#it could still happen especially seen as scott pilgrim is much more popular than it was in 2010 (atleast i think it is!) or maybe im just

[robotpussy]

Scott pilgrim should've def gotten a cartoon. that little prequel short they made for adult swim is amazing

[fallingin-like]

an aftg fanfic appreciation post

the other day at work i saw something about fanfiction writer appreciation day and told myself “ah i will make a post when i get home” and immediately Did Not Do That. so i’m doing it now! first, thank you to everyone who writes fanfiction! it’s such an honour to be able to read your writing and i am so grateful to the writers who spend so much time and effort into creating these stories. i do not deserve such amazing content and yet i have it. also thanks to nora for this wonderful series which has changed my life in so many ways. 

these are in no particular order. i really tried to tone down my ‘i love you so much and really want to be friends with you’ vibe but i don’t think it worked. this is a super long post and i still didn’t get to say everything i wanted to.

some  fics/series that need more love (aka they have under 350 kudos)

to the south by Morcai - this is a series (never to be caught and secret, safe, close to the door) that was really cool to read. it has elements of the Iskryne Series which i don’t know anything about, but apparently has to do with bondwolves. basically, neil has a wolfbrother who he can speak to telepathically which is written in a really unique way, through interesting phrases and scent-based nicknames for people. i’ve never read anything like these fics and i adore them

all that we see or seem by rorschachs - an inception au. need i say more? this fic flows well, has good use of flashbacks, and an amazing ending. it’s ~23,000 words but feels like much less due to nice pacing and an interesting take on this au

Travelers by @sunrise-and-death ​ - a series (Placeless Destination and Moving Towards) that’s a soulmate au. soulmates can interact through a pyschic bond that allows it to seem like the other person is there with them. neil and andrew meet when they are young and it’s so interesting seeing them get to know each other at this age. we also get to see some neil/mary angst and all of the terrible things happen to andrew. an intense series that manages to feel light-hearted at the same time. the second fic in this series is incomplete

atlas by @purearcticfire ​ / @pipedream-truths ​ - a magic au that features shapeshifters and a cursed neil, so immediately you know i’ll like it. this fic has some cool uses of italics, caps, spacing, etc. that creates a stylized story that helps build tone and gives the story a clearer voice. unfortunately, i can’t tell too much detail about my favourite parts because it they are *ultra spoilers* so i’ll just say, it gets so intense at the end. just trust me about this. ao3 says it’s incomplete (4/5 chapters) but it seems complete to me. also, at ~72,000 words, it’s a pretty hefty fic

Golden Keys and Gray Lines by @wouldyoulightmycandle ​ - just a feel-good post-canon fic that involves a road trip, an ice cream museum, and a bit of Working Through Rough Times. super cute! this fic is incomplete

some authors i just really love and appreciate (you probably already know them and if you don’t then idk what you’re doing)

all of these writers have serious talent that make it look easy to write fanfiction. it’s not easy. you guys have all of my love. all of it.

@nakasomethingkun ​ /  ephemeralsky - basically i just see their name and automatically click the fic without bothering to fully read the tags or summary. they have never let me down and i adore the way they write. everything they write is an easy read and i always come back to their fics. i was going to mention my favourites and then i realized i was going to list everything they’ve written for aftg and i’m not even kidding. funny, angst, fluff, everything you could want in a fic they have it. so so good i actually don’t know how to describe it. their fics break my heart and then put it back together a little bit different so that even after i am finished reading and continue with the rest of my life, i feel different. they make me hurt in a way i didn’t know that i could like. this quality of fic has me scrolling back to the top to reread it the second i finish. what in the world they’re so good.

@annawrites ​ / moonix - 50 aftg fics. that’s actually crazy. and all of them are so high quality and there is such a variety. flower shop/tattoo parlor au? one of my favourite series ever. high school au? of course it includes 4 fully complete fics. shapeshifter au? amazingly done. scott pilgrim vs the world au? so good that i went out and watched the movie for the first time (i am not even joking). i was looking through all the fics and just started rereading them, i just can’t help myself. they describe everything in a way that makes their stories unique, but doesn’t seem like they’re trying too hard. or at all. their fics flow so well and every sentence is a gem. i read and reread so carefully to make sure i don’t miss a thing, but always find myself catching new jokes and quirks.

@lolainslackss ​ / lolainslackss - i really don’t know where to start. once again, i just really love all of their fics. i started scrolling through their works too see if i had a favourite and could not even choose a top 5. their writing is so beautiful i can’t get enough. they always choose the best things to include. selective mutism and sign language? that’s a sure way into my heart. the suit shop au is adorable and pining andrew really is best andrew. i found exycast surprisingly late in my fanfiction reading and that is a real tragedy because it’s amazing and really cute. the soulmate timer fic is an old favourite and if i’m looking for angst, i know i can pull it up.

@gluupor ​ / gluupor - an absolute legend. with 54 fics for aftg, it’s amazing that all of them are outrageously funny, entertaining, and just really well written. a lot of them are fics adapted as an au for other fandoms (like their super popular brooklyn 99 au that i absolutely adore) and they are all hilarious. it’s so fun to search for familiar quotes or realize how similar characters from different fandoms are to the foxes and the quirks they share. these are fics that will definitely cheer you up. i love their sense of humour, it fits the characters so well and helps to shape the world they’re writing in. it’s always exciting to see them publish a new fic.

@idnis ​ / idnis - they have a really unique writing style, i’ve never seen anything like it in this fandom. every story has so much care and love in it that’s evident through the small details that you only pick up through rereading. their stories are stylized with spaces and formatting that help guide the reader and adds to the tone of their stories. i fell so in love with their cat!neil. they write such interesting stories, have original plots, and their fics read like poetry. before you know it, you’ve finished the fic without realising you should have gone to bed an hour ago. they also have some amazing original work that everyone should go check out!

@badacts ​ / badacts - so recently a lot of their fics were made visible to ao3 users only (a shame in my opinion) so if you haven’t read their fics, go make an account! or log into your account! you really don’t want to miss these fics. they have a kid fic where both andrew and neil are baby versions of themselves so it’s obviously one of the best things ever. they who made you/they made me too is so good even the title is enough to make me feel. there’s introspection and realization and it’s from aaron’s perspective. i love seeing the twinyards bond. and, of course we have to mention the terra firma series because i love injured!neil and this one hits me in a different way. i love the way the abrupt transition into injury for neil and being able to experience the confusion and not knowing what’s happening with him.

iaquilam - they have posted 2 fics for aftg and they are some of my favourites in this fandom. this has amazing characterization, neil and andrew and everyone feel so real and so true and i love them. a mouthy, raven neil is one of the best types of neil. they write from andrew’s perspective and i cannot believe have well they capture him and his thoughts. quotes that have stuck with me “there’s more than one way of getting what you want”, “’he hurts,’ kevin says. ‘it hurts”, “you will be afraid and you will do it anyway”, and “to keep living. until i don’t”. also i think that andrew with synesthesia in where everything is good fits so perfectly. the idea that andrew has something so unique ahh i love. “your voice was the first blue one i ever saw” makes everything around me go quiet.

@jemejem ​ / jemejem - first of all i am really loving the radio show ficlet that’s being posted on tumblr. i’m a sucker for breakup fics, especially cheating fics (because i need angst) so only was the find of the century. it’s a fic where no matter how many times i’ve read it, i still feel gutted and achy reading it. their recent fic, the sound, was really interesting and i loved the later chapters so much but can’t share because of *spoilers*

undertow - okay so they also only have 2 aftg fics but oh my goodness they are so good. tenuous is one of my most reread fics, i love the concept, interactions between all the characters, how i feel like i’m there with them, and their descriptions. one of my favourite lines are “The sink turns on; water smacks against the bottom of its metallic basin. It feels—well. It just feels.” ugh i don’t know why i like it so much i just do. it fits so perfectly. and i can totally imagine kevin and neil being super petty in their love song writing, this fic is such a contrast to the other one and yet still so good.

@broship-addict ​ / broship_addict - kid!au! oh my goodness ice cream au! ahh they’re so good at writing cute fluff that has such good characterization that they’ve adapted perfectly into whatever au they have written. and at the same time impulse hit me in a different kind of way. what a joy to read, i love witnessing the ways that andrew and neil come together in all of their fics. also i really can’t not mention their amazing artwork. so grateful to have them contributing so much to this fandom

@unkingly / vicariously kingly - bless these fics. i don’t know anyone that doesn’t love a good de-aged neil fic and this really does The Most for that trope. also can i just say that callboy!neil was a thing i didn’t know i needed in my life but now i don’t know how i lived without it. also mermaid!neil?? yes please. i adore the way they write andriel. their fics are angsty and never fail to make me feel something, often a little bit raw in a good way. latchkey child wrecked me. i felt like i had been scraped clean and felt a little bit off for the remaining night and day after. Say Golden, Pony Boy was eerie and just the right amount of mysterious. i was left feeling unsettled in my own home. these fics have delightful endings that leave you satisfied and yet wanting more all the same

@spanglebangle / spanglebangle - i really really cannot get over sunshine and moonlight. it’s such a soft version of neil and andrew’s relationship, i love the direction that was taken and how the boys grew and the changes because they found each other. i love the quote “you like the big gestures and ridiculous things i say. i’m in your head, remember, i know it makes you feel wanted” fox!neil is really so adorable and pure, but also feisty and protective and funny. i would love to see more of this fic. also the elementary au is everything to me. there’s a lot of content and it keeps me interested, but i especially love the later chapters with everything surrounding neil and then even later with andrew wrestling with his feelings. so well written.

@hopingforcoordinates ​ / crazy_like_a - if you haven’t read their fics then ?? i really don’t know what to say since they wrote 3 of the top 5 fics with the most kudos in this fandom. and if you have read their work then we both know why they are being mentioned. i have fallen in love with their take on raven!neil. their writing style feels so simple and natural, which is a real talent. if you’re looking for a more explicit post-canon fic, then lessons is great, just make sure nobody is reading over your shoulder hah

@fuzzballsheltiepants ​ / fuzzballsheltiepants - the iconic a mewment like this series is so funny, sweet, and angsty and features The Cats which is always a good sign. in particular, i loved the conversation about mark rothko and all of the art they looked at in the 6th fic. i don’t know what counts as spoilers so i’ll say thank goodness for neil ‘oblivious’ josten, trivia nights, and the good bad jokes that made this series such an enjoyable read. similarly, you can’t go wrong with the angst that’s sure to come with a fic where andrew gets hurt and doesn’t remember who neil is. or at least, this fic definitely went the opposite of wrong. 

and i really cannot make this post without mentioning the mind-blowing collabs of lolainslackss and moonix to create dating & other disasters and of moonix and gluupor to write No Place Like Home (incomplete). i literally don’t even have words for how excited i was for when i heard of these fics. these collabs are too powerful for this world and if you haven’t read them then i guess you don’t want to enjoy yourself.

as well, additional thanks from this little ace baby to everyone who writes ace!neil or demi!neil. you guys have a special place in my heart.

i tried to find everyone’s tumblr but obviously didn’t succeed. please tag them if i missed them or tagged the wrong account. thanks! i also did not take the time to research pronouns/names so i refer to everyone as ‘they/them’. i know some of the right pronouns/names but it felt wrong to have some of them and not the rest. some of my comments might seem incoherent or repetitive. my apologies for all of this.

also if you go to my ao3 and see that it’s a little bare/notice that i never comment just know that it’s because i am *ultra lazy* and most of the time i cannot be bothered to log into my account. probably commented as raelle instead. or just ‘a’ because i really am That Lazy. or i’m planning on writing an essay for your fic but haven’t gotten around to it and i’m just drafting it in my head every time i reread.

[auskultu]

Hippies: How? Why? What Does It Mean?

Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 26 August 1967

SAN FRANCISCO — Five o’clock in the afternoon. The going home traffic already crowding the freeway to a frustrating halt.

The sounds of the busy day still echoing through the ears of the people in their cars. People looking forward to home, a cool drink, some television, any departure from the aggravating competition of the day.

A young girl, fresh from the road, walks into a section of the city ready to put all the city’s noises behind her, ready to commit herself to herself and not to the city.

She is 17, a runaway, one of the hundreds of young people who pour into San Francisco’s Haight-Asbury district every day of this summer. They have come in search of a life that will give them more meaning and satisfaction than the one they left. Like some, she may find it for a while at least. Or like others who expected a Utopia, she may find only disillusionment and heartache.

The Hash-berry, as it is called by the papers, is already crowded with people. Hippies stand on street corners, lie down on sidewalks, stroll along the street. They are dressed in strange costumes that immediately give them an identity with the street.

Critics say they are uniforms. Indian head-dresses are worn, hand-loomed materials are made into dresses, flowers are everywhere.

By nightfall, she will find a home, or more likely a small space on a crowded floor, in a “commune.” She will become a part of the district, a statistic for Time magazine, another dilemma for the city fathers, and a constant source of aggravation for her parents. But for the moment she feels like a pilgrim who has found Mecca.

American Dream She has left the American Dream far behind, and entered into a world which preaches no negative doctrines, makes no demands, gives no edicts. The people on the street speak only about love, “trip,” other people.

Why young people are flocking to the Haight and streets like it across the world is a question every major publication has sought to answer.

The world’s preoccupation with the Hippie is amazing, but not surprising. The love generation scares the Establishment because it cannot understand what is happening, and this lack of understanding creates new fears. In retaliation the mass media coins phrases to explain away the strangeness of this new culture.

Almost as if to say the Hippies will be less of a threat to middle-class America if one can read about them in the Sunday supplement, the papers relate the love-ins, the pleasure-fairs, and the rock concerts with incredible regularity.

The Hippie movement is a world-wide happening. There are Hippie colonies in London, in Paris, in Amsterdam, in Madrid. Each country brings its own particular culture to the movement, but there is the common theme of love and peace.

There is hardly a section of the country that is not affected in some way by the Hippie culture. Psychedelic stores have opened everywhere. Psychedelic posters advertising everything from movies to restaurants have sprung up. ‘Trips Festival’

The first “Trips Festival” organized in San Francisco by novelist Ken Kesey in early 1966 have since developed into the love-ins, be-ins, pleasure fairs throughout the country that have attracted everyone from movie-stars to high school teachers.

The middle-classes have eagerly embraced the light shows, and even Jacqueline Kennedy has purchased psychedelic colored boxes for her children. Music is the communication for the Hippies, and the pop world has seen the influx of what is now called the “San Francisco Sound” or “psychedelic music.” Groups such as the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company are bringing the Haight to the world. Strobe lights create the illusion of “trips,” and this combined with music has even been presented on Establishment television.

They have given themselves new names, flamboyant, tender, gentle. A good Hippie name combines both the absurdity and the gentleness in life. An example of this would be the rock group called Iron Butterfly, a name which combines delicacy with strength.

New concepts of masculinity and femininity have also been developed. Gentleness and tenderness are the two most valued human assets. The idea of the super-strong James Bond/John Wayne type man has no place among the Hippie world.

Elvish Language The poster writing which has become so popular with its curving letters and bright colors originates from a series of books by J.R.R. Tolkein, collectively called The Ring Trilogy.

These books which are widely read by Hippies tell of little furry people who live in the “Middle Earth” and speak a language called Elvish. This Elvish is written in large curving letters, the same curving letters that now inform the world that “Jefferson Airplane Loves You.”

The Hippies are an extension of our society, a product of our times. They are perhaps the reaction to a dehumanized culture which puts little value on human life, or human feelings.

Love Cosmology For the sincere, the love cosmology is a way of life, a solution to the continuing search for something better. They say they have found the alternative to the nine-to-five jobs, to the cold war, to hatred. They have followed Dr. Timothy Leary’s advice and “Turned on, tuned in and dropped out.”

Non-Political The Hippie is essentially non-political, a fact which bothers the left as much as the mere existence of the Hippie bothers the right.

“Political orientation is a waste of energy,” one bearded young man declared. Just two years ago this young man was walking a picket line in his home town two thousand miles away from the Haight-Asbury district.

The Hippies also ignore race issues and to a great extent the Negro is excluded from hippie society. This is not due to any hippie prejudice, but because the Negro does not see his place among the Hippies. This is totally unlike the “Beats” of the 1950’s who idealized the Negro to an amazing decree. But the Hippie is a white middle class happening.

Anti-Intellectualism Surprisingly, there is a creeping anti-intellectualism among Hippies. Education under the system is scorned, and only spontaneous knowledge is deemed worthwhile.

The written word has been replaced by the driving beat of the rock groups. The new poets are musicians; the new novels are the songs they sing and play. The Hippie identifies with the American Indian in much the same way that the Beats identified with the American Negro. He wears the clothes of the Indian, preaches the joys of peyote (a hallucinogenic drug used by California and Southwest Indians) and organizes his friends into tribes.

New Religion Some Hippies have formed their own religious order called the Neo-American Church. This church bases its tenets on the Native American Church which uses peyote as a part of its rituals. So far the courts have not recognized the Neo-American Church as being a legitimate part of the religious community and have refused to exempt its members from legal restriction on the use of peyote.

The Hippie has also discovered the Orient and the Near-Eastern Indian. Incense, oriental diets based on the ying and yang principles of masculine/feminine foods and yoga are studied and put into practice. Indian chants and Egyptian prayers are also used to obtain mental “highs.” One prayer is the Hindu chant “Hare Krishma, Hare Krishma, Krishma Krishma, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare, Hare.” This is repeated for over 20 minutes. The continuous repetition of the proper words is said to produce a “high.”

The Hippies’ most disturbing trait is his passion for drugs. He seems unable to recognize the danger or else believes it to be a necessary risk to obtain what he wants.

“I know there is an enormous possibility of a bad trip, especially the more I take acid, but it’s my mind, and my body. I consider it unimportant in relation to the mind-expanding experience of a good trip.” said one in a typically fervent defense of LSD.

Doctors disagree. Recently UCLA Neuro-Psychiatric Institute published results of genetics and chromosome break-up (a process that happens when a person takes LSD). The results included horrifying cases of schizophrenia and malformed offspring.

There have been other casualties among the drug-taking hippies. Many have believed themselves to possess super-human powers and have taken leaps from high windows in the drug-induced belief that they could fly. Still others, reacting to acid with paranoia have committed suicide.

The Diggers Sharing is the by-word of the Hippies, not charity. The Diggers, patterned after a group of 17th century English farmers who lived collectively, are a form of Hippie social workers.

They have houses where newly arrived flower children can spend the night free of charge, and they also serve hot meals in parks. Outside San Francisco they operate two farms and run a store in the Haight where clothing is given away. But many have declared the movement a transient one. And certainly this summer has seen the influx of many pseudo-hippie people into Haight-Ashbury. People who are looking for an easy road to freedom, a superficial escape from pressure, real and imagined.

Many old-time Hippies—people who believed in the love cosmology before it was immortalized by Scott McKenzie—are leaving the cities.

One old-time Hippie put it this way, “These young kids leave their parents’ $50,000 homes and come to the city with no knowledge of how to lake care of themselves. They’re under-age, their patents are frantic, they have no idea of what life is about. They’re even panhandling. Begging was something that was never done in the Haight before this summer.”

Many of the older Hippies are moving out to the countryside. Divided into self-proclaimed tribes, they leave the city and its restrictions to find a more comfortable way of life outside the glare of publicity.

Trying To Live The sincere Hippie is only trying to live, he is not trying to make the cover of Newsweek magazine. In the countryside he is escaping from the watchful eye of the news media, the restrictions of the police, and an influx of the teen-age summer hippie.

The Hippie has been called everything from a degenerate to a saint. One sociologist says the Hippies are an important contribution to the betterment of society as a whole.

“The hippies are a barometer of our sick society. They are dropouts who are turned off by wars, poverty, political phoniness and the ‘game’ they see around them.”

But San Francisco columnist Dick Nolan sees them differently.

“The hip world is the slob world, comprising society’s sad sack, traipsing around in Halloween costumes, reciting slogans as meaningless as their barren lives. They are pitiful,” Nolan writes.

Pitiful or admirable, the hippies may have provided, in their own unorthodox way, a service to mankind. They have awakened some of the complacent to a growing need within our culture to re-define our values. To re-define what is meant by success, what is meant by failure.