#okay so the thing is that i've been listening to this song on loop non stop since its release on global

[kofilt]

Really, all I need are the things I like

-

Although, if all of humanity just did the things they like,

world would turn to ruin

[sparkles-oflight]

Best Year Of My Life [PERSONAL THOUGHTS]

I'm sorry, I've been playing this song non-stop. I'm literally listening it in loop as I type this.

From the moment the teaser came out I was so excited to hear a song mentioning divorced parents (hey, we children of divorce get happy with any rep).

I was not expecting this song to be so much more to me, personally. I know y'all don't know who I am, but I still wanted to write down what these lyrics reminded me of (under the cut)

Spent my last quarter on a new bike Downhill rode it fast to the seaside I felt the ocean wash over my hands

So, this part reminds me of two things from my childhood: riding my bicycle down and uphill all the time and visiting the ocean a lot during the summer (I love the ocean so much and its smell and beauty). Both of these happened mostly because of my grandparents. I used to spend every two Saturdays the day at my grandparents' because, after the divorce, I had a single mom for a while and that was her "rest day" (I would only spend a whole day with her every two Sundays ^^')

Mom and dad had the very last big fight Two homes and now I gotta pick a side Took a moment but now I understand

I never had to pick a side because my parents divorced when I was too young to remember... However, the second line in particular hits like a truck. I heard my whole life "who do you like the most? Mom or dad?" and obviously, I have an answer for it. I just don't dare saying it because both are trying their best, even if they don't always make the best decisions.

This question always struck me as weird: why the fuck do you care?

What even is the point of "picking a side"? I'm a child of both of them and I love them both (sidenote: try to not cry on the train challenge. Yes I'm writing this on a train)

Skipping the chorus for now.

I lost touch with some old friends We grew apart, guess it happens But I met people I'll never forget

Yeah, this is self-explanatory. People come and go. Took me some years to accept it. Destroyed my mental health about it. But this past year I finally let go of one of my biggest "ghosts" and I met so many new and wonderful people.

I broke hearts til they broke mine Made love in the moonlight I've done things I'll never regret

I got my heart broken by a new person, but I'm okay. Now we meme about it (me and my besties).

Something I did last year and I don't regret: going to Madrid for a Joker Out concert. Amazing experience, 10/10

Yes I've been a mess Been a fool And tears did fall But then again at least I felt it all Maybe I've cried Maybe I've laughed And maybe it's sad It was the best year of my life Yeah, I've been so mad And I've been so reckless But when I look back It was the best year of my life It was the best year of my life The best year of my life

This is just a list of emotions BUT! I want to want to talk about the "But then again at least I felt it all".

I had a very dark moment in my life when I couldn't feel anything and then I had to relearn how to feel emotions.

2023 was definitely the year I made the best progress in accepting my emotions again, and this is my favorite line of the whole song.

2023 might not have been the best year of my life, but this song hits too close to home, and right now it's my favorite Ale song.

I hope she knows that this song is amazing and it makes me feel like a little girl again just enjoying my life with no worries. I just want to dance to this song. I just feel so happy and proud of my progress with it.

Alessandra, thank you for this masterpiece 💛

[thesinglesjukebox]

GUNNA - "FUKUMEAN"

From Daniel, a post-release single that reached the top 5 in the US (and #1 in *checks notes* Latvia?)...

[4.85]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: I'll be honest, I really thought Gunna's career was over after taking a plea deal related to Young Thug's ongoing RICO case. Hip hop doesn't like the potential of cooperation with the law, let alone snitching, so we had several months of high-ranking peers throwing shots at Gunna and op-eds with titles like "Did Gunna's Plea Deal Get Him Shunned?" Regardless, "Fukumean' is the biggest hit of his post-"Drip Too Hard" career; whatever his billion-stream track with Nav sounds like, it doesn't have the narrative of overcoming struggle and shrugging off the naysayers. Which is hilarious because this is very much business as usual, a triplet-tripping filip with a genderless chorus of synthetic sneers every few beats: "FUCK YOU MEEEANNN?!?" I couldn't tell you a single memorable bar that Gunna delivers here, and yet this song has been stuck in my head all year. It's the least defiant show of public defiance in some time, the "Dust Off Your Shoulder" mantra as an eyeroll, a club-engineered megahit that doesn't tidy up click-clacking sounds of swaying jewellery or clinking ice cubes by the microphone. It's not laziness, or rebellion, or pretending everything's okay, but some weird amalgamation of the three and I don't know what the fukthatmeans. [6]

Oliver Maier: I've written before that Gunna's real strength is an ear for beats that suit his bleakly restrained style. That's true here: the "ee-yah" noise is an unlikely earworm that I can imagine other rappers instantly passing on, but this lacks the winning stupidity of "pushin P", the sugariness of "SKYBOX" or "DOLLAZ ON MY HEAD", or whatever "Speed It Up" has that makes me love it so much. [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I still listen to Gunna in desperate hope that I can one day reclaim the pure glee I experienced the first time I heard "Drip Too Hard." This doesn't quite get there -- Gunna (understandably) sounds slightly defeated here -- a resolute figure of survival, but not one that's having all that much fun even as he talks about "shittin on all you lil' turds." And if you deliver that line deadpan I'm not sure we have the same musical goals. [5]

Will Adams: Three things: an annoyed and/or annoying "...yeah?"; the title hook, delivered as a schoolyard taunt; "shittin' on all you lil' turds". Even at two minutes, "Fukumean" is light on ideas, and the ones available are only kind of good. [4]

Ian Mathers: Some songs would get by on either the "fuck you mean?" bit of the "a-yup" bit, and they'd be fine. Using both well in about two minutes that also fits in a compelling performance from Gunna (lots of lines are just sticking with me, I've been muttering "I see the ho with precision/Get rich my only decision" to myself for a bit) ought to be gilding the lily, but it feels just about right. [8]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Every "eeeyahh" is methodical, consuming, and withering: "Fukumean" isn't an all out assault of swagger so much as a series of waves meant to drag you out from shore. [7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: My immediate reaction was to think of the repeated squeaking in "The Box," but this is a track so deflated and bare that everything is reduced to a haze. The hook is so much of a non-presence it's hard to care -- it's sung with the insistence of children fighting sleep. [4]

Micha Cavaseno: Gunna's been boring before, so him half-heartedly going in over a particularly uninspired detuned piano loop here isn't a disappointment as much as it's further validation of how little he's ever had going on for him as a rapper. Hell, the best part of this song isn't even himself, it's the backing vocal chorus (which truthfully has nothing to do with him and might even overshadow him?). But yeah, Gunna remains one-note as ever though I'm glad he's separated himself from perhaps the most noxious legal trial to ever involve rapper(s). I'll take Atlanta's rap scene being unlistenable over their rap scene being mass incarcerated any day. [2]

Taylor Alatorre: Opinions may differ on this, but I personally don't enjoy being yelled at. I don't have this issue with Bone Crusher on "Never Scared" or Lil Jon on "Bia' Bia'," who are both much louder, but for some reason I can't help feeling that the Greek chorus (Atlantan chorus?) in "Fukumean" is shouting the title phrase at me specifically. Like, what did I do, Gunna? I mostly liked a Gift & a Curse! The song's official instrumental includes neither this hook nor the possibly Sho Madjozi-inspired "iyah" vocalization; going by the YouTube comments bemoaning their absence, it's these two elements that have most fueled its staying power. They do indeed make it memorable, and instantly recognizable in a public setting. Apart from those steady drips of attitude, though, there just isn't much to feed on here. [5]

Nortey Dowuona: "A music writer handed a Gunna song to discuss finds himself confronted by several problems, not the least which is the necessity of squaring with his conscience the fact he is discussing Gunna at all." -- mostly copied from James Baldwin on James M. Cain's The Moth in The Cross of Redemption, page 291. [0]

Brad Shoup: Might be the absurd amount of Post Malone I streamed this year, but I'm trying not to underrate the modern compact pop-rap single. But he doesn't have any lines better than the (very good) hooks. [5]

Katherine St Asaph: Rarely does one hear a track with such monumental determination to not bang. In a way, it's impressive. [5]

Alfred Soto: Dependent on its hook, this obscene banality barely exists -- a bit like Gunna himself. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[etrosgate]

heey eliza（＾∀＾●）ﾉｼ

i interpreted this ask as the last 5 songs i listened to, but i guess it could be your 5 most listened-to songs right now? who knows! unrelatedly (or, well, relatedly actually) i keep seeing you tweet about enstars and was wondering if you have any song recs :)c

🎶✨️when u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)🎶✨️

hehehehe. for general music, the 5 songs i've been into lately:

i can't stop listening to this gumi cover of nin's closer for some reason

kiss by buck-tick. since i've been very into shiki again

oops an enstars song snuck in here. it's lemon squash cheers by crazy-b and 2wink. perhaps i've been listening to my own cover of it 😶

ragequitted by black dresses. and the full album (forever in your heart) in general, i tend to listen to the full thing from start to finish instead of individual songs

don't forget about me by anomie train. one of my favorite synthv original discoveries. sometimes you just need a little song about a vsynth contemplating their eventual obsolescence

as far as enstars goes;

lets get the stuff i don't have 1 million words to say about out of the way first:

crazy-b's entire discography is really fun, but i could listen to the aforementioned Lemon Squash Cheers and Be The Party Bee! all day

i also love all of alkaloid's discography. it's just a style of music i really enjoy. can't really pick out faves

the tempest night by fine. so funky, i've played this so many times in the rhythm game

melty kitchen by ra*bits. extremely cutesy and i get the chorus stuck in my head all the time

stippling by double face. idk i just think it's really pretty

moonlight disco by getto spectacle. a classic.

marine blue rendezvous, kanata's solo. it's so soothing, i've definitely put this on loop and zoned out for a few peaceful hours.

i love listening to the cover of (RE)PLAY by eden and trickstar. even if the flute part is bizarrely prominent.

okay now i get to gush about my faves <3, eden (made up of sub-units adam+eve). their vocal performances are always really fantastic. and they tend to have really great choreography. in-universe they're one of the Big 3 most successful/popular units, and unlike fine and knights (sorry) they've really sold me on why. even if some of their songs will have me oscillating between "maybe this song isn't very good" to "this song is their best one" as i listen to it.

ANYWAYS, im about to talk way too much about eden.

something neat about enstars is that the va's are instructed to sing in-character, one of my favorite aspects of this is how jun's va sings from their earliest songs compared to now.

in Sunlit Summer (earliest in the the timeline, and a favorite of mine lol), hiyori and jun sound so similar it's genuinely difficult to figure out who's singing what by ear. and this is intentional!

at the point when eden is formed, jun is in a place where he has very little sense of identity, terrified to voice any personal opinion or desire, crafted by his former environment to be subservient. so in his early vocal performances he is literally imitating hiyori's vocal style, doing everything in his power to vanish into hiyori's shadow. early eve songs in general are very distinctly "hiyori" in sound, vocals and orchestration. (and ibara, as their producer, crafted in an inherent hierarchy of hiyori being the Center and jun Support at the beginning. which is reflected in adam too but that's off topic)

so it's really fantastic to see how much has changed as the timeline goes forward, such as eve's most recent song, Ruby Love, where Jun sounds distinctly like Himself (even though he retains elements of his inspirations like hiyori and jin sagami), is the center with hiyori playing support, and the song itself is a style of music very Jun. as part of an event where jun actually feels equal enough with the rest of eden to voice a dissenting opinion from everyone else! it's really satisfying to see.

tangentially related, jun's solo (Back-Alley Monologue) might be one of my favorite ballad's like, Ever. the performance is gorgeous and tender on its own, but every time i actually think about the lyrics about how eden saved jun from the worst time in his life, and how being with them is so much everything that he's ever wanted that it feels like an impossible dream. it makes me so emotional that my stomach hurts. if i hear this song in a vulnerable moment i might die.

another i really love is Deep Eclipse. it's pretty notable for being very different from the rest of the discography, a sweet and soft and kinda inspirational song (so different that many people who don't read eden stories think it's their worst song, that it doesn't suit them). this difference is important for a few reasons;

eden as a unit was created to be particularly artificial compared to most enstars units, with highly crafted stage personas and even a clause in the contract forbidding personal relationships between members. their unit concept is literally being The Antagonists who seek to corrupt the world into sin (particularly adam, where nagisa's stage persona as God is so different to his personality that ibara literally writes scripts for him to follow).

HOWEVER, instead what happens is all the members build a deep connection with each other, to the point that they become THE most important people in their lives, and they inspire each other to become better, happier people. i'm pretty sure every member (excluding ibara, because he's extremely repressed) has explicitly said that eden saved them.

and so Deep Eclipse is notable, for being a song where the Stage Personas are dropped the most, for being very emotionally honestly and vulnerable, and being about healing from their trauma (which, being enstars, is substantial). it's probably The biggest example of how the unit has changed from what it was supposed to be when it was formed. also the singing is really pretty.

okay that's enough of that i'll just do general recs for actual sound now:

ibara's solo Poison Strategy is an absolute banger. even if it's basically just a song about being The Poisoner.

cannot overstate how ibara's Concept in eden is literally the poisoner. and in real life. he loves to be evil.

i think Ruler's Truth is my fave adam song

i love every eve song. Sunlit Summer is my fave i listen to it everytime i want a sunlit summer. Trap For You is my fave, yaoibait aside it's soooo fun to listen to. Ruby Love is my fave, idc if its gay club music!

love Faith Conquest. i will defend hiyori's weirdly autotuned wail that sounds like he's dying.

lyrics aside, i really love the sound of Dance in the Apocalypse

on a non-eden tangent. i haven't really read any valkyrie stuff, but i do really love the ex-valkyrie songs, for how well they evoke the absolutely terrible fucked up state of the unit in that moment of time.

A Castle Built of Sand and Sacred Youth's Games are very clearly both about the imminent self-destruction of the unit, in a meta sense. the former in a bittersweet tragic mourning of everything good that original valkyrie had, and the latter dwelling in the misery of everything terrible about it.

Sacred Youth's Games especially, it's a song that sound like anxiety. the sharpness to the vocals in general, the vocal parts feeling like the ebb and flow of an argument that occasionally breaks into a shouting match and how the chaotic instrumentation sounds like it'll fall apart if one note gets out of place. all while still being convincingly like a professional song they would feasibly be performing in-universe

OKAY IM DONE

[igarbagecannoteven]

megs!! hello!! good evening!! i want literally all of the things from your ask game so just imagine im copypasting all the emojis. tell me all the things!! love you so much missing you lots xoxo give the babygirl a kiss from me since she will never accept one from me anyway

bella!! hiya!! good evening!! (of the next evening but the sentiment still stands lol) love you so so much prilla and i miss you i will give her kisses for you 💙

🤘: so. you get the cursed song since you cannot cut ties from me now that we've signed a year-long lease :)) the song i've been looping all day is BOGOS BINTED by Ida Deerz ft Kaj Strife & 2a03fox which is. well. furry music (with a suicide ment tw for anyone who needs it) and i am not (that) ashamed to say it kinda slaps (you probs won't like it tho sdklfjsdlkjfsd) i mean the chorus is hella catchy! non-cursed song recs are Kid Fears by The Indigo Girls and The Wood Song also by The Indigo Girls (also Galileo which is also by them lol)

👀: okay this is a series of three fics but riverdale belongs to the gays by boos is a *very* good canon divergent (mostly bc it was written during like season 2 or something) exploration of both canon & non-canon events through the lens of the core four all being queer (with ace jughead!!) but if you'd like something (much) shorter there's The Real Suspension of Disbelief by punk_rock_yuppie which is jarchie with ace!jughead :))

🖇️: okay so this idea is actually inspired by a discussion topic from a philosophy class i took so it's a little weird and angsty BUT it's a sci-fi/dystopian au where people use teleportation devices like the ones in star trek and person a, who's used the teleportation device in the past, dies for unrelated reasons (maybe a hovercraft crash or a plague or something idk yet) and their significant other, person b, who's half-mad with grief, breaks into the records of the company who makes the teleportation devices and gets the data for the exact molecular make-up of person a and makes it materialize on one of the transport pads, "bringing them back to life". *however*this is a past version of person a since it's been a minute since they used teleportation (i haven't decided how long yet, at least a few months i think) and so they think they're going to, like, visit their mom or whatever but then they teleport into a scene where their bf's getting dragged away by security and it's x months/years later. cue the realization that a version of themselves actually died, blah blah blah, the question of do they have a soul comes up bc i'm me, etc etc, some other loved ones not accepting them as the "real" person a,,, it wouldn't really be a "they came back wrong" story but there would be elements of that bc regardless of how long it's been btwn the use of the teleportation device and their death, there will be memories that person b has that person a does not, and there's the classic identity crisis aspect and yeah. classic cheerful megs fic sdkljflkdsjklfjsdlkjf

😈: inspired by the job hunting process, my hashtag hot take of the day is that a job where you're handling people's financials and requires you to have a college degree should pay more than a cashier job at a upscale supermarket where a high school degree is preferred but not required 🙃

🧠: okay so uh. major spoilers for dungeons and daddies season 2 below the cut if anyone cares about that lol

so the latest episode of my favorite podcast (also the only one i listen to regularly but that's not relevant) they revealed that my favorite npc (grant wilson, son of a pc in s1 and dad of pc in s2) was transported to the titanic just b4 it hit the iceberg along with his fiance (it was either the night b4 their wedding or the day of) and that's where he found, rescued from death, and then adopted his son (lincoln, one of the player characters) and like. listen. this is The Podcast Of Wild Ass Rides(tm), after all it was only a couple arcs ago that the cast of family guy fought the fbi over who could attack the cast only for a giant flying dog to rescue the cast, brutally murdering family guy and the fbi in the process b4 flying the cast up to heaven's gates (longggg story lol), not to mention all the main characters getting married to survive the vacuum of space, HOWEVER. all of those buckwild things all had mostly reasonable explanations if you've listened to the whole show (the fbi trying to break into hell, goofs realm being a quasi-family guy reality with cursed standup, trying to rescue a half demon from the iss, that sort of thing) and the titanic is the first thing that seems to come completely out of left field. does this mean there's some great significance about the titanic that we just don't know yet??? is it supposed to tip us off to the fact that grant's husband knows more than it's seemed??? was it just to riff on the movie titanic??? who knows!!! anthony (the dm) what are you planning!!!

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

hey Пчёлка! (sorry for the unoriginality but it's literally 3am 😅)

IT SNOWED TODAY!!!! not a lot but i'm still excited :D

I gotta answer the favourite ice cream flavour question from the ask game first because I've found out something very interesting.

Ok so i'm about to say something very weird and apparently very Canadian, but my favourite ice cream flavour is tiger tail(tiger tiger, tiger, tiger stripe. I've seen many variations) ANYway this is gonna sound like a weird combo if you haven't tried it but it's basically orange ice cream with black licorice ice cream swirled throughout it (weird ik) but while I was looking up the actual proper name of the ice cream I found out it's a Canadian only thing, not only that but it's a regional flavour so only certain parts of Canada has it???

anyway I fell down a loop hole and now need to know what you call the metal shopping carts at the store, knitted caps that you wear during winter, and also what do you call you 1 dollar coins? (buggy, tuque, and loonie for me)

November kinda sucked but it's the last week (were'd all the time go?) I started a new job this week which is really exciting

DUDE I WAS JUST ABOUT TO START PRIORY OT THE ORANGE TREE! it's been sitting on my bookshelf for way too long

I finally seen legally blonde and it was sooooo good, I watched in with a group so i'll probably need to re-watch it later, oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

IT isn't actually that scary unless you don't like clowns, in which case it might not be your piece of cake

man weather is so weird. one time at the end of august I remember it started to snow while we were driving home not for very long but still strange. I had you use the converter thingy to understand 70°F but 21°C IS UNREASONABLE FOR FALL! THAT SOUNDS TERRIBLE. Right now its -1°C with the low for tomorrow(today now) at -13°C which i'm kinda dreading.

it's not really important but I did want to say when I started talking to you I was using she/they(i think i was?) but now i'm using they/them so that's cool I guess 👍

regale me with your random LOTR facts I only knew 2 of the last facts so if you have more i'd love to hear them!

I also liked to mix up spices when cooking as a kid. Most of the time it didn't work well but one time I found out that if you're making a sweet carrot cake (or cakes like that) and you're making cream cheese frosting, adding a bit of garam masala to the frosting adds a bit of a kick and cuts the sweetness in a non overpowering way!

i'm so glad I can further continue my 'everyone I talk to must listen to alvvays' agenda. I don't think I have a favourite song on the album but I do love Pressed and Belinda Says. Also turns out that Blue Rev is a Canadian only drink made Ontario.

y'know what's homophobic to me specifically? Both my favourite bands have only 1 show here and it's in Toronto (very far from me) IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER. Toronto winters aren't particularly nice.

Music thoughts from the last couple of days are really old french songs (the classics from like Lucienne Boyer and Edith Piaf, that kind of music) they all kinda remind me of the comforting orange of street lamps in the dark and drawing before going to bed

signed someone who's literally so close to falling asleep

-el

IM SO SORRY MY INBOX INTIMIDATES ME AND SOMETIMES I JUST IGNORE IT

Hello my darlin’ El!! My favorite Canadian! My favorite anon!

Nothing to apologize for, my dear. That nickname is probably my favorite ever, I’ll never get tired of it

SNOW, that’s so cool!!! We actually got a little bit here in the last couple weeks too! Barely any, but something!! Just a ✨dusting✨

Okay so that sounds so strange and I HAVE to try it. If I ever visit Canada, I am searching this out 👀 Idk if it’s regional, but we have a snow cone flavor called tiger’s blood! It’s kind of like a fruit punch sort of flavor. I was more of a cotton candy kid. Or the weirdo who got banana flavor

Regional dialects are so fucking cool!!! For us, it’s shopping cart, beanie, and penny!idk what it is but tuque is just such a fun word. Very pleasing to say, feels nice, idk. Maybe I’m just a weirdo LMAO. I’m trying to think of some of the weirder regional words, but my brain is so empty right now.

Oh congrats on the new job!!! How is it going?? I’m sorry your November was rough, I hope December treated you more kindly! It’s been a rollercoaster for me, but I have a feeling 2023 will be a good year for me. I’m being stubbornly optimistic 🫡

Speaking of!!! Happy new year! Do you have any resolutions??

Did you start Priory? If you have, what do you think?? It’s high on my list, but I recently got One Last Stop and Gideon the Ninth, so I bumped it down. I’ve GOT to read OLS so I can read the Ronance au, and Gideon the Ninth is just,,, lesbian necromancers in space and I’ve been obsessed with it despite not reading it ever

Oklahoma weather my beloathed! She’s a wicked she-devil!! We’ve gone from a pleasant 21°C to -29°C wind chills in the span of a week!! I love it soooooooo much!!! (Kill me please.) I hope your weather has been tamer and you’re staying warm up north!!

Oh that’s so cool dude!! Good to know!! I’ll make sure I remember <33 They/them pronouns kinda hit different man. I’ve swapped mine officially from she/they to they/she. Not a huge difference but something in my chest feels so much lighter with they 🥰 Gender fuckery is fun

More silly LOTR facts, eh? Well, J*ke G*llenhall auditioned for the role of Frodo Baggins! Supposedly it was one of the worst auditions! Christopher Lee, Saruman, is the only actor to have met JRR Tolkien himself! Believe it or not, Nicolas Cage was the original pick to play Aragorn! I still think Viggo Mortensen is one of the best casting choices of all time tho, sorry Nick

Oh I’ve never heard of that! I’m writing it down for future baking purposes 🫡 I have recently discovered that garlic powder and onion powder are my best friends and I will put that shit on everything

Incredible choices! I need to give the album another listen. Maybe I can Ronanceify a song in your honor <33

That’s terrible!!! I am so very sorry <33 I get the feeling man, even a lot of US tours just,,, skip over Oklahoma. I’m sooooooooo bitter about Noah Kahan not stopping by somewhere I can see him. The closest show is a state away, 4 hour drive with current gas and hotel prices? YIKES. But! I got Paramore tickets and I WILL lose my entire shit that day

Definitely will check those out! Personal music thoughts for me,, still obsessing over the entire Stick Season album, but The View Between Villages especially. Been really into the hot gay girl shit/lesbian villain arc kind of genre. Devil Is A Woman by Cloudy June? Incredible

With warmth and sincere apologies for the weight,

- Max/Lo

[oscarseyebrow]

🎶 ❌🤲

thank you for sending these in, lovely!

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

it really does depend. sometimes i love listening to music while i write, other times i need complete silence so that i can concentrate. if i'm trying to get into the mood of a scene, i often listen to character-vibe songs that i've chosen but other times i love listening to things like the inception soundtrack or the interstellar soundtrack. recently i've been listening to my 'general poe' playlist a lot in hopes that my writing muse will return from war.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

okay, i had to really think about this one because i think i'd try most things once, aside from the obvious no-go themes (non-con, incest, etc)

i think i'm probably going to go for something where the reader would have to change to please the character they were paired with. also anything with stalking because no thank you.

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

i absolutely will! here's a tiny, unedited snippet from my din in the rain fic i'm working on: The sight before you is breathtaking in its beauty: Din with his face tilted upwards to feel the patter of raindrops on his face for the first time in years. His eyelashes flutter and close, leaving you to watch with pure admiration as droplets of water caress his face in a way that very few people ever had.

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2021-08-23

I have been injected full of delicious viral chunks and my body is producing powerful enzymes from complex proteins you couldn't even comprehend.

Listening: "Peace for Triple Piano" is a mathematical musical art piece done by Vi Hart and Henry Segerman. It could really go in the "watching" section but I also just really like the song, so.

The video is a spherical video, so you'll want to click and drag around in it (although there's a stereographic projection here if you want to see everything at once) and it is actually one, single video taken by one spherical camera, expanded out onto the plane, and then wrapped back on itself 3× (as a cube root in the complex plane)

Each resulting third of the repeated video is then timeshifted by a third of the length of the song's main loop, producing a song that is in round with a video of itself, where the various Vi Harts and Henry Segermans move around the weird triple piano. It's intended to be a kind of time crystal, which is to say, a structure that only has (non-trivial) symmetry in time AND space together.

There's a lot of interesting things going on in this video and I highly recommend you watch it and then the "Making Of" video, which also features an equirectangular projection of the video at the end so you can see everything at once.

Reading: A mixture of Wizard Stories and fanfic, I really enjoyed the "Guyal of Sfere" story from Dying Earth this week, it's a very Rules Lawyer-y story with some good Spooky Vignettes, the insatiable desire for knowledge, and also ghosts. I've been reading more of the Wizard Stuff mostly because I have Wizards showing up soon in my Pathfinder game and I want them to be suitably insufferable.

Watching: ROV Hercules and ROV Falkor from EVNautilus and Schmidt Ocean Research both put out some interesting overview videos. In particular here's one from Falkor about the construction of the ROV umbilical.:

Playing: Pathfinder game with the high school friends, I'm about to get into dealing with Character Plot Motivations but first they had to fight several dinosaurs. As much as I like simple RPG's it is cool to have something really complicated so that you can do really specific puzzles like "Can I throw an axe to chop down the branch those goblins are sitting on" or "what happens, exactly, if I fall in leech-infested waters" and the Pathfinder system really does provide a lot of mechanical answers.

Making: Not too much this week around, but I did do some Home Improvement. My dad manages shipping for a chemical plant, so he deals with a truly absurd number of spreadsheets. We set him up with a third screen (he's been using dual-monitors for years already) which involved whipping up some spacers and blocks to clamp an arm onto an antique desk without damaging anything.

Computer Stuff: I finally set up Calibre on my new PC since I was mostly reading old eBooks off my kindle until recently. Calibre is exceedingly useful, it's the best way to manage an eBook library. A cool feature I didn't know it had until now is the ability to pull books back off a Kindle, so when I was transferring a new book across I also just pulled my library onto this computer off the Kindle all in one shot. Pretty neat!

It's not a pretty program but it gets the job done, and you can fine tune the ebook reader it comes with pretty much to your liking if you have an okay hold of CSS, although you could just point it at a reader of your choice.

[incorrecttwoset]

Lesson time with Dani:

I think the lesson we all learned here today is that I probably shouldn't look down on kpop too much. But then, I have listened to a lot of vocaloid and read along with the lyrics which get pretty intense sometimes. I would give examples but Prof. Nic has gone through many a phase and I cannot remember all of them. (And some i dont want to remember)

So, lets get on with the... songs? Pieces? Lyrics? Shall we?

1. Opera: Verdi - La Travita, Aria: Sempre Libera (Always Free), Character: Violetta. Lol i seriously thought that this was a pop song I havent heard of. But when i realized how this game was gonna go, aka when they revealed that it was opera and a translation thing, i stepped up my guessing game. But like SERIOUSLY THOOOOO. Who could've known? (Probably the singer or a person who actually understands the language) But damn son. Quiz-sama ain't playin aROUND.

2. Pop: Arianna Grande - Imagine. When i read the lyrics, i knew iMMEDIATELY. Why wouldn't I when I live with a sister who blared this fucking sing day in and out. (No offense sis, no offense Arianna) But like, when i saw that Twoset thought this was an opera? Oh bOI. Thank goodness I'm great at controlling my reactions. Because fam, I would've laughed my ass off in disbelief like what the fuck. I'd understand Brett's ignorance but Eddy too? Damn. (Brett's lofi intensifies)

3. Pop: Billie Eilish - . I honestly thought that this was like- okay, my thought process had phases. First sentence I thought "okay this sounds like that one Arianna Grande song." When I got to the "set fire" part, I thought "adele?" And then when i read "burn", i thought "is this that really old song? The "and im gonna let it burn burn burn" thing?" As you can see, all my song guesses were wrong. At least I got the genre. And like me, the bois were learning. (Cue that bear grylls meme)

4. Opera: Tchaikovsky- Eugene Onegin, Aria: Ya lyublyu vas, Olga (I love you, Olga), Character: Lensky. Like what Eddy said, this one's pretty obvious. Also, "I can see why people like opera now. I'm getting old." "Why yes, I do love opera as well." I say, a not legally an adult person. But like, seriously tho. Opera is good. Granted, I havent listened to a lot and to be frank the only opera I've listened to all the way is the Magic Flute but like- its good stuff. Only thing I want is to be able to appreciate it better. (Also check out Patricia Janeckova's recording of the Doll Song. I love it, its wonderful)

5. Opera: Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor, Aria: Il Dolce Suono (The Sweet Sound), Character: Lucia. I'll admit that Eddy's singing threw me off a lil but I guessed opera. With... not a lot of conviction. Sounded like something Lana del Rey would write okay.

6. Opera: Mozart - Don Giovanni, Aria: Madamina, il catalogo e questo (Dear lady, this is the list), Character: Leporello. I thought that this was either some really obscure rap, or weird opera. I couldn't decide so I just let it play out. When I saw it was opera, I was confused. Then, I wasn't because I saw that Mozart wrote it. I swear, Mozart would make a killing as a rapper or some kind of foulmouthed idol if he was born in modern times. Also, small Edwina and Brettany cameo!!!!!

7. Opera: Bizet - Carmen, Aria: Tout Doux, Moniseur (Softly, Sir), Character: Carmen. Honestly, by this point of the video (when I watched it for the first time) I was just straight guessing opera. Although, if the lyrics were rephrased, this line could fit in perfectly somewhere in a pop song. And also, I did not expect the dRAMATICNESS of the singing when they played that excerpt. Like, wOW OKAY. I mean it makes sense for Carmen as a character... and the language they used it in... and the style of opera... okay I really can't say anything about the extraness can I?

8. Pop: Billie Eilish - No time to die. I knew it was pop. (Rhyme scheme and lyric pattern and subject matter too predictable babey) But the fact that it was by Billie Eilish was what confused me. Idky, but them lyrics givin me Taylor Swift vibes. Or Lana del Rey vibes if you slow it down and make it "dreamy".

9. KPOP: Blackpink - Kill this love. This one was sUUUUUPER ambiguous to me. It was very eloquent and poetic in a sense. But then it also gave out pop vibes. I couldn't answer though I leaned more towards opera. But when i saw that it was Blackpink's Kill this love? My brain melted out my ears. I mEAN ITS IN KOREAN ITS A TRANSLATION THING. That still doesn't excuse the fact that im very- aSDFGHJKL about it.

10. Opera: Dvorak - Rusalka, Aria: Mesicku na nebi hublokem (Song to the moon), Character: Rusalka. This one was very obviously opera to me. But dem kpop lyrics threw me for a loop man! I went opera but yall, I was dOUBTING.

11. Pop: Charlie Puth - Attention. Was there really any need to guess this one? Although, if you've never been exposed to pop music and are hearing them for the first time then thats okay. We're all learning.

12. Opera: Mozart - Cosi Fan Tutte (All Women Do It), Aria: In Uomini in Soldati (In men, in soldiers), Character - Despina. I sincerely thought that this was a really obscure rap. And I wasn't surprised when it said that Mozart wrote this opera. (His creepy smiling face tho...)

13. Pop: Justin Bieber - Sorry. Like I said in number 11, was there really any need to guess. And Brett's (albeit braindead) singing of Super Junior's Sorry Sorry is- aUGHCK MY STAN HEART. I WAS ALREADY SLAUGHTERED BY HIM WEARING THE VIOLIN BUTTON UP AND HIS ADORABLENESS AND HIS DADDYNESS OTHER NON ADORABLE QUALITIES. Ughhhhh. Jesus christ i really have to simp for Brett in each of these posts huh?

14. Pop: Taylor Swift - Delicate. I thought that this was fOR SURE an Arianna Grande song. Because of that one song with the sleep thing. But ugh, Eddy's assumption of the song was just too good not to be mentioned. (And also because i need to fill these paragraphs but like- dat voice dow) And oh gOD SEEING THEM LAUGH TOGETHER AND VIBE LIKE THAT? IM- wow look I just died of blood loss.

15. KPOP: BTS - On. Brett picking opera and falling off his chair is me. Quiz-sama. Mercy. Mercy pLEASE. Dude, translated kpop is intense.

Also editor-san was on fIRE TONIGHT. The sass was very string today. Fuck, i LOVE IT. Wait. Holy shit I just realized something. Editor-san, subtitler-san, and quiz-sama. The holy trinity of subtle twoset humor and behind the screen action. The cast is huge and i am a simp for all of them.

[doyoungdelrey]

Oh, what the heck, I'll just do it I guess.

1. "Tempo", "Lullaby" and "Shoot Me". Around February of 2019.

2. EXO, Day6, Twice, GOT7, BTS (although it's been a while since I've followed up on them) and (maybe) Red Velvet.

3. Chanyeol from EXO. It was originally Jinyoung from Got7 b/c he was the only person I could tell apart from the group, but as I started getting into more groups, that kinda faded. But one day, I watched "SSFW" and a bunch of crack videos and that was it, that's how I knew he was my ult. He plays guitar/instruments, raps, sings, acts, is good looking EVERY comeback, a loud ass tree, a sweet and humble man and cuz I'm a sucker for guitar players.

4. For no apparent reason, I cry when I listen to "BDZ" by Twice, maybe it's bc I saw the video of the girls performing it in Japan and a fan started to cry, so I cry when I hear this song and it makes me want to go out and do more things. However, songs such as "Universe" and "Miracle" (bc of the MV) make me cry as well.

5. In no particular order (I only have 8 cuz I haven't listened to a lot of albums): EX'ACT, Fancy You, Spinning Top, Remember Us: Part 2, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever, CLE 1: miroh, Verse 2, City Lights

6. It was Jackson from GOT7, but now idk anymore. (maybe it still is.)

7. Maybe Miroh by Stray Kids or Cherry Bomb by NCT 127. Although I have a special place in my heart for Fancy.

8. Some of the songs are non-kpop, but I'll put all the kpop songs I have on shuffle: 24/7 (EXO), TMT (Stray Kids), What Can I do (Day6), Love Loop (GOT7, I know it is Japanese.) and Turn it Up (TWICE).

9. He is Psychometric cuz that's the only one I watched lol. Or Goodbye to Goodbye cuz Jun from U-Kiss is in it.

10. I havent listened to any OST yet.

11. Jeongyeon/Nayeon/Mina (TWICE), Rose (Blackpink), Solar (Mamamoo), Dowoon (Day6), JB/Jinyoung (Got7), Baekhyun/Suho (EXO), Changbin (Stray Kids), Jungkook/Suga (BTS), Seulgi (Red Velvet). At this point it's more than 10 and I stopped counting.

12. SNSD, Super Junior (I like siwon and heechul)

13. Stray Kids.

14. "Daydream" by J-hope or "Look" by Got7.

15. Idk, they're all cool. Maybe JJ project or EXO-CBX (I know they're sub-units)

16. Since early February 2019

17. I do not follow too many kpop blogs. But suggest some for me :)

18. Nope. I had to sell mine. If all goes well and I get a job, I plan on getting either Love Shot, What a Life, City Lights or Remember Us: Youth Part 2. Y'all choose for me, okay?

19. Twice, EXO, Day6, Stray Kids, Red Velvet (I already went to a Got7 concert and BTS concerts, idk if I wanna go)

20. Dean, Chung Ha, Sunmi (my ult female idol)

21. Tempo (barely), Fancy (the chorus). I can sing "Days Gone By" and play the rhythm parts on guitar.

22. Youngjae (Got7), Chanyeol (EXO), Sunmi or Bang Chan (Stray Kids). They look like they give nice hugs.

23. I haven't dived too deep into those groups yet, but imma have to say Wonder Girls or 2PM.

24. Youngjae. We're both loud and sometimes our laughs tend to be more of the laughing point than the actual joke.

25. Bang Chan. He seems the most friendliest of all the idols I've caught up on thus far, although Young K comes in a close second. Or Sunmi, she seems really nice and I can have a good conversation with her.

K-Pop Ask Game

What was the first song you heard by your bias group? When did you hear it?

List your top 5 favorite k-pop groups.

Who is your ultimate bias and why?

Has a k-pop song or music video ever made you cry?

Name your top 10 favorite k-pop albums.

Who is the funniest idol in your opinion?

What is your favorite k-pop choreo?

Put your playlist on shuffle and list the first 5 songs that play.

What is your favorite k-drama that any k-pop idol has played a part in?

What is your favorite OST by a k-pop group/idol?

List your top 10 bias wreckers.

What is the oldest group that you stan?

What is the youngest group you stan?

Do you have a favorite music video of all time? If so, what?

What is the most underrated/under-appreciated group you stan?

How long have you been listening to k-pop?

Do you have a favorite k-pop blog? If so, tag them.

Do you own any k-pop albums? If so, how many?

Name the top 5 groups you’d like to see live.

Who is your favorite soloist?

Are there any k-pop songs that you can sing or dance to? If so, which ones?

Is there an idol you’d like to hug? If so, who?

What groups do you like that have either disbanded or disappeared?

What idol do you think you have the most in common with?

If you could hang out with any of your biases, who would you pick and why?