#but i know it'll be more fun to watch the next episode if i don't know what's coming........

[willosword]

WAAAAAAAA i wanna watch the next episode of invincible right neow ;_;

[black-arcana]

Watch: A Bat Lands On THE PRETTY RECKLESS Singer TAYLOR MOMSEN's Leg During Concert In Spain

According to Metal Journal, a bat landed on the left leg of THE PRETTY RECKLESS singer Taylor Momsen during her band's May 29 performance at Estadio La Cartuja in Seville, Spain as the support act for AC/DC.

After playing the fifth song of THE PRETTY RECKLESS's set, "Witches Burn", Taylor addressed the crowd, saying: "You guys are pointing at something, and I wanna know what you're saying." She then looked down at her leg and noticed the bat, after which she return to the microphone and exclaimed: "There's a fucking flying bat on my leg right now. Can someone help me, please? I must really be a witch."

A stage quickly hang came over a removed the bat, prompting Taylor to say: "Gracias. It's all right. And the bat's fine. He's gonna be my new friend," before adding, "Holy fuck."

Guitarist Ben Phillips then told the crowd: "Well, that hasn't happened before." Momsen went on to say: "I'm telling you. I'm a fucking witch. I attract the bats. Someone, bring out a black cat. It's gonna be great."

Phillips said to the audience, "Gracias for pointing it out," before Momsen added: "I thought you were pointing at my SOUNDGARDEN bracelet. And I was, like, 'Oh. Fucking they like SOUNDGARDEN. Awesome."

During an appearance on the May 6 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Taylor was asked about the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for THE PRETTY RECKLESS's fifth album. She said: "I don't have [release] dates for you, but we booked — we've locked up the studio for eight months. It takes us a while to make a record. But it was going amazingly [before we paused the sessions in order to hit the road]. Hopefully when we pick back up in September, it'll be the same kind of flow and everything will just jell. But a lot of it's written. I'm sure that more will be written when these experiences happen and then new songs [arise] out of them. So I'm sure that there'll be some more songs coming. But I don't have dates. But it was going great, and we had just started; we really haven't started at all, but there's written stuff. So that's a start, I guess. But as far as recording, we hadn't really gotten into it yet."

This past January, THE PRETTY RECKLESS shared a photo of Taylor in the studio with Jonathan Wyman, who co-produced THE PRETTY RECKLESS's latest album, 2021's "Death By Rock And Roll", apparently confirming that Wyman has re-teamed with the group for the upcoming LP.

In a May 2023 interview with Ronni Hunter of the 99.7 The Blitz radio station, Momsen revealed that she and her THE PRETTY RECKLESS bandmates had commenced work on the follow-up to "Death By Rock And Roll".

"We're in a great headspace," she said. "We're just having fun with it, and wrapping up the tour cycle of 'Death By Rock And Roll'. And then new record — and it's next chapter. We've already kind of started it… We've gotten into a studio; we've stepped foot into a studio. So that's saying something for us."

THE PRETTY RECKLESS is supporting AC/DC on the legendary hard rock band's spring/summer 2024 European tour. Momsen and her bandmates also opened for THE ROLLING STONES on May 11 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In November 2022, THE PRETTY RECKLESS released a new collection of music, "Other Worlds", via Fearless Records. The effort saw the group delivering its first proper acoustic recordings, unexpected covers and other reimaginings.

"Death By Rock And Roll" was made available in February 2021 via Fearless Records in the U.S. and Century Media Records in the rest of the world.

Upon release, "Death By Rock And Roll" topped multiple sales charts — including Billboard's Top Albums, Rock, Hard Music, and Digital charts. The record also yielded three back-to-back No. 1 singles — "Death By Rock And Roll", "And So It Went" (featuring Tom Morello of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE) and "Only Love Can Save Me Now" (featuring Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron of SOUNDGARDEN). The band has tallied seven No. 1 singles at the rock format throughout its career.

"Death By Rock And Roll" was THE PRETTY RECKLESS's first album to be made without longtime producer Kato Khandwala, who died in April 2018 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

THE PRETTY RECKLESS formed in 2009 and consists of Momsen, Phillips, bassist Mark Damon and drummer Jamie Perkins.

In 2021, Momsen — who rose to fame portraying the character of edgy little sister Jenny Humphrey on The CW's "Gossip Girl" — described "Death By Rock And Roll" in an interview with ABC Audio as a "battle cry for life and for hope."

"I think that that's something that we can all use a little bit more of, especially right now," she said. "We could always use a little more hope, and we could always use a little more rock and roll."

[pastafossa]

How do you get past writer's block? I have a fic that I'm working on that is updating on a schedule, and I made the mistake of giving myself a month off in between parts and now I can't really get back into writing it. I don't want to leave it abandoned because I have a few people who I know are really invested and I don't want to leave them hanging, but I'm having a hard time getting as excited to write it as I did before.

Ok so I'm in a weird place for this, hilariously. Because The Answer That Usually Works For Me (TM) and that carried me through a regular weekly update schedule for almost two and a half years is, in fact, not at present working for me apparently my brain can write through a pandemic but not through recovery from the shit that went down in December/Jan so we found my writing kryptonite. However, I'm going to assume you're closer to 2021 Pasta than 2024 Pasta. SO LET'S GO WITH THE METHOD I NORMALLY USE SINCE IT WAS SUCCESSFUL FOR YEARS. Cause that's the thing: sure, I've written almost a million words, and pumped out chapters for years (ignoring the past few months) but I promise, I hit the same walls as everyone else even when nailing weekly uploads. But over those years, I came up with a fairly solid list of steps that I'd go through one by one.

Fun one first: when I'm in a block, I almost always try re-engaging with canon first. I'd rewatch my favorite episodes, binge a whole season, or even the whole series depending on how much of a boost I needed. For me at least that was often like Pavlov's bell, my favorite story triggering a flood of affection. I'd remember why I loved this fandom and the characters so much, and it could often kickstart my brain and excitement back into gear. If you really want to dangle a carrot and your fic touches on canon, focus on watching parts you're excited to get to in your story. A big one for me in TRT for example was the post-Nobu, Nelson v. Murdock episode, since I'd had that planned for TRT almost since the start, and I was very excited to reach the hurt/comfort I had planned. Even if your fic isn't following canon though, see if it'll give you a creative rush again!

So let's say step 1 doesn't work, either because the canon just isn't hitting the spot or because your fic is dealing with something else. In this case, my next step was usually to jump ahead to write a scene I was really eager to get to. It was often a short blurb, but it was always something I REALLY wanted to explore, and because I'm also a reader who likes exactly the tropes and plots I'm writing, I want to read what fucking happens. Except, fuck, I'm not there yet, am I? And I can't see how that scene finishes until I write my way up to it and finish it. This is my own carrot. Multiple scenes in TRT were written months or even years in advance, simply as a way to bribe myself. This is also an option!

But maybe this doesn't work. Sometimes it didn't. This is when it got a bit more serious. For anyone who was reading at the time, you'd have noticed that I'd sometimes drop side fics, either Matt POVs or one-shots. This was me, in essence, working on the shower principle (basically, ideas/solutions will come if you stop thinking about it and do something else, like take a shower). I figured if I went and wrote something else - either with less stress, or something fun and dopamine-inducing - the part of my brain focused on my Big Fic would wander around the writer's block beneath my notice. And it almost always worked, all while I still kept my brain trained that, hey, even if we're not writing This Thing, we're still writing.

But let's say this doesn't work either. You're well, and truly, stuck. Been there now and then. And, you're going to hate this one. I hate it but it works 9 times of 10. And it is: Write anyway. Half of it was spite. I was not going to give up my schedule, I liked my schedule. The other half was that I knew myself. I knew if I could just get past the chapter/plot/dialogue I was struggling with, I'd be able to roll along again. And so I made a rule: whatever I wrote didn't have to be pretty. It just had to exist. If that meant I wrote, "Jane chased the cat in circles and caught it. She was happy." then that's what I wrote. Because everything, EVERYTHING, can be fixed in editing. But you can't fix what doesn't exist. And so there were those nights when I would scowl and groan and snarl and bash my head against that writer's block until 5 in the morning, but in the end Jane chased that fucking cat adn caught it, it was written. Hilariously, sometimes those chapters have wound up amazing (likely because I spent so much time hammering at them) and reader favorites. There are absolutely, I believe, moments where you can, and should, see if you can push through.

But that brings me to *waves* now. A lesson I've only recently recently and with encouragement. Namely... sometimes brain no go and that's ok. My steps work for me 99.9% of the time, but I've done the above during the past few months, and it just... hasn't dragged me out entirely out of it yet. Sometimes, our brains demand that break, especially when things just aren't going great. There's a reason TRT had a break of roughly 2 years between chapter 4 and chapter 5 (feel free to check the chapter index with dates on AO3!). I had some life things happening and I just was not in a place to write, even if I was still busily plotting and planning and thinking about TRT behind the scenes. And that was ok. We're not machines. I came back like a bulldozer in Jan 2021, yes, and bulldozed through weekly updates, but that break was needed. And now I'm obviously taking a short one again while I recover from everything. It's ok if you're not in a place for it. So the last step is one I've been told a lot by dear friends recently as they helped me through this: be kind to yourself, and try not to stress if none of the above works. The story will always be there, and if TRT is any indication through all its highs and lows, your readers will be there when you start up again.

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 18)

Get in, losers, we're going to the Motel.

In case you haven't seen my previous power rankings, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. However, given that there will be no elimination this episode, we're doing something a little bit different. Instead, @venus-is-thinking and I will be discussing who we think will be rooting for who in the finale episode! There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Connor's Elimination

Current Score: 76 acquired/113 total

(Points versus @venus-is-thinking: 27 acquired/38 total)

Who would've thought that Grett would be the last player actually voted out of the game? Okay, I did, back when I thought that Grett would be voted out at Final 4, but not when she was voted out at Final 5! I still can't believe that it wasn't Riya.

This is another elimination I already talked a lot about in my initial thoughts, but I'm happy with when and how they chose to eliminate Connor, just unhappy about the surrounding characterization of Jake in particular. Although Connor is overall a likeable guy (barring the potential anti-union stances), from a gameplay and in-universe wealth standpoint he absolutely did not need to be in the finale. I should've counted his broken leg as more of a death flag than it was, and put him at #3 (given that it was never going to be #4).

But hey, maybe I was conditioned to believe that it wouldn't matter much after Yul also injured his foot and I talked about it for weeks for it to ultimately not matter at all! Alec, watch the fuck out for the Yellow Boy Leg Curse.

Trailer Analysis

Given that there's no elimination in this episode, I'm really just going through the trailer to point out things that I think are fun as opposed to any real game logic :D

Awww, glad to see that neither of them are too upset about their eliminations. At this point, at least.

Winners on the right, please B)

They are literally so clingy throughout this entire trailer. Love them <3

It's very interesting that this does seem to be an in-universe filmed event. I wonder what Kristal wants from all the competitors.

Okay, actually relevantly to the ranking, could this possibly be Riya's bench? I wouldn't expect that Yul would root for Riya, given that they hate each other, but it's not like Yul liked the others. And, Riya at least didn't vote for him to go home in his boot episode. It could just be an interview about Riya, but then I don't know why Fiore would be there and Grett wouldn't.

If he's out here being fatphobic again...

Ooh, it'll be fun if they take some time to explore Grett's relationship with Ellie as well as with Gabby in a post-S1 landscape! This one goes out to the GabGreLlie(?) shippers.

OLD PEOPLE DOMINATION!!!

Oh my god, I forgot they were on the same tribe at the beginning.

Hang on, is there a challenge going on this episode? If so, what for?

Lake and Ashley being friends feels so natural. I know that Ashley has already talked about having little sisters in the past, and Lake absolutely feels like she could use a supportive older sister figure. It's like Rosa...! Again.

Another classic Alec/Tom duel. I'm assuming this has something to do with the challenge-looking thing that's going on?

This too, maybe? I'd say that Hunter was somehow helping Emily and Trevor with their plan to ruin the show, but Hunter should have no incentive to end Disventure Camp, especially when his girlfriend is in the finale.

"Daaaaaaamn, that's good shiiiiiit." "AAH! Kristal! Were you spying on us?"

Tom's feet, for free? (/j) On a more serious note, they're probably saying something heartfelt about Jake here.

"Power Ranking"

Following Venus' suggestion, I'm going to rank my people in terms of how confident I am in which bench they'll be on! It'll have no effect on my score-- we're scoring this round separate from the main competition, and even so it'll be a simple 1 or 0 points for if you get it right-- but it'll probably make the flow of the rankings better.

#1: Miriam - Jake's Bench

I see literally no reason why Miriam would be on the bench of anyone other than Jake. They're super close, with Miriam essentially having adopted Jake as her grandson. The only possible argument to the contrary would be if Miriam rooted for Riya in support of the Yellow Team, but Riya literally voted her out, sooo...

#2: Tess - Ally's Bench

(I know that Ally was on the Magenta Team and not the Cyan team, but Ally has an overall blue palette, so she gets blue.)

Similarly, I see no reason why Tess wouldn't root for Ally. The whole reason why she came to play again was to spend time with Ally and Hunter, and even if she didn't get to do that as much as she would've liked, she can at least show Ally her support by rooting for her in the finals.

The only path I see to Tess not rooting for Ally would be if Hunter decided that he was too mad at Ally to root for her, and Tess decided to join him in solidarity. However...

#3: Hunter - Ally's Bench

Let's be realistic. You don't say "we'll always support you 100%" or whatever Hunter and Tess said to Ally in the comeback episode and then choose to be petty and root for... Jake, I guess? When she actually makes the finals. Rooting for Jake specifically would just be fucking cruel. Double damage fr.

Also, Venus and I have been talking about potential scenarios for who the finalists might be able to choose to help them in the finale. There are pretty much four scenarios we've discussed:

Each finalist chooses one former competitor to help them, like what happened in Seasons 1 and 2.

Each finalist chooses two former competitors to help them, evocative of how this season has more competitors.

Each finalist chooses two former competitors to help them, but there has to be one from Season 1 and one from Season 2, to celebrate both seasons equally.

Everyone will be able to lend a helping hand to their finalist of choice.

In any of those scenarios, I think that Hunter will be helping Ally in the finale. He is her literal boyfriend, the person who should be closest to her, and he's really good at challenges. Tess will also likely help Ally in case of #2. That would be a nice way to pay off her finally getting to spend time with the two of them together!

#4: Tom - Jake's Bench

The only reasons why Tom isn't higher up on this list are just because 1) the other three are so obvious, and 2) Tom and Jake are still sort of in a weird zone. However, it's not like Tom has any reason to root for Ally or Riya pretty much at all. If he chose to sit on either of their benches, he could pretty much kiss any chance of a future relationship with Jake goodbye. Or, perhaps "not kiss" is more fitting to the circumstances.

I also find it pretty likely that Tom will help Jake in the finale. His greatest competitor for Jake's hand is Ashley, who's also a strong physical competitor from Season 1. However, Tom is basically a lock for Jake's bench, while Ashley still may wind up supporting Ally. Plus, I feel like the writers (and some of the fans) would love to have Tom support Jake, especially if it winds up leading Jake to a win. Regardless, I have high confidence that Tom will be rooting for Jake.

#5: Aiden - Jake's Bench

Although Aiden and Jake obviously didn't start this season on the best terms, by the end, they became really good friends. Plus, it's not like Aiden is rooting for Riya, and I can't really see why he'd root for Ally either. Especially when Ally was the one who flipped to take him out of the game.

Aiden has the most likelihood of being on Jake's finale team if Jake is forced to pick one Season 1 character and one Season 2 character, although it's possible he could even make the team in a vacuum if Ashley is on Ally's team. A Jake/Tom/Aiden teamup is possibly even more appealing than just a Jake/Tom teamup. This is the last one that I think has almost 100% chance of success.

#6: Lake - Jake's Bench

While Lake and Jake didn't interact pretty much at all in the main season, there have certainly been seeds sown to lay the groundwork for Lake supporting Jake in the end. Most importantly, she was the one advocating to Aiden that Jake deserved a second chance, citing that she saw a lot of herself in Jake. We also had Lake and Jake form a quick connection in the premiere with Jake saying that he enjoyed Lake's writing. That feels like it could have been put in there intentionally to preemptively explain why they would gravitate towards one another.

Also, with no Cyan players remaining, I wouldn't be surprised if Lake is essentially just here to support whoever Aiden chooses to support, which I expect to be Jake. As the cherry on top, she's shown hanging out with Ashley a lot in the trailer, who is very pro-Jake even if she doesn't ultimately wind up on his bench. I find this to be pretty likely.

#7: Grett - Ally's Bench

Although Gabby and Riya worked together for much of the game, I expect that Grett will still be on her "no forgiveness for Riya for voting with Yul" grind, and therefore not be on Riya's bench. And, similarly, while she did wind up working with Jake near the end of the game, she was working with Ally for longer and more closely. Both Jake and Ally wound up uniting to take Grett out, so I think that lands Grett pretty solidly in Ally's camp.

I could also see that they had Grett clarify that she held no ill will towards Ally in her elimination just to make it clear that Grett didn't feel at all betrayed by her. As one of the strongest players of the season, Grett would also make a great assistant to Ally's team, should she choose to accept it. Just watch out that you don't get out-sabotaged again this time, Grett...

#8: Gabby - Ally's Bench

Gabby is mostly here to hang out with Grett. If Grett is taking a no-Riya stance, Gabby would support her all the way. It's possible that she could wind up on Jake's bench through Tom/to support a S1 player, but... that feels like it's valuing Gabby's relationship with Tom over her relationship with Grett, which was not the moral of this season. I just have to be right that Grett would choose to support Ally!

Please let me be right that Grett would choose to support Ally.

#9: Connor - Riya's Bench

Okay, let me preface this by saying that I do NOT think that Connor has once again relapsed into his Riya simp phase to genuinely support her. I think that the twinge of pain he gets any time he moves his ankle would be enough to remind him that that's a terrible idea. I simply think that Connor will join Riya's bench for strategic purposes. There are a lot of strong reasons why sitting on Riya's bench is the optimal choice for Connor.

Number 1: choosing between whether to sit on Ally or Jake's bench could have disastrous results at this point. If he chooses to directly support one of Ally or Jake over the other, it might make it more difficult for them to work together. The safest move is to remove himself from that fight entirely, and choose Riya to NOT choose Jake or Ally.

Number 2: Seeing Connor on Riya's bench could give Riya some sort of psychic damage, whether it's Season 2 loser flashbacks or through confusion as to why Connor is "still there stanning her." You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Number 3: This gives Connor the opportunity to be an anti-helper for Riya. If Riya's bench is mostly unoccupied, then she may be forced to select Connor as her assistant. Even beyond any deliberate sabotage he tries to throw her way, forcing her to wait while he hobbles behind on his broken leg could eat up a lot of time. It would all be deliciously karmic, especially as a bookend to Connor's arc by having him defeat Riya by deliberately screwing up her endgame, again.

#10: Ellie - Ally's Bench

Gabby is here for Grett, and Ellie is here for Gabby. I know that Ellie and Ally have had, like, negative amounts of screentime together, unless you count every time I've mixed up which name various other characters were saying. But otherwise, like, who else?

No way in hell Ellie is rooting for Jake; she's the OG Jake hater and nothing this season has changed that. I did initially think that Ellie could support Riya as a fellow villainous winner, but would she really value a member of the alliance that almost drove her and her girlfriend apart that she hardly talked to over hanging out with said girlfriend and supporting a young artist who needs the money to support her career? I think not.

Please let me be right that Grett would decide to support Ally so that I'm also right that Gabby would decide to support Ally.

#11: Alec - Riya's Bench

Given how, uh, terribly these two's relationship ended, it may come as somewhat of a surprise that I think that Alec would still "root for" Riya in the end. However, Alec and Riya just had such a connection this season that I feel like it would be wrong if he didn't wind up tied to her in the end somehow. Then again, he didn't wind up rooting for Fiore in the Season 1 finale, so maybe he will just pick, like, Jake or whatever at random.

I'm more confident that Alec would be on Riya's bench in the case that Riya needs two assistants, S1+S2 specific or not. I could totally see Alec and Connor conspiring together to be the only two assistants available to Riya, so that no matter who she chooses she's going to get someone who's actively working against her. The plan still works if she only needs one assistant, obviously, but I think it packs more of a narrative punch if Alec and Connor could do it together.

#12: Ashley - Jake's Bench

So, obviously Ashley is going to pick either Jake or Ally, and she's only this low down because it's a little tricky to figure out which one of them it is. You might be surprised to see that I ultimately decided to have her pick Jake based on the way I wrote this post, but the truth is that I wrote the post that way because initially, I also thought that I was going to have Ashley pick Ally.

That was because, under the possibility of S1+S2 helpers, I didn't really see who Ally could possibly pick up from S1 other than Ashley. However, that specific scenario is dubious enough as is, and once I realized that Grett could fill that S1 slot for Ally, Ashley felt a lot less locked down. I could also see that (in the S1+S2 situation), if Jake picks Tom really quickly, Ashley could volunteer to join Ally's team from Jake's bench, swapping sides like Rosa did to support James. (Because you can never pass on an opportunity to make Ashley Rosa.)

I just feel like, after making such a statement to Jake about being proud of him and wanting him to succeed, and after them working together in the comeback challenge, it would be really weird for her to not wind up on Jake's bench in the end. Plus, Ashley was Jake's friend first. Those are just the facts.

#13: James - Jake's Bench

Much like Ashley, James winds up this low because I can't tell whether he would root for Ally or Jake. It's not going to be Riya. Obviously.

The argument for Ally is that I feel like the writers have been... lowkey pushing that Ally and James are closer than I at least thought they were? When the Magenta team initially formed, he seemed really excited to be on the same team as Ally and Hunter, saying that the team was stacked. Also, in this greeting from about two months ago, James said that he was rooting for Aiden or Ally to win. Of course, that was from a while ago in the competition, so James' opinions might have changed. But, if he sticks to his word, he would be rooting for Ally.

However... is he really going to pass up the opportunity to sit with Aiden AND Lake just to support Ally? Notably, I do think that greeting may have been from before Aiden and Jake became friends, and I can believe James rooting for Jake much more if he's doing it through the lens of supporting Aiden's friend. I also don't know how James feels about Ally's descent into villainy. As someone who became more heroic over the course of his season, I could see James being disappointed (on the level of being a friend, not just in her "character development") in what Ally has been doing, and not want to support that behavior.

Also, we see James hanging out with Ashley, Lake, and Miriam in that one scene, who are all people who I, at least, have determined will be supporting Jake in the finale. To the extent that the former campers have already determined who they're rooting for and have sorted themselves into factions because of it, that may be an indication that James will be repping Jake.

#14: Yul - Riya's Bench

"Seriously? You're making me pair with curry girl?! Gross!" That's my Yul impression. I don't like it either, Yul, but you don't like anyone and nobody likes you. Thus, my only real lead is that Yul would want to support a villain winner, bolstered by that scene of him sitting for an interview with Connor, Alec, and Fiore.

Yul also did wind up rooting for Riya in the Final 2 of Season 2 eventually, although he initially supported... Aiden? In the Final 3? Wait, I totally forgot that Yul ever supported Aiden. You really threw your support towards our GT king, Yul? Anyways. He does have a past history of rooting for Riya, although their relationship probably got worse throughout the course of All Stars. I really don't know with Yul.

#15: Fiore - Riya's Bench

As I described to Venus, Fiore is really tricky because she has, like, a 2/5 good reason to support any one of these people in the finale.

Jake is from her season and the one she was trying to appeal to, but he's also an idiot and didn't side with her in the end. Ally was trying to protect Fiore from Hunter, at least, but they never became particularly close, and Fiore left the game throwing her under the bus. Riya is a villainous #slayqueen that was once close with Alec, but she also left Alec much worse for wear and screwed Fiore over in that one challenge to win the reward. I don't think Fiore will be particularly happy with rooting for any of these finalists.

Thus, I think that Fiore will probably just be hanging out with Alec, who I've pegged as supporting Riya. I could also see her stanning Riya as a statement about wanting villains to win, much like Yul could, and to further complain about how more people should have helped her in the Season 1 finale.

It might seem like putting Yul and Fiore on Riya's bench would ruin Connor and Alec's plans, but I don't really think it does. First of all, for Fiore at least, if she's united with Alec, Fiore might be another rotten pick for Riya. And, even if she would genuinely help Riya to win, Alec and Connor being two terrible choices for Riya's team only further forces her to work with Fiore (a child) and Yul (Yul). Those are also terrible teammates! Riya can be taken down by her own lack of a social game in either situation.

And that's everyone! Here's how I've laid out the teams, ordered in terms of how likely it is that I think they could be an assistant to whoever they're supporting (which sort of crosses over with how confident I am that they'll be there):

Jake: Tom - Ashley - Aiden - Miriam - Lake - James

Ally: Hunter - Tess - Grett - Gabby - Ellie

Riya: Connor - Alec - Yul - Fiore

I guess, in the end, the teams wound up pretty even, with one extra person for Jake and one person missing for Riya. I kinda thought that Ally would have fewer, but picking up the Grett/Gabby/Ellie trio does a lot.

This was a really fun and unique power ranking to write, so I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it! I feel like DCAS has been at its best when it has the most of its characters in the episode at once, so let's hope that this is another fire episode. And, no matter what, my overall score ain't gettin' any worse!

[adultswim2021]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force #89: “Rabbot Redux” | February 8, 2010 - 12:00AM | S08E02

Happy Space Ghost day, everyone! 30 dang years with our great guy. Wow! Seems like as good a day as any to start this shit up again. To the small-yet-still-dwindling number of people who read my shit: Hi! Real life is having it’s way with me right now, so please know I’m instituting a hard-and-fast “will update when I feel like it” rule to this thing for the right-now. So, please don't expect this to be a nightly blog. It'll be more like a "nighty" blog, as in "nighty-night", because it will be angelically and perfectly asleep most of the time. Thank you. 

It’s Rabbot Redux: a fairly unnecessary explanation for what happened directly after the events of the live-action episode. It turns out the Aqua Teens drove their moving van two doors down, to the other house next to Carl’s. Not a lot happens; Neil unpacks while Rick and Vivian fight over which room is theirs. Shake immediately claims the bathroom, not realizing it’s a bathroom. Meatwad gets a luxurious room with a salad bar and a harem.

Eventually Rabbot (from before) shows up with a housewarming gift. He then crushes the Aqua Teens’ house, forcing them to go back to the old house. Schooly D shows up and sings a new theme song (which is also used over the opening sequence). This one calls back a lot of stuff from Rabbot, like Carl working out of the home, and “dancing is forbidden”.

This one isn’t especially groundbreaking, and it’s a little puzzling that they felt the need to write themselves out of that "hole". Normally they’d just ignore stuff like that and relish the show's lack of continuity. Not only did they air an episode between the two episodes (a Christmas special), but they also put it on DVD with multiple episodes between this and the Live-Action episode; I’m guessing in some production order or something. It's striking how little these guys care, sometimes. It's weird to see them dutifully tie up a thread.

This one is fairly funny, though. There’s nothing egregiously bad in it. The biggest smile I did was the part when Shake started berating Frylock about sucking his stuff. Shake is a nasty guy who says rude stuff :)

EPHEMERA CORNER

FOX on Adult Swim bump (January 11, 2010)

Hey, here's something fun and--what luck! I am telling you about it: At this time, Adult Swim was airing episodes of Family Guy shortly after they premiered on Fox, and they had a significant viewership on both channels. In the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus", they aired a fake Adult Swim bumper (intended to mess with Fox watchers) as they went to commercial, making a joke about confusing their viewers into which network they were watching. When the episode aired on Adult Swim, they followed it up with a Fox-style promo instead of their normal bumper. Fun fact: I once spoke to somebody who was writing on an Adult Swim show and they entertained the idea of doing a fake Adult Swim bumper, and asked me if any other shows had done that. I told them "even Family Guy has" because I happened to catch this bit. Took the wind out of those sails.

MAIL BAG

oh wow she's straight-up married to the mindless self indulgence guy. woof

LOL

Hello Mister Swim! What if I called you Mister Swim all the time, like you were Mr. Moviefone? Would that be a treat?

Yeah, it would be a nice treat. Thank you for being so nice to me.

[wrenreid]

Just Acting

Chapter Twenty-One

Jess ended up spending the night, and you wake up with your head laying on her chest. You sit up and laugh. "Were you comfy, baby girl?" she jokes.

You roll your eyes and head to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. Jess plops down on the couch and you follow suit after hearing the coffee start brewing.

"So New Year's Eve party, huh?"

"Yeah. You should come," you smile.

"I would love to, but I have plans."

"Ugh. You're too busy for me," you say, fake pouting.

"Says you. Anyway, you plan on kissing anyone tonight?"

"My pillow. Maybe Aisha,” you grin.

"Is Matthew going to be there?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

She sighs, giving you a wiggle of her eyebrows. "Because you clearly feel something for him."

You contemplate arguing and denying, but instead you say  "How is it that you just know things?"

"I learned how to read minds in college," she winks. "I can tell, Y/n. I've been able to tell from the start."

"Your best friend instincts are so annoying sometimes."

"You love me."

"Bite me."

"Gladly," Jess winks again.

"I'm going to tell him. Eventually."

"Good, or I'll have to beat your ass."

"Want to help me pick an outfit?" You ask.

"Yes," she hops up, leading you to your room. She sits on the bed and watches as you hold up a few outfit choices.

Jess's phone rings and she talks for a moment then hangs up. "Dammit Logan," she sighs. "I've got to go cover a shift. I'll see you later." She kisses your cheek playfully and leaves your apartment.

You're pretty bummed she can't come to the party tonight, but you're happy she'll be with the girl she loves. The party should just be the cast and spouses and a few other friends of AJ's since it's her party. From what Aisha told you, Matthew will still be in Vegas until next week. Which you suppose might be for the best because you can get drunk instead of worrying about him.

The script for the next episode was sent to you yesterday, and you're excited to read it. It'll be great to get back to work and jump into the Criminal Minds world again.

_____

You look into the mirror,  you look pretty good if you do say so yourself. Jess did a good job helping you pick out what to wear.

A black mid-thigh length dress that hugs your curves, black opaque tights, and black boots is what you're wearing. For makeup, you have gold on your eyelids for the holiday and the rest is pretty natural. You curled your hair earlier today, so you just fluff it out now. Before leaving your apartment, you throw on a grey trench coat type jacket.

You drive to AJ's house and are greeted by her and her husband. You smile, happy to see them after a while. Their kids are at AJ's sister's house. Aisha is making drinks in the kitchen.

"Margaritas?"

"You know it," Aisha winks. "It's good to see you, kiddo."

You roll your eyes with a smile. "Make me something strong."

"Yes ma'am,” she grins excitedly.

Paget comes in dancing with a bottle of champagne. She kisses AJ's cheek before coming over to you two.

"You're getting drunk, and you cannot protest," she says, kissing your cheek as well.

"Wouldn't want to defy you,” you say with a smile.

Kirsten comes in later, and you're excited to see her again. More people from set and other friends of AJ's pile inside.

Nathan puts some music on and Aisha grabs your hand, making you dance with her. The moves are messy, but it's hilariously fun.

"You're already drunk and it's 10pm," you laugh.

"Don't judge me, it's New Year's Eve."

The party gets started, and you sip your second margarita while talking with Paget and Kirsten. All of you wear these glasses or head bands that Kirsten brought. They read "2021" (wrote this in 2020 and i don’t see a point in changing the year tbh) and are gold and glittery. Daniel is timing how fast Adam can chug a beer. You shake your head at them acting like college frat boys.

You all watch as the news stations play music and flashbacks of the year on tv. The countdown will start in thirty-seven minutes.

Adam grabs your hand and the two of you drunk-dance. You throw your head back laughing at him. It's amazing to be here with all of your friends. Well, almost all of them. He spins you around, and you see someone come into the front door.

"Matthew! You made it!" AJ's voice says. You've had two margaritas and two shots of tequila at this point so you hardly hear them from your place in the dining room.

You stop dancing with Adam and he smiles at you. "Go talk to him."

"You're drunk, you don't know what you're talking about," you chuckle nervously.

"Oh shush."

You roll your eyes and make you get closer to the door.

"Y/n, I wasn't sure if you'd be here."

"I'm not a total lame-ass when it comes to fun, Gubler." Your say, pulling your riding-up dress down.

He laughs. "You look really good."

"Thank you. I suppose you look alright."

"Suppose?" His eyebrows stitch together.

You smile, shooting him a wink. Tipsy Y/n is a lot more confident. Which scares you because what if you say something weird. You go back to the kitchen and pour a glass of champagne. The countdown is approaching.

You finish your glass in about ten minutes, going to a group of friends that Matthew isn't mingling with.

"I get the sense that you're avoiding me," a voice says after you leave the bathroom to fix your makeup.

"What if I am?" you turn around to face him.

"That's very rude given I helped you with mr reporter," he laughs softly.

"Thank you, by the way."

"No problem. So why are you avoiding me?"

"There could be multiple reasons, pick one." You bite your lip softly.

"I'm hurt," he puts his hand over his heart, tossing his head back lightly. "I thought we were friends or something. Isn't that what we talked about on the phone that day?”

Ouch.  "Yeah. It is..."

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nope. All good here," you say and walk away. Eight minutes and thirty seconds until January first.

A few minutes pass as you and Paget pour everyone another round of champagne. You take a sip of your own glass then feel someone tugging on your arm.

"Can you please tell me what's going on?"

You look Matthew in the eyes. "I lied. I lied when I said we were friends. We were never really friends."

"Ouch."

"No, dammit. What i'm trying to say is, I like you. God, I sound like a middle schooler. I have feelings for you. I haven't figured them out completely, but they're there." He chuckles. "Well, don't laugh at me."

"No, it's just I thought you hated me.”

"Most of the time I do."

Matthew laughs, moving hair out of his face. "I feel the same way. The liking part, not the hating... well, both sometimes."

You smile, blushing. "Well..."

"Four more seconds."

You look at the tv. You can read, why is he telling you the countdown? Before you can ask, he pulls you in by the waist and kisses you as the others cheer for the new year.

"This is so cliche, ew,” you pull away from this kiss.

"Shut up, you like it."

You roll your eyes and pull his neck down to press your lips to his again. The rhythm is soft and slow. When you pull away again, you see your friends looking at you guys with eyes wide. AJ sips her champagne with a smirk on her face, making eye contact with you.

You blush at everyone's eyes on you two. You grab your champagne glass and take a drink.

Matthew takes it from you.

"Hey!"

"You're drunk, Y/n."

"That explains why I kissed you,” you tease.

"Hey," he says, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I'm kidding."

Matthew rolls his eyes and pours your drink out.

Around twelve-forty, Matthew grabs your hand. "You need to get home."

"You're lame."

"You're an ass, but let's go,” he says softly.

"I'm a cute ass," you say with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah." He leads you to your car and drives you back to your apartment.

He helps you get into your place and sit on the couch. "Do you want some water?"

You nod sleepily. "Yes please."

He brings you a cup and sits beside you. "After you finish that, you need to get to bed. Do you need anything before I go?"

"Don't leave."

"You want me to stay?"

"Yeah. Just for company and stuff,” you say, trying to play it cool.

He smiles. "Okay. I'll stay. Go get ready for bed."

You oblige, handing him the empty cup and heading to your room. After changing into a pair of blue flannel pj bottoms and a black tank top, you head back to the living room to find Matthew laying on the couch with his eyes open.

"You don't have to sleep on the couch,” you say, rubbing your eyes as you stand over him.

"I didn't want to overstep," Matthew says.

"I don't really feel like sleeping alone. It's like this weird sad feeling that I get when I'm drunk... sorry that was over sharing."

He smiles. "No, it's okay." He stands up and follows you to your room. You lay down and so does Matthew. He opens his arms so you can lay on him, and you rest your head on his chest.

twenty-two

tags: @pauline5525mgg @theintimatewriter @lilibet261 @greysviolets @jazzymariexoxoc @one-sweet-gubler @thatsonezesty13 @necromaniackat @awhoreforspencerreid @sebs-oxygen  @scarredelirium @bts-sugaplum @awesomeness1679 @preciousbabypeter @yazzyu @cynbx @r3idsp3ncer @1010lizz @tiredbut-here @skulzombiw @lena-1895 @eevee0722 @danis-stuff-is-here @kylakins88 @daydreamingqueen1 @regulus-black-223048 @virginmusicloverr36 @inlovewithcharmers @kylakins88 @f-me-reid @matthew-gray-gubler-lover <3

[barananduen-blog]

Top Nine TV Shows tag game

Was invited to do this by @lovesickfolly I'm going to do it with cdramas, bc that's what I'm into lately, but if anyone wants to do this, you can do it with any kind of show.

My top nine cdramas, in no particular order...

Before I begin, I should probably point out that I'm more "plot" over "ship." I like ships, but usually as a means to showing character depth; they're not the thing I tend to focus on the most.

What these nine have in common is:

good plot and writing - not just the plot, but the storytelling

3D characters who are also likeable

hooked my attention - my mind didn't wander while watching, AND I wanted to watch more than one episode in a row

memorable

I'm going to include another indicator, too. If it "got" me good enough to make me make fanart: 🎨lol I mean, I'm SLOW. If I was willing to dedicate days/weeks to make a drawing out of it, that's SOMETHING. lmao

1 - Word of Honor🎨

Martial arts adventures (+ a steampunk sect), BL.

This was the first cdrama I watched, and I loved it and it still has a special place in my heart. I rewatched along later with @ginsoakedgirl80 and it was as enjoyable to watch the 2nd time as it was the 1st.

Awesome story and characters, beautiful scenery. And it gave me my first two favorite drama actors.😆*cough* My fav characters were, in order: Ye Baiyi and the Scorpion King. My fav actors, the same two, but reversed; I like comedians, OK? XD

Just a word of advice to anyone planning to try this: I don't know why the opening scenes character-dump on you; most of those people aren't even that important. Just learn Prince Jin and Zhou Zishu (a few others will show up later, but you can learn them then), and then start learning names only once Zhou Zishu becomes a homeless drunk man.

2 - The Taoism Grandmaster (technically, I have a drawing WIP, but it'll probably stay a WIP)

If the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter and a Final Fantasy video game had a child in ancient China, you'd get this, complete with items shop before boss battles (the store ox is so cute!).

No but look, this is like my gremlin child. I'm not a fast watcher, but this is the only one which I binged so many episodes in a row, that it made me lose track of time, and before I knew it, it was past 2am on a weeknight and I had work the next day. I may have made it to 4am one of those nights; I don't remember. After it happened twice, I had to set an alarm. Have also watched twice+

Yes, the CG is bad, the costumes were cheap sometimes, and the plants did not pretend to not be plastic, but I love the story. It's well written and has so many details and ways things tie together. And THE CHARACTERS! They're all lovable dorks AND I LOVE THEM!

3 - The Legendary Life of Queen Lau🎨

Romcom.

AAAAAAAAA!! I love comedy and this was GREAT in that sense! Really had me laughing out loud every episode! This is one to watch more for the funny and ingenious situations than for plot, but it was SO enjoyable, I'd even watch them do slice of life. So cute, so fun, love it love it love it!!🥰 Another one that I rewatch whenever I need something uplifting and cute. Also, one of my two favorite OSTs. So uplifting and danceable!

Alright, those are my top 3. The ones I'm sentimental for. The stuff I squee over. But I have 16 starred on my list as excellent / recommendable, so let's have six more.

4 - Song of Youth

Case-solving; mini-cases and the one overarching one.

I loved the format of one case per couple of episodes, so it was broken up into smaller chunks. Super interesting and creative - each case was solved in an unconventional way, which was fun and engaging. All the actresses did a fantastic job. The jewelry, props, lighting, etc. were absolutely beautiful.

5 - The Blood of Youth🎨

Martial arts adventures with a group of friends.

Story: 💯Characters: 💯 Fights: 💯 Visuals: 💯OST: 💯

Xiao Se as the tired babysitter I love him! Wuxin! OMG Wuxin as the sassy fake monk who monologues before every fight and people just let him. I love him! (Wuxin spinoff, please! and I love his theme song!) The whole cast is gorgeous and acted wonderfully, so no sacrificing talent for looks; these people had both in spades. The supporting cast, too. OMG Baily Dongjun and the thunder guy!😍 It had funny moments. Mr. Sikong! The fights were SO creative... how many ways can you design a martial arts fight?? Way more than I thought! No two were similar; it was amazing, the creativity.

As an artist, I really enjoyed the cinematography... the scenery, lighting!! composition, all absolutely gorgeous. Those shots of Xiao Se with soft backlighting? Chef's kiss. And, as a photographer, I know they're not as easy to achieve as it looks. Alright, this one got 2 paragraphs already; need to move on, but watch if you haven't. It's on YouTube.

6 - Till the End of the Moon

Doomed love fantasy; watch them struggle against themselves and their destiny.

THIS IS SO GOOD!! The story is great, excellent plot and pacing. Characters are 3D and always surprising. Gorgeous costumes (Tantai Jin's especially! And the clam clan makeup!), sets, and special effects. THE SOUNDTRACK IS EMBEDDED IN MY BRAIN IT'S SO GOOD (🎶favs: "Use my Body as a Shield" or whatever it's called, I keep seeing different translated titles for it; "Reborn" instrumental; and "Holding on to a Thought" instrumental).

7 - The Blue Whisper

Fantasy romance and adventure. Merman. Animal-spirit people. Angst, treason, and undying hope.

Gosh this drama is so beautiful. This, Till the End of the Moon, and Blood of Youth are up there as the top 3 visuals in dramas I've completed (there are others that have stunned me visually, but haven't been able to watch in full). Excellent story, too. It's a tearjerker, but it's SO GOOD!

8 - My Uncanny Destiny

Romcom. "Would you still love me if I was a worm?"

Lots of fun. Very enjoyable and bingeable.

9 - Guardian, the one with Bai Yu and Zhu Yi Long

Modern urban superpowers type of thing, which is a genre I like, and the story is so good! By Priest, the same author for the Word of Honor novel. Never a dull moment. Tearjerker warning, but so good. Excellent theme song, too, btw. (I don't have any screencaps that aren't a spoiler, so that's what this is XD)

I ran out of slots, but I'll list the other seven in my Excellent and Recommendable list. Order is just as I watched them:

The Untamed

Legend of Fei

A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College

Be Reborn (modern, heist/police)

The Romance of Tiger and Rose

A Familiar Stranger (mini-drama; watch the movie version)

Reset (modern, action, investigation)

PS: I've been here one month, and have done two tag games and they both had the number "9" in them; is this a tumblr thing?

[iwsynttr-project]

WAAAHHH I just saw people have been posting about the project on Pinterest???

THANK YOU???

I am so pink oh my goodness aaa

I'll give some updates then so people know we're not just slackin', haha;;

This past week we've been hella busy with church, school, trying out programs, still figuring out the whole learning to drive thing, stuff with disability, etc... but especially with Valentine's Day & Moose's birthday.

CJ came up to visit which was really special & we got to eat out & get boba all together which was super nice as he doesn't live too close by ever since we moved a few years back.

I recently got most of my m3dz figured out so I might be able to start hrt within the next year, & it sounds like the date has been set for CJ & I to get married this April 29th!

On top of all this we recently found out that a couple other plans have been thrown into the mix:

Our folks are planning to head out for a week a few states away to spend time with family & celebrate our twin cousins' birthday & then they'll be goin to Medieval Times for Moose's birthday possibly with another friend or cousin.

My mom & I are gonna try & see a show with CJ & his mom if they're able to come for my 21st birthday (Which is March 13th!) & CJ's birthday is at the start of April.

Right before our wedding is my dad's birthday & we're gonna see another live performance in another state, & then right afterwards a few days later is gonna be the wedding.

We're just gonna make it small & Soukoku themed, but maybe years later from now when we're livin' alone & financially stable we might do a bigger more official wedding. We'll renew our vows, maybe have custom made suits, special stuff like that.

Somethin' we're hopin' to do is for the small one we might make custom Lego Minifigures to be in front of/above the cake & then if we save up... the four-six hundred bucks... we wanna get the Soukoku "wedding" figurines that came out a bit ago.

It's a dream.

Anyways, as for the actual project!

I'm still working on the script when I have time, I just got stumped since we don't have Golden Demon written yet- but I managed to come up with some content to fill in for during or after the scene plays out for now & continued from there.

Moose has decided to try & make two versions of Life's Better With A Little Party In It: one that's a trashy pop song, & one that's his own take on the song based on artists like YOASOBI. (Into the Night, Monster, Idol, etc...)

We're also thinking about making a Cover Album on the side to go with the soundtrack just for fun with covers of songs from bands & artists like ONE OK ROCK & Set It Off.

I'm still thinking I might go for making The I Was Screaming Your Name Through the Radio Project into an episodic animatic series, but with everything going on I might wait to record the actual script & songs until we've got most of the script & songs written out more at the least if not also until after I get a better microphone & possibly start injections. (Maybe I'll still do the first few chapters since they're just teens anyways but meh whatever; we'll see.)

I did do a drawing while I was free last night though & have been talking with my dad who's voice is basically his life & career about vocal training of sorts or if I should find classes online or something along those lines for it.

(Back to the drawing) I made a concept design for Moose's online/music persona AquaticSnow & a possible first EP/Album cover. I'm not sure I'll post it (yet?) since he might use it for stuff like his avatar, channel/s, music, etc but if I do it'll be on my personal main Tumblr, Instagram, & probably Deviantart & Twitter/X.

I'm also nervous about somebody tryin' to steal the art &/or concept.

Another reminder that I do have a personal server where I stream drawing, gaming, sometimes reading & writing, watch parties (movies, shows, etc...) & I post planning & updates for the project there!

.:Charli's Discord Server:.

( Don't forget to pick roles & read the rules! Otherwise you can't see the other chats;; )

Sorry 'bout the long post, haha;; we hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Charli

[synobun]

One of them tag games

So I wasn't actually tagged by @cour5t in this, but I was tagged by @rosewinterborn in a very similar game, so I'm stealing the first and pretending it's the second, since the second had a few questions that didn't apply to me x)

Last song: I'm gonna do the last song I've had on repeat for this!

Favorite color: I never know what to say for this. Black? Dark red? Dark purple? Dark green? That whole colour palette is the bomb dot com.

Last movie/show: The last movie I watched that was new was Nimona! It was fantastic, 10/10 lives up to the hype. The last show I finished was Reacher. It was okay.

Next on my watchlist: I've finally started watching Criminal Minds, but I'm already kind of burning out on it midway through season two. And there's still like 300 episodes left. Ridic. I should probably catch up on Foundation and For All Mankind. Next movie is the cartoon version of Mulan!

Last game: Prey! I did a replay of Doom 3 a while ago and mused that the horror story-game genre should be revived, and then on a whim I decided to play Prey without knowing anything about it. And it's the exact kind of game I was talking about. It's pretty good.

Last book: Rebirth of the Sigil by Peri Akman. It was disappointing. :/ Especially since I know what the author is otherwise capable of. I had the same thing happen with John Gwynne recently as well.

Sweet/savory/spicy: Savory, I think? I don't have an instinctive sense of what savory is. Google says it's a meaty taste, and I rely heavily on protein, so I guess that. I have a pretty low tolerance for sweetness despite liking sodas and such. I don't like most desserts or can only eat a tiny amount. Spicy is alright but my digestive system disagrees.

Relationship status: *vague gesturing*

Last thing I searched online: The hours for my pharmacy to see if it was too late to pick up my medication.

Current obsession: I am generally not an obsessive person when it comes to, like, interests and activities. But I am an obsessive person when it comes to thoughts and emotions. Lately I've been struggling a lot with thinking about eternity. It has not been fun. On a lighter note, I have also been thinking more regularly about writing. Perhaps someday that will translate into action!

Greatest flaw: How much time do you have? This is actually something I have difficulty answering, because the line between something forced upon me and something that is actually inherent to me is blurred a lot of the time.

I think I'd say how I behave when I'm spiraling mentally. I close off and disappear from almost everyone in my life. Occasionally I can keep up appearances with one group but not the rest, but by and large I become a ghost. When I am in a conversation during those cycles, it's crazy how badly I'm affected. I don't become cruel or mean toward others, but my speech becomes jilted, I can't make eye contact, and I am just devastatingly hateful against myself.

It's partly why I isolate, so that I don't have to expose others to that behaviour. It happens on a yearly basis though, and it can last for weeks at a time, so it has a pretty negative impact on my relationships. I also have no idea how to navigate being in one of those moods while part of a relationship where daily contact is an expectation. When I was part of a romantic relationship, instead of having one big prolonged dip, I would fade in and out of it. A couple weeks good, a couple days bad. Rinse and repeat. Awful. Terrible. Annoying. There's almost no predicting when it'll happen either.

Fic I’m currently reading: I rarely read fics because I have no patience for wading through wish fulfillment, horny writing, and "He would not fucking say that" fics, so there's only one that I vaguely keep up with. My friend has a Mass Effect fic, which can be found here. It focuses on femShep(/Kaidan) and Tali(/Garrus) and is post-ME3.

-----

I tag anyone who sees this and actually made it to the end, tbh. But for sake of poking, I tag @rosewinterborn with this variant, and also @deadlyessencewhispers, @tananaphone, @stupid-elf, @carrotblr, @atinydroid, @imtryingx, and, uh, uh... I don't know... let's see... @kkshowtunes, @d3viantvanguard, and @awritingcaitlin. I probably just tagged everyone who follows me. Anyway thanks bye

[journeythroughlifesblog]

Help Chapter 33.

"How so?! are you going on vacation?!" MK exclaimed. Macaque grimaced.

"Not so loud, kid."

From the moment MK arrived to The mountain, Wukong and the warrior were packing, walking around the living room, looking for some things. MK sat down on the sofa.

"Yes. We decided to go on vacation. Wukong always wanted to visit the heavenly afterlife with me~" said the warrior.

"Yeah, otherwise I would die without you." Wukong said.

"Of corse." said the warrior with his smile.

Macaque started packing his bag.

Wukong sat down next to MK.

"Kid, don't worry. I'll leave you in my-"

Macaque glared at him. "-our mountain." Wukong rolled his eyes.

"I hope nothing serious will happen in our absence."

MK sighed. "But, what if... I don't know... DBK attacks, or another demon..."

At the mention of DBK they started laughing.

"What? What are you laughing at?"

"You could say he's as much of a villain as I am an actor." Wukong said.

"Oh. Sun, you are a great actor, if only you would try to show your talent on a real stage." Macaque said affectionately and teasingly.

"No, no way."

"And now I'm completely lost. What's this about?"

"The thing is... I don't like being on stage very much."

Macaque leaned against the kitchen counter and watched MK's reaction.

"You?! Great Sun Wukong?! Is afraid of public performance? I won't believe it."

Wukong sighed. "I'm not really into having a crowd of people watching me and you know... I get stage fright?"

"It's more like a panic attack." added Macaque. "I used to try to get him to go on stage with me, but you always had to back out at the last minute and made up excuses."

"Hey! That was a pretty good excuses."

Macaque raised an eyebrow.

"You work in the theater?" MK asked.

The warrior sighed.

"Sometimes it happens to me to put on a show for mortals... and for my beloved Sun~" he added with a provocative smile. Wukong smiled too.

"Shadow play. Mac. is great at it."

"Oh. Don't exaggerate."

Wukong stood up and walked over to the warrior, hugging him.

"You love my praise, Moon~"

Macaque blushed slightly.

"Okay? So how long will you be gone?" MK interjected.

"Ah.. Maybe a week?" Wukong said. "if it goes well..." he muttered the last part. The warrior took his hand, encouraging him.

"But it's not like last time?"

"What?"

"You know, when you disappeared for almost a month due to... your health problems."

"Oh. No... no, kid. This is for chillout now. Me and Mac like the good old days."

"Yeah... we'll go sightseeing in the heavenly kingdom, visit some old friends, and annoy them a bit." Macaque said. Wukong chuckled.

"Seriously?"

"What do you think? Kid? We are two chaotic monkeys. What can you expect from us?"

"I don't know, you two won't get into trouble?"

"Hah. Don't worry about that kid, it'll be fine. Mac, did you pack everything?"

"Yes."

Wukong shouldered the bag.

"So you guys already?"

"Well? What should we wait for?"

Macaque opened a shadow portal.

"You'll be fine. It's only for a week, probably... Anyway, keep an eye on the city, the mountain. And don't play with fire here, okay? You know, this mountain is flammable." Wukong laughed.

"Okay. Good. Have fun."

"Hey, keep your head up, you were trained by me-" he muttered. Wukong rolled his eyes and took his hand.

"-and Wukong, you can do it"

MK felt a greater surge of faith? It's rare for Macaque to give him words of encouragement.

They disappeared into the shadows.

MK felt a twinge of sadness? He wanted to check the time, but it turned out he didn't take his phone. He groaned. He hurried back to the city. He entered the restaurant.

"Hey, you don't know what just happened. The Monkey King and Macaque went on vacation. Well, I couldn't believe it either. Can you hear me?"

Unfortunately, Pigsy, Tang and Mei were asleep. It definitely wasn't normal. (and this is where the action takes place, just like in the TV series with the sleep bug episode.)

.

.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

The king and the warrior stood in front of a huge dark style temple (yes LBD style).

"Let's find out."

[lady-gravity-129]

Various TDP Season 6 thoughts under the cut/things I believe will come back in Season 7

Be careful it's kinda a long one

First things first. RAYLLUM! WHEN I TELL YOU THAT I WAS DEFINITELY SHEDDING A FEW TEARS DURING EPISODES 3 AND 6. Like, I'm not too interested in ships and romance but Rayllum has me in a death grip I swear.

I just want to point out that a couple writers have stated that they know whether Rayla is able to kill Callum if the time comes. I would also like to note that there was not a moment where she had to consider that this season. She just said she would when he asked her in episode 3. Now that they're back together...something tells me she won't be able to do it. Either that or we're in for a very gut wrenching scene in season 7.

Speaking of that, I think Kosmo said to Callum that if he performs dark magic again, it'll definitely consume/corrupt him. Don't remember the exact sentence but I've seen people talking about it so I know I didn't make it up. Anyways, I genuinely feel like they wouldn't bring that up unless it's going to have some sort of payoff in season 7 (which I'm 90% sure is titled after dark magic? correct me if I'm wrong) coupled with the previous paragraph here. Oh god if we thought season 6 was gonna put these two through the wringer we haven't seen *anything* yet

Alright enough about Rayllum (even though I love it)

Kinda disappointed that the Janaya wedding happened at a point in the story where everyone in the cast conveniently wasn't all together to celebrate the occasion. But still, an LGBT wedding in a show rated TV-Y7 is absolutely HUGE in my opinion. Not really sure what other words I can say, it was great.

Next is how they handled Viren. Honestly, I'm kinda ok with it. I said on Twitter that a redemption arc could work with him if written correctly. How he was written was...well enough. While he didn't directly apologize to really anyone (aside from Claudia I think and then Soren on paper that he burned. I've watched this season twice now but I'm running on an hour of sleep so forgive me for not remembering everything lol), he still acknowledged that he doesn't even deserve to be forgiven and understands that everything he's done was nothing short of awful.

Holy fudge this season really convinced me how great of a character Claudia is. She's such a tragic character who's experienced loss and trauma and just needs the chance to acknowledge everything she's been through and properly heal from it. However, one thing I've noticed is that whenever Viren dies, Aaravos is right there guiding her away from the path of healing from her trauma. First is after Season 3 when he tells her there's a way to bring Viren back. Then, presumably I think, in between season 5 and 6 when he somehow tells her how to complete the resurrection spell. THEN there's the end of season 6 where she's realizing that her father is gone for good and what does he do?? He basically goes "lol yeah here's my backstory so you'll want to free me even more oh whats this i can even give you the spell needed to free me". Y'all someone please get her away from Aaravos so she can process everything.

OH YEAH! Fun fact, I'm pretty sure Rayla and Callum left the Starscraper thinking/assuming that the Pearl was safe with the Celestial Elves. They're gonna see giant Aaravos in Season 7 and just have fifty panic attacks at once.

Gonna edit this with more stuff later.

[adracat]

G-Witch Episode 13 - Second Cour Start

It's been awhile! I'm positively jittery to break down this episode. Let's start with that banger OP change shall we?

I love the imagery in this shot in particular. It's interesting that we see Suletta start in shadow, slowly moving to the light throughout. The symbolism is obviously framing Miorine as the light she seeks (edeleth flashbacks anyone?) Oh and the boys have a brief cameo. Yeesh Guel looks like a defeated wreck. 5lan has weird prominence so I wonder if he'll be something after all. Maybe a heel turn? Antagonist at least judging from the glimpse of Pharact. Shaddiq certainly will be.

Aerial Rebuild my beloved. I love her so much and she looks so stylish in action. But woof, I feel bad for Earth House. They're deeply affected by the terrorist attack, and cringe at the violence involved with duels. Great detail!

Meanwhile, Suletta's persistent cheeriness is a stark contrast. They're puzzled she can remain so blithe about it. Shame they don't know our poor little tomato head has been brainwashed by mother dearest. More on that later.

Miorine on the other hand is going through the wringer. We only see her briefly but it says so much about her mindset. She's dressed in a black business suit, as if already mourning her father and preparing to take his place at Benerit. It's not surprising she's neglecting herself while she watches her father, but you hate to see it.

Prospera: You did the right thing brutally liquidizing that guy, Suletta. Very smart. Another way? Don't be silly. Murder is always ethical.

Lol. Lmao. Ugly crying. You're going to need so much therapy.

I saw this in the promos but it's still crazy they just stroll into the episode like this. This episode humanizes them, which is nice. You glean nuggets of character from Sophie especially. She's an endearing terrorist if nothing else. The detail of naming her stuffed animals her family, the sister moniker for Suletta-- it paints a lonely portrait of a girl desperate for familial connection.

Norea is interesting too, stoic but blatantly disdainful of the luxuries Spacians take for granted. Clean air/water, plentiful vegetation, and even general happiness. All things Earthians lack.

And here comes the Benerit brigade to make their lives worse. I sense super fun times ahead ;-; I do wonder what the endgame for Dawn of Fold is though. They must know attacking Delling would result in violent retaliation. Hm, something to think about.

Good for Nika standing up for herself and Earth House! Sophie and Norea's simple school life might be over soon as it began. Rather audacious they thought murdering a girl on campus wouldn't be noticed lol. Suletta was so dashing protecting her friend 🥺 She may be highly impressionable but she's a good egg. Next episode, it'll be a duel for Nika's life! I can't wait~

And omg Miorine figured it out. This makes the quick fic I wrote canon compliant! Very pleased we solved that misunderstanding quickly.

This is worrisome though. What really is Quiet Zero and why is Delling convinced it'll bring peace? And what will come of Prospera using Mio to further it? Nothing good, I wager.

But enough of all that dire stuff. Let's discuss the phenomenal ED

The first thing that came to mind when seeing this is Utena. What we see here is Suletta and Aerial serving as the Duelist and Witch respectively. It's incredibly smart to have Aerial in the role of unwilling servant/collaborator both for Utena parallels but also for The Tempest. She can't break free from her servitude, trapped as Arial is as a servant of Prospero and Anthy to Akio. Utena/Suletta is the one who struggles against delusion and misguided beliefs. GOD IT'S SO GOOD Y'ALL

The ED is so romantic too, I'm going to faint. They way they look at each other, even Mio who visibly seems uncertain. And the way their joined hands tremble in the last shot? You can feel Suletta's desperation. That collection of Suletta's is so ominous and witchy too. Reminds me of PMMM. (Also confirms Eri clones in Aerial?? Maybe) This season is off to a rocking start <3

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (14/07/24)

pretty chill week this time around this should be all the shows I'm watching for this season too, which is a lot less than last and all but 1 is on the weekend which is nice as well

green - new series/new to me blue - finale/completed

Anime

Mayonaka Punch Ep1

I decided to watch this months ago when it was announced cause it's PA and I like how the designs looked a lot. At first from the info they had revealed I thought it was gonna be about vtuber but nope it's just normal youtubers. The first ep was really good tho. Did a good job setting up our 2 mains here and their motivations and some others of the cast. It also looked very good as you'd expect from PA. It's kinda funny that the plot kicks off with the main character punching one of her previous partners when we just had that last season in Jellyfish. Also both the OP and ED were good, I liked them quite a bit

But anyway, pretty fun ep 1, the 2 mains got good voices (Fairouz Ai and Hasegawa Ikumi) and the rest of the cast looks like fun too. Not expecting to be blown out the water by it but it'll be a nice ride if they keep up the energy from this ep (which I expect from PA)

Bye Bye, Earth Ep1

Decided to watch this on a whim cause the PV I saw some months ago piqued my interested. Went in not expecting much, and good thing I did cause it's Liden so you know you're in for nothing special. I don't got much to say, its was a pretty generic adventure story start and there was nothing impressive about the episode, tho the OST by Kevin Penkin was p decent. Also, apparently this is based on some OLD LN that ran from sep 2007 to feb 2008 and only had 4 vols, with 12 chaps, which seems like an odd choice to adapat in 2024. Curious to see if they're gonna do it all or not and if they'll do the katangatari approach of 1 chap per ep. Tho, I don't know if I'll stick with it yet, we'll see how the next few eps go, but this is the only show I got on friday so prob gonna stick with it cause why not

Manga

Kaiju 8: B-Side Ch12 (Finale)

That was a nice little spinoff. We knew from the start it wouldn't be that long, since it's based on the novel but it was still nice seeing some more about these characters. It helps that they're my favourites too but yknow lol. The stories were nothing too special to be fair, other than Narumi's showing his backstory as an orphan the others didn't add anything to the characters we didn't know already, just went more in depth into details that were in the main manga.

The artist for it wasn't the one from the main manga. The one for this had a series on jump some months (years?..) ago called Super Smartphone which ended up axed. It was understandable but the art was pretty good so I was hoping they'd come back eventually, and come back they did, with slightly more polished art. Outside of the normal stuff, the action scenes were really good too which we never got to see much of in SS. I'll be looking forward to the artist's next work be it solo or teaming up with an author.

[thecrusadercomrade]

For a Disney owned show that is a bit more older (guess that means Big City Greens is off the table for now then), here's my ideas: Recess, Kim Possible, Darkwing Duck, Rescue Rangers, The Proud Family, Milo Murphy's Law (more or less same universe as Phineas & Ferb), Penn Zero, Randy Cunningham, Goof Troop, Gargoyles, and Wander Over Yonder.

There's a lot of good options that I'd like to go through at some point, but for my next follow-along series for the moment I think I'll go with Kim Possible, since that's been on my mind for a while.

I remember watching the show as a kid, but I don't remember much of what actually happened in the show, so I think it'll be a really fun experience to go through it again!

Since it's been working so far, be watching two episodes of Kim Possible every Thursday, same as I did with Ducktales. And since I know Disneyplus can be weird about episode orders with older shows, I'll be watching the show in the chronological order listed here:

Episode order | Kim Possible Wiki | Fandom

That means the first two episodes for this Thursday will be Tick-Tick-Tick and Bueno Nacho. Looking forward to starting it!

[hotarutranslations]

Words That Have The Same Sense Of Familiarity, Choreo Familiarity

Evening

July 28th (Sun) 📍Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka

At "Hawks SUMMER BOOST 2024"

It has been decided that Morning Musume '24 will be performing after the match! Thank you very much!

Nah…Um…

Just the day,

Maria's dream came true, We sang and dance a EsCon Field HOKKAIDO, It was a really wonderful experience🥲🫶🏻

Somehow, next,

we'll be visiting Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka…

!! Amazing…Having such a luxurious connection It makes me really happy

"Hawks SUMMER BOOST"

Lets make the festival exciting🍻🏮🍧🎆 Lets have fun together~~~

Since I didn't write it yesterday, Please let me write 1 thing!!!

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles First win in the exhibit games🏆

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

Rakuten Eagles were, Holding the myfavE DAY event, I was interested in this celebration😭👏🏻

Its amazing to win on such a day😭👏🏻

I watched the matches throughout the day and night, Although it was the highlights⚾️ I had to support…⚾️

Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagiii⚾️

Has everyone had some fun lately!

For me, today, Mei and I danced to Da-iCE-san's I wonder, It was fun😆😆

😆😆My face was like this the whole time dancing lol

tiktok

Dancing it several times, Here its like this~🕺 Should we do this~🕺 since it was like that,

It felt like that choreo was familiar to me, It was interesting--!

The beginning and end were completely different🐼🐼

Please definitely give it a watch~🕺

(I'm posting this with the meaning that it is Mei and I lololol)

Everyone, Since you watched the dance, You had fun today, right? Right?

.😆💚💙

- ̗̀📣"Hello! Project 2024 Summer ALL OF US!" Notice of FC 2nd Reception

The Hello! Project concerts, are my next opportunity to stand in front of the fans~~ I've ended up getting nervous no matter what recently~~ I'm also nervous about Hellcon no~~oo~😕😕

But I'm looking forward to it, and the rehearsals

Although its Vega and Altair, The regions other than Osaka and Aichi only have 1 variation, Its a shame we can't do Vega..🤔💭

Well! It'll be fun anyway!

Miyagi, Hiroshima, Osaka, Fukuoka, Aichi, We're still having an advance FC reception🎫

Thank you very much for your support

- ̗̀📣Morning Musume '24 74th Single "Nandaka Sentimental na Toki no Uta/saiKITOU" Commemorative Release Announcement

We've also decided on this!

We didn't have this in the first half, right.. Its been a while since there has been an opportunity to speak directly

Since its a precious opportunity, I'd be happy if, I could talk to all kinds of different people~~😌🪽

Its a lot of news all at once- ̗̀📣

Um..Do your best.. Please check it out! lol

📺Hello Pro Dance Gakuen Season 11

June 6th (Thurs) 11:30PM~ Learning Locking from HIYORI-san🕺

Currently on air!

Sendai Broadcast "Ara Ara Kashiko" June 15th (Sat) Ishida Ayumi Goes~!

I appear once a month as part of the AraKashi Family

The previous shows, and makings, are on OX VIDEO STORE!

Thank you for following.. Instagram💙🩵

💿

May 15th Release Morning Musume '23 Concert Tour Fall "Neverending Shine Show ~Seiki~" Fukumura Mizuki Graduation Special YokoAri's 2nd Day With Fukumura-san's Graduation Performance

May 15th Release Morning Musume '23 Concert Tour Fall "Neverending Shine Show" SPECIAL YokoAri's 1st Day With OG Performances

🪩The MusiQuest 2024 July 21st (Sun) PiaArena MM

We're challenging a new festival stage❤️‍🔥 Absolutely, Definitely, Thank you for your support❤️‍🔥

🪩Hello! Project 2024 Summer ALL OF US "Vega" "Altair" From July 13th~September 1st Traveling To 7 Cities Nationwide All Hello! Project groups are performing🔥 I don't know anything about how it'll be yet so, I'll tell you when I know more!

📻Morning Musume '24 Morning Jogakuin ~Houkago Meeting~

Airs Every Saturday, On Radio Nihon at 12:00AM~

Past Broadcast Episodes Are Available →Program Details

I visited as a guest🪽 "Sayashi Riho and The Time From Now On" presented by Meiji Bulgarian Yogurt

see you ayumin <3

[besidesitstoowarm]

"Flesh and Stone" thoughts

i'll be honest i didn't remember most of this episode. most of the good stuff is just teasers for the finale. i do think this story had a really different approach to the angels than we saw in "blink". "blink" was fundamentally about fear of/acceptance of aging. sally loses her best friend only to suddenly meet her grandson; in the space of an afternoon her boyfriend is now a dying old man. the angels themselves are scary, but they don't kill you, they don't even harm you. they just... uproot you. you're in a new world and there's nothing you can do except survive, make peace with the new reality

whereas here, they're sick, they're dying, they're crumbling. they move slowly, and when they find you, they snap your neck and steal your voice. the stone looks eerily like a rotting skull and they reach for you every time the flashlights flicker. they enter your mind and start turning off your body. they surround you without you even noticing. they make you afraid, for fun. it's a much more visceral type of fear, a much more direct and brutal kind. i like that it's framed not as a retcon-y "these are a different type of angel" or "they changed their behavior" either of which would kind of dilute the impact factor, but rather "they had to adapt bc they're about to die"

anyway they get back to the wreck of the byzantium and we get the iconic "i absolutely trust him" "is he some kind of madman?" "...i absolutely trust him" river is so much fun. in the engine room, amy starts counting down from ten and the crack on the wall is back. the angels are very interested in it and so the gang is able to get away through the oxygen factory-forest. amy has to keep her eyes closed bc the angel is in her mind and otherwise it'll get out. poor amy

we hear river is on parole from stormcage for killing a great man. jorah gets headlocked, sad! well there's other guys. the doctor gets so agitated with river for not being straight with him, for getting him in this mess, bc he can't figure out what to do now. amy's guards walk into the light and go to heaven. the angels surround her. the entire scene where she has to try and walk, w her eyes closed, to the other deck of the ship, while also not touching any angels or letting them know she can't see, was so tense. if i were her i'd just have died. i don't like that we see the angels move; i do much prefer the version in "blink" where it seems like we the audience "count" towards having eyes on them, it felt immersive. and improved the scare factor

river teleports her out, the doctor inverts gravity so that the angels all fall into the crack and get erased, the end. it saved amy. river mentions she will next see the doctor at the pandorica, which he calls a fairy tale. i love how much fairy tales are the theme of the season. they flirt and banter, she goes back to prison. amy takes the doctor home and lets him know she's getting married tomorrow and gets. extremely aggressive w him! girl idk where you got the idea he'd be okay w this. and he's not having fun and it's icky to watch and i feel so bad for rory

so yeah i think this story has a really creepy/scary first half and a kind-of-nothing plot teaser second half. which i'm fine with, it didn't bore me at least. and next time i get to rewatch an episode i literally remember nothing about