#great song id really recommend

[noesinferno]

two drawings of my character mara that are supposed to be similar on purpose (2021)

[hamtaro-y0]

It's spotify wrapped time!! Ngl this one kinda surprised me. I definitely find new songs and only listen to them on repeat for weeks but I did not think I listened to those that much lol. I guess some of my later obsessions didn't have enough time to compete

[sarcasticscribbles]

BOYCOTT EUROVISION FOR ISRAEL PARTICIPATION.

I am the Eurovision gay this time of year, I love this show. Not only is my country hosting 2024 but it's also in a city I love, but I can't watch as people sing about peace and love while Palestinians are getting killed by one of the participants.

I've complied a couple of petitions, open letters and information regarding Eurovision: Eurovision isn't the highest priority regarding Gaza, but this show is marketing & tourism for countries, Israel is using it to pink wash their politics

According to SVT, Swedish television network in charge of Eurovision 2024 in Sweden Malmö, Eurovision is apolitical, and therefore Israel qualify. They refer to any calls for boycott meaningless ( via )

SVT statement:

[ID: "SVT statement on the debate over Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is generating debate and today a number of Swedish artists have called on the EBU to cancel Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. It is the EBU’s decision which public broadcasters may take part in the event, and as the host broadcaster, SVT follows the EBU’s decisions. The humanitarian suffering in this deeply complex conflict is devastating. Nobody can be left unmoved by the current situation in Gaza, or by the Hamas attack in Israel. We are also concerned about these developments. We understand and respect that groups of people wish to make their voices heard. As the host broadcaster, SVT has an ongoing dialogue with the EBU about the challenges of producing Europe’s largest TV-production in times of unrest. We are humbled by the task and are working to ensure the project can be carried out in the best way possible, with the vision that music unites." END ID]

Eurovision has always been political, and was created as a celebration of peace after WW2. Songs are statements, and EBU took action by banning Russia and Belarus for the invasion of Ukraine. It's a way to show sympathy and solidarity, which Gaza is in need of now.

Why Eurovision is so important to Israel is the opportunity of pink washing, and appearing liberal and LGBTQ-friendly, that the show encourages. This leads to great marketing and tourism for the country, alqueerian on twitter did a great thread about it:

[ID: Tweet from @ alqueerian on X formerly known as Twitter. Tweet: "A really quick thread on pinkwashing and why it’s wrong: pinkwashing is a term that was coined by LGBTQ Palestinians to specifically refer to the use of homophobia as a justification for israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, starvation etc." END ID]

Full thread

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Here are a couple of petitions, open letters and links to encourage the ban of Israel in Eurovision

And if all fail: we boycott

Here are two petitions for the ban of Israel: Petition 1

Petition 2

A list of emails and contact information for broadcasters regarding Israel participation: copy, paste and send. Document

It's created by verilybitchie on YouTube who also made a great call to action video I can recommend

[ID: Screenshot of verilybitchie youtube video "Genocide at the Eurovision Song Contest". The video is showing an article by Chris Lockeyer, news reposter, titled "Israel to compete at Eurovision despite boycott threats" The article says: "The European broadcast Union said its member organisations approved Israel's participation in the competition and it remains aligned with other competition organisations on its stance." The article is from December 19th, 2023. END ID]

And for Swedes, I think it's extra important for us to speak up; here's what we can do:

Open letter via Björk & Frihet, a charity in Skåne offer letters to sign but also have pdf version to print at home!

[ID: Photo from Björk & Frihet, a swedish charity offering open letters to sign to send to the government. "Stoppa folkmordet" as the letters are ladled, means "stop the genocide" END ID]

This is also a letter regarding the contest being held in Malmö, a city with a long history fighting for Palestine! Sign here

[ID: Vote for Swedes in Malmö to sign to protest Israel's participation in Eurovision. END ID]

Meanwhile, don't forget your daily clicks to help Palestine while we wait for EBU to stand by their words and prove we are united by music!

[ID: Iceland's Hatari holds up Palestinian flags during Eurovision in Tel Aviv, May 19, 2019. END ID]

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 4/2/2024

in which i try to clean two different boxes with varying success

new people: hello! the tuesdaypost is a weekly roundup of stuff i've been listening, reading, watching, playing, and making. it is NOT a recommendation series, although i sometimes dabble in critique. when im firing on all cylinders i ask "what is the core concept of this? does it succeed in what i think it's trying to do and what it says it's doing?is it well-made but i dislike it/beautiful but not for me? why? what parts Really Work?"

if you are into purity culture, yelling at other people about the problematic media they consume, or are under 18 i am going to have very little patience for you.

listening

now that i live in houston i am legally obliged to loop the new beyonce album 24/7. there is absolutely truly nobody fucking doing it like her. every song is a multimedia art piece. goddamn do i miss the album as a tool to convey a specific concept/listening order/flow. sometimes (chappell roan most recently comes to mind, although it does feel unfair to compare anyone to beyonce) every individual song is pretty good but the listening experience if you sit down and listen all the way through the album is unpleasant and choppy. not so here. NEVER here.

my favorite like Dance Number is YA YA (it samples nancy sinatra's boots! and the beach boys' good vibrations! wildly different tones despite coming out a year apart!)

the one that goes on four different character/tone playlists is BODYGUARD.

great early roundup of influences, samples, and collaborators. delighted to see five fingers for marseilles listed, a rocky but underrated south african neo-western free on tubi rn for americans

-

reading

also very texas-relevant with the recent pornhub lawsuits! pornhub and sex tech (among other things) have been samantha cole's beat for almost ten years. i trust her to report sensitively and not for like. shock clicks

this site has a free paywall (sign up with your email for a link to the full article) so bots have a harder time scraping articles: this is a journalist-founded site with only the four founders running it and writing articles. while annoying i do think this is a reasonable measure

The platform still has problems, but after years of critical reporting and a litany of legal and reputational consequences, Pornhub is now more heavily moderated than any other porn platform, and most major social media platforms, for that matter. A growing list of age verification laws has put Pornhub in a position where it is compelled to block access to its site in seven states and counting. In theory, these laws are designed to prevent children from being able to access pornography online. In reality, what is going to happen is that children are going to end up on pornographic sites that don’t care what the law says, and where some of the most harmful content that exists online is actively promoted to them.

she's also got a new limited series podcast with CBC about the rise and fall of pornhub, which was fascinating and kept me company during an extremely early morning drive

-

watching

i'm lukewarm about this one but i spend a lot of time getting there, much like this movie

ive been watching a lot of frankly dogshit thrillers, which has made me wonder: what's the deal with supervillans? where did they come from? and thence arrived at the prototypical film Dr Mabuse the Gambler (1922, dir. Lang). the four and a half hour cut on Kanopy is two normal-length movies superglued together, which makes sense as a streaming product but it is sort of a terrifying runtime and took me three days to get through.

sometimes, as we know, i get a real bee in my bonnet about visiting the early versions of things. dr mabuse is the blueprint for every james bond and mission impossible villain, or really any shadowy supervillain with power over [INDUSTRY] or [THE MARKET]. it is a four and a half hour long cat and mouse game through lavish, eccentric sets between mabuse and prosecutor wenk. it has some trouble sustaining itself bc it is four and a half hours long but does deliver on the cat and mouse aspects. this letterboxed review has interesting things to say about the political climate of 1922 germany and how lang subverts the formula of the pulp serial.

really the film opens with mabuse yelling at his cocaine-addicted assistant, but the film properly gets going with mabuse's henchmen stealing a trade agreement (nothing really carbon dates a movie more than a missing trade agreement. vanishingly few post-early-30s movies have missing trade agreements as plot points) and then he crashes the stock market. for fun and profit.

however. i think every time you see an evil man who is a banker or stockbroker or generally uses money as power you have to interrogate whether it's antisemitic. the answer here is "maybe" but i'm not sure if intent matters when contemporary nazi critics were eager to hold mabuse up as "this is the typical jewish criminal". (sorry about the link directly to wikipedia, it's been touch finding online sources for this section). mabuse is not specifically jewish, but there are certainly elements of stereotype. i am still not good at being presented with "this movie has a shadowy behind the scenes figure manipulating the government and all the money ever" and going "hey wait a minute".

after that tremendous glaring caveat, for which i read more contemporary reviews and reviews in general than i ever read for movies in these posts, is it good? eh. a contemporary VARIETY review remarked (and i largely agree)

The direction of Fritz Lang has moments – but Lang somewhat negates his good technical effects by twenty forty-word captions of a ludicrous unconciseness.

the night scenes are particularly well done, and imo are better than many modern night scenes--other contemporary reviews remarked

In this film the techniques of the film camera (Carl Hoffmann’s brilliant photography) are brought to perfection. The problem of how to film lit-up streets at night has been solved for the first time. It is unbelievably impressive to see the glaring lights of speeding cars flash through the night or the rapid passing of an elevated train of the initially blurred, then gradually focussed glimpse through a pair of opera glasses on to the variety stage, the nuances of light and shade—these things alone prove the value of film documentary.

look at this shit! filmed from within the cars! in 1922!!!

this film asks you to believe hypnotism is real and really effective, so i don't think it's that big of a leap when it asks you to believe in ghosts. i don't understand that quibble from contemporary viewers. there are several on screen suicides with like. specific methods. which is not currently regarded as good filmmaking practice. im curious to know what contemporary audiences thought but couldn't immediately turn anything up, and wading through masters’ theses on cinematic suicide is a little beyond my current mental health.

if i were a more content-minded woman this would turn into a clickbait video essay about the antisemitic origins of every supervillan. however i am unqualified and untalented at video editing and i'm sure there are forty theses on this already. this movie is a hard sell to anyone jewish or employed. it is also a stunning example of cutting-edge film technology and part of the genesis of the modern supervillan. Fritz Lang films tend to fall in the category of “movies i am happy to see once and feel no need to revisit”.

-

playing

playing what is effectively the same game three times back to back (breath of the wild, tears of the kingdom, genshin impact) has sort of burned me out on open world games with a focus on battle skill progression and stumbling across little puzzles in the overworld. i have to get itch.io up and running on this pc and find the most linear jankiest possible one-sitting indie thing. or several of them. i might try the solo ttrpg Gentleman Bandit i seem to have acquired in one of the giant charity bundles

brief breath of the wild update bc i don't want to pull screenshots off my switch: i have gotten to the boss fight for the gerudo and goron regions, have not completed them bc my focus in this game is NOT hearts, and am in the middle of the zora temple. despite the quality of life improvements and new regions in totk i think i prefer botw: progression is a bit easier, there are fewer mmo-style hub quests and repeatable quests. things like the stable photos are cute but very repetitive, so are the sign bracing puzzles, and the sky crystal quests for sky shrines feel VERY samey. also dislike how the CLEAR OUT: [REGION] quests with the monster suppression squads reset at the blood moon.

anyway! to genshin! there was an exceptionally fun little event with a surprisingly involved management sim tacked onto the game??? you make and sell potions fulfilling different requirements, and can eventually stock travelling merchants all over the continent. the actual act of making the potions was this block-filling 1010! style thing (screenshot from polygon)

the new region, a port town and tea-growing area called Chenyu Vale, is maybe the prettiest one in the game so far? it's the one that feels the most picturesque and Designed, like this is one huge mansion garden studded with follies. they also added background chatter and noise in the cities and towns, which really startled me and makes them feels much more lived in! this is a fun trick to avoid putting in a thousand NPCs and making everyone's framerate crash. the less stuff in your game, the less shit can go wrong.

also pulled for and got chiyori, a geo-aligned seamstress (and sometime spy???) swordswoman who has what i can only call domme voice

-

making

ok now we'll talk about boxes. i was rearranging my kitchen, as unemployed women are known to do, and noticed this recipe box i picked up back in mass was disgusting. the finish is starting to fail but it was genuinely grody and last summer i packed my kitchen in a blind panic inside an hour and did not have time to address it. i have never seen a recipe box at an estate sale before or since and it made me desperately sad.

it was full of a lot of stuff.

i went at it with a somewhat inadvisable combination of things: wood soap didn't budge it, so i dampened a paper towel in vinegar and wiped it down in the vain hope it would do something. the thing that worked, and would be inadvisable for anything veneered or less densely textured, was baking soda paste and the scrubby side of a sponge. it still smells Very musty even after 48h of loose baking soda inside with several changes, but that might be partly the recipe cards' fault. i would like to refinish this at some point but i don't have polyurethane on hand and the fun little project budget is empty until further notice/i get a job.

the hinge did rust a bit despite my best efforts but that has since been lightly steel wooled and oiled. a well loved object! it's possible the lady who died just fucking sucked and that's why literally her entire estate including many other things families usually keep was on sale, but i would like to think perhaps she simply had no other family? a well loved/used object even if all the recipes are for semi-horrifying fifties new england recipes.

the other box, pre-acids but post-washing: this topp trading card box with seven episode one packets of cards was intact with the original seal. i have verified it was not worth much more than the $5 i paid for it with the trading card obsessed man in my best friend's husband's friendgroup. i bought this three months ago but the man was unavailable to open it until uhhh last week. some sort of liquid got inside it at some point and it was super corroded. i was going to store embroidery floss in here but even with all my powers (barkeepers friend. brasso.) i cannot completely remove the corrosion. it's not corroded Through but it looks bad and feels rough. so it goes. it'll probably hold the tiedown straps in my car bc that plastic bucket is rapidly failing

[klug]

do you recommend puzzle pop? i keep really wanting to play it but i do not want to get apple arcade just for that. but i dont know of any other way to get it... so i keep waffling back and forth. i guess im mostly wondering if you think its worth it, i know youve been posting about it but i blocked spoilers so idk what your thoughts are fully

Hi anon :) This is a very good question and gives me a chance to talk about the game

So for starters: You can technically get a free trial of Apple Arcade for a month and this is honestly enough time to just play through for the story modes. I think there are free Apple Arcade trials offered through Best Buy and stuff if you've already used a trial though. If you have an Apple device I feel like it's good to just go for it and try it out?

My short answer is: Yes if you want to play for story and collectibles! Especially if you're mostly interested in the Fever characters! But no if you are more focused on online multiplayer or the Madou characters. The suzuran group actually get a decent amount of content in this game, especially Ecolo in their main story.

I can't really say if I recommend it because everyone in the fandom has really different tastes honestly? Like, if you care mostly about the Madou Monogatari characters, I don't know if you'll like it because the story focus is heavy on Sig and Amitie…and it raises more questions than anything. So I'll just put a personal pros/cons list.

Pros:

The game looks really nice for an Apple Arcade game. Yeah the models are reused, but they use the expressions/motions to their full potential and the cel-shading is great. I also love the environment design. It also isn't live service so you can play it without an internet connection.

The main story, overall, is really good. There are a few standout side stories too IMO! My favorites are Feli, Witch's, Risukuma's, Ally's and Rafisol's.

So many collectibles. The Puyo Card feature, a customizable ID card you can unlock stuff for, is probably the most fun thing they've added to this game.

There's not a lot of new songs but the new ones are very good.

The inclusion of Nazo Puyo-style puzzles in story mode is a lot of fun, but they're skippable if you're bad at them.

Photo mode is fun. Basically you have a diorama where you can pose the characters however you want, but I haven't used it much.

Cons:

Yes the models and animations are reused, most other stuff in the game is new though!

The main story starts out really strong but does feel a bit anticlimactic in the last act. If you have already read the novel Sig's Secret you most likely won't get anything out of the story, which was the case for me. I've known a lot of people who haven't and cried at the ending though.

Some of the side stories for certain characters are really whatever to me but this is subjective.

The translation can be really weird in places -- I think Suketoudara's side story is where it was at its worst, but there are random errors scattered throughout the English translation...

The music selection is a bit weird to me. Like, Rafisol's theme isn't in the game but the Color Tower theme is? It's just a weird selection.

The challenge dungeons for unlockables can feel really tedious since you're not guaranteed to get characters' special items. If you have a grind mindset and really enjoy Puyo Puyo gameplay though, this is probably fine.

The online is terrible and nonexistent. This kind of renders the Puyo Card moot if you really care about showing it off.

You will need a controller for some of the harder stages. The touch controls are fine if you just want to get through the story, but you'll need a bluetooth controller for more precise inputs.

I basically do think it was well-constructed at the start, but most likely Yoshino (the writer) ran out of space or time for the last story in the game.

[monsterkin-culture-is]

Cryptidkin tips/help? A lot of the stuff I can find that helps me is long term [like quadrobics, which I'm not able to practice much to get good at] or very niche [going on anon on other blogs so that I'm hard to identify]

- @buggiest-cryptid [actual sideblog asks should be a thing]

Heya!! Sorry for the delayed response!! I'll start with my generic tips and then try and think of some more specific advice for your situation. Also dw I'm hopeless at quadrobics haha! And yes I NEED sideblog asks. My general do-it-at-home kin tips I give on all of these are: - Create a playlist. This can be songs with the same aesthetic/vibe as your kintype, songs that trigger kinshifts or literally just a bunch of songs you like to listen to a lot! - Create a moodboard for your kin! A 3x3 tumblr style square is ideal because you can use it as the cover for your kin playlist on spotify. Honestly just typing in your kintype and then aesthetic into Google will find images but I mostly recommend Pinterest if you don't already use it. - Make a Kinsona/OC of your kin species. This is mostly just for fun but roleplaying as that character can help you connect to your kintype. - Go on hikes and explore nature! Even if your kintype isn't from your local wildlife, it's still a good way to relax. - Wear clothing the same colour as your kintype. Knitwear is great for replicating fur. - Design a kin pride flag! There are many umbrella flags already existing but make your own! It can just be for personal use. I recommend using Photopea or Canva.

Cryptidkin Specific Tips:

Pick your cryptid name: Every cryptid has a name: the jersey devil, bigfoot, mothman etc. Make your own for your kintype! Honestly I think I'm actually going to do this now, I always like the "titles" that come in ID packs.

DIY Gear: I'm basing this off of the pfp on your linked account! Antennae can be created using pipecleaners and then attached to your hair using hairclips or by gluing to a hairband. Horns can be attached the same way and created using tinfoil and then taped over to smooth the shape (ideally masking tape so you can paint them!). Scarves are perfect to replicate ruffles of fur & fingerless gloves make good paws (your fingertips can look like claws). These should be a little easier to obtain given we're coming into winter. Arm & leg warmers are also recommended. I actually have 2 pairs of paw print fingerless gloves! I saw you're bug themed so an alternative to an exoskeleton could be leather jackets? I'm not as sure about that though!

Watch Ghosthunting & Cryptid Conspiracy Vids: They're just fun tbh! I like watching shows and videos surrounding my kintypes to connect & they often trigger positive kinshifts.

Themed Foods: Gummy snakes can pass as worms or... well... snakes. Good potential alternatives to raw meat can be jerky, dried fruits, rare/medium rare steaks and safe raw fish! I also recommend red tongue-staining lollipops and red/pink chocolate for the idea of blood. Please don't take these at face value though - research before eating anything!

Get involved in the voidpunk community: This is partially a general kin tip but it especially applies to monsterkins & cryptidkins. The voidpunk community really embrace the idea of alterhumanity and many create voidsonas to represent their inner-selves. I'm not the best person to explain it but I recommend taking a look through the tags!

Sorry, this is all I can think of for now! I hope some of these are helpful!

[theartfuldodger26]

L O V E for the ask game :D

You're really sweet, you know that, right? Thank you for the asks :)

L: Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn't one of your faves.

I don't like Snape due to the whole bullying kids for kicks thing (and having been bullied by teachers myself), but I have to admit he is very clever and a great Occlumens. Don't like saying it, but it's true.

O: Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

So, one of my favourite songs is Ghost River by Nightwish. It speaks of a child of r@pe that the river of dead children beckons him. It also sounds as though the singer is telling the mother of the boy that her only son will drown and become part of the ghost river. For some reason it makes me very emotional and reminds me of Tom Riddle and his mother, Merope Gaunt. And for some even creazier reason, I always imagine Bellatrix singing it to Merope with sadistic glee in her eyes? something is broken inside my brain for sure. Highly recommend any song by the band, though.

I'm gonna go listen to it on repeat till I fall asleep now, thanks!

He will go down, he will drown-drown, deeper down, The river wild will take your only child. He will go down, he will drown-drown, deeper down, If you want me, then do come across.

V: Which character do you relate to the most?

Oh boy, what a question. I mean, it depends on the level. On a superficial level, I guess that Hermione is a good representation of neurotic, night-and-day-studying, (supposedly) know-it-all me. But on a deeper level, I relate to the Bellatrix I have in my mind. She feels she has failed at her main goal, is deeply ashamed but still struggling to fix things. I'd rather not say more.

E: Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? Id so, what?

I'm so glad you asked, thank you!

I try to add humour to my fics and private HCs, because life is too sad if we take it too seriously. A small, but super fun, crack HC I have is that Tom Riddle/Voldemort has cartoon pockets, meaning he has put an Undetectable Expansion Charm in all his pockets, and carries with him pretty much his entire fortune with him at all times. So when Bellatrix or Harry go, "hey, ever heard of John Doe" or whatever, he casually just pulls out a photo album and finds John Doe. Or they might ask for a favour, checking out an item or fixing something, and he casually pulls out a microscope and an entire alchemy table and starts tinkering! Those are my two crack cents XD

Thanks again for the ask, I thoroughly enjoyed the questions!

[moss-cf]

do u have any music recs similar to Sleeping Lessons by The Shins?

Boy do I. I was raised on and absolutely love the shins and would describe that era of indie as one of my all time favorite genres. Sleeping lessons is a very special song to me. And I literally can't listen to it all the way through without getting goosebumps. The buildup to the payoff is such a perfect introduction to the album.

So without further Ado,

The mid-2000s indie adjacent shins based recommendation list (yay!)

1. The other shins albums

Duh. Except for heartworms. Idk about that one

Included under this umbrella are the three albums by broken bells, also made by the guy from the shins. I don't know if itll exactly match what youre looking for but if you like wincing the night away you'll probably like the rest of these.

2. No light in heaven by strange Ranger

This album came out in 2022 and is absolutely incredible. I'd consider it one of my top 10 of all time. It's a different sound, but definitely similar enough that you'll enjoy it. The entire album acts as a buildup to the payoff track Demolished (which actually got a remix by frost children. Remember them from my hyperpop post?) it blends ambient music, sampling, trance pop, and a saxophone to create a near-perfect album that I would definitely recommend listening to while stoned. Listen to this album sequentially rather than as individual tracks.

3. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips

When I was a young child, I couldn't fall asleep unless this this album was playing. Nowadays, I think child me was on to something. This album rules. I don't really know if it goes with this flow but I associate it with this era of music so I'm adding it in anyway fuck you

4. City vs Country EP by Mobius Band

I don't know how I know about this EP, but somehow I do. It's got shins adjacent vocals, and great use of synthesizers. I don't really know what to say about it. I don't have a funny anecdote it's just a decent EP that I enjoy listening to. The title track City versus country is definitely the highlight and Id describe it as moderately dancable.

5.

I don't have a fifth one. maybe I'll add one. probably something by the postal service or some shit IDK

Individual Songs That'll Scratch the Specific Itch You're Looking for

1. Mary (Alternate) by yellow ostrich

2. Wildflower (Polygon Cover ver) by Dynastic

3. Nicotine & Gravy by Beck

4. Your ex Lover Is Dead by Stars

5.

That's all for now! I'll update this list if I can think of anything. I'm sure there's a lot I'm forgetting. Hope you enjoy! Maybe someone will ask me about emo or something next.

[menalez]

I have a question about music! I want to get more into Arabic music (women specifically) but the only Arabic musician I know of right now is Faouzia, who is AMAZING, however she doesn’t have a lot of music in Arabic. She uses cultural inspiration in her music (she’s Moroccan), but only has a couple songs with one Arabic word in it (Habibi & Puppet). I like listening to music in other languages and was hoping maybe you had recommendations for Arabic female musicians

never heard of faouzia! thanks for informing me of her. and yes im gonna first name some famous arabic pop singers and then ill move onto some that i also like:

nancy ajram

this woman is probably one of the biggest popstars in the arab world and has been for decades. she has a lot of great hits and id honestly just recommend going thru her music esp her older stuff bc you might like something in there. shes a lebanese christian

2. haifa wehbe

not a fan of hers but she has some hits and shes also one of the most renowned popstars.

3. myriam fares

also one of the bigger popstars, she also tends to play with a lot of arabic genres. shes mostly known for her dancing i think, shes quite talented but im not big on her music (im just sharing my faves btw so this is one of my faves and its clearly awful quality)

4. ruby

i looooooove ruby she was basically the only dark-skinned woman i saw in mainstream arab media and shes an awful dancer but makes amazing music and is also an actress (and ive heard shes quite good at that too) and is a good singer. also afaik shes one of the few female artists that didnt get plastic surgeries (if she did its so mild that its not noticeable). shes egyptian (previous singers i shared are all lebanese)

5. shadia mansour

one of the only female rappers i know of, i dont know much of her music but this song is really good and the lyrics are amazing. shes palestinian & british and this song is about palestinian resistance basically

6. elyanna

this one is more modern than my other recommendations fhsdfhds but shes quite good, iirc shes half palestinian half..chilean? i think?

7. samira said

shes north african, i Think tunisian, and one of the bigger popstars from the 2000s. i dont really listen to most of her music but this one's a classic:

8. fairuz

this one's quite old-fashioned but definitely a classic and her music continues to be played a lot today... especially by lebanese people. shes a lebanese singer who i think was really prominent for decades starting from the 50s. not sure how her music will be perceived by someone who didn't grow up hearing it tho. shes also lebanese christian

9. luka salam

only know one song of hers but its a nice one, the lyrics are great and i was obsessed with it at one point. i know shes got others. idk where shes from tbh

10. maryam saleh

i only know one song of hers too but its also a nice one. shes egyptian

adding more in reblogs bc i ran out of links to add lol

[bramblesthatcat]

i know im not a steven universe blog but youtube knows i used to be a mentally ill middle schooler so i got recommended a bunch of SU songs and now i've binged the show again + movie + future and idk here r some of my SU opinions/hc bc fuck it why not.

opinions/thoughts

i totally think the Diamonds were redeemed way too quickly, and rewatching season 5 made me realize how god awful the pacing of that season was. they really needed a season 6 or like, split 5 in half idfk

obviously theres a difference between redemption and forgiveness, but I really wish that SU:F focused on that more bc it would've been a great internal conflict for steven but we only get like an 11 minute episode based on it (and yeah u could say that steven having mommy issues in Future is basically that but imo mommy issues r different than diamond issues)

pearl has the patience of a saint bc if my magical girl literal goddess of a gf/situationship left me for the 90's equivalent of a soundcloud rapper id never stop raging (yes this is partially a copypasta of that one tweet but they hit the nail on the head fr)

rewatching the series i love pearl so much i really see my younger self in her, especially w/ how autistic coded she is in regards to her feelings/emotions

i love seeing the different classic manga/anime artist styles reflected in each of the diamonds, like pinks design is so sailor moon vibes

steven shouldve flipped his shit before Future like, at least 6 times

headcannons/silly lil ideas

i like to think after SU:F and he's had time to heal, steven tries to connect with the diamonds and not run from/suppress that part of his family, like he's not gonna be 100% w/ them but he tries to at least accept it

steven also connects with greg's side of the family! idk I like to imagine he spends a lot of holidays with them to catch up on all the ones he missed

steven spends his summers in beach city and every other part of the year he dedicates to travel (idk he never seemed the type to settle down anywhere for long, and i fw the wandering nomad type)

steven grows his hair out as he gets older, like young-greg length (long haired men > literally any other hairstyle), despite the length it stays curly

once steven begins to accept/cope w/ being part diamond, he lets his hair go pink (either by dyeing it or magic, take ur pick) with the mentality of "im reclaiming this color from my mommy issues, also i look cool af" (this hc is mainly based off of how I like steven's pink hair in Future. style was first, lore was second lol)

post-Future steven is 1000% more willing to throw hands and lose his shit but in like a coping way bc he knows if he keeps it pent up it'll be 10x worse

steven definitely starts one of those van life style tiktok accounts and has a bunch of cats as his van pets

[i-sveikata]

hey, just curious if you could rec any particular authors you love read or rec any books to read? I tend to only read fanfic and when I try to read anything out there...ugh just the storyline is predictable and the dialogue is cringe. I trust your judgment, so anything you recommend?!

appreciate you love, hope you're doing well and take care of your health 💟💟

hello anon! i mostly read fantasy/queer novels so i can defs rec some of my favourites but if you have any triggers or things you don't like to read etc id recommend a bit of research on them here for triggers or here for goodreads synopsis. But here you go in no particular order:

-iron widow series/ Xiran jay zhao (1st book out 2nd coming out this year) -the radiant emperor series/ Shelley Parker Chan -the queens thief series/ Megan Whalen turner -the graceling realm series/ Kristin cashore -mo dao zu shi series (grandmaster of demonic cultivation)- Mo xiang ton xiu -all for the game series/ Nora sakavic -the cruel prince series/ Holly black -the celestial kingdom series/ Sue lynn tan -six of crows series/ Leigh bardugo -dark rise series/ CS pacat -villains series/ VE Schwab -leviathan series/ Scott westerfeld -a great and terrible beauty series/ Libba bray -legend series/ Marie lu -anne of green gables series/ lucy maud montogomery

heres some i've read when i was younger that are a bit more y/a but still slap and i still reread them every now and again

-the lightning thief series/ rick riordan -deltora quest/ emily rodda -the missing series/1800 where are you series/ meg cabot -the mediator series/ meg cabot -a series of unfortunate events/ lemony snicket

Also just some stand alone books I’ve read and really enjoyed: -the binding/ Bridget Collins -where the crawdad sings/ Delia owens -the martian/ Andy weir -life of pi/ Yann martel -green lights/ Matthew McConaughey -song of Achilles/ Madeline miller -howls moving castle/ Diana Wynne Jones -holes/ Louis sachar -the invisible life of addie larue/ Ve Schwab -the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo/ Taylor Jenkins Reid -the island of sea women/ Lisa see -aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe / Benjamin alire saenz -all our shimmering skies/ Trent dalton -red, white & royal blue/ Casey mcquiston -ella minnow pea/ Mark dunn

you'll probably find a few of these titles familiar already but a lot of these are favs of mine or are just really damn well executed stories. happy reading!

[wszczebrzyszynie]

This is a bit outdated but I just saw the August 24 Anon ask about researching history and wanted to give my advice!

(With this being said I’m American so some of my tactics may not apply as much in other places)

Articles are great but often blocked by paywalls! If you’re on computers there’s tutorials on how to remove most of them with simple code changes!

My second favorite way is to access articles through the Wayback machine and internet archive! If they’ve been archived usually there’s no paywall! This also works as intended with finding removed or broken websites!

(Also there’s a bunch of free old films and such on the internet archives which can be a great reference)

If you’re trying to identify a physical object I’d also recommend reverse image searches! If you’re lucky you can find a perfect or near match, or get a rough idea of something’s origin! I worked in an audio museum a year ago and used it all the time to help identify unlabeled microphones!

Historical Societies are also a huge help if you’re learning about local history! Often they’ll have digital archives and photos that are free to access and if you have the time to physically visit many have textiles, paper documents, photos, and more!

Another digital but hit and miss resource is national archives and stuff like the Smithsonian’s archives. They have huge digitized collections of some things and tiny collections of others

(The American National Archives has a huge selection of folk songs and old 78rpm records that are digitized that you can listen to!)

And if you know how to find good, credible channels YouTube can also be a huge resource! There’s a bunch of professors and specialized professionals teaching about their fields of study!

im personally very wary about youtube channels? depends on the topic really, as some historical subjects are easier to tackle than others, but eeh yeah id say to be careful with these, especially when first going into a subject. but these are some good points, thank you for sharing

[lonestar64]

RADIOHEAD // THE BENDS

went to a very cool local cd shop with my dad last night!! i wasnt there for long but i got a good look around and found this guy!!!!!!! it was still packaged too and it smells amazing xD definitely coming back there sum time

the bends is a phenomenal album; not a single song id skip!! ranging from tunes that absolutely rock out (just, my iron lung) to a more melancholy sound (nice dream, bullet proof..i wish i was) i know i usually dont blog about radiohead, or for the record blog in general XDD but i strongly recommend anyone looking for some new music to try ‘em out. especially if youre into other bands like the smiths, nirvana, or smashing pumpkins, you might really like them! uhh sry i went on a whole rant abt this im just very passionate lolol and ive been a fan of radiohead for a little over a year (tho it feels like longer :,D) and ive fallen in love with their music. although i havent explored their full discography yet i really want to because i know their other albums probably rock!!

in conclusion listen to radiohead

(the bends is a great place to start)

[whumpy-wyrms]

I SPOT A STARKID REFERENCE

And I will now use this as a chance to give more musical whump recommendations.

Obviously you've seen TGWDLM and assuredly many other starkid shows, so I shall skip those. The next musical whump I will recommend to you is Sweeney Todd, most specifically the scene at Foggs Asylum (I got to play Mr. Fogg in a community theatre production of Sweeney Todd, I have some great production photos a can share if you like, with faces blurred out). Fogg is basically a giant creepy whumper who sells his insane asylum patients hair and is a giant fkn creeper about it, weilds a pair of scissors, and calls all the patients his "children".

NEXT I recommend the song "Court of Miracles" from Hunchback of Notredame, specifically the musical version of it, not the Disney movie. This musical is so very whumpy, Id recomend you watch the entire thing bc Frollo is SOMETHING ELSE but that song is. MMMM. It has the King of the [Romani] singing at the main characters about how he's going to kill them in a silly little whumper way, it's amazing.

And thus, I retreat from your askbox and leave these recs on your doorstep like a lil rat. Have fun, I may be back eventually with more, and I would be MORE THAN HAPPY to talk with you more about these scenes or other recs :)

YEAHHHH I LOVE STARKID!!! and thanks for the recommendations!!!! i watched those scenes and they were AMAZINGGG. i’ve ever heard of sweeney todd until now and it seems super cool :D wow i really do need to watch more musicals so feel free to send more recs if u want! 🐀🐀🐀

also fun fact about me: i played the role of larry the lobster in the spongebob musical my school was doing last november and it was SOOO fun. it was the first (and only) musical i’ve ever been in and was one of the best things i’ve ever experienced like woooow i wish i had joined more musicals before then. anyway i loooove musicals now especially starkid and the hatchetfield ones :) nerdy prudes must die is my favorite but i love black friday and tgwdlm just as much!!

[xumoonhao]

i was tagged by @onedirecton to tag 10 ppl i want to get to know better and make a few questions :3 hehe, thank you sm alice :3

favourite colour: purple, hehe :3 alice i love that we have the same fav colour 💜💜💜 favourite food: ahhhh, i love most things!!! i do have a soft spot for soups and stews tho like they are so so wonderful……… mutuals pls gather round im giving you all a bowl of w/e soup or stew you like rn 🍲 song stuck in my head: babaero by randy santiago!!! its been stuck in my head since i first listened to it like it really is just so good, god… funky city pop music is really everything to me!!!!!!!! absolute best genre of music ever <<<333 i give it one thousand million hearts <- this was my last obsession bc i wrote all these answers down like. a week ago and forgot to post it so now the song stuck in my head is dagundong by alamat :3 its so good btw~! last long i listened to: hala by alamat!!! spotify did the only good thing its ever done by reintroducing me to alamat again like they are So Good oh my god...highly recommend their music!!! the way they work Filipino history into their videos and songs is soooooooo beautiful omg..... dream trip: hhhhhh i want to go to SO many places but my absolute DREAM is japan!!! id love to check out tokyo bc its so not like where i grew up - a bustling metropolis is what i want to live in like literally get me outta my small town this is not the place for meeeeee 😭 - but nara….the deer there……….god i need to go so BAD and i also just want to go to a cherry blossom festival once like pls…pls :( other than tho id LOVE to visit the great bear rainforest!!! like it just looks so so beautiful and its really not too far from me omg……. last tv show/movie: im currently watching the cherry magic anime (it is so good and so cute omg i forgot how much i enjoy the story….) and rewatching kyou kara maoh which is really and truly such a beloved anime To Me like its absolutely ridiculous god i love it sm!!! and i dont remember the last movie i watched?? i Think it was skinamarink but i could be wrong bc i watched that early last year and surely ive seen a movie since then…? but also maybe not bc i truly do only watch like 1 movie a year 😭 <- also update to this bc i watched sweet home a couple days ago!!! it was quite good and i really enjoyed the practical effects in it :3 older horror movies really have such a beloved place in my heart ahhh...also in writing this i remember i watched The Thing after skinamarink...i. only watched horror movies apparently spicy/sweet/savory: SPICY 🌶️🌶️🌶️ i do like all these things but if i had to choose id def go spicy over either of these!!! i do like spicy + sweet tho like omg one time i had spicy chocolate frozen yogurt and it was sooooooo good !!! idk what was used to make it spicy but i Adored it wahhhh~

also!!! in your lil tag game it said to make a few cool questions so i will make some <<<333

If you could be any animal, would you choose to be a domesticated animal or a wild one? Domesticated can extend to a wild animal that has been individually raised in a home, i.e., someone raising a raccoon a pet.

What is your favourite medium of creation? If you don't really engage in making things, pick whatever you're most interested in trying :3 And by medium I mean everything from drawing or making music or writing…anything creative!

What is/are your favourite(s) combination of colours?

Imagine your perfect summer day; what does it look like? Give as much description as you want :3

What is your favourite celestial object?

now, ill tag @grlfriends, @kwonhochi, @vampirebiter, @wonhosgrl, @librapropaganda, @honeydewtual, @heartual, @10281, @taengoo, @morgoth, @bixiaoshi, @ghostfeather, @ashmp3, @lovenee, @earlymay, @anglerfishare1inchto3feetlong, and @huiven!!! only if you want, ofc :3 and i know it said only 10 ppl but you see. i lost count while tagging ......... but thats fine <3

[usamingif]

How do I get into THE IDOLM@STER?

...is a very frequent question we idolmaster fans get!

I recently got a message from someone asking me if I could make a post answering this question, and I said I would try. I'm very bad at explaining things, but idolmaster is my biggest special interest, and I am always really happy to try to get people into it.

Before we start, I want to remind you that Idolmaster has no localization. All translations are fanmade. Please remember to support translators. I'll leave as many resources as possible. If you have any translators or sites you'd like me to mention, please let me know.

If you're willing to try and get into it, please open the readmore. I wont only be including Cinderella Girls, I'll try to include every branch.

How do I get into THE IDOLMASTER Cinderella Girls?

Alright, I know I said I wouldn't only be including CG, but this is still a deresute gif blog. I know what most of you are here for.

Cinderella Girls is a huge branch. There's 190 idols. I see some people backing out when they realize this, but I don't think that should discourage you! With that many idols, you're guaranteed to find someone for you. And please, just because you think the voiced girls are more worth your time, please check out the unvoiced ones as well.

Alright, but how do you get into it?

There's a lot of Youtube channels that translate different commus from it. From card lines, to memorial commus, to entire events. Simply search "deresute translation" if you'd like. HNKM_days on Twitter also translates most of the events as they come out.

CG's music is great! there's tons of uploads on soundcloud. My soundcloud playlist has about 200-ish songs. You can find a bunch by just searching "idolmaster".

To find more information on a song, search it up on project-imas.

Project-imas is *the* best idolmaster resource I can think of. It's entirely in English, it has every single song, CD, card — anything you can think of. I use it everyday of my life, which might sound sad but I assure you it isn't. Probably.

How do I get into THE IDOLMASTER Million Live?

Sankyuu ML subs on YouTube does a great job at translating mirishita related content! Another personal note I wanna add is that million live has an amazing discography, and full versions of pretty much every song are on Spotify. Even tho the cast is way smaller than Cinderella Girls, there's still a lot to love about the branch. I dont play Mirishita as much as I do some of the other games, but I still consume lots of content from it and it's a lovely branch I definitely recommend you get into. As of writing this post, Mirishita is celebrating it's 6th anniversary! It's a good time to download the game. Remember, you will need a Japanese VPN or Japanese Apple ID to play it. This goes for every imas mobile game.

How do I get into THE IDOLMASTER SideM?

Well, this is where we're gonna have to start getting into the thorny dark side of being an idolmaster fan. SideM is a great branch which I absolutely adore, and all of it's producers are so passionate about it, however.. Bandai Namco has never been kind to it.

This year, it was announced that it's only current running game, THE IDOLM@STER SideM Growing Stars, will be ending it's service. This was extremely sudden, and hard for everyone to handle. This means that there will basically be no way to properly produce the idols. SideM won't fully die, with there being lives and such, but producing the idols is such a big part of this franchise. I don't want to make this post gloomy out of nowhere, I swear. It's just a bit touchy for now.

There's a huuuge translation masterdoc for SideM, if any of the units or characters catch your eye from the project-imas wiki page on SideM, I suggest you search for whatever idols intrigue you most in the doc. As well as the doc, you can search up "#sidemTL" on Twitter for more translations not on the doc. There's so much to love about every unit and idol, I swear it's worth your time! Even tho it's current state might steer you away, I think it's important to still appreciate the branch for what it is. Oh hey, SideM's discography is also on streaming services! Please stream Piece Montee and Secret Ornament.

How do I get into THE IDOLMASTER Shiny Colors?

Here's ones that's been gaining traction! Luckily, it's actually a pretty accessible branch to get into, if you're willing to download the English patch. The gameplay might seem complicated and scary at first, but even that has tons of guides. I think a lot of this post is motivated by my emotions on the franchise, and I'm sorry about that, but I really mean it when I say the writing is incredible.

You can play Shinymas on your web browser here. If you search up "Shiny colors English patch" on google, you can download it using the instructions. If you're still hesitant on playing for whatever reason, you can read episodes recorded in the English patch on YouTube. I'm not exaggerating when I say the writing is amazing.

p.s if you dont care about that then I should let you know there's unlimited free ten pulls when you start the game

How do I get into the original idolmaster games? (765AS + Dearly Stars)

If you specifically want to get into the console games, there's English roms and translations of routes on Youtube, as well. Dearly Stars is currently in a very weird state, tho. You see, the 765AS girls are all in Million Live, and there's a lot of consolemas games they appear in. But for Dearly Stars, there's only one game. Which is, well, Dearly Stars. And 2/3 of the Dearly Stars just.. havent gotten content since?

I think that it's still a game you should check out, tho! There's not a single bad song in it, and even tho 3 idols might seem like an underwhelming number, they're all brilliant and very lovable. As with a good chunk of consolemas games, there's Dearly Stars translations up on YouTube! A really dedicated RyoP posted them all and I am eternally grateful to them for it.

Alright, phew. I wrote half of this at 11 am and procrastinated for a few hours then wrote more at midnight. Remember that project-imas is an insanely good resource and I encourage you to tell me if I should add more things onto this post. 100% of this post was made off the top of my head and based off of my own experience with the games. I want to mention that there's also a channel called "アイマスSUBS" that covers all the branches in terms of translations, and they've got a bunch of those. Have fun, producers!