#composition for this one isn't the best but i had fun

[themortaldraw]

villain

[nimadjart]

Happy halloweeen. :)

This is the commentary track(?) to my digitober. It's just rambling, so don't expect anything too interesting.

This first picture came out on a whim, I originally didn't intend to do anything for this october. I had just arrived home from helping my mom out with something, and was in a good mood. I think this picture, as sketchy as it looks, reflects that feeling. I'm content with it - and it's halloween themed! All the better.

For the second, I tried to follow the "official inktober" list (something I'd drop quickly in the following days). I'm disastrous at making backgrounds, so I gave it a shot for practice sake. I think it's not a bad result, it almost kinda tells something of a story.

"Boots", hah. It's not terrible, but it's also missing a lot of polish. I think the idea behind it works well for a cute/sexy picture of Angewomon. Maybe some day I'll revisit it? I should put more practice into drawing the human form in the meanwhile lol.

I really dislike the fourth one. I think Lianpunmon deserves better art, so I'll definitely do it again some day. My skills are so undeveloped, it's very obvious seeing this poor hatching.

Speaking of hatching, I bit more than I can chew with this one. The composition isn't interesting enough either, and just like with Lianpunmon there's no story here. At least Angewomon seemed to be interacting with the viewer lol.

The sixth is something I liked better. It's kinda shody, but there's something of an urban fantasy thing going on.

The Vamdemon one I can see the faults: I need better line control, the shapes aren't locked in as well as they should be. Yet, I'm partial to it…

Rapidmon deserves better lol. I still really dig the idea behind this drawing, I just wish I'd have given myself the patience and time needed to render a kickass explosion.

SkullGreymon, I have little to comment. It has zero story, but it's carried by the vibes. It's the first (and arguably last lmao) time I think I was cooking with the halftones.

The tenth is arguably the peak of the entire month. It has some story, a neat composition, and acceptable execution. Strangely enough it was one of the quickest to make: I had an idea, and it came out in a few minutes (compared to some other drawings where I was fighting for my life), and it ultimately was one of the most interacted with drawings in my entire blog. Funny how that goes.

I like a lot the Piemon one, as bland as it is. It's like a design piece, more than a drawing. It helps that the perspective deformation hides my poor linework haha.

I went too hard on the Mephismon X one, to the detriment of the piece. Instead of adding texture, it just looks dirty. Damn.

The thirteenth one was my poor attempt at making a background. Originally, Bakemon was gonna have this devious, whimsical look, but as I finished drawing the stairs I thought "I'd be kinda tired after climbing a few floors", so I changed Bakemon's expression to reflect that. Just a little trivia.

The Jesmon is what I'd argue was my peak. Shapes are locked (as best as my skill lets them), values worked well, it told a story. It's my favourite of the month.

Fiftenth was made, mostly, trying to catch some Adventure buff to the ammount of interactions I'd get. I mean, I had fun drawing the characters, but the reality is that I had petty reasons. I don't dislike it though.

I know exactly what I wanted to do with the sixteenth, and I didn't achieve it. Looking back, I think I should've done it in BW, rather than grayscale, to make it pop more. Fix the composition too. It's too plain. Shame, I really like Lilithmon X's design.

Seventeenth was also one where I just phoned it in. I think the values are all over the place; though I do like the harsh light. Impmon is a lot of fun to draw, all things considered.

Greymon was fun, lots of fun to draw. But this was another piece where I went too crazy trying to use halftones, I ended up making something that lacked impact or presence. I do like, in a self deprecating way, how the background seems okay until you look at it directly and see that it's kinda bad lol.

I made Nefertimon's torso too long! I only realized when I was doing the finishing touches lol. Yet I like the whole thing a lot, I think the texture and lightning kinda sells it as a photo (the white border was an attempt at selling that further). Saw someone refer to it as "the last thing I see before I die", and that comment might stay with me forever lol.

The twentieth is another I had a clear picture in my head as to what I was actually hoping to make, but failed to. Instead of landing some sort of finish, it's on a weird gray (lol) area. Making clouds is hard y'all.

Twenty one is one where I managed to stick the landing to what I had in mind. I think the composition needed a few more minutes of baking, but overall I'm content with the result. Death-X-DORUgoramon is a complex design, so any degree of succesful translation is a win in my book.

I think I needed to draw some more background Kuramon for the twenty second. Y'know, to really sell the swarm thing. It's kinda too clean.

Before twenty three, I had never given myself the time to draw a tree shilouette. It was fun to turn off my brainfor a bit and just draw line, after line, after line, after line. I did the tree first, and then I tried to figure out how to make Shurimon. Originally, I wanted him to be hunched over more dramatically, almost as if he was climbing down the tree, but I was incapable of drawing it in a satisfactory manner. So this is what I got.

Twenty four is so bad! I think Monitamon came out fine, but the background elements are so poorly done! I'm so embarrassed! lol

Kabuterimon was really fun, very dramatic looking. I think it has some serious readability issues with the hands, but I don't dislike the idea I had at all.

Hackmon's drawing was done almost like a sibling piece to the fourteenth, Jesmon's. Like, Huckmon is somehow watching his exhausted future, yet he stands stoic. On it's own, I think it's plain. Like, it has some charm, but it's lacking in impact compared to the fourteenth. But maybe that's for the best of the story?

The Wizarmon sticker came through me realizing I wasn't practicing my lineart! So I did a sticker instead. This was actually version two, but number one was so bad I had to redo it. Despite it being a humble sticker chibi, it's overall the day I spent the most time drawing.

Twenty eight came from me realizing I hadn't done any Alphamon! So I did what I thought would look badass. As much as I like Alphamon, though, his shapes are difficult for me to grasp so it came out shoddy and weak lol.

Twenty nine, Ragna Lordmon vs Ragnamon, was hurt by me recording it. While an exciting thing to do, I felt like I wasn't allowed to do anything but move forward quickly, or to change things (I'd have moved both Ragnamon and the main Ragna Lordmon body closer to the center) that would've made the composition flow better. It's not an abject failure, and the video is fun to watch, but still…

Dorumon is a simple piece that I was a bit surprised to make. My birthday is not information I tell people, but I was just compelled to share a bit of myself. I dunno, it feels weird. I'm weird. It came out cute at least.

And at the last! Noble Pumpmon again. I'd love to tell you that I applied everything I learned throughout the month and it's my best piece and stuff, but that isn't the reality. It's a better show for a similar amount of effort compared to the October 1st drawing, but it's not some crazy good display of betterment. A bit, yes, but less than I had hoped.

If you made it this far into this silly wall of text I wrote, I thank you. I thank everyone who interacted with my drawings, it pleases me a lot to see that someone gave it a like, or a share, or a comment. I learned about myself, and my limits, through this experience. It was tiring, but setting myself the goal of "make a drawing a day" was, paradoxically, liberating. Like, now I had a reason to draw! (despite me having some comission work to do lmfao). It was nice. This was one of the most entertaining octobers in recent years. Thanks again to everyone who participated in some fashion.

[chaos-in-deepspace]

Can't believe I gotta do this, but okay...strap on in guys because this isn't only a rant, but informational. Gonna show you how to clock AI writing, why it's bad, how to abuse AI for writing, and how to prove something was written using a chat bot.

Have you ever read a fic and had to pause for a moment? Contemplate a few things? You almost feel like a few times you just couldn't figure out. Or perhaps you saw something that just read super awkwardly.

If this describe you reading some fics, then you might've fallen victim to "AI Writers". Yes, that's correct! A writer who uses AI to help them write their fics. Mind you most people when using this method actually use chatbots! So it's not like they just run into ChatGPT, give it a prompt, and then post it. Oh no. They RP it, maybe clean it up a little so it reads more like a fic, and then they post it.

If any of you are use to RPing with Chatbots like Janitor.ai, or even C.ai, then you might occasionally read a fic and realize it's strikingly familiar to chat you read in your own chats. I, for one, dabble in RPing with bots when I get bored, which is how now and days I can read a fic, see certain lines, and just know.

Now I'm certain I don't need to sit here and explain why this is so bad. However, I'll explain anyways if you'd like to hear my opinion, as well as many other artists and writers:

AI is Plagiarism!

Ya, this is plagiarism. How do you think it's generating responses? Or for artwork, where do you think it's grabbing the images from. It doesn't do it itself. AI is basically giving a program information so it can generate things. A lot of programs that uses AI, as well as websites, uses that written information to generate your responses. You know Google Docs? Ya, it can take information from your writing there. Archive of Our Own? Bingo. Tumblr? Ya, it takes writing from here as well. That means the people who have spent a lot of time on their writing, spending years honing their craft, are having their writing styles and voices stolen from AI in order to make those generated responses. Now when it's just you RPing something, pop off. It's just you and your bot. Share it with a few friends, sure! If you post it online though, those words are a mashup of millions of stories written and posted online. So it's plagiarism. Plain and simple.

2. It sets you back as a writer

Ever wondered why some people can write the most amazing things ever? It's because they wrote. They learned. They practiced. It took time and effort in order to build up those skills. They got there by writing. So how is using AI affecting your writing? Easy, you're not writing. At least...not a lot. If you use a chatbot to write half the things in a fic, you're only doing half the work. You're also bouncing off the idea from your bot and going with it, instead of using your writer brain to figure out how this scene would best be executed. Imagine it like this. Someone uses AI to draw an image for themselves. Then they trace over it, add a few of their own touches, and color it the best they can. Did they suddenly learn how to draw? No. Because they didn't take the time to learn why something is placed like this, how the composition works, etc. Same thing with writing. If you're using AI to do all the work then you aren't learning, and you're not going to be getting better as a writer. If that's the case...why are you writing? It should be a fun experience to write, after all. It should be something you want to get better at. So why are you just having AI do it? Attention? You realize your fics need to be pretty well written to garner attention, right? That brings me to my third point.

3. We can tell...and it's not fun to read

Today a friend showed me an paragraph from a fic he found here on tumblr. I saw it. Without even having to ask I knew it was written by AI. Nobody talks like that except a robot. The wording? Repetitive for AI to use. "Their bond grew with every passing moment." | "Their shared connection." | "His voice was barely above a whisper." | "It was a testament to their relationship." | "He's determined to face this challenge with her, hand in hand, and to make the most out of the second chance he's been given." | "A renewed sense of purpose." | "He's determined to face this challenge with her" If I see these lines, I clock it as Janitor in a heartbeat. Sure, not every time it's used is AI, but those are the most common things I see in every RP with a bot, and I actively need to correct the bots or else they'll use it in every fucking reply. Another thing is...RPs read differently from a fic. They're not made to be read like a narrative story. It's a bot replying to someone, so when you do that things get weird. Not to mention sometimes clothes appear and disappear, a position is changed, etc. It's just not good writing...

4. It's lazy

Simple as that. It's fucking lazy to get AI to write a fic. Trust me, I am one lazy motherfucker. I hate doing things. I want to sleep for literally a solid week. However I made the decision to write things, so I write them. I put in the effort. Other writers who don't use AI? They put in the effort. I know at least 20 people who are depressed as all hell, can barely get out of bed unless it's to go to work, who decided to still write. Not everyone is going to be a fast writer. Not everyone is going to find writing easy. If you're going to commit, though, commit to it. Write it. Don't use AI.

With these points being made, I'm sure you can see why in the writer community, it's frowned upon to use AI as well as bots for your writing...especially when you don't disclose it. I could probably put everything aside if you just said it was written using AI. Honesty is the best policy.

People might not want to read it then, but at least they know that you used AI. At least you admitted to it. Using AI and then passing it off as completely original is disgusting.

So you clocked something as AI written. You’re pretty freaking sure this was written with a Chatbot. So you plug it into an AI checker and what? No AI detected? No fucking way.

Yes fucking way.

The detectors use a range of things like: Language Model Comparison, Repetitive phrases and structures, contextual awareness, among a few other things. Now look at the "Language Model" part. What if a Chatbot doesn't have the most common language models? It doesn't detect it as easily, that's what.

Where does that leave Chatbots? Well, it means it’s not really checking for things like Janitor or C.ai. A lot of times it flies under the radar because of this. I have found that there is at least one site that doesn’t do this. Instead of more or less checks the context of the text to see if it was written using AI, rather than relying on ai models.

Quillbot

This is what I use to check. I also did run it through some tests. Mind you, not every program is going to be completely accurate. This just happens to, after thorough testing, be the best at being able to tell if a chatbot was used.

As you can see here, the one on the far left is a fic that I ran through that was my own writing. In the middle I had copy/pasted my own responses, and my bot responses from Janitor. On the far right I pasted only Janitor responses. While it’s not accurate, it could still detect human written from a chat bot!

In comparison to me running it through other AI Detection softwares (one of them being Grammarly), where they detected nothing in the post that were written by both me, and the bot.

The entire reason I’m even making this post is because I happened to come across a fic that seemed like it was written using AI, so I was curious and ran it through. Mind you, the detection software only lets you paste 1,200 words of the writing, so this was just a snippet. The same size snippets that I had put for all of my own tests. This was the result:

So we can make a good guess that this was…probably written by AI. If you’re wondering, no. This isn’t a call out post. I won’t be stating the user who I did this. I ask you not to speculate in the notes of this post either. I don’t want to cause unnecessary drama, because honestly the writing community for this fandom already has that.

I will say, to the writers who are using AI, I’m not the only person who will probably get curious. If you’re going to use AI for your writing, at least state it in the description. It’s manipulative and wrong to not state it.

I know I said AI is bad, but it's also like Thanos. It's inevitable. I fully think we should abuse the hell out of it and make it our bitch. Now how to do that without using it to actually write? Easy.

Force it to give us ideas. Once upon a time I wanted to do some writing, but couldn't think of anything I wanted to write. Sure there's prompt lists out there, but a lot of them didn't fit what I needed. So I grabbed ChatGPT by it's lil grimy throat. I whispered in it's ears "Write me some prompts."

I then took said prompts to jog some ideas in my head, then wrote my own original content. I used AI to help give me a basic idea for my writing and then came up with my own stories. That's a simple way of doing it.

I know people who will RP with a janitor bot because they have a plot in mind for a story, but are uncertain with how they'd want to execute it. So they RP with a bot first, and then once they have an idea, they write a fic based off their RP. They don’t take what the bot said, copy/paste it, then say it’s their fic. They use it as a tool to help them with their ideas. Sometimes if the bot has a really good line, they might take that singular line from it as well. That’s not taking the entire story, it’s just a line that they knew would flow with the fic, and half the time they edit the line as well.

You can also use it for story titles. Can’t come up with a title? Tell ChatGPT the synopsis of your story and then ask it to generate 10 titles for it (actually I just tried to this see the results and am currently laughing my ass off, maybe don't do this).

Don’t forget things like Grammarly. That’s also AI! You can use it to check your grammar and fix awkward wording in your writing.

There’s ways a writer can use AI as a tool. In my opinion, it’s no different from an artist using the symmetry tool for their art. Or using a 3D model to help them make a pose for a drawing in their program. It’s a tool that should be used to help and improve your own content.

[positivelybeastly]

Love reading through your analyses and I was wondering if you had insight on something I noticed with Hank/Beast and Kurt/Nightcrawler: writers often use both of them in the visible mutation metaphor and emotional cores, but Kurt's approach is more from faith and Hank's is more from curiosity. Often when one or either are gone/dead/changed, things seem to get worse for the Team overall.

Do you think those two would benefit each other's characters? Even just to have spirited philosophical discussion?

So, this actually touches on a funny thing that I've noticed with Beast and Nightcrawler over time - which is that they're almost never on the same team together, probably precisely because they serve an extremely similar function in a team composition, for the reasons you've kind of touched on here.

They are, after all, both heavily visibly mutated individuals who were, or are, considered figures of great integrity and morality, with a strong code of ethics and a depth of feeling that expresses itself in a deeply vivacious personality - romantic, friendly, charming, and erudite.

Therefore, having them both on a team is, unfortunately, somewhat redundant.

That being said! They do still interact, and they're shown to be sources of great comfort and friendship for one another. Their first meetings were - somewhat inauspicious . . .

See, this is the funny thing about old comics - storylines just flow and flow and flow. Comics didn't stop after ten issues and get restarted with a new #1 every few months, they just ran and ran and ran, and the pacing reflected that.

There aren't usually month long gaps where you can assume nothing happened and people just got to hang out, they're working hard! Hank has been working with the Avengers so much that he literally hasn't even had time to meet the new X-Men properly! Wild.

But, eventually, things did slow down, and they got a chance to properly socialise, and, as expected, they got along like a house on fire.

Like, these two are just born to be friends. They have so much in common. Where Hank leans more to the obscure, the erudite, and the scientific, Kurt leans more to the dashing, the swashbuckling, and, of course, the religious, but they're still both fundamentally cut from the same cloth - acrobatic, charming, philosophical, heroic, fun.

But, that same alike quality means you don't get a ton of interaction between them, so I cling to what they do have. One of my favourite interactions between them is in Nightcrawler's 2004 solo series.

First off, absolutely adore Hank in this art style. The fact that the artist decided to include the detail of his fur poking out of the shirt like that is just. It transfixes me. I really want to go over and just. Run my fingers through his side fur. But mostly, I just like their chemistry? Hank's a great supporting character because he's so emotionally intelligent and reflective, and he's great at giving people perspective, usually with a healthy dose of sarcasm and teasing.

That being said, this scene is always the one I point to whenever I say that the X-Men really have no idea what's going on in Hank's head a lot of the time, because this took place after Hank had been psychically brutalised, nearly beaten to death, and one of his best friends had just been murdered - and he's doing a really very good job of hiding that trauma.

So much so that Kurt thinks he's just fine. He's just fine. There's nothing to worry about. But it's not Kurt's fault, and it's nowhere near unique to him, either. He had no way to know, he had his own stuff going on (the subject matter of this solo series, as it happens), and Hank is doing well enough that it isn't interfering with things, so, let him deal with it in peace, I suppose.

At least on this occasion.

Kurt is, after all, an emotionally intelligent and caring individual. You can't stop Nightcrawler from trying to help where he can. And I think that even just the reaching out, just the show of support, can be enough for a character like Hank.

Moments like these matter, in my opinion. It's important to show that teammates and friends care about each other, in the moment to moment stories, otherwise it can all feel very impersonal and like no-one cares about one another. This is how you establish dynamics over years, even between characters who have, technically speaking, never really been on a team together before.

The next big milestone I can think of comes after the X-Men's move to Utopia, where, again, Hank and Kurt don't share a ton of panel time together, but . . .

This is one of the few times you'll ever hear anyone say that Hank was right. And it's not really a surprise that it comes from Kurt, because, again, these men are cut from the same cloth. They come at it from different angles, but they believe in much the same things.

And . . . that's why it hits so hard when Kurt dies.

I don't necessarily agree with the decision to have Hank break from the literal funeral procession to call Scott out for Kurt's death. Some fans of Nightcrawler really appreciate that moment, because it shows how much Kurt's death affected Hank, but I personally just. Don't think it tracks, for Hank to be quite that disrespectful.

After the funeral, or even before, but during it? Nah. Matt Fraction made a good few Hank characterisation choices I don't agree with, and this was one of them.

This felt a bit more apropos.

Remember what I said about how little moments build to dynamics between characters who have never been on teams together? I buy this moment so much more with the context of that moment from Endangered Species, where Kurt is literally positioned as the light trying to pull Hank out of the dark path he's following with obsessive fervour. The fact that he was trying went a long way. Hank felt it, even if he didn't take him up on it at the time. That moment mattered.

And that's why I absolutely buy Hank's reaction when Kurt came back to life.

Hank believes in Kurt. He believes the very best of him. On teams where Hank can often feel alone or isolated, someone like Kurt will reach out, and make him feel connected, and welcome, and pull him back. Temper his scientific pessimism and realism with optimism and belief. Restore his fervour, and remind him of simpler, happier times.

A lot of the best scientists, who have contributed the most to scientific inquiry, were religious, because for a lot of them, there's no real conflict between science and religion, they're both two sides of the same coin, in a way - a belief in a higher power. It's just how they react to that higher power that changes.

And while Hank was explicitly religious for a while, I always interpreted him as losing that faith over the years, becoming bogged down in the real over the sublime as what he went through wore him down. Someone like Kurt was able to spark that in him again. Maybe not his faith, per se, but at the very least belief in the human spirit.

It's important. As you say, massive benefit to each other's characters. Underrated dynamic, these two. Absolutely love 'em.

[2n2n]

ch 119

WOOOOOO!!!! its endless fun at the JSHK

we don't know herrrrrrr... who is she! Lovely little Red House...

thankful for DBS, as the manga-UP upload (as it displayed on our tablet, I guess?) was too low-res to make this out even, let alone read it... medicine... the satchels that Amane would dissolve in water for his heart condition, and a cup of water? and some pills...

I wonder if that would simply mean, that Tsukasa never sacrificed himself at age 4 ... I would say the panel from Amane's birthday, it resembles moreso the clockkeeper's tall silhouette before young Amane... perhaps they made their proposition for a 'better' world simply, as they did in Nene-chan's dream, with her plant?

I don't know ... but it would be interesting to imagine an Amane, who simply was able to persevere through illness with medication, and still takes medication til his death (???).... a Tsukasa who was unable to do anything personally to save Amane, is interesting ... just a useless double-figure, no sacrifice to make. That is interesting to me, with Tsukasa's lack of self-value... his suicidal tendencies.

This world has a nearly unbearable amount of mystery... how did you get Tsukasa back? Do you understand what became of him? How much persisting love could 4 year old Amane have had, for his little brother? He's still on your mind, to this day ...

the cups which were immaculate and filled with tea on the table for Kou & Mitsuba, smashed ...

fun.

THE MOST UPSETTING THING IMAGINABLE!!!! what happened to your OTOUTO!!!!!!! screams.... a lone young Yugi.... scary, terrible, no no no!!!!

this made us laugh so hard at the manga-up release LOL

in just seconds we lost Nene-chan.....

Ahh one of those sublime Aida-sensei compositions... incredible... beautiful, evocative, heart-wrenching... Amane is such a labyrinth, isn't he... I love bandage boy looming over the edge of the stairs, refusing to walk up them further, poised to fall off entirely... so appropriate. And Hanako, pleasantly in place, not going anywhere....

I always love your instincts, Nene-chan. They're so strong. she's a good girl.

I don't know what to make of Kou, I have no idea what the house did with him when it disappeared him, what pulled him into that room, why, for what ...

s-scares me that this is still here in this world too.... please... why is Nene-chan destined to lose a leg or something... help....

N-Nene-chan, that's quite a strange impression of the Red House for you to have... thank you for being so kind to her, though... I think she's pretty misunderstood.... lets admire her wonder and mystery, ok?

there he is.... he has that kind of idiot quality to him... meep.

such an unbelievably beautiful shot....

Aida-sensei is a master... beautifully orchestrated... such a sweet Nene-chan... poor thing, poor thing...

it's like seeing an angel, right? Like seeing a fairy... I love Aida-sensei's taste for nervous gestures, hands...

the explosive Nene-chan hug moment!! It reminds me.....

of another......

she's both of your little fairy...

it's reassuring to see Amane looking this dumb and useless. It's comforting. It's familiar. Thank you.

yes. I understand Nene-chan would find it sexy.

ughf

[loses focus] get a blowjob idiot, get . suckedoff.... [SHAKES HEAD AROUND FURIOUSLY]

buffoon.... it's really calming to see you retain this quality, and also, it's not calming at all,

I love.... the blank-eyed blank-mouth Amane look.... becoming captivated...

oh Nene-chan... what wonderful lighting, what wonderful framing, so pretty. Nene-chan's stiff, strict pose, Amane's haphazard sloppy pose, his knit socks... fascinated, curious face....

you poor thing.... questions it hurts to ask.

I admire Nene-chan so much ... speaking from a Tsukasa perspective, I understand what it is like to have no good place in Amane's life, to imagine you're not the endgame, to imagine the best timeline in the world is one without need for you, a life with more delightful things filling it up, more happiness, intrinsically without you, without your love... though in my case, I accept it, and it's OK to die, since Amane is the only thing that could matter.... but I love to see Nene-chan confronting the pain of that very possibility for herself, the agony, is so earnest, so honest.... she wants more than anything to be special, because it's romantic, her romantic heart, she burns for significance in her love, in her passion amounting to something, in being some kind of good, her heart guiding her towards the right thing .... and not her heart guiding her selfishly, or uselessly, towards something with no room for her in it.... what I swallow, Nene-chan could never swallow, but that makes her special. It's sweet to cling and cling... to beg and cry.... what a wonderful love it is that sobs.

I feel for her so much, it would be easier to cry for her than for myself. Of course, Nene-chan could never be useless or unnecessary, she's so integral, to any chance for Amane's happiness. There can't be a world of a happy Amane without Nene-chan. Her sense for divine romance is correct, and it's something that everything in the world longs for, that kind of sentimentality... human and kaii alike, even kami. All the world it~ loves a lover~ 'cuz the lover~ loves the world~

bewitching, right? so nice to see him feeling this, even at this age... I'm sure he's never looked at another student this way. Or felt anything like this. This girl's intense feelings... radiating outward... unimaginable how thick and syrupy, right? it'll change the temperature of the room....

another beautiful panel by Aida-sensei.... so much envy for how she draws hair! I love how thin and floppy Nene-chan's feels... draping from the back of her head, over her downturned face... such a cute little pursed mouth. Impossible for her to keep her pain inside, she's not that type at all... too honest....

uaaaahhhhh 🙈it's TOO MUCH FOR THE GIRLS, AIDAIRO-SENSEI!!!! you can't do this to us/them.... noooo!!! isn't it wrong, it's like picking on the vulnerable..... iyaaaaa

such a sweet, heartfelt manga... the romance is so vivid... darling and sweet...

I like how much it hurts you, Nene-chan... I like how much you cry for it... you can't be happy for the idea of Amane's happiness alone... you wish you could give it yourself, be a part of it. You wish it included you. You wish it came from you. It's so painful because it's so selfish.... it's a wrong feeling to have. Your body wants to reject it. It feels distracted from the 'point' of happiness... what you 'want'. You 'want' a good future for Amane ... but some part of you must be begging for this world to be terrible, so you can have what you love back in your arms, for the happiness you alone could carve out for him. I respect that pain so so much.... you don't want it to be selfish to love Amane...

BIG FINISH!!!!!!!!

I love to see it yeessssss cheering hollaring whooping laughing cackling bones creaking in pain and pleasure

SHOW MEEEEEE THE SCARYYYYYYY MAN BRINGGGG HIM TO MEEEEE!!

I seriously wonder what the deal is in this situation, my god!! we all do of course... CAPTIVATING... this age Amane being here at all is a kind of time anomaly anyway, he isn't the right age and he isn't working at the school, yet here he is grading papers... does the conditions of his situation oscillate him between memoryless states? Does he operate on the living teacher .exe regularly, or is this genuinely a moment back in time? Only performed or really happening years ago? But the Amane in the school, itself, engaged with the topic of Tsukasa-kun, the rumors, likely the house (which he logically lived in, if we see him in it here now, settled)..... there just can't be a 'version' of him ignorant or helpless or only subjected to the house as an external ill, as he was seemingly actively perpetuating the school's possessions and sending students here. Fascinated by an Amane who is briefly so ignorant but can be triggered into his own memories and involvement .... is teacher.exe just so much easier to exist in while inactive?

the Red House, she seems to always exist untethered from time ...

well I'm deeply ready for the next issue's color opening, BRING MEEEE THE SCARY AMANE MANHANDLING NENE-CHAN...!!!!!! I want to know what we do with teens in this spooky mansion... what a thrilling story.

[kinda-daily-warriorcat]

☆ Zine WIP Art Dump ☆

Hello everybody! So I'm currently participating in Harriertail's Warrior Cats Cover Zine as the artist for Leafpool's Wish (I got sooo lucky since she's my favorite character) and I just wanted to upload my unused concepts now that I've finally decided on the one that I want to use

Design —

The face is a bit wonky so please ignore that </3 but these were my concepts for Leafpool's design since she's the main focus for this piece!

The first one is just my current design for her. The second one though is based off of my oldest Leafpool drawing that I still have. Most of my old digital art is lost due to data corruption or just deleting posts and videos on the offchance I did post art online, but this is one of the few drawings that survived. It's from a MAP part in a MAP that was actually completed but was deleted sometime in 2016. The third design is me trying to combine what I liked about the old and new designs together

I couldn't see her face and there's this white glare that's meant to be moonlight that I airbrushed in on Paint Shop Pro 7 so I couldn't directly colorpick, but I tried my best for the second one. I'm also probably going to make her eyes a cooler shade of a green since I'm not sure how I feel about the more olive green color

Unfortunately, the concept I went with isn't even going to show her tail so it doesn't really matter which one I use outside of the exact shade of light brown she's going to be, so I'll probably go with the current design. But had that not been the case, I would've gone for either the old design or the combined design since I thought it would be fun to nod to my old art of her since she's been my favorite character for so so long

Cover Concepts —

These concepts were all very rough since I was just trying to scribble them out as fast as possible since I am a slow artist, but as a consequence the cats do not look good at all. My focus here was the scenery and general placement and colors

Before my book reread

After my book reread

The first one is similar to my old concept before my reread. I was mostly just trying to fix the composition here more than anything. The second one though is based off of a dream that Leafpool had at the moonpool where she and Crowfeather were climbing a tree together (and then both were blown off the branch because of a storm... there were so many storms in Leafpool's Wish for some reason). Had this been the one I went with, I would've centered Leafpool more and pushed Crowfeather more into the shadow

The one that I ended up going with (which isn't featured here) is pretty simple all things considered but it was the one that people generally liked the most when I asked around but it still will have it's fair share of little details I'll try to add. I am very very excited to work on it and be a part of this project :)

[pluralthey]

have you ever introduced izzy’s alters here before? if not, could you show or talk a bit more about them? also, is there any reason why izzy sees herself as herself (mostly) in her head while felix sees themself as a little plush dude

dude i just spent a fucking hour answering this ask and tumblr decided to eat the entire post so sorry if i'm brusque about this.

this is izzi, she's the host of. izzi. she's a composite of 6 alters who integrated about half a decade prior and operate like 6 guys in a trenchcoat on a shared desire for power and control over the system using a hierarchy to resolve conflicts. not a subsystem, this is One Big Slime who used to be 6 Smaller Slimes.

the integrated alters:

this is 5150, the guy who functions as the head of the trenchcoat. it loves chaos and has a nasty habit of holding grudges. it's also incredibly weak without integrative support and has a lot to lose if the psyche becomes too unstable and consequently has a lot of motivation to, ironically, provide order and fairness between the integrative parts.

this is shivaree, first alter to integrate with 5150. she has a lot of influence over izzi's endgame personality as you might guess from how similar her appearance is. she was here for a good time not a long time and she loved fun, usually acquired through novelty. she was bubbly and social.

this is baby. baby was a psychosis sink, so, young, battered by psychotic symptoms constantly, and non-verbal. fourth to be integrated.

this is "the worm," although he went by like idk fucking oliver or something while he was hosting. sadboy, to izzi's integrated psyche he most provides some kind of moral compass because you can't feel like a bad person without one.

there were 2 more i never bothered to design, a skeleton edgelord (the face cutter) and a shadow the hedgehog introject, who had similar personalities, including their anger issues.

onto other alters who currently exist in izzi's system.

this is diesel. he's a composite of two protectors who integrated with each other instead of 5150 and he's tanky enough to step toe-to-toe with her when she's being a moron in a life-threatening way. diesel will ONLY front when he feels like his physical safety is on the line, but may do so before Literally Everything Is On Fire. rest is for the best babeyyy

this is LG. she's a little and she slides between ages 5 to like 13 or 14. she is a land before time fictive and she fucking loves dinosaurs so much. she fronts, y'know, whenever. she was Big Sleepy (dormant) while izzi was going through the process of integration, and is therefore not integrated. it isn't quite impossible to upset her but if you manage to do it the consequences are catastrophic.

these two are paired together even though they function separately and have very different personalities.

quinn is a textbook inner self helper/overseer, very hands-off, very aware of the system's lore and overall condition. they're a factive. plants are to them what dinosaurs are to LG.

malcolm is izzi's co-host. i would say you'd see them at least once per month if you were in contact with izzi every day. her longer term partners recognize malcolm (and LG) but she's told them to just shut the door on malcolm's face if they ever notice them fronting. they are a split from quinn and all of those bad little emotions that would make an overseer less rational got packed away into malcolm instead without any of the memories to even make sense of them. malcolm's existence happened after the period of intense integrative therapy for izzi, so they are not integrated with her. izzi sees malcolm as a symbol of failure on her part (even though they are Literally the only alter in the system who DIDN'T evade integration in some way, just straight up didn't exist while the therapy was happening), and the weakest link, consequently often using them like a punching bag. she will sometimes inexplicably veer to being friendly with them, but malcolm's disdain for her is a constant.

[mygreatadventurehasbegun]

My Favorite New-To-Me Movies of 2023

Women Talking

This movie won the Oscar of Best Adapted Screenplay and deservedly so...it's scenes are so tightly written and delivered so beautifully by the incredible cast of actresses, that it held my attention for the entire runtime. Every performance was fantastic, and I wish at least one of them had received recognition from the Academy...personally my vote would have been for Claire Foy, but any one of them could have walked away with a nomination.

Pearl

This was such an interesting horror flick...the saturated color palette, the extreme bursts of violence and of course, the magnificent performance by Mia Goth. She was absolutely fascinating to watch...the character of Pearl is so desperate to leave her home and to become a star that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

While I consider this to be one of the best movies I've seen this year...it's not necessarily one I'd ever want to watch again. At least not in the near future...because this movie is bleak. During the Great Depression, a group of people sign up for a dance marathon with the hope of winning the prize money. All the characters are so compelling and interesting to watch. Absolutely recommend watching it, especially for Jane Fonda's outstanding performance...but you might finish the movie a bit depressed.

Deathtrap

Man, this movie is fun. It's the kind of movie that I can't say too much about, because the plot is so full of twists...but the basic idea is: A famous playwright, coming off a string of flops, learns that his former student has written a surefire hit play, and he conspires to murder his student and take the play as his own. And you have Christopher Reeve wearing some fantastic sweaters.

Sweet Smell of Success

This movie is so good, I don't even know where to start. The performances, the writing, the cinematography...it's such a perfect example of a noir film (especially one that doesn't focus on a murder or a detective). I wasn't sure what to expect when I started, but from the moment I pressed play, I was completely engrossed.

The Last of Sheila

I really caught up on my murder mysteries this year...and The Last of Sheila is a really great one. Another movie that I can't say too much about because of it's twisty plot...but I will say you can definitely see how it influenced Rian Johnson for his Knives Out films. Also, this was co-written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim!

Catch-22

I blind bought this one after Alan Arkin's death...I had never seen it, but thought it seemed like a fun enough film to take the gamble on. And boy, was I right! While I can see why some critics didn't love it back then, this movie is so wonderfully bonkers, I can't help but love it! The witty dialogue, clever shot composition and excellent performances by a massive cast make this movie a real treat!

Home Before Dark

This was a very random find for me...I actually just came across it on TV when it was starting and decided to stick with it (just like the olden days, get off my lawn). And while the movie itself isn't perfect, I was completely drawn in by Jean Simmons' performance. Her character has just returned home from a stay at an asylum, and while she tries to reacclimate to life at home, we start to see her lose it again...but we aren't sure if she is actually being pushed towards that breakdown intentionally. It has a few shades of the movie Gaslight, for sure.

The Collector

This may have been my favorite new-to-me movie of the year! It is such an intense and uncomfortable film, with amazing performances by the two lead actors and an ending that I did not see coming. Given the story and the setting, I could almost see this easily being turned into a stage play...I'd love to see a theater try and capture the claustrophobic feeling you get when Miranda is trapped in that cellar.

A few honorable mentions are: All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), The Thin Man, Sound of Metal, Persona and Somewhere in Time (this one mostly for the melodrama, lol)

Here's to more movies in 2024!

[tolbachik-art]

How does one become good at drawing planets

Hey, thank you so much for the kind words & the question!

I'm still definitely a beginner, and have a long way to go, but it really warms my heart to hear you say that. For starters, getting over any perfectionism you may have is a big must!

I know a lot of people always say this, but practice, time, patience, doing studies, and having fun are the most important ways to get better!

I'll walk you through my progress, and what I've done to get where I am today with things! I will warn you, it did turn out to be a long winded post. If you want the jist of it, you can scroll to the bottom!

So, I've been doing digital art since say, mid 2015 or so. I didn't have much of a grasp on art, and while I grew up loving space and space exploration, I didn't quite understand how things worked.

On August 2nd, 2015 (when I was just 15), I posted my first piece on DeviantArt.

This was my first foray into space art. It may not be the best, but I remember being very excited about it, and actually making a piece like that.

This first piece is a big sign of what issues I would face with space art until very recently; a lack of detailing, leading to a soft appearance.

This would plague me for quite some time; I would put very little effort into detailing, and wouldn't even zoom in on the canvas for quite some time. I would do things from afar, not wanting to zoom in for some weird reason. This can be seen in the following paintings, as well.

This one, also of Neptune, was posted two years after the first one. The framework is kind of there, but only barely. The perspective is off, and once again, the detailing is too minimal and too soft. On top of that, the shading isn't nearly as harsh enough. Compositionally though, I was starting to get a grasp of some basics.

There would be a brief artless period in my life from 2017 to 2020; every once in awhile, I wouldn't do art for a few years. Then, suddenly, I would get back into it and put out several pieces, all before growing quiet once more.

2020, once Covid-19 started happening, would see the return of me to the world of art now that I was suddenly without a job.

Once again, Neptune will be a demonstrator of how my skills changed.

I was starting to get there; in terms of composition, much better than my older works. Coloring is a bit off, but overall, I was starting to actually understand how art works, and why things like detailing were important. One big thing here though; I was still painting with color. That would be one of the last big things for me to get over, although I didn't even know it then.

From the period of 2020-2021, I made a lot of paintings and mission patches for my one friend's KSP youtube series (seen here).

Doing what were essentially mini paintings, I learned a *lot* about composition and detailing. I think the one I spent the longest on was Heywood, in which I did my best to follow imagery from Voyager. Looking back now, however, it isn't quite accurate; that's the south pole! I still had a lot to learn in regards to doing accurate portrayals of celestial bodies, down to inclinations and the like.

Anyways, doing all that really burnt me out, on top of doing free art for people I didn't even know. That's another big lesson; only do gift art if you feel up to it, and for a friend. Do not do it for strangers.

It wasn't until late 2022, in September, that I actually finished a piece again. My illness had been pretty bad, leaving me bedbound for quite some time. However, during that time, I hadn't lost my skills thankfully.

This would be one of my first somewhat decent portrayals of Jupiter and one of his moons, using SpaceEngine for getting reference images and making sure all the parts were in the right place. This would set the groundwork for later paintings, as I always use SpaceEngine now to make sure I have the orientations and sizes of things in the sky right! It's been an invaluable tool, I quite literally don't know where I'd be without it.

Anyways; after that, it was very sparse once more, up until quite literally this year. Sickness sprung up again, and I had a rough winter due to the loss of my grandfather to Covid-19, among other things.

2024 saw, in my personal opinion, the biggest and best change to my art yet.

PAINTING IN VALUES!!!!!!!!!

I cannot stress this enough; understanding what values are, and how to see them in every day life literally changed my entire perspective on things. On life! I cannot go outside anymore without comparing and contrasting values of objects and natural phenomena.

This was before values. Not bad, but still not great. Detailing was getting there. This is from March 27th, 2024, and was part of an art trade with @dan-asd of their worldbuilding project.

And this, this is 3 months later, from July 16th, 2024. Commission for @corvidist, my very first. This was a massive leap in the way I understood and processed the world around me, and in turn, what my art looked like.

Everything is in values. Your phone, with the seemingly pure black LCD touchscreen to the blue and purple phone case. The clouds, with their bright white tops and dark bottoms. The river, with the murky green waters contrasting with the bright orange stones. All values, just differing shades of gray with color added! Everything is light! Everything is the absence of light! Light is the entirety of your piece; you just have to understand where light falls, and where it doesn't.

Apart from that, everything is just rudimentary shapes and lines. The universe is made up of different kinds of lines and shapes. Entire worlds can be reduced to light and lines, people can be too. You just need to know what to look for, and how to process that into artwork.

I cannot stress how much understanding that, and doing tiny little paintings really helped me get a much better grasp on things.

Take some time, get a small canvas out, and paint your favorite celestial body. Take as much or as little time as you need, and just have fun with it. Play with color, play with values, whatever your heart desires!

Once you're done, take a step back, and compare it to the picture. Analyze what areas you didn't enjoy, and what areas you did. Look for what doesn't line up with the picture, and think of how you could better approach it. Think of how you can change the lighting to make it seem more real, what effects are needed to bring it to life.

Art is the process of taking what you love, and putting it to paper (digital or not!). Focus on what you enjoy doing; it will all come naturally with time. You'll start to pick up on things, big and small, that will bring your pieces closer and closer to what you want it to be.

And please, for the love of everything that is holy, have fun with it and don't overthink it! You will be so disappointed in yourself if you hype yourself up for a piece, only for it to come out not the way you expected. That's ok! That's part of learning! It can be disheartening, but if you take the time to look at how and why you don't like the piece, it'll come out so much better next time around!

Talk to people, too! Talking with my dear email-pal Eduardo was my first step into understanding astronomical art, and thinking on how to improve my work. He really helped me step into the right direction when I was just starting out, which I am still eternally grateful for to this day. I think of him and his work often; he really was a massive help.

In more recent times, talking to @whirligig-girl helped me to get a better grip on realism, and how better to portray celestial bodies. She was a huge help in giving me pointers for fixing up my View From Amalthea piece, as well as the ones that followed after. Talking to artists more experienced than you and getting critiques is always a huge help; it can really show you things in a new light!

Speaking of, don't be afraid to let a piece rest and marinate for a bit. A day, a week, or even a year. It doesn't matter. You will come back to it, and you will see new things you never saw before, and think of new ways to improve upon it. I have a piece that's been in limbo for YEARS, and I still have yet to actually get to paint it (the top one, the alien one (i will never finish that Uranus piece though lol)). I have it perfectly envisioned now, so waiting really did pay off in the end.

Essentially, it all boils down to this:

Everything is light, or lack thereof.

Don't overthink it, and have fun.

Do not do free art for strangers.

Everything is shapes and lines.

Step back and look at your pieces, deconstructing them in your mind or on paper.

Examine your everyday life, and see how everything interacts in terms of values and color.

Do studies, please god, do studies they're so fun and eyeopening

Warmup! Warm! Up! WARMUP!!!!! They are critical to getting your mind in the art headspace! You will feel less interested and less focused otherwise!

Don't worry about your medium, just do what you enjoy and works best for you! There is no such thing as a perfect brush!

Talk to other artists in fields you enjoy!

I love talking about art, I really could go on for hours, but I will stop myself here.

You decide what you get out of art; it's your skill, your time, so do what you desire! These are only anecdotes about my experiences with art; they aren't universal, but I do hope they've helped. If you have any questions, any questions at all, don't hesitate to reach out!

Lastly, here are two resources for you for any future artworks you may do:

I got this book many years ago, but the lessons it gave me were invaluable. I mean it; they helped me to understand the importance of doing studies, and for detailing!

Paid membership, but an organization dedicated to doing astronomical art. I have yet to join, but I've heard lovely things about it! Hoping to join later this year, funds allowing.

I will finally end this here. Thank you so much for the ask, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day!

[sketch-guardian]

I need the students with an mc who has horrible bangs/fridge 🙏

Oh dear😂well, I'll do my best😌I hope I didn't come off as offensive🙈:

"RAD CLASSMATES+NEW EXCHANGE STUDENTS WITH A MC WHO HAS HORRIBLE BANGS"

DEMYA

Demya has peculiar hair, meaning that genetically she was born with two different colors of hair, light blue and blue, a characteristic trait of the fauxsaeva race, in addition to the set of various horns on her head. For Demya it would be pretty normal, a basic trait, especially due to her demon nature, so sometimes it would be a bit difficult for Demya to remember to say while in disguise as an excuse on Earth that she has dyed hair and eyebrows, given that it would be impossible to have such colors in natural way for humans. Therefore, Demya wouldn't mind if MC had strange hair or a bad haircut such as horrible bangs, she would care more about important things like personality rather than physical appearance, as long as MC proves to be worthy and a good mate, Demya would be more than happy with it. In case someone offended MC for their horrible bangs, Demya would get protective and, if not stopped, make sure to put the person who bothered MC in their place, perhaps by tearing their hair out, if they have any, otherwise Demya would scratch their face, to teach the asshole a lesson

DOMNRA/MOBIM

Domnra isn't exactly in a position to criticize other people's haircuts, considering he looks like an emo with that tuft of hair in front of his left eye, but to be fair, he only has that in order to cover his blind eye, not wanting to use an eye patch. Before, when Domnra was in the Celestial Realm in fact, he had his hair slicked back. Mobim on the other hand, being hairless, wouldn't have an opinion on MC's terrible bangs, the little curse would be too kind to mock or show prejudice. Domnra however, would find MC's haircut embarrassing and dumb, he would refrain himself from criticizing though, considering that even his hair isn't the best, over time Domnra would end up getting used to their hair and no longer notice such detail. If someone teased MC over their horrible bangs, Domnra would give the jerk in question a black eye

AZUL

Azul has short white hair, soft and slightly curly, almost like the wool of a sheep or a lamb, so his haircut doesn't require too much care or attention and it can result pleasant to ruffle Azul's hair as a tease, although rather than being annoyed, he would likely enjoy the affectionate gesture. Azul has an eye for art and appreciates all aspects of compositions, both harmony and chaos, yet he couldn't help but find MC's hideous bangs quite funny, wondering if it was an accident or a conscious choice. If MC was sensitive about their bad bangs, Azul would avoid taking pictures or joking about their hair, however if they were chill about the topic, then every now and then Azul would show MC memes of people with bad haircuts, saying stuff like "look, it's you" to joke around, expecting them to tease him back with something equally hilarious, after all Azul is pretty cheeky and has a certain sense of humor. If someone made fun of MC's horrible bangs, Azul would be able to humiliate and roast the offender without even breaking a sweat

ZURI

Zuri has long, silky hair, slightly wavy towards the ends when she styles it in a ponytail, she takes great care of keeping it tidy and flawless, so only the luckiest ones, such as MC, would be granted the honor to fiddle with her locks, by twisting them around a finger, only in intimacy and if there were no other imminent work commitments to attend to. At the sight of MC's horrible bangs, Zuri would keep a blank face, but internally grimace at such atrocity, mentally wondering whether the perpetrator was MC or some incompetent hairstylist. In case MC was self-conscious about their haircut, Zuri would offer to accompany them to an expert hairdresser or at most, if they don't feel up to it, to let her do their hair, as Zuri is skilled with scissors. In any case, Zuri would attempt her best to make MC feel gorgeous, if they were fine with staying with keeping that hideous haircut though, Zuri would sigh, but in the end let it go. It's unlikely that anyone would insult Zuri's beloved, especially in her presence, because her icy glare would be enough as a deterrent against insolent and rude people

ODON

Odon literally has to hide their "eyes" behind bangs because their full bare face is such a horror beyond comprehension that just looking at it induces either madness or death due to them being an eldritch abomination, so MC would be wrong to assume Odon would care about something as irrelevant as an haircut. In fact Odon wouldn't have an opinion on the matter and would accept MC however they choose to present themselves, it would be the least considering they accepted Odon as a friend despite their past misdeeds, reputation and eldritch horror nature. Although it's known that Odon has changed for the better and is no longer the same cruel eldritch horror they were centuries ago, people would still avoid making fun of MC, because they wouldn't want to screw around and find out if the rumors were true

REMIEL

Remiel has hair with light shades at the ends and locks pulled back in a small ponytail, she also has a tuft of hair on the left side of her face to cover the crack on her skin, which contains a black void filled with eyes, a small window onto her true celestial form. Her peculiar trait has never personally bothered Remiel, she simply chose to style her hair in such way as not to further frighten the souls she has to help reach the afterlife, as they are already quite troubled by the dramatic situation in which they find themselves. Remiel has been criticized more for her half-angel, half-nephilim race rather than for her appearance and she doesn't know Earthly norms of how to present oneself or what is considered normal by human standards very well, so although she would try to learn them, MC's horrible bangs wouldn't bother Remiel at all, it would simply be another characteristic trait of MC, her light. If some rude person insulted MC over their bangs, Remiel would remain calm and explain with a matter-of-fact tone that it was just a haircut, that it was irrelevant for balance and that the most important thing is purity of mind and soul, involuntarily making the unfortunate jerk feel as the worst person on the planet with her somber gaze

NATHANIEL

Nathaniel has peculiar hair, straight golden blonde on the outside and bright blue on the inside, quite interesting to look at, especially in other hairstyles, even though he barely ever changes his haircut. Appearance is one of the last things on Nathaniel's mind and he has much more urgent celestial matters to think about than MC having horrible bangs, so even though he would notice their hair, he wouldn't comment it, instead paying more attention to spending the free time he was given with them, he would even let MC play with his hair if interested, he wouldn't mind at all, actually he would find it soothing. It would be rare for anyone to insult MC's bad bangs in the presence of the Archangel of Patience and Temperance, because despite him being patient and tolerant, as his title suggests, his default stoic and piercing gaze would prevent people from making blunt or rude comments

URIEL

Uriel has slightly wavy hair, a neat fringe and small wings instead of ears which she often holds in front of her eyes, covering them from sight and preventing others from reading her expressions, in short it would be a particular hairstyle mainly for that reason. Uriel doesn't know human norms of how to present oneself in public, however she would still sense something off with MC from an aesthetic point of view, identifying the problem with MC's horrible bangs. Uriel would be quite blunt in asking about the origins of their haircut and whether it was possible to get it fixed, but otherwise, apart from a slight annoyance every now and then, Uriel would soon forget about it and would no longer give their hair much importance, considering MC's braveness, sense of justice and soul more fundamental than anything else. If someone were to insult MC's horrible bangs, Uriel would flare up her wings and shout at the bastard that they should be ashamed of their awful behavior

[insane-weasel]

Me, with the objectively worst opinion: Oh...I liked the idea of a QPR Lila x Five.

I'm only halfway through S4, but I like it over S3. (Victor's son caused me to mentally block out like 90% of S3)

Review so far:

Luther's plot: 3/10. I'd love for him to stop being the butt of the joke.

Diego: 0/10. Horrible. You're going to make him a dad and tell me he is not like a super loving and caring father and show me any of that????? Why???? Is he always treated so bad by the plot. Stop making fun of him ffs. Oh, he's barely even chubby, but make fun of his weight. Oh, he's kind of concerned his wife doesn't love him...when she doesn't....make him seem paranoid and in the wrong when...like??? What? WTF is Diego's character.

Allison: 6/10 Thank you for not sticking with Allison is the bad guy...though why throwing any character progression...uh what's with her and Claire??? Are they gonna expand on the last 6 years??? Why 6 years??? Hello??? Anyway, her plot is passable so far. Not best, but....not S3 which is a win

Victor: Only solid 7/10 because he's really hitting me-core. Only characterization I'm kinda on board with. Actually, yeah, have Victor living a really moderate life at a bar. I think he should take you another instrument that isn't the violim. Though not a fan of how they're depicting his powers. I liked the more ethereal powers. Though no on Victor having failed relationships. He needs an awkward cute romance like Sissy? WTF was with that whole beginning? Like...anyway.

Five: 2/10 I don't hate it. But it is the worst five plot thus far IMO.

Ben: 5/10. Actually, I do think Sparrow Ben would be arrogant enough to be in Crypto. I don't like Sparrow Ben, but his depiction tracks. Still wish we could...have OG Ben........Second thought, hate Sparrow Ben. Though whatever, love interest, okay.

Lila: ...1?/10 I feel like the one person who didn't like Diego x Lila, and didn't think she'd settle down. I like a QPR with her and Five. However--How they're handling this? Awful. Also, her powers????? No more mimic. Boooooooooooo.

Klaus: 2/10 I wanted them to go angst with Klaus' immortality, but...ughh. Compulsive cleanliness and over anxiety about common fears is a legitimate way paranoia can develop...as a person with those kinda issues, but they do not depict them in any. Like I'm going to be honest, when you do have those fears to that level...you aren't sober or if you are...you're not looking well. But forget all that crap, why couldn't we have whatever story was Klaus bonding with Allison and helping raise Claire. Why was that the plot we had to be told about rather than shown????$

Other thoughts:

-Gene and Jean are like...10/10. Solid villains. Love em. Costume, actors, quirks--great.

-OH. My. God. Can Reginald stoooooop being a character.

-Music and set designs are a 10/10, costumes this season and apparel is a 2/10. What are some of these looks????

-Uh...The plot is kinda...feels like a fanfic that the author continues after 6 years, half-assed and wings, and has no love for the source material. Some parts seem so lazy. The stakes feel weak. There's traces of a great story...buried in there.

Overall, my theory for what happened: Umbrella Academy leaned into its comic book elements in the worst way possible. For that to have worked, a cohesive and fully fleshed out plot would need to be in place first then followed by a style of editing, composition and mise-en-scene, and then characters can play into cartoon styles.

The editing and filming have not changed between seasons. There's no style. Actually, they've gotten worse. The camera angles are painfully standard. If you wanted comic book, that camera needs to be at some different angles, but no, 3/4, eye level, always capturing same length. Whoever directed this? For shame. You don't use the foreground. You don't use the background. Everything happens on the same level and has the same amount of presence on screen. It screams "no time for flare, let's just get this done!"

So many of the BTS/production elements feel...rushed. If that wasn't the case, if this didn't have a painfully short filming timeline and they didn't have severe restraints compared to the last seasons...than...no one had any love for the series anymore.

[riftwirecrystal]

NINJAGO STARSTRUCK AU - SPINJITZU AT 25:00 OPENING

This is the opening of the Ninjago x Project Sekai Nightcord swap.

Hey guys, I worked hard to make sure I kept most of the character's traits present, while coinciding with N25's main story. It would mean a lot if you stopped by to read a bit!!

Harumi Yoisaki

"This isn't right. Maybe if I…? Yes, that works."

My name is Harumi Yoisaki. I am a digital composer.

I would be a second year student of high school, but I do not go to school. I live by myself and complete online courses. My parents used to work in music.

I work in a group. We meet every night on our night chat, Spinjitzu. Ever since my parents were hospitalized I promised to keep doing what they did.

I don't live in a very roomy apartment. I barely pay the rent. Sometimes I will forget to eat.

But, I continue. Because I must compose.

I visit my parents sometimes. They don't wake up. They never will.

Because they are dead. And it's my fault.

So I continue. And the cycle will go on.I must compose.

Even though sometimes it's hard, I continue. Because this is my place. I will save someone.

I just need to keep composing. And soon…I will be able to save someone from the same fate as my parents.

They went out to drive…

"No. I will not think about it. I will keep going. I must save someone…

"My screen lit up.

"Hey Rue, I finished arranging that part for you. Do you want the demo?"

It was from L. He arranges my music and adds lyrics.

"Yes please," I wrote back. He sent the file, and I pressed play.

A harsh, but sweet melody flooded the room. The composition flowed smoothly with the arrangements L did.

"Thank you, L. It sounds good," I typed.

"I'm glad. I think I'm going to log off," he typed back.

So early? That's weird…"Get some sleep! You must be tired, but it sounds good though," typed Nyad.

"Yeah, I heard you had class tomorrow, so rest well," added PIX.

Nyad works with our other member, PIX. Nyad does the art while PIX does the editing.

We post songs and music videos on our shared account, S25. Usually I get slightly more of the cut we make due to my living situation, but I still make sure to give them the amount they deserve too.

We've never met each other face to face, but I find joy in working with the three of them.

Even with that, I'm not doing this for fun.

I must compose.

Lloyd Asahina

I logged off the computer.

I am Lloyd Asahina, a second year high school student.

I glanced at the sheet of music on my desk, then the workbook that’s shoved to the floor.

Guess I should do that then, huh?

I slowly and miserably picked up the book from the ground, then placed it on my desk.

But I couldn't open it.

I didn't want to open it.

But I had to, didn't I?

I had to.

I ended up finishing the notes and assignments I was supposed to take next week.

Hopefully that will be enough…

My mother called from the hallway. "Lloyd? Are you still awake?"

"Yeah. Just finishing some things for next week," I said.

She softly opened the door. "Good. I don't want you being all caught up with those people online again. You know what happened last time. You're so talented and gifted, and I want the best for you… okay?"

It's hard to fight with her. I gave up a long time ago. Now I only hide.

"Yes, mom," I replied.

My mother is Dr. Misako Asahina. She is one of the most famous and world renowned doctors in the world. She has no interest in music, and expects me to take a similar career to her.

But I don't know what I want to do. I don't know who I am.

What do I want to be…?

But I continue to do whatever she says. I don't know why. I just can't defy her, no matter how hard I want to.

I'm supposed to be the best for everyone around me. Why stop now…?

I haven't known myself for a long time now. It's nothing new to feel like this.I can't help it. I still hate it.

But if that's the case, why can't I leave it…?Deep down, I knew the truth.I could not escape.

I have been forever alone.

I hate it.

I hate myself.

I have lost who I am.

Nya Shinonome

For forever, I have wanted to become an artist.

I have many names.

Nya Shinonome, for one.

But I can also be Kai’s sister, a little girl, the loner, etc.

I am all of them.

Yet I am none of what I want to be.

I do not go to school during the day.

I have never been able to choose my own path.

When I try, I am constantly told I’m not good enough.

I should give up.

I should stop trying.

I am not talented.

I am not valued.

But I persevere.

My destiny should be what I make. Not what anyone else says. I will be good enough. I can be good enough.

But am I really?

Yes, I always tell myself.

As I tell myself this again, I get a text message from PIX in the chat.

“Hey Nyad, can I see the storyboard you were working on for the next song?”

I quickly sent her the progress I’d made so far. “Here.”

“Thanks! You’re so talented, I’d never be like you,” she responded.

That made me feel a bit better.

Sometimes it does get hard.

Sometimes I feel like I can’t do anything right.

Sometimes I feel completely and utterly useless.

Sometimes I just feel like I want to disappear.

It’s the worst feeling in the world.

But I need to prove everyone who doubted me wrong.It doesn’t matter who tells me I can’t do it.

My parents, my teachers, my brother, none of them.

I will pursue my dream.

Even if it means I’ll have to fight all the doubts clouding my head.

Pixal Akiyama

I sighed.

Everyone else had logged off already.

What do I do now..?

I looked at my bag and remembered the schoolwork due next week.

"I really don't want to do that right now…"

I tried to ignore it and started working on the new music video. My name is Pixal Akiyama. I am a first year high school student.

I use my friend Nyad's art in edits for Rue and L's songs. Lately my inspiration has been lacking. I'm not sure why.

School life isn't much better either. It's been a while since I've talked to Sora… I noticed an influx in people calling me names and avoiding me too. I'm always excluded and made fun of.

I don't know why.

I miss my dad…

My dad is Cyrus Akiyama, a clothing designer with a very different approach to styles. He moved away to work for his company a few months ago.

I haven't had many people to talk to recently.

I miss talking.

It's been so long…

I miss having people to confide in. To run to. To trust.

No one accepts me. And no one will.

I am alone. Forever and ever.

[uraniumnm333]

dropping more tsukasa kanade lore guys >>>

i think that after kanade has the initial tsukasa jumpscare they start to get along well but like. kanade talks to think man because even though she goes to the same school as mizuki GUESS WHO NEVER FUCKING ATTENDS !!! and once she talks to tsukasa long enough she's introduced to rui and nene by being invited to ★★★ SUPER COOL EAT-LUNCH-ON-THE-ROOF TIME [kool kats only ★★] ★★★ and kanade sits down like "okay. these people seem calm. theyre probably normal. i think. i can do this :]" and then emu. climbs onto the roof. and kanade thinks "OHFUCKOHSHIT NEVERMIND NEVERMINDNEVERMIND"

so they eat lunch and kanade is introduced to tsukasa's not boyfriend, tsukasa's not girlfriend and tsukasa's not girlfriend. and they have a good time !!! kanade gets along well with nene, but also doesn't because i think the two of them are the equivalent of the "shy people vs introverts" meme. rui is fun but kanade cannot understand that man for the life of herself. and. emu. so ironically tsukasa is the one she gets along with most.

so they hang out and also i think that kanade has tsukasa look over her compositions and has probably gotten him to play an actual piano bit for one of nightcord's songs. idk which you just gotta trust me. and one day kanade comes to their daily meet up thing which happens in the park because silly and tsukasa isn't doing his usual thing. bc when she usually comes tsukasa is happy and smiling like :D :D :D and helping out little kids on the playground equipment but this time nobody's here and he's just. off. and kanade can feel The Vibes but she goes over anyways. and she sees him and he sees her and suddenly he's happy again but this time it's all wrong. and she leaves and goes back home and she thinks back and realizes how Wrong all their interactions had felt. but at the same time it didn't. and she's trying to make sense of all this and talks to nightcord about it because who else would she talk to ??? and general consensus is "make discord server with him" so that's what she does. yes this results in silly tsukasa uses discord for the first time shenanigans. and they all start talking !!! ofc she introduces mizuki as mizuki but mafuyu and ena are left as "my online friends enanan and yuki"

tsukasa ends up inviting rui nene and emu because WHO ELSE ??? and rui dms kanade like "okay i know why you did this but we. are getting nothing out of this. also is yuki mafuyu from the all girls school that emu goes to ???" also SIDE PLOT with emu not feeling creeped out around yuki like she is mafuyu. just wanted to mention. anyways rui is like "i know who you are" and kanade is like "help me help you help your bf (boy best friend)" and idk how but eventually tsukasa just. breaks down.

it's not even anything special he's just in a discord vc w everyone and they start talking about fun things they did as children and tsukasa realizes he can't even remember talking to his parents unless it was over the phone and he just. goes quiet !!! and that's not normal because tsukasa is never quiet so everyone is just a teeny weeny bit worried. and then they hear this man. CRYING ???

so of COURSIES they all meet up in the empty sekai bc we love sekai mashups !!! and idk from there tbh im just bein silly atp

[utilitycaster]

If you wouldn't mind to share, how would you have mapped out Laudna's build to make for a better character?

(I have a second anon about this as well so this goes for both)

Honestly my favorite solution is to make her a warlock/wizard instead. It gives her a degree of agency that's far more compelling, and also wizards are simply better than sorcerers (and a high INT with an arcana focus would do the party good). I think this is the best way in keeping Delilah interesting, because she has really been on an endless downhill slide since, let's be real, before this campaign. The idea that Laudna came back with a necromancer in her head and decided to learn everything she could about necromancy is incredibly appealing to me and would maintain the creepy vibes (and even better explain her pariah status). This also opens a doorway for her to maintain Pate.

I think the other option is for her to have just taken warlock instead of sorcerer from the start. What's weird to me is how common it is for people to act like Marisha's leveling up choices are dictated by Matt's moves as Delilah, which is simply not the case (sidebar: iirc Marisha said she intended initially to take no further warlock levels rather than the one she took, which is bizarre to me given Pate and her statements about him), but anyway, Laudna reluctantly moving along in the direction of Delilah provides far more tension and interest. Like, the problem with Delilah is both the fact that she's played out and keeps getting less interesting and more pathetic with every return, but also that, with mostly sorcerer levels, Laudna getting rid of her isn't terribly high stakes. Had Laudna been mostly a warlock at least this would be a fraught decision, but now it's like yeah girl kill that fucking mosquito.

My final suggestion is that warlock/bard would have been more fun. I know warlock/sorcerer as coffeelock was popular for a minute on reddit but people on reddit are maybe the worst at D&D of all the social media platforms. The fact is, Imogen is doing sorcerer in a more interesting way in every single capacity, and bard would not only improve the party's composition immensely, it also I think adds a really great dimension to Laudna's people-pleasing tendencies.

[sirfrogsworth]

I think I might have a highly controversial answer to this.

And my answer is influenced by how highly regarded the movie is compared to my experience with it. And it may not be the worst movie as far as the quality of the filmmaking, but it was the most angry I have ever been after watching a movie.

*drumroll*

Or as I like to call it... "Math Homework: The Movie"

So many people have said this is one of the best time travel movies ever made. And I just don't get it. There is literally no person who understood this movie on the first viewing. I had to watch a YouTube explanation video that was nearly as long as the actual movie to kinda/sorta understand it.

There is that Einstein quote, "If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself."

I'm not sure that is entirely true, but I think it should at least be true for a movie. Donnie Darko also made me angry for the same reason. I thought I was an idiot because I didn't know what was going on. But then I watched the director's commentary and he was like, "I'm not entirely sure what is going on." He didn't understand his own movie!

I know some people like puzzles and that is probably what they liked about Primer. It was a very detailed and well-thought-out time travel puzzle. They clearly thought a lot about how the time travel worked. It was something fun to figure out for people. This was a big point of pride for the director saying he didn't want to "dumb down his movie." But that isn't what he did. Making something incomprehensible is not the opposite of dumbing it down.

And if you are going to have a convoluted plot that people cannot understand on the first viewing, you can at least make the movie entertaining in other ways. But this movie had horrible visuals, some very stiff performances, and the non-puzzle parts of the plot were just not that interesting. "Hey, they played the stock markets! Let's watch some capitalism unfold!" And the whole white knight party scene just made me cringe. It was especially concerning considering the director was later found out to be abusive to his ex-girlfriend. Was he saving the girl in the movie from a version of himself? Very meta.

I didn't really understand Tenet, but at least it had explosions and backwards fight choreography. I will give Primer a little credit for shooting the movie for $7000. But I still think the visuals could have been much better. Even if it was just better composition and interesting camera angles. You can do a lot of creative things purely in how you frame your shots.

I am not personally interested in a movie where I have to take notes and draw diagrams to understand the plot. I just want to absorb it and be entertained.

That said, I have no problem if others liked that aspect. If you jumped for joy when assigned math homework, this movie was made for you

So I will say this was one of the worst films for *me* to watch, but not the worst film in general.

[paradox-oflife]

Top 10 albums 2024

Tagged by my mate @lememecollector, last time I did this was.. I was still in high school 💀I had a lot of stuff from the Killers, Mitski, twenty one pilots lmao so let's see how much I've changed

In Rainbows - Radiohead

To me, this is the golden record and the most perfect album. It gets better and better every single time I listen to it. If you want to listen to it on a more normal level, it's so fun to groove and jam to. If you want to dig deep, you'll realize every single track is actually pretty complex from a musical perspective. 15 Steps being in 5/4 signature, Bodysnatchers being in something of a syncopation, Weird Fishes in a very layered polyrhythmic soundscape, Faust Arp changing time signatures every few measures etc. The closing track, Videotape still confuses me with it's rhythmic patterns. The lyrics seem to contrast the vibes of the music, e.g. 15 Step opening up with "How come I end up where I started?" and that feeling of never being able to escape your old faults. Even the track order is so perfect, it's ordered in a way where it never feels like it drags or rushes, and everything just flows so seamlessly into each other. Upbeat, depressing, innovative, experimental all at once.

What puts this at first place is really the musicality of it. It's very much what I think of as an objective perfection. I think some of the other albums I put on this list isn't as polished, but it's more about the emotional and rawness of the music. Like, I would blast In Rainbows if I'm on aux, but I wouldn't blast like. Shoegaze. I've never been much of a fan of Radiohead for their lyrics bc ngl I don't even know what Thom is singing half the time, but it's always been about the actual musicality for me.

Favorite is Jigsaw Falling into Place! The bass player in me is obsessed.

2. bury me at makeout creek - Mitski

My first love <3 musically speaking. I was in like 7th grade when I heard "Francis Forever" play on Adventure Time then immediately going to search it up. Then I heard First Love/Late Spring, then Townie, and something in me flickered. It was the first time I ever heard an Asian American in the indie rock scene. Back then, Mitski was such a small artist and relatively unknown. I remember journaling about her music in 7th grade lmao. The explosiveness of Texas Reznikoff, the teenage angst in Townie, crushing First Love/Late Spring, the yearning self-affirmation on Francis Forever..etc. It's actually quite musically simplistic but it's so catchy and manages to have some of the most personal and confessional lyrics at the same time. And it's not like Mitski doesn't know how to be "musically complex", she was literally a studio composition major and you can really feel that bleed through in Retired from Sad, New Career in Business.

Bmamc feels like something you would sing to yourself on a guitar in your bedroom, or perform in your garage, or something you would write in your diary. It's meant for yourself, not for a large crowd of a sold out stadium. It's raw, cathartic, intimate, and says everything it needs to say about love, insecurity, anger, grief, youth in a short 30 minutes. It meant everything to me and it still means everything to me. I hold it very close to my heart.

It's so hard to choose favorites for this. I have a special place in my heart for Francis Forever but every track means so much to me. I think Jobless Monday is so underrated though.

Side note: I have a lot to say about Mitski. I hate gatekeeping music but honestly like. I hate how her music has been dumbed down into "sad/yearning" or "for the gays", and that makes it feel sorta bland and discredits a lot of the depth. Like sure, a lot of her songs sound sad on surface level but when you really pay attention to what she's saying.. e.g. First Love/Late Spring is about loving someone so much that the feeling scares you. It's not even negative, by any means. Or Your Best American Girl is about never measuring up to the standard of your non POC partner. And her relatively recent success seems to have had a terrible impact on her, with concert behavior and the whole recording controversy, it's unfortunate to see her grow really uncomfortable with her fame as she's known to be a very private person.

3. Grace - Jeff Buckley

I've always known about Jeff Buckley since I was a small kid because of his cover of Hallelujah, but I never really dug that deep into his discography until later in high school. The first time I heard Grace I was so blown away by how powerful his voice was. I had Grace on repeat for a month when I first discovered it. The soft rolling guitar in Mojo Pin.. the intensity of the title track Grace, the summer break up vibes in Last Goodbye, the fragility of his voice in Lilac Wine, the odd chord progression in So Real.. "I love you, but I'm afraid to love" being whispered.. His voice is SO profound. Etc, He is probably one of my favorite lyricists ever, every line he writes is straight poetry. Not to mention the Sufi influences from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.. He has such an odd vibrato and singing technique. He was such a sweet and sensitive guy. Also quite an underrated guitarist. He's like the King Midas of covers, every cover he makes turns into gold.

It's funny how a lot of my favorite artists have been influenced by him in some way. From Radiohead to Mitski to Lana Del Rey.. even people like Adele, Brad Pitt?, Jimmy Page, Phoebe Bridgers, literally you name it. The way he died was so tragic. I always wonder what he would have went on to accomplish if he had a little more time. The demo for My Sweetheart the Drunk was such a large departure from Grace, I genuinely wonder what public perception would've been if that ever released properly. Maybe he would have only been remembered for Grace and considered a flop after that, a one-album wonder. Maybe dying young cemented his legacy.

Favorite track is either Mojo Pin or So Real.

4. OK Computer - Radiohead

alright alright yeah I know two albums from the same artist on a top 10 list can be cheap but here me out. OK Computer is typically seen as the white edgy incel doomer album and is "overrated" but. From a musical perspective it's extremely impressive. Its place in alt rock history cannot be understated. At a time where grunge was dying, this album brough rock back in relevancy but in a different approach. This idea of a more artsy, experimental rock was a new and fresh flavor. The layered instrumentation and complexity.. it was very "out there" because the new computerized electronic noises were new for artists, and Radiohead was out there messing around with it. Paranoid Android was the first time I ever heard a guitar solo in 7/8 and it absolutely blew my teenage mind. There's a bit of political commentary though I don't know enough about UK politics to really say anything about that.

The themes in this album have aged beautifully. The paranoia of our world being engulfed by technology, a society where we're so advanced but even more alienated and isolated from each other, the fear of what would happen to humanity once technology became our rulers. The feelings of overstimulation and digital numbness. Fitter happier is often joked upon, but I think the lyrics really do sum up the album so well. The mundanity of life, a painful reflection of reality.

Picking a favorite is hard because I always listen to this album from start to finish. I think Climbing Up the Walls is very underrated. It captures the feeling of paranoia and losing your mind so well. I'm stopping myself from putting the rest of Radiohead's discography on here.

5. Did you know there's a tunnel under ocean blvd - Lana del Rey

Lana is... a messy person to say the least. She's made very questionable and controversial choices but honestly? She's somehow always in every single one of my playlists. But ocean blvd might be my favorite album to come out in the past 5 years, and i rank it above NFR. I love a good orchestral album, and when it lost every single grammy it was nominated for I almost saw red. I think A&W is a masterclass in songwriting and storytelling. The beat switch is so Jack Antonoff core. The themes of loss of innocence, trauma, family, identity... BEAUTIFUL!! Even the title itself is so interesting. The idea of something iconic slowly fading into irrelevancy, the question of will Lana's legacy end up just like that tunnel? I really love how personal the lyrics are compared to her previous works. I started crying at the opening track lmao.

I know she considered Chemtrails Over the Country Club to be the album that represented who she was, but Ocean Blvd nailed who she really is. I'm curious for how her next album is going to sound like. Never been a country fan but I believe Lana can nail a very specific aesthetic in the country genre.

Favorite is A&W and Kintsugi. I thought Kintsugi was a bit too slow paced for me at first but then when I heard "Daddy I miss them" I bawleddd.

6. Either/or - Elliott Smith

I'd always heard his name a lot but I never got around to checking him out until not too long ago. I knew Phoebe Bridgers cited him as a major influence, but then I kept hearing more and more people citing him like Frank Ocean, Alex G, Sufjan Stevens, even like Mac Miller, and I think I got tired of wondering who he was. When a lot of famous artists cite someone as an influence, I gotta check them out. You could immediately tell where Alex G got his low quality production vibes from haha.

I think what really drew me in is this feeling of a just a guy with a guitar singing to himself in his bedroom. I really like how soft and vulnerable his voice is. Could you argue he's not a good singer? Yeah, sure, I guess. But that's not really the point, is it? His chord progressions are very interesting and trying to learn like any of his songs on the guitar is such a nightmare, he's extremely skilled with the guitar. I love a depressing song, what can I say?

Favorite: Between the Bars, No Name no. 5, and Say Yes.

7. Melodrama - Lorde

I'm not an avid pop listener by any means, but Melodrama is the most perfect pop album I've ever heard. There are literally no unskippable tracks on this album and every time I listen to it, I feel like I have to listen to the whole album instead of single by single. Because her first album was slow paced and minimalistic, she received some flack for going more towards the maximalist pop approach, the very thing she was changing in the beginning. Despite all of the early criticism, Melodrama's aged beautifully. The lyricism is just gorgeous. It paints such a distinct picture.

It's interesting to follow Lorde as she grows older, and all of it is reflected in the music. Pure Heroine is the "growing up" album, Melodrama is the "growing pains", and Solar Power is really about settling into herself. Melodrama is her late teens/early twenties sophomore album, where she goes from the early teenage experiences to the more mature experiences. Talks about doing makeup, partying, breakups and heartaches... It's about the growing pains of moving past teenagehood. It's perfect. Listening to it while walking around college campus at night is an out of body experience. I would pay to have the album cover as a painting on my walls.

Favorite track: Hard Feelings/Loveless or Perfect Places. Love that weird experimental noise in Hard Feelings

8. Loveless - my bloody valentine

They were not lying when they said this was one of the best shoegaze albums ever. If you want to start getting into the shoegaze genre, this is the album to go to. The heavy distorted guitar banging in on the first track, the drum patterns and memorable melodies. It's very rhythmic. Shoegaze as a genre has always been so interesting to me - To have the vocals take a backseat and let the soundscape do the work, and you let this wall of sound wrap you up like blanket. It's less about what you're trying to say with the words and more about the sound itself and how it makes you feel. That fuzzy distortion makes me feel unlike anything else. When You Sleep is probably the most stand out track and the most popular, but there are many tracks that don't have any vocals, just repeated guitars. Yet somehow, somehow it's not boring to listen to.

My favorite one is Sometimes, probably the closest thing to a love ballad they'll get to. It makes me feel complete and empty at the same time. Drowsy and intimate, the mumbled lyrics. When that song came on in that one scene in Lost in Translation, it became one of my all time favorite scenes ever. That feeling of derealization and staring at a world that's right at your feet but you can't really enter it. Idk. But I think that's the point.

9. Vessel (And Regional at best) - twenty one pilots

This album has such a special place in my heart. I was going through the early teenage angst and it was the first album where I heard where it was saying "It's okay, we feel this way too." It felt a lot more personal that what I was used to hearing in middle school, like Despacito or whatever was trending that time. Yeah it's a bit reminiscent of the mid 2010s but it was also my gateway to more alternative music. It combined so many genres where it didn't feel like a particular genre. I don't really listen to twenty one pilots as much anymore but Vessel always will take me back.

I'm combining Regional At Best in this because it has a few overlapping songs and it's technically not a real album. But I would kill for a remastered version of RAB, esp songs like Slowtown. The songs meant so much to me and my younger self. However, I think Trench is the objectively best record twenty one pilots has put out.

Not sure what my favorite track would be. RAB has some golden ones. I think I would choose Kitchen Sink, but Anathema also means a lot to me.

10. Continuum - John Mayer

This album was quite influential towards my perception of guitars. I used to be obsessed with the bass guitar and I used to want to play the drums until I really listened to this album. I guess I used to think about guitar solos as flashy - Something you could shred on to show off your talent. I thought people like Van Halen and maybe Slash were talented, but the intensity and difficulty didn't really appeal to me. But I guess because Continuum is more heavily inspired by blues and souls, you don't really feel any of that (except for the Hendrix cover Bold as Love). Each solo is melodic and laidback. Mayer's known for his virtuostic guitar talent but here, he's demonstrating that he knows when to strip back.

Overall, it's just a very clean and solid album. No very skippable tracks, very ummm "friendly" to listen to. Like anyone can enjoy soft rock playing in the car, y'know.

Favorite tracks: Either Belief or I'm Gonna Find Another You

Honorable mentions (some other 10/10s)

Sam's Town - the Killers

My once favorite album.. I still love it a lot. I guess I've discovered a lot more stuff since then it took a backseat in my list of favorite albums. But I'll gladly do a rewrite of why I love it so much

This album makes you feel patriotic but not in a nationalistic, America is the best country on Earth, racist way. It's more of a cowboy, rugged individualism, independence, No Country for Old Men, western saloons and faded glamor type of feeling. Red Dead Redemption 2 type of feeling. It makes sense since they were trying to escape from the Hot Fuss era where everyone thought they were a British band. So they went the opposite direction and made this whole album is this declaration that they were Americans. Sam's Town has such an iconic opening, very "guns blazing", very Bruce Springsteen feeling. Read My Mind changed me as a person and I have no idea why exactly. It must have been my favorite song for 2 years. That final verse after the guitar solo is soul ascending.

Kessoku Band - Kessoku Band

Bocchi the Rock was the first anime I'd watched in a while and really got hooked on. Chainsaw Man was going on at the same time, but I'd already read the manga so many times I guess it wasn't the same. But BtR being a spiritual successor to K-On just really made me fall in love. The rotoscoping, attention to detail, the amount of inside jokes that only musicians can really understand. The humor is unmatched, and imo it's the embodiment of anime at its creative peak. The plot is heartwarming and relatable, the character dynamics are so great. It reminded me of my high school band lol

Overall, extremely well produced album and they got some of the best musicians in the j-rock industry like tricot haha and the peggies. The lead guitars go HAM with every solo and riff, the drum fills and patterns, not to mention how good the basslines are.

Blonde - Frank Ocean

Admittedly I was late to the Frank Ocean train, but this album in unmatched in its circle. It's such a good concept album, I just know Frank Ocean had been cooking this up for a long time. The ideas of duality, masculinity, and femininity and how the album is perfectly split in the middle at Nights during the beat switch, and how the album starts diving into the "masculine" part. Less singing, more rapping. Femininity is expressed through those pitch shifts and the topics of the songs. Blonde was even released as blond in some versions. I think my soul ascended a bit the first I heard Seigfried - Could literally pinpoint where Johnny Greenwood contributed, also the verse about dreaming about a thought. Close To You is such an underrated track. Also one of my favorite album covers.

twenty one pilots - Twenty One Pilots

Their first album and of course, it has a very fundamentally different feeling than the rest of their work. It was made in the basement Tyler Joseph and the original members of the band were staying at, and you can honestly feel it lol. It's overtly a lot more religiously themed (or more so the struggle with faith) and I guess you could say it's a lot more darker in sound, Songs like Addict With a Pen.. whew.. The songwriting is already pretty strong here, and it's a lot more piano heavy. The thing I might not like the most on that album in the way he sings. The midwestern emo accent/enunciation pops out so hard LOL. But I really appreciate this album for what it is. I'm also obsessed with the album cover.

I think my music taste has definitely evolved a bit, but I also lowkey sound like a white male/alt girl on tiktok 💀 I think compared to my last post I ever made, I've definitely improved at expressing a lot of my thoughts on music and why it's so special to me. I also really just enjoy blabbling a lot about music even though no one will probably see this haha. I have a lot more albums that I absolutely love and picking just 10 is impossible. Maybe I'll do this challenge again in another 5 years and see what's different haha