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blackstarising · 4 years ago

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precipice, a buckysarah fic | also on ao3

bucky and sarah spend saturday mornings together on the wilson's back porch. neither remembers when this became a habit.

She’s awake for a few moments before she hears it, the creaking, through the open window. It’s not loud, of course, it’s never loud, Daddy had dutifully oiled the swing’s joints to make sure that wouldn’t happen, but age had touched it just enough that, nowadays, you’d know if someone was sitting there.

Sarah sits up, and rubs the sleep from her eyes. The thick, summer air fills her lungs, the same that coats her forehead in a sheen of sweat. Lingering tension from melts from her shoulders. Unconsciously, she brushes the dog tags nestled inside of her shirt.

He’s okay. Thank God.

A familiar electric buzz runs up the back of her spine as she pads past the boys’ rooms and tiptoes down the stairs. Months ago, that buzz would have prompted her toss her bonnet onto her bed, to swiftly change into jeans and a somewhat presentable T-shirt, even though Saturday mornings before 8 were, by law, designated as Sarah Time.

And then, three weeks ago, the last time she’d seen him in person, she’d raced down the stairs to get AJ’s stuffed toy (some Minecraft thing? Sarah could never keep track) that he’d accidentally left outside before he woke up, cheesy printed pajamas and all. He hadn’t flinched.

He could fit into Sarah Time, she’d decided, right then and there. Lizzo’s “Cuz I Love You” was left on repeat on her phone for her the rest of the day.

So she slips downstairs, ‘Bad Mama Jama’ shirt and all. Coffee steeps. Two mugs are produced, lactose-free milk dumped into each, and a sizable glop of honey into hers.

After all this time, his breath still catches a little when he sees her come out the back door. The humidity that sticks to Bucky’s skin like a stifling coat makes her skin shimmer in the faint sunlight. She yawns, her nose wrinkling just enough that it’s painfully cute, and then she relaxes, still sleepy but serene as she presses the hot mug into his right hand.

“Hey.” He greets her.

“Hey.” Her smile grows. “You’re back.”

“I am. With cinnamon rolls.” Sure enough, a paper bag rests next to the swing. He pats his left side, and she obliges. Their thighs touch plainly this time.

She takes a slow sip of her coffee. “Hope you haven’t been sitting here all night. Where’s Sam?”

“About an hour, and still in DC. Captain America business, and all that.”

“And what? No Winter Soldier business?”

Bucky shrugs. “I like the quiet.” Her quiet. Or maybe just her and the boys, though the boys weren’t that quiet. And ‘like’ was too weak a word at this point, probably.

She takes another sip of coffee, strangely proud. He does too, if only to silence the annoyingly insistent voice in the back of his head nagging him to just put his arm around her shoulder already.

“Still not sure about this fancy milk, though.”

“You mean milk that me and the kids can actually digest?” Sarah knows damn well he can’t taste the difference. “Well, I have bad news for you about oat milk. And soy milk." She grins wickedly. "And don't forget rice milk-”

“None of which belong in coffee.” After nearly a century of identities and missions she’s not sure if she ever wants to hear about, his Brooklyn accent is faint, but he still stretches out the caw in ‘coffee’. How mortifying it is, the way she perks up when that grit bleeds out.

He brushes the bright blue hem of her bonnet. “Is this new?”

She shakes her head and pulls it off. Dark braids tumble down her shoulders. These ones are new, he notices - they’re tighter at the root, and shimmer with oil that smells of roses. “Found out AJ stuffed it in the couch cushions a month ago. I just happened to stick my hand down there yesterday. I do not know what it is about him and that damn couch.” She snickers. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a signed check for a million dollars down there one day.”

He chuckles, and gives the ground a little kick the start the swing going again. “Did he get his new glasses yet? Last time I was here, he was saying that he didn’t want to see the optometrist again.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t like the...” Sarah makes a motion with a finger, like she’s pressing a button. “There’s a little gun they use. They blow a puff of air onto your eyeball.”

Bucky recoils a little. “They what?”

“It’s supposed to measure it for the prescription. They tried to do it on me before they did his. I thought it was supposed to be just like a little breeze, but it bounces off your eye.” She pauses and scratches her head. “I may have hollered-”

“Ha! I bet he took that well.”

“I had to get him on my lap to calm down.” She sighs and pouts, just a little. “At least he still wants to be held. Cass makes me drop him off a block away from school now.”

Cass is indeed growing. Overnight, he’s shot up like a reed so that he’s just as high as Bucky’s shoulders. His normally smooth skin is interrupted by a few bumps, and his voice bounces around in pitch like an untuned clarinet. Something in his chest twinges when he considers it, how time marches forward. How, very soon, the collective wide-eyed innocence of the boys will harden into adulthood.

Her gaze falls to his left hand. The fingers curl and flex. She still remembers the first time she’d looked at his arm, really looked at it, the dark plates molding and shifting. It’d been the second time they’d shared this same porch, waiting for Sam to bring back the boys from fishing.

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, Sarah, he’d said suddenly, catching her gaze. His voice had been heavy, but clear. Dark blue eyes filled with regret. I’ve hurt people. Killed people. I didn’t have a choice, but, with you and- here, she’d held her breath as his Adam’s apple bobbed, how quickly he’d blinked - and the boys, I...I don’t want- I need you to know all of me. Who I’ve been. Who I am. And then you can decide. But you can’t do that if I’m not honest.

She doesn’t remember what she’d said after. She does remember watching him get into the truck so Sam could take him to the airport. How he’d paused when he’d opened the door, and turned towards her, eyes wide. Vulnerable. How she’d smiled at him, and waved, maybe a bit too cheesily, like it’d been the easiest thing in the world, because despite it all, oddly, she hadn’t been afraid. How the widest grin had broken out on his face and something deep inside her chest that had been closed had burst open for the first time since she’d lost Andrew. And she remembers watching the truck pull out of the drive as her heart filled to such a capacity that her chest hurt, and the second they’d disappeared over the hill she’d promptly burst into tears, well, really, half laughing and half sobbing, because how the hell was she supposed to know she could find that feeling again?

It’s only when she sees his jaw clench that she finally notices the cut, long and fading pink against his chiseled cheekbones. Maybe she’s getting too used to them - he’s always injured in some way when he gets back.

He can see that familiar softening in her eyes as she catches sight of the gash. Well, it had been a gash just an hour before, the result of catching a thrown knife on his cheek before he’d caught the hilt. But what’s about to happen next will play like clockwork.

First, she’s going to try to get a closer look. Her index and pointer finger come up just under his chin, tilting his head to the side. His skin tingles, the electricity of her concern rushing through him.

Then, she’ll hum. She’s never chastised him, though he wouldn’t know what there’d be to say if she tried. But that hum says more than enough.

“Hmm.”

In the moment, she doesn’t feel herself cupping his face with both hands, it just sort of happens. Her throat dries instantly as the stubble brushes in her palms.

He can’t breathe, but every single muscle in his body relaxes. He sinks into her touch.

“Y- you should see the other guy,” he manages to get out. There’s a faint memory that breaks to the surface, the docks in New York, 1940-something, 1943? A date whose name has been lost to time, the last date he’d ever go on. Soft hands cupping his face, just like this, and warm, pleading ruby-red lips crashing dully into his, a whisper to not forget her.

Sarah’s tongue darts between her lips. Both thumbs rub small circles into his cheeks. It wasn’t a question of if he wanted to kiss her, no. When has a day gone by that he hasn’t thought of kissing her? How is it that it’s never happened, but he can see it, clear as crystal, and hold it in his mind’s eye. How can he already feel her warm and flush and present and breathless and real against him?

Very slowly, she comes back to herself, and her face immediately flushes with a sharper heat. Her hands awkwardly drop from his face. She tries to think of something, anything, to interrupt the silence (to explain herself?), but every word that comes to mind sticks helplessly in her throat and she just can’t stand it because she’s the same, she’s exactly the same as she’d been at 17, leg jiggling and sweating and staring a hole right through the back of Andrew’s head in AP Calculus.

(She’d never wanted to punch Sam so bad back then when he’d had the audacity to say well, just tell him, already. The audacity of him, to think things were so simple.)

She leans back, scooting just a hair away this time. The crest of the sun beams through the trees, painfully bright. Her pulse is louder now. She’s looking at the small grove so intently she doesn’t even register the weight gently settle on her left shoulder at first. It only clicks when she feels the cool metal of his thumb brush up and down her bicep. Their eyes lock, brown against against blue.

He’s still smiling, and she, she realizes, is too.

So she melts into him. She melts into him, her ear landing over his chest, her arm wrapping around the small of his back. She sighs into the muted whoosh whoosh whoosh of his heartbeat, the cotton of his shirt, and the faint smell of spearmint on his breath. Another kick of her foot and they’re swinging yet again, back and forth, back and forth. The sun pulls itself up ever higher and higher.

The light starts to burn his cheek. “The boys’ll be up soon,” he murmurs into her hair.

She snuggles deeper into him. “Mmm.”

They’re on the precipice of something, this, they both know. They're inching closer and closer, and one day they’ll step off, and she’ll kiss him full on the mouth and whenever he’ll come back to the house he’ll be coming back home and whenever they go anywhere they’ll stick each others hand in their back pockets in that particular way that teenagers do that let everyone know that they’re each others and there’s nothing they can do about it.

One day. But for now, this is more than enough.

They like the quiet.

#tfatws #tfatws spoilers #bucky barnes #sarah wilson #buckysarah #bucky x sarah #sarahbucky #sarah x bucky #otp: buckysarah

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bones-sprouts · 4 years ago

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SELF INDULGENT APOLLO JUSTICE ACE ATTORNEY AU BECAUSE IT BRINGS ME JOY ( SPOILER WARNING ⚠️‼️)

@burnoutandbookworms-ohmy you wanted to be tagged :>

okay so the cast would be as follows

apollo - tommy

phoenix - wilbur

trucy - tubbo

klavier - ranboo (this one's ambitious but hear me out-)

kristoph - dream

ema - techno

lamiroir - kristin

zak - phil (F in chat for mr minecraft 😔)

and then all of the filler characters would be various other smp members (suggestions?)

so then the plot would go as follows (we're bullet pointing this bitch you better run)

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

• so tommy arrives in the courtroom with dream, and he's nervous as hell, because not only is it his first trial

• his client is wilbur fucking soot

• world renouned defense attorney, now disbarred for forging evidence

• but tommy is 110% sure wilbur is innocent

• because wilbur is his HERO

• and then dream introduces them and damn he looks like shit

• i'm talking full pogtopia era get-up, plus a ratty beanie that has wilby painted on it and a crown pin

• so wil spouts the standard cryptic bullshit you'd expect from phoenix

• and tommy does an early smpe earth 'i am so cool and not at all starstruck' type act

• and they head in

• you meet the judge, who i didn't replace bc it's the judge

• tommy does his chords of steel, but with significantly more swearing then apollo would use

• and dream seems to be just a bit off

• and he goes on this big tirade about blue cards

• the case goes smoothly, until

• tommy feels something akin to a burning from the compass he's kept as a necklace for as long as he can remember

• and he just knows that the witness is lying

• it's like he can see the tiniest of tells that tip him off

• dream doesn't quite understand it, but wilbur looks like he knows exactly what's going on

• before he calls this out, though, a recess is called

• wilbur and dream have a chat, so tommy's left to his own devices

• and this boy about his age in a green magician's outfit runs up to him

• and he looks like an older version of the picture of wilbur's kid that he showed off in court beforehand

• and he hands tommy a (bloody??) playing card and poofs away

• then the trial resumes as normal, with tommy grilling the witness and eventually accusing her

• but it just doesn't seem right

• he knows she's not lying about being innocent, her tells would have tipped him off if she was

• but dream pushes and pushes him to formally accuse her

• until wilbur fucking soot interjects with an OBJECTION!

• while tommy geeks the hell out, wilbur asserts that there must have been someone else in the room

• and accuses dream.

• tommy's confused, and the both of them argue back and forth for a bit, until wilbur starts explaining his theory with evidence from tommy along the way

• but it's seeming like they don't have any non circumstancial evidence

• until wilbur has tommy pull out the playing card

• (i haven't been explaining the case but it makes sense i promise)

• they win the case, with dream never faltering or showing emotion, even after being taken away

• tommy's shaken up, but happy, all things considered

• but before he can ponder on what's just happened, wilbur takes him aside to talk

• and admits the card was forged

• tommy's shocked, and he's sad, and he's angry, because how could wilbur fucking soot forge evidence??

• and he punches him in the face

• wil smiles and gives him an offer to work at his office, since tommy's boss is kind of in jail

• tommy leaves

• but he comes back a few months later, only out of desperation

• he's greeted by the boy from the trial (wil's kid?)

• who demands to know his name and his 'talent'

• tommy says he's a lawyer and introduces himself

• the kid says his name is tubbo and that the building hasn't been a law office in a long time

• tommy asks to see wilbur

• so they go to see him

• in the fucking hospital

• he managed to get hit by a car, which sent him flying 40ft back into a telephone pole

• and he sprained his ankle

• he's very lucky apparently

• so from there, cases 2 and 3 play out (i'm gonna skim though these bc if i write them out ill end up rewriting plot points and i don't have the energy)

• along the way, they meet a few interesting people

• ranboo, a prosecutor who's dream's younger brother and the guitarist for a popular band, that tubbo immediately gets along with and tommy despises

• dispite seeming cocky, he's impressively awkward outside of court

• technoblade, a detective who's fairly standoffish towards tommy and tubbo alike, but has a soft spot for wilbur (do they have a history)

• kristin, a singer with a past she can't remember (unbeknownst to tommy, his compass tends to point towards her and tubbo. odd)

also before we move on to the final case, a quick summary of the dynamics and other small shit bc seritonin

• though wil adopted tubbo, they have much more of a sibling dynamic, and cause general mayhem

• wilbur does actually warm up to tommy fairly quickly (beanix and apollo dynamic, my abbhorrent) and while tommy still doesn't 100% trust wil, they do end up getting pretty close as time goes on

• tubbo and ranboo IMMEDIATELY hit it off, much to the dismay of tommy, and the two of them act like the dummy named micheal that tubbo uses for magic tricks is their son

• tommy acts like he hates ranboo's guts, but that won't stop him from trying to sweet talk his way into getting evidence from him (it always works, ranboo has no spine.) he also, like in canon, vents to ranboo whenever he needs to, and ranboo ends up knowing more ab him then even wil and tubbo

• jack is eldoon. they all go to his noodle shop constantly and tommy always complains about them being too salty. jack hates him with a passion but adores tubbo and wil

• instead of snakooos, techno deadass just has entire bags full of raw potatoes that he eats like chips, this is terrifying to everyone except wilbur, who acts like it's completely normal

• instead of pretending to be taken hostage in case 2, tubbo deadass pretends to have a nuke and threatens to set it off unless a recess is called. after things calm down they go back in and he just,, doesn't get arrested. the law is fucked

• after case 1, dream wears a smiley mask in order to not show his face, paranoid that tommy or someone else like him will know his secrets though his tells

okay now final case here we go

• wilbur tells tommy and tubbo that he's been working on a special trial with the jury system, and that he needs them to defend

• they agree, and go to meet the client

• things generally go like any other investigation, but there's just something about it that feels game changing

• and as they power though the first part of the trial, they start to uncover that there might be someone pulling the strings from behind the scenes

• tommy clocks her tell (chewing her nails) and they start to make progress

• but before they can uncover answers from her, she passes out

• a recess is called, and so are paramedics

• it turns out she's ingested the same kind of poison as the victim, coming from her nail polish

• tommy and tubbo are shaken up, and they go to wil for help

• he decides they need to know the full truth, but he knows that some of the evidence is lost at this point

(and holy shit stay with me here i promise that as out of left field this is the original game made significantly less sense)

• he phones a friend that he knows is the only one that can help them

• karl

• he explains the situation, and karl agrees to help them

• and they fucking time travel

(again, the game makes even less sense i promise)

• they chat with the victim and defendant from seven years beforehand, right after wil was disbarred

• they watch the trial wil got disbarred over, where he defended tubbo's bio father, phil

• and they see a much smaller tubbo hand wil the forged evidence, saying that a kind man told him to give it to the man with the bright blue hamilton suit

• and they watch wil present it, only to be shot down by a much younger ranboo, who proves it's fake

• and they find out tubbo and tommy are bio siblings, which they're shocked about but decide to talk about later (fuck canon tommy and tubbo get to know)

• and they go visit dream in prison

• at this point wil is CONVINCED dream is behind everything, they just need the right evidence

• so they head to the cell, only for it to be empty

• naturally, they start snooping

• wil finds a letter, and opens it to reveal exactly what they need to win the case

• but before they can leave, dream, equipped with a smiley mask, stops them

• they exchange a few words before they leave, letterless

• luckily, wil has a trick up his sleeve, and reveals that his crown pin has a built in camera

• they examine the contents of the letter, and wil hastily makes a replica, and they head off to the trial

• since they're experimenting with the jurist system for the first time, they can't afford to wait for the defendant to heal, so they proceed

• they call dream to the stand

• they grill him for quite a while, with the help of ranboo who refuses to protect his brother, getting him to show his true colors, and then pull out the letter

• and he says that it's a fake, which the judge unfortunately agrees with

• so they don't have their evidence

• and even though they've shown pretty much everything and dream had practically admitted to bring a murderous bastard and the one who gave tubbo the fake to give to wil

• they don't have enough to convince a judge

• tommy and tubbo are crushed

• but wil is happy

• because they don't have to convince a judge

• they have to convince a jury

• and they win

• dream shatters along with his mask, going completely off the deep end

• their client is safe, and so is wil

• kristin also reveals to wil that she's tommy and tubbo's bio mom, saying that she'll tell them when she's really

• so things come to a close

• for now, anyway

so yeah, thats AJ but dsmp, to anyone who didn't play the game, i'm so sorry this makes no sense, and to anyone who did, you're cool as hell can we be moots 👉👈

#i could do dd but i won't bc i hate dd #dream smp #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #tubbo #tubbolive #wilbursoot #clingy duo #dreamwastaken #ph1lza #mcyt #ranboo #technoblade #sleepy bois inc #loyal duo #allium duo #bee duo #bench trio

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obikenobis · 4 years ago

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INTERVIEW GAME

i was tagged by @mandah-lorian !!! thank you so much kiana!!! 💖💖💖

nickname: i umm....don’t really have one i guess lmaoo, my brother and i call each other noob so much that it’s basically a nickname so i’ll just count that

pronouns: she/her

star sign: im a leo (even tho 90% of the time i dont feel like it lol)

height: 5′2 :(

time currently: 5:13 pm

birthday: august 14th!!

favorite groups/bands: i listen to a lot of Mumford & Sons, Snow Patrol, All Time Low, Coldplay, I guess The Beatles, The Decemberists, The Killers, Aly & AJ (their music fucking slaps) and if i add any more it’ll be wayyy too much lol

favorite solo artist: TAYLOR SWIFT i’ve been a fan since i was 7 years old, Lorde, Phoebe Bridgers, beabadoobee, Regina Spektor, Sleeping at Last (who is technically a solo artist i think,) Noah Reid, Julien Baker, the list goes on

song stuck in my head: THAT DUMB CHUG JUG FORTNITE SONG ITS BEEN STUCK IN MY HEAD FOR WEEKS

last movie you watched: lmao robots (2005) because it’s an anti-capitalist cinematic masterpiece and also ewan mcgregor’s in it (the whole movie is basically just ewan fake screaming with an american accent sjdfkhs)

last show you binged: i’m binging how i met your mother right now because it’s been a looong time since i’ve watched it so i thought why not

when you created your blog: damn i literally made this sideblog in february so this blog is still pretty fresh, but i’ve been on tumblr since 2013

last thing i googled: “how to get anvil minecraft” ..............

other blogs: my main is @laleelawadee !! and i’ve got a marvel sideblog that i should probably use more lmao @eliizabetholsens

why i chose my url: when i first made this blog i was just sort of absentmindedly typing in a bunch of semi-canon names, not expecting any of them to stick, and of course my fav man is obi-wan so i was trying some obi names and this one was somehow available lmaoo

do you get asks: i mean i usually expect zero asks so the fact that i’ve actually gotten some is a surprise to me lol

how many people you are following: 209

how many followers: 625 seriously yall im blown away thank you!!

average hours of sleep: it’s either 4 hours or 11 hours there is no in between

lucky number: 14!! im basic and it’s just my birthdate lol

instruments: i play the ukulele!! i’ve got two—an ebony wood one and a pretty teal one <3

currently wearing: a blue striped shirt, some jeans, my taylor swift cardigan and my one ring necklace lmao

dream job: a graphic novelist or a storyboard artist at disney/cartoon network :)

dream trip: i’ve technically been in tokyo.....’s airport, but i wanna actually go to tokyo and explore the city!! also anywhere in europe really, like scotland or ireland!!

favorite food: spaghetti #1 (my dad makes this tomato vinegar sauce thats SO good) and literally anything with rice: eggs with rice, nuggets with rice, shrimp with rice, chicken with rice, squid with rice, i can go on forever

favorite song: saturn by sleeping at last, a truly gorgeous song that hits me with a shockwave of emotions every single time

top 3 fictional worlds to live in: oh star wars ofc, but also middle earth!!! and umm third world, skyrim i guess lol, i wanna be a khajiit

(no pressure!!) tagging: @emilykenobi @myonly-hope @obihoekenobi @kenobismullet @radiantskywalker @reyobi-wan (also if you’ve done this before feel free to just ignore this lol)

#tag game #erin speaks #ah this was really fun!!!!#i like answering questions i dont know why lol

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luci-cunt · 5 years ago

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hi im super sorry to bother you! but i was wondering if you had any writing tips? im like really bad at writing, like fleshing out ideas and then building on them? and i see your writing and im always amazed because everything is so put together!! also there's no pressure to answer this if you dont want to! 😊

asjfd;lsakdj why are all nonnies so worried about annoying me?? I love you guys??? especially when you say shit like thsi??? my brain is leaking out my ears aldskjf;lasdkj <3333

also: jasl;dkfjasd oh my god you think my writing is put together?? aslkdfj;asldkjf <333 ajsd;fasjdlfkjaljdf

This got a little away from me so here’s a TL;DR:

Hoard your writing

Realize it probably doesn’t look as bad as you think it does

GET INTO YOUR WORLD!

Characters make worlds

You’re your own carpenter and other peoples writing strategies probably won’t 100% work for you

Writing’s kinda like acting well: get in your characters heads! (and I mean ALL of your characters--even your villains. ESPECIALLY your villains)

My writing process is a mess don’t follow it XD

WRITE

I think one of my favorite pieces of advice is the fact that creators are ruined by all the answers XD. Like, idk if that makes sense but basically: as the author/ artist/ creator you see everything that goes into making your work work which means you can’t really ever know what the polished piece looks like.

I mean, if you want visuals being a creator is only seeing the back of your cross stitch, while your readers/ consumers only see the front final image.

(this wonderful Elizabeth Cady Stanton found here is a great example but Tumblr is being stupid and won’t let me post it in the actual answer XD)

To us, it’ll always look a bit unfinished or wonky, because we know just about all the details!!

The point I’m trying to go for is that: as the creator you can’t really know whether or not your work makes sense or is “put together” it’s why I love getting feedback so much--I’m an addict. For one: it’s hugely encouraging to get compliments and reactions (+ a nice boost to the ego ;) XD) but, at least for me, I’m always terrified nothing in my stories makes sense!

Having aid that, fleshing out details/ building on them is still important and I think it’s one of the most important things about writing. I’m assuming you’re meaning just general ideas, in which case--write it down. al;ksdjfajk I know that seems obvious but at least for me I write everything down OBSESSIVELY, and I delete NOTHING. I have a whole doc where I copy paste sections that I want to remove just so I have all of it, becuase you never know when it might make sense later or come back to you!

I guess what I’m trying to say is--HOARD YOUR WRITING!!! Even the stuff that’s cringy and stupid and kind of makes you wanna throw up because oh my god did I really write liek that??? One of the first things I ever wrote was basically a rewrite of this one youtube minecraft series I liked, I think I was like 12 and it was cheesy and all over the place and just utter garbage nonsense. Everytime I look at it I cringe because oh GOD, but I kept that shit! BUT! One of the side characters was a stroke of accidental genius and I’ve been trying to replicate it since! XD

K I got a little away from myself but also: building and fleshing out ideas is...... a unique process. It’s not like physically building something, because at least with that there’s specific ways to go about doing it, but it’s more like.... idk taking pieces from other people until you get the strategy you want.

I’m a dumbass with ADHD so my strategy is the Jack Karouac. He was a classic american author known for his book “On the Road” which he famously wrote all in one 3-week sitting. He used a roll of ticker paper so he didn’t have to change it on his type writer and just wrote.

When I get an idea I sit down and just write everything out, my strategy is usually to frame it like I’m writing a letter to someone--YES snarky commentary included! XD--it just helps flow things.

So say I have an idea for a story, first I write an into something kinda stupid like “Ok I just came up with this like four seconds ago and now I need to write it out” and then I start with the most vivid details and go from there. Usually that means characters, I’ll describe them only as they pop up in my head (sometimes this means everything from name down to the way they tie their shoelaces and sometimes it’s just ‘best friend of mc’), then I work my way out from there, asking questions and writing the plot out.

Questions are worldbuilding things like “is this world like earth? is it in this time period? if it isn’t what time period? why that time period? this persons job is x, why? when did boy-next-door move in? why is there that scar on her face?” and usually while this is happening I’ll come up with little dialogue snippets that I just dump into a “Snippets” pile XD. Again--those are sometimes full pages of scenes I’m thinking of, or just dialogue bits I want to use or just more character quirks.

Once I’ve done that I drop it all and leave. Go for a run or a walk or make some food or whatever and DO NOT touch it or even THINK about it for at least a day. Then, come back and read over what you’ve got and fidget with it until you’ve got something at least resembling a story XD.

K wow this got long but lastly: Characters make worlds! If you’ve got kinda iffy world building or a plot you’re not very happy with, as long as the characters are enjoyable and real people will like it. Idk if you’ve read the All For the Game series but the world building is GARBAGE. lakjdsf;klj that’s not an exaggeration: a kids dad is a mob boss who works for the Japanese Yakuza who also run a fictional sport called Exy and regularly torture/ brainwash people. That’s just wild right there--BUT people adore it because the Characters are interesting and real.

Another example is the Green Creek series: I love those books to death but I stg Klune just recycles the same plot/ character drama every book and I STILL go back and reread them because the CHARACTERS!! And a LOT of people love those books despite the fact that they’re all basically the same.

Characters. Make. the. Story.

Idk, maybe I put too much weight on characters and I don’t know what I’m talking about, but--at least for me--I put the MOST effort into making my characters real and something people will be interested by and hopefully connect with, and I think it works out ok XD

Sorry this is rambly and long, I like talking. :) I hope this helped!!! Maybe?? ajs;dflajk

#luci doesn't shut up #wow this really got away from me sorry lkasjdf;laskdj #I hope this helps???#you're wonderful!! keep writing you're amazing!!#writing advice #also please don't follow my exact ritual because holy fuck you will nto get enough sleep

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britpop-bowie · 6 years ago

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tag game

Thankyou @claudyn for tagging me ily🌹💖💕

1. nicknames

Al, AJ

2. zodiac sign

Sagittarius baby

3. height

5' 3 or so

4. hogwarts house

Hufflepuff last time I checked?

5. last thing I googled

My prom suit bow tie, it's hot

6. fave musicians

Long long list but top five Bowie, queen, pulp, Robyn Hitchcock and Elton

7. song stuck in my head

Top of the world by the carpenters and I can't stop singing it dear god

8. following

652 blogs my guys

9. followers

Just got to 700 despite my recent lack of activity 🌹🌹🌹

10. do you get asks

Occasionally and they're always lovely

11. amount of sleep

6 if I'm lucky

12. lucky number

13. what are you wearing

My yellow dysphoria hoodie :)

14. dream job

Gosh uh, academic or musician I recon

15. dream trip

Going back to Lyon

16. instruments

Guitar, bass guitar, piano, ukulele and I can keep a basic drum rhythm

17. languages

English (obviously) and a fair amount of French, I'm still trying to get better though

18. fave songs

Right now I can't stop listening to Hercules by Elton John and Son and Daughter

19. random fact

Today I played on a Minecraft server for three hours rather than learning (not revising) topics for my GCSE music exam tomorrow!

20. aesthetics

Vintage sci-fi that's soft and gay, Edwardian literature and crumpled book pages, electric guitars and faded rainbows, fairies on album covers

I tag: it's really late so anyone who wants to! Yes that means you!

#tag game #al answers

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adventurebasscamp · 1 year ago

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important aj mc world update

#my aj minecraft world #my posts #jamblr

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emmiewlw · 6 years ago

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i love sending u stupid questions . which kids play minecraft

adhahjkad i consulted my minecraft expert @3amgameover and he went above and beyond:

Gabe and Mari would just make a world and do whatever and build a big house to live with each other and Mariana would play in the jungle and make super elaborate tree houses

Tenn and AJ would probably find the flowers for outside the houses and make a big farm with tons of cats and dogs

Violet would be a Miner and probably make a house in the Nether or make a huge underwater base

Louis would play on creative and build dumb towers out of diamonds and emeralds and gold

Willy and Mitch would make worlds and just blow everything up and cover shit in lava and make mob traps and probably spawn in 300 ghasts and herobrine

Ruby doesn’t understand the game and

Clementine knows how to play but AJ can hardly convince her to play

Marlon is thinks minecraft is dumb and like scoffs if he sees people playing it

#i love the questions jnfksnkjfska

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the-pandora-project · 2 years ago

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Why did you decide to make a project on DSMP lore?

What makes it so special? Please it’s a /genq

Shameless promo here, we have a video on our YouTube about this!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E9taf2dk5jY

Pandora was created because I personally was seeing the bias my academic community had as soon as the word “Minecraft” entered the conversation. I decided to ease my hyperfixation woes by writing a paper about the value of unconventional storytelling, and suddenly it was a year later and I have 9 people ranting in messages about scorpions and the canonization of nonexistent concepts in a limited world. (That’s a lie I was doing most of the ranting /lh)

Honestly it was just the perfect storm of pettiness, boredom, and special interest all combining to create something way bigger than I ever expected.

-AJ

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years ago

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 09/01/2021 (Justin Bieber, SZA, Jason Derulo)

Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to 2021 on REVIEIWNG THE CHARTS – or I guess you could call it “Season 4”. I’m going into this year with cautious optimism – that goes for pop music, mind you, and not actual world events which I suspect will just get even direr as the years go on. For 2021 on the charts, I’m hopeful and I hope that’ll show in this next year as I’m in a better place than ever, partly thanks to my decision to renew this series in the Autumn, and we’ve got a busy week – or year – ahead of us. I can keep up with new releases every Friday like I used to and generally kick myself back into a routine with all these musical hobbies. I stay cautious in my optimism for 2021’s pop music because frankly, looking at this top 20, I can’t say I like a lot of this at all. I mean, I guess I’m fond of some of these tracks but I suspect a fair few of these songs to have their last shred of success this Winter and not turn out as year-long hits. I can’t say that for our #1, which is “Sweet Melody” by newly-collapsed girl group Little Mix, the fifth credited #1 for the group and their first since 2016’s “Shout Out to My Ex”. Admittedly, I feel like Little Mix ends here, hopefully with a bang as this was one of the few bonafide smash hits that lasted through Christmas, and I see it lasting a couple more weeks at #1 as a good send-off because I don’t predict the band getting back together without Jesy anytime soon... not that I care about pop-group politics, of course. On that note, let’s divert to our rundown. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

There is a single song in the UK Top 75 – which is what I cover – that has not gained, returned or entered for its first week, and that’s “Love is a Compass” by Griff from Disney’s Christmas advert down to #50 – it’ll be gone next week, but I honestly don’t really understand why it lasted an extra week. Maybe Soul and Disney+ had something to do with it, because I cannot see this getting consistent streams. Otherwise, look: I’m not mentioning every single drop-out because I would just be repeating every single drop-out because I would just be repeating all of the Christmas songs that I’ve already listed every single week since late November. I will say this: “Last Christmas” by Wham!, last week’s #1, is gone from the top 75, alongside “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey, “This Christmas” by Jess Glynne, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Justin Bieber, “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues featuring the late Kirsty MacColl, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens, “Step into Christmas” by Elton John, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé are all gone despite staying in the top 10 in last week’s awkward grouping of holiday trite and regular pop. Everything else I’ve said over the last few weeks in the returning entries and gains sections, Christmas-wise, is gone, and I don’t want to list any other drop-outs, including even all of last week’s new arrivals. The only other notable song dropping off from the chart that’s not explicitly Christmas-related is Liam Gallagher’s charity single “All You’re Dreaming Of”, and that’s not exactly a surprise to anyone. Okay, so for our returning entries and gains, I’ll list them in some kind of janky order. Starting with returning entries, the category that fits most of these songs is: “year-long hits that have had one final and brief second wind after the holiday season that will later be replaced as Spring comes”. This includes “Giants” by Dermot Kennedy at #75, “Breaking Me” by Topic and A75 at #74, “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek at #71, “Rain on Me” by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande at #70, “ROCKSTAR” by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch at #68, “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa at #67, “Lighter” by Nathan Dawe and KSI at #61, “Ain’t it Different” by Headie One featuring AJ Tracey and Stormzy at #60, “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” by Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo and remixed by BTS at #58, “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi at #56, “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion at #47, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #46, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles at #41 and “Looking for Me” by Paul Woolford and Diplo featuring Kareen Lomax at #39. Our next category is: “really old – and massive - songs riding off the coattails of a weak chart for a cheap additional week to add to their repertoire”. This includes “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper at #73, “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong at #72, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran at #66, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac at #64, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #45, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I at #38, and I guess even “Train Wreck” by James Arthur returning big at #18. Our third category consists of: “mostly more recent and decently-sized hits coming back because they’re still popular but won’t be re-peaking any time soon”. These include “Gnat” by Eminem at #69 (although you’d be stretching to call that a hit exactly – would have been without Christmas), “Show Out” by Kid Cudi, the late Pop Smoke and Skepta at #62, “Lasting Lover” by Sigala and James Arthur at #57, “Princess Cuts” by Headie One featuring Young T & Bugsey at #55, “no body, no crime” by Taylor Swift featuring HAIM at #54, “pov” by Ariana Grande at #52, “Tick Tock” by Clean Bandit and Mabel featuring 24kGoldn at #51, “Diamonds” by Sam Smith at #49, “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion at #44, “Plugged In Freestyle” by A92 and Fumez the Engineer at #43, “champagne problems” by Taylor Swift at #42, “What You Know Bout Love” by the late Pop Smoke at #36, “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra at #34, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #33 and “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco at #32. Our last category consists of songs that returned and peaked this week, including many in the top 40. These include “You’re Mines Still” by Yung Bleu and remixed by Drake at #59, “All Girls are the Same” by the late Juice WRLD at #53 (still very strange to see that song from 2017 peak nearly four years later), “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals at #48, “SO DONE” by The Kid LAROI at #40 (more on him later), “The Business” by Tiesto at #31 and “Golden” by Harry Styles at #26. These are the most important returns because they signify what could be coming down the line for our genuine Winter hit parade, or at least the post-Christmas half of it. What might better show this are our gains, however, as these songs were sticking through the holiday season and took advantage of it this week to poke through even higher in the top 40 and often top 10. We have “Forever Young” by Becky Hill at #35, “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus at #29, “Lemonade” by Internet Money and Gunna featuring Don Toliver and NAV at #27 (as soon as I can stop saying that full song name the better), “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber at #25, “No Time for Tears” by Nathan Dawe and Little Mix at #24, “HOLIDAY” by Lil Nas X ironically up to #23, “positions” by Ariana Grande at #22, “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper at #21, “Loading” by Central Cee (still growing on me) at #20, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #19, “Dynamite” by BTS at #17, “Mood” by 24kGoldn and iann dior at #16, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #15, “Really Love” by KSI featuring Craig David and the Digital Farm Animals at #14, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd still here at #13, “willow” by Taylor Swift at #12, “Prisoner” by Miley Cyrus featuring Dua Lipa at #11, “Paradise” by MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy at #10, “you broke me first” by Tate McRae at #9, “34+35” by Ariana Grande at #8 and “WITHOUT YOU” by The Kid LAROI at #7. I can reassure you I’m overjoyed about that last one – not because the song is good, quite the opposite, I just like having easy targets ready for the end of the year when I actually end up doing a worst list. Oh, and that’s not the end of it: “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd is at #6, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and remixed by DaBaby is at #5, “Whoopty” by CJ is somehow at #3 and finally, “Afterglow” by Ed Sheeran is at #2. We already mentioned “Sweet Melody”, so now finally, it’s on to our new arrivals. What did you gain from reading me list sixty-odd songs in rapid succession with minimal commentary? Nothing. What did I gain from it? Whatever’s just above nothing, but as is the UK Singles Chart in early January.

NEW ARRIVALS

#65 – “Your New Boyfriend” – Wilbur Soot

Produced by Wilbur Soot

Before I put two and two together, I was incredibly confused to who this guy was and why he was charting – he’s doing particularly well on Spotify for this indie singer-songwriter, right? I did one quick Google search – literally typing in “Who is Wilbur Soot” – and soon found out that I actually already know the guy from “SootHouse”, a YouTube channel I think I might even be subscribed to. Huh, I guess that shows how faceless social media platforms can be – his name is in the videos and I should have assumed from “Soot” but that missed me until now. Right now he’s part of that whole worryingly popular group of content creators that tread the very thin line separating Minecraft let’s-players from commentary YouTubers and Twitch streamers from paedophiles. I’m too old to understand any of this garbage but from what I see trending on Twitter all the time, it seems toxic and frankly I don’t want in any part of that. I don’t want to have my grandparents’ graduation photos leaked to the Internet alongside my address, thank you very much, so I think I’ll distance myself from the whole “Internet celebrity” and just talk about the music. This is the last in a trilogy of E-boy indie-pop songs, because of Goddamn course that exists. Song number-one, “I’m in Love with an E-Girl” is a dreary acoustic duet that forgets that comedy songs are supposed to be fun or witty, relying on obscure inside jokes and references to recently-outed paedophiles. I do like some of the jabs later on about romanticisation of mental illness and Chevy’s voice is really nice, whoever that is, but it’s too little too late to be a worthwhile track. Now for song #2, “Internet Ruined Me”, which is a slightly livelier rendition of what is pretty much the same song, with lyrical gems like, “My Twitter feed’s like my brain ‘cause I have it on dark mode.” At least it feels like a more honest attempt at a song, but song #3, “Your New Boyfriend”, the one that’s charting, is obviously the most realised out of these acoustic demo skits, with some pretty sweet piano melodies and Wilbur getting into his comically struggling high register to depict his naivety as a teenager when attempting to get into both a long-term relationship and career as an entertainer. Sure, the song’s janky and awkward, but the chorus has a genuine punk groove, even if it wants to stop to interject ad-libs for no reason and kind of ruin whatever momentum is there in the first place. By the second verse, the punchlines devolve to “No homo, though” and though I do like how those horns sound, they are somewhat clouded in a messy mix that does not help Wilbur out vocally at all. Chevy’s background vocals do help here and add a lot to the floaty atmosphere of the song, and, okay, I’ll admit: the song’s good, if a bit ridiculous and almost Weezer-like in lyrical content... but hey, I like Pinkerton, and there’s certainly enough pointless noise in this song to fit the criteria, so... Goddamn it, I have to recommend this one. Let’s just date this episode – and song – even further by requesting Carson and Pyrocynical hop on a nonce-rock remix, perhaps. Bring Dream along too.

#63 – “Reminds Me of You” – The Kid LAROI and Juice WRLD

Produced by Aaron Joseph, Theron Thomas, Sam Sumser, Sean Small and Dr. Luke

Oh, and speaking of sex crimes by men in places of power, welcome back, Loctor Duke, Tyson Trax, or as I prefer, (alleged) rapist. I don’t like to get too moralistic on this show because it is about the music but I cannot think of any person who would in their right mind know of “Praying” by Kesha and still want to collaborate with this waste of space who uses his monopoly on pop songwriting to continue raking in cash from vulnerable young singers, to the point where I’m not sure if I can truly blame artists for ending up with Dr. Luke production or writing credits... oh, wait, yes, I can! I don’t let Saweetie, Doja Cat or even Kim Petras off the hook for actively collaborating with Luke seemingly in defiance of, you know, moral decency, so I definitely won’t give The Kid LAROI a pass, especially if he and the label are going to use this as another opportunity to milk the passing of a genuinely talented man in Jarad Higgins, or the late Juice WRLD, for the sake of a chart hit for this bumbling Australian wannabe and a sexual predator. This is not the first time, either, but I’ll admit the story gets fuzzy, as Kim Petras did reveal that this performance from Juice was in the studio as she was recording a song, supposedly, that is – I have no hesitation to say I think stories could be made up by record labels to make whoever’s involved look a tiny bit less of an ass. Oh, and by the way, this isn’t even originally a Kid LAROI and Juice WRLD track. Let’s talk about “Reminds Me”, a pretty mediocre Kim Petras song where she blatantly imitates Juice on a trap-pop instrumental that’s just pitiful, as is her vocal delivery that makes lyrics Juice clearly wrote unconvincing. Kim Petras isn’t doing a homicide, I mean, I hope she isn’t. So now we’ve got a “reimagination”, “revamp”, “remake” – or to put it realistically, remix – of an already worthless, disposable song made by a sexual predator and its enablers, spat on by The Kid LAROI’s unforgivably gross delivery where he essentially covers the Kim Petras song and does even a worse job of it, mixed bizarrely – especially in the vocal department – and topped off with a tacked-on Juice WRLD demo verse, so lazily put together that they just repeat his verse to awkwardly lead into an anti-climactic chorus where Juice is nowhere to be found. Everyone involved in the making of this song lost whatever shred of respect I had for them in the first place for putting this out – and that doesn’t include Juice, who’s clearly being mismanaged post-mortem. If The Kid LAROI sticks around, don’t forget this and don’t forget everything he’s done – intentionally or unintentionally – to heartlessly pinch pennies out of Juice’s legacy.

#37 – “Goosebumps” – Hvme

Produced by HVME

I’d make the easy, cliché joke that this isn’t living up to “goosebumps” by Travis Scott featuring Kendrick Lamar, but... this IS “goosebumps” by Travis Scott featuring Kendrick Lamar. HVME is this boring faceless nobody—I mean, “mysterious” Spanish DJ who made a garbage deep house remix of a pretty decent Travis Scott song, but not using the original vocals and stems, which would have probably made this listenable, but instead covering the song himself, stripping of it of Travis’ original energy that carried the eerie trap instrumental and pretty pathetically attempting to replicate the “Straight up!” ad-lib. The mix is fine but puts way too much emphasis on all the swooshing and nothingness synths that do little to get in the way of the typical pumping bass-line you hear in this type of house, and, yeah, this is pitiful once again and reeks of no-effort dance music made in a bedroom you wouldn’t even hear bumped in clubs. He doesn’t even try and re-sing Kendrick’s verse – good – and his attempts at picking up Travis’ masterful flow from the original is comical at best, to the point where I genuinely laughed out loud as his measly “brr-brr-brr” sound effects. I don’t understand why this is so high, yet it has 112 million Spotify streams as his only release on the platform, and I can only assume this is thanks to Ministry of Sound and some Lithuanian record label (don’t ask; I don’t know either). I don’t see this surviving January, thankfully, so you can say goodbye to this guy and his awful, awful cover for good... hopefully.

#30 – “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” – Jason Derulo and Nuka

Produced by Nuka

I don’t think there’s any “Tampa Beat” to speak of so Jason Derulo, are you just putting “(Blank) Beat” at the end of all of your songs now? What do you even gain from that? Except there is a “Tampa Beat” – unlike Jawsh 685’s original track, however, it wasn’t called that. Nuka is a New Caledonian producer and she made a song called “4 Bryleans (WayzRmx2018)”. Alright, well now it’s the “Tampa” beat, because I’m sure Florida is close enough to a French territory in Oceania, right? Maybe he’s talking about the ghost town in Australia, or the... small Transylvanian mountain. Okay, I’ll stop kidding myself: this title is complete nonsense. At least he asked for the sample before using it this time, and if Derulo makes careers out of this, then I’ll be glad for these underground Oceanian producers. The difference is here it just feels lazy and co-opting a style he’s clearly not in tune with for the sake of hits for himself. It would make more sense for him to keep on working with Jawsh if he really had good intentions for producers out there in the Pacific. Anyway, much like the title, this song, produced by someone who claims to make the best cheesecake in the Pacific (which I wouldn’t think is that hard of an award to claim), is nonsensical. It’s stuck in 2014 with gross synth leads, clipping percussion and finger-snaps straight out of DJ Mustard’s older stuff, along with what I guess is the sound of the Pacific: Jason Derulo doing fake accents over incessant horns and over-produced garbage that seems like its sole purpose is to annoy... and I liked “Savage Love”! I think my favourite part of this production is when he pitches the horn line down for the verse and then it comes back mid-way through as annoying as ever, even if this mix is crowded enough for you to just barely ignore it. Derulo isn’t doing much here either other than straining his voice for a belt no-one asked for and having a complete dissonance between verse and chorus in terms of lyrical content. Oh, and there’s a copious amount of remixes that are all garbage. The instrumental’s on Spotify too under “Waterfall”, so I guess that adds another name to the list of names this song has for no reason. At least with “Savage Love” I got to hear BTS drop F-bombs, this is just worthless.

#28 – “Good Days” – SZA

Produced by Los Hendrix, Nascent and Carter Lang

I came into this episode all optimistic and ended up just moaning about sex crimes and Jason Derulo but I think if there’s going to be any shred of true quality from our new arrivals, it’s the new SZA track that’s shaping up to be genuinely big organically on radio and streaming, “Good Days”, from that new album, whenever Top decides he’s going to let her release it. I’m not the biggest fan of SZA; you probably don’t remember that she ended up on one of my worst lists a couple years back, although that’s mostly at the fault of Travis Scott more than her. This doesn’t mean I’m not excited to hear from her, though I did like some of the stuff off of CTRL, particularly “Prom” and “20 Something”... and, yeah, in terms of what I want from contemporary R&B, I’m not mad at “Good Days” at all, though it’s going to take a lot of growing on me because I immediately hate this mix and production, which relies on slick, lo-fi guitars being drowned out by overweight percussion that sounds organic but pretty unfitting and awkward amongst the reverb-drenched vocals and unrecognisable mix that doesn’t compliment SZA’s at times awkward delivery. That’s a shame to say because I think she harmonises well with co-writer Jacob Collier, especially on the chorus, where she wishes for good days ahead, which is lyrical content I can get behind: coming out of a bad place and knowing you have no authority over your future but wishing for good days regardless. When the synths come in after the third verse at about three minutes and SZA’s voice disappears from the mix, becoming less overbearing than it is, I can appreciate the song more and especially when that final chorus comes in... except there isn’t a final chorus to leave this song off with much of an impact, rather just a tacked-on instrumental section that felt like Jacob Collier was tasked with just extending a snippet, which given how the song was teased in “Hit Different”, might actually be the case. I like the lyrics a lot, and do think it picks up after the song practically ends, but I’m not sure about this right now, and could see it growing on me as good days either become more imminent or drift even further away.

#4 – “Anyone” – Justin Bieber

Produced by watt, The Monsters & Strangerz and Jon Bellion

I’ve done a lot of writing and reviewing this week so I’m glad I can sum this up in a few sentences. Justin Bieber is an overexposed hack who I cannot feel any emotional connection towards at all, so him continuing to make any art is moot. This song has a loading screen of a synth melody, and that’s before that really ugly chorus that Bieber really can’t save with his Auto-Tuned whine of a voice, alongside acoustic guitars that clearly do not blend well. Jon Bellion’s production at the end of this just barely saves it by doing some kind of 180 shift into slow synth-pop, clearly coasting off of the Weeknd’s success in the same style without realising what made his record worthwhile. Camila Cabello recorded a demo that I’m glad isn’t the official version because her squealing would not sound good here either; really, I think Bellion could have kept this to himself but he knows he would put a lot more effort and character into his own lyrics than this – he would also write an actual bridge for his own album, I’d hope. It isn’t catchy, it isn’t intriguing and it is gutless, like Bieber has been for the past two album cycles and I guess it’s not changing this time.

Conclusion

What a downer for my optimism about pop music going forward this was! Even the best songs here I feel mostly ambivalent on, to the point where I can give Wilbur Soot of all people Best of the Week for “Your New Boyfriend”, which shocks me since I thought SZA would run with it, although “Good Days” does grab the Honourable Mention. Worst of the Week should be a toss-up if it weren’t for the fact that The Kid LAROI exists so he can get that for “Reminds Me of You” featuring the mangled remnants of whatever’s left of the late Juice WRLD’s Google Drive folders full of demos and leaks. I suppose Dishonourable Mention can go to HVNE for “Goosebumps”, but I’d understand it for anything else here. Here’s this week’s top 10:

Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more rambling – I swear I’m not usually this angry – and I can’t really predict anything going forward either, other than unfortunately more Dr. Luke, but we’ll see what the charts decide to bring us next Saturday when it comes. I’ll see you next week.

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helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog · 8 years ago

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EXCLUSIVE: Howie Dorough on Juggling Work With Fatherhood & How His Son ‘Wants to Be the Next Backstreet Boy!’

It’s been eight years since Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough and his wife, Leigh, anxiously awaited their newborn son James' release from the NICU at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after coming into the world six weeks premature.

So, as the Florida-based singer enjoyed a recent father-son trip back to L.A. to film the USA Network’s Big Star Little Star, the musician couldn’t help reflecting on the “strong, healthy, well-spirited boy” his son has grown into and shares that the Hollywood visit even cemented James’ dreams to follow in his footsteps.

EXCLUSIVE: Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson Reveals Heartbreaking Fertility Battle

“Right now he wants to be a singer,” Dorough tells ET. “He wants to be the next Backstreet Boy and start his own group! I would support my kids in whatever they want to do, but it would be honoring and flattering if he did choose to become a singer.”

“One of the best gifts my wife could ever give me was my two little boys,” continues the “I Want It That Way” singer. “James was our first child and he was six weeks premature. He came out 4.5 pounds -- this itty bitty guy -- and we had to keep him in the NICU for a couple of weeks, but he’s definitely made up for it now. He’s come out of it so strong, is a kind, sweet-hearted little boy, and I’m very proud he’s got such a big heart.”

The pair were thrilled to join Big Star Little Star, which sees celebrities team up with their kids and compete to see which parent-child duo knows each other best. Quizzed on topics like how their parents annoy each other, each team wins money for their chosen charity. Dorough chose Lupus L.A. in honor of his sister Caroline, who died from the disease in 1998.

EXCLUSIVE: AJ McLean Talks Newborn Daughter’s Dance Moves

In ET's exclusive sneak preview of the series, which is hosted by Cat Deeley, the pair are seen hilariously performing a song they made up about Dorough’s younger son, 4-year-old Holden, while competing against Meet the Parents star Teri Polo and her daughter, Bayley, and Dancing with the Stars runner-up David Ross and son, Cole. “James loved filming the show,” says Dorough, 43. “He’s already like, ‘Is there any more shows coming up that we can do, Dad?’”

USA Network

While James clearly has the show biz bug, he’s not sitting around waiting for offers to land in his lap. Dorough reveals that the driven young kid is carving out his own path in entertainment, having started his own YouTube channel, titled James the Great, and is quickly cultivating a growing fan base!

While Dorough and his wife of nine years were initially wary of letting James share his life with the online world, they monitor his filming projects and make cameos in episodes. “He’s a little ham,” says Dorough, the youngest of five siblings. “He has his own little fan club out there and he’s always saying, ‘Dad, I got more followers!’ He gives people tours of our house, brings in his friends, shows people how to play Minecraft. He loves it.”

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It’s hardly surprising that James loves the spotlight, given that he’s grown up in the Backstreet Boys world, joining his dad on the road from as young as 4 months old. However, Dorough notes it’s only in recent years that he’s starting to fully realize that his dad’s job is slightly cooler than most!

“Definitely in the last couple of years, it’s really starting to catch on who dad is, especially with friends at school and some of the teachers recognizing me and being fans. The teacher he has right now is constantly playing our videos and songs in his class and all the kids are like, ‘Hey Mr Dorough! We love that video!’ It’s very cute.”

Dorough can’t always be on the school run, frequently traveling with BSB and now spending chunks of time in Las Vegas, where the GRAMMY-nominated band have launched their Larger Than Life residency at Planet Hollywood’s AXIS Theater. The “100” singer recently told a San Diego concert crowd that the record-breaking run, which resumes on June 15, has been extended for two years.

EXCLUSIVE: Watch the Backstreet Boys Help a Fan Propose With a Sweet Surprise Serenade!

While he admits those stints apart from family are the hardest part of juggling BSB life with fatherhood, Leigh and the boys have always been understanding and “gracious” when it comes to sharing him with the fandom.

“Now, more than ever, it’s hitting James, when he’s like, ‘Oh, Dad, you’re leaving again?’” says the Dead 7 star. “He gets a little bummed, but he also knows that daddy goes to work and makes a lot of people happy. Holden is like, ‘Whatever, dad can come and go,’ because he doesn’t really get it yet. But thank God for Skyping and Facetime. It was the best thing, waiting until we did to have kids, because it would’ve been so much harder back in the day without being able to see them on a daily basis. James is so tech-savvy that he’s constantly showing me and my wife how to do things on the tablets. He’s like, ‘Dad, we can actually Snapchat now instead of FaceTime,’ and totally showed me how to do it while we were on the phone.”

Frequent FaceTime calls are a natural part of BSB’s life these days, with all five members now married with children. Youngest member Nick Carter joined the Backstreet dads club a year ago.

“Nick’s a great dad,” says Dorough. “Unfortunately, his father passed away, so he’s dealing with that right now, but he’s definitely taking on good characteristics of being a father and doing all of us proud. He’s really surprised us, because if you had asked him 10 years ago, he [would have] said he’s probably never going to get married and definitely not having kids. Boy, has that changed! He got married, has a child and loves being with the baby. He’s all over him -- reading and doing all these fun things with him. It’s been a life-changer.”

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Carter on Family Life in Vegas & First Year As a Dad

While dad life and their Las Vegas residency is keeping the quintet busy, the group still has two new records in the works. In addition to a special album featuring “some of our hits remade with an acoustic vibe,” the boys are recording new music, with their first single anticipated to drop by the end of the year.

Following their hit “God, Your Mama, and Me” collaboration with country duo Florida Georgia Line and visits to Nashville to meet with songwriters, Dorough confirms that at least some of the upcoming record is likely to have a country flavor.

RELATED: Watch the Backstreet Boys Adorably Surprise Their Wives in Florida Georgia Line’s Swoonworthy Video!

“We’re always experimenting, and we’ve recorded a couple of songs with a country vibe and most likely one or two of them will go on the record,” he says. “Our records have always been diversified -- a bit of R&B, pop, dance. And, looking back on our past albums, a lot of them were written by country writers, so it’s not going to be too much of a departure -- especially now with the lines being more blurred with country music [and pop]. I think we’ll definitely have some country love on there.”

Watch Dorough and his bandmates meet a 96-year-old fan girl at their Las Vegas show below.

Big Star Little Stars premieres May 31 at 10/9c on USA Network and Dorough's episode airs on June 7.

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