#i never heard the soundtrack either 3:

[moth-yea]

I will never forget the time I heard the dude on the radio say "The yo gabba gabba soundtrack drops TODAY!!" between songs. He was so hyped abt it too.

[daryl-dixon-daydreams]

Words: 3,593 Pairing: Negan Smith x Reader Reader pronouns: not really specified, but Negan calls you "doll" and "darlin'" often Warnings: language (the usual), some flirty!Negan Era: Alexandria, post-Negan Summary: Negan and the reader must weather the storm and the horde overnight and find someway to get back to Alexandria. A/N: Sorry this came later than I hoped to get it out. This is why I try to 1.) never write two series at once and 2.) never make a posting schedule because I usually can't adhere to it haha some parts just take longer to get right... so thanks for your patience and HAPPY WICKED WEDNESDAY! Previous part - Part 3

The storm overhead was still raging. Tucked away in the basement mostly underground you heard it only as a dull roar. The wind occasionally whistled and howled lending a haunting soundtrack to your sheltering.

Negan had dug out a couple sleeping bags and used one to cushion his seat on another box of supplies, his back leaned up against the wall and his long legs kicked out toward you.

“Can I have that?” you asked, gesturing to the other bag. You were sitting on the floor and the concrete was cold. He tossed it over to you and you folded it and placed it underneath yourself, sitting down in more comfort. You sighed and leaned back against the wall behind you, shutting your eyes for a moment. You could feel Negan looking at you.

“You’re really not going to tell me anything about you?” You cracked one eye open and looked at him, drawing a laugh from deep in his chest. It was resonant and warm, like the sound from a rosewood guitar. “We’ve been doing this for—I don’t know, three months now and I don’t know a damn thing besides your name,” Negan said, twirling the fireplace poker in his hand.

You sighed and sat up again. “What do you want to know?”

“What’d you do before all this?”

“Before the outbreak?”

“Yeah. Before everything went to shit.”

“Uhh… actually, I was a stripper.”

Negan froze, a shit-eating grin growing on his face. “Really?”

“No!” you laughed. “But it seems like you were hoping for something juicy like that,” you said with a self-satisfied smirk. “God, it’s so easy it’s not even fun!”

He laughed heartily. “Alright, smartass… But can you blame me? Shit, I was about to ask for a private performance.”

“I’m sure you were,” you retorted.

“I noticed that you still didn’t answer the question,” Negan said.

“Oh, that’s funny,” you said with a smile. It crinkled the corners of your eyes and Negan found himself suddenly gulping, nervous. He was nervous? “You know, it’s not like I really know a ton about you either.”

“Well, you know about my Savior days. That’s more than I know about you.”

“Is it?” you asked, one of your eyebrows arching.

Negan felt as if a continent shifted inside him when you looked at him like that; inquiring and graceful and steady. “What do you mean?”

You shrugged. “I think—and this is just my opinion, but I think that was a mask,” you said. “It’s almost as if you were playacting. But maybe you convinced yourself that it was the real you or maybe it was in some ways, for a time, and so everyone else around you believed it. It was convincing to watch.”

Negan gulped. He had that same sensation again, as if you were seeing into his core, his true center. “Jesus, doll, maybe fucking warn me before you say some shit like that again.” But there was no trace of jest or sarcasm in his voice and his expression was sincere as he stared back at you. His hazel eyes looked like there was a glow in them that was shifting like the heat moving over the coals of a fire. Was it turmoil? He drew in a deep breath. “Well, what’s the difference, if I was pretending or not? I still did what I did.”

“It matters,” you replied softly. “First of all, because it’s painful to not be seen, to not have your true self perceived, to be invisible in a way. And—when you’ve been hiding in any kind of shadow for a long time, like behind a mask, it’s all the more painful to—to seek out the light, to feel. To be awake. It’s easier to just—pretend.”

Negan’s brow furrowed heavily as you spoke and his hands were still on the iron rod, fingers curled around the chill of the metal. “You’re talking as if you know something about that,” he replied.

You smiled at him vaguely, sighing a little and leaning your head back against the wall again. “Maybe I’m just observant.”

“Alright,” he nodded. His tongue swept out over his bottom lip. “Well, you know about Savior Negan, whether it was a mask or not… and you know that I was a high school gym teacher and coach, and I still know absolutely fuck-all about you,” he said.

“Correct,” you replied.

Negan sighed, looking disappointed. He stared around the room aimlessly for a moment, clicking his tongue thoughtfully and spinning the iron rod in his hand. “What’s your favorite color?” he asked suddenly.

You laughed. “So, you’re switching to small talk now?”

He shrugged. “What the hell else are we gonna do?”

It seemed harmless enough. “Green,” you said.

“Green,” he nodded. “Hmm. Favorite food?”

You shot him an amused look. “Is this even entertaining?”

He only shrugged again and smiled at you expectantly.

“Raspberries,” you said.

“That’s lucky,” he said, scratching at his beard. “You can still get those. In fact, aren’t there a bunch of raspberry plants back home?”

Your eyebrows lifted. “Did you just say back home?” you asked.

“Oh. Shit! Fuck me sideways, doll, I think I did,” he laughed, looking stunned himself. He let out a scoff and shook his head.

“That was… unexpected,” you replied.

“Well, how long do you have to live someplace before you call it home? Even in a cell, I guess time matters.”

“I don’t know. Home has always been a feeling for me, more than a place,” you said.

“Hmm. That seems like it could be telling,” Negan said, absently rubbing a hand over his beard again.

You rolled your eyes. “Now who sounds like a shrink?” you retorted. He laughed a little and shrugged.

“Alright. Green. Raspberries. Got it. Next question…”

“Negan…” you laughed, rubbing a hand over your face, feeling suddenly bashful at his probing and focused interest in you.

“Come on, doll. Just humor me.” He sighed and stretched, thinking. “Favorite season?”

“I can’t choose a favorite. I like different things about all of them.” Then, you paused thoughtfully. “But fuck southern summers.”

Negan smiled widely. “I can agree to that. What was your first car?”

“Pfft… the city bus,” you said. “You’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here on the questions.”

“I’m—working up to the really interesting ones… But really? You never had a car? Not even a rusty shitbox?”

You shook your head. “Nope. In fact, I didn’t even learn to drive until after the outbreak.”

Negan’s eyebrows lifted and his eyes widened. “Fuckin’ hell. That must have been terrifying. Everything shut down and you were just—”

“—stuck,” you finished. You were staring down at your hands and fiddling with a loose string on the hem of your shirt. “Though, most of the roadways were pretty clogged up quickly so it probably didn’t matter all that much. The only people who got out of the cities anyway were the ones who left as soon as there was a whiff of trouble. And then came the riots and the bombings and—”

A shadow darkened Negan’s face. “Fucking hell. You were in a city city when shit went down.”

You suddenly realized what you’d revealed and looked up at him, your breath caught in your throat at the sudden rush of memories unbidden. You gulped at the tightness in your throat and nodded. “Yeah. I was, um—I was in Atlanta.”

“That’s where you found Rick’s group,” Negan said. It wasn’t really a question.

You nodded. “More like they found me,” you said, ducking your eyes again. It wasn’t lost on Negan that you were avoiding his gaze. He sensed that there was still a wound there, unhealed, deep down. Perhaps it was one that would never truly heal. “But it also wasn’t really Rick’s group then. He’d just met all of them too, like the day before. But Daryl, Rick, T-dog, and—and Glenn,” your voice broke when you said Glenn’s name, but it wasn’t just for him that your voice wavered. “They found me. Helped me.” You sighed and closed your eyes for a moment. “Now, it’s just me, Carol, and Daryl left, out of all of us at the beginning.”

There was a soft frown on Negan’s face, creases in his forehead, when you looked back up, but it wasn’t pity. It was just… sympathy and no small amount of guilt. “I’m—sorry,” he said. His deep voice somehow seemed to cut through the air between you and right to the bone. “I know I had a part in that. And I’m truly sorry.” You were startled to see that his eyes were slightly glassy.

“Yeah, well… you don’t owe that apology to me. You owe it to Maggie and her son far more,” you said, shifting on the sleeping bag you were sitting on. A shiver suddenly wracked through you and you hugged your arms around yourself. The fingers of the cold, damp of the cellar seemed to be slowly finding their way in under your clothing. “I thought you were supposed to only be asking me small talk questions? How’d we get here?” you said with a wry laugh.

But Negan wasn’t really listening. He was digging out the jacket he’d shed earlier and tucked into his pack. “Here,” he said. He tossed it over to you.

You caught it, and then fixed your eyes back on him. “Oh. I’m okay,” you tried to argue.

Negan smiled at you, a small one that had his hazel eyes looking bright. “I just saw you shiver. I already think you’re a badass, doll. A little chill isn’t fucking changing that.”

You sighed, and relented. “Alright…” you murmured, pulling on the jacket. It swallowed up your frame, hanging on your shoulders and bunching around your wrists, and Negan couldn’t quite put a name to the feeling that suddenly manifested in between his lungs.

“Thanks,” you murmured, huddling into the fabric.

“Of course. Seems like we’re gonna be here a while,” Negan said. “Actually—” he pulled the top off a bin beside him and grabbed a camping stove and lighter. “We’ve got a stove, water… MREs. You’ve got those tea leaves we foraged on the way in?”

You quirked an eyebrow up at him. “Yeah?”

“Perfect,” he said. “It’s about dinnertime by now. Sit back and relax!”

You laughed a little skeptically at him. “You’re gonna… cook me dinner?”

“I don’t think heating up some MREs and tea qualifies as cooking. You should see me in a real kitchen. It’s a real panty-dropped,” he grinned.

You rolled your eyes. “Jesus…”

He laughed heartily and started setting up the stove. “No, no. You can still call me ‘Negan’,” he quipped, winking at you.

“Okay… don’t ever wink at me again,” you retorted, which only made him laugh harder.

“That is a promise that I am not willing to make. Or keep,” he joked. “Now, hand me some of those raspberry leaves you picked.”

_ _ _ _ _ _

You stretched lazily, your eyes still closed for a moment, before you shot up straight, remembering where you were and the events of the previous day. Your eyes were wide as you realized that at some point over the course of the night, you’d fallen asleep. Part of you expected to see that Negan had somehow gotten ahold of your gun or knife, despite them always being stored securely on your person. But you didn’t have any need to worry. When you looked across the small, dingy space, he was still perched on the same box of supplies he had been the night before, though his long legs were now stretched out and up on another box.

He was smiling at you serenely, the fireplace poker resting across his knees. “Morning, doll.”

You gulped. “I—I fell asleep.”

“You sure did,” he said. You could tell he hadn’t slept at all. His voice was a bit gruff and undeniably tired. He’d kept watch all night. “You snore by the way.”

You hastily smoothed your hair and clothes, staring back at him. “What? I do not!” you argued.

He laughed. “Yeah, you do. But it’s okay. I found it strangely comforting actually. Nearly put me to sleep.”

“Shut up,” you said, standing up and stretching again.

“Don’t flirt,” he retorted, still smiling serenely.

You paced over toward the one narrow window in the basement and looked up at the quality of light filtering through the dirty glass. It was clearly early morning and the storm had passed. More than that, you couldn’t see or hear any of the dead outside. “Seems like the herd moved on.”

“Mhm,” Negan hummed in agreement. “It all got quiet in the early hours of this morning.”

“You stayed awake all night?”

He nodded, standing now too. “Yeah. Somebody else was slacking off after their gourmet meal,” he teased you.

You ground your teeth together, angry at yourself for falling asleep. “You should have woken me up. And ‘gourmet’ seems like a stretch for an expired MRE don’t you think?”

“With locally sourced tea? Come on, people would have paid a pretty fucking penny for that shit in the old world.”

You laughed a little and shook your head, then turned and fixed your eyes on him with a deeply perplexed expression on your face.

“What? That’s quite a look for first thing in the morning,” Negan said. “I can’t have fucked up that bad already!”

“Why—why didn’t you leave?” you said. “As soon as the herd cleared and the storm settled… you could have disappeared, taken some supplies.” The jacket he’d given to you the night before was still hanging on your smaller frame. The sleeves had slipped down over your hands and you hastily pushed them back up. “You know what you’re going back to.”

He just kept smiling back at you, his expression surprisingly soft and genuine, no trace of his usual jest or masking. It was doing something to you, stirring up a whir of fluttering just below your lungs that was impossible to ignore. You gulped, trying to clear the sensation. He paced toward you, stopping within a foot. “Yeah. Maybe that’s why I stayed,” he said.

Your brow only furrowed even more deeply. “You’re a prisoner,” you said plainly.

Negan shrugged. “Am I? I think I’m starting to fucking forget that…” His hazel eyes were flickering over your face, studying your features. You were the one to fell a sudden wave of emotions cresting up within you and you backed away from it.

“We should—see if the coast is clear,” you said softly, ducking your eyes. “Get back to the car. Everyone back home will be worried. They may even have come looking already.”

Negan smiled to himself. He’d felt something in the air profoundly, but he’d also seen how you’d stepped away and the spell was broken. “Okay,” he said simply.

The two of you gathered up your essential gear and headed up the steps cautiously, listening at the barricaded basement door for any noises on the other side. You pounded on the door with your bandaged hand and pressed your ear to the wood. Nothing. Steady silence.

“Okay,” you said, breathing a sigh of relief. “I don’t hear anything. You can hang onto that poker until we know for sure the house is clear, but then you’ll have to leave it behind. Got it?”

Negan agreed, a little hesitantly, but he wasn’t going to argue with you this time.

You unblocked the door, lifting the wooden board you’d secured it with the night before, being careful to avoid the sharp metal brackets this time. The next moment, you slowly pushed it open.

The house was clear and once you’d thoroughly looked out through windows on all sides of the house, he begrudgingly left the iron fireplace poker behind. Stepping outside, the destruction from the storm and the horde were blatantly evident. Most of the windows in the surrounding buildings, including the house you’d sheltered in, were busted or hailed out. There were large branches blown down off trees and the leaves of many were also shredded in the hailstorm and wind. Shingles and scraps of siding and wood were lying in the scraggly patches of grass.

“Good thing we didn’t try to make it out in the car. I’ll be surprised if the windshield is intact when we get back to it,” you said, nudging a shingle with your boot.

“Yeah,” Negan agreed. “What’s the plan? We still have all those supplies to load up.”

“Um… I guess we can try to get the car in here and load them up. That side road didn’t look too bad on the way in.”

The two of you headed that direction immediately, still on guard and wondering where the herd had gone to. Knowing only hours had passed, it was possible they weren’t far at all. But you arrived at the car safely. However, there was another problem.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” you swore, staring at the scene in front of you.

Negan stopped beside you and all he could do was laugh wryly. “Well, shit.”

A huge old cottonwood tree had come down in the storm and the trunk had entirely crushed the car. You sighed and dropped your pack down beside you heaving a huge sigh. “Well… Daryl and Michonne will have noticed by now that we aren’t back. Let’s hope they’re already on their way.” The two of you waited by the car, and luckily it wasn’t long before you saw an approaching vehicle down the old highway. The two of you scrambled into cover, just in case it wasn’t who you were hoping for.

But it was. A truck pulled up and you saw Daryl behind the wheel as it stopped behind your smashed vehicle. Aaron, Rosita, and Daryl piled out and quickly ran to check the car. That’s when the two of you stepped out of cover on the side of the road.

“Hey!” you called out to them. “Can’t tell you how happy I am to see you all,” you said, jogging over. Negan walked over more slowly, his hands stuffed into his pockets. “Hell of a storm,” you said, gesturing at the smashed car.

“Goddamn, ‘m so glad to see ya in one piece,” Daryl said, pulling you quickly into a one-armed hug, his crossbow in the other hand. “We were worried sick, but figured it was the storm. Are ya okay?” he asked, shooting a tense look in Negan’s direction. “What happened to your hand?” he asked, noticing the bandage.

“I’m good. Just cut it while scavenging. It’s fine. How’s Alexandria? Everyone okay after the crazy wind and everything?”

“Yeah, all good. Definitely better than yer car,” he said, looking at the crushed vehicle.

“Thank God you weren’t inside,” Rosita said, slinging her rifle over her back.

“No. Instead we were trapped by a horde in a house,” you explained, crossing your arms.

“A horde?” Aaron repeated. “You’re serious?”

You nodded gravely. “Yeah. I was worried you were going to run into them on the highway to be honest. They moved on overnight.”

Negan was standing nearby, looking out of place. Daryl kept shooting him tense glances.

“We found a pile of supplies though, in a hidden survivalist cellar. I bet we can get a vehicle to the house and load them up, especially with your four-wheel drive vehicle.”

“At least something good came out of your trip then!” Aaron said cheerfully, patting your shoulder. “Glad you’re safe.”

You nodded and you all started back towards their truck. Daryl fell into step beside you. “Hey—” he started in an undertone. “Everything really went okay? Even with him?” he asked.

You nodded and felt your cheeks flushing inexplicably. “Yeah.” You hesitated for a moment, wondering if you should even tell him this… but you did. “I—I didn’t mean to, but I fell asleep overnight. Negan stayed up on watch the whole time, Daryl. He could have—taken my weapons, overpowered me—the herd and storm were clear. He could have left, disappeared. But he didn’t. He stayed,” you explained in a low voice. “I—I don’t understand it.”

“Hmm,” Daryl hummed, his brow furrowed deeply, shadows cast over his blue eyes. He looked up and caught Negan staring in your direction. “’M glad yer safe, especially considerin’ that. But ya gotta be more careful.”

You sighed. “I know. I’m already angry at myself. I just—I don’t understand why he stayed,” you said, hesitating with your hand on the door handle of the truck.

Daryl chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “‘M startin’ to have an idea.”

[littlestartemis]

This is like THE thing I'm most annoying millennial about, but I've decided I'm going to make a guide about this instead of just venting to my friends about it for the Nth time. I am not a fan of spotify. On the surface I already didn't like it, the idea of paying a monthly subscription for a media player that requires an internet connection was abjectly backwards imo. Then I actually used it recently, and I'm even more frustrated, because searching for songs doesn't give you any clear indication on if it's the Actual Song you wanted, or just some rando's remix or something. Not to mention the queue and playlist functions just not working 1/3 of the time, and... yeah.

"Man I wish this artist would release on spotify so I could listen to this song."

"Hey are you gonna put this thing on spotify? I'd really like to listen to it away from my computer/off youtube."

Allow me my one snarky comment here because I feel strongly about this and then the rest of the post will be a polite and detailed guide.

I'm gonna let you all in on a secret, you'll never believe this. There's a method, inside your computer (and phone!), where you can listen to music, any music you want... without the internet. Fuckin wild, right? (Making a break because this ended up being longer than I thought it would)

On your computer, even up to Windows 11, you have a thing called "Windows Media Player" that's just automatically on your computer. And if it's not, for whatever reason, lemme make things even easier for you with a link to install it.

You open it up, and you're greeted with this. (yours obviously won't be filled with FFXIV clips and songs by default, just work with me)

Now, I think everything here is perfectly self explanatory, but I've heard as time's worn on that the younger generations are becoming increasingly poorly taught when it comes to navigating computer programs.

Home is just the first thing you get when you open it. Shows all your recently viewed media on your computer

Music Library is your entire collection of songs in your music folder (we'll get there)

Video Library is the same thing but for video files

Play queue is what you have queued up to play in a list Right Now

Playlists is... the list of playlists you've made

So! Good first step, we have a media player. This thing doesn't need an internet connection, it can make playlists, it can shuffle, it's got it all. But like, how do you actually get songs on it, right? Well, we've got a few methods.

If you're a fan of contemporary/pop music, you've got the easiest time of things. If you're already someone who's ok with paying spotify once a month for their service (which is just a media player with always on internet), you shouldn't have a problem with giving that money directly to the artists you already like the work of instead. Not to mention, on streaming services music can be added and removed at the whim of... really any number of people. Whereas if you get yourself the mp3 file, you own that shit forever.

Most every artist offers a way to buy their music from them directly in album form. For shows, movies, and video games, that can be a little more up in the air, but it's nothing a quick google search of "[media name] original soundtrack download" can't direct you to. My first port of call would be to recommend this site here. Despite the name, it carries an absolutely stupid titanic repository of music downloads, the vast majority of which being for things that either no longer have legal means of purchase, or never had one to begin with. You'll have to download them one at a time if you don't/can't make an account and donate to them, but... that's literally just a time investment. Lil bit of elbow grease.

Now, let's say you're willing to put in that elbow grease, but what you wanted isn't here. Well, you've got an ancient, tried and true method to follow suit on next; youtube conversion. It couldn't be simpler. Copy/paste the url (the funny string of letters numbers and characters in the bar at the top of your browser window) into the thing that says "please paste youtube url here", and press the convert button. You've even got options to change the quality (if you need a smaller file size) and trim a length of time off the beginning or end of it! Again, you'll need to do this one at a time, and via this method you won't get premade names (beyond whatever the yt video's name was) or special album art or whatever. But if all you're after is listening to your music of choice without fucking spotify, that shouldn't be a problem.

And I'm not done yet! Circling back to my earlier comment about "some kids just don't know how to work their computers", some of you may genuinely be asking "what am I supposed to do with these mp3 files after they're on my computer?" We'll start with "where even are they" to begin with. You have something baked into your computer called a "file explorer". I keep mine pinned to my taskbar, but you aughta be able to find it and open it up by searching that name in your start menu

This is what the left side of that File Explorer window aughta look like, more or less. You only need to worry about two of these things here for our purposes; Downloads, with the arrow pointing down at the line, and Music, with the music note in the green circle. By default, anything you download, be it from a converter, more illicit sources, or 100% legal "I bought this from the band's website", is going to go into your Downloads first. (side note, if your computer ever tells you you're running out of space and you're like "what the fuck how??", check your downloads, might need to clear that shit out into the recycle bin) You're gonna move those files from Downloads to Music (I only recently learned that file explorer supports additional tabs now, like browsers! That rules). The simplest method of moving them over though would be to click once on the file, then right click, you'll see a row of pictures at the top of the right click menu, you want the scissors (this is called Cutting). Once you click those scissors, you head over to your Music tab, and in the empty white space, you right click, and at the bottom of the menu you'll see a clipboard with a piece of paper, (that's Paste) click that, and it'll remove that file from Downloads, and move it over to Music.

Your media player program is automatically designed to detect mp3 files inside that Music folder. So, from here, you just need to work the media player!

Open up that Music Library tab in your Media Player, and everything will automatically be grouped Alphabetically, you can change that with "Sort by:" in the top right. Know what else? If you do buy an album (or download one otherwise), it'll recognize that on its own too! You can sift through your collection by Albums at the very top there! So you just wanna listen to an album, you can pop over there, click an album, and...

Play all, right at the top, the red button.

You wanna make a playlist? Right click any song, and in the right click menu you'll see "Add to+", check that, and you'll be prompted to just add it to the now paying queue of songs, or to make a new playlist. Do that, you name it what you want, and now you can just right click-> add any songs you want to that playlist.

Now when it comes to phones, I know most people have iphones, and in that realm... yeah I can't help you sorry. But if you're not, we're in another "this should be on your phone already, and if it's not you can install it". Samsung Music. Open that bad boy up, and

Damn doesn't this look familiar. On my Samsung phone at least, nearly EVERYTHING I just laid out applies to making this all happen just on your phone with no computer. But, if you only download on the computer, and still want this shit on your phone, there's a VERY easy method there too!

Get a USB-C cord, hook up your phone to your computer, and you remember the method I told you for moving those files over from Downloads to Music? Works the exact same for moving things from your computer to your phone. Hell, your phone even has a Music folder of its own! Works the same.

This has been my very long and hopefully helpful PSA about listening to music via methods that don't involve God Damn Spotify. Go enjoy yourselves. Don't pay for shit you don't need to pay for.

[lucystark12]

songs that should be used in season 5 and why by lucy

1- smalltown boy by bronski beat

obvious first draft pick here. genius. it's so mike wheeler coded it makes me want to die. for this song, i'd either like to see it used in a very very dramatic physical fight scene with vecna ala running up that hill or playing very faintly in the background of an important scene like the fight at rink-o-mania. i think the song sounds just eerie enough that it could work in that context but the instrumental is just so badass fight scene coded.

2- operator by jim croce

hopper canonically listens to jim croce!! you don't mess around with jim!! this song has been loved by my family since decades before i was born. it's such a sad but beautiful song and really gives almost a lettergate situation of one side of byler trying to reach the other during the months they spend apart between season 3 and season 4 and if they did use it i would lose my shit.

3- alone by heart

people are theorizing in favor of this song being a part of the season 4 soundtrack and i mean it when i say that if i heard that opening piano of alone i would die. it would be the end of my life. i used to listen to this song on my ipod as an eight year old. it's always been one of my favorites. i don't really know how they would use it and i almost feel like the sound of it doesn't fit in with a lot of the other music in the show in regards to that 80s music sound, but i would die if they did.

4- africa by toto

AFRICA PLEASE COME BACK BABY I MISS YOU!! another song that's easily in my top ten favorite songs of all time, i think this would be such a cute callback to season 1 and would be the equivalent of hedwig dying as far as childhood-ending-events for me because it would just be such a beautiful full circle moment. i would scream.

5- summer of 69 by bryan adams

if we get to see anything taking place during summer (which, problematically, i kind of hope we don't) i need this playing on every radio in town. it just gives such it 2017 stranger things season three in a way that would break (and fill) my heart in such a beautiful way for the last stranger summer. i also think that if this was the song we decided to make viral from the new season's soundtrack that we'd all have a lot of fun.

6- take me home tonight by eddie money

i love the intro to this song like no other. it's tense and weird like the into to sunglasses at night which was used in season 1 in such a perfect way that also reminds me of the vibe of the show. a little tense and scary sounding, but at the heart (or chorus) of it a fun show about positive and beautiful characters.

7- heroes by david bowie

duh.

8- CRAZY TRAIN BY OZZY OSBOURNE!!!!!!!!

DUFFERS. MASTER OF PUPPETS AND NO CRAZY TRAIN? i fuck with crazy train like no other. i'm fully convinced that if i listened to that song on repeat for a few hours it would inspire the willpower in me to climb all of mt. everest in a day. it's such a perfect song for a show like this. i can picture nancy shooting something to crazy train in the background. somebody is frantically running around too. i think they should have just used this instead of master of puppets because the guitar in crazy train is way better (sorry not sorry) but it's never to late to right your wrongs, duffers!

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Steam Awards silliness

So apparently the "Steam Awards", which is a thing you may have seen and been very confused about, were a bit of a mess.

Steam basically wanted a to make their own Game Awards which were a voting-directly democratic process.

Naturally people took advantage of this to DUNK on their most hated game developers, rather than throwing a bone to games they actually like.

So, what happened was:

Red Dead Redemption 2 was ironically voted "Best Long-term Support From A Developer" because of how salty the community is about the game NOT recieving any long-term support.

Starfield was ironically voted for "Most Innovative Gameplay". Actual Starfield fans ALSO voted for Starfield in this and all other categories. And Bethesda happily accepted the award despite it being, yknow, a prank.

Hogwarts Legacy was voted "Best on Deck", despite being almost unplayable on deck. After some investigation I have learnt this is because Hogwarts Legacy fans mass-voted their game in every single category, regardless of its efficacy, because they think it is "overhated because of woke gay culture". Steamdeck happened to be the only one not to have had a mass vote for a different game. After those encounters, I am now adding Hogwarts Legacy onto my very small list of "things I will avoid associating with you over if you are into".

People are not sure if The Last Of Us Part 1 really does have "best soundtrack" or if everyone voted for it ironically. I'd say if it was Last of Us Part 2, it'd be ironic, but honestly it's gotta be Naughty Dog fans.

Valve had to act like every one of these was a serious nomination when writing up the reasons for them winning. They couldn't just say "Red Dead Redemption 2 support SUCKS SO MUCH that players voted for it ironically". They had to say "Despite the game being out for years the devs are still supporting their baby". Which is hilarious.

I found an article by Otaku that does a good job of summing it up:

Things get even weirder when you look at the Steam Awards’ selection of finalists in each category. EA Sports FC 24, a soccer game currently sitting at “Mixed” review status, was in the running for Game of the Year and Best Game You Suck At. A sports game is certainly an odd pick for a year otherwise jam-packed with mega releases. And though Baldur’s Gate 3 took home Outstanding Story Rich Game, it was competing with a game called Love Is All Around? Never heard of it? Don’t worry. We didn’t either, until we looked it up. Love Is All Around is a full-motion-video dating sim game inspired by the devs who “want to date every day but will never step out of the house [into] the real world. Check out the Steam page for the game here. Don’t worry, it’s mostly SFW.

So yeah if you were wondering how Starfield won most innovative game, that's how.

[saltydkdan]

Salty, may I ask which you recommend more: the one piece manga or anime. I wanna get into it but I also want a recommendation on which one may be better to start with depending on the pros and cons. Anyways I apologies if this is a dumb thing to ask.

Sure! One Piece is a really interesting beast when it comes to the difference between it's anime and manga, and at the end of the day it depends on your preferences- However yes, there are Pros and Cons to each! For this ask, I'll be trying my best to stick to the Official options available to you.

Also, this post specifically will be about how to best GET INTO the series, not necessarily a critique on the content of it! (I'll gladly do a separate write up on that eventually if anyone is interested in my thoughts on the Pros and Cons of the series itself)

Anyway, here are my personal thoughts:

MANGA

(This is my preferred way to experience the story)

PROS

-I'm not a manga purist by any means HOWEVER, the One Piece Manga is really good

-The pacing is really great (especially initially). In the first half, arcs are very quick and snappy! And even as they got progressively longer in length I didn't mind because by that point the story already gripped me.

-The art is wonderful in both black and white, and the official colored scans (which you can find online)

-This isn't really a "pro" per say, but it's something I enjoy doing. When I read, I like to put on some of the soundtrack from the anime. I usually find stuff like "Tense One Piece Music" or "Emotional One Piece Music" and listen to it as I read. It really enhances the experience for me personally. I also like to look up clips of arcs from the anime that I'm reading or already finished to see what they look like, and also see them in a fun new way. I feel like this sort of mixed approach is optimal for me.

CONS

-You have to read 😔

-There are many ways to read One Piece and in many different languages. There's black and white and colored manga- however just be careful. The best one TRANSLATION wise is the official release, and while you may find other options, some older "unofficial" translations are VERY outdated (I once saw one where Zoro casually dropped slurs)

-That also being said: Even though the official translation is the best, it is stuck in black and white. Many official colored scans were never officially licensed in English, and because of that aren't as accessible.

-Collecting it physically is fun, but can get VERY pricey. Like... hoo boy. Thankfully they sell compendiums that collect a metric shit ton of chapters, however the paper/print quality is noticeably cheaper. So if you want to collect them, the smaller volume releases are the way to go. That being said, I would just suggest using the Shonen Jump App by Viz Media. It's the best official way to support the series officially, as well as the cheapest for the average consumer! $3 a month for the entire library as well as other series + getting new chapters updated every week is great. I'm not sponsored or anything either, I just really like the model. So if you find yourself really enjoying the series, THEN you can go about collecting it physically if you want!

ANIME

PROS

-It's animated (obviously)

-You have a choice of either the Japanese Sub or English Dub. This also boils down to preference but from my experience they're both great options!!

-I'll get into it in the "Cons" section, but the One Piece anime is VERY long, like... kind of in a not so good way at certain points. However, I've heard that even though some parts are a bit too long, it's one of those things that if you really get into it, you'll love the fact that it feels like a never ending adventure! Not my experience, but it's what others have told me!

-This is gonna sound crazy, but Filler Arcs. A lot of people don't like these, and I get why, but they are very easily skippable if you want to look up a guide, and some of them can actually be really short and fun (as well as add a bit of extra flavor to the story). One of the best examples is an arc called "G-8". Even Manga readers recommend it, so you know it's good and gives each of the characters some fun moments!

CONS

-You may be aware already, but the One Piece anime has a very bad reputation of having HORRIBLE pacing. Now, to be fair, many people say that the pacing only gets truly horrible AFTER a very specific arc about halfway through the series (which is where a lot of anime watchers jump ship to the manga)

However, I'll be honest... I wasn't a super huge fan of the pacing from the beginning. To clarify, I STARTED with the anime. I don't have a super great attention span, so having to wait around 38 or so episodes for "Arlong Park", the arc that people suggest you get to before deciding whether to keep going or quit, was very difficult for me at first. I got through it, and I'm glad I did, but as soon as I did, I decided to switch over to the manga and had a much easier time.

-I find the show's music very repetitive at times. That's not to say the music is necessarily bad, I love the One Piece OST! It's just... over the years they have barely updated the soundtrack. Every arc you might here one or two new tracks, however a lot of the time you'll hear the same tracks replayed in the same sort of situations. ("OVERTAKEN" is an AMAZING track, but if I hear it one more time I'm gonna snap)

-This is a bit of a nitpick but I need to say it. One Piece's sound effects, while iconic, are also extremely outdated. When you start the series and hear the older-styled Toei Animation sound design, it is super charming because it fits with the older visuals. However in more modern One Piece, which visually looks incredible, THEY STILL USE THE OLD SOUND EFFECTS AND THEY JUST DON'T FIT.

TOEI, UPDATE YOUR SOUND LIBRARY!!!

ANYWAY...

Anyway, I hope my funny little list here helps!! Sorry it's so long, went a bit off the handle. But I think this is a fine enough starter guide and may help you get started!

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Thoughts on TBB 3x10: Identity Crisis and 3x11: Point of No Return

SPOILERS BELOW

Let's not start kidnapping kids for experimentation. That's never going to go well

This show has progressively gotten greyer and it's so depressing. I want my sunshine back

Of course the Empire are experimenting on kids. "Oh we cAn'T fiNd EnOugH aDulTs. We juSt uSe cHilDrEn iNsteAd". 🖕

Ayyyyy Bane is back!

Well he didn't kill the parent so that's something

This is so depressing 😭

"I was following protocol". Everything that comes close to "good soldiers follow orders" makes me really sad

Have we met someone else called Jax? I swear we've heard that name before

The fact that they have 3 specimens but their specimen numbers are much higher than 3 does not make me feel good. What happened to all of the other ones???

"To retrieve it". "It". Literally just an object to Dr Arsehole over here

Trandoshan? Pirate? FUCK YOU CID FOR SPILLING ABOUT PHEE

"Let's just say I'm good at my job" suggests he has picked up a hell of a lot more than 3 kids so where are the others?!

NOT THE LULA DOLL

I feel like this is a good time to note that I still don't like Emerie. Her dedication to Hemlock and her involvement in the Empire up until this point outweigh all of her current actions for me. So no, I still don't like her.

"But what about Nala Se?" I hear you ask. Don't like her either! I respect that she's trying to protect Omega but the number of problems that lanky bitch has caused means that I'm not going to forgive her that easily

People really need to stop leaving the door to their ship open BECAUSE SHIT LIKE THIS HAPPENS

1600??? FOR FUEL?! BITCH THEY TRIED SELLING ECHO FOR 2000

Tbf with fuel prices the way that they are I shouldn't be surprised

NOOOOO NOT PABU 😭

DON'T LEAVE THE GOGGLES THERE

AND LULA TOO?!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

FUCK THAT'S NOT GOOD

Oof that little bit of Omega's theme really hits in the feels 🥲

Eliminate them? How about no

NOT THE MARAUDER

I KNOW IT WAS IN A TEASER CLIP BUT NOOOOOOOOO

You know what I'm suddenly very glad that the goggles and Lula were off the ship

Nah I don't like that Wrecker's down. He never goes down for long

"Search every domicile" Domicile? DOMICILE?! Now where have we heard someone use that term before...

The Kiners are really popping off with this soundtrack 🔥

Crosshair's little "uh huh" 😭

SOMEONE CALL ECHO FFS

How about no to the recapture plan

If CX-2 turns out to be Tech then we only have 4 episodes left to address that entire storyline and I don't know what to do with that information

Errrrrr Hunter's not gonna be happy when he finds out what Crosshair and Omega have been up to

Neither's Wrecker tbf

Or Echo

Anyway... Cross is going to have a fun time explaining that one

Echo's gonna get a fun call as well. "So errr... The Empire took over Pabu, Omega got herself recaptured by choice and the Marauder is in pieces so... can we get a lift please?"

FUCK CROSSHAIR MISSED THE TRACKER

Me after these episodes

Some solid episodes today. I really enjoyed them! Am I still annoyed that Echo is still stuck as someone to be name dropped but not actually put in the episode? Yes. But these were some strong episodes.

I'm still trying to compute how this is all going to get wrapped up in 4 episodes though. That's really not a lot of time. 😭

BINGO UPDATE

Only just clocked that I have "Batcher dies" written on it. When I wrote it I meant one of the Batch members. I didn't know we were gonna get a hound called Batcher 😅

[all-pacas]

the FANFIC DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY: no mystery left

(because this is the one i was thinking about. bc reddit.)

OK, no idea how to do these things. Part of me is really tempted to pretend this is an actual director's commentary, you know, make a fake script, like here I am in a booth and we're doing a little watch along together. Right: Hi, I'm Helen. (We're doing the RP, ya'll)

So this was the first story I wrote for House. I think I did it in about two hours; most of it in one burst and then finishing it up. I have the bad habit of doing editing after posting, I'll just sit and re-read it until I spot errors or wording issues.

no mystery left alpacas

I kind of regret the title of this fanfic. It's called after a lyric from Portions for Foxes, which is kind of just my general Chase Soundtrack Song, which is why I chose it — except I kind of feel like I could have used it on something else, or picked something more fitting. But I don't hate the title either. I can never think of proper titles, I'm always stealing from songs. I've been trying to use as many Portions for Foxes lyrics as possible in my House fanfics.

"Who," House says grandly as Cuddy approaches, "ever heard of a diagnostics fellowship?" He's sitting in the hall by the elevators, ready to pounce. "Who ever heard of a diagnostics department?" she retorts distractedly. She slows. "You're hiring a fellow. Maybe even two, if you can find that many people who can stand you. This is a teaching hospital." House doesn't retort. She looks at him suspiciously and he twists his expression as if to suggest he has no idea what she's suspicious about. "Hire a fellow," she repeats. "That Treiber kid -"

This is a continuity error!! House actually did have fellows before Chase. This exchange really bothers me, but I've let it stand. I guess my excuse is that neither House or Cuddy say Chase will be your first fellow; House is just at a moment where he doesn't have any (also a continuity error, btw, Chase mentions meeting one in All In).

I… hadn't actually completed my watch of the show when I started this fanfic, which is where the error crept in. You'd think referencing S8-only Trier would imply I'd at least watched most of it, but no. I skipped ahead. I watched it coz the summary implied Chase Backstory.

He watches as she tries to enter before the doors close. A blond kid sticks out his arm to block them, flashes a thousand perfectly white teeth at her when she says thanks. Interesting.

I never have House refer to Chase by name in the story. This is meant to be the first time House sees (or hears of) him, and what he sees is Chase on a Charm Offensive towards Cuddy. Enough to pique his curiosity.

"I don't trust nurses." House keeps staring over Wilson's shoulder. The papers are too far away to read, but he can just make out the logo on the cover sheet. "Who does immigration paperwork in a hospital?" he asks.

This is still meant to be an accidental run-in. This is also shoddy immigration law, although I reference it in another fanfic too: as much as I like the idea Chase leveraged a 3 month holiday visa into a work visa, I'm pretty sure there is no way the department of immigration would let him. But I like how careless and sort of arrogant it seems. (very Rich Kid) Chase just assumes it'll all work out for him.

House flips a page in the rheumatology textbook he's examining. Trier tries not to fidget. "Classic power play," he blurts. "Read a book to show how little you care." House glances up.

Now House is actively researching Chase, probably because he also knows he's playing it fast and loose with his visa, and by implication is trying real hard to get a job by sucking up to Cuddy. I wish we'd had Trier more. I love everything about him. I love the idea that Chase just has a Nemesis in pathology. Like that one episode where he has to biopsy a dead baby? So funny if you imagine Trier is just off-camera and pissed Chase is in his department.

You're Dr. Thomas, aren't you?" the kid asks as the elevator starts to move. "Oh - I'm not a patient, don't worry." He smiles, sticks out his hand. "I'm interviewing for the surgical residency. Dr. Cuddy spoke highly of you. Rob Chase. Fantastic to meet like this - we're due to interview next week?" "Dr. Chase. Of course." Thomas clearly has no idea who the kid is but shakes his hand. The elevator dings. "Nice to meet you," the kid says, oozing charm, as Thomas exits. "Nice trick, Doogie," House says when the doors close. The kid jumps, noticing him for the first time. "Repetitive, though. Do you just hang out around the elevators waiting for your future bosses to climb aboard?"

I went back and forth on how Chase would introduce himself. We know his sister, at least, calls him Robbie, and even though the show itself is pretty consistent on calling him Robert, boy, can we agree that doesn't suit him? In my head, he started using his full name to "sound professional," but before House usually called himself Robbie or Rob. So he's not quite polished yet.

House is making a power play here, obviously. He's figured out Chase's game, and inserting himself into it just to let Chase know he's been caught: Chase is trying to "accidentally" charm his way into being hired. Also, something about him asking if Chase waits for his future bosses on elevators, House being on an elevator…

He turns on the kid, who stops short, uncertain. "Say," House asks, mock innocent. "Is my photo on the website?" The kid recites obediently: "You're Dr. House. Head of diagnostics. Double specialty in -"

Chase did research House, but didn't think he was a useful person to stalk. Trying to imply here that Chase really is being quite cynical and calculating about this — he isn't just targeting the specific folks he needs to hire him, he looked at every possibility and then chose who to seduce.

At House's office, he hesitates until House waves him inside. "The way I see it, Dr. Chase's only son could get a job in any hospital down undah he wanted, no matter how mediocre his grades."

Honestly, biggest argument against Chase being a lazy nepobaby, imo. He seriously could have done this in universe. Instead he moved across the world. This is one of the reasons I am so Interested in this idiot: he's so unambitious but he does wild things like this.

"Surgery and intensive care," he says. He turns to the counter behind him, picks up the resume he'd had Wilson procure. "You must love saving lives." "I do," he says, eyeing the resume and the copy of his father's book House had strategically placed under the manilla folder. "How sweet." "I like them when they're dying," the kid says, leaning forward. "When you have a bleed and ten seconds to find it. When they crash and you don't know why and you have less than a minute to fix the problem." "And that's why you're a perfect candidate for my fellowship?" House mocks. "You tell me. You're courting me, aren't you?" "Sudden attitude shift. Trying to appeal to the nearest authority figure by imitating his grizzled charm?"

I don't love this exchange. I think it's pretty decent banter, it flows nicely, but I do think Chase is too aggressive, even if I handwaved it with him doing in intentionally, trying to match House's energy. House revealing he's been tracking Chase's job hunt, and showing off Rowan's book, proves that he's interested in Chase and has been paying attention. So Chase notices this, and he's trying to imitate House.

I don't think (she says, having written it) that Chase's explanation for his specialties is necessarily true here. Or not the whole truth. He's just trying to say what he thinks House wants to hear. From his perspective, this dude he hasn't seen before just walked up to him and told him "I know everything about you, sit in my office, let's look at your resume." House mentioned Chase's immigration winging-it, that he's hoping to charm his way into a job. So Chase in turn is making his specialty sound sort of reckless and seat of his pants, too.

From House's perspective, he's seen this kid stroll into the hospital and attempt to manipulate

He skims the kid's file again. Looks up at him over the top of the folder, then tosses it down. "Have your dad give me a call." "What?" he blinks. "You want the job, I'd like a character reference." "I have references." "Yeah, but I'm such a fan of daddy. Shouldn't be a problem. Not like you fled England rather than live in his shadow or anything." "Australia." House waits. Finally the kid stands up. He offers his hand to House to shake. He doesn't take it. Rowan Chase calls the next morning.

This is the reason both the story and this commentary exists. It's a power play. House wants Chase to demean himself and do something he doesn't want to in order to prove he wants the job. Chase, meanwhile, realizes that House is pursuing him. So the real question is "will you do something you don't want to do because I asked you?" House has seen Chase is manipulative, and observant, but is he willing to do this?

Chase, meanwhile, knows House is interested in him and pursuing him. He doesn't know how much House has been tracking him, but clearly House wants him. This is enough to get Chase, naturally, to abandon his other plans to charm his way into a job: he might be able to get Thomas to hire him, but House is taking the initiative and showing an interest, which makes him way more valuable. (ie: daddy issues. It's always daddy issues.)

"I want to hire Bobby," House says, cornering Cuddy Friday morning.

[…]

"One's black and the other has milk and sugar. Did - did my father --" He blinks, losing his confidence. House takes the black coffee. Chase throws the other cup in the trash.

House calls him Bobby to mock him, obviously, but it's not until the last paragraph of the story the narration (and so, House) thinks of Chase by name. Now that Chase is in Diagnostics, he Exists.

Further useless headcanon director's notes:

I think Chase introduced himself as Robbie exactly once in New Jersey, and House heard, and it was also the last time he ever used that name.

For some reason, I feel like Chase drinks coffee black with sugar. So neither of those cups were ever going to be from him. He's blatantly sucking up here.

Finally, in an earlier scene:

"Do you even have an interview with Thomas, or were you planning on kissing his ass until you got one?" "I'll have it by the end of the week," the kid says defiantly. House smirks.

And in the last scene:

He passes her the manila folder. Cuddy skims it and looks disapproving. "Dr. Chase is the new surgical resident. Dr. Thomas specifically asked --"

I just liked this bit. Chase did end up getting the other job, he just picked the boss who wanted him over the one who didn't. From Dr. Thomas's brief appearance in S6, he seems to have Issues with Chase and Chase as an extension of House. I think it makes sense on its own, but it makes more sense with this context. He offers the kid a job, the kid rejects the job, four years later Cuddy makes Thomas hire him again, and Chase still pays more attention to House?? Lowkey Chase has as many enemies in the hospital as House and I think that's great.

[sheenashifts1217]

i'm not sure if you're still doing readings but

hii! my name is Priscilla butttt my dr name is David (i wasn't sure which 1 you wanted 😭)

but i want to know about my dr s/o rozz! and if he has a message for me or anything :")

thank you for doing these, you're very kind! take all the time you need <3

Hiii

Lyrics that stand out:

“When I hear your name

Too young too dumb to realize

Take you to every party

My selfish ways

Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life

Clean up the mess I made (did I just see you all at a masquerade ball?)

Close my eyes

Now my baby’s dancing

I was wrong

I remember how much you love to dance

Do all the things I should’ve done”

It seems like you and Rozz have recently went through something in your relationship where he messed up. He wants you to know that he absolutely can’t get you out of his head, but he thinks you we’re both in the wrong. He feels horrible for what he did and he wants to make it up to you. He’s hates the thought of losing you and seeing you live life with someone else. Everything reminds him of you and he’s saying he’s truly sorry and thank you for taking him back. He says, “I’m gonna get it right this time”.

Lyrics standing out:

“It’s wrong what I’m feeling

It’s so hard to make it

I don’t know what I’m doing

1 in a million

Never gonna change my mind

A child, baby

I’m ready

Are you ready for it

Gonna get there someday”

You all have finally mended your wounds and now you have scar tissue. Scar tissue is stronger than regular skin. You’re relationship is stronger than ever. He greatly appreciates how you all talk through your problems now and work together on things. I can feel the energy of how healthy your relationship is. He’s telling you that you’re it for him. He possibly wants to start a family with you one day if that’s what you’re open to.

At first, when this shuffled I was very confused tbh, then I thought that it may be that there is some sort of generational trauma or some kind of family image he or you feel like you need to uphold. However, since I read the song before this and what he had to say, I feel again that this is him saying you are his family and he wants to have a family with you, even if it’s hard. You’re his forever and he loves you so much. He will do anything for you.

Like I said, when I first shuffled Impersiones Del Encanto, I was confused. So I asked Rozz if he could send me a confirmation song if the past song was for you and about either some kind of family thing or some kind of image to uphold. What really stood out to me about this was mainly just the line “written in these walls are the stories that I can’t explain”. You and Rozz share a history that he loves and cherishes, be it the good, the bad and the ugly. He can’t explain his feelings for you, they simply just are. He feels almost like it’s fate. Maybe there was some family thing before. Maybe your families were rivals? Im not entirely sure on that, but no matter what societal thing that tried to get in between you, you all overcame it and he’s wanting to give you reassurance of that so you’re relationship can grow. You are each other’s family. I heard “we won’t be like them”.

I hope you like it, my love 🫶

Please leave a review and any other thoughts and comments you may have :)

[sgiandubh]

Holy Monday - Dagger Man

Sidenote: it's horrendously late, in my own time zone and Holy Monday is gone for good. Hoping yesterday's wonderful SC news are enough for you to forgive me, I go ahead with my short personal notes on what is perhaps one of the most complicated stories of this week.

Enter Judas Iscariot, whose name is perhaps a local corruption of the Latin term for 'dagger man': sicarius.

Who is he? We are told he was one of The Twelve chosen ones, but our Bibles are, to say the least, not very talkative when it comes to this man. We do not know what his merits are and many risk a seriously tragical confusion with the other Judas, 'son of James'. Perhaps in the same way Mary of Bethany is still mistaken by many for Mary Magdalene herself.

Today's episode is a throwback: 'Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead' (John, 12:1)'

We don't know very well where the following episode happens (in Lazarus' house? somewhere else?) and for the first two days of the Holy Week, the Evangelists' reports are either vague or even conflicting. A woman named Mary approaches. Clearly, more than a sympathizer, yet barely tolerated by what clearly is a gender segregated assembly, where women serve a dinner they never join in. Something still very much happening in the Mediterranean world, by the way:

'Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. (John, 12:3)'

Is she a prostitute? A rich patron? I have always thought, perhaps wrongly, there was something very erotic in that choreography, for hair is a very strong sexual symbol and even more so in the Ancient World (think Egyptian wigs and also, heh, Samson). Something that also reminded me of Salome's fateful dance of the seven veils.

Experts have calculated, for dry amusement probably, the cost of that 'ointment' in today's money, which is disingenuous, to say the least. Nevertheless, that's easily the price tag of a brand new Mercedes, with all the bells and whistles. Judas immediately puts things into context and speaks like a corporate CFO: 'Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?' (John, 12:5)

You think this is what a good manager would do, right? Well, think twice. John does not like Judas. At all. He immediately tells us who he thinks that strange man really is: 'Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him' (John, 12:4). And, which is perhaps even worse, a corrupted treasurer of sorts: 'not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein' (John, 12:6).

Jesus' answer to this apparent practical dilemma is very clear: ' Let her alone (...), for the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always' (John, 12: 8-9). Judas' enormous mistake is to transform what obviously is a spiritual matter into a vulgar, political one. Throwing money into the mix, instrumentalizing it for what we would today call 'propaganda purposes' is at complete odds with His entire message.

But sometimes even the voice of Heaven has trouble making itself heard. This is why I have chosen for today a simple, short shofar sound, from Miklós Rózsa 's original soundtrack for Ben Hur:

[sathellio]

for the genloss ep 1 anniversary I'm rewatching the first vod and I have MORE THOUGHTS?? who knew this was even possible

1. hearing the music and watching the Showfall logo appear at the very beginning has me in my feels. this moment a year ago literally changed my life

2. yes, the Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde reference is very good, but Right After that Ranboo goes "ow, my head" AND I- we already know they wake up with their arms still in the crucified position so we know this is a time loop thing and the box ending has happened before, but I haven't heard anyone notice that line?? did we just never pick up on that or am I late to the party?? either way ouch

3. if I had a nickel for every time gl!Ranboo dug into something's/someone's guts for a key I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice (bats in ep 1 and Charlie in ep 2)

4. BOO BITCH

5. during the bat cpr moment I never noticed that after Charlie said "to the rough beat of staying alive" he says "I didn't" lmao

6. Charlie's dead stare then the slow pan over to the broken urn is so funny

7. "there's, there's Nothing In the Fridge!" "goo goobie!!"

8. "es splaghebbi"

9. god there's so many good quotes

10. Squiggles says "I can't take any more Loss of these characters" and I know that's just silly goofy referencing the title, but also, all of them were doomed from the start. we know this, and Showfall knows this, but they really told us in the very beginning and we just didn't understand

11. I quote "it's an 8 hour flight" so often

12. I love the soundtrack so much oh my god

13. I also love Sneeg's sass this is fantastic

14. the lights flickering when Charlie pops out of the box is a nice touch

15. why did Ranboo blind himself with a flashlight two (2) separate times

16. *Bat*

17. why does Charlie's room have jello on the shelves

18. the way Ranboo says "I'm gonna go to bed" scratches my brain

19. also how Sneeg says "you would've known ~had you been awake~"

20. do you think gl!Ranboo was confused about finding an exact replica of his jacket in the basement box

21. I love Charlie's fighting idle motions they're so good

22. "what the fuck" *falls off tricycle*

23. man Ranboo really has a record for missing their towel throws (iykyk)

24. ugh seeing the ending of ep 1 for the first time was INSANE

I'll probably do this for ep 2 and 3 on their respective anniversaries! live laugh goo goobie

[intotheelliwoods]

-> -> -> 2AL playlist drop!

Answered all the music related asks under the cut!

Question reference btw!

---

@teainthesnow

4 - a lyric you like

"Triangles are my favorite shape" From Tessellate by Alt-J !! Do I know why? Nah. I just also like triangles :)

11 - a popular song you think is Good, Actually

On Time by The Disco Biscuits !! Its not popular more than it is mainstream? Its one of those songs you swear you have heard everywhere, because its very much played everywhere, but like its actually good! Either its played everywhere or it just gives me loads of nostalgia? Eh whatever, its still good and im bestowing it upon you.

13 - a playlist name without context

"To Enter The Beyond" Past Human City Soundtrack

18 - a song or lyric that reminds you of the asker

Oh this for sure belongs on your AMW playlist!! Gives some absolute Tea vibes!

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@dandywonderous

5 - ramble about a song

FORGIVENESS BY ALICE GLASS!!!!!!! OUGHOUGHOGH I LOVE THIS SONG WITH ALL MY HEART god something about it just vibrates my insides and tickles my eyes. I dont know how to describe it other than each time I hear this song I feel nothing but pure power and hopelessness at the same time. Drifting along in never ending darkness, and the only thing you have with you are the spirits and memories of those who have passed. The spirits call for freedom. You should listen to them. This song gets real for me alright?

7 - a song for which you like a cover more than the original

Not really a cover moreso than it is a remix!? But im counting it! Silk by Giselle, the original, somber and sweet but just sorta missing something you know? This remix by Favored Nations though? SLAPS. Its so upbeat and I am so here for it!

11 - a popular song you think is Good, Actually

Honestly literally anything by Electric Light Orchestra. Though to be more specific, Evil Woman!! Alright is also a good one, but less popular!

16 - do you sing or play any instruments?

No instruments here! I actually have one really nice/complex song memorized that I can do on the piano but unfortunately thats about it whoops~ As for singing apparently I actually sing good when I try!?

23 - a song you remember liking as a kid

You are going to laugh at this one. Actually. I still like it. But damn was I a weird kid. I once had a solid 150 digits of pi memorized because I would just play this stupid song on loop for like a whole ass hour every now and then???? I think I still have about 50 memorized thanks to this song.. whoopsies

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@thimbell

5 - ramble about a song

YESSSSS YESSSSS I GET TO RAMBLE ABOUT ANOTHER SONG The World Is Ending by Matt and Kim !!!!!!!!!!!!! good GOD this song is so dear to me. Not because of the song really, but because of what the song means to me? The connections I have too it?????? Longish story short, someone made a killer AMV using it? The AMV using clips from the show Final Space! No clue if you have seen the show but no matter. Final Space is definitely up there as one of my favorite shows, not only because its good but because it actually helped me get closer with my dad, we watched it together! In other words I associate this song with just so much joy. The AMV if you were curious btw!

14 - an unpopular music opinion

Glass Animals is overrated <3 <3 Dont get me wrong I love their music! It just gets so tiresome hearing them everywhere!??? Probably just a me problem though

24 - a song people often misinterpret

I dont think I have much an answer for this one, apologies! Mostly because its not too often I pay attention to lyrics, and even then I think its cool that everyone has their own interpretations of someones song!

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@wraenata

17 - a song that has made you cry

... honestly? Any song in a tv show that is played during a sad scene! A REALLY sad scene... one that comes to mind is Enter One by Sol Seppy (would recommend skipping to about 2:30), because it is played in the death scene of one of my all time favorite characters... alright im going to weep about that death scene more now because listening to this again is NOT helping pfft... oughh honestly now im tempted to add it to the 2AL playlist... maybe.

24 - a song people often misinterpret

Answered above!

30 - a song that makes you nostalgic

Divinity by Porter Robinson, listen this used to be my favorite song for the longest time... and it might even still be my favorite song?? Either way, I DARE not listen to it anymore for the sake of I fear for the day where this absolutely nostalgic gem gets tiresome for me...

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@unfortunate-songbird

17 - a song that has made you cry

Answered this one above! Though for a less serious answer, any of the finale songs in Centaurworld... oops.

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1 - which artist(s) have you listened to the most lately?

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour has been a fav in the past month! Heres a good song by them if you would like~

I am going to use this ask as a chance to also say how much I love Hugo Kant!! He makes great stuff to chill too when working! If I could log hours on youtube, my most listened to videos are so just listening to the guy live!

21 - favourite album

Not to pull out my inner cowboy, but Harlequin Dream by Boy & Bear. I fear for the day I get sick of this album its such a trip for me!

28 - rank the songs in an album

THATS IT IM RANKING ALL THE SONGS IN PAGANS IN VEGAS BY METRIC. I love this album.

#1 - Celebrate. This is the song that introduced me to the band and gives me SUCH a blast of nostalgia each listen, and it shows. Best song in the album by far. Its so weird though since I knew this song before I knew about the rest of the album, so when I finally discovered the whole album each time this song comes up its so out of place pfft! Still such a bop though!

#2 - Blind Valentine. This is just one of those songs I love singing too whenever it comes on alright!?????

#3 - Lie Lie Lie. This is the first song in the whole album, and honestly? What a knee slapping way to start an album too god damn!!!!

#4 - Cascades. I am begging you to skip to about 3:15 in this song, its a little on the plain end before that end, but THAT ENDING??????? SLAYS.

#5 - Too Bad, So Sad. ITS SO GRINDY I LOVE IT. I FEEL LIKE A PUNK IN A DESERTED WASTELAND

#6 - For Kicks. The beat is just so unique here!!!!!!???????

#7 - The Face Part |. Just some funky cool down beats at the end of the album that are very enjoyable!

#8 - Fortunes. A decent enough second song in the album, helps sets the tone for whats coming!

#9 - The Shade. Its actually a good song, just nothing special about it you know??

#10 - The Governess. vibes are there, the vibes are sure there

#11 - The Face Part ||. Just more cool off tunes to end the album with

#12 - Other Side. No. Why are you here. your ass does NOT fit with the rest of this god-tier album. goodbye.

---

Edit: @kiaxet Thought I should add you to the masterpost here!!

5 - ramble about a song

Ok. Adventure Time by Yoann Turpin. I am usually not too big on 16 bit video game sort of vibes but this??? Is such a MASSIVE exception. Holy????? THE HEART THE GUY PUT INTO THIS SONG MAN. The beat is just so unique, its impossible to try and guess whats going to happen in the song next, you strait up feel like you are on an ADVENTURE. I am so here for this song, god and its so upbeat I am in LOVE.

By the way, I linked the whole ass album because the whole album overall is so nice to listen to to pump you up when doing dishes or something lmaooooo, the first song in the album is also an amazing trip!!

8 - an artist you think underrated

HUGO KANT!!! God!!! mentioned above as well, I love Hugo Kant with a passion! He makes such good stuff just to chill too, and him live is absolutely incredible!

With the ask above I linked a video from him preforming live, so this time around I bring you two favorite albums of mine!! Far From Home and Out Of Time

I get in SUCH a zone listening to his stuff!

9 - a song you think is underrated

Phleps by C418!!! C418, the producer of the original music behind minecraft, but the guy has so much underrated personal music that is SO underrated! This song in particular, is vastly different from his usually stuff and I love it for that. Definitely underrated for being overshadowed by his work on minecraft and his work that isnt minecraft but sounds like minecraft..

29 - what do you look for in a song or artist?

I always look for something where you can tell it has genuine love and heart put into it! That + something that just sounds truly unique in its own right!

[judging-films-of-all-kinds]

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen

I haven’t seen this one a long time, but I remember it better than the first one

Optimus is back in the intro 

“Our worlds have met before.” Not haunting at all

That title was quick and smooth!

“Suck my popsicle!” Hahah nice

“His here. I smell him.” I wonder how that works

OH THAT IS A BIG ONE Lol the twins really are brothers

“Man I’m good.” Yes you are Irionhide

OPTIMUS PRIME HERE WITH THE SICK LANDING

“Pull over!” …. Lol Optimus thank you for keeping your sense of humor

“You’ll learn that in college too.” Sir what else did you learn? 

Wow… They really made her sit like that to paint the bike. Taking points from that

Love how they show the symbols being planted into Sam’s brain. That is really cool

Oh great, the blender is alive. Just what we need! Wait… did they just-? They did! Omg the adult jokes in this movie XD

And they just fixed the yard too! Poor Bee just wanting to help

“I want a pool and hot tube! I’m going to skinny dip and you can’t say shit!” Starting to think someone was a bit wild back in her day lol

“You are an autobot! You shouldn't be living in my dad’s garage. You are suffocating.”  Awww Sam

….. Huh okay not expectating Sam to touch Bee’s chin to make him look at him

Sam you aren’t normal and never will be

No idea if Bee is being dramatic or he really is crying. Either way I’m glad it was added to the movie

“I love you, Bee.” and he loves you too Bee

Wow Sam you can tell Bumblebee you love him but not your girlfriend? 

Wheelie :3 

DUDE!! Soundwave’s design is so cool! A one of a kind big time

As a sibling I have heard and said “It’s meant to hurt!” after causing harm to sibling

It’s actually nice that they added the coffins being taken off the plane to show that death is still a huge threat in this movie

As Optimus transforms the music is not holy but more upbeat like a hero kind of deal. Very fitting 

“God made us in his image. Who made him?” Good and fair question. Humans always think they are so amazing till we meet something greater then ourselves

“Don’t tempt me.” Yeah I got mad for you buddy. Don’t disrespect the people that fight for you

I love Optimus looking down at him and saying, “Easy.” He knows he was getting angry. Optimus knows his comrades, even his human ones

“What if we leave, then you are wrong.” THE SOUNDTRACK! That fits so well with his low key warning

“That’s a good question” Awww he's such a cutie!

Sam meeting his new human bestie :D 

DID THE PAPPER THIN CON CUT THROUGH THAT GUY?!

“What size shoe you have?” Haha Sam the Sass Queen is back lol

I love how Optimus main goal is to keep earth safe. He doesn’t want to watch it be ruined like his own home was. Sam just wants to be normal. He doesn’t want this. While they are talking, soft music is playing. Showing the burden both carry and what awaits them. 

MEGATRON LIVES AGAIN Okay this is really cool. We see Megatron put Starscream in his place. Then we see him showing respect to The Fallen. Going as far as calling him master. The Fallen even calls him “my disciple”

I wonder how The Fallen knew that Sam has the knowledge now

Man the CGI in this movie is so good

Poor Sam. He has all that knowledge in his head and his mind can’t handle it

“You're such a little girl!” “I’m not talking to you for ten seconds.” Yeah I wouldn’t either. Good on you Sam. 

What I love about Megatron is that his voice is creepy and yet gentle

Sorry I had to skip the worm part. That was just gross. That lost points for me lol

GET HIM OPTIMUS

The slow down for the bullet is so good

The chanting as the cons chase Optimus and Sam is so good

Why did Sam jump over the log like that? 

“I’ll take you all on!” and cue the uplifting music

That head rip is sooo good

“Sam! Where are you?!” You can hear the fear in his voice. All he knows is Sam has already been taken or worse

“Sam, run. Run..” Even in his last moments Optimus is worried about Sam

Man… I can’t even imagine the guilt Sam must be feeling at that moment…

Sam watching the news with such pain on his face…. He just wanted to be normal

I love the twins so much lol

DON”T DROP OPTIMUS PRIME LIKE THAT

I hate that guy

Yes please give Sam a hug. Sam this isn’t your fault. This will never be your fault

“Don’t tell my mother.” Said every child in history

Ha! Wheelie is the best again. Wait, is that even his name? 

I love how no one bothered to check if the old fart was a con or a bot lol

I love the sound Jetfire makes as he wakes up. His such as old fart, I love him

HA! Leo pushing Wheelie away while they are hiding 

Grumpy old man on the run! “It’s a choice. It’s an intensely personal decision. So much negativity. Who wants to live a life full of hate.” Old man spiting knowledge 

“His faithful, Sam.” Girl I love you but what happened wasn’t Sam’s fault

Wheelie stop humping her you horn dog

“I have my own issues! It started with my mother!” Me too buddy

“Do you know what he transformed into?!” “No!”

“Nothing!”

Haha I love this movie so much

Haha everyone is going flying. Well done Jetfire

MORE LORE

“Only a Prime can defeat The Fallen.”

“Optimus Prime?”

“So, you’ve met a Prime?”

I’m not crying! I have sand in my eyes! 

Man Jetfire’s excitement about hearing a Prime was on Earth is so sweet. He sounds really young with how excited he is. 

Grandpa pointing out the obvious 

“Scared? Scared of your ugly face!” “I’m ugly? Well, we’re twins, you stupid genius!” Perfect sibling insults

Bumblebee is “I don’t care who started it! I’m finishing it!” Big brother at work lol

Oh god the siblings fighting was useful for once

Ohhh that soft haunting sound… Music is stunning as always

It gets louder once the matrix is seen

Sam not giving up is so.. Man… Once he believes in something, he will not back down from it

BAD BOYS ARE HERE Go Jetfire! He still got it! “I’m too old for this crap.” Me everyday 

The balls that started it all

Oh no! Sam! The soft music, the faded voices, everything slowed down… Then you hear his parents' cries. All they know is that their son is hurt. They don’t know he's gone. 

Then there is Bumblebee. They let us see his pain. They let us hear it too. 

The Primes coming to Sam is awesome. They let him know why he is there. Answering his question. Low key telling him his prime. “The Leadership of the Matrix isn’t found. It is earned.”

Aw he finally tells her that he loves her

Of course he came back for you Optimus! You died saving him!.... They died saving each other… 

Jetfire’s joy at seeing Optimus makes me smile again 

Damn The Fallen is powerful

Oh Jetfire… No! Your death will not go in vain!

Optimus can fly now. This is going to be fun~ “Die like your brother!” “They are your brothers too!”

Totally not giving me headcanon ideas

The soundtrack once again being soooo good! Megatron calling out for Starscarem after losing half of his face is interesting

“Give me your face!” and “I rise. You fall.” Are cold af lines and I love them so much

The fight is a bit short but I don’t mind. It’s gore fixes it for me

“Cowards do survive.” That is true. Sometimes in order to win, you must survive first

Yes! Thank you for letting the parents hug Sam. They watched him die and come back! Like man! They need therapy after that

Optimus and Sam standing next to each other is so cute! Dad and son vibes lol

Yay! Sam gets to go to college!

I will rank this movie as 9.5/10

[invisiblebadword]

My Top 10 Video Games

I've decided to put together a list of what are my favourite video games of all time. Its completely subjective, so you WILL disagree, but I just want this to be somewhere on the internet.

First up though I'm gonna post two things:

The Games that were disqualified

The Games that came to mind, but didn't make it into the consideration for the top 10

The Disqualified Section:

The reasons I didn't put these up for consideration is simply that I have played them too recently for me to be sure about them, or that I haven't played them enough yet.

Core Keeper

Deltarune

Lethal Company

Just Shapes & Beats

Metal Hellsinger

Slime Rancher 2

Wuppo

The ones that didn't make the cut:

Games in this section either have something slimy about them, like some glaring issues (like We Happy Few), scummy monetization (Like GTA V), or I was simply already sure that they wouldn't perform well when I was getting to eliminating games for the top 10 (Like Cookie Clicker)

Barotrauma

Brotato

Cookie Clicker

Dead By Daylight

Devour

Doom

The Escapists

Grand Theft Auto V

Helltaker

Hitman 3

I’m on Observation Duty

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes

Move Or Die

Phasmophobia

Payday 2

Sea of Thieves

Subnautica: Below Zero

Supraland: Six Inches Under

Turmoil

We Happy Few

We Were Here

These aren't all the other games I've played. Just the ones I do still like very much, that do still deserve to be named somewhere.

That being out of the way, here's my Top 10 games:

Number 10:

Undertale

I don't think I have to say a lot about Undertale. Everyone and their religious leaders has at least heard of it, played it, or has been told the story in some other way. A good rule of thumb was, that if a game made me cry I would have to put it up for consideration. This game made me cry. Back when I was in boarding school my shitty laptop couldn't run most games, so I ended up playing through Undertale at least 20 times (I really wanted to see Gaster). It is also one of the few games, whos soundtrack still makes it into a lot of my playlists.

Number 9:

Plants vs. Zombies

I don't know if the game is just that good, or if the nostalgia carries it, but PvZ will always have a place in my heart. It was my "mom, can I have your phone while we wait" game. And when coming back to it years later it still holds up for me. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the rest of the franchise, even though pvz2 has been a good amount of fun. But at that point the monetization was already so horrendous that I didn't sacrifice a thought to it. PvZ however is a delight to come back to. I think the pacing is great, the characters are all funny, and the minigames are a lot of fun (except pogo party. I hate pogo party). Don't even get me started on the soundtrack either. I adore Graze The Roof with my entire being.

Number 8:

Cult Of The Lamb

I tried this game out not that long ago, and what followed was me falling behind on all of my assignments. I am a huge fan of roguelikes, and cotls spin on it made it an instant source of addiction to me. The OST is amazing and prime dnd background music material, and I love the asthetic of eldritch entities combined with cute widdle animals. I've had so much fun with the game, and it somehow managed to never feel stale, something that happened with pretty much all other games on the list at one point or another throughout my playthroughs. If you're a fan of roguelikes I can highly recommend.

Number 7:

Portal

This should be another one of those games that just speaks for itself. Portal is one of the greatest games ever made and that is not an opinion, but an objective fact. While not being as great as its successor, it already innovated so much, and immediately gave GLaDOS so much character, so efficiently. The way it conveys the story of Aperture is amazing, and the gameplay enhances the experience by magnitudes.

Number 6:

Subnautica

I love Subnautica. I don't know how a game manages to look this stunning. My partner loves bioluminescence, and big mushrooms. If that is your cup of tea, then this game is for you. The way it builds horror is magnificent too. Not many games find their horror so naturally. You genuinly feel scared of whatever could be in the depths. I think Below Zero kinda forgot what made the first game so great by relying on small, narrow corridors too much, instead of giving the player the anxiety of being vulnerable from all angles, but subnautica combines the awe inspiring flora and fauna with a constant feeling of lurking danger. It even manages to build a memorable cast of characters without you ever seeing another face. I'm gonna stop myself from rambling further.

Number 5:

Inscryption

I never thought a card game would sweep me off my feet this hard. I love myself a good strategy game, and the way Inscryption rewards you for learning the mechanics of the game feels incredible. It's super creative mechanics like being able to stand up, or making your own death cards aid the game so much too. Not only in gameplay experience, but also in building the many supporting characters, as well as the world in general. Every time something new is introduced it breaks the roof the game has built so far, and it is a delight every time, like all the arg aspects, or the gameplay changing completely, or characters returning, revealing that there is more and more to people you didn't even think had anything behind them. I am being very vague, but that's just because I don't wanna spoiler anything.

Inscryption would've easily made number 3, but there are passages that felt a bit tideous, especially in the middle, but for how short these are, and how exciting the story conveyed within them still is, it still makes the game worth every penny. Towards the end it also absolutely made me cry, so that's something.

Number 4:

Portal 2

I think this is a good point to say: Any game from this point onwards is a serious contender for first place. They're all just this good, and I could never say I like Portal 2 less then third place, for example.

I think Portal 2 shattered my expectations for what games can be. The humor is still one of it's greatest strength, and I almost feel bad not gushing about how amazing the mechanics of both Portal 1 and 2 still are to this day, but somehow the rest of the game manages to overshadow what would otherwise be the greatest aspect of it. All the characters are amazing. You either love them, or love to hate them. From Cave Johnson to the little ball that would later go on to inspire Elon Musk, every character is memorable. God damnit, I will never look at a potato the same, because I played this game.

Not only is it amazing on its own, it is also amazing as a sequal, expanding the world in ways any story teller would dream of. Every little detail feels like there's so much love put into it, and the way all of the story beats are conveyed via some of the most engaging gameplay is amazing.

And I have to stress again, the humor is S++ tier. I will never not find The Part Where He Kills You funny.

Number 3:

Papers Please

I almost feel bad, putting this game so high on the list, because of how simple it is. But god, it delivers. It builds such an engaging story on top of such a simple gameplay loop. And i think the monotony of said gameplay loop is exactly what end up making the story feel so special. By all means, this game should be boring, but the job of working as border control has the fact going for it, that you will meet so many different people, all at varying levels of desperation. Every time you meet a character it feels like an actual person, and every time they plead for you to let them through it feels heartbreaking when you have to send them back. I really can't say that much about Papers Please, especially because I don't wanna spoil anything. It is one of those games you just have to experience. And I highly recommend it. Glory to Arstotzka.

Number 2:

Terraria

There are few games holding as special of a place in my heart as Terraria. Unlike most of the games on this list Terraria doesn't have an amazing story with highly fleshed out characters. At least you don't get that through mere gameplay alone. I know that there is more to it, don't worry, but I can't get into all of that.

Terraria is the first steam game I've ever owned. In a way, it might even be the first game I've ever actually owned, aside from minecraft maybe. Even before I had a computer I played the mobile version, with Ocram and everything. I must've been in 5th grade back then. I ended up getting the game as the Premium edition in a store. I didn't have the money at the time, so a friend lent me his store gift cards. I must still have the collectors cards and poster that came with the game somewhere. There are many anecdoted I have about this game. So there's undeniably a lot of nostalgia fuelling it's place on the list. But god damnit, Terraria deserves it. With the game still being actively updated today it is clear that I am not the only one that loves it this much. Terraria is just one of these games I will always come back to. It will always be special, and I hope that generations in the future, when I'm long gone there will still be people enjoying this piece of history. But torch luck should've never been in the game lol

Quick Intermission

Im gonna take some time now to talk about the contenders that didn't make it in the top 10. I won't say as much about every game though. There are kinda ordered by how much I like them, but rather than a ranking its more like its ordered into vague groups.

Antichamber

I loved playing it. Just a great overall gameplay experience. Very trippy!

The Binding of Isaac

As I said, I love roguelikes. I never got any of the dlc, because money, so it's kinda sad to know so much of the game is paywalled, but seeing just how much they add I don't see it as a huge problem. Really fun game, really great story, will play again (And I will buy the dlc, just not now).

Factorio

Can recommend if you haven't played it already. It's just a very fun base building game. When things work it feels soo rewarding. I just love how the main problem is how to fit things into spaces. That's what makes minecraft redstone so appealing to me.

Spore

Love it. Funny little creatures. Spore is just an overall silly game with a fun gameplay loop.

Superliminal

Again, very trippy. This time it also has a nice story. I adore the setting, and the gameplay mechanics are on the same level as Portal's to me. (I'm sure Stanley Parable would also be in here, but I have yet to play it)

Mortuary Assistant

If you like horror games, this one I can recommend. The scares are awesome, and it somehow has replayability. The animations could be better, but thats whatever. Nothing I would hold against it.

Raft

Raft is absolutely top 10 material. The gameplay is super fun, and the story telling is decent, though it could be better. Especially if you have some friends to play with, you should give this one a try. Too bad they added other people to the game. That kinda ruined the whole vibe for me. I still wanna see the rest of the update though, but my friends got bored of the game. :(

Supraland

Got this one free on Epic Games, and I gotta say, I would pay money for it. Super fun game, super fun characters, and super fun gameplay. As a completionist this game is just like a giant bowl of food, though I am having trouble finding the final treasures, and no matter how hard I try, I can't figure out how to get them. I can't figure out how to look them up either, so I guess ill lever have the 100% :( (Also, the credit song is really fun).

Minecraft

I mean, it had to be in here somewhere. I'm sure if anybody is actually reading this, they might even suspect that it would be Number 1. But no. I love Minecraft, don't get me wrong. There is a reason for why it's so popular. I even have some anecdotes similar to Terraria, like how after buying it, it was just laying on my PC untouched for a year, because 6th grade me didn't know how to install java. But I feel like minecraft very much relies on modding and servers and whatnot. I could always replay vanilla terraria, but I'm kinda done with vanilla minecraft. Feel free to disagree, by any means. At the end of the day, its just 3D Terraria to me /j.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

Silly little turnip guy committing silly little crimes. The game is just a lot of humor and its cute af. Just a very good time :)

Fran Bow

I love the Alice in Wonderland horror this game has. The mechanics aid so hard in telling this awesome story with all of its whacky characters. Just something I can recommend.

Slime Rancher

You get to live on a farm, on another planet, and get to goof around with little slimes all day every day. This game is living the dream. I wanna live in the Far Far Range! The supporting characters are also amazing. Love them all.

Stardew Valley

This and the game after are absolutely contenders for the top 10. In my eyes Stardew Valley made it on that list. We should switch to duodecimal so that a top 12 list is more intuitive, because Stardew Valley Deserves to be on it. If you haven't played it, you should! I'm gonna stop myself from trying to explain what makes it so great, because I could never do it justice though.

Celeste

Once again, Celeste is on the list. It should be. I cried. I cried a lot. Celeste is such a great game. The story makes me cry, the characters make me cry, the music makes be cry. I am too trans, not to cry. Play Celeste, if you haven't already. It's also hard as shit though.

Ok, it's time.

My number one game of all time is:

Number 1:

Hypnospace Outlaw

There is a very very good chance you've never heard of this game. Maybe you have though, its hard for me to really tell just how popular it is, or not. It's popular enough for me to have bought a plushy of it. I don't usually buy merch, so thats a big deal. There is a reason I put this game on number 1. Whatever I tell you about the game will not do it justice though. The game is just so human. The characters are all just so great and fleshed out, and believable.

I wish I could play this game blind again, so that I may experience it all over again. But there is no way that anything will be as great as playing it blind. You are tasked with moderating this late 90s alternate version of the internet called hypnospace, and find out aboiut all of the people using it, and maneuvering it like an actual PC, kinda like Welcome to the game, or whatnot. Again, I could never do it justice. You just have to try it out on your own.

The soundtrack is also one of the greatest pieces of art I've found in a game. There are so many songs by so many artists. The humor too. The humor is top notch. Not only in regards to the characters, but the technology as a whole. The references to the real world are awesome, like conspiracies, and viruses like bonzai buddy, edgelords on the internet, and web comics. It all feels so real and alive. Thus, experiencing the story doesn't feel like reading a book, but like actually being part of it all. The fact that your choices actually have an effect on the ending of the game enhances this even further.

Im repeating myself, but I cant stress enough how much I would love to be able to experience this game all over again.

Alright, that's it then. I doubt anyone will read through this. If anything youll probably scroll through and see if your favourite game is on the list. That's fine. I'd do the same, honestly. I just wanted to put this somewhere, to express my love for these games somewhere. I'm happy if you've made it this far. This isn't much more than me rambling on for hours, but I'm glad I put it somewhere. If you have any other games you think are great, feel free to tell me about them. Cya!

[blueorchid-95]

Sliding in here to say that I don’t think Reginald has actually been Lead Support Agent for all that long.

First off, the very fact that he ends up working as our handler should say something. At the start of the first game, we’re either a total novice agent or a fresh member of the EOD. Even if we did have experience working in the Agency before the TK implant, it seems unlikely that the Lead Support Agent of all people would settle down to work with us.

Maybe there wasn’t enough support agents available, and therefore Reginald had to become our Handler, you say? That does make sense… but according to the radio in IEYTD 3, the Agency has a surplus of new field agents coming in to help out in the EOD, enough that they “might run out of kinesium for TK implants.” This implies that there’s plenty of handlers set up to handle the sudden influx of field agents, as there’s never any mention of new support agents joining en masse. In turn, this tells us that there definitely was more than enough handlers back before Agent Phoenix became Agent Phoenix.

Second off, his photo in the post-mission rooms during IEYTD 3 tells us a lot too.

Just… look at it.

For comparison’s sake, here is Director Morales:

Most of the photos on the wall are similar in nature to Director Morales—calm and stoic. Yang Jinyi, the Head of Operations, is smiling, but still rather low-key. The only person who fully matches Reginald’s energy is Hank Jenkins, the Head of Public Relations.

But what is that energy? Why are Reginald and Hank smiling so hard in their photos compared to everyone else?

That’s easy. They’re nervous.

We’ve never heard of Hank before, but we all know the Handler. He’s good at his job, but he’s also incredibly anxious. If you’ve listened to the Operation: Jet Set song on IEYTD 2’s soundtrack, you’ve heard him stammer over himself trying to sound cool while addressing his favorite actor. “We’re, ahh, we’re the best in the business! The secret agent business—oh, uhhh…”

Reginald photo captures this energy masterfully. He mainly looks happy and excited, but when placed around all of the other photos, doesn’t it look like he’s trying too hard? Like he’s suddenly found himself on top and didn’t ever expect to?

Of course, there’s the party photo you can find in Roxana’s house. Reginald even refers to it as “a long time ago.” It shows him having a ball with Morales, Roxana, and the ever-mysterious V. Vitti in the back. So that should discredit this theory, right?

Nope! Because everyone in that photo looks the exact same as they do in their respective Agency Lead photograph. The banner above the four implies that they’re celebrating the invention of the TK implant, which seems to be a decently new tool for the Agency—the Handler implies that implants came into play after he left the field, and there’s no way to tell exactly how long it’s been since then—whether a few decades or a few years, it’s at least been long enough for our Handler to adjust to his new position. This fact can crunch our timeline considerably. If Reginald wanted to become Lead Support Agent, he’d have to make his way up through the ranks after he was promoted… which clearly could’ve been much later than we think.

Not to mention that the party photo also doesn’t present any information relative to their ranks in the company at the time. It simply shows a band of friends gathered together to celebrate an accomplishment, making it impossible to date as well. All we know is that it took place a while back.

It’s impossible to know exactly when Reginald became Lead Support Agent. But with this information in mind, it’s easy to believe he’s new to it.

[thumpypuppy]

what sort of other game soundtracks or composers (especially indies but either way) have inspired your work?

Oh gosh, this is such an amazing question!!!

Personally I (Lindar) have so so so many inspirations because I'm a music lover, I'm 37, and I've been playing video games as far back as I can remember.

So first and foremost I have to give a shout-out to Lena Raine because back in like… 2016(?) I was trying to take my studio to a more professional level and invest in some stuff beyond what just comes with any given DAW, so I reached out to her and she was kind enough to answer my dozens of questions and talk shop with me. She is ultimately why Studio Thumpy Puppy has its current sound. I don't know her personally, but she was an absolute sweetie to me, extremely helpful, and y'all know she writes banger after banger track.

Gotta mention Ben Prunty, who is an absolute legend in indie soundtracks.

Met Disasterpeace at Day of the Devs 2016 along with a bunch of other legends in the scene and what an encouraging sweetheart!

Of course I'm a huge fan of Sadie Greyduck who is one of my composers! Go check out her Bandcamp or look for her on streaming services!

Love me some Darren Korb. Honestly like every Supergiant game has been a banger, but it wouldn't be the same without those soundtracks.

On that note you can't go wrong with Danny Baranowsky. Love me some Necrodancer!

Also y'all gotta check out M Gewehr (MWGewehr on birdsite).

Also gotta mention 2Mello who does amazing work and makes some of the funkiest beats.

Of course if we're talking about 2Mello we gotta mention Hideki Naganuma! UNDERSTAND! UNDERSTAND! THE CONCEPT. OF LOVE!

Oh gosh and then Winifred Phillips does amazing work.

While we're here I know she's not a game composer but go listen to Wendy Carlos!

Then there's like… all of the various people across games like Doom, Quake, Borderlands, etc. Sasha Dikiciyan, Jesper Kyd, Mick Gordon…

Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Kiochi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest), Yoko Shimomura (Street Fighter), Takashi Tateishi (MegaMan II), Hip Tanaka (Metroid, Earthbound), Koji Kondo and Toru Minegishi (Legend of Zelda), Daisuke Amaya (Cave Story), Eirik Suhrke (Downwell), Daisuke Ishiwatari (Guilty Gear), the sound team on Sonic Adventure 2, Masato Nakamura (Sonic 2), Brad Buxer et al (Sonic 3&K)…

So let's also take into account that a lot of the game soundtracks that have inspired me over the years are influenced by things that aren't game soundtracks, because those are a relatively recent invention, so we have to talk about how Plantasia by Mort Garson is a direct inspiration for Ocarina of Time and "Dancing Mad" from FF6 is literally just Tarkus from Emerson, Lake & Palmer. A *lot* of early game composers were just prog nerds who listened to like… ELP, King Crimson, Rush, Yes, Magma, Van Der Graaf Generator, Camel, Caravan, Gentle Giant, Soft Machine, Gong… and then also a lot of more popular 80s rock that I'm not gonna list out…

The history of music is absolutely wild and there's so much inspiration out there it's absolutely baffling. Go listen to stuff you've never heard before, analyze it, understand what the appeal and aesthetic is, listen to the last 100 years of the pop charts and then learn where that music came from and who their influences were… go listen to motown! Listen to bebop and jazz and future funk and central Asian folk music and like… get out there and expand your horizons, because like… there's SO MUCH good music out there.