland hadn’t told Lithuania of his true feelings that Christmas Eve, but his message had been received regardless. There would be other times for such sentiments. There would always be times for words of gratitude. But in everything Poland and Lithuania would do from this night onward – they would always be actions of love.

[kathrynmaslow]

Love Lies 5/15

Summary: Ever since Emma was 13, she knew she had the ability to destroy people if she wanted to, and some days, she really wanted to. After being forced to go to Greenwood Academy following a traumatizing event in her childhood that brought to the surface her ability to manipulate fire, she never thought she would be free of the place. So for nearly 10 years, she lived a solitary existence with the exception of her best friends, but that was all about to change.

Killian Jones had just been sentenced to attend the university campus at Greenwood Academy after an accident at sea caused him to be dishonorably discharged from Her Majesty’s royal Navy and lose his hand. He doesn’t know what to think about these newfound powers and what they spell for the rest of his now not-so-normal life. But a chance encounter one day has the ability to change all of that.

A story about love and redemption between two people that shows, if you have the right person beside you, you can find a light in the darkness.

Rating: M Content Warnings: Mentions of Violence/Death, Brief mention of Childhood Abuse/Sexual Assault, Mild Sexual Content Chapter Notes: Chapter 5 is here folks! This is actually one of my favorite chapters in this entire work so I am excited for you to read it as well!

Check out the amazing art work that my artist @princesse-swan did for both chapter 3 on tumblr. Thanks again as always to my beta @daveyjacobsthepotterhead for taking this work and helping me turn it into something great. You are the literal best.

Read on FF

Catch up on Tumblr: One  Two  Three  Four

Art by @princesse-swan here

Chapter 5 Emma sat down on the edge of the wall surrounding the plant beds at the entrance to campus from the dorms. Unwrapping her grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, she looked out at the rows of dorm buildings lining the main walk onto the academic campus.

The sidewalks were abandoned, with nary a soul on campus to be found. Many of the students went home during the fall break about halfway through the term, and Emma took advantage of some time just to herself that she didn’t have to spend in her room.

While she enjoyed time with her friends while they were on campus, she did enjoy having the campus pretty much to herself during the breaks where everyone who wasn’t high risk got to go home. If she remembered correctly, after Elsa moved into a community in Alaska last summer, there were about 17 other students that had a full run of the campus to themselves.

Losing Elsa as a friend had been hard. She had arrived at the academy after Emma had, and could have been considered her polar opposite in every way. While Emma burned hot, Elsa burned cold, with extensive gifts of ice and snow, she proved quite the challenge for the staff to contain, considering that she could freeze off her suppression gear and not be affected by them at all. She was someone that Emma could relate to, someone who could understand the beast that prowled beneath her skin, and losing that confidant last semester had been something that she truly hadn’t fully bounced back from yet.

Taking a bite out of her sandwich, Emma just sat and watched the leaves fall from the trees.

o.O.o

Killian didn’t know what to think about how quiet the campus had become once fall break had begun.

Yes, he had been told that all the students who weren’t high risk students would be allowed to visit home for the two weeks that classes were on break, but he hadn’t realized how truly empty the campus would feel.

He spent the first two days of the break wandering around campus to see who was around.

A few of the administration members were lingering around with the multitude of security officers watching the campus, but he had only run into a handful of other students.

There was one gentleman named Eric, who had the power to create storms out of thin air. He was a perfectly nice guy, but after living 6 years of his life on a boat, he decided not to trust anyone who could sink a ship on a whim.

Another woman named Cruella had the ability to control people with her voice. How they regulated that power, Killian couldn’t fathom, but it was probably for the best.

On the third day, it seemed as though he was in luck.

While wandering through the abandoned floors of the library, he stumbled upon Emma bent over another drawing book sketching.

Thankfully she didn’t have any headphones over her ears this time, so he didn’t have any chance of ruining her artwork, but he still made the effort to make a bit of noise against the door as he walked in.

Emma looked up at him in shock.

“Killian, what are you doing here?” She asked.

“Wandering through the library, but I don’t suppose that is what you meant by the question.” He stated. He had never mentioned to her that he was a high risk student before and Killian had to imagine that this was a bit of a shock.

“I am so sorry, that completely came out wrong. However, that was what I had meant by the poorly phrased question.” Emma said, tucking her hair behind her ear as she flushed in what Killian presumed was embarrassment.

“It’s fine Swan, truly. I know you didn’t mean anything horrible by the remark.”

“I am a bit curious though, what kind of powers do you have that make you a high risk student?” Emma said, pushing her notebook to the side and leaning towards him.

He caught a glance at the notebook as it turned towards him slightly, and he grasped at the chance to change the subject. He didn’t even like thinking about his powers, so he really didn’t want to talk about them with someone else.

“Emma, this is amazing.”

It was, truly. Drawn out on the page was the image of a woman, long black hair hanging over her shoulders, one bloody hand clutching a dagger to her chest and the other grasping a heart. There was no color to the design yet, but she had shaded in where the blood was likely soaked into the woman’s hair and dress. The entire thing was hauntingly beautiful.

“I know an attempt to distract me when I hear it.” Emma said.

“I wasn’t trying to distract you, I genuinely like your art.” He retorted.

“I also am pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me. And while you do like peeking at my sketches, you were lying that this wasn’t a distraction.” Emma said, looking adorably smug when she said it.

He couldn’t help but smile in response. “Fine,” Killian said, rolling his eyes. “Maybe I was trying to get you off my tale, but I would prefer not to talk about this. It’s not something I am truly comfortable with and, while I do enjoy your company and think of you fondly like a friend, I don’t think this is something I can tell you about.”

Emma stared at him for a long moment before nodding her head.

“I can accept that, there are things about myself, and events that have happened to me that I don’t talk about to anyone else. I can understand needing time to process things that are traumatic before being able to open up to someone else.” She said.

“Since we aren’t talking about anything related to our powers or our past,” She said, pausing to look up at him meaningly. “Why don’t you tell me something that I probably wouldn’t know about you.” She said.

When Emma was smiling at him like that, He couldn’t deny her anything.

“I actually am a bit artistic myself. I do the occasional doodle.” Killian said.

Emma’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Really, I wasn’t expecting that.”

“There are a lot of things about me that you wouldn’t expect Swan.” He said, relishing the flush that spread across her face in response to his quirked eyebrow and tongue in cheek.

“Alright Killian, let’s see what you can do.” She said, pulling blank sheets from her book for the both of them and handing him a pencil.

“What do you want me to draw for you Love?” He asked, taking the pencil from her and working to move the paper into the position he wanted it in with his other wrist.

“Whatever inspires you right now.” She said.

He looked up into her bright green eyes and knew exactly what he wanted to draw.

“How long are you going to give me?” Killian asked.

“Let’s say, finish in an hour. Whatever you can finish by that point in time is what you’ve got.” Emma said.

“Challenge Accepted.” He said, turning to his work and beginning his attempt at replicating perfection.

o.O.o

Emma and Killian were spending the afternoon out in the courtyard between the college campus and the lower campus when they heard it.

Killian stopped mid-sentence in his retelling of how his brother got stuck by the back of his shorts in a tree when they were younger and cocked his head.

“Swan, does that sound like crying to you?” He asked.

Emma listened harder, facing further towards the lower campus where Killian was pointing towards. Sure enough, it did sound like someone was crying.

She stood, gesturing for Killian to follow, heading towards the lower campus.

Normally, students on the college campus were not allowed to venture onto the lower campus, but since it was a school break, students were allowed to roam the grounds as they pleased.

They walked past the first handful of buildings before they could finally locate the sound.

Curled into a ball between two of the buildings and crying into his hands was a boy with a mop of brown hair.

The young boy could have been no more than 12, which was incredibly young for someone to come to the academy.

But then again, Emma had arrived around that age as well.

Emma flashed back to one of her first days on the campus, reeling from being separated from her family and forced to move halfway across the country to a place she didn’t know and getting surrounded by people she was unfamiliar with.

She had also spent a few nights crying from the loss. The loss of her brother, the loss of her mother, the loss of the only home she had known.

The loss of her normal life.

She turned to see Killian watching her with a speculative gaze. She only shook her head at him.

Turning back to the little boy, she walked slowly towards him, since he still hadn’t noticed them standing there.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asked, crouching down in front of him.

The boy visibly started, looking up at her in surprise.

“What? Who are you?” He asked.

“My name is Emma, and this is Killian,” She said, gesturing behind her at Killian, who was still standing back from them at a good distance.

She noted that his blunt wrist was tucked behind his back.

“Are you okay?” She asked again.

The boy sniffled, nodding his head in agreement even though a few fat tears still escaped his eyes to fall down his cheeks.

“What’s your name?”

“Henry,” He said, sticking his hand out in greeting.

“Well Henry, it is a pleasure to meet you. When did you start your stay here?” Emma asked. He didn’t seem the type to be a new high risk student since he didn’t have any suppression items on that she could see, but you never know.

“My mom dropped me off this morning.” Henry said, sniffing loudly again, his lower lip quivering.

“Well, it sounds like you could use a friend, would you like to hang out with me and my friend for the rest of the day?” Emma asked.

Nodding his head, he stood up and fell into her extended arms.

He shook a little with quiet cries, and Emma rubbed his back in a soothing manner.

Killian came around in front of her, and placed his hand on the back of Henry’s shoulders and rubbed slow circles as well.

“You know Henry, I remember my first night that I spent away from all my family.” Killian said.

Henry pulled away from her slightly, turning to look at Killian.

“Really, I thought it was the most terrifying thing that could ever happen to me at the time.” Killian admitted. “Would you like to hear about it?”

“Is it a scary story?” Henry asked, standing fully away from Emma.

“Not really, it only seemed like it at the time. Why don’t you come for a walk with Emma and I, we had a lunch sitting out in the courtyard.” Killian stood, extending his gloved hand for Henry to take.

Emma smiled, watching Killian lead Henry towards their impromptu picnic sight, weaving an exaggerated story of a 20 year old man sleeping away from home for the first time, and crying himself to sleep.

Killian winked over his shoulder at her once he got Henry laughing at his story.

With that wink, Emma felt something she was pretty sure would grow into love start blooming under her breast.

o.O.o

Killian was walking around campus outside.

It was pretty close to the time he went to bed, but it was fixing to storm out, lightning streaking across the sky and thunder rolling in across the campus, and it made him restless.

The barrier surrounding the campus kept out all supposed threats against their safety, but unfortunately, couldn't prevent the rain from falling on them.

His thoughts were occupied with thoughts of Henry, that young lad they had found on campus earlier.

Emma had told Killian that he was a bit of an anomaly when he mentioned that his gifts had only just manifested at 25 years, but he didn’t know they could start showing that early.

The young lad hand only just turned 12 a few weeks ago, a fact the young lad had divulged to them while they were splitting ham and cheese sandwiches and cheetos in the middle of campus during the day.

He had something relatively minor as a gift, something that doesn’t require him to stay on campus during school breaks like him and Emma have to.

When they revealed that fact to the lad, it seemed to turn his entire spirit around, from sniffeling and sad to bright and chipper.

Almost a bit too bright, considering the lad started glowing on them.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he was pretty spooked when he heard a voice off to his left.

“Killian?”

He whirled around, and found Emma sitting on a low wall surrounding a garden in the yard.

“Emma, what are you doing out here?” he asked, tucking his hand into his pocket as he made his way over to her.

“I could ask you the same thing.” She said, watching as he came over and sat down next to her.

“Couldn’t sleep, decided to go for a bit of a walk.” He said, shrugging his shoulders a bit.

“Me neither.” Emma said, pulling one of her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around it, resting her chin on her knee.

“Yeah, but I couldn’t sleep because of the storms, I don’t think that was the case for you. What’s vexing you love?”

Emma turned to look at him, but once she noticed him looking at her, she turned her face away.

A flash of lightning across the sky lit up her face for a split second, and Killian could have sworn he saw tear tracks tracing down her cheeks.

It wasn’t until after the rumble of thunder rolled over campus a couple of seconds later that she began to talk.

“I started at the academy here when I was 13, not much older than Henry is. I guess seeing him today brought back some memories of when I first arrived here.”

“I can’t even imagine what that would have been like.” He said, when it became obvious that she wasn’t going to continue. It was so unlike her to open up about anything to him when it came to how she started at the academy, so he was going to have to take it as it came.

“It was lonely.” She said, still not looking at him.

Killian watched a few more bolts of lightning flash across the sky, the air becoming damp and oppressive as the storm continued its advance towards them.

Neither one of them made any move to leave and avoid getting poured on, but Killian wasn’t inclined to leave her alone.

He never could leave her like this.

“I lost everything. Henry gets to keep his family, he gets to go back to his mom, see his dad, and play with his brothers and sister. I got none of that.” She looked over to him, her eyes rimmed in red, and something in Killian’s chest tightened.

She had obviously been out here a while before he had happened upon her.

“My mother disowned me, my father was already long gone, and I haven’t seen my older brother, my best friend and partner in crime, in person in almost ten years. I didn’t get to see him get married and I didn’t get to see the birth of my niece. And it’s not fair.”

Something in her voice cracked when she said “fair”, and Killian wanted desperately to pull her into his arms and give her a hug, but she was so closed off that he didn’t think it would be well received.

At that moment, the heavens decided to open up and the rain came pouring down on the two of them.

Killian looked up at the sky, the rain hitting his face with wet plops that made water run into his eyes and he blinked rapidly to clear them.

Turning to look at Emma, he felt the rain continue to soak into his hair and shirt, and he wondered absently if it would ruin the mechanics in his glove getting them this wet.

Getting a good look at Emma for a second, he had to choke back on a laugh.

“What?” She said, hearing his choked off laugh and turning to face him after looking up at the storm clouds above them as well.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, truly love. But you’re steaming.” Indeed, little wiffs of steam were rising from where the rain was splattering down onto her bare skin.

He pressed his lips together in an effort to keep himself under some measure of control.

But it seemed to be in vain as a large smile broke out on her face, wiping away the lingering sadness in her expression from their conversation.

“Did I never mention that I may run a bit warmer than a normal person?” She said, chuckling a bit as she asked him.

“No, but that might be a useful thing, considering that I am now soaking wet and cold.” Killian laughed.

“Oh no you don’t, that is entirely your own fault.” Emma said, moving away as he leaned towards her, but it wasn’t in fear of him. No, she could tell he was playing with her.

“Come here and warm me up Emma!” He said, lunging after her.

She leapt off of the wall with stunning speed, darting across the yard in a blur of damp blond hair trailing behind her.

And as he chased her around, moving after her and sliding around in the mud enough to cause them both to burst into further hysterics, something warm bloomed up in his chest.

It felt like the first ray of sunshine after a storm, and he wanted to hold onto that feeling as long as he could.

Wrapping his arms around her from behind as they both went sliding through another patch of mud, Killian pulled her close as he tried to keep them both upright.

They were both laughing as he turned her around to look at him, her arms coming around him in turn.

Something in her expression changed, some of the laughter and lightness transitioning into something curious.

His eyebrows pinched together, getting ready to ask her what she was thinking about when Emma pushed up on her toes and pressed her lips to his.

It was like that first ray of sun, and when the seas are calm and the sky is blue, and that first bite of fresh summer fruit after a long, cold and dark winter.

Her lips were soft against his, and he pressed back, tightening his arms around her and forming his lips more firmly with hers.

They broke apart with a start when a peel of thunder began right above them.

She gave him a tentative smile, and took his hand. “Come on sailor, let’s get you out of the rain.”

o.O.o

The rain had fried some of the electronics in his glove, and he couldn’t move his fingers the next day, but he wouldn’t have changed that night for anything.

[softchenlele]

SKZ secret Santa 2018

hi, this is admin kitty! i’m sorry to be so late, but here’s your present, @mmulti !! I hope you like it!!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and for their second Christmas together as Stray Kids, they’re having a little festive dinner. Jeongin is happily humming along his playlist, setting the table up, decorating the dorms, dancing a little, while the hyungs are out for a last grocery run. Hyunjin had forgotten to buy some salmon (“how could you‼”) and they were fresh out of drinks (“if we can’t have wine, let us have cola‼”); so the youngest decided to stay and finish setting up as he waited for everyone to come back.

So many things had changed since last Christmas. First of all, they had officially debuted; the nine of them standing together at their debut showcase had felt surreal. Enthusiastic fans standing by them and cheering them on, they put out another album, and then a third one, stages following each other, music shows, variety shows, all so fast. It really felt like a blur, a hazy dream, and Jeongin wouldn’t ever want to wake up. He’d wanted that for too long for it just to fade, all the hard work, all the sleepless nights, he’s so proud of it, and he hopes his family is proud too.

Setting nine plates on the table, nine spoons, nine pairs of chopsticks, nine glasses, he thinks about his newfound brothers, not of blood but of heart. Don’t get him mistaken though, he really thinks that bond is stronger than anything. Blood is thicker than water? Chan told him the saying is incomplete anyway. He’s really thankful for the leader, he’s the one who brought them together, and as such he earned so much respect from everyone. He’d watched him work at stupidly late hours so many times before, falling asleep in front of his computer, always working on new music; Chan truly was a force to be reckoned with.

Baby maybe you know me pretty well

That’s why I see your worried look

Closing his eyes, Jeongin sings along to the voice coming out of the speakers. He thinks of Woojin, Woojin and his wonderful voice, a unique tone recognizable between a thousand. Caring, sweet, skilled and trustworthy Woojin, always bettering himself. Minho, confident, strong and passionate, although sometimes cheesy with cameras but never too careless. Changbin, who insists his concept is “dark”, Jeongin can’t help but laugh at the thought. Badass maybe, but no one will ever manage to convince Jeongin that his Binnie-hyung is dark.

Take my hand, let’s go anywhere

Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix and Seungmin, the loud and energetic boys of 2000, pop into his mind, four bright smiles and cheerful voices. Hyunjin, once overlooked by fans or only seen for his looks, carved himself a spot in everyone’s hearts through dancing, and his charisma on stage is nothing to scoff at either; as for Jisung, Jeongin thinks his raps are really cool. Have you heard his part in District 9?? Wonderful. Magical. Felix… Felix went through a lot. From the boy who couldn’t speak well to the boy who adds shine to their songs, he had to possess quite some strength to pull through. Jeongin is grateful for him, and so, so thankful that he got to debut with him; he wouldn’t have it any other way. And finally, there is Seungmin, boy of many talents, like MCing or savageness, to name a few besides singing. He’s caring, snarky, quick-witted, often teases Jeongin, but that’s brotherly love, right?

No matter when, you’re always by my side

Indeed they are, and as he puts the last finishing touches on the table, he can only wish for many more Christmases together. The thought puts a soft smile on his lips, and as he goes to check on the tteokbokki, he finds himself full-on singing now. The next song plays and as he’s nodding along to Day6’s songs, he can’t help but picture Seungmin going absolutely wild over them. Kim Seungmin truly is a successful fanboy, he thinks, and that makes for extremely funny moments.

The door opens and eight boys spill in the living room, carrying a few bags and dropping them on the table. They all share a can of soda, finally resting for the day, gathered around the coffee table, and as he looks around at the people with him, Jeongin feels a warm something settle in his chest. Now, he knows what people mean when they talk about a home far from home. It’s a place where you belong and feel at ease, where you can be just yourself and no one else, surrounded with people you love. Maybe it’s far from his home and family, but he feels safe here, with his hyungs gathered around. Everyone shares stories of past Christmases, Felix in Australia making not snowmen but sandmen on the beach, Jisung with his parents playing card games, Minho watching movies with his family, cuddled up on a couch…

And then it hits him that this is the first Christmas he spends without his parents, without his brothers, and his heart tightens a little. He loved to see the eyes of his little brother fill with stars as he opened his gifts, his father always taking pictures of them all, and smiles everywhere he looked; Jeongin’s eyes get a little watery, he misses his family so much sometimes. But they’re in Busan, and he still has to wait before he can see them. Chan notices the forlorn look on his face, which Jeongin didn’t notice he was making.

“Jeonginnie, is something the matter?”

Jeongin’s eyes widen, scrambling for a response. “Ah, no… It’s nothing! I was just thinking that a lot of things happened to us this past year…”

Minho chuckles. “That’s an understatement! 2018 might have been the most exciting year of my life‼”

“It sure was a busy year,” Felix pipes up, “but seeing where it got us, it really was worth it all!”

Jeongin smiles at his teammates fondly. Ever the optimists, the whole lot of them. This year was also such a bright year, he recalls, the nervousness and anticipation of the debut showcase, the smiles during promotions on music shows, meeting all the Stays who came from far away to attend fanmeetings, those were really good times. Everyone goes to sit at the table, and again he thinks about his parents back home, and about how many things he’d talk about, how many stories he’d tell them around a good cup of tea and some snacks. And the Rookie awards at the end-of-the-year shows, Jeongin still can’t believe they’re real; that he held them in his hands, that he didn’t dream it all up. Performing on huge stages, before a sea of people and famous senior artists is a sight he thinks will be burned forever in his retinas and his memory, a sight at the same time eerie and painfully real as he remembers the stress he felt while going up on stage. But once you’re up there, there’s no turning back, no escaping, and so you give it everything you’ve got, give the people a run for their money, because it’s the only thing left for you to do. You have to make it just as memorable for them as it was for you. With that sole thought in mind, Jeongin became someone else; he sang with all his heart, danced with all his strength, and though he might be still lacking here and there, he goes up on the stage to enjoy it.

Hyunjin goes to the kitchen and brings back the pots that were simmering on the stove, one containing spicy tteokbokki, the other with a generous quantity of spaghetti bolognese (Seungmin had been craving that for a week, he was getting insufferable, so… merry Christmas?). Everyone immediately digs in, and the table goes silent, but as his mom says: when a table is silent, it means the food is good! The pots quickly diminish as they all eat their fill, feeling happy and contented, like a good meal together makes you feel. Jeongin can’t lie, he really loves this feeling, and napping afterwards is the best feeling in the world, he loves to do just that when he has some time. Then Jisung goes to get the dessert, a chocolate cake that looks a bit like a wood log; Chan had told him once that it’s traditional in France, but he had no clue as to why they made the cakes look like logs and not, like, reindeers? Sleighs? Wouldn’t that feel more Christmas-y?

They all choose that time to exchange gifts, Changbin gets brand new earphones, Seungmin a pretty new jacket, courtesy of Felix, and Woojin even teased Chan by getting him a very soft, comfortable-looking neck pillow. Jeongin looks around, and finds Chan holding out a letter for him to take.

Jeongin,

Maybe you thought you wouldn’t get anything? Don’t worry, your hyungs did prepare something.

Open the front door.

Jeongin stares at Chan, puzzled, looks to Seungmin, then Minho, but everyone has the same conspiratory smile, and so he slowly makes his way to the front door of the dorm, opening it slowly.

He almost falls on his butt when he sees the gift.

His parents are standing right here, in front of him! They came all the way up from Busan, just in time to visit him for Christmas, and he feels like he’s either about to spontaneously combust, or start bawling then and there. He settles for the latter, and tears pour out as he buries himself in his parents’ embrace, he’d missed them so much that hugging them tight is the only thing he can do at that point.

His eight friends are watching him fondly, clearly proud of the effect of their gift. “We didn’t exactly go only to the convenience store earlier”, says Changbin, “we had to perfect our timing with your parents. It was actually Felix’s idea though, so make sure to thank him”, he finishes with a smirk.

Jeongin frees himself of his parents’ hold after a moment, turns around and without missing a beat, goes for a group hug with the best bandmates ever. His voice trembles a bit when he speaks again. “This is the best gift you could have ever gotten me. I love you guys so much.”

Chan is the one who answers him.

“We’re so proud of you, really. Merry Christmas, we love you, Jeonginnie.”

[addressedtothefire]

This is beautiful, and also it’s interesting to see which songs Taylor picks to cover since they both serve as a simple case study of how the lyrical tropes Taylor tends to use have been used by other artists and throughout pop music’s history, and, for songs Taylor grew up listening to, it shows how the specifics of these songs have influenced her songwriting. So:

Taylor Swift’s lyrical tropes on display in Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September”

The specificity of dates, times, ages, and seasons

Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”: “Do you remember the 21st night of September?" “Now December found the love that we shared in September.”

Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw” (2006): “September saw a month of tears...”

Taylor Swift, “Back to December” (2010): “I think about Summer, all the beautiful times” “Realized I loved you in the fall” “You held me in your arms that September night / the first time you ever saw me cry” “And I go back to December all the time”

Taylor Swift, “Last Kiss” (2010): “I still remember the look on your face / lit through the darkness at 1:58 ... That July 9th, the beat of your heart...”

Taylor Swift, “Innocent” (2010): “It’s okay, life is a tough crowd / 32 and still growing up now” “Time turns flames to embers / you’ll have new Septembers”

Taylor Swift, “Begin Again” (2012): “I’ve been spending the last eight months / thinking all love ever does / is break and burn and end / but on a Wednesday in a cafe / I watched it begin again.”

Taylor Swift, “Fifteen” (2008) and “22” (2012): [Everything specific to these ages]

Taylor Swift, every song she’s written (2006-2018): “2 am...”

NB: This trend of Taylor songwriting with specific dates, times, and numbers sprinkled into the lyrics ends with the albums 1989 and reputation, albums which marked the eras in which Taylor became more protective of her personal life and stopped clueing her fans into how her songs related to events in her life with specificities and revealing “secret messages” hidden in her liner notes.

The idea of “pretenders,” especially those conquered by love:

Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”: “Love was changing the minds of pretenders”

Taylor Swift, "Long Live” (2010): “I was screaming ‘long live all the magic we made’ / and bring on all the pretenders / I’m not afraid.“ Taylor Swift, “Call It What You Want” (2018): “All the jokers dressing up as kings / they fade to nothing when I look at him.”

Memory

Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”: “Do you remember...?” “Remember how the stars stole the night away. ... Say that you’ll remember. . . . Remember the true love we share today.”

Taylor’s songs often mention memory in one of the three ways EWF’s lyrics do above: Asking a lover if they remember a certain event; imploring a lover to remember an event or the relationship as a whole; and/or imploring them to remember an event or relationship in a specific manner.

Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw” (2006): “When you think Tim McGraw / I hope you think my favorite song / someday you’ll turn your radio on / I hope it takes you back to that place / when you think happiness / I hope you think that little black dress / think of my head on your chest / and my old faded blue jeans”

Taylor Swift, “Fearless” (2008): “In this passenger’s seat / you put your eyes on me / in this moment now / capture it / remember it” 

Taylor Swift, “Mine” (2010): “Do you remember we were sittin' there by the water?...Do you remember all the city lights on the water?...you said ‘I remember how we felt sittin’ by the water.’”

Taylor Swift, “Enchanted” (2010): “This night is sparkling / don’t you let it go”

Taylor Swift, “Last Kiss” (2010): “And I hope the sun shines / and it’s a beautiful day / and something reminds you / you wish you had stayed.”

Taylor Swift, “Long Live” (2010): “I said remember this moment / in the back of my mind...I said remember the feeling” “Promise me this...if you have children someday / when they point to the pictures / please tell them my name / tell them how the crowds went wild / tell them how I hope they shine.”

Taylor Swift, “All Too Well” (2012): I was there, I remember it all too well...you were there, you remember it all...”

Taylor Swift, “Wildest Dreams” (2014): “Say you’ll remember me / standing in a nice dress / staring at the sunset, babe” “you’ll see me in hindsight / tangled up with you all night / burnin’ it down”

Taylor Swift, “Out of the Woods” (2014): “Remember when you hit the breaks too soon? ... remember when we couldn’t take the heat?”

NB: There’s also not much to the theme of memory presented on Taylor’s newest, reputation. It’s worth noting that the few specific details and events that are present on reputation (“Dive bar on the east side, where you at?” “Whiskey on ice / Sunset and Vine” “I’m spilling wine in the bathtub / you kiss my face and we’re both drunk” “All these nights we're spending / up on the roof with a school girl crush / drinking beer out of plastic cups”) are either verbless, ripped from time, or else described -- unlike virtually all of Taylor’s past work -- in present rather than past tense, giving the sense of actions and a relationship that are immediate and ongoing. Taylor’s telling change of Earth, Wind & Fire’s line “the 21st night of September” to “the 28th night of September” on this Spotify single calls back to the fearlessness of an earlier Taylor, one unafraid of sharing details of her life for the fear of the media and fandom-led scavenger hunts they might inspire. The tranquil self-assurance on display in that lyric change is, to me, the ultimate representation of Taylor’s newfound, “You Are in Love,” “Call It What You Want” and “New Years Day”-like understanding of the nature of a soft, quiet, confident real love.

[adacarisi]

ohh!! Mike Dodds & his s/o's first time (she's a virgin) :)

I like! Damn this took a hot minute to write but it is STEAMY. Go forth and sin my children. 100% SMUT

When had life gotten so damn busy? When had you become an adult with responsibilities, more importantly an adult with a boyfriend, a very handsome, serious one at that. Mike Dodds was just as busy as you were and under more pressure. His new ‘gig’ as Sergeant at SVU was turning out to be more of a mental and emotional investment than he had thought. 

But finally you both had a night off for the first time in weeks. You were determined to make this the night. The Night. Mike knew you were a virgin, you had told him a few weeks after you had started dating. He was shocked initially, unable to believe that someone as beautiful as you hadn’t been loved the way he wanted to love you. 

He insisted that everything be perfect, special because after all it was you. You told him you didn’t need everything to be perfect you just needed him. You were too far in now and you knew you had fallen in love with him. 

Mike wouldn’t be home for a few hours so you had time to make him some dinner before putting on the expensive lingerie you had bought a few weeks after you started dating him. 

But when you opened the apartment door he was standing there, with that smug smile he knew you couldn’t stand. The living room was covered in red and yellow rose petals and already lit candles. You couldn’t help wondering if he was trying to fuck you or set you on fire. 

“Hey.” His voice was just as gruff as always, rough and low, the sound of it a wonderful melody to your ears. 

“Hey…what’s all this?” You gestured to the display in the living room as you shut and locked the door behind you. 

“I told you…I want it to be special…I want everything to be special for you. I even got wine, Barba’s recommendation.” 

“Oh.”

“I mean we don’t have to…I just thought…”

You walked to him and softly pressed a kiss to his soft lips, his scruff tickling you as you hummed against them in content. 

“I just thought too.” You replied sweetly brushing some of his hair away from his eyes. 

“Are you sure?” He stroked his hand across your still chilled cheek and watched your features for any tell of hesitation. 

“Mike, I’ve been sure since the moment I met you.” It was cliche but true. 

And was there anything more hateful than when your life became a cliche.

Without a word more he brought his lips to yours once again, only harder, with intent and design. You jumped up and wrapped yourself around him, knowing he was more than strong enough to carry you two times over. 

His hand snaked up your back and into your hair, pulling it lose from the bun you had been keeping it in. Mike backed you against the wall of your living room and pressed himself into you, slowing the kiss to an agonizingly leisurely pace. Mike rocked you against the wall and your hands desperately clawed at his form fitting white dress shirt. 

Somehow, he balanced your weight between his lower half and the wall because he used both of his hands to pin your arms to the wall behind you before continuing his worship. He sucked from your jaw to your clavicle, wetly, passionately, tasting you as if he would never have the chance again. 

You moaned his name, once, twice, three times before he raised his eyes to yours again. He looked different. You couldn’t name it, the change in his eyes. Gentle, wide, even innocent perhaps. 

He dropped your arms and instead cradled your face before kissing you so purely, so lovingly you thought your heart might stop. 

Then as you wrapped your arms around his neck, he wrapped his arms around you, hoisting you higher as he carried you into his bedroom. 

He laid you carefully on the bed, rolling your shirt up to your ribs before placing a wet kiss on your belly. Mike trailed his tongue down from your belly button to the edge of your pants, those pants he tugged down in a sharp motion a few moments later.  

Mike paused for a moment, running a flat hand over the front of your pelvis before lifting your legs over his shoulders. Still covered by your panties you moved forward, desperate for him to touch you in the place you needed him so badly. 

Suddenly he licked you with his entire tongue through the fabric. It was terrifying how positively delicious it felt. Your hips moved upwards and you nearly cried as he did it again and again before lowering you to pull them off entirely. 

You whimpered softly as he kissed up your calf, nipping with a smile at your inner thigh before doing the same with your other leg. When he finally had his face between your legs you couldn’t stop hyperventilating. Your chest felt like it was about to capsize under the weight of your desire. You watched him as he lowered his face all while maintaining eye contact and bit into you. 

That’s what it felt like, a huge bite, though there was minimal use of teeth he consumed you ravenously, licking and tasting with the passion of an artist on the verge of finishing a masterpiece. Mike sucked your clit softly almost in a kiss before sliding one long finger into you. 

You clenched around him, unfamiliar with the sensations you were experiencing. He moved it slowly, watching your face as well as he could through your expressions and motions of pleasure. 

He continued to lick at you before introducing another finger, stretching you wider as he moved them in and out very mindful of your comfort. 

“Mike…” You moaned, ready and very nearly desperate from the sensitive state he had brought you to.

He pulled away from you and removed his shirt as you removed yours, quickly but still taking time to notice the newfound exposure of the other. You unclasped your bra, not wanting to wait any longer and Mike sighed almost heartbrokenly.

“What?” You asked suddenly anxious at his reaction.

“You’re perfect. Why do you have to be so perfect?” He shook his head and stepped out of his pants before crawling on top of you. 

Your sweet man. Never in a thousand years would you have expected to hear that from him. 

“Kiss me baby.” You cooed as he wove his arms under yours and lifted you towards him. 

His eyebrows knit together as he melded his lips with yours, absorbing you as much as he could, memorizing the feel of your warm, smooth skin, the smell of your hair. He realized then he would never have enough time with you. 

Mike helped you raise a leg over his back before reaching between you to stroke himself a few times. 

“Just say the word.” He watched you carefully reminding you that this only went as far as you wanted it to.

You nodded your head and he pushed slowly against you. You barely yielded at first, then there was the pressure, the pain that said stop. You felt tears sting at your eyes but immediately found comfort in Mike’s large ones directly above you. 

You relaxed as best you could, reminding yourself that your body was designed for this, but also that you could stop anytime you wanted. 

There was one more burst of pain before you felt him fill you. 

“Hey…hey…you ok?” He stroked your cheekbone with a thumb as he kept completely still, fearful of causing you any further pain. 

“Yeah…just go slow hmmm?” You spoke, your voice a little watery as he kissed your forehead softly before moving back to your lips. 

He rolled his hips back carefully making you gasp softly at the motion, before he rolled them forward, every move was calculated and ginger, he really did love you. 

“I’ve got you babe…I’ve got you.” He whispered as he continued to move, your discomfort dissipating by the second. 

You smoothed your hands over the strong prominent muscles of his back as they worked, flexing slowly under your fingertips. 

When you were confident you could handle more you told him so and he moved a bit faster and harder, making you moan and whine in bliss. He didn’t moan, so much as grunt. His sounds were almost resistant, inhibited, restricted. You squeezed his forearm and pressed your lips to his softly before moaning into his panting, open mouth.

“Let go baby, let go.” As you spoke he lowered even more onto you, drawing further out before sliding back in. 

And then he moaned, god it was the most beautiful sound you had ever heard, you nearly climaxed just hearing it. 

“That’s it baby, tell me how good it feels.” You egged him on with your words as you felt and heard him crumble around you. 

He slipped a hand to your clit and surprised you by pressing it firmly before massaging you, immediately bringing you to your edge. 

His thrusts were shorter now and you could sense he was just as close as you were. You bit his ear as he pressed his face into your neck before whipping his head up, his eyes piercing yours. You both moaned in unison before he snapped into you one last time, exacting a scream of pleasure from you and a strangled series of moans from him. 

You contracted tightly around him, making him fall on top of you unable to withstand the pleasure as he emptied himself inside of you. 

Mike pulled himself out of you and you gave a little whimper, aggrieved by the loss of him. He made up for this by pulling you onto his chest as tightly as he could, inhaling you in as he kissed the slightly damp skin of your forehead. 

“You know what.” You spoke suddenly breaking the peaceful silence.

“What?”

“I forgot my lingerie. I bought lingerie.” You groaned remembering how special it had been and how excited you were to wear it for him.

“Hey, hey, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to give them a run for their money sweetheart.” He laughed almost in disbelief as he ran a comforting hand up and down the length of your arm. 

“I can’t wait.” You grinned up at him before biting his bottom lip before kissing over it softly.

“Me either. I love you.” He looked very serious for a moment, studying your face with an intensity that made your heart swell.

“I love you too.” You kissed him once more before settling into the home you had made on his broad chest. 

Thus began the long, long tale that consisted of Mike Dodds spending thousands of dollars on lingerie, all to make up for your forgetfulness and impatience. You were glad you waited, you were glad the time had never come before him, because he, Mike Dodds, was worth every second of the wait.  

[fuckyeahcharmcaster]

10 Reasons why “The Charm Offensive” is infinitely better than “Couples Retreat”

Charmcaster falls in love with Michael Morningstar, who emotionally manipulates her for her magic power so that he can achieve his own goals. This is the main premise of both “Couples Retreat” from Ultimate Alien and the recent “The Charm Offensive” from the reboot. So why is it that the former is so reviled by many, myself included, while the latter has been pretty well received by many, myself included? I think I can answer that by providing 10 simple reasons.

1. Charm’s new origin gives her a logical reason to fall for Mike: “Couples Retreat” gave no reason whatsoever as to why Charmcaster would become romantically interested in Michael Morningstar beyond the most shallow basis of “he’s so beautiful”, plus the baffling line of “I finally found a boy who likes me”, as if this was some sort of long-running goal of her’s. “The Charm Offensive” solves this problem through the changing of Charm’s origin...she was a regular, nerdy fangirl of Michael Morningstar, a famous teen heartthrob actor in this continuity, before she gained her magic powers and supervillain identity. Those feelings didn’t disappear just because she changed in other respects - they still remained as a “weakness”.

2. She’s also an actual teenager: In “Couples Retreat”, Charm is written like a lovestruck teenage girl, but the problem is that she’s canonically not - she’s 21 years old, and we are not given Mike’s exact age: if he isn’t 18 or isn’t from a state where 17 is the age of consent, then Charm is indulging in some very inappropriate behavior, possibly outright statutory rape. In the reboot, she’s anywhere between 13 and 15 years old, as Mike seems to be...if anything, Mike is now the inappropriate one since despite appearances, he’s actually centuries old!

3. It isn’t a direct follow-up to anything major: If any episode can compete with “Couples Retreat” as the worst Charmcaster episode ever, it would be “The Enemy of My Frenemy”. And part of why “Couples Retreat” is so bad is that it directly follows that episode, and yet does nothing to continue any sort of plot or character progression set up there, nothing to alleviate the pain caused by that epiosde. All it does is leave Charm an emotional wreck for the second time in a row. “The Charm Offensive” is just a distant follow-up to “Bright Lights, Black Hearts”, an episode that took place last season, so it doesn’t have the same baggage.

4. No Ledgerdomain: Ledgerdomain sucks. It really does. It’s supposed to be the source of all magic and yet is an unimaginatively empty, boring place that only serves as a backdrop to events and nothing more. It has thankfully been axed in the reboot, so “The Charm Offensive” takes place on Earth, at Fort Knox’s local Biggie Box supermarket, and the episode actually makes use of the things that kind of location has to offer, which makes it more interesting. 

5. No Kevin: Nothing about Kevin worked in “Couples Retreat”. His hypocritical dismissal of Charm as a “complete nutjob” was infuriating, his single-minded thuggery as a solution to everything was cringy (especially when you remember that he used to be a clever con artist in Alien Force), and the entire subplot of him and Gwen having a petty argument was an unnecessary waste of time, with a mindbogglingly stupid resolution where Gwen decides he’s a pretty good boyfriend not because he makes up for what he did or because they come to an understanding with each other, but only because he’s better than Mike. Without Kevin, the focus in “The Charm Offensive” is kept solely where it belongs: on Gwen, Charm and Mike.

6. Mike is truly intimidating: Sure, Mike in “Couples Retreat” was powerful within Ledgerdomain, but he was not intimidating. In fact, he was even more of a joke than he was in “Absolute Power” - constantly bewildered by Charm’s advances, not communicating things with her even when it would be beneficial to him, loudly ranting and raving about goals he has that she wouldn’t be keen on within earshot of her, and being unable to remember a simple four-letter name when it mattered. He only succeeded in manipulating Charm because she too was written like an idiot. In “The Charm Offensive”, Mike is frighteningly sadistic, ruthless and psychotic, and is more outright abusive toward Charm than just manipulative. And his downfall is that his boasts are recorded and played back, rather than him making them right in front of Charm and then failing to remember her name (ironically, “Heather” actually IS Charm’s name this time around - UA!Mike would be so envious of his reboot self for that!)

7. Gwen is a proactive heroine: In “Couples Retreat”, Gwen spends two-thirds of the episode squabbling with Kevin and not accomplishing anything. In the last third, she attempts to reason with Charmcaster while the boys fight it out, but fumbles it completely, and it’s only Mike’s own stupidity that resolves the problem. In “The Charm Offensive”, Gwen takes direct action in order to solve the conflict, physically attacking Mike in order to protect Charm from having her energy drained in addition to using words of reason, and being the one to expose Mike’s true nature to her by playing back the store’s security footage of when he was verbally dismissing her as being just a living battery to him. Here, Gwen is unquestionably the hero.

8. The subject matter is handled with respect: “Couples Retreat” is despicable in how it handles its mature subject matter - Charm is portrayed as a mentally damaged girl with daddy issues who is “giving it away” to a guy, something said guy recognizes and takes advantage of. Sympathizing with her is easy yet also complicated due to both the age gap question and some of her previous appearances, and none of this is actually addressed within the episode’s narrative. It’s unpleasant just for the sake of it, yet its writer seemed to think it was “fun”. By contrast, “The Charm Offensive” deals with an abusive relationship, with Mike being a predatory celebrity taking advantage of a fan with self-esteem issues, and it actually addresses this problem and makes a statement about it. Plus, as is common for the reboot, the jokes and action on the side is fun, balancing well with the dark subject matter.

9. The resolution is truly empowering: So, how did “Couples Retreat” end, and resolve the issue at hand? With an angry Charm overpowering and de-powering Mike completely off-screen, robbing the audience of needed catharsis, before turning him over to Ben, Gwen and Kevin to beat up, also completely off-screen. The last shot is Charm looking sad and lonely in the rubble of her castle, staring wistfully at Mike’s mask - left with nothing. How “fun”. But “The Charm Offensive” has us actually get to see Charm’s magical beatdown of Mike, which is glorious. Asserting her own power and a new self-confidence, Charm then graciously leaves Ben and Gwen be, while saying that she and Gwen will be enemies if they happen to cross paths again, and the last shot is Gwen celebrating that she has her own arch-enemy now. Basically, the abusive guy has been defeated, and both of his female victims are more self-confident and ready to continue empowering themselves through their newfound rivalry. And that leaves you with such a good feeling, especially compared to “Couples Retreat”!

10. It actually matters in the long run: “Couples Retreat” accomplished nothing. It didn’t develop anyone or follow through with “Enemy of My Frenemy” despite directly following it, and Mike’s presence and references to his and Charm’s relationship in the Charmcaster arc of Omniverse was utterly pointless and only there for cheap laughs. “The Charm Offensive” is not only an actual follow-up to a previous episode, but it’s the first appearance of Charm in the reboot and the establishing of her and Gwen’s dynamic. It’s important to the series.

[architectnews]

Young V&A London: Museum of Childhood

Young V&A London Museum of Childhood Renewal, Bethnal Green Architecture Design by AOC

Young V&A London: Museum of Childhood Building

29 September 2021

Young V&A London: Museum of Childhood Update

Building Design: De Matos Ryan ; Redevelopment lead designers: AOC

V&A Museum of Childhood renamed Young V&A as construction begins on £13m transformation

• New acquisitions for display include Olympian Sky Brown’s skateboard, garments from Bethany Williams’ Spring / Summer 2021 ‘All Our Children’ collection in collaboration with The Magpie Project and a 3D printed prosthetic Hero Arm by Open Bionics

• New renders unveiled today reveal progress on the design scheme

• Programme of activity kicks off ahead of 150th celebrations in 2022 and reopening in 2023

Images by Picture Plane © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Young V&A London: Museum of Childhood Building News

Wednesday 29 September 2021 – Construction has begun on the £13m redevelopment of the V&A Museum of Childhood, the iconic Grade II* listed site in Bethnal Green, marking a critical milestone in the most ambitious transformation of the museum in its history. A place to play, create, debate and design for tomorrow, this beloved institution is being reimagined into the UK’s premier national museum entirely dedicated to children. Designed with and for 0–14-year-olds, a new name for the museum – Young V&A – is unveiled today, reflecting its new mission to inspire young people with the creative ingenuity of design, to empower educators and to act as a leader in child-centred museum practice.

Director of the V&A, Tristram Hunt, said: “Young people’s lives have been dramatically altered by the pandemic, yet they have adapted and enriched the soul of the nation in extraordinary ways – from a rainbow campaign honouring the NHS to Sky Brown’s skateboarding achievements for Team GB. A world-class museum that nurtures curiosity, experimentation and celebrates play, Young V&A will be a global champion for children’s creativity in all its forms. This vital investment – working to counter the ongoing effects of Covid-19 on young people’s access to creative education, collaborative play, and artistic inspiration – is more urgent than ever. I am delighted we are one step closer to reopening the museum’s doors in 2023.”

New renders revealed today illustrate the latest designs by AOC Architecture for an entirely new visitor experience. The plans include three new galleries Play, Imagine and Design, interactive collection displays drawing on the full scope of the V&A collections, a suite of dedicated workshops for learning, an in-gallery design studio for visitors, and a redesigned visitor experience including a new café and shop.

A host of new acquisitions announced today demonstrate the power of creativity to shape and improve lives, foregrounding Young V&A’s engagement with the social and environmental issues facing young generations, and its inclusive and child-centred approach to programming. Highlights include:

• A skateboard owned by Tokyo 2020 medallist Sky Brown. At 13 years old, Sky is the youngest professional skateboarder in the world and Britain’s youngest-ever Olympics athlete.

• A selection of garments by sustainable fashion designer, humanitarian and artist, Bethany Williams from her Spring / Summer 2021 ‘All Our Children’ collection (2020), featuring illustrations that shine a light on families from the Magpie Project – an east London-based grassroots organisation that supports women and children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness – and silhouettes inspired by the V&A’s National Childhood Collection.

• The world’s most affordable multi-grip prosthetic arm – The Hero Arm. Designed for children and adults, The Hero Arm challenges traditional notions of prosthetics, presenting disabilities as superpowers with an empowering, multi-functional and affordable design.

• A selection of linocut ‘Woodism’ prints, a moving project between father and son –Sonny and eight-year-old Woody who is autistic. Sonny turns Woody’s unique phrases and way of viewing the world into linocut prints. The creative process gives both a chance to connect as they work together on designs and has given Woody a newfound confidence.

Sky Brown said: “When kids skate, they forget about what they might be struggling through, and just think about happiness. I hope that when people see me, the smallest girl, doing the highest trick, that they think they can do anything, too. I’m so excited that my skateboard will go on show at Young V&A and love the idea of a museum that only exists to inspire young people and help them discover their superpowers. The sky is the limit!”

A new home for the National Childhood Collection

Work completed earlier this year on cataloguing, conserving and packing objects from the National Childhood Collection, previously stored below ground at the museum, and will now move to V&A East Storehouse, which opens in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2024. The collection comprises over 33,000 objects from miniature dolls house furniture to a four-metre-high sixteenth century Italian Marionette theatre. Its relocation enables almost half of Young V&A’s back-of-house space to be repurposed into the new learning workshops and new spaces for conservation and exhibition preparation.

Architectural Update

De Matos Ryan architects were appointed in early 2018 to develop full base build design, including structural changes, heritage restoration, lighting and acoustic upgrades and delivery of a new suite of new workshop spaces. Construction is now underway with handover of the site to Quinn London contractors in August 2021. In parallel, AOC Architecture – the design team responsible for the fit-out – are completing final detailed drawings for construction tender in early autumn.

Creative education spaces for hands-on making and performance will play a key role in Young V&A’s new galleries, from an amphitheatre-style stage in Imagine, to a free-play construction area within Play, and a working Open Studio in Design, inviting young visitors to develop their creative skills through performance, play and design. Alongside this, three workshop spaces dedicated to learning, and a reading room in the lower ground floor, will support a year-round programme from parenting courses and sessions for early years, curriculum-based provision for school learners in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 and after school and holiday activity for families and young people.

Sustainability and environmental responsibility have been fundamental to the development including reuse of materials across the project from demolition rubble to repurposed elements of past V&A exhibitions. Free-standing display cases that could not be reused have been donated to museums and galleries across the country including the National Motor Museum and Poldark Tin Mine Heritage site, with the remainder to be reused within the new scheme, with all other display cases fully recycled.

Working in partnership with young people

Local schools and organisations in Tower Hamlets have worked closely with the Young V&A team since the project’s inception, with over 40 co-design workshops and two Kids Takeover Days organised to-date. Continuing this work, each gallery will house one co-creation project, bringing the voices of children and young people into the exhibits to explore ideas around community, sustainable fashion and family play.

A newly launched Young V&A Collective brings together groups of 11-14 year olds to build skills as they develop creative responses to the themes and collections of the new museum, supported by artist-mentors who will co-create new artworks with them. This autumn, artist Dan Mayfield of School of Noise is working with the Collective to make audio tracks and interpret the new exhibits.

During construction, the Young Collective is taking place in partnership with Poplar’s youth space, Spotlight, with termly opportunities for new groups of 11-14s to join. In-person activity resumed this summer as part of the museum’s ‘Summer of Play’ – taking Young V&A’s learning practitioners out across East London from Tower Hamlets to Walthamstow to reconnect with audiences and create shared spaces for play.

In the lead-up to reopening, and to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the V&A in Bethnal Green in 2022, the Young V&A team will be engaging every school in Tower Hamlets – offering creative assemblies, running workshops with students, teacher forums, and developing new activities for families with grassroots local organisations. These sessions will be designed to give young people the opportunity to generate hundreds of ideas inspired by the themes within the new galleries, particularly addressing challenges and opportunities for their generation, demonstrating the creative prowess of ‘Gen Alpha’ to harness their imaginations to make their world a better place for all.

The museum is also building its offer for creative professionals and will establish a Young V&A Designer in Residence in 2022. The resident designer will use the Young V&A collections and gallery themes to inspire their practice and to undertake research into child-centred, inclusive design processes, informing the museum’s thinking and future programmes. The call out for the Residency will go live on 6 October 2021.

Dr Helen Charman, V&A Director of Learning, National Programmes and Young V&A, said: “Reinvention is woven into the fabric of this incredible building, from the iconic ironwork structure, part of the original Great Exhibition in 1851 to its rebranding in 1974, in recognition of the museum’s popularity with local schools and families – and it has rightly won over a special place in the hearts of many east Londoners, many of whom have visited as children, then as parents and grandchildren. Today, we mark a momentous milestone in the evolution of its identity and underscore its core purpose – to champion, nurture, and inspire the innovators of tomorrow and build creative confidence in the young. We can’t wait to reopen the doors.”

V&A Museum of Childhood London Redevelopment information / images from V&A 290921

Previously on e-architect:

18 Feb 2020

V&A Museum of Childhood Building Redevelopment

V&A Museum of Childhood Redevelopment Update

Building Design: De Matos Ryan ; Redevelopment lead designers: AOC

V&A Museum of Childhood Redevelopment

19 Oct 2019

V&A Museum of Childhood Planning Approval

V&A Museum of Childhood Redevelopment Approval News

Building Design: De Matos Ryan ; Redevelopment lead designers: AOC

V&A Museum of Childhood Redevelopment Approval

Building Design: De Matos Ryan

Redevelopment lead designers: AOC

Museum of Childhood London

Geoff Shearcroft, Gill Lambert and Tom Coward, AOC, at the V&A Museum of Childhood in London, UK: photo © Phil Sharp

AOC

de Matos Storey Ryan

Caruso St John

Location: Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London, UK

Architecture in London

Contemporary Architecture in London

London Architecture Links – chronological list

London Architecture Walking Tours

London Architect

V&A Collection and Research Centre in London Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Austin-Smith:Lord V&A Collection and Research Centre London

Victoria & Albert Museum Boilerhouse Yard image © AL_A

V&A Members’ Room Architects: Carmody Groarke photograph : Rory Gardiner V&A Members’ Room

Elytra Filament Pavilion by Achim Menges at the V&A Design: Achim Menges with Moritz Dörstelmann, Jan Knippers and Thomas Auer photo courtesy of V&A V&A Installation by Achim Menges with Jan Knippers

V&A Photography Centre

Crest Design: Zaha Hadid Architects photo © Crest Installation, V&A in London

Victoria & Albert Museum Boilerhouse Yard Project : Exhibition Road Design Studies

Victoria & Albert Museum London, South Kensington, west London

V&A Medieval and Renaissance galleries Design: McInnes Usher McKnight Architects

V&A European Galleries – Europe 1600-1800 galleries Design: ZMMA

V&A Booktower Design: Rintala, Eggertsson, Jenssen

Victoria & Albert Museum Jewellery Gallery Eva Jiricna Architects

Victoria & Albert Museum Architecture Gallery Gareth Hoskins Architects

V&A Museum Women’s Amenities Glowacka Rennie Architects

V&A at Dundee

V&A at Dundee Building

Museum Designs

London Architecture

Triumph Pavilion Bethnal Green – Architecture Competition : Summer Showcase Pavilion

Buildings close by to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green include:

Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road, Shoreditch photo © Adrian Welch

Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, Tower Hamlets photo © Adrian Welch

Keeling House, Bethnal Green

The Blue house, Garner Street, off Hackney Road

Museum of Childhood in London

Tate Britain photo © Nick Weall Tate Britain Renewal

Website: V&A

London Buildings

Comments / photos for the Young V&A London: Museum of Childhood – Cambridge Heath Road Building page welcome

Website: Visit London, UK

The post Young V&A London: Museum of Childhood appeared first on e-architect.

[atakportal]

Revealed: Disabled Marine Shows Men Over 40 How To Eliminate Weakness And Build Combat Ready Conditioning At Any Age…

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Description:

If you want to strip off excess body fat and build impressive levels of endurance while rewiring your muscles with the kind of primal power and control that repairs joints and prevents injury…

This letter will show you how one Disabled Marine did it…

And how you can do it too, without any fancy equipment, and in less time than you might imagine.

Hi, my name is Helder Gomes. And I’m a Service-Connected Disabled Veteran. Yet you’d never guess it from watching me train.

In fact, some of my clients call me “The Super Soldier”.

I try not to let it go to my head. But secretly, I kind of like it.

Imagine being told your body will never be able to do what it used to. Not even come close. And that you’ll have to settle for a life of “soft, weak and tired”.

Then imagine the looks on their faces when you not only prove them wrong, but suddenly…

When the odds are stacked against you, you can’t help but bathe in victory just a little.

Super Soldier? That’s an Army thing. But, yeah… I’ll take it.

Anyway, what does this have to do with you?

I want to give you my “super soldier serum”.

If you’re willing to put it to the test, I believe it will change the way you train forever.

And when put to work, these “machines” will prove — beyond a shadow of a doubt — your body’s best years are yet to come.

This underscores an important point…

See, you don’t need expensive gym memberships, functional training “circus tricks”, or puke-inducing workouts to gain an advantage over other men.

No. With what I’m about to reveal, you can unlock the hidden power in even the most basic exercises to revitalize your body and build high levels of fitness… with less reps, and no matter your age.

You’ll unleash a level of inner strength and confidence you may not know you possess right now… even if It’s buried beneath years of wear and tear.

So, if you suspect you’ve stumbled onto something unlike anything you’ll ever hear about from your average clipboard-toting trainer, you’re right. In fact…

What you are about to discover is the same secret training method I’ve taught to some of…

These are some of the scariest dudes you’ll ever lay eyes on… who have high fitness standards to meet for their jobs, but can’t afford to be fatigued and sore all the time.

I’m talking about members of the leanest and meanest fighting groups in South America and Eastern Europe…

Special Operations Units in the Middle East…

And First Responders, fellow Devil Dogs and former Navy Seals back in the States.

They have the resources to train in any discipline they’d like. And yet, time and again they contract me out for days (to weeks) at a clip to pace them through my system.

Why? One dead-serious reason: they need one of the good guys to expose and eliminate their weaknesses before the “enemy” does.

It’s kind of crazy when you think about it…

You throw out all the “rules” that Average Fitness Joes live by.

Let me give you some perspective…

See, when your body starts falling apart you’re slower to get going in the morning… fighting more aches and pains throughout the day… setbacks come more frequently, and motivation to exercise gets harder and harder to come by.

It’s nearly impossible to stick to a program when you feel beat up and blue all the time.

Worst part is, this screws with your hormones, eating away at lean muscle mass, and packing fat around your midsection and sag around your chest.

I was headed down that path.

Take a look at this picture…

Just don’t be fooled by the smile, because…

First, my wife isn’t hugging me; she’s holding me up. That’s why we’re standing so far apart.

Second, I’m covered in sunscreen and shame. And only one of them was going to wash off.

Third, I’ve lost all sense of purpose in my life.

The Marines had long since classified me no longer “fit to serve”. I’d fallen from bad-ass to fat-ass. I was just waiting for the day my wife could no longer stand the sight of me and finally wise up and hit the bricks in search of a real man. And I saw nothing but darkness in my future.

I remember sitting there not too long after this photo was taken. Just staring at it. Thinking, “Man, what a certified piece of dogshit you’ve become.”

I couldn’t get through a night without waking up in a cold sweat. Couldn’t put on a shirt without feeling like my shoulder was being ripped out of the socket. I couldn’t even make it from my bedroom to the bathroom on my own two feet, most days.

I cringed at the thought of being the dad that has to sit back and watch as some other guy teaches his kid how to play sports, or how to defend himself, or how to be an honorable man.

Why am I telling you all this? Not for your pity. But, because it’s important you know where I’m coming from if my advice is going to mean anything to you (even if that means being transparent to the point of risking embarrassment). Anyway, it should be obvious that…

And it wasn’t for lack of trying either. I’d easily drop money I didn’t really have on books and dvds and trainers. But, even beginner or “easy” workouts turned out to be anything but. In fact…

A lot of it was actually doing me more harm than good.

Most programs seemed to be created for young, able bodies. And most trainers didn’t know what to do with a body that had limitations.

So just about anything I put my body through left me regretting it the next morning.

And the doctors? Their only answer for my shoulder was: “Try not to lift your arm too high”. Their solution for my knee was to stitch in parts from a dead man to replace the parts that were missing; and even then I was told I’d still never walk in total comfort…

They told me to take it easy.

And that “acceptance” was the first step towards happiness.

And a bunch of other head-shrink stuff. Well…

They obviously didn’t know who they were talking to.

Because, able-bodied or not…

No one could give me answers, so…

I went out and found them on my own.

I knew I needed to take my research “off-grid”, and…

…on the darker corners of the fitness and human performance world that I’d spend my days and nights.

And guess what I discovered?

At an unconventional strength seminar I tracked down a bear of a man known as “The Crazy Russian”… who exposed me to weird “mental tricks” to elevating your strength simply by changing the way you THINK about how your muscles move your body…

I studied somatic exercise and other therapeutic modalities… looking for secrets to rejuvenating a body that’s stopped responding to exercise the way it used to.

I even ran into this “off-the-wall” body worker who believed most personal trainers should be charged with gross negligence — if not physical abuse — for much of what they subject their clients to. But…

And hesitant as I was, I even threw myself into the martial arts… in hopes of uncovering how some of these guys keep kicking ass well into old age. And to my shock…

Punching arts, kicking arts, grappling arts�� knife, stick and weapons fighting… all of them… had a very real “magic” of internal power and body control that…

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Once I dove headlong into the rabbit hole, I found myself mixed up in some controversial exercise theories and strange body disciplines.

The kind of stuff you almost never hear about in the magazines or mainstream media. This is why…

Look, as a guy who was once a complete and total mess, I can tell you I’m pretty darn vigilant about what I subject my body to. So when I started experimenting with all the secrets I was digging up, I kept close track of how my body responded. And guess what?

But it gets better because…

I started doing things with my body that not only shocked the hell out of the doctors who told me my best days were behind me… but gave my “glory days” a run for their money.

Imagine their surprise when I ran the New York City Marathon.

Or when they saw videos of me tossing around kettlebells like they were softballs.

Or when they heard I was rolling around on the mat with champion martial artists.

Best of all, my friends and family were now looking at me with a newfound sense of pride and respect, instead of doubt and pity.

And it wasn’t long before guys started talking…

…and word spread through back channels and I was getting cryptic messages from some dangerous dudes who wanted a peak behind the curtain.

They wouldn’t take no for an answer. And yet…

When I started letting them in on it, they couldn’t believe the simplicity. But I told them…

After years of putting countless moves, methods and strategies under a microscope, I discovered the most powerful secrets all had one thing in common:

Well, the first step of this is a simple mental shift.

That’s because you can’t separate your muscles from your nervous system (not unless your a dead man). No…

The key in this first step is simply understanding that your nervous system CONTROLS your muscles. Like a puppet master, it’s pulling your muscles strings. And it dictates what they do and how they feel.

In other words, it determines your strength, flexibility and pain. In ways that most guys are normally NOT aware of.

Anyway, the second part of this is to…

You can think of it like the difference between hammering the gas for more acceleration, and fine-tuning your engine for greater horsepower.

This is why I named my secret training system the Precision Fitness Operator System (PFO-Sys for short).

See, I figured out there are three “Power Principles” that separate Average Fitness Joes (AFJs) from Precision Fitness Operators (PFOs)…

…and allow you to train like the puppet master, instead of the puppet… so you can eliminate weakness and build combat ready conditioning at any age.

They understand that your mind drives your movement. Not in some airy-fairy “woo woo” sense. The science is clear on this. So much so that studies have shown your brain can regulate force production without you ever having to move a muscle.

This is why mental imagery can cause strength gains, it’s also why certain lower body exercises can increase the strength of your upper body, or why stretching one limb can increase the flexibility of another (unstretched) limb. So…

While AFJs train their muscles, PFOs sharpen their neural drive, and train their brain to send stronger, clearer signals to their muscles, which translates to more muscle engagement by recruiting more muscle fibers (or getting the fibers to work more quickly and efficiently).

This “reprograms” your nervous system so it activates the right muscle fibers with greater precision… granting you better muscle contraction/relaxation balance… and developing a primal strength and control that AFJs may never know…

They understand that “unified movement” makes every exercise safer, more efficient and more powerful. Don’t misunderstand me. This isn’t about “whole body” versus “isolation” training. Think of it this way…

Every good fighter pilot runs through a pre-flight checklist, eyes and flips a bunch of switches before his mission is a “go” and we have lift off. Well, PFOs do something similar with their joints, breathing, muscle engagement and form before cranking out reps.

More, they know flipping the right “switches” on and off as you move through an exercise can be the difference between a “ok” rep and a power rep.

AFJs train “harder” than they need to because they leak power. PFOs get more done with less time spent training simply by plugging their structural leaks.

By not leaking power, they prime their body to take advantage its natural, spring-like ability to load, absorb and redirect “shock”… keeping the pump on their muscles, and the pounding off their joints… smoothing out their movements so they’re less taxing on your body, but deliver more powerful results at the same time.

They understand the real measure of a man’s fitness is his ability to “keep it together” under extreme pressure. And, more important, older PFOs understand there’s a thin red line between your comfort zone and the danger zone. See…

Contrary to popular belief, pain is not weakness leaving the body… meaning “no pain, no gain” is a mantra of diminishing returns… and… stepping outside your comfort zone can often lead your body to protest and work against you.

This is why PFOs never train to muscular failure. That’s an AFJ approach, and it can lead to some nice mass gains. But, it can also lead to repetitive strain syndrome, tendon flare ups, chronic soreness, aches and pains… and fractured technique, exposing weakness. Instead…

PFOs train to technical failure. They know that, in the field, technical failure can be the difference between life and death. And their training reflects that.

By shooting for technical failure (and never missing their mark) under incrementally increasing pressure, PFOs avoid entering the “danger zone”, instead expanding their comfort zone from the inside out. Studies show this is an easier and less tiring way of increasing strength and functional capacity of your muscles, and therefore a highly efficient method of training.

These three Power Principles are so simple, yet so game-changing, that any guy can use them to turn even the most ordinary exercises into body re-building machines…

And yet, it’s easy to apply these principles the wrong way… because, quite often, applying them the RIGHT way requires LESS effort, LESS speed, LESS intensity than you might imagine.

This is something most guys have a hard time wrapping their head around. And a hard time nailing down on their own after spending so much time in an AFJ kind of world.

Which is why I believe my Precision Fitness Operator System is so valuable.

It’s proof positive that…

Making the simple shift from Average Fitness Joe to Precision Fitness Operator with PFO-Sys:

Saving your body undue wear and tear… IF that’s what you want.

Anyway, there’s a good reason for you to be excited about all of this. You see, for years the only way to learn PFO-Sys was to contract me out privately… and it never came cheap. In fact…

Because Fight Camps and Spec Ops Units usually booked me solid.

These were often several days, to multiple week-long contracts costing thousands of dollars in billable hours, plus comped travel expenses, room and board.

And being a Vet, Professional Warriors always got priority over Civis. So the little downtime I had for teaching locally was extremely exclusive.

See, recently a publishing house warmed me over to the widespread demand for something like this. Turns out the head honcho over there is a total badass… a real life Ninja.

With extensive studies in Bujinkan and other martial and fitness disciplines he travels the world as a writer and anthropologist…

…digging up some of the most effective health secrets known to man and sharing them with his readers.

With his kind of reach, I could connect with more guys than ever possible through private contracts alone. Obviously, that has economic and logistic benefit. Or so he tells me.

Which is why I’ve made a publishing deal: we could test this low cost offer in a few places, and if it does well we keep it on the market and go wide with it. If it doesn’t however…

That means, if you’re reading this message, the deal is still on. For now.

This is an unbelievably exciting package… designed you so don’t risk a single cent putting it to the test in your own home.

Here’s exactly what I’m giving you today:

It’s called the Warrior Zero Bodyweight Challenge. Check it out…

On my computer I have a “classified” folder named The Warrior Zero Project. It contains all of my research, tests, experiments and “top secret” programming.

The name stems from an attitude of self-reliance and survival… paired with an acknowledgment that the best comebacks start from ground zero.

Anyway, the heartbeat of every single piece of body re-building, combat conditioning advice in The Warrior Zero project is my Precision Fitness Operator System. And…

The foundation (and critical starting point) for learning, owning and mastering PFO-Sys is the Warrior Zero Bodyweight Challenge. And that’s what you’re getting your hands on today:

This is a PFOs bible… and now, it’s yours. Inside you’ll discover:

Most fitness gurus think it’s the WORST exercise in the world. Yet recent research confirms it may be the single most effective exercise to increase life expectancy. Plus…

Ask any Elite Operator, and they will tell you this exercise is MISSION CRITICAL.

The “Go-Muscle” secret of developing kinetic chains. (Bodybuilding athletes miss this critical training factor and suffer for it when called upon to use their “muscle” in the real world.)

The controversial power of “single rep cycling”. Ultimately, this will allow you to get more out of every workout, with less reps and without beating your body to shit.

— How to scale your training — safely and naturally — by deploying the same secret “symmetry” code Leonardo da Vinci used to create a perfectly balanced human in his famous Illustration “The Vitruvian Man”. (Ancient Greeks and Egyptians used it to design perfectly balanced works of structural art, and Bio-Mathematicians are now confirming this secret symmetry is encoded in living matter everywhere.)

— 3 “PFO Mission” Challenges. There are several weeks between challenges. And you can think of the weeks leading up to each challenge like reconnaissance — everything you’re doing is to put your mind and body in the best position to complete your Mission with flying colors. More…

You’ll know, in real time, whether or not you’re ready to “level up” or whether or not you’ve got a little more work to do before pushing your body beyond its limits and out into the danger zone.

This challenge system is a fire starter for guys who lack the motivation to stick to a training program.

And a whole bunch more…

These videos aren’t simple demonstrations the likes you’ll find on blogs or Youtube. They present a measured, “precision” approach to exercise that reveal:

Force transfer secrets… posture and alignment tricks… the overlooked power of ground reaction forces… selective tension… AND…

Why 99% of all Average Fitness Joes totally miss the boat when it comes to “ab” training.

3 priming switches all PFOs flip before each workout to make sure all systems are “go” for maximum gains. (Plus, one common switch AFJs flip that undermines the power in all their movements.)

The secret to freeing up a tight back almost instantly. (Sheds rust and stiffness — within minutes you’ll suddenly feel lighter and more energized than you might believe.)

The truth behind your body’s “linchpin joint”. (And why a simple positioning tweak can double — even triple — the power of every exercise you perform.)

The #1 exercise mistake Average Fitness Joes make that wreaks havoc on their knees.

The ultimate lazy guy’s exercise for strengthening muscles weakened and shut down by chronic sitting. (Plus, one simple adjustment to this drill that electrifies your core more than any set of sit ups and crunches will ever do.)

A seated movement that exposes “asymmetrical deficiencies” in your hips with just one rep. (These deficiencies are often the true source of a muscle ache or joint pain.)

How to get more mobility from any movement by changing the way you breath.

The vital coaching cues you can get from an inanimate household object that most clipboard-toting trainers will never tell you about. (And how it can correct dangerous — and painful — structural leaks within seconds.)

The Hollywood “Walk of Fame” secret to unlocking fully integrated, pressing power.

How to use the three-legged table test to determine whether or not your TRULY ready (and safe) to progress out to harder and harder pressing movements. (If there’s any “wiggle-wobble” here you know with 100% certainty you’ve got more work to do before moving any further.)

Why your shoulders determine the proper depth of push up for your body type. (And when chest-kissing the ground can set you up for a setback.)

A special 3-second, 3-point mental “checklist” for correcting your posture on the fly. (This is like hitting the reset button on your posture so that you maintain a safe, but powerful “exercise frame”, even when you’re bent over.)

A cadence secret most military guys know (instinctively) that helps your body draw power up from the ground, absorb and redirect shock like a spring.

The ancient “tribal trick” that accelerates your learning. (For many guys this is also a “short cut” to healthy knees, hips and lower back.)

The one “ab” exercise that melts away tension across your entire spine and strengthens your core in a way no plank could ever do. (Takes years off your body in just minutes a day.)

A sneaky little “recovery accelerator” technique. Deploy this post-workout to abate soreness, stiffness and restore muscle balance in a few short minutes.)

And many more PFO secrets that you’ve really got to feel to believe…

It’s like having me in the room with you, right by your side. I’ll coach you along with my student, Frank, as we move through each workout in real time.

You’ll quickly realize this isn’t BUD/S or some hardcore body-wrecking bootcamp insanity.

Instead, you’ll learn to use your body’s natural ability to load, absorb and redirect shock…

Turning simple movements into body-rebuilding machines and peak-performance-powerhouses…

While reinforcing your joints (saving them wear and tear)… and allowing your muscles to recover while in motion.

This keeps your muscles fresher longer… your metabolic fire churning… and your body operating as a single integrated unit.

Because I want to help you stack the odds of success even more in your favor…

Breathing is something you are always doing, whether you are paying attention to it or not.

Yet, learning how to pay better attention to and control your breath is an overlooked “nervous system hack” that can provide more powerful workouts, faster recovery, shots of instant energy and a wave of general stress relief.

Here’s some of what you’ll discover inside this module:

The one thing almost every new student does WRONG with their breathing during exercise that undermines their performance and increases risk of injury (plus an easy fix)…

A type of breathing that enhances the benefits of any exercises (bonus: it also helps rid the body of toxins, which can lead to faster weight loss)…

How to use your breathing to guide your training progress — instead of using reps, sets, resistance, or time (this is a wise alternative for anyone suffering exercise-induced pain)

How to use “geometric” breathing to expand your lung capacity and control your heart rate — this is especially important for resuming command of body functions when fear and stress stage a “military takeover”.

The ancient breathing technique that increases your antioxidant defense status (and combats oxidative stress) after hard training…

It also reduces the “fight-or-flight” response of the parasympathetic nervous system and could enhance vagal activity (which can reduce anxiety, anger, and inflammation)

A special kind of “explosive” breathing that energizes your entire body almost instantly… leaves you feeling amped, alert, and ready to tackle your workout.

How many times have you just wanted to throw in the towel and rattle off excuse after excuse as to why something can’t get done?

We’ve all been there. Yet there are times when if you do not accomplish the task at hand, it does not get done.

Getting your body into shape is one of those times. But, make no mistake… developing intestinal fortitude isn’t just about trying to be a “tough guy”.

Your Warrior Zero Intestinal Fortitude module goes beyond “gut checks”. I’m not simply barking orders at you to “pick your sack up and keep moving…”

No. It’s more than that.

Intestinal Fortitude is about developing the kind of situational awareness and “streets smarts” that not only develops toughness, but wisdom.

Which is why, in Warrior Zero Intestinal Fortitude I’m going to reveal 10 things I learned in the Marines that are guaranteed to make you a better man.

You’ll learn about the mental toughness Marines are known for, and the physical endurances it helps them push through. Plus, you’ll discover:

Insights on Overcoming Adversity… How to develop Unshakeable Self-Confidence… How to Control Fear, Stress & Anxiety… The Ultimate Guide To Self Discipline… How To Harness the Power of Positive Self-Talk… and more…

I think you’ll really enjoy this module.

You’ve got enough to focus on with your Warrior Zero Bodyweight Challenge. You don’t need a bunch of restrictive diet rules to follow.

That’s why, your Warrior Zero Supportive Nutrition module is based on 10 PFO “Fueling Principles”.

Much like the PFO “Power Principles” that guide your workouts, these Fueling Principles give you the flexibility required to make eating for your health feel NORMAL…

…and not like some crazed fitness freak.

You’ll quickly get your head straight about eating clean and making the right food choices for reducing body inflammation, fueling your workouts, and aiding your recovery.

This is NOT a diet. But a set of principles you can apply to your lifestyle, no matter how busy your day is, or selective your taste buds.

Now, I’m going to tell you what this costs and how to secure your own copy in just a second. But, first we need to get very, very clear on something:

In fact, there are some guys I hope never find out about it. No joke.

This stuff isn’t for hot-headed, young bucks who think an “old dog” can’t teach them a few new tricks…

…or for the kind of guy whose endgame is being surrounded by gym-bros strutting around stiffly with inflated, puffy muscle, a dumbbell in one hand and a cell phone in the other…

…or even the kind of blood-pressure-popping psycho who would rather die under the bar than dump out of a rep.

So, I’m telling you now — don’t even think about trying this program unless:

1) You are serious about eliminating weakness and building combat-ready-conditioning at any age… and want an advantage over other men… so you can step up to the plate and be the man you’re needed to be…

2) You are willing to slow down and shift your focus from training like an Average Fitness Joe to training like a Precision Fitness Operator… so you can reprogram your nervous system and rewire your muscles for an almost unbelievable primal control and power… without killing yourself in the gym…

3) You are sick and tired of feeling soft, out of shape and always doubting yourself… sick and tired of workouts that make you feel like something is wrong with you… or simply sick and tired of watching other guys do the things you should be doing… but no longer can.

Still with me? Good. I’m damn proud of Warrior Zero and this outstanding package I’ve been able to put together for you on this page.

Given the chance, you’ll find it’s got more integrity and value than what you’ve probably come to expect from most things in the fitness world.

You’re getting EXACTLY what I teach all around the world. Not some watered down “lite” version of my system. But…

And you need to know this before you make your decision. See, this isn’t some put-on Hollywood production… with slick stage design and hired guns who model for a living to huff and puff half naked on screen. No.

You’re getting quality video instructionals and follow alongs, filmed in HD, in my private headquarters. It’s me and one of my actual students walking you through every last detail of how to train like a Precision Fitness Operator.

I’m also delivering everything to you digitally, so don’t expect a big brown box on your doorstep.

I’m doing this for two reasons: 1) this allows me to offer this special Warrior Zero package to you at a much lower price, since there are no shipping and manufacturing costs and… 2) this gives you the convenience of reading and watching the material at home and on the go, via smart tv, desktop, tablet and phone.

If you can get past these “flaws”, you’re good to go, because…

Look, a lot of guys are going to be miffed at me for sharing this secret training system with you… especially since you won’t be paying even part of what they had to shell out for even a single lesson.

But, it is what it is. I’ve come to realize just how many guys desperately need an alternative to the type of fitness the mainstream is trying to force-feed them.

They’ve spent too much time and money on gimmicks and false promises to justify spending even a dollar on something new… even if it’s a simple system that will change their lives. I get it.

Listen, I’m a Marine and an Eagle Scout, and I stake my reputation on my promises.

Perhaps, more important, I’m just a guy about to eclipse 50 with a body that’s been through the wringer — and I honestly want to share this incredible new program with you, and I don’t want you to worry about getting scammed or “taken for a ride” or anything like that.

It’s hard enough to find someone you can trust in general, even more so on the internet. The least I could do is make it as easy as possible for you to try it out, without any risk. Right?

Click the ‘add to cart’ button below, fill out and submit the secure order form on the next page and you get instant access to everything with your own personal account on my private server.

This price wouldn’t even buy you fifteen minutes of private time with me at my regular coaching fees. Yet for less than the price of dinner and a movie, you can own my training system for yourself… with this Warrior Zero package that reveals to you everything you’d learn in private sessions.

And you know what? I’m so confident you’ll see impressive results that I’ll put ALL the risk on myself with a 100% unconditional, money back your-prerogative-guarantee:

Here’s how it works: Order your personal copy of the Warrior Zero Bodyweight Challenge. Download all of the manuals and videos, or stream them from any of your devices, whichever you prefer.

Put the secrets you’ll find inside to the test.

Take a full 60 days, if you want.

This way you’re not rushed, and don’t have to worry about life getting in the way, or any other excuses guys make for themselves when facing a new challenge…

Notice the difference you feel in your muscles and joints as you’re training like a Precision Fitness Operator.

Notice the fit of your clothes now… the difference in the way you start to carry yourself, and the way the people around you respond… and take a good, long look at the new man you see staring back at you in the mirror.

If you decide at any point that you’d like to go back to training like an Average Fitness Joe, give up your physical advantage over other men, and settle for anything less than your body’s best…

Simply shoot an email over to support@thewarriorzeroproject.com and let me know. I’ll have customer care process your 100% guaranteed refund straight away. No hassle whatsoever. Your prerogative. It’s your body and I trust your judgement here.

And, you get to KEEP anything and everything you’ve downloaded. Consider it a gift for giving the Warrior Zero Bodyweight Challenge a “test drive”.

So now all that’s left is to ask yourself one final question…

Maybe you want to be more attractive to your wife… instead of looking (and feeling) like a crippled old man…

Maybe you want to build the kind of endurance and all-day-energy that makes it feel like your body is running on rocket fuel…

Maybe you simply want to build (and maintain) outstanding levels of conditioning and develop real muscular power and control with less time working out and without pounding your joints…

Only you know that. But, what I do know is, to a man — everyone of them who has become a part of The Warrior Zero Project — has never looked at fitness the same way again, and is a better man for it.

Remember: no matter what anyone says, you ALWAYS have a lot more fight left in you.

Here’s to proving them wrong.

I hope to see you on the other side, and look forward to hearing about your success.

Helder Gomes — United States Marine, International Combat Instructor, Head Coach NTC-HQ

WARNING: other guys might start asking you for advice when you train out in public. That’s ok. It’s a natural side effect of training like a Precision Fitness Operator. Embrace it. These guys, no matter how young or old, are ready for a paradigm shift. And they’re in need of a good, honorable man to lead them. Be that leader. Give them a few point pointers, if only the 3 “Power Principles” you’ve learned in this report. Then send them off in the right direction, and on the path to proving all their naysayers wrong and proving to themselves it is possible to eliminate weakness and build combat-ready conditioning at any age…

Siddle, Bruce. Sharpening the Warriors Edge: The Psychology & Science of Training. PPCT Research Publications. 1995.

Asken, Michael, and Christensen, Loren, and Grossman, Dave. Warrior Mindset. Human Factor Research Group. 2010.

Grossman, Dave, and Christensen, Loren. On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace. Warrior Science Publications. 2008.

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[nprmusicwnyc]

From uploading songs to YouTube to being hailed as one of pop’s most promising new prodigies, Ryan Beatty is forging his own unique path and he’s not looking back.

It’s been nearly a decade since Ryan Beatty posted a cover onto YouTube and people started twigging that he was something a lil’ bit special. Originally pushed onto the ‘Justin Bieber path’ - y’know the one: millions of hits, record deal, smile for the cameras - he soon realized this wasn’t what he had in mind, retreating from the spotlight to learn more about himself, before releasing hypnotic debut album ‘Boy in Jeans’ back in 2018.

After sharing second record ‘Dreaming of David’ earlier this year, he’s older, wiser and fully ready to flex his newfound musical and lyrical muscles to prove himself among other pop names. Blending experimental melodies with R&B hues, he’s also found time between experimenting with his pop stylings to hang out with “best friends” BROCKHAMPTON to collaborate on several tracks, including both the recent remix of ‘SUGAR’ with Dua Lipa, as well as the original.

We caught up with Ryan to reflect on his near-decade in the biz and what pop’s most promising new prodigy has in store next.

For those unaware, can you give us a little summary of how you first started out?

Music was the one thing that I’ve always felt drawn to since I can remember. Singing was a natural talent that I was born with and then it’s like what do you do with it? There are a lot of talented vocalists out there and to be an artist is something else. Naturally I could sing, then as I got older, I started to see where I could go with it. That was when social media was really cracking off and people were posting videos of them singing and getting recognised for it. I would post on my sister’s channel and that’s really how I got my start. Just seeing the feedback even back then reminded me that I had a talent in this.

It wasn’t until I was probably 20 that I felt like I was a songwriter. That’s when I felt like things really started for me because that’s when I connected all the dots of a vocalist, singer, visually knowing what I like… It was all these things coming together at once.

You were originally compared to Justin Bieber. What was the experience like?

It definitely made me angry because I felt like people were saying that in a condescending way. It felt like a lot of the times people would say that in a way to diminish me as if that’s already been done before. It’s so funny because that’s just such a surface level thing to compare me to!

“This time around feels different because I actually really enjoy it.”

Obviously you retreated away from the spotlight after that happened, what were you doing during that time?

Being 17/18 and realising that I don’t really know myself at all or that I knew that I wasn’t in a place I wanted to be and what I was doing then wasn’t going to last forever, I definitely felt a sense of a search for something greater than what I already had and it started off with me just being a normal 18 year old and exploring my own identity and what I liked and didn’t like.

It took a long time for me to really understand myself. It’s hilarious to think about though, since I started this at such a young age, I feel so old and weathered now that when I talk about this I forget that it’s nearly a decade since this all started!

This time around feels different because I actually really enjoy it. Before I felt like I was a character for other people and really submitting to the audience and playing that up. At the end of the day, back then I had the crowd that I had and I had the attention that I had, and it’s like, if I were to really be myself it would’ve gone against what people liked about me. It was all a really scary time. I had no clue if I would ever come out the other side and that’s why this time around I’m really excited and find the joy in it all because this could have all gone completely differently. The fact that I’m in a place where I feel like an artist that people appreciate for the art and what I create just proves that I wasn’t wrong.

'Boy In Jeans' was really about self-discovery and reflecting on my youth and talking about all that I went through in my late teens and early twenties. It was very much a reminiscent of my life. 'Dreaming Of David' is very immediate, very what I’ve been going through in my life right now, and I think even more introspective than the previous one to the point where a lot of the details on the record I don’t even think people will understand because it’s so specific lyrically, which I actually really enjoy.

Writing like that must have been quite a cathartic experience?

Writing is something I love just as much as singing, and to write and sing about the things that I’m going through and experiencing just helps me understand it all really. It helps me make peace with the things I find difficult and helps me understand relationships because it allows me to reflect on them. I can be writing something and what I’m writing and looking back on it seeing what I actually meant versus what I thought I was talking about can be completely different at times. This is a place where I can be very honest with myself at sometimes.

I’m lucky that I’ve surrounded myself with people that I work with that I don’t feel any judgement towards and I feel very supported with all my ideas. I think it’s very important that you create that environment.

“At the end of the day you have to be your biggest cheerleader and you have to believe in everything that you’re doing.”

So when did ‘Dreaming Of David’ start taking form?

I started working on this album March 2018. The first song I made for it was the title track and it’s a title track and kind of a concept in my mind that I’d had for a second. The way that it all came together was exactly what I hoped for, which is the most natural and following my instincts. It’s funny because I had such a fear after I made my first album. I felt like I’d made something so personally great I was like 'How do I follow up on this?' I think I’ve answered that question with this album. Also, my last album laid out expectations of who I am as an artist, this album kind of goes against that in a way that not a lot of artists do right away after their first album.

I just had rapidly started growing and changing right after I made that album. The confidence that making ‘Boy In Jeans’ created, it made this thing in me that made me go deeper into the feelings I had and made me realise that I could flesh out these ideas I had and create something. That confidence just unlocked and unleashed something within me that felt really powerful. At the end of the day you have to be your biggest cheerleader and you have to believe in everything that you’re doing and that’s what I lean on a lot. When things can feel tough and really hard on the outside of things, I always go back to the music and realise that I need to be doing this and I’m glad that I’m doing this and people are going to enjoy this.

To be an artist is almost to be seen constantly. I feel like I still hold on to a lot of my privacy and that’s something that I’ve learnt form the past from the early days in my career, that I don’t have to give everything away, that I can still keep things for me, and that I can still be successful.

Is it weird knowing some of those personal stories will be heard by the world?

There are definitely parts of the album which are scary to think about with like I’m telling this story and this is gonna come out, but I obviously did it for a reason. I’m not over thinking it and I’m not stressed, but knowing that the person you wrote it about will probably know that it’s about them too that’s more so the interesting part.

The album all about exploring personal relationships with many different people, whether it be friends or family or past relationships or current relationships, and the way that those relationships have affected me. Part of it is a lot about letting go of things and people that mean a lot to you but knowing that you have to in order to move forward or learn anything else about yourself. There’s a bittersweet feeling to the whole thing. A lot about what I write about on this record is kind of sad if you look at it and really read the lyrics, but there’s still a lot of hope in it and realising that even if you’ve just gone through these things there’s still a light at the end. It’s kind of that moment of self-awareness, I guess.

And what overall are you hoping that people take away from the record?

I just want it to be heard, really. I want this music to be heard. However people take it is how they take it. I want the chance, at least, for people to hear it because I think they’ll really understand where I'm coming from a lot. I feel good in my position and the way people see me. When you make stuff that is exactly what you want to say, that’s when you’ll be perceived in the way that you really want.

[theparaminds]

Creativity has been the anchor point to much of Jimi Somewhere’s life, whether by force or by natural instinct. All he feels, experiences and knows is translated into artistry. Though at times, this has left him expressing him the worst of what he’s been going through, sounds he didn’t feel sure of or fully understand. That reality is now a distant memory.

With both his new work and new outlooks on life, Jimi has learned to embrace his past mistakes and misunderstandings. He no longer takes them as dark points, but as moments to learn from. He stands with a new found positivity, a newfound confidence, in all he does and all he represents.

Now, with the memories truly in the past, the failures finally teaching and his passion stronger than he could have imagined, all seems ready. His mentality, concepts, and vision have fully formed into what he has dreamed of. For the first time, the Somehwere that trails his first name doesn’t seem so distant, so impossible to grasp.

Our first question as always, how’s your day going and how have you been lately?

Hey! Its going good. Been working on music stuff all week and just being productive feels great.

To begin, your sound and artistic stylings are incredibly unique and singular, though that asks the question of how you even got into music and art in the first place? What forces pushed you upon the path?

I’m not sure. I’ve always been this way. My father is a photographer and writer himself so I think the need to create runs in the family. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always been heavy into music and reading up on all my favorite artists and stuff. It’s second nature to me. I also played in a lot of different bands in elementary & wrote raps all through middle school. I don't know life without music.

Specifically, have you found your location to be a part of how you’ve shaped yourself sonically? Either by embracing all that is around you or by rejecting it completely.

I think it’s more of a middle ground. I had a great childhood in this small place with lots of nature. But considering it wasn’t a big city or anything, there wasn’t that much stuff to do. Which resulted in creating a lot. I also didn't really have any friends that were as into music or art as I was, and they didn’t live in the same place, so I was mostly on my own in that field. I met Milo, who produces all my music, in eighth grade but even then he lived on the other side of Norway. It resulted in me just discovering and diving into music on my own on the internet, which led me to enjoying all kinds of different stuff.

When developing yourself artistically, how did you come to the name of Jimi Somewhere? What does the moniker mean to you and how does it represent you as a musician?

First of all, I never wanted to make music under my real name because I wanted to create this character I could play with. I feel like if I made music under my real name I’d be much more obligated to tell 100% the truth. Now I have this pseudonym I can write about more, like a book or film character. And for the name, I just thought the way Odd Future named themselves sounded so cool. Like Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean. So I just took a name and a word I’ve always gravitated towards and combined the two.

Now currently, you’re in the process of a new EP, which you’ve been building to for a while. What is the message you hoped to resonate with this piece and do you feel you achieved the goals you set out to?

The overall message of the EP is just ‘take a punch, get up and keep going’. Life gets hard but It’s important to just keep moving no matter what, you feel me? Of course, It’s not as easy as that, but I really hope I can inspire people in some way to not stop, no matter what they get hit with. 2018 treated me both very good and very bad, but we’re still here. Not giving up. I can take these punches! As for goals, I think we made exactly the project we set out to make. Now all I can do is show the world and wait and see if it resonates with the people.

How would you personally compare both the process and final result of your new work compared to older projects, such as Memoria?

Well, the overall sound quality is way up. Milo Orchis mixed both Memoria and this one, and he has gotten so much better. Some of the mixes on Memoria are really bad. Other than that It’s all pretty different. I feel like I’ve gotten better at songwriting and using my voice. The process was different too, considering we made this whole EP in Los Angeles. I think we needed to get away from Norway for a minute just for inspiration. Still me and Milo in a tiny room with bad speakers though, like how we made Memoria, just with new experiences and new inspiration.

Part of this release was also creating a playlist of influential songs to this EP, which actually has a wide range of genres and ideas, what was it that was drawing you to these songs in the time of creation, and what truly was their importance to the process?

I listen to music all the time when I’m not making it. I think it’s so important to listen to as many different genres as possible when you’re an artist. That's when you make the most exciting stuff. When it comes to their importance in the project, I would say some songs have inspired stuff heavier than other stuff. But I love to take different genres and just blend them. Experimentation is key, and to be able to experiment you need to hear what's out there. I think the common denominator in the playlist is melancholy though. Both me and Milo are very drawn towards melancholic stuff, as you probably can hear if you listen to our music.  

But of all time, what’s been the album, or maybe three, that have shaped you as an artist the most? From where in the projects do you draw from and continue to find joy within?

Okay, so for 3 albums that have shaped me the most, I’m gonna say:

‘MTV1987’ by Kevin Abstract. First time I heard something sound so professional and intriguing while made by two 17-year-old kids in their bedroom. That's like the album that showed me that I could do this too. I didn't need a real studio or anything.

‘Because the Internet’ by Childish Gambino. Such an experimental project. With the script he wrote to go with the album, the short films, music videos, and artwork. The way he created a whole universe like that has inspired me so much in my own work.

Lastly, I’m gonna say ‘Pure Heroine’ by Lorde. She’s just such a good writer. And the way she portrays nostalgia and growing up is so pure, no pun intended. Might be the greatest pop album ever, in my opinion.

In your mind, what’re the greatest personal and musical improvements and changes you’ve been able to make, and how do you hope to continue growing as an artist?

I don’t know about changes or improvements, but I’m just trying to perfect everything I do. I want to be considered one of the greatest when I die, so that’s what I’m working towards. I'm still young & learning. Just gonna keep maturing and growing. Hopefully, that will lead me in the right direction.

As well, you just were touring around with Boy Pablo for a minute, how did you find the experience of travel and live experimentation and is it something you hope to pursue further in the future?

I loved it. We joined Pablo on his UK tour and even though it was just a week, I learned so much and had the most fun ever. Performing live in front of a good crowd is the best feeling there is and it's definitely what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. Seeing music we made on a shitty computer with a cheap mic make 1000 people jump up and down is so amazing. My live show is still very in the works so I’m looking forward to getting better at performing and communicating with the crowd.

If you could recommend one film to everyone reading this currently, which would be your choice and for what reasons do you think its an essential watch?

Right now I would recommend ‘A Ghost Story’. It's been on my mind ever since I saw it. The way it captures grief and an existential crisis is amazing. Such a different movie and the feeling I was left with after I saw it was something else. Definitely an essential watch. Other than that ‘Her’ by Spike Jonze is my favorite movie ever and I aspire to create something as genuine and beautiful as that movie.

Do you have anyone to shoutout or anything to promote? The floor is yours!

My EP Ponyboy is on its way! And 1st Place is already out, so go listen and let me know what you think, all comments are appreciated! Thanks for having me.

Photos by Dev Dhusni

Follow Jimi Somewhere on Instagram and Twitter

Listen on Soundcloud and Spotify

[inloveandwords]

This post was inspired by Ally’s series (which was inspired by Lia at Lost in a Story).

I’ve decided in 2020 that I’m going to do this twice a month and double the number of books that I’m going through (so, I’ll be doing 20 books for the rest of the year, twice a month). I have way too many books on my Goodreads TBR and I need to fix that!

I’m also thinking about completely redoing my Goodreads shelves – stay tuned!

It works like this

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.

Order on ascending date added.

Take the first 5 or 10 books (I’m doing 20 because I have way too many on my list)

Read the synopsis of the books

Decide: keep it or should it go?

Lost and Found (Emi Lost & Found #1) by Lori L. Otto

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Independent and sensitive, idealistic and hopeful, Emi Hennigan lives her life with optimism and an open mind. Between sharing a tiny Manhattan apartment with her fun-loving roommate and spending most of her free time with her heart-breaker friend, Emi’s seen enough failed relationships to know what to avoid in her quest to find her true love. Not only that, but a single moment from her past lingers in her mind, setting high expectations for every man she dates.

Emi’s best friend, artist and hopeless romantic Nate Wilson, has been her closest companion all of their adult lives. After swearing off love with Emi in a silly high school pact, Nate has been seeing other women in hopes of finding one that evokes stronger feelings than the ones he’s been harboring for Emi since he was a teen. Over the span of a year, boundaries are crossed, feelings are confessed, and their unique friendship begins to blossom into something more.

Through Nate’s eyes, an atypical romance unfolds, disrupting the comfortable safe haven their friendship has provided. With a promising future ahead of them both, fate intervenes to bring two soul mates together.

Photography and cover design by Christi Allen Curtis, assisted by Katrina Boone

Date added to TBR: 12/19/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: I don’t remember adding this?

Angels Watching Over Me (Angels Trilogy #1) by Lurlene McDaniel

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Happy Holidays! Bah humbug. “Happy” is not the way Leah Lewis-Hall would describe herself at the moment. She’s spending her twelve days of Christmas in an Indianapolis hospital, while her mother is thousands of miles away on a honeymoon with husband number five. Leah went to the doctor with nothing more than a broken finger, but he ordered her to undergo some tests. Now she’s stuck in the hospital, alone. Then Leah meets her hospital roommate, a young Amish girl named Rebekah, and her big family. Cynical sixteen-year-old Leah has never known people like this before. From Rebekah’s handsome brother, Ethan, who can barely look Leah in the eye, to her kind older sister, Charity, the Amish family captivates Leah with its simple, loving ways. When Leah receives frightening information about her condition, her new friends show her that miracles can happen. And that sometimes angels appear in the most unexpected places.

Date added to TBR: 12/19/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: Super not interested in this one anymore

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

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Katherine V thought boys were gross Katherine X just wanted to be friends Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail K-19 broke his heart

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun–but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.

Date added to TBR: 12/21/16 Keep or Ditch? Keep Comments: I’ve heard good things about this one and I’m still somewhat interested.

Odd Thomas (Odd Thomas #1) by Dean Koontz

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“The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn.

Maybe he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo’s sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it’s different.

A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world’s worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.

Today is August 14.

In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares, and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.

Date added to TBR: 12/21/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: Why is this even on here?

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain, Jane Aitken, Emily Boyce

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Heroic bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street. There’s nothing in the bag to indicate who it belongs to, although there’s all sorts of other things in it. Laurent feels a strong impulse to find the owner and tries to puzzle together who she might be from the contents of the bag. Especially a red notebook with her jottings, which really makes him want to meet her. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?

The Red Notebook has already been sold in twelve different languages. French TV is making a film of The President’s Hat and the movie rights of The Red Notebook have been sold to UGC.

Antoine Laurain was born in Paris. He is the author of five novels, including The President’s Hat.

Date added to TBR: 12/21/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: I don’t get it.

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

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An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction.

dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t.

Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself.

Date added to TBR: 12/23/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: The synopsis says this is devastating and I can’t…

Captive Prince (Captive Prince #1) by C.S. Pacat

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From global phenomenon C. S. Pacat comes the first in her critically acclaimed trilogy—with a bonus story.

Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos. But when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.

Beautiful, manipulative, and deadly, his new master, Prince Laurent, epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.

For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else…

Includes an exclusive extra story!

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Keep Comments: I think this is pretty polarizing, but I’d like to read it to see what I think!

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord (Throne of Glass 0.1) by Sarah J. Maas

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A Throne of Glass novella.

On a remote island in a tropical sea, Celaena Sardothien, feared assassin, has come for retribution. She’s been sent by the Assassin’s Guild to collect on a debt they are owed by the Lord of the Pirates. But when Celaena learns that the agreed payment is not in money, but in slaves, her mission suddenly changes—and she will risk everything to right the wrong she’s been sent to bring about.

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: I think this is part of Assassin’s Blade

The Assassin and the Desert (Throne of Glass 0.3) by Sarah J. Maas

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The Silent Assassins of the Red Desert aren’t much for conversation, and Celaena Sardothien wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s not there to chatter, she’s there to hone her craft as the world’s most feared killer for hire. When the quiet is shattered by forces who want to destroy the Silent Assassins, Celaena must find a way to stop them, or she’ll be lucky to leave the desert alive.

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: “”

The Assassin and the Empire (Throne of Glass 0.5) by Sarah J. Maas

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Celaena Sardothien is the assassin with everything: a place to call her own, the love of handsome Sam, and, best of all, freedom. Yet, she won’t be truly free until she is far away from her old master, Arobynn Hamel; Celaena must take one last daring assignment that will liberate her forever. But having it all, means you have a lot to lose . . .

This fourth fantastic e-novella gives readers an inside look at the characters who appear in the full-length novel Throne of Glass. Don’t miss out!

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: “”

The Assassin and the Underworld (Throne of Glass 0.4) by Sarah J. Maas

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When the King of the Assassins gives Celaena Sardothien a special assignment that will help fight slavery in the kingdom, she jumps at the chance to strike a blow against an evil practice. The mission is a dark and deadly affair which takes Celaena from the rooftops of the city to the bottom of the sewer–and she doesn’t like what she finds there.

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: “”

The Assassin and the Healer (Throne of Glass 0.2) by Sarah J. Maas

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Meet the Assassin: beautiful, defiant, destined for greatness. Celaena Sardothien has challenged her master. Now she must pay the price. Her journey to the Red Desert will be an arduous one, but it may change the fate of her cursed world forever…

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: “”

A Court of Thorns and Roses eSampler (A Court of Thorns and Roses) by Sarah J. Maas

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Get a FREE sneak peek at the first four chapters of New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas’ thrilling and seductive new series, which blends Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin–one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin–and his world–forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristen Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: Clearly I went crazy adding SJM books and accidentally added this randomly.

Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3) by Sarah J. Maas

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When the Bat’s away, the Cat will play. It’s time to see how many lives this cat really has. . . .

Two years after escaping Gotham City’s slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Batwing is left to hold back the tide of notorious criminals. Gotham City is ripe for the taking.

Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove he has what it takes to help people in his role as Batwing. He targets a new thief on the prowl who seems cleverer than most. She has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, and together they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman may be Batwing’s undoing.

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Keep Comments: This is on my bookshelf

Angels’ Blood (Guild Hunter #1) by Nalini Singh

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USA Today bestselling author Nalini Singh introduces a world of beauty and bloodlust, where angels hold sway over vampires…

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she’s the best—but she doesn’t know if she’s good enough for this job. Hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants his attention, only one thing is clear—failure is not an option…even if the task is impossible.

Because this time, it’s not a wayward vamp she has to track. It’s an archangel gone bad.

The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other…and pull her to the razor’s edge of passion. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break…

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: I’ve tried reading books by this author before and I wasn’t super interested.

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening (Monstress #1) by Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda

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Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900’s Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers. Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Keep Comments: This has actually made a comeback on my radar!

A Rogue by Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels #1) by Sarah MacLean

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What a scoundrel wants, a scoundrel gets…

A decade ago, the Marquess of Bourne was cast from society with nothing but his title. Now a partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, the cold, ruthless Bourne will do whatever it takes to regain his inheritance—including marrying perfect, proper Lady Penelope Marbury.

A broken engagement and years of disappointing courtships have left Penelope with little interest in a quiet, comfortable marriage, and a longing for something more. How lucky that her new husband has access to such unexplored pleasures.

Bourne may be a prince of London’s underworld, but he vows to keep Penelope untouched by its wickedness—a challenge indeed as the lady discovers her own desires, and her willingness to wager anything for them… even her heart.

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: I very rarely read historical romance

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (Love By Numbers #1) by Sarah MacLean

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A lady does not smoke cheroot. She does not ride astride. She does not fence or attend duels. She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen’s club.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she’s vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she’s been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she’s not careful, she’ll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love.

Date added to TBR: 12/26/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: “”

Mindfulness in Plain English by Henepola Gunaratana

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Since Mindfulness in Plain English was first published in 1994, it has become one of the bestselling — and most influential — books in the field of mindfulness. It’s easy to see why.

Author Bhante Gunaratana, a renowned meditation master, takes us step by step through the myths, realities, and benefits of meditation and the practice of mindfulness. The book showcases Bhante’s trademark clarity and wit, as he explores the tool of meditation, what it does, and how to make it work.

This expanded edition includes the complete text of its predecessor along with a new chapter on cultivating loving kindness, an especially important topic in today’s world. For anyone who is new to meditation, this is a great resource for learning how to live a more productive and peaceful life.

Date added to TBR: 12/28/16 Keep or Ditch? Ditch Comments: I ended up unhauling this a while ago.

Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved #1) by Cate Tiernan

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Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something’s got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe–until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

Date added to TBR: 12/29/16 Keep or Ditch? Keep Comments: This is still on my bookshelf!

Bye-Bye Books: Decluttering my TBR #1 This post was inspired by Ally’s series (which was inspired by Lia at Lost in a Story…

[her-culture]

A Gay Icon Grows in Brooklyn: King Princess & The Queer Renaissance in Pop Culture

She’s been hailed as “Lesbian Jesus” and for good reason. Born and raised in her father’s recording studio, Mission Sound, in Brooklyn, NY, King Princess (born Mikaela Straus) grew up surrounded by music, and was afforded the opportunity to “f*ck around with instruments and equipment”, to see how the industry operates, and to grow into the rising (see: shooting) star she is today.

She burst onto the scene in spring of 2018 with her debut single “1950”, an affecting love song which the singer-songwriter has described as being inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel, The Price of Salt. “I was reading a lot of gay literature,” she explains “and that really stuck with me because it’s just a beautiful story, and I think what I loved about it was it took place in the ‘50s and the way that queer people were allowed to be public was so censored and it was all about body language and this kind of icy interaction because you had to hide yourself So, I was interested in the parallel between the metaphor of “1950” being how queer love looks in public and how it’s very similar to having a very cold relationship.” Oh, and she also wrote the hit song in the shower of her dorm at USC. She recorded the song in two days, and she hasn’t changed it since. “I kind of just held onto it,” she shares, “reassuring myself that it would come out one day.”

On social media and in interviews, King Princess is laid back and blunt, candid and self-deprecating yet utterly confident, the #coolgirl we all want to be. She describes her child self as “such a f***ing loud, obnoxious kid.” Underneath her frank, funny and irreverent exterior,  however, there is a quiet sensitivity; a poetic attunement to the small graces of life, which is given a voice through her music.

In June, she released her “Make My Bed” EP, which features six equally breathtaking tracks. In “Talia” she grapples with the heartbreak that often follows the swell of euphoria which accompanies romantic love, and which imbues the almost divinely sweet track that is “1950.” In “Upper West Side,” she re-imagines a familiar cultural clash and delves into the nuances and contradictions of romantic infatuation; it is a gay, less campy take on Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl.” It is a story about the strained, and perhaps severed, relationship between a girl who lives downtown (maybe in Brooklyn?) and a girl from the Upper West Side, the kind of girl who, according to King Princess, buys herself a diamond chain and then tells her friends it’s fake. “I can’t stop judging everything you do/but I can’t get enough of you,” she sings, acknowledging how our intellectual dissatisfaction with someone’s behavior is often challenged by the far more capricious and unaccountable allegiances of the heart. There is something haunting, delicate and wistful about her voice, at once raspy and yet also angelic, ethereal. Every word seems to carry a weight that far surpasses its ordinary application, leading us to linger on each syllable with her as we are transported to a lighter, dreamier, more beautiful reality.

Perhaps most radical about her music is the manner in which it describes homosexual relations with the same authority with which straight songwriters have been exploring romantic love for, well, ever. This is a bold gesture in a hetero-normative culturethat demands that non-heterosexual relationships be defined by their difference, be boldly asserted as gay with a capital G, leaving little room for the meaningful reflection and oh-so-human messiness which artistic depictions of straight relationships are afforded.

There is arguably a similar trend taking place in film and even literature, in which art does not necessarily pose queerness or homosexuality as something to be appraised or dissected, or as anomalous in some way, but rather as a kind of certainty, as an element of one’s life that is as innate and undemanding of lengthy discussion as one’s name, job, hometown, etc.

Take Princess Cyd - an underrated movie you can watch right now on Netflix- for example. In the 2017 drama, we get to experience a young, female protagonist who seems interested in both boys and girls. Whether or not this is a newfound discovery is not clear, but it ends up not mattering so much; her sexuality is never discussed. Instead, the viewer has the joy of watching a young girl who accepts her sexuality with openness and grace, and able to her and the other characters involved.

In the literary world, we can turn to Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties (shortlisted for the 2017 National Book Award). This genre-bending masterpiececonsists of eight stories in which homosexual, specifically lesbian, relationships are explored, and presented without exposition or explication.

The last few years have seen the release of a steady stream of this kind of art in which queerness is implicit. This is not to say that it is necessarily subtle or that it is peripheral to the heart of the work, only that it’s presence is one which does not ask to assert itself, it just does. We are perhaps moving into a cultural moment in which it is ok for not all content about queer individuals to explicitly revolve around their oppression. In many ways, the struggles  faced and the history of oppression of LGBTQ+ folks is so woven into the fabric of their experience and sensibility that the inescapable weight of these experiences does not need to be announced so much as felt and, as the adage goes, “the personal is political.” The song “1950” is a prime example. To the average listener, it may just sound like a straightforward love song about a lesbian relationship. However as King Princess shares, it was deeply influenced by the culture of secrecy and fear surrounding homosexual relationships in the 1950s.

The 20-year-old singer has alsocommented on the need for openly gay artists to represent their communities. She accepts the title of “Lesbian Jesus” and reflects that “I am obviously not the perfect representation of anything and neither is anyone else, but I do feel it’s important that we have people who say they are gay because there are gay people who aren’t bi, who aren’t pan, who aren’t just queer, who feel that they need people who are going to just be with women or men in television or film and music and relate to that.…Everybody needs their people.” It’s an interesting assertion, considering it seems to typically be those who fall somewhere in the middle of the Kinsey scale and who maybe less certain about their sexuality who are most underrepresented in media. But the core message is clear: We all deserve (and all of society benefits from) proper representation. I’m transported back to 2013, when Macklemore released “Same Love” and we were all kind of confused as to whether he himself was gay or not. This is not to say that he didn’t have the right to or should not have made the song, only that, perhaps the impact of the song would have been greater if it had come from a gay individual. While songs like “Same Love” are all fine and good, perhaps even necessary, they should not be the be-all and end-all of queer pop.

In just a few months, King Princess has established herself as the Gay Icon we didn’t know we needed, and fans are anxiously awaited her debut album as they replay the the six tracks included on Make My Bed ad nauseum. Now she is kicking off her “Pussy is God” tourand will return to New York this month with a show at Irving Plaza in Manhattan and another at Warsaw in Brooklyn. She’s also performing at a number of upcoming music festivals, including Governor’s Ball and Firefly. Check out her website for her upcoming tour dates: https://kingprincessmusic.com/.

[theseventhhex]

Lina Tullgren Interview

Lina Tullgren

Photo by Michael Winters

Shifting in trainings and traditions, Lina Tullgren found herself a voice with the electric guitar - uniquely flavoured and shaped from the many years of fiddle lessons and classical technique. The shifts in her genre and in instrumentation are stark, but important. Lina’s morphing interaction with music has mirrored a growing determination to harness her ability to melodically and lyrically express complex emotions. It is on Lina’s debut album ‘Won’ that we reap the full rewards of this newfound confidence in expression and rejection of internal hesitation. Now backed by a full band, each track manages to remain piercingly intimate and always honest, while gaining a wholly new sense of gestation both sonically and lyrically… We talk to Lina about growing up as a shy kid, nostalgia and French movies…

TSH: How would you sum up your songwriting perspectives for 'Won'?

Lina: The subject matter on 'Won' was sort of an extension of the themes that I only grazed the surface with in putting out the EP 'Wishlist'. I'm covering concepts to do with home and having a sense of place. I mainly wanted to focus on the times in between. Those times when we are in transit and going from one thing to the next, whether it's moving onto a new horizon or a relationship ending or beginning. The times in between have this overarching and memorable feel.

TSH: There are also themes of adjusting to changes in your life...

Lina: Yeah, but I would say it's less so because I have grown up a bit and been able to now see myself a little clearer than I did before. However, yes, a lot of those themes still exist in that they don't really ever go away no matter how old we are. I feel we should always be looking inward at oneself from an objective standpoint.

TSH: Has writing and recording simultaneously always been your preferred method?

Lina: This approach is the way I've always wrote music. It serves me well and is just my preferred method overall.

TSH: Do you still pull from observing the behaviours of others, as well as conversations you overhear?

Lina: Yes, definitely. The conversations of others just really intrigues me. I was very shy as a kid and spent most of my time just watching and listening to others. Even though I'd say I'm less shy now, that initial fascination doesn't go away, especially when it starts out as the only thing that you are doing all the time. I've grown up and become a more social person, but that initial shy behaviour still resonates with me even now.

TSH: What led to you gravitating towards the analogue approach?

Lina: It's just kind of what we've always done. Me and Ty have always recorded music on tape machines, it’s just what we grew up using. Sure, it sounds very nice and has a very beautiful specific hum and fuzz to it that takes on its own instrumentation in songs, but that's not necessarily why it's our preferred choice. Maybe one day we'll record digitally, we've done it before for fun, but right now, recording to tape makes most sense.

TSH: How valuable is to have a collaborator like Ty to assist you?

Lina: It's really important to have a collaborative partner, especially when you're making music that is so raw and so upfront. Writing this kind of music is quite alienating if you do it all by yourself all of the time, so it's nice to have somebody that you're comfortable with to be able to work through certain ideas together.

TSH: Was it quite freeform to flesh out a track like 'Asktell'?

Lina: Yeah, that track was fairly organic. I wrote the song on my own and then Ty came up with his own guitar parts. Also, the drummer that we worked with for this record was very intuitive in taking criticism from us and coming up with really interesting and intuitive parts that stood on their own, but he didn't necessarily take away from the strong content of the lyrics and the guitar work that me and Ty fleshed out. He did a great job on this track too.

TSH: What are the ideas behind 'Fitchburg State'?

Lina: That song is so stupid, ha! I wrote that song and performed it solo for a long time and it was never my intention to make it a blown out rock song that it became. We sort of just let that one get away from us. It's kind of funny to me now because I never really imagined that it would become such a fuzzy and intense song.

TSH: Is it even more rewarding to perform your material live with a full band backing you?

Lina: Yeah, absolutely. It's only been about four months since I've been playing live with a full band, but it's been so cool. Prior to this it was always me and Ty as a duo with two guitars, therefore the full band thing is still very new and really interesting to me. Playing with a full band is very different every time, which makes it exciting and constantly evolving in its own way.

TSH: You've previously mentioned Maine was magical kingdom to grow up in. Are you quite nostalgic as a person?

Lina: Ha! Well, I have nostalgic pieces of my personality but not to the point of being very brooding, which I think can be a problem for a lot of nostalgic people. I was certainly very fortunate to grow up where I did and to be surrounded by the people that I had around me. However, I understand that it was a very special time and place that couldn't have lasted forever, much like anything.

TSH: What's pleased you most about your progression to date?

Lina: It's been nice the way that I've been perceived as an artist this past year. Initially, because 'Wishlist' had a sparse songwriting vibe, this meant I got lumped into a category that I never really cared to be in. I was put in a category of softer and less complex music. However, with more music coming out and a full band behind me, my music is more flushed out now. Now, I'm seeing that I'm being perceived in the way I saw it from the beginning, which is nice.

TSH: How do you stay occupied, outside of music?

Lina: I watch a lot of films mainly. I've been really into this French director named Bruno Dumont. He made this movie I watched recently called Ma Loute, which I really liked a lot. I'm also watching this short four-part TV series that he made for French television a few years ago.

TSH: What matters most as you look ahead?

Lina: Well, I would like to try to some new things as I look ahead. Violin was my first instrument that I played for a very long time and I have in the past month or so been getting into practising violin more regularly. I'm still writing Lina Tullgren songs on the electric guitar, but I have some ideas for some other projects that may or may not see the light of day. We'll see. I'm just looking right now to tour a lot for this record and hopefully get back into the studio in the winter to make more music.

Lina Tullgren - “Red Dawn (Live Session)”

Won

[thehiphopbreakdown-blog]

Each One, Teach One

I think I was in the 5th grade when I attempted to write my first rap. It was 1988 and I was immersed in Slick Rick’s “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick” and N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton,” courtesy of music videos. By this time hip hop was a major part of my musical landscape along with soul and R&B, some spurts of jazz while traveling in the car with my dad and popular rock. My mom was a big fan of Jackson Browne and The Fine Young Cannibals.

As it turns out, I don’t have the physical evidence of my first attempt at mcing. I’m sure it was exceptional. Spectacular. I probably used the word whack a lot and added some particularly vicious line like, “you can’t beat me.” Hopefully, excluding the work sucker. I was 11-years-old and was attempting to emulate what I heard at the time.

Have you ever stopped to think about how incredible wordsmiths are self-taught, not schooled in classes or under the tutelage of a more skilled rapper? No one formally teaches mc’s how to be good, write quality lyrics or how to pen songs. However there is definitely an informal schooling that happens with all of the hip hop elements (djing, graffiti art, mcing and dance) and mcing is no exception. There is a passing on of knowledge, history and technique from one to another.

When I got to high school I hooked up with a rap crew called Stayte of Myndz (yes, we did spell it that way. It’s not a typo and we changed the name two more times) where all the members went to other local high schools. With their help I learned how to format songs, write hooks and be an mc on the mic as opposed to reciting lyrics acapella. Although I thought we were the best thing since Wu-Tang, when I look back we were or I was in the need of serious work. However, if I would have kept it up instead of abandoning rapping for a regular 9 to 5 job things may have been different. I bought into the perceived security of being in the working world instead of learning that polishing would have came through repetition, time and practice. Lots and lots of practice.

Popular social writer, Malcolm Gladwell has a well known formula that suggests it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a particular field. This soon applied to the ones in my crew who kept rapping post high school and through changes, doubts and knocks at self-confidence. My good friend L. Scatterbrain who I’ve known since those early crew days is one of the best freestylers that I know. When he freestyles, I can hear the growth, development and see the tenacity in his attempt to become a better mc. Since I’ve known him he’s become a fixture in the Los Angeles underground hip hop scene. He stuck with it. I remember him mentioning how he looked up to a particular mc in the scene who’s freestyle he admired.

Although we don’t explicitly say it-- our corner ciphers, writing sessions, impromptu battles in the parking lots of fast food restaurants were our classrooms. Our workshops. Our places to be corrected, to sharpen swords, dream up better bars to slay future opponents if they didn’t quite cut it this time. By replaying that verse over and over, we learn to emulate then graduate to innovate, often without pausing to realize this lesson.

I would have totally missed it. With this newfound insight I try to put in the work and pass along what I have to others. I feel like hip hop, street dance and artistic communities embody the motto each one, teach one. How do you pass along to others the lessons you’ve learned?