#heartwarming duet

[shutterbulky]

Celebrity Invites Young Girl to Perform "You Raise Me Up" - Moments Later, She Steals the Show!

If you’re a fan of America’s Got Talent, you might recall the adorable Céline Tam from Hong Kong, who captured hearts but didn’t make it to the finals last year. Wondering what she’s been up to since then? Well, here’s some delightful news about Céline’s journey. Recently, the talented German singer and show host, Helene Fischer, extended an invitation to Céline for a special duet on her show.…

[haarute]

i genuinely believe i could do well as a death growl vocalist in a shitty metal band that doesn't have any future ahead of them but we're all just having fun so nobody minds our lack of quality too much

[helluvagirlboss]

Helluva Boss Songs I Hope To See in the Future

1. Another Stolitz duet, whether it be romantic as hell or if it’s the extremely “make-you-blush-while-listening-to-it” horny song that Sam Haft teased for S3.

2. I want Octavia to either have a solo or have a duet with Stolas. Based on the S2b trailer I believe we’re probably getting a Via solo so that’s great, but a duet with Stolas would be heartwarming (or heartbreaking depending on what Viv decides to do to us lol).

3. A proper Millie/Moxxie duet, one similar to “Crooked” between Fizz and Asmodeus. We haven’t had a proper one since “Oh Millie” from the pilot and since the pilot is no longer canon, a true blue duet between the two is lone overdue (I swear I didn’t intend for that to rhyme lol).

4. While I know Erica Lindbeck confirmed we’re getting a Loona solo next season, I would also love for her to have a duet with Blitz because I feel the show would benefit from Loona showing and telling her dad how much he means to her.

5. A Blitz and Fizzarolli duet. This is one is less serious than the previous ones, I just want it because I think it would be funny as hell and I wanna see these two have a good time.

6. A villain song where Stella is manipulating Via, think “Mother Knows Best” from Tangled vibes. I think it would be great for Stella to establish herself as an intelligent and formidable villain, and not just a raging bitch.

7. Jumping off that I would also love a villain duet between Andrealphus and Stella because I think it would be fun.

8. A song battle between Moxxie and Striker. I just wanna see these two face off again music style especially if it’s during a physical brawl.

9. A Millie and Loona duet because I wanna see more of their dynamic.

10. And finally a group number by I.M.P. We’re long overdue for a badass group number from the members of this wacky murder business and I’d be hyped.

And that’s all for now! I’m sure I’ll think of more! Let me know what you guys think :)

[accio-victuuri]

it’s not a secret that i’m a ttxs bros fan and i love that show! it was my end of week treat and i knew that no matter how stressful the weekdays were, i have ttxs and wyb to watch and be my sunday reward. wyb had 3 performances for 2023 nye and we knew about the 2 and i was excited for it but that night, my fave would be his duet with dls of the song that never ends. aside from the dls/wyb/wh moment, i think that personally, it was the kind of performance i needed that time. nye stages are expected to be flashy but sometimes what we really need is a heartwarming song to remind us of the past year and the people that we love. it was really special <3

so i’m sharing this clip of dls/wh talking about that stage:

DLS: I remember that Wang Han said something casually before, so I wrote it in the song, but he said that there are some things that cannot be said or forgotten, and cannot be even thought about, because as soon as you touch it, you will feel it, and then the feeling will disappear. going back, I have written this song for more than two years. I originally wanted to make this song my own, and I thank Hunan for allowing us to be on this stage. Later, Wang Yibo and I sang this song live. I used to sing it and it felt so good. I sang and performed, and that night, maybe I felt that Wang Yibo didn’t know that we were going to sing this song because of Wang Han, and we both had the mentality that this song is coming, are you sure we should start singing it, because when we sang it, the feeling was... We will come back a lot. When we were together, we kept talking about whether we should watch Wang Han, because you know, we were afraid that we wouldn't be able to sing when we saw Wang Han, and we would start crying. Then later we found out that Wang Han was watching from below.

How can I say that I feel that sometimes there is a relationship or a piece of work that will always end. When it becomes a song, a paragraph, a poem, a painting, it will always be in our hearts. In this melody, Wang Han and I are slightly different in age. But I feel that my friendship with Wang Han is like a song that can never be finished.

WH: Thank you. In fact, the time gap is not particularly long because it was December 31st and today is only March. Da Zhangwei means a lot to me.Every time, I look forward to him coming, and then I'm so afraid of him coming. I really want to see him but i’m afraid cause i don't know what to say. The two words he says the most are, "Just be happy. Just be happy. You'll be happy." So what I especially want to say is that if he wants me to see him happy, I will see him happy. If one day he wants me to see him unhappy, I just need to use my eyes to see him and my ears to listen to him. Wang Yibo is cold and he is warm. They are my cold and warm life.

THEY ARE SO PRECIOUS 🥹🥹🥹🥹

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

If you're still taking Boyd-character headcanons, if they were celebrities, what would they be celebrities for, and how well would they deal with their level of fame?

Steve Murphy: Ha! I think like his irl counterpart, Steve ends up writing a book about hunting Escobar. I’m not sure he notices his fame one bit, but it helps that it’s the “boring” kind of fame where occasionally he’ll get pulled onto NPR interviews, or asked to consult for some crime show.

Donald Pierce: Pierce gets famous accidentally, through his YouTube channel where he films himself tinkering with the Reavers prosthetics, and building little robotic contraptions. He thinks it’s awesome for a while, and it definitely gives him a complex, but then it kind of gets overwhelming when one of his videos go viral. (He does not love being noticed in public and shouted at!) When that dies down and his fandom returns to its usual, smaller group of nerds (and people who think he’s hot), it’s a big relief.

Cap Hatfield: Modern Cap becomes famous when his “heartwarming” story of a one-eyed Kentucky kid who became an Olympic sharpshooter takes off. He doesn’t like it one bit. He holes up and ignores everyone until the Olympics are over. Cap will actively reject sponsorships that make him do media runs because he thinks the whole thing is fucking awful. He just wants to shoot!

Clement Mansell: To Clement’s enormous irritation, it’s not his singing that makes him famous. One of his mugshots actually goes viral and he becomes the internets new “hot criminal”. He’s *so* smug about it, absolutely uses his “stardom” to get laid, and tries to use his 15 minutes of fame to launch a music career. That… doesn’t really work.

The Corinthian: This is just my wild speculation, but in my headcanon, the Corinthian becomes famous for all the serial killing he does in the Waking World, and then when he realizes he’s a mini-celebrity for human serial killers, he decides to use his platform and give a big speech at their convention to try to usurp his boss. He also maybe would try to fuck some of them?

Eli Klaber: Klaber marries someone very rich, and creates TikToks about his pampered housewife lifestyle. He doesn’t talk to his fans. He lets his husband manage his account.

Ty Shaw: Aww Ty does a duet with Abby that goes viral. He doesn’t actually notices his fame for the longest time because it’s all on Abby’s account, and that’s her thing! She ribs him sometimes about being an internet heartthrob and he thinks it’s funny.

Quinn McKenna: Lol, Quinn releases a big tell-all about the aliens. He is considered a highly controversial figure, mostly gets invited to weird podcasts and conventions. He doesn’t like to be approached in public, and he’s got a reputation for being an asshole because he football punted some dude’s iPhone across a restaurant when he tried to film him getting lunch with his kid.

[pankusfinger]

So some new gameplay came out for Like a Dragon 8, and in the gameplay it showed Judgement being a playable song for the first time since Yakuza 0, with Ichiban singing it along with Kiryu. This got me thinking a lot, so I want to share my thoughts.

So Kiryu hasn’t sung this song since like what, the 80’s? That’s a long damn time, especially considering Judgement is his canonical favorite song. So why hasn’t he sang it in so long? Well, ignoring gameplay reasons obviously, an answer could be that he always sung that song with Nishiki by his side, and thus it felt wrong and empty to sing it without him.

Well, that was, until he met Ichi.

It’s a well known fact that Ichiban’s japanese voice actor is actually also Nishiki’s voice actor, a sorta passing the torch kinda thing. Something I believe (and is kinda implied ingame) is that Ichiban reminds Kiryu of his younger self, while also reminding him of Nishiki, in a way. Just something about Kiryu seeing Ichi as the future of the yakuza (as said in the trailer) is so heartwarming to me.

But what does this have to do with Judgement? Well, the fact that Kiryu hadn’t sung this song in nearly 40 years, but then decided to do a duet alongside Ichi is just kinda heartwrenching in a way. I have a headcanon that Ichi saw the song on the list of karaoke songs, and asked Kiryu if he heard of it, in which Kiryu had a sort of flashback. It’s like he remembered Nishiki asking the exact same thing all those years ago, and something Ichi reminding him of it made him wanna sing it again with him.

Something I also find just absolutely heartbreaking is that with the recent reveal of Kiryu having cancer, it’s very possible that this could be his very last game The ONLY other time you could sing Judgement was in Kiryu’s canonical very first game, all the way back in the 80’s with Yakuza 0. The fact that Kiryu’s journey is starting and possibly ending with his favorite song makes me feel a lot of things.

[thekylemeredith]

Carole King's iconic song "Where You Lead" became the heartwarming anthem for Gilmore Girls, but did you know she re-recorded it specifically for the show? Teaming up with her daughter Louise Goffin, they created a duet, symbolizing the close mother-daughter bond of Lorelai and Rory and giving it a fresh, emotional depth perfect for Stars Hollow.

💖🎶 Who’s your favorite Gilmore? Tell us below and tune into Kyle Meredith With 's TV In The Radio weeknight at 7:20 on WFPK.

#GilmoreGirls #CaroleKing #WhereYouLead #TVThemeSongs #ClassicTV #FeelGoodTV

[dazeddoodles]

do u think that Raine (or Eda) had one of those tape recorder thingys and it’s just filled with memories of Raine and Eda when they were dating and friends, and they would record intimate memories, silly memories, heartwarming memories, ect.?

Considering Eda had recorded her and Raine's duet on a tape recorder (somehow, maybe using the memory tweezers?) I think it's very likely. Especially since alot of their dynamic revolves around music.

This asks gave the idea that maybe the tape recorder Eda had in Follies could have been the same tape recorder that she and Raine used when they were in Hexide. It started of with just recording Raine playing music and then later on recording themselves just being silly.

As adults Eda found it at while at Raine's house and they listened to heartwarming memories and afterward, Raine gave it to her as gift. After the break up Eda came across it again and locked it away. Then when Eda met Raine again and joined the BATTS she pulled it back out the use it again for the first time in years.

[restinslices]

Could u do Earth realm guys doing karaoke?

My headcanons aren’t long because I don’t think they’d be that different so imma do it like this instead.

Overall I think they’d all have a nice time. Karaoke is supposed to be fun and you’re supposed to laugh and have a good time. I can see them doing karaoke when they have free time or any other activity where they can spend quality time together. Their relationship was rocky at first but by the end we see them enjoying a meal together and not making rude comments towards each other. Karaoke would also be a nice break from all the chaos that is sure to come.

Johnny and Kung Lao are probably having the most fun. They’re just different fonts of each other when it comes to how cocky they are. Johnny and Kung Lao would say how terrible someone’s voice sounds, get on the mic, then sound like the apocalypse. They either don’t care or don’t hear how bad they sound. Like the girl that would sing in class loud as shit even though she sounded like a train wreck (and y’all are awful for letting her humiliate herself like that). They’re the most fun loving so something as chill and free as late night karaoke would be something they’d really enjoy. They’re either doing a duet or having a battle and imma stand on it. Probably makes everyone vote on who’s better.

I don’t think Kenshi would do much singing. I just don’t see him as a singer and I don’t think peer pressure works on him. He’d probably be the one suggesting songs. Probably also says how terrible the other two sound and is rolling his eyes the entire time (or maybe not. Depends on if Mileena got him by now). Honestly Raiden and Liu Kang probably aren’t doing much singing either. The mics are being hogged. Raiden and Kung Lao give me the vibe that Kung Lao does dumb shit and Raiden watches (probably warns him but he’s hardheaded so now he’s just watching things play out). I’m not saying Raiden isn’t fun and that Karaoke is dumb. I’m just explaining the vibes I get as best as I can. Raiden does a few songs, otherwise, like Kenshi, he’s content with mainly watching the other two go head to head. Liu Kang wouldn’t sing as much because he’s just enjoying the moment. I think Kenshi and Raiden would still make commentary and sing from time to time, but Liu Kang would be so quiet that they might forget he’s there.

Liu Kang doesn’t give me “loudest in the room” vibes. They have this small moment of peace so he’s gonna watch and enjoy the scene. I know I bring up the past timeline and how he feels a lot but I think it’s important to his character. Remember, he’s watched humanity evolve without his friends. I think having them so close and seeing them have fun like regular people would be heartwarming. He doesn’t necessarily have to participate to have a good time. He’s just letting himself relax (as best as he can while listening to Johnny and Kung Lao arguing). Idk. Liu Kang just seems like the type to sit back and watch things play out. He’s probably used to living life this way since he couldn’t really interfere with a lot of human activity. It kinda feels like he’s back at the hour glass watching time pass, but it’s different this time and he likes that.

Rereading this made me realize I didn’t write this as an X Reader type of thing but uhhhh… damn. I think this still works fine. The only difference is I’m not referring to the audience a lot.

As a side note, Tumblr thinks I’m spelling their names wrong and on my side, Kenshi and Raiden’s names don’t look like they’re colored. So ignore that if it stays like that.

[woodchipp]

A CRITIQUE OF OMORI, PART 2: CHARACTERS

NOTE: Reader discretion is advised. By clicking on “Keep reading”, you willingly choose to continue reading the post.

Generally speaking, OMORI’s character writing is superficial, both in Headspace and the real world. Instead of letting the player parse the main characters’ personalities for themselves via organic character interaction, all five of them get conveniently summed up by Basil comparing them to flowers before you’re flatly informed that Omori is afraid of heights, spiders and drowning in the game’s first 10 minutes. For what is supposed to be the player’s introduction to the characters, it comes across as particularly sloppy.

Their counterparts in the real world aren’t much better, despite the game’s attempts to make them appear complex and nuanced. In fact, Sunny sums up their personalities to you again (in 2 lines, no less) if you decide to interact with them right before the game’s penultimate boss fight. Another testament to how trite the writing is is that each of the main characters’ real-world selves can be easily defined by their basic archetype: Sunny is The Quiet One, Basil is the Nervous Wreck, Kel is the Manic Pixie Dream Boy, Aubrey is The Bully, Hero is The Ace and Mari was Stuffed into the Fridge. They don’t have any remarkable quirks that’d add a distinct flair to their character nor do they have unique speech patterns or anything of the sort to set them apart, creating the impression that they’re all indistinguishable from each other. The dialogue doesn’t sound authentic either - Hero hamfistedly espouses morals the way you’d expect a children’s show to while Aubrey’s conversation with Sunny on the swings on One Day Left has her dispense advice you would expect to hear from a clinical professional.

Of course, the most egregious example of what I'm describing is Aubrey’s big motive rant near the tree stump Mari allegedly hung herself on, since the game expects the player to believe that the violent juvenile delinquent who previously flew off the handle if her former friends talked to her for more than a minute would be able to talk at length about her festering trauma in such a clear and well-structured manner with no prior character development. It’s also obvious that her speech was written not to be directed at any of her friends but rather at the player, thus making the entire cutscene a very transparent infodump.

What feels the fakest about these characters is that they’re supposed to be close friends. OMORI doesn’t miss a single opportunity to remind you how ostensibly tight-knit the group was back when Mari was alive: it has you look through Basil’s photo album four times over the course of the game, the kids often reassure each other they’re still friends, Sunny’s most cherished memories in Memory Lane are those he experienced together with his friends and the entire DUET cutscene is a bittersweet “good times” montage. However, as heartwarming as seeing cute kids having fun might be, everything I’ve listed amounts to being pointless at best and heavy-handed glurge at worst because the characters rarely ever do anything substantial to reaffirm their friendship. Quite the contrary - upon close examination, most of their actions towards each other before and during the game inadvertently render their friendship an informed attribute at best. 

Let’s take the friend group’s disbandment after Mari’s death as an example. The photo album’s narrative purpose is to establish how strong the group’s friendship used to be in the past so that the fact they’ve drifted apart in the present would have weight and emotional impact, but the memories the photos depict boil down to mostly irrelevant fluff along the lines of "We went to the beach. It was fun!" or "We're reading a new comic issue. So exciting!". Not only does it not tell us anything new about any of the characters, but it also paints a picture too impossibly perfect to be believable - the way the narrative presents it, the characters' childhood was ideal and Mari’s death was the only horrible thing to have ever happened to them as a group. Since the game lacks a precedent of the kids sticking with and trying to help each other in times of need, the fact they split apart and lost touch with each other so quickly in the face of this single hardship ends up unintentionally implying that their friendship is way flimsier than the game makes it out to be. And that’s not even going into details such as Kel reaching out to Sunny only after he learned the latter was about to leave, Hero and Kel admitting they’ve never been to Aubrey’s house (which implies that none of her friends questioned her tendency to always come over and never made the effort to actually visit her themselves) and Basil admitting he thought his friends forgot about his birthday.

Sunny and Basil have, at best, a deeply one-sided codependent relationship. While the guilt and stress of shouldering the blame and aftermath of Mari’s death caused Basil to suffer a mental breakdown, Sunny appears apathetic towards Basil. Basil considers Sunny his best friend and will do anything for him, including staging a suicide and taking the brunt of Aubrey’s misdirected wrath for several years, because of his staunch belief that Sunny is a good person who would never hurt anyone, much less his beloved sister. 

While Basil would do anything for Sunny, it seems the sentiment is not mutual. Upon witnessing Basil having his first mental breakdown in the bathroom, Sunny exits the bathroom under the pretense of looking “scared” despite maintaining his default facial expression if you look into the bathroom mirror and Basil tearfully begging him to stay. The player is forced to abandon a friend in their time of need. What does this say about Sunny’s character?

Basil’s absence in Headspace becomes conspicuous over the course of the game as Omori and the gang become increasingly distracted by meaningless storylines that go nowhere. It is, in fact, a major plot point that the gang begins to forget they were ever looking for him in the first place. This, along with Basil’s numerous deaths in Black Space, heavily implies that Sunny’s trauma is intertwined with Basil and that, preferring to repress thoughts of him for his own peace of mind, he chooses to ignore the deterioration of his best friend’s mental health. Additionally, the imaginary Basil’s conversation with Sunny shortly before the latter goes down his Memory Lane has the former apologize to Sunny for “causing [him] so much trouble” and “burdening" him, which implies that Sunny does consider Basil a burden to some extent. 

Finally, the method you use to obtain the "secret ending" cutscene is by watering Basil’s plants in Sunny's dream world. Sunny doesn’t help Basil when he actually has the chance to and Basil clearly needs it, but seems to be content with thinking about doing something good for the Basil he made up in his head while the real one is suffering. Again, what does that say about Sunny’s character?

Sunny himself is notable for essentially being a walking checklist of #relatable character traits the game doesn’t give you much of an actual reason to care about. He’s passive to the point where the plot of the route named after him is driven forward by Kel (as per Kel's stated narrative purpose) and every other character except Sunny himself. Neither Headspace nor Black Space do much to flesh him out despite taking place in his mind, and the most the game can say about him is that his friends have to take care of him since he’s the group’s “baby” (along with comparing him to Mari’s pet cat, which is a whole another unfortunate implication of its own).

[Pictured: an intricate and well-written character. Also pictured: peak friendship. Because your best friends infantilizing you is just so sweet of them, isn't it?]

[Pictured: the sun apparently shining brighter when Mari was here. Also, ew.]

Tying into his “baby of the bunch” role is how… Sunny-centric the group’s friendship is. Most of Sunny’s interactions with his friends are marked by his friends doing everything they can for him, but Sunny is never shown doing anything for them - in fact, a pivotal plot point of the game is him breaking the expensive violin they bought him for Christmas and spent an entire summer saving up money for. Coupled with one of Hero’s remarks indicating that Sunny’s family was financially well-off before Mari’s death, this action paints him as being spoiled. Moreover, the revelation that Basil took the blame for Sunny desecrating the photo album (as well as Mari taking the blame for him breaking one of their mother’s vases) heavily implies that Sunny is either used to letting other people take the fall for his actions or is otherwise all too willing to do that.

Since he’s inextricably tied to Sunny, Kel also needs to be mentioned here. While the overall concept of his character - an upbeat jokester hiding how hurt he really is by his friend group’s dissolution beneath a mask of (toxic) positivity - is interesting on paper, the game doesn’t do anything particularly interesting with it. As mentioned earlier, Kel exists solely as a plot device to push Faraway Town’s story along and acts as Sunny’s Manic Pixie Dream Boy, being the wacky and energetic character who gives the brooding and gloomy protagonist a new lease on life. Ironically, despite the game making it a point that Kel and Hero’s parents ignored him to comfort Hero first, whatever trauma Kel might’ve suffered from Hero’s outburst is glossed over in favor of focusing on his brother’s grief over Mari. In addition to this, the exchange where Kel reveals that Hero yelled at him is optional and very easy to miss, which is baffling since it’s crucial context for Kel's relationship with Hero in the present day. Lastly, even though Kel’s slight thoughtlessness is generally meant to be endearing, there is one plot-relevant moment when it crosses over into dangerous stupidity.

After Aubrey pushes Basil into the lake near the group’s old hangout spot, Kel tells Sunny to rescue Basil - even though he should know that Sunny has a fear of drowning since he was there when Sunny nearly drowned in that very lake before. Instead of just diving into the lake himself, Kel chooses to argue with Aubrey on the pier, both of them seeming more interested in debating Aubrey’s motives than in saving their friend’s life. Not only is saving Basil a choice the player has to make, the choice prompt to do so doesn't have any sort of time limit and the game doesn't punish you at all if you choose "No", which nullifies the urgency this moment is supposed to have. 

Depending on how long you take to save Basil and the time it takes for Kel and Sunny to respond, it can be inferred that Basil was submerged for at least twenty seconds. Although the average person can hold their breath for roughly thirty seconds underwater, Basil was taken off-guard and likely did not have the opportunity to brace himself before Aubrey pushed him in.

Instead of acting swiftly, however, Kel and Aubrey devolve into an argument. This implies that their quarreling takes priority over their love of their friend, if not suggests outright disregard toward both Sunny and Basil’s well-being. 

The intention behind the scene seemed to be providing a thematic parallel to the accidental nature of Mari’s death and Sunny’s participation in it. Aubrey insists that she “didn’t mean to” push Basil, even though by that point she had already committed the act and her intent no longer mattered. 

However, this scene fails as a thematic foil because unlike Mari, who was already dead by the time she was brought upstairs, Basil is still alive when submerged, and is in active danger of dying even as Kel and Aubrey argue. By ignoring the immediate threat to their friend’s life, the narrative inadvertently implies that Kel and Aubrey care less about Basil than Aubrey’s feelings. And while this may be understandable in the heat of the moment for Aubrey, who turned against Basil out of the mistaken assumption that he was, in her own words, a “nutcase,” it’s less understandable for Kel, who wants to keep the group together and has up to this point tried to treat Basil with kindness. 

Aubrey does not immediately apologize for having pushed Basil (who was unconscious at the time of his rescue) into the lake, and similarly to Kel, she didn’t jump into the lake to save Basil herself. She yells “Where do you think you’re going?” to the retreating Hero, Sunny, and Kel, apparently callous to or unaware of Basil’s condition. Even after taking into account her anger issues and rough home life, Aubrey’s treatment of Basil is still unacceptable for several reasons.

[Pictured: Aubrey being an absolute girlboss and serving cunt.]

First of all, the event that caused Aubrey to turn on Basil was that she looked through his album without his permission while the two were studying together at his house. Although she portrays the photo album as a shared group possession because it contains their collective memories, in reality the album belongs to Basil. Mari bought it for him, its item description is “BASIL’s most precious belonging”, and most importantly, the album is entitled “Basil’s Memories.”

Secondly, the game further emphasizes that the album is Basil’s to do with as he wishes and not inherently a group possession when he gives it to Sunny. As its inheritor, Sunny is then free to share the album with his friends, but it can’t be stressed enough that the ownership of the album and its subsequent welfare initially belonged to Basil.

All this to say, Aubrey essentially breached Basil’s privacy by leafing through the album behind his back (note that he had not been in the room at the time of her discovery).

In hindsight, we know that Aubrey wrongly jumped to conclusions when she assumed Basil had been the one to black Mari out of his photographs. However, the fact that she instantly believed her own conclusion - that Basil is a “nutcase” - instead of trying to give her close friend the benefit of the doubt inadvertently paints Aubrey as a dishonest and disrespectful friend. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to her to ask him why he did it, to give him the chance to explain himself, before condemning him as a “nutcase.”

If the event had stopped there, perhaps that may have been enough to get the point across. But Aubrey then proceeds to bully Basil for the next four years, even going so far as to rope several other people into tormenting him. She could have just as easily avoided Basil, yet due to her erroneous and unfounded belief, she consciously chose to bully him. 

When confronted, Aubrey expresses more concern over being perceived as a bully than making genuine amends with her victim. The label “bully” damages her self-image and seems to distress her more than the thought of having harmed someone she used to be good friends with.

[Ma'am, you are a bully. The churchgoers saw you and your gang bully Basil.]

The nature of Aubrey’s bullying is rather vague, but we can reasonably infer that it included verbal abuse such as name-calling: she admits to having called Basil a “nutcase,” a “creep,” and “other things” which she conveniently does not specify.

Basil’s mental health was already heavily compromised by his involvement in Mari’s death. His tendency to shoulder blame for others’ deeds means he took the abuse Aubrey would have likely inflicted onto Sunny had she known the truth. That also serves to imply that she would’ve probably tormented another friend of hers regardless of who was the true target of her ire. What’s more, the game attempts to implicitly rationalize Aubrey’s reprehensible actions as the byproduct of a rough home life, assuming a trite and largely outdated “bullies come from pitiable backgrounds” angle in order to earn sympathy from the audience. 

By peddling this angle, the game sends the message that Aubrey’s hurt feelings outweigh the actual harm she inflicted on Basil. Such a perception is not helped by Basil mostly staying out of the story’s focus while Aubrey gets to explain herself at length and be forgiven for her misdeeds with a cute group hug because she cried really hard. Her apology to Basil (who had shut himself off from everyone by that point due to his grandmother's death) is meaningless since we don’t get to see any real reconciliation between her and her victim. That, in turn, is a fault of the game's short three-day timespan, which results in Sunny's friends being thrown to the wayside in the last hour as the game's climax takes center stage.

The fact of the matter is, there is a major difference between being anguished that your friend group has fallen apart and lashing out as a result, and making the conscious choice to bully someone you used to consider a friend because you assumed the worst of them. OMORI treats the latter like the former. Aubrey appears disingenuous when she insists she isn’t a bully because by her own admission, she did bully someone, a former close friend who is known for his sensitive temperament, and she bullied him for four years, contributing to the deterioration of his already unstable mental state. It’s not a simple mistake she can take back so easily.

Aubrey’s horrible home life also fails as a rationalization because Basil, her victim, has a horrible home life as well. His parents left him in the care of his grandmother when he was a toddler and don’t seem to visit him at all; he is forced to live with a guardian, Polly, who doesn’t know how to approach him, and his grandmother’s health is failing. In fact, it could be argued that Basil’s life is somewhat worse than Aubrey’s. Yet in spite of his mitigating circumstances, Basil chooses to shoulder the blame for Sunny’s actions.

Basil in general is best described as the game’s punching bag. Even after taking into account his involvement in Mari’s death, he elicits sympathy purely by virtue of having a truckload of horrible things happen to him before and during the story, as well his closest friends either being grossly unreliable (Sunny) or, even worse, actually harming him (Aubrey). On top of that, his friends also prove to be appalingly inconsiderate; after not taking the opportunity to visit him at the hospital when Polly first told them that he’s in the ICU with his grandmother and instead spending their time “doing whatever” until he got back home in the afternoon, they suddenly decide to visit him while he’s grieving his grandmother's death and decide to sleep over at his house without asking Basil himself whether he'd want that just because they assume he'd appreciate their company. His psychotic breakdown near the end of the Sunny route is the most logical reaction he could’ve had to circumstances as awful as his, really.

Hero is a character. I seriously struggle to think of anything notable about him other than him being Mari’s grieving boyfriend and the friend group’s father figure, and he’s not given much of a remarkable personality beyond that.

One last thing I’d like to mention is Sunny’s family - or, more precisely, that the player is given minimal information about them. Sunny’s mother is barely there, prioritizing furniture sales over her clearly unwell son, and the only notable thing about his father is the fact that he walked out on his family after the death of his daughter. Despite the game prominently featuring Sunny’s family photo during the story, it doesn’t carry any narrative importance because we don’t know much about what Sunny’s family was actually like. Did Sunny love his parents? Was he indifferent to them? Did his parents love him? Did they favor Mari over him? They don’t even get brought up by Omori during his dressing-down of Sunny in the final boss fight; and, as with Sunny’s friends, the game doesn't bother showing the reaction of Sunny’s mother to the fact that her son killed her daughter, even if accidentally. 

Finally, there’s Mari herself. She is Sunny’s older sister and the lynchpin of the entire plot. Talking about her and how the story treats her requires me to talk about the most important, and perhaps most controversial aspect of OMORI: her death, and the twist behind it.

[jowi8597]

240904 CCTV (Video) Weibo update 🔥

Listen to his song! Wang Yibo and Zhou Dongyu's duet is so heartwarming.

"I also want to be able to illuminate you, leave sunshine in your life, and accompany you through the mountains and rivers~"

Let's review Wang Yibo and Zhou Dongyu's duet "The Scenery of Your Life" and feel the full sense of narrative.

/I'm placing the whole song because the clip from CCTV is of poor quality 😅

Yibo singing a romantic ballad, looking like a prince 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠 So hot 🫠/

[gardensofthemoon]

End of the year fic recs

Thank you so much for tagging me, @curufiin! I am veeery new to fandom and fan spaces, and I started reading silm fic in August, but I have already devoured lots of great stories and I’m eager to share some of my favourites. I read mostly ship fics, so that will reflect on my recs.

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023).

Recommend up to 5 single chapter fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies).

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Multi chapter fics:

The Long Road by whyyesindeed, WIP, Mature, Fingon/Maedhros, 26k. I adore the author's previous works, and this one is a chaptered story in progress, an AU where Fingon and Maedhros go to Beleriand 48 years before Finwë’s death. The prose is impeccable.

Half-brother in blood, full lover in heart by @ettelene, WIP, Mature, Fëanor/Fingolfin, almost 200k. This is my favourite Feanolo, with lovely writing and compelling plot. The chemistry between the leads is sizzling and I hope that in this AU there will be a happy(/ier) ending.

Moonlight In His Cave by @cuarthol, WIP, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 15k. Canon compliant Curufinrod, I don't need to say anything more. I cannot wait to read more; the prose is absolutely gorgeous and I LOVE how the familial relationships are portrayed so far.

Curufinwë Atarinkë’s Journal by @curufiin, WIP, Teen and Up, minor Curufin/Finrod, 9k. This one made me love Curufin so much and understand more of his mind, it's crack treated seriously and it goes from baby Curufin scribbling in his journal, to adult kinslayer bearing a horrible burden. I read this three times and each time, I love it more.

Know Thyself by LiveOakWithMoss, completed, Teen and Up, multiple relationships, 9k. Absolutely hilarious, couldn't stop grinning: First Age Feanorians are magically transported into the modern world and meet their human counterparts. Chaos ensues (Maglor duet contest, selfcest, Maedhros is elected Assistant Manager in a mall shop, some interdimensional threesomes). I adore every word.

One shots:

Mirror Image by @swanhild, Gen, various familial relationships, 4,5k. A few fluffy moments between the Feanorians and the Arafinweans, with Feanor and Arafinwe watching. It's endearing and heartwarming with some ominous foreshadowing. It made me cry.

Mapmaking by am_fae, Explicit, Maedhros/Maglor, 3k. Super funny and clever with lots of puns, and a steamy sex scene. Lots of sexy geography talk.

The dining room by @ettelene, Teen and Up, various familial relationships, 9k. A peek into the cooking preparations and subsequent dinner at the Feanorians' house. With a larger cast, lots of witty dialogue, a Huan cameo and underlying tension, this is a splendid read with great characterisation.

Of doves, letters and darker things by @elevenelvenswords, Explicit, Curufin/Finrod, 3,5k. Super atmospheric, a glimpse into the complex power games between the cousins that ends up in hot throne sex.

Oldies:

Outlast the Forests by daphnerunning, 2021, completed, Explicit, Beleg/Turin, 68k. If I could convince any silm fan to read a fic, THIS WOULD BE IT. It's my TOP favourite longfic, canon compliant, slow burn, mortal/immortal. It's based off of Children of Hurin, rife with tragedy, heartwrenching, incredibly loving and ladden with longing. I read it four times and I still think about it on a weekly basis. This is canon to me, it gives alllll the doomed feelings. I don't even need to read other Turleg fics, this is perfection.

And All Our Wounds Forgiven by Marchwriter, 2012, completed, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 9k. The writing style is fantastic, tolkienesque, the atmosphere the writer has created is unparalelled, like a fairytale, but infused with tension. One of the first Curufinrod pieces on ao3 and a MUST READ for fans of this pairing. I cannot stress enough how beautiful the prose is.

Those Who Favor Fire by @clothonono, 2022, completed, Mature, Fingon/Maedhros, 41k. The author is already one of my favourites on Russingon, but I love this fic in particular because of Maedhros' portrayal post-Thangorodrim, as it fits in line with my headcanons. It also explores the morality of the first kinslaying and Fingon's attempt at justifying himself. It ends with a gut-punching line.

your shadow at morning, rising to meet you by crownlessliestheking, 2021, completed, Explicit, Feanor/Fingolfin, 5k. Fingolfin goes to Formenos to talk sense into his brother. Excellent characterisation and I specifically liked the dialogue.

Correspondingly so by LiveOakWithMoss, 2016, completed, Teen and Up, Curufin/Finrod, 2k. Notes and letters that are funny and witty as hell and full of subtext. I love ALL of LiveOak's Curufinrod pieces, but this was one of the first ones that I read and I remember snickering so much. Another one I reread multiple times and it has in fact inspired one of my fics too.

Mine:

Fëanor posts on r/amitheasshole, Teen and Up, various relationships, 4k. Pure crack. I laugh every time I reread this and I had a ton of fun writing it, I recommend it for when you want some shits and giggles.

Immortal Longings, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 5k. Epistolary and humorous, written for a 'sexy letters' prompt. Falcon shenanigans, banter, mentions of steamy scenes and golden lingerie that ends up being treated by historians as valuable artefacts from an ancient age. It ends up in tragedy but I am very proud of this one.

Give me shelter, the night is dark, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 5k. I consider this my best written fic, prose-wise, and I am very pleased with the dialogue (I adore writing Curufinrod dialogue). The premise of it is basically 'Curufin does drugs and Finrod does Curufin.'

This took way longer than expected! I truly believe I have not read ONE badly-written silm fic, and it was quite difficult to choose from many well-loved works. Tagging all authors mentioned here, if you'd like to join.

[lee-sanghyeok]

I had a very heartwarming thought that almost made me cry off my makeup as I was applying it, but. end of year awards season. bonedo will be performing crazy stages again. what if they perform So let's go see the stars and employ 50-ish dancers to dance the duets during the chorus. with a live band. as though it's a big, beautiful party. and then they fade into dear. my darling in the end as an actual rhythm waltz.

[princesssarisa]

Types of songs in "A Christmas Carol" musical adaptations

When a story has been adapted into so many musicals, it's easy to notice patterns in the songs that usually feature. These are the song types from all the musical adaptations of A Christmas Carol I know.

In chronological order, the musicals are: the 1954 Bernard Hermann operetta for CBS TV, the 1956 NBC TV musical The Stingiest Man in Town (later remade in animation by Rankin/Bass in 1978), Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, the 1970 film Scrooge, The Muppet Christmas Carol, the 1997 Nickelodeon animated film, Alan Menken's A Christmas Carol: The Musical, and 2022's animated Scrooge: A Christmas Carol.

*Fourth wall-breaking chorus invites the audience to celebrate Christmas/hear the story ("Holly-Ho," "Sing a Christmas Carol," or "Tell Me a Tale About Christmas")

*Londoners sing happily about celebrating Christmas Eve (e.g. "On This Darkest Day of Winter," "Santa Claus," "Jolly Good Time")

**Subtype: Happy Christmas Eve solo for Fred, with chorus (e.g. "An Old-Fashioned Christmas," or "I Love Christmas")

*Bitter and greedy Scrooge song (e.g. "Ringle, Ringle," "I Hate People," "Nothing to Do with Me," or "Tell Me")

*Londoners sing about Scrooge's meanness (e.g. "The Stingiest Man in Town," "Father Christmas," or "Scrooge")

*Happy Christmas Eve song for Bob Cratchit, sometimes with Tiny Tim too (e.g. "Christmas Children," "One More Sleep Till Christmas," or "You Mean More to Me Than Anything")

*Jacob Marley lament/warning song (e.g. "I Wear a Chain," "Marley and Marley," or "Link By Link")

*Lonely solo for Scrooge as a child (e.g. "Alone in the World," "When Shadows Fall," or "A Place Called Home")

*Festive Fezziwig party song (e.g. "December the Twenty-Fifth," "Mr. Fezziwig's Annual Christmas Ball")

*Happy love song for Belle and Young Scrooge – either a duet or a solo for Belle (e.g. "What Shall I Get My Lad for Christmas?" "Golden Dreams," "Happiness," or "A Place Called Home")

*Sad breakup song for Belle and Young Scrooge – either a Belle solo, a Scrooge solo, or a duet (e.g. "It Might Have Been," "Winter Was Warm," "You," "When Love is Gone," "Cross This Bridge," or "Later Never Comes")

*Ghost of Christmas Present song (e.g. "A Very Merry Christmas," "The Song of the Christmas Spirit," "I Like Life," "It Feels Like Christmas," or "Abundance and Charity")

**Subtype: Londoners sing of celebrating Christmas Day, joined by the Ghost of Christmas Present (e.g. again, "It Feels Like Christmas," or "Christmas Together")

*Heartwarming Christmas song for the Cratchits and/or Tiny Tim (e.g. "And Bless Us Every One," "Yes, There Is A Santa Claus," "The Lord's Bright Blessing," "The Beautiful Day," or "Bless Us All")

*Ensemble for people in the Future disrespecting Scrooge in death (e.g. "Thank You Very Much," or "Dancing On Your Grave")

*Scrooge sings of his resolve to be a better man (e.g. "Mankind Shall Be My Business," "I'll Begin Again," "A Thankful Heart," "Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today/God Bless Us Everyone")

*Happy reprises of earlier songs in the final scene (virtually every version does this)

Songs where I can only think of one example each

*Duet for Scrooge and Fred of contrasting world views ("Humbug" from The Stingiest Man in Town)

*Ghost of Christmas Past song ("The Lights of Long Ago" from the Alan Menken musical)

*Tender song for Scrooge's mother in the past ("God Bless Us Every One" from the Alan Menken musical – one of the only versions of the story where Scrooge's mother even appears)

*Tender song for Scrooge's sister Fan ("Christmas Wishes" from Scrooge: A Christmas Carol)

*Duet for Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present about Tiny Tim ("One Little Boy" from The Stingiest Man in Town)

*Festive song for Fred and his party guests ("Santa's Sooty Suit" from the 1997 animated film)

*Solo for Fred about the birth of Jesus ("Birthday Party of the King" from The Stingiest Man in Town)

*Reprise by Scrooge of his lonely childhood song at his own grave in the Future ("Alone in the World (Reprise)" from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol)

[blloverps]

It's always such heartwarming to see how perth always encourages chimon and check on him when they have to perform since he knows chimon trauma and have seen him trying to come out of it .

Even in fanfest you can see chimon so nervous ( but that did not affect his voice, my TALENTED BOY). During duet performance he was more confident and you can see he relax around when perth came nearer. The look he gave to perth after performance like yeah we did it and then perth hugs him.

P.S I saw chimon changed his jacket after group performance. He was wearing brown jacket and then wore perth black jacket( it's his personal jacket) . Like many says it brings comfort to him 🤡

[weaversweek]

1997: women with soul and vision

Bit of a grab-bag in this set. Coming up: Nuyorican Soul, Veruca Salt, Beth Orton, and Alisha's Attic.

"I wanna be the only one" - Eternal and Bebe Winans

Esteemed chart commentator James Masterton wrote,

Every once in a while there comes along a record that cheers and inspires. One which achieves the ultimate for any pop record and makes the world seem brighter, the sky clearer and which motivates you to set the CD on repeat so you can hear the whole thing all over again. The latest Number One single in the UK is just such a record. For the second single from the Before The Rain album, Eternal team up with American gospel legend Bebe Winans for one of the most heartwarming duets you are likely to hear all year. Combining the best elements of pop and gospel in one wonderful package, the single is perfect summer radio material with a soaring chorus that defies you to dislike it. A masterpiece of production and arrangement, just listen to the way it changes key twice in the last minute as the mood of the chorus spirals ever higher and higher. From the moment it was released the single flew out of the shops and now easily gives Eternal their first ever Number One single, three and a half years since their chart debut with Stay. Easily the best pop record of the year so far, at least until next week.

Have the gospel version.

"Runaway" - Nuyorican Soul ft India

ob Loleatta Holloway, tick. She was the vocalist on Salsoul Orchestra's original song in 1977, given new life by "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. Absolutely majestic orchestration, effortlessly combining house and salsa and scat jazz. Inspired Janet Jackson to write and record "Together again".

More! DJ Magazine goes behind the scenes with masters at work.

"Volcano girls" - Veruca Salt

The group's second album Eight Arms to Hold You disappointed some fans, who wanted more grunge than the alternative pop on offer. Our lead single showcased the group's new and different approach: one could describe them as the Spice Girls with guitars, except Kenickie had bagsied that, and Shampoo were bubblegum-with-attitude.

Barely marketed and sold about 600 copies over here, into the top 40 at number 137 and straight out again. Decent hit in the States, where the group toured with Bush.

More: An "oral history" of "Volcano girls", from Veruca Salt's reunion in 2014.

"She cries your name" - Beth Orton

Opens with a wailing and distinctive guitar line, then a divine voice sing-speaks a tale of domestic woe. Beth straddled the line between electronica - she'd dated William Orbit, produced by Andy Weatherall - and a folk-roots sound influenced by Carole King and Carly Simon. In later years, the folk-roots sound would win; this song remains a touchpoint for the late 90s and no other era.

More: Live review from 1997.

"Indestructible" - Alisha's Attic

Karen and Shelley Poole, making music for the art. A full-on art package: remember the little cartoon imp from the single cover, and every single single from the album?

"Indestructible" is an oasis of calm, peace, inner strength. We are indestructible, there's nothing to stop us. A world of wild romantic imagination, mystic adventures this way; guess some people hadn't picked up a book (as opposed to a Man City matchday programme) since leaving primary school.

A couple of long watches: The Hidden Treasures of Alisha's Attic, and a collection of interviews.