#i have been listening to so much Postmodern Jukebox

[peachblossom-odyssey]

Edgin getting discouraged when his flirting with Xenk never seems to go anywhere and he ends up writing Lovefool in a fit of drunken emotion, a song about desperation and unrequited need that he never intends to sing anywhere Xenk can hear.

Except of course it’s never that easy, and Xenk ends up hearing the song and grows worried about Edgin and deeply offended on his behalf, because what manner of fool would spurn the affections of a man such as Edgin? What manner of monster would make Edgin feel so low and unloved?

He has no idea it was him, because he didn’t realize Edgin was flirting with him and sending him signals and had no idea that some of his own responses could have been seen as romantic. He had no idea he was accidentally leading Edgin on. So begins the hilarious misunderstanding of Xenk trying to figure out who hurt Edgin and Edgin trying to figure out why Xenk seems so intense these days

[einsteinsugly]

Summer, 1974. Tearin' Up My Heart (The Beatles' style cover by Postmodern Jukebox. Originally by NSYNC).

"It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you

But when we are apart, I feel it too

And no matter what I do, I feel the pain

With or without you..."

*****

Watergate's been hogging the television screens. Eric has been listening to too much Wings and Chicago. Their childish fun and games have slowly but surely become tinged with emerging sexual tension. Can he and Donna be the next Paul and Linda? He surely hopes so.

[whollyjoly]

hi em!! sending positive vibes your way ✨ ✨ thanks for doing the positivity ask game! this is a super cool idea, and i knew i couldn't not stop by to send you an ask :) 1, 3, 11, and 18 !!

hi blu!! 💕💕

im so glad you're enjoying the ask game!! i hope a lil positivity will make everyone smile a little brighter today!

1 - what is your fav part about being in the fandom?

i answered this in a long and sappy way here, because i am a sappy gal apparently 😅

3 - what are some fics that you go back and read again and again?

ohhhh my god i am both so glad and so sorry you asked. fuck. there are so many?? i have an embarrassing amount bookmarked, so i'll try to keep it to a sane amount of one per ship

winnix It Happened One Night by raquelelpillo (M, 7.7k) - the fucking timeloop fic every fandom needs. i've read this fic three times in the last three weeks, i read it again last night and i've never been happier. it makes me laugh it makes me cry lip is an absolute gem in this story, and i LOVE their nix so hard!! 10/10 would recommend

baberoe Baby, You Can Drive My Car by anonymous (M, 16.1k) - Baby Driver AU in the canon era?? i know that makes no sense, but hear me out - babe fucking steals cars in germany/austria and runs errands with the boys?? its that perfect golden vibe in points, the war is almost over and its sunny and warm and beautiful and they are alive, and it is pure shenanigans. i don't think i stopped smiling once reading this fic. if i had a qr code on my tombstone it would be to this fic.

speirton A New Mode of Living by Perpetual Motion (T, 155k) - i mean...what do i even say about this fic. it's everything. you know a fic that completely just defines canon for you? that you read, and then no matter what else you read you can't help but think that it isnt right, because this fic is the canon in your head and nothing can overwrite that?? yeah, this fic is that for me. the most perfect post-war story, i love carwood SO MUCH, i love their ron, i love all their supporting characters (george especially and also mama are such gems!!), and the dog is a metaphor. fuck. i love this story so hard.

11 - songs that you associate with a certain character?

heh i like that you asked me this after we nerded out over sleeping at last songs the other day 😏

(also, i'll try to steer clear of killers songs cause that feels like cheating lol)

Seven Nation Army (Postmodern Jukebox Cover) - this gives me BIG speirs vibes?? the song seven nation army feels very right for him ("i'm gonna fight 'em off / a seven nation army couldn't hold me back"), but the added vibes from the postmodern version just hits so right. is it the brass break in the middle?? maybe. do i love it?? yes i do

Saving Me, Saving You (Ruen Brothers) - is ABSOLUTELY eugene roe coded. like holy shit. "broken me found broken you / while you're saving me i'll be saving you" ?? like are you kidding me?? the absolute power this song has over me, i dare you to listen to it and not feel the urge to do something dramatic and romantic

Agnes (Glass Animals) - if you really want to make yourself fucking sad, think about this song as nix during why we fight (and even sadder if you imagine it being sung from dick's perspective 😭) and fucking SOB like i do every time i hear it ("where went that cheeky friend of mine? / where went that billion dollar smile?" and "your head is so numb / that nervous breath you try to hide / between the motions / that trembling tender little sigh")

Piece of Me (Britney Spears) - look, alton more is That Bitch. not fucking a week in normandy and all everyone can talk about is the gossip about speirs, and more's talking back to him without giving a goddamn shit. he took a joy ride on one of sobel's fucking motorcycles. he snagged one of the most incredible trophies of the war and lied to ronald mf speirs face about it. do you want a piece of him?? more will absolutely look at you dead in the eye and not even blink. "i'm mrs. oh my god that britney's shameless / i'm mrs. extra extra this just in" bitch he IS and he is KILLING IT. and i am obsessed with him for it.

18 - your fav fandom meme?

i mean...we know the obvious answer (bottom text)

BUT i also want to give this post a fucking shoutout because it lives in my head rent free, i literally spent an hour scrolling through tumblr the other day trying to find it for my bf. WHAT MURDAAAA

thank you so so much for stopping by, and im sorry my answer is kinda long 😅 i love that people are enjoying this game so much!! 💕

from this post!

[amethystsoda]

Just wanted to tell you that your post earlier reminded me how much I really like Blake Lewis' music and I've been on a listening binge all day! Brings back good memories of working retail when that album came out--Binary Love and Heartbreak on Vinyl were some of the more palatable songs corporate made us play lol.

Heartbreak on Vinyl and Binary Love have been on my scifi inspiration playlist for so many years! I watched that American Idol season when it aired and fell in love with him heheheh

I'm so glad you had a fun nostalgia trip yesterday!!!!

(I also recommend this one from his newer stuff!!! Rohan and I danced to it as our last dance at the wedding reception <333)

(and Blake did some fun stuff with Postmodern Jukebox too!!!)

[thistle-and-thorn]

good morning, 6, 9, 23 for the songs 🌻

Hello hello hello good morning how do we feel today?

6. A song that makes you want to dance?

here’s the thing: if it’s late enough at night and I’m in a Mood, I will dance to anything 😂 but I think Can’t Rely on You by Paloma Faith is just. She just can’t rely on him!!!!! Her melted heart just went down the drain!!! How can you do love this way!!! Okay also Back to Me by Marian Hill.

9. A song that makes you happy? I went through a phase in college where I was truly so obsessed with postmodern jukebox, I spent all my money to go see them in concert, I listened to them so much that my roommates asked me to stop and Sara Niemietz’s cover of Hey Ya! still gives me so much joy.

23. A song that everyone should listen to?

Oh my God!!! I don’t know??? Maybe this changes. I always recommend Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar?? But I feel like I’ve just been listening to that soundtrack a lot the past few weeks. Still, It’s like the only song that’s ever existed to me, personally. But!!! Ask me again in a week and I’ll have a completely different answer.

this is so hard!!!

[tornrose24]

Tagged by @hey-hey-j  for the tag game. It’ll be interesting to see how I answer these.

Rules: if you get tagged in this, answer the questions that are written and make sure to swap out one question at the end of it for the next person to answer.

1. Are you named after anyone?  I’m sort of named after my aunt, who was named after a character of a TV show (that my grandfather liked) based of a book, and THAT character might of been named after someone. I admit it’s kind of amusing that it’s such a chain of ‘named after this person.’

2. Do you ever go window shopping on sites like Etsy, and if so, what kinds of things do you look at?   Not really.

3. What’s your choice of listening material when doing stuff? When I’m writing I prefer listing to music without lyrics (if it matches the tone of whatever I’m writing it helps) and it varies. Most often it’s video game music, Miyazaki, classical, etc. If I’m just doing art I’ll throw on YouTube videos.

4. Do you like a song for its sound or for its lyrics? Often both. I’m picky about what songs I like, but I like it when both work well together. (Though I hate it when the lyrics DON’T match the tone of the music, or aren’t sung in the right tone). Also, there’s some songs where I prefer the cover version over the original (I don’t care for Billie Eilish’s singing, and there’s a Motown version of Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake it off’ by PostModern Jukebox that is vastly superior to the original version.)

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people? Usually whatever they wear or else their physical appearance. It depends.

6. What’s your eye color? Green. (Though maybe they might be hazel since there’s a light brown ring around the pupils).

7. Scary movies or happy endings? I prefer happy endings. Some scary movies are actually quite enjoyable, but only if they are done right (Jordan Peele’s Nope is such an example). Otherwise I hate it when scary films get too violent, have a downer ending, or involve topics of abuse. Or have constant jumpscares, which is why I never really got into most horror games.

8. Any special talents? Singing. I’ve done choir, Opera, musical theater, etc. I’ve done some acting as well. Drawing and writing are pretty obvious ones for those who know my works. Painting is a major one too.

9. What trait in others draws you to them? Honesty is a huge one. I like it when people are open about themselves and what they like, as well as what they don’t like. Or if they tell you something you need to hear.

10. What are your hobbies? Writing and drawing. Painting is a big one too. I used to play video games but I don’t as much (partly because I feel like a new system is going to be coming soon anyway). I suppose singing could count.

11. Do you have any pets? I used to have cats. Fantasia was my last cat and I had her from middle school to some time after I was done with college/university. She always sat on the table whenever I got help with math and she’d watch me and my dad.

12. What sports do you play/Have played? Tennis is probably my favorite. Soccer is fun too. I used to do running when I was really little. However I was more of a theater kid.

13. How tall are you? 5 feet, 2 and a half inches.

14. Favorite subject in school? Literature/Language Arts. I was one of the few kids that would read whatever I was assigned more than once. When I was in middle school we had to read ‘The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe’ and ‘Roll of thunder hear my cry’ and I read the other books in those series. I also took pride in scoring the highest out of anyone on a test for Cyrano de Bergerac in my high school senior year. (However I ****ing hated reading Moby Dick over the summer) and was NOT happy when I found out that I didn’t really NEED to read the entire thing to do all the paperwork/answer all the questions.)

I don’t know if art and choir count since they were extra curricular classes, but I loved them as well and could share lots of stories. Plus one of my favorite teachers was my high school art teacher.

15. Dream job? I would love to be a writer and illustrate my own books. Alternatively it’d be awesome to do artwork for an animation studio.

I’m tagging @artistcaptainbendy  as the next person. Anyone else can do it too.

I’m changing #12 to: If you became a God/Deity, what would your domain be and how could you use your powers to make the world a better place?

[immortaljackal]

@lovepurposed asked: [ blonde ] what is your favorite type of music? favorite artist? favorite song?

💌 colourful interview [ meme - accepting ]

Have I ever mentioned I'm a musician? And a multi-instrumentalist at that? xD

But when it comes to simply listening to music, I have extremely eclectic tastes. We're talking everything from Classical to Gregorian Chant to New Wave to Heavy Metal. Seriously, if you want to see some of the details, you can check out my spotify profile, which I've had for so long I actually have a proper username.

Though I will say that I tend to favour hard rock and metal the most, but what I'm listening to at any given moment can be pretty much anything. Except at the holidays, when to drown out the annoying carols being played everywhere, I'm usually listening to Finnish metal covers interspaced with the Muppets and such. (Pretty sure my Eclectic Holidays playlist is public, if you wanna see what I mean by that.)

Favourite artist is a bit more difficult… Overall, if I had to pick just one… I'd probably actually go with 'Weird Al' Yankovic, simply for the range of styles and he's been a consistent go-to for listening to the discography since I was a kid.

But I also listen to a lot Queen, David Bowie, Rockapella, Daft Punk, Nightwish, Halestorm, the BeeGees… I also listen to a lot of Beth Kinderman & The Player Characters, but I'm a bit bias there because Beth is a dear friend of mine.

Though looking at the tags on this blog should also show my favouritism towards Malinda from Twisted Translations on youtube, considering that's where most of the tags come from. I'm also ridiculously fond of Postmodern Jukebox, but I suspect that's got a lot to do with the bouncy tambourine guy in the vids. xD

Like everything else, there's not a simple answer for favourite song. It really depends on my mood at the time. So here's a little extremely random playlist of some of my faves:

Walk Like A Dinosaur • Was (Not Was) - early childhood favourite

Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? • Rockapella

Everybody Loves Me • OneRepublic

To Kill A King • Hungry Lucy

Light That Fire • Oh The Larceny

Natural • Imagine Dragons

Robot Rock • Daft Punk

Legends Are Made • Sam Tinnesz

Into The Darkness • The Phantoms

Under Pressure • Queen & David Bowie

Magic Dance • David Bowie

Human • Rag'n'Bone Man

The Wanderer • Dion

War • Poets of the Fall

Creeping In My Soul • Cryoshell

White Rabbit • Egypt Central

Soldiers • Otherwise

Renegade • Styx

Carnival Of Rust • Poets of the Fall

We Didn't Start The Fire • It Lives, It Breathes

That Man • Caro Emerald

Wicked Games • The Hot Damns

Troublemaker • Grizfolk

Amen • Halestorm

Glitter & Gold • Barns Courtney

[the-invisible-queer]

https://www.vulture.com/article/jolene-covers-ranked-dolly-parton.html

Personally I think that #4 should be #1, but that's just my own personal soft spot for Brandi Carlile

LET'S GET INTO IT! That article had 37 covers. I chose 14 based on the artists I was familiar with but I'm only doing top 13 because my 14th spot was underwhelming.

Also I shortened it a bit because I wrote SO MUCH. Might save the longer ramblings for a post on my blog.

13. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Performance

LET ME START BY SAYING I am a fan of all the ladies included in this version, however it felt like there were too many cooks in the kitchen and EYE wasn't a fan.

If they just had the ladies and eliminated the men maybe I'd have enjoyed it better because honestly the men didn't add as much as the ladies.

12. Pentatonix ft. Dolly Parton

Brandi Carlisle and Pink both have my consent. That's all. Thank you.

If Brandi has a solo cover I would rank it higher honestly. Might break top 5 for me.

I adore Pentatonix so much. Scott killed it with his vocals, as he always does! I love all of their covers and having Dolly with them was iconic. Dolly's voice with Scott, Mitch and Kristen's was *chef's kiss*

11. Olivia Newton-John ft. Dolly Parton

FIRST OF ALL REST IN PEACE TO THE QUEEN!

I listened to this cover when it first came out and I loved it then and I love it now revisiting it. Their voiced work SO well together. They both aged so gracefully as did their voices. Both so fucking talented for no reason.

10. Postmodern Jukebox ft. Maris

Maris' voice is incredible and serves this cover WELL! I love PMH so much - if you follow me on IG you'd see I post their covers to my story often. I am so in love with Scott Bradlee's skill in arranging all of these covers so beautifully. The paino in this cover is amazing. We stan PMJ in this household.

9. Trixie Mattel

This was an IG live (I believe) so it's not the best quality, but that doesn't change that it is an incredible cover. DROP THE STUDIO VERSION, TRIXIE! The acoustic simplicity of it goes a long way. We stan Trixie Matel hardcore in this household.

8. Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson could sing anything and I'll be listening til the end of TIME! Despite the simplicity of the cover, her vocals still deliver a phenomenal performance. I would kill for her to release a studio version!

7. Reba McEntire (1989 live cover)

WE STAN REBA IN THIS HOUSEHOLD! Her voice is so pretty in this cover. I gotta start listening to her again. I love the vibe of this cover. I love her. I'm tell y'all I'm gonna get back into country music this year and I am so serious about it.

6. Beyonce

THE QUEEN POPPED OFF ON THIS VERSION! I just wanna know who pissed off Beyonce - we ride at dawn. Her vocals are INCREDIBLE, but it's Beyonce, did we expect anything less. She really said TRY ME BITCH!

And we haven't heard from Jolene since, now have we?

5. Chiquis, Becky G

FUCK ME UP!!!!!! EVERYTHING about this cover has me in a chokehold. Thank the gods for Latinas. BECKY G OWNS MY ASS! The lyrics (in Spanish might I add), the cumbia vibessss! UGH! Be still my queer Latine heart.

4. Maneskin with Dolly Parton

First of all I gotta admit that I am SO biased because Damiano's voice is one of my favorite voices of all time. Like top 3 favorite voices period. And if you listen to this cover, you will understand why. I have been holding off on listening to this cover because I didn't vibe with MA's last album and some of their more recent music. But after finally listening to this cover, they are welcome to win me back.

ALSO THOM'S GUITAR! I wish I had the vocabulary to talk about music. I just know when Thom plays guitar my brain goes dumb - in a good way because he's so fucking good.

3. Miley Cyrus

I know she did a more recent version with Jimmy Fallon, but I can't fucking stand him so I spared myself. Plus Miley has always been incredible so it doesn't matter if the cover was last year or ten years ago. It'd be top tier either way.

She is so fucking good for NO reason. Her voice! FUCK ME UP, MILEYYYYYYYY! I have no coherent thoughts about this cover other than it is s-tier, which is why it's top 3.

2. The White Stripes

Jack White is one of my favorite songwriters of all time and overall artists of all time. I KNOW my Spotify no longer reflects that, but he is the first name that pops into my head when someone asks me who my favorite artist is.

This has been one of my favorite covers of "Jolene" for YEARS and held the #1 spot until the current #1 spot dropped. Jack's vocals are rough and raw. The cover does a great job paying homage to the original, but Jack and Meg still made it THEIR OWN!

I honestly love it so fucking much. As someone who usually HATES covers, this is one of my top covers in general.

1. Lil Nas X

This is hands down my favorite cover of the song since it dropped. I worship the ground Lil Nas X walks on. We do not deserve him. We are blessed to just exist in the same timeline as the same time as him.

The vibes of this cover. The way he sings it lower than most people do. It gives me goosebumps. It's just so fucking good for no reason.

The performance of this cover is unmatched. He sounds so worn out. Like he's done fighting. This is his last desperate attempt to keep his man.

WE MOTHERFUCKING STAN!

[sugar-tsunamii]

Ten songs, ten ppl but im not tagging anyone bc im shy 😦

Tagged by: @totally-not-an-awkward-okapi

Rules: tag 10 people, list 10 songs you’ve listened to recently

Im weak in the godamn knees for brad lee's postmodern jukebox lately and i find myself having their covers of no surprises and such great heights ALOT theyre insanely good

I will never shut up about tennis, and this song and music video specifically...... the tempo changes makes my brain dissolve into goop i cant ever get enough of ittttt

Recently played steph's dlc from lis true colors and fell in love INSTANTLY with this song, i legit dont have a song that i DONT like in that dlc!!!

Another band with incredible covers 🫡 all time fav from them fr

I had no idea health was this old until i found this in my fav youtubers playlist, then finding out they legit started in 2007 i got whiplash 😵

A heavy song lyrical wise, but its a literal weighted blanket to me when im goin thru it (which is 80% of the time 🤫)

Very embarrassed of how indie is a dominating genre in my playlists recently so this is a guilty pleasure for sure

I love me some good distortion and criminally short songs!!!! This album is def wortth checking out if youre into fast paced stuff

AND speaking about fast paced, i just found out machine girl made a remix of my fav song on this album and im going INSANE!!!! If melted bodies DOESNT blow up now ill be very surprised

Of course ill end this with my favorite song ever!!!!

I wont link the music video since it can be uneasy for some, but holy shit i will never not try to get more people to listen to this song ive been chronically obsessed for a YEAR now i cant stress enough of just how much CRACK was put into this godamn song 😵

Anyway dats it from me🚶‍♂️ back to my blorbos

[in-my-feels-probably]

!congrats on 600! 🎉👏

Could I ask for option 2 romantic ship with one of the marauders boys (sirius, remus, james or peter)?

I'm female, short, dark hair sadly not naturally dark just dyed, blue eyes. I don't know if I count as ace, I don't want to put labels on myself, but yeah physical intimacy in that way is a no go for me. Introverted.

I like vintage furniture, trinkets and clothes. Someday I hope to have my own place fully decorated and furnished with vintage items. Maybe like each room done in a different decade.

Things I like to do:

go for walks and visit my favorite cafe alone. Watch judy garland movies. Or frank sinatra movies. I maybe have a miniscule crush on Mr Sinatra lol. Listening to music, all kinds of music from the good old stuff like frankie laine, otis reding, doris day to modern stuff like YouTube musicians violet orlandi, halocene, postmodern jukebox (Hailey reinharts cover of seven nation army!) Reading. Sewing. Making up fictional scenarios in my head 🤣

I believe in the turn the other cheek motto, it is ridiculously hard to make me hold a grudge against you, I pretty much don't ever. I can hold plenty against myself though lol

I'm sentimental, I had all my birthday cards and occassion cards from a bunch of different people since I was a baby but then I got annoyed at myself for holding onto too much junk 🙃 threw it all away and wish I didn't. I have a little jewelry box (it's literally 100 years old which I think is so cool) it's full of gift tags of presents I've got over the years where the sender wrote a little note on the tag- they're all mostly from my aunty that I don't see often

hi! thank you for participating :)

i ship you with sirius!

i think he’d be immediately attracted to you, and find you and your hobbies adorable. i think sirius loathes most of his upbringing in a pureblood household, and he’d hate most things that remind him of it, but he’d also have such great taste in old things. and he’d love to have a home of his own with you, and he’d help you decorate it in a way you both liked. he’d make a new home with you, one that didn’t remind him of his childhood. and he couldn’t deny, he does have good taste. he’d probably steal a bunch of shit from home that he did actually like, or already have inherited some heirlooms you could share. he’d appreciate that you have a love for old things, i think that’s a part of his old life that he couldn’t let go. but until you, he didn’t really have a chance to visit it. i think he’d give you gifts too, knowing you’d love them. he’d attach new and special meanings to his things, now that they remind him of you. and he’d love how sentimental you are. i think he’d be pretty sentimental too. he values the few people he has in life that he loves, and so he’d understand why you keep things from them. he doesn’t get to see any of his family, so he’d make new family, and would probably keep things that remind him of all of you. he wouldn’t think anything you keep is junk, even if it’s something as simple as a concert ticket or an old card. what you chose to keep and throw away is fine by him.

i think he’d like the fact you’re introverted. he’s a pretty outgoing guy, but i think he’d also have times when he wants to be alone, and he’d know he could come and be with you. i know that some people consider sirius to have a reputation of dating/sleeping with a lot of people, and im sure he’s got plenty of experience, but i think he’d really value that you don’t put physical intimacy in a sexual way at the front of your relationship. he really wouldn’t mind not being intimate that way with you. despite what some people might think, it’s really not that important to him. i think he’s probably used to girls who want that, and it’s fine for girls who do, but i think he’d get a little sick of being known for that. honestly, he’s probably been used for that, and fronts like it’s ok, but internally he feels really bad about it. he’d love that with you, touches could be innocent. he’s probably not be used to little touches, and would crave them, especially from people who he loves.

after a hard day, he wouldn’t want to go to the common room and sit with everyone. he’d just want to go to bed, and have some time to himself. he’d remember you, and know that you were probably not in the common room, and he’d think of all the places you liked to hang out. he’d find you somewhere quiet, immediately relaxing when he saw you.

you’d smile, immediately holding your hand out for him to take. “hi, love. are you alright?”

he’d sit down, leaning into you. “long day.”

you’d frown, tucking his hair out of his face and intertwining your fingers. he’d smile to himself, rubbing his thumb along the back of your hand.

“do you want to talk about it?”

sirius would feel his heart warm, knowing you really meant it. he couldn’t say no, nodding. you’d hold his hand, listening to everything he had to say. he’d ask you about your day after, sitting with you the rest of your night.

[concubuck]

A delivery for Alastor that somehow made it to him in rehab.

It's several albums from Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox. A note provided with it reads, "Thought you might appreciate these while you're going through all this. Welcome to the Black Parade made me think of you.

-C.C."

((Due to the mun being busy, this wasn't answered when it was sent on August 30 and Alastor was still in alcohol detox. Pretend it got lost in the mail for a month. We'll overlook the fact that he only told two people privately that he was in detox.))

I take it you're the same person who sent me this!

Now, I've never been terribly fond of this group's gimmick. "Rewrite a recent song in an 'old' genre"—swing or jazz or doo-wop or what have you. Because it acts like nobody else is playing in old styles. Like the swing revival of the nineties never happened, or like jazz clubs don't still host jam sessions, or like there isn't a successful Satanic doo-wop group touring right now.

Anyway, it's all too clean, too over-produced for the sounds they're trying so hard to replicate. Tell me their "New Orleans marching band" cover sounds anything—like—this. Sure, over the decades, the genre's drifted a bit from the style they're trying to replicate. But let me assure you—because I was there—that the energy in modern second line bands has more in common with what I heard than Mr. Bradlee's self-controlled little dirge.

The difference between Joey Cook singing so perfectly over a sedately improvisational wind section and a real second line marching band is like the difference between a Broadway soprano singing about dying, and a raw howl of pain.

If you want to hear Top 40 pop and rock in "New Orleans" style, don't ask a rotating band of genre-dabblers headed by a New Jersey pianist to attempt to sound New Orleanian. Ask a New Orleans band to play the song.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you—

Hot 8 Brass Band performing Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing"

The Soul Rebels performing Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams"

New Creations Brass Band performing the Beatles' "Come Together"

Sunshine Brass Band performing Blondie's "Heart of Glass"

The Original Pinettes Brass Band performing Katy Perry's "Roar"

Blown Away Brass Band performing OutKast's "Spread"

Where Ya At Brass Band performing Bruno Mars's "Treasure"—for half a minute, at least

—or, if you want to hear a real New Orleans band play a song about funeral parades, pick one that already fits the genre.

Or hell—if you can't get a genuine "second line" band, at least get a real brass band:

The Cincy Brass from Ohio performing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"

No BS! Brass from Virginia performing Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

Dirty Catfish Brass Band from Canada performing Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off"

Broken Brass from the Netherlands performing Macklemore's "Thrift Shop"

Brass Délirium from France performing The Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright"

Hit Brass from Colombia performing Reel 2 Real's "I Like to Move It" and Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown"

Bieranjas from Switzerland performing Adele's "Rolling in the Deep"

And that's just the ones I could find before I got bored. I'm not even touching on artists like Lucky Chops or Brass Against, they're popular enough.

Now, I have nothing against Mr. Bradlee personally. His arrangements sounds fine. But the trouble with the glorification of this one artist for dressing up in a genre for a song or two is that it treats him like a unique novelty. As if he's the only man in the market who's ever set a Top 40 pop hit to jazz.

Meanwhile there are living, performing, struggling bands who dedicate their entire careers to playing these genres. Notice how many of the recordings I offered come from cell phone cameras rather than nice, professional music videos! If you adore it so much when the novelty act pretends to play in those styles for five minutes, why don't you show any of that adoration to the bands playing those styles every day?

Listen to some bands that really perform those styles—not just the band that plays at those styles.

[dustedmagazine]

Music for Films, Vol. II: Chick Habit

For good and for ill, Quentin Tarantino’s movies have been strongly associated with postmodern pop culture — particularly by folks whose reactions to the word “postmodern” tend toward pursed lips and school-marmishly wagged fingers. There for a while, reading David Denby on Tarantino was similar to reading Michiko Kakutani on Thomas Pynchon: almost always the same review, the same complaints about characters lacking “psychological depth,” the same handwringing over an ostensible moral insipidness. Truth be told, Tarantino’s pranksome delight with flashy surfaces and stylistic flourishes that are ends in themselves gives tentative credence to some of the caviling. Critics have raised related concerns over the superficiality of Tarantino’s tendency toward stunt casting, especially his resurrections of aging actors relegated to the film industry’s commercial margins: John Travolta, Pam Grier, Robert Forster, David Carradine, Darryl Hannah, Don Johnson and so on. There might be a measure of cynicism in the accompanying cinematic nudging and winking, but it’s also the case that a number of the performances have been terrific.

The writer-director brings a similar sensibility to his sound-tracking choices, demonstrating the cooler-than-thou, deep-catalog knowledge of an obsessive crate-digger. Tarantino thematized that knowledge in his break-through feature, Reservoir Dogs (1992). Throughout the film, the characters tune in to Steven Wright deadpanning as the deejay of “K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the Seventies”; like the characters, the viewer transforms into a listener, treated to such fare as the George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag” (1970) and Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” (1971). As with the above-mentioned actors, Tarantino has sifted pop culture’s castoffs and detritus, unearthing songs and delivering experiences of renewed value — and thereby proving the keenness of his instincts and aesthetic wit. “Listen to (or look at) this!” he seems to say, with his cockeyed, faux-incredulous grin. “Can you believe you were just going to throw this out?” And mostly, it works. If the Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” (1974) has become a sort of semi-ironized accompaniment to hipsterish good times, that resonance has a lot more to do with Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel and Co. cruising L.A. in a hulking American sedan than with the Disney Co.’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

In Death Proof (2007), Tarantino’s seventh film and unaccountably his least favorite, soundtrack and screen are both full to bursting with the flotsam and jetsam of “entertainment” conceived as an industry. 

In just the opening minutes, we see outmoded moviehouse announcements, complete with cigarette-burn cue dots; big posters of Brigitte Bardot from Les Bijoutiers du claire de lune (1958) and of Ralph Nelson’s Soldier Blue (1970) bedecking the apartment of Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier); the tee shirt worn by Shanna (Jordan Ladd), which bears the image of Tura Satana; and strutting under all of it are the brassy cadences of Jack Nitzsche’s “The Last Race,” taken from his soundtrack for the teensploitation flick Village of the Giants (1965). Bibs and bobs, bits and pieces of low- and middle-brow cinema are cut up and reconstructed into a fulsome swirl of signs. And there’s an unpleasant edge to it; the cuts are echoed by the action of the camera, which has been busily cleaving the bodies of the women on screen into fragments and parts. First the feet of Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito), propped up on a dashboard; then Julia, all ass and gams; then Arlene’s lower half again, chopped into slices by the stairs she dashes up (“I gotta take the world’s biggest fucking piss!”) and by the close-up that settles on her belly and pelvis, her hand shoved awkwardly into her crotch. 

As often happens in Tarantino’s movies, furiously busy meta-discursive play collapses the images’ problematic content under multiple levels of reference and pastiche. The film is one half of Grindhouse (2007), Tarantino’s collaboration with his buddy Robert Rodriguez, an old-fashioned double-feature comprising the men’s love letters to the exploitation cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. In those thousands of movies — mondo, beach-cutie, nudie-cutie, women in prison, early slasher, rape-revenge, biker gang, chop-socky, Spaghetti Western and muscle-car-worship flicks (and we could add more subgenres to the list) — symbolic violence inflicted on women’s bodies was de rigueur, and frequently the principal draw. Tarantino shot Death Proof himself, so he is (more than usually) directly responsible for all the framing and focusing — and he’s far too canny a filmmaker not to know precisely what he’s doing with and to those bodies. The excessive, camera-mediated gashing and trimming is a knowing, perhaps deprecating nod to all that previous, gratuitous T&A. His sound-tracking choice of “The Last Race” metaphorically underscores the point: in Bert I. Gordon’s Village of the Giants, bikini-clad teens find and consume an experimental growth serum, which causes them to expand to massive proportions. Really big boobs, actual acres of ass. Get it?

Of course, all the implied japing and judging is deeply embedded in the film’s matrix of esoteric references and fleeting allusions. You’d have to be very well versed in the history of exploitation cinema to pick up on the indirect homage to Gordon’s goofy movie. But as in Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino doesn’t just gesture, he dramatizes, folding an authoritative geekdom into the action of Death Proof. In the set-up to Death Proof’s notorious car crash scene, Julia is on the phone, instructing one of her fellow deejays to play “Hold Tight!” (1966) by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. Don’t recognize the names? “For your information,” Julia snorts, Pete Townsend briefly considered abandoning the Who, and he thought about joining the now-obscure beat band, to make it “Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, Tich & Pete. And if you ask me, he should have.”

It’s among the most gruesomely violent sequences in Tarantino’s films (which do not run short on graphic bloodshed), and Julia receives its most spectacular punishment. Those legs and that rump, upon which the camera has lavished so much attention, are torn apart. Her right leg flips, flies and slaps the pavement, a hunk of suddenly flaccid meat. Again, Tarantino proves himself an adept arranger of image, sign and significance. Want to accuse him of fetishizing Julia’s legs? He’ll materialize the move, reducing the limb to a manipulable fragment, and he’ll invest the moment with all of the intrinsic violence of the fetish. He’ll even do you one better — he’ll make that violence visible. Want to watch? You better buckle up and hold tight. 

Hold on a second. “Hold Tight”? The soundtrack has passed over from intertextual in-joke to cruel punchline. It doesn’t help that the song is so much fun, and that it’s fun watching the girls groove along to it, just before Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) obliterates them, again and again and again. The awful insistence of the repetition is another set-up, establishing the film’s narrative logic: the repeated pattern and libidinal charge-and-release of Stuntman Mike’s vehicular predations. It is, indeed, “a sex thing,” as Sheriff Earl McGraw (Michael Parks) informs us in his cartoonish, redneck lawman’s drawl. Soon the sexually charged repetitions pile up: see Abernathy’s (Rosario Dawson) feet hanging out of Kim’s (Tracie Thom) 1972 Mustang, in a visual echo of Arlene’s, and of Julia’s. Then listen to Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) belt out some of Smith’s cover of “Baby It’s You” (1969), which we most recently heard 44 minutes before, as Julia danced ecstatically by the Texas Chili Bar’s jukebox. Then watch Abernathy as she sees Stuntman Mike’s tricked-out ’71 Nova, a vibrating hunk of metallic machismo — just like Arlene saw it, idling menacingly back in Austin, with another snatch of “Baby It’s You” wisping through that moment’s portent. 

For a certain kind of viewer, the Nova’s low-slung, growling charms are hard to resist, as is the sleazy snarl of Willy DeVille’s “It’s So Easy” (1980; and we might note that Jack Nitzsche produced a couple of Mink DeVille’s early records, connecting another couple strands in the web) on the Nova’s car stereo. Those prospective pleasures raise the question of just who the film is for. That may seem obvious: the same folks — dudes, mostly — who find pleasure in exploitation movies like Vanishing Point (1971), Satan’s Sadists (1969) or The Big Doll House (1971). But there are a few other things to account for, like how Death Proof repeatedly passes the Bechdel Test, and how long those scenes of conversation among women go on, and on. Most notable is the eight-minute diner scene, a single take featuring Abernathy, Kim, Lee and Zoë (Zoë Bell, doing a cinematic rendition of her fabulous self, an instance of stunt casting that literalizes the “stunt” part). Among other things, the women discuss their careers in film, the merits of gun ownership and Kim and Zoë’s love of (you guessed it) car chase movies like Vanishing Point. One could read that as a liberatory move, a suggestion that cinema of all kinds is open to all comers. All that’s required is a willingness to watch. But watching the diner scene becomes increasing claustrophobic. The camera circles the women’s table incessantly, and on the periphery of the shot, sitting at the diner’s counter, is Stuntman Mike. The circling becomes predatory, the threat seems pervasive. 

If you’ve seen the film, you know how that plays out: Zoë and Kim play “ship’s mast” on a white 1970 Dodge Challenger (the Vanishing Point car); Stuntman Mike shows up and terrorizes them mercilessly; but then Abernathy, Zoë and Kim chase him down and beat the living shit out of him, likely fatally. In another sharply conceived cinematic maneuver, Tarantino executes a climactic sequence that inverts the diner scene: the women surround Stuntman Mike, abject and pleading, and punch and kick him as he bounces from one of them to another. The camera zips from vantage to vantage within the circle, deliriously tracking the action. All the jump cuts intensify the violence, and they provide another contrast to the diner’s scene’s silky, unbroken shot. The sounds and the impact of the blows verge on slapstick, and our identification with the women makes it a giddily gross good time.

So, an inversion seeks to undo repetition. Certainly, Stuntman Mike’s intent to repeat the car-crash-kill-thrill is undone, and predator becomes prey. But, as is inevitable with Tarantino’s cinema, there are complications, other echoes and patterns to suss out. For instance: as the women stride toward the wrecked Nova, while Stuntman Mike pathetically wails, the camera zooms in on their asses. Bad asses? Nice asses? What’s the right nomenclature? To make sure we can put the shot together with Julia’s first appearance in the film, Abernathy has hiked up her skirt, revealing a lot of leg. Repetition reasserts itself. In an exacerbating circumstance, Harvey Weinstein’s grubby fingerprints are smeared onto the film. Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios is credited with production of Grindhouse, but Dimension Films, a Weinstein Brothers company, handled distribution.  

When the film cuts to its end titles, we hear April March’s “Chick Habit” (1995), with its spot-on lyric: “Hang up the chick habit / Hang it up, daddy / Or you’ll never get another fix.” And so on. Even here, where the girl-power vibe feels strongest (cue Abernathy burying a bootheel in Stuntman Mike’s face), there are echoes, patterns. Note how the striding bassline of “Chick Habit” strongly recalls the pulse beating through Nitzsche’s “The Last Race.” Note that March’s song is a cover, of “Laisse tomber les filles,” originally recorded by yé-yé girl France Gall. The song was penned by Serge Gainsbourg, pop provocateur and notorious womanizer. The two collaborated again, releasing “Les Sucettes,” a tune about a teeny-bopper who really likes sucking on lollipops, when Gall was barely 18; the accompanying scandal nearly torpedoed her career. Gall refused to ever sing another song by Gainsbourg, and disavowed her hits.  

Again, that’s all deeply embedded, somewhere in the film’s complicated play of pop irony and double-entendre and the sudden explosions of delight and disgust that intermittently reveal and conceal. Again, you’d have to know your pop history really well to catch up with the complications, and Death Proof moves so fast that there’s always another reference or allusion demanding your attention as the cars growl and the blood spurts. Too many signs to track, too many signals to decipher — that’s the postmodern. But perhaps we have become too glib, assuming that all signs are somehow equivalent. Death Proof insists otherwise. Much has been made of the film’s strange relation to digital filmmaking, of the sort that Rodriguez has made a career out of. Part of Grindhouse’s shtick is its goofball applications of CGI, all the scratches and skips and flaws that the filmmakers lovingly applied. They are digital effects, masquerading as damaged celluloid. Tarantino cut back against that grain, filming as much of the car chase’s maniacal stuntwork in meatspace as he safely could. Purposeful practical filmmaking, for a digitally enhanced cinematic experience, attempting to mimic the ways real film interacts with the physical environment and its manifold histories. Is that clever, or just more cultural clutter?  

Amid all the clutter that crowds the characters onscreen, and their conversations in the film’s field of sound, it can be easy to lose track of the distinctions between appearances and the traces of the real bodies that worked to bring Death Proof to life. Which is why Tarantino’s inclusion of Bell is so crucial. She provides another inversion: Instead of masking her individual presence, doing stunts for other actresses in their clothes and hair (for Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior Princess, or for Uma Thurman in Tarantino’s Kill Bill films), Bell is herself, doing what she does best, projecting the technical elements of filmmaking — usually meant to bleed seamlessly into illusion — right onto the surface of the screen. And instead of allowing one group of girls to slip into a repeated pattern, bodies easily exchanged for other bodies, Bell’s presence and its implicit insistence on her particularity (who else can move like she does?) breaks up the superficial logic of cinema’s market for the feminine. She disrupts its chick habit. There’s only one woman like her. 

Jonathan Shaw

[mysticprofessoralienhumanoid]

Maribat ideas I will probably never write

Now, before we start.

I realize that those may have already been made but I've never seen them and everything here came from my mind. But if you remember the titles, please tell me them or send a link to the stories, I'd love to read them.

This can be whatever ship you want Connorette, Daminette, Cassandra x Marinette, Brucinette... Any ship.

Here I'll refer to them just as the bats or one of the bats, or just choose a random one of them simply because I don't know the exact person that'd fit in the au with Marinette so I'm just leaving it up to you but... yeah.

[And yes, I know I said it could be Connor or Jon or anyone else, and I know they are not part of Batclan but for the lack of better word, just roll with it]

Yes, you can use any of them, but please tag me (i really want to read what you came up with) and include the link to my post so maybe someone else could use any other of these.

And if want to add anything or just brainstorm in the comments I'd love to do it with you, so don't be shy and say what you think (constructive critism only).

Maybe i will update this, but for now feel free to use any of these over 20 (i think at least) ideas I came with in these past 2 weeks cuz i was bored.

And before you start, I'm thinking of making mafia boss! Marinette AU, but i don't know what ship it should be... Suggestions? (Just not the love square please)

Hope you like it.

-------------------------------------------------------

Violinist Marinette. The Waynes got invited to a concert in which Mari played a solo. And they're all just enchanted with her talent.

Marinette a Badass Dancer. None of the bats is a dancer in this AU and I don't really have any direction where this would go, but i just had a scene where she kicks their asses even though she doesn't have much (or any) exprience in martial arts. Just her spinning and kicking one of them mid-spin in the face or... somewhere else...

So the scene is a Wayne Gala, right? Jagged Stone dares Marinette to sing a song on a stage (there’s live music band, i guess?). Everyone’s mesmerised by her voice and Jagged can be heard screaming “That’s my niece!” in the backround. I really want her to sing Creep , a cover by Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox ft. Haley Reinhart or Crazy in Love , also a cover made by Sofia Karlberg, though any other song is fine too

Bats and Marinette in a band. That's it. That's the whole AU.

One of the bats is sitting under a tree, all peacefully and relaxed, but then they look up to see a random girl with dark blue hair (??) just hanging upside down from a branch like an actual freaking bat. She gives them a heart attack.

Another Au with singing Marinette lol. In this one Marinette likes to sing in a park every other day and Damian comes here one day and hears her and is like “wow.”, and since then he comes there everyday in hopes of hearing her sing and getting her number. And maybe Luka or Adrien play while she sings, that’d be cool

Guys, Marinette and the Waynes being neighbours. No, but imagine. Them seeing some girl watering plants every week for a month or two and then not seeing her for a long period of time, and they're kinda worried, but then she's back and they're confused, because where the hell she'd been, the house looked like not used and just where the hell was she? Marinette seeing some... Weird things happening in the Wayne backyard. Balconies being in front of each other, so they're balcony neighbours too (the romance, the fluff, even the angst, guys). Marinette going to them with baked goods and introducing herself as their neighbour. Them going to hers and welcoming her with a basket of Alfred's cooking. 

Jason has to participate in a dating show because he lost a bet and Mari's one of the participants too...

Duke needs a date to a wedding (i don't know whose, your choice) and Marinette's his best friend, so be my fake date to this wedding?

Marinette as Tim's daughter??

The greatest showman AU. (Sibling dickinette. On the trapeze-)

Forget rouges, superheroes and vigilantes. Underground dancers. Because it's what i need, y'all

So in this, WE is a dance company, and Marinette's maybe an intern in a fashion department. One day Dick's going to one of the practice rooms where's been scheduled a meeting with a designer for his costume for the next show. Instead he's met with a girl he sees for the first time, practically flying on the dance floor. Just as he's about to reveal himself the rest comes and it turns out this is the fashion designer and it seems as no one knows she's an amazing dancer too

Teachers AU + Rivals AU = utter chaos. Them teaching the same subject and competing for their class' loves and/or arguing whose close is better. [Bonus points if everyone's thinking they hate each others guts, but they're secretly dating]

Fencers AU - on the same team on different teams, your choice. (And this honestly suits with Kagami too. I'm up for kagami x bat/marinette)

Damian in the park with Mar'i, but he's having trouble, because this kid has so much energy. How?? Just when he thinks he can take a breath, he notices Mar'i has wandered off and is talking to a young woman, so he rushes there and try to apologize, but she says it's no problem at all. Suddenly this gorgeous girl offers him her help. It looks like Mar'i has taken liking to her and he's so tired, so he agrees and for the rest day watches two Mari's play together and falls in love with the older one. Plotwist: this was plan all along. Mar'i is the ultimate wingwoman.

All the Wayne siblings decided to go to one of those haunted houses for a halloween and there's this petite girl who tagged along their group somehow. They didn't expect to see this tiny girl punching the worker dressed as a monster and knocking the daylight out of him. But it was so worth getting kicked out.

Marinette's a ghost and these four men came to her house and apparently they're doing a ghost investigation?? I mean, she was getting a bit lonely and bored, maybe it's time to "gain some friends" (read: scare the living out of them).

Pretty much the above but with bat/s as ghost/s and Marinette as the paranormal investigator with her team (i honestly want one of them to be Kagami, i don't know why). In both you need to decide who's a skeptic and who believes. It's fun, the ghost is trying to scare them off, but they're stubborn.

Sibling dickinette where Marinette calls her older brother everytime she wants to get out of a date and so he pretends to "arrest" her. (And then maybe dick decides to play a matchmaker and sets her up with one of his adoptive siblings)

Marinette as a lawyer. Her going against LexCorps who framed Wayne Enterprises for something. Or maybe Bruce was accused of murder (that he obviously did not commit) and now she has to prove his innocence. I just really want to read about badass lawyer Marinette, guys

Merlin AU. Is there any AUs with Marinette being Merlin and saving Arthur's ass (I honestly think it should be Chloe, no joke)?

Mominette where she adopts Cassandra. I just imagined them going to ballet lessons together and cooking and now I'm soft.

Marinette got dared by her friends to set a trap for the passerby that involved eggs, toy train and glitter and to then to pretend they're her ex and they cheated in her, and Jason had the misfortune to be that passerby. (Yes, this is probably crack lol)

Tim can rap. Marinette can rap. What could go wrong?? (Yes, this is probably crack too)

There's this girl they see every year when to go on trick-or-treating and she always has the most amazing or scariest costumes. But Damian will not go without a fight and so every year they compete over who has the better costume. This year they just so conveniently dressed up as the famous Halloween couple.

Jon is 17 now and it seems as no one is interested in him. He jokingly tells Damian he supects theres a ghost that's in love with him and they keep away any potential lovers from him. He doesn't know how much he's right. Marinette though, is freaking out.

Marinette decided to take a part-time job at a local pool as a life guard. There's a sudden increase in people coming to said pool but also a dramatic increase in people pretending to drown. Conner is one of them.

Marinette plays a therapist to all of the batfam. The amount of the ridiculous problems she had to listen to... She could write a book and she would make millions out of it, she swears.

"Some say "revenge is a dish best served cold.", then i read "revenge is sweet", so i came to conclusion revenge is ice cream." Huh, so that'd explain the sudden disappearance of ice cream in whole Gotham Jason had been hearing about for the past week from Bruce. The question is, what that petite bluenette is planning to do and who is going to be a victim of her ice cream revenge?

Tim had been in coma for a month after the drug bust, and he has just woken up. The first thing he does? He picks up the argument he and Marinette had been having before he's been put into a coma.

The couple at the place Jason had been at, started making out loudly, so he started making loud noises while eating his ice cream. They stopped. And he got this cute barista's phone number when she was walking past him.

Marinette's at the spa when she overhears two guys betting who can eat more slices of cucumber (that were supposed to be put on their eyelids) and she decided to participate. Safe to say they were all banned from all the spas in Gotham

Can i please get Jason/Duke/anyone making up a bedtime story for Marinette after she woke up from a nasty nightmare? I need it

Every morning and night Marinette pretends to be asleep just so she can feel Damian pull her closer, kiss her temple and whisper how much he loves her

Roy listening to Jason complaining about each first encounter of her girlfriend with his siblings and Bruce. Each is more ridiculous than the one before. He listens to it, after he and Marinette had gone through their own weird af first meeting.

Dick was so busy laughing at the bluenette who'd just walked into a post, he ran into the same post minute later. She asked him out... After she finished laughing and telling him karma's a bitch

Dick likes to think he's the reason Jason and Marinette got married. To his last days he will brag about how at his and Kori's wedding Marinette caught the bouquet, tripped and Jay caught her.

Jason asked Marinette on a date to one of the restaurant the WE owned. Then as a test, he told her he couldn't pay for all the expensive dishes they ordered. She took his hand and they ran out of the building. He's convinced he's going to marry her.

[eijispumpkin]

1, 8, 19

1. What was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

my first fandom was tolkien’s legendarium!! when i was like 14 or 15 i was sitting in my little corner writing genfic about the nolofinweans (an elf royal family). the grandeur and the tragedy and the hope in lotr + the silm were definitely formative influences on my writing dkjbfjks

after that i got into homestuck 😔

8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, share a song that’s been inspiring you lately.

yes!!! i make playlists for just about every mood i have while writing, so that i can just throw on the jams for whichever vibe the scene i’m doing has. although sometimes i just put stuff on shuffle and let what happens happen. lately i’ve been on a real postmodern jukebox kick, esp this song!!!

19. Who is the easiest/hardest character for you to write about? Why?

ash and eiji i’d say are both pretty easy for me at this point!! i like writing them both and i think i have a pretty solid handle on their voices, with how much of them i’ve written. hardest might actually be sing, just bc i haven’t gotten that much experience writing him outside of paper boats, which is a v specific universe!!

Behind the Scenes of Fic Writing: 30 Questions for Authors

[notasdriedapricots]

Music Tag!

Thank you for tagging me @tmagary 💖

This is another one I've done, but by request of the lovely @gin-o-clock, I'm adding the "interesting/weird" version.

RULES: You can usually tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to! put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs.

I made a list with all my liked songs/albums, and then skipped artists that are on the other tag. And made a second one with the "weird" ones.

Under the cut so this doesn't look so long if you don't care lol

So, the original tag:

1. Little Lighter – Ripe

2. I Dare You – The Regrettes

3. Amigo – Lous and The Yakuza

4. September – Earth, Wind & Fire

5. Gold – Sonny Cleveland

6. Common Ground – Busty and the Bass

7. Everybody's Lonely – Jukebox The Ghost

8. Baby Don't Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts – Lake Street Dive

9. "Best" – Theo Katzman

10. Do It - Tuxedo

And the "weird one"

ok I don't know if they are actually weird -ok some are- but rather things that kinda don't belong anywhere or are different and interesting to me so there you go. I did skip songs from musicals because that would be unfair, they're weird and silly by design. Also they would have taken pretty much all the list.

1. Kung Fu is My Fighting Style – Dan Reeder Get to the end of the first verse. Try not to laugh.

2. Vengo Perdío – Antonio Lizana Just very interesting. Jazz + Flamenco, I don't know how he does it.

3. Amor Narcótico – ChiChi Peralta Genuinely the worst lyrics I've heard in my life. I could translate them but I'll save you the gag. Can't say I don't dance to it while I cook, tho.

4. Sevillanas del Búcaro y del Grillo – Los Del Guadalquivir Ok, so, I kinda dance flamenco. This was my favourite sevillana to practice one year. It's so funny when it randomly comes on because it makes no goddamned sense for it to be in any playlist.

5. Pump up the Jam – The Lost Fingers Just listen to it. I love them.

6. La Bamba – Los Lobos Also a "dance while I'm cooking" song. How could you not?

7. The Hamilton Polka – "Weird Al" Yankovic Real talk? I like this one because I am very proud to be able to sing it perfectly without getting tongue-tied.

8. Jamirobeegees Mashup: Stayin' Alive / Virtual Insanity – Pomplamoose Love me a weird mashup that also slaps let's be honest.

9. Bouncin – Undecided Future The lyrics are so... weird, let's call them weird. But the vibe, man. The vibe.

10. Ignition–Remix – Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox & Rayvon Owen This just makes me happy. It's lowkey bizarre, and I actively ignore the lyrics. But the rest is just *chef's kiss*

Again, I think all my mutuals have already been tagged, but if you want to do this, here you go: @!

[omgyouatetheprincess]

Janus’ Playlist

AHH JANUS' PLAYLIST LETS GOO

Not that anyone asked for my opinions

Okay so I'd like to start by saying that Thomas, Joan and Talyn did an amazing job on this playlist because every song fits Janus so perfectly.

Here are some of my thoughts on the songs and some interpretations I came up with or found on the internet.

Trigger Warnings - abortion. Mocking of religion.

Black Hole Sun - okay at first I was like 'wow this is really smooth and nice and the vocals are so sweet.' Then I heard the lyrics. "In disguises no one knows,

Hides the face, lies the snake". It's such a Deceit song and I imagine him dancing to it (with or without a partner).

Black Hole Sun by Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, Haley Reinhart

It Seemed That Better Way - holy heck, can I point out that this song is such a bop? Leonard Cohen has such a soothing voice and it reminds me of Patrick Page (aha Hadestown) and if Janus wasn't played by Thomas, I could imagine this as his voice. The song is about not knowing what the truth is and what to believe, and has religious meanings which could be countering Patton and his Catholic beliefs.

It Seemed The Better Way by Leonard Cohen

Anywhere - I feel like Patton would hate this because the first line is "It's a beautiful world if you've been lied to by parents and priests". Anywhere describes how the world isn't a beautiful as it may seem, and that people lie to make you see it.

Anywhere by The Scarring Party

Talking At The Same Time - it is immediately dark and that everything seems fake and a... Lie. A lot of Deceit's songs are about the truth or that everything is a lie and I have to give massive kudos to Thomas, Joan and Talyn because they did an excellent job portraying Janus through his music taste. The song describes how everyone talks at the same time, and what I interpret that as is that everyone says the same thing over and over. It's hard to explain so I'll let you make your own interpretations of it.

Talking At The Same Time by Tom Waits

all the good girls go to hell - I'm not going to lie (ha) but I don't like Billie Eyelash, but I'll see past the artist. My first thought when I saw the song without hearing it is that it's a good choice and Janus probably loves Billie Eilish. Spotify has meanings of songs so I'm going to go off there: "This song is in the perspective of the Devil / no matter how good you are, desperate measures will eventually break you / turn you into bad." I feel like Deceit would sing this around the house. This song is twisting Christian symbolism and the lyrics can be interpreted as Eilish praising people who go to hell as it's better than being morally good. (Also, just switch Peter with Patton)

all the bad girls go to hell by Billie Eilish

Denial - KDJIEKAKSNDENIAL? In Putting Others First, Janus is referred to as Denial and now this song? Everyone start clapping for Thomas and his team. Anyway, the song discusses themes of conflict within a relationship, and the denial and insecurity of being in a relationship near it’s end (source: Genius). Also, Roceit vibes?

Denial by The Vaccines

Trust In Me - first of all, heck yeah! I predicted this song to be on his playlist because it's a slimy snake song from Disney? Hello this is Thomas? I think it's a great song and Johansson's voice is angelic. Kaa is manipulating and hypnotizing Mowgli, and if Deceit could do the same you can bet your bottom dollar he would sing this. We love our not-evil snake boi.

Trust In Me by Scarlett Johansson

Razzle Dazzle - Janus singing this with Roman? Yes please? Okay so I get that this is a villian song, and I love that, but imagine Deceit in a shiny sequenced dress? I also haven't seen Chicago yet so I'm going off what I've heard - this song describes how it is too easy to put on a show and make the audience happy. Basically, acting is just professional lying. The line "Though you are stiffer than a girder they'll let you get away with murder" is so clever (no spoilers but he had it coming)

Razzle Dazzle by Richard Gere

[SLIGHT HADESTOWN SPOILERS]

When The Chips Are Down - I hecking love Hadestown so you can bet I squealed when I saw this song. This song is sung by the fates, who are portrayed at untrustworthy. The title of this song is derived from the idiom “when the chips are down”, meaning “when a very serious and difficult situation arises”. Eurydice is in potentially one of the most serious and difficult situations she could be in: her life is at stake. After Hades invites Eurydice to come with him to Hadestown, the Fates appear and encourage her to consider his offer. They tell her that she should look after herself now that she is starving and the “chips are down”. (Source: Genius). In my own words, the fates are convincing (or manipulating if you will) a poor helpless girl to put herself first and save herself. It also mentions how if you be good to get into heaven,you get a knife in the back.

Go listen to Hadestown, it's an incredible soundtrack.

When The Chips Are Down by Anaïs Mitchell, The Haden Triplets

[TW! Abortion]

Mandy Goes to Med School - okay so this song is about abortion, so we'll have to go off context. Mandy (or Amanda Palmer) has to pay for Medical School by giving abortions in an alleyway with a coat hanger, so I interpret this as having to do shady stuff to get what you want. I think him and Remus would enjoy this song together. I'd also like to note that Logan had a song by Amanda Palmer in his playlist... That isn't relevant but I wanted to note that.

Mandy Goes to Med School by The Dresden Dolls

I Put A Spell On You - 50SOG vibes? I really like this song, it has a nice rhythm and the lyrics are so creepy. This gives me vibes of Deceit cornering/pining another side/love interest because if our baby boy wants to be happy, he should. This is similar to Trust In Me because it talks about enchanting someone to get what you want. "I don't care if you don't want me, I'm yours right now." Chills. Janus singing this song would complete my life.

Also the singer calls the love interest daddy but we ain't shaming

I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone

Evil Night Together - well the title has evil in it so... Perfect for our Evil Snake Boi. This song gives me huge Demus/Receit vibes because it's basically like "let's go on a date in the creepiest place."

What if we drank a drink in the torture chambers... Haha jk ...unless 🥺

Evil Night Together by Jill Tracy

Don't Tell Mama - another musical song? Roman would be impressed. This song is about an English singer, who's mother thinks she's in a convent (a nun), when really she's in a German s3x club. You can really tell why it would be so bad if her secret got out.

Don't Tell Mama by John Kander, Joel Grey, Jill Hawarth, Cabaret Ensemble, Harold Hastings

You're A Cad - definition of a cad: a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards a woman... This song has a nice beat and gives me TikTok vibes, but it also gives me Moceit vibes (I say vibes too much) because the singer is saying "you're a villain, a cad, a rascal... But I'm like a fish on a hook for you and I still want you." Also, she has a sweet tooth?

You're A Cad by the bird and the bee

As Far As I Can See - all aboard the angst train, CHOO-CHOO "As far as I can see, nobody loves me. As far as I can tell, nobody loves you either" this song gives me such Roceit vibes because the meaning is pretty simple: if nobody loves Janus, then he'll take everyone down with him. I knew there would be that one song that tries to make me cry for our poor baby.

As Far As I Can See by Phantogram

Criminal - first of all, the cover is beautiful. Apple describes the song as “a description of feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality.” She also told in an interview: "One of my friends said to me, “Oh yeah, of course you aren’t writing.” So I was like, “The next time you see me, I’m gonna have a new song.” I wrote “Criminal” in 45 minutes when everyone else went to lunch because I had to have a hit. I can force myself to do the work, but only if someone is right up behind me." Which is the level of pettiness I see in Deceit and I am here for it. The context of the song is seduction and manipulation, so Janus using his sexuality to manipulate the other Sides is a cursed thought.

Criminal by Fiona Apple

Change - if any of them listened to Lana Del Rey, I sort of expected it to be Virgil. Change shows how Del Rey has matured, and I feel like it also portrays Janus' ability to adapt. "Change is a powerful thing... I'll be able to be honest..." Does this mean he's trying to change? Will we get more character development? LIGHT SIDE JANUS?

Change by Lana Del Rey

Devil In The Details - this song is about trusting the wrong person and taking advantage of something. "I am the first one I deceive if I can make myself believe the rest is easy.". More angst, yay.

Devil In The Details by Bright Eyes

Come Little Children - if you had a My Little Pony phase, you probably know this song. Come Little Children, also known as "Sarah's Theme" and "Garden of Magic," is a song sung by Sarah Sanderson in the film, Hocus Pocus to hypnotize children to lure them. Manipulation: a common theme.

Come Little Children by Erutan

Into The Unknown - I was really shocked to see this song until I realized, no, it wasn't the same iconic theme from Frozen 2. This short song is from Over The Garden Wall, a show Thomas watches but I have not. "If dreams can't come true, then why not pretend?" The show plays heavily on the battle between dreams and reality (source: Genius). The way I see this, Janus is convincing the Light Sides to do something, or specifically Roman to make his dreams come true through selfish means.

Into The Unknown by The Blasting Company

This playlist is one of the best because every song had me saying “Janus would so sing this". If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment!

As always, take it easy guys gals and non-binary pals peace out