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iamred-iamyellow · 25 days ago

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⋆ ˚｡⋆౨ৎ˚ Santa Tell Me

♥ masterlist | request rules | 12 days of ficmas

♥ featuring: franco colapinto, lewis hamilton, charles leclerc, carlos sainz, lando norris, and oscar piastri

♥ synopsis: christmas traditions/activities with the drivers

♥ as always none of the pictures are mine

♥ warnings: swearing and vaguely suggestive content !!!

♥ a/n: second day of ficmas !

❅ ── 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐

-your boyfriend Franco has zero pr training and is pretty chronically online. unfortunately for you he came across one of those tiktoks of a girl dressing herself in wrapping paper to the Santa Tell Me lyrics: "oh I wanna let him unwrap me, get on top of him by the fireplace" and suggested you should do it.

"you look amazing mi amor" he laughed as you stepped out into the living room. you were dressed in wrapping paper with a white bow tied around your waist, per his request. once the video was done recording Franco slipped his hands onto your waist, crinkling the decorative paper in the process. "¿Deberíamos hacer lo que sugiere la canción?" (should we do as the song suggests?) he asked while biting his lip and looking between the couch and the fireplace. "this was the only reason you wanted to do this, wasn't it?" you raised a brow. "(eh)...si," he smiled causing you to laugh.

-speaking from personal experience, a latino family christmas can be a huge event. be prepared to meet family members he doesn't even know himself

-KING of joke gifts. probably gets you a duolingo premium membership and his own merch

❅ ── 𝑳𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒐𝒏

-gives you the most thoughtful gifts you've ever received. whether it's expensive or not; he'd buy you a planet if he could.

-christmas vacations are a must. you travel everywhere you can in every break. bonus points if roscoe can tag along.

-to lewis christmas is all about giving back. donating to charity, helping out with F1a, and of course, building bee houses.

-seb added you to a small group chat called “family christmas” and invited the two of you over for holiday. they really did see you as family (or maybe his kids just wanted to see your dog)

❅ ── 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑳𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒄

-the Leclerc family Christmas will definitely be something you look forward to in the future. all the mismatched colors clashed in the most harmonious way the minute you stepped through the door. the tree was covered with ornaments, two red ferrari ones front and center, and there was enough ribbon to fill a small isle in a craft store

-they even had a stocking with your name on it

-you were probably forced to wear a matching ugly christmas sweater for family photos

“alright,” pascale said, shooing everyone from the frame. “one with just the happy couple!” “maman…” charles sighed with a smile, shaking his head. “charles! we’re making memories here!” “yeah charles, we’re making memories.” you giggled.

-after the holidays you most likely took a longggg vacation with pierre and kika

❅ ── 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒔 𝑺𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒛

-expensive expensive gifts. channel, LV, dior? you name it he got it.

-you told him it was such a sweet gesture but you didn’t really need all of those luxuries.

-in response: remember that pink thong with chilli's that valtteri gave to him? yeah, this christmas he gave that to you.

-in all seriousness he loves the winter break. his love languages are physical touch and quality time, so you can guarantee he’ll spend as much time as possible with you. tons of cuddles and his phone will definitely be on silent.

-christmas dinner? no no no, christmas pancakes.

❅ ── 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒔

─ lando is much more hot girl summer than winter bimbo so the two of you probably spend a lot of your winter in sunny areas like ibiza.

-for the week of christmas eve however he flew the two of you back to England in order to do all those classic winter things.

-gingerbread houses! except he’s probably eating all the frosting behind your back AND eating the house as you make it.

“lando!” you gasped dramatically as he broke off a side of the gingerbread roof and bit into it. “what?” he laughed. you peered inside the open house, two tiny cookie people inside. “you’re destroying their home.” he grabbed one of the gingerbread men and bit off its leg with a taunting smirk.

❅ ── 𝑶𝒔𝒄��𝒓 𝑷𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊

-you forced him to listen to justin bieber’s christmas album while you decorated the house and had a heated argument over whether home alone 1 or 2 was better

-if your not oscar’s close family, you cannot reach him during christmas. he’s spending time with the people he loves, therefore he’s off the grid (pun intended)

-ice skating king. he’s honestly shockingly good at it despite not not doing it often. he’s definitely that one guy who can do all the tricks

-like lewis, he gives the most endearing gifts ever. he’s the most wholesome boyfriend

-dressing up his dogs together! you got them these soft sweaters and tons of christmas treats for them. it resulted in the cutest pictures and even a feature on @albon_pets

✧˖ °. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁‧₊˚ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁˖°✧

taglist; @sainzzreputaticn @theseerbetweenus @yawn-zi

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whatthefishh · 2 years ago

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C*ck Therapy

Therapist Steven Grant x patient!camgirl!female reader

Warnings: 18+, taboo relationship, therapist-patient sexual relations, c*ck warming, p in v, unprotected, mentions of cam girl activities, mentions of masturbation, mentions of oral (f rec), umm.. how else do I tag this. Brat taming Steven.

Just 1.8k words of horniness I’m sorry. Beta’d by the lovely @melodygatesauthor

“I’m not moving until you tell me what’s got you so angry, love,” he said while gripping your hips down onto his, not letting you roll them the way you longed to.

See, Steven used to be your therapist. He used to be your kind, respectful, and attentive therapist for about 4 months but that quickly changed when you decided to divulge your secondary income source – your premium content. Subscription based content. Adult modeling. Your camgirl side hustle. Whatever you wanted to call it.

He didn’t take the information as well as you were hoping, stuttering and blushing and not meeting your eyes, and you felt uncomfortable, thinking he was judging you for it. In actuality, Steven had found your profile a few weeks prior to your confession, and couldn’t help but palm himself to your entire content library. He’d never come harder than he had on the first night he stumbled upon one of your videos. It wasn’t long before he became addicted to the way you fell apart on camera.

He knew it was wrong, he knew it was probably against some rule about him being your therapist but he couldn’t help it. You were so intelligent in your sessions with him, always providing great insight on your own issues. You were one of his favourite patients. He was really happy with the progress you were making, and well… Steven couldn’t deny that you were beautiful. He was sure you were well aware of your beauty, so he never fancied himself someone you’d find attractive, especially considering the nature of your relationship. It was sort of forbidden. No, it was forbidden. The guilt didn’t stop him from subscribing to you though.

In your sessions, he never made you feel uncomfortable, he never gave away that he knew about your secret side gig, and he honestly wanted to help you. Steven was genuine in his career, he loved listening to you open up to him. He didn’t think his guilty addiction to you was hindering your growth until you mentioned your videos and apparently it showed on his face. He began stumbling over his words, trying desperately to explain that he wasn’t judging you. When you told him he was making a ‘cringe face’, he was forced to admit that he was actually cringing at himself, not at you. It was a painful few moments for you both.

Long story short, he couldn’t keep seeing you in his office, and decided some private sessions in his home were more appropriate. They usually started off with him bending you over the couch and then asking you how your day went as he righted your clothing, or kissing you messily the second you walked through the door, only to ravenously eat you out on the closest surface he could find. He was insatiable. Half your sessions were him just whining and whimpering about how delicious you were and how he couldn’t believe you were really letting him do this to you. Steven still let you talk, still listened to your issues and still tried to therapize you. It was just after he fucked your brains out.

You came over with an attitude today, irritated by external factors and you were looking forward to Steven fucking it out of your system. When you tried to initiate it with him, to get him to give you what you needed, he pulled back to look at you in concern. He offered to talk first, and you got angry and scoffed in his face, ripping yourself from his grasp. He conceded, telling you to take your frustrations out on him as he sat on the couch you usually laid down on in your sessions, patting his thighs in invitation. You were supposed to ride him, putting all your energy into it and watching his brows furrow as he watched his length disappear inside you again and again.

Today, he was hell-bent on you cockwarming him, claiming it was supposed to get you talking quicker but you were highly doubting the validity of his statement with the way his cock was twitching inside you every few minutes. Your slick was coating your thighs and the hairs at the base of his member, flowing more freely the longer he sat unmoving inside your hot channel. Infuriatingly, he held your hips down with his impossible strength, looking up at you with those sweet brown eyes of his as he repeated his question. Shit, what was the question?

“Hmmm?” you managed, after another unsuccessful attempt at rolling your hips.

“I said, what’s got you so angry today, love? Talk to me. I’ll make it worth it, I promise, but first you have to be good and tell me what’s wrong,” he urged, nudging your chin with his shapely nose.

You had inhale deeply, your breathlessness making it hard for you to speak. God, he really was so thick, wasn’t he? He was filling you up so perfectly, stretching you out at this angle and you had to close your eyes to even think about what you were going to say.

“That girl at work… the one I told you about who leaves all her shit for me to clean up after her shift–”

“Mhmm, keep talking, love,” the vibrations from his chest felt like an electric shock through your body, your back arching at the sensations.

“Ahhh, she-she made a mistake, and blamed me… and, and then I got reamed out by my stupid manager,” you were close to crying now, the anger subsiding slowly, and the feeling of being denied by Steven taking over.

“Ohh, sweetheart, s’not right, is it?” He brushed your hair back and rubbed your cheekbone with his thumb, and you couldn’t help but lean into his palm like a cat needing affection. “S’not your fault. Tell you what, maybe you should quit.”

“Maybe you should fuck me, come on, Steven, just–just make it go away, I need you,” you were whining pathetically, ready to let your fists land on his chest in a rage.

Steven tutted at you. He tutted, like you were a petulant child, like you were just having a tantrum, like a teacher gently disciplining a student, not like you were sitting on his cock, leaking all over him and the couch, staining the taupe suede material with your juices. Leaning forward to softly mouth at your neck, he whispers against it and lets his lips graze your skin.

“I wouldn’t be a good therapist if I didn’t let you talk about it first, would I? That’s not very ‘healing comes from within’ of me,” he laughed at the end of it, his hot breath burning you even further.

Oh, you hate him. You tightened your core when he laughed against you, the rumbling causing his cock to shift slightly and you let out a soft moan at the smallest amount of friction it granted you, and he unwillingly thrust upwards at the feeling. Oh, you knew how to get back at him.

Clenching around him again, you wait for his reaction as your lips touch the shell of his ear, whimpering, as he garbled out a choked out groan against your neck. Steven’s hips unwittingly thrust upwards again, knocking into your cervix just that small amount, enough to make you dig your nails into his shoulders where your hands were resting. You were both moaning now, and you think you can tease him like this until he finally gave in and fucked you from under you. You needed him to, therapy be damned.

Dragging your hands up into his hair, he shuddered when your nails scraped across his scalp. He licked his lips, the edge of his tongue grazing your neck before he pulled back to look into your eyes and the previous soft look he was giving you was gone, replaced with a heady look, eyelids low as his mouth was open and panting.

“No, but considering that you’re inside me right now, I’d say you’re halfway there,” you gasp as his hand shifts down to your ass, squeezing, fingers splayed wide and pulling at the flesh there.

You lean more into his chest, your breasts pressing into him now, his mouth sitting just so, dipping down to mouth at them through your top. Steven’s control was slowly slipping, his idea failing spectacularly as he pulled your hips to roll and grind on his. You squeezed your muscles around his thick and throbbing cock again, trying to entice him to pull out to the tip and buck up into you like you wished he would. You were gripping him so tight, and your slick was more than enough to make his movements smooth and yet Steven was holding back from giving you his all, his logic lost on you.

“Steven, please, I’m sorry for being short with you, I’m sorry, okay? Please just–”

You were cut off from your helpless begging when he decided he’d had enough, that you had suffered enough, that you learnt your lesson and that the anger you walked in with was gone, along with his restraint. Steven gripped your ass even tighter, his fingers pressing divots into your skin as he thrust up into you mercilessly, bouncing you on his length as you cried out for him.

His hands were squeezing you, keeping you wide open for him as he rendered you incoherent, pathetic moans and whines leaving you. With your mouth still close to his ear, your noises began spurring him on as he grunted with each pass of his cock into your hot cunt, desperate to reach his end. Your hands began bunching his blazer lapels, angry in the back of your head that he didn’t even take off his jacket when he sat you on his thick shaft. Your soft walls began fluttering around him, signaling that you were almost reaching your end, his relentless teasing having caught up with you now, hurtling you towards the edge quicker.

“Ohh, ffffuck, Steven I’m gonna–gonna come, yes,” you shouted, so close to your euphoria that you were desperate to reach. The way his cock was punching up into your cervix was just perfect, his smell overwhelming you, his hands squeezing you just right, everything was leading to this and you couldn’t help but whine when his thumb swiped at your clit once, twice–

You were coming hard.

His grunts and groans were muffled into your chest, his thrusts getting sloppy while he chased his own release, pulling your hips down to his so hard it almost hurt. Steven bucked his hips one final time before you felt the telltale pulsing inside of you, the warmth of his cum slowly trickling out from where you were still sheathed around him. He pulled back to look at it with brows raised, almost impressed at his own mess while still catching his breath.

“How are you feeling now, love? Still angry at me?”

“I wasn’t angry at you, Steven,” you sigh dazedly, shaking your head at him. “Silly man. But to answer your question, I’m feeling much better now that you’re done torturing me.”

#Steven grant smut #steven grant fanfiction #steven grant x you #steven grant x reader #moonknight smut #moon knight smut #moonknight x reader #moonknight fanfiction #moon knight x reader #moon knight x you #steven grant fic #steven grant x fem!reader #mona writes???

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pillowfort-social · 6 months ago

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JULY 2024 FUNDING GOAL UPDATE: $3100 / $5000 ⭐️WHY HELP PILLOWFORT?⭐️ We're a woman-owned independent social media platform without any corporate investors. We are entirely free to join via automatic rolling waitlist or through invitation. We've been entirely user funded since the start. We are a LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, 18+ and Kink-Friendly community for fans & creators. No AI, No NFTS, no Crypto. Pillowfort is built for you.

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Talk about Pillowfort to your friends, family, mutuals, and followers wherever you're at.

Write a post about us. Also please let us know so we can read it! We love reading what our users say about us.

If you enjoy making videos: film a video about us! Please tag us so we can watch it!

#pillowfort #pifo #social media #pillowfort.social

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tribow · 2 years ago

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Why do I tell people to play indie games?

K' so you may have seen that post I made a little while ago asking people reblog and put into the tags an indie game that they did NOT like.

I made that post because I wanted to hear about what indie games people had bad experiences with. There was another post I made saying "Tell me you don't play indie games without telling me you don't play indie games" in response to a ton of youtube videos saying modern video games are no longer fun. A lot of tags would say, "Well indie games can suck too!" This response was extremely silly to me and I wanted to know what games they could be talking about.

I didn't ask for it, but so many people starting explaining why they didn't like a certain game. So I decided to make a little pie chart with the reason people would give in the tags

There are some outliers not here. There were 5 tags saying a game offended them and some responses that were too specific to really count. Half of the posts also gave no explanations so I'm not going to act like this is representative of every response on that post.

Okay so what's the point? Why did I do this?

There's this one 30 minute video by Josh Strife Hayes that does a super good job showcasing all of the bad practices that happen with modern gaming. He talks about each issue thoroughly, but I'll list them here:

Microtransactions, Limited Progression, Invite Boosts, Premium Currency, Loyalty Programs, Selling Power, Battlepasses, and Selling Progression

He doesn't even mention other issues like games releasing in clearly unfinished states, games that are clearly chasing trends, and game developers being restricted by their publishers.

Why is this significant? Well answer me this: Was there a single tag response in my post that complains about an indie game doing these things?

Say what you want about indie games, but I bet you didn't pay $60 and got psychologically manipulated to spend more on that game. I bet you weren't getting manipulated by some free to play model to spend more money than you would on a normal game. I bet the game actually released in a finished state and even if it did, the game clearly communicated it wasn't done.

Sure, you could give me examples of indie games that do have those bad practices, but I guarantee you that you cannot prove that most indie games do this.

So yeah, play indie games. Don't support corporate bullshit unless you know the game was made with the player's best interest in mind.

#indie games #video games #aaa games #gaming #and yeah pay attention to middleware games too #long-ish post #think of it another way #which game is worse? The game you hate that you spent $60 on or the game you hate that you spent $25 on #Battlefield 2042 would NEVER happen with an indie game #remember how awesome gaming was “back in the day?”#yeah you can experience that right now by playing indie games and middleware titles #who knows maybe if everyone stopped supporting these god awful AAA games with their money they'll wise up and actually make some good games #also shoutouts to another post that could very easily flop due to my small blog lol #I like get my thoughts and reasonings out of my head though #dont want my thoughts festering in my brain I need more space my obsessions #would like to see this post reach those who responded to the other posts though #will probably reblog it later tomorrow

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kushblazer666 · 9 months ago

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My wife and I have been talking about cancelling Netflix because of all the issues with one of their recent movies. We are doing our homework to be well informed about our decision but I ran across this very timely story which seems to put it in a very sobering perspective!

Some years ago when I was a pastor, I walked into my church office after a Sunday morning service to find a little brown bag on my desk containing three chocolate brownies. Some thoughtful and anonymous saint who knew my love for chocolate had placed them there, along with a piece of paper that had a short story written on it. I immediately sat down and began eating the first brownie as I read the following story:

Two teenagers asked their father if they could go to the theater to watch a movie that all their friends had seen. After reading some reviews about the movie on the internet, he denied their request.

“Aw dad, why not?” they complained. “It’s rated PG-13, and we’re both older than thirteen!”

Dad replied: “Because that movie contains nudity and portrays immorality—which is something that God hates—as being normal and acceptable behavior.”

“But dad, those are just very small parts of the movie! That’s what our friends who’ve seen it have told us. The movie is two hours long and those scenes are just a few minutes of the total film! It’s based on a true story, and good triumphs over evil, and there are other redeeming themes like courage and self-sacrifice. Even the Christian movie review websites say that!”

“My answer is ‘no,’ and that is my final answer. You are welcome to stay home tonight, invite some of your friends over, and watch one of the good videos we have in our home collection. But you will not go and watch that film. End of discussion.”

The two teenagers walked dejectedly into the family room and slumped down on the couch. As they sulked, they were surprised to hear the sounds of their father preparing something in the kitchen. They soon recognized the wonderful aroma of brownies baking in the oven, and one of the teenagers said to the other, “Dad must be feeling guilty, and now he’s going to try to make it up to us with some fresh brownies. Maybe we can soften him with lots of praise when he brings them out to us and persuade him to let us go to that movie after all.”

About that time I began eating the second brownie from the little brown bag and wondered if there was some connection to the brownies I was eating and the brownies in the story. I kept reading…

The teens were not disappointed. Soon their father appeared with a plate of warm brownies which he offered to his kids. They each took one. Then their father said, “Before you eat, I want to tell you something: I love you both so very much.”

The teenagers smiled at each other with knowing glances. Dad was softening.

“That is why I’ve made these brownies with the very best ingredients. I’ve made them from scratch. Most of the ingredients are even organic. The best organic flour. The best free-range eggs. The best organic sugar. Premium vanilla and chocolate.”

The brownies looked mouth-watering, and the teens began to become a little impatient with their dad’s long speech.

“But I want to be perfectly honest with you. There is one ingredient I added that is not usually found in brownies. I got that ingredient from our own back yard. But you needn’t worry, because I only added the tiniest bit of that ingredient to your brownies. The amount of the portion is practically insignificant. So go ahead, take a bite and let me know what you think.”

“Dad, would you mind telling us what that mystery ingredient is before we eat?”

“Why? The portion I added was so small. Just a teaspoonful. You won’t even taste it.”

“Come on, dad, just tell us what that ingredient is.”

“Don’t worry! It’s organic, just like the other ingredients.”

“Dad!”

“Well, OK, if you insist. That secret ingredient is organic…dog poop.”

I immediately stopped chewing that second brownie and I spit it out into the waste basket by my desk. I continued reading, now fearful of the paragraphs that still remained.

Both teens instantly dropped their brownies back on the plate and began inspecting their fingers with horror.

“DAD! Why did you do that? You’ve tortured us by making us smell those brownies cooking for the last half hour, and now you tell us that you added dog poop! We can’t eat these brownies!”

“Why not? The amount of dog poop is very small compared to the rest of the ingredients. It won’t hurt you. It’s been cooked right along with the other ingredients. You won’t even taste it. It has the same consistency as the brownies. Go ahead and eat!”

“No, Dad…NEVER!”

“And that is the same reason I won’t allow you to go watch that movie. You won’t tolerate a little dog poop in your brownies, so why should you tolerate a little immorality in your movies? We pray that God will not lead us unto temptation, so how can we in good conscience entertain ourselves with something that will imprint a sinful image in our minds that will lead us into temptation long after we first see it?”

I discarded what remained of the second brownie as well as the entire untouched third brownie. What had been irresistible a minute ago had become detestable. And only because of the very slim chance that what I was eating was slightly polluted. (Surely it wasn’t…but I couldn’t convince myself.)

What a good lesson about purity! Why do we tolerate any sin? On the day of the Passover, the Israelites were commanded to remove every bit of leaven from their homes. Sin is like leaven—a little bit leavens the whole lump (1 Cor. 5:6). Jesus, “our Passover” (1 Cor. 5:7), and sin, don’t mix.

Help us, Lord, to “cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).

Hate evil, you who love the Lord (Ps. 97:10)

This was shared by a gentleman named Randy Hicks.

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ask-stardrop · 4 months ago

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QnA With Our PREMIUM MEMBERS From YouTube!

youtube

THEY DIDN'T INVITED ME IN TO THEIR VIDEO!? :,(

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tamegaeil · 2 months ago

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Fits & Spells

A creel of musings fished bare handed from the stream of consciousness.

A few of the poems in this collection might not be appropriate for the tender or those faint of heart. However, when compared with some of the posts observed on Tumblr, they're mild. Although not intended to be songs, save one, several of the poems have optional AI generated musical accompaniment, i.e the purple rectangles have deltas that when clicked launch audio.

Curious readers and listeners are invited to keep scrolling down. Comments, whether encouraging or scathing, are sincerely appreciated.

When you have the inclination, an additional collection of noodle doodles can be found at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/gaeilmeta

NOTES:

If a photo doesn't populate immediately, scroll up and down for a bit. The photo ought to appear eventually. As a last resort, click on the blur. The photo will then be revealed separately.

Should clicking on the red delta button fail to launch a YouTube video, click the "Watch on > YouTube" button instead. Clicking on a YouTube music video can sometimes produce a "sign-in" request. Such may take hours to possibly a day before the launcher heals itself.

Also, you are likely to find an insinuated advertisement or two since this is not a Premium blog.

#poetry #music #original poem #poetry collection #writing #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writers and poets

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putschki1969 · 1 year ago

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youtube

【Collab】Getting Date Make-up Done

Hello, this is Hikaru. Thank you for watching! This time, it's a collaboration video! I've invited one of my co-stars from my first stage project “TRIGGER”, Aya (Andohikari/sai/hikari&-) ▼Actor/Model/Make-up artist/Designer/Freelance Artist ・Instagram / sai_hi_official I had my makeup done by Sai💄 This is a long video including extras. I'm sure all the women in the world are very familiar with this and doing it every day☑️ This time we are doing 2 Christmas looks: date makeup and one bonus look! The difference between these two and the difference from my normal make-up is impressive. For those among you who don't wear make-up, this video might still be interesting since you can use the items as a reference for Christmas presents. I hope you enjoy my newest upload 🍀 Please leave your video suggestions in the comment section📝

Hikaru to Appear at "26 Hours Music Champ 2023 Winter" Event

Broadcast date : 12/29 20:00 – 12/30 22:00 Platform: Music Champ

Hikaru's part is scheduled to air on 12/30 (Sat) 16:00-17:00. She will have a special Talk Session and then perform at the "SPECIAL DREAM LIVE 2023 Winter" LIVE🎤airing from 17:00 to 21:00 Official HP: http://music-champ.com/26h-winter Line-up/Schedule :https://www.music-champ.com/26h-winter/26h

Hikaru to Appear on AGAWORLD vol.2「UNIQUE」

Hikaru will also have a guest appearance on a special after-talk-show for Yumi Agawa's one-person stage play [AGAWORLD vol.2 "UNIQUE"]. She will be joined by several of her C.C.C. co-stars from the TRIGGER project. Please note that this is an on-site event. As of right now, there are no broadcast plans. But if you happen to be in Japan around that time, be sure to use the opportunity. Date/Time: February 18, 17:00~ Premium Ticket: 5,000円 | Regular Ticket: 3,800円 Application form: https://www.quartet-online.net/ticket/aga2?m=0yjeaaj

#kalafina #hikaru #LOVE those make-up looks #video #news #music champ #26 Hours Music Champ 2023 Winter #AGAWORLD #these hikaru appearances are so random and hard to follow T_T #Youtube

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pillowfort-social · 7 months ago

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JUNE 2024 FUNDING GOAL UPDATE: $3500 / $5000 We have 5 days remaining of June and we're only $1500 short of meeting our funding goal. If we do not meet June's goal we will only have enough funding available to keep us online & to compensate our Staff until November 2024. ⭐️WHY HELP PILLOWFORT?⭐️ We're a woman-owned independent social media platform without any corporate investors. We are entirely free to join via automatic rolling waitlist or through invitation. We've been entirely user funded since the start. We are a LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, 18+ and Kink-Friendly community for fans & creators. No AI, No NFTS, no Crypto. Pillowfort is built for you.

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Subscribe to Our Al la Carte Subscription Pillowfort Premium

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got-into-worm-by-mistake · 6 months ago

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Interlude 3 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

The building housing the local Parahuman Response Team division didn’t really stand out. The exterior was all windows, reflective enough to mirror the mottled dark gray of the sky overhead. Only a shield logo bearing the letters ‘P.R.T.’ marked it apart from the other buildings of downtown Brockton Bay.

Maybe it's just because I have shatterbird on the brain because I've read several versions of Slaugherhouse 9 attacks on Brockton Bay in fics recently, but like... while I get that you can't just build every building without windows out of fear of Shatterbird showing up in your city, it does seem ill-advised for the PRT to have that much window on their HQ. If Shatterbird does show up...

Those entering the lobby would find a strange juxtaposition at work. On the one hand, you could see the various employees in suits, hurrying in and out of the building, talking in groups. A team of four PRT officers was on standby, each stationed at a different area of the lobby, outfitted in the best equipment money could buy. All had chain mesh and kevlar vests, helmets that covered their faces, and firearms. The equipment differed, however, as two of them had grenade launchers hanging from straps on their shoulders with bandoliers of various specialty ammunition across their chests, including a fire extinguishing grenade, an EMP round and various stun grenades. The other two had what appeared at first glance to be flame throwers; were they to pull the triggers, they would eject a thick, frothing spray of foam, enough to contain all but the strongest and fastest villains.

This is definitely weird compared to the last two Interludes...

In stark contrast to this, there was the gift shop that would be thick with youths when school ended, sporting a selection of action figures, posters, video games and clothing. Four-foot tall pictures of the various Protectorate and Wards team members were placed at regular intervals around the lobby, each backed by bright colors.

Definitely really fucking incongruous, yeah.

There was a cheery tour guide waiting patiently by the front desk, smiling handsomely at anybody who happened to glance his way. On schedule, he would introduce tourists and children to the PRT offices, the armory, the training area and the parking lot with the parahuman containment vans, showing them what it took to manage the local heroes. For those willing to pay for the premium tour, wait up to two hours and suffer a PRT squad escort, there would be an additional stop on the tour – a glimpse of the Wards’ Headquarters.

This is a little too 'Omniscient impersonal narrator' compared to the last two Interludes.

“Director Piggot. Ma’am,” Aegis greeted her, his voice strained. His costume was in shreds, and was more crimson with his own blood than it was its original white.

Given that Aegis probably gets hurt a lot, since he's not actually invulnerable, per se, why wear white when he's gonna bleed all over it?

Although he's probably still wearing Clock's uniform, isn't he?

Director Piggot didn’t look away, but one of the men standing behind her looked a touch green around the gills, “I can take you at your word. You don’t need to stick your arm all the way through your chest to demonstrate.”

Aegis is still a teenage boy. 'Look What I Can Do!' is still a big part of the mindset.

Maybe next time, the rest of you can talk Gallant out of inviting his girlfriend along.” The protests overlapped. “It was her sister in the bank!

Yeah, I'm... I mean, oddly enough, Amy probably would have had a better time of things if Vicky didn't get invited, but its a tall ask to keep her back

“You’ll have to forgive me,” Piggot smiled, “The paperwork gets to be a bit much sometimes. Maybe you know where to find the documentation from our military and science teams, for this Alternator Cannon?” “Christ, Kid,” Aegis groaned under his breath, with his ruined voice. Kid Win looked more upset about Aegis’ reaction than anything else, “I, uh. I didn’t get it officially cleared, yet. I just thought it would be better to use the cannon and do what I could to stop the robbery.”

Yup. Definitely the Collateral Damage Ken :rofl:

Because also like Ken, he's just not as interesting. :P

Who's POV is this scene actually from though?

Director Piggot frowned, “The amount of time and money that would require, for an event that might never occur… no. I suppose you can keep the cannon.”

Bet she planned on conceding this so the next bit about taking out the power source, etc, is received better.

“I’m going to have nightmares,” Clockblocker groaned, as he tenderly touched the welts around his nose and mouth, “Nightmares with lots and lots of spiders.”

Valid.

As.

Fuck.

“Shadow Stalker is AWOL?” Gallant asked. “Couldn’t make it in time,” Aegis grunted, “Told her to stay put.”

Carefully keeping hidden from the readers just what Sophia is.

Gallant considered for a moment, “Could be, but my gut tells me Piggy just wants to scare him. He needs to stop testing the limits with the people in charge, or he’s going to get in real trouble at some point.”

Isn't Gallant usually the one calling people out in fic for calling Piggot 'Piggy'?

Flanderization, probably, I guess. Gallant is still a teen.

“And I’ll hold that position for not even the rest of the summer before I graduate and pass the mantle to you,” Clockblocker smiled self deprecatingly, “No worries. Take charge.”

Rapid turnover does seem a major flaw in 'eldest runs the show'.

“Okay guys,” Gallant said, “Before we get started, I think it’s important to make some things clear. First off, most importantly, today was not a failure. I’d even say that today was a win for the good guys, and we start establishing that here and now.”

Okay, that really is putting Lipstick on a Pig, Gallant.

Taken. Stinger is some villain in California with power armor, a jetpack and homing missiles, and Pestilence is a creepy psycho in London.”

All the Good Names are Always Taken!

“Skitter?” Gallant put the name out there. There was a clatter of keys as Clockblocker checked, “It’s not taken.” “Then it’s good enough,”

I mean, it's not the worst name out there, really. I can see why Taylor never tried to push back on it.

Following behind Armsmaster and Miss Militia was a teenage girl in an enveloping white robe. Panacea. She had an ID card on a cord around her neck, featuring her photo and the word ‘GUEST’ in bright blue letters. “She was kind enough to volunteer to come here and patch you guys up,” Miss Militia told the young heroes, “Can’t send you home with horrible injuries and hundreds of bug bites, can we? That would give away the show.”

Well, that and it would just kinda suck to go home like that.

Panacea really is a huge boon to the BB PRT, Protectorate and Wards, isn't she? Makes covering identities much easier.

She shifted the position of the rocket launcher on her shoulders, and it dissolved into a blur of green-black energy. The energy lunged and arced around her for a few brief moments, then materialized into a machine gun. It only held that form for a few seconds before it flickered and solidified into a sniper rifle, then a harpoon gun, and finally settled in the form of a pair of uzis, one in each of her hands. She barely seemed to notice, beyond the automatic action of holstering the guns.

Does the gun just constantly change when she's not using it? Can Miss Militia drop the guns? Hand them to someone? How does that work?

“I- A lot happened,” Panacea hedged. “Any detail helps.” “Um. I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at the ground, “I got smacked across the head, but my power doesn’t work on myself, and I’m not really the type to go out in costume and get into fights, so having my life threatened, I dunno. All that… I can’t put my thoughts in order just yet.”

I mean, I get why she's not saying much. Hard to really explain without hinting around too much. "I think she's a thinker" "Why?" "because she knew shit literally no one else should know but I'm not telling you because I can't."

“But I got them anyways, and I got international attention over it. The healer. The girl who could cure cancer with a touch, make someone ten years younger, regrow lost limbs. I’m forced to be a hero. Burdened with this obligation. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t use this power. It’s such an opportunity, to save lives.” “But?” “But at the same time… I can’t cure everyone. Even if I go to the hospital every night for two or three hours at a time, there are thousands of other hospitals I can’t visit, tens of millions of people who are terminally ill or living in a personal hell where they’re paralyzed or in constant pain. These people don’t deserve to face that, but I can’t help them all. I can’t help one percent of them if I put in twenty hours a day.” “You have to focus on what you can do,” Gallant told her. “Sounds easier than it is,” Panacea answered, with a touch of bitterness, “Do you understand what it means, to cure some of these people? I feel like every second I take to myself is a second I’ve failed somehow. For two years, it’s been this… pressure. I lie in bed, awake at night, and I can’t sleep. So I get up and I go to the hospital in the middle of the night. Go to pediatrics, cure some kids. Go to the ICU, spare some lives… and it’s all just blending together. I can’t even remember the last few people I saved.”

Some anti-Amy people really seem to want to ignore this whole bit from her, sometimes, judging from some of the posts I've seen on r/parahumans.

God, Amy needs a hug, a break, therapy and a girlfriend, stat.

She sighed again, “The last person I really remember? It was maybe a week ago, I was working on a kid. He was just a toddler, an immigrant from Cairo, I think. Ectopia Cordis. That’s where you’re born with your heart outside your body. I was putting everything in the right place, giving him a chance at a normal life.” “What made him so memorable?” “I resented him. He was lying there, fast asleep, like an angel, and for just a second, I considered just leaving him. The doctors could have finished the job, but it would have been dangerous. He might have died if I’d left him on the table, the job half done. I hated him.”

I'm surprised she's saying all this to Gallant, of all people. But A) She is evading the thing she really can't share (her crush on Vicky. When does that get revealed to the reader anyway?) and B) She knows Dean is too well... Gallant to actually share something like this revealed in confidence.

But also, yeah, the people who act like Amy didn't have it bad are full of shit. Doesn't excuse what she does, not even close, of course, but those haters are just insane.

“No, I hated that he would have a normal life, because I’d given up mine. I was scared that I might intentionally make a mistake. That I might let myself fuck up the procedure with this kid. I could have killed him or ruined his life, but it would have eased the pressure. Lowered expectations, you know? Maybe it would have even lowered my own expectations for myself. I… I was just so tired. So exhausted. I actually considered, for the briefest moment, abandoning a child to suffer or die.” “That sounds like more than just exhaustion,” Gallant replied, quietly. “Is this how it starts? Is this the point I start becoming like my father, whoever he was?” Gallant let out a slow breath, “I could say no, that you’re never going to be like your father. But I’d be lying. Any of us, all of us, we run the risk of finding our own way down that path. I can see the strain you’re experiencing, the stress. I’ve seen people snap because of less. So yeah. It’s possible.”

I wonder if Amy feels conflicted about how much she doesn't like Dean because he is just such a genuinely good dude.

Like, I can imagine she hates all the unsolicited 'I want to help', I relate to that hard, but it is hard to hate someone who is just... that fucking nice.

I'd like to think she feels some confliction, anyway.

“Take a break. Tell yourself it’s something you have to do, to recharge your batteries and help more people in the long run.” “I don’t think I can.”

Listen to him, Amy. For God's sake, fucking LISTEN.

*pretends she can yell hard enough that the characters can hear her*

LISTEN!

“She threatened to talk about stuff. Stuff worse than what I just told you, I guess. Threatened to tell me things I just don’t want to know. Said she’d use what she knew to ruin my relationship with Victoria and the rest of my family,” Amy hugged herself. “My sister’s all I’ve got. The only person with no expectations, who knows me as a person. Carol never really wanted me. Mark is clinically depressed, so as nice as he is, he’s too focused on himself to really be a dad. My aunt and uncle are sweet, but they’ve got their own problems. So it’s just me and Victoria. Has been almost from the beginning. That smug little monster threatened to tear my sister and I apart using yet another thing I didn’t want, another thing I had no control over.”

My desire to strangle Lisa grows.

Though honestly, while it would have wigged Vicky out, I doubt it would have actually made her hate you forever, or whatever, it coming out at this stage. She'd need a hot minute to come to terms with it, especially if it's revealed by Tattletale in that context, but otherwise...

But Amy is so used to hating herself that she assumes everyone else would hate her for this just as much.

“Does… does this have anything to do with the, erm, rather strong feelings you have towards me?” Panacea went still. “I’m sorry,” he hurried to say, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.” “You shouldn’t have,” she stood up and started towards the door.

So I gathered Dean does know (about the incest crush) by the time he dies, from reading on the wiki (IIRC), but does he know yet, or does he just know there's something there, but he's not sure what?

“Take care of my sister, okay? Make her happy?” she murmured, as she hesitated in the doorway. “Goes without saying.” They rejoined the main group.

No mention of the on-again off-again element. When does that come up? Or is that just pure fanon?

But yeah, I think this scene would solidify for the coming into this blind reader the idea that Amy is a significant secondary character to this story. Like, Interlude 2 could just have been setting up the bank and showing off the darkside of the Heroes, but here, the additional focus on Amy's inner life like this - she's clearly not just a side character.

At least for the first half.

#Worm #Wormblr #Dean Stansfield #Amy Dallon #Brockton Bay Wards #Kylia Reads Worm #Interlude 3

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roo-bastmoon · 2 years ago

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LOCK IT DOWN, Y'ALL

Puppykitties, I do not mean this harshly, but distractions, drama, and sabotage happen with every comeback and never more so than with Jimin.

We are in the fight of our lives for placement on the charts and awards on music programs. We need fewer filtered streams and much higher sales.

WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND FOR JIMIN AND VERY FEW TO STEP UP AND MAKE AN ACCOUNT TO BUY:

We absolutely cannot focus on trash talk and ship discourse right now.

Yes, I know today there was a lot of excitement. Joon, Yoongi, Tae, JK, and others (many others in the industry) went to Harry Styles' concert today and it very much appears that Jimin and J-Hope did not. How do I know? Because there's photos of the Tannies on their personal time all over my timeline when there should be screenshots of streaming and voting.

It's disappointing because Jungkook just got done saying he was human too and asking us not to stalk him during his private time. I know some folks feel like if you're out in public, you are "fair game." But that's my point: they aren't game, they aren't prey--they are people and they deserve to be able to hang out with their friends and not have it scrutinized and weaponized. So just know it's always best to let THEM be the ones to share such info, like Joon and Tae did on their insta.

You best believe, the more we pressure them like this, the less we'll get of them.

The last time we saw Jikook together off-schedule, just the two of them alone, they got in a car to leave from the airport in April of 2022. A few days later, the gossip rags sabotaged Jimin's first OST With You with a bullshit scandal about missing insurance premium payments and his apartment "seizure" (on paper).

And ever since that day, we have not seen Jikook hang out in any personal capacity, unless you count the arcade in DC with Hobi and Her. Not once have we seen them alone. POINTEDLY.

There's been blurry CCTV photos of two people in a mini mart and whispers from K forums of folks seeing them around the neighborhood, but nothing concrete; they don't even mention each other in TMIs any more.

We KNOW they have hung out, as per inferences from their family, tattoo artist, and boxing coach, but no solid evidence from the primary source, even when directly asked. Again, POINTEDLY.

And yet when they are together for a work thing or online, they get along like a house on fire. They slap butts and tap hands and do cute things for each other's birthdays and get into giggle fits and compliment each other and flirt like crazy on WeVerse. Jungkook has issued several emphatic invitations for Jimin to come to him and told us to look forward to his teaser at midnight.

But they aren't sharing their relationship with us like they used to, so we honestly do not know if they hang out in person much these days.

P.O.I.N.T.E.D.L.Y.

Not because there's any indication of bad blood or a whiff of a breakup. Our little perfectionist is booked and busy, and our golden maknae was taking time to recharge.

You need to remember that since solo era was mentioned, Jimin has been writing, composing, and recording his own songs.

He's traveled abroad multiple times--Chicago, LA, NYC, Paris--to name a few.

He's hosted people who have traveled to Korea to work with him.

The producers admonished him for not taking breaks to eat or shower and in fact sleeping in the studio for many nights.

He's had to rehearse for music shows, concerts, his collab, and his own music videos.

He's been training so hard on new choreo that he was in too much pain to join Jin for his birthday and you KNOW how our boy feels about his members' birthdays.

He's filmed RUN content and commercials and a documentary and all sorts of stuff for his own album.

He's had work as brand ambassador for Dior and Tiffany's beyond just Fashion Week, which was huge.

I've lost count of the number of high-end photoshoots he's done for Vogue, W, Elle, and I don't know what all else.

The man JUST got off a plane the day before from traveling half-way around the world to interview with and perform for Fallon for TWO NIGHTS.

If I were him, I wouldn't dash over to a packed concert less than 24 hours later, either. Doesn't mean I don't love my members, or my partner, or Styles. It means I'm TIRED and I'm protecting my health and energy.

Especially considering there are appearances on television coming up and god knows what else to promote FACE.

AND FACE IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON.

I love you all, but I swear to God, if you give your time and energy to the assholes on the timeline attacking Jikook, you are robbing Jimin of the time and energy you should be giving to voting, streaming, buying, and hyping FACE. Which is what they want. They want to siphon that energy from you. Please don't be stupid.

We are grasping for every INCH of space on the charts up against absolute giants this and next week. It would be different if all of ARMY got behind Jimin 24/7 but you know how many little 7s actually behave when push comes to shove. To say nothing of the antis, mantis, multis, and cult working against him with purpose.

Please don't let this kind of crap sabotage Jimin's hard work. Celebrate the fact that some BTS members got to hang out at a concert, and honor the fact that some BTS members had other things to do.

PLEASE snap out of it and stick to our goals. We can debate Jikook all day long after FACE is safely to bed. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS.

We are in lockdown.

SO LOCK THAT SHIT DOWN.

Love, Roo

#jikook #jimin

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ottspot · 2 months ago

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The Highs & Lows of Switching To Physical Music - My Journey

Allow me to invite you in on my (in-progress) journey of switching from Spotify Premium to listening to all of my music ripped from CDs and digital purchases through foobar2000. I'm listening to the music I like and doing only that, while also owning what I listen to. No subscription expiration is gonna bar me from that. Read more below!

Streaming music through services like Spotify, YouTube Music, and Apple Music offers many benefits to the user. Listening to an album as soon as it releases at midnight, easily sharing playlists with friends, as well as their little "collected user data from the past year presented with a pretty little bow on top". Oh, sorry. I mean "Spotify Wrapped", "Apple Music Replay", and "YouTube Music Recap".

Though, there's also some downsides to using the services. One of them is the pricing. Spotify Premium is currently $12 a month at the time of this writing, with YouTube Music and Apple Music being priced just a dollar lower. There's also different features spread between all the different services. Spotify has its Daily Mixes, podcasts, and audio books, Apple Music and Tidal have their high quality Dolby Atmos streaming, and YouTube Music has… switching between the music video and audio. It's too much sometimes and things can be pretty bloated, especially when all you want to do is listen to music. Nothing else.

The biggest thing to me, however, is the fact that you don't own the music you stream. Once that subscription runs out, it's off to YouTube for you. And you can't even listen to music with the screen off or in picture-in-picture without a Premium subscription. Now, you can always "arrrgh matey" this shit and truly be a rebel against the system, in which case I won't stop you. Do whatever you want. The rest of this doesn't really concern you. But to those who prefer doing things more legally, then I'm about to tell you about how I started this whole journey, and how I'm going to keep going on it for as long as I want to.

How I Got Here

This first started when I got my Blu-ray drive in the mail. I just have this for DVDs and Blu-rays (and I even have a modified firmware to play 4K Blu-rays), but realized soon after getting it that there was another optical media I could take advantage of: CDs. I have a CD player already, and I could just listen to the songs on my large speakers, but this was my chance to back up and preserve what I own. Disc rot is very much a thing with CDs, and while it hasn't taken my discs yet, I don't want to risk anything. Plus, my Spotify Student plan was going to run out after I graduate. So, I did some research and tinkering to find out how to rip the songs from my CDs and listen to the music backed up on my hard drive. What I found is that a program I already used for listening to music I ripped from video games, foobar2000, was great at handling all of this. So, for the past few months I've been working to back up my collection and ultimately ditch Spotify to use it as my main music listening app. It even has an iPhone app as well! Though, in replacing Spotify, this means I've also been working to get the songs I love on CD, by whatever means possible. Discogs has been a big help with this journey, as it led me to discover different variants of albums that I had no idea existed. Did you know that while P!nk's version of "Whataya Want From Me" is readily available on streaming and digital stores, it's only on the German and Australian versions of that "Greatest Hits...So Far!!!" album? I didn't. It's one of my favorite songs from her, and now that's a release I'm looking to get my hands on soon.

This is unfortunately going to be more and more of a common practice for me as time goes on. Importing. A lot of deluxe editions of albums release only for a limited time on CD, only on vinyl, or just don't have a physical release at all... in the US, anyway. Japan has a lot of CDs of deluxe editions readily available to import from sites like CDJapan or sellers on eBay. I happen to have three examples of those (though, I only needed to import two). Midnights by Taylor Swift is a complicated mess when it comes to owning the complete experience physically, and it shouldn't have to be. The "Lavender" CD at Target is the only physical release with "Hits Different" and two remixes, while the "Late Night Edition" is the only release with any of the "3am Edition" songs, "You're Losing Me", and two different remixes, this time of "Snow on the Beach" and "Karma". The first problem with the "Late Night Edition" is that it doesn't even have all of the songs from the "3am Edition". It has 5 of the 7 bonus songs from it, omitting "Paris" and "Glitch". Now, I'm unsure if this was a storage issue with all of the songs, but they very easily could have just made it a second disc instead of trying to cram everything onto just one, and cutting songs in the process. But even then, you'll need the "Lavender" CD to have the other songs for the (almost) complete experience.

The second problem with this edition is that it was only ever sold in the US during the 2023 shows of The Eras Tour, starting in late May with East Rutherford. It wasn't even brought back for the 2024 US leg. It had small drops on Taylor's website during the 2023 holiday season and was available as a digital download for one day only, but outside of that, there is no other way to buy it in the US. It never even got a release in Europe, Australia, Mexico, Brazil... literally any other country stop on her tour. This has led to the CD rising in price ever since then, and even bootlegs being made to trick people. These are usually pretty cheap and ship from China, sporting darker colors for the front cover and inserts, as well as having an incorrect sticker on the front. People might have to (understandably) settle for these just to own the songs physically. Thankfully, there is another option, but time might be running out until their prices go up as well. Japan thankfully has a wide-release of the "Late Night Edition" that is more readily available. It comes in a 7-inch vinyl-like sleeve with a larger poster, a lyric booklet, and some even include a guitar pick. The disc contents are also completely identical to the US release. You can buy it from UMG Japan's store as well as YesAsia. eBay also has copies but for a bit more money.

The second and third examples are the deluxe editions of Olivia Rodrigo's GUTS and Sabrina Carpenter's emails i can't send. GUTS (spilled) has a vinyl release worldwide, but emails i can't send fwd: does not have a physical release at all. Of course, both have CD releases in Japan. They, like the "Late Night Edition" of Midnights, were released to commemorate their respective artist's tour stops in Japan. Unlike that release however, they boast that they're "Japan-only" special editions. This means that there's probably no chance of the CD ever coming out anywhere else.

The good news is that they're not at risk of selling out anywhere. You can even go to my regular site CDJapan to purchase them.

But yes, that's my long and convoluted way of telling you that if you're wanting your favorite songs physically, you're going to have to shell out a bit more money to import. Like me. There's another way to obtain the files of the songs you like, though. Sites like Qobuz let you buy the high-quality FLAC files legally, so you can download them and have them with the rest of your songs. I recommended this way if your song doesn't have a physical release at ALL (or is only on vinyl) or if you don't want to spend more money to import the CD.

Now that we're all caught up with how I got obsessed with all this, it's time to get to the juicy bits. If you want to do any of this yourself, I'm going to go in depth with what tools I use and how I do certain things so that you can have an ideal listening experience.

Ripping Discs + Playing Music

When it comes to actually ripping the discs, I'm gonna be honest. Any cheap CD USB drive is going to work (I assume), and what I have is very much overkill for this sort of task. For a disc drive, I have an ASUS BW-16D1HT internal Blu-ray burner drive, paired with a Vantec NexStar DX2 enclosure so I can use it externally. As mentioned before, the software that I use for playing and ripping my music is foobar2000. It's a completely free program that has a lot of customizability and versatility when it comes to its design and layout, as well as having plugin support for anyone who happens to make any. You can even install one that adds a Discord Rich Presence - and it looks just like Spotify!

When you load a CD into your computer for the first time, naturally you're given options as to what to do with it. You're going to want to set it so that foobar2000 opens when you put a CD in the drive. From here, your music will play and everything should work just fine. Sometimes the metadata for the album, like the artist and track names, or release year might show up immediately. Other times, it does not. If this doesn't bother you, then you can leave it alone. For me, though, I prefer having the details there so I know that I'm listening to.

So, here's how you fill that metadata out. Right-click on a track (or album) in the program and select "Properties".

You'll be able to change all kinds of data here. This is an example of a track that I filled out some of the data for. Once you've done this, you can click "Apply" or "OK". It'll do the same thing.

You can also see that you can change the artwork, but this can't be done with the tracks on the discs themselves. You're going to have to rip the tracks to your computer, and edit those files. Something I'm going to teach you how to do as well! When you right click on a track, you will also see a "Convert" option.

There are a couple of options here, but what you want to do is to go into the "..." menu.

This lets you choose what to convert the file to, where it goes, and any other processing.

In "Output format", there's a number of options. I personally use FLAC at compression level 5 for all of my music. The difference between level 0 and 5 is incredibly minimal, only a hundred or so kilobits that an extreme audiophile with crazy headphones might notice. True lossless would be converting the CD tracks to WAV files, but that almost doubles how much storage your music takes. Only go this route if you care about a 1:1 CD rip and have the storage. You can also just convert them to MP3s. There's multiple settings for MP3 encoding, so you can have high quality files while still saving on tons of space. Just right click on the option and "Edit".

Note that you will need to have the LAME MP3 encoder executable somewhere on your device in order to be able to do so. You can obtain an already-assembled version of it here. Just place it anywhere on your computer and define the path in foobar2000, and you should be good to go. Once you convert the files, it's up to you how you have them stored. I personally make folders for all my albums and set the icons of the folders as the album art. That's just a matter of converting the image to a .ico file and setting that as the icon in the customize tab in "Properties" in Windows Explorer.

This makes everything easy to visualize and nice to look at. I even have this Music folder pinned to my Quick Access so I can easily get to it. Of course, now you're going to need to have foobar2000 actually see where this all is. If you go to "File" -> "Preferences" (or just hit Ctrl+P) you'll bring up your settings. Click on "Media Library".

Here, you're going to want to define where your music is located. Click "Add" and navigate the Explorer window to where your music or folders of music are located. Select the folder, hit "Apply", then close out of the window. The albums and songs should now show up wherever your album list is located, which is usually on the left side. Now all you have to do is scroll through it, click on the drop-down menu of the album, and play a song!

Extra foobar2000 Tips and Features

I have foobar2000 set up with a few more features and settings that make everything easier to handle, just so I spend less time in Explorer. This way, you won't have to do what I used to and drag the whole album into the program every time you wanna listen to it. The first thing I want to go over is the layout. You can edit your layout in "View" -> "Layout" -> "Quick setup".

This is what "Album list + Properties + Visualisations" looks like, and is my recommended layout if you don't want to mess with anything. Of course, this isn't what mine looks like. Same colors, but a bit of a different look.

I've removed the properties and shrank the visualization portion, while adding the album art in the bottom left. This is through the layout editing mode, in the same dropdown menu as "Quick setup". I recommend you play around with it and see what you like. If this is a bit too complicated for you, I also recommend searching for foobar2000 skins. I don't have experience with installing them, so I recommend using this video here. Earlier, I also mentioned a Discord Rich Presence add-on you can install. That's found right here! Download the file from the "releases" section (I'd use foo_discord_rich-x64.fb2k-component if you're on a modern system), double click it, and it should install right away. If you want something that looks like this though, there's a few more steps to follow.

Under the "Preferences" menu, "Discord Rich Presence Integration" should be a new selection under "Tools".

These are my settings for the plugin. You can see in the first image that you can have the plugin try to find the album cover from the internet. But what if the cover isn't the right one? Or what if you want a custom one? This is where the "Art cache" window in the second image comes in. Select "Open containing folder..." and you'll find a lone .json file. It looks something like this.

The program takes the linked images and displays them in the plugin. If your album doesn't show up here, just copy the formatting and replace it with the artist name, and a link to the image of the album cover. You can get it by searching for the album cover, right clicking, and selecting "Copy image address". From here, go to "File" -> "Save", close the document, and go back to foobar2000. Select "Reload from disk" and play the song again. If you check Discord, it should show the album art you linked. If you want a custom album cover you made yourself, try something like Imgur. Make an account and upload the image as a hidden image (it defaults to this anyway). Copy the image address from that and put it in the .json file alongside the artist and album name, just like before. I also wanted to mention that if you're buying a file from Qobuz, the metadata of the files you ripped from the CD and the file you bought might not match up, if you plan on having them as the same album anyway. You can easily go back to the songs you ripped and select the metadata in the "Properties" menu, copy it, then go back to the "Properties" of the purchased file and paste it over. Make sure to apply the changes before closing the window. If everything worked, you should see that they're under the same album in your album list. Double-check the track numbers and edit them if needed. The album covers might not match, too. This is easy to fix, though. It's all in the "Artwork" tab of "Properties".

Just right click on the art, export it to a file, then go back to the file you wanna replace the artwork on, remove the artwork, then import it. It's best to remove it first so the file doesn't have multiple artworks assigned to it.

Closing Thoughts

I'm not gonna go much longer with this, so I just wanted to close with a few things.

Get the mobile app. You'll be able to transfer your music over through an FTP connection. For those who don't know, it's through the internet. I don't wanna explain all that right now, but I can recommend FileZilla as a program to use.

This is going to cost quite a lot of money initially. Buying a whole bunch of CDs and/or files at once to replace what you have on Spotify is going to be hefty. But in the end, you won't be paying a monthly subscription. Unless you buy an album a month, then I guess that's your monthly subscription.

Discogs is your friend. And mine. I mentioned the site before, but it's an amazing tool for finding what album variants have which songs, and it's even a marketplace like eBay. I've bought from the site before and I can recommend it for that purpose as well.

That's gonna be all from me for now. It's been ages since my last blog post on here, and I have two in the drafts. I'll revisit them soon and continue working on them, but for now, I'll see you guys later.

#cds #cd #music cds #music cd #music #spotify #physical media #backups #taylor swift #foobar2000

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