#my idealized presentation will never match my body

[repressed-n-depressed]

worth shouting out that androgyny isn't the only way to be nonbinary either

"how to look androgynous" "nonbinary fashion tips" you are skinny im not listening to you

[etherealkissed88]

assume it done now, not in the future . • °

never wait or forget to assume u are ALREADY the desired version of urself in the NOW. dont think/assume: "ill buy this AFTER i manifest $1000" or "they would be crushing on me WHEN i get my glow up".

dont forget that the goal is to assume it NOW.

there is only the present and your job is to always claim your desire as done in the NOW.

DO NOT think/visualize from (embody/assume) the state of “waiting” for it!

DO NOT identify w the version of you who is not already experiencing it!

when you think about a desire, immediately see the world/think as the one who has it already. if not, (if you immediately think of it as the person who is waiting for it), dont stress, just shift into the state/embody the one who has it NOW. you manifest who you choose to be so thoughts never matter because they are part of the 3d, therefore they are always neutral. there is only the present so if you thought “im waiting until i get my sp to do this” 5 seconds ago, it doesnt matter because your job is to be the one who has it NOW. if you think about that thought you had 5 seconds ago, you are thinking about it in the NOW. there is only the NOW/the PRESENT. focus on getting into the state of having it already in the present moment. dont focus on what you thought of / assumed in the “past” because it has no effect on you unless you assume it does.

you are not making a mental list of things you want to manifest for the future, you are checking off the list the MOMENT you make the list!

do not be in the state of waiting for it. waiting for what when the only source of power is you? fulfill yourself the moment you want it. now you no longer want it, now you have/are it!

YOU DESIRE YOUR IDEAL BODY (as an example)

you go to the store and assume “when i get my ideal body, i will fit in all these clothes”

you stop and realize that by accepting / identifying with this assumption, you are voluntary being in the state of not having your ideal body yet and therefore, waiting for it.

since youre educated on the law now, you know that your job is to assume/know its done now! so you decide not to accept that previous assumption that implied youre waiting. you instead decide to shift into the mindset of person who already has their desired body.

what would they think? what would they do? how would they act? how would people treat them? how would they see the world? BE that person in IMAGINATION. visualize, affirm, do inner convos, use whatever technique you want to experience it in imagination. do it to satisfy yourself without worrying about the 3d. remove the 3d from the equation and focus on feeling good as you experience having your desire.

you imagine doing exactly what you wanted: buying pretty clothes from the store because you already have your desired body; feeling confident and free in your body and having fun trying out clothes and paying for them. once you are satisfied from imagining yourself confidently buying your perfect clothes to match your perfect body, you walk out of the store satisfied because you know you already have your desired body since you just experienced it and fulfilled yourself.

you didnt need to buy clothes in the 3d, you didnt need to physically walk in the store with confidence. you dont need to take any action in the 3d. you just need to know its done and fulfilled in imagination. once you are fulfilled, you will notice that nothing in the 3d matters because you really do feel that its done.

later on, you continue to embody the version of you who has that desired body. you imagine walking in school with those pretty clothes on your perfect body while your friends compliment you; this makes you feel confident in your body. you continue to be satisfied with this feeling, with this knowing.

make it yours instantly. assume it done NOW! manifestation is not a process, its a choice. you always choose to BE some version of you in the now. if you are waiting, its simply because you are being the version of you who is waiting. notice how you are always BEING a version of you? so assume it NOW, not in the future. there is no time like the PRESENT.

kisses, jani𖥔

[cuddlytogas]

there was some Twitter madness recently where someone left a comment on someone's art to the effect of, "Ed shouldn't wear a dress, he's a man!" which I do disagree with on principle, but unfortunately, it brought out one of my least favourite trends in the fandom

so, naturally, I had to write a twitter essay about it. and I already largely argued this in a post here, but the thread is clearer and better structured, so I thought I'd cross-post for those not on the Hellsite (derogatory). edited for formatting/structure's sake, since I no longer have to keep to tweet lengths, and incorporating a couple of points other people brought up in the replies

so

I want to point out that the wedding cake toppers in OFMD s2 aren't evidence that Ed wants to wear dresses. Gender is fake, men can wear skirts, play with these dolls how you like, but it's not canon, and that scene especially Doesn't Mean That.

People cite it often: 'He put himself in a dress by painting the bride as himself! It's what he wants!' But that fundamentally misunderstands the scene, and the series' framing of weddings as a whole. I'd argue that Ed paints the figure not from desire, but from self-hatred; it's not what he wants, but what he thinks he should, and has failed to, be.

(Yes, I am slightly biased by my rampant anti-marriage opinions, but bear with me here, because it is relevant to the interpretation of the scene, and season two as a whole.)

The show is not subtle. It keeps telling us that the institution of marriage is a prison that suffocates everyone involved. Ed's parents' cycle of abuse is passed to their son in both the violence he witnesses then enacts on his father, and the self-repression his mother teaches, despite her good intentions ("It's not up to us, is it? It's up to God. ... We're just not those kind of people. We never will be."). Stede and Mary are both oppressed by their arranged marriage, with 1x04 blunty titled Discomfort in a Married State. The Barbados widows revel in their freedom ("We're alive. They're dead. Now is your time").

But even without this context, the particular wedding crashed in 2x01 is COMICALLY evil. The scene is introduced with this speech from the priest:

"The natural condition of humanity is base and vile. It is the obligation of people of standing ... to elevate the common human rabble through the sacred transaction of matrimony."

It's upper class, all-white, and religiously sanctioned. "Vile natural conditions" include queerness, sexual freedom, and family structures outside the cisheteropatriarchal capitalist unit. "The obligation of people of standing" invokes ideas like the white man's burden, innate class hierarchy, religious missions, and conversion therapy. Matrimony is presented as both "sacred" (endorsed by the ruling religious body), and a "transaction" (business performed to transfer property and people-as-property, regardless of their desires), a tool of the oppressive society that pirates escape and destroy. That is where the figurines come from.

When Ed, in a drunk, depressive spiral, paints himself onto the bride, he's not yearning for a pretty dress. He's sort of yearning for a wedding, but that's not framed as positive. What he's doing is projecting himself into an 'ideal' image of marriage because he believes that: a) that's what Stede (and everyone) wants; b) he can never live up to that ideal because he's unlovable and broken (brown, queer, lower-class, violent, abused, etc); c) that's why Stede left. He tries to make himself fit into the social ideal by painting himself onto the closest match - long-haired, partner to Stede/groom, but a demure, white woman, a frozen, porcelain miniature - because, if he could just shrink himself down and squeeze into that box, maybe Stede would love him and he'd live happily ever after. But he can't. So he won't.

The fantasy fails: Ed is morose, turns away from the figurines, then tips them into the sea, a lost cause. He knows he won't ever fulfil that bride's role, but he sees that as a failure in himself, not the role. It's not just that "Stede left, so Ed will never have a dream wedding and might as well die." Stede left when Ed was honest and vulnerable, "proving" what his trauma and depression tell him: there's one image of love (of personhood), and he'll never live up to it because he's fundamentally deficient. So he might as well die.

This hit me from my very first viewing. The scene is devastating, because Ed is wrong, and we know it! He doesn't need to change or reduce himself to fit an image and be accepted (as, eg, Izzy demanded). Stede knows and loves him exactly as he is; it's the main thread and theme of season two!

(@/everyonegetcake suggested that Ed's yearning in these scenes includes his broader desire for the vulnerability and safety Stede offered, literalised through unattainable "fine" things like the status of gentleman in s1, or the figurine's blue dress. I'd argue, though, that these scenes don't incorporate this beyond a general knowledge of Ed's character. Ed is always pining for both literal and emotional softness, but the significance of the figurines specifically, to both Ed and the audience, is poisoned by their origin and context: there is no positive fantasy in the bride figure, only Ed's perceived deficiency.

Further, assuming that a desire for vulnerability necessarily corresponds with an explicit desire for femininity, dresses, etc, kind of contradicts the major themes of the show. OFMD asserts that there is nothing wrong with men assuming femininity (through drag, self-care, nurturing, emotional vulnerability, etc), but also that many of these traits are, in fact, genderless, and should be available to men without affecting their perceived or actual masculinity. It thematically invokes the potential for cross-gender expression in Ed's desires, especially through the transgender echoes in his relieved disposal, then comfortable reincorporation, of the Blackbeard leathers/identity. It's a rich, valuable area of analysis and exploration. But it remains a suggestion, not a canon or on-screen trait.)

Importantly, the groom figure doesn't fit Stede, either. Not just in dress: it's stiff and formal, and marriage nearly killed him. He's shabbier now, yes, but also shedding his privilege and property, embracing his queerness, and trying to take responsibility for his community. In a s1 flashback, Stede hesitantly says, "I thought that, when I did marry, it could be for love," but he would never find love in marriage. Not just because he's gay, but because marriage in OFMD is an oppressive, transactional institution that precludes love altogether. All formal marriages in OFMD are loveless.

So, he becomes a pirate, where they reject society altogether and have matelotages instead. Lucius and Pete's "mateys" ceremony is shot and framed not like a wedding, but as an honest, personal bond, willingly conducted in community (in a circle; no presiding authority, procession, or transaction).

That is how Stede and Ed can find love, companionship, and happiness: by rejecting those figurines and their oppressive exchange of property, overseen by a church that enables colonialism and abuse. Ed is loved, and deserves happiness, as he is, no paint or projection required.

ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY: draw Ed in dresses! Write him getting gender euphoria in skirts! Write trans/nb Ed, draw men being feminine! Gender is fake, the show invites exploration, that's what 'transformative works' means! But please, stop citing the cake toppers as evidence it's canon. Stop citing a scene where a depressed Māori man gets drunk and projects himself onto a rich, white, silent bride because he thinks he's innately unlovable and only people like her can find happiness, shortly before deciding to kill himself, as canon evidence it's what he wants.

(Also, please don't come in here with "lmao we're just having fun," I know, I get it. Unfortunately, I'm an academiapilled researchmaxxer, and some of youse need to remember that the word "canon" has meaning. NOW GO HAVE FUN PUTTING THAT MAN IN A PRETTY DRESS!! 💖💖)

[euno11a]

Tattooed Hearts II

Genre: No one to someone Tattoo artist! Jungkook X Reader

Summary: What happened to us? Why did we end up like this? It was only a one time thing. Now it’s ruined us both.

Warnings: fluff, angst, smut, mentions of hookups, insults, arguing, blood, mentions of period, insecurities

Pt I • Pt III • Pt IV • Pt V• Pt VI • Pt VII • Pt VIII

***

What a jackass! Months of not seeing you, and all he had to say was ‘glad you’re back?!’ Seriously? Watching him walk away so nonchalant made your blood boil, he was a player. What did you expect? He wasn’t gonna drop to his knees and start sobbing! It was dumb if you to even have hopes of him doing that. You glared at the closed office door, hoping he would trip over a stone and scrape his knees. Yes, it was childish, but scraping your knees hurts! You opened your juice, sipping it while cursing Jungkook out in your mind.

You were pulled out of your thoughts when you heard the buzzing of the tattoo gun again, “Is the juice good?” V asked with a small smile.

You nodded happily, drinking even more. The question stood in your mind, how did they know it was your favourite drink? You hadn’t told any of them apart from Jungkook…oh my god. OH MY GOD! Was he still thinking about you?! No, there’s no way, all he thinks about is getting his dick wet, he was not thinking about you. It was probably just a mix up with a flavour. V continued with the tattoo, mentioning that you’d have to come back for a second round to do the colouring and final touches. You agreed, wanting to finally have the tattoo finished. Time went by and a woman walked into the parlour, she was wearing a black latex looking skirt with a matching top, fishnets and some funky looking heels. She was his next client? Good god. Listen, you weren’t one for being insecure. You loved your body! It was amazing! But looking at the woman that just walked in, you couldn’t help but compare yourself just a little bit. She had the ‘perfect body,’ almost no body hair, an hour glass shape, perfect face (probably because of Botox), she was the ideal woman. So watching Jungkook step out of his office and lean on the doorway, smirking at her, made me know that it wasn’t just a touch up that was about to happen. I groaned and looked at V, “Am I almost done…?” “Yep! Just gonna wipe it down with an alcohol wipe and tape you up, then you’re free to go.” He smiled politely at you, which you returned. You luckily finished just before the moans echoed through the parlour, the woman from before, moaning and screaming for Jungkook. You made a small face of disgust, walking to the front desk to pay. RM gave you a sympathetic look, setting up the machine so you could pay. The worst part, was that you could hear his grunts. The grunts he used to make when he fucked you, when he touched you, when he ate you out, even when you bent over to pick something up. Now you’re realizing that you weren’t that special to him. You were a quick fuck and drop. After paying, you walked out of the parlour, a sense of rage present in your gut. Who the hell did he think he was? Honestly, he will never find someone to love forever. He'll always be a player. *** “Is that even sanitary?” Lindsay asked as you guys walked to the bar. You’d came home and told her about your adventures at the tattoo parlour. You weren’t sure if she was treating you to drinks because she felt bad for you, or if it was because she needed to wipe away the vivid picture you painted for her of Jungkoon fucking a woman in his office. You shrugged, stopping in front of the bar, pulling the door open. “I don’t think he’d care even if it wasn’t. Such an asshole…” You mumbled, getting seats at the bar top. You ordered your drinks, a gin and tonic and a dirty Shirley, waiting for the bartender to make them, Lindsay nudged you.

“Look at Mr Hottie over there! God, I’d let him bend me over the bar and fuck me.” She said proudly, biting her bottom lip.

You almost choked on your spit, “I’m sorry, wHaT? Lindsay, you can’t just go around saying that!”

She leaned back and smiled at you, “Come on! I haven’t been fucked in a good while, my vibrators not cutting it anymore! I need a real dick.” Turning her head, she smiled at the guy, winking.

“I thought you were here to drink with me, not get fucked by some random guy.” The drinks came and you instantly drank some, you had a feeling this was gonna be a long night. Grabbing her drink, Lindsay smiled at you once again, walking in the direction of the guy. You groaned and leaned your head on your hand, mixing your drink. Maybe it was from the day, but the gin didn’t feel strong enough. After about 30 minutes, you turned to look at your friend, but not to your surprise, she was gone and so was the guy. “Hope you have a nice fuck.” You mumble to yourself. “Thank you, I will.” The voice caught you off guard, making you jump and turn your head. Jesus Howard Christ. Jungkook smirked down at you, leaning on the bar top. “It was nice seeing you again today. Still looking good.” You didn’t reply, don’t speak to the devil, he’ll hurt you. You sipped your drink in silence, trying not to pay attention to the muscular man beside you. “Come on, you could at least say hi.” “You can at least tell me when you decide to cheat.” You shot back, angrily. Damn it, where’s Lindsay when you need her? “Woah, woah, woah, I never cheated.” Jungkook replied, grabbing his scotch on the rocks. “We were never together, so technically I didn’t actually cheat on you.” Was he serious right now? “Oh, sorry, my bad. I was a fuck toy.” Your jaw clenched, hand gripping the glass of gin and tonic tightly. You could see him smirk from the corner of your eye, “You were a good fuck toy. Always let me use your pretty pussy…fuck you so good. Bet you haven’t had good dick since.” “I’ve had plenty of dick, many that've topped yours.” You snarked back, god, where was your buffer? What happened to ignoring him? And what was with all the lies? “Sure you have. Speaking of, where’s that friend of yours? Did she dump you for dick?” He was trying to get a ride out of you….it was working. “No, she escaped before you came. God blessed her today, but I unfortunately haven’t had his graces placed upon me yet.” You could hear him chuckle lowly, his laugh was deep and husky…fuck, it was hot. “Come on, Y/N, we both know you don’t worship god. You like to worship me when you’re on your hands and knees, waiting to be fucked like a good girl.” He whispered in your ear, using that soft but husky voice you liked. Why’d he have to say your name? Why couldn’t he have kept his stupid mouth shut? “That’s in the past. I’m never going to stoop to a level so low ever again.” Grabbing your bag, you placed a $20 bill on the bar top, paying for you and your friend’s drink. You pushed by Jungkook and made your way to the exit. The air outside was refreshing, something you craved after being stuck in there with Jungkook and his sweet smelling cologne. When you were walking away, your name was called, but you knew it was him. You weren’t gonna answer this time. Not now, not ever again.

Taglist: @talyaaas-blog

[tree-obsession]

Aventurine, the Waste Land, the black hole, and luck- analysis on aventurine's possible fate

possible spoilers for 2.1 trailblaze mission

possible tws for suicide/suicidal idealization, mentions of slavery, and a massacre

ok there is. a lot to unpack for this mission but I would like to focus on the references to The Waste Land (by T.S. Elliot, fucking amazing poem btw) that were in Aventurine's parts?

First of all the achievements- the "Sibyl, what do you wish for?" and "She answers, I wish to die" or something like that. That is the very first thing in the poem we see- to put a long story short, it's a reference to how there was this oracle named Sibyl in Greek Mythology, blessed to live forever by Apollo. Apollo got angry after she refused to have sex with him and cursed her so that while she would live forever, her body would slowly waste away, eventually becoming dust kept in a jar. A couple of boys one day come up to this prison jar and ask her "Sibyl, what do you wish for?" and then she answers that she wants to die. This could be a reference to Aventurine, who is always so lucky but at that moment truly didn't wish to be lucky, and really did want to die. Yet he was stuck, unable to live- considering he is something of a "chosen" of Gaiathra Triclops, she could be the one who cursed him, in disguise of a "blessing" of good luck.

second, the maze scene. there were two references here, both from the fifth(fourth? it's been a hot minute since I read this poem, the details aren't all clear) part of the poem. it talks about a deserted waste land, where rain never falls, there is only lightning and rocks/sand. this matches up with descriptions of sigonia, as a desert planet that's referred to as "the unclaimed desolation", and also some of those lines are directly said in the white text that floated around the maze(which i'll be referring to as floating text from now on). the second reference was also in the floating text, which talks about how "there is another presence/person beside us", or something very similar. I don't have the direct quotation, but this is also a direct reference- within the poem, there are two travelers in this "waste land", and the narrator mentions feeling a presence that wasn't truly there. According to Elliot himself, his inspiration for this part of the poem was from an account of an Antarctic journey, where the person who wrote the account said he and his men were so out of it due to exhaustion they had begun to hallucinate another presence who wasn't actually there. this is probably referencing how mini-aventurine and present-aventurine both exist, and have existed, but the future-aventurine technically does not exist yet and literally is just popping up, clearly not "real" in the physical sense but definitely there. within the poem, there are a lot of speculations between scholars about why Eliiot decided to add this hallucinated dude in but one popular theory is that it's Christ, in disguise, which is really interesting considering The Family's Christian imagery. something to watch out for when Aventurine returns to the story (he def isn't dead, but as to when he's returning... :( i can't get my hopes up) or if anyone else analyzes this more deeply.

now, why the waste land? it's universally considered a pretty depressing poem, about how the world after World War I was torn apart and collapsing in on itself, and portrays a lot of characters who aren't living life to their fullest at all. it references many famous texts and literary works, pointing at literature as an amalgamation of all other literature and also acting as a metaphor for how everything builds off each other, so one thing collapsing could result in everything collapsing. there are a lot of references to different religions as well. perhaps the best way to put it is that Elliot was portraying a world under threat of total collapse, and asks the reader if there is anything humanity can do to save it, or if we must simply salvage what we can. the ending also implies peace is a far-off, perhaps unreachable thing since everything is so discordant. but you get the idea at this point- the poem is about decay and rotting over time. I don't have the greatest grasp on either this poem or aventurine's psyche, but the 2.1 quest revealed a lot- he is an incredibly lucky person who is in a lot of bad situations but gets out every time, and has never lost a bet (despite his life otherwise being absolutely terrible). the waste land itself could simply be sigonia, and then perhaps aventurine himself is a representation of the characters within the poem. practically all scholars agree that in this poem, all the female characters coalesce into one character, and the male characters do so too, and then there is one uniting character between the "male" and "female"- tiresias, who according to Elliot has "foreseen and foresuffered all". he is described as the most important figure in the poem by Elliot himself. Tiresias is an androgynous figure, but is referred to with he/his. he also is the only one to say "I" in the poem, and despite the fact he is blind he can see all, even the future- in mythology, he was a prophet like the Sibyl. "what Tiresias sees is, in fact, the substance of the poem", as Elliot says- in other words, what he sees seems to be the closest thing to the truth you will get.

now obviously that's pretty valuable, considering literally everyone is lying in penacony (in the livestream they said the entire guest list is filled with question marks in place of names, implying everyone's identities there were fake- other than Sparkle's, but she's a Masked Fool and will trick people just for the hell of it, so not exactly the best ally). however (this is where speculation starts) I think this could be possibly very subtle foreshadowing for Aven's return! and I know this may sound delusional but. it's established he's not dead. his stone is out, but that's quite possibly because he's next to a fricking black hole and also Acheron possibly had "freed" him, in some sense? that conversation he had with her obviously changed a lot of things for him as a character, and she said she could break the harmony's bonds on him... also, clearly if he wasn't dead while waking up next to a black hole, that's certainly a surefire way to tell his luck hasn't run out yet. the entire mission was spent establishing his luck is perfect, given by the goddess of his planet, and will never fail him. this is like near emanator-level shit- obviously not quite in terms of any special power, but he was specifically chosen by this goddess, was born on a special day, and due to sheer luck is the last one standing of his clan (apparently). literally everything was set up against him and he's only still alive due to a literal goddess-given power, which is absolutely nuts and almost overpowered if it weren't for the fact that he also seems to be in many scenarios where luck and gambling is the only way to get out at all. the massacre, the enslavement, killing his old master, the weird warlord thing that got brought up, penacony... his luck is purely for getting out of bad situations, it seems.

that was kind of a tangent. anyway! the whole mission was establishing how good his luck was. he got into this situation where the only solution is to walk into a black hole and see the other side of penacony- that is a classic example of "there is an extremely, extremely narrow chance of getting out alive". acheron did it, or something similar, so clearly it's possible- but luck and chance would be the only way. this is the cycle of his life- he's in an absolutely shitty situation, but he will get out due to luck. imo it's a terrible idea writing-wise to keep him explicitly alive up to the very end and going into a situation- alive- which he can survive in due to his luck, right after giving him fulfilling conversation with both acheron and his past self and seeing the uplifting note from Ratio... just to offscreen him, or kill him for some reason related to this "other side of penacony". it wouldn't line up with all that we know about him now. granted, I can't imagine it'll be pleasant and his mental state will be even worse at the end of it... but he'll be alive, and he's made it through a lot of hellish situations. he might not like his luck all the time, and it can be either a blessing or a curse given the scenario, but he's kind of stuck with it- until he withers away, just like Sibyl. Death does seem to be inevitable, but as of right now it's not knocking on his door.

tldr: for now, our boy isn't dead and his luck might be a curse to him but it's clearly going to keep him alive for quite a bit longer :)

tysm for reading and have a nice day!

[princess-spock]

Pronouns and Gender in the Good Omens Universe

Neil recently said: “Angels aren't humans or mortals. They don't have genders. There isn't a pronoun you can use for them that's wrong, and unless you can speak in the tongue of the angels there's not a pronoun you can use for them that's actually right. Ditto Demons.”

Obviously, no one's going to debate Neil's pronouncements about the series! The thing is, though, that CONSISTENT gendered pronouns are used in the book, and in the series, and by Neil himself when referring to these characters. There's significant gray area here, no matter how you slice it. So...

(Who are we? 

@Princess-Spock: I'm non-binary, specifically genderfluid. My pronouns are they/them for simplicity. My primary gender is agender, and is aroace; I have a wide range of other genders and sexualities. 

@Twilightcitysky: I’m an allosexual, queer, cis woman with a background in healthcare, specifically sexual/reproductive health and mental health.)

Pronouns, ideally, should reflect gender… but what is gender? Gender is something we feel inside our heads. For most people, that matches up with their genitals… But not always!

Genitals do NOT determine gender!

Therefore:

A transwoman is a WOMAN, regardless of what genitals she has.

A transman is a MAN, regardless of what genitals he has.

A non-binary person is non-binary regardless of what genitals they have.

A genderfluid person might sometimes have gender that matches their genitals, but at least part of the time does not. (A gender that varies in intensity rather than going between genders is genderflux, not genderfluid.)

A couple of those terms need to be clarified: 

• Non-binary means not having a “binary gender,” in other words not being one of the 2 most familiar genders, “exclusively male all the time” or “exclusively female all the time.” (Remember, bi = 2.) Non-binary does NOT mean being genderless! A non-binary person could be genderless/agender… or they might have partial gender, mixed genders, fluctuating genders (fluid or flux), xenogender, or non-specific gender.

Note: Not all non-binary people use they/them. Like everyone else, they get to choose their own pronouns. It's never acceptable to assign pronouns of your choosing to them, or to assume that they must be they/them without confirmation. 

• Genderfluid means having a gender that changes periodically; a genderfluid person can have any number (other than 1) or combination of genders. The gender of a genderfluid person might change after a few minutes, or after hours, days, even months. Genderfluidity refers to gender ONLY; it does NOT refer to changes in presentation. 

And what is presentation, aka gender presentation or gender expression? It’s what gender a person chooses to portray with their appearance. This can include choosing whether to wear male or female clothing, shoes and accessories… hair length and style… whether or not makeup is used… whether or not body shaping garments are worn, such as a binder to flatten the breasts, or padding to create curves... and whether or not there is facial hair, whether naturally grown or otherwise. If someone has a presentation that differs from their biological sex, they might be trans, or it could be cosplay, drag, cross-dressing, a costume, being gender non-conforming (GNC), as a sociopolitical statement (eg butch lesbians), or just for fun. 

Presentation does NOT determine gender!

Some people are forced to wear whatever their culture dictates. Or whatever their family will accept. GNC people choose to not wear clothing that conforms to their gender. For some people, presentation is irrelevant, and they just wear whatever is easiest. 

Because there are no elements of presentation that are specifically for any of the non-binary genders, non-binary people are typically left with some form of androgynous or GNC presentation. (@Princess-Spock: it's REALLY tricky to create a look that is neither male nor female, especially for those who, like me, don’t reshape their bodies.) 

If a genderfluid person's gender changes when they aren't near their closet, their presentation might not match their gender, even if they’d prefer it to. Sometimes it's a matter of what they can afford; not everyone has the luxury of having multiple wardrobes. (@Princess-Spock: For those of us who are fortunate to have little or no dysphoria, we might skip customizing our presentation much of the time, just for simplicity.)

And just FYI:

Sexual orientation does NOT determine gender!

Specific to the fandom, there is no connection whatsoever between being asexual and being genderless/agender, or to not possessing genitals. Just because someone belongs in one of those categories does NOT mean or even suggest that they belong in the other categories. It is absolutely positively NOT correct to suggest that angels and demons are asexual simply because they don't have gender and/or genitals. (They might still be ace, of course!)

A few useful terms (these are not complete descriptions by any means):

• Asexual, sometimes abbreviated as ace, is a spectrum of sexual orientations in which a person feels little or no sexual attraction to anyone. Being asexual does NOT necessarily mean being aromantic. Also, being asexual does NOT mean not having sexual feelings, or not having and enjoying sex, although these things are true for those who are sex-averse.

• Aromantic is a spectrum of romantic attractions in which a person feels little or no romantic attraction to anyone. Being aromantic does NOT necessarily mean being asexual. And an aromantic person can still make loving connections, exchange affection like kissing or holding hands, and of course still have sex.

• Aroace refers to people who are both asexual and aromantic.

How does all this apply to the Good Omens universe? In the book, it says, “angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort”; Neil has referred to this for the series as well. Canon isn't explicit, but most of us interpret this as, "they don’t have genitals unless they choose to." Lack of GENITALS is then often wrongly seen as lack of GENDER. Neil said, "Neither the angels nor the demons, as far as I’m concerned, are actually gendered as humans are." But, he uses human gender terms; Crowley is genderfluid, angels are non-binary (it seems like he means that they’re genderless, but that's NOT what non-binary means). Confusingly, in a 2018 post, he said:

"The angels and demons in Good Omens aren’t human, they aren’t male (nor are they female). Not that they couldn’t be male etc if they wanted to make that effort. As it says in Good Omens: ‘For those of angel stock or demon breed, size, and shape, and composition, are simply options’."

That sure looks like, YES, they CAN have gender!  

More confusingly, Neil also says that his personal headcanon is NOT canon, canon is only what's in the book and the series... and none of this appears in either place. This makes the gender and thus pronoun issues a tad ambiguous. We agree 100% with Neil that people should embrace their headcanons and allow others to do the same, and so use whatever pronouns they want, and allow others to do the same. Here's how WE see Crowley and Aziraphale's genders and pronouns:

It is absolutely impossible, by definition, for a genderfluid person to be genderless ALL the time. Therefore, if Crowley is genderfluid, he MUST have gender at least part of the time! (And if he can have gender, so can all other angels and demons!) 

When Mrs. Sandwich tells Crowley that he's a good lad, and he responds that he's neither, that's in line with what most genderfluid people would say; having a gender some days but not others is different from BEING that gender. Crowley has chosen a male body (male genitals, hairy chest), facial hair, generally masculine attire, and male pronouns, so it's reasonable to assume that his chosen gender is male most of the time. 

We assume that he was female when he chose to wear female clothing (an abaya) in the crucifixion scene. He may also have been female during his stint as Nanny Ashtoreth, but that might have just been presentation.

During the scene where he's in heaven in S2, he has a non-binary presentation; the tracksuit is androgynous, and the accessories (headband, sparkly gold tie, fingernails, and toenails) are feminine. He might be experiencing a non-binary gender at this time.

(@Princess-Spock: Genderfluidity is very complicated. Even when Crowley "looked" female, he might have been experiencing a variety of different genders; remember, neither genitals nor presentation determine gender! In fact, since Crowley had adopted a female appearance out of necessity, not because that was his true gender at that time, he might even never have actually BEEN female during the time he was "looking" female!)  

What about Aziraphale? He has all the “male stuff” that Crowley does (facial and chest hair, deep voice, etc). He has an unwaveringly masculine presentation; his hair is ALWAYS short throughout history (even when Gabriel’s is long), and his sartorial choices are traditionally and formally male (pocket watch on a chain, French cuffs with cufflinks), with no hint of the modern androgyny of jeans and T-shirts… strong evidence that his chosen gender is male. 

Neil always refers to Aziraphale and Crowley as he/him (he stated that Crowley was presenting female as Nanny Ashtoreth and at the crucifixion, but no pronoun is used either time). The book and the script book always refer to Aziraphale and Crowley as he/him. Aziraphale and Crowley always refer to each other as he/him. Michael and David have always referred to Aziraphale and Crowley as he/him. So, he/him is our personal choice. 

What about the pronouns of other supernatural characters? 

Beelzebub: 

He/him in the book. She/her in the script book. For S1, Neil said, “I don’t think there were any. Probably Zzzzzzir.” They/them for S2 (“but they're always such a little ray of sunshine” in E3). 

Dagon: 

In the book, no pronouns are used, but all male titles; Lord, Master, Under-Duke. He/him in the script book. No pronouns used in the show or by Neil.

Muriel: 

They/them canonically, but referred to by Quelin Sepulveda, the actress who plays Muriel, as she/they. It seems like the gender perception of the actor who embodies a character has to count for something; if Quelin was perceiving Muriel as partly female, that's an intrinsic part of who Muriel IS. We think we should honor that. (Neil has had plenty of opportunity to debate Quelin's usage, but never has.)

(Food for thought: If we accept this sort of "mixed" pronoun usage as valid in the Good Omens universe, it could apply to other angels or demons, not just to Muriel!)

Archangels played by actresses:

In the script book, when Aziraphale speaks to the 4 archangels, it says; “The room of angels in slick suits. There are four of them, male and female.” It doesn't specify WHO is female, though, and ALL the archangels have non-female pronouns elsewhere in the book, so...?

Uriel: 

"He" in the script book, no pronouns otherwise.

Michael:

“He” in the script book. ​​Neil has used "they."

Angels and demons played by male actors: 

All of them are referred to with male pronouns, both within the series and by Neil. However:

Hastur: 

Briefly had a female appearance in the scene where Aziraphale and Crowley are kidnapped, but no pronouns were used at the time. In the script book, the “lady tourist” is referred to as "she" when whacking Crowley… and then is referred to as "her" even AFTER transforming into Hastur with a wig.

Ligur:

In the book, Ligur was intriguingly referred to as “it” while he was dying, but immediately thereafter was referred to as "he." That paragraph appears almost word for word in the script book; it refers to him as "he" instead of "it."

Sandalphon: 

Referred to in the script book as "it." (“Sandalphon grins, pleased with itself. Then it sniffs the air.”)

Metatron:

"He" in the book and season 2.

God:

Neil said: Jesus uses "Father". Aziraphale uses "She" pronouns for God and Crowley uses "They". I don't think the God in the Good Omens TV universe has a gender.

In the book, Aziraphale, Crowley and Metatron refer to God as He. In the script book, Aziraphale refers to God as She, and Crowley refers to God as They and She.

We think the bottom line is: These are FICTIONAL characters inhabiting a universe where there are few canonical rules for pronouns or gender for supernatural beings. This is a perfect vehicle for choice, which has so much importance to the story. You may start out on opposite sides, you may start out as a genderless being, you may start out as a sexless being, but you can choose something different for yourself. The importance of choice in Good Omens is one of the things that makes it great! 

There’s a lot of fic and art that depicts the characters in different ways; everyone should feel comfortable portraying them the way they choose without the worry that someone is going to be upset with them. We’ve both seen a lot of comments to the tune of, “you’re not using the correct pronouns” or “that’s not the correct sexual orientation,” and that’s not good fandom etiquette. Being open-minded and kind to one another as we flesh out this universe for ourselves is just basic courtesy. Neil himself has said that in fandom, any interpretation is valid! The Good Omens fandom is largely a microcosm of the queer community; we need to practice acceptance amongst ourselves, so that we can stand together against those in the wider world who want to tear us down!

Anyone who wants to discuss personal gender issues can feel free to message @Princess-Spock; remember that if you ask anonymously, there's no way to reply to you!

[goodluckclove]

In Memory of David Lynch

So the rest of my day will apparently be preoccupied by thinking about how filmmaker David Lynch has died. He was 78, fathered three children and married a few times. Lynch created nine feature films, the television show Twin Peaks and it's revival season in 2017, and a variety of shorts since the start of his career. His life was full. His career remarkable and difficult to describe. His vibe? Consistently odd.

It is hard to put into words how this news has hit me. I can’t really say it’s a shock to learn of the death of a 78 year old man with a career-long obsession with cigarettes, coffee and donuts so powerful it became part of his public identity. Lamenting the loss as something that came too soon is a natural human response, but it also seems like something this particular artist wouldn’t see much of a need for.

I will mourn, though. I imagine a lot of people will. As I started writing this a friend from California who rarely texts me sent a message of just the filmmakers name. We’re lucky to have had him here, for him to have been able to do the work he did, and while the death of one of my all-time favorite filmmakers deeply pains me I’d like to use that passion to talk about the man’s body of work and him as a creator.

David Lynch has spent the entirety of his working years being just deeply, incredibly odd. He was a strange, strange individual – and the most remarkable part of his weirdness was that he never pushed to be aggressive edgy in his outward persona. Based on the way he presented himself online and in public, he came across as an incredibly earnest oddball. He has a playlist on his Youtube channel consisting entirely of every video where he just says the weather in Los Angeles on that particular day. It is 950 videos long. While maintaining at times the typical brooding mystique of an arthouse director, it’s been said he was at heart a Midwestern boy. A deeply driven, serious artist who will drop a production if it isn’t being formed towards his vision, he was equally known for being incredibly friendly and cheerful to those he worked with.

He embodied, to me, a pride and ease in his own individuality that I have aspired to match for as long as I’ve loved his work. Lynch, again and again, proved to follow his own internal logic with no care as to how it may be seen by the rest of society. Upon realizing he had no money to put ads in the trades to try and get actress Laura Dern nominated for her performance in his movie Inland Empire, David Lynch chose to instead sit on the corner in a major Hollywood thoroughfare, between a makeshift “for your consideration” billboard and a live cow. When describing the event in retrospect he casually called it “a necessity”.

There’s been a decades-long running joke of Lynch never calling much attention to how objectively strange he is. In the era of the Ice Bucket Challenge, he had two buckets dumped on him in one video (one with iced coffee) while doing an okay-ish rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow on the trumpet, before ultimately passing along the challenge to Vladimir Putin. This is also on Youtube. He also released a memoir-style book a few years before his death where he offhandedly mentioned how he saw confidential evidence towards the unsolved Black Dahlia murder before the case was broken to the public.

David Lynch was a deeply passionate, curious, enthusiastic artist who refused to sacrifice his ideals. He had so much love for the world and for the people in it. This man is my biggest hero and role model in terms of what to embody as an artist – an undeniable embrace of himself and a kindness and encouragement to the people he collaborated with. For decades he had a drive to put his work out there, regardless of reception. Not only did he have absolute indifference towards people who didn’t “get” his art, he was known for actively refusing to explain his artistic intent.

I know myself enough to know that I’ll never have the restraint he had to go the rest of his life without explaining how the remarkable deformed baby model in Eraserhead was made. But I think I could work towards those other things.

Goodnight, David Lynch. Goodnight, and thank you. Whatever happens after death, be it afterlife or endless vastness, I imagine you’ll take it better than most.

(P.S. I found an interview of David Lynch describing meeting George Lucas, who wanted him to direct Return of the Jedi. It is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. He sounds so befuddled.)

(P.P.S. Consider watching this collection of his short films, available for free on Youtube. I'll be doing that today.)

[thevindicativevordan]

I don't think I've seen you talk about him but what are your thoughts on Captain America (Steve Rodgers)? Seems for all of Marvel's various Superman expies, he's the one most fans from what I've seen will say is Marvel's equivalent to Superman.

Spider-Man is the real Marvel equivalent while Hulk is the real Marvel contrast, which is probably why I've never been too enamored with Cap. He's a fine enough character but never one I've considered myself a devoted fan of.

Don't get me wrong, Cap has loads of excellent comics, including the oft cited Brubaker run. No doubt in my mind he has a much higher stack of quality comics than Iron Man does. Other than wearing a red and blue costume and being seen as the moral paragon however, he and Superman don't have much in common. Superman is a superpowered alien whose heritage is foundational to who he is. Cap is a superpowered human whose immigrant heritage is frankly little more than a footnote. You could easily make Steve the descendant of Pilgrims and it wouldn't change much. All that matters is that Steve Rogers was a weak, sickly kid who was pure of heart and embodied the best of America's ideals, with the Serum giving him the body to match his spirit. Defining what those ideals actually are is totally subjective and arbitrary because America itself is an inconsistent bag of hypocrisy.

Another feature of Cap's character is that at heart, he is a war comics protagonist. Even when his "wars" are set in the present, they always tie back to the events of the 20th century. If Superman is about the hopes and fears of the future, as befitting the Man of Tomorrow, Cap is about the sins of the past returning to haunt us, as befitting the Man Out Of Time. His greatest foe is fascism's counter-icon, the Red Skull. America's 20th century conflicts with Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia form the ideological foundation for most of the foes Cap fights against. Lex Luthor might have fascist elements, but he is not an outspoken proponent of fascism in the way that Skull is. There's no avoiding that America as a nation and a concept is central to Steve in a way it isn't for Clark. Steve's relationship with America - including it's past and present actions good and bad - is the central component of his character, whereas for Superman it's his relationship or lack thereof with Krypton.

Even as a contrast I don't think Supes is the best DC character to pair with Cap. Oddly enough, Batman is the better choice:

Steve and Bruce were both orphaned at a young age, but Bruce had money whereas Steve grew up in poverty. Bruce is a WASP whose roots stretch back to America's founding, whereas Steve is the son of Irish Catholic immigrants. Batman is the dark and cynical one who never kills, where Captain America is the bright and optimistic one who sometimes does. They both lost partners who returned as antagonists. They both are master tacticians, fighters, and leaders who transformed themselves into the peak of human perfection in order to win a war. Tellingly it's Batman with whom Steve shares a moment of empathy in the JLA/Avengers crossover, and I believe there's more to be mined from comparing and contrasting these two.

Short version? Interesting enough character, not one of my favs.

[hard-core-super-star]

sneaking out into town, holding hands, just killing time. [H.Steinfeld]

pairing: hailee steinfeld x reader

summary: amidst the chaos of the across the spider-verse press tour, and the unavoidable PR stunts she has to do to cover up your relationship, your girlfriend finds comfort in you.

warnings: pure fluff; a few curse words here and there; anxious hailee; PR stunts; bad descriptions of new york from someone who went there once two years ago

wordcount: 1.9k

a/n: i was supposed to post this the week across the spider-verse came out but shhh. there's so much more i wanted to add to this fic but it's already way too long so...maybe there'll be a part 2? we'll see. shoutout to this song for getting stuck in my head and inspiring most of this fic. this is dedicated to that one lovely anon who requested more hailee fluff. hope you like it!

* * * * * * *

You had never been one for fate.

You’ve always found it romantic, of course.

The idea that every step you take is leading you toward the place you’re supposed to find and the person you’re supposed to be is beautiful and downright inspiring. (You’re not a complete cynic, after all)

However, you had written fate off as something that only affects people in rom-coms and those trashy romance books that are all about how finding your soulmate will fix everything in your life.

So, yeah, needless to say, you weren’t a huge believer.

That was the case for most of your life until everything, including the planets and the stars themselves, seemed to align in just the right way that allowed you to cross paths with the most incredible woman you’ve ever met. You sincerely have no idea what you did to please the cosmos so much that they decided to put you on the same path as Hailee but you are not complaining in any way.

You would do everything all over again, including all the bullshit you had to go through, if it meant you could keep calling Hailee yours at the end of the day. All the pain and loneliness of your past fades away into nothingness every second her eyes are on yours.

That isn’t to say that the present doesn’t still have its difficult moments, even with Hailee by your side.

Being closeted is hard enough on its own but being a closeted celebrity adds a whole new layer to such a complicated situation. You still don’t fully understand why your girlfriend is so against the idea of publicly coming out (although you have your suspicions that the decision isn’t hers to make at the end of the day) but you support her regardless…even when it means spending a whole night alone…in your New York City hotel room…while your girlfriend is seen having dinner with some random guy you’ve never seen before in your life.

It certainly isn’t ideal but you know it’s just one dinner and a couple of paparazzi photos. Just something simple to take the public’s focus away from the fact that you and Hailee have been spotted together every single day she’s been in New York. Plus, with the Across the Spider-Verse premiere a few days away, and the matching outfits already decided on, it’s no wonder her team scrambled to find some way to cover up how obvious you two are getting.

You’re not the biggest fan of the idea but you would do anything for your girlfriend so you sucked it up and didn’t say anything when she left for dinner a few hours ago.

And that’s how you ended up here, cycling between paying attention to the random movie playing on TV and scrolling through your phone in an attempt to control your growing impatience.

You’re finally rewarded with the sound of the hotel door opening and you sit up from your position on the bed, eager to spend time with Hailee.

She quickly comes into view, looking as stunning as ever. She greets you with a half-smile while she begins to take off her blazer and her shoes.

“How’d it go?” You ask, your eyes scanning her face for an answer.

She sighs in response before moving to climb onto your lap once the articles of clothing are off of her body. Your arms wrap around her waist and pull her close, allowing her to rest her head in the crook of your neck. You don’t press her any further but you do run your hands up and down her back in an attempt to comfort her.

A comfortable silence settles over both of you for a long moment until finally, Hailee speaks up. “This was a bad idea.”

“It went that well, huh?” You reply in an attempt to make her laugh a little.

You feel her soft breath hit the skin of your neck before you hear her laugh. The sound brings a small smile to your face even though you feel a little unsure about what to do to help her right now.

“Let’s just say it wasn’t the best choice to make and leave it at that.”

You can tell she’s trying to poke fun at the situation but her voice lacks any real humor, leaving her words to sound more self-deprecating than anything. Your heart hurts a little at that fact although you don’t comment on it….yet.

“At least you got a good dinner out of it.”

She lets a huff of air before she lifts her head up from its resting place. You stare up at her with furrowed eyebrows while she takes your face in her hands. “I’m sorry. I should’ve just taken you out to dinner instead of agreeing to that mess.”

“Hey, you don’t have to apologize.” You lean up to place a few quick kisses on her cheek. “I’m not upset.”

“You should be. I’m a coward. I’m spending every day preaching how important it is to ‘live your life unapologetically’ while I hide who I am from everyone.”

“Not everyone,” you correct her. “And there’s nothing wrong with not being ready to come out yet. You know I would never hold that against you.”

She looks away from you, her hands dropping from your face to your shoulders as she does so. You barely catch the thin layer of unshed tears in her eyes but it’s enough to push you into motion. You reach up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear before cupping her cheek with your hand. You don’t force her to look at you right now, you just attempt to comfort her in the only ways you know how.

“Hailee, listen to me, I love you. It doesn’t matter to me whether I get to take you out on stupidly expensive dates or not. I don’t care about the photos or the interviews or the tweets from your fans. All I care about is you. Who gives a shit if we’re the only two people who know the truth? We’re the only two people who matter when it comes to this relationship.”

A beat of silence goes by before she speaks again, the corners of her mouth quirking up into the smallest of smiles. “How do you always do that?”

“Do what, Lee?”

“You always know what the right thing to say is.” Her voice is a soft whisper as she turns to look at you again.

This time, you're the one who smiles.

You lean forward, gently wiping away a few of her stray tears until your foreheads meet. “It's my superpower. Sorry, but you're not the only superhero in this relationship.”

She laughs. A real laugh that makes the corners of her eyes crinkle in the way you love so much. You expect her to make fun of you or call you a dork like always but she doesn't.

Instead, she leans in. Her movements are slow but you don't make any attempts to rush her. You take the opportunity to let everything about the moment sink in.

The feeling of her breath against your lips, the way her eyes flutter closed, the gentle hand that holds the back of your head and pulls you in to close the few inches of space between your mouths.

It’s all beautiful and soft and full of the love you both feel.

You pull away after a moment, not wanting to ignore the genuine feelings the situation has brought out in your girlfriend. “I meant what I said, by the way. All I care about is you.”

“I know.” She gives you one more quick kiss before moving off of your lap and onto her feet. She holds her hand out for you to take, that usual sparkle back in her eyes. “Come on. We’re leaving.”

You tilt your head in confusion but take her hand anyway, already knowing there’s an idea brewing behind those brown eyes. “It’s one in the morning.”

“When has that ever stopped us before?” She replies as she pulls you up and into her arms. “We only have two days left here before we have to go back home and I intend to make the best of them.”

“Lee, it’s a business trip, not a vacation.” You attempt to keep your tone light but it’s obvious what your words really mean.

It’s not just that Hailee is here to do press, not sightsee, but it’s also the fact that going out together is always a risk. No amount of last-minute PR stunts can cover up the obvious love that flows between both of you. Especially with the heart-eyes Hailee can’t help but throw your way all the time.

She gives a small nod to let you know she understands your point but the smile doesn’t leave her face.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to have some fun. Just you and me.”

“And the hundreds of tourists walking around Times Square.”

“No one will notice.” She pulls you in closer, leaning down until her forehead rests against yours. “And it doesn’t matter if they do, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

You're about to protest, ready to tell her she doesn't have to do anything more to prove how she feels about you when she leans down to press a sweet kiss to your lips.

Your complaints fade away pretty quickly at that.

Her next words are spoken in a whisper, her breath hitting your lips. “I just want to go out with you. Treat you like you deserve to be treated.”

You're pretty sure your heart is going to beat out of your chest if she doesn't stop being so adorable right now.

“Well…when you put it like that, how am I supposed to say no?”

You don't think you've ever seen anything shine as bright as her smile. She gives you one more quick kiss before rushing to get ready, changing out of her fancy clothes and into jeans and a hoodie in the blink of an eye.

You admire her for a few seconds before following suit, putting on the closest pair of sneakers you can find and slipping on a sweatshirt that you totally didn't steal from your girlfriend. She doesn’t say anything when she sees what you’re wearing but the small smirk on her face tells you everything you need to know.

She holds her hand out to you again and you take it without any hesitation, letting her lead you out of your hotel room and toward whatever destination she has in mind. You realize very quickly that you don’t care where she’s taking you as long as her hand stays in yours.

She ends up leading you out of the hotel and into the busy New York streets. Even in the middle of the night, Times Square is chaotic. And that's putting it mildly. It's bright and loud, and slightly overwhelming. It's a sight you don't think you could ever get used to despite how often you and Hailee end up in the city.

And yet, it's exactly that chaotic energy that makes you feel at peace. There's so much going on, so many different things to look at, that most people don't even spare a glance your way. You blend in among the bustle of the street, allowing Hailee to walk with her arm wrapped tightly around your waist.

For once, you don't have to pretend to be anything less than what you are.

You're in love.

You're free.

And you're sure there's nowhere else in the world you'd rather be right now.

[storkmuffin]

I don't know if you've talked about this yet but would love to hear your thoughts about Wooyoung and his tattoos (and in turn San as well since they have matching). As a tattoo lover myself I love getting tattoos and think they're such a fun way of self-expression but I known it's only recently where openly get tattoos and are excited/open to sharing them with fans

OK the fangirl flipping out answer is going to come first: Both Wooyoung and San's tattoos make my GUMS itchy with delight because they evince something I want so so so so badly to be true about each of them and them together.

I want Wooyoung to be as free spirited and daring and devil-may-care as he seems. I want him to be inhabiting pieces of the Idol protocol but be thinking of a way of bursting out of it or changing it to suit him better, whatever that might be. He excites me as an artist and performer and public persona, so being tattooed and an Idol, and having all his tattoos be like, a declaration of everlasting friendship with the magical Choi San, or that thing he has on his back about not being alone, or the rose in that interesting black shading? I'M ALL FOR IT. Also, URGE TO BITE is very strong whenever I think about those tattoos.

And San. Oh Saaaaaaaan. San san san. San really has perfect skin. You know? He really does. Poreless, smooth, glossy. And he knows it too. He enjoys having pretty skin and keeps wanting to show more and more of it to people. For him to get a TATTOO on his pretty skin for Wooyoung? Because he wants to be committed to his friend that he found on the job? WHY IS HE SO KIND? WHY IS HIS HEART SO BIG? WHY IS HE SO FUCKING PERSUADABLE? WHAT ELSE CAN HE BE PERSUADED TO DO IN THE RIGHT HANDS?!?!? I get rabies symptoms when I think about San getting that friendship tattoo, the one that Wooyoung must've picked out.

I want their friendship to be real, and be everlasting. I had friends that I thought I was going to be forever friends with, and then I wasn't, and it almost killed me every time, so I want THEM to have that, forever, for real.

The more rational analytical answer under the cut:

You know how I said that Korea tends to stay completely in stasis, until there's like, a sudden click, and then it switches overnight? The social acceptance of tattoos has been kind of like that, and I think it probably happened about 10 or 15 years after the switch on tattoos happened in the West.

Law and MBA programs used to advise Americans that if they wanted to get jobs at the white shoe firms or the big I-banks, they should not get tattoos, and if they must, to get them in 'discreet' places that can be completely covered up by business casual or formal clothing. And then... it didn't matter anymore, right? It used to be that in Korea, you would only get a tattoo if you were just going to drop out of respectable society. Be a criminal, in the worst case (similar to the yakuza) or generally lead a dissolute life or just be some sort of outre artist type. Then it just flipped! Your friendly neighborhood barista at the Coffee Bean might have a little tattoo on her forearm that's constantly visible! Idols, who are supposed to present 'ideal' behavior at all times off stage could get tattoos and show them off!

I have to say though, for the conservative middle class, of which I belong, tattoos are still a no. We're not going to be shitty to people who have them, but we're not going to get them. It's considered daring if someone has her upper ear pierced, in my IRL social circle. I've never seen a single woman with a tattoo or a body piercing at my gym's changing room or sauna.

[themauvesoul]

Anyways what grinds my gears specifically about the Barbie movie is the same thing that ground my gears during the feminist courses I took in college. Fundamentally, feminism is an analysis of gender. You cannot examine what a woman is or how women are positioned in society without also examining what gender is and how gender is created, maintained, and replicated on a societal level. This is an unavoidable part of the larger feminist project. And yet. In many cases. Feminist analysis focuses solely on the gender binary. Gender is analyzed through the lens of binary gender. You have men, and you have women. Furthermore, much of feminist analysis (particularly older analysis) focuses on heteronormative expressions of gender, because this is the driving force behind misogyny.

The problem with this occurs when feminists treat binary gender as a natural and normalized thing, as opposed to the artificial creation it actually is. Once you start looking at gender solely through the lens of “woman experience” and “man experience,” you can very easily fall into the trap of gender essentialism, where you take one specific group of women’s (and men’s) experiences, and you treat those lived experiences as a rubric by which all other women (and men) should be measured. This is how the white feminism we all love to dunk on was created; 2nd wave white middle class feminists began speaking to one another and formulating a list of Common Experiences that later became the Universal Woman Experience, to the detriment of woc, lgbtq+ women, disabled women, etc., who often found that their experiences with womanhood didn’t make the list.

And like. This is my problem with the Barbie movie. It falls into this same trap of gender essentialism. In the Barbie movie, there are two genders: Barbie and Ken. These categories are immutable and unchangable, and have very specific, rigid rules that must be followed. All the Barbies are femininity idealized; some Barbies are allowed to be fat, or black, or visibly disabled, but all of the Barbies are hyperfeminine. Every Barbie wears heels. Every Barbie has perfectly styled hair and perfectly matching outfits. Every Barbie has perfect makeup at all times. Every Barbie always looks runway-ready, no matter what her circumstances are. Likewise, every Ken is a study in idealized masculinity. While the Kens do wear colorful outfits that match the movie’s glitzy, saturated aesthetics, the Kens all have chiseled six packs and flawless skin. There is no fat Ken, or ugly ken, or feminine ken, and there is no Barbie who wears a crew cut and work boots. Weird Barbie comes the closest to gender nonconformity, but her nonconformity is mocked at every turn; the rest of the barbies treat her as though she’s diseased, and weird barbie herself treats her short hair, messy makeup, and baggy clothes like a curse she’s gotten used to bearing, as opposed to a source of joy or comfort.

And like. The movie is so allergic to showing any visible deviation from this gender binary that it fundamentally destroys its own premise. We’re meant to believe that Stereotypical Barbie is becoming less perfect, and that this is a good thing, but we’re only ever shown this imperfection once; as a disembodied 1-second shot of cellulite that could belong to anyone. You never see the cellulite on Margot Robbie’s body. You never see Barbie’s imperfection manifest physically; instead, it remains in the abstract realm of imperfect thoughts. Likewise, the movie spends a long time critiquing toxic masculinity, but never extends that critique to masculinity itself. Ken’s moral lesson is that he’s just Ken, as in he’s just a man, but the movie doesn’t bother presenting an alternate version of what it means to be a man beyond vaguely gesturing towards the abstract notion of Masculine Man, But Good This Time, Because He Is Nice To Women Somewhat. So while the movie might’ve had some salient points with regards to gender and feminism, it gets lost in the simple fact that, just like mainstream feminism, it offers a shallow critique of women’s position in society without critiquing the underlying binary structure that constitutes women’s oppression. In essence, it decries patriarchy while continuing to uphold the gendered norms that reinforce patriarchy in our day-to-day lives.

And like. I’ve been seeing a bunch of posts about how it’s bad, morally, to critique the Barbie movie for [insert women’s solidarity reasons here]. But like. The thing is. Why the fuck should I care about solidarity with the fucking Barbie movie. According to the Barbie movie, my butchness is undepictable. I am a shameful exile from womanhood just like weird Barbie; doomed to helping other women realize their full feminine potential without ever reaching it myself, cursed with butchness because of some latent trauma. The Barbie movie doesn’t care about my lived experience as a woman, just like the Barbie movie doesn’t care about weird Barbie’s lived experience as a Barbie. The movie doesn’t care about racism, or classism, or about anything other than a universalized hashtag Woman Experience. If you liked the Barbie movie, fine. If you saw yourself in it, good for you! But don’t try and tell me that the only reason I don’t like the Barbie movie all that much is because Im allergic to fun, or haven’t read enough feminist theory, or just need to practice solidarity better. Feminism isn’t a cudgel you can use to silence people who disagree with you.

[skelaxo]

I’ll do a separate post about Charles Eyler and aromanticism because that is always on my mind but I’m having fresh thoughts about femininity and his character around that but it’ll be kinda long so elaboration under the cut >:)

(Note: I’ll still be using he/him since those are his canonical pronouns and he also is canonically genderfluid so this isn’t really a transfemme headcanon, more he wants to present more femme/possibly some level of dysphoria)

I get the impression Charles wants to present more femme but due to a lot of circumstances he’s not able to—

For one he presents his online self femininely with the username “Charlotte” and using a pfp of her. Many people sort of “test out” gender expression online with different names or pronouns before ever coming out irl, so I think Charles reflects this experience. In addition, he projects his insecurities of not living up to his online persona onto Vincent, assuming he is disappointed coming face to face with someone who didn’t match themselves online saying

“Its you who should be disappointed in me, mr C”

“Charlotte turned out to be Charles, whoops”

“Bet you wanted to see the girl of your dreams”

When Vincent himself says “names and bodies dont matter”

But then again, irl he wouldn’t feel comfortable with completely free gender expression because of all the Mother and Scarlett stuff— “youre a good girl” isnt so gender affirming when its in the context of your mother convinced youre her aborted daughter who’s way more successful than you are and is kinda messing up your whole mental state.

Ok now this is somewhat of a stretch but evidence nonetheless—

Charlotte. All the Charlottes. Trust me on this one. So Charlotte is Charles’ OC/self insert/persona type deal. Perfect protagonist and all that fun stuff. Projection of an ideal Charles. Scarlett. Also Charles. Ideal Charles projected in a fucked up way. So. Here’s where I’m going with this. Charles=Scarlett who=Charlotte more specifically ep1/2 Charlotte who can be considered transfemme coded mostly due to the scene she and Frei look over memories in the mirror room, specifically the one titled “Femininity”

And I’ll just paraphrase it but young Charlotte was unconfident in her femininity feeling unsuited for feminine things until Aiden encourages her to embrace it anyways and feel comfortable in it—

Charles=Scarlett=Charlotte=transfemme ITS A CONNECTION OK.

If Charles writes the story of the perfect protagonist in which the protag is an idealized self and she is living the same experience of not being able go express femininity YEAH CHARLES IS GONNA GIVE HER THE HAPPY CONCLUSION HE DIDNT ok there’s some plot holes in that ep2 is not exactly derivative of Charles’ writing buy leg me have this

There wasnt a convenient spot to slip these in but also some ep3 false realm stuff leans into gender non conformity with 1. Evidence Charles will sometimes pick a femme student vessel over Vincent and 2. Q84 rejecting traditional femininity which is opposite of this whole post but Q84 is that “what I never could be” for Charles WHICH IS A WHOLE OTHER RAMBLE ON ITS OWN so it makes sense the script is flipped here

[ceekbee]

Very happy indeed, having a new cargo of essays for you, arriving in this second volume: here is one of them: Sojourn. DW

SOJOURN

is what we all do, every day of our restless lives: arrive, stay a while and then move on. Sojourn captures that simultaneous sense of recent arrival, intriguing stay, and adventurous departure necessary to the underlying joy and happiness of our human essence. Sojourn is a word that melds the three tenses of past, present and future together. We are creatures of the sudden hello, the getting to know and the long or the short goodbye, but sojourn is also a word that understands that even in our briefest stays we are changing and being changed by what we stay with. Staying with something is to change and deepen whatever we are staying with; staying itself is a journey that always leads to altering our further departures. Sojourn takes its definition by being a stay between journeys that is also a journey in itself.

Human beings love the idea and the ideal of the eternal and the unchanging, but seem to meet that eternal only in the never ending invitation to see and experience the underlying unstoppable and changing nature of existence. We intuitively understand that we conspire in this state of affairs, we are both helpless witnesses and unconscious engines of change every moment of our day, witnessing and causing trouble even in our simple passing through. Indeed, there is no trouble-making change agent to match our very own bodies, which moves on without our asking or without a bye or leave, through the thresholds of maturation without a stop or a halt. By the agency of some hidden, unstoppable driver of change, the body makes its pilgrim way through childhood, into adolescence, into adulthood, into eldership, into the sudden realisation that our next journey is into our own disappearance all accompanied, we hope, by our own noble attempt at a brave goodbye. The body we realise, seeing in that one single glance in the mirror, the youth we were, the person we are now and the elder we are about to become, is the ultimate sojourner.

Whether we are world travellers or home bound stick-in-the-muds, we are creatures just traveling through: our essence and our attention caught, even as we sit in our arm chairs gazing at our screens, by mythological images that mirror our traveling nature: that stranger at the door asking for alms and hospitality, that handsome traveller at a bar asking not so innocently for a good time, that good Samaritan on the road offering to help, that ultimate pilgrim of the restless, Clint Eastwood, turning his horse toward the sunset, having freed the town from awful predators, all of us, believers or not, vicarious travellers in great and timeless religious images inherited from our past: Christ entering Jerusalem, St Paul struck down on the road to Damascus, Basho’s narrow road to the far north; all of us, caught imaginatively whether we go or not, by the pilgrim roads of the world: the road to Varanasi, the road to Santiago the road to Graceland, the trackless roads across the oceans our ancestors explored: all beckoning us on to some place where something wonderful already happened and where something wonderful, something beyond my present, might well happen to me.

The underlying undertow of existence, even in our most rested state is restless, tidal change, and our agency and context for this restless travel is longing in all its forms: physiological and psychological: even Zen students, refusing to move, sitting stock still in their black robes, on their black cushions, travel invisibly on the road of longing: the longing, strangely, to be free of the restless mind, in order to be at rest with the true, underlying restless movement of the world. Each of us, sojourners all, even when we seem to be as quiet and as still as a mouse, journeying on into some other, longed for spaciousness, every step of our restless way.

From Consolations II

The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words

David Whyte

Now Available in Preorder Signed by the Author

https://davidwhyte.com/store/book/consolations-ii/

Consolations II was written in something of an intense delirium between January and the end of July this year. I wrote sixty essays in those seven months, fifty two of which are included in this volume. It was such a physically intense experience that in the hours of daily writing, I began to undergo all kinds of strange psychological phenomena, many of which folded back into and magnified the depth and reach of the later essays. The essay entitled 'Time' most especially, propelled me into a full blown, out -of-body experience in the room in which I was writing, overlooking the Italian countryside. As in my life in general, the essays in this second volume are a little more intense, a little edgier, and ask a little more of the reader than the first volume. I hope you enjoy them while being challenged and being invited a little further than you might have contemplated wanting to go... DW

[russenoire]

we like to talk about the kind heart beating at the center of mob psycho 100...

its eminently huggable and relatable main characters...

the surprising maturity and accessibility of its psychological themes, the tightrope it walks between pathos and absurd humor, the abundance of sensitive neurodivergent representation within, and—for a story with a predominantly male cast—its largely unsexualized and refreshingly real girls and women.

i could keep listing more aspects of this story that i adore, honestly. but for me, it was one specific aspect of the writing that struck me the hardest.

as a person who used to inhale film and TV criticism like folks in the US devour breakfast cereal, i live for subversions of tired, well-worn storytelling patterns (call them tropes if you must). MP100 is full to leaking with subverted expectations. but only rarely do i ever see a writer subvert a done-to-death pattern and then subvert the subversion.

studio bones and ONE's writing work together to pull this off in the fifth episode of MP100's first season. on my first watch, i had to pick my jaw up off the floor at what i was seeing.

this got... long... more below the cut.

first, a little bit of framework.

the concept of single combat drives much of the action (and comedy) in shōnen fighting series.

it simplifies the conflict between cultures, between ways of life, between ideals, to a question of who is stronger in a no-holds-barred match between two people. the answer decides the fates of whole nations, hopefully but not always spares both sides from further bloodshed, and it's older than dirt.

the cathartic appeal of such distillation is not entirely lost on me, but i also crave novelty and nuance? and seem to be aging out of the shōnen demographic as a result. 'my kung-fu is stronger than yours!' 'yeah? well, i'm fucking bored with attempts to settle this question with fists or magic and no longer care.'

i do not count MP100 as a fighting series; the story doesn't conflate personal growth with increasing skill at punching shit and would hold up as a coming-of-age story quite well without battles. while MP100 flirts shamelessly with many fighting series clichés, it actively refuses to commit to those it engages. it rejects this one entirely by story's end.

when teruki hanazawa first becomes aware that shigeo kageyama exists and shares his easy facility with ESP, he and the audience are led to believe that the two boys will enter into a showdown like those we've seen so many times before. they'll fight it out like the real men they'll be soon, and a clear victor will emerge from the wreckage in their wake.

shigeo, of course, is flatly uninterested and baffled at this stranger fighting him unprovoked. teru figures he can preserve his view of the world by simply bringing the boy to heel, just as he has with everyone else around him. even after the little blond chuunibyou twists him until his bones crack... waterboards him in the depths of black vinegar middle school's swimming pool...

[image ID: a teenaged boy in his physical education uniform of white tee shirt and red shorts is shown from the back and below him... at the very bottom of a swimming pool. he has been plunged in against his will; a barrier of sorts can be seen around his body -- his own defense against the middle schooler attacking him.]

demolishes much of the school grounds, wielding his spindly body as a wrecking-ball...

shigeo will not yield. nor does he indulge teru in his pointless lust for battle.

he doesn't see him as an enemy and, more importantly, doesn't want to hurt him. the child is painfully aware of how easily he could kill this boy, so he endures the abuse, though not without protest. i'd never seen a shōnen anime series that even presented refusing to fight as an option.

[image ID: a bowl-cut-sporting teenage boy in a white tee shirt with a red collar stands hunched over and facing his antagonist offscreen to the viewer's right, in anticipation of another attack. he is saying 'i told you to stop that.' in the background is a statue of a human figure with arms raised above its head in victory. it will soon be made to topple onto him.]

though shigeo refuses to play this game at all, the lack of damage teru is able to inflict on him with ESP and his concise verbal summation of the profound insecurity driving teru's behavior already prove shigeo's superiority. teru needs to feel supported and justified in this unwarranted attack on another boy just like him, and so he demands, over and over, that shigeo fight back... that he show his powers. but it never sinks in for him that he's seeing them in action.

in the end, teru gives up on forcing shigeo's submission with ESP and uses his raw physical strength to strangle the young kageyama... who then plays this trope straight and utterly traumatizes teru into adopting a different outlook on life. after he passes the fuck out.

with teru's one-sided, tragic attempt at a brawl between himself and another esper child, ONE sends up the entire concept of magical single combat so hard it hits low earth orbit.

to make abundantly clear just how ridiculous this shit actually is? shigeo strips teru naked, then drains him dry of psychic energy by way of his fucking groin (in the anime) for even forcing him into this. you know, just for the extra humiliation. the boy's already been shaven like a fallen samurai at this point.

and teru's need to resist the challenge shigeo's existence presents to his way of life? we are made to see just how much harm that resistance to reality actually causes.

shattered glass, crushed concrete, wrecked doors, busted faucets spewing everywhere and wasting water—the camera lingers on these in-story, real-world consequences. actual shōnen fighting series rarely address such collateral damage outside of personal vendettas or playing it for comedy. (the comic bits here are almost necessary to leaven the pathos we're seeing, and are inseparable from that sadness.)

teru nearly commits first-degree murder twice and causes major property damage i doubt he had the power to fix. don't you dare look away, MP100's creators say. we need you, gentle watcher, to bear witness. teru is wrong. THIS WHOLE APPROACH to conflict is wrong. look again. does this remind you of anything?

and shigeo doesn't get off the hook either, though i'm inclined to give him a pass because reasons. he summarily flattens the rest of teru's school, finishing the job, and launches it (and him) above the clouds, but at least murder isn't on the table? the child suffers greatly for this unconscious act of retribution and continues to punish himself for this madness for some time... even after cleaning up the mess they both made when he returns to his senses.

no one wins here. what is 'winning'? what is 'losing'? are we even asking the right questions?

this arc—but especially this 'fight'—is darkly, absurdly funny, thought-provoking, and one of the most heartbreaking and moving things i'd seen in a long time. it sold me on this story and keeps me coming back in astonishment and gratitude.

(this is an expansion of part of a recap i wrote for this episode. you can read it here.)

[sixbucks]

Arkansas Republicans take home the gold medal in bigotry and ignorance

Matt Campbell

Arkansas Times, Aug. 2, 2024

One of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders favorite zingers is some version of, “The left can’t even define what a woman is.” As jokes go, it’s a lot like Carlos Mencia’s: unoriginal and unfunny.

It’s also terribly ironic. As the last 24 hours have shown, Sanders and other Republicans can’t answer that question, either.

If you’re not perpetually online, you might have missed the hullabaloo on Thursday over Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif. The short version: Khelif drilled Italian boxer Angela Carini with a straight right hand to the face, causing Carini to quit less than a minute into their Olympic welterweight boxing match and giving Khelif the win.

Considering boxing is built around punching people in the face, this should not have been controversial. Unfortunately, the worst people on Twitter learned that Khelif had once been banned from a competition for elevated testosterone levels. (This was a single occurrence, and it was not a ban by the International Olympic Committee, but by the International Boxing Association, which was suspended as boxing’s Olympic governing body in 2019 and expelled by the IOC in 2023.) An unconfirmed rumor began circulating that Khelif was born with XY chromosomes. So, predictably, garbage Twitter accounts started claiming that Khelif was transgender.

Even after it came out that Khelif was born with female genitalia, was assigned female at birth, had competed (and lost) in the 2020 Olympics without incident or question about her gender, and had lost nine times in her career (all to women), right-wing troglodytes simply changed their tune from “Khelif is transgender” to “Khelif is a biological male.”

It’s an absurdly ignorant position, but, given the MAGA obsession with other people’s genitals, it unsurprisingly took hold anyway. By yesterday afternoon, Sanders tweeted about it, falsely pushing the narrative that Khelif is somehow “a man.”

'It used to be illegal for men to beat up women, and now people are putting it on TV and watching it.” Well said, Payton.

Where are the so-called feminists? https://t.co/Evc5mjIfsR

— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) August 1, 2024

Attorney General Tim Griffin, who never met a divisive issue he wouldn’t grandstand upon, quoted tweeted fifth-place 2022 200-yard NCAA freestyle finisher Riley Gaines, now a darling of the anti-trans activism world. He even found a way to use Gaines’ lies to brag about himself, which is pretty much the most Tim Griffin thing imaginable.

Earlier today, Italian female boxer Angela Carini forfeited her #Olympics fight for which she had endured years of training. Why? She was pummeled in her face by a biologically male opponent.

Protecting female athletes from this type of danger is why my office fought the… https://t.co/ayX80FcnJ1

— Attorney General Tim Griffin (@AGTimGriffin) August 1, 2024

The irony here is that all three of these dishonest grievance peddlers fancy themselves as being on the side that “protects women” and “cares about women’s sports.” Arkansas Republicans insist that someone’s gender is a simple matter, exclusively based on what genitalia they were born with. By that standard, Khelif is indisputably a woman. She has a vagina, ovaries and a uterus. She can theoretically get pregnant and give birth. There’s no evidence she has ever presented herself as or pretended to be anything other than a woman.

On top of all that, she’s from Algeria, where it is illegal for someone to change their gender. It’s absurd to think Algeria would not only allow Khelif to compete against women if she were biologically male, but would then send her to the Olympics to represent her country.

Not that such things matter to folks like Sanders, Griffin and Davis. When they say they want to “protect women,” what they mean is they want to discriminate against anyone who doesn’t fit the MAGA ideal of what a woman should be, do, and look like. And they are more than willing to use their platforms to spread bigotry and hate at the expense of an actual woman if it fits their broader narrative.

[seeparticles-soundscape]

Every morning brings with it the promise of a new beginning. As the darkness of the night fades and the first light of the day emerges, there’s a profound sense of calm that fills the air. It's the perfect moment to step away from the chaos of life and immerse oneself in inner tranquility. "In My Head" is a composition born from this serene moment, capturing the quiet, peaceful hours of the morning in a delicate and meditative soundscape.

The first note of the piece arrives as softly as the silence of dawn, gently welcoming the listener and preparing them for a journey through the purest moments of the day. A subtle rise in melody, accompanied by atmospheric tones, mirrors the stillness of nature before the world fully awakens. The sounds reflect the calm before the day begins, inviting the listener to walk through a world lit only by the soft glow of the morning sun.

Reflections of Silence and Peace

"In My Head" begins with a slow, steady rhythm that matches the early hours of the day when everything feels still. The gentle notes open a door to inner quietness, where the outside world fades and only the soft echoes of the mind remain. One of the key elements of the piece is how the melody, like a breeze at dawn, touches the ear ever so lightly. It never overwhelms; it simply flows, leaving the listener to be alone with their thoughts. This gives the piece a deeply introspective quality, making it an ideal companion for those seeking peace.

Ambient music is renowned for its ability to guide listeners towards self-discovery, allowing them to empty their minds and get lost in the present moment. "In My Head" fits perfectly within this context, offering a soundtrack to the peaceful hours of the morning. The balance of calm and stillness throughout the piece brings a sense of relaxation to both the body and the soul, making it the perfect soundscape for reflection and mindfulness.

The Purest Moment of the Morning

The purest moment of the morning is undoubtedly when the sun begins to rise, casting its first light upon the earth. It’s a time when one can take a deep breath and feel the freshness of a new day. "In My Head" reflects this purity, simplicity, and natural beauty. As the music progresses, there’s a sense of morning’s innocence and renewal. While the composition features a minimalist arrangement, it constructs an expansive world within the listener’s mind. This world is one of simplicity, free from the rush and noise of modern life, a place where peace reigns.

The atmospheric quality of the track transports the listener to a dream-like realm. In this space, time loses its meaning, and the journey is guided only by the music itself. Every note feels like a discovery, gently guiding the listener deeper into a state of serenity. Towards the end of the piece, this tranquility reaches its peak. Just as the sun climbs higher in the sky, the tones of the music softly rise, enveloping the listener in a warm sense of calm. This rise, however, is never abrupt or jarring. Instead, it feels like a comforting embrace, offering a moment of pure relaxation.

The Beginning of an Inner Journey

Every morning offers a chance for renewal and inner exploration. "In My Head" represents this renewal, this journey into oneself, through its soundscape. The piece invites the listener to face their thoughts, explore their mind, and most importantly, find inner peace. With each listen, the composition takes on a new meaning, offering a unique path to self-discovery. Listening to "In My Head" during the early morning hours is like stepping away from the world's demands and savoring the quiet of the moment.

Though ideal for morning listening, the serenity of "In My Head" can be felt at any time of day. But when paired with the clean, fresh moments of dawn, the music creates an unforgettable experience. With its atmospheric tones, gentle melodies, and immersive calmness, "In My Head" stands as a testament to the power of ambient music and its ability to transport listeners to a place of peace.

ambient #morningvibes #calm #chillvibes #relaxation #serenity #meditation #peaceful #soothing #instrumental #ambientmusic #chill #soundscape #dronemusic #viral #fyp #parati #morningcalm #meditativevibes #softsounds #mindfulness