#gravity falls ep 17

[biblicallyaccuratepigeons]

Couldn't not

It's stupid and messy but it's mine so there

[ishankedurmom]

I havent even finished season 1 of gravity falls (watched up to ep 17? I think? With my irl friends) and the only thknv im really in the fandom for is trans dipper

I felt so bad for him in the bodyswap episode omg- imagining being as far transitioned as you can at 12, then becoming a girl??? Omg. Im afab trans agender (closted, not rlly transitioned) and that shit would STING

Pat pat dipper its only gonna get worse ❤️

[thicctails]

Question!! Would Ep 15 S2 (the uh, Mabelcorn thingy where Mabel fights unicorn to get hair) and Ep 17 S2 (that one ep where Ford offers apprenticeship to Dipper) still happen? I doubt it would since Bill is sort of neutral by now.

I don't know if it would or not, but I would love to see the cipher parents' reaction to its events! (Just ignore/forget that the rift breaks and weirdmageddon happend at the end of ep 17-)

The events of The Last Mabelcorn do happen, but in this au it's how Mabel and Bill really first start to bond! Mabel makes Bill a plush unicorn doll to inhabit and the two of them go searching for unicorns. It ends with them getting unicorn blood and hair to use for their Family Scrapbook once the judgemental hoofbags start making Mabel feel bad. Scalene and Euclid are very happy their kids are getting along.

As for the other episode, it would probably just go like it does in canon, without the tears at the end, because Mabel is also staying in Gravity Falls to apprentice under McGucket!

[the-chessboard-is-personal]

season 2 time wahoo another damn liveblog am I right??

(liveblogging ii season 2, for if it's not obvious. same style as last ii liveblog)

1 - woahh! okay I love the style tbh. wait. Super Mario 3D World/Initial release date: November 21, 2013. this episode: Apr 2, 2013. INANIMATE INSANITY PREDICTED THE DOUBLE CHERRY???? ...huh. weird. why does MePhone have an app for that? y'know, RESURRECTION?

2 - MePad ? can teleport? ?? yeah that egg is gonna be relevant again isn't it

3 - BOW INATOR?? holy shit holy shit ohhg waow,,there is something in this episode that I want so much. lmao. "umm huh, lmhuehyahahuh.." (<- me attempting to spell what test tube said at the end of the ep)

4 - I didn't think the elimination song sucked.. hey wait why does it sound like they get killed or something when they go through the portal. also where does the portal lead

5 - SEVEN?? MeOS SEVEN??? oh huh. is that why someone who dies in space can't come back? OH THE NO SERVICE COMMENT WAS FORESHADOWING!!? wait why is that how it works. why does MePhone specifically get notifications about people dying. wh- okay?? that was ominous ?MePhone what does that rnean. ..chESS MENTIONED

6 - aaand there's another one. ANOTHER TWO??? .oh :| ...what the entire fuck. and yep this episode makes me uncomfortable. who would've FUCKING GUESSED

7 - oh so THAT'S where the portal lead. ..as down as the WHAT- ouhjghhu nooo... not a song

8 - ah yes, MePhone got The Common Code- oh. also idc what the objects say, ftrEwy7u9iop8oaTE7gI is a wonderful name for a challenge. or a password. each new MePhone gets less understandable because of the "techy" voice effec- oh he's dead. [sees Steve Cobs's reaction to the egg] ohh okay. one moment [walks away from the computer]please don't be like dsmp please don't be like dsmp please don't be like dsmp please don't be like dsmp plehokay. oh I don't like him

9 - ...I'm not crying you're crying.,, uohg this is the second time a show like this has had something that felt like it was directed at me. and the other time was Gothi talking to Xanu in Fool's Gold,.,. which was also about moving on.. is.. is that wh- oh hey a gravity falls reference. haha lol :) ...oh this is the depression eppisode. BITCH -> 🌮 <- BITCH

10 - aha! I've figured it out! the secret is MPABZCEAS!! holy fucking shit my joke was immediately kind of relevant. wha..suitcase?? y'know that voice kinda sounded like MePhone

11 - wHUH SMG4 SOUND?! oh wait that sound probably isn't from SMG4, that's just the first time I heard it. still though, neat. ...wild theory. I'm gonna sound like Fan here, but. "Is anything on this show real?" seems.hmm idk. sus. I call foreshadowing. hokay something's definitely going on with Suitcase. oH FOR FUCK'S SAKE yep don't like this episode either

12 - oh fuck they're in episode 1. oh fuck they're in HWUH ?? ..ohh MePhone hates Cobs too. hey if anyone's read this far, I want to know who's your favorite character from the alternate timeline, because why not! mine is Traffic Light

13 - woahhh MePhone backstory! oh. oh I do Not trust that "screen protector". HEY HEY WHAT WAS THAT WHISPER [turns on captions] oh. oh REALLY. HMM. ...wh. what. what what what what what ROBOT ADAM?? MEPHONE 3???? WHAT WHAT WHAT AAAAAAAA UH OH! UH OH OH NO UH OH!! ohkay this is the panic time, the time in every show tumblr freaks out about where things go CRAZY. OKAY OKAY I'M READY AAAAAA

14 - so the person who told me I should watch ii said I need to watch all of season 3 after this episode. I have no idea why! oh fuck! but anyway. that rneans I'll be splitting this section into actual paragraphs since this is the last episode of this liveblog. (<- said that before starting the episode). anyway.

okay. okay Fan just got abducted. ..hhhow did he know that. how did he know that MePad let Marshmallow leave. .hey hey what's with the shot of that panel with the hole in it. maybe I'm just tired but that doesn't seem..right. and not in the bad writing way.

uhm. hey 17:36 isn't supposed to be hitting me too whY IS IT HITTING ME TOO WAUGH.

"is that what you said to Pickle" OHH DAMN MY HEART DROPPED LIKE THE SCENE HOLY SHIT. wait IS FAN DEAD FOREVER??

wait didn't test Tube get eliminated? why did Microphone go through the portal??

looking at the comments for. tbh I forgot what reason when i saw this one

uh knew what KNEW WHAT OH FU-

anyway. so Fan glitching is. gonna be foreshadowing? oh boy let me guess... uhh.. wait why would Fan glitch. other things that glitch are..the tree MePhone made for Cobs? MePhone himself when Tissue Box sneezed on him?? that MePhone 3?? but none of that has anything to do with Fan..

unless.. AHA!

FAN IS A PROJECTION MADE BY ONE OF THE NEWER MEPHONES

COBS IS GOING TO KNOW WHERE THEY ARE AS LONG AS FAN IS THERE!!

although with Fan eliminated, th- oh there's an after credits scene?

UH. UM. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

AND THE OMINOUS OUTRO THEME. UH OH

okokokokokokayokayokayokay. that's obviously some kind of MePhone. the Meeple logo is there and it's phone shaped, so. that's pretty obvious. but not one that's been seen before, right? like not even a model that's been seen before, because none of them have the grabby hands.

because of the red X imagery I'm gonna guess this one is called MePhone X. and if not, well I'm gonna refer to it as that until I find out otherwise

with how scary that moment was clearly intended to be, we can all agree that Toilet just got permakilled, right? like. despite not being in space? that was definitely. not anything good that happened to Toilet there. I'm just gonna assume Toilet's dead, yep that just happened. aaand now there's a seemingly murderous (although maybe it had a grudge against Toilet for some reason, but I find that unlikely) MePhone roaming around. n e a t .

thiiiiinking that thing is the exception to the "each MePhone we see is dumber than the last" rule that seems to be present. hm. wonder who the Big Villain is going to be

welp it's too late to binge s3 rn so uh. yeap. okay. sure. that's a thing

[howlingmoonrise]

tagged by the fantastic @sunriseverse! thanks sunny!! 💖

under the cut because this one is long

1. why did you choose your url?

i wanted a new fandom penname and at the time adjective + noun names were a thing. i fiddled with several different variations, tried and failed to acquire kaleidoscopicmoonrise at the time (it's mine now!!), and landed on this one. i wanted something a little spooky, especially since soul eater was my fandom at the time - though it doesn't feel like it now that my icon is a lot more sane-looking lmfao

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

uh. yeah. a stupid amount (like 30+?), so i'm definitely not naming them all. most active are obviously this howl blog, my main blog @commandersya, this one for danny phantom and gravity falls stuff, @howlingspacegoo gets some activity every now and then when venom stuff resurfaces, and some others i use for reblogging specific reference stuff. most of the rest are for fandom events i've run in the past.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

since like 2011-2012. i've seen it all.

4. do you have a queue tag?

lmao absolutely not. i don't use the queue function, though on occasion i'll schedule posts to space them out when i'm going through a tag in order not to reblog all of it at once, or for specific dates like halloween

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

this one was for soul eater writing purposes. tumblr in general was because my cousin dragged me into it and then i realized there was a lot of bandom stuff in here (i was really into black veil brides for my first year or two on tumblr)

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

i broke ties with the soul eater fandom in a not great way and wanted to change my icon. yoi provided the perfect yuri expression with the kind of benevolent dictator smile i really like, despite that not being the original intent for it when the animators drew it ✊😔

7. why did you choose your header?

i had to check my header real quick lmfao. jason todd is just an excellent blorbo and when a good artist draws him.... 👀👀👀

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

oh gods. probably my dracula/barbie fic at nearly 3.5k notes. where's that ben affleck cigarrette pic when you need it. alternatively some ancient black veil brides photo/gif on my main blog.

9. how many mutuals do you have?

idk but i cherish y'all 💖

10. how many followers do you have?

dunno 😭 they're split across dozens of blogs so i'm not counting them all

11. how many people do you follow?

1.8k+, though i should follow more. my dash has times when it's pretty dead.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

probably? yes. just remembered the i bit the butte psoh post.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

however long i'm online on my laptop, more or less. so a sizeable amount of hours

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

LMAO. i was in both voltron and yoi fandoms, writing for and running events for "problematic" ships. take a wild wild guess.

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

hate them. 90% of the time it'll make me automatically skip it. for the other 10%, if it has relevant info on the op's original post and that little sentence is on the comments then i might go back and reblog from the op just to get rid of it

16. do you like tag games?

love them!

17. do you like ask games?

see above

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

i have uhhh. some. olderthannetfic, nemainofthewater, i think also colubrina for a while there, off the top of my head.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

if friend crushes count then several ✊😔

20. what is the last song you listened to?

the cramps - goo goo muck

21. what are you currently watching?

i am. so bad at finishing things so like a bajillion shows. the double i might drop despite it having been very very good until like episode 30-something. meet you at the blossom i need to finish like the last two eps. wandee goodday i need to finish four episodes iirc. i was in like episode 5 of century of love. i was on episode... 17? of my journey to you, which if i power through shall be for the antagonist sidepair/trio rather than the main characters. i was also at episode 16 of new life begins, which was fairly good and i do want to continue though i keep forgetting i have that tab open somewhere.

22. sweet/ savoury/ spicy?

savoury!

23. what is your current relationship status?

single and ace so not planning on changing that!

24. what is your current obsession?

the spirealm/kaleidoscope of death, and mysterious lotus casebook

25. what are nine albums/ songs you've been listening to lately?

- La P'tite Fumée - Cypher - Brody Dale - Don't Mess With Me - Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster - Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) - The Cramps - What's Inside a Girl - Linkin Park - Heavy is the Crown - Miyavi & PVRIS - Snakes - D-A-D - Sleeping My Day Away - Aerosmith - Dream On

no-pressure tagging! @junemermaid @a-memory-a-distant-echo @snorlaxlovesme @where-the-water-flows @nemainofthewater

[minijenn]

Getting a lot of asks about my apparent plans for UF2 based on the old chapter list, so I went through and wrote out everything I could remember for these chapters based on only their titles and the very sparse handful of notes I still have on hand. Enjoy!

Arc 1: A Wheel in the Woods

Prologue: Welcome to the Universe: Idk, establishing a bunch of behinds the scene shit particularly with Homeworld I guess

Chapter 1: Back to the Falls: Reunion, everyone coming back to Gravity Falls and meeting up again

Chapter 2: Journal 4: Dipper starts writing his own journal (Ford probs gives him a blank one) ala what the end of Journal 3 implies

Chapter 3: Prior Engagement: Soos and Melody get engaged?? I think?

Chapter 4: Gravity Falls Noir: A Noir mystery story idk about what tho, mostly for fun

Chapter 5: Film Festival: Everyone teams up to make short films for a film festival

Chapter 6: Normal Kideon: Gideon (now reformed) asks the MK's help in teaching him how to not be a fucking little meglomaniac

Chapter 7: Techromancy: Something featuring Ford and Fiddleford and Peridot idk what

Chapter 8: Speed Demon: Zoom makes her triumphant return

Chapter 9: Twenty Zodiac Tales (temp): Very short stories featuring all the zodiac characters

Chapter 10: A Wheel in the Woods: The gang fucking discovers that goddamn triangle's statue and they're all fuckin scared

Chapter 10: Trust No One: Idk Bill gets freed somehow but he's not as powerful as he used to be

Arc 2: That Will Be All

Chapter 11: Fusion Foretold: This one was gonna be fun! So a group of magical creatures, pixies I think, saw Stonipbel fighting during Weirdmageddon the previous summer and believe them to be a prophecised hero, without knowing they're just four kids in a tall trenchcoat. Hijinks ensue

Chapter 12: Back Into the Bunker: Return to the bunker, this time with Ford and Fiddleford, basically a flashback on how Rose and the Gems helped them build it

Chapter 13: Summer Snowfall: Fuckin snows in Gravity Falls, its basically just swinter iidk winter hijinks

Chapter 14: Monster Shack: Return of the Monster Falls designs idk how I just wanted to see them again, would have probs featured Monster Stevonnie, Maven, and Stepper bc im obsessed

Chapter 15: Revenge Tour: Stan and Amethyst up to illegal hijinks again, this time roping Wendy and mabel Lapis in?

Chapter 16: A Shoulder to Cry On: Steven/Pacifica fusion, Connie and Dipper are jealous little shits

Chapter 17: A Pines Bros Mystery: Flashback chapter adapting the chapter of the same name from Lost Legends focusing on the young Stan Twins

Chapter 18: Steven's Dream: Same as the show, the gang goes to fucking Korea I guess (said gang including all four of the Pines)

Chapter 19: Adventures in Light Distortion: More or less the same as canon

Chapter 20: Gem Heist: Hinjinks in the zoo, the zoomans also think stan and ford are hot along with greg imo deadass they're right

Chapter 20: That Will Be All: same as canon this time featuring Stonemason foreshadowing

Arc 3: Wanted

Chapter 21: The New Crystal Gems (temp): would have had a name change, same as the ep but featuring Pacifica, Wendy, Soos, and Fiddleford filling in for the Pines, hijinks ensue

Chapter 22: Room for Ruby: Fuckin little shit comes to earth, only Stan and Lapis are able to tell she's sus as fuck

Chapter 23: Tie the Knot: I think this was when Soos and Melody were gonna get married???? Yeah UF2 was gonna have 2 weddings lol

Chapter 24: Alternate Ending: Same as the ep, Steven imagining what it would be like if he did have a sister bc he's a lil jealous of Dipper and Mabel's dynamic

Chapter 25: Alone in the Woods: Something Dipper and Lapis related??? idk

Chapter 26: Doug Out: Same as the show more or less, Aquamarine and Topaz fuckiin around

Chapter 27: Brotherly Shove: Stan and Ford focused, probs would have resulted in them both getting captured by Aqua and Topz

Chapter 28: Are You My Dad: Same as the show, more GF characters captured alongside the SU characters

Chapter 29: I Am My Mom: Same as canon, but with Dipper and Mabel getting taken to Homeworld with Steven and Lars, would have also included Stuck Together

Chapter 30: The Trial: Same as canon, more implications of Rose being a Shady Bitch who worked with Bill in the past; ends with Dipper pulling a self sacrifice essentially so Steven and Mabel can escape, thus officially kickstarting the Stonemason arc

Chapter 30: Wanted: Mabel and Steven desperately trying to find a way to save Dipper, Lars fucking dies, Maven maybe shows up? The kiddos go home and break the bad news that they're now one short oop

Arc 4: Stonemason Unmasked

Chapter 31: Within Without: Aftermath of the Wanted arc, Pines family is a fucking mess, not even knowing if Dipper is still fucking alive; Steven is a guilt ridden disaster

Chapter 32: Gemcation: The gems take everyone on a trip to try and both cool down and strategize; Stan and Ford get into a fight bc they're stressed, everything is bad

Chapter 33: Kevin Party: More or less same but Kevin wants Stevonnie, Maven, and Stepper at his party (lol kinda impossible for that last one atm imo); Mabel runs into Gabe Bensen at the party and tells him to fuck off, feeling guilt once again for the events of Sock Opera especially now that Dipper is gone

Chapter 34: Shipping and Handling: I think this was gonna focus on Pacifica's feelings about Dipper being missing? Was probs gonna be sad as fuck tbh this entire arc was

Chapter 35: Lars of the Stars: Same but with Mabel trying to convince Lars and the Off Colors to take them back to Homeworld so they can look for Dipper; they don't get far before Emerald attacks tho

Chapter 36: Jungle Moon: Same as before but this time it has a subplot with Mabel being lost on her own on the Jungle Moon, and her first encounter with Stonemason (she doesn't realize who he is yet)

Chapter 36: Sweater Sewing: Gang is back on earth, more focused on Mabel's huge well of emotions about missing Dipper, writing him letters so she can fill him in on everything once they find him/her doubting if they will

Chapter 37: Mindless Education: All our remaining MK have Angst for days and fusion aint gonna help them work through it this time, basically, the MK aren't complete with Dipper ahahah

Chapter 38: The Assassin: Stonemason officially arrives in Gravity Falls and fights the Gems (they still dont know who he is yet)

Chapter 39: The Mask: Second encounter with Stonemason, ends with the dramatic face reveal ahahaha

Chapter 40: Stonemason Unmasked (p1 and p2): deadass just retelling how Dipper wound up as Stonemason in full, introduces Amber and shows how he lost his arm, was conditioned/brainwashed, etc. Was gonna be told as a series of vingette scenes

Arc 5: Break the Chain

Chapter 41: Show Yourself: Reactions to Stonemason's real identity, failed attempts from the Pines and the Gems to basically break Dipper out of the brainwashing I guess

Chapter 42: Deep Cut: Outright fucking war between the Stans and the Gems basically with the Stans blaming the Gems for what's happened to Dipper and Steven and Mabel trying their best to get them to reconcile and work together

Chapter 42: Lullaby: Probs Stonemason focused, showing that Dipper is still in there and is trying to break free but cant bc of YD's conditioning

Chapter 43: Puppet Strings: Bill fuckin returns after like 40 chapters, absolutely taking advantage of this fucked up situation to try and broker a deal with Steven. it doesn't work. Yet

Chapter 44: Crash and Burn: Stonemason attacks Gravity Falls directly, without the mask which will have huge repercussions later

Chapter 45: Forever Together: Maven focused; they go off on their own to try and track down Stonemason, probably having an emotional breakdown or two along the way

Chapter 46: Don't Let Go: Possibly Lapis focused??? How the whole Stonemason thing is impacting her (not well)

Chapter 47: Burnout: Everyone fucking just hits rock bottom unsure of what the fuck to do

Chapter 48: A Final Farewell: Essentially that oneshot I wrote that one time, Amber sending the Gems and Pines a message from Dipper that encourages them to keep going

Chapter 49: Hide and Seek: The gang finally captures Stonemason and restrains him but they have no fucking idea how to help him

Chapter 50: Find the Key: Potentially calls back to both Dreamscaperers and RMD, with Steven and Mabel going inside Stonemason's mind to save Dipper

Chapter 50: Break the Chain: They fight Stonemason in there, break Dipper free, and he's back yay! but he's a lil fucked up actually lol

Arc 6: Rise and Fall and Rise Again

Chapter 51: Yes, My Diamond: Aftermath of Dipper struggling to fully break out of the conditioning ahaha angst city babyes

Chapter 52: The Golden Rule: I have no fucking clue something Stonemason related I guess, maybe the reveal that he's still runnin around inside of Dipper's mind and isnt actually gone like everyone thinks he is

Chapter 53: Blackout: Also don't know about this one, I guess its like emotional reconcilation from other characters?

Chapter 54: Your Mother and Mine: Finally getting back to SU eps, learning about how Rose started the war

Chapter 55: Pool Hopping: Garnet has even more angst bc boy howdy she did not see any of this Stonemason shit happening and she is hella guilty about it but at least she adopts a cat imo

Chapter 56: Raising the Barn: Lapis wants to leave now that Dipper is back, Dipper begs her to take him with her so YD won't find him and control him again; she says she's going to but doesn't imo fuckin ruins her relationship with her son nice going idiot

Chapter 57: Legend of the Dragowl: Dipper sad about his mom leaving, basically finds a cool dragon/owl hybrid in the woods and its basically HTTYD from there as that becomes his pet (names her Luna, she's cool)

Chapter 58: Save the Light: Adaptation of the SU game, Hessonite (who was involved in the Stonemason process) comes to earth and wooo boy everyone wants to beat her shit in

Chapter 59: Knock, Knock: Something something Bill I think? I have no fucking idea

Chapter 60: Rise and Fall: Imma level with yall i Have no fucking idea what this arc ender was gonna be; probs more Dipper angst? That sounds about right.

Chapter 60: And Rise Again: ^^^ Ditto

Arc 7: Dimensional Duel

Chapter 61: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Stepper, my sweet fusion son, returns after being away for so long as Steven tries helping Dipper recover emotionally but oh boy it doesnt work

Chapter 62: Alone Forever: Something else having to do with Stepper, idk what

Chapter 63: Rifts and Memories: More Stepper bc we can never get enough, probs plenty of RMD callbacks

Chapter 64: Open the Door: Ok yeah this one was def Bill making his full comeback, possibly using Steven as a pawn

Chapter 65: Twinning: This was an AU chapter but I honestly couldnt fucking tell you which one imo

Chapter 66: The Home in Homeworld: This was supposed to be the Crystal Falls AU chapter but then I swapped it over to UF itself and then also never wrote it so this is just redundant

Chapter 67: Mother Knows Best: Water Mom AU! Makes Dipper feel even worse about his Lapis being a fucking negligent runaway!

Chapter 68: The New Mystery Kids: Time travel into the MK2 future, old MK meets new MK its very cute and wholesome

Chapter 69: The One Who Watches: Axolotl introduction, idk what else besides that

Chapter 70: Portholes: AUs collide, basically a bunch of various AU characters from all the AUs we've seen fuckin Interacting

Chapter 70: Dimensional Duel: More of that ^^^ But there's fighting involved??? They all beat the shit out of Bill???

Arc 8: Change Your Mind

Chapter 71: Can't Go Back: They find Lapis on the moon, her and Dipper fight bc what else are they gonna do; Lapis still doesn't go home oop deadbeat mom over here

Chapter 72: A Single Pale Rose: Pink Diamond reveal and also the reveal of the deal Rose made with Bill during the war for her Gem

Chapter 73: Now We're Only Falling Apart: Reactions to the reveal; basically the same as canon as we learn more about Pink becoming Rose

Chapter 74: Reconnect the Chain: Stonemason (who's still in Dipper's head) and Dipper decide to reconcile their differences bc they're mad as fuck that they went through all this bullshit for nothing and decide they're gonna allign to a mutal goal: shatter all the remaining diamonds (except steven for obvious reasons)

Chapter 75: The Question: Rupphire engagement, cutie pies

Chapter 76: Made of Honor: Bismuth angst, fully bringing her back into the CGs (remember she gets unbubbled during Weirdmageddon but she keeps her distance from the CGs out of shame)

Chapter 77: Reunited: Rupphire wedding; Blue and Yellow come to Earth, big fuckin battle and they discover who Steven is

Chapter 78: Legs from Here to Homeworld: Shit awkward as fuck bc the Pines wanna fucking mutally murder Yellow for obvious reasons lol otherwise same as canon

Chapter 78: Familiar: Steven angst with a side of Dipper and Stonemason angst ahaha

Chapter 79: Together Alone: Stonipbel at the party, cute until it isn't; fucking blaze through Escapsim bc that episode sucks

Chapter 80: Battle of Heart and Mind: Dipper/Stonemason try and spectacularly fail to shatter Yellow, the others find out about his plans and are mix of semi supportive (the rest of his family) and not supportive at all (Steven bc he wants to heal the corrupted gems and that cant happen without Yellow) (so basically we get a fight between Dipper and Steven hahaha oh no where have we seen that before)

Chapter 80: Change Your Mind: Confrontation against White, even more dramatic than the actual episode if you can believe it

Arc 9: Ursa Major

Chapter 81: Back Then: Basically adjustment to the post CYM status quo, corrupted Gems are being healed and the MK all finally feel somewhat emotionally OK but there's still an arc left of this shit sooo

Chapter 82: Meet the Pines: Pines parents arrive in Gravity Falls for a surprise visit and are shocked to see what utter hell their kids have gone through; they ultimately decide to let them stay though when they realize just how happy their kids are here despite everything

Chapter 83: The Call: Bill fuckin around one more time, plotting to fuckin just destroy everything out of sheer rage alone; something something Axolotl

Chapter 84: The Unknown: I dont fucking know msot of my plans for UF2's final arc are very hazy

Chapter 85: Without Within: Dipper trying to find a way to make Stonemason his own person bc they've become friends?

Chapter 86: Glow Gem: Something to do with Steven idk what though

Chapter 87: Encore: I dont fucking know

Chapter 88: Sixty Degrees Come in Threes: Was gonna be Bill's backstory until Book of Bill came along and made me look stupid

Chapter 89: The Axolotl's Chosen: So in the Adventures in the Multiverse chapters of UF, the oracle tells Ford that the Axolotl has a "chosen one" that'll take Bill out once and for all and impliies it to be him but it aint lol its Dipper bc this kid hasnt been through enough already fuck

Chapter 90: Ursa Minor: Something something remnant trauma Dipper has not just from the Stonemason thing but shit Bill did to him like RMD and Sock Opera but still deciding to fucking end that motherfucker anyway

Chapter 90: Ursa Major: MK vs. Bill you know how it goes

Chapter 90: Polaris: That stupid motherfucking triangle finally dies for good

Epilogue 1: Mystery and Magic: Cool down from the climax, lots of cute interactions and character moments

Epilogue 2: Of Pines and Gems: Peaceful final resolution, conclusions, foreshadowing to the Movie probs with a scene hinting at Spinel idk

[phellycheesesteak]

Correct me if I’m wrong but the deep end ( s1 ep 15) and Boyz Crazy ( ep 17 of s1 ) of gravity falls are the only two in s1 where they don’t nearly die????

[rustbeltjessie]

Current Jams (7/30/23)

I haven’t compiled one of these in about 2.5 months, and in the past month and a half, I’ve been listening to a lot of new and new-to-me music. (A couple notes: 1. If I don’t have a favorite track or two listed for an album or EP, it’s because I couldn’t narrow it down enough. 2. I dig all the stuff I put on this list, but the ones in bold are my absolute faves.)

LPs & EPs:

2M80 - s/t (favorite track: “Pirtie Street”)

Bedouin Soundclash - We Will Meet in a Hurricane (favorite tracks: “Walk Through Fire (feat. Aimee Interrupter),” and “Torn Jacket with a Silver Lining”)

Big Laugh - Consume Me (favorite track: “The Fall”)

Blue Lake - Sun Arcs (favorite track: “Rain Cycle”)

Coffin Salesman - Nicrophorus Americanus (favorite track: “An Amputation for the Prizefighter”)

Death Pill - s/t (favorite track: “It’s a Joke”)

Dream Wife - Social Lubrication (favorite track: “Mascara”)

Feeble Little Horse - Girl With Fish (favorite track: “Pocket”)

Fireworks - Higher Lonely Power (favorite track: “Estate Sale”)

Fred Drake - Twice Shy (favorite track: “Icicle”)

Gel - Only Constant (favorite track: “Out of Mind”)

Gender Warfare - Bridging Prescription (favorite track: “Commodity (GW Version)”)

Hermanos Gutierrez - El Bueno y El Malo (favorite track: “Thunderbird”)

Italia 90 - Living Human Treasure (favorite track: “Magadalene”)

Lifeguard - Dressed in Trenches (favorite track: “17-18 Love Song”)

Mandy, Indiana - i’ve seen a way

M(h)aol - Attachment Styles (favorite track: “Nice Guys”)

Militarie Gun - Life Under the Gun (favorite track: “Think Less”)

MSPAINT - Post-American (favorite track: “Decapitated Reality”)

The Murder Capital - Gigi’s Recovery (favorite track: “The Stars Will Never Leave Their Stage”)

Natural Information Society - Since Time is Gravity (favorite track: “Stigmergy”)

Pandemix - Love is Obliteration

Protomartyr - Formal Growth in the Desert (favorite track: “3800 Tigers”)

Rancid - Tomorrow Never Comes (favorite tracks: “Live Forever,” and “Drop Dead Inn”)

The Redskins - Neither Washington nor Moscow (favorite track: “Kick Over the Statues”)

Reeder - Stone’s Throw from Esther’s (favorite track: “Hemingway”)

Scowl - Psychic Dance Routine (favorite track: “Sold Out”)

Snake Sideways - Do Nothing (favorite track: “The Needle”)

Snooper - Super Snõõper (favorite track: “Music for Spies”)

Squid - O Monolith (favorite track: “Undergrowth”)

Steven Lynn - Soundtrack from an Imaginary Western

Swans - The Beggar

Sweeping Promises - Good Living is Coming for You (favorite track: “Connoisseur of Salt”)

Tommy Guerrero - Perpetual (favorite track: “At the Circle’s Edge”)

The Tubs - Dead Meat (favorite track: “Duped”)

Songs:

Dave Gahan - “Mother of Earth” (Ahhh, I’m not okay, I mean, one of my favorite Gun Club tunes covered by Dave fucking Gahan?! It’s so good.)

The Gaslight Anthem - “History Books (feat. Bruce Springsteen)”

Ghost Funk Orchestra - “Scatter”

Ghost of Vroom - “Memphis Woofer Rock”

Rustbelt - “Young and Punk”

Spiritual Cramp - “Nah, That Ain’t It” (They also have a dub version, which, well, of course I love. Petition for every band to do a dub version of at least one of their songs.)

Worriers - “Pollen in the Air”

& One Last Thing:

IDLES. Their entire discography. I know it kinda breaks my own rules, cuz I’ve been listening to them for several years now and these lists are supposed to be stuff that’s new to me, but in the past couple months Idles have become one of my very favorite bands, so I had to include them. (Some of my favorite tracks include: “Car Crash,” “Colossus,” “Grounds,” and “I’m Scum.”)

[cartoonspeedruns]

Gravity Falls Speedrun

Welcome to Cartoon Speedruns™ , for those who only care about the main plot!! or are simply tired of friends nagging you to watch it!! Gravity Falls (2012) edition!!

I typically include a watchlist, “pure speedruns” consisting of purely plot related episodes alongside an alternative list that includes extra episodes with plot-relevant lore or character development but aren’t entirely necessary for getting the gist of the story. In this case, most Gravity Falls episodes are either pure filler or pure plot with not much in between (other than tiny bits of lore hidden in the background as well as the occasional codes/cryptograms)

So this time instead of including an entire alternate list, I just added the extra recommended episodes at the end of the main speedrun list.

Pure Speedrun 

100% essential/non-skippable / Estimated speedrun watchtime: 6 hrs

Season 1

Ep. 1: Tourist Trapped

Ep. 4: The Hand that Rocks the Mabel

Ep. 19: Dreamscapers

Ep. 20: Gideon Rises

Season 2

Ep. 1: Scary-oke

Ep. 2: Into the Bunker

Ep. 4: Sock Opera

Ep. 7: Society of the Blind Eye

Ep. 11: Not What He Seems

Ep. 12: A Tale of Two Stans

Ep. 15: The Last Mabelcorn

Ep. 17: Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future

Ep. 18: Weirdmaggedon Part  1

Ep. 19: Weirdmaggedon Part 2: Escape from Reality

Ep. 20: Weirdmaggedon 3: Take Back the Falls

- - -

Recommended Episodes

Contains extra lore, character development, or introductions of new characters / (Estimated watch time: 9 hrs)

Season 1

Ep. 5: The Inconeniencing

Ep. 7: Double Dipper

Ep. 8: Irrational Treasure

Ep. 9: The Time Traveler’s Pig

Ep. 11: Little Dipper

Season 2

Ep. 8: Blendin’s Game

Ep. 10: Northwest Mansion Mystery

Ep. 13: Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons

*Disclaimer: this is targeted towards those who struggle to get into new shows or catch up on major events but don’t really care about getting emotionally invested, if you are upset that certain episodes aren’t listed then this watchlist isn’t for you

[gf-mysteries-log]

ENDING CREDITS CODES

SEASON 1

EP. 1: TOURIST TRAPPED

-WELCOME TO GRAVITY FALLS

EP. 2: THE LEGEND OF THE GOBBLEWONKER

-NEXT WEEK: RETURN TO BUTT ISLAND

EP. 3: HEADHUNTERS

-HE’S STILL IN THE VENTS.

EP. 4: THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE MABEL

-CARLA, WHY WON’T YOU CALL ME?

EP. 5: THE INCONVENIENCING

-ONWARDS AOSHIMA!

EP. 6: DIPPER VS. MANLINESS

-MR. CEASARIAN WILL BE OUT NEXT WEEK. MR. ATBASH WILL SUBSTITUTE.

EP. 7: DOUBLE DIPPER

-PAPER JAM DIPPER SAYS: “AUUGHWXQHGADSADUH!”

EP. 8: IRRATIONAL TREASURE

-E. PLURIBUS TREMBLEY.

EP. 9: THE TIME TRAVELER’S PIG

-NOT H.G. WELLS APPROVED.

EP. 10: FIGHT FIGHTERS

-SORRY, DIPPER, BUT YOUR WENDY IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE.

EP. 11: LITTLE DIPPER

-THE INVISIBLE WIZARD IS WATCHING.

EP. 12: SUMMERWEEN

-BROUGHT TO YOU BY HOMEWORK: THE CANDY.

EP. 13: BOSS MABEL

-HEAVY IS THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE FEZ.

EP. 14: BOTTOMLESS PIT!

-NEXT UP: “FOOTBOT TWO: GRUNKLE’S GREVENGE.”

EP. 15: THE DEEP END

-VIVAN LOS PATOS DE LA PISCINA. (SPANISH FOR: “LONG LIVE THE POOL 

DUCKS.”)

EP. 16: CARPET DIEM

-BUT WHO STOLE THE CAPERS?

EP. 17: BOYZ CRAZY

-HAPPY NOW, ARIEL?

EP. 18: LAND BEFORE SWINE

-IT WORKS FOR PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGS!

EP. 19: DREAMSCAPERERS

-NEXT WEEK: XYLER AND CRAZ’S BODEXCELLENT RADVENTURE 

EP. 20: GIDEON RISES

-SEARCH FOR THE BLINDEYE

SEASON 2

EP. 1: SCARY-OKE

-WELCOME BACK

EP. 2: INTO THE BUNKER

-WHAT KIND OF DISASTER INDEED

EP. 3: THE GOLF WAR

-REMEMBER BIG HENRY

EP. 4: SOCK OPERA

-WE’VE ALL HAD SOME FUN TONIGHT, BUT LET’S NOT FORGET WHO THE REAL 

“PUPPET MASTERS” ARE: REPTOIDS WHO HAVE INFILTRATED OUR

GOVERNMENT 

EP. 5: SOOS AND THE REAL GIRL

-ANTHYDING CAN HADPLEN

EP. 6: LITTLE GIFT SHOP OF HORRORS

-CHECK OUT DR. WADDLES’ LATEST BOOK: “A BRIEF HISTORY OF OINK OINK 

OINK OINK OINK”

EP. 7: SOCIETY OF THE BLIND EYE

-IGNORANCE IS BLISS. BUT BLISS IS BORING.

EP. 8: BLENDIN’S GAME

-DON’T DO THE TIME CRIME IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME TIME.

EP. 9: THE LOVE GOD

-I EAT KIDS.

EP. 10: NORTHWEST MANSION MYSTERY

-NEXT UP ON UTBAHC: DID ALIENS WRITE THE CONSTITUTION? CRAWDADS IN 

TIARAS! AND FLORIDA: THE SHOW.

EP. 11: NOT WHAT HE SEEMS

-THE ORIGINAL MYSTERY TWINS

EP. 12: A TALE OF TWO STANS

-BACKUPSMORE UNIVERSITY: YOU TRIED

EP. 13: DUNGEONS, DUNGEONS AND MORE DUNGEONS

-EXCELSI-WHATEVER!

EP. 14: THE STANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

-GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT ‘EM!

EP. 15: THE LAST MABELCORN

-A SIMPLE MAN WITH EAGER EARS MAY TRUST THE WHISPERS THAT HE HEARS

EP. 16: ROADSIDE ATTRACTION

-SOOS, LIKE A NOBLE GOLDEN RETRIEVER, EVENTUALLY FOUND HIS WAY 

HOMEWARD, AND BEFRIENDED A TALKING BULLDOG AND SASSY CAT ALONG 

THE WAY

EP. 17: DIPPER AND MABEL VS. THE FUTURE

-DID YOU MISS ME?

EP. 18: XPCVEAOQFOXSO (WEIRDMAGEDDON)

-IT WILL TAKE 1,000 YEARS FOR TIME BABY’S MOLECULES TO RECONSTITUTE, 

AND WHEN HE’S BACK, HE’S GOING TO BE VERY CRANKY.

EP. 19: WEIRDMAGEDDON 2: ESCAPE FROM REALITY

-CRAZ AND XYLER WENT ON TO RUN THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT AT A MAJOR

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION NETWORK.

EP. 20: WEIRDMAGEDDON 3: TAKE BACK THE FALLS

-SOOS LATER FORCED MCGUCKET TO WATCH ALL 900 HOURS OF NEON CRISIS 

MECHABOT BOY: REVELATIONS

EP. 21: WEIRDMAGEDDON 4: SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS

-GOODBYE GRAVITY FALLS

(I'm aware none of this is new info for GF fans, that's not the point. This whole blog is just for me, to store all mysteries and cracked codes in GF so I can go back and look at them whenever I want.)

[megamindsupremacy]

(Transcribed under the readmore)

Ep 17(?)

- AWWW they’re almost 13…. They grow up so fast

- So ford blows up his face instead of shaving? huh? What?

- okay that’s adorable that mabel and dipper are finally able to have their own adventures without losing their shit at each other for not participating

- You’re telling me gravity falls is like that because of ALIENS?

- okay no wonder ford is Like That. If I had 12 PhDs I would also be *gestures broadly* Like That also

- foooooord you’re projecting your own sibling issues onto dippeeeeerrrrrrrr

- Ford you can’t tell dipper to not be afraid. constant stress is his main personality trait for fucks sake

- HOLY SHITTING FUCK dipper should be VERY DEAD right now

- DIPPER IM SO PROUD OF YOU

- also that snow globe should be extremely cracked open right now

- dipper NOOOOOO you’re making Mabel SAD

- DO NOT HAND IT OVER, MABEL

- WHAT WHAT WHAT THE SHIT WHAT

- OH MY GOD MABEL WAKE UP. MABEL. MABEL. WHAT. BILL?

Gravity falls liveblog post round three because the last one was getting too long. again. Block the tag etc

[keyofjetwolf]

Paul is the walrus.

One of the things I love most about Gravity Falls is how, even when I see a joke coming, the execution of it is so fantastic that it still makes me laugh.

Another of the things I love about Gravity Falls is that at first I thought Grunkle Stan’s message was “BUY MORE CHEAP SHIT!!” and it took me a full second to realize that couldn’t possibly be it.

(I’m completely unspoiled for Gravity Falls and watching it for the first time. Please don’t confirm or deny anything in this post, give me hints or cautions or suggestions about future episodes, or try to explain anything going on. That includes if I should’ve been able to figure it out from previous episodes, or if there’s no answer at all. Spoiling the experience only ruins things for everyone!)

[plugnuts]

Parallels

[pokeblader3]

Analysis for what the original show plan's was before its shortening: as @sepublic has put together the chronology for, the show was shortened while the team was part-way through writing season 2a, leading to everything after Follies at the Coven Day Parade being our condensed version of the original seasons 2b, 3a, and 3b.

Willow's development as a team captain and friend of Hunter and Gus's development of having his magical psychosis feel like they were slated to happen in 2b (hence why Willow and Gus didn't seem to appear before then much in season 2a, their episodes were for the back half of the season).

But the notable thing is: after Yesterday's Lie, the show is divided into three 5-6 episode arcs of what was likely each once a half season: Follies (11) - Hollow Mind (16, ends with reveal of doomsday spell and Raine being a rebel, season afterwards is about the scramble to stop it), Edge of the World (17) - King's Tide (21, the only arc to have five episodes instead of six), and the three special episodes of season 3 are double length, meaning they're effectively another six episodes worth of runtime.

I strongly think each of those arcs we're originally a half season, with a big two(+) parter finale:

2a ends on the emotional scene of Luz being dragged from Camila (and the hints implying Hunter is a clone)

2b would end on the reveal of the doomsday spell, Luz and Hunter both having breakdowns after a terrifying encounter with Belos, and Hunter leaving Belos (and the reveal of Raine and Darius being rebels)*

3a would ends on... well, all of King's Tide (and if you've seen that new episode you know what big status quo shakeups it contains for the final arc to deal with (though I suspect both plot threads to reconverge at the end of ep. 1 or early in ep. 2 of season 3))

*-I strongly think Hollow Mind was meant to be the big s2 finale ep, in trilogies the second one's ending are usually dark and intense, think Empire Strikes Back or what Not What He Seems would have been if Gravity Falls kept it's original 3 season structure plan

It's a snug fit, but my point is if you enjoyed season 2b up to this point, I think you won't be disappointed by the ending: this is just the start of the grand finale, which will have high budget quality as it's told entirely through special double-episodes!

[hollenius]

Sorry, I just really love interviews where Peter Buck talks about books. And also about crying at a Pepsi commercial.

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2001-10-14-0110140554-story.html

Edit: apparently this is not accessible in all countries, so I am copying and pasting the text under the cut. Contains some discussion of Michael Stipe’s lyric-writing strategies as well as tales R.E.M. reading all of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories while in the van in 1982, whether Faulkner or Hemingway or Fitzgerald liked music, intuition vs. hard work in the act of creation (and how writing a song isn’t like writing a novel), the relative effectiveness of specificity vs. generality in bringing about an emotional response in the audience (and, again, how songs aren’t like novels) etc.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FABLES: MARK LINDQUIST and PETER BUCK

THE HARTFORD COURANT     October 14, 2001

Mark Lindquist: The only thing I did to prepare for this was to go through my CD collection, and the three bands that dominate my collection are the Beatles, R.E.M. and the Replacements. I listened to albums by each in progression, and one of the things I noticed -- maybe because I was looking for it -- is that each of these bands became increasingly interested in narrative, in story, as their career progressed. Do you think that happened with R.E.M.

Peter Buck: Absolutely. When we started out, Michael was trying to find a way of communicating that wasn't a literal language. He didn't want to string together sentences that told a story that everyone could agree on. I really respected that, the feeling that the narrative stuff has been done, love songs have been done, and this sort of Rorschach blot of words and emotions are a different way to approach telling a story.It also opens it up a lot, in that people can listen to these songs and, without knowing exactly what they're about, put themselves in the song. Michael told me recently: His theory is, name your 10 favorite rock songs of all time. Write them down. Then write next to them what they're about. Guarantee that you'll only be able to do that for two of them.

ML: Let's try that. Name your five favorite rock songs.

PB: "Like a Rolling Stone," "Fight the Power," "We Can Work It Out," "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" and "Gloria" by Patti Smith.

ML: OK, "Like a Rolling Stone." What's that about?

PB: Obviously it's an aggressive song putting someone down, but I don't know who that person is. Assuming that I know a little about Dylan's life, it could be about the people who followed him around. It seems to be a portrait of someone who thinks they're a winner, who's high in society. Who that is, I don't know. I could be completely wrong. I don't know what Napoleon "who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat" means.

ML: But you remember the line about those Siamese cats.

PB: With Dylan, you always get that. "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face." That's from "Visions of Johanna," which is one of my favorite songs, but I have no idea what that means.

ML: How about "Fight the Power"?

PB: I would assume, being a white guy from the suburbs, that it's about being black, but I don't know. If the Beastie Boys had written it with the same lyrics, I'd have no idea.

ML: "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" is from "Pet Sounds," which is chock-full of stories, at least in my mind. I may be imposing a narrative, because I listened to this CD when I left for college, and to me that album was about leaving home, going on a new adventure: "I once had a dream, so I packed up and left for the city." But that may have nothing to do with what Brian Wilson intended. Still, let's talk about R.E.M.'s progression toward stories.

PB: When we first started out, I know that Michael felt everything in rock and roll had been done. We didn't want to write a love song, or anything that could be construed as a love song, for 10 years.

ML: What would you say your first love song was?

PB: Well, it wasn't a love song. "The One I Love" is an anti-love song, but since "the one I love" is in the title ... we used to play it, and I'd look into the audience, and there would be couples kissing. Yet the verse is, "This one goes out to the one I love/A simple prop to occupy my time." That's savagely anti-love. But that's OK. People perceive songs as they are. People told me that was "their song." That was your song? Why not "Paint it Black" or "Stupid Girl" or "Under My Thumb"?

ML: But that's pop music -- Noel Coward's line about the amazing "potency of cheap music."

PB: It doesn't even matter, the value of the music. I've teared up at commercials.

ML: What commercial made you tear up, for God sake?

PB: The Pepsi commercial where the woman is depressed and the monkeys bring her a Pepsi. It was because of my life at the time, and not the commercial, but that's what pop music is, too. It's not necessarily what's written or even implied. It's what you as the listener take out of it. Which is why I tend to think songs that are less specific are more powerful.I've never cried at, say, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" by Bob Dylan, which is a very specific song. I know that there's a woman named Hattie Carroll, and she was killed. But it was reportage. It never made me tear up, but other songs have. It's all about what you bring in at that moment, so narrative is not necessarily the most important thing.

ML: Do you think that works in literature? One of the things they tell you in Writing 101 is to make things more specific rather than more general. Is literature more powerful if it's less specific?

PB: Absolutely not. I think literature is a chance for someone like me, who's led a more or less middle-class life, to look into someone else's heart and mind and be shown a world that I don't know. When I was a teenager, I read a lot of African American literature -- "Soledad Brother" or "Invisible Man" or Richard Wright, and there were things that completely changed my life. The strength of literature is its specificity.

ML: Why do you think R.E.M.'s music has become more specific, more story-driven?

PB: I think Michael was trying to find a way on the early records to tell a story without telling a story. As he got a little older and became more comfortable doing the singing and being a public figure, the idea was still, "I'm not going to tell a story where someone says this is a song about ... " Now as a writer Michael likes to take a character he imagines and write from that perspective, tell a story in the first person. But it's not necessarily his perspective.

ML: When I saw R.E.M. in Seattle in 1999, I think Stipe introduced "The Apologist" by saying, "This is a story about ... " And "All the Way to Reno" is a pretty classic narrative. It reminds me of "That's Not Me" from "Pet Sounds," not musically or lyrically, but conceptually.

PB: "Reno," I'm sure that is sung from the perspective of a 17-or 18-year old girl. It has to be. I've never asked him.

ML: And "That's Not Me" is sung from the perspective of a like-minded 17- or 18-year-old boy. Bret Easton Ellis has said as you get older, you become more interested in narrative, in stories with a beginning, middle and an end.

PB: Part of it is definitely an age thing. When I was in my 20s, and my band was in its early years, we were capturing an experience, not necessarily thinking about the chain between the past and the future, which is what a novel is. As you get older, your life is less about capturing the moment and more about understanding what you're doing.

ML: Has Michael's progression or change as a lyricist been influenced by literature?

PB: I don't know. The only way I can say our band was directly influenced by literature was when we did our first big American tour in 1982, before our first EP came out. We were in a van, touring to nobody, playing songs no one has ever heard. I managed to find all three of the Flannery O'Connor short-story collections, and every member of the band read every one of the words in those three collections on that tour. We passed them around, pages falling out, putting pages back in, reading them with a light on at 2 a.m., going from San Antonio to L.A. I felt really strongly that it changed the way we thought about writing. I don't know why, because she writes about faith and the problems of faith in a world where there is no faith, and Michael wasn't writing linear dialogues, but when we made our first record, I think we all thought Flannery O'Connor was something we would emulate in some way.

ML: I can be listening to a particular CD or song that evokes a mood or a moment in a way I admire, and I will try to get the same effect into what I'm writing. Has the reverse ever happened to you? You're reading a novel or short story, and it works for you so well, you think you want to get whatever it is that works for you into your music? Do you take what you read the night before into what you write?

PB: All I can say is I certainly hope so, which is why I try to read good stuff.

ML: OK, other books that have affected you as a songwriter?

PB: Denis Johnson.

ML: Why?

PB: I don't know why. "Already Dead" changed me when I read it. I can't say why or how, but I felt like a different person at the end, in the same way that when I was a teenager, Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" completely moved me.

ML: One of the things music can do for writers is that we can take a song, an idea in a song, or even a character in a song, and expand it into a story, or a screenplay, or a novel. Another thing music can do for writers is set a tone for whatever we're working on that day. Most writers I know listen to rock, but Kerouac talked about how he would do that with jazz.

PB: What do you think Faulkner did?

ML: I think he just drank.

PB: But do you think he put the 78s on? He probably wasn't a Glenn Miller guy. Was he a Duke Ellington guy? I bet Faulkner played records at his house. I'd be really shocked if he didn't play gospel stuff from the '30s and '40s, if he didn't listen to blues music.

ML: What about Hemingway?

PB: My feeling is he didn't get much pleasure in life. Having read his books, I doubt very much that he had an ear for music. I bet he loved music in the hills of Spain, dancing to it, no matter how good or bad it was. But did he go home and put on records? I doubt that very much. Now Fitzgerald, he found joy in life.

ML: And in drinking. It kept him from writing.

PB: He's another of those people who never really found what he needed to do in his life. I re-read "The Crackup" about a year ago, and there's a great quote, and I paraphrase, about how when I was young I wanted to be Byron, Don Juan, J.P. Morgan. All that is burned away. I'm a writer now, nothing else. Literature is something written out of deep understanding. Music is written more out of the intuitive. When I read great books, I refuse to think they just made it up as they went along. That's what happens in rock and roll.

ML: There are passages that come to you as a writer that feel like they wrote themselves. However, you unfortunately have to write the other 500 pages or so yourself.

PB: The good stuff occurs because you work really, really hard, spend your entire life immersed in one thing, and if you're able to let yourself go completely for that time it takes to do anything great. My superstition, though, is songs that are there that aren't written. I think every songwriter feels, "I'm really good at my craft," but the good songs pop up, and you always like to feel they come from somewhere other than inside of you.The night I wrote "Losing My Religion," I was drinking wine and watching the Nature Channel with the sound off and learning how to play the mandolin. I had only had it for a couple nights. I had a tape player going, and the tape has me playing some really bad scales, then a little riff, then the riff again, and you can hear my voice say "Stop." Then I played "Losing My Religion" all the way through, and then played really bad stuff for a while. I woke up in the morning not knowing what I'd written. I had to relearn it by playing the tape. That's where songs come from for me, someplace where you're not really thinking about it.That's what's different from literature. You can't sit down and let "The Great Gatsby" happen. The songs I write are four minutes long. You can disconnect from wherever you are for four minutes and find it. I really doubt you can do that for months with a novel.

ML: There's something that's always struck me as a little off about Peter Buck and Michael Stipe. Traditionally, the songwriter is thought of as the more intuitive, and the lyricist as the more lettered. The reality is you're the more lettered, and Stipe is the more intuitive.

PB: Michael has this amazing ability to absorb things. He doesn't sit around and read tons of books, but he does read. He probably reads more political literature than I ever have.

ML: It's funny, I know lots of novelists who wish they were rock stars, but I don't know any musicians who wish they were novelists.

PB: Hey, I'm raising my hand right here!

The poster has moved with me now for 15 years. It's part of a series for America's public libraries, featuring a very young-looking R.E.M., with Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe and Bill Berry each holding their favorite books. I'd love to know what Stipe is holding, but, like his early lyrics, the title is obscured. Peter Buck holds an Oscar Wilde collection, and that, along with a mention of Wilde in a Smiths song from the same era, "Cemetry Gates," conspired to send me to the library. Peter Buck's a tremendous reader. His Seattle home is filled with almost as many books as records. So we asked Buck to dine last week with his friend Mark Lindquist, whose music-infused novel "Never Mind Nirvana" gets like few others the profound way music can be not only a soundtrack to life but also a road map. We asked them to talk about how artists and musicians are influenced by each other. -- David Daley, Books Editor

[keyofjetwolf]

AT LONG LAST

The subliminal music messaging, the mind control, the vats of cloned boy bands? All this I believe, no problem.

What I DON’T believe is that until this moment, Stan hadn’t figured out a good reason to punch a teenager in the face.

(I’m completely unspoiled for Gravity Falls and watching it for the first time. Please don’t confirm or deny anything in this post, give me hints or cautions or suggestions about future episodes, or try to explain anything going on. That includes if I should’ve been able to figure it out from previous episodes, or if there’s no answer at all. Spoiling the experience only ruins things for everyone!)