#literally the last time was new years eve 2022

[knightsofrayx]

because @daisychainsandbowties loves blood so much... a little something from Luminous Beings Chapter 2

"She felt it strike the side of her head and whip her face down onto the toe of a trooper's boot. Her lips - both of them - split open, splashing blood up onto the greaves of the trooper all the way to his knees."

[archduchessofnowhere]

The tropification of Elisabeth of Austria and the perils of historical dramas without history: A review of Die Kaiserin season 1

Back in 2022 Netflix long awaited (by me at least) new historical drama about Empress Elisabeth of Austria premiered. And to my great disappointment, the series had little to nothing to do with history. Now, two years later, we are on the eve of the premiere of the series’ second season. Since I’d forgotten most of the story, I decided to do a rewatch of season 1, despite my deep dislike of it back in the day. I usually don’t do this, I truly believe that (unless you’re a paid reviewer and it’s your literal job) the only reason for watching a series should be that you like it. If it wasn’t because of my completionist drive to finish every piece of media relating to Elisabeth and analyze the hell out of it, I would’ve dropped it two episodes in. But I promised a review in 2022, and I still feel bad for not finishing writing it then. So at last, here is my review of Die Kaiserin.

Revisiting Die Kaiserin was an interesting experience, if just as frustrating as my first watch was. The character assassination of literally every real person depicted in this series is still infuriating, the costumes and hairstyles are dreadful, and the portrayal of the few historical events is so bad it makes any person with some knowledge of the time period roll their eyes and wish the series had gotten canceled in pre-production. And yet, looking at it from the outside, trying to watch it as if I were an spectator who doesn’t know nor cares about the time period and only wants to kill time with Netflix’s shine new period drama series, Die Kaiserin reveals itself exactly for what it is: a mediocre soap opera set in a half-assed court setting. Upon this rewatch I realized that the biggest crime of this series isn’t that it’s inaccurate, but how boringly predictable it truly is. It’s not that the characters are nothing like their historical counterparts, it’s that they are not characters at all. They are stereotypes, walking tropes crashed against each other like dolls in the hands of a child. And the entire plot of this series is built around serving these tropes.

Although we are not given a clear year at any point on-screen, the story begins in 1853 as it always does when it comes to Sisi media: with a young and rebellious Elisabeth learning that her elder sister Helene is going to be the emperor of Austria’s future bride. The first episode proceeds to re-imagine the fated encounter of the Duchesses in Bavaria with Franz Josef and his family, finishing with the climatic moment in which the emperor reveals that he will marry the younger Elisabeth instead of her sister, shocking everyone present (in fiction, for in real life the entire family realized right away that he had fallen in love with his cousin at first sight).

So far, the typical beginning of every piece of media about young Elisabeth under the sun. But then the series makes the bizarre choice of setting the entire season in an atemporal space in which nothing of note happens. The episodes usually take place during a brief period of time (from a couple of hours to a single day at most), yet it is uncertain how much time passes between them: days? months? Who even knows. The timeline is fuzzy, bending to the whims of the script.

You now may wonder: why does that matter? Plenty of good series don’t have clear timelines. And I agree, there are indeed good series which don’t need a clear timeline. I just don’t believe historical series about real people whose lives are well documented are one of them. Why am I tuning in the history based series and finding no history at all? Why can’t I even guess in which month are we supposed to be in?

In the later years there has been a boom of period dramas which are historical satires, historical fantasies and/or alternative history. These series take history and throw it out of the window for the sake of their plot (whether it’s romance or comedy or both). And I don’t hate them, in fact I thoroughly enjoyed plenty of them. But Die Kaiserin doesn’t belong to this genre. Die Kaiserin is supposed to be a serious historical drama. I still remember that before the series premiered the screenwriters talked about how they wanted to follow the steps of The Crown. Yet the quality of the script is far more reminiscent of the alternative history teen drama Reign. If Reign thought it was The Crown.

What is the point of taking these real people, ignoring the entire context in which they lived, and throwing them into completely fictional settings, while still claiming you’re adapting their lives? If Die Kaiserin had owned what it was, if it had not pretended to be a serious historical drama, I don’t think I would’ve been as upset as I was when the series was released. 

I realize this is a personal frustration since I know and care for the real history, and that someone who doesn’t probably didn’t notice the dozens of inaccuracies that plague this series. That’s okay. But I can’t help but feeling a deep disappointment in the fact that I’m not the target audience of a series about one of my favorite women from history. Which also makes me wonder: if not us, the people with a genuine interest in history, then who is the audience for this series?

I don’t have an answer. Not only “the general public” is as vague as it gets, time and time again “the general public” has shown they can and will love historical dramas more grounded in fact. I wholly disagree on this notion that you must “dumb down” history in order to make it more palatable. Again, audiences have shown they can enjoy complex writing - a memo I wish the screenwriters of Die Kaiserin had received. 

Because even putting the inaccuracies aside, I ultimately just don’t think the writing of this series is good. Going back to the beginning of the review, upon my rewatch I realized something: this series is almost entirely made up of well defined but poorly developed tropes. This series feels written as if it was one of those viral Tiktok books whose entire plot is just a list of popular tropes. “Love triangle with a villain”, “fierce FMC”, “betrayal”, “falls first/falls harder”; and I could go on. Any complexity is simplified in order to create an easy to watch story, every character is made into a one-dimensional caricature. It is also ironic that, despite the screenwriters’ clear attempts to distance their series from every previous portrayal of the empress - to the point of having Elisabeth disdain her nickname “Sisi”, which is never be used after the first episode - they fall into almost every already existing stereotype on Sisi media anyways. Elisabeth as a humble country girl deemed the “troublemaker” of the family? Check. Sophie as an evil mother-in-law who manipulates her son and daughter-in-law? Check. The empress reconciling the discontent masses of the empire with her kindness alone? Check check check. 

I highly doubt I’ll ever watch this season again. I simply do not like it, and I know it may not seem like it given how much I’ve been talking about this series lately, but I don’t enjoy being a hater. It’s just that I’ve been following this series since the project was first announced years ago, and I’m still mad about how much it missed the mark. Will there ever be an Elisabeth - or just 19th century Habsburg/Wittelsbach - historical series with actual history in it? As of now, sadly, it still feels like an impossible dream.

[scretladyspider]

please don’t scroll; I really need your help to reach my gofundme goal of $3500 and not become homeless.

Im Elle, a queer, ace, disabled person with ADHD, depression, and two cats. In November, I lost my job without warning. I have no savings as the job already had me living to the last dollar of every paycheck. I was denied unemployment and food stamps. I cannot work away from home, a physical job, or something with strict hours due to some yet-to-be-diagnosed illness.

this is my story — what’s going on & how I got here. (Smaller text used because it’s a lot of information/a long post.)

In early 2018, I was doing regular walk/runs. In 2019, I stopped being able to run, so I went on walks. Running took hours, then days, to recover from. My body couldn’t produce energy to do it consistently, so, walks. In 2020, I kept going on walks and tried to do aerobics. I was not able to keep doing aerobics. My body took hours upon hours to recover, where before it hadn’t, I was alone for almost all of 2020, and never developed COVID symptoms; it was what happened with running all over again. In 2021, it started to take more time to recover from walks. Then I started to need to take a nap immediately after I clocked out from work— and it was a work from home job. In 2022, I began to go from my sitting desk job straight to my bed most days, laying down exhausted right after work, even sleeping through lunch to get some rest.

On New Year's Eve 2023, I spent 30 minutes cleaning, including vacuuming my living room. I had to rest the rest of the day.

In the last five years, I've gone from running to being exhausted for hours by taking my garbage to the curb.

Imagine you were someone who enjoyed recreational exercise. Now imagine doing 1/100th of that and feeling sick for days. Thats me.

There are other symptoms also. More vulnerability to infection and more trouble fighting infection. Shooting, sharp muscle pains in large muscles such as the thigh or forearm, like a pinched nerve, that come and go at random. Pulse rate that skyrockets upon standing, to go back to normal soon after. Stomach inflammation. Inflammation without major swelling. Headaches. Complete inability to tolerate heat, leading to excruciating migraines that only go away with things like cold showers, electrolytes, and hours of rest in the dark with ice. Muscles that literally don't feel like they're getting oxygen. Random rashes. Face flushing. Being much more easily out of breath, yawning over and over, like I can't get air correctly. Weight gain, no matter what I eat or don't eat.

And just being so, so tired.

In summer of 2018, something… stopped working in my body. I felt sick all the time. I had a low, unexplainable fever nearly every day. Shooting nerve pain would wake me up at night. The doctor said I had a cold. But months went by and I didn’t get better. When my blood work and thyroid hormone level was normal, I was referred to a rheumatologist.

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia after he made me wait 45 minutes, came in and asked “are you tired?", poked me hard, said I was tender, and left without running tests. This sort of “uhm the standard blood work came back normal, have you tried exercising more? I know you’re here because your body can’t recover from it but have you tried more of that? Also going to sleep at night?” has been the response over and over and over for five years. It got to the point where I even started to wonder if I was somehow making it up. I see a psych nurse. She thinks there's more than just depression, ADHD, and other things - though we both agree that managing those is vital too. She used to be a cardiologist, so this is reassuring. But when I have tried to see other doctors, it goes differently. Most of the time they see I have ADHD, a long history of depression, and hypermobile joints, and say that explains everything. I can't count how many times I've been told "well, you have depression” when the labs, if they even agreed to run them, came back normal. My standard blood work sometimes comes back with anemia, but I take an iron supplement. No improvement had come of it. I’ve had my thyroid hormone levels tested over and over, but never the antibodies. No imaging or referrals have happened, outside of one to a second rheumatologist. He ran no tests either; he just saw my joints are hypermobile and I was “sure taking a lot of mental health medications” (two at the time), and… that was that.

I had given up on actually even getting help until my SIL recommended a doctor she knew. For the first time in five years, when the standard blood work and TSH tests were normal, she told me we would keep looking. I actually cried with relief at that. It’s amazing to be believed after all this time.

Because of …. All of this, I'm trying to figure out how to either work for myself or find a work from home job that has flexible hours I can choose. I literally wouldn't be able to work a retail gig where I have to stand for eight hours, or even a 9-5 where I have to be there for those exact hours, because my body cannot do that right now. I want to get better but it's a long way off. First I need to know what's even wrong. I'm praying for a diagnosis soon. And treatment. At the least, management.

I have heard of EDS and I have been evaluated. I apparently don’t meet enough criteria, hence the diagnosis of JHS instead. It’s in the same family. I have also heard of POTS. I am pursuing testing. Same with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, MCAS, fibromyalgia… yeah. The thing is nothing outside of the standard blood count and thyroid hormone level test, no other lab tests have been done. There are so many things this could be that have never been checked. Lyme disease, for example, is extremely common where I live (it’s actually just extremely common worldwide) and matches much of my experience, but 1) in the USA the initial Lyme test relies on a strain of bacteria cultured in the 80s 2) there are over 100 strains of Lyme disease in the USA 3) in spite of decades of research there are doctors who don’t believe chronic Lyme exists 4) no doctor has ever checked and I only recently learned anything about it so I never asked. But… there are a lot of things to check that I’ve never had checked is my point. Fingers crossed someone can help me get there.

I do not have a partner who can try to support me through this, and my family already supports me however they can. My severance (which was low as I found out I was being paid much less than the rest of the team later) paid only my January rent.

Since my ability to work is severely limited right now, and I've been denied unemployment and food stamps, and I would need a diagnosis and to be awarded disability benefits in court (which can take YEARS that I don’t have), I have nothing in savings because of years of underpaying jobs the cost of living and being disabled and going through prior periods of unemployment due to this and other factors, I am left in a tough spot without help. Without this help, this gofundme... I have nothing.

So... here I am. A queer nonbinary disabled neurodivergent writer, trying my best, living with some undiagnosed illness that's severely impacted my ability to function, who got fired without real reasons (in America they can just do that to you without even telling you why), asking for your help to pay my February rent and January bills so I don’t repeat the trauma of being homeless. Or for you to reblog this.

Thank you for reading all of this.

It’s been on my chest for a long time. Even if it wasn’t for the gofundme, it feels good to talk about and be honest about my health. It reminds me you’re not supposed to feel like this all the time when I tell other people and they tell me I should get help and deserve answers. It’s reassuring to see competent doctors who finally believe me. I hope we figure it out.

no donation is too small— they add up. If just 100 people gave $35, the goal would be met. Sharing is also giving— it means someone who can help is more likely to see it.

You can also help via my venmo — secretladyspider

CashApp — secretladyspider

or find PayPal in my tip jar in my linktree

Goal is $3500 or over. Funds needed ASAP. If it goes over, that’ll help with February.

Thank you for anything and everything.

[x-populuxe]

my year in fic: 2023

Carrying on a format from the past two years! Here's 2022 & 2021.

I wrote a lot this year, but much of it remains unpublished 🥲. Not sure how I became a "way too many WIPs" person but it is what it is. I will finish and post some of them in 2024!! I swear!!!

I *did* publish three fics—one long, one medium, one short. All three of them are Cherik. Please note that I used "grudgingly" in two of these three summaries lol. You can certainly read some "grudging" undercurrents in Erik's quote in the last one, too. 🥰

1) "Repeat Offenses" ~36K words, exes to ??, written for the wonderful @ikeracity's bid during Fandom Trumps Hate!

Summary: “Prickly bits aside—hell, for the two of them, prickly bits included—it almost felt like a date. Which is stupid on multiple fronts. Grudgingly buying your ex a meal after he grudgingly bails you out of jail is obviously not a date.”

Five times Charles bailed Erik out of jail—and one time he didn’t.

2) "The Plus-One" ~15K words, fake-relationship fic (literally fake!)

Summary: When Erik grudgingly agrees to play Raven's boyfriend at her terrible family's holiday party, he'd thought the biggest challenge would be staying sober enough to make it convincing. But then he meets Raven's extremely hot—and extremely infuriating—stepbrother, and everything starts to get complicated.

3) "Resolutions" ~1K words, a vignette set on New Year's Eve

Summary: “Do you know how far I traveled tonight?” Erik snaps, making a sweeping gesture back towards the windows. “I’ve already greeted the New Year in two different time zones.”

[friendship-switchblades]

also: top 5 (non-mcr) shows you've been to

OHHHHH TOUGH!!!

2009: Patrick Wolf / Les Plasticines / Jaguar Love (a side project of Blood Brothers lol) - the first club-sized gig I ever went to, so it’s eminently special to me! The security guys at the venue called everyone on line “a bunch of Coney Island sideshow freaks”

2010: Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden - my voice was hoarse and my diaphragm was sore for days

2014: Murder by Death at Mercury Lounge - tiny, intimate show, and one of my first ever times going to a show by myself. It was a huge personal milestone and an incredible show. And yet, what I remember most is a couple seeing me without a drink and offering their own. Didn’t know em, they didn’t try to pick me up as a third, just genuinely amazing vibes?

201X: The Bouncing Souls with World/Inferno Friendship Society - the Souls had announced that would be the last year they did the Home for the Holidays shows. People were literally swinging from the rafters of the Stone Pony! I don’t quite remember what year this was…

2017: Thursday holiday show at Starland - god, just. The catharsis. The rawness. The beauty. The connection.

Honorable mentions: Patrick Wolf in Brighton last summer, Gogol Bordello this past New Years Eve (with @greenlikethesea and @sparklyslug), Gerard Way (didn’t feel in the spirit of the ask to list him lol), seeing Blondie and the Damned in 2022 after two years of being locked in my house. I’m kind of a poseur and haven’t been to a lot of diy shows!

WAIT FUCK ALSO JANELLE MONAE AT RADIO CITY!!!! AHHHHH

[elizmanderson]

2022 wrap-up, part 2

click here for part 1 | click here for part 3

aaaaaaand we're back for more of a look at this year. today's topic is reading, which is considerably less sparkling than writing for the reasons below.

top reads in 2022

woof I did so little reading in 2022. I really thought I'd do more once grad school was done, but by then I was doing amm and working on book things for my debut, so it just kinda. didn't happen. I read 14 new books, and 4 of them didn't happen until I was at my parents' house for the holidays.

so maybe it doesn't mean a ton since I read so little, but here are my top reads this year, in no particular order:

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

as you know if you followed me when I actually read this book: obsessed. I wrote so many posts like OH MY GOD THIS BOOK until ofmd distracted me. I read this book twice in one month, in one sitting each time, and posted nonstop bullshit on twitter about it, too. super short, excellent forest vibes, folkloric, gay, what's not to love

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

cozy fantasy, sapphic, not too long, exactly what I need from my fiction, and broke a reading slump that lasted most of my year thank god (no literally I read Silver in the Wood twice in march and then kinda cycled between books without finishing any of them until I read this in probably october)

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Sangu Mandanna

new comfort read, ahoy! again a cozy fantasy, chock full of found family, so goddamn SOFT and again exactly what I need from my fiction, made me cry but mostly in a good way

The Mutantsitters Club by SJ Whitby

finally, a standalone in the Cute Mutants universe!! all the things you know & love about SJ's works, but softer, sweeter, and bite-sized, which is exactly what I need in my old age and also bc I'm a coward who hasn't even finished the original series yet bc I'm so scared of the many ways SJ might break my heart

the Brown Sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert (reread)

obviously fantastic bc I reread at least one of them every year and this year went for all three. heartwarming & heartbreaking and digs into various mental health issues as well as neurodivergence (implicitly with Dani Brown, explicitly with Eve Brown) and chronic illness (Chloe Brown)

upcoming books I'm looking forward to

The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim

YA contemporary, debut author

Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans

YA mystery, debut author

Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell

cottagecore fantasy romance

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

epic fantasy, sequel to The Stardust Thief

[ilovejoyjessie]

the “Hidden Figures” series

+ Photographed by @skyclad.studio (ig) // website

Back in the before times, in 2019, I took a trip to Minneapolis for a concert on New Year’s Eve. With literally 30 hours in the city, I landed on the 31st at 9am, headed to the concert at around 9pm - had a transcendent time - then back to the hotel afterwards. The next day, I had about 5 hours to kill before having to head at the airport to return home. I asked the front desk for a late checkout - they obliged - and at noon I left my room with 3 hours still until I had to hit the road.

.

When I can squeeze it into a trip to a new place, I try to make a visit to an art museum or botanical attraction in the area. I looked to see what was nearby and fatefully, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden - home of the Spoonbridge & Cherry and the notable Hahn/Cock - was a short drive from the hotel. I hailed a ride and hopped in, made lively banter with my driver, then soon enough stepped out of the car and down a set of steps onto the snowy park grounds.

.

As I walked among the pieces, several of them spoke to me: the fracturedness of Judith Shea’s “Without Words”, the pensive and mysterious “Walking Man” by George Segal, the playful “Empire” by Eva Rothschild, the eerie holiness of Theaster Gates’ “Black Vessel for a Saint”... Some of them spoke to different feelings I had inside me at the time; others depicted stories I felt I could relate to and wanted to watch unfold before my eyes. I found myself wanting to interact with so many of them - wanting to fit myself into their sculpted moments, entwine my stories and feelings between their crevices and curves. But with only a few hours left in the city, I couldn’t squeeze in the chance to link with a fellow artist to help me capture the visions I had. So I tucked the concept away in my mind and continued moseying through the winding pathways of the park.

.

Back to Seattle, the sculpture garden’s marks on me remained. As I embarked on other projects, processing other emotions through other pieces, I also started scouting places I could take my Midwest vision and execute it in the Pacific Northwest. Sure, there's plenty sculptures and statues in the city of Seattle - but getting to and interacting with them the way I wanted to (see my recent mini-post on nudity as vulnerability and power) would prove to be a little difficult...

.

A fellow artist mentioned the Olympic Sculpture Park and I thought back to what I remembered seeing there. It’d been a minute since I had last walked through so I visited it again and the pieces that I saw touched me differently from the last time I saw them. Then, I was new to the area - everything shined brightly, glowing with a promise of what was to come for me here: “Which pieces would be the ones that I would grow to understand - which ones would I grow to love seeing in the distance?” But walking through it in 2022, the sculptures spoke to me differently than they did the first time; and in turn, they also spoke to a different me...

.

I was seeing the sculptures with more worn eyes. And as I mentally noted which sculptures I could see myself fitting into like I had in Minneapolis, I started to realize that the pieces were reflecting a deeper feeling back at me: The pieces on the Olympic park grounds that spoke to me before were no longer the fascinating landmarks welcoming me to my new home - the pieces that spoke to me were the monuments that emphasized the outsider feelings I had that were settling in.

.

In a place I thought I’d fit into, that I thought I had....I was sticking out. The boxes I thought I’d fit into I was pouring out of. The doors I thought were wide open were really just windows ajar just wide enough for me to stick an arm’s length into. The language of the land I thought I knew and understood were now sounding strange. Though I’d been here for 4 years, I felt like a stranger who didn’t belong - an antigen the host was beginning to respond to and filter out, an intrusive thought in someone else’s dream.

.

I slowly realized that this concept was bigger for me than just speaking to my original thought of art begetting art as I combined my feelings and stories with the ones depicted on the park grounds. The feelings I had looking over the park pieces stirred the idea to speak to and represent the way I felt about being here now, with this iconic Seattle landscape as the backdrop. “Hidden Figures” then became my next cathartic art exercise - a visual representation of the struggle I felt trying to find my place in the city’s spaces I thought were made for me, the dichotomy of how standing out can be a strength and a hinderance here, and the lonesomeness that can come with being a transplant in the city - baring and presenting all those feelings in the heart of the city itself.

[pintsizemama]

City Sidewalks

Day 30

Daddy Dave ‘verse

Welcome to the 2022 Christmas Writing Challenge!

Summary: You and Dave sneak away to NYC for New Year’s.

Pairings: Dave York x Reader (female), Dave York x You

Fandom: The Equalizer 2

Rating: Mature 18+ ONLY

Word Count: 689

Warnings: infidelity, Daddy/baby girl relationship, age gap…let me know if I missed anything!

A/N: This takes place after Christmas Carols. And this is obviously subjective. I happen to find NYC gorgeous and charming in the winter and at Christmas time…I’m sure there are many who would disagree. 🤣

Day 29 Day 31 Christmas Masterlist Series Masterlist Main Masterlist AO3 Join my taglist

You shivered as an ice cold breeze swept through you. Dave noticed and pulled you into his side to help keep you warm.

“It’s so cold,” you murmured.

“Yeah,” Dave agreed. “It’s not usually this cold…it’s going to be a harsh winter.” You shivered again. Your parents had returned from their trip late on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning was spent opening presents you couldn’t care less about. Your parents still believed if they bought you things, you’d be happy. Parents who gave a shit about you would make you happy.

After presents you had all gotten dressed and headed over to the York’s house for Christmas dinner. It was something you did every year, though this year was a bit more awkward. Well, every year was awkward due to the inappropriate crush you had on Dave for so long, but this year was especially uncomfortable now that you were having an affair with him. Dave had pulled you into the guest bathroom while everyone was distracted to kiss you, then invite you to New York for New Year’s Eve. You had to contain your squeal of excitement, and immediately agreed. So, after Christmas, you told your parents you were going to New York with some friends from school to celebrate the New Year. They barely even reacted and told you to have fun.

“I’m so glad we did this,” you said happily.

“Me too, baby girl,” Dave replied. “After getting you all to myself last weekend, I got addicted. Needed to get my next fix.” You laughed and hugged him closer. He had booked a swanky hotel overlooking Times Square. Neither of you wanted to venture out tomorrow on New Year’s Eve since it would be insanely crowded, so Dave made sure your hotel room had a perfect view of the ball drop. You had decided today was a good day to explore the city and look at all the Christmas decorations still on display in all the store windows.

“The city is so beautiful at Christmas,” you mused. It had snowed a few days before, so it was a literal winter wonderland.

“Ive always loved New York,” Dave said, “but it’s even better this time of the year.” You walked a bit further and then stopped in your tracks outside the Tiffany’s store. The window display had you mesmerized. It was breathtaking. It was a miniature scene of decorating a Christmas tree. The iconic Tiffany chandeliers surrounded it. A gorgeous solitaire engagement ring sat on a small chair in front of the tree. You couldn’t take your eyes off it. Dave pressed himself up against your back and wrapped his arms around your waist. He snuggled his head next to yours to look at the display.

“One day,” he said softly, “when I can do it safely, I’m going to divorce Carol and put that ring on your finger, baby girl.” You sucked in your breath. Dave had never really discussed a future with you before.

“Really?” You whispered.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I told you. love you. You’re mine, baby girl, and one day the whole world will know it.” You turned in his arms.

“I love you too,” you whispered. He kissed you sweetly.

“Let’s go in,” he decided.

“Now?” You asked, pulling back in surprise.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “I’m buying you that ring tonight.”

“Dave!” You gasped.

“I’m serious,” he said in a low voice. “You’re mine. Forever. I want that ring in my possession to prove to you I mean it.” You blinked away tears.

“I never thought you’d want that with me,” you said in a small voice.

“I want everything with you,” he said simply. “Marriage, a house, kids, a future. I just have to keep playing this part until it’s safe for me to make the changes I need to…you know my work is dangerous.” You nodded. “I won’t risk you. I have to make sure it’s safe before we start our future.”

“I understand,” you said immediately. “I can wait, Daddy.” He smiled.

“That’s my good girl,” he murmured. “Now let’s go buy you a ring.”

Day 31

Join my taglist

If you enjoy my blog and would like to support it, you can always buy me a coffee. Not necessary, but always appreciated.

Taglist:

@amneris21 @burrito-stuffs @dreedhudson @emilianamason @fatimaisabelpascal @gioispunk @greeneyedblondie44 @harriedandharassed @hnt-escape @just-here-for-the-moment @kirsteng42 @maxwell--lord @mswarriorbabe80 @peach-child @stevie75

[queenofbaws]

Queenie’s Fluffy New Year!!!

Hey friendos! I hope you’re out having a fun time as 2022 winds to a finish and 2023 comes up to greet us! If you want one convenient place to find all the fluffy New Year’s prompts I’ve filled so far, look no further - just check under the readmore for both tumblr and AO3 links! ;P

I don’t know why on earth I thought I’d be able to get all these NYE prompts done by, uh, NYE, so keep your eyes peeled the rest of this week as I work my way through the rest!

Have a safe, happy, and wonderful new year my friends, you’ve made this one incredibly sweet for me! 🥳

Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time - Abi/Nick - The Quarry If there was one thing Abi wasn't expecting to happen at the New Year's Eve party, it was Emma daring her to kiss Nick at midnight...and if there was a SECOND thing Abi wasn't expecting to happen at the New Year's Eve party, it was Nick WANTING to kiss her at midnight. tumblr AO3

A sweet solution for a New Year’s resolution - Laura/Max - The Quarry It's New Year's Eve, and wouldn't you know it, Max just found his list of resolutions...from last year. With the clock bringing them closer and closer to midnight, closer and closer to a new year, Laura promises she'll help him cross them all off, no ifs, ands, or buts! No matter how much Dora the Explorer that involves. tumblr AO3

Let There Be Light! (Or Something Suitably Glowy) - Ashley/Chris - Until Dawn Here is what Chris Hartley knows: (1) If something CAN go wrong in the Washingtons' lodge, it WILL go wrong (2) A NYE party is literally the WORST possible time for a random blackout to occur (3) He needs to stop going along with Josh's stupid plans (4) If he trips down the lodge's awful stairs in the dark he will most certainly die (5) Ashley Brown is totally holding his hand AND wearing his hoodie This wasn't the party he was expecting, but man, he's not about to complain. tumblr AO3

Cheers! - Fliss/Conrad - Man of Medan New Year's Eve parties are sort of MADE for guys like Conrad - they're an excuse to cut loose, drink a little too much, and generally be on your worst behavior. There's just one problem: It's hard to get your party on when you're missing your long-distance girlfriend as much as he is. Which is a lot. A whole lot, actually. (Alex's horrendous bartending skills aren't helping either.) Luckily for him, Julia might just have a few surprises hidden up her sleeve... tumblr AO3

Ring-ring-ringing in the new year - Sam/Josh - Until Dawn Sam didn’t realize just how much she missed the usual tradition of celebrating New Year’s Eve at the Washingtons’ house until they cancelled to do family stuff. She also (and here’s where it gets complicated) didn’t realize just how much she wanted to celebrate with Josh. Enough to stop pretending she doesn’t have a crush on him, maybe. Enough to call him while he’s at his family party and tell him, too. tumblr AO3

A different way to toast the new year - Chris/Josh/Ashley - Until Dawn It was hard to say when it had started, their strange little tradition, but the appeal of the New Year’s Day blaze was hard to deny: While everyone else was sleeping off the festivities of the night before, their resolutions already halfway abandoned by the time the hangover wore off, the three of them hunkered down in the Washington’s sprawling backyard and, well, did something a little more actionable than making themselves a million stupid promises to go to the gym more. They roasted the old year like a stale old bag of marshmallows. tumblr AO3

nearly midnight, near to you - Abi/Nick - The Quarry When Abi decides she has to leave the Hacketteer's New Year's Eve party early, the rest of the gang decides Nick should be the one to walk her home. It's awfully dark outside at that time of night, after all! And icy! And you never know when you might bump into a, uh...roving band of drunken sorority girls. He'll thank them later for pushing him out the door to walk with her...he just doesn't know it yet! tumblr AO3

An Entirely Predictable Proposal Problem - Ashley/Chris - Until Dawn Ashley isn't the world's biggest fan of surprises. She's...jumpy. That's why Chris has done his best to make it very, very, VERY clear that something big, something special, something involving a wedding proposal, is going to happen at the New Year's Eve party tonight. There's just, uh, one tiny problem with that. He may or may not have...hmm, how to say this...lost the ring. Maybe Ashley IS in for a surprise after all. tumblr AO3

Say cheese! Literally. Please just say it! - Chris/Josh/Ashley - Until Dawn There is, of course, an inherent danger that comes with trying to be the wisecracking jokester in your relationship: If you're not careful, your significant others might just, uh...take you seriously. And then go out of their way to get you "the one thing you said you wanted for the New Year's Eve party." And then expect you to remember whatever dumb thing you said at the time. New year, same old Chris - he can't remember exactly what it is he told them he wanted so badly, but it's pretty safe to assume it was some kind of cheesy joke, right? Right??? tumblr AO3

Let's Have Another Round - The Kirkwall Crew - Dragon Age II First Day at the Hanged Man was a lot like any other day at the Hanged Man – the booze was bad, the food was worse, and everywhere you looked there was someone sleeping off the night before with their head in their arms. If there was any difference at all, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone astute enough to say there was, it was that the tavern’s usual air of bone-deep resignation buoyed up a touch or two until it was more like…exhausted resignation. A far cry from the celebratory cheer spreading across the rest of Thedas like a plague, sure, but refreshing nonetheless. Usually, anyway. It was usually a refreshing change. Today, not so much. Not without Hawke there. tumblr AO3

[sariastrategos]

I sell fireworks for a living and on New Years Eve we were open from 9am - 10pm, as one of the managers I was there the entire time. It was a long day, lots of customers, managing staff, dealing with issues, restock, your retail nightmare but overall the customers were actually really great.

At the end of the night the other manager, our assistant manager and I all tried to count the tills as fast as possible so we could make it home in time but we didn’t get out until just after 11 (tills didn’t add up until we found some bills that had slid behind the tray).

Our AM is also a good friend of ours (I’m lucky to work with two close friends) and offered to drive us home. Cue us ripping down the highway just riding the line of legal to make it to our homes in time and we make it to mine first with literally four minutes to spare.

I hurriedly tell them to get in my house right now, we’re celebrating together and then they can go home. We scramble out of the car and practically run to my house where we encounter my wife just getting to the bottom of the stairs, minutes to go. We run in, wine glasses are grabbed and hastily poured, my mother in law throws hats on us and noise makers are pushed into our hands. We made it, ready, decorated and with sparkling wine in hand (driver had gingerale, don’t worry) and all count down the last fifteen seconds we had left.

We got to zero, my wife grabs and kisses me while music plays and everyone cheers the end of 2022, noise makers going wild. We all clink glasses and have our first sip of 2023.

Despite working a more than thirteen hour day and being bone-deep tired I rang in the new year with my friends and family surrounding me and my wife by my side. I was asleep on the couch by one.

As I sit here remembering it all today I know how incredibly lucky I am to have so many wonderful people in my life to have made such a harried last minute celebration something truly spectacular.

The people on this site too, whether I’ve interacted with you actively or not, please know you’ve all also given me a lot of joy this passed year. It’s been a rough one for me but you’ve all at some point brought me happiness and brightened up my life just by being here and being you, so thank you everyone.

I hope you all have a very happy new year and that 2023 treats you kinder than the last year did.

@mimicryoctopus my wonderful wife who had chicken wings waiting for me, I love you baby!

[dollypartonswig]

every book i’ve read in 2022

Fiction

House of Hollow - Krystal Sutherland - 3 sisters disappeared when they were children and reappeared a month later ~changed~

⭐️⭐️ - I think the idea of it was really good but not executed as well as it could of been

——————

This Time Next Year - Sophie Cousens - Quinn and Minnie are born on New Year's Eve, in the same hospital, one minute apart. Their lives may begin together, but their worlds could not be more different. Thirty years later they find themselves together again.

⭐️⭐️- The main character is literally called Minnie Cooper. Nothing about this book stood out to me

——————

Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead - 2 parallel narratives, one about the disappeared 20th century aviator, Marian Graves, and the other about a 21st century actress who is starring in a film about Marian

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I loved this book so much. I 100% recommend it

——————

Icebreaker - Hannah Grace - Anastasia, a figure skater, and Nate, an ice hockey player end up needing to share an ice rink after an accident

⭐️ - do not even look at this book if you’re under 18. The antagonist in this was just so comically bad and all the other characters are just *too* nice and try hard likeable

——————

Final Girls - Riley Sager - Quincy, Sam and Lisa all survived massacres and became what the media dubbed final girls. Lisa is found dead in her house and Sam ends up on Quincy’s doorstep, what really happened to Quincy 10 years ago and what is Sam hiding?

⭐️⭐️⭐️ - i didn’t like the ending of this

———————

What Might Have Been - Holly Miller - This shows the two different paths Lucy could take, in one she decides to move to London and revive her career and in the other she stays in her home town to become an author

⭐️⭐️ - this just didn’t stand out to me and I thought the London love interest was the absolute worst

———————-

The Reading List - Sara Nisha Adams - Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley after losing his wife. Aleisha is working in the local library for the summer when she discovers a note with a list of books on it impulsively she decides to read every book on the list. When Mukesh arrives at the library trying to find a connection with his bookish granddaughter Aleisha passes the list onto him

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I LOVED this book so much, my favourite read of the year

——————

The Cuckoo’s Calling - Robert Galbraith - Struggling private detective Comoran Strike is asked to look over a models death after her brother reveals he doesn’t think it was a suicide

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Points off because Strike is described as ugly and having pube like hair but three (3) beautiful women all want to sleep with him? Unrealistic

———————

The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood - Olive hatches a scheme with grumpy professor Adam to pretend to date so her friend Anh will date Olives ex Jeremy and so that the school won’t think Adam is leaving and they’ll release his frozen funds

⭐️ - I paid 99p for this, it is literally published reylo fanfic

———————

The Whistling - Rebecca Netley - Elspeth arrives on a remote Scottish island to become a nanny to a young girl who hasn’t spoken in months. The girls silence is not the only mystery on the island. What happened to the girls twin brother and the last nanny? Is the whistling heard at night just the sea or is there something out there?

⭐️⭐️⭐️ - average book average score

———————-

Book Lovers - Emily Henry - Cut throat literary agent Nora agrees to go to Sunshine Falls with her sister Libby to complete a check list of small town tasks but while there she meets a familiar face from the city.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I really liked this book, a good twist on the small town romance genre.

————————

The Pact - Sharon Bolton - six friends are looking forward to their futures, until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, and a woman and two children are killed. 18-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ - kind of slow paced. Megan deserved to be more evil

—————————

The Flatshare - Beth O’Leary - Tiffy needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they're crazy, but it's the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy's at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

⭐️⭐️ - Kind of cliche and predictable. Does not live up to the hype in my opinion

—————————

Six Stories - Matt Wesolowski - Elusive online journalist Scott King investigates the murder of a teenager at an outward bound centre

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - This is like a true crime podcast but a book, very interesting. I felt the twist at the end was a bit silly

—————————

The Jackman and Evans series - Joy Ellis

⭐️⭐️ - I think these books are really bad but I am obsessed with them because of how stupid they are

————————

Non fiction and short stories

The mystery of the exploding teeth - Thomas Morris

⭐️⭐️⭐️

————

The vanishing triangle: the murdered women Ireland forgot - Claire McGowan

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

————

Post mortems - Carla Valentine

⭐️⭐️⭐️

————

A sincere warning about the entity in your home - Jason Arnopp

⭐️

————

Taken over by something evil from the TV set: a history of Britain’s video nasties controversy and other scary journalism - Jason Arnopp

⭐️⭐️

————

Down among the dead men - Michelle Williams

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

————

[ariondevereux]

Hello Nikka! Happy holidays to you. I hope you stay happy and healthy and have a wonderful start to the new year. It's nice to meet you out of anon too, I'm a bit shy and not that active on tumblr except for following a few blogs here and there so I usually prefer to stay on anon, but you seem really lovely so I felt comfortable to send an ask off anon :')). Also I just noticed that you followed me which djdjdj you're one of my fave blogs on here so I did fangirl a little bit. :)). Your Ocs are so well developed omg. I adore them all. P Martens and all the golden ROs are my comfort characters, whom I won't stop gushing over. They're so well written. And the pairing between Maya and P is absolute chefs kiss and her friendship with K is so cute. 🥰

I have way too many Ocs to keep track of and ever since I've downloaded sims 4 it hasn't gotten any better. You had a list of IF recs a while ago but I can't find it. If you could please link it it would be amazing. I've been in the biggest reading slump ever and have been looking for some new ifs to read and since u have great taste I would love to check out some or the ones your recommended. I've just been replaying golden and BDSI by the lovely Mila because idk what it is about her writing, it's just so addicting to read and reread. She has such a way with words. I honestly think she's become my favourite author at this point. 😊

Your voice is so beautiful, if you ever put your songs on Spotify or YouTube please lmk I would love to add them to my playlist. I've been listening to them on repeat. The way you craft lyrics is so genius and accompanied by your voice and the piano it's just wow! As someone who songs like a dying goat, but appreciates good music I can tell you your music is incredible! 👀

I swear idk why I write a thesis every time I send an ask to your inbox, but I hope you don't mind the length too much. 😭

From tokrev anon <33

you are literally an angel on earth 🥺 2022’s been giving me some last minute agonies but the christmas eve celebration was fun <3 i hope the holidays have been wonderful to you and that 2023 gives you a great start. you deserve it 💞💞

and i totally get you. i have so many ocs that idk what to do with right now and my golden and bdsi ocs are some of the few that i’m still able to develop especially maya. she’s so close to my heart and i’m happy you love her 🥰 also i’ve been in a reading slump too but i’ll add my recs tag in the tags so you can look through that <3

thank you omg. thank you thank you so much for still listening to my songs. pls my impostor syndrome is suddenly kicking in because i’m actually struggling to come up with even just one line that i really like so that’s something i wanna get back into and work on. thank you again for the encouragement. if i start using my yt again i can message you the link if you like <3 thank you again 🥺

and don’t worry i enjoy getting asks from you. i always smile when i see them. thank you again for this and like everything else. sending you so much love and happy holidays!! 💖

[havnblog]

I'm Getting a New Car, and I Don't Care About CarPlay

Am I insane?

Time and time again, I’m hearing people say that they wouldn’t buy a new care without Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. (The after-show on the latest episode of Mac Power Users was the last example.) I also hear how stupid some companies are for not including these systems in their cars. And I just don’t get it. Or, to be honest: I think I know some reasons why my opinion seems to differ from most people’s.

I'd love to get feedback on my takes here, though! Because I feel like I must be missing something…

I live in the land of EVs

Norway has been subsidising EVs heavily for many years. And I think this statistic shows the effect well:

Year EV market share 2020: 54.3% 2021: 64.5% 2022: 79.3% 2023: 82.4% 2024: 88.2%

The proportion of new cars that are pure EVs.

To put things into perspective: The EV market share in the US is currently at 8.9%, which is well below the 13% we had all the way back in 2014 – ten years ago.

A welcome effect of this, is that we also have a healthy used-market for EVs – so I literally can’t remember the last time I talked to someone who weren’t buying an EV.1 I’ll come back to why this is important!

My experience

The car I’ve had for the last 3 years, is a 2019 Tesla Model 3, which I bought used. My wife and I are expecting our first kid in May, and we have a large dog – so we need something larger in the next 6 months. That’s why I’ve been looking at new cars again.

I’m pleased with my Model 3! But even though the Model Y probably would be the best purchase for us, I simply don’t want to buy one, due to *gestures in the general direction of Elon Musk*. Luckily, we have tons of options over here. But when I started doing my research, I found myself not caring about whether the cars had CarPlay – even though I’m heavily entrenched in the Apple ecosystem.2

The reasons I haven’t missed CarPlay

A big caveat is that I haven’t owned a car with CarPlay – so maybe I’m missing something obvious! However, I’ve never really missed it either.

Another important factor is that the software in the Tesla is pretty great. I entirely understand that CarPlay can be a hotfix for crappy infotainment, though.

But anyway, I just don’t miss CarPlay when:

I already get my phone calls etc. in the car,

the map and navigation is great, and picks up events from my calendar automatically,

I have radio right there,

and I’m logged into my Tidal account (which changes to my wife’s if she’s driving).

The only things I don’t have access to, is things like podcasts and audiobooks. But when I’m alone, I just listen with my AirPods (on transparency of course!) as I go in and out of the car. And if I’m with someone else – that’s the only time we use the bluetooth connection to the phone. So, yeah – having access to those things would absolutely be a little bonus of having CarPlay. But it’s really minor!

What am I missing? What’s so essential about CarPlay?

Could a factor be that, since we’re not English natives (and these tools are much worse in Norwegian), there’s some voice stuff I’m missing? Genuinely confused!

Overlooked negatives about CarPlay

Again, I get that CarPlay can be better than a crappy built-in infotainment – or if you’re borrowing or renting a car. But there are some things that make me dislike the idea of carmakers resting on CarPlay bailing them out:

Disconnected look

One is that CarPlay is just a little, disconnected, window of your car’s software. No one is even close to supporting CarPlay 2.0 – and if a car has two screens, they usually only have CarPlay on one of them.

For instance, an integrated system, can show your navigation information in a head-up display. And every part of the software (also the non-infotainment ones) can be cohesive. I mean, Apple fans should be able to see the appeal in that!

Battery woes

Last year, my wife and I really put the EV lifestyle to the test, when we drove from Norway to Toulouse in southern France. That was a three-day drive – but navigation and charging was effortless:

We put in where we wanted to end up,

the car calculated when (and thus where) we needed to charge – which it also changed on the fly if things changed,

and, importantly, when charging was near, it started pre-heating the battery.

That last point is important for the charging speed – especially in colder climates. And it’s something I think many people are missing, if you’re not used to EVs.

Now, please correct me if I’m wrong here – and I know all of this could be fixed in the future, but:

The thing is, for the longest time, CarPlay didn’t know about your battery’s state of charge. And hopefully the example above shows why that’s a big nerf to the navigation! They did start to roll out support for this a year or two ago – but I don’t think many cars support it yet. And I don’t think there’s a way for the CarPlay navigation to tell the battery to start pre-heating.

Maybe I’ll eat my words!

As most cars I’m looking at does support CarPlay, and also might have worse built-in systems than Tesla, I’ll might become a convert in a year. But as of now, if you’re buying an EV,3 I absolutely don’t understand why CarPlay is essential when buying a car.

Like, I wouldn’t mind it, of course! But I also totally get car company CEOs chooses not to integrate it:

The ceiling is higher on integrated systems,

and if they don’t have CarPlay to lean on, they have to work harder on making their own software great.

Perhaps you could say that, people who are really serious about making hardware should make their own software?

You know, if they’re buying a car. 🤷🏻‍♂️ ↩︎

Most of them have it, though! ↩︎

I get it more if you’re buying an ICE car – as my biggest gripe with CarPlay is the lack of connection with the battery system. ↩︎

[alexanderking]

Another Top 20 Albums of 2023

“…And have I left anything out?” – albums of 2022:

E L U C I D – I Told Bessie: Elucid isn't a name I'd checked for since his 'Lessondary' days. To find out he's part of what I call the "Off-Kilter Hip-Hop Movement" was pretty welcome. 'Really enjoyed the flows and production but didn't come back to this enough...

EARTHGANG – GHETTO GODS: The Dungeon Family legacy lives on through this duo (not just them obviously). 'Some impressive flows, beats and messages. 'Another one I didn't come back to enough...

Ego Ella May – FIELDNOTES PT II: This chapter in the 'FIELDNOTES' series details the joy and excitement of a new relationship, only for it to end so soon. The slower, at times stripped down Neo-Soul vibe conveys this well...

Joe Armon-Jones & Fatima – Tinted Shades: A welcome collection of Jazz-influenced Soul from this partnership. An album would be welcome...

Joey Bada$$ – 2000: 'A (spiritual?) sequel to '1999'. I found the lyrics more relatable this time around (especially on a track like 'Survivor's Guilt'). The production isn't as strong, which makes it's predecessor more enjoyable for me...

Quelle Chris – DEATHFAME: 'Some great production on here. I didn't fully absorb the theme of the album though...

Lucky Daye – Candydrip: Lucky Daye continues his streak of quality modern R'n'B. The mood of this album does remain quite samey; I need to be in a certain mood to return to this project...

Phife Dawg – Forever: Darting effortlessly between more vulnerable, reflective topics and braggadocios verses, this project is truly bittersweet...

Sudan Archives – Natural Brown Prom Queen: This is slightly more pop-leaning R'n'B, which contains the bluntness of a SZA or a Summer Walker and some great violin playing woven throughout the 18-track run. I genuinely forgot to put this in my honourable mentions last year...

KingKlavé – KingKlavé: This is just awesome hip-hop influenced jazz fusion! This may have made #19 last year...

2023:

20) Terrace Martin & Alex Isley – I Left my Heart in Ladera:

Alex Isley takes a slight departure from the mellow, lo-fi sounds of ‘Marigold’ to deliver a deep R’n’B project with musician/super-producer Terrace Martin. At this point, you can generally depend on Terrace Martin to give us pleasing, west coast tinged melodies with a hint of 80s and 90s throwback. The centre-piece of this album brought a welcoming end of October for me. I’ve come back to this project a fair bit…

19) Alfa Mist – Variables:

Alfa Mist’s playing has only become more assured with each project. The explorative melodies are accompanied with confident solos, well-placed vocals and the occasional rap verse from Mist himself. I haven’t played this very often throughout the year, but each time I do I think: “Why didn’t I?!!!??!”…

18) Butcher Brown – Solar Music:

Elephant in the room (for me): The tracks getting shorter and shorter with each project is irksome. That being said, a lot of the music remains on the chipper, optimistic side, making this a particularly great listen when the sun is out. There are a couple of three to four track runs on here I often play through easily...

17) Gregory Hutchinson – Da Bang:

After hearing the 30 second sampler of 'Blow Your Mind / Take it Back', 'Da Bang' became one of my most anticipated albums of the year. Unfortunately this did fall a little' short of my expectations; a lot of the instrumentals are great on initial listen, but can overstay their welcome without a chord progression or a breakdown (despite some again, criminally short tracks on here!). Pieces like 'My Turn Now', 'Losing You' and the aforementioned escape this criticism. 'Still an enjoyable listen...

16) Mick Jenkins – The Patience:

This was a late entry to the list for me, literally hearing this on New Years Eve. The Chicago based emcee delivers a flurry of hungry, frustrated verses over his usual and more than welcome jazzy instrumentals. Despite my pedantry when it comes to this trend of short albums, 'The Patience' comes across as succinct, closing off nicely with the importance of remembering to take a breath and the value in learning patience...

15) Yasmin Lacey – Voice Notes:

If this isn't UK Neo-Soul at its finest, it's pretty damn near! 'Voice Notes' opens with the very relevant message of just creating and releasing the project, whatever it is! The subject matter from there covers relationships (family, friends and romantic), cultural legacy, uncertainty and the difficulty that can come with trying to let go...

14) Pedro Martins – Rádio Mistério:

This is my first venture into the music of guitarist Pedro Martins, outside of hearing his guest feature on Thundercat's 'It is What it is'. Needless to say I was not disappointed. A lot of the music harks back to the Jazz Rock Fusion era of the 70s, which works perfectly for me! Standouts for me include 'Liberdade', 'Estrela Do Rock n' Roll Do Planalto Central', 'Polos' and 'Kaya Noite'...

13) Kaidi Tatham – The Only Way:

I'll refrain from saying the thing I've said every time Kaidi Tatham has released an album (you'll know what I mean if you go back through these lists...). What I will say is that there are some awesome track progressions on here, something that has become synonymous with the 2000black sound. I found 'Alien @$^%' particularly inspired, reaching into the frenetic sound that the broken beat genre has provided over the years. Kaidi's output continues to be insane (this isn't the thing I'm referring to...)...

12) Cherise – Calling:

'Another anticipated album of 2023 for me! There are great soulful R'n'B pieces throughout this (solo) debut. While romantic love is a prominent topic on the album, the main theme for me is cultural impact and legacy, heard through the joyful thump of '2 Steppin'', the "barbecue during carnival" vibes on the title track and the various snippets of Cherise's grandmother telling her story...

11) Daniel Caesar – NEVER ENOUGH:

'NEVER ENOUGH' departs from the more syrupy sentiments of a 'Best Part' or 'Blessed' and comes across way more brash over this stripped down, folksy, guitar-laden collection of ballads and reflections. Much like Caesar's previous work, the melodies are on the slower side, a few of them quite subdued. However, the vocal arrangements make these pretty easy for me to sing along to. 'NEVER ENOUGH' has only gotten better and better with each listen...

P.S.: *mumble mumble* 2019 *mumble* apology *mumble mumble*...

10) Lil' Yachty – Let's Start Here.:

The first thing I noticed about the track listing was, the songs were actually over 2 bloody minutes!!!! The second thing I noticed when I clicked the sampler to the opening track 'the BLACK seminole.' was the psychedelic rock instrumental accompanying Yachty's vocals. The push over the edge was when Chris messaged me saying that this album was awesome. He wasn't wrong. Alternating between the more guitar and drum heavy moments of 'the BLACK seminole.' or 'IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON!!!!' and the poppy glide of tracks like 'running out of time' or 'drive ME crazy!', 'Let's Start Here.' marks a welcome turn for the once controversial emcee, although the question of why stepping away from the emceeing pillar of hip-hop is regarded as growth, is a valid discussion to have...

9) Kali Uchis – Red Moon In Venus:

If anyone asked me why it took me so long to get into Kali Uchis, it would be valid. With delicate (sometimes grandiose) melodies and gentle vocal stylings, 'Red Moon In Venus' offers a more tender side of R'n'B that has taken a break in recent times. This being the case, the subject matter hovers around romantic love by and large (although the title involving the word 'Venus' should be a dead giveaway)...

8) JPEGMafia & Danny Brown – SCARING THE HOES... Startling the Maidens:

JPEGMafia's off-kilter production style compliments Danny Brown's often frantic style of emceeing! Given the organised confusion (no pun intended...I think) of various sound bytes, harsh snares and the odd blast of synth, this album title is pretty apt...

7) Sampha – Lahai:

After a slew of high profile features, Sampha returns with his deeply personal sophomore body of work. Musically, 'Lahai' contains elements of Broken Beat and the more modal electronic sound you might associate with a Floating Points or a Kirk Degiorgio. My favourites include 'Suspended', 'Jonathan L. Seagull' and 'Can't Go Back'...

6) Black Milk – Everybody Good?:

Given the amount of projects that speak on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on our mental health, I can't help but wonder if life has imitated art to an extent; I sometimes find myself referring to these kind of albums as 'Post-blip albums'. Black Milk reflects on how the pandemic has affected him and in doing so, gives us what I believe to be his magnum opus. The verses are succinct. The production is top notch, channeling the signature Detroit sound with higher chords conveying hope, a light in the tunnel and sometimes, surrealism. We also get a hell of a feature verse from Phonte at the back end of this project...

5) Gareth Donkin – Welcome Home:

After a slew of singles over the years, musical prodigy Gareth Donkin releases his debut project. 'Welcome Home' plays as a bit of the throwback record, the bouncy drum patterns and synths taking us to the 80s. I did find this a bit of a shame as earlier singles like 'Inside' or 'Catharsis' were less on the nose with it. Tracks like 'Til' the End of Time (Night Sky)', 'By Your Side' and 'Tell Me Something' is why this is so high on the list (although I think September bias played a part too...).

Side note: I'm glad Gareth Donkin dropped the 'Master Soul Boy' moniker...

4) Ta-ku – Songs to Come Home to:

Ta-ku wasn't a name I'd heard until I was looking for more music by ROMderful. That's when I came across the impressive opening single 'SMILE'. 'Songs to Come Home to' closes out a trilogy of 'Songs to *insert thing here* to' on a peaceful yet hopeful note. The subject matter remains mostly in the realm of romantic love, reflecting Ta-ku's own personal life. A lot of the music stays in the lo-fi vein, but the highs are just that. I found myself enjoying this the more I listened to it also...

3) Shafiq Husayn & The Dove Society – So Gold:

One of the reluctant musical heroes of the West Coast returns! 'So Gold' continues in the vein of 'The Loop', utilising patchy drum loops to compliment the pleasing melodies and occasional beat change. 'So Gold' also takes the time to critique the more stereotypical side of black culture with advertisement interludes that wouldn't sound out of place on a show like 'South Side'. There are also a couple of call backs to Miquel Atwood-Fergusons string arrangement from 'Shafiq En A' Free-Ka's 'Dust and Kisses', a definitive favourite of my mine from the Sa-Ra founder...

2) Incognito – Into You:

Despite Bluey's furious output with his other musical acts, the last few years have formed an Incognito shaped hole that I'd didn't realise was there until my excitement for 'Into You'. This album exceeded my expectations. 'Still fairly predictable, but recruiting Goldie collaborator Natalie Duncan and Soul/R'n'B act Cherri V keeps the sound fresh, while having vocal stalwart Tony Momrelle keeps it familiar. 'Into You' fits comfortably in the top half of an Incognito 'worst to best' list for me (I've been watching a lot of those recently)...

1)

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – Les Jardins Mystiques Vol. 1:

The Brainfeeder label has Miguel Atwood-Ferguson pick up where Kamasi Washington left off, giving us a triple album of 52 tracks and three and a half hours of music. We are gifted with a wide range of compositions featuring an all encompassing roster of musicians, evoking many emotions ranging from reflective, subdued, hopeful, enchanted, intense, relaxed, going as far as nostalgic; seriously. The many synth-programmed solos have me thinking of Nobuo Uematsu's compositions for the 'Final Fantasy' series (specifically 'FFIX'). There's a lot to come back to on here as many of the pieces are revisited through the three-disc run. My favourites are...too many to count. I have played 'Kairos (Amor Fati)' a lot though...

Honourable Mentions:

Zeñel – 5ive: 'An unofficial favourite of the year! 'Boss Drum' and the 'Aliens' suite are fantastic...

Golden Mean – Oumuamua: 'More great contemporary UK Jazz from the Jazz Re:freshed family...

Ashley Henry – My Voice: I've got so much time for an Ashley Henry release. The vocal tracks on here are beautiful...

Terrace Martin – Fine Tune: This album unofficially continues the 'Sounds of Crenshaw' series for me. 'Some great compositions and instrumentals from the middle to end...

ROMderful – ICE CREAM CLONES 2: 'An enjoyable collection of tracks from the ever more self-assured producer/musician...

Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips: I don't know if I'm quite there yet with the appeal of Billy Woods but I enjoyed this a lot...

Summer Walker – CLEAR 2: SOFT LIFE EP: This cemented my spring wonderfully...

Danny Brown – Quaranta: Danny Brown takes the time to share where he's been to get to this current stage of life...with much more rapping in his calmer persona...

Amber Navran – Knock on the Orange Door: Navran's talent shines behind the boards as well as on the horns, woodwinds and vocals...bloody hell!

Geneivah – Songs and Soliloquies: If self-care and self-affirmation were a soundtrack.

[tsunflowers]

Hey Flowers! Sorry about this

We've always had an annual election for the year's Cinderella Girl. There were some other side electuons as well, including ones with a much smaller pool specifically for choosing which girls get voiced next.

Last year they decided to do something entirely new, the Stage For Cinderella/SFC Election

I am not the best at explaining convoluted things. But it was basically a bracket. All 190 girls were rabdomly divided into four groups. Every player could vote for five girls from each group (Or however many you like, if you vote differently every time you get tickets). The top five from each group would advance to the finals, and each group would get their own song. If any unvoiced girls made it into one of the groups, they would find a voice actor for them. Everyone who won first place of their respective group would be awarded a new SSR.

All idols ranking between 6th and 15th place in the previous groups would then be given a second chance, in one large group, to advance to the finals– only one would make it.

The voiced girls who were included in the first few rounds of winners (Hijiri, Layla, Izumi) were largely popular, and ranked highly thanks to the amount of push from their producers. Everyone has very dedicated producers but they had a lot.

Most of the other winners were easily predictable, cute protagonist types, Riamu, girls from the anime, and past winners of the previous Cinderella Girls elections.

Eve is absurd. Silly airhead who believes she is Santa and is most likely some kind of Santa. Has a reindeer. Reindeer is one of the game's mascots and definitely their mascot for Christmas. It took her several years to get her first perm SSR when 98% of unvoiced girls only get two perms, and she had three lims before getting hers.

EveP have been waiting for her to get voiced for so long and there was so much push from the entire community. Since you could vote for several people, and thousands of times if you vought ticket packs/played a lot, a lot of players tossed her some votes in solidarity. A lot.

Eve did not just make it as the single person out of the 6th–15th second chance round, she won the entire thing

Silent silly Santa girl won against 189 other girls, 98 of them being voiced, several of them being the actual protagonists of the anime/manga adaptions, previous winners, Riamu the girl from Twitter

This was amazing and insane and I personally believe that bamco was like oh FUCK. What did we do guys.

Let's a few steps back to the earlier groups and look at the timline

SFC begins July 5th, 2022. The contest ran into the next year, effectively making this both 2022 anx 2023's election

Hijiri placed in August 2022, she was voiced as of Janauary 2023

Layla placed in November 2022, she was voiced as of June 2023

Izumi placed in April 2023, she JUST got got her voice last month in November

Eve placed first June 2023*

The schedule was really odd, but since Eve's event is for Christmas, we've gotten two reveals in two months. And, this effectively makes her the 2022 AND 2023 Cinderella Girl. Santa fucking magic mayhem

They accidentally gave themselves an insane deadline to compose these new songs, cards, hire four new voice actors who are already working now on recording card lines from ones released before they arrived, all of this because the girl who won the game is literally Santa and of course they have to give her The Christmas Geoup Song

There are like two other girls maybe who could have done this to them and made them rush for a very specific deadline to get the final group's song out but it wouldn't have even been that serious with them. This was her destiny she sat in the bamco basement just waiting to do this lmao

* Even though we have the song announcement, the event has not started yet, and we do not know who the voice actors are until it's announced and credited through the song/card and the artist is allowed to post about it. So Eve is not officially voiced for a couple more nights, still a mystery girl!

don't apologize this is valuable information. I didn't know the election event had been going on for so long or that eve placed first. this is truly what you call a christmas miracle

[hiveswap]

These tags reminded that on news years eve 2022 a friend and I took the last bus in to the city where i attend school because they had events unlike our hometown. The plan was to stay up and have fun around the city all night, however the partying fizzled out entirely by about 3am. Before that we weren't cold because we had "mulled" wine and we were moving around big crowds of people a lot.

But then everyone else went home and then it was so cold that i couldn't feel my feet in my boots and i really had to pee. So we sat down at the bus station and waited until 5am on a bench out in the open, watching cat videos and talking about @/nostalgebraist-autoresponder because i was obsessed with that bot at the time. There was a friend group waiting by the toilets looking even more miserable than we did. One of the girls was wearing a crop top, i think about her often. I hope they all got home safely. Eventually some people working there opened the warmer waiting room after saying they won't because people would throw up and fall asleep in there because we were directly after new years eve. Then our bus came and we nearly fell asleep on it.

Anyway to return to topic if you whine about seven minutes you would have quite literally withered away from the december-january night tempatures

Londoners are the most whiny basterds