#i love the music cackles

[unknownarmageddon]

final stretch; only a handful left now

YOO rad dude hell yeah

[lucraven]

Even Cahara agrees

[elvenbeard]

Two corpos walk into a bar and sass each other... You won't believe what happens next!

In this particular scenario it's Vince, who is only just learning to exist outside the corporate world again, looking for some fun at a bar he knows he won't run any ex-coworkers into. And then there's @lokiina's Midas, also looking for a good time, and least of all at Totentanz he probably expected a verbal instead of a physical clapback to his teasing >:3c

Thank you so much for letting me borrow Midas, I think these two are very bad for each other, but they'd also really vibe xDD

[starmocha]

Monsta X's WHO DO U LOVE? but it's just Xavier talking about Lumiere/himself

Who do you love? Is it him or me? 'Cause I can't take the pressure anymore Who do you love? Girl, it's killin' me If you can't say that I'm the one for sure Then I'm walkin' out the door

[givemeanaccountalready]

Musings on Deep Cover

So, I was fiddling with my ladies of Milgram post, and uh, I started thinking about Kotoko's diss track.

The lyrics transcribed on the Deep Cover video are:

UNDER Doltish 001 Parasite / UNDER Obscene 002 Slut / UNDER Incessant 004 Phony Queen / UNDER Doomed 005 Dissection Pawn / UNDER Concealing 007 Deceiver / UNDER Inept 011 Guard

My favorite is Ninjastic Cheetah's fan edit on YouTube which has these lines:

UNDER A worthless 01 parasite / UNDER A vulgar 02 slut / UNDER A stubborn 04 perjury / UNDER Unsalvageable 05 dissection / UNDER Lying 07 madman / UNDER Unloved 11 prison guard

Again, I love the psychic damage of "unloved" being Es's insult, but that's not the point I want to discuss before I turn in for the night.

Don't get me wrong. I love the diss track. I really do, but if I were Kotoko, I would have gone for the jugular and called out their insecurities when dropping names to emphasize how little I thought of how their justifications:

UNDER Fatal 001 leech / UNDER Lonely 002 little girl / UNDER Whiny 004 usurper / UNDER Short-sighted 005 savior / UNDER Selfish 7 manipulator / UNDER Misguided 011 pretender

Now, as fun as that was, this wasn't just a little aside. In Kotoko's diss track, she doesn't say anything that couldn't have been picked up from listening to voice dramas (if Kotoko did in fact eavesdrop on all the other prisoners' interrogations) or found within the timeline conversations. In their second trial interrogations, Yuno admits to being a sex worker and having an abortion, while Kazui laments the fact that he's lived his entire life as a liar and states that he should have kept lying for Hinako's sake. Shidou agrees with Es that his murders involved his work as a doctor and hints that pressuring families to donate the organs of their brain-dead loved ones wasn't the only murder he's done. I've kind of said it before when I said "Local man discovers empathy," but I think he pushed patients to undergo risky, new surgeries in hopes that it would treat their conditions, and it was only when his wife and two boys were in the hospital that he realized the terror those families felt when their loved ones went under the knife. Haruka admitted to killing things smaller than him to gain his mother's attention and his unhealthy dependence on approval from his "mother" figures is obvious in the second trial. Muu contradicts herself a lot when defending herself from what she perceives to be abuse and preens under the positive attention Haruka gives her. She does seem to think herself above approach like a queen would. With Es? I think it was Kazui who said it best back during the first trial: the only difference between Es and the prisoners are the roles assigned. Undermining their authority and implying they can't do their job is a surefire way to piss off Es. Why do I bring this up?

I think Kotoko may know less than we and Es do.

Mainly because it hasn’t really been explained how the song extraction device works. We know that it pulls memories from an individual’s subconscious and turns them into a musical number. We know that the in-universe explanation for the time gap between trial songs is that it needs to charge between uses. That’s stuff Jackalope told us back in the Welcome to Milgram video. From the voice dramas, we know the general procedure is that a prisoner is called to the interrogation room, Es arrives late as a power move and then interrogates the prisoner until the bell sounds and we can hear machines or something whirring and clanking in the background. Since it’s an audio, we don’t know what the interrogation room looks like before and after the bell tolls, but there seems to be an implication that the room changes and that the prisoners are belted into the chair. I’m not so sure if the chair is real but the first trial voice dramas have me an implication of the prisoners being restrained in some way.

If I had to guess, I would say that the round, bird cage like room we saw in Undercover and Deep Cover is the interrogation room. That would explain what the circular room on the map is (not the one with the numbered cells, the one opposite of that). Undercover implies that the song extraction device opens up to work, but we’re not told or shown how it pulls memories or how it depicts the music video. Es and the prisoner may very well be “asleep” while this process plays out mentally. Or it is projected somewhere within the interrogation room while the prisoner is “asleep” since none of them seem to remember what happens after the bell rings.

I have a thousand questions on how this device works. The only important one is how are the songs shown to Es, because if Kotoko knew exactly what some of the first trial Innocent prisoners had shown in their videos (namely, Haruka strangling his younger self and clearly bludgeoning something to death with a bloody rock, and Muu stabbing Rei), she most likely would have judged Es’s verdicts as faulty and attacked the prisoners based on how she views the crimes rather than relying on Es's verdict. I say this with confidence, because Kotoko has made it clear that her vigilante actives, both in Milgram and before, are a way for her to inflict punishment that others (namely the justice system) won’t dole out to the guilty. She has no problem with skirting the system to do that.

But, if the songs are only shown to Es and Es alone through some kind of mental link, then Kotoko is forced to take Es’s word on what they (and we, the audience) saw. Deep Cover made it clear that Es's refusal to condemn more prisoners is what ticked Kotoko off, since she sees mercy and compassion as weaknesses to be eliminated. Kotoko actually showed a remarkable amount of restraint when trying to sway Es back to her side. It wasn't until Es stood up to Kotoko that she lost her composure.

It also would partially explain why some say that Deep Cover is Kotoko’s musical version of a resume for the warden position. If there is stuff that Es knows that she isn’t privy to because of their warden position, then she needs to obtain either the warden status or an official deputy position to get that information to further influence how Es votes. If she is proving her worth to Es and Milgram, why wouldn’t her subconscious show her desire to be in control the way Es is?

[its-a-hare-pom-pom]

I was talking to someone about Starkid and I was talking about Jeff Blim but I forgot his surname but I didn’t realise I didn’t know his surname. I said Jeff Goldblum was my favourite actor in the Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals. Completely seriously. MY FRIEND DIDNT EVEN CORRECT ME

[politemagic]

Dominic Fike mention!!! Em stop having excellent taste in music I'm already in love with you what more do you want

TONEE!!!!!

i love dominic fike sm. like the vibe of wcpgw is just 😚🤌🏼

you have impeccable taste in music AS WELL lovely!!!!!! i feel like our tastes vibe quite well together <3

[distant-velleity]

give love, vague ill love, mad ... !

[personaglitch]

I wasn't prepared for this man's name to be Robert E.O. Speedwagon.

[unknownarmageddon]

today’s hozierrr!!!!

YEAHHH hozier time!!!!!

[iffeelscouldkill]

It's taken me nearly two weeks (sorry!! XD) but here we go! I was tagged by @apollo-cackling to press Shuffle on my listening playlist and list the first ten songs.

I had to think about what playlist to use for this, since there could be a few, but decided to go with my Recently Played playlist on Windows Media Player, which is my go-to for listening to something on my laptop (and is more up-to-date than some other playlists I might dip into).

1. Fear For the Storm (Full Cast Version) - this doesn't have just one artist credit, so I'm going to copy the whole thing from Bandcamp: Vocals by Cindy Chu, Ishani Kanetkar, Jamie Price, and Brittony LeFever. Mixed by Erin S. Lyrics and chords by Jessica Best, arrangement by Jamie Price. I wrote a whole fic recently having feelings about this song, so I'll let that stand in for any commentary XD

2. Y (BS Style) - ND Lee: we are going to get some niche ones on here because I recently went through a whole spate of listening to DJMAX music, heh. This is a song from the rhythm game franchise DJMAX, and it's a lot of fun.

3. White Flag - Dido: I can't remember why but Dido's name popped up somewhere and I felt nostalgic and listened to this. It's still really fun to sing along to (it's squarely in my singing range and has some bits that you can really belt out. "AND YOU WILL THINK... THAT I'VE MOVED OOOOOOOOOON-")

4. Keys to the World (Extended Version) - Planetboom: Another DJMAX song that's been stuck in my head a lot lately, so I've been hammering it on repeat. I like the lyrics!

5. Rocket Science - Tin Can Audio: This is the Starship Iris end credits song from season 1 episode 10 onwards. It still gives me season 1 finale feelings 😍

6. A Normal Life - Marianas Trench: Still REALLY OBSESSED WITH THIS SONG and the lyric video for it. I actually wrote a fic about this one, too!

7. Head & Heart - Joel Corry feat. MNEK: Just a pop song that I enjoy!

8. Wings of Time - Tame Impala: Ah, D&D: HAT. Speaking of end credits music: this is the credits music for Honor Among Thieves, and I still love it!

9. 황성제 Project 슈퍼히어로 3rd Line Up - First Kiss - Sunny: Technically this is still DJMAX music, but it's a pop cover by American-Korean pop artist Sunny. I love both the original and this cover, which is delightfully upbeat and well, sunny xD

10. my ex's best friend - Machine Gun Kelly: This is one of the songs on the playlist for an origfic I wrote recently, whichhhh I will be posting some more about in a little while, but 🤐 for now! And it's a good fun song with some excellent guitar.

[queer-crusader]

okay separate post about Will Turner because i love him actually

my man throws his sword twice in this film. Once to block off Jack's exit during their fight in the workshop, and once to save his life at the gallows. This man is a SPECTACULAR swordsman (and during that fight in the 'shop? When Jack tests his skill? it feels less out of curiosity and more sort of mentor-y. I think that's the most truly captain-like we've seen Jack, but that's about Jack, not Will. Still, love that moment). But MORE than that, he is a good man and a good pirate.

His whole arc gets put into a few simple words by Jack:

"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do, and what a man can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that someday."

Throughout the film we go from Will seeing absolute red at the mere mention of pirates, furiously trying to kill Jack and dispute the fact that his father was anything else than a merchant sailor, to who he is by the end of it. We see him in the brig of the Pearl with the other crew members as he asks them about his father, and when Pintel and Ragetti tell him Bill never felt comfortable with the mutiny and sent off the treasure because he believed they all deserved to be and remain cursed, and Mr Gibbs called him a good man... His face lights up. Because now he knows for a fact Bill Turner was a pirate and a good man. He had principles that he stood by. And it helps Will to accept the same duality within him

There's also the whole class difference between him and Elizabeth and Norrington that i think is so fascinatingly written. Will knows he is of lesser standing and cannot afford to step outside of it ("How many more times must i tell you to call me Elizabeth, Will?" "At least once more, miss Swan. As always." "...Good day then, Mr Turner") while Elizabeth is more brash and outspoken towards him, especially after her dream that transported her back to her ten-year-old self. He behaves like a gentleman (because he is a good man, but also because he has to), but as the film is set in motion, his frustrations at being overlooked and ignored due to his standing despite his heart and skill start to shine through. When Elizabeth is taken, he bursts into Norrington's tactical meeting to retrieve her, telling them all his plans aren't good enough when Norrington responds drily and with this unwavering reason in his voice, and slams a hatchet into the map. Norrington takes him aside and, now with strain shining through in his voice, reminds Will to please remember he is not the only man present who cares for Elizabeth (referring to both himself and the governor, her father, who is also present).

Norrington later calls him rash for acting when the Navy was working on a plan, which does track - Will is rash. But it does make me think if that rashness and the outbursts are supposedly a sign of the fire of piracy in his blood, or also a representation of his class and the effect that it has on him for being treated constantly as lesser than when he in truth measures up so well. He has to fight for everything dear to him. But that fire and passion of course do remain even when he finally gets to be with Elizabeth and no longer has to fight for her. Anyway, all that to say that my man has heart. And i love him very dearly

[paddysnuffles]

Are You Checking Me Out or Are You Just a Racist (one of the greatest songs of our age!)

[mugmegan]

I just went and watched the miraculous movie because I am the simple art nerd that I am and cant resist pretty looking movies no matter what they are about and frankly... it isnt as bad as anyone says.

I saw people say pacing was a problem but I dont think it was that noticable of a thing. There were some really fast cuts here and there but it wasnt a consistent thing throughout the movie. You can comfortably enjoy the pacing for the most of it in my opinion. Plus, there were a lot of other scenes that let the moment breathe and had a good direction to them. I enjoyed the moments where the camera just focused on things and let them move.

Other than that this was a pretty feel good/simple movie that doesnt aspire to be anything of a masterpiece so dont expect it to change your life or whatever (and review it like you would some pixar movie, dont even bother to talk about character development, plot progression, themes etc. it doesnt matter) and I think it isnt hard to have a good time with it if you like cheesy animated movies. I certainly found a lot of things to enjoy about it.

Like yes. It was pretty as hell. Wow. There are some scenes where the animation gets especially SUPER pretty more than it already is. And they save it for good occasions. If I could spend an hour praising this movie and 50 minutes of it would be talking about lightning and textures probably. Also the animation was cartoony strecthy which is so fun.

Also also the magical stuff was nice. The kwamis were quirky little creatures and the jewels had their little tricks and stuff. It must have been fun to animate them.

The movie overall had a really fun cartoony, whimsical feel to it which is something the mlb franchise just has I guess. I really like that about it. And the jokes were nice.

My only real complaint would be that it throws around A LOT OF "motivational" phrases that dont actually mean anything and expects them to stick (they dont).

my Not Real but personal complaint is that I hate Cat Noir.

I am The Number One Cat Noir Hater on this site. This is now a Cat Noir hate account.

Dont debate me on this. This is personal. I hold the right to be petty.

That is all.

[msommers]

spends a single minute thinking about the joining ritual coming up in the vigilant game

[fire-breathing-pain-in-the-neck]

Losing my mind how at the end of Shrek the Musical, after Fiona has her kiss with Shrek and she has her whole transformation moment

Shrek is like: 🥺 I’m…your true love? 🥺

And Fiona just goes: Yeah, I know 😃