#i need a soundbite of it tbh

[piescreemking]

"I will not be complicit in the illicit use of ill-gotten booty."

-Our autistic, powerful, babygirl Paladin, Xenk Yendar

(the way Regé sells this line is just *chef's kiss*, his deadpan delivery kills me.)

[thebuttsmcgee]

it's a bit soon but I got the sonic mindrot flowing through my veins as much as blood so here's my ideas/wishlist for DLC for Sonadow Generations! Granted, this is all VEEERY wishful thinking, I doubt even a fraction of it could happen if sega and sonic team even choose to do dlc support at all outside of updated specs and the like. But I just wanted to give my two cents.

Here's the prev stages that were in 3DS Sonic Generations, unfortunately missing in SXSG so far. I think they could easily come back tho.

Here are some titles that were missing from OG Gens' catalog of stages, 4 being games after Gens' og release and CD here because no rep other than the Metal rival fight. Brand new stages could come from these! Boom is also there with a bit of a questioning stance because while this game is supposed to be a love letter to the franchise....it's Boom. I'm not too sure how well it'd be received. It would be funny tho and that's what matters.

Boss and Rival fights!!! Giganto is between Modern Sonic and Shadow's sides because it could probably go either way since the Frontiers' level was in Shadow's story rather than Sonic's as added dlc. Small note but I think Jet, the Hooligans, and Emerl fit the bill for being labeled as Rivals while the rest are straight up Bosses.

Costumes/Cosmetics/Skins!!!!!! A low-poly SA2 Shadow skin is vital and missing unfortunately from SXSG and it's needed. The third is to show possible outfits taken from some of sega's other protags in game franchises. The link and Mario hat cosmetics would be switch exclusive ofc tho.

One final note that's related to the skins,

To coincide with the movie shadow skin voiced by some famous guy or whatever, a Movie! Sonic skin voiced by the star of the movies' Ben Schwartz would be so cool! He obvs couldn't voice the actual story of the game, but a mini stage with small dialogue and general soundbites for actions just like movie Shadow's skin would do! Plus, I'm sure Ben Schwartz would agree to it with how much he loves the franchise!!! It'd also be exclusive to Modern Sonic but let's be honest, oh well.

That's mostly it! Tbh, as I said, not expecting even a third of these to come true but I like being hopeful if I can. Who's to say?

[lucienarcheron]

HOFAS Thoughts and Review!

This is also my review on Goodreads. Naturally, this is full of spoilers so proceed with caution!

4 star read!

This was a wild ride from start to finish. I found that you jumped right into the action and it literally didn't stop. The crossover with ACOTAR was very info-dump but I didn't mind since a) I don't remember anything lol and b) we needed to make the connection. I really loved seeing Nesta and Azriel in this different element. Given the timeline between ACOSF and HOFAS being about 3 months, I loved that Azriel and Nesta now know how to fight together and Nesta is so in touch with her powers. I love seeing how their friendship has bloomed.

Bryce is a menace and will forever be one. She's one of Sarah's MCs I relate to the least and therefore needed to warm up to her more. I found that in this book, I could despite a lot of her arrogant moments that will rub people the wrong way. I love Quinlar's love but didn't appreciate that she minimized Hunt's reaction to basically reliving much of his trauma with the first war. I'm glad she apologized and got to the point of understanding him but it left a little meh of a taste. The ending scene where he goes after her had my heart in pieces!! Through love, all is indeed possible and I love they were always with each other through it all.

Bryce basically being the High Lady of Dusk and controlling the land was amazing! I loved seeing those scenes. Saitha being the one to kneel first, declaring her as queen? Loved that. The two fae kings dying an awful death? Fabulously done! Hunt mf Althar removing his own slave halo and then removing Isaiah's while calling out that governor lady on her shit??? ADORE! Jesiba's everything in this book? I salute you, queen! Sabine's death??? The Under-King's death??? Literally had me gasping so much.

Ruhn my love, you will always be the Crown Prince of the Fae and that soundbite will always be on repeat every time I see your name lol.

Ruhn x Lidia's romance fell very flat to me. I love Ruhn and hated everything he had to go through but Lidia's character felt out of left field for me. I expected better/different? We find out out of NOWHERE that she's a mom of twins and suddenly, that's her whole personality. She went from this badass agent to everything being about her kids. There is NOTHING WRONG with her being a mother but why couldn't she be a mother AND care about the cause because it's the right thing to do? This was a missed opportunity in my opinion. I also felt like this was very self-insert of Sarah being a mom to have to include another character having kids. The constant talk about all these traumatized idiots having babies is getting on my last fucken nerves tbh. They have a million years to live so can we, I don't know, let them LIVE for five seconds without the absolute need to "start a family"? Let them go to therapy damn it. Sarah constantly writes about how awful it is that fae are obsessed with breeding and whatnot, yet every single of one her characters talks about babies...pls sarah, I beg. Give me ONE otp that doesn't have children. I know she's a HEA author which is what I love about her and her romances but it doesn't always have to end with kids and I just wish we'd see that more. Ruhn and Lidia did not strike me as characters who would be parents at all but now, Ruhn is a stepdad to the Hind's secret twins? It's very weird to me but I hope maybe down the line, we get to see Lidia realize that she is a whole person outside of being a mom. Aside from all that, the rescue scene was amazing. I loved seeing her destroy that asshole she had to endure and I just want to say, Aelin would be cheering mad hard at her for it! It felt like Lidia's fire abilities, the stag relation, and her son's name were all a nod to TOG and I loved that.

As for all the other characters, I really enjoyed seeing Ithan come into his own even though my guy was making mad stupid decisions along the way. His moment with Connor will always have my heart! l also loved the little bits of Ithan and Perry so much! Tharion my love, you will always be famous for making the most desperately dumb decisions before passing that one brain cell you have to Ithan but you know what? Sathia is going to be great for him and I ship it with my whole chest. Ari was wasted in this book and her ungrateful attitude annoyed me. Sigrid's whole plotline was pointless. Declan and Flynn are the best buds and I love them so much. Baxian, you are a gem! Pax being the one responsible for the actual HOFAS while being a healer who is making those antidotes was a great twist and I love it for her. The little fire spirits were so cute and their little moment with the viper queen made me cackle. The Viper Queen can suck it but I am also so very curious about what will happen now considering how that scene ends with Tharion/Ari/Sathia/Colin. I have a feeling all these characters will be showing up again in the future and I'd be excited to read how that will go. I have a feeling it might be done ACOSF style - in that, it'll be standalone in the CC world.

Bonus Chapters:

Bryce, Azriel, Nesta - hilarious and also so cute how Nesta was fascinated by the music playing from Bryce's phone. Azriel doesn't have a mate or partner so let that be clear LOL. Also Nesta already thinking about babies makes me wanna die tbh.

RuhnLidia - It was cute that she proposed and Ruhn is such a little dork crying left and right hahaha.

Quinlar - Hilarious how the big strong thunder boy was scared of those little dolls HAHA.

Ember/Randall - This made me want the Archeron sisters to have a mother figure so badly! The moment with Nesta and Ember hugging was so sweet in the book. I know people are mad at Rhys for yelling at Nesta but y'all...the whole world was at stake and that was a scary decision to make on Nesta's part given how the Pyrthian is STILL traumatized by the Asterie. I don't love how much he yelled but I get it.

Despite having parts I didn't like, I did overall really have fun with this. I think Sarah always does a great job with the action scenes in the end and giving us that found family connection. I could do without having the whole girl boss/girl power white feminist nonsense constantly shoved in our faces but alas! As I said, I still really enjoyed it! It had a lot of moments that pulled on all my emotions as every SJM book does. I will always enjoy what she puts out because I take it all at face value and read it to have fun. Sarah always knows how to enjoy her writing and you can tell while reading and for me, that's more than enough. The lore/plot is secondary to the characters for me and that is always how she sucks me in. She writes compelling characters who have amazing adventures and friendships that you feel through the pages and I will always enjoy that. Can't wait for more books! Here's to hoping we hear something about ACOTAR soon especially now that Bryce gave both swords back to Nesta! Can't wait to see how it plays out!

[anoramactir]

book recs! tagged by @rosenfey & @jennystahl. blows kisses to both of you <3 i'll tag @a-treides, @katsigian, @dekarios, @shellibisshe, @devilbrakers, and @frankensteined.

last book you read. the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw.

horror/fantasy, kind of a little mermaid retelling? i had mixed feelings about it. there was definitely an interesting plot in there, but i thought it was bogged down by purple prose. felt more like a challenge to write the prettiest sentences possible - and there were v lovely lines! - than a story at times.

book you recommend. fight club by chuck palahniuk.

hard q, but i went with this one because i feel like the reputation the movie + it's fans have makes people avoid it. i could repeat all the soundbites about it being a brilliant satire & criticque of toxic masculinity (especially if you read the narrator as closeted) but tbh... i'm reccing it because i think it's fun. that's really it.

book you couldn't put down. bunny by mona awad.

disclaimer: i've seen this one hyped as the weirdest shit you'll ever read in your life but i didn't think it was that weird. lower your expectations. i did like it enough to finish in three days, though. idk what to say about it that won't spoil the plot— kinda heathers meets frankenstein? more eerie than scary.

book you've read twice or more. the queen's thief series by megan whalen turner.

society if this was the old school ya fantasy that blew up on booktok instead of shatter me: ☀️🌊🌳 i read this one back in high school and it rewired my brain permanently. attolia irene is the only girlboss that matters. i come back to it every few years (rereading book 4 now) & i think it still holds up.

book on your tbr. last call at the hotel imperial by deborah cohen.

it's a non-fiction about a group of reporters that covered ww2. i picked it up randomly at a bookstore because the cover was pretty, lol.

book you've put down. the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon.

i know i'd love it if i finished but it's just so long. 😭 i've tried like three times and i always lose steam about halfway through. at this point i'll finish it by 2050.

book on your wishlist. hollow places by christopher hadley.

ambie actually recced this to me ages ago and i've been dying to read it. it sounds so interesting! but it's not available as an ebook or at my library, and i'm banned from buying physical books until i get through my stupidly tall tbr stack. one day.

favorite book from your childhood. howl's moving castle by diana wynne jones.

nobody is surprised. it's probably my favorite book of all time. a+ vibes, characters, romance, everything. i own three copies and refuse to get rid of any. if i could find an autographed version, i'd own four.

book you would give a friend. interview with the vampire by anne rice.

i need you all to become obsessed with lestat & louis and then watch the amc series so it gets renewed for season 3. please & thank you.

book of poetry or lyrics you own. time is a mother by ocean vuong.

haven't read it yet, but i've heard great things!

nonfiction book you own. girl sleuth: nancy drew and the women who created her by melanie rehak.

goes into the creation of nancy drew & how it evolved through the years, especially how it was shaped by the original ghostwriter and the daughter of the creator, and their decades-long beef with each other. i came out of it with a parasocial grudge against a woman who died in 1982.

what you're currently reading. a conspiracy of kings by megan whalen turner.

book 4 of the queen's thief series. crown prince sophos has been kidnapped and sold into slavery and it's all very dramatic.

what you're planning on reading next. moby dick by herman melville.

i've never gotten around to this one and i feel like i have to eventually. there's a 75% chance i'll get sidetracked and pick up something totally different, though.

[beardedmrbean]

I mean, it’s entirely possible for atheists to not want people to die regardless of what religion or theocracy they live under

I don’t know this atheist group you mentioned. So I don’t know if they were pro Hamas or not, if they were? Yeah that’s a double standard. But you didn’t make a clear distinction tbh and it makes it seem like atheists want all religious people dead or something.

If this is about what I think it's about the atheist group I mentioned was marxists which would be communists and socialists as well. I'm seeing a lot of them stump for hamass on here and other places I go.

Marxism has atheism cooked into it, since the only authority that you should pray to is the state, china is in the process of trying to produce a state sanctioned koran they've already got one for the Christian bible, you should see what they're up to with the Buddhists in Tibet too.

Look up what happened with the Russian Orthodox church in soviet union too, they did eventually bend on that I will say, so that's good.

But it's still incompatible with Islam

Granted it's more likely than not a angry mob will do the killing not the state.

Still wondering why the islamic world isn't trying to pressure china

They call it "sinicization" when they do it in china, because cultural and ethnic genocide don't make good soundbites, but make no mistake that is what it is.

Quote attributed to Yuri Gagarin, first person in space goes along the lines of 'I've been to heaven and there's no god there' he didn't actually say it according to most reliable post soviet sources who could now talk without a visit from the kgb, but it sure was plastered onto a bunch of propaganda featuring him. ______________

So ya, I don't lump people into groups where I would say something like that about atheists wanting all religious people dead, the marxists just want you to stop being religous,

Short version of karl marx's thoughts on Jewish people is, I don't mind them at all, but they need to stop being Jewish.

Ideal socialist society would look like how the borg on star trek operate, everything is for the collective.

Hope this wasn't confusing I've been fighting with my "good" laptop because it's being technology and I keep going back and forth and starting and restarting my train of thought.

I don't think all atheists want all religious people dead though, probably some that do but humans are awful like that at times.

[babysgarage]

i've vaguely gone 'it was bc of that damn phone' enough times lately that i kinda feel the need to elaborate

i'm mostly writing this down to help myself remember it but maybe someone else gains something useful from it. ok so a while back my then-therapist told me to try to go a full day without my phone, tv or music (and at the time i was literally at home all day doing nothing bc i didnt have mandatory classes so you can imagine) here's how it went

first of all, spending so much time in silence makes you realize how fucking long 5 minutes actually is and that singlehandedly cured me from being a 'i have an appointment at 4pm so i can't do shit all day' type of person

around a minute of silence in, my brain started playing random songs and soundbites on a loop

about 5-10 minutes in, all the tasks i've been avoiding or ignoring came into the forefront and suddenly i was strikingly aware of the areas that needed tidying up or dusting bc it was no longer just background visuals to me so i started automatically doing that shit without thinking like i was a sim being controlled when it usually takes me days/weeks to gather the willpower to do it

and when i don't immediately jump to doing tasks in the first 5 minutes i actually just feel my entire body become calmer and picking my phone back up feels like a literal strain on my brain and eyeballs

the most mindblowing thing that happened is that when i started going 'no screen no music' omv to my morning classes i actually managed to pay attention in class for the entire 2 hours instead of zoning out after 10 minutes like i've done for a literal decade before

i got my attention span back for reading too, but a bit of that might just be due to a lack of uni stress nowadays

it also made me kind of better at recognizing when i was actually using my phone like a dopamine slot machine instead of actually enjoying whatever i was scrolling thru which made it easier to go to whatever i was actually craving or to just put the damn thing down

so nowadays when i have a lot of tasks i'm ignoring i put my phone in a drawer and wait for myself to automatically start doing shit and tbh it usually works

sometimes i come up with solutions to problems ive been ignoring for literal years bc i don't have a stimulus to distract myself with as soon as the discomfort of thinking about that problem arises

unfortunately after about an hour or two i start craving the damn phone again and it feels like a thousand ants crawling inside your skull until i pick it up

* disclaimer: i haven't been officially diagnosed with adhd or executive dysfunction so idk how this approach would go for someone who is, i can say the effectiveness may slightly vary depending on which stage of new blorbo posting you might be at the moment. like there are times where i have no problem starting at the wall for an hour without moving bc i'm daydreams about fictional characters kissing but i have noticed that music does help prolong the daydreaming time so it still kinda works

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress 2024 #13-15✨

I thought I missed 2 weeks, but turns out it was 3 🤐

Weekly Progress #13

Submitted DGM Page

Submitted 1/2 Fan Project checkin

Fleshed out about 1/3-1/2 P^3 outline

Read through + ID'd illustration points for Fan Project #2

Weekly Progress #14

Made SYVNH Script plan

Copied SYVNH + Side B to renpy

Talked with SFB musician

Drafted a pitch

Initial scripting pass for SYVNH main story

Sketched SFB Dove & Avia sprites (additional poses + outfits)

Linearted SFB Raven sprite

Weekly Progress #15

Initial scripting pass for SYVNH Side B

Finished 19 new additional SYVNH art assets

Coded in additional SYVNH art

Programmed in Side B link in main menu

Scripted in additional SYVNH art

I had a lovely two weeks of scripting 🙂🙂🙂

Yes, I lost my mind. Yes, it was mostly missing to begin with so no harm done.

Stuck in a Yandere Visual Novel...HELP!!

As I discussed before, I do my scripting in multiple passes. Though, this time I checked to make sure my staging is good before doing sound bites and audio. I'll admit that it's mostly so I can listen to streams as I go through the rather mindnumbing task. There were 10 files for the main story remaining so I tasked myself to script 2 files per day. Each file varied from as little as 150 lines (like 1 file) to 200 lines (most files) to 300+ lines (1 ending) and completing 2 files/day took about 6-8 hours.

Scripting mistakes result in both above and below. ...This is what I get for calling MC's sprite "mcs" and the male extra sprite "ms" One missing letter gives me a black shadow jumpscare.

The Side B scripting was a bit forgiving. It's only 28 pages compared to Scenes 5-6's 55 pages. So altogether Side B only took me 2 days for first pass scripting. That gave me time during the rest of the week to draw... new art assets... that I realized I needed during scripting. Some of them weren't required, but I felt would make a scene flow better.

And since I'm an artist?

Of course I did all 19 of them.

Wait, this wasn't updated- Just trust that I did 19 new image assets, including 3 new sprites 😂

Here are some previews. Is that a familiar character? Maybe~

So yeah, I've coded and scripted in all the new art, but I haven't tested everything yet. I plan to do that when I add in the soundbites.

A Sky of Falling Birds

...Still don't know what sort of visual I want for the game so I just started making sprites and lineart. I might make a demo with just the flat color at this rate tbh.

I got some positive reactions on their sprite sketches, so that makes me shy happy ;//v//;

Peter Pan Project = P^3

Still no title, but I've gotten used to calling it P^3 right now haha.

I didn't get very far with this project in the last 3 weeks, but about a third-half the story is outlined.

The story comes in 2 parts. The first part is 2/3rds outlined (1.7k+ words). The second half of the story is two bullet points lol. Granted, The second half may be a rapid descend to a conclusion. The planning document is already 2.3k+ words, which surprised a few folks...? I think my longest planning document was 11k+ words.

Hopefully next time I update, I'll have more info to share.

[Fan Projects]

Not too much/anything I can show yet as project rules have me not sharing until specific dates. It will be for Ace Attorney and D. Gray Man c:

[alatariel-gildaen]

7, 12, 27, 55 <3

Hey, hello, and thanks for the ask :)

7. What was your life like last year?

Crikey. I have difficulty remembering thongs that happened yesterday, let alone a year ago!

My little boy had just started at school, the Tories had screwed over kids with additional needs so he'd been placed in a mainstream school to save money, and had already been excluded once or twice. So I was living on edge every day that I'd get a call from the school telling me I had to go and pick him up. (It's been a year long battle, but we've *finally* got the local authority to agree he needs to go to a special needs school, and he's got a rep from the school we want coming to observe him thus Thursday, so please keep everything crossed for us!)

Aside from that, very little has changed in a year. I'm very lucky to be in a position in life where I'm mostly content.

12. What is something you want right now?

A tidy living room. That'd be nice (far too tired to do anything about it though 🙃)

27. Things I hate

I'm going to sound like a tumblr soundbite here, but never mind. Tories, Brexit, the monarchy, bigotry in all forms, capitalism.

And cleaning out the cat's litter tray.

Oh, and slugs. They can fuck right off.

55. Tumblr friends

I've not got many anymore tbh! I was on tumblr for many years — mostly in the Everlark, Jonathan Strange, and Caryl fandoms — and had some really great friends, but after my son was born 5 years ago I was suffering from severe PND, and ended up deleting my blog after getting some horrible anon hate. I got drawn back in not long ago and tried to find a lot of my old friends, only to find they've either changed their blog names, deleted, or sadly in the case of one of my closest old mutuals, passed away. It's a lesson to make sure you have more than one way to contact online friends 💖

So I'm kind of starting again with making tumblr friends, and so far the Lost fandom seems to be one of the most open!

[roxy206]

Woops starting this late

Oh I’m already here for Irene

Auraaaaaa

Omg i love her

“She kind of looks like Jan” not this lmao

Anetra’s entrance thoughhh

THE REACTIONS TO SASHA

This entrance look!!!

“Should we go home” lmfao

“I’m Sasha by the way”

I forgot about the split premiere

AURA damn that photo

I mean listen that photo they showed of Sasha, it’s fucking great

Ngl I’m surprised too but only because based on the photos they showed I would have assumed Aura or Sasha would have won the mini

Jax is adorable

The way they put all the Connecticut queens in this group

Mistress Isabelle’s entrance look is gorge!!

NOT THE ANKLES

Oh my goddd Robin’s entrance look!!!

“So who’s working in Connecticut right now then?” lmao

“It’s a lot” agreeeed

I love Loosey’s photo

Yesss Loosey

Oh I’m VERY curious to see how this group works together trying to choreograph

Omg having to add 8 more people into this same number

Lmao the chocolate bar

OKAY ROBIN!!!

ANETRAAA

OMG ANETRA!!!

Salina’s track though

Honestly I’m here for how fucking camp Amethyst is

AURA HELL YES

Oh my fucking god — SASHA!!!

Sasha just stole the whole fucking show

OMG JAX!!

Okay can we talk about being able to follow Sasha???!!!

I was like damn imagine putting Sasha second to last in the line up ... Jax DELIVERED

Ohhhh Irene’s runway

Auraaaa

Oh no not skipping on the runway. Hopefully it goes better for Marcia

ANETRA! Oh I was so excited to see her already but I think she’s moved up my list now

Sasha Fucking Colby what more is there to say!

I really love Salina’s confessionals

I think Jax is going to be a FORCE this season

Robin’s look is gorge

Ohhh Anetra might be pulling quite far ahead on my faves list this season

Y’know, I think that critiques about a lack of padding (or corsets etc) are often not constructive. I can see if it’s needed for the fit of the existing outfit or if it’s attempted & needs work. But I don’t think anyone *needs* to pad or wear a corset to do drag

Bodies are so diverse & I love seeing that diversity reflected in drag

I’m here for a drag artist who wants to give that hour glass, & for a drag artist who wants to pad their thighs & ass, & for a drag artist who wants to use their body as it exists

YES ANETRA!!!

For the first lip sync for your life of the season — so good

WHAT

Oh I really thought this was going another way shit

Damn it. This is why I shouldn’t watch anything pre-season. Irene was one of my faves. Although honestly — I’m really looking forward to following her anyway so

Omg the Jasmine soundbite in the Untucked opening

I would really like to see Irene’s full act that she’s previously performed

Omg cute I love that they all were like Anetra can you please show us again <3

Aww Irene <333

Stop. This is making me more sad about the elimination

The notes

+++

Tbh I maintain this faves of the season list (in no particular order yet, but I have a feeling Anetra might wind up stealing the top spot that I assumed would be Aura’s)

[flying-elliska]

.

[thetaoofbetty]

Your tags on scratchtovoid post are so true. those new couples are being written to break up and people are lying to themselves if they believe this is endgame material because we know riverdale can write romance if they want to and that’s the key: they don’t want to and I’m pretty sure some see it but don’t want to admit it. Just like Veggie, those couples are a sinking ship. Toni and Fans are a walking red flag from lying to manipulating each other. Jughead and Tabitha barely even speak and when they do is for plot exposition – all the important conversations that you would think are basic for a couple that’s apparently endgame, they aren’t having them, you would think they’ll show us a scene with them speaking about everything that’s going on and show each other some support and motivation but nothing. This is a couple that is fading into the void until it disappears. Betty and Archie are being shown disconnected and on different pages for a reason and it’s too painfully obvious that I fail to see the relationship BAs claim is on its way to endgame. They needed to make Betty said out loud that her future is about catching TBK and they still just don’t get it. Like Jabitha, this ship is going to disappear slowly and I don’t think either of them will care either way when it ends.

The "adult relationship" agenda cannot be used because you know riverdale will always find a way to insert romance in a plot packed season. They can write romantic scenes, we have had multiple scenes of the old ships being emotionally supportive in a way that feels mutual and engaging. They have had the opportunity to show these couples being more than just disconnected but refused to. BA have had opportunities for a "love confession" multiple times already but it’s null. It could be because I’ve been in a lot of fandoms already that I can already just smell narrative but I’m the advocate of show don’t tell, a lot of people ate up the things RAS says instated of looking at what’s actually being written. A creators/actors job is sell you the show, regardless of whatever or not they’re being truthful.

i mean, you've said everything we've already said but aside from all of that, they want these ships to be something because otherwise it means they're disposable.

it's easier to call something "an adult relationship" to explain what's happening vs the sinking feeling of knowing the ships you thought were going to make the others pale in comparison aren't delivering.

holding onto a soundbite from the early days of s6 to fluff out the new ships isn't the same as a real adult relationship (and i suspect the ones who say it the most lack experience in that area tbh) and whatever riverdale is showing? isn't what they're saying it is. whether or not you think these new ships are where it's at, it's very obvious that the writers aren't giving these couples the same investment.

and that's probably on purpose at this point because i'd be hard-pressed to believe that 4 new ships came out of nowhere for the end of s5, into the event, and onto the season of superpowers. the ships, and the season along with it, feels more and more disposable the longer it goes on.

[petalsmooth]

Ok.

Let’s talk Lili.

First off we only know what stars put out about themselves or other people say about them. We are not friends with these people. We are not in their homes. We don’t usually hear what they say in unguarded conversation. What we know is what is out on social media with some highly distorted soundbites from chats or DM’s with her mother that were exposed.

We were initially presented a portrait pushed by her and her family no less of a middle class family with the standard girl next door hit it big narrative. Down to earth, relatable, somewhat quirky. Strong two parent supportive household. All that was missing were the apron and pearls.

This girl came out of the gates talking about a modernized Riverdale with two girls who would be actually close and not vying for the same redhead. Feel free to add/or correct along the way of course...especially early on when not following as closely.

We got very little in the way of insight into Cole and Lili because they were trying to keep it quiet even if there were hints together. Mostly during this period what fans were fed was that she was slightly awkward socially, maybe not the most intellectual but nice and harmless. She spoke of empowering women, independence, she constantly shut down the idea of Barchie and praised Bughead. Along through the year’s she would speak to social bullying or bullying in general. She would openly talk about struggles with mental health. She’d talk and show her cystic acne and share photos not all airbrushed in ode to body positivity. She’d talk about not having an hourglass figure, and cellulite and often go out in ratty shorts and a bun sans makeup. You see she’d talk about it then follow through by showing lived the walk or calling out photoshops done of her.

Again this is “relatable girl next door quirky Lili” we told was the REAL Lili.

She would frequently talk and post about her family and dogs at home and how much she loved and missed them...though oddly not so much her older sister.

At a certain point it became undeniable Cole and Lili were together to even the hardest deniers. Of course also the Met gala eventually made official for media.

We get have her liking posts such as Miley’s about how lucky she was to have a man who checked off all the boxes. But at times there were glimpses all wasn’t kosher. People have mentioned various cons where she’d be caught flirting somewhere else, or she’d be in a bad mood giving Cole a cold shoulder. We recently saw an old video of them walking and her basically demanding he drop the fans and attend her. We have the con were Camilla is sexually harassing Cole everywhere and Lili doesn’t shut it down until Camilla tries to grind on him. It was so bad even Mads intervened. We have the interview where she is talking over him or rolling her eyes and basically being the unprofessional brat her fans claim she is not. Even though it’s ON CAMERA. Snapping at your co worker/boyfriend and rolling your eyes during a professional interview is not deniable.

Flashforward to the trip to Italy because for me there was always something off about that. That trip was obviously planned far in advance. Clearly Lili was supposed to be there. Her fans quickly blamed Cole because Lili was working. Lili didn’t have to work. It wasn’t a career changing move to do that film. It did not do well. I’m not entirely sure what was happening around that time but I have the sense Cole was disappointed/a  little angry she prioritized it over him accepting very likely the offer AFTER the trip was planned.

Lili spirals during this time. Cole comes back to clean up mess. They are quiet on social media for a long time then slowly emerge again and eventually get the photo booth shots, the wedding and her mingling with NY friends for once. Turns out close to the end for them.

I don’t want to make this a Sprousehart post though although some relevance to bring part of it up. The point is Lili put her career over her relationship. It was a calculated decision. It was also the wrong decision. Her fans talk about her being this warm giving person but that was a cynical call and a pretty lousy thing to do to your boyfriend of several year’s. I’m all for supportive partners but there are time’s where you make sacrifices if you really care for someone and this was a special trip planned long in advance. She blew it off. If I’m the partner she does this too, I question why I’m putting in the effort if it doesn’t mean to them what it means to me. 

TBH I think the bad choices she made there is why tried to make it up by meeting with his friends, the wedding etc...

Something than clearly happened because by January they were done. Not sure we’ll ever know but it looked like they were trying to fix things given the happiness hadn’t seen on Cole’s faces in a long time in those booth pics and then...it was done. We didn’t know at the time, but this is timeline Cole gave. There was a brief attempt at reconciliation where she babysits him at a photo shoot and posts a photo of them in bed and then shortly after...Cole calls it off. 

He heads to LA, she follows him there but not without making sure to shove Casey’s face into her chest to post and rent a place close to where he is staying. She posts weepy messages about the world ending etc....and weird new photos mimicking old shoots with him so naturally people think this means whatever happened they worked through. Around same time she and hers manipulated her fans to try to cancel him earlier because she misunderstood a picture of Kaia....although flat out if he had been with Kaia he was SINGLE and it was no longer her business.

She tries to walk back the firestorm she unleashed on him by “defending” him from a lesser twitter trend after realizing misconstrued the Kaia picture, All summer she weirdly seems to be trying to avoid the topic if they are together or not despite saying once if they weren’t she’d tell people. She finally puts her foot in her mouth one two many times' and Cole confirms they broke up which she doesn’t acknowledge. Because she doesn’t want to be broken up.

As we know know it wasn’t all rainbows on the set even before all this happened as in the musical she’d launched an object at him hard enough to have the crew concerned. Lili fans keep saying Cole is abusive but the only evidence we have of abuse is her towards him. We also had her suddenly doing a 180 from past 4 year’s and excusing cheating with Archie and promoting everyone in her live recaps except Cole/Jughead.

Back to the events following Cole’s post....then we get a sudden string of interviews taking shots at Cole, doxxing him, implying he could have strayed (just to resurrect hate against him) but can’t say he actually did because she has no proof. We know this because in those chats admit it was just suspicion and paranoia and never did have any names.

We learn that Lili has been funneling news and gossip and photos to keep her mother’s hold on the fandom in check and her mother in turn has been bullying people who would stand on Cole’s side. They sought to ruin him. This is not debatable.

For year’s people had made fun and called Bree out for being an obsessive stalker unable to let a relationship go, then Lili starts doing the same. We know she has tried to copy Ari’s style, her mother made a snide comment about breast size, Lili tried to taunt Ari from on set and Ari shut her down. A girl who almost never was in the line of sight of paps suddenly is snapped everyday following break up even before the public new. That doesn’t just happen. She wanted the attention.

I’m not going to go into all of it, you all know it. Suffice to say revealing she has a bitter vindictive attitude she has submersed herself in ever since Cole made it clear no reunion. She won’t even broach the topic of Bughead/Jughead unless forced. You can spin all you like but the split screens was not an artistic choice by RD. It was spurred by need to keep them apart.

Lili last summer was doing precious little other than a post or two of Black Lives matter and then when Cole gets arrested suddenly she jumps on the me too and sets up impulsive lives. Maybe she meant well but a part of me thinks she did it to attract his attention. Notice once she got praise for it and the initial protests faded she more or less doesn’t bring it up anymore. Cole never intended to get attention, it just happened because he’s a star and got taken in to a jail cell. He never put himself on camera for notice. 

Lili also co-opts the murder of a girl to flaunt she thinks she looks good naked. Completely tone deaf. 

Lili very rarely is seen in fan photos, only usually when she’s getting flack for it online. She, a girl who talks about bullying, went on a  midnight tirade against a guy who dares to critique or poetry setting her fans on him. Then deleted it probably because publicist in her ear.

She first said poems not about Cole, than said you could read into what you wanted to sell them. Now she doesn’t want to talk poetry or sequels because it flopped and was critically panned.

There are constant rumors about Lili on sets of productions to point they even had someone on her newer movie try to downplay. Yet we see in a video the cast barely talking and looking tense on a boat. 

The girl who used to talk about body positivity now lets them airbrush abs onto her.

The girl who used to talk of therapy and mental illness now promotes OTC supplements for $ and cults.

If she mentions cellulite she uses other tik toks of people showing not her own. 

She said she would never be on tik tok, yet now has her own and post old videos that aren’t funny.

Lili once tired to attack Cole by talking about losing yourself in drugs or alcohol or sex yet we’ve seen her drug paraphernalia because she advertises. Her friends post and laugh over her being drunk. She was in an off and on relationship with Wallis that doesn’t seem to be about anything but sex.

We were told Coles friends are bad influences but Taylor is out there solicitating questionable clients and making videos slamming LILI’S COWORKER as a bad actor and his brother,

The majority of Lili’s posts no longer feature Sunny or her family/Addy. 

She insulted Vancouver, compared to a prison, and made it clear her creature comforts were of more importance than a pandemic. Not quite the attitude of an empath. Which she claims she is with intention to be a master which require sucking more gullible people into the cult.

She brags about being a “rich man” without understand the context. She went from artistic photos to modeling pinups to fuel her lack of self esteem.

She’s in her mid 20′s, claims she had grown and matured in the last year but there is no evidence of it. Still can’t work with her ex without buffers which still influences show direction though her fans deny.. Still lives off junk food and hangovers. Those glasses aren’t just for sun. Her timeline is mostly an ode to her vanity with pictures of herself and then her dog. She doesn’t seem to have any causes she’s deeply involved in on the side apart from her cult. She’s still stalking Cole as her impulsive makeup tutorial showed. She said she cut out of her life anyone who doesn’t service her. I highly doubt she is receiving quality therapy on the regular right now. She still does not seem to possess the ability to own her mistakes and apologize when warranted, rather deflects or erases when heat becomes too hot.

The content she puts out about herself post break up is very different than the bill of goods fans were sold before. She is a far cry from that quirky girl next door that stood FOR something more than vanity and shallow affirmation. So no, I don’t see what you see in her stans. Everything that once seemed to distinguish her from other spoilt princesses has long faded. 

[authoralexharvey]

So I'm late for blorbo day because I'm really bad at asking questions, but I decided to lean into it!

Tell me about your blorbos 👀👀 anything you want 👀👀

(@andromedatalksaboutstuff)

You're totally fine lmao thank you @andromedatalksaboutstuff !!

First about Caleb Widogast because I love him I love him so much lmao there's a segment where he has to not sound Zemnian (it's like. German) so he's trying to imitate his party members, one of which has a very southern accent ANYWAY he tries to say "Eldritch Blast" in that accent and it's so fucking funny ANYWAY I've decided that's my emotional support soundbite. I think of it when I need to laugh.

I don't have specific info rn but Taako Taaco just takes up the remaining blorbo real estate rn tbh

Again idk what it is with gay wizards but I love them

Speaking of gay wizards I have officially decided that Nadia has a cat. His name is Dio and YES that's a nod to Dionysus because I've ALSO decided He deserves a cameo in all of my works. Anyway.

Thats it rn I'm at work and my brain isn't working so here's the foam skimmed off the top lol

[wherethehellismysupersuit]

EP- 16 review

i’m gonna write this review as unbiased as possible. But i honestly don’t think i can squeeze comedy in here.

It seems like my prophetic words from the review in EP-14 came true. TVN has a spectacular record in fucking up the endings on shows.

It’s not even about the fact that Yijin and Heedo didn’t end up together. Their growing apart, while heartbreaking was shown in a mature and beautiful way. Yijin lost sight of who he was in the grief. hearing Heedo’s words of support were more of a burden since she was so far removed from the tragedy. And Heedo realised this, and broke things off.

I won’t lie, it hurts. To see two people stick with each other through thick and thin only to find out that the real world is not the world they’ve seen through their rose tinted glasses. My favourite line was “When things are good, we’re lovers. Else, we’re just a burden to each other.”

The main thing that pissed me off was how the group did’nt really matter in the end. I feel like TVN tried to make this such a memorable, life lesson teaching, kind of drama that they forgot why the drama was as popular as it was. Because of the friends.

Yurim and Jiwoong stay together. They get engaged in a cute fencing match that i wished was Heedo’s and Yijin’s. Yurim opens a fencing school, Jiwoong runs a business. They got the ending we had been hoping Yijin and Heedo would receive.

Even Seungwan’s life disappointed me. Where did that ambitious, righteous girl go? She was stuck working at MBS as a backstage worker (i’m not sure) and also lost someone dear to her (Can someone tell me whose funeral it was? I don’t want to rewatch the episode tbh)

I fully expected her to be in a position of great respect. But then again, life’s a bitch.

Heedo retires at 28, marries some nameless guy, still longingly looks at Yijin and then probably has Minchae.

Some reasonable points that were never mentioned again were;

1) who was minchae’s dad? the drama writers knew that was the main question, and yet they never answered it?

2) what happened to Yijin? You don’t go and make a show just so the ml’s story is the least detailed. We know that he was the head anchor, but did he ever get better? was he still stuck in his destructive ways?

3) Really? A freaking goblin and his reincarnated lover can end up together, doom and a human with terminal illness can be together and live happily, but a fucking reporter and fencer can’t? What bullshit is this?

4) a random soundbite of appa in the studio that we all theorised on for weeks? yep also meaningless. Fuck you.

The main reason this drama disappointed me was that in the end, the premise didn’t really matter. In this covid infested world, we all craved human contact and empathy. Twenty Five Twenty One marketed itself as a drama that was young, fun, filled with friendships that was like a boon to us touch starved people. We loved, laughed and cried along with them , only to find out that they’re not really in contact with each other. It’s depressingly realistic, but not the thought the viewers needed in this time. i’m not sure if there’s a season 2 announced, but i don’t think it could fix this.

All we know is Heedo’s future is that she works at the woodworking shop named 2521. She has a daughter named Minchae, who does ballet. She’s a retired fencer. Are we sure that she even is the fl? and it’s not Yurim?

It sucks that the main leads future is not detailed at all, whereas the side characters get their happy ending.

Once again, i’m thankful to 2521 for making my weekends happy. But this weekend was a bitch, and i’m trying hard to erase my memory. I feel like they tried too hard to be ~not like other dramas~ and it backfired spectacularly. Not because of Heedo and Yijin, because of the really ambiguous ending.  All my love to the actors and i hope to see them in more dramas again.

signed,

Your resident analyser.

[nako-doodles]

u seemed to have played some really really really really difficult piano pieces teach us ur ways senpai ✨❤️💍

wow anonie this is so sweet of you I actually blushed so hard I’m surprised you didn’t see me from across the galaxy kwndidndkendhdj anyways this is a long answer so it’s below the cut.

in regards to difficulty, I really do believe that ‘difficulty’ is in the eye (or I guess hands?) of the player. for me, when I was testing for my RCM level 10s back in high school, I picked up my romantic piece selection (Chopin’s polonaise in g minor) and my substitution piece for contemporary/late 20th century (Chopin’s polonaise in a flat major) within a month each, but my selection for Baroque (Bach’s prelude and fugue in f minor) (read: picked under much protest, whining, and duress before flipping through Bach’s well-tempered clavier and randomly flipping to a page) took me almost 4 months. Some people could argue that WTC is easier than the two Polonaises, but my brain just doesn’t mesh well with musical structures and voices of the baroque period. Chopin and other romantic pieces are a lot easier for me to understand, break down, and interpret in terms of melodies, harmonies, chord progressions, rhythms etc etc…than whatever hellhole Bach and Handel took their music from

even the piano professors don’t necessarily agree with the plethora of different ways to determine the ‘difficulty’ of a piece since there’s so much at play here (haha get it). There’s ofc the usual: time signatures, tempo, length, number of cadenzas and large jumps and chords etc etc, but there’s also the music structure, technique, rhythmic and composition complexity etc etc an example I can give off my head is Liebestraum no. 3 by Liszt is a level 9 (of 10) piece under RCM when I was testing (they bumped it up to the associate diploma in 2015), but is only a level 6/7 (of 9) under the Henle system (which is what my old piano teachers taught me out of). Music is in and of itself is a subjective thing, and it’s hard to really pinpoint the difficulty of a piece, which is how, when my mom asked my piano teacher my progress when I was preparing for my level 8 exams in middle school, my piano teacher replied that I had a near level 10 understanding in romantic pieces, but a level ‘6ish….if I’m being generous’ in baroque.

anyways what I’m trying to get at is dont be too caught up on the ‘difficulty’ of a piece, practice lots, loot your piano teacher’s giant library of music, keep your mind open, and have your goals very clear to yourself. You can certainly ‘learn’ to play a ‘difficult’ piece like mendelsohn’s song without words without any understanding of melodies or musical composition or anything, and still claim to know how to play difficult pieces. However, if you want learn how to play the piano, I suggest taking it slowly (don’t do what I did and straight up skipped 4 levels the first year you started and then you hit a road block and stop enjoying playing until you reach the most showcase-y pieces) and really learn how these pieces are constructed and hammer home your technique (this is a lesson I learned with my blood don’t be a fool like me). If you want to learn to play jazz, then you ~really~ need to learn your music theory and ear training.

anyways tldr; fuck Bach (but don’t let me prejudice cloud your ability to like his pieces — he’s a renowned composer for a reason, I just personly hate playing his work), ‘difficult piano pieces’ are really just subjective, and just because I can play a bunch of notes really quickly doesn’t mean I’m a good piano player. (*stares at all the 5 yos playing flight of the bumblebee way past the tempo*)

on a separate subject: It is a lot of fun running your hands up and down the piano really quickly or banging out really robust chords from the piano, highly recommend!! My mom once said I had a diabolical grin on when I was first mastered to bang out the last passage of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto no. 2 mvt. 1 (OT: it’s the same last phrase from my fave Asada Mao step sequence from her 13/14 FS though I learned it years before that skate), and the final cadenzas to chopin’s ballade in g minor. Looking like youre summoning the demon while banging out pretty music is like the best feeling ever. I mean I can never get to Lang Lang’s level of ‘demon possession’ but grinning maniacally is the way to go. You are playing and controlling the instrument of a thousand voices.

(PSA: please don’t actually bang on the piano pls treat it with the respect that it deserves it’s ur friend not ur enemy. banging really hard on the keys doesnt necessarily give you a large sound an can really damage the keys and the structure of the piano)

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

Do you listen to podcasts?

I do but mostly just football ones tbh, the ones I talk about in this ask are the podcasts I listen to the most regularly.

As for other shows, I pick and chose episodes from one called Philosophize This! It's very very competent and ranges from Greek to modern day philosophy with everything in between too. I sometimes also listen to The Guardian's podcast called Today In Focus which is great on giving you a soundbite of the day's top news stories as well as extra titbits. A final one is Stuff You Missed In History Class, a great podcast for just random interesting snippets of history you never knew you needed to hear about until you do!