#but I still miss the classic intro a lot

[fantasticalleigh]

do you ever listen to the 1975 intros only and just cry 

[fine-nephrit]

🥏 Where to find good XF fanfics

👽 On Tumblr

@lilydalexf has an encyclopedic knowledge of fics and continues to be an invaluable resource. You'll find a boatload of themed fic lists, individual rec posts and helpful answers to anon asks.

@txf-fic-chicks-blog seven years of almost daily recs, with well-written blurbs and a lot of fun, run by @kateyes224 and @piecesofscully. Look out for their themed days: "Casefile Monday", "Tumblr Tuesday", "Editor's Pick Wednesday", "Post-Ep/Missing Scene Thursday", "Novel Length Friday", "Smut Sunday", and the very cool "Because You Watched"

@msrlibrary a well-tagged library of MSR fics; each entry includes a short excerpt and a nicely chosen image from the show.

@201daysofxfiles a rewatch blog by fandom veteran @wendelah. Each episode in season 1-7 is paired with its own fic rec post.

@enigmaticxbee an aesthetically pleasing and neatly organized rewatch blog that is packed with great content, including excellent fic rec lists categorized by season, story type, trope, and more. Each episode guide sometimes features related fic recs.

@thatfragilecapricorn30 posts one fic rec every Friday, accompanied by a nice writeup.

@randomfoggytiger curates many fic rec lists sorted by often fun and creative categories.

@cecilysass has a google doc titled "fics I love", which is a fantastic fic list categorized by story type, complete with thoughtful blurbs. She's also shared two episode-related fic rec lists on Tumblr: here and here.

@pookie-mulder writes a monthly fic journal with good recs.

**self-promo plug** I post fic recs on my Tumblr blog @fine-nephrit under #nephrit's fic rec. Plus, I reblog others' fic recs that I come across!

👽 Rec Communities

XF Book Club: the best thing ever, an absolute gem that deserves to be preserved for posterity. During its run, 270 fics were recced and discussed in depth here. The community's intelligent and insightful comments on this blog are sometimes even more enjoyable to read than the fics themselves.

The Fic Filter (xf tag): well-curated selections with short blurbs.

Multifandom Het Recs (xf tag): a major rec site's xf section that offers nice "why this must be read" writeups. @het-reccers

Crack Van (xf tag): another major rec site with a big xf section, featuring endless recs and blurbs

Fancake (xf tag): another major rec community's xf section boasting an extensive thematic tagging system

👽 Personal Blogs

Emily Shore aka Naraht: meta essays, fanvid recs, fic recs—great stuff aplenty

Bad for the Fish aka Scarlet Baldy: fantastic fic list paired with highly enjoyable reviews and analyses of the fics she's read. @badforthefish

Ramblings of a Mind Untamed: reviews of a dozen or so classic fics

xxSKSxx XF Fanfic Recs: still active in 2024! @xxsksxxx

X-Libris: more of a fic library, this is the best place to download nicely-formatted ebooks of pre-AO3 oldies. What I love most is the incredibly detailed and extensive tagging system.

👽 Individual Rec Lists with good writeup

Character Manifesto - Dana Scully: a character analysis and 10 Scully-centric fic recs, categorized by "best of .." selections. Amazing format and choices!

Character Manifesto - Fox Mulder: same format as above for Spooky

bachlava's awesome fic rec essays, covering classic fics and slash fics

ShipRecced blog's classic MSR fics and newer MSR fics recs

luminary's 16-fic rec post

RivkaT recs fics and writers @rivkat

Anna Otto's favorite stories

Syntax6's rec list on her site, great rec list on Tumblr and FTF rec list @syntax6

👽 90s Old School Rec Sites

The Basement Office - Musea: a treasure trove of extensive fic lists with lovely written blurbs, recced by a group of talented writers from back in the day

The Other Side - Fanfic Recs from Beyond the Grave: a large collection of 'scary' or 'spooky' story recs with nice blurbs. Beautiful web design.

the Rookery - Favorite Authors: nice commentary on a list of classic fic writers

X-Files Fanfiction 101: an intro guide to fic categories and what to read for each

The Primal Screamers: a fun site run by a mailing list that hosts fic recs with blurbs, and a 'Coffee Talk' section full of delightful discussions of canon

Idealists Haven - Elemental Fanfic Archive: an archive with rec blurbs

Chronicle X: a large, well-organized archive with blurbs, plus a 'Can We Talk' discussion section of novel-length fics, plus a total of 46 author interviews. Simply incredible!

👽 Special Mention

The X-Files Lost and Found: a fic finder message board that is miraculously still very active today—How wonderful! Its FAQ page hosts a huge collection of well-categorized themed fic lists (not recs), including "Classics (or, Your Fanfic Education is Not Complete Until You've Read ...)".

Where do you find your next read? What did I miss? Reblog and share your favorites!

[ozzgin]

wtf HOW WAS ROMULUS OZZIE Hello??????? I CANT WAIT TO WATCH ITRTR i miss david 8 tho 😓😓 “you finger and i blow” ok gorgeous whatever you say

Ok ok, I let it sit overnight so I could formulate a less feral opinion. I'll do my best to be objective, though you should keep in mind that I'm very biased when it comes to the Alien franchise.

Alien: Romulus First Impressions

Plot. The movie takes place between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). If you've seen the old Alien movies, you will notice it follows the same formula: somewhat slow beginning, a grand reveal, a lot of high-stake escape attempts, shady android behavior, and the classic, speedy succession of plot twists where you think you're safe, only to be surprised the very next moment.

While this movie is meant to behave more like the pre-2000 releases, it does bring some novel elements, which, in my opinion, helped build its own authenticity. Additionally - and without spoiling you - it will involve its own Xenomorph variation. Fantastic idea, and I cannot believe it hasn't been done earlier.

The cast is a group of orphaned youngsters who want to escape their space mining colony. You're introduced to a dystopian, grimy world of overworked humans who've never seen the light of the sun. The main character, Rain, is accompanied by her "brother", Andy, an android programmed to take care of her after the death of her parents. Here's another aspect I enjoyed: an anxious, imperfect android who seems to display an emotional bond with his human.

Rain's friends discover a shipwreck which may contain enough sleeping pods to take them away from these unbearable conditions. Their plan is to sneak in, take the pods, and speed away to a more humane station while in cryosleep. The twist? It's not just any regular ship. They have stepped into the Romulus and Remus research station, operated by Weyland-Yutani, and haunted by yet another failed attempt to contain the Xenomorph horrors.

Characters. Let me tell you, this was a breath of fresh air. Prometheus and Covenant have left me rather skeptical when it comes to a competent cast, yet from the ashes of pathetic military personnel rose a bunch of kids who are built for survival. Rain reminded me so much of Ripley - extremely intelligent, efficient, and strong. Her friends are equally brave in the face of disaster. This was a 10/10 cast, and I'm so glad they finally found the balance between being terrified and still navigating the situation without catastrophic mistakes.

Visuals. The imagery was an absolute treat. They seamlessly combined modern special effects with throwback, retro detailing. The futuristic equipment and locations reminded me a lot of Alien: Isolation. Upon further research, it seems that the director was indeed inspired by the game! It made everything so nostalgic and immersive. The Xenomorph design was flawless as usual, involving a lot of body horror.

Audio. I am desperately waiting for the album to be released on Spotify, because the soundtracks were amazing. The music was composed by Benjamin Wallfisch, who seems to have rather big movie titles under his belt, such as It, and It: Chapter Two. Safe to say this man knows how to instil terror in you. They made sure to incorporate some of the classic pieces, then expanded on that. The alert beats reminded me of Covenant, while other tracks provided their own take on the story. The intro of the movie is aided by dissonant chanting in the background, hinting at the ancient, religious imagery used for the Xenomorphs.

Conclusion. Overall, I'd say this is a must-watch for any Alien fan. It is a tribute to the classic movies, but it still offers a brand-new take to the Alien Universe. The movie had some moments of complete silence - staying true to the "In space, no one can hear you scream" quote - and everyone in the cinema held their breaths. It will keep you on your toes.

[kairithemang0]

Disney is such an interesting company, the way it's evolved over time to what it is now. Apart of me is disappointed, another part of me feels as though the current drought of good Disney content was inevitable.

I think about right after Walt died, how the company struggled then. However, even then I think their movies were still good, Robin Hood, the Aristocats, Great Mouse Detective, they're still good movies.

That's the era my parents grew up in, sure looking back on it now you can see the flaws in some of the movies, how the animation wasn't as polished as it was before Walt's passing, but then I compare it to the movies now.

The 2020s haven't been a good decade for Disney, Raya, Strange World, Wish, they all flopped. Encanto only made waves on Disney+, which is a good thing but that's one movie out of 5 that have come out of Disney in the past 4 years

Then you have to look at the remakes, how much money they're getting from those. However, their recent ones are flopping. The public knows what they're doing now, just remaking their old movies isn't going to keep bringing in money. The Lion King, Aladdin, they made over 1 billion dollars, The Little Mermaid? Under 600 million. That's still a lot of money, but Disney is also putting in so much money into these movies just for them to fail. People are sick of the remakes, they're sick of the sequels, but their original products aren't causing any excitement.

I don't know if Disney is still dealing with lost time and profits from Covid, but it's sad to see other studios doing so well only for Disney, who reigned supreme last decade with Moana and Frozen and Wreck it Ralph, to fall behind again

Disney seems to do this a lot, actually. The 80s were bad, the 2000s weren't great, the 2020s are bad again. Maybe the 30s will bring us something good, if Disney gets their act together and figures out what people want again.

People ask for 2d, for that old disney feel to come back. An obviously evil villain. Villains don't need a tragic backstory, they don't need anything, but this twisted foulness, a catchy song, and to be memorably evil.

Scar, Ursula, Lady Tremaine. You look at them and you go "oh yeah, they're evil". Which not to say Disney can't do twist villains, but it fails more often than it succeeds. Turbo was a great twist villain, his motivation was there and he was fun. But Hans? And Yokai? It felt random, out of place, like they were lacking the motivation to be good villains.

Scar wants power, so does Ursula, and Tremaine more of enjoys torturing her adopted daughter. These three are so iconic because they're so unashamedly evil and cruel, they're these powerful figures that spark fear into people who get what they deserve in the end.

But Magnifico? He's so painfully boring, he's so underdeveloped. It's sad, disheartening the way he could've been so interesting and yet fell flat in such a pitiful way.

I sometimes think about once upon a studio, this gorgeous mix of all pieces of disney animated history, every movie in there. No pixar or marvel or star wars, just everyone who started this, who made disney disney. It's such a lovely short, and it just radiates this pure disney energy, vibrant and colorful and magical. That's what disney is missing now, maybe that's me growing up, maybe it's just not for me anymore.

but honestly, i don't think this generation is going to have that nostalgia for disney the way me or my parents did, it's lost that because it feels so manufactured, this charm that only disney could do gone.

a weird way to say this is the new intro that plays at the start of their movies, it just feels so manufactured, like all it wanted to do was slide references into it to remind you of better movies. that 2000s/2010s CGI intro? that's my shit. the basic 2d intro? it's a classic, it's memorable, but this new one just doesn't have that affect

this is one man's opinion on something he once loved, but i'd love to hear other thoughts on what disney has become

[swiftllama]

February Compliments ☀️🔍

[Compliments Masterlist]

And we’re back! Not a lot of compliments for February but still a few so hope this will still be a fun read for you guys 😊

So let’s get into it!

February 2024

Is This Video Offensive?

So in this Flashback they reacted to the classic Molester Moon sketch 🌚 We only got one little compliment in this video but I thought I would still include it :-

-

They’re introducing the video dressed as moons and give each other a fist bump and saying how they’re ‘ordinary guys’.

Ian: “Anyway, um,” *turns to Anthony* “You look good.”

-

Another little moment I wanted to include which I just found silly :-

[talking about the pandora’s boxes that were opened with the creation of certain emojis]

Anthony: “The peach emoji…”

Ian: “Yeah, yeah, for real.”

Anthony: “The eggplant emoji.”

Ian: “Or do you think the creator was like, ‘let’s make it look a little bit like an ass’.”

Anthony: [laughs] “It’s a little bit like a huge, purple dong.”

Ian: “Dong.”

Anthony: “Yeah, I don’t know, honestly, it makes me wonder if they did know because it’s too perfectly ass-shaped. Right? I feel like it’s more ass-shaped than a peach. Peaches are not that perfectly ass-shaped.”

Ian: “I don’t know, bro.”

Anthony: “You seen some pretty good looking peaches?”

Ian: “I’ve seen some pretty tantalising peaches in my day.”

Anthony: [swallows] “Oh yeah? Do you want me to call you by my name?”

Ian: [in a low voice] “I could eat a peach for hours.”

👀 who doesn’t love Ian and Anthony flirting with each other 🤭🍑

What’s Wrong With This Soup? (Culinary Crimes)

So the boys went on Courtney’s new show and it did not disappoint with giving us some complimentary bestie moments :-

-

Courtney: “So the theme of this episode is foods that are vegan, gluten free, with some other twists as well.”

Ian: “So a lot of nuts, I presume.”

Anthony: “Besties with testes.”

Ian: “We are besties with testes, so.”

Silly but still quite cute, can never resist them calling each other besties even when it involves testes 😅

-

[First recipe they are given is soup]

Ian: “I have recently became a soup boy.”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Courtney: “You have become a soup boy. That’s why I put you on this case.”

Ian: “Oh, is that right? Yes.”

Anthony: “I have been a good soup boy’s assistant.”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: “Ian invited me over. I was a little assistant, we made some soup.”

Ian: “We made soup together.”

Anthony: “It was really good.”

WHAT?! THEY MADE SOUP TOGETHER! IAN INVITED HIM OVER AND THEY MADE SOUP TOGETHER!!! ANTHONY WAS HIS SOUP ASSISTANT!!! 😭…. Sorry, screaming over. But that is the cutest thing ever! So after the whole moment in January where Ian dashed many of our fantasies of them making soup together, it ended up actually happening and I am one happy girl knowing it did 😊

Making Of “Would You Push This Button?”

So the BTS of the Would You Push This Button? sketch provided us with a couple moments :-

-

Not a compliment or anything but you know, gotta include the high-fives.

-

Now this other moment is complimentary but the dialogue isn’t that important so I’m just going to give a run down of what is happening :-

[Anthony filming Ian sitting recording voice audio that no longer is getting used for the main video. Ian rambles on about how only members get to hear it and how we’re getting it for free, but not really free cause we paid for membership, and how this audio was originally meant to be used as a Shut Up! intro but it wasn’t that funny, all while Ian is saying this you can hear Anthony laughing behind the camera]

Just another example of the fact that Ian is the funniest person to Anthony ☺️

Would You Push This Button? & MrBeast Copycat Watch Party

Of course to go along with the Would You Push This Button? sketch we also got the watch party livestream, along with them reacting to the previous sketch MrBeast Copycats Have Gone Too Far that they had missed.

-

[Earlier in the video Ian guesses that Apollo 17 was the last time humans set foot on the moon]

Ian: [reads chat comment] “Oh, I was right with Apollo 17.”

Anthony: “Damn! How did you know Apollo 17?”

Ian: “Just a good guess, I guess.”

Wee compliment from Anthony 😊

-

Chat comment: ‘What’s the latest soup Ian’s learned to make?’

Ian: “The last one that I learned to make was the African Peanut Stew.”

Anthony: “Oh yeah, that one sounds so good.”

Ian: “So good.”

Anthony: “I was like is that shit vegan?”

Ian: “It was so good- yeah, yeah, it’s vegan.”

Anthony: “Yeah, we got to make that one. We got to make that one next.”

Aw, soup boy’s assistant is wanting to get back in the kitchen with him 🥹

-

[Boys do a quiz to find out which Bratz doll they are]

Q: ‘What is a personal flaw that your friends accept you for?’

Anthony: “Probably shy and awkward. That’s true.”

Erin: “Do you agree, Ian?”

Anthony: [looks at Ian] “Do you accept me for that?”

Ian: “I accept you for that.”

Anthony: “Okay, thank you.”

Just a cute little one 😝

-

[Ian taking the quiz]

Q: ‘Pick a fashion icon’

Ian: “I think I’m a Bianca Jagger.”

Anthony: “Sure. That feels right.”

Another little compliment from Anthony cause why not ✨

-

Q: ‘What’s your favourite relic from the 2000s?’

Ian: “I’m going to do [sings] being young, carefree and stupid.”

Anthony: “That was mine too.”

#twinning #justbestiethings

-

Q: ‘Which y2k fragrance did you have/would you have on your vanity tray?’

Ian: “I am definitely Princess by Vera Wang.”

Anthony: “Yep. That sounds right.”

Just Anthony agreeing that Ian is a princess 👑

-

Ian: [on the personal flaw question] “I feel like I’m all of these things.”

Anthony: “You’re a drama queen…”

Ian: “I think my honesty can be harsh. I think- actually I can’t be wild.”

Anthony: “You’ve been wild.”

Ian: “I am a drama queen.”

Anthony: “When are you a drama queen?”

Ian: “I feel like I can be a catty little bitch sometimes.”

Anthony: “But that’s not a drama queen.”

Ian: “Like I love drama. Like whenever I hear that there’s a problem I’m like [rubs hands together] ‘alright, let’s go’.”

Anthony: “Yeah, but I feel like drama queens are also like in the drama.”

Erin: “He’s a little dramatic.”

Anthony: “Is he in the drama though?”

Erin: “I would say so.”

Ian: [laughs]

Anthony: “I feel like he observes it and talks about it.”

Ian: “Sometimes I can be the drama. No, I don’t think I’m- I love hearing other people’s drama…”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Ian: “But I feel like sometimes my honesty can be harsh.”

Anthony: “Sure, sure.”

Ian: “Sometimes I, you know, like sometimes there’s things that just don’t need to be said.”

Anthony: [laughs] “And you used to have no filter.”

Ian: “Sometimes I say it, I think I’ve gotten a little bit better, where I’ll be like, ‘I- never mind’.”

Anthony: “Yeah, yeah. I accept you for it.”

Ian: “Okay.”

Anthony: “I’ve grown to accept it. I used to be very sensitive.”

Love how this started off as something silly but turned into a genuine compliment by the end of it.

-

[Ian gets Jade as his answer]

Ian: [reading answer description] “…bold and thinks outside of the box or just someone who’s wild at heart.”

Anthony: “I could see wild at heart.”

Just a little mini compliment from Anthony there

…

Anthony: [reads chat comment and laughs] “Why is Ian on such a high from getting Jade over Anthony getting Jade?” [Anthony really wanted Jade as his answer as the crew said that’s who he was like]

Ian: Umm, I just didn’t think I was cool, man.”

Anthony: “Dude, you’re cool, Ian.” [pats chest] “You gotta have a little confidence, man.”

A double compliment from Anthony in this little section, you love to see it!

-

[reacting to the MrBeast sketch]

Anthony: “Yeah, that one was good. Your Mr Beast character, you fucking killed it, man. And going into the horror mode at the end [of the video] was great.”

It’s been a very heavy Anthony complimenting Ian livestream as you can probably tell 😅 not that I’m complaining!

-

[reacting to the Button sketch]

Ian: [talking about his Mormon character’s wig] “Wow, the blonde really brings out my eyes.”

Anthony: “Yeah, it looks really good.”

We do know Anthony loves Ian’s blue eyes 😉

-

[Ian dressed as a woman in the sketch]

Anthony: “Your lipstick is poppin’!”

Just another complimentary moment I wanted to include 😄

-

Chat comment: ‘Ian plays the mother so well it’s scary’

Ian: “That’s because I am mother.”

Anthony: “Ian is mother.”

👀 Okay, Anthony…

And that was it for this livestream!

Making Of “Grimace: Where Is He Now?”

The BTS of the Grimace: Where Is He Now? sketch gave us a couple little moments, not necessarily compliments, but wanted to include them nonetheless :-

-

First was this moment where Ian and Anthony are looking at each other through a door covered with fake police tape and they reach through and touch each other’s hands.

(As usual sorry for the terrible gif quality, I tried 🫣)

But yeah, thought this was cute so wanted to make it part of this post 😊

-

And the other moment I wanted to include was as they were doing the outro to the video :-

Anthony: “Why do we need a fog machine when we have…”

[both Ian and Anthony blow out of their mouths so you can see their breath in the cold air]

Ian: “Wow, I don’t know if that looked cool on camera but…”

Anthony: “Felt cool.”

And then of course, gotta include one of their signature moves…

The high-five!

There’s A Werewolf Among Us…

So the boys joined in on this Games video along with Courtney, Arasha, Spencer, Chanse and Trevor where they played Werewolf, in which one person is the werewolf and they have kill off other players without being discovered.

-

[Arasha brings up how she used to play it when it was called Mafia and the others joke around saying that it’s no longer called that because it’s offensive to Italian-Americans]

Courtney: “Angela actually held up a sign in the front of the building, she was like - ‘Please stop’.”

Ian: “Yeah, she picketed us.”

Anthony: “She’s on strike for the day.”

Ian: [laughs] “She’s on strike.”

Love when the shoe is on the other foot and it’s Ian finding Anthony funny, always very cute ☺️

-

[Everyone saying they think it’s Ian]

Chanse: “I was gonna say, I think I thought it was Anthony, but I’ve changed my mind.”

Ian: “Well, I mean, I would say I trust you two [Anthony and Chanse] ‘cause you didn’t immediately just go along with it. If you were the werewolf you would have immediately just motioned to vote because you’re like, yeah, let’s kill another villager.”

Trevor: “Or maybe they’re trying to hide it…”

Ian: “No.”

Trevor: “Because they already had someone second it. So why would they jump immediately?”

Ian: “Right, but they would need to be to jump in.”

Anthony: “Or maybe there’s no information to even go off of in the first round.”

Chanse: “I nominate Ian.”

Trevor: “Yeah. Vote time?”

Spencer: “Unfortunately, Ian.”

Ian: “All right, I’m just…”

Spencer: “You have made your case.”

Ian: “Okay, all right.”

Spencer: “And it’s vote time.”

Ian: “I think Anthony’s safe. I don’t trust anyone else.”

It’s sweet how Ian says Anthony’s the only one he trusts here as everyone besides Anthony is saying they think Ian is the werewolf. It’s also doubly sweet when you think about the fact that Anthony actually was the werewolf this round and yet, he was the only one Ian trusted 🥺

-

[Arasha making her case for the werewolf not to kill her]

Anthony: “Why are you giving werewolf tips?”

Courtney: “She’s plugging all the holes.”

Ian: [puts hands up] “I am nominating Arasha [as the werewolf].”

Anthony: [puts hand up] “I am nominating Arasha as well.”

I love when they just follow what each other’s doing 😌

-

[Anthony’s character dies]

Trevor: [going to raise his hand but backing down and everyone asking what he was going to say] “I just wanted to do it again. I was gonna do it again, where I just make a blatant accusation for no reason.”

Courtney: “It is good, though, for the plot.”

Chanse: “It starts shit.”

Trevor: [puts hand up] “All right, I think it’s Ian.”

Courtney: “The werewolf?”

Trevor: “Yeah.”

Spencer: “All right, does anyone wanna second that?”

Ian: “I think that’s a terrible decision.”

Trevor: “No, not necessarily nominating, I just would like to, you know, cast some doubt upon his character.”

Spencer: “Gosh darn.”

Courtney: “Yeah.” [points at Ian] “You like wolves!”

Ian: “I don’t like wolves.”

Trevor: “You would kill Anthony.”

Ian: [makes a sad/unhappy face]

Trevor: “You would. You hater.”

Ian: “What do you mean I would kill Anthony?”

Trevor: “You’re trying to, like oh, I would never kill my best friend. Oooh.”

Ian: “I never-”

Chanse: “He’s trying to start shit.”

Courtney: [laughing]

Trevor: “See? See? Ian’s like, ooh, they won’t think it’s me because I would never kill my best friend.”

Ian: “This guy talks too much.”

Anthony: [laughs]

Loved this moment, especially how not happy Ian was with the accusation that he would kill Anthony, even in a game. And of course can never resist when it’s brought up that they’re best friends. Also loved how Anthony didn’t say anything and only laughed at what Ian said - the bestie-ism was shining through! 👯‍♂️

And that was it for this video!

-

With that, that brings us to end of the compliments for February 2024! A shorter one as I said but hope you all still enjoyed 😊

Thanks for reading and I shall see you next time! 🫶

[chickenkurage]

OH MY GOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH CHAPTER 3 OF ATG ALAN LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIRST OF ALL NOT THE LITTLE INTRO OF HOW ALAN'S LIFE WAS PEACEFUL AND CONTENT TO THE POINT HE WOULD WANT TO RELIVE IT A LOT IF HE COULD, UNTIL IT WAS SWITCHED TO HOW HE'S LITERALLY GOING THROUGH THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF AFTER HIS FAMILY IS GONE AND DJ WAS PROBABLY ALL HE HAD LEFT BUT STILL SHUTS HIMSELF AWAY FROM HIM, DJ TRYING HIS BEST TO AT LEAST TAKE CARE OF HIM BUT RECEIVES NO RESPONSE IT SEEMS LIKE- OH MY GOSH DJ IS GOING THROUGH IT AS WELL IN HIS OWN WAY TOO OFC

DANG THAT SEEMED LIKE A CHILL CONVERSATION BETWEEN NOOGAI WITH VICTIM AND CHOSEN, AND HE KNOWS AND THOUGHT THAT IF HE CONTROLLED ALEX TO GET THEM AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER BECAUSE HE THOUGHT THEY WERE ENSLAVED??? I EVEN GASPED AT THAT PART NGL BUT I FEEL LIKE THERE ARE SOME OR A FEW MISUNDERSTANDINGS GOING ON RN, AND NOOGAI JUST CAUSALLY WALKS AWAY LIKE HE DIDN'T JUST DROP THE TRUTH ON WHY HE DID IT TO THE BOTH OF THEM

OH GOSH ANGRY KING AFTER FINDING OUT ABOUT THEM FACING NOOGAI AND KEEPING THEM BOTH IN THE HOUSE FOR AWHILE WITH HIM AND PURPLE WATCHING OVER SO THEY WOULDN'T SUDDENLY SNEAK OUT PROBABLY, AND DANG IT REALLY DOES FEEL MORE DIFFERENT TO HOW SPONGEY WRITES VICTIM IN THIS AU, LITERALLY MUCH MORE CHILL THAN HOW THEY WOULD USUALLY WRITE HIM AS, BUT IT'S STILL VERY SILLY TO ME AND I LOVE IT! XDD AND AH YES, THE ELDEST BROTHER BOTHERING THEIR YOUNGER BROTHER, SUCH A CLASSIC LITERALLY!!!

AND NOOOOOOOOOO WHAT- THAT'S WHAT THE ATTEMPTED SEWERSLIDE PART IS? NOOOOOOOOOO.... OH DEAR GOSH NOOOOOOOOOO.... DJ LITERALLY HAVING TO EXPERIENCE ALAN CUTTING HIS WRISTS A LOT IF THAT'S WHAT IT WAS WHILE BEING IN A OVERFILLED BATHTUB WITH A LOT OF HIS OWN BLOOD, THE DETAILS WRITING OF DJ'S PERSPECTIVE OF HAVING TO SEE HIS OWN BEST FRIEN- NO- BEST BROTHER TURN INTO SOMEONE HE NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD TURN INTO EVER IN HIS LIFE... HIM LOOKING AT THE PORTRAIT OF HOW THEY WERE BEFORE, HE MISSES HIS BROTHER, HE MISSES THE BROTHER HE ACTUALLY KNEW, INSTEAD OF SOMEONE HE NEVER KNEW IN HIS LIFE, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- *INHALES* AND THESE TWO HAVING A BANTER WHEN ALAN PRESENTED DJ THE CURSOR, AT FIRST IT SEEMED LIKE DJ THOUGHT THE ALAN HE KNEW WAS BACK BUT NO... LITERALLY SOMEONE MUCH MORE DIFFERENT THAN HE COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED IN HIS LIFE, THAT ISN'T HIS ALAN... NOT ANYMORE... NOW I'M TOO CURIOUS ON WHERE DJ CURRENTLY AND ACTUALLY IS, ARE THEY STILL FRIENDS AFTER ALL THIS TIM- WAIT... THAT ONE AUDIO... "BUT I GOT TO KNOW.... ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- THESE TWO HAVE A MUCH MORE DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP IN THIS AU... NOW ALSO MAKES ME WONDER HOW THE ALAN ASSOCIATION WOULD THINK OF THIS NEW ALAN THAT Y'ALL HAVE CREATED...

ALSO THE LITTLE HAPPY ENDING OF THE CHAPTER OF DARK BEING MISTAKEN AS A CHILD- I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING TO THAT WHAT EVEN IS HIS HEIGHT FROM HOW Y'ALL HC HIM- I'M NOW CURIOUS ABOUT THAT A LOT SINCE I KEPT IMAGINING HIM BEING SHORTER THAN VICTIM AND CHOSEN BUT TALLER THAN SECOND- IJABKJABKJABKJAHKJAHKJAHKJAHKJAHAKJHAKJHAKJHAKAHKJHAHAKJHAHKJAHAKHJAKJHAJLAHALHAALJHALJAHKJAHKJAHAJOH-

ANOTHER YAPPING ABOUT THE ALAN ASSOCIATION

SO YOU'RE TELLING ME OJI AND HIS DJ ARE ACTUALLY BLACK AND RED??? HOW MANY SIMILARITIES DO THEY HAVE WITH CHOSEN AND DARK IN THEIR AU BECAUSE GOSH DANG- HE HONESTLY REALLY DOES LOOK LIKE HE GOT BURNT-

I CAN'T.... MY HEART WITH NOOGAI CARING ABOUT EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE BECAUSE THEY ALL REMIND HIM OF HIS OWN ALAN... IT'S MAKING ME SMILE UNCONTROLLABLY FROM SEEING THESE WHOLESOME MOMENTS, NOOGAI YOU'RE NOW MY FAVORITE!!! BUT 2ND FAVORITE, SNOW IS BASICALLY MY 1ST FAVORITE AU WHILE VEE IS MY THIRD FAVORITE, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS HEARTWARMING FANFIC AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- OH MY GOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- AND NOW I JUST LEARNED THAT THEY CAN GO BACK TO THEIR OWN REALMS? I MEAN I KNEW THEY WOULD HAVE TO GO BACK SOMEHOW BUT STILL I FIND THAT REALLY COOL!!! AND ALSO NOOGAI'S STRONG BOND WITH HIS DJ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- AND STOP NO- NOT THE FACT THAT SNOW IS LITERALLY THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN'T EVEN CONTACT WITH HIS OWN DJ BECAUSE... OH MY GOSH... I AM TELLING YOU I KEEP MAKING SCENARIOS OF DJ MANAGING TO GET INTO THE OUTERNET AND REUNITE WITH HIS BEST BUDDY OH MY GOSH.... (Also when I finished reading it, that made me thought about something with my Ink!Alan... Everyone caring for each other and having connections.... Huh...)

Let's go! Chapter 3!!! It's time to talk about it ^^

DJ and Alan relationship, few or more chapters are going to be a little bit angsty for DJ xD. There will be a lot of DJ Pov, Pre-Noogai and Post-Noogai here. Might get a little confusing too since the whole narrative is pretty Non-Linear, which I did on purpose LMAO.

Noogai is indeed chill, the talk with Victim and Chosen. He is pretty self-righteous, isn't he? He only believes what he wants to believe, refusing to listen to others. There is a major misunderstanding on Noogai's part since he initially thought Victim and the others were being enslaved by Alex, hence why in the first chapter they were thrown to the Outernet. It's that fact that them being thrown into the Outernet is not really important to Noogai's mission but he thought it was best for them to live in the Outernet than under a human.

We all know he has been using humans as his vessels for many years now, he of course knows how their brain works at this point. And this notion which is the humans being is vessel is me saying that, yes, he can control a human, and walk around in their body :D

We all know Noogai is here "not just potentially" HE IS a morally grey character, it is basically, killing a bunch of people for the better good. So, we know he won't exactly care about Victim and Chosen's mental wellbeing, he already did the "better good" and he'd done his job.

Alan did attempt, and DJ was the one to save him from it. It was mostly the start of Alan's descent to madness, anger and grief that DJ couldn't help him with, and it was sad for DJ to call himself a "bad friend" for not being able to help Alan with his mental health.

And I'm so happy you understood the part where Alan introduced DJ the cursor, DJ initially thought Alan was doing "better" until Alan presented the cursor weapon to him and there he realized, Alan was not getting better, he was turning for the worst...All this time DJ thought he had done something good for Alan, instead this happens.

DJ is officially still alive in the timeline with the Hollow 4's and CG, he is there somewhere. Will be shown in the next or so chapters actually :DD.

You know what, the line "Are we still friends" will soon make sense in a few chapters, I will not spoil, but mind you, DJ is going to turn for the worse (don't worry not the turning into a terrorist type) but he's not going to be having a good time.

ATG in AA, there's already some planned. Initially when i create Alan or DJ AU's i always make sure they can never overshine the others by accident. There are already notes that i had written about how ATG's relationship with the AA, and i believe it's more of an on and off. There are Alan AU's in the AA that will hate ATG if you think about it. So, we will see that the time ATG gets introduced into the AA household.

Noogai does care for the Alans in the AU, as said by the fun facts (I will be dropping those now at every AA AU post so that you guys can get to know them better!)

It's adorable you have favorites XDDD, and they are ranked too lol!

They can come back to their own worlds/realms/universe anytime they wanted actually :)), they aren't required to stay in the household but for the people who loves AA, they stay xP

Noogai and his DJ have a really close bond in the AI AU, though we only had a few comics (?) and one fanfiction, all Alan AU that i had made officially will have their own fanfiction in AO3 and all of them are under works as of the moment.

It is mostly to get to know them better :))

Snow really is the only Alan that cannot talk to his own DJ, and that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. But who said KOM DJ won't appear in the AA household xD (spoilers!!).

And please do share me what you are thinking with your Ink Alan AU!!! :DDD - S

[saltymothball]

my unpopular takes on beetlejuice beetlejuice SPOILERS!! (long post)

(i am a fan of the original pls do not come for me) these are just my thoughts on the sequel :D please feel free to add yours too

context! im writing these notes as i watch so theyre a little disorganized

for reference i also rewatched the original immediately prior to the sequel

not opening with the classic beetlejuice muisic ?? even the stage show opens with that music where is it (EDIT- restarted it and it actually does open w the music, but it is much less fun/campy an and more of a spooky remix so i forgot)

its not plot necessary but i do wish we learned how BJ fixed his shrunken head and death by sandworm

where are the maitlands ???? 0 mention of adam and barbra at the beginning ?

BJ's ex wife intro was a very creative concept but i wish they did it with more sfx props and less cgi/green screen

Astrid is like very boring, theyve done nothing to get the audience (me) invested in her?? disney wish vibes like who is she

call it a headcanon i feel like lydia wouldnt be this fucking awkward of a parent ?? she had good role models ie adam and barbra (even if her own parents werent as active, by the end of the original movie it implied they were now living in a healthy family dynamic

the mother daughter drama feels really forced, reminds me of the out-of-place tension between wednesday and morticia in the 2023 show

all angles are super close up and feel like horror angles. the scene where astrid befriends that boy ?? felt like someone was gonna come up and kill them the ENTIRE interaction (edit i guess that makes sense but it nerfed the scene)

IMMEDIATELY knew his parents are dead btw. not showing their faces is so clearly they are dead. not an ounce of mystery. theory the boy might be a ghost too?

theory astrids dad isnt dead bc Lydia cant see him

the witching hour wrong ?? last i knew it was 3am not 12am. weird thing to get wrong

its like not a silly campy vibe ?? its like uncomfortable.

dont like lydias new man hes pushy and gross

i miss adam and barbra

it doesnt make sense that no one taking lydia seriously ? delia knows she can see ghosts and has also experienced beetlejuice

lydias fiance is a horrid excuse for a partner (how tf did she meet him like did he just walk in bc the plot needed another person to hate lydia

not the dead protester joke :(

the spill-your-guts/pregnancy felt really idk,,, icky??? dont know how to explain it but it uncomfortably long

follow up- a lot of the visual ghost gags felt very gross/gorey ? like in the original movie the gags were inbetween silly/sexual/spooky-but this one feels more like blood and guts instead of spiders and snakes. exhibit A) otho casually shoving corpse barbra out of the way when looking at the closet with delia / exhibit b) the guy with the cigarettes at the end of the original

theory that astrid is going to end up seeing ghosts by the end of the movie

love the "eeee!" noise BJ makes when people say his name

ok BJ with the guitar after lydia tells him off was legitimately funny

i know astrid is an angsty teen but my god she is so hostile towards lydia

calling it at 56mins the boys parents are SO dead bc they deliberately didnt have lydia meet them

listen i have nothing against jenna ortega but it feels like she is type-casted to play exactly one character now, like let the girl play something other than a monotone gothy teen

"they found a loophole and moved on" okay whatever that means

astrids awkwardness w this ghost boy is pretty cute. he is so definitely a ghost though

yup called it hes a ghost

"my mom was telling the truth... shit" lmao

this boy feels very sus bc why are you trying to bribe her w her father

still no info on how lydia and rory met ??

MURDER HOUSE ?? TH BOY IS A MURDERER ??? okay thats a good twist ill give them that

astrid going into the afterlife to see her dad feels very "lydia going to the afterlife to see her mom" plot from the stage show ?

astrid honey you have too much faith in this ghost boy

oh my fucking god delia did you really get poisonous snakes....so on brand for her

Beetlegeuse literally carrying the whole movie

every scene he's in is absolutely giving

william dafoe is pretty good too but adding him just feels like he is william dafoe and not the character hes playing (who is also an actor)

delia correcting herself from saying fuck is really funny like girl was that scripted

okay ok astrd seeing her dad working in immigration was pretty neat

i had actually forgotten abt BJs ex wife until now ? doesnt seem like she actually adds much to the story beyond giving BJ a new reason to pursue lydia... which he was already doing...?

are they all going to end up in the afterlfe wtf

the afterlife desert takes place on the fucking moon of saturn ?? okay

is it just me or is the sandworm not claymation... like maybe its just the way it looks but i swear it looks like they cgi'd it but then cut down the frame rate

damn lydias husband really got eaten by piranhas.. what a way to die oh my god

there was no real stakes to astrid switching her soul? they resolved that so fast like lydia just grabbed her and they ran

oh their husband/dad is back now everything is fixed...? like all that hate towards her mom is now gone bc her mom was telling the truth about seeing ghosts? dad just resolved the only conflict

beetlejuice didnt even help get astrid back he went on a pee break and the plot progressed

love bad cop william defoe

"are you filled with fear and trembling?" "yes im shitting my pants" absolutely gold

BJ on fetchquests this whole movie fr

the soul sucking lady please she ate bobs nametag :(

ok wtf they really solved ghost boy dilemma in 5 seconds, BJ ex machina... like he rlly just got him like that ??? anticlimactic

ok good astrid apologized for being a shitty kid

rory please stop kissing lydias neck

i kind of hate the modern nods like the self securing seatbelt in the priests car, or the influencers at the wedding, really weird unnecessary detail

BJ and Delia wedding crashers my fav

how did Beetlejuice get into the church ? if he is a demon like previously established, shouldnt he NOT be able to step on holy ground

enjoyed the slapstick moment of lydia punching rory, good moment

her red dress omg !! pretty

BJ himself is just too funny, making the priest sing top tier

i still miss adam and barbra :( if they can cgi that dead guy in star wars i think we couldve brought alec baldwin and geena davis who are in fact still very alive and look great

they really didnt make me interested in BJs ex wife other than she is pretty and looks like morticia addams ?

BJ making everybody partake in singing is very silly

everybody dancing at the wedding scene must have been fun to film, everybody looks like theyre jamming

lmao whos dog was that in the hallucinations ?? is that the dog who killed the maitlands

"ghoul squad" ok monster high

oh finally his ex is here

lydia so casually pushed out of the way lmao

why does BJ have more etherial powers than every other ghost?

offering rory to the soul sucking lady is so good

theyre really just gonna sandworm for the plot resolution again ???

his ex wife was a threat for all of 4 seconds

lol the legal marriage loophole was kinda funny

is delia like forever dead ? is she a ghost now? is beetlejuice dead?

i still love delia. "i will find charles and we will haunt you both" good for her

are the influencer wedding guests dead

everything got wrapped up very quickly

good on delia for still loving her husband even though that shark absolutely annihilated him

what ?? astrid is married now???

WHAT ??? SHES GIVING BIRTH ?????

oh ok its a dream

having a second pregnancy bit felt really weird

they alluded to another sequel :(

please remember i am actually a huge fan of beetlejuice !! no hate to the franchise these are just my personal opinions on the sequel. i would love to hear your thoughts as well !!

[putschki1969]

Hikaru 11th Digital Single "Lack"

Just a few days after the release of Hikaru's 10th digital single "Breathe" she has now released her 11th track as freelance artist titled "Lack". She performed it last night at her birthday live.

Released on: 2024-07-03 Lyricist: Hikaru Composer: HaKA; Arrangement: hoto-D Buy/Stream: https://linkco.re/HDvBVhQN?lang=en Some thoughts: Oh wow, based on the cover, I expected something a bit darker but nothing of this sort. I am pleasantly surprised by the intro, it is right up my alley, so creepy and dramatic! I love the symphonic metal/gothic metal vibes! Although I wish she had fully commited to thoses genres. For some reason, it doesn't quite hit the mark, at least not for me T_T Don't get me wrong, I like the song but it still sounds too much like many of her other recent releases (most of which are a little generic). Not sure if it is her singing style or the uninspired chorus that's putting me off but something is definitely missing (despite a lot of potential T_T)

Live Photos & Hikaru Live Tour Announced!

『Hikaru B-day LIVE 2024 -love Begets love-』 Photos Instagram post 1 by Hikaru Great news! Hikaru announced her SECOND live tour of the year. Back in January and February, she held her 「Hikaru LIVE TOUR 2024 -FEATURES-」 with performances in Osaka, Fukuoka, Tokyo and Toyama. This time, she will once again perform in Toyama and Tokyo but she is also making sure to visit new prefectures in order to reach more people. Further details will be announced soon

-2024- 11/30 (Sat) Toyama 12/07 (Sat) Aichi 12/14 (Sat) Miyagi 12/21 (Sat) Kyoto -2025- 2/11 (Tue) Tokyo

Oh no. Just a couple of days ago I decided that I wouldn't be applying for the Wakana Classics 2024 on Dec 18 (the FC lottery ended on July 1st) and now Hikaru has planned activities for the same time period. Why??? I can already tell that this year will be full of regrets. Already regretting that I am missing so much this month and I fear it's only gonna get worse as the year progresses...*sighs*

[questforgalas]

I'm as excited as the next batcher for Hunter's unhinged Pedro Pascal era that they're setting up for Season 3, don't get me wrong. And I'm not even a Hunter girly

But I really really reallllllllly hope they lean into Wrecker's relationships with Crosshair and Omega and we see A LOT of Wrecker unhinged as well. Hunter is 100% fully the dad/big bro of the OG batch but I believe that Wrecker is closest with Omega in a sibling/friend way, and he's the one who's consistently expressed missing Crosshair since season 1, let alone he and Crosshair have had the most typical sibling moments on screen since the Batch's introduction, so the set up for season 3 opens the door for a Wrecker focused season and to highlight emotional depth to his character along with the others.

On the flip side, the bonding potential we have for Crosshair and Omega while on Tantiss and the classic trope of "bond through shared trauma" has a very strong base. I would not be surprised if they use Omega as a tool to show Crosshair that his brothers will still love him and accept him since I have no doubt that Omega will be incredibly forgiving towards him and just happy that he's alive and on their side. So I see a lot of conversation potential between the two, and Omega filling in the gaps for Crosshair because it would be on character brand for Crosshair to have taken a pessimistic view of what his brothers now think of him with it also being on character brand for Omega to slowly break through those assumptions.

I think it would be especially in line with the season 2 theme of "we're just soldiers/we're not just soldiers" by exploring the sibling depths this group has formed and how it's changed from their TCW intro to where they are now.

[dustedmagazine]

Listening Post: Kim Gordon

Kim Gordon has long been one of rock’s female icons, one of a tiny handful of women to get much play in Michael Azzerad’s underground-defining Our Band Could Be Your Life and a mainstay in the noise-rock monolith Sonic Youth. It’s hard to imagine that quintessential dude rock band without Gordon in front, dwarfed by her bass or spitting tranced out, pissed off verses over the storm of feedback.

Yet Gordon’s trajectory has been, if anything, even more fascinating since Sonic Youth’s demise in 2011. A visual artist first — she studied art at the Otis College of Art and Design before joining the band — she continues to paint and sculpt and create. She’s had solo art shows at established galleries in London and New York, most recently at the 303 Gallery in New York City. A veteran of indie films including Gus van Zant’s Last Days and Todd Haynes I’m Not There, she has also continued to act sporadically, appearing in the HBO series Girls and on an episode of Portlandia. Her memoir, Girl in a Band, came out in 2015.

But Gordon has remained surprisingly entrenched in indie music over the last decade. Many critics, including a few at Dusted, consider her Body Head, collaboration with Bill Nace the best of the post-Sonic Youth musical projects. The ensemble has now produced two EPs and three full-lengths. Gordon has also released two solo albums, which push her iconic voice into noisier, more hip hop influenced directions. We’re centering this listening post around The Collective, Gordon’s second and more recent solo effort, which comes out on Matador on March 8th, but we’ll likely also be talking about her other projects as well.

Intro by Jennifer Kelly

Jennifer Kelly: I missed No Home in 2019, so I was somewhat surprised by The Collective’s abrasive, beat-driven sound though I guess you could make connections to Sonic Youth’s Cypress Hill collaboration?

The more I listen to it, though, the more it makes sense to me. I’ve always liked the way Gordon plays with gender stereotypes, and “I’m a Man” certainly follows that trajectory. What are you guys hearing in The Collective?

Jonathan Shaw: I have only listened through the entire record once, but I am also struck by its intensities. Sort of silly to be surprised by that, given so many of the places she has taken us in the past: noisy, dangerous, dark. But there's an undercurrent of violence to these sounds that couples onto the more confrontational invocations and dramatizations of sex. It's a strong set of gestures. I like the record quite a bit.

Bill Meyer: I'm one of those who hold Body/Head to be the best effort of the post-Sonic Youth projects, but I'll also say that it's very much a band that creates a context for Gordon to do something great, not a solo effort. I was not so taken with No Home, which I played halfway through once upon its release and did not return to until we agreed to have this discussion. I've played both albums through once now, and my first impression is that No Home feels scattered in a classic post-band-breakup project fashion — “let's do a bit of this and that and see what sticks.” The Collective feels much more cohesive sonically, in a purposeful, “I'm going to do THIS” kind of way.

Jonathan Shaw: RE Jennifer's comment about “I'm a Man”: Agreed. The sonics are very noise-adjacent, reminding me of what the Body has been up to lately, or deeper underground acts like 8 Hour Animal or Kontravoid's less dancy stuff. Those acts skew masculine (though the Body has taken pains recently to problematize the semiotics of those photos of them with lots of guns and big dogs...). Gordon's voice and lyrics make things so much more explicit without ever tipping over into the didactic. And somehow her energy is in tune with the abrasive textures of the music, but still activates an ironic distance from it. In the next song, “Trophies,” I love it when she asks, “Will you go bowling with me?” The sexed-up antics that follow are simultaneously compelling and sort of funny. Rarely has bowling felt so eroticized.

Jennifer Kelly: I got interested in the beats and did a YouTube dive on some of the other music that Justin Raisen has been involved with. He's in an interesting place, working for hip hop artists (Lil Yachty, Drake), pop stars (Charli XCX) and punk or at least punk adjacent artists (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Viagra Boys), but nothing I've found is as raw and walloping as these cuts.

“The Candy House” is apparently inspired by Jennifer Egan's The Candy House, which is about a technology that enables people to share memories... Gordon is pretty interested in phones and communications tech and how that's changing art and human interaction.

Andrew Forell: My immediate reaction to the beats was oh, The Bug and JK Flesh, in particular the MachineEPs by the former and Sewer Bait by the latter. Unsurprisingly, as Jonathan says, she sounds right at home within that kind of dirty noise but is never subsumed by it

Jennifer Kelly: I don't have a deep reference pool in electronics, but it reminded me of Shackleton and some of the first wave dub steppers. Also, a certain kind of late 1990s/early aughts underground hip hop like Cannibal Ox and Dalek.

Bryon Hayes: Yeah, I hear some Dalek in there, too. Also, the first Death Grips mixtape, Ex-Military.

It's funny, I saw the track title “I'm a Man,” and my mind immediately went to Bo Diddley for some reason, I should have known that Kim would flip the script, and do it in such a humorous way. I love how she sends up both the macho country-lovin’ bros and the sensitive metrosexual guys. It's brilliant!

This has me thinking about “Kool Thing”, and how Chuck D acts as the ‘hype man’ to Kim Gordon in that song. I'm pretty sure that was unusual for hip hop at the time. Kim's got a long history of messing with gender stereotypes.

Bill Meyer: Gordon did a couple videos for this record, and she starred her daughter Coco in both of them. The one for “I'm A Man” teases out elements of gender fluidity, how that might be expressed through clothing, and different kinds of watching. I found the video for “Bye Bye” more interesting. All the merchandise that's listed in the video turns out to be a survival kit, one that I imagine that Gordon would know that she has to have to get by. The protagonist of the video doesn't know that, and their unspoken moment in a car before Coco runs again was poignant in a way that I don't associate with her work. And of messing with hip hop!

Tim Clarke: “Bye Bye” feels like a companion to The Fall’s “Dr Buck’s Letter.”

Bill Meyer: From The Unutterable? I'll have to a-b them.

Tim Clarke: That’s the one.

Jonathan Shaw: All of these comments make me think of the record’s title, and the repeated line in “The Candy House”: “I want to join the collective.” Which one? The phone on the record’s cover nods toward our various digital collectives — spaces for communication and expression, and spaces for commerce, all of which seem to be harder and harder to tell apart. A candy house, indeed. Why is it pink? Does she have a feminine collective in mind? A feminine collective unconscious? The various voices and lyric modes on the record suggest that's a possibility. For certain women, and for certain men working hard to understand women, Gordon has been a key member of that collective for decades.

Jennifer Kelly: The title is also the title of a painting from her last show in New York.

The holes are cell phone sized.

You can read about the show here, but here's a representative quote: “The iPhone promises freedom, and control over communication,” she says. “It’s an outlet of self-expression, and an escape and a distraction from the bigger picture of what’s going on in the world. It’s also useful for making paintings.”

Gordon is a woman, and a woman over 70 at that — by any measure an underrepresented perspective in popular culture. However, I’d caution against reading The Collective solely as a feminist statement. “I'm a Man,” for instance, is told from the perspective of an incel male, an act of storytelling and empathy not propaganda. My sense is that Gordon is pretty sick of being asked, “What's it like to be a girl in a band?” (per “Sacred Trickster”) and would like, maybe, to be considered as an artist.

It's partly a generational thing. I'm a little younger than she is, but we both grew up in the patriarchy and mostly encountered gender as an external restriction.

As an aside, one of my proudest moments was when Lucas Jensen interviewed me about what it was like to be a freelance music writer, anonymously, and Robert Christgau wrote an elaborate critique of the piece that absolutely assumed I was a guy. If you're not on a date or getting married or booking reproductive care, whose business is it what gender you are?

There, that's a can of worms, isn't it?

Jonathan Shaw: Feminine isn't feminist. I haven't listened nearly closely enough to the record to hazard an opinion about that. More important, it seems to me the masculine must be in the feminine unconsciousness, and the other way around, too. Precisely because femininity has been used as a political weapon, it needs imagining in artistic spaces. Guess I also think those terms more discursively than otherwise: there are male authors who have demonstrated enormous facility with representing femininity. James, Joyce, Kleist, and so on. Gordon has always spoken and sung in ways that transcend a second-wave sort of feminine essence. “Shaking Hell,” “PCH,” the way she sings “I Wanna Be Your Dog.”

Jennifer Kelly: Sure, she has always been shape-shifter artistically.

The lyrics are super interesting, but almost obliterated by noise. I’m seeing a connection to our hyperconnected digital society where everything is said but it’s hard to listen and focus.

Bill Meyer: Concrete guy that I am, I’ve found myself wishing I had a lyric sheet even though her voice is typically the loudest instrument in the mix.

Andrew Forell: Yes, that sense of being subsumed in the white noise of (dis)information and opinion feels like the utopian ideal of democratizing access has become a cause and conduit of alienation in which the notion of authentic voices has been rendered moot. It feels integral to the album as a metaphor

Christian Carey: How much of the blurring of vocals (good lyrics — mind you) might involve Kim’s personal biography, I wonder? From her memoirs, we know how much she wished for a deflection of a number of things, most having to do with Thurston and the disbandment of SY.

Thurston was interviewed recently and said that he felt SY would regroup and be able to be professional about things. He remarked that it better be soon: SY at eighty wouldn’t be a good look!

Andrew Forell: And therein lies something essential about why that could never happen

Ian Mathers: I know I’m far in the minority here (and elsewhere) because I’ve just never found Sonic Youth that compelling, despite several attempts over the years to give them another chance. And for specifically finding Thurston Moore to be an annoying vocal presence (long before I knew anything about his personal life, for what it's worth). So, I’m in no hurry to see them reunite, although I do think it would be both funny and good if everyone except Moore got back together.

Having not kept up with Gordon much post-SY beyond reading and enjoying her book, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this record. After a couple of listens, I’m almost surprised how much I like it. Even though I’m lukewarm on SY’s music, she’s always been a commanding vocal presence and lyricist and that hasn’t changed here (I can echo all the praise for “I’m a Man,” and also “I was supposed to save you/but you got a job” is so bathetically funny) and I like the noisier, thornier backing she has here. I also think the parts where the record gets a bit more sparse (“Shelf Warmer”) or diffuse (“Psychic Orgasm”) still work. I've enjoyed seeing all the comparisons here, none of which I thought of myself and all of which makes sense to me. But the record that popped into my head as I listened was Dead Rider’s Chills on Glass. Similar beat focus, “thick”/distorted/noisy/smeared production, declamatory vocals. I like that record a lot, so it's not too surprising I'm digging this one.

Jennifer Kelly: I loved Sonic Youth but have zero appetite for the kind of nostalgia trip, just the hits reunion tour that getting back together would entail.

Jonathan Shaw: Yeah, no thanks to that.

RE Christian's comment: Not sure I see deflection so much as the impossibility of integration. We are all many, many selves, always have been. Digital communications interfaces and social media have just lifted it to another level of experience. Gordon sez, “I don't miss my mind.” Not so much a question of missing it in the emotional/longing sense, more so acknowledging that phrases like “my mind” have always been meaningless. Now we partition experience and identity into all of these different places, and we sign those pieces of ourselves over, to Zuck and the algorithms. We know it. We do it anyways, because it's the candy house, full of sweets and pleasures that aren't so good for us, but are really hard to resist. “Come on, sweets, take my hand...”

Bill Meyer: I would not mind hearing all of those SY songs I like again, can’t lie, although I don’t think that I’d spend Love Earth Tour prices to hear them. But given the water that has passed under the bridge personally, and the length of time since anyone in the band has collaborated creatively (as opposed to managing the ongoing business of Sonic Youth, which seems to be going pretty well), a SY reunion could only be a professionally presented piece of entertainment made by people who have agreed to put aside their personal differences and pause their artistic advancement in order to make some coin. There may be good reasons to prioritize finances. Maybe Thurston and/or Kim wants to make sure that they don’t show up on Coco’s front door, demanding to move their record or art collection into her basement, in their dotage. And Lee’s a man in his late 60s with progeny who are of an age to likely have substantial student loan debt. But The Community is just the kind of thing they’d have to pause. It feels like the work of someone who is still curious, questioning, commenting. It's not just trying to do the right commercial thing.

Justin Cober-Lake: I’m finding this one to be a sort of statement album. I’d stop short of calling it a concept album, but there seems to be a thematic center. I think a key element of the album is the way that it looks for... if not signal and noise, at least a sense of order and comprehensibility in a chaotic world. Gordon isn’t even passing judgment on the world — phones are bad, phones are good, phones make art, etc. But there’s a sense that our world is increasingly brutal, and we hear that not just in the guitars, but in the beats, and the production. “BYE BYE” really introduces the concept. Gordon’s leaving (and we can imagine this is autobiographical), but she’s organizing everything she needs for a new life. “Cigarettes for Keller” is a heartbreaking line, but she moves on, everything that makes up a life neatly ordered next to each other, iBook and medications in the same line. It reminds me of a Hemingway character locking into the moment to find some semblance of control in the chaos.

Getting back to gender, there’s a funny line at the end: one of the last things she packs is a vibrator. I'm not sure if we're to read this as a joke, a comment on the necessity of sexuality in a life full of transitory moments, as a foreshadowing of the concepts we’ve discussed, or something else. The next item (if it’s something different) is a teaser, which could be a hair care product or something sexual (playing off — or with — the vibrator). Everything's called into question: the seriousness of the track, the gender/sexuality ideas, what really matters in life. Modern gadgets, life-sustaining medicines, and sex toys all get equal rank. That tension really adds force to the song.

Coming out of “BYE BYE,” it's easy to see a disordered world that sounds extremely noisy, but still has elements we can comprehend within the noise. I don’t want to read the album reductively and I don't think it's all about this idea, but it's something that, early on in my listening, I find to be a compelling aspect of it.

[urimaginarygirlfriend]

hey marie!! how are you my love??

i miss you xx 🫂💗

hiii manny!!

i miss you too, i’m sure you’ve seen me subtly stalking your page every few days. i’ve got my first uni class starting on wednesday and i’m very nervous but also very excited. it’s an intro latin class and while i’m typically terrible with languages, i feel this will be different. no one here is studying classics but i am and i feel like i’ve already isolated myself.

also, i find it hard to eat 3 meals a day. just being on campus for the weekend has proven to me that i’d rather be productive or entertained than get up and eat a meal. it is very scary as someone whose always had body issues but never an ed. i don’t want uni to be the place where it starts (as much as i pretend to). i’ve bought some snacks to keep in my dorm but i also have tea and i’m worried it’s too effective at curbing hunger.

and finally, i’ve been thinking a lot about my art and my existence as an artist in general. i want to commit to being an artist. since i decided not to go to film school or study literature, i have to be serious if i ever want to be noticed. write and create obsessively as if i’d die without it. and i think following other artists on social media has been hurting me. because i just consume their content without creating any of my own. in joana rakoff’s memoir “my salinger year,” she works as literary agent. she spends so much time reading other people’s work that she forgot she was a writer herself. that’s slowly happening to me, in some weird way.

and i feel discouraged because no one is noticing me. not even my ‘so-called’ friends! they don’t watch my videos, they don’t read my short stories, and they sure as hell don’t watch the play that i took a lot of time recording and uploading so it’d be accessible. i feel like i’m doing all i can and just nothing is working. i’m a tree falling in a forest when no one is around…

i hope to submit to some literary magazines and screenplay/playwriting contests before the end of the year. maybe make another short film too that no one will watch. idk i just don’t know how to not stagnate. i know success isn’t overnight but i look at big creators and it feels like theirs is. or at least, they had some fans at the beginning. i’m literally starting from nothing.

i got accepted into a film program at the uni of edinburgh that only accepts 20-ish students per year. they wanted to take a chance on a weird american girl making weird art. i had to say no, but they chose me. before i clicked that reject button, i was someone. i was smart and cool and creative and worth something. they looked at me and thought i could go far with only a bit of guidance. now, i’ve got nothing. i’m an idiot with a camera in one of the worst cities in the whole US and i’m rotting away my life. do i still have the chance to be someone if there’s no one looking?

sorry if this got too deep and you didn’t read to the end. i’ve been writing about this in my diary for months with no one to tell because i wasn’t sure anyone cared. but i’m sure you care… right?

[dizaryswrites]

I have a confession to make!

I don’t know how obvious it is, but I actually haven’t read any comics 😅 I know, I know haha, it’s just I haven’t had the time! Luckily, I mostly follow blogs that I know are comic readers so I know what’s fanon and canon mostly. But since I will have free time in the summer, I was wondering if you have any recommendations on what to read and where to start?

Oh man I WISH I could be one of those blogs who snaps out the long scroll that just rolls down the hallway with a concise cross referenced list of top hits from every era and where to start with each character! But I am a book hoarder with not enough time on my hands so I haven't even read half of what I have, let alone all the back issues 😅

Here's some stuff that I really enjoyed as a new-to-comics-and-DC reader and in general (in mostly chronological order because that's how I arrange my comic books):

Batman: Dark Victory

I really enjoyed the mystery and early Batman days, plus Dick Grayson's debut! He is a delight. I didn't read Long Halloween which comes before this so I missed some context but I picked it up easy enough (also according to some reviews the mystery can be repetitive if you have read Long Halloween sooo win for me ig?)

Robin: Year One

I am determined to read this one soon. I've heard great things about it though so it's being added

Batman: Prodigal

I read this without reading a single page of Knightfall because I was getting interested in Nightwing and this was the earliest book that my library had available (I have given up on a chronological reading order since those early foolish days). I knew nothing and still really enjoyed Dick!Bats and Robin!Tim together. I need to reread this soon

Formerly Known as the Justice League

A limited run, 6 issues I think. Honestly I should just say Justice League International in general but I started with this mini for Booster Gold and Blue Beetle after seeing some funny panels online and I fell in love with that whole cast of losers (affectionate). It's not BatFam but so so fun to read (and JLI has some really poignant moments too)

Young Justice: A League of Their Own

SO FUN. Tim and friends dealing with just ridiculous scenarios LOL I'm only halfway through but it's great

Batman: Hush

I haven't read a lot of just Batman titles but I enjoyed Hush. It had some good character moments for Bruce that helped me understand the way he thinks a little more. I also hear Bruce Wayne: Murder/Fugitive is very very good but I haven't gotten around to it yet (a running theme)

Batgirl: Point Blank

Cass is a treat. This was the first volume I found of her's, haven't read the others yet, but even lacking context I really enjoyed her as the main character and her interactions with Steph, Babs, and Bruce.

Teen Titans (Geoff Johns)

This was one of the first series I started reading and it was a good intro for me, a completely new DC fan. It's Tim and his friends but more serious than YJ. I've read vol 1-2 and part of 3

Under The Red Hood

Classic for good reason. I haven't finished it yet (teehee) but the first half has been entertaining. Jason has had some um... interesting writing in his time. But I really enjoy the way he's written here. It's a good baseline imo. I've heard Lost Days is also good

Nightwing (Tomasi run)

I love Tomasi and this run was a lot of fun. Dick is funny while not losing his serious, capable edge, he interacts with people in his circles, and has some interesting introspection moments. There's a weird part of the plot about midway that definitely uses bad Asian stereotypes which is so disappointing. But after that it gets normal again 😅

Batman & Robin

This comes right after Tomasi's run and it's a mixed bag for me. It's definitely interesting seeing Dick and Damian learning to work together but I was still new to DC with little context for things and was also *so* put off by the art style that I don't remember it well. But I thought I'd add it anyway since it's an iconic moment for Dick!Bats

Batman and Robin (Tomasi)

I adore Bruce and Damian struggling together to discover what being father and son looks like for them. I adore Damian having growth. That's volumes 1-3. 4 is post Damian's death (and damn issue 1 is a well written look at grief), I haven't read 5 or beyond yet.

Nightwing (Rebirth)

The first Nightwing title I read. Looking back, the characterization is a bit weak in some areas, doesn't quite match how he's written in older runs, but it had good moments and kept me entertained. Especially!!! In vol 3 with Humphries's Judge arc

For more current runs, I'm really enjoying World's Finest. Waid's writing is good and Mora's art is just *cartoon heart eyes*. Bats, Supes, and teenage Dick Grayson are a fun trio. Amid other runs that had me tearing my hair out in disappointment or frustration, WF is a breath of fresh air.

Titans United: Bloodpact is a 6 issue limited that was also a really nice read. It's Dick's Titans but Tim is there too and I enjoyed everyone's writing.

The Human Target (Tom King) but honestly I was just losing my mind over Greg Smallwood's art and paneling the entire time. A masterpiece. I want to frame every page. I cheered when he posted inspiration threads on Twitter.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen

It's not Batfam but hear me out!!!! This comic had some of the sweetest moments between Supes and Jimmy and I wanted to grab literally anybody by the shoulders and shake them until they looked at the Lois, Clark, & Jimmy in the helicopter panel and GOT IT!!! Also it is so delightfully wacky and funny, I was genuinely laughing out loud. Steve's Lieber's art is the perfect pairing with Matt Fraction's writing.

AND SPEAKING OF!

This isn't DC at all but it's the series that made me (and so many others) really love comics and their storytelling potential. Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run, volumes 1-4. Between his writing and David Aja's artwork and color theory (and Steve Lieber's guest issue that literally gut punched me and changed how I saw later parts of the story, it was never just a filler issue to me, Steve) you get a great story that says so much with so little (in the best way) and is a visual treat as well. Chef's kiss.

Some other non-DC comics I really enjoyed are Die (imagine Jumanji but D&D and novels and oh look the consequence of your actions has grown up), Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1 (I am not a horror girly but I really enjoyed this, in no small part because of Dell'edera's art), Eight Billion Genies (the world population hits 8 billion and now everyone gets a genie, what could go possibly wrong), and Paper Girls which I'm about 2/3 through (picture stranger things but with time travel, spaceships?, and oh shit is future me lying??)

Damn, I guess I really did have a scroll's worth. 😭 Anyway, my recommendation for where to start with this list is...what does your library have available? Don't forget about the Hoopla app too, that's where I read some of these digitally. Or the used bookstore which is where I got 90% of my comics from.

But seriously! Just pick whatever sounds the most fun or has the character(s) you're the most interested in and go from there. Skip around on the timeline or go in chronological order. Whatever floats your boat! I think that's the really unique thing about comics. Plus if you can't figure out the context of what you're missing or what is happening simultaneously (because writers & editorial used to care a little more) you can do a quick google or (and I wish I had this with Batgirl) @cephalog0d has a pinned timeline master list. Incredible.

[archoneddzs15]

Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony (2021) - My reaction 3 years later

I am going to admit one thing. I am a Sonic fan, and it has always been this way since 2006 when I got my hands on Sonic Advance 3 for my Game Boy Advance SP. At the time I was one year away from starting elementary school and my family was not well off at the time, so I had to make do with what I could play. Little did I know that my first encounter with the blue hedgehog would change my life forever as I know it today.

Then as I grew older I was able to get some extra games for the systems I did own, such as my childhood 32 bit console, the Sega Saturn. I got Sonic Jam which was my first gateway drug to the classic 16-bit Sonic games, and I even got to roam around in the Sonic World for a bit, doing tasks like collecting rings and such. The Sonic series has its ups and downs, sure, but there is one thing that the Sonic series never fails on, and it became even more apparent when I saw this comment on one particular live-stream where a music teacher was gob-smacked by how fuckin' awesome the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack was!

Anyway, this little long-winded intro out of the way, though it still rings true as the picture says. Let's get right into it. As a 30th anniversary birthday present to Sega's premier franchise Sonic the Hedgehog in 2021, Sega decided "Why not make it bigger and better?" They got some Czech Republic philharmonic orchestra to do the orchestrated medleys for many a Sonic game under the sun, all of which remain one of my favorites. Keep in mind, this Symphony came out before Sonic Frontiers and Superstars. Also, I am not the best in terms of being a music critic unlike the Anthony Fantano types so my reviews of them are going to be relatively brief.

Part 1: Countdown

The music playing during the first 15 minutes of countdown is nothing short of spectacular. The track list is as follows:

A New Journey - Sonic Unleashed

Comfort Zone (Main Menu) - Sonic Mania/Plus

Sonic Goes U.G. Mix - Sonic Gems Collection

Fist Bump (Piano Version - Theater Room) - Sonic Forces

Mission (theme of Sonic 3D Blast) - Sonic Generations

Tropical Resort (Area Theme) - Sonic Colours

Part 2: The Orchestra

The Philarmonic Orchestra masterfully conducted a beautiful rearrangement of almost every Sonic game's soundtrack out there. I say "almost every" because for the Orchestra portion it's missing Sonic CD, the GBA and DS Sonic games and Sonic Boom. But that's minor substitutions in favor of something a lot grander, and I appreciate it. I mean, they even represented games like Sonic Drift 2 and Tails Adventures! Even NiGHTS got a shoutout. How about that for cool?

Part 3: Tomoya Ohtani

Tomoya Ohtani Band. Oh man, what can I say? Well, they played three songs, so let's get right to it.

Reach for the Stars (Re-Colors)

The Re-Colors version of Reach for the Stars as found in Sonic Colours Ultimate, the remaster of the Nintendo Wii game now available on PS4/5, XBOX, Switch and PC. This song absolutely rocked the socks off when I first played the original game on the Wii, and this arrangement is even better still.

Speak with Your Heart (Original + Rainbow Mix)

Things go normal for the first few minutes of this song, which I like, and then Tomoya Ohtani drops a bombshell when it turns into the "Rainbow Mix" which has a trap beat type vibe to it. I love it!

Endless Possibility from Sonic Unleashed (vocals: Nathan Sharp)

Nathan Sharp is the guy who sings covers of Sonic songs under the best name you could ever give, "NateWantsToBattle" under his record label "Give Heart Records". Endless Possibility is a song that people have loved for years and years and years. It's a song which was originally performed by the same people that did the vocal intro for Phineas and Ferb. Nathan Sharp swoops in and delivers the BEST version of the song yet!

Part 4: Crush 40 (Jun Senoue & Johnny Gioeli)

Crush 40 is also a staple among Sonic fans. From hit songs like Open Your Heart, Live and Learn, Sonic Heroes, I Am... All of Me, and so on, their music has touched lives everywhere around the world. Fun fact, they used to be known as Sons of Angels for a short period of time, where some of their Sons of Angels-era songs were used in the Sega arcade game NASCAR Arcade. The songs in NASCAR Arcade would be released in the only music album to bear the Sons of Angels artist name, "Thrill of the Feel". Speaking of which, they sang six songs before adding two more after fans (this was in 2021 and we were still in lockdown so....) "demanded" more from them. Fun fact: Jun Senoue also did some songs for the Game no Kanzume "Sega Games Can" discs for the Sega Mega CD. Johnny Gioeli also provided vocals for another band under his wing called Hardline. The six initial songs are as follows, which all really will rock your sound system off.

Open Your Heart (Sonic Adventure)

Sonic Heroes

Green Light Ride (Team Sonic Racing)

Sonic Boom (Sonic CD) (Crush 40 VS Cash Cash version)

I Am... All of Me (Shadow the Hedgehog)

Knight of the Wind (Sonic and the Black Knight)

Part 5: The Grand Finale Songs

Whooo~!!! Here comes the big ones. Two legendary songs all from one game. All before ending it off with an orchestrated mix of "Friends" by Hyper Potions.

These two songs are all from one of the best Sonic games of all time, Sonic Adventure 2.

Escape from the City (vocals: Nathan Sharp)

No one in their right mind would want to tell you that this song from after Sonic jumps off the helicopter in a bid to escape GUN forces is not legendary.

Yet here is Escape from the City, one of the BEST Sonic songs. And, of course, another spotlight by the King of Sonic song covers, Nathan Sharp. The Philarmonic Orchestra also added to the grand vibe of the song by making it even better still.

Live and Learn

There's nothing I can say. One of the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) Sonic songs just got a whole lot better.

[iphisesque]

top 5 reasons to watch utena?

in no particular order:

the music: surprise bitch utena is a musical! aside from the intro, the ED, and zettai unmei mokushiroku, pretty much every episode has an original song, usually but not always during the duels (some of the most iconic being ammonite, missing link, and dona dona). the OST is also absolutely amazing, composed by j.a. seazer and featuring absolute bangers such as hikari sasu niwa and shi no aphrodite.

the character dynamics: i have said before that the characters of utena come in endlessly duplicated sets of three from the original akio matrix, with each character still maintaining their uniqueness: juri is a girlprince like utena, but she's closeted rather than oblivious; touga is an akio, but his youth and trauma prevent him from achieving his same position, and so on.

the symbolism: utena fans are perhaps right behind evangelion fans when it comes to annoyingly overanalyzing symbolism, and i love that for us — the colours and the car and the prince and the stars are pretty basic symbols, but others like the stopwatch and the animals and the hair and the cooking have broader interpretations, and it's fun to theorise about them.

the themes: much has been said about utena's commentary on gender and race and abuse and love and family and capitalism, and all that is present, but the most basic barebones message of utena is a coming-of-age one, about breaking free of societal demands for teens and young adults to find who you really want to be and what values you want to embody for yourself, which i found really inspiring on my first watch.

the cultural relevance: especially if you already like anime and shojo, you have been exposed to utena already, whether in direct reference or in inspiration: it's a cult classic of the magical girl and deconstructionist shojo genres, containing lots of references to previous genre cornerstones, and with its main creatives ikuhara and enokido as well as the rest of be-papas going on to work in more prestigious anime.

[threeking]

... ⠀⠀יִיִ⠀𝃣 ⠀⠀ writeblr intro ⠀⠀ 💌 ⠀⠀ ── ⠀⠀ ;

hello ! my name is third king january but feel free to call me third or january ( or any other nickname you'd like ) ! i'm a twenty two year old black lesbian pursuing a graphic design major with a minor in art history and creative writing—considering media studies—who uses they/them pronouns !

ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ :⠀ 🍓. i think this may be my third or fourth time trying out a writeblr, but the other attempts didn't go well since i was busy and didn't put a lot of effort into interacting with my mutuals </3. this time around, i really want to be a part of the community and be more supportive of everyone's writing! my goal for this account is to share my wips, any writing, and keep motivated to do more than just stare at a blank document for hours </3.

i'm a big reader and i plan to share some of my recently reads on this blog. please feel free to send me book recs if you think it's something i might like or if you just wanna ramble about something you read that you really liked! my favorite genres are horror, magical realism, fairy tales and fantasy. i love beautiful prose that's almost poetic and ambiguous writing that has you questioning everything until the grand reveal.

my favorite books are: bunny by mona awad, deathless by catherine m. valente, and how to win the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone. the last two books helped me understand the kind of writing style i want to strive for as did poetry !! i don't have a whole lot of fav poems, but worm king's lullaby by richard siken is one that's always spinning in my head.

alongside reading i like manga, webtoons, videogames, and anime. my all time favorite anime is hyouka followed by angel beats and clannad. my favorite webtoon is omniscient reader's viewpoint and i can't recommend it enough. it's soosososo good! ( i started with the webtoon before switching to the novel bc i was too impatient to wait for the updates ) my favorite games are the halo series and oxenfree.

other interests of mine include music, drawing, art, watching youtube videos, journaling, horror movies, and sleeping 😴. i have a few graphic novels / webcomics in my wips so i'm learning how to draw to make them a reality! i also have a video game that's tied to another wip so i'm getting into coding as well !

please never be shy / afraid to tag me in ask games, send me an ask, or even a message! i also have a discord ( username: thirdking ) if you'd like to add me and message me there. also never think or feel like you're bothering me or anything if you wanna say hi or ramble about your interests. i'm always looking to make new friends !! 😁

i ask that minors don't interact or follow !! thank you !!

i have a handful of wips that's been running laps in my head for some time now but these are the ones ( excluding shorter stories ) that aren't multimedia projects or animation ideas, but i may talk about those anyways 😋 since most of these are still in the outlining stage they're subject to change but i'll make sure to update anything to reflect those changes !

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip one ; spring ( technically untitled but springs gna be in the final title )

the story follows two ex band mates reconnecting in their adult years after they parted ways when their front man signed a major record deal.

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip two ; sisyphus

sisyphus stars three siblings at the center of a conspiracy 1!1!1 the oldest sibling, an astronaut, goes missing during a privately funded space mission embarking to a new planet found in the solar system. i wouldn't call this a greek retelling, but it does a feature a lot of nods to classic greek myths!

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip three ; atwe

atwe follows the mother of a teen superhero getting revenge after her kid is killed by an unknown villain. though it's my own special take on superheroes featuring my personal criticisms on teen heroes, it's also a study on family—in particular—distant family relations and saying i love you a little too late.

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip four ; march marchen ( title will definitely change )

march marchen is my sort of alice in wonderland / fairy tale retelling that follows an unnamed girl in what might be wonderland trying to figure out who she is and who she isn't. ft parallel worlds, escapism, the fear of childhood, and the fear of adulthood.

📝 𖹭 ⠀ֵ⠀ wip five ; neapolitan ( title will definitely change )

neapolitan is a magical girl webcomic / graphic novel. the story follows a trio of girls becoming the successors of a long line of ice cream inspired magical girls. ft a bright fun palette, gore, and cannibalism! though it's a webcomic, i intend to give it a novelization from the perspective of a different set of magical girls.

if you'd like to be added to a taglist please send me an ask! it'll be easier for me to keep track ! thank you for reading <3

[a-moth-to-the-light]

Comeback Celebration: Current Top Ten Sunmi Songs

I noticed, while I was working on this, that I talk about Sunmi the way orbits talk about Loona--I think you'll see what I mean as we go down the list! I think it's the admiration I have for how creative & well-crafted her releases are. "Heroine" was the song that got me into Sunmi, though her most recent comeback at the time was "Lalalay" (I remember because the ponytail dance was EVERYWHERE). My admiration was secured after her 1/6 album--even though her discography is still small, I think that album really fleshed it out, to the point where I finally felt like I could understand her as an artist. Happy Sunmi comeback to us all!

1. pporappippam

This is my "Butterfly". I remember when this song came out, I remember when it changed the world, it's all things divine, it's my conduit to a romanticized version of my teenage years, it's a supercut of all the most wonderful colors you've ever seen in the sky at sunset. In all seriousness, though--I really don't get how people find this song boring. It manages to be a soft, ethereal track and an addictive pop hit, a perfect balance of peaceful atmospherics and unrelenting pace. This one is really special to me!

2. 1/6

This is my "Loonatic". I got dream pop with this song--okay, "1/6" might not exactly be dream pop, but it's soft and dreamy in a way that made me finally see the appeal of that type of song, like why someone would want to get lost in that hazy sonic world.

3. Siren

"Siren" is a piano crashing into you from a third-story window. Like, I don't know how it's ever possible to be emotionally ready for this song. Its brute-force approach is just so goddamn memorable, especially because Sunmi doesn't overuse it in the rest of her discography--she usually goes for subtlety, but her vocals carry a powerful chorus like this one just so well.

4. Narcissism

This one's also in the brute-force category, especially because the production takes this really messy, maximalist approach--and fuck it, it works. I love this song a whole lot: the soft intro; the weird schoolbell-through-intercom-static sounds; the way the chorus hits; the way Sunmi navigates the song's rapid rises and falls. If you miss old-school EDM (read: if you obsess over Dreamcatcher's "Can't get you out of my mind" like I do), I think you'll really enjoy this one.

5. Call

Yeah, no surprise here, I always love club music. But this club classic is particularly intricate, built on a really interesting contrast: Sunmi's gritty vocals over an exceptionally pristine house beat.

6. Black Pearl

This song is just cool. Like, that saxophone solo is just really, really cool. Like, I want to be a guy who has this song at the top of his most-listened list. Maybe one day!

7. Heroine

Yeah, the beat drop is kind of wimpy, so that part didn't age all that great. But Sunmi's PERFORMANCE here?? That prechorus is one for the ages. Five years ago, the emotion of this song absolutely captivated me, and it still resonates with me today.

8. Lalalay

In contrast, this one aged wonderfully! Now that I'm not being constantly overloaded with beat drops in every other song (thank you, 2019 Twice & 2021 Olivia Rodrigo!), I can really appreciate how interesting "Lalalay" is! I used to think this one was boring and lacking inspiration, but now that I'm revisiting it, I think the dynamics of the chorus are pretty compelling (yes, I think the beat drop is compelling, sue me)--like, do you hear how the weird note thingie is fading in and out? how the volume shifts? I love it so much!! My favorite part is the bridge, though--the flight attendant bit remains iconic, and the segue into the final chorus is breathtaking.

9. Heart Burn

This will forever remind me of a song from my childhood--the melody of the chorus is vaguely reminiscent of Taylor Dayne's "Tell It to My Heart", which my mom used to play in the car--so this song hits unfairly hard for me. Like, it's already a reserved, mysterious summer hit, but to me it sounds like a half-formed image of your old living room, or the voice of an elementary-school friend whose name you can't quite recall speaking from the void. Cloudy, surreal, a bit unsettling, but altogether sweet. Also, the color scheme of this music video is super striking, so "Heart Burn", despite its simplicity, gets a LOT of bias points from me.

10. What the Flower

This is like the evil twin of Red Velvet's "Good, Bad, Ugly". They both go for the lounge-singer vibe, but Red Velvet have really pure, sweet-sounding vocals, while Sunmi's voice, and her work as a whole, have always been very savory (like, anti-saccharine?). Both songs are great, and I especially love how both allow for some wonderful piano appreciation (shoutout to the guitar in "What the Flower", too!). The singalong bit at the end of "What the Flower" is really striking, so this one has stuck around in my head over the years, even before I could really appreciate its quieter sections.

Honorable Mentions: 24 Hours (obligatory), Who am I, Curve (also obligatory), Tail (Sunmi's charisma wins this one), Call my name