#i love making BE stuff but holy shit. every time that's a challenge to my coloring and whatever skills which are poor af

[hikarisbeam]

[sleepyjuice]

If you like crafting and making jewelry, you best bet JJ is wearing every single thing you make him even if it looks tacky or childish. He will wear that colorful beaded bracelet with pride and tell everyone that his talented girlfriend made it for him.

You had started making jewelry half as a joke and half out of boredom. You figured you’d make some silly little bracelets and give them to your friends as a gag gift.

You were just working with beads for now, so you weren’t being fancy by any means.

Of course you had made one for jj. It was full of different shades of blue beads, some white, with some little ocean themed charms. Plus, a few hearts, of course.

When you gave it to him, you would have thought you gave him a fucking Cartier bracelet or something.

“Holy shit, you made this?” He was dumbfounded, his mouth agape as he studied the little bracelet, immediately sliding it onto his wrist.

You laughed quietly, unsure if he was being overly dramatic as a joke.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, it’s nothing crazy, jay. I was bored yesterday and found a case of old beads I had from when I was a kid.” You explained, genuinely not expecting him to be so excited.

“You kidding me? This is sick. You make any more?” He asked, nodding his head in the direction of you cluttered desk, where you did indeed have several more that you made.

“Yeah, but these ones are silly. Seriously, I was just messing around.” You told him, watching as he walked over to your desk, studying all of your other creations in awe.

He was immediately drawn to one you had made for yourself. Pink beads, hearts, butterfly charms, and your name was spelled out.

He grabbed that one, holding it out to you.

“Can I have this one, too?” He asked, dead serious.

Your heart raced at his words, damn near wanting to cry at how sweet he was being. He was being so genuine and supportive and you had never felt someone show you so much love and pride for something quite literally so small.

“You want that one?” You giggled, and he nodded in response, already sliding it onto the same wrist as his other one.

“Baby, you got some real talent here. You gotta start one of them Etsy shops or somethin’.” He pulled you into him by your waist, kissing your lips a few times before pulling back and holding out his wrist to you.

“You gotta make me some more, babe, seriously. Next paycheck imma take you to the craft store so you can get some more stuff.”

He wore his two bracelets proudly, going about his day as usual, not taking them off, even for work.

That was when someone made a comment.

“Shit, maybank, I like the new ice. Didn’t know you had a baby sister.” Someone snickered at him as he bussed tables, causing him to set the buss tub down harshly, turning to face the guy that was talking shit.

“Shut the fuck up, man. My girl made these. Do we have a fuckin’ problem?” jj challenged, ready to fight for your honor.

Say what you want about jj, but don’t say shit about his loved ones.

Fortunately for the other guy, he wasn’t in the mood to fight over a bracelet, even though jj was. So he just held his hands up in surrender and backed away.

“Whatever, dude. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” He concluded, making jj clench his fists as he inhaled sharply, his heart racing in anger.

He didn’t want to let some random asshole get the last word, but he could see his boss from the corner of his eye, so he forced himself to take a deep breath and continue working. He couldn’t afford to get fired, he had to take you out to get more craft supplies.

[lowkeyrobin]

Headcanons for mcyt x reader doing a cooking/baking stream together??

I love your writing!!!

<3

ooooo okay okay!!! yes of course bro ; also thank you!! I appreciate it sm 🫶🫶🫶🫶

MCYT ; cooking/baking stream

includes ; tommyinnit, ranboo, badlinu, nihachu, quackity, & foolish gamers

warnings ; language, grease fires

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

you guys were making lasanga

Garfield jokes every five minutes

there's pasta sauce and cheese everywhere

he's constantly screaming to the viewers because you keep slapping him with the lasagna sheets, cooked or dry

"y/n! help! I'm being assaulted with lasagna sheets!"

he stained his shirt with pasta sauce 💀💀

almost set the house on fire bc he somehow left shit in the oven before preheating it

you turn on music halfway through and it turns into a karaoke stream

"CALIFORNIA GIRLS WERE UNFORGETTABLE-"

RANBOO

you were making soup because you found a good recipe you wanted to try

you accidently spilled the broth and covered your legs in it

he cut himself chopping up the celery (very minor cut dw)

"cooking stream? more like we injure ourselves for two hours stream"

"cooking stream? I hardly know her"

very chaotic but very good soup

during the intervals where you guys were just waiting for things to cook, you started a hashtag on Twitter to ask you guys stuff

and you answered them while keeping an eye on the food

afterwards you guys watch TV and eat your food while still streaming

"normalize eating on stream 2024!"

FREDDIE BADLINU

you were making breakfast for dinner on stream

you had to go use the bathroom while the bacon was cooking and left Freddie to tend to everything for less than a minute

and he started a grease fire.

after he got it extinguished he kinda just stood there waiting for you

meanwhile chat was exploding with panic and laughter

"Hey, y/n, I don't think we're having bacon tonight!"

"What the fuck happened???"

luckily no damage to anything other than the meat

the rest of it was really good though, and the stream had enough action for tonight 💀💀

NIKI NIHACHU

you guys were making cupcakes

you dropped like two eggs 💀💀💀 so while she was getting new ones you were cleaning up all the eggshell fragments and the insides

you got the camera to show stream your fucking mess and someone sent a dono saying "butterfingers ass"

the cackling after that 💀

you're able to get them into the oven though

and while you're waiting for them to cook, you watch dance moms and discuss everything wrong with it

commentary youtubers? I hardly know them

she begins making the icing while you pull the cupcakes out to let them cool

10/10 cupcakes they're amazing

you guys had a pride flag theme so lmao

ALEX QUACKITY

you were supposed to be making pancakes as a little challenge

his are literally raw and he put chocolate chips from the freezer straight in them

"that banana isn't gonna help anything"

"how do you know that??"

flour is everywhere. it looks like a war started

you put to much non-stick spray on the skillet and started a little fire

but Alex to the rescue dw

he couldn't even figure out how to use it and almost sprayed himself in the face!

goes on Twitter later to update that your kitchen was completely fine but the underneath of your microwave is a tiny bit melted

you blame him every time after that 💀💀

"my microwave melted a bit because you don't know how to use a fire extinguisher!"

"youre the one who used too much spray!"

chat always sides with you, too 😭😭

FOOLISH GAMERS

you thought making fried rice was a good idea? wrong

he literally has no idea what's happening

"can you make the scrambled eggs for me while I tend to the vegetables?"

"how many?"

"they're literally on the cabinet"

chat clipping every single funny moment too

"is the rice cooker even on? holy shit you left it on warm"

"I thought that meant it was on!"

"dude you've used this thing before, how long did it take for you to cook it?"

"like, forever"

"oh my god"

fried rice 10/10

he's complaining about the vegetables like he didn't have like two hours to say something about different veggies

[junpei-iori-ace-defective]

Thoughts about Hades 2 as a tech test player

Everything is under a read more bc. 1. Long post. 2. Spoilers for Hades 2.

1. The game is fucking s m o o t h. Loads quicker and everything feels more stream lined.

2. It’s somewhat harder than Hades 1. Idk if it’s bc of not having a super buffed character but I am definitely finding it a little more challenging. Not a bad thing though!

3. Melinoë plays a little different from Zag which is to be expected! We now have a sprint, spells, and new weapons. Already loving how regular casts and specials don’t have a cast limit. Also love the twin blades. Fast weapon go brrrrrrr.

4. I’m definitely interested in seeing what they do with gathering, farming, ect. Great way to add more stuff to do in and after runs.

5. This ties into 4 but, I love how there’s a bunch of stuff to do in Crossroads! In Hades 1, I never spent too much time in the house. I was always dashing through to do another run when not stopping to talk to people. The Crossroads is definitely a nice cool down area for after runs!

6. THE ART. Man everyone looks so good!!!! I can tell some of the sprites are still being worked on but everything still looks so damn clean. I love how everyone has backgrounds in their portraits!

7. APOLLO, HEPHAESTUS, HESTIA, SELENE. All of them look and sound so cool. Really looking forward to seeing their full boon lists and how they play with different weapons ect.

8. I’m really happy to see some of the OG gods returning. All of them look so sick and every time I see a boon from the first game I go “YOOOOOO”. Also Artemis physically appearing is sick as hell.

9. Really excited to get to know the new crew better! They’re all really compelling already!

10. The areas seem to be shorter. Like, I’m going through less rooms to hit the boss room. Idk if it’s bc it’s a tech test or if it’s intentional.

Speculation and questions

1. WHAT DID CHRONOS DO. ARE THEY DEAD? WHERE ARE THEY? Istg if Zag is dead I am going to c r y.

2. WHERE IS THAN, MEG, ACHILLES, NYX, EVERYONE FROM THE FIRST GAME? WHERE ARE THEY?

3. Hecate said something about Hermes trying to find a way to get from the underworld to Olympus. There was also some stairs going blocked by a ward in the weapon/training room. I wonder if there’s gonna be more areas to go through. Like. Erebus, Elysium, Asphodel, Tartarus, House, then Olympus? Maybe Olympus is gonna have its own areas completely. This would make sense for why the areas are shorter. Really interested to see what they do.

4. If the game looks like this already in its tech test stage….. this might be my game of the year if it gets a full release this year. (I love you P3RE but holy shit Hades 2).

There’s a lot more I could talk about, but I am tired and this is a long post lmao.

[hollowtones]

Did you watch the last the devstream from DE?

If so, any thoughts?

Koumei looks pretty cool. "Apply a lot of statuses alert" is neat enough & will probably be pretty strong but it doesn't blow my mind, I guess. The dice roll stuff & the "do a riven challenge with a debuff to get a Duviri decree" had my eyes bugging out of my head with excitement! I like her weird haunted skeleton puppet look, I like the visible strings. Brella gun looks Fucking AWESOME.

Caliban rework looks hunky and I'm eager to sink my teeth into him. I already thought he was Fine to play, so making him stronger & giving him a more interesting / more synergistic kit has me happy. I wanna get more of / mess more with the theorem kitgun arcanes & see if buffing the summons is Anything now that they're better across the board. The Hildryn changes are exciting too!! Her 4th ability is Very Cute and I'll gladly take any excuse to not subsume it off.

All of that said: most exciting parts of the update to me are the changes to pets (Holy shit I've been wanting separate slots for Dog Damage forever... Holy shit I can try using more than just the Verglas) & the Nova rework / deluxe skin. I'm a sucker for the flower motifs, and the big back bow ephemera is so cute... I have like 3 or 4 different builds I want to try out on her now. Having speed & slow be on a toggle now is going to feel so much better in Duviri, & the forced orb drops has me excited to try out some wackier stuff. Her damn Ball might actually be better now... I always try to force that ball to work but you had to build basically entirely around it to justify it. The weird build synergies Nova had in the past were interesting on paper but felt kinda frustratingly limiting whenever I tried to build her. Which made me sad! Because I love the idea of her kit! Now it feels like I have more wiggle room to try shit out & slot in more Toys, which is exciting... I'm thinking about all her moves doing Blast & eyeing the orange archon shards. LOL

If the Nova changes are their idea of a "light rework" I'm super stoked to see what they do to Nyx (another frame I like the idea of but wish they would make some adjustments for) and Trinity (I already love her kit, simple as it is) in the winter.

I'm excited that it's coming out so soon after I get home from my vacation, haha. I feel like every time I've flown out to see my wife they've put on an event or held a really valuable Twitch drop campaign on days where I'd be stuck in transit. Digital Extremes is apologizing to me personally with Koumei. Now I just need Nintendo to apologize for all the "Splatoon 3" events happening on those same days...

[unsleepingtales]

Oh boy those content warnings look fun. Mismag episode four time?

(Excuse the lack of excitement please I’ve had a shit day and this promises yet more emotional damage) (I know I’m choosing to watch this I promise I’ll turn it off if it feels like it would be bad for me to keep watching)

Not the long back

Oh god

He has every right to be saying this but ouch

Okay so this is reasonable and devastating

SAM

That’s the thing that gets Brennan to break

Oh god Sam is a child of divorce and her saying that HITS

K. K. This is not it? Maybe?

Where’s Brennan’s mic bc it sounds a bit weird

Ooooh cool shadow stuff

Oy.

Disturbing!!!!

Is there a conspiracy about my ass happening in the group right now?

Yeah Evan there is 100% a conspiracy about your ass

Cool cool. So that was jokey but definitely implied K is still into Evan

His BODY

Uh

Maybe it’s the book he picked up?

UH

Hmm! Upsetting.

This is not great for my mental health 😐

Is Carlos doing this live or did they have him record new stuff in between episodes?

I mean that’s fair you did earthquake him

Aabria looks surprised so I am gonna guess Carlos was doing that live

There’s a lot of rules for sleeping outside

That is disturbing buddy

LEVITY THANK GOD

Are you gonna do a scrubbbbb

I love the editing on this

The face dropping the minute you get off the call is SO real

Oops oh no

UH OH

ERIKA WHAT

The very model of a modern chipmunk animal 😭

Awwww them

This is fun

Oh nooooooo

I love him SO much

That is. An ADHD symptom.

Hey babygirl what are you doing

AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA

Ok so maybe that was prerecorded because they just had that projection ready to go

You’re gonna shoot a cocaine spell into your MIND

They can help now!

What’s a fun cocaine movie 😭

I just watched Aabria’s eyes light up at challenging Erika lmao

Okay her art is pretty

I love table acting. I think every actor should have to play a ttrpg and learn how to act and communicate within the confines of a table and it will be helpful!

Well at least she’ll have something in common with Tabby

GET FUCKED sorry that was a gut reaction to a British person using the American version of a word because I have been slowly infecting my British partner with Americanisms and our friends and their family never let them hear the end of it lmao

Cocaine!

Hello?????

Oh my GOD how did we get here

What?

A skrillion!

Lemli! Hi!

Brennannnnnnnn

Incredible. Five questions. You rock.

Evan!

That’s soooo unsettling.

Discomfort is a great place for everybody here to be and we can all bump up the paranoia by one!

Iconic tbh

HI!

I don’t have the strength to explain skibidi toilet 😭

Ooooh boy oh boy

The matrix crossed with Glinda’s bubble that’s really cool

Oh for fucks SAKE

Another dc 40 for Erika whyyyyy

Oh god

Oh FUCK HER

Holy shit that’s hot. Sorry but. Oh my god that’s hot.

What’s the smallest most efficient effort that makes a living person a dead body? I’m sorry but that? Is hot.

Evan immediately no hesitation snapping his wand to kill the person who attacked someone he loves. HOT.

Oh my GOD that’s terrifying. Hot. A silent custodian walking through the halls of her mind turning off her lights.

Art!

FUCK.

Listen I didn’t claim to be okay ever.

Oh this is interesting also

Sorry I’m. Fine.

Oh this could go so wrong.

Hey nobody look at me for a minute I’m gonna be in the corner processing my reaction to Brennan’s facial expressions just now.

This is FINE I’m not gonna rewatch that scene what are you TALKING about.

We’re fine we’re moving on we’re processing.

Sam not to be weird but yeah why the fuck would you put yourselves through that again for someone who did try to kill you and also just tried to break your shit and hurt your friend.

Attacking someone I love around me gets you dead. Yeah that’s it.

The bad part of cocaine!

Oh god. Oh that’s so horrifying. Oh Aabria you’re so good at what you do.

That’s heartbreaking and terrifying oh god.

Fuck.

A moment of peace. Okay.

Yeah Jammer hasn’t said anything in a While he doesn’t look like he’s having a good time

Glad I’m not the only one who thought that was fucking TERRIFYING

They’re friends!!

God. This is why he left.

Aabria. FUCK.

So next episode looks. Fun.

[oh-my-may]

Also last night I wanted to finish Rebirth main story (chapter 14)... and then sephiroth came with 10 phases... and I finally lost my patience and gave up on 3 hours of gameplay to free me from this torment... now one day I'll tackle it, really. But that very last phase with Aerith and Cloud ... I'm here for the main story and not try harding bosses 😭 playing on normal was a lovely experience, some fights were challenging in a fun way, while a few others actually made me question everything. I of course understand the impact od it all, Sephiroth is the strongest existing rhing in this world so yeah he's strong but after legitimately 2 hours of just fighting I was drained... yeah. Still gonna make a post about ch13 and of what I playesdin ch14. I must have gotten really close to the actual end, which sucks even more, but I'm just a normal human, it was getting late, I had work that day and the next one after...

For now I have catch up on genshin and hsr because both games are getting new content soon and I wanna complete the current maps before new stuff comes out.

Maybe for Rebirth this is also a noce opportunity to actually go back and complete all content I had left... side quests and battle intel I missed. Get Thorin. Play the mini games. Then go back to the end. Will probably do that. Also will 100% replay Crisis Core and Remake some time this year.

I also listened to 12/16 tracks of TTPD before work this morning. Like the sound and overall vibe of the album. Favorite track so far is probably Florida with Florence. Has to stop doing my make up while listening to the song. Then I went on instagram and saw she announced The Anthropology. Holy shit can't wait to get home to listen to the rest of the tracks.

Also I am a whopping 2 chapters into the sunshine court. It should be a breeze to get through once I have my days off, but I can't hold back from reading a few bits every now and then. I'm not the biggest fan of reading things digitally though, so I hope we can get physical copies of the book soon too :)

[merrhea39]

binging everything judgment day pt 5

Raw 9/5/22 Edge starts off with a promo and his is pissed at Dom and Rey tries to calm him down. Rhea finally has her updated theme with the singer. And she comes out with Dom. Dom does not look comfortable yet. Lol I love the Eddie’s son chants. Dom is mean mugging this whole time lol. 

Rey has a backstage interview where he says he’ll never put his hands on Dom and that one didn’t quite age so well. Rey also challenges Damian or Finn. 

Rey vs. Damian(w). Damian big boots the shit out of Rey lol. Obviously when Rey starts taking control Judgment Day comes out and Finn is wearing the bandana here lol. Lots and lots of panning to Dom. HOLY SHIT THAT CLOTHESLINE FROM DAMIAN WAS WICKED. Damian wins partially because of Dom. Rhea cuts a post match promo and she is so papi. 

Raw 9/12/22 Ok the show starts with Seth Rollins with a promo and riddle attacks him before he has a match with TJD. And heel seth clears face seth easily. Shot game take a shot every time they say bro in this promo.

Riddle vs. Finn(w). Why did people even like that fucker Matt? Damian interfers and distracts riddle and balor takes advantage. Riddle screaming “my neck!” is giving “MY HOLE!”. Rey attacks Damian giving Riddle a chance to win but then seth distracts Riddle and Balor takes advantage and wins.

Dom cuts that promo you know the one. Fuck rhea… she makes me…

Rey confronts Dom backstage, Dom just ignores Rey the whole time. 

Rey confronts Edge but Edge is not having Rey’s shit right now lmao. 

Edge(W) vs. Dom. More of a beat down than a match in the early goings but because of Rhea Dom takes advantage. Rey interferes he doesn’t want Edge to hurt Dom. Edge wins via dq because Finn attacks him. Then dom beats the fuck out of edges leg. 

Raw 9/19/22 Rey has a backstage interview, and Rey is like ‘pwease come back to me dom but the others are dickbags’ and then riddle shows up and is like ‘bro lets tag together bro… bro bro weed bro i beat my wife and kids.” 

Judgment day come out together and I think I have the same harness as rhea is wearing here. Pre-match promo from the Judgment Day, Damian has an evil ass laugh. Dom is already being booed by the crowd here. They take that cute ass ‘family photo’ I love them. This great moment is interrupted by ‘Mr. ThisGuyTouchedMeInTheAirport’ Matt Riddle. 

Riddle + Rey vs. Finn + Damian(w). Why was Riddle over? Rhea screams lol. RHEA HURTS A MAN! Rhea suplexes riddle. TJD wins off of an interference from seth rollins and a distraction from Dom. 

Raw 9/26/22. I’m starting with a rey interview backstage where he talks about Dominik, and it’s all him saying he loves him and stuff lmao.

The Judgment day has an interview backstage where Finn mentions he wants AJ in the Judgment Day. Also Damian just roasts the fuck out of Matt Riddle the whole time then evil laughs.

Sami and AJ Styles have a match against eachother where sami wins and after Judgment day comes out to talk to him but I can’t help but laugh that Dom gets scared by the pyro here. Finn tries to recruit AJ with a ‘too sweet’ AJ flips him off and damian has the reaction image of all time. TJD start beating AJ a ton but then spares him from the chair. 

Priest vs. Riddle(w). Damian lookin fine here ngl. As much as I hate Riddle him and Damian have a fuck ton of chemistry in the ring. That also means they’ll fuck eachother up. Love matches like this. STOP GIVING ME SO MANY CLOSE UPS I’LL GO FERAL! Lots of kickouts. Riddle wins via rollup on Damian. After the match TJD beats up riddle but then Edge saves riddle and then turns into william afton I guess. Edge challenges Finn to an I quit match. 

Raw 10/3/22. MY HOMETOWN!!! Judgment day starts off raw. Dom Dom finally seems more comfy with Rhea and TJD. The Judgment Day cut a little pre-match promo. Rhea really wore a suit in my hometown and I wasn’t there damn. LOL I love dom dom so much. During this promo Finn fucks up and he says “I was so mad I accidentally said last night.” Aj interrupts TJD.

Styles + Mysterio vs Finn + Damian(w). The match starts off with a brawl. Damian takes a nut shot but the ref doesn’t do anything, FIRE THE CORRUPT ANTI-TJD REFS! Rhea pulls Rey off the apron lol. Dom distracts Rey and then Rhea flattens him and now Rey is out of the match and Finn stomps AJ to win. After the match AJ gets mad at Rey and pushes him. And after that TJD attacks AJ. Edge has a little promo where he tries to be ‘real’ or whatever and he says he won’t quit.

Extreme Rules 10/8/22. Only one Judgment day match makes me sad.

Balor(w) vs Edge. (I quit match) The crowd is pretty dead for this match. Finn pulls edge into the apron and it's kinda funny I won't lie. So Finn has edge by the commentary table and there’s this guy screaming ‘you suck’ at Finn and then Finn slams edges head into the table over and over and after every time he does that the guy yells ‘you still suck!’. They fight in the crowd for a bit. Rhea handcuffs edge to the top rope lol. Rey comes to save Edge. Rey gets fucked up by Dom lol. Beth comes out to save edge and she has a kendo stick and Rhea gets in the ring with Beth and the crowd goes nuts. Poor Dom takes a nut shot from Edge. Mami knocks out Beth with brass knucks and then Priest chokeslams Edge which allows Finn to stomp on Edge 3 times. But Edge doesn’t say I quit. Rhea threatens to conchairto Beth and this finally makes edge say I quit but Rhea hits Beth with the chair anyways.

[datamodel-of-disaster]

Some thoughts about TTRPGs, and the ubiquity of DnD.

As someone who does not *love* DnD… it is still the only game I’ve tried with that particular vibe. And I don’t mean “medieval fantasy”.

I mean, an achievement fantasy underscored by mechanics built around an individual success-and-improvement narrative, with a large social component. (You win as a team, but you improve and grow as individual characters.)

This is mechanical, independent of what your DM may or may not put in the game.

Let me list it out.

DnD has no standard mechanics for detriments.

As much as there are possibilities for certain monsters and afflictions to permanently harm or alter a character against the player’s will, a DM has to actively choose to put those in their game, and even then there are typically ways to heal or fix them. In a typical game, there are no permanent, mechanically enforced negatives for your dude; no lingering injuries, no madness, no disabilities, etc.

Recovery mechanics are also simple and accessible (looking at you, Long Rest) and resources are not really set up to be scarce and/or a slog to track and ration.

(Mind you: I’m talking about mechanics that impose a permanent debuff or handicap on your character against your will as a feature of the game, not about playing a disabled character as your own choice.)

Simple, straightforward ability growth as a central mechanic.

DnD is almost entirely designed around characters becoming cooler and stronger over time. This ability growth is straightforward: no complicated skill tree system where you can get screwed over by your own suboptimal choices.

There is also no standard mechanic to lose abilities you’ve gained, nor is your degree of improvement every level left to chance. (The closest DnD comes to a chance mechanic in this area is rolling for HP, and even that’ll let you take average if you roll below). The game is set up to reward your character with ability growth just for continuing to play it.

Success narrative dominates.

The primary completion path in all DnD modules is “the characters win the day”. That’s what the game is about. And as much as some modules may try to subvert that with little bits of flavour text here and there, they’re doing so for show. The very manner a DM has to set up sessions is all about making the challenges appropriately levelled for the players to overcome. If you’re playing, you’re *supposed* to overcome the challenge. A game where everyone dies is not considered expected or desirable. And while a creative DM may occasionally set up an encounter the characters are expected to flee from… if it’s not telegraphed properly, the odds are they WILL die. Because the game is not set up for players to expect unbeatable challenges.

Significant character agency where it matters.

Agency is about more than just being able to make choices in-game. In DnD, you have the ability to make choices that feel situationally impactful. You’ll rarely have a situation where you consistently do everything “right”, roll well, and yet the enemy is entirely unaffected. Your abilities aren’t vague in power level or usefulness -even if you aren’t a particularly creative player, the stuff that’s on your character sheet that you can do is going to be at least moderately useful in most situations a typical game throws at you, even if applied with little finesse.

…

Like I said, I don’t *love* DnD. I’m not super sold on medieval fantasy to begin with, I’m pretty bad at basic number math (I have dyscalculia so this shit is hard for me), and I like supporting indie and less popular titles on principle.

But holy shit.

Can somebody tell TTRPG designers to please make a game that just lets me be cool and win at something?

I want to play a badass vampire! But in Vampire: The Masquerade, that’s kinda… Not Great. I want to be a faux-Victorian era paranormal investigator! But, ehm, Call of Cthulhu? Having my character die or go insane kinda sucks. I like scifi! But everything from Cyberpunk RED to the various iterations of Warhammer 40k RPG is bleak as fuck.

Mörk Borg? Dark and bleak. Candela Obscura? Dark and bleak. The Laundry? Dark and bleak.

(I’m not counting Pathfinder, as it’s basically just DnD with more math and a less straightforward character builder.)

I know I’m only scratching the very top surface of less ubiquitous TTRPGs here, but still. All these relatively well known and oft recommended titles completely fail to capture what makes DnD appealing to me -and I suspect, to many others.

In TTRPG spaces I often see people ask “Why modify and reskin DnD to be (insert aesthetic) if you can play (game designed in that aesthetic)?” And my answer is always the same. Because I want to have the DnD-style success experience, only with (cool aesthetic thing).

I want to play other games! I’m not hung up on medieval fantasy or the d20 system or spell slots or anything! I just… don’t want to play some bottom-feeding cannon fodder character in a Misery Simulator, engage with complex ethics as a game mechanic, run a one-person accountancy department to keep track of tons of scarce resources, have the other players as my de-facto opponents, be faced with challenges my character can’t do anything to overcome, invest hours into building a dude who gets offed in the first encounter, put my time in a game that progressively stacks detriments onto my character to shrink their success chances while the stakes keeps growing, etcetera etcetera.

Just, none of that edgy shit. Life’s plenty edgy already, I just want some easy escapism.

Anyway.

If anyone has recommendations for a TTRPG that sort of matches my list of requirements… I’m all ears. I like most stuff aesthetically tho I’m not super into either pirates or contemporary military as a theme. I also prefer games that don’t employ a gimmick (like jenga blocks, an hourglass, burning candles, etc).

[displacedentities]

Whatever happened to the mewtwo marshadow fusion guy??

Short and sweet answer?

I'm taking a hiatus from doing Pokemon comic stuff! ArtFight is also in play right now, so half my art spoons for the rest of July/early August are going to making art of cool characters. Additionally, my attention shifted back to Among Us, and with the amount of asks I've received for my precious Cyan bean (seriously holy cow!!), it will likely be there for a while c||

Longer, less kind and more emotionally blunt answer?

I lost a good amount of my motivation to do it, in no small part because it felt like- for lack of a better word- nobody really gave a shit? There's lots of Mewtwo and Mewtwo-related fusion blogs going around, so I think my stuff got lost in the fog. I know, I know, 'two cakes' and all that; but when you bring a cake to a party, and it feels like everybody else has someone enjoying their cake while yours gets ignored on the table, it sucks. That's not to say I'm entitled to people giving my blog any attention; hell, I jump hyperfixations all the time! And all those blogs are fantastic, I follow several and continue to enjoy the journey they've taken! They deserve every bit of credit to contributing a huge following and love for Pokemon and Mewtwo on Tumblr, it's a wonderful thing they're all doing. But to pour a substantial amount of time and effort into my own pieces over weeks and months, pushing myself to try and make full comic pages with backgrounds and challenging angles so I could improve... to be met with crickets? It really sucks, and takes an ice cream scoop out of your motivation every time someone passes it by. It feels like yelling into an open canyon, and hoping there's hikers down below who will yell something back to you. I just got unlucky, and haven't had any hikers in the canyon pass by. There's only so many times you can scream into the void and get silence before your voice grows hoarse and you stop trying.

I got more follower engagement telling funny stories with my Among Us bean in the first week than I did for the first month of making Pokemon comics. So, my spoons are going there for now- I'm simply enjoying it more right now!

I still have a story I badly want to tell, but I have to think about my own emotional wellbeing and ration my spoons promptly. I do still work a full-time STEM job, so priority must be given to work, but my art priorities on the side have temporarily shifted. Rest assured, I do plan to return to the comic I started one day- just not now c:>

[beardedmrbean]

[Huey Zoomer Anon]

For a love of…okay I ain’t saying they might been connection with lion king and Kimba in the early stages. A lot of people don’t understand many Disney animated movie stories can be in gestation period for a VERY long time. Frozen is the most infamous as I heard WALT HIMSELF worked on a extremely early version of it

Okay BP was pulling from TLK(black writers ain’t slick) but the thing is

EVERY FUCKING FEDUAL BASED SOCIETY HAVE AT LEAST ONE STORY ABOUT A USURPER AND THE RIGHTFUL HIER HAVING TO RECLAIM HIS BIRTHRIGHT

Hmmm, Horus vs Set is a good example buuut Isis did screw over Ra to force him to make Osiris the pharaoh. There are versions of Set being one of Ra’s Lieutenants so he was probably pissed with how he did have a chance to be chosen. Court politics baby!

Also about pop culture because the lines post you reblog…the writers were PULLING from classical literature. IE I heard Pokemon Mewtoo is heavily inspired by the phantom of the opera

Like one of the reasons why a lot of modern media writers don’t work because “classic literature is too bigoted and problematic!”

Aaaaw you learn that everyone is a by product of their society? Because believe me, a lot of progressives shit is going to age baaad?

But like fantasy, because their idea of fantasy =shit the boomers popularize.

They don’t want to use the Yoruba, the Mali, or other African kingdoms and empire as inspiration for their fantasy worlds

Also like someone I said if a black person don’t like MCU Wakanda, a McDonald’s version of African cultures, a coon

It like me with my black chimerians, I’m using the Massachusetts Regiment, Harriett Tubman, George Carver, Bass Reeves, Tuskegee Airmen, and even some of my family members as inspirations

But I notice it like “it wasn’t in the American pop culture or us shitty education system, than those cultures are worthless!” It VERY common among Hollywood modern writers these days

Like shit y’all only had McDonald’s growing up? Assassin Creed is pop culture (so I’m wondering how the hell shadows is revisioning history…please go away, the Templar Cross in ac lore is the fucking Mark of Cain) but it explores eras and such (while milking some when needed) that Hollywood isn’t too interested like the 9th century Baghdad or the Holy Roman Empire Witch Hunts which the 2026 games AC Hexe is seemingly going to be

Sorry…I’m just shocked about the lack of media literacy we got these days…

Also about pop culture because the lines post you reblog…the writers were PULLING from classical literature. IE I heard Pokemon Mewtoo is heavily inspired by the phantom of the opera. Like one of the reasons why a lot of modern media writers don’t work because “classic literature is too bigoted and problematic!”

Clueless that I mentioned last night was a retelling of Emma by Jane Austin, which was undoubtedly inspired by something else.

They don’t want to use the Yoruba, the Mali, or other African kingdoms and empire as inspiration for their fantasy worlds

Problem with this, as I've noted before, is that most people can't really differentiate the various ethnic and cultural groups in Africa, hell they have trouble with it in their own country, massive minefield where getting things wrong can generate way more negative press than you want

But I notice it like “it wasn’t in the American pop culture or us shitty education system, than those cultures are worthless!” It VERY common among Hollywood modern writers these days

The market creates what the buyers buy need to figure out how to get people to buy the good stuff, which can be a challenge for sure.

Especially with people that seem to want to tell us what we're supposed to enjoy. Nice to see it when that fails like mindy's sad attempt at Scooby Doo without Scooby.

[applin-bottom-jeans]

trying to reorganize my life for new years

through the power of agile brainrot i'm doing a new thing for time tracking and i kind of want to share it here (especially since i don't have a real update for pigeon-splice like i wanted)

so last year i tried to figure out organizational methods for the stuff i had in my life because my current system - writing down weekly todos and then breaking those into daily tasks - wasn't really working, both in the short term (large tasks that need to be done during the day get kicked, forever) and long term (no tracking for long term projects with deadlines)

but then two things happened

i read up on agile stuff

i got put on a better release type of my meds and holy shit i am less wiaefrjueiwahjfdeioswAFHeouihf (and then got put back on the old version because of a miscommunication between docs and then put back on the new version, more on that later)

I'm not a big fan of kanban because i feel like in card form seeing all of the cards you have in your queue gets extremely overwhelming, especially if you dont have a good way of organizing them by tag (so really, i just hate trello).

but scrum. im in a deep love-hate relationship with scrum. Here's my understanding of scrum, which may not be entirely accurate, with commentary -

Sprint - a length of time where work is measured, usually 2 weeks - no comment, perfect length of time, love that

scrum points - how much work you think a task will take, which will help determine the amount of work you have planned for a sprint - this can get ambiguous depending on the work you do. What happens if something goes wrong? What happens if you need more information and need more time? I understand that there are many tasks that you can learn to estimate well, but at what point is a bad estimation due to your performance or outside factors?

burndown chart - how many scrum points you estimated vs how many you've actually done - this helps with the issue with points and i think its good in theory but also i really don't want a chart of how poorly im doing thats easily accessible by someone higher up in the food chain who might want to decide who to lay off

Sprint planning - a meeting where you plan what will be in a sprint - great. no commentary.

standup - a meeting with your team every day to discuss what you're working on - introspection is good but why do i have to tell my entire team this information every single day. i have an anxiety disorder

sprint review - discussing how the sprint went and how much you got done - good, great

sprint retrospective - basically the same as the review but with vibes - not sure why this is a different meeting but ok

Basically i like the idea of scrum and i really like the philosophy of its work tracking but i feel like the implementation of it in a team turns it into glorified micromanagement. But this is for personal use? Seems good, lets try it out

This still doesn't really help solve the long term project problem but for that i organized the year into financial quarters, like a completely normal person.

So for every quarter this year, i'm planning on having a set of quarter wide goals (duration measured in a month or more), a sprint level goal (duration of days - weekish), and a daily goal (should be as simple as possible).

My general goals for the year is get better at art to the point where i'm finally happy with it, get through all the craft supplies i've accumulated through the years, do big stupid projects, and get healthier i guess. This quarter I'm working on a big BD2 project, a couple of sweaters, a few art challenges, and cleaning my apartment. In the end, my breakdown for this looks like this:

Q1:

Quarter-wide

* BD2 Project

* Two sweaters

* 3 art challenges

* Deep Clean apartment

* Ramp up back to exercising regularly

* Get 6 pages into the pokemon cross stitch project

* Get 2 haircuts (usually i get 1.5 every 3 months...)

Every sprint

* Run 4 times

* Make 1 good painting

* Make 1 practice painting (Q1 emphasis on portraits)

* Make 1 jewelry set (necklace, or earrings, or whatever)

* Buy food

* Clean out previously cleaned parts of the apartment

Every day

* Draw a bird (practice painting)

For this sprint I'm about to start, Bidoof (I named my sprints after dinky pokemon), I have the following specific goals which may intersect with the list above:

Ooblets Painting

Carpenters Close To You Practice Painting

Ahmed Aldoori's 100 head challenge

Clear out my closets

Make a fish pendant and lil anchor earrings

Page 2 of the pokemon cross stitch

Make squares for the current sweater i'm making

"Wtf is LSDJ" and beg people to listen to what i come up with

Get the music plan into LSDJ

And for any tasks that I didn't finish, they either

get kicked to the next sprint, in this case Carbink

get obliterated to hell

so i have the flexibility sometimes to push things off if they're not working out. i have already kicked out a lot of the LSDJ stuff because last week i had to go back on my old meds so i had to transition to old antidepressants and then transition back again to the new antipressants and my brain didn't like that. but its fine, we're fine. help

I then have a todo list i make for the day in the morning and i try to grab whatever i can from the goals list.

and yeah. i hope this helps getting my stuff together for this year. i already feel more on top of things but that might just be the antidepressants so

[infinitedungas]

ok so akram khan's production of giselle is cool as FUCK

i've seen other productions of giselle and always felt that for such a gut-wrenching story it was presented way too pretty and polished... this though??? fuck me, man. its grabbed my brain in a vice like grip and wont let go.

ramble under the cut but TL;DR everyone should watch this. 10/10, brutally efficient storytelling, ballet being legitimately scary, left me feeling hollow but in a good way like a tragic ghost story should

also if anyone else wants to watch it in the totally legal way that i did, lmk and i can provide means to do so

khan's choreography is incredible. ballet often takes something very physically challenging and makes it look floaty, effortless - a lot of the choreo here looks painful, or strained, or unnatural, and it works so so well. he's also brilliant at using the ensemble dancers to convey emotions and story beats - like the circle of dancers around giselle as she loses her mind, contracting like a muscle, almost like they're breathing so you really feel her overwhelming fear... then rolling like waves before swallowing her up entirely. in some productions giselle just kinda?? goes mad then drops dead?? but in this one, even without the rushing sea sounds at the end of act 1, it's clear she drowned herself. idk maybe this is basic stuff but as someone who sometimes struggles to follow the narrative in ballet without looking it up beforehand i really appreciate shit like this. it's really efficient and effective storytelling.

i also need to talk about the wili - when i saw giselle as a kid i didn't get that they were meant to be angry spirits, but here you can't fucking miss it. they're terrifying. gliding out en pointe in ragged dresses and wild, untied hair, in this really eerie regimented symmetry, crossing the stage in lines that weave in and out and make the dancers look incorporeal, like they're phasing through each other. and the sticks. the STICKS. the wili have weapons, the threat is established from the outset and stays present the whole time they're on stage. banging the sticks in time, using them to direct others' movements, it's like a nod to the interpretation of a stern ballet teacher or headmistress in horror stories (the movie suspiria comes to mind) and i love every minute of it.

also can we talk about the costume and set design? i already mentioned the wili but what i really love about the costumes and sets is how hard they drive home the focus on the class divide. the way albrecht's shirt is tucked in neatly, that tiny difference in costume marking him out from the rest of the town right away and telegraphing the reveal later on. the towering wall in the background with grasping handmarks from the townspeople who'll never scale it but forever keep trying. the moment when it lifts up and you see the silhouette of the nobles, in these lavish, exaggerated costumes (the duchess' dress!!! holy shit costume designer great job!!!!) in stark contrast to the townspeople's simple dresses and tunics.

also the SCORE. THE SCOOOOORE. some of it's really different / stripped back from the original and it really works for the stark environment it's set in. there's more than enough of the original music to be recognisable but even then there are often these kind of industrial sounding undertones that keep you on edge the whole way through. the wili dancing hilarion to death is my favourite though - the clockwork ticking alongside the drumbeat of the sticks on the floor is some frankly excellent horror scoring.

the commitment to making the story look and feel gut-wrenching, unforgiving, horrifying in places, sums up what i love about it i guess. i've seen classical ballet productions approach the darker parts of their stories in a big, bombastic, ooh-listen-to-the-brass-section-isn't-this-scary way before, but this so different. this is the first time i've seen a ballet production be quietly sinister and looming and horrifying and brutal.

i'm sure other productions of other shows have managed it (from a cursory look at akram khan's other work this seems to be his specialty) but it was a new one on me and frankly it blew my fucking face off.

[miraakulous-cloud-district]

Hello Ravvy!!! Some questions for you, if I may! 1. Which is/are your favorite musical instrument(s) to play?

2. Which was the very first song you performed in a tavern?

3. What is the first thing you usually notice about a person?

4. Which is the worst, worst, experience of your life?

5. When and under which circumstances did you feel happier than you would ever be?

Link to the ask game.

Hiiiii! 🔮🔮🔮🪄🪄🪄🌟⚓️🤝👹🥤🧃🍻🍻🍉🐸🦎🎤🎮🎼🎵🎙🎉✨️🧨🧹

I just want to start by saying thank you for your constant support. Your comments on my story are so heartwarming and you supporting me even though I'm sometimes an asshole is so overwhelming! I'm trying really hard to work on myself but it's difficult... Alright enough sappyness, time to answer questions!

1. I LOVE A GOOD MUSIC QUESTION!! Uhhh, I love all instruments, each of them is perfect for different types of songs. The drum was the first instrument I learnt how to play, so there's sentimental value there. The piano also has sentimental value, because it reminds me of how me and Hjaldir carried a big-ass piano across the city to The Emerald Bar (the tavern where we lived) because I wanted to learn how to play. But right now, my favourite instrument to play is the hurdy gurdy! It's so complex and actually a bit challenging for me. And not to mention how fucking cool it looks and sounds! AND THE VIOLIN, HOLY SHIT! So many songs go well with the violin, it's basically mandatory for any bard, same as the lute. Lucky for me, I made a spell to conjure spectral lutes and violins. Life got in the way, but once I'm done with all this... prophecy thing, I want to make spells to conjure almost every instrument!

2. I don't remember, to be completely honest. Might have been 'Brave little scrib' or a shanty. But I remember performing the first song I ever wrote like it was yesterday! Ah, I'm going to get emotional with this one, too, but it was the first time performing an original song! It was a big thing for me! Long story short, I saved a cliff racer once, took him at the tavern and cared for it for a few days. He hurt his wing. Endryn had no idea about this! I sneaked the cliff racer in my room! I only told Hjaldir about it and he helped me with him. I named him Sam, after a character in a book I really like. He was super sweet and determined to get better so it was... fitting. But eventually, he got better, and an attic room (a cool attic room, at that) is no place for a cliff racer. As much as I loved him, I had to set him free. "If you really love him, you have to let him go. We cannot be selfish. We must think of his life. I'm sure he loves you back, but he needs to live his own life. If you love someone, you have to think about what's good for them. And sometimes, that means letting them go. That means letting them spread their wings and fly to their own life." That's what Hjaldir told me that day. I learnt a valuable lesson then. So I hugged him one last time and went to the nearest hill and let him go. I cried so much *she laughs*. To cheer me up, Hjaldir invented this whole story about Sammy being a bartender in the cliff racer world and wanting to explore more, but being stuck at his job. A pretty good comparison! And then we wrote this song together! And the first time we performed it, we got a standing ovation at the tavern! *she sighs* Ah, how I love that song and that memory. My author says that I shouldn’t have said that yet, but whatever. *jazz hands* Spoiler alert, or whatever...

3. The eyes, I guess. I mean I see the other more obvious stuff, like hair or body, but it's important to look at someone's eyes, you know? The eyes say it all. Well... almost. But you can tell a lot about someone by the way their eyes look and react to stuff. And if they're big and sparkly and earthy and kind and they get small wrinkles at the corners of their eyes when they laugh... *sighs dreamily but snaps back to reality really quick* yeah, sorry about that. Bottom line is, eyes ate really important. And I *will* look you directly in the eyes when talking to you, that's a threat!

4. Worst? Why would you want to know that? *avoids eye contact as memories of Teldryn coming back badly injured from a job eneter her mind. Memories of getting lost in Vivec and suspicious guards refusing to help her. Visions of conjuring her first storm atronachs and making a mistake in casting the spell, resulting in them attacking her and her teenage self being terrified and thinking she was going to die. Memories of always being afraid that Hjaldir would leave them behind one day and go back to pirating. And finally, memories of finding the lifeless body of Endryn, being possessed by rage and vengeance, becoming a shell of who she used to be, leaving in search of the Dark Brotehrhood, thinking about killing people for the first time in her life, and actually killing people, memories that still haunt her. She shakes her head as if to shun those thoughts away*. I guess... bad hangovers? Everyone hates those, right? There was this one time I woke up after the New Life festival, and as soon as I sat up, I started spewing. I'm talking about violent jets of... you know. Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom. Bad memories, you know?

*several minutes later, after some self convincing that the next question is one that conjures good memories*

5. Sorry about that. Nature calls and all that. Happier than I would ever be? I don't know, really. I try to be happy and greatful for what I have all the time. I don't know how much time I have left... so I suppose I shouldn’t spend it being sad and depressed. I want to say a big "fuck you" to this ugly world by having the best time that I can. My friends help a lot too. I don't know what I would do without them...

Hopefully, I've answered these well. Sorry for zoning out a couple of times, I tend to do that. *she smiles at you* Just know that I am always looking forward to seeing your messages and comments on my adventures💖💖💖💗💓💝💞💘💗💓🙊👻⚘️🌷🌸💮🍓🌟🌘🏅🎉🎁🎊🏴‍☠️

*Author's note: please excuse her overuse of emojis, she is very excited about them.

[thoughtsofadyingsoftwaredev]

I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it

Hello once again, tumblr! I somehow remembered this thing exists before another full year passed. I know, I know - I also find it very surprising. I'm sure since my last post many things have happened that I'm not thinking of. Uhh, I know recently we've been making our backyard a more habitable place - by that I mean making a built-in firepit, adding some edging stones and filling that area with pea gravel, and getting a canopy swing for that space. It's been hard but very rewarding work, and it is almost finished. Outside of that, things have mostly been the same. Work is the same - still work, so not like it's my first choice of things to do, but I do enjoy the challenges and puzzles that present themselves as a part of my occupation. The good thing about not working for some FAANG company or other public company like that is the lack of pressure. Like, yeah, I still have 2-week sprints and adhere to the whole Agile manifesto. And I also always complete the work I commit to. But even in times where perhaps I don't complete or something else comes up, there is very little pressure or negative consequences as a result, and that is a breath of fresh air. That and being able to stop at 40 hours* (*TYPICALLY. Can sometimes go over depending on where I'm at headspace-wise) Personal life stuff is all good and locked down, no issues there. My interest in music has been growing - I found myself getting a copy of Ableton and a small MIDI keyboard to tinker with, and have found it to be therapeutic to explore some different sounds and chord progressions to put to some simple beats/bass lines. Oh, and I went to a concert for the first time in awhile! The last time I went to one, I believe, was for Buckethead. Since then, I had also started listening to TWRP, due to their presence in NSP's stuff. When I first started listening to them, Together Through Time was their latest album. Apparently, that was six fucking years ago?! Time as a concept is just so wild and insane to think about. I know other TWRP albums have been released since then, because I listened to them as they came out, but it never fully clicked for me that this meant that Together Through Time was no longer considered a "recent" release. ANYWAYS, when I saw they released Digital Nightmare, I of course dove right in and holy shit, what an excellent album. It really does feel like such a maturation of that classic TWRP sound. The lyrics are super feel-good, the chord progressions and rhythms are tight and super funky. The bass is booming, but with such purpose to it. The guitar rips exactly where it's meant to and shows restraint at just the right times. I love being able to hear a band evolve and become more "refined" over time, and you get all of that and more in spades with Digital Nightmare. That being said, I absolutely knew I had to see them in person. And I did! I took my wife and went to a show (as VIPs), and had an absolute blast! Nelward opened the show, and despite never hearing of him before, I was super impressed and now have him on my radar! Trey Magnifique, well, that's an "If you know, you know" situation if I've ever heard of one lol. And of course TWRP kicked all of the asses. Their pre-show was also wonderful. Perhaps most surprising to me, as a long-time Tup Tup first time tour attender, was how nice the crew was. I had spoken with Dylan online as I was interested in TWRP signing one of my guitar backplates. As an aside: I didn't want to lug my entire instrument to a show due to fear of it being stolen. Plus, I didn't want to be an obnoxious fan trying to force the group to sign this heavy instrument out of fear of obligation or some silly shit like that. So I just grabbed my backplate and slapped it in my pocket, perfect solution! Anyways, I messaged Dylan about it online and asked if the group even did signings or stuff like that, and he was more than helpful in every way, basically saying to just drop it off with him before the show starts and he'd try to have them sign it.

It would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to just not do it, say he tried, and give it back. But that crazy motherfucker actually was able to get it done, and I am now the proud owner of Fender Strat WITH the signatures of all the TWRP folks. Massive respect to Dylan and TWRP for that, because as a fan, I'll never forget how awesome it was to have that happen. And I think that's about it from me for now. I think I have some other thoughts swirling around, but right now I mainly want to go do some other stuff, so I'll leave it at this for now.

[i-hold-horrors-hand]

I'd like your favorite instrumental track pls

Oooh....I can't pick just one lol. Here's 10, in no particular order.

1) Star Trek: TNG theme. It hits me right in the nostalgia (I started watching it when I was 11), and it's just very "spacey" and curious and lovely. Every time I hear it, I feel excited to seek out new life and civilizations and to boldly go where no one has gone before.

2) Hawaii Five O theme (reboot version). Not only because I enjoyed the show, but because every. Single. Time. I hear it. I get fucking PUMPED. Feel READY to take on the DAY as well as ANY CHALLENGE. Like, if I still used alarms to get myself up, I'd use this song. It's got this tone that promises ACTION and ADVENTURE and EXCITEMENT.

3) The main title from Beetlejuice. It just SLAPS. It starts off a little intriguing and spooky, then the "Daylight come and me wan go hoooome" (that doesn't make it not an instrumental though. I said so) that gets a little melancholy at the end. Then it builds TENSION. And keeps building then OOH THE CLIMAX AND THE CHORUS/CHOIR/WHATEVER that ADDS to the SPOOKINESS. Then it comes down a bit then...done. Sort of feels like a rollercoaster of a song, kinda. Also that oboe(?) just fucking GETS me and I love it! Danny Elfman can do no wrong, musically.

4) Lux Aeterna from Requiem for a Dream. I've yet to see this movie, but this song? Oh my god. It starts off sad, then it gets depressing. Then it feels like everything is spiralling out of control around you, and you're helpless to stop it. Helpless to stop yourself from falling into despair and melancholy insanity. You're losing your footing, you're losing your mind, you're losing everything. Everything is terrible. And all you can do is watch it happen. The final moments are the audio equivalent of completely and utterly giving up on your life. Absolutely POWERFUL stuff. Don't listen to it when you're feeling psychologically vulnerable, though. Too dangerous.

5) If I Had Words by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, from the Babe soundtrack. In addition to being nostalgic for me (I fucking LOVED this movie as a kid, and I still have the VHS tape somewhere), it's just such a nice song. It starts off gentle and even hopeful, then gets stronger, staying happy and chipper the whole time, even as it gets more strong and dramatic. Then it reaches a crescendo and calms down a bit, still retaining the good mood and tone, and even feeling a bit triumphant at the end. It's like a sunrise, happy and eventful day, then a sunset. Lovely.

6) In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt. Like many people, I've not heard the entire "soundtrack" or even watched a production of the play, but I have heard this song. Classic "tip-toeing around the place" music. Starts off sounding like we're being sneaky, careful, and not getting caught. Then it slowly starts going to shit, and we're bumping into stuff and making noise and oh fuck oh shit. Then we're caught, and we're in trouble, and well. Fuck. Oops. But in an amusing and upbeat way.

7) Dies Irae from Wolfgang motherfucking Amadeus Mozart. It's dramatic. It's religious. It's ominous. When you hear this, you KNOW some shit is about to go down (or already going down). This is peak "oh fuck, we're in trouble (but aesthetically~)" music. Also it's not really an instrumental, but I don't care. I'm including it because it's iconic and it slaps.

8) The prologue/opening (Sunrise) from Also Sprach Zarathustra. It's iconic, because of Kubrick, true. But! It's also very cool on its own. It starts out quiet then suddenly DRAMATIC and STRONG. It gives you the feeling of witnessing something very significant, something very big. Like, a new discovery of some kind. It gives you a moment to bask in the awe it inspires in you, then lets you down elegantly and lets you process what you've just experienced and witnessed. Excellent stuff.

9) Ride of the Valkyries from Richard Wagner. Holy shit. There's a reason this has been used so much. Starts off like THE CALVARY IS COMING. GET FUCKING READY BITCH. Then the calvary is HERE motherfucker. Look the FUCK out. And then there's clashing, and FIGHTING, and BATTLES AND WAR. Then TRIUMPH when the calvary fucking wins. The DRAMA. The EXCITEMENT. Richard Wagner himself was a racist and antisemite, but his music fucking SLAPPED and he can't profit off it anymore or gatekeep it because he's dead as fuck. We can reinterpret it and reimagine it and he can't do shit about it.

10) Beethoven Virus by Ludwig van Beethoven & Diana Boncheva & BanYa. It's Classical meets modern. And done EXTREMELY well. The energy NEVER tires, even when it changes for a bit, it just keeps up the whole time. It makes me think of an epic swordfight taking place in various rooms in a castle, one swordfighter chasing the other around the place, and one gets the upper hand BUT THEN. The other one gets their second wind, and keeps fighting. Then the dramatic end, where one swordfighter wins and ends things with a flourish. Fuck yeah.