#i'm still like that but in a less dramatic sort of fashion

[artemisia-black]

Hi! I've been thinking about your post on wizarding fragrances and was wondering if you have any thoughts on make-up in the wizarding world? I've tried thinking about this myself a bit, but I'm unsure how trends and overall styles might differ from muggle ones (I'm really no make-up expert). Would muggleborns be identifiable by the way they do their make-up? Or are the trends close enough that there wouldn't be any issues? Just very curious to your thoughts, if you have any of course!

I do have thoughts on wizarding make-up! 💄

Firstly, we know they have a skincare industry —Saharrissa Tugwood is an extra-canon character who invents a line of face cream, and in GoF we hear that Eloise Midgen tried to get rid of her spots but was laughed at since there’s apparently a cream that sorts it out. So there’s definitely some kind of beauty industry in the wizarding world. Also , Witch Weekly seems like it’d be their equivalent of Vogue or Cosmo, so I assume there are make-up or cosmetic tips in there because it appears to be that type of magazine.

Additionally, you have examples like Rita Skeeter with her red nails, so manicures are clearly a thing, and hair care products like Sleekeazy’s are on the market. And Lockhart, had sincere hopes of launching his own line of hair care products, which implies there’s a demand for such things. He also boasts about winning Witch Weekly’s “Most Charming Smile” award, so I assume there’s an unstated but likely link that he could have marketed his hair products through Witch Weekly. All of this suggests a whole beauty industry that, by extension, would likely include a cosmetic industry as well.

I like the idea that there’s a distinct difference in make-up styles between blood purist purebloods and Muggleborns—it just feels like something they’d encourage. I go back and forth on what that distinction would look like, but I like to think wizarding cosmetics would be made from magical ingredients, so maybe you’d have a blush that changes colour or a stick-on mole, like the mouches popular in the 17th and 18th centuries in France and England that changes shape during a ball. Since I imagine pureblood society as inherently patriarchal, their make-up would be less experimental and just there to enhance beauty. Think: get ready with me to do my makeup in a way that honours my lineage. I also think there’s probably an etiquette guide on how to do make-up “properly” among pureblood girls.

I also wonder if paleness might still be in fashion in certain wizarding circles, similar to the way Venetian ceruse was used in the 16th/17thcenturies amongst The nobility .Perhaps wizards and witches have a non-toxic, magical version of it, used especially for formal events or fancy balls, where they might pale their skin or take on more classical beauty standards from the 16th or 17th century. And maybe Harry never sees it in canon simply because he’s not invited to the kinds of events where this look would be common.

For Muggleborns, though, their style might look more modern and trend-driven. Up until the 1920s, make-up was often associated with actresses or women in socially “unacceptable” roles, but then flappers came along with their big dramatic eyes, heavily shaped brows, and bold lips—these were looks everyone started wearing. Muggleborns might bring in bolder, more experimental trends inspired by Muggle magazines or celebrities. I could definitely see some purebloods having subtle judgment around “not doing your make-up like a Muggleborn.”

I also think Muggleborns would start influencing the less traditional purebloods and halfbloods, especially as we get further into the 20th century. By then, wearing make-up had become something regular women did, not just pinching your cheeks or adding a little rouge. So, as make-up becomes more of a norm, we’d start seeing those mod looks from the 60s or the bold colours of the 80s creeping into wizarding trends too.

And I absolutely love the idea of wizarding make-up influencers—Gilderoy Lockhart would definitely be one!

In my fics, I do have witches wearing make-up, partly because I’m a make-up girlie myself!

[dustedmagazine]

Listening Post: Kim Gordon

Kim Gordon has long been one of rock’s female icons, one of a tiny handful of women to get much play in Michael Azzerad’s underground-defining Our Band Could Be Your Life and a mainstay in the noise-rock monolith Sonic Youth. It’s hard to imagine that quintessential dude rock band without Gordon in front, dwarfed by her bass or spitting tranced out, pissed off verses over the storm of feedback.

Yet Gordon’s trajectory has been, if anything, even more fascinating since Sonic Youth’s demise in 2011. A visual artist first — she studied art at the Otis College of Art and Design before joining the band — she continues to paint and sculpt and create. She’s had solo art shows at established galleries in London and New York, most recently at the 303 Gallery in New York City. A veteran of indie films including Gus van Zant’s Last Days and Todd Haynes I’m Not There, she has also continued to act sporadically, appearing in the HBO series Girls and on an episode of Portlandia. Her memoir, Girl in a Band, came out in 2015.

But Gordon has remained surprisingly entrenched in indie music over the last decade. Many critics, including a few at Dusted, consider her Body Head, collaboration with Bill Nace the best of the post-Sonic Youth musical projects. The ensemble has now produced two EPs and three full-lengths. Gordon has also released two solo albums, which push her iconic voice into noisier, more hip hop influenced directions. We’re centering this listening post around The Collective, Gordon’s second and more recent solo effort, which comes out on Matador on March 8th, but we’ll likely also be talking about her other projects as well.

Intro by Jennifer Kelly

Jennifer Kelly: I missed No Home in 2019, so I was somewhat surprised by The Collective’s abrasive, beat-driven sound though I guess you could make connections to Sonic Youth’s Cypress Hill collaboration?

The more I listen to it, though, the more it makes sense to me. I’ve always liked the way Gordon plays with gender stereotypes, and “I’m a Man” certainly follows that trajectory. What are you guys hearing in The Collective?

Jonathan Shaw: I have only listened through the entire record once, but I am also struck by its intensities. Sort of silly to be surprised by that, given so many of the places she has taken us in the past: noisy, dangerous, dark. But there's an undercurrent of violence to these sounds that couples onto the more confrontational invocations and dramatizations of sex. It's a strong set of gestures. I like the record quite a bit.

Bill Meyer: I'm one of those who hold Body/Head to be the best effort of the post-Sonic Youth projects, but I'll also say that it's very much a band that creates a context for Gordon to do something great, not a solo effort. I was not so taken with No Home, which I played halfway through once upon its release and did not return to until we agreed to have this discussion. I've played both albums through once now, and my first impression is that No Home feels scattered in a classic post-band-breakup project fashion — “let's do a bit of this and that and see what sticks.” The Collective feels much more cohesive sonically, in a purposeful, “I'm going to do THIS” kind of way.

Jonathan Shaw: RE Jennifer's comment about “I'm a Man”: Agreed. The sonics are very noise-adjacent, reminding me of what the Body has been up to lately, or deeper underground acts like 8 Hour Animal or Kontravoid's less dancy stuff. Those acts skew masculine (though the Body has taken pains recently to problematize the semiotics of those photos of them with lots of guns and big dogs...). Gordon's voice and lyrics make things so much more explicit without ever tipping over into the didactic. And somehow her energy is in tune with the abrasive textures of the music, but still activates an ironic distance from it. In the next song, “Trophies,” I love it when she asks, “Will you go bowling with me?” The sexed-up antics that follow are simultaneously compelling and sort of funny. Rarely has bowling felt so eroticized.

Jennifer Kelly: I got interested in the beats and did a YouTube dive on some of the other music that Justin Raisen has been involved with. He's in an interesting place, working for hip hop artists (Lil Yachty, Drake), pop stars (Charli XCX) and punk or at least punk adjacent artists (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Viagra Boys), but nothing I've found is as raw and walloping as these cuts.

“The Candy House” is apparently inspired by Jennifer Egan's The Candy House, which is about a technology that enables people to share memories... Gordon is pretty interested in phones and communications tech and how that's changing art and human interaction.

Andrew Forell: My immediate reaction to the beats was oh, The Bug and JK Flesh, in particular the MachineEPs by the former and Sewer Bait by the latter. Unsurprisingly, as Jonathan says, she sounds right at home within that kind of dirty noise but is never subsumed by it

Jennifer Kelly: I don't have a deep reference pool in electronics, but it reminded me of Shackleton and some of the first wave dub steppers. Also, a certain kind of late 1990s/early aughts underground hip hop like Cannibal Ox and Dalek.

Bryon Hayes: Yeah, I hear some Dalek in there, too. Also, the first Death Grips mixtape, Ex-Military.

It's funny, I saw the track title “I'm a Man,” and my mind immediately went to Bo Diddley for some reason, I should have known that Kim would flip the script, and do it in such a humorous way. I love how she sends up both the macho country-lovin’ bros and the sensitive metrosexual guys. It's brilliant!

This has me thinking about “Kool Thing”, and how Chuck D acts as the ‘hype man’ to Kim Gordon in that song. I'm pretty sure that was unusual for hip hop at the time. Kim's got a long history of messing with gender stereotypes.

Bill Meyer: Gordon did a couple videos for this record, and she starred her daughter Coco in both of them. The one for “I'm A Man” teases out elements of gender fluidity, how that might be expressed through clothing, and different kinds of watching. I found the video for “Bye Bye” more interesting. All the merchandise that's listed in the video turns out to be a survival kit, one that I imagine that Gordon would know that she has to have to get by. The protagonist of the video doesn't know that, and their unspoken moment in a car before Coco runs again was poignant in a way that I don't associate with her work. And of messing with hip hop!

Tim Clarke: “Bye Bye” feels like a companion to The Fall’s “Dr Buck’s Letter.”

Bill Meyer: From The Unutterable? I'll have to a-b them.

Tim Clarke: That’s the one.

Jonathan Shaw: All of these comments make me think of the record’s title, and the repeated line in “The Candy House”: “I want to join the collective.” Which one? The phone on the record’s cover nods toward our various digital collectives — spaces for communication and expression, and spaces for commerce, all of which seem to be harder and harder to tell apart. A candy house, indeed. Why is it pink? Does she have a feminine collective in mind? A feminine collective unconscious? The various voices and lyric modes on the record suggest that's a possibility. For certain women, and for certain men working hard to understand women, Gordon has been a key member of that collective for decades.

Jennifer Kelly: The title is also the title of a painting from her last show in New York.

The holes are cell phone sized.

You can read about the show here, but here's a representative quote: “The iPhone promises freedom, and control over communication,” she says. “It’s an outlet of self-expression, and an escape and a distraction from the bigger picture of what’s going on in the world. It’s also useful for making paintings.”

Gordon is a woman, and a woman over 70 at that — by any measure an underrepresented perspective in popular culture. However, I’d caution against reading The Collective solely as a feminist statement. “I'm a Man,” for instance, is told from the perspective of an incel male, an act of storytelling and empathy not propaganda. My sense is that Gordon is pretty sick of being asked, “What's it like to be a girl in a band?” (per “Sacred Trickster”) and would like, maybe, to be considered as an artist.

It's partly a generational thing. I'm a little younger than she is, but we both grew up in the patriarchy and mostly encountered gender as an external restriction.

As an aside, one of my proudest moments was when Lucas Jensen interviewed me about what it was like to be a freelance music writer, anonymously, and Robert Christgau wrote an elaborate critique of the piece that absolutely assumed I was a guy. If you're not on a date or getting married or booking reproductive care, whose business is it what gender you are?

There, that's a can of worms, isn't it?

Jonathan Shaw: Feminine isn't feminist. I haven't listened nearly closely enough to the record to hazard an opinion about that. More important, it seems to me the masculine must be in the feminine unconsciousness, and the other way around, too. Precisely because femininity has been used as a political weapon, it needs imagining in artistic spaces. Guess I also think those terms more discursively than otherwise: there are male authors who have demonstrated enormous facility with representing femininity. James, Joyce, Kleist, and so on. Gordon has always spoken and sung in ways that transcend a second-wave sort of feminine essence. “Shaking Hell,” “PCH,” the way she sings “I Wanna Be Your Dog.”

Jennifer Kelly: Sure, she has always been shape-shifter artistically.

The lyrics are super interesting, but almost obliterated by noise. I’m seeing a connection to our hyperconnected digital society where everything is said but it’s hard to listen and focus.

Bill Meyer: Concrete guy that I am, I’ve found myself wishing I had a lyric sheet even though her voice is typically the loudest instrument in the mix.

Andrew Forell: Yes, that sense of being subsumed in the white noise of (dis)information and opinion feels like the utopian ideal of democratizing access has become a cause and conduit of alienation in which the notion of authentic voices has been rendered moot. It feels integral to the album as a metaphor

Christian Carey: How much of the blurring of vocals (good lyrics — mind you) might involve Kim’s personal biography, I wonder? From her memoirs, we know how much she wished for a deflection of a number of things, most having to do with Thurston and the disbandment of SY.

Thurston was interviewed recently and said that he felt SY would regroup and be able to be professional about things. He remarked that it better be soon: SY at eighty wouldn’t be a good look!

Andrew Forell: And therein lies something essential about why that could never happen

Ian Mathers: I know I’m far in the minority here (and elsewhere) because I’ve just never found Sonic Youth that compelling, despite several attempts over the years to give them another chance. And for specifically finding Thurston Moore to be an annoying vocal presence (long before I knew anything about his personal life, for what it's worth). So, I’m in no hurry to see them reunite, although I do think it would be both funny and good if everyone except Moore got back together.

Having not kept up with Gordon much post-SY beyond reading and enjoying her book, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this record. After a couple of listens, I’m almost surprised how much I like it. Even though I’m lukewarm on SY’s music, she’s always been a commanding vocal presence and lyricist and that hasn’t changed here (I can echo all the praise for “I’m a Man,” and also “I was supposed to save you/but you got a job” is so bathetically funny) and I like the noisier, thornier backing she has here. I also think the parts where the record gets a bit more sparse (“Shelf Warmer”) or diffuse (“Psychic Orgasm”) still work. I've enjoyed seeing all the comparisons here, none of which I thought of myself and all of which makes sense to me. But the record that popped into my head as I listened was Dead Rider’s Chills on Glass. Similar beat focus, “thick”/distorted/noisy/smeared production, declamatory vocals. I like that record a lot, so it's not too surprising I'm digging this one.

Jennifer Kelly: I loved Sonic Youth but have zero appetite for the kind of nostalgia trip, just the hits reunion tour that getting back together would entail.

Jonathan Shaw: Yeah, no thanks to that.

RE Christian's comment: Not sure I see deflection so much as the impossibility of integration. We are all many, many selves, always have been. Digital communications interfaces and social media have just lifted it to another level of experience. Gordon sez, “I don't miss my mind.” Not so much a question of missing it in the emotional/longing sense, more so acknowledging that phrases like ��my mind” have always been meaningless. Now we partition experience and identity into all of these different places, and we sign those pieces of ourselves over, to Zuck and the algorithms. We know it. We do it anyways, because it's the candy house, full of sweets and pleasures that aren't so good for us, but are really hard to resist. “Come on, sweets, take my hand...”

Bill Meyer: I would not mind hearing all of those SY songs I like again, can’t lie, although I don’t think that I’d spend Love Earth Tour prices to hear them. But given the water that has passed under the bridge personally, and the length of time since anyone in the band has collaborated creatively (as opposed to managing the ongoing business of Sonic Youth, which seems to be going pretty well), a SY reunion could only be a professionally presented piece of entertainment made by people who have agreed to put aside their personal differences and pause their artistic advancement in order to make some coin. There may be good reasons to prioritize finances. Maybe Thurston and/or Kim wants to make sure that they don’t show up on Coco’s front door, demanding to move their record or art collection into her basement, in their dotage. And Lee’s a man in his late 60s with progeny who are of an age to likely have substantial student loan debt. But The Community is just the kind of thing they’d have to pause. It feels like the work of someone who is still curious, questioning, commenting. It's not just trying to do the right commercial thing.

Justin Cober-Lake: I’m finding this one to be a sort of statement album. I’d stop short of calling it a concept album, but there seems to be a thematic center. I think a key element of the album is the way that it looks for... if not signal and noise, at least a sense of order and comprehensibility in a chaotic world. Gordon isn’t even passing judgment on the world — phones are bad, phones are good, phones make art, etc. But there’s a sense that our world is increasingly brutal, and we hear that not just in the guitars, but in the beats, and the production. “BYE BYE” really introduces the concept. Gordon’s leaving (and we can imagine this is autobiographical), but she’s organizing everything she needs for a new life. “Cigarettes for Keller” is a heartbreaking line, but she moves on, everything that makes up a life neatly ordered next to each other, iBook and medications in the same line. It reminds me of a Hemingway character locking into the moment to find some semblance of control in the chaos.

Getting back to gender, there’s a funny line at the end: one of the last things she packs is a vibrator. I'm not sure if we're to read this as a joke, a comment on the necessity of sexuality in a life full of transitory moments, as a foreshadowing of the concepts we’ve discussed, or something else. The next item (if it’s something different) is a teaser, which could be a hair care product or something sexual (playing off — or with — the vibrator). Everything's called into question: the seriousness of the track, the gender/sexuality ideas, what really matters in life. Modern gadgets, life-sustaining medicines, and sex toys all get equal rank. That tension really adds force to the song.

Coming out of “BYE BYE,” it's easy to see a disordered world that sounds extremely noisy, but still has elements we can comprehend within the noise. I don’t want to read the album reductively and I don't think it's all about this idea, but it's something that, early on in my listening, I find to be a compelling aspect of it.

[sunnythegyarufreak]

Misconceptions about gyaru

Hey guys! I know that I said I was done for today but I couldn't resist making one final post tonight. Don't worry! I've already finished the post I promised you guys and it is scheduled to post at noon tomorrow. But for now let's get into the topic of this post.

There are many misconceptions about gyaru and I'm here to sort of clear up some of these! So let's get startedddd

"Gyaru was never inspired by black people. It was inspired by bay watch"

This is VERY untrue. If you watch Haruka on tiktok or youtube you would know she has a mom who used to be a gyaru. And in a video with Haruka's mom she stated that gyaru was never inspired by bay watch and most of the inspiration was from black people and their style. There is even a gyaru substyle called "B-Kei" that is DIRECTLY inspired by protective hairstyles, hip hop and rap music, and street fashion.

(The picture below is Haruka!! Her tiktok username is otknoharuka and her and her mom were on cybr.grl’s channel!)

"Only Japanese people can do gyaru"

A lot of non gals say this but this is incorrect. Everyone can be gyaru! I stated this in my first post but anyone of any gender, size, and race can be gyaru. One very popular gyarusa 'Black Diamond' is known for their big group and how they impacted the gyaru style and how others saw gyaru. One of their main goals was expanding gyaru to different countries! Many members have said that anyone can be gyaru. Their whole thing was basically "world domination" because they wanted to spread the message of gal and wanted others to embrace and join this unique style.

"Gyaru is asian fishing"

SOOOO many people assume that gyaru is asian fishing because it's a Japanese fashion subculture. Asian fishing is where someone pretends to be asian and does makeup to make themselves look asian. Gyaru ISNT this. There is a difference between asian fishing makeup and gyaru makeup. With gyaru makeup, if there's a droop the droop goes down and extends downwards. With asian fishing makeup the eyeliner extends the eye outwards and makes the person appear to have slanted and small eyes. As you can see in the image below the asian fishing makeup elongates and slants the eye while dolly makeup widens the eye and makes it appear bigger.

"Anything besides Yamanba isn't gyaru"

This could never be so far from the truth. In fact during the 90's when gyaru first started Yamanbas and Manbas weren't even considered gyarus by other gals at the time. It was later in the 2000's when people started to call Yamanbas gyarus and now Yamanba/Manba is a gyaru substyle. People will automatically assume that anyone who isn't wearing big lashes and white makeup on their eyelids isn't gyaru. But many gyaru substyles require soft dolly makeup such as Agejo and Himegyaru/Himekaji where the focus is more on the clothes and hair than the makeup. Unlike styles like Kurogyaru, Manba, Yamanba, Ganguro, and Gonguro where the main focus of the style is the dramatic makeup and deep tans.

"If you don't tan you aren't gyaru"

While many gyaru substyles do require tanning many other substyles don't require tanning! And some styles like Yamanba/Manba which heavily rely on the tan and makeup have substyles specifically for people who don't want to or can't tan but still wear Yamanba makeup. Not tanning doesn't make you any less gyaru :)

That's it for today lovelies! Atleast until my next post lol. But i hope this blog post helped clear up any confusion about gyaru! If you guys still have any questions I would be happy to answer them :D For now I shall bid you gals farewell. This is Sunny signing off!!

[parkezra]

✨ hello, beautiful citizens of jongnorp! ✨ how the hell are ya?! my name's ryan (h/h, 25+) and i'm so thrilled to finally be posting one of my eight muses' (yes, i know... i know 😅) intros! first up is one of my all-time favorites, ezra park! he's currently working as an influencer who mostly creates fashion, lifestyle, social commentary, and makeover content, but he'll be expanding his résumé with exciting new projects very soon! 👀 below, you'll find a quick breakdown of his life, as well as bits and pieces of his personality. please 💖 this if you'd like to plot!

1.

to keep things simple, he was born and raised to a rather liberal family in queens, nyc. both his parents made good money, he felt very supported, loved, and accepted, and honestly speaking, he had a rather idyllic childhood. i've written this muse before, but in this update of him, i wanted to give him a less grim upbringing.

however, his brighter history has created new flaws. being that he grew up in a rather privileged environment, it's made him ignorant to many things, and upon moving to seoul, he's been hit in the face with plenty of life's harsh realities. he's on his own now (for the most, part, anyway—his older half-brother is also in seoul), he's starting a career for himself, and it's his first time in a part of the world that's dramatically more conservative than the safe haven he surrounded himself in back home.

is he losing his mind? sort of, but he's doing keep his feet on the ground. he'd love it if you joined him on this new journey he's on!

2.

ezra park is a hedonist. he's someone who'll never say no to another drink, or a second slice of cake, or going home wrapped around the arm of a handsome someone. he's over-indulgent like that, and substantially sensual, as well. he's someone who will catch a man's attention by eye-fucking him across the room, then moments later, appearing only to whisper the most delicate compliment in his ear; hoping that the sweet scent of his breath and the feeling of it ghosting along the other's skin is enough to reel him in for a night of fun.

if there is one thing that ezra park values, it's beauty. why else would he host a show on his channel that highlights attractive men from around the city, mostly by giving them makeovers? why else would he be teaching people how to upgrade their closet with clothing that accentuates their best features? why else would he be interested in ensuring that he never leaves the house looking anything other than immaculate? however, he realizes that, like most things, beauty is subjective, and he aches to discover what others find people, too.

ezra park is an individual, much to the chagrin of his grandparents' home country. he's still not gotten used to the stares of his elders whenever he enters public transit, or the glares he receives from his peers when he's a little too "flamboyant" in a public space, but he likes to think he's learning how to comfortably coexist in a place that doesn't fully understand him. after all, that's kind of all he can do. he made the choice to learn about his heritage and expand his career by relocating, and it's a choice he has to live with now. at least for the foreseeable future.

3.

ezra has a show on his youtube channel where he gives handsome men from around the city (often male models, drag queens, and less often men from off-the-street) to interview and give makeovers to. he asks them questions about growing up in korea, and the knowledge they have on queer individuals, and their opinions on certain topics. in addition to this, he also hosts queer people of korea to ask them, specifically, about their experiences living in the country; hoping to shed awareness on stories told by marginalized voices. these could work as connections!

he's been in the city since february of last year, so it's been around a year and he's likely made some friends! maybe they could be your muses?

he's also likely slept around with plenty of men. he's no stranger to jongtaewon, and even hongdae, so if your muses frequent these areas, they've likely ran into him or ended up in his bed.

does your muse watch his content? do they love it? hate it? have them tell him! it'll be a fun time either way!

i'm honestly down for any and all connections, and this is already so long, so let's come up with something incredible together! 🥺💖

[blackjackkent]

Shoutout to @amazonprimebox for letting me know that there is a CLOTHING BOX IN CAMP filled with every outfit and dye in the game! So we can put Hector back in his proper party clothes. <3

Thanks for providing that, Withers. Even the Lord of the End of Everything understands the importance of FASHION.

Look at how handsome this man is; it's not fair.

Anyway, Astarion next! And looking quite alive and unsinged; guess he got out of the sun fast enough.

"Well, look who decided to turn up!" he says brightly, as cheerfully sardonic as ever. "I wasn't sure our withered old friend could live up to his promise, but here we are. And look at you - straight from the Hells, still reeking of brimstone." He grins conspiratorially at Hector. "I take it you're having fun."

Hector grins crookedly. 'Fun' isn't always the word he would use - although sometimes it is, when they're able to step away from battle for a time. "It's been tough," he admits. "But at least I'm there with Karlach."

"Yes!" Astarion says brightly, leaning towards him. "The right person can make just about anything bearable. And it seems like you found exactly the right person." He pokes Hector gently in the chest.

Hector raises an eyebrow at him, amused. "You're in a good mood. Have you been drinking?"

Astarion scoffs. "Cheeky. I've been very well-behaved, thank you." He spreads his arms dramatically. "I've taken a turn as an adventurer and hero." He grins conspiratorially at Hector. "It turns out no one actually cares about murder, as long as you murder the right people. And apparently I'm rather good at it."

Hector remembers the party with the tieflings so long ago - Astarion's utter disgust at being hailed as a rescuer and hero. The vampire would never admit it but he has come a long way. Hector is too wise to tease him about it, but it is tempting, very tempting. "I could have told you that," he says instead, mildly, not making any attempt to hide the pride in his expression.

Astarion clicks his tongue. "Yes, but you say all sorts of things," he says airily. "Honestly, I don't even listen half the time." But he looks pleased, in spite of himself, shifts his weight a little side to side with muted energy.

"It made for a nice change, though," he goes on. "Inspiring hope in people instead of terror." A pause; then he laughs. "Well, I do try to inspire a *little* terror. I'm still me, after all."

Hector chuckles. He thinks - though Astarion would never say this either - that he can take some credit for his friend finding fulfillment in this new path, and he feels more than a little gratified about it. But he knows Astarion wouldn't appreciate the sentimentality, so he just tilts his head teasingly.

"You seem happy. Are you sure you haven't been drinking blood?"

"No," Astarion says, with a flash of that uncharacteristic earnestness that he has shown from time to time. "This is all me, I swear." A pause; he huffs out a sigh and shrugs. "Don't get me wrong - I was a mess at first. Every day I yearned for the sun and mourned my curse to live in the shadows. But in time... I realized that darkness is as much a part of me as my fangs. This is only a curse as long as I refuse to embrace the shadows. So I decided I would."

He narrows his eyes with a determined, resolute air. "I decided not to be defined by the choices other people made - by what other people did to me. My past may be done, but my present - my future - they're mine."

Hector's smile fades and he nods back just as seriously. It's rare that Astarion speaks to him without the mask, and he will not give him less than a sober response. "I'm glad to hear it," he says softly. "Acceptance looks good on you."

Astarion's eyes brighten and he gives perhaps the most sincere smile Hector has ever seen from him - a sentimental, grateful expression that slips like water across his face and then disappears as the mask slips back into place. "That being said," he goes on casually. "I haven't completely given up on returning to the sun. If the opportunity presented itself, well... I wouldn't say no."

He looks Hector up and down thoughtfully, then chuckles. "We have had quite the journey, you and I. From the moment I first threatened you, I knew you were someone special - someone to take on the world with."

The mask slips again and, astonishingly, he reaches out to touch Hector's arm - very briefly, a light contact before withdrawing. "I will miss our time together. But then again... maybe this isn't goodbye, so much as it's..."

He trails off, and then the old wicked playfulness sparks in his eyes.

"See you later, darling."

[flaetsbnortoriginals]

I dreamt that I was watching a live action Duck Tales movie. The actors were just normal, no indication that they were ducks. It was so bad that my fiancee, who really loves bad movies (in real life) was actively trying to distract me to prevent me from watching the movie.

I don't remember almost anything about the plot, if there even was one.

The main character was Scrooge McDuck, portrayed by an actor wearing his iconic red coat, and no other part of his outift. No top hat, no cane, no weird shoes. He didn't even have sideburns. The movie portrayed him weirdly dramatically, like a misunderstood genius. I remember thinking in the dream that the cinematography was deliberately trying to call Oppenheimer to mind. (I didn't watch Oppenheimer.)

The only other characters from the show were Huey, Lewey and Dewey, who were fully grown adults. Two of them still had clothes in different shades of a single colour - red and green - but the last one was dressed entirely in black. As the movie went on they met kind of their female counterparts, who were dressed in yellow, purple, and black. They acted together for a while and then the male siblings disappeared from the plot. In the dream I saw this as social commentary.

Scrooge McDuck was being chased by a woman holding a kind of bowdlerized gun. He had managed to give her the slip once, but then in a really weird scene (in which I'm pretty sure my brain forgot it was supposed to be a movie) he enters a building through the main doors, only to reach the end of a long lobby and find out the lines are coming in from the side doors. There's no way to leave from where he is, it's a dead end. When he turns around to leave, the woman is there. I don't remember exactly what happens, but Scrooge somehow defeats her and she turns into a ghost who sings a song about the agency of female characters in media. In the dream I saw this as perfectly appropiate social commentary.

The three female siblings were searching for their mother's corpse, because of some artifact she was carrying, and finally found it. They started to celebrate, and at this point my fiancee distracts me by talking to me. When we're done talking and I turn my attention back to the movie, it is completely different. Scrooge now has a bird's head, only the head, but it's not a duck's head; it has short white feathers, tiny eyes, and a long crooked yellow beak, like a toucan's. He's talking to another person with the same sort of bird head. I don't understand what they're talking about. The cinematography is also differente, it's less dramatic and even the colours are a bit brighter.

I'm very confused, so I rewind the movie to watch the scene with the siblings celebrating again. Their celebration is weird, it feels very 'end of movie' even though I remember there being a lot more that they needed to do. The celebration also keeps focusing on the pizza brand, it reminded me of the Cerveza Cristal beer ads in Star Wars. After the scene ended, instead of moving on to the scene with the toucan-beak Scrooge I'd seen before, it moved on, in dream fashion, to a completely different scene. I was very confused by this. I woke up shortly after.

[spandexual]

I've got some metal concerts coming up, which obviously means buying yet more band tees - do you have any ideas or suggestions on 'styling' those? Or any ideas for fun goth/metal accessories, I enjoy DIYing. Thanks 🙂

oooh have fun!!!!! with metal tees I always chop the sleeves into a muscle style. Often down to the waistline so it sits flatter against the body and doesn't give that anime tittie look you can get when you're wearing cheap tshirts. Like yeah it will show full sideboob (wrestlers in the 80s cut it that way for that reason lol) but you can always layer under it... or just wear a cool bra. I also cut a skull into the back of my metal Hall & Oates Maneater shirt

it looks cool but tbh I cut it a bit too low and you kind of lose the teeth when I wear it... You have to really be conscious of the shirt as a 3D object and that the back even on a skinny person with no ass still curves in pretty sharply which leads to creasing around the back of the waist. Try to keep any designs around the top 2/3 of the shirt, I'd personally try to keep the focus around the shoulderblade area as that's generally the part that sits furthest out on the back. Also, bleaching is super fun! Dilute some reggo toilet bleach or whatever, take your shirts outside, splatter them as you like, wash with salt water. You can do this with some cheapo black jeans (cheap because the dye will usually be less set and easier to bleach out) too, it's hot especially if you match it with some rips! Use chalk to mark where you want the rips and you can get a really sexy customised look.

these are like my fave jeans ever and they cost like $20 and took like maybe 2 hours total to do lol. Obviously you don't have to go that dramatic with the rips but I think it looks so hot, especially if you wear fishnets underneath!

As for accessories I'm pretty basic and I mostly wear studded leather cuffs and collars and stuff like that, but I don't think you're allowed to wear that sort of thing at concerts. Either way, they're pretty readily available. Try getting cheap lightweight chain from the hardware store instead of buying it at fashion stores though, it will be easy enough to manipulate with regular pliers and you can attach it to belts and stuff for extra pizzazz.

I hope you have a lot of fun at your concerts, and have fun dressing the way that feels the most "you"!!

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2023-09-18

Not getting a whole lot of "autumn" vibes from this thing

Listening: Many things, but the one that has been stuck in my head is once again from Siege Ubsessed! by Curta'n'Wall. A New Castle is Born. Do you want a song about. A castle? Yes, you do.

Bonus track: whatever the hell is going on in The Dark Ages

Reading: Finished Perhaps The Stars the other day. I am increasingly convinced that Neal Stephenson has the right idea on how to end most things. The end of Perhaps the Stars is good but it's less good than the rest of the series. The book is wild, so much happens, it's a dramatic change of pace from the prior books, both way more happens and it's far slower.

9A. I am mixed on 9A. As a narrator they do not feel like the 9A. To be fair, Mycroft also does not feel like he would be a great Anonymous either. Still.

Stephenson, yes. Stephenson's books end like an 80's pop song, they just hit a peak and then fade out before you can realize it's happened. An extremely effective way to fill you with what the fuck was that great.

I like the ideas in Terra Ignota immensely. I like the style and the world of Terra Ignota a great deal. I'm not actually sure if I like the prose in Terra Ignota that much.

I do appreciate how the final chapters serve as a sort of proxy for the thoughts you've probably been having while you read the series. The various peoples who have had to just endure the clashing hives get to stand up and go you guys realize an empire is not a good thing right.

Playing: Breath of the Wild, beat Vah Rudania, the Salamander beast. One left, plus maybe four or five more memories, and I do want to track down a couple more of the side quests before I hit the endgame but I feel like I'm probably not going to come back to this much after I beat Ganon.

Also beat the snow dragon Naydra fight which was a really good setpiece. You get the reveal that it's been corrupted by Ganon, which is a great oh shit moment when you think you might have to fight it. You don't but it's still a good mobility challenge. I have some video.

Watching: Nothing really.

Making: Getting back in the CAD saddle for printing things reminds me why I still keep Autodesk Fusion installed in Windows. FreeCAD is great but it has idiosyncrasies that make it less than ideal for even moderately complicated parts. Chief among these is that it is a CAD package with no first class concept of an assembly, anything involving multiple bodies is arduous as fuck.

As a result I am trying out Onshape, the cloud/web CAD package, because at least I can run that in Linux rather than rebooting. I'm going to try and see if I can spin up Fusion 360 (or maybe even SolidEdge for the first time in, god, almost a decade) in Wine/Proton/Whatever but Onshape is promising. Despite the cloud bullshit it handles pretty much like any other professional-ish CAD package.

Tools and Equipment: I have been shaving with a old fashioned safety razor for almost a year now. I had a cheap one from the grocery store but I bought that fancy precision machined aluminium one because I like the concept of a safety razor that barely exposes a blade at all. It has been good.

As a teenager my parents deemed me too ADHD to be allowed even a cartridge razor, and for years I fought with electric razors that left crappy finishes and couldn't get anywhere near what I'd call clean. When I was in University I was like "Man it cannot be that hard to use a cartridge razor" and sure enough it wasn't. The problem I have with cartridge razors is that they clog in seconds and keeping them clear is a pain in the ass. Cuts are even less likely with this fancy one but even with a plain old safety razor it's remarkably hard to injure yourself unless you really aren't paying attention.

Safety razors are marginally more dangerous than cartridge razors but you can clear shaved hair extremely easily which means they cut like a dream for a while and they aren't as frustrating to work with. The fact that blades cost like US¢25 a piece even for slightly fancier ones is a nice touch that makes me much less likely to keep using blades long after they're too blunt to serve.

[maiji]

I'll request a reading if you're still doing them! why not. for my little guy Hana. what is he afraid of with regards to... his own history? 🤔 numbers.. 11 and 23. and if you're not still doing readings.. i hope you have a great day regardless!

I am absolutely delighted to do a reading for Hana from the webcomic Kings of Sorts! Hana seems like such a sweetie but from his very first appearance it's clear there's so much more to him than meets the eye. I'm nowhere near caught up on webcomic so this will be interesting, to see whether any patterns/interpretations we pull out manage to touch on anything that readers can already experience, or whether it just veers off into another direction of far-off general speculation. So if there somehow manage to be spoilers in this reading, I'm sorry, I had no idea either. lol

#11 was The Whip (which, by the way, is actually the eleventh card in Lenormand as well, interestingly enough), and #23 was The House. This combination actually made me gasp in light of the question. Kind of an "oh! / ohhh??" gasp. I think there's a lot of potential in terms of delving deeply into creative writing inspiration or character analysis!

The Whip is a card associated with many things that can cause pain: conflict, violence, shame, anger. And The House has already come up before, so we know it's used to represent a lot of things that seem like the exact opposite of The Whip - warmth, stability, things that make you feel cozy and happy and comfortable. But it's also associated with private matters. In other words, the exterior facade presented to the world may be brightness and cheer but there may be something much darker happening behind closed doors. I am reminded of when we first meet Hana in his home, and the scene where he talks about wanting to be able to help the people in his community in some way, any way...

In short, looking for a connection between the two cards that could be a cause for fear in Hana's history seems like we have a plethora of options. If we're being super dark - was there past punishment and suffering that separated him from things he considered home or family? Did they hurt, or were they caused by, people he would consider family? And whips are also things used to control - there's a lot of symbolism for a whip as not only a weapon and instrument of torture, but also a stereotype of a tool used to manage things seen as dangerous, wild and/or "other", like some kind of beast tamer. It has a lot of cruelty associated with it.

We don't have to go down the path of only super dark places, by the way. The Whip doesn't have to be interpreted in an extreme fashion - though I suppose with creative writing/inspiration we can often feel like that's an obvious or exciting and dramatic route to go down. It can also represent an argument, a physical activity (an injury?), something much less overtly traumatic but still play a major role in a core memory/event. Also, this Whip has flags added to it for greater control and sound effects - there's a sense that it can be for show, engineered as part of a performance.

I hope this was helpful! Thank you for the opportunity to read for Hana. Please don't be too mean to him!

---

Thanks for requesting a limited time free reading to celebrate the new edition of the Fortune Lenormand oracle/art deck!

Want to dive deeper?

Fortune Lenormand oracle/art deck - there's a free downloadable overview of card meanings!

humangray.com/lenormand - more info and resources/links!

(Note: these readings are being done with my old card deck from the original printing. There's not much difference with the new edition available in the link above - the biggest one is that the new edition has a custom box ooh ahh!)

[deepestbluesky]

hello it is time for a VERY niche post. join me for... SHL characters as SNAKES!!!!! i tried to find snakes that naturally occur in china or near china, as a terrible added parameter—there's a TON of snakes in china, but i just don't know many so it's terrible bc it added a lot of work for me lol. but i've learned things! and found some cool snakes! so! let's go. pictures of snakes ahead, if that's not your thing, feel free to peace out.

Wen Kexing - Sinomicrurus macclellandi a coral snake! just a nice boy you know? just a nice, extremely venemous boy with dramatic red coloration. shamless plug for my fic where wkx turns into This Snake.

Zhou Zishu - Bungarus multicinctus look at this lovely unassuming snake. got some goth-y drama but overall not too bad, right? one of the most venomous land snakes in the world 😌 (also. he and wkx match but like in a complimentary way.)

Zhang Chengling - Pareas margaritophorus the first thing wikipedia says about this snake is that it is small and harmless. for the first time so far, i am not trying to mislead you. just a little snek boi!!!!!! cute!!!!!! I Want To Hold And Protect Him

Gu Xiang - Fowlea piscator look i'm gonna be honest. there are not a lot of snakes that are even REMOTELY purple but this one has a little purple whip tongue! also, not venemous but (if it's anything like water snakes in the US) kind of an asshole. apparently pretends to be a cobra. look at her go.

Cao Weining - Coelognathus radiatus this snake has no thoughts in its head. look at it. i don't mean as a species i mean This One. That's cwn. just sitting there doing a blep. no venom, apparently a defensive sort of dude. cool colors tho!

Luo Fumeng - Calliophis bivirgatus a different kind of coral snake! i've gone a bit further outside of china for this one but LOOK at how gorgeous it is. how could i not let lfm be this glamorous. also i like the idea that she's a different genus of snake than wkx but still a (venemous) coral snake.

Liu Qianqiao - Elaphe taeniura gonna be honest here, the common name of this snake in english is the beauty snake (or ratsnake), so i didn't think too much farther. there's a ton of different color morphs of it. look at it, the elegance! she's beauty she's grace she'll constrict you (if you are a small mammal)!

Xie Wang - Bungarus fasciatus this is a different krait! zzs has MANY bands, xw just has bands. a little brighter colored and more extra than zzs, sliiiightly less deadly, still can very definitely kill you. LOOK at that warning coloration. if i was to pick two characters to DEFINITELY have warning coloration, it WOULD be wkx and xw.

Du Pusa - Euprepiophis mandarinus this is NOT my best work, but i just thought this snake was really pretty and so i was determined to include it somehow. hence: dps. they are ~secretive~ apparently. also. again. Look At It

Ye Baiyi - Python bivittatus BIG BOY!!!! ALMOST THE BIGGEST BOY!!!!! does occur in white color morphs in captivity (and like, i guess presumably in the wild? at one point? but i have to imagine that's like. not so much a thing anymore.) also, did i pick the picture that looks the most like a cryptid? of course i did, it's yby. he doesn't want his picture taken. he doesn't want you to know he exists even. leave him alone. where he belongs in his natural habitat.

Han Ying - Lycodon septentrionalis a shiny pretty boy. a shiny pretty boy who looks very much like a many-banded krait, in fact. however, they're not venemous. hy just looks like zzs. again: LOOK AT THIS GOOD SNEK.

Jing Beiyuan - Ahaetulla prasina several things here. one, this is an elegant but strange boy (i don't think this shows just how weird this guy's nose looks. it's like someone took a snake's nose and used pliers to stretch it out all pointy). two, FASHION!!! look at those pattens!!!!! a striking example. and three, it looks kind of like wu xi's snakeclet

Wu Xi - Naja atra he's a cobra. i think this speaks for itself.

[silverior968]

Heyo ^-^ I hope you're recovering well!

What are the silliest (modern or otherwise) headcanons you have for the deadmen as a group? Shenanigans and such 👀

Howdy and thank you, both for the ask and for the well wishes. I realized just now that I'm not sure if I ever posted about it, but I made a full recovery! Not only that, but during my 3-month check-up my cerebellum looked astoundingly normal, and my headaches have quieted down considerably. I couldn't be happier, I have so much more energy now.

Anyways, onto the shenanigans! If we start with the war-era ones, they absolutely had the most dramatic snowball fights in history. Like they'd go all in on it, cue absolute chaos. Same with water fights. And fallen leaves. And seaweed (my family used to have this game of throwing seaweed at each other on the beach, I highly recommend). If it is non-lethal and can be thrown or splashed, they've probably thrown it at each other. During the war they'd probably have to wear disguises or play characters to stay hidden, both from Mevolent's forces and mortals. Some of them would be better at it than others, namely Larrikin and Erskine. One very silly headcanon I have is that sometimes, if a battle is still going on or they have to clean up after it, but mortals are heading that way, they'll get Anton to pretend to be a ghost. This is a role he plays exceedingly well, especially if he's used the gist. He's quite scary, but in a quiet way, and he has that indescribeable sadness about him that ghosts also harbor. He'll just stand on the road, look haunting and speak vaguely to any passersby so that they turn right back around. I feel like the Sanctuary might have put on plays to boost morale, and the Dead Men would obviously participate when not on a mission. Larrikin and Erskine go full on theatre kid mode to a scary extent. Skulduggery goes theatre kid mode to a less scary but more insufferable degree. Ghastly likes making costumes, Anton and Hopeless also prefer doing backstage stuff. Hopeless makes sure that everything is ready for scene changes, while Anton works the curtains (he also participates in making props!). Dexter and Saracen always ask for minor roles and always have fun doing them. The plays range from pretty good to total disaster, but they are effective in boosting morale.

Then for some not necessarily war-era shenanigans: They keep their habit of throwing stuff at each other (of course they do). Both during the modern era and war era, they'd probably play some music, do pranks, tell stories and get weirdly competitive at sports/board games/ card games. Do NOT give them Monopoly. A common prank they'd do is pile tiny items on top of any unfortunate soul who has passed out or fallen asleep among them. Skulduggery commonly wakes up from meditating with a meticulously built tower of pencils on top of his head. I also feel like they've all done drag at least once. Larrikin's genderfluid so for them it's not always drag, sometimes they present feminine because they identify as feminine, but sometimes they do drag because it's fun and the vibes are different. Out of all of them I think Dexter and Saracen are the most likely to do actual drag shows. Anton wouldn't step foot on a stage but has, on several occasions, donned an Edwardian mourning dress, not to mourn anyone but simply for the vibes. I mean that is peak fashion. When Valkyrie joins the Dead Men they all go either weird (positive) uncle mode, mom friend mode or dad friend mode. In an ideal world I'd like to see her go do fun activities with them. Like bowling! It would end in some sort of minor disaster but it would be fun regardless. Or perhaps a kayak outing, which also ends in a minor disaster but is fun regardless? There is a certain pattern there.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1062: Interrogating Inari (Persona 5 & Sonic)

12:34 p.m. at LeBlanc Café............

It was an odd, confusing day for Yusuke Kitagawa the moment Omega silently welcome him inside the darken LeBlanc Café before closing the doors behind them. As he sits himself down on one of the café bar's seats, he notices the robot and the young couple, Morgana and Lavenza, giving him a suspicious looking glare.

Before he could start asking questions, the single clicking sound of the lamp switch is heard as Sojiro reveals in the artist's view sight, with his elbows on the table, chin standing on top of his hands, and a glare that could give even the likes of Bowser a shiver.

Sojiro: Yusuke Kitagawa. At last, you've arrived....(Gets his Head Up From his Hands and Turns Away Before Grabbing his Chin and Thinks) Or....was it Inari?....(Turns Back to Yusuke) Uh quick question: do you usually go by that or just Yusuk cause I've been hearing Futuba call you that fir the longest time while everyone else in your friend group go by your actual name. Matter of fact, what the hell does "Inari" means anyway?

Yusuke: (Grabs his Chin While Thinking as Well) I'm not sure. We've been friends for quite a while now and I still don't have the slightest clue what that nickname means.....

Lavenza: Perhaps it originated from an ancient folk tale of sorts?

Morgana: Or from one of the animes she watches......

Yusuke: (Takes his Phone Out From his Pants Pocket) I could try looking it up on my phone if-

Omega: We are losing focus on the discussion at hand.

Sojiro: Oh right. ('Clears Throat') Yusuke, Inari, or....whatever you want us to call you, we got a lot to talk about today.

Yusuke: I see. Is it about this week's Café insurance payment?

Sojiro: What? No. I mean, I do have to pay it some point this week- Look, I'm talking about you and Futuba!

Yusuke: Ahhhh yes, I see. What....about Futuba and I exactly?

Sojiro: Not to be that guy, but word has it that the two of you are about spend some quality time together.

Yusuke: (Happily Nodded) Correct. I believe we're supposed to go the arcade a few miles from here, for our first activity together, followed by a stroll around the city, find a suitable place to eat, shop, and once the sun sets, we retreat back here to have ourselves an

Morgana: (Raises an Eyebrow) And it's only gonna be just the two of you doing all of that today?

Yusuke: Percisely. I would ask you and the rest of our friends to come with, but she insisted not to so for whatever reason.

Lavenza: Interesting. And do you, pry tell, know what day it is today?

Yusuke: What day is- Ah yes, Valentine's Day. (Places his Hand on his Chest in an Somewhat Dramatic Fashion) A holiday dedicated to love, unity, the awareness of being single.

Morgana: Ryuji told you that last part, didn't he?

Yusuke: That he did, yes. (Smiles a Little) But is it nice to see the holiday give it some recognition to say the least.

Sojiro: (Snickers a Bit) Yeah, more or less. (Let's Out a Chuckle Before Giving Yusuke a Deadpinned Look) But no seriously, you do realize my daughter is taking you out on a date, right?

Yusuke: But going out on a date implies to those who are romantically interest in one another. (Chuckles Lightly) And there's no possible way that Futuba of all people, would have any feelings towards me.

Everyone else started looking at each other in silence for a second before turning back to Yusuke.

Lavenza: Yusuke-San, I'm not sure how long you haven't noticed, but.....

Omega: That girl has it down bad for you.

Yusuke: (Eyes Starts to Widened in Genuine Surprise) What? But....that's impossible! There's no proof of that being true. Is it?

Sojiro: (Shrugs) We wouldn't be having this conversation if it wasn't.

Morgana: Think about it. You ever noticed how she started hanging out with you a lot more than she does with Ren, Ryuji, Ann, Makoto, mom, or anyone of us in here as of late?

Yusuke: Well....I suppose we have spent more time together than usual in the last two years..... (Smiles a Little) And I have grown to enjoy her company as of late. She's a wonderful companion who deserves every happiness she receives.

Lavenza/Morgana: (Clasps Their Hands While Smiling at Yusuke With Puppy Dog Eyes) AWWWWWWWWW!~

Yusuke: (Grabs his Chin While Thinking) But i wonder......Do you really think I have what takes to be a suitable love partner to her? I never been in a relationship before, and my knowledge of is minimal at best.

Omega: Being in a romantic relationship can be a challenging process for two or more parties involve and takes a fairly long amount of time of time, patience, and error regardless of the chemistry you share. But if you are willing to step out of your comfort facilities, give it an honest chance, and take the time to learn from one another as your lifespan continues to progress, then I am certain that you two will able to far as an official couple, but only if you choose to go along with the ordeal.

Sojiro: (Almost at a Loss For Words) Wow, I....Honestly couldn't have said any better myself.

Lavenza: (Smiles Softly at the E-Series Robot) We never knew you were so knowledgeable at romance, Omega-Kun.

Omega: (Puts on a Deadpinned Look on his Face) Mother Rouge always makes Knuckles and I watch romance related shows every time she has her hands the remotes. It eventually comes with territory unfortunately....

Sojiro: That explains it. (Turns Back to Yusuke) But Omega's right, kid. You'll never know what the world of romance might have in store for either of you if you give it a shot. (Smiles Softly) We know you two have what it takes.

'A-HEM'

The lights finally brightens up around the café as the gang turn to see Futuba crossing her arms, glaring at them.

Futuba: What the flipping curry is going on in here? (Facepalms Herself) Please don't tell me you forgot to pay the insurance apayment again, Sojiro.....

Sojiro: (Sighs While Rolling his Eyes) I haven't forgotten to pay anything, Futuba. It's due in a few days and it's not what's going on here.

Yusuke: If I may, sir? Futuba, can I ask you something?

Futuba: (Immediately Notices Yusuke is in the Room as Well) Inari, you're here! (Makes her Way to Him) And yeah, what you wanna ask me?

Yusuke: This....may or not come out of thin air, but....is it true that.....you may have a possible interest in me? In a romantic sense?

Futuba: (Squint her Eyes in Confusion) Interest in you in romantic-

As the words "romantic" escape from her mouth, something inside her brain starts to click as her eyes starts to widens and a blush begins to appear on both of her cheeks.

Futuba: H-HUUUUUUUH!?~

Yusuke: Romantic interest. Or I suppose in layman's terms: having a plausible sized crush on-

Futuba: I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS, INARI! (Chuckles Very Awkwardly) And it's ridiculous!~ I mean, really, how can I, a shut-in weeb, could EVER fall for such a talented, fairly good looking INARI like you? That's crazy!~

Futuba's chuckles slowly starts to die down as she sees everyone in the room staring at her with deadpinned looks, clearly not buying the see through denial act or as she mostly put it, the "Tsundere" act.

Futuba: (Sighs in Defeat Before Facepalming Herself) Okay, this is starting to get repetitive now- Fine, I confess! I....(Starts Turning Away While Blushing) do have a crush on you, Yusuke.

Yusuke: (Eyes Starts to Widened Again) You said my actual name.....This must be serious then.

Futuba: (Quickly Glares at her Crush) Will you can it already!? This isn't a joke or some kind of elaborate prank on your dispense! I REALLY do like you, Yusuke Kitagawa! So would you kindly stop being a smart-ass and take me seriously for once!?

'Silence'

Futuba: (Calms Herself Down by Sighing Before Rubbing her Arm Softly) Sorry. I didn't mean to blow up on you like that....Sorry in advance, Sojiro, but letting out your emotions can be a real bitch sometimes, you know?

Yusuke: (Chuckles Lightly) I agree. But really it's okay. If anything I should apologize for making you upset to begin with.

Futuba: (Shrugs) Eh. I'm over it now, so you don't have to worry about all of that. (Shyly Turns her Front her) So.....what do you think? About my confessions and whatnot.....

Yusuke: Well....as overjoyed I am to hear your confessions....(Starts Blushing) And how I am beginning to feel similarly towards you as well....

Futuba: (Eyes Begins to Widened Before Turning Back to Yusuke) S-Seriously? Are you actively for real right now!?

Yusuke: (Chuckles Lightly) Yes. That I am. (Frowns a Bit) But even still, if I'm being honest, I can't help but to also feel nervous about starting a legitimate relationship between us.

Futuba: Duuuude! I'm nervous about all of that crap too!

Yusuke: Really now?

Futuba: Really times infinity! I mean, being a couple is great and all, but I'm still getting used to going out and socializing with every new people I mean without running away and hide. What makes you think I would have what it takes to be romantic 24/7?

Yusuke: Perhaps we could let our feelings run it's course until it comes natural for both of us? There's no telling how long it will take, but I believe it's a better alternative than just simply rushing into it.

Lavenza: (Smiles Softly at the Duo) We could help you learn the fundamentals of romance if the both of you like?

Morgana: (Happily Nodded) Yeah, definitely. (Gently Holds Lavenza's Hand) We're still new to the whole thing ourselves, but it wouldn't hurt either of us to lend you two a hand.

Omega: I am not the biggest fan of the concept myself. (Smiles Brightly) But I am still willing to give you assistance if need.

Sojiro: (Smiles Softly) Same here. It's been a long while since I've gotten into a relationship myself, but I can be pretty knowledgeable on the subject. You two are in good hands.

Yusuke: (Simply Nodded With a Sincere Smile on his Face) And we can't thank you all enough for each of your support.

Futuba: Group Hugs!~

The gang gathered around for a group hug among one another before light tabs on the glass doors rang into their eardrums as they turn to see Sae Niijima and a few other people standing outside of the café.

Sae: Pardon me for intruding such a touching moment. (Starts Glaring at Sojiro) But can you PLEASE let us inside already!? I am on the clock right now!

Tae: (Pops her Head Out From Behind the Prosecutor With An Annoyed Look) We all are.

And right on cue, the rest of the crowd begins to speak out their complaints as well.

Sojiro: I uh.....(Begins to Chuckle Awkwardly) guess we left those door close lock for too long there, huh?

Futuba: (Smiles Brightly) Yup. Which is Inari and I cue to leave.

Yusuke: ('Sigh') And we're back on the nickname department....

Futuba: (Happily Hugs Yusuke's Arm as the Two Make Their Way to the Door) Hush, boy. You know you love it~

Sojiro: Well, I hope you two be safe be, don't try any funny business, and have fun out there.

Futuba: We will!~ (Unlocks the Door to the Café, Letting Everyone Outside In) Café's now reopen, folks!~

Sae: (Sighs in Relief as She Walks in) Finally.... (Turns to the Duo With a Soft Smile) I hope you two have a good time on your date today.

Futuba: Thank you bunch, Big Sis Sae. (Happily Waves Goodbye at Sojiro and the Other as She and Yusuke Walk Put Together) Don't try and spy on us while we're gone or I'll hate you all foreverrrrr!~

Sojiro: We hear you loud and clear, kiddo. See ya! (Let's Out a Bit if a Heavily Sigh) I guess it's time to go back on our regularly scheduled program. (Turns to the Rest of the Gang) You three mind helping an old man out here?

Morgana/Lavenza: (Happily Salutes to Sojiro) Yes sir!~

Omega: Affirmative. (Quickly Looks Down on his Arm and Makes a Call) Abort the stealth operation. I repeat: Abort the stealth operation!

Meanwhile outside of the café, Solid Snake receives the call Omega gave while hiding behind the building's rooftop.

Snake: Cope that. (Ends the Call Before Sighing Heavily) I need to start my early retirement already. I'm getting too old for this.....

Happy Late Birthday, Futuba!

@keyenuta

@princekirijo

@cyber-wildcat

@caleb13frede

@bestpony666

[louis-quatorze]

Our Flag Means Death S2

oh, we all have opinions, don't we? this is a recap/reflection post, so you know, spoilers ahead and all.

In general, I enjoyed the season, which was not a given - I was sort of trepidatious going on, mostly because I wasn't sure what leaning into fandom would end up being like. On that point, pleasantly surprised! Will come to that point later.

However, it definitely had its flaws. I do feel that these flaws mostly emerge from that the season was clearly too short for all they wanted to do with it, though. Eight episodes of less than half an hour for them to bring everything back together and wrap it up? Not really possible, which was a shame. What I'm left with is a feeling of how much I liked the bones of the season, and some particular things about it, but with a feeling of "oh, this could have been better."

Izzy's arc, for example. In broad strokes I'm in favor of it, I think it was entertaining and even moving in parts (I liked Izzy calling him Eddie at the end), but it was so rushed through that the change didn't quite hit the way it should have. Some more episodes to draw it out, to see him go from "guy who'd sell out the crew easily" to "guy who joins in the drag party" would have sold it better and given it the impact I really wanted.

We see this with a lot of the show's elements - the crews coming back together, Zheng as helper/antagonist, Prince Richard as an Evil Stede, even the sort of goofy shenanigans that are what made the show so fun in the first place. There's not enough time in the series' run to have it all work as well as it could have. To the show's credit, though, I'm inclined to blame Max rather than the writing team. I respect their ambition in trying, I like the bones of what they were doing, I wish they could have the time (and money) to have done it properly.

What it has done (mostly) well this season, and has always done well, is its sense of character. Stede's a remarkable work, at once cartoonish and fully believable. I particularly loved his episode 7 shift from "for the first time in my life people like me" to "lashing out because the default of them not is coming back." I wish there could have been more done here! But alas, cost-cutting.

My exception to this was whatever was going on with Oluwande and Jim, which seemed to have nothing to do with their first-season journey and mostly seemed confusing. Would more episodes have helped with this? Couldn't have hurt, if only to have their relationship make sense and flesh out their characters a little more. I'm still not sure I would have liked it, though.

It's a shame because what's interesting about the show is how much focus it has on relationships. Clearly what they decided to prioritize is the central Ed/Stede relationship, and that more or less all works here. Of course I want to see them together. Of course I want to see them happy. It feels like fanfiction in a positive sort of way, engaging with similar tropes and pressing the central relationship in similar ways. It's got almost enough room to develop properly, and, of course, ends with the pastoral fantasy fanfiction likes to end with. (Do I feel it really suits them both now? Well. I don't think they're counting on a third season, at least.)

There is a tension in choosing to have the show's focus be that relationship, between doing what the fandom wants in developing this middle-aged queer relationship in a sensitive fashion, and the absurdist, sadistic humor that is also at the show's heart. The biggest laugh I had was Lucius' recitation of the horrible things that happened to him, the way it escalated and the deadpan-dramatic delivery was just outstanding. (Nathan Foad's twitchy, chain-smoking, overly dramatic Lucius was a delight the whole season.) At its funniest, OFMD is violent and mean and callous, and that really works for it. Even Stede is kind of at his best when he's swishing around in a fabulous cursed suit and snapping at the crew for being superstitious (and I am so glad they managed to get in one low-stakes shenanigans episode, there should have been so many more). The tension between the realism of the relationships and the absurdity of the humor is really fascinating. I haven't actually looked into how people are responding to the season, but I can imagine that's at the heart of it. Which do we as viewers take the most seriously? Can we hold both visions of the show in our head?

(What We Do in the Shadows, for example, has a similar sense of humor, but centers it instead of the relationships, and sometimes at the expense of them. It's a better show for it in my opinion. But it also has more time to do it - 5 season, 10 episodes each. What could OFMD be with time to develop properly?)

Anyway, that's where I am with it. I'd say let's see where it goes, but well. Can't count on that, can we?

[inkofamethyst]

July 26, 2023

Today I finished moving out of my apartment. Also my last day in a classroom in my undergraduate uni. The apartment thing actually feels weird. That room.. I mean it never quite felt like home, exactly. But it was my safe space on campus. For two years it was mine. And now it's not.

I.. I think there's a good chance I may stretch myself a little thin during my phd. Like, I discovered this thing at my uni where I could essentially get a minor alongside my Big Degree. And they have lots of really cool, interesting options (classics! medieval! archaeology! so many others!!) which I would totally consider if I was an undergrad but I'm getting close to the point where my luck may start to run out so it's probably a good idea for me to go for something more applied, right? I looked at compsci because that's the big button topic right now, but they also have data science which seems to be a bit more social-sciencey in its approach which I vibe with, and it could/would be good additional training for just like, ~being a scientist~ generally. But it's like,,,, several extra courses (five) which I mean yeah I could complete it slowly, one or two at a time, over the course of the years following my first two, but I just don't know if it'd be a good idea. If it'd be too much of a distraction from the Big Degree. And then on top of that I was already considering doing a brief internship or two. And then maybe (though this idea is significantly less well-formed) doing an exchange program one term through the program my uni offers, and that's not even mentioning all the cool workshops they have going on all the time that I want to take part in,,,,,, it's just that, I mean sort of like when I entered undergrad I'm seeing all of the offerings and want to take advantage of it all. It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but I do actually want to get through it. Healthily.

Anyway I haven't mentioned any of this to my advisor lol. Can't show too much excitement too early. Just an appropriate, adult amount (whatever that means).

I think the important thing to remember will be that all the extras are nice, but my eyes need to stay on the prize.

Over the past several years, I've pretty successfully (and, perhaps, quite dramatically) limited my firsthand/fast fashion pieces, partly due to having a better grip on my spending habits (now that I'm spending my money) and partly due to moral convictions. However, I've recently come to recognize that there are several pieces in my wardrobe that, while looking "pretty good" for being secondhand, may not be particularly becoming for a person who looks like me and who is entering the grad school environment. My mother is pushing me to get rid of some of those items (as well as other fast fashion pieces that I've owned since high school), and I somewhat begrudgingly agree. She's also pushing me to look for suitable replacements, mostly firsthand, mostly fast fashion. The only way I can honestly feel comfortable reverting a little bit is by recognizing the fact that I genuinely attempt to take good, long-term care of my clothes. So even if I buy something at Old Navy or Target or TJMaxx, there's a decent chance it'll last me through the next six years or more, especially if they're basics.

My mom and I did get into a disagreement (it was silly and out of love but we still disagreed) about my wardrobe recently though. She complains that I don't have any color among by blacks and browns and creams. This is factually incorrect, and I reminded her that I've got greens and am constantly on the lookout for more. She told me that my hunter (and forest and sage) greens didn't count because they were muted. I told her she was being picky. I also told her that I would be receptive to adding lilac. She said I should be more open than just that. But I couldn't explain at the moment that I'm trying to build a wardrobe that is mostly modular so that I can add in whatever colors I want and not have to worry about whether I have anything to wear with them. I'll already have several potential outfits with some random piece I get on a whim one day. Anyway I needed to buy new cases for my devices and decided to get them all in lilac out of spite (admittedly, the black/gray theme I did four years ago was, perhaps, a tad boring and uninspired, but now they're dreadfully cute (I would've gone with green, but my sister is also going through a green phase, and we've already been through a period of us having the same phone and case, plus I don't think commitment to any ~~~aesthetic~~~ has to be all that deep)) but my mom says that doesn't count because they're not wearable. She also said (again) that I dress like an old maid and I had to remind her that spinsters were women who, historically, made their own money and choices for themselves, so I'm not particularly ashamed to be associated with them.

Today I'm thankful that my Enterprise-D came in good condition!!! I haven't taken it out of the box yet, but it (and its stand) appear to be in the original, unwrapped packaging. Just lovely. I also finished off a gift card by grabbing a card game and some posters, one space-based and one botanical, both vintage-looking, so decor is coming along.

I don't really care to tell most people where I'm going for graduate school. It sets a lot of expectations that I feel like I'm not always able to live up to. So when they ask "well what's next" I say "oh just grad school" and then only open up if they ask for specifics. But today, an older Black woman asked for specifics and I told her and she seemed so excited for me. I was a little bashful, but it felt good. There was a.. a unity in that interaction, something we didn't have to say aloud but it was there. Some people seem proud of me in almost a selfish way, I feel like. And that feels.. not good. But today's interaction was different in a good way. I only just met her today, but I hope I can make her proud.

[getmemymicroscope]

My second go at a 'theatrical production' - this one was apparently released as a TV movie and clocks in at 1 hour and 40 minutes (full on movie length, as opposed to Gunehgaar previously).

The problem with having such a small cast is that you're forced to rely on them a lot, which frequently leads to a lot of unnecessary over-acting and/or excessive movements. Like them constantly walking back-and-forth in the law office. He asks the guy to sit in the couch, which he does (after initially saying he can't sit at a time like this), then after he opens the blinds to shine light on him (as a officer would do during a movie interrogation scene), he asks one question which is half answered before the man gets up and starts walking around again. The same things happens a bit later, when his wife comes to the office.

Her later actions make sense with what she's been told (more on that later), but knowing that her goal is to make sure he goes free, her initial actions and words are very, very odd. She immediately seems like she's hiding the truth - she just lucks out that she gets the one "I'm the last chance" lawyer who is a sucker for any sort of emotional tale.

All that said, the literal second they show her walking into the court room, I immediately realized that this was a remake of Witness for the Prosecution. After that, everything clicked into place and, by virtue of having seen the movie a few years ago, everything became completely predictable. Because they took the plot entirely, down to the final twists at the end (and in true fashion, didn't even mention that this was borrowed from that movie).

Besides being a direct copy (and not as great, for various cinematic reasons including less convincing acting), this movie suffers from dramatic overacting (especially by her, though I guess some of that is called for by the role itself) and from the aforementioned sucker of a lawyer (and his partner), who doesn't even realize the physical similarities between the wife and the subsequent visitor to his office (she changed her hairstyle, outfit, and talking style, but it's not like she completely dressed herself up differently to hide it). Of course, it's easier to notice given that - well, the play only has like 6 characters - and since I by that point knew the story, but still, not a good look for the star lawyer.

All in all, not the worst thing ever - but it would've been nice for them to give a shout out to the original (and/or Agatha Christie, at least). And if you're going to watch it, might as well watch the original movie first.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 13th June

No comments this week. Just... no comments. You'll see why :(

Around the World - Ronnie Hilton (peaked at Number 4)

Well, Ronnie's back. It's been a little while, hasn't it? Luckily, this is a perfectly pleasant outing, if a little slow and sappy.

It's apparently from the 1956 film Around the World in 80 Days, the David Niven adaptation of Jules Verne's adventure classic. Though the version from the film was instrumental, with lyrics only added later on. So the lyrics don't reflect anything specific from the film, more a general sense of travel and adventure.

It's all about a special someone that Ronnie's been looking for all around the world, hoping to see them again, but not quite sure if or where he's going to find them. Heck, he seems a little confused even where he saw them the first time, noting that It might have been in County Down, / Or in New York, or gay Paree, / Or even London town. It's... not a particularly exotic list of places, honestly. New York is at least far away from the others, but really, the lyric-writer could have leant into the "around the world" idea more.

Either way, it doesn't matter, because Ronnie is done travelling, anyway: No more will I go all around the world / For I have found my world in you. Which is a cute sentiment, but in a film that's about the joy of travelling, it's a little bit of a letdown. Wouldn't it be even cuter if they travelled the world together? I'm nitpicking, though - it's sweet, I guess, and reasonably clever.

Apart from this, Ronnie's version of the song is slow and syrupy, with a waltz rhythm, an rather French-sounding accordion at one point, some very dramatic backing singers, and some strings so thick you could spread them on toast like jam. The overall effect is a bit much, to put it lightly. Thankfully, it dies back a bit while Ronnie's singing, but even then, it's overpowering when it comes back between verses.

Oh well, there are two other songs this week, maybe one of them will be a little more to my taste...

Around the World - Gracie Fields (8)

Oh. Okay. Another version of the song that I didn't love, this time by an artist even more old-fashioned than Ronnie. Lovely. Just what I wanted.

Gracie Fields, to me, feels like she belongs in a completely different era to rock and roll artists like Elvis and Little Richrad. Born in Lancashire in 1898, she was already a film and stage star in the 1930s, and after a breakdown in 1939, she recovered and went on to be a forces' sweetheart-type singer throughout the 1940s with ENSA (the UK's organisation who organised performances for the troops to keep morale up). She's not as iconic as maybe Vera Lynn, who's pretty much synonymous with World War Two, but she feels like a product of the same era, and definitely not somebody you'd expect to see in the charts in the late-ish 1950s!

I guess a lot of people probably had nostalgic memories of her and liked her stuff enough to buy it - we still have artists of the 1980s and 1990s or 2000s hitting the charts nowadays, so it's not actually that wild to think that some people were still Gracie fans at this point. I'd just never really thought about it. I think it helps that the song's also quite an old-fashioned one, a sort of pre-rock and roll ballad that could have been a hit any time from 1952 onwards, and probably considerably before then. The film it's from is set in 1872, so I can see the virtue of using a song that sounds a bit less modern, a bit more familiar and old-fashioned, and even having a slightly older artist covering it. There's a logic to it, it just surprised me, I guess, when I saw Gracie's name?

All this to avoid saying much about her version of this particular song, because honestly... at the end of the day, it's not that different to Ronnie's. Gracie's performance is a little more mannered, her pronunciation of "Paree" sounds a little more French, the strings are a little smoother and more polished, the backing singers have really ramped things up, plus there's now a prominent chiming sound going on throughout, but there's not much else to say that hasn't already been said, and certainly nothing that's actually interesting.

Oh well, at least we've got a third song. Maybe it'll be a little more... oh, you're kidding! Really?!

Around the World (In Eighty Days) - Bing Crosby (5)

From one slightly old-fashioned artist to another. Bing also feels like an artist who's had his henyday. He's not quite a relic in the way that Gracie feels like a relic, but he's still an artist who I imagine at his best in the 1940s, not the 50s.

That said, I quite like this version. Unlike Ronnie and Gracie, Bing plays it quite cool throughout, with instrumentation that, if not minimal, is at least a lot less intense than either of the other versions'. We start with a piano instroduction that's almost jazzy, and then a little flute line before Bing comes in, and the slightly jazzy vibes only continue throughout. There are strings, still - what's a 1950s film soundtrack without strings? - but they're kept thankfully to a minimum. Plus we briefly get a piano solo in the middle that's accompanied by these rather lovely runs of tumbling strings and clarinets going up and down along with it. It's serene, and again, just the slightest hint of jazz in one key chord. It also breaks the song up nicely, so there's that.

Bing's voice, when it comes in, is soft, and deeper than Ronnie's, and the vibe, with his singing, is pretty mellow. He sounds relaxed, like a man who's finally found the person he's travelled the world looking for should sound. There's something appealingly conversational about the way he sings, much less mannered than either Ronnie or Gracie. Or maybe it's just the American accent smoothing things over, making him sound smoother than he is. Either way, it's an improvement.

I don't know if this is actually a good song in isolation, or if this version just feels like it in contrast to the other ones I've heard. I suspect the latter, honestly. I'm drifting off a bit to it. Time to go listen to other songs, methinks.

Hard to tell if it's Bing's voice, his choice of instruments or just his general American glitz that makes it work, but it's definitely the best version of this song. Not that I dislike any of them too much. They're fine, but Bing's version definitely stands out, just in terms of pure quality and listenability.

Favourite song of the bunch: Around the World (In Eighty Days)