#but alas i am addicted/j | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

daisys-gard3n · 3 years ago

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please, i am begging for jonathan to eat pussy and use his thick fingers. i am simply ✨begging✨

you thought you were gonna get a normal confession, but alas it's a fic

Relax {Jonathan Joestar x Reader}

Your hips bucked forward, your hands grabbing at the satin sheets as you let out a quiet moan. Your loins were set aflame with arousal, the urge to cum was arriving slowly but menacingly. Your walls tightened around the singular digit inside, hugging it oh so tightly to beg it not to leave and to give you proper stimulation. Soft lips cupped around your clit, suckling lightly as a tongue poked out to flick at the swollen bug. His eyes watched you from in between your legs, taking in your every movement and sound like his life depended it on.

"J-Jojo." You stuttered, your hips trying to squirm but a large hand was pressing your hips down gently as Jonathan's lips caressed your vulva. His other hand was currently stretching out your hole with a singular finger, readying you for his middle finger while he buttered you up with the gentle flick of his tongue that trailed from the top of your opening to the top of your clit. He pulled his lips off for the moment with a final teasing suckle as he smiled at you. "Yes, love?"

"D-Don't tease me...P-Please."

"I apologize, you're just so adorable. I can't help myself when you squirm around and sound so cute." The midnight-blue haired man chuckled lovingly, his index finger still pumping into you at a moderate pace. To further his point, Jonathan curled his finger towards him so it could press against your g-spot deep inside. This resulted in your breath hitching, ending in a squeaky moan as your fingers dug deeper into the sheets. Jonathan smiled, diving back down in between your legs and cupped his lips around the top part of your vulva, suckling on your pussy lips and adding more stimulation to your already throbbing clit. With each little suckle and lick, Jonathan stopped in between to give you small comments of affection. All while pumping his finger into you lovingly, just to see you fluster at his words and the feeling of orgasm just above the horizon.

"You're so beautiful, (Y/n). I can never tell you enough. Even right now, you're divine to me."

"Your voice is so adorable, love."

"Don't bite your voice back, your lips will start bleeding. It's just me, I won't let anyone else hear them. Let me hear you."

"I'll never get over how gorgeous your body is. Every part of you fits perfectly in my hand and reacts to my touch beautifully, like we were meant for each other from the start."

"You taste so good, I'll get addicted if I'm not careful."

"Mm, you feel so good around my finger...I think you're ready for another one." You feel his middle finger slide in alongside his index, stretching you out deliciously. You threw your head back, moaning at the feeling of his calloused fingers teasing you from the inside as he slowly pumped his fingers in and out of your entrance. "H-Hng, ahh! J-Jojo!...Feels good!"

"I'm glad to hear. I want to make sure you're feeling loved too." Jonathan chimed before dipping back down to lap at your clit with a more brisk pace than before. Your walls hugged at his fingers tightly as your juices dripped down his fingers and down your skin to wet the bed sheets below. Jonathan moaned into your cunt, wrapping his lips around your vulva once more so that you would feel the vibrations that sent you towards the edge more and more. His fingers started to scissor slowly, spreading and stretch your hole out in preparation of what was to come later in the night. You felt your loins tighten excruciatingly so, the more Jonathan grew faster at lapping at your clit and fingering you. He had to have known you were about to cum soon, he wouldn't have picked the pace up so abruptly. You could tell he was growing impatient too, as from the growing tent in his pants you saw earlier before he crawled in between your legs.

With the tension rising in you, to wasn't long until you felt the bundle of nerves in you snap. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head and your hips squirmed and bucked under his palm as you orgasmed around Jonathan's fingers. They were pumping into you a much faster pace now that he could feel your walls pulsate around them. He hummed at your clit in approval, suckling it one last time as he helped you come down from your high with is fingers. As you tried to calm your panting down, you felt Jonathan's fingers slip out of you, now soaked with your juices as he smiled from his place in between your legs.

"You did so good, love."

He says just before taking his tongue and licking up your entrance of the excess juice coming from your quivering pussy all the way to your sensitive clit. You let out a whimper, your hips automatically bucking upwards from how overstimulated you were from that split second. Jonathan chuckled, sitting up and started to remove his pants for the main event of the night.

"Just relax now, okay?"

#jonathan joestar #jjba oneshot #smut #not sfw #anon #'request'#afab reader

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fivelittlebirdies · 3 years ago

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Fuck it. Imma answer my own questions.

GG, can sadly suck it. I came for the escapism. I’m a mom with a lot of kids, struggling under an oppressive system. I wanna see these women be bad bitches, not make the same goddamn mistakes over and over. And i def don’t wanna be fucking baited with Rio. I’m not siding with a white woman character over a MoC who’s getting piss poor rep. Miss me with that shit.

One night I got drunk at an end of the year party an advisor was hosting (and like i didn’t have that much to drink because I was driving). And my dumbass didn’t take serious the warning not to drink while taking antibiotics. So I try to drive home (dumbest things ever, I totally got lucky and what I deserved). Get lost in the hills of Moraga/Lafayette, and come upon what I think are steel pylons. Out of it me thinks, Imma ram them (in my hybrid civic mind you). But alas they were not steel, but reinforced cement. Oh the damage to my poor car and self. So, fucked up my car, middle of the night, can’t drive, drunk off my ass. Enter the hilly fields beyond the do not enter point. Am chased by wild turkeys. Think it’s a great idea to throw the shit in my purse at them. Lose everything, including phone and wallet. Pass out. Wake up, walk miles to a gas station, am arrested for hit and run (of property, not turkeys). Totally bummed, because duh I called the cops on myself, hit and run how? Charged with hit and run and dui. Am very much lucky to be alive seeing as how i’m such a dumbass. lesson learned the fucking hard way. So now I never drink while on antibiotics, because three drinks in and i’m doing deadly shit. Can’t risk it.

Having white passing kids can hard because 1) everyone (white, latine, whatever) thinks I’m the fucking nanny, and hey do I wanna watch their kids too? 2) man I get judged for my children’s behavior like you wouldn’t believe. I see shit on tv, and I’m like no way am I allowing my kids to act that in public. The censure man, the looks, white people looking like my kids step outta line they’re gonna call management on me, and why don’t i have better control over these children. And one of the hardest things about that is when my kids notice, and I get asked, “Mom, why are they looking at us?” “Mom, what’s wrong?” And I’m like please stop being rambunctious, please just stand still and be quiet so no one pays attention to us. The stress sweats I tell you. And one time Ez thought it would be funny to hold up a sign in the car window he wrote that said, “Help she won’t feed us, we’re starving!” as we’re waiting in the parking lot of jack in the box for our food to come out (after church one saturday, so I knew they were hungry). And the kids thought it was hilarious, but I had to explain to them why he had to put that shit down asap, and how i could get in a lot of trouble for something they thought of as joke. And this shit doesn’t happen when the kids are out with my husband, so that’s upsetting too.

I have 8 tattoos, i got them all in six years (from 18 to 24, it is seriously easy to become addicted to tattoos), and I wasn’t able to get another for 12 years due to being pregnant or breastfeeding. And then just time, damn. Designing my next ones now, The most piercings i’ve ever had were 6 in my left ear, and 9 in my right. But due to a metal allergy (that seriously accerbated with each pregnancy) I’m down to 10 in total.

Ahahahaha, I did have sex with brothers. And it may have only been like an hour apart, but it was technically two separate days. No, I’m not ashamed. And I honestly didn’t feel bad about it either, till J was like, how do you think he must have felt. That must’ve hurt him. For me, I’m like homedude shoulda said he wasn’t cool with it if he didn’t want me to fuck his brother, But he said it was no biggie and I took him at his word. (plus making your younger brother come and get me to sneak me into your house? C’mon.) And anyways he cut me out of his life after, so I figured out he wasn’t okay after all right. He had to do what he had to do.

#anything else?#the last one is one of the reasons j says i have a fratboy mentality towards sex #i was honestly more concerned with coming clean to my close friend who was the ex of the younger brother than anything else even though #they'd been broken up for years at the at point #had to do it though gotta own up to that shit #ps even my dentists have commented on what a small mouth i have they gotta get the kids bite blocks out for me #anyone else want to join me in the no shame club?#i mean i have a bit of shame #just not over sex stuff #tdl #mine

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instruth · 4 years ago

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Hi Friends,

I composed my first long imaginary poem many years ago. Some of you may have read it, but you may not know the historical events behind it.

I met a schoolmate from St Joseph’s, Kuching on chat group a few years ago. His name is Andrew Yeo. Through him I met his wife, also from Kuching. Her name is Christina Chin.

She is my fellow Hakka dialect clan whom I later discovered, surprisingly, was a neighbor of my maternal grandparents (also Hakka clans). She and I recollected many pleasant memories of our childhood days. I left Kuching for my studies in Singapore. She married Andrew and moved to Kuala Lumpur.

It was many years of being separated in different countries, with forgotten memories of our childhood days.

Heavens! We could not even recognized each other. We reflected on times gone by, including the now abandoned railway track, along which was a tuck shop canteen operated by Christina’s family, that I frequented often as a child, for local cakes, all kinds of soft drinks, ice ‘kachang’, and ‘kantong’ (local ice delicacies).

It was Christina who helped me join a poetry group on Facebook about five years ago.

I shared my imaginary long poem with her. And she produced two digital arts, based on my poem, that was later published in my poetry book, Poetry By Experience.

I like to share this poem here with my friends, together with Christina’s beautiful digital arts.

I hope you like them.

Enjoy.

DESOLATE WALK - by J. P. Lee

The distant times return, riding on a freight train,

projecting images onto the screen of my mind.

My spirit weeps, my soul thus bleeds,

wounded by the sharp blade of a painful memory.

I walk past the ruined castle, lo beyond the broken brick walls,

where once the smiling garden greeted the dawning of day,

where sprawling blossoms lined the narrow pathways,

and cheering creepers roofing over

the wooden benches on the sidewalks.

I tip toe to near the edge of a past forgotten recluse,

where there still stands that platform with a comforting ritual,

for viewing the distant horizon across the vastness of the sea,

to receive an inspiring thought - even stir up a miraculous healing or two.

The hand-carved bench of oak is still there, though now worn and broken,

and, oh good heavens! - See!

That weather-designed couch of rock for two, on which young lovers once reposedly made their pledges in sweet whisperings;

and older couples revisited to renew their matrimonial promises with a tender loving kiss.

Alas!

These compassionate whisperings and tender promises are no more.

They have been replaced, contracted rigidly and guarded lovelessly on paper, no longer freely written upon the heart.

Beyond this viewing gallery and below, the deserted shore looks more like a cemetery plot in the shadows,

lined with the scarred trunks of palm trees, exhibited as figures with long scraggy hairs and with heads hung low.

A walk down the stone-steps, moist and mossed, leads to the place where once was a peopled beach, with the scented cooling of fanning palm leaves,

waving and grinning to the assembled crowd.

This pompous and celebrated event too has vanished.

Lifelessness and desolation capture a melancholic scene,

with eerie chantings echoing from the morbid graves.

A faint hope of activity sprouts meagerly on the ground but a closer look reveals it is just an invasion of ants set upon a decaying prey.

Looking up to the castle for consolation only amplifies the cries of the dullards,

the insensitive and the selfish,

with a score to settle, for the sinner still has his sins to answer for.

What a measly task!

What magic is there to recreate the living voice of music - the whispering of a gentle breeze, soothing sound of water tripping over the stones, and the addictive laughter of children at play?

Up yonder mountains -

skirted by bare trees with peeled barks, where no more the singing robins build their nests, ground carpeted by blackened and crumpled foliage.

And overlooking the valleys,

the picture of sloping green meadows comes into view,

spreading out in dotting spots of white, weaving a tapestry of a gentle grazing task, pleasing to the eyes and easing many a troubled mind.

The deathly silence arouses and stimulates a need to restore life through the grace of imagination

- presenting as the bowing of the swaying willows beside the brook,

like ballerinas dancing to the symphony of whistling wind,

before a captivated audience of long, wild grass on the opposite bank,

dangling over the glassy water,

clapping softly before dipping into the gentle stream,

sending ripples of appreciation across for an encore.

A passing breeze comes to oblige every call for a repeat performance.

Such beauty and bliss, a sanctuary missed.

Evening heralds the cold embrace of a misty night.

The clouded moon tries to hide its solitary frown;

the distant stars blinked weakly in utter confusion.

The night lingers and delays the approach of dawn.

I stumble - many times,

but I am not lost for I am still searching.

I persevere, bear the pain and carry my cross. I shall not let it break me.

Then I know I will find what I am looking for.

I return to the gallery, peering at the dark horizon,

awaiting the moment of glory to catch a glimpse of the distant flickering glow of dawn,

rising from under the far horizon.

From whence the sun will surely rise again!

a memory weaves

a colorful tapestry

in silent prayer

©Johnny J P Lee

19 February 2021

Haibun (prose / haiku 5-7-5)

Digital Arts Credit, Christina Chin

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gracereadstoomanybooks · 4 years ago

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answering questions I’ve been asked on TikTok✨

QUESTION: how did you get into reading?

So, when I was in middle school (many moons ago) we had this thing called AR Testing. Basically, you read a book and take a test on it—the questions were things that happened in the book, it was really simple. If you got a good grade, you got points. The more points you earned, the more eligible you were for the reading party at the end of each semester. Me, being the nerd I am, got top of my class because I went through 8th grade level books like it was nothing. The librarian at my school brought me books from the high school to read since everything was easy for me, and alas, my addiction began. And now that I have adult money, it’s a true addiction. Also, telling my father “I’m bored” and his response being, “go read a book or something” so thanks dad.

QUESTION: what’s one book you ALWAYS recommend to people?

This one is tough because I’ve read THOUSANDS of books, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be Confess by Colleen Hoover. I fell in love with her work in high school when I first read Ugly Love, but Confess is the type of book that pulls at your heart strings, y’all. It has everything people love: humor, sexual tension, drama, love. GO BUY THE DAMN BOOK. Or honestly any book by Colleen Hoover—she’s a fucking amazing author.

QUESTION: outside of making TikToks, what do you do for a living?

I currently work at a restaurant and hate every second of it. If anyone tells you to become a server, DONT. It’s not worth the hassle, I promise you. Sure, you can make decent money but the amount of rude customers and shitty tips you receive each shift is very disheartening. If you really need a job, do anything BUT work in the food industry.

QUESTION: what’s your wattpad story about?

First question: which one? I have about 30 drafts sitting there waiting to be posted. But, I’m going to assume you’re talking about the Harry Styles fan fiction I’ve been working on for the past 4 years and haven’t had the courage to post. I’ll tell you a little about it: Elaine Aldridge is forced into a betrothal to a man she’s never met & loathes. She goes to his court and realizes things aren’t what they truly seem. And the guard her future husband sticks on her??? None other than Mr. Harry Styles. Add in some magic & deaths and you’ve got my story— The First Prince. (Honestly, that’s an extremely shitty description so if you wanna check it out go to my wattpad account)

QUESTION: how old are you?

Ahem. . . twenty-one.

QUESTION: what is your dream career?

Being a published author and having people rave about my books. That’s all. Or, an editor for a publishing company. Imagine reading all day and being paid for it🤩

QUESTION: what was your least favorite read of 2020?

I already KNOW I’m gonna get shit for this but....... the wicked king. YALL I LITERALLY COULDNT GET THROUGH IT IM SO SORRY, I STILL HAVENT FINISHED IT

QUESTION: current favorite author?

Sarah. J. Maas. I don’t know what it is about her writing style, but it’s addicting. Throne of Glass is hands down the best series I’ve ever read. A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first book I’ve EVER reread. Her stories truly suck you in and hold onto you—you get lost so easily in her writing and it’s like once you’re done with a series, nothing will compare. Or, at least that’s how I felt after finishing Kingdom of Ash. Honorable mentions: Jennifer L. Armentrout, Penelope Douglas, L.J Shen, Elle Kennedy and Kennedy Fox.

QUESTION: any recommendations/tips to give to a new reader?

I’ve always given this advice to people who want to get into reading: find what you like and start with that. If you like romance, I’ve got a list for you to choose from. Mystery? Another list. Sci-fi? I GOT YOU. Fantasy? Yes! Sports fiction? It might take me a second but I’ll find you a book. Nonfiction? I’m zero help in that category, honestly. The point of the matter is that you’re never going to enjoy a book if you aren’t interested in the underlying topics.

QUESTION: do you ever find yourself comparing your life to fictional life?

Yes. All the time. I daydream about being apart of the Inner Circle and living in Terrasen with Aelin and Rowan. I think about what it would be like to have real powers and a mate. It drives my boyfriend crazy—but he loves me anyway.

QUESTION: what are your most anticipated books of 2021?

Here’s a list:

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Gods and Monsters by Shelby Mahurin

Crescent City 2 (Untitled) by Sarah J. Maas

A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer (I just ordered this one & it arrives tomorrow)

Blessed Monsters by Emily A. Duncan

QUESTION: why did you start a Tumblr?

Honestly, I used to love tumblr when I was in grade school (way too young to be on here then but what else is new). I like having an extra space to get my questions and comments out without having to compress it into a 60 second video for TikTok to see. Tumblr is a good place to blog & post things like this.

QUESTION: what’s your favorite song right now?

I’ve listened to Carry You by Novo Amor every day for the past two months and I cry each time.

QUESTION: why write Harry Styles fan fiction?

Simple: I love Harry Styles. I’ve been a fan of him and One Direction since they were on X FACTOR. Read that again. X. Factor. I used to watch their performances on YouTube before WMYB even came out. Of course, I love all of the 1D boys but I was always a Harry gal. And I look up to him in a way—I’ve read things about people wishing they knew him personally and honestly? I would never want to meet him. I like the version of him I’ve cooked up in my brain over the past 10 years. I like the symbiotic relationship I have with his music. Fine Line is a ��masterpiece✨. HS1 is a ✨work of art✨.

now, some topics I’ve been asked way too many times and want to finally get to:

QUESTION: political views?

the saying “anyone but trump” has been in my brain for the past four years. No, I’m not a republican. No, I’m not a democrat. I like to think of myself as a progressive (ahem, liberal) Did I vote for a democratic candidate? Yes, and I’d do it again and again until the US isn’t one of the worst countries—I’m sorry, businesses— to be apart of. I wanted Bernie but got Biden, and I’m alright with that. And my girl Kamala🥳

QUESTION: how did you feel about the BLM protests?

I went to multiple BLM protests and donated a lot of funds to BLM & other organizations. It’s 2021, people... stop being fucking RACIST. And don’t be afraid to call racist people out! Black Lives Matter, even if no one is posting about it anymore.

QUESTION: thoughts on abortion?

your body your choice, queen! not my uterus, not my problem.

QUESTION: there was a comment on an old video of yours talking about r*pe, why did you delete the comment?

I made a video when I first started my account on TikTok about reading in public and feeling “turned on” by it. Go watch it if you don’t know what I’m talking about. BUT, some ignorant male decided to comment and say “this is how girls get r*ped”. Whew. So. I deleted the comment because ....

I am a victim of sexual assault. Along with a lot of other women. 1 in 5 women have been victims of sexual assault. Talking about being r*ped isn’t funny.

No one else needed to see his comment. I reported it immediately and his account was shut down.

I never got justice for what happened to me, and the fact that some random male—who had never even met me or seen me before my video showed up on his FYP—had the nerve to comment that? Unacceptable.

this question isn’t as controversial but

QUESTION: what’s the best way to get out of a toxic relationship?

okay, let me just start off by saying that the people around you who love and support you are going to be your backbone. Leaving a toxic situation is hard, and every situation is different, but my best piece of advice to offer you is don’t be afraid to ask for help. Your loved ones are going to be there for you when you need them, even if you don’t believe they will. If you explain what’s happening, someone you know and love will drop whatever it is their doing to make sure you get out safely. good luck my babes.

now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

QUESTION: any tips on making tiktoks?

Literally none. I post what I think is funny and relatable and if anyone agrees, I’m satisfied. Even if it’s one view, it’s good enough for me. So I guess my one tip is to not base your life off of an app and followers.

QUESTION: favorite Harry Styles fanfic?

DONT MAKE ME CHOOSE. Duplicity is up there, along with Stall 1&2, and Kiwi. After? Absolutely not.

QUESTION: favorite WEBTOON?

y’all already KNOW. LORE OLYMPUS BY USEDBANDAID. Rachel is a genius and I have reread the series a million times. Hades is my soulmate and Apollo can rot in the fiery pits of the Underworld. also, if we’re talking about other webcomics, reading Walk on Water on mangadex...🤫

QUESTION: favorite movie?

Howls Moving Castle. I will be getting my “a heart is a heavy burden” tattoo very very soon.

QUESTION: I read your Elain theory on tumblr, can you explain a little more?

I thought I was pretty straightforward but I’ll say it again: she is always the “good” one and it’s too suspicious. SJM has already given one Archeron sister a happy ending, Nesta’s is obviously inevitable, but Elain? She has too many options for a happy ending. Lucien, who is her “mate”. Azriel, who is intrigued by her slightly. Her human guy—I don’t remember his name—who is disgusted that she’s not human anymore. Or, alone, planting flowers all day. BUT! My point is that she’s not truly happy. She was forced into the Cauldron just like Nesta. She was ripped away from the life she loved so dearly and didn’t want to give up. The man she was going to marry now hates her guts because she’s a High Fae. She has the perfect set up for a villain plot line and I’m all here for it.

well, that’s all I feel like doing tonight. hope you enjoyed my little q&a! be kind, and talk to you later! byeeee!

#a court of silver flames #acotar #harry styles #one direction #sarah j maas #throne of glass #wattpad #tiktok #elain archeron #howls moving castle #lore olympus #q&a time #walk on water #persephone #lore olympus hades

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weaselbeaselpants · 5 years ago

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Rewritten Alastor notes (TW: NSFL, Cannibalism, Vore, animal abuse)

This is unexpected I know, but I’m suffering from a major headache and I need something to do.

Alastor the Radio Demon in my non-existent Hazbin repaint. Things he has in common with his canon self:

Human soul of a man who died in the 1930s. Was a cannibal in life.

Tried (and succeeded) to corrupt a bunch of lesser demons.

Respected by the big-bads of Hell, like Valentino and Vox. Feared among them as well because he creeps even them out.

Deer + wendigo motif still very much still at play.

Still asexual, though I wouldn’t recommend putting him on any pride flags.

Gets along with Charlie and loves antagonizing Vaggie.

Treats Nifty and Husk as goons and/or pets.

His weird hair tufts emote along with him like ears. I don’t know if they are ears though. I think Viv has the right idea not confirming what the frack is up with his anatomy.

Can’t ever stop smiling. Ever. That aspect of Al’s design is something real special that I think Viv has the right idea implementing. A character who can not stop smiling makes for a lot of terrifying and hilarious reactions. Just look at Sans near eternal smile.

Inexplicably likes pineapple pizza. Funny out-of-character gag.

AGAIN: CONTENT WARNING ESPECIALLY FOR ANYONE WITH TRIGGERS TO THE STUFF ABOVE. KEEP READING AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Changes made to his character:

I do not mind Hazbin being crass and vile and offensively-over the top as long as it has a good grasp on what the joke is (like Helluva Boss :>). My Hazbin thesis is that all of the characters are “demons” in as much as they’ve done bad things or were bad people, but are not maniacal or sadistic + there’s hope for some of them. THEN there’s Alastor who absolutely lives up to the demon-reputation and did genuinely evil things in life. Alastor’s the kind of person who absolutely should be purged but has escaped because those who are supposed to be for justice aren’t threatened by him.

He isn’t involved in voodoo or has any affluent Creole background. With all do respect that aspect feels just a little too lifted from Dr. Facilier. My Alastor’s background is American “mutt” with an Algonquian-native grandmother.

His sin in life - and in Hell itself - is Gluttony. Taking a page from the OG Wendigo mythos, which describes them more as pulsating, gorging Elderitch abominations, Al’s MO in the show is to consume everyone and everything there is.

Alastor’s demonic powers are presented as a wave of high frequency radio static that messes with a demon’s psyche so much it physically hurts them. Al then scoops up his victim’s souls to power his microphone and everything that demon had in it’s possession beforehand crumbles or becomes his.

Angel is afraid of him. Unlike in the canon cartoon, Angel is the one who recognizes Alastor and knows he’s dangerous, not Vaggie. Turns out, Angel had a run in with the Radio Demon sometime during the mid twentieth century (so when they were both pretty young in demon years). Angel tried to steal Al’s microphone but Al flung a nasty radio-frequency in Angel’s face, taking out one of his eyes. Angel was present during Al’s first attempt to take over Hell, so he immediately knows Al’s bad news and Alastor never misses the opportunity to mess with Angel in season 1.

Alastor is a shape-shifter. In what is probably the most grizzly detail about my take, he technically self-mutilates in order to re-imagine himself ala the Hellraiser Cenobites - which he does quite a bit to hide from Charlie’s parents.

Technically, Al is naked. What looks like a suit is actually his flesh. Look closely at you’ll see that he’s all stitched together like a crude taxidermy piece. Beneath his “skin” are his bones; which all look like mechanical radio parts and move independently of another. Sometimes Al tears them out if he thinks his “wiring needs to be reworked”, which is Al for ‘feeling an emotion’ and he doesn’t like that.

The motif my Alastor is supposed to invoke is everything about him was “stolen” and crudely pieced back together: he collects and traps other demons inside his microphone; he eats by unhinging his mouth and swallows in one gulp. Alastor’s anatomy invokes a lot of vore imagery as well as Ero Guro. Despite being ace, there is a sexual (but not arousing) edge to his character, which leads to a lot or horror and humor.

Alastor does not like that he was human. He’s even in denial of it and insists “I was always a demon. I simply had a nightmare that I was a man. Now I’m awake and the nightmare is long gone”.

Alastor’s human name was Edward; he was a sad, pathetic little man whom everyone walked all over. Edward wanted to be a radio host but was denied that position cause he ‘couldn’t smile’. Edward was deeply disturbed and fixated on ingesting human meat (a condition called ‘wendigo psychosis’). Despite committing murder and then eating all his victim’s bodies, he can’t recall most of the process and was frightened by his behavior, knew what he was doing was wrong. BUT he never went about treating his addiction with meat; he’d have “cold periods” where he didn’t kill and thought he was ‘fixed’ only for his psychosis to resurface.

Alastor’s demon self aims to be all the things that he wasn’t in life: happy, fulfilled, complete, confident, cheery, and satisfied. Al relishes in his self-made creepy image and no doubt took his demon name from a famous Alastair from his youth.

Al’s character arc throughout the ‘show’ (there is no show, why am I treating this like genuine pitch bible blah) goes as follows:

For the first season leading up the the finale and beginning of season 2, Al pretends to be Charlie’s friend until he backstabs her and takes over her hotel to harvest the ‘redeemed’ souls so he can restart his broadcasting-takeover that was just barely stopped years before. Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel intercept him however and destroy his microphone - which holds all the souls - causing him to loose his power. Charlie personality terminates his physical form leaving only his ‘heart’, which Lucifer makes Charlie eat so that Alastor will forever be under her control. The downside to this is Al’s soul+heart+person exists within Charlie now, and he of course speaks to her within her mind, trying to discourage, belittle, threaten or taunt her plans and feelings throughout the second season. Season 3′s opening would be about the main cast trying to get Vaggie out of Heaven once they learn it’s as corrupted as Hell. Charlie needs Al’s expertise, so she vomits him up. Al agrees to help her but is obviously not happy and vows to get his freedom back. In the second half of season 3, the main characters have to lay low while the angels partake in spiritual warfare against Lucifer. So Charlie and co. escape to the human world disguised as humans. Though an agreement, Alastor comes along and aquires a foreclosed motel for the demon’s to live (he intends to trap mortal souls while he’s there, though Charlie intercepts this too).

Angel and co. end up discovering Al’s human identity (something he tried to cover up any evidence of having in Hell) and invite his now elderly human daughter to the motel. It works too well however, and the fright of seeing his daughter again triggers an all out anxiety attack in Alastor causing him to merge with the motel. Charlie has to traverse his insides to try and get to his crumbling psyche which would be very Akira-inspired.

Meanwhile, inside Alastor’s mind we see his demon form finally baring a frown and freaking out as the pathological spirits of his victims sing to him in a radio booth about the life he’d chosen and the lives he took away from them. (Yes, this is absolutely taken from Bojack Horseman)

Once Charlie cuts to his core+Al faces the fact that there never was another demon responsible for his actions, it was always just him, Al relinquishes his hold on that motel and his physical form become that of a baby deer, whom Charlie nicknames ‘Deerlastor’. Deerlastor doesn’t appear to have any of Al’s powers, memories, or personality but Angel and the other demon’s Al’s abused insist on killing it, sure that this is just another one of Al’s weird forms. Because of Alastor’s absence, it takes a lot longer and harder for the main cast to get back to hell and help Charlie’s dad’s stop the (previously human) angels who want to wipe purge ALL of hell.

To take out the main ‘enlightened’ angel that’s in the middle of trying to purge ALL of Hell, the demon’s need a power of their own. Deerlastor agrees to sacrifice its body and because of that, Alastor pops out from the deer’s body and head on collides w. the big bad angel-villain, eliminating both their souls. Alastor gets no proper redemption arc kids, he just gets to be the one to take out the main villain.

Edward/Alastor’s daughter’s name was Lavinia and she was the closest thing to genuine ‘love’ he had in his life and the only person who obviously looked up rather than ignore or abuse Edward. When Ed was arrested and confessed to his crimes, his daughter wasn’t allowed to see him and the knowledge that her father was a cannibalistic serial killer haunted Lavinia all her life.

His crimes were not sexual. This is NOT AN EXCUSE for what he did though because -

- two of his victims were children. Yep.

Unlike the rest of the filth-spewing demons, Al doesn’t appreciate racism or sexism. He thinks himself a feminist for his day...despite also having killed women and children. Keep in mind he’s also from the 30s, so he’s as “progressive” as people could be for back then, AND he believes that his partial native ancestry means it’s okay to call himself a ‘wendigo’.

In reference to an oooooooooooold ref sheet Viv made for Alastor back in the day, Deerlastor gets shot in the head and dismembered a lot but always gets up like nothing’s wrong.

Alastor does not like electroswing. He likes jazz, doowop, twist, show jingles, and lots of American Folk ballads. You know, the stuff they’d jam the radio’s with back in the 30s.

Big influences on my Alastor are They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, American Murder Song, My Friend Dahmer (a graphic novel), Llamas with Hats and Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk.

(Ima thinking of renaming my Hazbin gang to better distinguish them between the canon. Alastor’s the only one who won’t be renamed though, just probably spelled a different way. (Alystar, Alaster, Alastar))

#alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel rewritten #the radio demon #rewrite #TW: GORE #tw: cannibalism #tw: child abuse #tw: animal death #tw: ero guro #tw: vore

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beverlyr0ad · 4 years ago

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J WATCHED FREE TO BE YOU AND ME AND OMG.. THOUGHTS:

1) dean and cas r rly falling in love like right in front of me on my tv screen. LOVE a good rom com <33333

2) He Knows Two Things. Cartoon Characters Homosexual. You, My (Homosexual) Friend (Who We Now Know Was A Little In Love With Him Here), Will Have Sex. top 10 spn right well whats all this then moments

3) but it's also extremely funny in a sad way tht dean and cas are experiencing whole new big happy emotions together and sam is experiencing like deep crushing sadness and feelings of wrongness .

4) sam/lindsey + dean/cas parallel .. not j in these being each brother's unique storylines but its also interesting how like. its about the barriers to understanding the other? lindsey kinda clocks sam despite him not wanting to talk about his past at all. sam's pretty surprised she can read his history of substance abuse so easily. meanwhile cas is who and what dean's needed for like.. years... but they don't rly get it. like cas is clear - i rebelled for U. but dean's like. idk why i'm happy around you? why am i happy without sam around? with you? anyway there's nothing coherent about this point and barely anything in the text here but i'm just thinking out loud ig

5) POOOOOORRR CAAAAAASSSSSS I SWEAR. FIRST of all cas is so CONFUSED by dean like it's a carver episode so he churns out like 50 references per minute and cas is like. WHAT are you talking about (affectionate). fully felt because carver episodes leave me spinning sometimes. thankfully, i DO know things about a) gay characters b) cartoon characters c) gay cartoon characters so it wasnt all bad!! but anyway cas DOESNT. he is going THRU IT. dean's like "I AM ENJOYING MY TIME WITH YOU NOW MORE THAN ANYTHING I'VE ENJOYED IN YEARS ACTUALLY" which is extremely sweet and then he's like "IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF YOU THOUGH. IT'S BECAUSE SAM ISNT HERE <3" like no WONDER cas got out of that car as fast as possible. scream!

- there is a thought here about whether dean fully conceptualizes cas as a person or as some sort of receptacle for all his thoughts, contributing to his new degree of openness in this ep that he never achieved with sam

- also: cas is not the little sibling ala sam and jo. he is not the parent (not the absent divinity, nor the grounding, loving adult force) ala john, mary, bobby, kiinda ellen. he is not the quick flirt, nor the 1 night fling. but he's still there. not human, & STILL THERE. so he's inherently something New and Other, which explains dean treating him as such

6) (UNRELATED to dean's emotional vulnerability etc above but.) cas. personal space. jackles y. theres nothing to say here that hasnt been said already a million times over the past decade. moving on

7) dean makes 2 comparisons to famous gay couples in media (i GUESS) in one episode like girl i see you!

8) theres something soooo messed up and sad about sam running away fully believing that hes messed up as a person forever, and so he cant trust himself not to fall into cycles of abuse and addiction and hurting others. and he literally. gets the blood shoved down his throat. then the devil shows up in his dream and tells him he wants to take his body. i'm going to eat someone

9) dean & sam need to process their issues in a healthy way at some point because this feels like the show's first thorough look at there being something Wrong with their relationship. something about dean quite literally not getting to exist outside family duties that keeps him from feeling at ease with his little brother.

10) ADDRESSSS THE VOICEMAILLLLLLL the angels changed it right so i am literally begging u cas TELL SOMEONE IT WAS CHANGED!!!!

11) not the woman dean tries to set cas up with literally being a dean proxy daddy issues and all :-) not dean cas and that woman having the same issues actually :-) lol much to think about :-)

12) the curse of seeing 15x18-20 BEFORE seeing most of the rest of the show is that like. every time lucifer takes the body of someones beloved and tells them to let him in im like. :)))))) xtream screams but just in my head!

#this is long but as always its just 4 me <3 #supernatural

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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 years ago

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#5yrsago Remembering Sassy Magazine's life advice for teen girls

Theresa DeLucci got a letter published in the only publication for girls that really attempted educational journalism—amid Twin Peaks fashion spreads and celeb interviews with grunge luminaries like Kurt Cobain and Kim Gordon.

The recent news about the return of Twin Peaks got me reminiscing about the magazine that introduced the show to me in the first place – Sassy, the most valuable print magazine for teenage girls to ever exist. It sounds like hyperbole, but compared to its peers -- Seventeen, YM, Teen -- Sassy was the only publication for girls that really attempted educational journalism amid its Twin Peaks fashion spreads and celeb interviews with grunge luminaries like Kurt Cobain and Kim Gordon. This was well before everyone had the internet. For many, Sassy was like a super cool, trusted, wiser sister who could tell you what to expect at your first gynecologist visit, what to do if you've been raped, why it's important to make your voice heard and vote. The magazine had its regular columns: One to Watch, Cute Band Alert and It Happened to Me, which featured first-person accounts of experiences seldom or never before discussed in print for young women. "I Went to Prison." "I am a Muslim." "My Mom's a Drug Addict."

Being a bookish, weirdo teen in a small town (Sassy's target demographic), I desperately wanted to write for them. But, alas, my feeble fiction was justly rejected, and I was too young and too far away from the New York City offices to try for an internship. Yet, while I didn't feel comfortable sharing anything heavy enough for an "It Happened to Me" article, I could at least put together a passable question for the much more light-hearted Dear Boy advice column and try my luck that way.

Dear Boy. An innocuous enough feature. Many teenage girls find the male mind pretty mysterious, especially the mind of an older, famous, possibly cute boy, so Sassy provided a space for that. I wrote in without a thought as to what a man's advice specifically might imply. Is it really mansplainin' when the whole point is to have a girl ask a much older man in a position of social power a personal question? Does any teen girl need to know J. Mascis' opinion on big butts? (He likes them and cannot lie.) Does a parent want Thurston Moore telling their daughter that she'd be "lucky" if some crappy, cheating boy returns her affections? Is any woman anywhere served by Billy Corgan's guilt-tripping tale of woe at being romantically rejected by a childhood sweetheart?

Every month I would get my subscriber's copy of Sassy in the mail, bound up to my room, close the door behind me, and thumb the pages to the column to see if my question was there. And one day, one issue, in 1994, Mike D of the Beastie Boys answered. My hands shook as I started to read the familiar words under the header:

"BUMMING BAD SEED? My mom was a well-dressed, popular boy-magnet in high school. I am a punked-out loner boy-repellent. I get the feeling she’s disappointed in me. To top that off, my dad thinks I am unfeminine. Help! Searching for my real parents."

I cringe at the words "punked-out" now. I believe my original letter referenced my pea-green hair and good grades, but Sassy edited it for space. Anyway. Mike D responded:

"By age 14 I had orange hair and a safety pin in my ear and everyone thought I was a freak, but I had found music and friends who meant more to me than the accepted norm amongst kids in school. There’s no need to conform to the preconceptions of your parents. You obviously have got it going on, so as you achieve stuff on your own terms, your parents might come around to respect you."

It was a total softball question for the magazine that was my gateway drug to the fiction of Francesca Lia Block and Poppy Z. Brite, the music of Bikini Kill and Henry Rollins. But it was also very earnest. And self-edited. There was no "feeling" that my mom was disappointed by my combat boots. She made it very known. Or that my frustrated dad didn't exactly say I was unfeminine - more like I dressed like a freak. (His codeword for lesbian.) I did feel the weight of parental expectations like these, and I didn't know any sympathetic adults I could ask that particular question to. After all, my friends' parents were kind of all dealing with the same disappointing "freak" kids in their houses, too. And I was very privileged, really. The parents of some of my friends kicked out their lesbian daughters, neglected their clinically depressed kids, and lived in denial of their children's drug addictions. Those, unlike black lipstick and Bauhaus shirts, were actual, serious family conflicts that couldn't possibly be addressed with two witty sentences from a Beastie Boy.

Before that day, I liked Mike D, but wasn't a huge fan. Compared to past Dear Boy columnists, he wasn't as cool as Iggy Pop -- who had predictably terrible advice for teen girls -- but he was definitely a cooler Dear Boy than Evan Dando. (Damning with very faint praise, I know.) But after that Dear Boy column, I would think about a misfit Mike D who went on to great, creative things and I would feel a needed twinge of solidarity.

And Mike D was ultimately right. I already knew seeking parental approval wasn't a big concern for me, but, yeah, after a few years, I did feel my parents came around to respecting me. And accepting me as I was -- and as I continue to be -- which is not everything they had quite hoped for. A near impossibility for any child to be, but especially a teenager wanting to be herself as well as a "good" daughter, to whom all parents seem as distant as aliens.

Not at all like Mike D.

Of course by its nature, Sassy's Dear Boy questions were published anonymously two decades ago. My box of back issues has long since vanished. And that bums me out, because I always consider Sassy to be the first time I ever wrote to market. I don't expect everyone to believe my long-distance teenage connection to Mike D, but I also don't know why anyone would make that up. (Though it's a great way to get thirtysomething-year-old women to buy you a drink when they find out.) All I know is how I felt that summer – when I sometimes took to wearing a safety pin in my own ear -- I felt a little less weird and walked a little bit taller because of my secret pen pal.

Once upon a time, twenty years ago, Mike D thought that I had it going on.

https://boingboing.net/2014/11/20/remembering-sassy-magazines.html

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akvtsuki-ari · 6 years ago

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Espionage

Warnings: none! just lovey-dovey fluff

Length: 2.1k

Authors note: oof this is mega soft and like shows a lot of how i headcanon spence being in love etc., hes my baby wow i love anyways enjoy

Eidetic Memory most of the time is both a beautiful gift and fully gruesome curse for Doctor Spencer Reid. Sometimes it meant remembering all the gruesome tell tales of his past, of his fall to drug addiction, to the deathbed and disappearance of both people he loved and people he'd only know from case file, and a lot of the time it would be a complete and aggressive recognition of all the awful and disgusting details.

But at other times, and especially when Spence had met you, if meant he could exact every detail about yourself you've ever told him, and keep it in his heart and memory forever. And you'd still be surprised when he remembered because who wouldn't be? But every thoughtful or helpful thing he'd done with that knowledge would always matter more to you than his memory,

But there was one thing that Spencer couldn't account for and maybe that's what made him fall so deeply for you, was that there was something he just couldn't quite put a name to, or profile about you.

Spencer could never fully account for all that you knew about him and that was... odd. To say the least anyways.

Now, factually you are more likely to retain information regarding a loved one or partner, it's deemed as important information and stored in a schema (sort of like a mental folder) and while Spencer's fully and totally aware of this Spencer didn't account for the other part of that, which would ironically be that you, indeed, loved him. And that he was important to you, a hard thing for Spence to process. Which was pretty crazy since Spencer processed everything all the time.

It didn't bother him until today at least, it was one of those wonderful times where everyone was coming home after a long case and ready to leave but - wasn't quite able to yet. And you had been waiting for him the office, with his favorite soup and a book for him to read, the one that he told you he liked reading after a case to cheer him up. He only every mentioned them once before, both the soup and the novel and you waiting for him would've been more than enough. Seeing you go the extra mile warmed his heart in ways he wasn't expecting.

"Hey baby," you greeted, and Spencer blushed. Rossi sent him a surprised look as heat flushed his face. He liked the name and one night while his lightweight ass managed to get drunk he asked you to use it more. You were drunk too so he doesn't know how you did.

"Uh, Hi Y/N," he smiled up at you. Most of the office was emptied out, aside from JJ and your beloved Unit Chief, as Rossi was quickly out of the door

That was his first mistake, you two were around the worlds best profilers of course, at least one of the few, and JJ. had most certainly known Spencer long enough to profile him. And profile the fact that he was fucking whipped beyond belief and that there was no way he had any idea of it, J.J.'s first reaction was indefinitely to spill to rest of the team but she waited and observed for a little bit longer and gather information.

It was just the two of you, sitting inside the office while you fed Spencer soup as he made attempts to organize his desk and things before he headed off. He spoke about the case and you listened with a soft and loving contentment. He felt comfortable enough to tell you how he felt in some way but it was always you who finished the thought for him. And you let him speak first, you listened closely and made commentary when you knew he'd start to get excited about something, but he was never outward with it. You could just tell he was getting that way when even JJ was finding difficultly reading him and it made her shake her head and smile. Plus you were feeding him soup. That was pretty cute on its own.

It was only that the beloved Agent Jaraeu would send Spencer into what you could call a frenzy the very next day, of sitting and reading a heap of books about love and memory, trying to do the wonderfully adorable thing in which he rationalizes whatever the hell emotion he's feeling but he couldn't quite. He just didn't quite fully understand this phenomenon that JJ had explained to him which he then pieced together and saw

Which would be that you would know more about him than he would ever expected you, but not in the same way he did. You weren't a profiler after all, but you know his behavior like the back of your hand and a lot better than he did at times . And though you didn't have an eidetic memory you just happened to remember so much about him and it made Spencer feel something sure - but he couldn't fully tell you what, but he needed to know why. And he tried rather desperately to figure it out, but alas and to in some degree of surprise he couldn't figure out why you knew as much about the beloved Doctor as you did.

And it was that night he decided to cut the crap and go straight to the source, you.

Spencer was awaiting you, sitting comfortably in your kitchen at the marble island and having a ginger ale, and you were back from getting groceries for dinner

It wasn't a full five minutes before Spencer had finally just had to come out and say it

"Y/N, why do you know so much about me?," was what he asked, an odd amount of both curiousity and skepticism lacing his voice

Without much mind paid to him at all, you take out your groceries and reply a very simple and decisive "because I love you," and continue with your task. This doesn't please Spencer, or at least doesn't answer his question but at this point those were the exact same. He frowned and made that one face that he does when he questions something

"Well that explains some part of it I suppose but still you remember quite a bit more than most people do, even beyond the means of the average couple and I can't help but wonder why? Simply explained it could be written off as you subconsciously feel the need to in light of my capabilities, because in some way shape or form it may make you fee inadequate but I don't fully believe that's the case, my intuition goes against it," Spencer profiled out loud. You sigh, and smile pausing your making of dinner and look at him.

"what makes you love me Spencer?," you ask, with a smile painted on your face.

"Well the prime three things known for causing the process of falling in love are dopamine, which develops the attraction, mixed with adrenaline, then following immediately into the role of staying in love is the production of seratonin and oxytocin that allow loving couples to develop into attached long lasting relationships," he explains. you smile at him.

"now if you had to profile why two people fell in love Spencer, why are you in love with me?" You ask.

"Uhh I mostly likely developed a deeper attraction to you based on your likeness to my mother, and because I am someone known to emotionally compartmentalize being with some who can read emotions quickly and have an understanding of me before I have to explain is helpful, I'm also quite the beta male so to speak and it was likely I would be with someone who took charge in some way," he says. You look at him with adoration and tilt your head. You sit on the corner of the marble island next to him and smile.

"Now Spencer why do you love me?," you ask. A grin appears on his face.

"Well, I love you for a lot of different things and I appreciate a lot of qualities in you j couldn't really pinpoint a prime reason I love you, for example I think I love you a lot because you treat me as an equal and don't really... well I don't know, care - about my intellect," he starts. you smile:

"Now my sweet doctor, while I know you love me a lot, I could never quite fully understand how much right?" You say. He nods slowly.

"Right..."

"And even if I tried to rationalize all of what you said you, I'd still never know why you love me truly right?"

"I mean, yeah I guess so?,"

You let him turn to you and stand between his legs looking down at him, with a soft smile on your face you bring your lips down to his and kiss him, your hands on either side of his face, you kiss like that for a while before you grin into it.

"Spencer, even though your question doesn't have an answer, I'll give you one to fulfill the wonderfully inquiring mind of yours," you say, he nods into you and smiles.

You pull away from him and sit back up on the marble, looking at him as he looks back at you with a gushy amount of love and affection.

"You, my love are incredibly intelligent and fantastic at what you do and have something most would label as both a gift and a curse, but that's not what makes you extraordinary. You could know every detail about me there is to know and you do, but that won't ever mean you put in effort to love me. Spencer, you show me love not by remembering but doing, if u mention needing something you go out and get it, if something from my past is coming up you'll either talk me through it or take me out and distract me. You take control because I like it, and you let me show you public affection because of it to. Spence you don't love me because you’re a genius you love me because you're you... are you starting to see what I'm seeing?" You say, Spencer's face is warm but he's too busy thinking to care, he nods again

"Okay, good. Now Spence I'm no genius, and I'm not a profiler. But I know very confidently that I love you so very much, with my whole heart. You are my stars and moon and sky, and I cherish you like no other thing in my life. So when I try to show you I love you, I remember. It's easy to do most of the time, but by remembering I understand and the more I understand you the better I can show you how much you mean to me. Loving you is special to me Spencer, because you aren't any guy, you're deeply thoughtful in way most others aren't, and if I can show you you how much I think the things you consider to be mundane are wonderful and extraordinary and worth remembering then I've done something right. Your answer is the same, I remember so much because I love you. It's my way of showing you I'm present and I'm listening and I care, just like you have your way of showing me. " you finish. Spencer has the biggest and goofiest smile you've ever seen on him and you can't help but grin ear to ear back.

He stands and faces you, and you put your arms around his neck. The two of you touch noses, and underneath the dim light you sit like that for a while.

"Did you find your answer," you ask in a playfully sarcastic tone. he laughs and purses his lips jokingly.

"Mm, yea I think so. It helps that an incredibly pretty girl answered it though," he replies. You can't help but laugh loudly.

"Very smooth Doctor Reid," you reply.

You move your neck up and place your lips on his, a long kiss of warm touch and radiating affection. His lips feel smooth on yours.

He pulls back and immediately your lips find a place on his neck, which makes him both laugh and shiver softly. You've missed him.

"You mean all those things you said about me.." he asks hesitation in his voice. You pull away and look him in the eye but his nerves don't let them meet you. You kiss him again but this time much more roughly, a form of loving aggression evident in your face paced yet affectionate kisses the two of you share,

"Yes. Yes Spence I meant it," you reply a little breathless. A quick peck and grin, he touches his forehead to yours and smiles brightly.

"I love you Y/N," he says.

Another peck and you smile, this time looking him in the eyes.

"I love you too Spence, " you say softly.

Oh how much you meant it.

taglist (message me if u wanna be included lmao): @cynbx @jhope-jkill

#spencer reid imagine #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid fluff #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds self insert #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds #matthew grey gubler #fluff #genre: fluff

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years ago

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 10/04/2021 (Olivia Rodrigo, Demi Lovato)

Well, I guess it’s a pretty slow week – at least more than I had predicted – given that I thought Demi Lovato and Olivia Rodrigo would make a lot more of a genuine impact high up in the chart than they actually did. I can’t really predict the chart accurately at all in those conclusion segments considering I write and release these episodes even before first-day streaming numbers are released, but I at least expected Rodrigo to debut in the top 10. Alas, we have kind of an unexpected filler week, before Taylor Swift impacts the charts next week – I think that prediction’s enough of a safe bet to be right, right? Anyways, Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)” stays at #1 for a second week that I didn’t see coming, and let’s just start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

Now I talk about music that is purposefully out of my comfort zone on this series – the music is accessible, sure, because it’s charting music but not all of it is in genres and scenes or by artists I know a hell of a lot about or have listened to repeatedly. Hence, I don’t tend to talk about my own music taste often on here, because of two reasons: one being that I’m unsure it even exists and can be summed up in a sentence, and two being, well... according to Spotify’s “On Repeat” playlist, I’ve been listening to “Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven an obscene amount this past week – if you had to make a Cactus Chart, it would probably debut at #1 15 years after the fact. Now, ignoring the fact that I kind of do want to make that chart, which I probably can with last.fm, I’m sure that will quell any need to talk about my own deeply embarrassing musical habits on this page ever again. Now, moving from the Cactus Single Charts to the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, we can see that there’s been some minimal action on all fronts.

In terms of our drop-outs, we do have a couple notable ones, including both of Fredo’s songs as ACR cuts their streaming numbers and hence, rather unfairly and inaccurately, “Money Talks” with Dave and “Ready” featuring Summer Walker both exit the top 75. I guess they were on their way out eventually, and some ACR-affected songs have indeed survived this week, but it’s still annoying to see for songs that are contemporary and still popular. Otherwise, we have “Wants and Needs” by Drake featuring Lil Baby exiting, as well as some genuinely big hits from this Winter, those being “Good Days” by SZA, “Whoopty” by CJ – finally – and “you broke me first” by Tate McRae after 35 long weeks. Now the charts are no longer addicted to blue cheese, what’s filling in the gaps?

Well, we only have one returning entry, that being “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, a song that seemingly cannot stay dead, not that I’m complaining. What’s more interesting is what’s on the chart itself, as we do have some notable climbers and fallers. For the notable losses, we have “Good Without” by Mimi Webb at #23 off of the debut, “Patience” by KSI, YUNGBLUD and Polo G at #24, “Anyone” by Justin Bieber at #31, “6 for 6” by Central Cee at #37, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd still here at #38, HVME’s remix of Travis Scott’s “Goosebumps” at #39, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK finally dropping out of the top 40 at #41, “What’s Next” by Drake continuing to collapse at #49, taking “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” with Rick Ross at #51 along with it, “telepatía” by Kali Uchis at #56, “Mood” by 24kGoldn and iann dior at #62, “Sweet Melody” by Little Mix at #66, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi finally making way for an exit at #68, “Bringing it Back” by Digga D and AJ Tracey at #69, “Cloud 9” by Beach Bunny sadly at #70 off of the debut and finally, “You’re Mines Still” by Yung Bleu featuring Drake at #72.

What’s shocking to me is the little impact that both Demi Lovato and Lil Tjay had, showing that people might just not care about these artists past their singles. Sure, we got some tracks from both of them – that are already being pushed as singles – but on Lovato’s side, “What Other People Say” didn’t move an inch and we only got minimal gains for Lil Tjay’s “Headshot” and “Calling My Phone”, which I expected to go back into the top 40 and top 10 respectively. In terms of our actually notable climbers, well, we have “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers going for a fiftieth chart run at #67, “Beautiful Mistakes” by Maroon 5 featuring Megan Thee Stallion at #60, “Don’t You Worry About Me” by Bad Boy Chiller Crew surging up to #53, Tom Zanetti getting his first top 40 hit with the garbage “Didn’t Know” at #40, “Black Hole” by Griff at #33, Majestic’s remix of Boney M.’s “Rasputin” at #29, “Ferrari Horses” by D-Block Europe and RAYE at #22, and that’s about it other than our single notable change in the top 20, that being “Millions” by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne up to #13 off of the debut, despite being an absolutely worthless song. In fact, it’s looking pretty dire in the top 20 in general, I’m starting to hope that my Cactus Charts actually had any impact. Regardless, we still have eight new arrivals to discuss, so let’s start right at the bottom.

NEW ARRIVALS

#73 – “Film out” – BTS

Produced by UTA and back number

Now, BTS occasionally releases songs for the Japanese market, a common practice for K-pop bands – as far as I know – and this one in particular was marketed only in Japan for a Japanese film. Therefore, I think I was pretty reasonable in thinking this wouldn’t even get close to charting, but I should never underestimate the power of BTS fans buying digital singles. After all, that’s what kept “Dynamite” on the chart for as long as it had its run. Now, I’m not well-versed in J-pop at all other than some brief dives into city pop and picopop – both of which I enjoyed thoroughly – so I didn’t really know what to expect but it does make perfect sense to me that the boys are crooning over a cleanly-produced, theatrical piano-lead instrumental. Given that there’s a post-chorus consisting almost entirely of “ooh-ooh, la-la-la-la” about 45 seconds in, I gave up entirely in terms of lyrical content, although reading some of RM’s translated lyrics in particular makes it seem oddly poetic. How does it sound? Well, exactly as I’d described it: the boys are reigning themselves into to a more subtle instrumental and whilst some of the multi-tracking is distracting and each of the parts don’t really flow as well as they wanted it to, especially due to the loud vocal mixing which definitely overshadows the impact of the wonderful string swells in the final chorus and gives you enough audio-wise to completely ignore the trap-adjacent percussion. The song’s fine and I do like the inflections of acoustic guitar especially, but I’m not really impressed by this, not that I was supposed to – it’s a Japanese soundtrack song, it’ll be gone tomorrow and I’m sure the audience there is enjoying it more than I can.

#64 – “Summer 91 (Looking Back)” – Noizu

Produced by Noizu

Now if you don’t know how Noizu is, I can’t blame you as neither did I. I quickly found out he was another house producer and this track that had been released in January had just gained enough steam to debut this week. The guy has been in EDM production for a while and was immediately cosigned by people like Skrillex and Diplo, and he seems to hide behind this cartoon character for branding and anonymity’s sake, which I can’t blame him for when I consider the public images of both Skrillex and Diplo. The song, originally just called “Summer 91”, was remixed for a major-label release on RCA, and it’s about what you’d expect. It’s a deep house track with a driving 90s MIDI piano melody, uncredited female vocals that can’t even get close to the power of those diva house vocals from decades before and a anti-climactic drop with some cheap percussion. The chorus actually sounds a lot like “Body” by Loud Luxury and brando from one or two years ago, so it’s not even that original in its main hook, though I can give it credit for the synth-work being more sci-fi and kind of interesting, and its song structure being increasingly disjointed, even moreso than the typical house-pop track that debuts low on these charts, which means a lot less when the song has so little tricks up its sleeve. And no, the 220 KID remix isn’t any good either, in fact, it’s a lot worse.

#63 – “Run it Up” – Lil Tjay featuring Offset and Moneybagg Yo

Produced by Josh Petruccio

I tried to listen to that Lil Tjay record and within five tracks decided it was absolutely not worth my time, so I’m glad we only have a single song from the album debuting, though I am surprised that it seems to be the borderline posse cut that runs for nearly four minutes and I’m immediately disappointed. I know how all three of these guys can flow and how fast and high-energy all of they can be, as well as how smooth Offset always is, so why is this beat such a dull, piano-lead sludge with gross bass mixing? Why is Lil Tjay wasting my time both content- and delivery-wise, flubbing rhymes to the point where he doesn’t even bother finishing the line, even when he cops Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” flow in the middle of his verse? Why is the chorus just “Run it up” repeated ad infinitum with no energy? Okay, so it’s not all bad – Offset impresses flow-wise as he always does, trying his hardest to inject some energy into this with his ad-libs and constantly changing flow, because at least he has a personality and some charisma, but even he stops trying by the end of his verse. Moneybagg Yo channels 2 Chainz but without anything that makes 2 Chainz a worthwhile presence for a verse that somehow ends up as the best, most consistent here, and, yeah, I now know me skipping the majority of this record was a good choice.

#59 – “Runaway” – AURORA

Produced by Odd Martin and Magnus Skylstad

I know nothing about AURORA, and I was pretty confident I wouldn’t need to past her John Lewis advert success and her part on the Frozen II soundtrack of all places, but alas, she’s charting again with no kind of visual phenomenon attached to it. AURORA is a Norwegian singer-songwriter on the same wavelength as Bjork and hence the eye of a lot of critical success that doesn’t necessarily translate always into album sales. She has seen intermittent success with singles so I assumed this had just been somewhat of a breakout single from her newest record... but no, it’s from her first album and the single was released all the way back in February of 2015. So, naturally, you’ve got to assume TikTok and you would be correct, but is the song good? Well, the vocal loop double-tracked to act as a synth melody and eventually a choir is kind of a cool idea, and AURORA herself has this frail, accented delivery that’s definitely endearing. The song itself is about escapism and running away from confronting your emotions and the writing is good, even if it tends to be a bit messy if more attention is placed onto it, particularly in the verses. That’s not to distract from the fact that this is absolutely a song from 2015 as if you couldn’t tell from the percussion you can tell from the future bass-esque that’s almost cringeworthy in its anti-climactic entrance and doesn’t even really work at all, especially when it just disappears prematurely. I get going for a glitch-pop thing but it just does not make sense in a ballad like this, in fact, I’m finding it hard to find a part that could be used in a TikTok. The second drop works a little better because AURORA has more conviction in her desperate vocal delivery that sounds legitimately great, but I still think there’s such little impact in the percussion that the blend of synths and strings becomes ultimately just a distraction from what could have been a decent piano ballad. It makes it more interesting, for sure, but also more frustrating. Much like Ryn Weaver’s “Pierre”, also a 2015 indie-pop track suddenly charting six years after the fact a couple weeks ago, there’s a good song hidden somewhere in shoddy and awkward production. I really wish I could have liked this more.

#50 – “Dancing with the Devil” – Demi Lovato

Produced by Mitch Allan

Okay, so our next two songs are both from Demi Lovato’s comeback album, Dancing with the Devil...the Art of Starting Over, an album that if anything I am glad exists as it is a catharsis for Demi Lovato that needed to be released as it discusses her overdose, rehab, last relationship and everything both leading up to those events and the aftermath of them. The album isn’t perfect but feels open, revealing and most importantly an honest release for Demi Lovato and I think that’s worthy of praise in itself. As a 19-track album, it is bloated but does have enough sonic experimentation in the pop sphere for it not to grow stale, and I think there are great songs in there – it’s a good album – but you can already tell it’ll be dated soon enough, not that that’s really a problem now in 2021, but might hurt future revisits, especially with some of the production that already sounds awkward. Thankfully, we get two pretty down-beat and dark tracks from the record, which is where it usually shines, the first being the (half-)title track, released just a week before, and it’s pretty excellent. This soulful track builds itself on echoed percussion, subtle piano and Demi stumbling purposefully through verses detailing her mindset when she drinks alcohol and soon enough ends up “dancing with the Devil” and taking harder drugs like cocaine and heroin in the second verse. Musically, the chorus does struggle with some awkward mixing that makes the strings and instrumentation kind of pile up in a blend that sounds a lot louder than it should be, especially when everything is layered up to make each instrument indistinguishable and unrecognisable, pushing Demi’s vocals to the middle and forcing each multi-tracked ad-lib and vocal run to barely fit in the mix. I love this song from a songwriting standpoint even if it tends to be a bit blunt, but it definitely suffers from this production, which is mostly fixed in...

#44 – “Met Him Last Night” – Demi Lovato featuring Ariana Grande

Produced by Xavi and TBHits

This is my favourite song on the record by a fairly big margin, as everything seems to work here, in a way that doesn’t happen across the rest of the album. The song goes for a similar metaphor with the Devil being illicit substances, something that’s been done before and will continue to be done for eons, but Demi and the songwriters do go for a more unique take on it, picturing both Demi and Ariana in a bar or some kind of late-night hang-out as they “see the Devil” – really, seeing themselves at a low point partaking in substance abuse, which is a really interesting and potentially heart-wrenching perspective, especially if we’re going to get the duality of the chorus being self-aware of these vices but ultimately indulging in them anyway, compared to the verses and bridge where Ariana acts as Demi’s consciousness, vowing and pleading with her never to let drugs “take advantage of her innocence” again. The bridge is just wonderful in how the interplay between Ariana and Demi leads to Demi confronting these vices and promising that she won’t ever end up this bad again, before the truth is revealed by Ariana twisting the pre-chorus. Originally, it’s a threat to “the Devil” – that she can see right through the initial appeal of taking hard drugs and will try her hardest to dismiss them – but with the added context of that bridge, becomes a pretty telling response to Demi’s confidence, shutting her down by saying she sees through this facade of willpower and that she’ll still resort to substance abuse once again... which is sadly reinforced by that final, striking chorus that doesn’t change at all from the first, constructing a narrative that ends up going full-circle as Demi is back to where she started. It helps that this instrumental is downright demonic as well, with those menacing 80s synths sliding over some gorgeous violins in the intro, before all of that cuts out for the pre-chorus as that leering melody is whispered by both singers, and the chorus continues to rise with the strings, synthesised brass and the sparse percussion, which drops in Ariana’s verse to become a booming, drill-adjacent beat not afraid to cut out for Ariana’s multi-tracked humming. In fact, I love how organically this beat moves despite it being so obviously programmed, with the swelling of those strings before every impact and the intricate vocal sequencing making sure every gorgeous vocal run and ad-lib is heard. I’m almost glad I’m confident in this not becoming a hit because I would have already talked it to death here before it gets a chance to top my best list, as this is one of the most brilliantly-constructed pop songs I’ve ever heard and absolutely deserves your attention.

#43 – “Nice to Meet Ya” – Wes Nelson featuring Yxng Bane

Produced by Ayo Beatz

And now for some guy featuring some other guy produced by another guy. To give full credit, this beat is actually very well-produced, especially with that gorgeous piano lead in before the reggaeton-esque drum rhythm kicks in alongside those squeaky horns. It’s everywhere else where this song collapses in on itself, as Wes Nelson’s voice is drenched in so much Auto-Tune and reverb that it just sounds grossly cheap, with some comical ad-libs and some comically bad lyrics in this chorus, which I’ll repeat to you now. In a rather Shakespearean tone, our lead artist plays poetic word association with the hedonistic lifestyle of one Wes Nelson, excitedly greeting the listener with a “Nice to meet you”, before striking our deserved attention with his simplistic albeit bitingly effective rhymes. “Stepped in froze, freezer. Christian Dior, huh? Christian Dior, Jesus.” I don’t expect Nas from this guy but I at least expect bars that makes some kind of sense and don’t sound like juvenile attempts at early 2010s Drake-esque hashtag-rap. The song continues to waste the potential of its pretty great production as Wes Nelson strains his voice and somehow still ends up mumbling in his off-beat flow and janky cadence. Yxng Bane is, I hate to say it, probably the best part of this track, as at least he can convincingly sing and his detailed description of him messing around with a vegan girl (which has no relation to what he says, but he still says it) is at least more interesting lyrically than whatever Wes Nelson’s saying. “I met her in Victoria’s Secret then she let me into her Victoria’s secrets” is about as awful as a line when sang as it is read, and I mean, Wes Nelson’s falsetto doesn’t do him much justice in the unnecessary third verse either, so, yeah, this is a pretty crap attempt at riding a great beat. Give this to Rema or Burna Boy and something could have been done with this.

#27 – “deja vu” – Olivia Rodrigo

Produced by Dan Nigro

Finally, we have the follow-up single to Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license”, a song I liked, and I’m glad I did because so did Olivia herself and her producer Dan Nigro, as here we have essentially a sequel if not a reboot to that song. Here, Rodrigo starts to question the authenticity of Joshua Bassett’s new Disney-ordered relationship with Sarah Carpenter—I mean, her unnamed ex-boyfriend’s new fling with another woman. It’s an interesting take to have Rodrigo in a place where somewhat sympathises and pities the new girlfriend, as she’s not getting anything unique or new from her ex-boyfriend anymore. In fact, a lot of this song is really confrontational as she demands the boyfriend to tell his new girlfriend that all the stuff he’s doing with her is what he did with Rodrigo. That’s all fine and good but how does the song sound? Well, it’s got a bell-based instrumental, almost one that’s childish and intimidating, which is perfect for the petty selfishness of the content. In fact, the song as a whole seems to attempt to go for that, with the hilariously multi-tracked and echoed fake laughter in the first verse, as well as all of the extra inflections and backing vocals throughout. The song builds in a very similar way to “drivers license”, but drops earlier into a killer indie-rock groove with a squealing guitar and incredibly distorted drum pattern, almost reminding me of a Flaming Lips song if that’s not too far-fetched of a comparison. This song ultimately does enough to derive and distinguish itself from “drivers license” and whilst it’s not as smooth of a powerful pop track as that one was, and the mixing here is definitely more awkward, we get a different side to Olivia Rodrigo that we’re not to have as much sympathy for. Sure, we know how tough the feeling of being replaced is, but she’s noticeably pettier and arguably kind of unlikeable especially in that bridge, which is a lot more fast-paced than the rest of the song and also has somewhat gratuitous swearing because this is still a formula. Overall, I think this is a pretty great song and I might ultimately prefer it to “drivers license” just out of how it sounds and I’m always happy to see more genuine rock on the chart, so I’m glad we end on a good note.

Conclusion

And on said note, Olivia Rodrigo cops the Honourable Mention for “deja vu” – not that there was much competition – with the Best of the Week going to “Met Him Last Night” by Demi Lovato featuring Ariana Grande. For Worst of the Week, it’s really not that easy as I thought it would be as not much here is that bad at all. I guess I’ll give it to Lil Tjay once again as “Run it Up” featuring Offset and Moneybagg Yo is just joyless, with a Dishonourable Mention for Wes Nelson and Yxng Bane for just crapping all over a great instrumental on “Nice to Meet Ya”. Anyway, here’s this week’s top 10:

I’m not sure if I can make any confident predictions for tomorrow, other than the impact of Taylor Swift, Twenty One Pilots and, if I’m getting my hopes up, BROCKHAMPTON? Regardless, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!

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stephenjaymorrisblog · 4 years ago

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Rush Limbaugh Legacy

(Putting the Con in Conservatism)

by Stephen Jay Morris

02/20/21

For those who are Jewish or Catholic and feel guilty about rejoicing over a human’s death, if God truly exists, then it doesn’t matter whether you just think it or say it aloud: God can hear whatever you are thinking. So, knock yourself out! As for me, I am Agnostic. The way I see it, Rush Limbaugh cannot see or hear you: he’s dead. Do you think that Rush didn’t celebrate when Castro died? Well, while Rush was puffing away on those fat Cuban cigars, Castro got the last laugh because Rush got cancer! You see? The communists will sell tobacco to the capitalists so that they can get cancer.

How do I feel now that Rush has kicked the bucket? Absolutely nothing! Am I a sociopath? Nope. Am I a narcissist? Please! I knew that Rush was a phony from the git go. The fact of the matter is, Rush was a lowly disc jockey from California; he was not political at all! His favorite topics were young chicks and lot’s of food. Like Trump, the only thing he cared about was money. Lots of money! And he knew he was not going to make stacks of cash by spinning those awful records from the 70’s.

I found it hilarious that some people viewed him as a Conservative icon. Also like Trump, he was a draft dodger who got off for some medical deferment. Alas, Rush had a rich daddy who bailed him out! It’s funny how these vehement anti-communists always have others fight against the thing they hate.

Let’s review radio history. By the 90’s, radio was slowly dying. Kids were getting their music elsewhere—over their iPods and via Napster downloads. Commuters would listen to music during their weekday drives to and from work. Baby Boomers and some Gen Xers would occasionally listen to the radio.

THEN came Howard Stern out of New York, via the advent of “morning zoo shock radio.” Stern started that format and had a ratings bonanza that saved radio from its demise. Filled with sex, racial humor, insults at Hollywood celebrities, and self defacing jokes, people endlessly devoured all that naughty stuff!

It was then that Rush appeared. Only, his shtick was in being an asshole. His humor rode on the concept of pushing an old lady in a wheelchair down the stairs. And, so, his format began hate radio. Being the selfish cunt that he was, he couldn’t have cared less about the poor and the sick. In the USA, you have millions of angry, white guys to exploit, so what do you do? Make fun of the sick and poor! Rush garnered high ratings through verbal manipulation and coded speech. Once that tore it, his show got syndicated all across the fruited plains over low power, AM stations. His advisers told him to identify with the political Right for more listeners. He did just that. You see? Rush was no Conservative, he just played one on the radio.

One gimmick he employed was to mock vegetarians and vegans by eating a plate full of hamburgers on the air. It was so fucking annoying listening to him munch and smack his big mouth on the radio! He’d often brag about the big, juicy steaks he claimed to have eaten at his favorite restaurants. Allegedly, he had a heart attack, but kept it secret for years. Being the fake Conservative he was, his scapegoats were women, Blacks, Jewish Liberals, Hollywood actors, animals, the environment, health food, and other, so-called Left wing stuff.

Boom! He became rich and famous. His biggest dream was to be a playboy while smoking a big cigar and playing golf. He passed himself off as a loyal Republican, and many Right wing politicians courted him for photo ops. Essentially, Rush used the political Right for his own amusement.

If any of this sounds way too familiar, well that’s because he greatly influenced one very famous, trust-fund kid: Donald J. Trump. And, since Trump has the creativity of a knat, he imitated Rush. You recall all the bragging that Trump did? Well, Rush was doing it far earlier. He frequently bragged about his huge ratings and all the money he had. After all—“Excellence in Broadcasting”—was the name of his broadcasting company.

After a time, things went downhill for him. Howard Stern made fun of him on the air. He got addicted to Oxycontin. He traveled to foreign countries for sex, some of which was alleged to have been with underage girls. He couldn’t keep a wife—which, for some reason, is a common occurrence for talk radio guys.

After five years on the air, I stopped listening to him. So many clones of him were on the radio by then, all with their own styles, but cheap imitations of Rush. I thought Rush had quietly retired and left the airwaves. And then, I tuned into a local radio station and THE OLD CHUD was still on the air! This kind of thing underscores a primary problem with egotists: their ego needs constant stimuli, or they simply rot and die.

How will history judge Rush Limbaugh? The same way that it judged Father Charges Coughlin. The only people who will remember Rush are college historians. Oh, the irony! The guy routinely attacked so-called Left wing colleges and universities, yet the only ones who are likely to generate any interest in him are professors of higher learning!

His was another tragic American story. It’s not Satan that makes people evil; it is an unhealthy and unchecked ego.

#shock jock #rush limbaugh #howard stern #poets of tumblr #stephenjmorris #90's radio

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crystalnet · 7 years ago

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State of the Art: JRPG Spotlight-

Issue #1- 2017 at a Glance- A quarterly or bi-annual journal on the JRPG at large, focusing on recent releases, trends, quarterly reviews/analyses and upcoming release hype.

The other night I was getting yet even deeper still into the freshly minted minor-masterpiece that is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when it dawned on me just how good 2017 was to the quaint little genre known as the JRPG. I knew all year while it was happening that some special games were getting released with a certain regularity, but now that the dust has fully settled, we can look back and be conclusively impressed by such a stellar stretch.

3 or 4 years ago I think people were getting ready to pen their moratoriums on why big developers and JRPGs should soon plan on never intersecting again save for small-scale handheld releases, and now here we are and Japan is seemingly back on top as far as role-playing goes. That return-to-form didn't always seem so inevitable as it is now that it's fully underway, especially after a somewhat shaky stretch for the genre during the 7th generation. Indeed, high-definition graphics and devs who catered to Gatorade-guzzling gamer bros seemed to not be the boon to the genre that old-school role-players really needed, and even the first couple of years of the 8th generation saw the genre to still be on slightly shaky ground, without a ton of great titles to point to from those initial years.

But then throughout the 7th gen a little franchise called Dark Souls (a JRPG in spirit, though not quite in practice, in many ways) started to build a little following, generating new interest in things like difficulty, customization, and innovative diagetic story-telling. As of the middle of this decade though, the genre still doesn’t have all that much of a presence compared to the late 90s heyday of JRPGs. Cut to 2016 though and Square drops FFXV which is a solid, if not-perfect realization of the 30-year-old standard-bearer of the genre, (a herald of sorts, if you will) and BAM. 2017 begins and in quick succession Nier Automata, Persona 5 and Breath of the Wild drop, all to stunningly positive reception. Now BotW, like Dark Souls, is not as much of a JRPG as the other 3 releases I hope to focus on, but Zelda has always had it's toe in the same waters as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, borrowing and simplifying elements of role-playing games from an action-adventure perspective, and in turn, also influencing those very JRPG franchises it seemed to pay homage to.

This wasn't just a coincidental blip of releases though, proved largely by the fact that all the way at the end of the year, Xenoblade 2 would also drop, and show yet again how the JRPG can be fresh and vital, and can be a Nintendo-exclusive at that. Indeed, I hope to demonstrate my thesis that it was a particularly strong year by triangulating my discussion around Nier A, Persona 5 and Xenoblade 2. Not only are these three very strong titles, they are also all pretty vastly different styles of JRPGs, which I think displays the health and potential of the genre even better than the fact that they are so individually good. First of all we have an industry veteran and mad-hatter in Yoko Taro finally coalescing a fully-realized vision of action-JRPG greatness by collaborating with Platinum games to make something as heady, and intellectual as it is well-designed and fun to play. That game is something like a Hegelian Philosophy PhD driving a Lamborghini in terms of the amount of stuff going on with the writing and character development, all while sporting a super classy luxury sports-car, six-cylinder engine. For long-time fans of Taro, I don't think this direction could have ever been predicted, though they may have secretly dreamed of such a fusion of form and function.

The best thing about how simultaneously weird and playable Nier A is for me is the way it hearkens back to the golden age of PS2 JRPGs for me personally. Without pinning it to a single PS2-era title, it gives me the same feeling that games during that console could consistently deliver on: a fully realized fantasy/sci fi world, a deep-yet-approachable combat system, a weird and very-Japanese, but also deep-as-hell plot, and a certain functionality that games like Kingdom Hearts 2, Rogue Galaxy and Final Fantasy XII delivered on back then. I don't mean to say it's derivative or stuck in the past, it's just that, the highlights of the PS2 days are my go-to precedent for what a good modern, post-16-bit JRPG is, since that equally sweet ps1 era can only be reasonably emulated on smaller and/or handheld retro-style releases. And while the story’s depth and esoteric nature recall the plot’s and worlds of PS1 and 2 greats like FFX, Xenosaga or Vagrant Story, the combat itself feels as fast-and-furious as hack-n-slash classics from then like Devil May Cry.

So while Nier had action-(j)RPG style gameplay covered, Persona 5 was there for all the turn-based devotees, and oh boy were we there for it also. That game was a huge victory lap for Atlus, who has built up a deep fanbase over the past decade, largely because of youtubers (at least in the west we can thank the cult-y presence of its fans online for the slow-burn development of an army of Atlus acolytes, whereas P3 and 4 were only barely noticed in the States back when they actually first came out.) And they finally capitalized on that hard-earned interest by finally following up P4 after nearly a decade, and while they were at it, they also showed everyone that fully turn-based (not even slightly active-time) systems can still melt faces, please crowds and feel fresh, which is no mean feat at all in a world where some question if turn-based is officially dead save for retro-homages.

And while Nier captures a kind of ethereal PS2-esque quality, Persona very literally pulls some of the PS2-era goodness into the future by updating and refining the awesomely deep and OCD-enabling systems of the now holy-grail-level PS2 era Persona games. Yes, wandering around Shinjuku, going on supportive dates with classmates, building up your relationships in general, and working a part time job between study breaks has been fully realized for the modern gamer, and it is glorious to behold.

And that takes us to Xenoblade which out of all the titles I might be most surprised by. Being a bit of a Xeno-noob, I wasn't sure if the release was going to be a major or minor event for role-players, especially given Nintendo's spotty track-record with the JRPG, usually sporting all of maybe one or two truly notable ones per generation, as well as their tendency to censor and/or smother developers. But alas, Xenoblade is fully-formed, proper, brimming-with-life and as deserving of the title of new standard-bearer to the genre as any of the other fantastic JRPGs released that year, many of which I won't even get to.

As is the case with the others, it seems to draw on PS2 era greatness in someways, by building on battle systems like the ones in FFXI and FFXII, while also being an actual descendant of the Xenosaga series that rocked that console, and also still draws on PS3-era titles that were successful (though smaller in number there were some good ones!) like Ni No Kuni and the Last Story. This is a round-about way of saying the combat system is an excellent take on the free-moving active-time auto-battling-but-with-real-time-triggers-style combat that started to show up towards the end of the PS2's life-cycle just when people were realizing the days of pure turn-based role-laying may be limited. And it also delivers on all those other check-marked boxes that any truly great and special JRPG must deliver on including: emotionally stirring and unique soundtrack, a deep and rewardingly complex story with all sorts of specific and detailed lore, a really nice visual style, and some incredibly beautiful locales. Okay that last thing isn't even a thing JRPGs usually have to deliver on, but it sure is a highlight. Some of the locations you move through during your travels in this game are breathtaking, and even more impressive than the similarly psuedo-cell-shaded style of Breath of the Wild, whose open-world Monolith Soft also worked on (though you can't climb all over these areas I should say).

I'm as blown away by the suddenly addictive combat (once it fully kicks in and you are given full control over 3 blades around the 15 hour mark) as I am by the surprisingly moving, funny and immersive story. I can be a little skeptical sometimes when approaching JRPG stories, but by all three of these aforementioned titles, we were treated to surprisingly mature and complex narratives, with refreshingly grounded and/or thoughtful characters. Indeed, with this many games firing on all these different cylinders (I didn't even mention the soundtrack to Persona 5 or Nier OMG), you know something special is happening.

So there you have it, three wildly differently styles of JRPG, only unified by their consistent top-tier quality. An old-school turn-based lite-novel hyprid, a full real-time action-RPG for philosophy students, and a MMO-style combat fantasy epic. And on top of all that there's myriad other fantastic releases, or even re-releases like the Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age remaster of FFXII, one of my favorites and oft-forgotten FF titles that I think got overlooked slightly upon initial release precisely because of the way it showed other developers the way forward from pure turn-based combat.

And then the behemoth that is Breath of the Wild saw a tried-and-true franchise get fully revitalized in a way that drew on the weapon system of Dark Souls as much as it did the food system of Odinsphere of all games. And like I said, though not a true JRPG, it shows that role-playing adjacent titles are also showing a come-back. Survival components in video games were always the more practical, realist cousin to role-playing/stat-grinding after all.

So where do we go from here? Well 2018 will show us whether 2017 was a stand-out year or just the beginning of a trend, but all signs seem to point to an ongoing upward trend if releases like Monster Hunter World are any indication. Ni No Kuni 2 is due out soon, Octopath Traveler, which should make good on the idea of a retro-JRPG, and Kingdom Hearts 3 at the end of the year all help to paint the picture of an equally formidable year. Alas, Nippon is poised to continue its domination in coming months. All in all, fans of the genre should be very pleased, and if you haven't checked out one of the aforementioned titles get to it, because all of them are excellent, even if Xeno takes about 15 hours to truly get rolling and Persona takes a whopping like 20. All good things come to those who wait, after all.~

#xenoblade chronicles 2 #xenoblade #nier automata #nier #persona 5 #persona #jrpg #state of the jrpg #role-playing #role playing #role #playing #ps4 #switch #turn-based #combat #real-time #state of the art

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giancarlonicoli · 5 years ago

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METRO

Legendary Post columnist Steve Dunleavy dead at 81

By Gabrielle Fonrouge and Bruce Golding

June 24, 2019 | 10:48pm | Updated

Steve Dunleavy, the hard-hitting, hard-drinking journalist who helped define The New York Post as a crime reporter, editor and premier columnist, died Monday at his home on Long Island. He was 81.

The cause was unknown.

“Steve Dunleavy was one of the greatest reporters of all time,” said Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Post.

“Whether competing with his own father in the famous Sydney, Australia, tabloid wars, or over the last 40 years in New York, Steve’s life story is littered with great scoops. He was much loved by both his colleagues and editors.”

“His passing is the end of a great era,” Murdoch added.

Over the course of his epic career, Dunleavy scored countless exclusives, including interviews with the mother of Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, and confessed “Boston Strangler” Albert DeSalvo. The rapist also posed in the nude for Dunleavy, who had smuggled a camera into prison for the story.

Dunleavy also flew to California to entice three members of Elvis Presley’s “Memphis Mafia” bodyguards to reveal the singer’s drug addiction.

The ensuing series of stories boosted the circulation of the Star tabloid, where Dunleavy was then working, from 2 million to 3 million, and also led to the publication of a best-selling book, “Elvis: What Happened?” shortly before Presley’s death.

Fans of the King responded with death threats that followed Dunleavy to The Post — where someone even sent a hearse with instructions to pick up his body.

That tale is one of many inspired by the legendary newsman, many of which start in a tavern.

Perhaps the most memorable involves a snowy night at the Upper East Side media hangout Elaine’s, where Dunleavy met the Norwegian fiancée of an Australian journalist.

While his pals decamped to another bar across the street, Dunleavy and the fiancée wound up outside, “humping in the snow, arses going up and down,” former Daily Mail correspondent George Gordon told The New Yorker for a profile of Dunleavy in 2000.

“As we were watching, a snowplow came up the street and ran over Dunleavy’s foot,” Gordon said.

“By this time, the entire bar was in uproarious laughter.”

Dunleavy “was so loaded, it didn’t matter,” Gordon said, but was eventually taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken foot.

Upon learning of the incident, rival journalist Pete Hamill bitterly sniped, “I hope it wasn’t his writing foot.”

Another incident at Elaine’s ended with Dunleavy socking since-disgraced record producer Phil Spector in the nose — one of many brawls sparked by liquid courage.

“Countless fights, yes, but alas, not a good won/loss record,” Dunleavy once lamented.

Veteran Post columnist Steve Cuozzo recalled the time Dunleavy phoned the newsroom on a Saturday morning and told the assistant who answered, “Mate, this is Dunleavy. Take down this number.” After reciting the digits, Dunleavy had the assistant repeat them to him.

“Great. Now call me back and tell me where I am,” Dunleavy replied.

Dunleavy also came up with a snappy comeback when The Post was pilloried at the time for the now-classic Page 1 headline, “HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR,” Cuozzo recalled.

“What should we have said?” Dunleavy wondered.

‘Decapitated cerebellum in tavern of ill repute?’”

A second-generation journalist and native of Australia, Dunleavy quit school at 14 and began working as a copy boy at The Sun, a Sydney tabloid that employed his dad as a photographer.

He left the paper for the rival Daily Mirror and was made a cub reporter, eventually proving the extent of his competitiveness by slashing the tires on his father’s car when they were both covering a story about a group of lost hikers.

Dunleavy claimed not to know who owned the car, but the older man got his revenge when they were both chasing a story about a criminal dubbed the “Kingsgrove Slasher.”

When Dunleavy found a laundry room where he thought the Slasher was hiding, he went in, hoping “to catch him single-handedly” — only to hear a dead-bolt snap behind him, “My father had locked me in. I was trapped for hours,” Dunleavy told The New Yorker.

“When I got out, I went home and said, ‘Dad, you could have got me fired.’ He said, ‘Remember the Blue Mountains.’ ”

Dunleavy left Australia for a job with the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, then freelanced his way across Asia and Europe before winding up in London, working on the city’s Fleet Street for the United Press International wire service.

Dunleavy later “fooled around” in the Bahamas before heading to New York, where he claimed to have arrived on Dec. 28, 1966, with seven dollars in his pocket.

He lived in coffee shops for a week before landing a job with UPI, which led to him meeting fellow Aussie and News Corp founder Murdoch, whose American correspondents had offices in the same building.

Murdoch hired Dunleavy in 1967 to write stories for his papers in Australia and Britain, then tapped him as news editor of the National Star tabloid, which Murdoch launched in 1974.

At the Star, Dunleavy also wrote a column titled “This I Believe” that so impressed the far-right John Birch Society that it named him its “American of the Year” — despite the fact that he wasn’t a citizen.

Dunleavy continued the column after becoming The Post’s top crime reporter when Murdoch bought the paper in 1976.

He soon launched into coverage of the “Son of Sam” murders. Dunleavy’s ingenuity included dressing in what looked like scrubs to sneak into a hospital and interview a victim’s family.

“I lost count of the number of times I posed as a cop, a public servant or a funeral director,” Dunleavy told writer William Shawcross, author of a 1993 Murdoch biography.

In 1986, Murdoch made Dunleavy one of the first reporters for “A Current Affair,” a tabloid-style TV program produced for Murdoch’s then-fledgling Fox broadcast TV network.

During nearly a decade with the show, Dunleavy beat ABC’s “Nightline” out of an exclusive interview with Jessica Hahn, the mistress of televangelist Jim Bakker, by going to her house and telling an ABC driver that Hahn had been taken to a hospital.

Dunleavy’s blanket coverage of Amy Fisher’s shooting of Mary Jo Buttafuoco — amid Fisher’s affair with Mary Jo’’s husband, Joey Buttafuoco — also led The New Yorker to say that story “at times, appeared to run exclusively on Fox.”

When Dunleavy was let go in a shake-up shortly before “A Current Affair” was canceled, he returned to The Post, becoming a columnist who crusaded against liberal politicians and celebrities, while championing members of the NYPD and FDNY.

“You walk under the portals of One Police Plaza, and above are the etched names of 713 cops who have fallen in the line of duty protecting this city,” he once wrote.

“Turn to your right, and then to your left, and you are surrounded by heroes. It makes someone like myself feel very small.”

Former top cop Ray Kelly on Monday described Dunleavy as “a diehard supporter of the NYPD, particularly street cops.”

“As someone so deeply knowledgeable about the city, he knew how difficult and demanding the job is,” Kelly said.

When The Post moved from its offices on South Street to its current headquarters in Midtown, Dunleavy routinely spent his afternoons across the street at the since-shuttered Langan’s bar, conducting interviews and taking calls from editors.

His failing health led him to retire from The Post in 2008, when he was feted with a blowout party.

In an interview tied to his retirement, Dunleavy told The New York Times, “I always had dreams of dying at the desk.”

“It’s frustrating not doing what I love best, and serving — I know it sounds corny — the one who I admire the most. Murdoch. The Boss,” he said.

In 2017, he was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame, which lauded his “rambunctious, swashbuckling and hard-drinking career” and said he “earned the term ‘legendary reporter’ through his whatever-it-takes, larger-than-life approach to journalism.”

Dunleavy is survived by his wife, Gloria, and their sons, Peter and Sean.

Additional reporting by Keith J. Kelly

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