#i liked enough of 8 to be like okay and the final instrumental ending on the louis shot of all time was gorgeous 😂

[inkskinned]

yesterday while feverish i wrote about how boats can moor next to each other like pigeons, cooing with the gentle rap of water against their hull. you once said that that the way i see things - birds in the water, feathers in marina paint - was "childish and naive." you said i'd been misdiagnosed - "it can't all be adhd. you might be just kind of stupid and lazy."

i still do certain things like how you taught me - turn the pillow case inside out before putting it on. drive defensively. hate myself entirely.

the prompt for this poem is "mahler's fifth." i wish it wasn't, but mahler's fifth was our song. it ended up in my book. every person that knows your name has promised me they'll give you one swift rabbit punch, right to the face. dean read the book and showed up on my front porch, drenched in sweat from running the 8 miles at 4 in the morning. he was shaking. pacifist and gentle - he works with children - i'd never seen him furious. a punch isn't going to do it, he said, and then said i'm sorry. i had to come to see if you were okay.

mahler's fifth was mine first, like my girlhood. i like the way each movement piles onto the next movement, each instrument bleeding into the next. i like the horn version the best. before i met you, i danced to it on grass still-wet from sprinklers.

later you would tell me that the way you heard it was somehow better. you understood something in it that i couldn't quite wrap my fingers into. once, on our anniversary, you asked the classical music radio station to play it for us. we missed hearing it because we were fighting. one of the things people get wrong about abuse is that sometimes victims are, like, brutally aware of the stupidity of our situation. what do you mean that you thought i wasn't good enough for you? you? you're just... nothing.

sometimes people can pull the poetry out of your life. i watched my words become clothesline, and then thin out into kite twine. i watched you chew through every good syllable of me. so many good songs and places and moments were ruined. i am glad you didn't like most of my music - less to tie back to you.

but still mahler's fifth. the music swells, and i am 21 and throwing up in a bathroom on my birthday. a woman i will later refer to as lesbian jesus runs a cool hand down my back, her perfect pantsuit starch-pressed. she told me to leave you. she said - and this is true, and not an invention of rhyme or fantasy - i'm you from the future.

i am 22, and i got home from an award ceremony, and i remember you telling me - you act so proud of yourself when you're actually so fucking embarrassing. i took you to disney world. you took my virginity. i gave up visiting spain for a week with my family - i instead choose you, to spend the time just-cuddling. you called it "our fuck week." the music swells. it probably should have been a red flag that for about 3 years - i just gave up on crying. my grandfather died and you said nothing. my uncle died and you ghosted me for 3 weeks. you said i need to protect myself from your ongoing tragedy.

every so often i come back to the memory of one of our last afternoons in person. i had just told you that i wasn't going to law school, despite the free ride - i was going to join a creative writing program. master's in fine arts. i was going to finally do it - i was going to follow my dreams. this blog was already internet-famous. however reluctantly, i would occasionally refer to myself as a poet. i got into umass amherst's writing program for fiction authors. it is one of the the top 5 programs in the country.

wait are you seriously considering actually attending that? dumbfounded, you turned completely towards me in your seat. for the 3rd time in our relationship, you almost crashed the car. you actually want to be a writer?

the first time i went viral, it was for a poem i wrote about you:

he wants to say i love you but keeps it to goodnight because love will take some falling and she's afraid of heights.

every time i see that, i want to throw up. you weren't in love with me, you were in love with the control you had over me. a little truth though: i am afraid of heights. you caught a rabbitgirl and skinned her alive.

mahler's fifth still makes me sick.

give me that back. give me back music. give me back everything i had before you. give me back fearlessness. give me back bravery. give me back a scarless body.

give me back what you took from me.

[tonyboneysblog]

MOTHER HEN: PART TWO

parings: hawks x mother!reader

word count: 1.9k

warnings: minor character death!

notes: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVE ON PART ONE, ITS ALWAYS APPRECIATED❤️

summary: you, the mother of Tokoyami Fumikage, are just a simple nurse! Who has caught the eye of a certain pro.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

your alarm is blaring at 4:00 in the morning, work always has you coming in at weird times.

but you so warm in your bed, the comforters are the just right amount of warmth, the fan is blowing at the perfect speed, and your in the perfect position.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

maybe work can wait for at least one day…no people need your there- if you asked for an off day you and someone died you could never forgive yourself.

So you begrudgingly rise from your bed, getting ready for your day.

Washing your face, brushing your teeth, dressing yourself, etc.

You walk out of your room making your way into the kitchen, while on your way you spot Tokoyami on the couch.

“Fumikage?” you say sleepily.

His head peeks up from the couch slowly, “uhm, hi mom..”

“what’re you doing up?”

“nothing.”

You sigh, “did you get some sleep at least?”

“Yea I-i did mama, don’t worry.” He scratches at his head.

“We’ll make sure to take a nap at least before you get ready for school…” you ruffle the feathers on the top of his head and kiss his forehead.

Tokoyami yawns, “I’ll see you soon, mama.”

you smile, “Course sweetie…”

You make your way out of the house finally, getting into your car and driving to work.

As you pull in there are multiple ambulances surrounding the hospital, which isn’t unusual but it wakes you up from your tiredness.

Was there an accident? It seems like there’s a lot more than there should be usually…but you didn’t see anything on the news? well you forgot to turn it on.

You walk into the hospital and check in, nurses are going everywhere and nowhere at the same time. What happed anyways?

You can see Emi, your co-worker, run up to you. See seems more stressed than usual…

“Oh y/n, thank the gods your here- t-there was an accident up the street, some building collapsed, and we are almost fully packed.” She says hurriedly.

“Hey, hey calm down. We can handle this okay, Emi?”

“O-okay” she takes a quick deep breath, “You need to be at room D3 at the intensive care unit, they need more hands.”

“Got it, deep breaths okay? I’ll see you later.” You walk away, well that explains why there’s so many people here.

You’ve never really worked at the intensive care unit before but people usually make it back to stability in your hands.

Emi days you have a magical touch, Fumikage says it’s because you’re amazing.

You walk into the intensive care unit, a another nurse, Monika, waves you down to the room.

You hurry in, the patient isn’t in the best shape. doctor starts talking about an emergency surgery.

You sanitize and put your gear on, starting it immediately, you listen when the surgeon calls for a new instrument.

You’re worried, you keep your eye on the monitor- is it supposed to be going down like that?

The surgery continues.

the monitor drops.

“8:17, time of death.”

it hits you like a brick.

Monika pats your back, she basically lives in intensive care. She knows what it’s like.

“There was nothing you could do, there in a better place, okay?” She says trying to comfort you.

You haven’t experienced a death yet while working, which sounds insane since you work all the time but..you’ve never seen it.

you’ve never heard the monitor stop beeping.

You have to continue though- you need too.

You have other people to save so you keep working, that’s what Fumikages father hated about you.

5 dead, 34 injured. That was the count at the end of the day, apparently hero’s were still pulling out body’s from the rumble.

“Take your break, y/n” Monika says.

That’s really the only thing you can do at the moment.

So you sit down next to Emi, her head is in her hands.

“Do you think we did enough?” She says with sorrow in her voice.

“I don’t know.”

Her voice shakes, “That was my first time I saw someone die on the table like that.”

“Yea, mine too.”

“I’m sorry, y/n.” Her voice breaks.

It’s okay thought, all of this just toughens you up! sometimes it haunts your dreams but you always wake up in the end.

You started dreaming it was Fumikage on the table and not just some patient.

it makes you want to vomit.

You hear Monika walking around the corner, she waves.

She hands you a drink, “Here”

“Wish it were alcohol”, you chuckle.

“Well apple juice is all we got, don’t get stuck in your head y/n.”

“Tell that to Emi.” You take a swig of the apple juice.

Monika sits next to Emi and starts talking to her so softly you can’t really pick up on it.

It’s 5:18, you haven’t eaten yet, it’s probably a good time to clock out.

Maybe you’ll go to that new chicken place, Fumikage said it was good.

So you decide to walk there, you don’t really trust yourself to drive at the moment anyways.

It’s close to the hospital so it was an easy walk, your legs ached a little bit and they only ached more at the thought of walking back to your car.

You walk in with a ding from the door, you texted Fumikage on the way to ask for his order.

You look around for a moment then walk up to the counter, ordering you and your sons meals.

They ring it up and give it to you, you sit

down and one of the booths.

You start to eat, re-thinking all of the events of your day until you can hear someone slide into your booth while you’re munching on your food!

You look up to see who would do that, because yknow-boundaries, only to see the bird hero?

“Rough day?” He says with a soft smile.

you sigh, “you don’t even know.”

He giggles, “yea, you look rough Mrs. Nurse.”

you shot him a glare, he just shrugs.

“How’s your kid, U.A. And all that?”

“Ah, he’s doing good, not getting enough sleep though.”

He raises his eyebrows and shakes his head, “no good, needs his beauty rest.”

You smile softly, suppose some hero’s also save people how are just having a rough day.

He focuses, “And how’s the old ball and chain?”

“The what?”

“your…husband?” He says hesitantly.

“Oh!” You laugh, “please haven’t seen him since I was 16.”

He blushes and stammers, “Sorry, I-i just thought..yknow?”

“Thought he’d stay? we were young yknow, he didn’t want my son and I did.”

“sorry to hear that.”

“We always fought anyways so, good riddance I suppose.” You chuckle.

Hawks sneaks away a fry from your bag of food, “We keep meeting, don’t we?”

“Yea, you might be a stalker, Hawks.”

He blushes as his wings puff up, “n-not true!”

you laugh, it’s nice.

This is nice.

You look at the time on your phone, 5:48, you don’t wanna worry Fumikage so-

“Oh gosh, I need to go.” You say in an apologetic voice.

“I can fly you back.”

“I have my own wings, hawks.”

“You look tired.”

“I am, but I have a car I need to take home so-“

“Why drive when you have wings?”

Good question, your wings are actually too small to carry your weight through the sky so there’s not really a point throwing yourself off a roof to see if you actually can.

“You can walk me to my car?”

“great idea, mama bird.”

“Mama bird?”

“Well you’re a mom and I assume that your son has a bird quirk…so.”

I mean he’s correct. The two of you leave the restaurant with the food in tow, making your way to your car.

Hawks wings jitter anxiously though he shows composure, “So, his old man ain’t around?”

“Nah, left right when he found out, haven’t really tried to date since- well I have but yknow.”

“Hard out there for single moms?”

“Yea, it was bad about 4 years ago? Met this guy and he put his hands on Fumikage, called the cops and made sure he stayed far away from him.”

Hawks looks off to the side slightly, lost in thought but only for a moment.

“My car is right here.”

He grins, “Nice car, Mrs nurse.”

“Oh please, it’s Y/N Tokoyami” you chuckle out.

“Got it in my brain.” He points towards his head.

You just laugh and shake your head while getting into your car.

Hawks stands next to your window, “see you again?”

“We keep meeting so probably- how’s your head also?”

“Hm, from what?” He questions.

“The hospital remember? I’m surprised you’re already back on patrol.”

Hawks rubs the back of his neck, “guess you just have a magic touch?”

You laugh and shake your hand while rolling up your window, reminds you of Emi- wonder how she’s doing.

You start to drive home, you can see hawks waving in the rear view mirror, he’s nice.

Fumikage will be happy, you hope he had a good day.

You hope hawks had a good day too.

Finally you reach home, you probably look like a walking zombie who had a death grip on a chicken bag when they died.

Tokoyami greets you right when you open the door.

“Mother, I heard about the building- a-and I was worried that-“

“Don’t worry so much Fumi..your mama saved people too.”

Fumikages speech slows, “It’s just…I know how you get.”

You really wish you didn’t have to be all down in the dumps in front of Fumikage.

Long days and stressful days at the hospital always get to you, you wished that they didn’t.

Sure it was your first time actively seeing someone die in the hospital but you always knew that you’d see it one day.

“Hey look on the bright side, I got chicken?”

Fumikage sighs, “I hope you know my classmates would consider that cannibalism.”

“They better be nice to you.”

“They are- well we haven’t really talked but no one’s really mean.” Tokoyami responds sheepishly.

“Don’t lie to me, silly goose”

Fumikage starts to unpack the food bag, “well there’s this one boy, bakugo, he is like obsessed with destroying another boy named Midoriya.”

“Destroying?” You giggle.

Fumikage sits down at the table, “yea totally, we were paired up today to act like hero’s and villains- and they got the opposite from each-other and they destroyed the whole building!”

again, that’s an email.

“Who’d you get paired up with?”

Fumikage looks away from your curious gaze, “this girl named Tsu.”

“Is she cute?”

“mama.”

You laugh, “I’m just asking!”

Fumikage retorts, “What about that hawks guy, is he cute?”

“Now why’re talking about him, hm?”

“Press caught him walking you to your car, scandalous old woman.”

Ah, the paparazzi….you wish you could send an email about them.

You gasp dramatically, “Old woman?!”

“Answer my question!”

“He’s alright, I like em rougher you know?”

Fumikage gags, “gross, mama.”

“You asked!”

You and Fumikage continued talking about small things that happen in your day, apparently a boy named Shoto slipped on his own ice while no one was looking- except Fumikage was.

Now reaching almost ten o’clock, you force Fumikage and yourself to bed.

Fumikage begrudgingly walks over to his bedroom, still wanting to talk to you a little more.

“Night, mama.”

You walk over and kiss his temple, ruffling his feathers.

“Night night, my little chick.”

Fumikage shakes his head and retreats to his room, you return to yours as well.

Cuddling into your nest, which is really just your bed with an in godly amount of pillows, blankets, and plushies- you let sleep come over you.

You wonder if hawks gets to sleep this good at night, or even if he has someone to talk to about his tough days.

Wait, why’re you thinking about him anyways?

PART THREE: MOTHER HEN: PART THREE

[katz-chow]

deranged!reader & her task force (katz's version)

me & ur mother @moongreenlight are genuinely insane. this is basically us if it even care 😞

a/n: fem!reader all military names fake, processes fake; mostly it'd be classified, not just not done...well we wouldn't know for sure. medical shit also real. i’m in both of those fields irl. no i am not a swifty

clinically insane reader doesn’t rampage kill. art has many mediums; regular people choose acrylics, watercolor, culinary, pottery…reader chooses murder. it’s a meticulous process that depends on the person, it’s slow, drawn out. which makes her a great torturer. thing is, she was part of SEAL team tango-8 but focused more on SARC stuff (search and rescue). she knows her way around a suture kit—and, fortunately, surgical instruments.

laswell knew reader for two reasons: odd separation orders and her confirmed kill count. there was barely anything documented about her medical discharge which was weird because 98% of the military is just paperwork (a fucking pain btw). only thing noted was “medically discharged” and “0% disability”. her confirmed kill count? 43. happy to be back in uniform, she skips around the hallways to price, giving him a giant hug and a kiss on the cheek, whispering threats in his ear. “if you ever discharge me, i’ll dip you in concrete to be my custom statue.” a sickeningly sweet smile follows. as he furrows his brows in confusion and bit of horror.

soap tries really hard to like her and he really does. she's so sweet and always tries to include him in things and bakes him cakes and always somehow includes almonds, joking how it's actually just cyanide. soap laughs until he sees her have actual cyanide in the kitchen, carefully dropping it into the batter with an eyedropper. then a tsp of almond extract. it wasn't enough to hurt or kill anyone, but it scared him

he told ghost and ghost goes and investigates. then he sees reader one night, cleaning her instruments, different mallets, scissors, blades and knife handles etc. and they are pristine...not surgically pristine but definitely floor grade. he continues to watch her at 2100, without fail, and cleans her surgical instruments. until he sees her missing from her barracks from her open curtains. he goes and finds her carefully dressing a man like a buck. she sees him and smiles at him beckoning him closer. after he puts an end to that, with cuts and bruises, he goes and tattles to price. reader crying in the prison about how much she'll "miss her uniform" price and laswell speak about it and they finally know what the fuck us going on. they send her out on the field.

its just gaz, a few recruits, and reader in a safehouse. they've captured one prisoner, a soldier of the pmc against them. he's tied to a chair and after gaz runs over his psychological warfare in him. gaz fails and tiredly beckons for reader to come in. he finds her staring dead straight ahead, looking like she was falling asleep with her eyes wide open. he slowly calls out her name, no response. he calls again, same outcome. he taps her on her shoulder and her eyes fall into a "normal" state and smiles brightly at him, "my turns?!" gaz films it, the blood, the slow agony-per laswell and price's request reader starts to skin the soldier. starting with just a silly little joke about cuticles and then it goes higher and higher, the piece of skin never tearing. it's superficial, it barely draws blood. "does that hurt? don't worry, i'll help!" she blows cold air onto the exposed skin, drying out his flesh slowly while the blood keeps it from fully drying. gaz gulps, the camcorder on a tripod next to him. "it's okay, you're not going to die. and if you do...i'll make use of you, no waste! promise! gaz, can you pass me the kerrison rongeur, please?" gaz scrambles around in her kit, metal and metal clinking together in the heavy duty box. "the fucking hole puncher, gaz." she screams at him, causing him to jump. he finds the long, gun-like instrument, its blade pokes and punches together. he hands it to her, the work end first. she yanks it from him, nails scratching his hand in frustration, but that same smile on her face. she takes small chunks of flesh from the man, blood gushing and pools. she digs dipper until she hits an artery, blood splattering over them all. "the mosquito! give the fucking mosquito." she screams as the man in front of them bleeds out. she launches for it in her box and clamps down. the man half awake. gaz's chest heaves up and down, his face in shock and fearful freeze. reader storms out, face falls flat, no more smile, no brows furrowed, just a dead stare in front of her. "pieces of shit, human bodies are."

laswell pulls out any psych eval documents she can find. she finds exactly one set of documents: your medical discharge. price shows ghost and they stare at the replaying video on his monitor. the image of a wide, blank-eyed reader, hair and face dripping with crimson blood, a small clamp clicked to close an artery. they keep her. soap is the one who finds your bloody kit left in your barracks. chunks of flesh, blood, bone... and other bioburden seemingly never there at all. the shiny chromium finish looking as if they were never used at all. reader who failed out of medical school because of the lack of moral and ethics her professors and physcians saw in her. they banned her from residency.

"can i...have him..? please?" "why would you want an execution order? aren't you an interrogator?" "i want to see the peristalsis!" "the fucking what?" "how his intestines move in his body and squirm around like snakes!!!" she dissects the man in a way only a careful surgeon could. doyen clamps closed off certain sections as she sits and animates the movement on her ipad. the man inhales and exhales evenly, a bandage over his throat, eyes wide and dry from the lack of tears.

soap, as empathetic as he is, sees reader in chow, sitting by herself as she stares dead ahead, mind clouded in thoughts. her arms moves a bit, twiddling her thumbs under the table. he sits down across from her, her gaze staring pass him, face unreadable and almost bored looking. "you alright bonnie?" reader's face smiles, her eyes still dead and still as they lag behind the smile she puts on. her eyes squint. "yeah! why?" "twiddling your thumbs there, anxious about your second mission?" she puts her cupped together hands onto the tabletop. her hands unclasp. she twirls the severed thumbs around. "just a lot on my mind, yeah..."

"can i have it?" reader asks when she sees gaz's shiny teeth.

reader takes interrogations very seriously, taking souvenirs for herself. a finger carefully dried out, teeth, an ear, hair, vital organs in formaldehyde, eyes into earrings, tendons as rings and bracelets.

she gave price a birthday present which included a human heart, dried and shrunk in a glass displayed case. "made it myself", she says. "...on your own time, my love?" "yes, never company time!" his birthday is not public imformation.

ghost was missing a pow. he asks reader. "where is he?" "who?" "the prisoner..." "i let him go." "why the fuck would you do that?" "i'm going hunting, do you want to join? we can dress him in the field!"

"i got you flowers, ghost, for your mother's grave." "how the fuck do you know about that?" "you told me!" "i fucking didn't! now tell me who the fuck told you that shit?!" "you did, don't be silly. you told me over a glass of scotch...or many glasses actually!" she giggles as he slams her against the wall.

price wakes up one night, the spine-chilling feeling of a pair of eyes stalking him. he picks up the gun from his nightstand, clicking off the safety. he blinks a bit, vision clearing and seeing a figure in the shadowy corner. "go back to sle-" her body is slammed against the wall, gun to her head. "go to bed, price." "what...are you doing here?" price breathes out, trying to steady his racing heart, popping the gun back to safety. "wanted a piece of your hair."

gaz finds reader in his room after work one day, reader sweeping his house. he changed the locks within a week, locking all external doors and windows. reader leaves him breakfast every morning still. he trashes it after the cyanide incident. he wakes up to reader with a plate of eggs and toast over his bed. "please eat it and don't waste food :("

the task force lives their day to day lives with the feeling of impending doom, paranoia, and a feeling of dread washing over them all at once whenever they catch a glimpse of you. they beg price to remove you, but price would rather not be covered in cement while still alive.

[anvilsims]

Been working on this for a long long time and I finally reached a point that I'm happy with it. I hope Simmers who are also big Nintendo fans like this.

Shout-out to @tomatomagica/@sims4niya for helping me out with making certain goals and just looking over the rules in general. :)

UPDATE: Slightly changed the goals in Gen 8, please reblog this version.

General Rules:

No cheats unless otherwise stated in generation rules, needed to reset a sim, or for decoration/building purposes.

Mods are okay, provided they do not give you an unfair advantage. What constitutes an unfair advantage is up to you.

Complete each generation's Aspiration

Above all, have fun. If that means continuing onto the next generation without finishing all of the previous gen goals, that’s okay.

(Generations beyond the cut)

Generation 1 Animal Crossing:

Traits: Loves Outdoors/Outgoing/Maker

Aspiration: Curator

You have moved into a new town with nothing but the clothes on your back. Well at least Mr. Nook was nice enough to give you a new home even with the work you'll have to do to pay him off. It’ll be tough but you’ve quite the knack for building and your neighbors seem more than happy to cheer you on.

Move into an empty lot and build a small house. (Optional: Make your house a Tiny Home Residential lot and choose what tier to work with from there.)

After one day, move two single townie sims into your neighborhood and become friends with them (If one of them becomes your founder’s spouse, make a new neighbor to move into their old house.)

Neither the founder nor spouse will hold a job, they will make money via at home activities like painting, fishing, etc.

Have a room to display your collections

At the end of every sim week, use cheats or mods to remove half of your household funds (to pay off your debt to Mr. Nook) until both your sim and their spouse reach the adult stage.

~~~

Generation 2 Splatoon: 

Traits: Creative/Dance Machine/Party Animal

Aspiration: Famous Celebrity 

Despite your humble beginnings, you always dreamed big. You were often found drawing outfits from fashion magazines or singing along to your favorite pop idols or doing cool poses for selfies at the pool. Once you became a teen, you started taking little steps to join that glamorous world.

Become a simfluencer as a teen

Move to San Myshuno or Del Sol Valley once you become a Young Adult

Reach the top of the Style Influencer career (Trendsetter branch)

Host a party once every sim week

Either become or marry a merperson. Heir however must be just a sim.

Max out painting, dancing, and singing skills

~~~

Generation 3 Legend of Zelda:

Traits: Good/Adventurous/Music Lover

Aspiration: Jungle Explorer

Everyone expected you to become a spoiled brat but thankfully you turned out to be a good kid with a love for music and a dream of exploring far-off ancient ruins. You make a friend who supports you all the way but you also make an enemy constantly getting in your way.

Make a friend as a child or teen, become BFFs with them, and stay that way for as long as either sim lives (friend can be a future spouse) 

As a child or teen become enemies with one sim and stay enemies for as long as either sim lives. Win at least five fights with them. (Optional: Have this sim be an evil sim)

Max out the Archaeology skill and one instrument skill

Complete the Ancient Omiscan Artifacts Collection

Get the “Brave” reward trait

~~~

Generation 4 Earthbound: 

Traits: Goofball/Active/Geek

Aspiration: Friend of the World

Because of your parent’s travels, you never lived in one spot for too long. Despite that, you still liked making new friends and finding ways to keep in touch. And you learned to appreciate the magic in every world… figurative and literal.

Live in four different worlds before becoming a young adult

Make three friends and create a club with them (Optional: Make these friends as a child and grow up together)

Max out photography and comedy skills

Become a spellcaster as a teen and work on reaching the top rank

Complete the Postcard Collection

Adopt a dog when your first kid becomes a child

~~~

Generation 5 Pokemon:

Traits: Dog (or Cat) Lover (Animal Enthusiast)/Vegetarian/Socially Awkward

Aspiration: Friend of the Animals or Country Caretaker

Ever since you were little, you were obsessed with animals and even got along better with them than people. Your friends blame your childhood obsession with Voidcritters (even if some of them weren't really animals). When you grew up, you knew you were going to surround yourself with animals.

Complete the Voidcritters Collection

Adopt at least eight pets over your lifetime including at least one stray.

Have both cats and dogs

Open a Vet Clinic (pokemon center) and get it to five stars

Max out Veterinary and pet training skills

OR

Complete Voidcritters Collection

Adopt a fox or raccoon

Have at least one of each farm animal (chickens, cow, and llamas)

Win first place in each animal fair in Henford-On-Bagley

Learn all the animal treat recipes

~~~

Generation 6 Mario:

Heir 1 Traits: Family Oriented/Bro/Loyal

Heir 2 Traits: Squeamish/Clumsy/Bro

Heir 1 Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Heir 2 Aspiration: Mansion Baron

You and your sibling were as thick as thieves growing up and neither of you really liked the idea of one of you moving away so they stuck around. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own adventures.

Chose two siblings to serve as Double Heirs, they do not need to be twins

Both heirs take a part time job as Manual Laborers until one of them gets married then the married one joins the Doctor career

The other heir maxes out the Medium skill and becomes a Paranormal Investigator

Both heirs max out Handiness skill

One heir unlocks Sylvan Glade and the other unlocks Forgotten Grotto

~~~

Generation 7 Kirby:

Traits: Foodie (or Glutton)/Cheerful/Childish

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim

You grew up in a very supportive environment with family members encouraging you to try a little bit of everything. You liked helping your family cook but you also discovered a love for acting from trying so many different hats. At that point, you decided that you were gonna be a superstar!

Join Drama Club as a child or teen

Max out the Cooking, Gourmet Cooking, and acting skills

Reach the top of the Actor career

Reach pristine public image

Gain the People Person lifestyle

Once you become an elder, retire from acting and open a business selling cooked meals.

~~~

Generation 8 Metroid: 

Traits: Loner/Unflirty/Noncommittal

Aspiration: Strangerville Mystery

While your parent enjoyed the spotlight, you preferred to keep to yourself with exercising and star gazing. As soon as you were able to, you moved out into your own place in a quiet out of the way town called Strangerville. However it seems your wish for a normal quiet life wasn’t meant to be.

Max out body and wellness skills

Reach the sixth level of the Astronaut career and quit after one shift.

Only take odd jobs after quitting your career

Have an alien child (feel free to cheat/mod to get an abduction or to get a female sim alien pregnant)

Gain the Techie lifestyle

Never marry

~~~

Generation 9 Pikmin:

Traits: Hot headed/Overachiever/Genius

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Despite your alien heritage, you adored the world you grew up in but that isn’t to say you had no interest in the stars. You enjoyed helping out at the school greenhouse along with watching for comets and UFOs on weekends. It didn’t take long before you started to wonder if there was a way to combine your love for both worlds.

Join Scouts as a child

Master gardening and rocket science skills

Visit Sixam and befriend three different colored aliens

Complete the Geode and Space rock collections 

Find all three alien plants on Sixam and plant them in your garden (Do NOT buy them in Henford-On-Bagley)

~~~

Generation 10 Fire Emblem:

Traits: Bookworm/Proper/Ambitious

Aspiration: Leader of the Pack 

Growing up, you admired stories of brave knights and kind heroes. While you eventually outgrew the fairy tales, you still wanted to help people like the brave hero kings and queens in the stories.Thus together with your closest friends, you decide to try to make a positive difference in the world.

If a sim dies, you cannot plead with the Grim Reaper nor can you resurrect them in any way

Max out Charisma, writing, and research & debate skills 

Reach the top of the Political Career (Politician branch)

Form a club (forming an army) and eventually build up to recruiting eight members

Marry a member of your club (and if they aren’t already, have them join the military career)

Write a Bestseller Fantasy book

If you give the challenge a shot, either @ me or tag "NintendoLegacyChallenge"

[artofalyksandr]

Forever yours, faithfully

Accompanying ficlet below the cut. Please be kind, I haven’t written fanfic in like 8 years, and I have no beta

Journey was playing from Gareth and Eddie’s room, again. Eddie at least had the decency to turn it down when Gareth walked in, but he didn’t bother changing the tape.

“Hey, Eds. How ya feeling?”

Eddie was quiet for a while, sitting on his bed staring into the middle distance. Gareth sat gently beside him, accustomed to Eddie’s quiet moments and willing to wait. 

“I want to add something to the set list.”

“Okay,” Gareth nodded. “Whatcha thinkin’?”

Instead of answering, Eddie turned the stereo back up. An introductory instrumental began and soon enough, Steve Perry started crooning through the speakers.

Highway run, into the midnight sun

Wheels go ‘round and ‘round, you’re on my mind

Oh, the situation was worse than Gareth thought. 

“Sure, Eds, we can totally do that.” 

Eddie seemed to relax at Gareth’s lack of protest. “Thanks, Gare.”

Gareth nodded and patted Eddie’s shoulder. He left Eddie to his dissociative moping and headed down to the reception desk to use their phone.

It wasn’t a secret how much Eddie missed Steve. The two had been nearly attached at the hip since the awful events of Spring Break ‘86. Gareth didn’t know what all went down in that week but when Eddie showed up nearly dead after a town-wide witch hunt, Steve hardly left his side. They hadn’t been apart for more than two weeks since. The longer they were apart, the grouchier Eddie got. 

Gareth loved Eddie, he did. Eddie was his brother in all the ways that really mattered, but even he had his limits. And it turns out his limit was Journey. 

The line rang once, then twice. Halfway through the third ring, the other end picked up.

“Harrington residence: this is Steve.”

“Hey, Steve. It’s Gareth, is Robin at yours?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Can I talk to her?”

Gareth heard a muffled conversation and some shuffling on the other end before he finally heard Robin pick up the reciever.

“Go for Robin.”

“Hey, Robin, it’s Gareth. We’ve got a problem.”

“Tour life kicking your ass?”

“No, actually it’s been really good so far, we’re all having a blast. But I’m worried about Eddie, really worried. A few nights ago I caught him listening to Journey. Journey, Robin! And when I came back to our room tonight, he just turned the tape down instead of changing it. He want’s to add ‘Faithfully’ to the set list.”

“Shit, that’s bad.” Robin hissed. “Do you think it’s time?”

“Yeah, I think it is.”

Before Corroded Coffin left on tour, Robin and Gareth had agreed that they could call if their respective best friends seemed to be spiralling without their partner. Without question, or justification, they would fly Steve out to whichever city the band would play next so he and Eddie could meet up. 

“Okay, we’ll be there. What’s your next stop? ”

Gareth let out a sigh of relief. “Next up is Boston, day after tomorrow.”

“That’s perfect actually, I’ll coordinate with Nance. I’ll just tell Steve we’re going to visit her.”

That’s right, Nancy Wheeler was going to college in Boston. 

“Thank you so much, Robin.”

“Don’t worry about it. Eddie’s not the only one who’s been having a hard time with the extended separation,” Robin sounded tired on the other end of the line. “I’m just more used to Journey on repeat than you are.”

“Steve’s been listening to it too, huh?”

“He keeps it to once a day, for my sake. But, yes. Frontiers is part the daily music rotation.”

Something clicked in the back of Gareth’s head. If he could pull it off, he’d be the best friend/pseudo-brother ever. 

“Hey, Robin? I’ve got a kind of crazy idea.”

Gareth pitched his idea to her. 

“Holy shit, that’s brilliant! I’ll take care of everything until we get to Boston.”

“I’ll give your names to security and set it up with the road crew. We’ll see you guys in Boston.”

When Gareth hung up the phone a few minutes later, he had Nancy Wheeler’s Boston phone number in hand and a lighter much lighter heart. He and the guys could deal with Eddie as he was for another 48 hours. 

On the way back to the room he was sharing with Eddie, Gareth stopped by Jeff and Frank’s room to let them know about the addition to their set list and the surprise for Eddie.

*****

Rehearsal and sound check went as smoothly as they could have. They played through “Faithfully” a few times to make sure they had enough of a handle on it that they wouldn’t make complete fools of themselves during the show. They followed up with a few originals, and some of their favorite covers just to loosen up.

When Eddie stepped aside to check a couple of things with their sound engineer, Gareth took the opportunity to fill in the other two on the last bit of his plan. The Hawkins crew were set to arrive any minute and Gareth was going to need Jeff and Frank’s help if he was going to keep this a surprise until show time.

One of the guys from the venue’s security team waved Gareth down when the band broke for lunch.

“We’ve got some folks up at the front waiting for you. Asked for you, specifically.”

“Yeah, I’ve been expecting them, thanks.”

He nodded at Frank and Jeff and followed the burly security guy towards the front of house. When he stepped into the mid-day sun he saw Steve, Robin, and Nancy waiting for him and grinned.

“Would you look at what the cat dragged in,” Gareth laughed as he pulled Robin into a hug. He shook Nancy’s hand cordially and gave Steve a brotherly one-armed hug. “It’s really good to see you guys.”

Gareth held the door and beckoned the three of them inside. As they made their way back through the arena, he filled Steve and Nancy in on the plan, with intermitent comments from Robin. Nancy’s face lit up and Steve’s softened. 

“Gareth, if we can pull this off, its going to be incredible. I seriously owe you.” 

“We can talk about repayment later, Harrington. Let’s get this thing moving. Nancy, you’re up.”

Nancy nodded and followed the security guy towards the green room to drag Eddie offsite for lunch. Gareth brought Steve and Robin to the stage where Jeff and Frank were waiting.

“There he is!” Jeff called jovially, jogging over to the three of them. “The man of the hour.”

“Hey, Jeff, Frank,” Steve accepted the friendly hug from Jeff and returned the stoic nod he got from Frank. “I hear it’s going to be quite the show tonight.”

“That’s the plan,” Gareth said clapping him on the shoulder.

“Alright, dinguses, let’s get started. We don’t have a whole lot of time and we’ve got a laundry list of things to get done before Eddie and Nance get back.” Robin called to them from where she’d perched herself on one of the speakers.

Gareth nodded. “You heard the lady, let’s get started.”

*****

The show was going incredibly well, especially considering Eddie’s recent mood. The crowd was absolutely insane, feeding into the band’s adrenaline. As their current song came to an end, Gareth glanced into the wings where, sure enough, Steve, Robin, and Nancy were waiting for their cue. 

Eddie shook himself out at the mic stand and looked back at Gareth. Gareth returned the look with a supportive smile and a thumbs up. 

“Alright everybody. The energy tonight is insane, but I’d like to bring it down for a sec. Then we’ll be right back to the usual shit for the big finish with some crowd favorites.”

Jeff and Frank checked the tuning on their guitar and bass respectively and gave a few experimental strums, then gave Eddie matching thumbs ups.

“This next song isn’t our usual sound, like at all, but it means a lot to me. If I’m being honest with you guys tonight, the last few weeks of tour have been a bit hard for me. There’s someone back home who I’ve been really missing and this song reminds me of him. So, Stevie Boy, this one’s for you. I love you.” 

Eddie pulled the microphone from its stand and stepped back, turning his back to the anticpating crowd. Jeff and Frank began the opening instrumental with a quick coordinating glance and one last reassuring nod from Gareth where he sat behind his drum kit. Eddie let out a deep breath and brought the mic to his mouth.

Highway run, into the midnight sun

Wheels go ‘round and ‘round, you’re on my mind

Eddie bounced on his toes and spun to face the crowd.

Restless hearts, sleep alone tonight

Sendin’ all my love along the wire

Gareth turned to the wings. Steve gave him a nervous smile, but he nodded nonetheless. They were all set and ready to go. At the front of the stage, Eddie continued the ballad.

They say that the road ain’t no place to start a family

Right down the line it’s been you and me

And lovin’ a music man ain’t always what it’s supposed to be

Gareth watched from behind his drum kit as Eddie’s shoulders began to shake.

Oh, boy, you stand by me

I’m forever yours

Faithfully

As Jeff and Frank picked up the pause in the lyrics, Gareth gave a meaningful nod into the wings and watched Steve step into the stage lights. 

Standing on stage with the other members of Corroded Coffin dressed in their cut-off band tees, leather, chains, and torn jeans, Steve stood out. He was dressed in a weird cross of Eddie’s style and his own. He wore a black polo with thin red stripes, dark wash jeans, sneakers, and Eddie’s old battle vest. Someone, presumably Robin, had lined Steve’s eyes with a touch of kohl, and while Gareth couldn’t be sure, it looked like Steve might be wearing lip gloss. Nice touch, Buckley. 

Steve stepped further down stage and picked up the next verse without missing a beat, matching Eddie perfectly. 

Circus life under the big-top world

We all need the clowns to make us smile

Eddie’s head whipped around and he stopped, microphone still raised. 

Steve, God bless him, kept going like this was nothing out of the ordinary.

Through space and time, always another show

Eddie’s brain seemed to reboot just in time and he took the next line. 

Wonderin’ where I am lost without you

Steve met Eddie at center stage and took his hand gently. Eddie’s grin was unmatched, his eyes glistening. Watching the two of them from his vantage point, it occured to Gareth that Eddie and Steve were passing the song back and forth between them. Like they’d done this before, just without an audience.

And being apart ain’t easy on this love affair

Two strangers learn to fall in love again

I get the joy of rediscovering you

Eddie moved his hand to Steve’s cheek, his touch so gentle and full of love. Steve dropped his now empty hand to the “S” tattoo that sat on Eddie’s hip bone, just above the waistband of his leather and mesh pants. There was so much love between them, and just witnessing it took Gareth’s breath away. 

Oh, boy, you stand by me

I’m forever yours

Faithfully

Eddie and Steve let the crowd sing the vocalizations, taking the moment to absorb each other before Eddie brought it home. 

Faithfully

I’m still yours

I’m forever yours

Forever yours

Faithfully

Jeff and Frank played out the final notes to an awestruck crowd. Eddie launched himself into Steve’s arms, his shoulders heaving and the crowd roared with applause. Steve cradled Eddie’s face in his hands. The two of them seemed to be having a conversation and the world outside that conversation didn’t matter. 

Gareth let them have their moment before tapping the kick drum a few times to get their attention. Steve looked up at Gareth atop his raised platform that housed his kit and gave him a half-hearted apologetic smile. He squeezed Eddie’s hip, running his thumb over the tattoo and muttered quickly to Eddie. Steve kissed Eddie’s knuckles and took his leave, retreating into the cheering arms of his best friend and his ex-girlfriend.

Eddie turned back to the crowd. 

“Holy shit, you guys.”

The crowd cheered below him. 

“Well, that was our surprise guest, Steve. At least, he was a surprise to me. But you guys came for a Corroded Coffin show and with the time we’ve got left, that’s what you’re gonna get! Let’s rock this!”

*****

After the encore, Corroded Coffin poured off stage, buzzing with adrenaline. Eddie ran to meet Steve, sweeping his boyfriend into a fierce hug.

“Holy shit, Stevie! The hell are you doing in Boston?”

“Robin said we were coming to visit Nancy, but apparently she and Gareth were scheming behind our backs.”

Eddie looked over to Robin, who shook her head pointed at Gareth. “Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for this one. The whole thing was his idea.” 

Gareth twirled his drumsticks nervously. 

“Gareth?” Eddie prompted.

“Look, dude, I love you but I couldn’t stand listening to Journey for another three weeks. And when you said you wanted to add “Faithfully” to the set list, I knew it was time to call my emergency back up. So two nights ago, I called Steve’s place and talked to Robin. And it all kind of spiralled from there.”

The awe on Eddie’s face was unmatched and Gareth couldn’t look directly at him. Eddie pulled into a hug and let out a quiet sob into Gareth’s shoulder. 

“Thank you,” he whispered.

If asked later, Gareth would deny his own watery eyes as he hugged his brother. 

“Of course, Eds. Any time.”

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Metamorphic review, let's go:

Twenty - Cool intro, I like the chorus especially. It's only good as an intro though - would feel incomplete otherwise. 7.5/10

Cheeky Thing - Weird transition from Twenty. I liked this song when I first saw the MV (which is pretty good, and the choreo is cool). The song is fun, trendy, yet unique and very Stayc. The lack of singing is surprising but works. The only thing I don't like is the lack of a bridge. It feels incomplete like most songs. The lyrics are a bit weird too, but okay. The song feels more like a strong pre-release than a proper title track tbh. The instrumental slaps, especially the beginning and ending (love the lean back poses they do too). 8/10

1 Thing - I watched this performance, which was pretty standard. It sounds better in the studio. It's a fun song, the chorus is catchy. But the bridge is a bit misplaced and the dance break is unnecessary in the audio. The track ends a bit abruptly. They really give Sieun a lot of rap parts. Song would be better if the last minute was different. 7.5/10

Give It 2 Me - The autotune isn't the most pleasant. The song sounds like it could be a bside in their Run2U album. It's okay and pleasant, but nothing special. More rapping for Sieun. It's quite a lot of rap for a main vocalist. 7.5/10

Find - Interesting combination of vocals. It's a pretty song, but it feels like it goes nowhere. 7.5/10

Let Me Know - Okay song, nothing special. 7.3/10

Nada - Already starting to feel fatigued by this point. The problem with full albums is that all the bsides sound similar and like fillers. It's an okay song. The album isn't really building up to anything. It's just songs with similar vibes. 7.1/10

Fakin' - It's a nice enough song. Nothing special. 7.2/10. These ratings are completely based on gut feeling, and based on 1 full listen...

Roses - Are they all going to get their own solo? Because it seems a bit questionable that Isa is the only one. Another song that is perfectly fine, but when the entire album is perfectly okay songs with a similar vibe and has no build-up or climax, it gets very tiring. 7.1/10

Beauty Bomb - Sieun really raps a lot. 7.3/10

Gummy Bear - Finally a change in sound. Sadly, the song is nothing special. The chorus is pretty weak. 7.1/10

Stay WITH Me - Interesting fan song. It's an unexpected genre, so kudos for that. 7.5/10

Flexing On My Ex - Don't like this style in kpop - the Avril Lavigne wannabe songs that are so popular right now. 6.9/10

Trouble Maker - A fun song! They saved all the interesting genre changes to the end. 7.7/10

Overall, the album is decent, but exhausting since most songs sound similar and there isn't anything connecting them (I don't know the lyrics, but it's hard to imagine they're saying much). Most artists can't make good albums, so most albums are a title track, one or two good bsides, and then a bunch of songs that blend together, even if they're all okay. Releasing singles is better most of the time. Even singles and mini albums lack standout songs... Also, imo the title track - the biggest standout track, along with Stay WITH Me and Trouble Maker (mostly because they play with unexpected genres) - has nothing to do with the rest of the album.

[rayatii]

Okay so in my Art of Theater class, we were each asked to do a presentation on a topic of our choice relating to theater, and the topic I chose was opera, as a form of theater. I presented it in late March, it ended up being rather successful, and my teacher liked it well enough to ask me to present it to her other section of that same course, which I did. And so today I had my final exam for this course, so this inspired me to post the slides of my presentation (well, I already had this idea on the day of the presentation, but it’s a convo with @smile-at-the-stars​ yesterday that truly motivated me to work on it), alongside an approximation of the extra stuff I said orally while presenting.

(Note: the star-shaped bullet points are actually gold-colored, for some reason, when I converted the slides into either JPEG or PNG format, they keep getting colored white. I have no idea why.)

“When I say ‘opera’, you may think of a singer standing on a stage and singing in a style some of you might find weird or even unpleasant. Yeah, that’s not opera. That’s just singing. Lyrical singing, or classical singing, or whatever you want to call it. Opera specifically is when this type of singing is placed within a theatrical context.”

(To show the difference between an aria and a recitative, I sang the first 8 measures of Vedrai, carino, and used this audio, which I cut at around 0:32)

Here, I emphasized why I highlighted the word “acting” in the grid above, and also explained that opera students at my Conservatory are given the basics of Italian and German, in order to better understand what they are singing about.

As an example of how singers have to properly convey the emotions of the character they are portraying as they sing, I mentioned an anecdote about the time I was practicing L’ho perduta, which is about a young girl who lost an object and is desperately searching for it, and my voice teacher told me something like: “do not sing it in a grand manner, you are not La Contessa with a big voice. You are this little girl who is desperately searching for that pin she lost”. In order to show the difference to the students, I sang the first couple lines of L’ho perduta in a somewhat grand way, and then I sang it again in a more subdued way that better reflects the context.

(I mentioned that in L’Orfeo, the living world is represented by string instruments while the Underworld is represented by brass instruments, but that’s not very important.)

I also added that even in upcoming opera season announcements all over the world that had come out recently, you can find L’Orfeo in quite a few of them.

“I’m gonna stop here, because otherwise this would take WAY too long. I highly recommend you read more about the history of opera.”

To give the others a better idea of what I mean by “vocal virtuosity”, I briefly sang the first 2 measures of Lütgen’s Etude No. 8 (the clarinet part; up till 0:05).

My commentary on Barber of Seville: “This is the opera that ‘FIGARO, FIGARO, FIGARO’ comes from”. And Lucia di Lammermoor: “You might recognize some of the music from it if you’ve watched The Fifth Element, the scene with the alien singing opera”.

I described Wagner’s operas as having “MASSIVE orchestrations, requiring HUGE voices, lasting like 4 hours”.

I mentioned that Bohème is one of my favorite operas, and that it’s the opera that RENT was based on.

I explained that operetta tends to contain spoken dialogue.

“If you mention microphones in the opera circles on social media (e.g. Reddit), you will be sure to start a war” (it’s kind of an exaggeration, but 😝).

“You cannot cry while singing, because it messes your vocal cords.”

“I chose these two opera houses to show you the difference between a proscenium stage (the format of most opera houses around the world, just like theatres) and an arena, as we learned some time ago during this course.”

Palais Garnier: “which is where the Phantom of the Opera lives”.

The Sydney Opera House “is much more well-known for its exterior than its interior, but it actually houses several venues. The main venue is just concert hall, but the one in the picture here (the Joan Sutherland Theatre) is where operas are typically performed”.

The Bayreuth Festspielhaus: “which performs exclusively works by Wagner. I chose to show you this one because it has a bit of an unusual structure; it rather resembles the thrust stage format, and the orchestra pit is located kind of under the stage”.

The video in question (subs by Yours Truly, except the ones in the last footage, which were already there, when I downloaded it from the Met’s channel).

The following week iirc, the teacher mentioned Diana Damrau’s Queen of the Night as one example of stylized makeup, as opposed to realistic makeup, and I added that it’s because that opera is a fairy tale opera or sorts.

[oldfashionedmorphine]

⭐ Directors Cut on curating your soundtrack for On The Same Frequency. How was the process for that and incorporating them into the story? What was the writing process like incorporating the songs? No pressure of course to answer this.🫂

hi hello!

this is an interesting question for sure…

i have to say it evolved a lot over the duration of writing.

but first, here is the playlist for anyone who hasn’t listened to it yet:

okay so…

very early on i decided i wanted to pick instrumental songs for this story over songs with lyrics…at least, i wanted the playlist to feel like it could be a soundtrack to a movie because the story is inspired by a movie…and initially i only had a few songs when i first started writing back in august (mostly songs from the big giant circles album there came an echo—which was because of the song outside the realm that plays during the “crazy together” scene, and i also had some from the stranger things OST too)

but in between writing i would spend some time looking up songs, usually starting with similar artists to the songs i already had and honestly i have to say it was kind of a rabbit hole situation with how i ended up with most of them—though sometimes i specifically looked something up, like “synth style christmas songs” which is how i found joy to the synthwave world and holiday nights and i also added a lot of the OST songs from the movie archive because i watched the movie in october and thought they fit well.

and after doing all that i ended up with a playlist that was close to 8 hours long and made up of 126 songs (the unofficial version)…but i wanted to narrow it down so it wasn’t so long (official playlist is like 53 songs and 3 hours)…..and my main reason for doing that was so that (if you’re someone like me) you could have it play in the background while reading to set the mood….

and i narrowed it down by simply reading through each finished chapter while listening to the songs to decide if they fit the vibes for the scenes (a rather time consuming process, haha)—oh and i even created separate chapter playlists while i was figuring this all out too (which outside the realm being a song for ch 4 shouldn’t be too surprising lol) because i took it a step further and tried to keep the duration/length of each chapter playlist to the average reading speed for the overall word count of each chapter (if that makes sense…like ch 6 being 10k words meant that i tried to add songs until the chapter playlist was somewhere around 30-40 mins long…….) of course, it doesn’t work for everyone because reading speeds are different, but each chapter playlist is timed for average reader speed (although i messed around with the songs for ch 5 after posting the fic and idk if that one still times well to average speed since i haven’t gone back and checked it, oh well) but uh……it was honestly a super ridiculous thing to try and do and most people don’t even listen to fic playlists (and especially while reading) but i had at least one person appreciate it (shout out to bre @magentamee) so that’s good enough for me!! 😅

oh and it also felt kinda obligatory to start the playlist off with the stranger things theme song…and after listening to several remixes of it, i found one that had an “end credits” sort of vibe and so that’s how i picked the final song :D

FUN FACT: the song “nightsky” by tracey chattaway was added sometime in september or october and i listened to it on repeat while writing so many times that it ended up being my top played song for the whole entire year according to my apple replay lol (it’s not my fault she put drugs in that song)

which songs did you enjoy the most? 👀 and please, feel free to send me another ask if you want! ;)

[thankstothe]

1. Denmark. Literal child? Voice doesn't have enough power to hit those notes. Like that pink to green change on stage

I SEE THE DADI FREYR IN THE BG OMG ICELAND BABY (btw did they bleach their flag?)

2. Armenia. Laying on the floor. Classic. Somewhat continued pink theme at start. The thing I love, no sarcasm, is that sometimes you can't tell if they actually sing in English. Oh it wasn't a floor, it was a wall. Revolutionary.

Ew, showing Beatles statues. Have to shove your famous boys against a poet and clowns? This is why no one likes you UK

3. Romania. Oh let's go, native language, cool voice, pink suit, playing with genres. This is why im here. Staging is a letdown, you could literally just follow with the camera on foot.

4. Estonia. Oh piano plays itself, no fire yet. Now she plays it. I hope it ends with piano retaliation and attack. Average ballad and in English, boring. Go off piano, love that it has a mic too.

5. Belgium. Pink is back, yas. Love asymmetrical hat. Okay back up vocals have more power that main man, like damn, turn them up! Kinda like that low beat. Fun.funfun

Graham yooo, the only uk host im excited to see in final. So weird to see him and hear him at the same time lmao.

6. Cyprus. wooo. Didn't get memo for the pink theme. woooOOOooo. English, but accent is thick so I'll take it. wooooOoOoO. Gets some shoes boy, barefoot look didn't add shit. I wonder how warm is the floor tho, lights and all the pyre prob heats it up good. Woooo

7. Iceland. Everyone shut up its iceland. Im biased. Laying on the floor, brilliant move. Oh red lining in the coat, great. Some pink light's so were in the clear there too. Asserting more dominance over the floor and laying on in some more. She jacked, wow. Good voice. Song? I felt nothing.

8. Greece. Laying on the floor. Waiting for the pink to cross it off my list. Oh no your voice isn't there to jump or even move and sing, sorry. Also no pink. ФEELINGS. Why are you doing that with that alphabet shuffle. Causing me pain, that's what. Do that with sung word and we'll talk.

9. Poland. Pink hell yah. This is makes me have flashbacks to the 00s radio. Everything, voice dance, costumes, underwhelming. Oh so her dress was shitty because it was hiding another dress and not 00s reference? Makes sense. Fuego attempt, sorry you're not HER

10. Slovenia. Not English + nasty bass, okay boys! Some pink clothing. Raided their parents closet from 80s. Can't pinpoint the high singer sadly.

11. Georgia. I was excited that she was yelling at me and then she stopped... Obsessed with the instrumentals. Pink appears on the screens briefly, if you care. Amazing voice, blew the dress away.

WELSH FLAG YES BITCH

What is that actor forgor here, he's not here to talk about anything substantial I bet. Alluding to Ukraine, not even head on mention, are you kidding me?

12. San Marino. Rocky. What's with the sound mixing this year, they let this one down. Oh eyes on the walls, ok. Laying on the floor gives you some kind of points, at least I can have list. No pink, but there was like only red.

13. Austria. Okay fun start, go queens! Very interesting vocal turns and melodies. Staging is immaculate! Costumes are great. UGH. Edgar lmao. A lot of red, we moving the spectrum it seems.

14. Albania. I swear Albania sent this before. Sorry, deja vu is insane for me here. Flashing aggressive red lights solidified spectrum change. Native language is an automatic W. Wait, I thought the limit was 5 people on stage, they had 6.

15. Lithuania. Pink and red, bold choice, bringing it all together. Okay more of a purple and orange, shut up. Back up is overpowering her when they sing chorus, at least it mixed better.

16. Australia. Oh I liked thier postcard bridge. Doing interesting thing with camera, lights. Some pink and red. Oh was that a brief breakdown, alrighty. Crisp guitars and synth. Ending with headbang, very energetic!

Pretty fun semifinals overall

[alishasthoughts]

Review #1

Midas By Wunderhorse. Released 30th August 2024

—————-

The long wait for Midas by Wunderhorse is over! The album is here. As i saw it was released on Spotify, i rushed to grab my headphones, turned the volume up all the way, and just listened.

Let’s begin!

Midas- Track 1

Midas starts us off strong, a good guess of what the album is going to be, it is one of my personal favourites, it is so incoherent but so understandable in one of the best ways possible. 5/10

Rain- Track 2.

Hey! i like this song. but i don’t think it’s one of their strongest songs on this album. i can imagine the moshpits that are going to come from this song. i don’t have much to add for this song. 3/10.

Emily- track 3. such a beautifully sad song, so many emotions are being poured out into the instruments, the vocals at the beginning of the song makes me think of someone trying to pretend everything is okay, and as the song progresses Jacob Slater gives up and has enough and needs to just let them go. an absolutely beautiful song about heartache, loss and grief. 6/10

Silver- Track 4

I don’t have a lot to say about Silver, i think it’s a beautiful song and an amazing song to come after Emily, i feel like this song is the “we’re both broken but we can be broken together” anthem. 4.5/10

Arizona- Track 5

My favourite song on the album!! Midas is really good but nothing compares to Arizona for me ! it’s so beautifully written, it’s so beautifully constructed and the lyrics give me a sense of longing and yearning i feel jacob slater was feeling when he wrote the album. (although i swear i’ve heard “where do you go to my love” somewhere before) It is just a beautiful song. 10/10

Superman- Track 6

Now i might get absolutely dragged for this opinion and that is okay. i felt that Superman was very coldplay sounding, which is not a bad thing okay? Coldplay are one of the biggest most influential bands going, a comparison to them is never a bad thing! it’s overall a good song and beautifully written. i give it a 3.5/10.

July- Track 7

I think July is one of their best singles, the instant goosebumps i get from the first breakdown in the song, i got them when i listened to the song for the first time. i get them now. the repeated lyrics of “i’m ready to die” make me imagine someone begging someone to just take him and his own struggles seriously, i think it is a very heavy (lyrically and musically in a way) song to put on an album, it’s raw, it’s opening yourself up to someone in the most authentic way possible. the last “i’m ready” and the last note of the song that gets dragged out makes me picture a heart monitor finally flatlining giving the imagery and sense of relief he got what he was begging for . 7/10

Cathedrals- track 8

Cathedrals to me is all of the cliches of song writing put into a song, i like how the instruments have been played, the vocals were also very good. this is definitely a weak song on the album. 2/10

Before we reach the end songs of this album, i would like to state that; i am a new wunderhorse fan! you got me! and i am not a writer!!! but i thought i would just share my unbiased opinions as someone new to this artist, i am very fond of this genre (rock according to google) and i think Wunderhorse have put out an amazing album, no album can be absolutely perfect start to finish and what they are doing with only 882k monthly listeners (Spotify) they have made something new and pretty amazing!

okay back to it!

Girl- track 9.

Hmmm.. what do i think about Girl? I think it’s a catchy song, a very sweet meaningful song which is quite a change to their previous songs, but it proves that Wunderhorse can write happy (if that’s the right word?) song. 4.5/10

Aeroplane- track 10 (the end)

I think Aeroplane is a good end to the album, the track is 8 minutes long but as you listen to it, it really doesn’t feel like 8 minutes. it’s a beautifully written song, musically and lyrically. i don’t have much more to say (got a bit common for me to say towards the end didn’t it!)

Overall, Midas is a pretty solid album, I think the whole thing flows very well. the “heavier” songs weren’t all smashed together to give us a really strong and fast half of an album and then the other half just being slow wanting the vibes to come back up (**cough** bleachers self titled **cough**).

i think a lot of the songs were written with a lot personal touches and it felt like Jacob Slater and the whole band let us into their thoughts and emotions and their own struggles. I can see this album being very personal to myself and a lot of people around me.

the only question i have is. What’s next?

[starsandpianos]

educator ramblings

I just need to blog about how Thursday of this week went because it was nuts and I think it’s still surreal to me

Background info: Thursday was graduation for 8th grade. We had practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, but they were somewhat poorly managed and at no point did we run the ceremony in completion from beginning to end. That was supposed to happen on Thursday.

That brings us to it. Thursday morning we were supposed to have a lockdown drill at 9am, then do graduation practice afterwards. 8th graders would be dismissed at 11:30 to go get ready for the ceremony. Well, at 8:50am on Thursday, the principal comes over the announcements and says that all students need to get to their homeroom classes as quickly as possible. I’m thinking “oh, they’re gonna start the lockdown drill early.” She says that the specials teachers each need to find a homeroom to be with. That’s different than how we normally do lockdown drills, but okay…

Then she comes back on the announcements saying that we’re leading kids to Central Park. Something something about this being field day. I’m thinking “okay, maybe I got the wrong info and this is an evacuation drill?” One of the staff members in the same room as me and my 6th grade math teacher friend that there is a bomb threat, but to act like we didn’t hear this from her. Sure enough, as we were walking out of the school I receive an automated call from the district that there is a threat on the school and that students were being evacuated.

We were at this local park for probably an hour and a half? Kids are tweaking because there’s cicadas…they’re not staying with their homerooms but wandering all over instead…staff members are calling kids names and trying to find them because their parents are picking them up…

Finally we receive an all clear and we walk back to the school. Upon returning, we’re told “we’re going to return to our regular schedule for the day.” I’m sorry…lol what?

We did end up having graduation that night; my band stayed after school and my last student finally got picked up around 9:15pm. It was such a long, difficult day. Luckily that was our last performance of the year and now it’s just collecting instruments and packing up my room, but wow. It’s so exhausting to be an educator

[heterosexistly]

I'm listening to the new album gonna post my thoughts

1. I like it, "I love you it's ruining my life I touch you for only a fortnight", not the best instrumental. I think it would've been better as either a post song or a solely Taylor song weirdly enough. Underwhelming Collab which hers usually aren't (this doesn't include the reputation album I didn't like those).

2. No. Too many words, none of them good to me, and the instrumental is boring.

3. H&m type song, no.

4. Not bad but it needs something more... I think if it was another artist, even a younger artist or like not mid tempo pop. Really like the outro, could be a good song for ship edits.

5. Interested in the intro then got less interested with the pulsing beat, second chorus feels better, don't like the bridge. "Pissed off I gave you all my youth for free" is a good line.

6. The title is good but this isn't doing anything for me, like almost but no. Like I can skip it and be fine.

7. Feel like this didn't sound out.

8. This is sounding good. Florence came in and I realized why I'm not into this album and I will stop listening here.

While I love all kinds of music, pop music only sticks out to me if it's something like Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, Lorde, Troye Sivan, Lady Gaga and this... Is forgettable to me for a few reasons.

1. None of the songs are distinguishable. All of them feel like they're around the same tempo, there's no beat or melody that gets stuck in your head, and so then we rely on the lyrics.

2. The lyrics aren't gut wrenching or easy to grab. Pop is famous for its good hooks at the very least, and so far that wasn't the truth at all. It's not like wordy songs don't work, but it wasn't working in the favor in this case. I think Fortnight was the perfect example of a pop song that works and could be a little bit catchy in Taylor Swift style but all the other songs were basically just Fortnight over and over.

Sidenote: wordy pop/deeper meaning pop songs exist and work in a lot of cases (Pretty isnt Pretty, Stoned at the nail salon, The Louvre, tbh the whole melodrama album)

3. The same song vibes also made me think about her whole discography and how I feel like there should be a little bit of growth in something but TS follows a formula, and it's still here and now it's feeling juvenile. I know it isn't actually all "boy break my heart and he sucks" but the overall vibe ends up getting there anyway.

But when I got to Florida!!! I realized my final problem.

4. Taylor Swift is an amazing storyteller and an okay vocalist. Pop songs get phenomenally better with better vocals but that still doesn't mean you need to do anything fancy. Troye Sivan has never own me away vocally but every song is enjoyable because the lyrics, voice, and beat are all there. This album requires you to rely on lyrics and voice... And neither of them are strong here.

Florence's tone is so unique it made whatever she sang sound so good. I think when Taylor sings:

"And my friends all smell like weed or little babies And this city reeks of driving myself crazy"

It's not even a bad line but something about her singing it feels odd. It's kinda like "Snow on the Beach" which sounded like a Lana song and should've been one.

But yeah that's why I stopped listening.

Idk I know a few "The National" songs and I don't listen to Jack's band but the vibes were way better in evermore and folklore.

[popbloganddropit]

Deeper Well - Kacey Musgraves

Initial thoughts:

My initial thoughts are to not even listen to the rest of the album and just play “Cardinal” 2000 more times. I came into this album with reservations. star-crossed did not grow on me after its release and the singles released before Deeper Well just felt okay to me. I didn’t see it approaching Golden Hour’s place in my heart, because honestly what could? But Kacey’s sixth studio album is a beautiful, mature, and transcendent.

1. Cardinal- A haunting guitar riff that will stick with you with hypnotic, ethereal lyrics. This is somehow both classic Kacey and completely new sonic territory. A slowed down, mystical bridge that elevates this song even more. I love this song, if I hated everything else on the album, this song would still make the entirety better. 5/5

2. Deeper Well- my reaction when this was released before the album was “it’s fine”. I wouldn’t have gone back to it and it didn’t leave me super hopeful for how much I would enjoy the album. I just didn’t connect with it lyrically. It has grown on me a bit with the album, but I would rank it towards the bottom of the tracks. 3.5/5

3. Too Good To Be True- I liked this better than Deeper Well upon release, but it didn’t make me more excited for the album. It’s quiet and doesn’t seem to to explore any new territory for Kacey, but it’s an overall pleasant listening experience. 4/5

4. Moving Out- a soft, dreamy song about moving out and reflecting upon the memories. It perfectly blends the sadness with looking back fondly. I particularly like when she repeats “start again” as a wink at starting again. 4/5

5. Giver/Taker- I love this chorus. It’s gorgeous and moving. The verses and bridge are nothing to sneeze at either. This song convinced me this album was magic upon first listen. 4.5/5

6. Sway- as a person who could also learn how to sway, this song is gently keeping its hands pressed on my neck. The final ~30 seconds slowed down with magnetic harmonies make me ascend into heaven. 5/5

7. Dinner With Friends- this song is about things Kacey will miss when she passes and it’s beautiful and sentimental. An instant classic that really shows what Kacey is great at. 4.5/5

8. Heart of the Woods- …I could be convinced to join a barefoot and naked in the woods cult if this song was played enough times. The soft guitar strums, the drum reminiscent of a heartbeat, the echo-y vocals, tattoo this song on my soul. The words describe all of nature being connected in Kacey’s signature stunning but simple way. 5/5

9. Jade Green- in a perfect transition, this one is for the crystal girlies. This feels a little darker, and sounds like a hypnotic spell being cast. “Like the bracelet that you bought me, I want you on my arm,” immediately suck out as a favorite lyric to me. 4/5

10. The Architect- Honestly, Kacey, who gave you permission to be this genius? The instrumental allows the lyrics to really shine here, as they should. A beautiful set of questions for the architect of everything that’s open enough for whatever you personally believe in and a song that makes me a bit teary even though it’s not really sad. 5/5

11. Lonely Millionaire- I really like the romantic instrumental that makes me want to slink and sway through my home. Lyrically, it’s just not fully connecting for me, but I do like that Kacey’s playing with song structure a bit here. 3.5/5

12. Heaven Is- A hymnal instrumental and melody fit the heavenly lyrics. A song that’s destined to be a first dance at a wedding, but it’ll be a tearjerker rather than hokey and overdone. 4/5

13. Anime Eyes- This is so fun and cute. A perfect penultimate track to lighten up before the end of the album. The fervered speed run towards the end is the the cherry on top of this ice cream sundae of a song. Very easy for a song like this to fall into trying too hard and Kacey keeps it just restrained enough to not fall into a forced quirky vibe. 4/5

14. Nothing to be Scared Of- a sweet little bow to wrap up the gift that is this album. It’s a little short, but I’d rather be left wanting more than checking my watch waiting for the timer to run down. 4/5

Final Thoughts:

Deeper Well will leave you feeling like you took a walk through a mystical forest with Kacey while she told you some of her deepest thoughts and secrets with an occasional giggle-filled frolic through a meadow. I’m impressed with the range of emotions here, and each of them are accompanied by a perfectly moody instrumental. I’m not sure if Golden Hour will ever be topped for me, but Deeper Well isn’t trying to be Golden Hour and maybe more importantly, it’s not trying too hard not to be Golden Hour. Musgraves feels set free and I greatly enjoyed the journey she took me on, through the heart of the woods. The average score of the songs was 4.3, and I obviously think this record really works as an album in full, so rounding up to 4.5/5

Top 3: Cardinal, Heart of the Woods, The Architect

What’s Next?

Queen B!!!! ASAP!!! 🤠🐴

[vitaminwaterreviews]

Nmixx - Fe3O4: Break

Man, I was so hyped for this album based on Dash and Soñar! But in the end it all became kinda cliche and boring, which really isn’t a good look for Nmixx. Dash in particular is very good though, probably my favorite title track of theirs based on my initial impressions. I feel like they’re finally getting the hand of how to use Lily’s voice. In a lot of songs (including Soñar) she sounds good, but she stands out so much that it kind of detracts from the experience as a whole. In Dash though, everyone stands out, which makes the experience a lot more cohesive. As for the rest of the album … meh. Average score of 7.1, which might be just a little bit low, but meh. The latter tracks got so boring and predictable. I’m not a huge fan of the styles of music in the latter songs either, which definitely doesn’t help. But the first half of the album is strong enough that it was definitely worth the listen.

- I’ve heard all of the first three songs on this album, and I don’t know any of the other four. This just came out today, so it’s a testament to how pre-releases work in contemporary kpop that I’ve heard three of them already! But I’m gonna ignore the music videos, since I’ve already seen them, in favor of just listening to the music.

DASH

Love love love the harmonies

People who say the chorus sounds boring clearly aren’t paying attention

Funky, funky

Whoever is singing the line with “stars” has SUCH a pretty voice here

Here���s Lily, but she sounds so natural in this song

Not really a change up initially, just a really long pause in the groove

Rhyming revolution with evolution, how generic

Cute ritardando

And the change up is the bridge

Question: is using the Nmixx change up just a cop out for having to develop a reasonable bridge?

8/10

Soñar (Breaker)

Someone said that this song feels kinda Zimzalabim and I kinda agree

It also feels very Disney, like it’s super anthemic in that kind of cliche PG way

Lily

Yeah, this slow section is SO Zimzalabim

Not in like, the musicality of it, but in the function that it serves within the song

8/10

Run For Roses

I’ve heard this song once. Everyone else seems to absolutely adore it, and I… well, we’ll see how I feel now won’t we

The guitar is cute, like that

Mmm I dunno about the violin, convince me

What does “we run for roses” even mean?

Like it’s the title of the song, it must mean Something

7/10, it’s good but like… it’s not great

BOOM

Alright, getting into the songs that I haven’t heard

Bass

Yeah this is some proper hip hop feels, alright

Haha the tick tick tick tick tick part

Curious about the structure of the song

Also what’s up with that beeping, are they swearing but quietly?

And now we speed up

And here’s the change up, this fits so well, keeping the booms and the ticks

Oh that was the outro, okay

Very Blackpink actually haha

8/10

Passionfruit

Electric piano

Yeah this soundscape is like … very easy to construct

YooooUUOUOUOUuuuuouOUouu

Yeah I don’t buy this at all, it’s so Boring

7/10, kinda won me over ig

XOXO

More electric piano, that seems to be the instrument of the album

Well this bass is Present

Y’know what this feels like? The dregs of Red Velvet b-sides

And I quite like Red Velvet in general, but a lot of their b-sides get boring

6/10

Break The Wall

“We break all the walls” girl you’re literally a JYP girl group with two minors

Ugh why is this so Hypey

Like this feels like music my sister would absolutely love

Oh no, the … what’s the name of this section?

I dunno, the part where it all drops out and they clap and chant together

6/10

[anyways-wonderwall]

Album of the Week #42

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

(2010)

by Kanye

Overall Rating: 8/10

TL;DR: I know I’m not original in saying this is good but it is!! This is what people are referencing when they say Kanye is talented!

(I really hate when an album cover has like 10 iterations because then I can't figure out what the original is. I think this one the best though 8/10)

Typing on my laptop has become so associated with schoolwork that I have been putting off writing this for weeks :/. Also Kanye just keeps doing stuff, although honestly I think its a lost cause to try and wait that out. 

Overall Thoughts

I mean nothing I’m going to say here is new, this is one of the most celebrated albums of the 2010s, and I’m not the first to say that I agree with that. This isn’t going to be an Anthony Fantano contrarian review, I genuinely really enjoyed this album. I grew up on his early 2000s stuff and I’m really glad I fed into the hype and listened to this. Its just so confusing how someone so talented can be a terrible, crazy person. 

Anyways, that’s not saying anything specific about the album! The thing that really stuck out to me is how incredible the instrumental tracks are on each of these songs. Most of them are amazing on their own and I could care less about what Kanye is doing, some of them are super monotonous and you get the point pretty early and are ready to move on (“Power”, “Devil in a New Dress”). I particularly loved the electric guitar parts of most of the songs, especially in “Gorgeous” and “Hell of a Life”. 

Okay I have to talk about the second one in more detail. The chorus is the riff from “Iron Man” played with a dirty grunge guitar and Kayne singing over it “no more drugs for me, pussy and religion is all i need”??? I’m sorry but that is the funniest thing to hear over “Iron Man”. So true Ye!! So true! This is what Black Sabbath meant!

There are a lot of really funny lines in this album, another one of my favorites being “if god had an ipod id be on his playlist”. That is such a funnily dated line that is a purely Kanye level of confidence. He’s to the point and honest, I like that. (another banger line is “Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh? Ah, put the pussy in a sarcophagus,” what the hell does this mean??) This album also features Nicki Minaj’s famous “Bad bitch from Sri Lanka line” so I feel like that’s enough to know that this is an important piece of culture. 

Besides these funny little one offs, the lyrics in this album are really good. Its a great album about reclaiming America and what it means to be American for African Americans (crazy since he just got in trouble for doing a bunch of white lives matter stuff) and it does a great job of keeping this theme under all the silly stuff. It features a talent cast of characters from Rick Ross to John Legend and they add a lot of flavor to the songs they are on. This album is wonderful at sounding cohesive without being repetitive, something I feel like is hard for albums to do (especially if I’m only listening to them a few times). 

My favorite song off of the album was probably “Blame Game”, with an amazing piano and bass backing track that I could listen to for hours (which is good because this song is a whopping 7:50). John Legend is there but doesn’t sing and turn the song into a durge, and the end is just a comedy bit from Chris Rock that I cannot get sick of listening to. Some random reviewer said that “i have to make sure you know this is personal” which makes the whole bit funnier because its about a women getting better at sex because of yeezy. I didn’t know that Kanye made stuff like this and this song alone made me so happy I chose this album. 

Final Verdict

Listen even if you haven’t heard this album you’ve certainly heard of it and know “POWER” since it is played at every American sports game. I’m not going to be the first person to tell you to listen to this album but I stand by that it’s a great one. It is important to note though that I think it’s best as an album unit it, the only song I would really listen to outside of this context is “Blame Game”. But you should listen to it anyways because after all, who doesn’t want to hear about pussy to the tune of Black Sabbath?

[mishasminions]

Here’s why the Supernatural Series Finale Sucked

(AND IT REALLY ISN’T JUST BECAUSE CAS/MISHA WASN’T IN IT)

First of all, I’d like to state, that this perspective is coming from someone who has watched, invested in, and dissected this show for 15 years. I’ve tried to rationalize and justify every single decision each of the main characters made throughout the years, and I’ve always tried to make sense of each of their story arcs from a “bigger picture” standpoint as each season progressed.

Anyway, before I can properly explain why the finale sucked, let me quickly take you through 15 seasons by segregating them into 3 eras, because you can’t really comprehend what Supernatural is about and what it’s become without going through how it tried to expand its universe.

SEASONS 1-5: THE KRIPKE ERA

Now, we all know that Kripke was always set in wrapping up Sam and Dean’s story in 5 seasons, and he did just that.

So, in this era, Supernatural is about two brothers who set out on a journey to fulfill “the family business”. They hunt mythical monsters that terrorize the world, while battling the monsters within themselves. Their ultimate “big bad” is an apocalypse.

Towards the end of this era, we find out that Sam and Dean are actually a parallel to Biblical characters who are brothers turned rivals. And that Sam and Dean’s destiny is to go up against each other.

However, as a dynamic, they have always been about making their own choices, choosing free will, and having a brotherly bond that can power through against any obstacle at any given day.

So, this era is neatly wrapped up with its finale. The characters grow, and get justified endings.

Dean, a man who thinks of himself as two things: 1. Sam’s older brother and protector; and 2. Daddy’s blunt little instrument.

He’s spent his whole life believing that that was his only purpose, and he knew that the only ending he’ll get would either be a bloody death fulfilling his duty to the family business; or laying his life on the line to save his brother.

Dean gets the ending he thought was never possible for him, something he thought he could never deserve. After years of living and dying for his family, he gets a shot at having an apple pie life--to settle down with a nice girl, raise a kid in a house with a white picket fence. With Sam gone, Dean’s responsibility now is to himself.

Sam, on the other hand, never wanted any part of it, because he wasn’t groomed the way Dean was, and because thanks to Dean, Sam wasn’t traumatized or forced into growing up too quickly the way Dean was.

So Sam aspires for a normal life, and works the cases with Dean so he can maybe get some semblance of it, when everything they set out to kill are laid to rest.

Ultimately, Sam performs a selfless act for his brother, who has given up everything for him, and for their cause--to save the world.

The journey is this: Dean sacrifices everything to save Sam, and Sam sacrifices himself so Dean could live.

Apart from being Dean’s “savior” and guardian angel, Castiel’s role in this era is to serve as a mirror to Dean’s journey. Castiel goes from being heaven’s foot soldier, following “God’s orders”; to an angel who learns to choose and feel for the first time in his existence.

After they realize that they’re both daddy’s blunt instruments, Dean starts choosing his own path for himself, and convinces Castiel to join him. Castiel stops following heaven, and starts following Dean.

In the end, with his newfound understanding of the world thanks to Dean, Castiel goes back to heaven to reform it.

We’ve resolved the biblical arc, and the character journeys.

SEASONS 6-10: THE SPIN-OFF ERA

So this is where the show realizes how vast its universe can be, so it tries to expand it by tapping into uncharted lands and experimenting with it.

They take on heaven, reform hell, explore purgatory, have the angels fall, turn Dean into a demon, and kill Death.

Dean and Sam recognize their codependency, and try to rise above it.

They go back and forth between which brother will risk it all for the greater good every other season.

Dean and Cas strengthen their relationship by recognizing the impact they have on each other’s lives.

Cas structures his life and decisions around Dean (Seasons 6-7), and Dean learns to trust and fight for Cas (Seasons 8-9).

Sam and Cas bond (mostly over Dean) because of their shared rationales in decision-making.

Dean, Sam, and even Cas also forge relationships with the people they work with. The concept of “found family” is introduced here.

This era was heavy on the plot while establishing, reinforcing, and solidifying relationships and dynamics.

At this point, it wasn’t just about the brothers anymore.

If Supernatural had ended in Season 10, the logical finale would’ve been Team Free Will, along with the family that they’ve found, going up against the latest big bad (Death or whoever). Maybe they lose them along the way, maybe they all make it out alive, or maybe they go down swinging, but at least the show recognizes and supports the message they keep saying, “Family don’t end with blood”

SEASONS 11-15: THE REWRITE ERA

This is where the show runs out of ideas and decides to invalidate the seasons that came before it.

From bringing Mary back (basically rendering their whole journey pointless because they’ve literally started hunting because of her death), to changing the stipulations in being Michael and Lucifer’s vessels (another character struggle rendered useless), to God himself breaking the fourth wall by saying that the Winchesters get away with everything because “they’re the main characters in his story and everything they’ve been through was just part of a badly written narrative”.

But what we’re getting from this era is that Sam and Dean, along with Cas (who has also deviated from the story) ARE trying to escape a badly written narrative.

That’s the “big bad” in this era. The writer.

At this point, the characters have picked up so many strays (including those from alternate universes), and have settled into their roles in their “found family”. Dean, Sam, and Cas all become surrogate dads and uncles.

They’ve also graduated from the whole “we’re on different sides” and “going behind each other’s backs” drama. And they just want the whole family together.

They’ve all resigned themselves to the cause, but they’re also tired. Dean allows himself to contemplate about wanting more out of life or at least getting a vacation. Sam, on the other hand, realizes his capabilities as an effective leader. Castiel learns to love another being that isn’t Dean (spoiler: it’s Jack).

However, they also realize that they’ve just been puppets on a string all this time.

So what they want now, is to write their own story, and make their own choices knowing that God/the writer isn’t the one fueling their narrative.

So here’s why the finale sucks:

Andrew Dabb, the current showrunner, said that there would be two finales.

15x19 - The finale to wrap up Season 15, and 15x20 - The finale to wrap up the series by “resolving the characters’ journey”

In 15x19 the boys find a way to de-power God/the writer. For the first time in their whole lives, they are free from the story. Their lives are completely theirs now. They can make their own decisions. There are no more “big bads” to fight

And here’s what happens in 15x20:

Immediately after being freed from their story arc, Dean and Sam go back to hunting the monster of the week.

Dean eats pie, gets nailed (literally), makes a 10-minute speech to Sam because he knows he’s dying, then he goes to heaven.

Dean is greeted by Bobby, his surrogate Dad who he hasn’t seen (fully alive) since Season 7. Bobby’s expository dialogue comprises of him explaining that he got out of heaven’s jail, that John and Mary are next door, and that Jack and Cas fixed the dynamics of heaven off-screen.

The first thing Dean decides to do is go for a long drive in his Impala (as if he hasn’t done enough of that already).

Meanwhile, Sam decides to stop hunting after Dean dies, he gets the apple pie life he hadn’t wanted since Season 8 (while Dean was in Purgatory), and names his kid “Dean” for effect. He grows old and dies.

Dean drove around in heaven for so long that Sam catches up to him.

They hug. The end.

Great, right?

After 15 years of struggling to battle their own respective destinies, going up against big bads and even bigger bads, then finally being able to take charge of their own stories, Dean and Sam regress to hunting the monster of the week, and get killed off by a nail and old age. Okay.

Sam gets to retire and have a family, sure, but they still focus on him and the kid he named after his dead brother. Still just “Sam and Dean” through and through. Nothing to do with found family. Just lineage. Just blood. And it ends there.

See, the problem here is that this ending would’ve been passable in The Kripke Era. But we’re 10 years down the road since, and while Sam and Dean are the original main characters, the show isn’t just about them and their codependent relationship anymore.

So you see, even if you take out the whole “Castiel deserves to be in the finale because he’s also a main character with an unfinished story arc” argument, the finale still does no justice to the series it tried to “wrap up”.

But anyway, now I’ll make the case for the problem with Castiel not being in the finale:

In 15x18, we get a 5-minute rushed confession from Castiel to Dean. The context of which are as follows:

1. Earlier in the episode, Dean had wounded Death with her scythe. We later find out that this wound is fatal.

2. Their friends start to “blip out” in a Thanos-like snap, and Dean thinks that Death is causing it, so Dean seeks her out, and Cas goes with him.

3. Dean and Cas anger Death, apparently for no reason because she didn’t even do the thing they thought she did. She chases them to try to kill them

4. Dean and Cas lock themselves in a room. Dean starts a pity party.

5. As Dean goes through hating himself out loud, Cas decides to inform Dean of the deal he made with The Empty. He then proceeds to explain the stipulation of the deal (that he would get taken once he experiences a moment of true happiness), then discusses his newfound happiness philosophy. Dean is getting whiplash.

6. Cas goes on to imply that the one thing that he wanted that he knew he couldn’t have is Dean Winchester reciprocating his romantic feelings for him. (Don’t even try to fight me on this because Cas already has Dean’s platonic love, and he knows that Dean thinks of him as a brother, so if he really meant this in a “familial” way, then why would he think that he couldn’t have the thing that would make him happy?) So Cas’ realization is that telling Dean about his feelings is enough to make him happy.

7. Cas tells Dean all the reasons why he loves him (thereby combating Dean’s self-deprecation tirade), and all the reasons why he’s worthy of his love. Meanwhile, Dean is still winded from the fact that Cas is about to sacrifice himself for him again.

8. Dean never gets to process anything, because Cas is shoving him out of the way, as he and Death (who busts through the door) get taken by The Empty.

After this episode, Dean never speaks of it. Misha Collins supposes that Dean doesn’t reciprocate. Jensen Ackles says that Dean didn’t really get to process it because it was too much, too fast, and that Dean, still dense as ever, thinks that Cas, a celestial being, doesn’t interpret human feelings the same way.

So what was the point of this confession?

Politics and sensitivities of a 2005 network television aside, what does this do for the story?

Cas proclaims his romantic feelings to Dean, but Dean never acknowledges it, doesn’t even give it a passing thought afterwards. So Cas’ big declaration goes unheard.

Cas cashes in on his Empty deal to kill Death (who was dying anyway), in order to save Dean who dies two episodes after.

Dean makes no effort to save Cas (despite being really broken up about his previous deaths, or even spending a whole year in Purgatory looking for him), even after they’ve beaten God, not even asking Jack (who has all the power in the universe) to bring him back (when Jack has already done it before, with less mojo).

Dean moves on to fight the monster of the week. Somewhere off-screen, Jack rescues Cas from The Empty, but Cas uncharacteristically doesn’t even bother to go to Dean? (Every single time he comes back, Dean’s always the first person he goes to)

And Cas, who apparently helped craft and reform the new heaven, isn’t the one who welcomes Dean and explains the new dynamics of it?

Sure, Jan.

Supernatural, you’ve created a finale that only your casual viewers and people who dipped out after Season 5 can appreciate.

Just goes to show how much you actually valued the people who actually invested in your story and characters, and consistently helped keep your show on the air.

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