#probably not a duel with a musical instrument though

[tuxedo-rabbit]

I like the idea of Merrill rescuing Hawke by having to make some kind of deal with the Nightmare demon.

What sort of deal I haven't quite figured out. But something where she outsmarts the demon and gets Hawke back, in the style of old folk tales or The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

I just think it would fit well with her character.

[descendants-extended]

AK & VK's Hobbies

A lot of the AKS probs do horse-riding too cause rich kids and their parents have pet horses mostly in canon stuff.

Also hanging out with pets for VKs and AKs since they all have pets galore. Though no one has more than Aladdin, Jasmine and their kids’ massive menagerie.

Everyone sings (probs various degrees of good)

Harriet: Likes doodling (not coherent usually & just for her eyes only) and reading.

Harry & CJ: They like to read but mostly for the dramaticness & extraness. And because they are Hook’s kids so classical literature and stuff is easy for them. It’s probably a hobby that surprises people the most!

^ the hook kids’ hobbies are also inspired by chats with @panthera-tigris-venenata

Hook kids may also play some instruments cause their dad does (piano, harpsichord and from jake and the Neverland pirates: the trumpet)

Ben:  Headcanon that he can do some ‘tinkering’ with things. Not full on inventing like his grandfather, Maurice or like Carlos. But it’s a talent he has from spending lots of time with his grandad during his childhood.

He is probably a great assistant/helper! His mode of doing things is trial and error! Though he probably does know the basics pretty well. It helps him relax and calm down. It transports him to simpler times with his grandad and the stories he used to hear.

Audrey: Swordfighting, fencing & jousting with & cause of her parents (mum too cause in one disney picture book Aurora does joust! which is cool of Disney to give us content for. Also Aurora uses a sword in concept art).

Spending time with woodland creatures, hearing stories from her ‘great-aunts’-the 3 good fairies and gramma. She likes foraging. Embroidery and stitching too maybe. Probs likes reading stories too. She also writes her diary.

Gil: possibly woodworking/carpentry? But he values detail, style and elegance and likes engraving it with art unlike his father who only cares about its functionality and just generally leaves it like bare and crude. People also hc he likes gardening which is cute!

Hunting responsibly? A take I heard once. Like he only takes what he needs and sometimes just enjoys running after animals and not actually hunting if that made any sense.

‘Uma’s wicked book for VKs’ said he made Uma and Harry’s outfits for em I think so he’s a fashion designer too? Or maybe they gave him special instructions that he followed. Good for him. Cause dude can still sew then.

Jay & Jade: Practicing disguises (Jafar & Nasira both got disguises in canon so like just a family thing). Practicing magic when they get to Auradon (Jay is 1/4th Genie in mine. Plus Jafar & Nasira do have some magic of their own so do Jay & Jade).

Anthony: reading, upcycling outfits & accessories (because a line in the 1st book saying his outfits look regal & tailor-made somehow though they’re made of the same materials other’s outfits are made of. He generally makes any outfits work but further elevated by him tailoring stuff).

He likes spending time with his mum, siblings, cousins, pet(s) & his bestie, Eddie Balthazar! Loves throwing parties (based on the 1st ‘isle’ book again, saying he throws great parties)- he just enjoys the effort, the pay off & it helps him unwind (good for him. ambivert vibes).

Thinking up business strategies, accounting & book keeping! (Why are these in his hobbies? He finds it pretty fun when it all works out. So generally ‘plotting’? Yeah. Likes things organised), being a taste tester for his sibling’s food creations (they’re just good at it), dignifiedly sassing annoying isle people (mostly villains, some won’t get it sometimes) & learnin‘ stuff like languages!

He can play the piano but not really something he likes as much (wind instruments aren't his thing just like they weren’t his mum’s thing). Probs likes the idea of dueling but not exactly good at it?

Hadie: Likes rock & roll music like his dad, maybe he likes giving himself new piercings as a hobby? (met someone who did this irl! sounds cool but be careful). Likes to be a pest to the villains who are horrible parents and people (like him bothering Frollo to do his fortune quite regularly- @panthera-tigris-venenata made a post bout this! Give it a read, it's such a treat).

is the prince of the underworld so he likes to practice magic with his dad though you don’t really see results on the isle cause of the no-magic nature of the barrier (I suppose other magic users also found it very hard learning magic without well, magic! His irises glow yellow sometimes & his blue hair lights on fire so some magic still is kinda visible.)

Likes hanging out with his friends! Oh and his cousin, Freddie (if one hcs Freddie being Ursula’s daughter which I adore) and by extension Celia (who isn't Ursula’s kid in mine so not his blood cousin but he still treats her like one)

Chad: Dude won’t ever admit it but doing chores helps him clear his head and he likes cleanliness cause his mom wanted to still know some responsibility (never forced him to do it though).  Likes sports and also shopping! He can sew but like only repair stuff. He can cook some basics but not a hobby of his and not something he ever has to do.

Jenna, Rafi, Salima, Aziz (& their two lil siblings in mine): Hanging out with family, friends and pets.

All love going on long magic carpet rides. (‘Borders? Air traffic? Aw, bless your heart.’ They have like no need for passports on carpet rides & Agrabah’s got it as a clause in their agreement. The royal family doesn’t need those. (reminds me of how irl the British royal family’s head doesn’t need a passport). They have passports though. This is a new idea I just had & yeah. Can have a lot of exploration).

They love travelling. Probs try different modes of travel.

Aziz can Skateboard (based on Jasmine skateboarding in an Aladdin console game XD. Can't remember which game it was rn. But ‘Nasira's Revenge’ maybe? Feel free to correct me if I remembered the wrong game. While trying to find a pic, I found a doll of Jaz with Carpet as a skateboard so interesting.)

Anxelin & Ruby: Too many cause of their mom, Rapunzel's many hobbies and how it inspired them. They love trying out new stuff and are pretty adventurous. Their favourite book series is obv the 'Flynnigan Rider series'.

inspo from this post from @dragoneyes618: here

This is it so far. Maybe this is a part 1? Depends.

[anghraine]

While I’m Star Wars-ing, my top 10 favourite SW themes, in order of my ... okay, totally subjective preference:

1) Luke and Leia

Amazing. Stupendous. Spectacular.

I just love it so much, particularly the way that it integrates the elegance of “Princess Leia’s Theme” with the power of “Luke’s Theme” as it escalates (bombastic flutes!), while also being its own thing, reflecting both the sweetness and strength of their relationship. It gives me chills every time.

2) The Force Theme / Binary Sunset

A very close and very lovely second. It’s been used so many times in so many ways and has lots of associations throughout the series ... but it’ll always be Binary Sunset to me, tbh. I have very, very rarely seen such an evocative, perfect combination of music and visuals. Even by itself, though, it’s just so powerful and so pretty.

Having said that, it barely squeaks past #3:

3) Darth Vader’s Theme / The Imperial March

When I was thinking of the individual character themes, I immediately knew this would have to come first. It’s so perfectly thunderous and powerful, and also lends itself to some remarkable variants, like the terror of “The Asteroid Field,” the ominous undertones in “Anakin’s Theme,” and the gentle version that plays as Anakin is dying. Just an unparalleled character theme IMO.

4) Princess Leia’s Theme

One of the single most beautiful themes to emerge out of SW, and (I think) certainly the most beautiful of the individual character themes. As I mentioned in #1, it has a distinct elegance about it, even a gentleness, but it also turns noticeably forceful in the last third or so, appropriately enough. Just lovely all around.

5) Luke’s Theme / Main Theme

Few themes (in anything) are so incredibly memorable and so incredibly perfect for their films as this. I love the bombast of it both for SW in general and for Luke’s forthright, daring, reckless personality in particular. Its use when Luke jumps into asskicking mode on Jabba’s barge is so satisfying, though the escalation to it at the end of ROTS is probably my favourite use of it in all the films.

6) Anakin and Padmé’s Theme / Across the Stars

The prequels have some amazing tracks and motifs, but for me, “Across the Stars” is the jewel in their crown (yes, beating out “Duel of the Fates” and “Battle of the Heroes”). It’s beautiful and gentle and soaringly powerful all at once—perfect for, well, star-crossed lovers, and I actually think it’s used really, really effectively in AOTC. It’s half the reason I ship Anidala, tbh.

[Note: I don’t really count “Duel of the Fates” as a theme per se, but if I were including it in this list, it would be here. I don’t think it’s used with quite as much focus and effectiveness as “Across the Stars,” but damn is it superb in its own right.]

7) Rey’s Theme

Yep, it’s here! I’ve heard criticisms of the sequels’ themes and motifs, but I actually adore “Rey’s Theme,” both as an individual piece and as one extremely well-suited to its subject. It has a lot of force overall, but it’s accompanied by a certain lightness in the dominant instrumentation that makes it very charming and appealing.

8) Jyn Erso and Hope Suite

And a non-John Williams theme appears! I couldn’t possibly leave this one out, tbh—I absolutely love the mix of melancholy and beauty with an escalating brassy strength that simplifies to something almost delicate (like, say ... hope?). And I’ve always been a little reminded of the “Across the Stars” doomed love theme at times (suitably enough for Jyn! /shipping mode activate).

9) Yoda’s Theme

This is perhaps the cutest of all the themes? I really enjoy how it has a simple, delicate appeal, but also feels kind of quirky and odd, like Yoda. I meant to put it at the bottom, actually, since it’s not really the style I go for in general, but I listened to it again, and couldn’t do it.

10) Anakin’s Theme

Don’t be misled by its placement on this list; anything that made the list is something I love, it’s just that there are so many incredible themes in SW. I love, in particular, how this theme is so light and cheerful overall, yet has hints of “The Imperial March” woven in that become increasingly glaring as it progresses, and ends on a distinct element of it. It’s also one of the most enjoyable to simply listen to, I think, because of that combination of pleasantness and menace.

And that’s my list!

[zz-chikorita]

Headcannons for characters from your Jolly Rogers... IN A COLLEGE AU SETTING?!?!

...please?

Oooh! Fun!

Ok, so, hear me out, here's what I'm thinking...

Leon:

Leon is a new student studying abroad at this particular university. He's in a stem field (probably mathematics or physics) and was pushed into it by his family and old teachers. He's the first generation of his family to go to college and they're super proud of him and have high expectations for him. He, of course, is under a lot of pressure to not disappoint them so he went with a field he would be able to excel at and that would set him up for success. His family would be ecstatic if he someday applied for medical school or law school.

Thing is, he's miserable. He's good at this stuff but that doesn't mean he actually likes it. This isn't what he wants to do for the rest of his life. But he does want to be a good son and brother. He wants to be able to get a good paying job so he can send money back home, since the only reason he's able to go to college at all is because he got a ton of scholarships. He had phenomenal test scores and was valedictorian and all that so it wasn't hard for him.

What he really wants to be is a musician. Being on stage in the spotlight, making people clap and cheer... that's what he wants.

But we can't always get what we want

(Guzma hcs and more under cut)

Guzma:

Guzma happens to be a third year music student. His main instrument is trombone and he plays a lot of freelance gigs with a small group of his friends to make some extra cash and just cuz it's something to do. He also like going to bars and parties, basically being your typical college dumbass, drinking and doing dumb shit. People describe him as arrogant and cocky. He does not take criticism well, which gets him into trouble.

Despite his reputation as a short-tempered brute, he's actually very intelligent. He's happy in his field, however he would've liked to go to school for one of the biological sciences. He only managed to get scholarships for music school specifically (his stem grades weren't bad or anything, they were just a little too average), and since he's completely paying his own way through college, that's what he went with. The scholarships weren't enough though and he still had to take out a loan or two, hence the always trying to find opportunities to make a quick buck.

He's one of those music majors who practice in the dead middle of the night because no one else is around. Like, 2-4 am.

There's one point he notices this same guy coming in and out of the music building on a weekly basis. He goes into a practice room around 2am, slams out some, like, ridiculously awesome jazz improv on the keyboard for a half hour or so, and then leaves. Occasionally he'll mix it up with other genres, but for the most part it's something high energy. All of it is played with a tangible amount of passion.

What's weird is that Guzma's never seen him in the building during the daytime. He's not in the jazz band....or any of the other ensembles as far as he can tell. He's asked around if anybody has class with a piano player with darker skin and long, purple hair... but no luck.

Kukui thinks he might've seen a guy by that description in his calculus lecture...

Guzma's Band:

Kukui is getting a duel major in Music Performance and Anthropology (there's actually a reason I chose anthropology specifically but I haven't brought it up in JR yet so I will just leave it at that).

His main instrument is trumpet and he plays gigs with Guzma. He and Guzma are "friends" ...in the loosest sense of the word... They went to the same high school and actually dated for a while but then broke up. They meet to practice and perform together, but they don't hang out like they used to... Kukui's current girlfriend, who is studying biological psychology, keeps telling him they should really sit down and talk about it but they are both very stubborn.

Molayne is in school for mechanical engineering. He plans to go to grad school and eventually get a job in NASA. He plays vibraphone with them because it's fun and he's bored. He has an eidetic memory, so he doesn't have to worry about studying and all that, so he has a lot of free time. He's frequently the band's designated driver.

Kalani is a music education major and his focus is percussion. He plays drum set for them and, yes, is still a giant Guzma simp in this universe.

Misc.:

Plumeria doesn't really play gigs with the band but plays trombone like Guzma. She is also frequently the one stopping Guzma from starting bar fights.

Raihan is Leon's old boyfriend from back home. Since they chose different colleges and Leon wasn't even going to be in the country anymore, they decided to break up. They're still friends though and stay in touch.

Nanu is a very tired and very disgruntled, tenured professor.

Hala is one of the music professors.

I imagine the first time Guz and Lee met, it wasn't quite a real meeting. Guzma saw Leon go into a practice room, like usual, so Guzma goes into the room directly adjacent to it. The walls aren't thin but they're not soundproof either, so he can hear him slamming away on the keys.

So, Guzma gets his bone out and starts playing (really loudly to make sure the sound goes through the wall) with him. He can hear Leon falter a little and kinda press a bunch of wrong keys when he realizes it but he ends up continuing anyway. They even end up doing a little question/answer, back and forth improv thing that makes both of their hearts soar.

When they come to a natural ending, they're both laughing and in such high spirits. Leon goes quiet first and then Guzma hears the frantic shuffling of a backpack. He sets his instrument down and quickly runs out into the hall but... Leon's already gone.

He doesn't come back to the music building for a few weeks. When he does finally come back, he goes in and just plays the most depressingly melancholy piece Guzma's ever heard. It also didn't have his heart in it, like it normally does.

Guzma waits for him to finish and then confronts him when Leon tries to leave.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Ah-Ah-Ah..."

"You deaf? Who are you and what the hell ya think you're doin'?"

"Ah'm sairy! Ah thought it wid be awricht as long as Ah came late since Ah'm a non-major. B-but, Ah'll leave nou-"

"That ain't what I meant, idiot. I meant what was that shit you just played, huh? That ain't you! Why ain't you jammin' like ya normally do?"

"Ah... Ah'm... just no feeling it today. Ah'm sairy..."

They're both quiet because Guzma doesn't know how to respond and he's busy being extremely distracted because he never expected that accent to come out of that face (which happens to be an extremely attractive one, he realizes). He is also realizing how exhausted and tired the poor guy looks.

"Ah shouldnae o' come here. Ah cannae hae distractions... Ah need tae focus on ma studies... Ah need... Ah need-"

"A drink."

"Ah... whit-?"

"'A drink'. You need a drink"

"B-but-"

"You over twenty one?"

"Aye, b-but-"

"Then we gon' get you a drink."

"Ah-"

"And ya still ain't answered my question."

"Huh?"

"Who are you?"

"...Ah'm...Leon."

[redemptionofthefallen]

@little-yugi-muto-rp

//sorry, but you walked right into this one.//

"If they had a kid meme" for Kevin and Yugi

BWAHAHAHAAA who said that wasn't my intention? XD LOL

thank you so much for sending this though for reals i was hoping you would cause i....i has ideas XD LOL

@little-yugi-muto-rp

Name: Shadi Muto -i like it but if you have a better one please let me know XD-

Gender: i can easily see them having a boy.

General Appearance: if by some grace and miracle they were able to have a child with both of their genes -just ask me i has some ideas XD- i imagine their boy being average height scale -due to Kevin being tall and Yugi shorter- deep purple eyes like purple almost blue -because violet and blue would mix that way- with strawberry blond hair naturally. he would have Yugi's eyes and smile, but Kevin's expressions and scowls.

Personality: i can see him being gentle like Yugi but it doesn't take him much to put him into a tizzy. when he does he gets very flustered and angry quick like Kevin. however unlike Kevin he can be calmed down easier, and will go back to being happy go lucky again. there's no doubt in my mind that he has a passion for music like both his dads. but also like playing duel monster's with Yugi, and learning about myths and conspiracies' with Kevin. i also see him being shy around people but once he gets used to them he becomes very energetic. he makes friends easily and does his best to keep them.

Special Talents: for some reason i see him playing either the piano or violin probably both. he also really good with them, he has great rhythm timing like Kevin to make a song out of thin air, but has the same emotion and grace Yugi does when he plays. i can see him winning solo competitions doing both instruments. i can also see this boy being good at Dance. he loves creating music just so he can dance to it. doesn't matter rather its ballroom or modern he loves it all and is good at it. he's fair at Duel monster's but not as good as Yugi, however if him and Kevin take on Yugi alone they get real close XD

Who they like better: hmm....that's a toughy as i feel like he wouldnt have a favorable dad. but maybe for certain situations. like i can see when he's having a hard time with emotional issues he goes to Kevin, but when he has friendship issues he goes to Yugi. relationship problems he goes to both of them equally.

Who they take after more: in looks he defiantly takes after Kevin more, personality wise he would take after Yugi more.

Personal Head canon: i just wanna say Justin being the best Uncle? like he would spoil that kid rotten and let him get away with stuff he cant do at home XD lol

but also i have this head cannon in my head that going to bed at night or when he needs to be calmed down either Yugi, Kevin, or both singing to him is instantly calming to him. he loves listening to them sing.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Samira, the Desert Rose build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Jessica 'OwleyCat' Oyhenart. Made for Riot Games.)

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Still fucking hate this champ but her theme still slaps.

The eternal joke of me putting off making a build for Samira is finally over, though ironically enough my distain for this champ has only grown overtime. Jesus fucking Christ Rito can you nerf this champ’s goddamn damage? Like nerfing her lifesteal is nice and all but it doesn’t mean shit when my dumbfuck teammates picked 4 assassins into her and I’m the only one who can CC her as a Lulu.

Ah well: Samira still definitely fills a fantasy everyone wants, being a badass with sword and gun styling on the competition. Devil May Cry? Yeah I suppose Samira would be pretty good in a campaign against Fiends.

GOALS

You want style? You've found her - Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic; we’ll need to Surprise the Service with Style to Spare. Sssssssssssssssssamira.

Eyes up! - We’ll need to be everywhere at once, dashing and dancing around the battlefield so no one can lock us down.

Showtime! - When push comes to shove it’s time to speeeeeeeeeen~

RACE

Samira is human no matter what the meta might dictate, and for once in my life I actually want something particular from Variant Human. But firstly: you can increase two Ability Scores of your choice by 1: increase both Dexterity and Wisdom for sharp sight and sharper shots. You also get a skill of your choice and a language of your pleasing. For your skill take Slight of Hand for flips and other gun tricks, and for your language Infernal will be good for your Inferno Trigger.

Again: we came to Variant Human land for a Feat because two guns are better than one. The Crossbow Expert Feat will give you a variety of benefits: no need to reload (or at least the ability to ignore the Loading property), no disadvantage in melee range... But most importantly if you fire a Hand Crossbow (which will be working as our handgun in this build) you can fire it again as a Bonus Action! "Well! Look at you."

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Dexterity is tied to both shooting and backflips.

14; CHARISMA - Who needs a military license when you’ve got style?

13; WISDOM - Wisdom measures how in-tune you are with the world around you, and you need heightened senses not to die doing stupid shit.

12; CONSTITUTION - Most of Samira’s sustain comes from Lifesteal but we won’t really be able to get lifesteal, so just focus on not dying really.

10; STRENGTH - It takes a lot of upper body strength to do the stuff that Samira does but Riot isn’t about to make another Illaoi.

8; INTELLIGENCE - Your primary goal is to do things as recklessly and dangerously as possible... “for the Vine” as the kids say. Vine shut down ages ago!

BACKGROUND

Samira is a mercenary. I wonder if there’s a background for that... hey look at that Mercenary Veteran in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide! You get proficiency in Athletics and Persuasion as well as Ground Vehicles and a gaming set of your choice. But of course the main benefit of being a mercenary is the Mercenary Life. You can easily identify other mercenaries and know bits and pieces of their lives. You can also easily find work by hanging around taverns and such until Captain Indari passes on some info to you.

(Artwork made for Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue because I like skill proficiencies! Skills like Acrobatics, Perception, Insight, and Performance; you were a street performer once! You also get Expertise in two of those skills: Acrobatics and Athletics are necessary to be everywhere at once.

You can chat in Noxian military code thanks to Thieves’ Cant, but c’mon that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here for Sneak Attack! If an enemy is distracted or you have advantage you can stick a d6 where the sun don’t shine!

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues get Cunning Action, letting them Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. Dance around the battlefield like an Olympic gymnast... does Runeterra have the Olympics?

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Third level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype: to be the queen of style and also make people think you’re from Bilgewater (yeah I get it; it’s because of the eyepatch) look no further than the Swashbuckler subclass. Swashbucklers get two abilities at level 1 but honestly it’s more like three abilities: Rakish Audacity will let you add your Charisma modifier to initiative rolls so you can get into fights fast, and will also let you Sneak Attack anyone who’s beside you. I’d consider it less like you sneak attacking them and more like you slashing them with your sword. Oh and speaking of Sneak Attack? That increases to 2d6 now.

Speaking of sword slashing: Fancy Footwork is the mobile feat! Well, it makes it so that after you try to make a melee attack against an enemy you can move away without provoking opportunity attacks. It’s a little weird to run around with a sword in one hand and a gun in the other but you can easily slash at someone before backflipping away and running off to shoot them next turn!

(Artwork by @Aruneeko on Twitter)

LEVEL 4 - BARD 1

You didn’t think we’d be settling for just one class, did you? It’s time to go Bard; the masters of style! Bards get another skill proficiency at level 1 because why not be good at everything? Grab Medicine proficiency because it’s good to know how to bandage yourself up when living a dangerous lifestyle. “On my worst behavior." You also get a musical instrument and you know that I’ll always opt for good ol’ Noxian War Drums.

Bards get Bardic Inspiration, letting them show off their awesomeness so that awesomeness radiates onto their allies to give them a d6 to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. You’ve got a number of these equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain them at the end of a Long Rest. For now, at least.

And of course while you may be all guns your style makes it look like Spellcasting... because it is. Bards get 2 cantrips and 4 spells at level 1:

CANTRIPS

Prestidigitation will let you put all the visual flair you could want on your moves, and more!

If you wanna walk the walk you’ve gotta talk the talk, and Vicious Mockery will let you talk smack so hard they can’t hit back! "Keep the change; you're gonna need it."

SPELLS

Magic is usually dangerous, and danger is usually fun! Take Detect Magic to see where that danger may be!

If you need some space in a pinch Thunderwave will give yourself some peel.

Steel yourself to do something crazy with Heroism, which will also give you a bit of a shield to do so!

You are still technically working for Noxus so it would be good to Identify anything important... or valuable... For safe keeping of course!

LEVEL 5 - BARD 2

Second level Bards truly are good at everything thanks to Jack of All Trades, letting you add half your proficiency bonus to any skill you don’t have proficiency in. You probably noticed that we already have proficiency in a silly amount of skills but I’m not going to say no to MORE!

After dangerous stunts it’s good to cool off with a Song of Rest, letting you help your crew with a d6 of healing during short rests to bandage up those wounds.

And of course: more spells! Faerie Fire will let you light ‘em up to get advantage, which will make it easier to sneak attack!

LEVEL 6 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two more skills: Perception will help you spot danger and Medicine will help you after dealing with danger.

But of course what we’re mainly here for is your Bardic College and in order to be too cool for school go for the College of Swords. You get some Bonus Proficiencies that don’t really matter but what does matter is you can use your sword to cast spells instead of a drum! Additionally you get a choice of Fighting Style and Dueling will make your sword swings do more damage if you swing it with one hand. I guess it’s worth mentioning that while a rapier would do the most damage a scimitar is the only finesse weapon that does slashing? (Excluding whips.)

But the main feature we’re here for is Blade Flourish which despite the name does also work with your hand crossbows. When you attack your movement speed increases by 10 feet as you charge up that Daredevil Impulse. If you hit with your shot however you can make a Blade Flourish (which again works with your hand crossbows?) of your choice from the following list:

Defensive Flourish does extra damage and also increases your AC as you dodge incoming projectiles.

Slashing Flourish will let you cleave with your sword (and just your sword because it only works on nearby enemies.)

Mobile Flourish will let you chase after a fleeing foe... after pushing them. But after shoving them into danger you can use your reaction to dive right in!

You can only use one Blade Flourish per turn which will matter later. As for what will matter now? Second level spells! Enhance Ability will help you give 110%!

LEVEL 7 - BARD 4

Heeey it’s about time we got an Ability Score Improvement! Our Dexterity has been lacking and you need that to fire straight!

Word of advice: if you know you aren’t going to level 20 feel free to get 4 levels in Rogue for the sake of the ASI.

You also get another spell, and another cantrip! For your cantrip Message is always good for keeping in team chat. For leveled spells Warding Wind does let you deflect nearby projectiles so... 

LEVEL 8 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get Font of Inspiration so their Bardic Inspiration die come back on a Short Rest, which is good because said Bardic Inspiration die also increases to a d8! Oh and when I say “Bardic Inspiration” I actually mean your Blade Flourish die. "If you can't keep up don't step up. I don't have time for fools."

And now third level spells are up on the table, but they all suck so take Mirror Image from the second level instead, which was added to the Bard spell list thanks to Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything!

(Artwork by GaMu-ChAn on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 9 - RANGER 1

Three way multiclass? Don’t mind if I do! You get an extra skill proficiency by multiclassing into Ranger, because why not. Take Survival because you’re clearly damn good at it since you’re still alive.

Rangers get Deft Explorer at level 1 because Natural Explorer sucks and Tasha’s made Ranger a good class! Canny lets you learn two languages (honestly just pick your poison) and get Expertise in another skill, because lord knows we don’t have enough of those. I know we just got Survival proficiency, but it’s good to be good at not dying! (As well as finding food.)

You also get Favored Foe at first level, because Favored Enemy smells. If you shoot someone you can legally-not-Hunter’s Mark them so they take a d4 of extra damage once per turn when you shoot them. You concentrate on it like a spell and it works a lot like the Hunter’s Mark spell but you have a limited number of uses equal to your proficiency bonus, instead of using your spell slots.

LEVEL 10 - RANGER 2

Heeey more Fighting Styles! You already improved your sword swings so take Archery for +2 to ranged attack rolls to ensure that you hit your shots.

Rangers also get Spellcasting, only this spellcasting works with your Wisdom instead of your Charisma! You learn two spells from the Ranger list: Jump will let you do some hardcore parkour because the Ranger spell list sucks and I’ve got nothing else to give you, and Cure Wounds will allow Samira to have some healing... as a treat.

LEVEL 11 - RANGER 3

Third level Rangers can choose their archetype and Hunters are masters at taking down their foes. You can choose a way to take down your Hunter’s Prey. Colossus Slayer is a fairly simple affair: if you shoot (or stab) someone who’s already hurt they take an extra d8 of damage. Though you can only apply that extra d8 once per turn.

You also learn another spell: Longstrider will help you move thanks to that Daredevil Impulse. 10 feet may not seem like much but remember that you get an extra 10 feet thanks to Blade Flourish and can dash to turn 50 feet into 100 feet of movement!

Oh and I also completely forgot about Primal Awareness, which replaces Primeval Awareness. You can Speak with Animals once per day! Maybe not in character, but it helps if you have a Yuumi!

LEVEL 12 - RANGER 4

4th level Rangers get an Ability Score Improvement: time to finally cap that Dexterity score for the most precise shots and deadly cuts possible!

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 13 - RANGER 5

Total level 13 isn’t too late to get an Extra Attack, right? Well you can shoot twice now and mix some more Flair into your combos.

You can also learn second level spells now like Aid (ty Tasha’s) to let that adrenaline kick in so you feel no pain. Primal Awareness also gives you Beast Sense for a bit of covert Psy Ops.

LEVEL 14 - RANGER 6

6th level Rangers get Roving from Deft Explorer for 5 extra feet of movement along with a climbing speed and a swimming speed! Reminder that in combination with both Longstrider and Blade Flourish that increases to a whopping 55 movement speed, which means that you can Dash as a Bonus Action to move 110 feet in a turn! "Danger runs from me." Your Favored Foe mark also increases to a d6 of damage.

LEVEL 15 - RANGER 7

7th level Hunters learn some Defensive Tactics: while perhaps not the most useful since you have Heroism and all you’ve certainly got a Steel Will, giving you advantage against being frightened. “Death isn't the scariest thing; it's a mother's rage."

You can also learn another spell: Lesser Restoration can be helpful in a pinch if someone’s trying to slow you down. Or at least if they’re trying to blind, deafen, poison, or paralyze you.

LEVEL 16 - RANGER 8

8th level of Ranger means another Ability Score Improvement: Charisma means higher initiative rolls as well as more Blade Flourishes. Simply put Wisdom can’t beat style!

Oh yeah and you also get Land’s Stride to move through non-magical difficult terrain and plants without slowing down, and for advantage against magic plants. I legit forgot this was even a thing before seeing it on the character sheet.

(Artwork by dominaART on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 17 - RANGER 9

9th level Rangers get 3rd level spells like Conjure Barrage for some bullet rain; "My kind of rain!" Basically you shoot a bunch of bullets in a big cone, because Rangers get this instead of Fireball. Honestly something like Elemental Weapon (ty Tasha’s) would probably be better but we’re still sticking to flavor.

Oh and you can Speak with Plants thanks to Primal Awareness? Honestly these extra spells don’t fit at all but Primeval Awareness sucks. I’m literally adding these extra spells to the build last second.

LEVEL 18 - RANGER 10

10th level Rangers get Tireless from Deft Explorer. As an action, you can give yourself a Shieldbow shield for 1d8 + your Wisdom modifier in Temporary Hitpoints. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Additionally: whenever you finish a short rest, your exhaustion level is decreased by 1. Because danger doesn’t wait!

You also get Nature’s Veil because even if Vanish fits Samira better it still freaking sucks. Basically you can play around with Duskblade to turn invisible as a Bonus Action until the end of your next turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

LEVEL 19 - RANGER 11

11th level Hunters can finally spin around and hit everyone around them. Whirlwind Attack will let you make a melee attack against any enemy within 5 feet of you (with a separate attack roll for each target.) This is best used when surrounded (obviously) because unlike Samira’s ultimate in League it doesn’t do much extra damage, and you’re better off just stabbing them twice if you want DPS in a 1v1.

You also get your final spell known: take Wind Wall because you have an AoE Wind Wall and I thought it would be funny to steal directly from mister 0/10 powerspike himself. But really get whatever spell you think will be useful.

LEVEL 20 - RANGER 12

Full disclosure: feel free to go for 4 levels in Rogue if you know you aren’t going to hit level 20. I only went for Ranger level 12 because the hit die is bigger.

One last ability score improvement to top the build off: Charisma is still used for a lot of abilities, so increase that because who needs common sense when you’ve got blade flourishes!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Came all this way to die? - You have many a way to bump up the damage. With 2d6 on a sneak attack, an extra d6 from Favored Foe, a d8 from Blade Flourishes, and a d8 from Colossus Slayer that means that on average you can do about 20 extra damage every turn. That’s definitely nothing to sneeze at!

Finally some action! - Have you ever had +12 to initiative? Would you like to? You are incredibly mobile for a girl who didn’t bring Flash (IE Misty Step) with tons of ways to increase your movement speed and the ability to Dash every turn as a Bonus Action.

This took years of practice... for everyone else - It was not my intention but wow you’re quite the little skill monkey. Two expertise skills from Rogue, another 2 from Bard, and one more from Deft Explorer. Not to mention Jack of All Trades in what few skills you aren’t proficient in to make sure you can do just about anything.

CONS

Oh... I really gotta check these more often - Your spellcasting really isn’t fantastic. We invested almost everything into Charisma but we have very few Bard spells. While I did my best to avoid Ranger spells that forced saving throws there are still some that suffer due to your relatively low Wisdom score... Oh yeah you also have 6th level spell slots but your known spells don’t go past level 3. At least that means you can buff the party with Aid!

I feel most alive when I'm walking the line - As great as your skill checks are your saving throws are quite lacking. Your Dexterity is nice but that’s about it; all your other saves range from average (+5) to bad (+0) Notably your Constitution saves are a mere +1, which means you won’t keep concentration up for long if you play recklessly.

Well-behaved women don't make it - There are a lot of features I took more for flavor then actual utility. For a start Hunter is a rather meh multiclass. This might be one of the times “just play a Fighter with a bow” applies as a subclass like Battlemaster would’ve likely been a better choice, and honestly going down full Swords Bard would’ve given you far more utility overall. There were benefits from Ranger levels but they were lost in the multiclassing MADness.

But you prove that modern-day killers really must hate fun; more often people can’t get style rockin' knives and guns. You don’t need no fancy magic or divine ascension to be a badass: gun ‘em down and cut through whatever remains to show that S stands for Samira and Samira alone... As long as she isn’t permabanned.

(Artwork by @Yangyexin on Twitter)

[aquamotto]

Polish School of Magic or what Rowling gets wrong about Poland

In short: many things. 

The only mentions of polish wizards come from two instances - some Quidditch team  (Grodzisk Goblins) and Hagrid’s visit to Europe (with some goblin mention, again). 

Why goblins, anyway? There is no such creature in real polish mythology. Instead, there are much more Harry Potter-esque things such as: Beast of Krakow, Dragon of the Wawel Hill who is the most famous and ferocious creature in all Eastern Europe. The majestic power of this beast can only be matched with majestic power of its city of dwelling - Krakow, to put it simply, is the city of Polish kings.

Below: Krakow, the city of “goblins”, according to JKR:

But let me guess - goblin invokes this image of rudeness and primitivity that probably comes from british understanding of poles as construction workers and such. It is curious that nuanced portrayal of poor people that is reserved for characters like Snape is not allowed to poles. They are “goblins” but Snape is a “working class hero”.  

 What I will describe below, is my headcanon based on what I imagine Wizarding Poland to really be like, sans goblins and other imperialist fantasies but based on my own observation of Poland as both pole and outsider (because, unfortunately, I am both).

Personality,  culture

Quidditch champion image as rude and loud lads couldn’t be farther from the truth. Polish wizards, much like their friends in neighboring Czech Republic, are wise, eccentric, philosophical and brave people. They have been blessed and cursed with difficult history (Such as Partition of Poland and German and Soviet Invasion) and know very well how to operate in secrecy. In fact, they are the most secretive of all european wizards and if muggle were to accuse them of witchcraft, they would deny the fact to their last breath. In the same time, polish wizards love magic and often risk everything to pursue their next magical experiment. They are prone to be idealistic and live with their head in the clouds, sometimes literally, which can lead to both troubles and brilliant inventions.

Some believe that Nicolaus Copernicus, the genius astronomer who placed the Sun at the center of the Universe, was a polish wizard (painting by polish artist Jan Matejko):

This image of genius, sudden discoveries and epiphanies is valued in Poland to the point that students of Polish School of Magic wear stars indicating their year on their uniforms - to honor Copernicus. 

However, poles aren’t Ravenclaws in disguise - they are traditional, obedient and lawful people at the core and no polish wizard, even the smallest first year, would dare to cheek their headmaster or teacher the way Harry and co. do. 

Teacher - student relationship is sacred in Poland and it’s almost like your second parent -  someone to be treated with utmost respect. This can lead to quite harsh hierarchies in Wizarding Poland. 

Looks

Polish wizards dress modestly, colorful suits Weasley Twins style are not for them. They can sometimes even look monk-like (or medieval knight-like) in appearance. Since Poland is filled with minor aristocracy called szlachta (and I am proud to belong to it, too*) many polish wizards openly wear their coat of arms on their clothes. (*If you are wondering whether I have a coat of arms - yes, I do).

Polish School of Magic uses dark red monk-like hoods with more normal suit under as an unifroms.  Since they want to be the guardians of well respected traditions, it fits them. 

This doesn’t mean that poles are somber, though. They can be playful but in their distinct, “I challenge you” way. They can be competitive and fiery to the highest degree, especially when their honor or honor of their school is involved. They are indeed the most patriotic of all wizards, thinking of themselves as separated not only from muggles but from foreigners too.

Relationship with muggles

Polish wizards do not like muggles very much but unlike Britain, it rarely comes in a form of hostility but rather patronizing and light mockery. Rather than valuing pure blood,poles just think of themselves as superior to muggles in intelligence.They are especially suspicious of muggle disrespect of culture and the past which leads to wizards thinking that muggles are morally and spiritually, rather than genetically, impure. However, there was never an attempt to deny muggleborns education - in fact, they are welcomed with open arms and often even relief - “Finally, another one of us!”. This makes them a bit closer to Grindelwald’s idea of superiority than Voldemort’s one.

Music

Anyone knows Chopin, the great french-polish composer and indeed, poles adore music. To the point that Polish School of Magic considers participation in a school choir mandatory. But highest praise is reserved for those who dare and pick up an instrument (be it violin, cello, horn, piano or something else) to join the School Orchestra. If Triwizard Tournament accepted Poland, they would arrive in most curious way possible - operating the giant musical machine which would look like a church organ mixed with piano and other instruments. The headmaster would play it and the students (dressed in cloaks) would accompany him with some strange melody to make the grandest entrance ever. 

Polish School of Magic

Pictured below: Frombork

Thanks to Copernicus, magical astronomy and astrology are best subjects to learn in Polish School of Magic. Unlike their colleagues in Prague who are obsessed with alchemy, potions and dark arts, poles are more interested in the spiritual so they also value divination in any forms and defense against the dark arts. Since living in a country as difficult as Poland forces you to  always be on your toes, teachers consider it important to teach their students nonverbal magic as soon as possible. They also encourage wandless magic and actually had a lot of luck with it (unlike other european schools). Thanks to a certain WW2 incident, they also offer a superior course of arithmancy (If you know what I am hinting at, well done!) 

Pictured: Frombork Cathedral Bell Tower

Since poles are not very practical people, they don’t teach their students about Magical Creatures at all (aside from a side course on dangerous creatures such as dragons in DADA). This just doesn’t fit their heady aesthetics. Being honest and reliable people, they also dislike transfiguration - something about turning things into animals and other things strikes them as unnecessary cruel and even devilish. Being pious at the core, poles want magic to always come from the source of respect and light. That’s why almost all students leave the school with full patronuses - most common of which is a white eagle, of course - the symbol of Poland. Poles are often so patriotic that even their best memories are linked to their national identity!

Poles are also good at charms and make superb magical duellists. In fact, not many nations can best them in this regard, if any. It is thanks to their wandless magic, wordless spells,  quickness of reaction and harsh discipline (almost military-like) instilled in them in their school. 

Talking about discipline... Polish School of Magic’s discipline is indeed very strict. The school grounds are usually quiet, students know best not to laugh too loud, not to pull pranks or fool around needlessly. Spontanous duels are forbidden. Teachers love their work and always keep an eye on misbehaving individuals. Lazy, incompetent or misanthopic teachers don’t exist in Polish School of Magic. Instead they can be overly strict, demanding, mocking, conservative and overly eccentric. (This one is based on real life experience, everyone.)

Below: Ksiaz castle

 Teachers in Polish School of Magic lean old and getting a place there is very difficult and demands tons of connections. They also lean male but not just because of prejudice (although, unfortunately, such prejudice exists - Poland is a country of soldiers in many ways), because DADA course there is especially harsh and physically exhausting. (Some say it’s because they want to best Durmstrang and it comes with knowing your enemy).

Despite the notes of traditionalist gender roles, female teachers are usually well-respected, even more than male ones. And that’s why many female teachers are quite haughty and have queen-like demeanor.

Below: Ksiaz castle room

But when do poles rest from all their strict training? The answer: when holidays come. Holidays are sacred for poles and many missteps are forgiven during them, rules become slightly more relaxed. 

One of the curiously LESS regulated things in Polish School of Magic is love. While british and american wizards such as Snape may get into a puritanical rage seeing two students kissing passionately, polish teachers would just smile sweetly at them and leave them alone. Girls sending boys postcards is not considered cringeworthy as it is in Hogwarts (I am looking at you, Harry) but natural and enviable. In fact, teachers encourage students to dance together and on holidays such as Christmas, they even overlook duels related to love triangles (a rare case of them approving non-DADA duels). Poles can dance well and you can often find them waltzing in the school balroom in their festive robes. They also flirt well and all this combined with the fact how good they are at duelling, makes them formidable rivals in love for students from any other school, including Beauxbatons, especially considering that Beauxbatons boys lean narcissistic rather than chivalrous.

In the end, if Poland did participate in Triwizard Tournament, I think it would charm everyone with their quick wit, intelligence, modesty, good manners and passionate spirit. 

Quite far from the “Goblin” stuff, isn’t it?

Below: various beautiful views from Poland

[rainecreatesstuff]

I saw a PJO/dsmp au over on Instagram and I was inspired to make my own so

Here’s the SBI + Bee duo to start :)

(btw all the characters here are mostly based off of their dsmp characters, not the actual ccs)

Tommy- Apollo kid. Can do that loud whistle thingy, and can sing very well. He can play a few instruments really well as well. His weapon of choice is a sword bc he thought it looked cool when he was ten and never looked back. He’s also fairly good with a bow tho bc Apollo. Didn’t really inherent any of the prophecy or healing stuff from his dad. Was orphaned at a super young age and juggled between foster homes for a while before he ran away at around nine years old. Lived on the streets with Tubbo for a while before being picked up by Wilbur and introduced to Phil, and taken into Camp Half-Blood (He took one look at Camp Jupiter and immediately went No <3)

Tubbo- Hephaestus kid. Obviously a great tinkerer, he‘ll spend a lot of time making cool little bots and contraptions. Has made an entire army of robees that help him when he’s working on bigger projects. Can’t control fire, but he does have an immunity to it. Makes him really good for working in the forges. He’s also stupid strong because he works in the forges so often. His weapon of choice is an axe. It was the first weapon he made after arriving at CHB and he’s become very well practiced in fighting with it. Also orphaned, Tubbo’s mom was from New Rome, but died during a monster attack while outside of the city. He was about ten when it happened, and took to the streets in a panic. He was presumed dead by New Rome. Ran around with Tommy for about a year before being found by Wilbur, then followed Tommy to CHB.

Wilbur- Also an Apollo kid, with an affinity for music and prophecy. Technically head counsellor of the Apollo cabin, but lives in the big house as a senior counsellor that oversees all the cabins and handles events and whatnot. His weapon of choice is a bow. His mother was pretty much out of the picture from a fairly young age, she dropped him off at CHB and he hasn’t heard from her since. He met Phil while on a field trip to New Rome, and Phil took Wil under his wing almost immediately. Phil would call him at least twice a week via Iris message, and they would exchange letters often as well. Phil also introduced him to Techno, who became a lot like a brother to Wil, and was soon added to the Iris messages and letters.

Phil- Second generation descendant of Zephyrus, Phil was born and grew up in New Rome. He went to Camp Jupiter when he was old enough, and then travelled for a while before settling down again with Kristin in New Rome. He works closely with Camp Jupiter, patrolling borders and helping with field trips between the camps as a chaperone. Though he doesn’t have wings like his grandfather, he still loves being in the air and has become really good with Pegasi and other flying monsters. He also inherited his grandfather’s generally chill personality, as well as his ability to suddenly become very threatening. While he is looked up to by many, he is also a fairly scary force when you’ve pissed him off. His weapon of choice is a sword, but he is also very good with a bow. He met both Techno and Wilbur while chaperoning events, and while Techno treated him more like a mentor, he fully regarded Wil as his son, and eventually legally adopted him.

Techno- A Mars kid. An incredibly skilled fighter with a terrifying aura. He is definitely capable of leading legions, but has turned down the role many a time because he hates the social responsibility that comes with it. His weapon of favour is a sword, but he is also very skilled with an axe and a crossbow. Stumbled upon Camp Jupiter when running from monsters, and was welcomed in. Met Phil at a sparring tournament when he was eleven, and decided he liked him, promptly challenging him to a duel. Phil defeated him, but was impressed, and became something of a mentor to Techno, though Techno was also always welcome to come by Phil’s house whenever he wanted or needed to. He was introduced to Wilbur when he visited one time, and the kid promptly adopted him as a brother and never looked back. He went to university in New Rome as an English major, dropped out, and started working with Camp Jupiter beside Phil, more as a strategist and patroller than a chaperone though.

Ranboo- An Aphrodite kid. Yes, I said it. Don’t shoot the messenger. While he doesn’t enjoy it, he can charmspeak, very well actually, and had to learn how to hold it back in certain situations. Wears a mask most of the time, simply because he can and it makes him feel safe and cool. After being severely injured by a monster when he was younger, Ranboo experiences memory problems, and cannot remember his past beyond being brought to CHB. This did however convince him to learn how to fight, and while he’s not the best fighter, he is still a very respected fighter at CBH. His weapon of choice is a sword. He has ridiculous luck, alternating between incredibly good and horribly bad; he once went on a quest and came back victorious, almost completely unscathed, and then promptly fell ill for a week with the flu. He arrived at CHB when he was thirteen after being found by a wandering satyr, horribly injured with no memories of his past or how he got injured. He became friends with Tubbo fairly quickly, and by extension, Tommy as well. Met Phil and became part of the unofficial family, and joins in on their weekly iris messages.

I’ll probably do a few posts like this bc they’re fun, and I really enjoy writing them :) I’m not sure which characters I’ll do next, feel free to recommend any tho! :)

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Croatia brings no men in a hamster wheel to Rotterdam 2021

Now could this be the teddy bear uprising invasion Muse has warned us about 12 years ago?

And LITERALLY, these review series make me feel like Croatia is openly taunting me - I watch the days go, I’m losing track of time, and when another day comes, I’m screaming “oh no I forgot to publish a review sooner than wanted!!”. Guess I’m for one glad there’s a time related song this year, hum?

ARTIST & ENTRY INFO

Repping the Adriatic coast nation that got all the sea instead of Bosnia & Herzegovina is some 22 year old Albina Grčić, who first popped up on X Factor Adria back when that was a thing, and got lumped into a girlgroup in later stages, but to that she said “hvala ne” and moved on with her life, getting eliminated just like that. Queen <3 She did get her second chance to compete as a soloist and make a more prominent mark on her career when she ended up on The Voice in Croatia. She did well, placing third overall in the season, but somehow, during the duel stage, her coach initially favoured her fellow Dora 2021 contestant Filip Rudan:

Her Voice success landed her a record deal with the Croatian division of Universal Music, she released a debut single, sometime later ended up on Dora, and here she is now, on Eurovision.

“Tick-Tock” is the song, a standard upbeat pop song, and one of the ones that talks about a girl leaving a terrible relationship and being so well over it that she “found [her]self and [she’s] finally free”, and the “tick-tock” here is used to represent the time passing by, not the sound of her heart, unlike a fellow ESC entry of a similar title. The tune (or its lyrics only) is co-authored by some dude you might’ve heard of from France’s 2018 preselection Destination Eurovision, and that is Max Cinnamon - some half-English guy with a half English song about love (”Ailleurs”) that did moderately averagely in the final... I don’t even know if his influence shows, I just love how 2021 has sort of become revenge of the NF flops but they’re writing other entries instead (Suzi P, “Adrenalina”).

REVIEW

I often don’t really fully vibe with female bops in Eurovision as much as I want to, like, for the most part they’re overhyped, and I let the “yass queeeeen” audience gorge on the everything their favourite bops give them. But this year there are plenty of great ones to choose from, as I think that it’s safe to say that most, if not all, are tucked in somewhere inside my top 20, top 25 at the very minimum. Croatia managed to even do the impossible and land into my top 10.

Why?

Well, the answer is that the song is just so damn good.

I mean, what’s NOT to like about it? It’s a catchy and upbeat song that incorporates xylophones (or whatever is it that sounds like them), guitars and synths; has a good bassline in the chorus; and it’s just... a very good composition overall, like, all the instruments in it are just in their right place and uplift the song massively. I also like Albina’s performance on it, both live and studio, it clearly shows that she’s a very good singer (also shown on her cover of the scandalous Oscar award snubbery “Husavik”). Sounds like a song a common pop loving Eurofan could gear themselves towards. Besides, it also has possibly my favourite pre-chorus section of the 2021 year? Oh wait, there’s also Switzerland, scratch that. “Tick-Tock” has one of my favourite pre-chorus sections of 2021. It builds up so well instrumentally and the way Albina sings it is even better. I obviously like to believe Albina heard those voices from far away that helped her to escape, has found herself, and she’s finally free from her “partner’s” bad lovin’ and restraint. Yas queen go be free you didn’t deserve his tomfoolery anyway!  👏 (Also I admire a section that’s not quite the pre-chorus but is still before the 1st chorus, the one that goes “If you pull me down then I'll come around” - literally just a lot of the parts of the song are full of nice vocal performance and I don’t regret ranking this in my top 10 not a second.)

If it has any drawbacks, it’s just that it gets a tad too repetitive after the halfway mark... like, the pre-chorus before the second chorus is the one to be repeated once again, and no new verse, nothing - but it does launch itself into something extraordinary, and that is a chorus in Croatian, which I assume she would perform in Eurovision because there’s no Eurovision version on the song promo bundle, I suppose. Comparatively the Croatian chorus is not as complex in lyrics as the English language one, and flows slightly differently too. But the song still has a long chorus by the end, and song with too many choruses is never a good sign for those that look for a song that’s constructed well, but I guess it’s a good factor for those that value the song’s catchiness. I guess that’s what one of the two Eurovision 2005 hosts valued the most when writing the Ukrainian 2006 entry “Show Me Your Love”, which if you ask me, is straight up 75% chorus, lol.

So yeah my verdict is that almost everything about this song, I like. I’m just a little devastated that in a usually very easily gorged on category of female bops, this just tends to lag behind in love, like a fellow song I really like this year, Israel. Instead people tend to prioritize Cyprus (which I get because they’ve established themselves as a girlbanger nation since Fuego swept Eurovision) and... probably even Azerbaijan? (which I might also get because Eurovision rarely has this thing called an ethnobop anymore, and it has more ethno than “Cleopatra” did, but still unnecessarily underwhelming lol.) Well then, in a year of female bangers, I would just like Croatia to not be swept under the rug come semis I guess. Yeah “Tick-Tock” may not sound like it brings something totally never seen before in a Eurovision environment (foreign language lyrics, themes about a break up, hell even her dancers looked like they were wearing the same hats as Tamta’s dancers), but you got to have a lot in you to sell a worn out idea to the new heights, and Albina does exactly that in my eyes.

Approval factor: Yeah! There is a lot of it in here for me. Follow-up factor: A great follow-up, not so great in regards to panini but musically it’s just going up and up from what we had in the past few years. I’ve actually not minded “The Dream” for the most part but I knew it was a chanceless plodding ballad and Roko harboured heaps of wasted potential working with Jacques Houdek and having wings as part of his performance, uff. *_* And then there’s “Divlji vjetre” which I also like a lot - a much better male ballad winner choice! If the Dora re-up winners keep being decent imo just like this, I have a feeling I will follow it a lot more often than I did just this one time this year. I am just saying that panini-wise, it was a sucky move from HRT for not allowing their last year’s winner promote his new song with Tijana (from Serbia 2017) on the Dora night, so we sadly only heard a pre-recorded opening version of “Divlji vjetre” to start off with :( Otherwise I think it’s not Dora’s fault in itself that Damir himself chose not to even submit an entry this year because he hadn’t found a good one - much like with Diodato for Sanremo (he was NOT rejected, if you think he still was, shush). But aside that, musically, it just keeps going up for me. Well done Croatia, for you’ve used to be a Eurovision country I don’t necessarily care about, that you brought two pretty damn good entries in a row. Qualification factor: I can absolutely trust in Albina bringing in a little bit of her charisma and well-likedness, and on top of that, a great vocal performance, in Rotterdam. Don’t ask me why, I just do. She doesn’t really perform her song live on pre-parties as much as I’d like to hope she would, but you heard girlie on the national selection, she didn’t win for nothing. Yeah yeah there might as well be female uptempo songs hungrier for the last spot, but I’d like to think Albina is one of the ones ready to devour than to be devoured. Go girl! Take us all dancing!

NF CORNER

To be honest with you, “Tick-Tock” winning Dora caught me by surprise. Ever since its re-up, the last two editions were kind of won by male ballads, and maaaaybe the dancey females were doing moderately well enough for themselves, but not overall? But look, juries were very keen on Albina, probably because she can SANG and she creates one hell of a fancy presence on her performance. And somehow she ended up snatching a win out of the hands of 5G conspiracy theorist 2016 representative Nina Kraljić, who was at first too drunk to care, but too unexpectedly sober to yell all over the soc. media how she was robbed and how the contest was rigged against her with her being on first and all that. Which is a shame that she is one of THOSE people, because her NF entry “Rijeka” is kinda nice? We did have the Balkan-esque ballads coming from Croatia in recent memory, but we haven’t had a truly proudly folksy one at that from Croatia for a long while, if not ever. Nina could’ve very well brought that to Rotterdam (and another mismatched wardrobe choice oops). But instead she was the one screaming “oh no, oh no, oh no”.

Actually I regarded Nina as one of my faves pre-show, and Albina was on her way, though she didn’t really cement the personal fav status until after all performances, thus making Nina and Albina switch spots for me. But truly, the one song that was my top favourite, iiiiiiiiiiis

GIMME AN OCEAN! OF LOVE!

2021 made me realize that damn, maybe anything that’s funky is my favourite music genre afterall. Up until then I vibed with entries like “Tonight Again” and “What’s the Pressure?” that had this sort of energetic flair and very rhythmic kinda sound to it, but 2021 just simply cemented it to me that my music world has probably been about nice and smooth and funky all along. I owe so much gratitude to ToMa first and foremost along the lines of more to have come in this year’s lineups - I just can’t not want to dance to “Ocean of Love”, and ToMa is quite alright at selling it live as well. There are small gripes with some instrument usages but that doesn’t detract from the fact that I love love LOVE funky guitar tunes.

Aside from that, I can give shout outs to Beta Sudar, whose song not only was underrated, but also had an underrated meme format throughout its performance:

My other props go to Bernarda, who not only competed in a national selection singing a song about seeing “Colors” while blind (and ironically there was a song called “Blind” in that same NF sung by a well-seeing guy!!), but also for finally putting this every country’s reject to rest. Seriously. That particular song was passed on to everyone in need of a competitive Eurovision bop, from Poli Genova to Helena Paparizou as of recently. Oh well, at least the song died a honourable death - well performed slice of good typical Eurovision pop (maybe even overperformed a little towards the end), that got a good rank with the regional juries, but somewhat murdered in televote, fellow Boris Milanov composition “Chameleon” style.

This one Mia Negovetić chick was promising too! Her song was written by the Debs and you might be tired of them trying to continue infiltrating Eurovision at this point, but a lot of their Eurovision songs are usually something I enjoy, “She’s Like a Dream” is no exception. Nothing but 3 minutes of pastel-dressed Croatian Ariana Grande doing what she does best <3

Oh and also some dudes tried to play chess on stage too I guess. But their song is not worth looking into, because one of the acts on it is apparently also a conspiracist, and maybe because oft this their entry is aptly titled “Sing, for the freedom has arrived!” lol I wonder what exactly is the kind of freedom you’re thinking of my guy

Was this the “better mood game” Laura was warning everyone about? Beats me

NF CORNER (NON-COMPETITIVE)

• It’s still hilarious to me as to how one of the acts this year, Brigita Vuco, was planning to bring in backing dancers, only for them to show a fake COVID test or something and outright BARRED from coming with her on stage. <3 Whatever she intended to do with them dancers, I have absolutely no idea, but at least she committed to her song being about drunken nights visually by having all these blurry shots

• Nina Kraljić’s greenroom shenanigans, from the “1-2-3, 1-2-3, drink” to numb the sadness over some results (and the 8 she got from the region Rijeka for the song “Rijeka” lmao), to whatever she saw on the phone that made her smile or go neutral

• Greenroom reactions in general. I swear, this year had cameramen in every single corner everywhere just to make sure something covers up for a human audience instead of severals of Zoom screens permitted to act as an audience. Random people in greenrooms were doing some sort of emotions after random acts, and also randomly they ended up pointing a camera towards an act that lost, but the act didn’t treat losing as if it were such a big deal <3

• All the other memes the Croatian Twitter might’ve noticed me for:

seriously Bernarda was locked in a bluelight mathematical dice contraption. how fucking cool is that

ANY LAST WORDS?

I just fucking hope that Albina shatters any doubts that people have had about her song come rehearsals, and somehow Croatia AND Israel slip through, because never too many female bangers I appreciate in the final, if they all are the bangers I appreciate, lol.

[inkedmyths]

In honor of this week's server poll, how about some dancing headcanons?

Time:

So part of Time's dancing is because of his fighting prowess. He learned to be quick on his feet, so he's really good at footwork. However, he's just... not sure what to do with his upper half. He's kind of awkward like that. It lends itself well to river dance, which he probably learned at some point on his travels (can't decide where... maybe the Zora?)

He's also not half bad at pair dancing, particularly with Malon. The trick with anything aside from river dance etc is to get him to stop being self conscious, so dancing with Malon really helps with that

Twilight:

Alright, now this is obvious, but he's familiar with country-type dances, like square dances. It's the kind of thing villages do for festivals, so everyone involved becomes well versed in them. He teaches the others some of his favorites, and they all participate on nights where the stars are out and they're well rested and in high spirits.

He catches onto other not overly complicated dances without too much issue as well, so he's not likely to make a fool of himself in formal dance situations

Warriors:

He's the captain of the guard, he knows how to waltz for formal reasons. However, at various points along the journey he encountered many people and many different dances. He really likes the more fun types of dance, especially ones that show off how in shape he is because he is just a tad vain.

Midna and Ruto thought it was hilarious to teach him the less traditional dances and Impa was. Tired. But anyway he's well versed in several dances and likes to show off on occasion

Aside from being a showoff, he really did like dancing with friends a lot. He and the gals partied. It's a fact

Four:

So yes I like the idea that Four knows waltz due to being childhood friends with Zelda. It makes sense.

HOWEVER, I also like the idea that some of the Colors know other dances. Vio is really good with swing dance, Blue is surprisingly well versed in like, tap dance. Green and Red though? Lost. They don't know anything else.

This leads to a strange "Four can sometimes dance and sometimes can't. No we don't know what his deal is"

Wind:

Is bapy!! Okay but really he's not super familiar with any sort of official dance either. For him it's a 'move to the beat' kind of deal. Just do what feels right! Whether what feels right actually looks like a dance or looks like he's a fish out of water is a different story.

The closest thing to an actual dance that he knows is something the pirates do. It's hard to explain, but it's a kind of cross between a duel and a dance. There's like a 75% chance of injury. It's not a recommended activity, no matter how much Wind insists that it's fun.

Wild:

Okay so this is a long-standing headcanon, but in answer to if he can dance: yes. Once again, similar to Four and Warriors, waltz is something he knows for formal reasons, though for him it isn't a concious memory but more muscle memory, a forgotten remnant of his time as a royal guard.

Aside from that, he's similar to Leg in of that he picked up other dances on his travels. The different races and cities in Hyrule have different dances, and Wild knows them all. The belly-dancing Gerudo, the strong stamps of the Gorons (you know like those Polynesian/Hawaiian dances the men do? That), the swaying and spinning of the Rito, the elegant movements of the Zora. He's danced them all.

He cannot, however, play an instrument to save his life. Do not give him an instrument. At best, it will be offkey. At worst, he will break it. Leave him to the dancefloor, not the band. ((This headcanon is very relevant to my Feral AU))

Legend:

So, Legend can canonically dance. We know this. Personal headcanons are that he's well traveled, and has picked up many, many dances along the way. From formal to traditional to modern, the boy has moves and he's extremely good at it, arguably overall the best dancer out of the nine.

Here's the thing: it's actually pretty hard to get him to dance. He's prickly and touchy, and convincing him to do something like that can take some work. Easiest way? Challenge his skills. He is a prideful creature and will defend his honor. Warriors knows this well and they've had several dance offs as a result.

Despite that, there's one thing he can't do, and that's slow pair dances. He never really learned that one, and the one time he tried... well, that's a dream gone by.

Hyrule:

So, we all know the boy is our "Street Smarts" kid. He's not exactly taught in dance. In fact he's not super familiar with the concept? Like, he likes music, and he likes kind of tapping his feet to it, but has no concept of how you're supposed to dance. He sees people do it, but feels silly trying to do what they're doing. If he catches onto a dance, it's probably something simple and more based on the emotions and the heart as opposed to footwork. Footwork confuses him.

Potentially could get good at something like theatre dance if given time

Sky:

Soft bird boy... so I believe that at some point during his schooling everyone is taught a traditional dance. It's a sort of group thing for festivals, something like a square dance but not quite as like, folksy? It's a bit more organized and elegant than your standard square dance.

He also knows how to slow dance, because Zelda insisted on them learning it. It took a while, but he knows the ins and outs of several pair dances and is a very good dance partner.

Now, more fast-paced, complicated dances? Nope. Gets left behind, probably trips. He'd love to learn but it takes time he just doesn't have right now, so he'll politely clap on the sidelines so he doesn't get trampled and cause a domino effect

[carmypen]

Excuse me as I make you work for your blandishment

3, 7, 10, 21, 29, 35, 37

You're really making me work, Dual @.@

3- Longest word count on an abandon wip

Back in 2018 I started writing a long fic for a non-yugioh fandom that ended up being over 100,000 words. I ended up abandoning it after I hit my word count goal, which was probably for the best since the fic had some issues. I think I might one day go back and turn parts of the fic into original stories or maybe shorten it down into some smaller fics, but I haven't reached that point yet. I'm still really glad I wrote the fic though, even if no one's read it. Writing it really helped me learn good writing habits, which I still use to this day,

7- When are you most likely to kill a character?

When it feels right. It kind of depends on the story and the character. I think the most important thing is to just make sure the death feels satisfying or cathartic to the reader.

10- A wip 12 year old you wrote

I write a lot, so it's a little hard to remember, but I know at that age I would love to write big massive crossovers between my favorite TV shows. I'm pretty sure I've written Sonic The Hedgehog/Digimon/Pokemon/Yugioh crossover fic at some point. I do remember I had a fic where there was a baby BEWD named Penelope, but I can't tell you much more about it ^^;

21- What is a word you use too much?

Suddenly. I think I use "X was surprised" a lot, too.

29- Music or no music?

Sometimes music, sometimes no music. If I do listen to music it has to be instrumental or something sung in a language that's not English. I usually listen to lofi or chill electronica like Boards of Canada or Nujabes, or I listen to kpop, movie/TV/video game scores or anime openings/endings.

35- Are you more likely to make grammatical errors or spelling errors?

If it weren't for spell check I would make soooo many spelling errors. I think I'm okay with grammar, but recently I've been feeling like I might need to refresh myself on certain things.

37- Name a series you’ve abandoned writing

I had a Zexal WIP that I was writing around this time last year that I still really love. It was written in screenplay format, which was a really fun challenge. It was about Shark being kicked out of the post-canon Barian frat house because Rio was tired of him acting cold toward everyone. The plot involved Shark, Durbe, Gilag, Alit and Vector having to go around Hearltand City to collect ingredients for a dinner Rio wanted to make. They were going to have to duel different Zexal minor characters to get the ingredients and it was going to end with Shark and Durbe having a tag duel against the tomato guy.

I still think about the story sometimes and I really want to complete it. Maybe when I finally get to Zexal II in my rewatch I'll have the energy for it, but we'll see. Maybe one day!

[puppypaw-wc]

random rhythm heaven facts i know off the top of my head for some reason

uh i’m bored so. have random rhythm heaven facts that i just. know. for some reason.

despite being the only game in the series to not have any lyrical remixes, ds is tied with fever for the most original lyrical songs, with each having five. ds has thrilling! is this love?, love ooh ooh paradise, young love rock n’ roll, struck by the rain, and that’s paradise; fever has tonight, lonely storm, dreams of our generation, i love you my one and only, and beautiful one day.

i emphasize “original” because without that, megamix beats fever and ds, having around eleven lyrical songs in total; only counting original lyrical songs, megamix has three (tokimeki no story/lush remix’s music, i’m a lady now/honeybee remix’s music, and um. whatever machine remix’s song is. in the english version though it only has one original lyrical song).

tengoku has four lyrical songs: karate man’s song (which like. idk if it even has a name- does it get name privileges-), the bon odori, honey sweet angel of love, and wish - can’t wait for you.

the fastest song is in ds; big rock finish c’s bpm is 290. the second fastest is also a ds game, namely remix 4, with,,, i believe 222 bpm?

the slowest game is built to scale and built to scale 2; at their slowest, their bpm is 60.

while endless games’ bpm is all over the place due to speeding up, clap trap literally has no (or at least no known) bpm. somehow.

no i don’t know anything about music.

i do, though, know remix 10′s bpm off the top of my head. it’s 166 in case you were curious. remix 10 ds’ bpm is 160. remix 6,,, it’s 138.7 or something like that? idk the exact decimal number. left-hand remix’s bpm is 120 i think. i have no idea on right-hand remix’s. and final remix starts at 160 bpm, increases to 170 at the end, and finally, ends at 180 bpm.

i have memorized the controls for literally every game. no i will not list them here because that’d take too long.

lockstep is the only ds keep-the-beat game to not have flick controls.

barelys (early/late inputs that are too early/late to count as hits) usually count as misses, but there’s a few exceptions to this:

some games will have barelys allow you to pass the practice, but then not actually count in the game itself. the main offender of this is flipper-flop. flipper-flop’s barelys make it so hard to perfect dear god-

in ds, three games’ perfect campaigns count barelys as hits, those being shoot-’em-up, frog hop, and lockstep. despite this, they still count as misses when playing normally, meaning you can get a perfect that wouldn’t be a superb. that always happens to me when i play lockstep 2.

most games have clear indicators for when you got a barely, though some are relatively similar to a miss, but some games have literally no indicator of barelys. unsurprisingly, all but one are in ds:

the games in question are glee club (sometimes; i’m guessing it’s when it’s still a barely but it’s right on the line between barely and early/late hit) moai doo-wop, love lizards, space soccer, and, in fever, shrimp shuffle. this means that a perfect campaign can end despite everything seeming completely fine. (sometimes you can tell you got it wrong, but it can be difficult, personally the only one i can tell in is shrimp shuffle and also space soccer sometimes).

barelys always count as misses in megamix. due to this, barelys mess up perfects on shoot-’em-up, frog hop, and lockstep. yet for some reason, barelys still let you pass flipper-flop’s practice. i have no idea why since in literally every other instance they’re a fail, but they do.

there’s like three beats for keep-the-beat games (games where you have to press a/tap/whatever every beat). this is easily seen in megamix’s final remix, where there’s a part where it smoothly transitions between flock step, frog hop, and bunny hop, and then cues you into marching orders (which is likely just due to the bunny hop part ending with a long jump).

the main beat is shared between almost every keep-the-beat game. all the undeniable keep-the-beat games use it.

rhythm rally and air rally,,, i think both have the same beat? i don’t know though. i don’t know if either of them can even count as keep-the-beat games tbh.

donk-donk and shrimp shuffle both have unique beats, which i guess brings it up to four different beats.

yet again, no, i do not know what any of this means.

there’s eight karate man games (both of tengoku’s, both of ds’, both of fever’s, and both of megamix’s original karate man games). a karate man game has appeared in literally every game and i don’t know why.

fan club’s bpm is like 132 or something like that? i mean that’s at least what rhythm heaven remix editor says the “ooh”’s bpm is at i think. it might be 162. i really don’t remember.

i’ve memorized the entirety of remix 10, remix 10 ds, and remix 6. so that’s a thing. though sometimes remix 6 messes me up when i’m just trying to remember it without playing. i can’t memorize megamix’s medley remixes for the life of me.

i’ve also memorized remix 8 because of course i have, who’s surprised at this point?

quiz show is a game that exists. it’s interesting in that you don’t have to follow rhythm at all. it’s a repeat-after-me game, but all that matters is that you press the button(s) the same amount of times.

it also ends if you get a question wrong, and unless it was the last one, that gives you an immediate try again. it’s one of three games to end prematurely, the other two being the night walk games (night walk 2 can also end prematurely).

it only has music playing at the beginning for some reason.

did i mention it got into megamix instead of an actually good game? instead of an actual rhythm game? in rhythm heaven?

megamix’s english dubbing sucks.

they seemingly had a low budget, so i will cut them some slack, but that doesn’t stop the fact that it’s terrible.

the title cards for games use the same few fonts, while in previous games they nearly all had original fonts.

none of the original songs got dubbed. instead they’re just instrumental. and dear god do i hate it. thus, with english audio, the only remix song is i’m a lady now, which is in english in all versions.

space dance and marching orders. just,,, space dance and marching orders. dear god.

luckily, and possibly due to the dubbing, megamix has the option to change between english and japanese audio. i have no idea if that’s only in the english version or if it’s in other languages’ translations, but it’s nice either way.

ds just straight-up lies to you. at the beginning of the game, it says it’s completely controlled with the touch screen, but then in the game right before remix 10, the r-button is used.

due to this rockers 2 sucks on emulator.

ds has too many repeat-after-me games, i can think of five off the top of my head. ds’ repeat-after-me games also aren’t even that good? moai doo-wop sucks, shoot-’em-up and love lab are fine i guess, i like freeze frame, and drummer duel’s pretty fun (though i’m pretty sure it’s just spam? is this spam heaven now? where did the rhythm go?).

this probably doesn’t make sense to like ninety percent of you. 😔

[my-name-is-apollo]

The punishment of Niobe and Marsyas

After I made that antivaxx Niobe post, I was thinking how the punishments given to Niobe and Marsyas were very out of proportion, and soon a lot of things started popping up in my mind. So here's my little rambling about how these stories are more than what they seem to be about.

In the myths, Niobe is the one who shows hubris. She is the one to boast and then degrade Leto and her children. Then why did Apollo and Artemis punish her children and not her directly? Because even though Artemis, and especially Apollo punished hubris heavily, it was directed to the person alone and not to anyone else. But in case of Niobe, she is surprisingly completely unharmed, but her family is annihilated. Why is it so? Was there a reason other than just hubris behind the massive bloodshed? And then I realised, there might be another reason indeed.

You know how Leto was running from place to place in order to find a place to give birth to her children? Well, Thebes was one of them. When Thebes refused to give Leto any help, Apollo grows bitter and in his anger tells there and then to Thebes that her land will be filled with bloodshed in the coming days. (it's a prophecy, actually). It also said that after they grew up, Apollo and Artemis went around punishing the lands that had refused to help their mother. And you know who was the royal family of Thebes? Niobe and her children. So it is very likely that the twins killed the children of Niobe not just for the hubris displayed by her, but also a revenge against Thebes itself. They probably wanted to punish Thebes for a long time and Niobe's pride was the final straw.

Next is Marsyas, a satyr who lost a musical contest against Apollo, and was flayed for his hubris. (Apollo played the lyre and Marsyas the aulos or the double flute). This is a very disturbing tale and honestly, one of the instances where Apollo's cruelty gets out of hand. But it is also very unusual for Apollo to punish someone this way. Look at his other myths. Except this case, every other time, Apollo punishes hubris by shooting arrows to kill them. It is death, but at least far less painful than getting skinned alive. So why did Apollo decide to give that punishment to Marsyas when for the rest he had gone with shooting arrows? Did Apollo do it just because Marsyas boasted he was a better musician?

In the most detailed account given by Diodorus Siculus, it goes down like this: Marsyas and his friends come across Apollo being praised for playing the lyre, and Marsyas challenges him to a contest to display their skills. First, Apollo played the lyre without adding his voice. But for the second round, he decided to sing and play the lyre. Marsyas argued that it was unfair since he can't sing while playing his instrument (flute) and accused Apollo of cheating. But Apollo counter argued that it was fair because when Marsyas blew the flute, he was doing almost the same thing as singing. The nymphs (judges) agreed with Apollo and he won. And here comes the important part: Apollo decided to punish him because he was "embittered about the quarrel" and the accusations Marsyas had thrown at him, and not because of the challenge itself. In another version narrated by Apuleius, Marsyas insults Apollo by saying that people listened to his music only because he was so beautiful (he says a bunch of insults but that's the gist of it). So the reason why Apollo was beyond pissed was because not only did this satyr insult him and his music, boast that he was better and challenged to a duel, but on the top of all of it, also accused him of cheating.

But even when Apollo is extremely angry, he uses his arrows to punish the mortals. Why did he decide to give this punishment? Here is why I think: It is said that Athena invented the Aulos. But she soon noticed that playing it made her cheeks puff and look ugly. So she discarded the instrument and placed a curse on it that whoever picks it up will be punished horribly. And I think that curse is the reason why this tale has such a disproportionate punishment. Marsyas was cursed the moment he picked up the aulos. And Apollo was the one to fulfill the curse. This probably the reason why in ancient art Athena appears in so often in the scene of the contest and punishment. (Athena's curse detail is given by Melanippides, a dithyrambic poet from around 500 BC, so it's a pretty old tradition, and Latin writer Hyginus also alludes to this). This also explains two things: why Apollo's punishment was unusual on his part, and why he regretted his excess punishment.

Not trying to make any conclusions here, really - just wanted to share how even though hubris is the main theme of these myths, there are also other themes involved which influenced the outcome. Thoughts?

[doomedandstoned]

In Conversation with KOMATSU

~By Willem Verhappen~

Photo by Patrick Spruytenburg

For the past decade or so, super massive mothersludgers KOMATSU have been crushing eardrums and bulldozing down venues all around the world. While early releases of the Eindhoven, the Netherlands based band, like their 2011 self-titled EP and 'Manu Armata' (2013 - Suburban Records), display a relentless combination of stonerized sludge that lives up to the band's name, Komatsu always kept evolving and expanding their sound.

Their latest record, 'Rose of Jericho' (2021 - Heavy Psych Records), is on the one hand a natural successor to 2018's 'A New Horizon' (Argonauta Records), but surprisingly also introduces the listener to a more rocking side of the band. I had the chance to sit down with vocalist/guitarist Mo Truijens and guitarist Mathijs Bodt and after some chit-chat, we went to talk about the new record, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and much more.

KOMATSU - Rose Of Jericho by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records

Last year, I was in contact with your bass-player, Martijn Mansvelders, and he told me you were impacted pretty bad by the corona measures.

Mathijs: Indeed. Our entire planning basically went down the drain. It started with the last bits of our recording process. We started recording during Carnaval [the end of February] at the Anker Studio in Eindhoven with Peter van Elderen (TankZilla, formerly of Peter Pan Speedrock). Things went very well and we were just at the point where we could start recording the vocals when COVID hit. Usually, there's always one of us present to oversee the process, but that wasn't allowed. After that you get into the mixing process, where usually the entire band is involved and in the studio. As you can imagine, that didn't go through.

Mo: In this case, it was mostly just me who was there. Also because we still had to do the vocals and the mixing of the vocals.

Mathijs: Right, and we got the mix-downs sent to us after which we had to write down and send in our comments. That took a bit longer than expected, but it worked out nice.But like you said, we had planned to release the record during the summer, do a Brazilian tour in September, followed by a release show, here in Eindhoven at the Effenaar. After that we were going to do a two-week tour through Europe. Initially the release show was planned for October 15th, but that got postponed until January, then early February, then the end of February, then the 12th of June, but thanks to the test events we can finally present our record, which was released in February, on the 25th of April.

Mo: What's nice is that this is certain. We don't know whether we'd be allowed to play on June 12th, but April 25th is certain. We found that we couldn't keep on postponing the date, so we decided that if we couldn't play then, there wouldn't be a release show. You can imagine that we're in a rush now with rehearsals, because we were thinking "soon", but now it's happening "very soon".

Mathijs: You have a point there. You're saying we rehearsed a bit, but we couldn't rehearse in our own rehearsal room. Even with the 1.5 meter distance and a face-mask, we weren't allowed to be in there with four people. I believe we've only had 6 rehearsals.

Mo: The good thing is that we're allowed to rehearse now, because currently we're a performing act. I've checked it with the authorities and it's allowed.

You already mentioned that Peter van Elderen produced the record. What was his influence on the process?

Mo: He has a good view on songs and regarding the vocals, while I had rough ideas, he really helped me improve them. He was a great help.

Mathijs: Of course we also have quite a history with Peter. Mo and Peter used to play in Repomen together and I used to be a roadie for Peter Pan. We know him through things like PopEI, Speedfest, Peter Pan, Repomen.

Mo: The circle is complete, so to say. And Pieter [Kloos] eventually did the mastering. It doesn't get more Eindhoven than that.

Mathijs: We recorded the previous two records with Pieter. That worked out great, but for this one, we wanted to try something different. Not because it didn't work out with Pieter, but we just wanted to try something different this time. Peter was heavily involved from the start and he joined our rehearsals and such. We recorded the record in just over a day and a half. Everything is live, with some guitar overdubs added afterwards.

Mo: We finished those overdubs just before the lock-down started, so all the music was recorded.

Mathijs: I think we spent three, three and a half days on the music, so that was a relatively quick process.

The album title, 'Rose of Jericho' (2021), is a symbol of resurrection. I can imagine that relates directly to your new sound.

Mo: Yes, there is certainly more variation and dynamics on the record.

Mathijs: The rose of Jericho, or resurrection plant, is a plant that can go without water for ten, fifteen years. When it receives water it pops back up as a flower. That concept really spoke to us, and that's why the instrumental title track has a bit of a western feel to it.

Mo: We really went for the desert atmosphere on that one. You can almost see the tumbleweed pass by during the intro. The track was originally meant to be called "Tumbleweed," but then I found out that Candybar Planet already has a song called "Tumbleweed." I still liked the desert idea, and eventually we renamed the track "Rose of Jericho."

Can we expect anything special for the release show?

Mo: We'll be playing all the tracks of the record live. In the past that wasn't always the case. I think a lot of these tracks will remain in our set. Of course we will revise our set when we're playing a real metal festival. We'll probably be playing more of our old stuff then, although the roughness is still there in the new tracks.

Mathijs: At some point you're starting to weigh your choices while writing songs. We want to be able to play them live, because we're still first and foremost a live band. That's where we really shine. This was also a period of reflection and we figured that we had fifty tracks on four records. You start listening to them in a different way and you come to the conclusion that we already have so many hard songs.

Mo: Martijn often says things like "This is a quiet song," but a quiet Komatsu song is still far from a quiet song.

Mathijs: We didn't plan on changing our style. It came together in quite an organic way, as a result of playing live, rehearsing and recording. The COVID period was also quite interesting in that regard, because Mo and I never stopped writing music, and we're currently at the point where we could start arranging songs for the next record.

'Rose of Jericho' is your first record on Heavy Psych Sounds. How did that collaboration come about?

Mo: Gabriele [Fiori] arranged a couple of tours for us, like the ones with Nick Oliveri and Duel.

Mathijs: The first tour after I joined the band was the one with Mondo Generator and he arranged the one with the Freeks, featuring Ruben Romano of Nebula and Fu Manchu. So we were already in contact and at some point we just called him.

Mo: Yeah, that was for the previous record, but for that one we ended up at Argonauta. Now we all just said, let's just do it.

Mathijs: It's really cool to be part of a roster like that, to be part of such a stoner family. Gabriele, one of the two people running HPS, also plays in Black Rainbows and to see how involved in the scene he is and what he does for the scene, to be a part of that is just amazing. We already had the connection through the stages we shared and the tours he arranged for us and this is just the next step. It's not the most logical step, but try and find a label where we perfectly fit in with our distinctive sound.

Mo: When we write music, we don't try to fit in the stoner, the metal, or whatever group. We just make the music we like. We don't have any rules from ourselves, telling us what we can and can't do.

Mathijs: In the end we just make the music the four band members like to make.

Photo by Patrick Spruytenburg

About that, what are your main influences?

Mo: The Melvins is a favorite of mine, especially their quirkiness. Of course there's a lot of stoner bands, but my roots are within 80's hardcore punk music. Due to the whole COVID thing I started collecting records again. I bought a new record player and now I'm searching Discogs for vinyl of records I used to love and used to have on cassette.

Mathijs: I think that I'm the biggest metalhead in the band. You [Mo] are the punk rocker, Martijn is the new-waver, even though he's also into old school hip-hop, and Jos [Roosen, drums]is a Tool fan and he used to play in Dreadlock Pussy. He and I went to the 25th anniversary show of Machine Head's 'Burn My Eyes' together. He's into that as well. He's also really into metal, but also bands like Helmet. I have quite a broad taste. I'm really into Cannibal Corpse, but I also like the Melvins. I actually met Mo at a Melvins show and a week later I got a call on whether I would like to join his band. The Black Sabbath influence is also clearly present on Rose of Jericho. That first riff is basically a Sabbath riff.

Mo: Sabbath is the mother of all metal bands. I saw Blue Cheer live at Roadburn once. It's slightly different, but from the same period, I think. Absolutely brilliant. They did an interview for the Top-2000 once, where they were still living in a house together, blowing and making music.

Mathijs: I also really like those genre-crossing bands, like High on Fire. They're metal, but also have stoner elements, together with some psych and some rock.

Mo: When I used to play in punk bands, there were set rules, but now I can do whatever I like.

Last question, did you guys discover any new music you're really into?

Mo: Absolutely, they've been around for a while already, but I recently discovered Helms Alee. They're a man and two women and they all sing. When they sing together it's just amazing. Mathijs also got me into Made Out of Babies, featuring Julie Christmas. I'm usually not a fan of female singers, but this is something else.

Mathijs: Yeah, I showed you the record she did with Cult of Luna. That's such an amazing record. Recently I've been listening a lot to a Finnish band called Oranssi Pazuzu, especially their latest record 'Mestarin kynsi'. There are so many different elements in there, it's really cool.

Mo: Recently I bought two Floor records. They've got three records, one that sounds like shit and two that are amazing. I got those on vinyl.

Mathijs: I'm also looking forward to the new Mastodon record. They made a record with the guy who produced the best Tool records and they say it will be far more sludgey, slow and doomy than their previous works.

The curfew is rapidly approaching, so I think it's time to wrap up. Thank you for this interview.

Mo: Thank you and see you later. Maybe later tonight in prison if we don't hurry up.

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[angelofdelphi]

Across the Stars and Behind the Score: A Reylo Story.

Okay, so, maybe one day I will be able to post this in video essay because it will make more sense with visuals and audio but I may have to wait until I can get my clips of TROS through “official” channels.  Until then, we will have to make this work.

There are very few elements of Star Wars that have managed to persist throughout the entirety of the Skywalker Saga.  However, perhaps one of the most consistent elements of Star Wars is this man:

John Williams has been the mastermind behind the soundtrack for all nine of the Saga films.  From the Imperial March, to the Duel of Fates, and Across the Stars, Williams’s arrangements are what breathe life into these films.

And, in today’s TED Talk, I will prove that the true ending of TROS rests in the themes of his music.

Beware of spoilers and get cosy.  This is a bit of a read.

Okay, let’s start with some of the basics.  Music tells stories -- just as visual art does.  Different instruments or cords can convey different meanings.  We humans also tend to gravitate towards certain musical tropes whether we realize it or not...

Check out Pop 101 by Marianas Trench for examples of how these themes appear in pop culture.

The musical themes of Star Wars are no exception.  

What song pops into your head when you see this guy?

You thought of this, right?  The iconic Imperial March.

What about the Millennium Falcon?

You probably heard this theme right?

Leia and Han have their own theme.  Anakin and Padme have theirs.  The Force has a theme.

Not only do each of the characters have a unique and compelling theme, Williams also uses these themes in similar ways.  For example:  Guess what theme plays in each of these scenes?

You instantly knew right?

Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about what is strange about the use of John Williams’s music in TROS.

Movie soundtracks are quite interesting and can be powerful tools in enhancing an actor’s performance.  Musical cues can help an audience know how to respond to certain scenes.  This video gives a great rundown of the power of a well-done movie soundtrack. 

So let’s look at the end of TROS shall we?  I believe that the secret to the true ending of the film, which includes a happy ending for both Ben and Rey can be found in the last 3 tracks.  Here they are for reference:

Farewell which plays underneath the following scenes in TROS: Rey’s Death, Ben Return, Ben’s Sacrifice, the BIG KISS, Ben’s Death, the Destruction of the Star Destroyers, Rey Emerges Victorious, and the Fleet Returns Home.

Reunion which is the track that plays underneath the following scenes: The Heroes Return to Base, Chewie Gets his Metal, the Trio Reunites, Lando and Jannah have a Moment, and Everyone Celebrates.  Note, this track was not used in its entirety during the movie.

And finally, A New Home, which doesn’t start playing until Rey reaches the Uncle Owen’s moister farm on Tatooine.  

Even without seeing any visuals, these tracks convey a clear story.  Farewell starts with a melancholic variant of the force’s theme.  It moves through minor cords before sharply becoming dark and moves through mournful passages based on Kylo Ren’s theme.  There are several crescendos to tremolos on strings, which are used to build suspense.  In fact, many aspects of Farewell remind me of Adagio for Strings, which is arguably one of the saddest string pieces I’ve ever preformed.  The beginning of Farewell sounds like a death scene.  

But then, something happens... A mischievous variant of the Force’s Theme sneaks into the piece.

Now, this mischievous Force Theme originally plays under Ben’s Smile.

Which honestly seems like a strange place to put a mischievous variant of the force.  Especially since Farewell immediately shifts back to its melancolic theme again.  And even though Farewell continues to unfold as a mournful song, the visuals don’t seem to match.  Leia fades away, but Rey, the person who should be mourning, receives no screen time to do so, even though the music is setting the stage for such a scene.  

In fact, TROS visuals seems to want to showcase everything EXCEPT Rey’s mourning for Ben.

And here is the reason why:  Ben wasn’t supposed to die, which is why they have a lack of footage of Rey mourning.  

But the strange use of Farewell doesn’t stop there.  

Magical chimes which are usually used to indicate something magical or miraculous has happened, play underneath scenes of burning Star Destroyers -- an odd and kind of morbid juxtaposition.

Farewell eventually swells to a victorious fanfare and concludes in a major key.  This happens underneath Rey’s X-wing emerging from Exogol and the fleet returning home.  HOWEVER, Williams has already established what the Hero’s Victory should sound like.  Can you think of it?

During Reunion, the oddities are there yet less pronounced -- Leia’s theme plays under Lando instead of Maz, who plays Leia’s part in the throwback reenactment of the awards ceremony from Episode IV.  The Force theme plays even though there are no force users on screen (another Force Theme variety plays under Finn.  And while I know he is force-sensitive, he is not our main force user.  That is Rey.). The music cuts awkwardly during Poe and Zorii’s wordless exchange.  

There is no way that Williams’s didn’t plan for specific theme progressions during the “Heroes Return.”  It’s obvious during the track -- He had a specific progression of character appearances in mind when he composed “Reunion.” 

What is even more telling is if you simply replace “Reunion” at the start of collapse of the Star Destroyers, all of the musical themes hit exactly where they need to.  See what I mean here.

Finally, “A New Home,” paints a metamorphosis.  It takes a variety of Rey’s Theme and move through half-step cord progressions that are painted with rolling magical chimes that swell to a crescendo before fading to the iconic Force’s Theme that usually plays with the Binary Sunset.  A New Home is mainly uses to accent Anakin and Leia’s lightsaber’s descent into Tatooine’s sands.  It holds promises that something is different -- a revelation lurks around the corner.

The Finale’s Force theme plays over Rey as she has a strange conversation with a weird lady before proclaiming herself Rey Skywalker.

SO YOU’VE MADE IT THIS FAR.  I’M SURE YOU ARE WONDERING WHAT THIS MEANS FOR REYLO.

FIRST, it is important to remember that the soundtrack score is finalized long before the final cut of the film and is not really altered once the composer is finished writing and recording the music.  This means that if the music feels like it doesn’t match a scene, then the composer probably didn’t intend for the score to go there.

I think that this is painfully evident in the BIG KISS scene.  Why does Farewell, a  piece that begins dark and melancholic rise to conclude in a major key?  Because that scene was suppose to conclude with our heroes being elevated to a place of triumph.  Why is there a victorious fanfare?  Because that is how fairytale kisses work:

Beauty and the Beast

Aladdin

Princess and the Frog

Tangled

Cinderella

Padme and Anakin

Ben and Rey

You get the idea.

One thing remains clear -- Williams did not expect this movie to end in tragedy. Just listen to the difference between “Farewell,” which marks Ben’s death and Episode III’s “The Birth of the Twins & Padme’s Destiny”. There is no hopeful conclusion to Padme’s Destiny.  There isn’t a swell to a romantic heroic fanfare and major conclusion.  That soundtrack clearly conveys the darkness of Revenge of the Sith.

The other clear thing about John Williams’s score is that it highlights the deviations D/LF made between the cut of the film Williams’s saw vs the cut that was released in theaters.  There is no way that Williams would have PURPOSEFULLY not aligned his musical themes and elements with the wrong visuals from the movie.  That is just not the type of composer he is.  

And that, dear readers, is why the truth to the TROS ending lies in John William’s music.  

I’m Cat and this has been my TED Talk.

EDIT

Seriously.  Farewell is a BIG KISS song and Reylo follows Beauty and the Beast troupes.  FIGHT ME D/LF.  Ben Solo was meant to live!

[meltedhorror]

Some more HC’s for lm3

Long post ahead so uhhh here’s a cut

Steward

- He has a group of Goobs who just like to follow him around and help out wherever they can - He’s VERY protective of these Goobs - He’s great at acting fine and happy, but he’s so far from being either of those - His death really messed him up and he never really got over it

Chambrea

- Probably the only one who can stand Soulfflé’s cooking - Literally a ray of sunshine wherever she goes and loves making the others happier too

Kruller

- He used to have a real gun (From a lot of begging), but since he’s so easily spooked and got pretty trigger happy with it if startled, he was instead given a water gun. - When the stores are closed for the day, he and a few Hammers and Goobs play cops and robbers around the area

Chef Soulfflé

- No matter what this man cooks its gonna be salty or burnt.... Or both. - He himself sees nothing wrong with his cooking, and instead thinks of himself as a master cook - He absolutely hates the Goobs and refers to them as “ghost rats”, and will NOT let a single one into his kitchen - He doesn’t let anyone into his kitchen for that matter - He has a very heavy French accent

Amadeus Wolfgeist

- He knows how to play most instruments, but of course he mainly just plays piano - Even though he has such a short temper, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about the others. Because he very much does, even if he would never admit it. - Although he enjoys being alone, he still can feel very lonely sometimes - He likes teaching his music skills to other ghosts, although being very strict doing so. He would never hit someone over it, but he’s not afraid to loose his temper over it anyways.

King MacFrights

- Will probably challenge you to a duel whether you like it or not, and he won’t take no as an answer - Very narcissistic and thinks very highly of himself - Call him Fred from Scooby Doo cause he loves his traps

Dr Potter

- He got a floor to decorate with plants, but he ended up overrunning the floor instead with them - He doesn’t see an issue in it. A few flowers never hurt anyone! - He acts as a grandpa to all other boss ghosts as well, and shares his knowledge about his plants to whoever wants to hear it - He still would never let anyone else try and care for the plants though

Morty

- Although not an artist in that sense, he does draw, and pretty well at that! - He’s a really.... REALLY good actor, and you never know if he’s just acting or if he’s serious about certain things. - He’s almost constantly cold, which comes with being dead. He just never seems to get used to it.

Ug

- Despite being a cave man, he’s pretty smart in his own way. He finds a problem? Well, it may not be the RIGHT solution, but its a solution at least. - He’s got extremely good hearing and vision, so good luck keeping anything a secret from him. - He picks up at languages fairly quickly, even if he’ll never be fluent in any of them. - He really does like trying new things, even if said things may be scary for him at first. - Loves telling stories from when he was still alive

Clem

- Hates Polterkitty and absolutely REFUSES to have her anywhere NEAR his part of the basement - Ducks galore - He plays the banjo and is really good at it - Although being very messy in every other sense of the word, he does stay clean himself at least - Unless it involves having to get into water, he’ll never back down from a dare

Serpci

- She really loves her spooky aesthetics - But she’s really nice behind acting all royal and ghostly - She really loves snakes as well and even though she has so many of them roaming around her floor, she considers them all her babies

The Triplets

- Once every so often, they steal the great stage from Amadeus to perform magic for the entire hotel - A lot of their tricks go wrong, but they always find some way to save it again and just say it was planned afterwards - They LOVE causing trouble and just inconveniencing the other boss ghosts - Also a lot of pranks

Captain Fishook

- If you ever want to go to a haunted house.... Er... Boat.... Visit this guy! Even though its not his job, he enjoys creating haunted shows for the other ghosts in attempts to scare them. Some are easier than others. - His pirate accent is fake, but he keeps it up anyways to go with his whole aesthetic

Johnny Deepend

- He holds Yoga classes for whoevers interested in it of the other boss ghosts - He’s a great personal trainer - Very supportive in whatever the others are doing, even if he doesn’t understand it - Long flowing hair when he takes off the hat an lets his hair actually dry for once and you know I’m living for it

Phantasmagloria

- She has a few different kinds of wigs, but she prefers the afro - Constantly absolutely JAMMING on some music, even if she leaves the disco. She got them headphones to blast from - Total ball of energy

Hellen Gravely

- She opened the hotel for ghosts to help out those who felt lost, or just wanted somewhere to stay. Some inhabitants became permanent, while some moved on after a while. - She’ll always welcome new ghosts with open arms - Out girl is absolutely CONSUMED by her love for King Boo, and she just wants to do things right for him. She never meant to take it out on any of the hotels inhabitants - 100% scared the everliving hell out of everyone when explaining who Luigi is and making him out to be a way bigger threat than he actually is