#reminds me a lot of the stuff i used to use years ago. nostalgia is a cruel beast and i am fighting for my life within its jaws

[householdbinary]

insufferable depop reseller at foxbury who treats his classes as his personal runway lookbook

links under the cut.

disclaimer: a lot of these clash with each other and i used photoshop to edit out any texture clashes, if you use these items in-game then don't expect them to work together like they do in the pics (particularly the hats and bags) <3

LOOK 1: headphones | tshirt | jorts | socks | shoes | bag

LOOK 2: hat* | jersey | cargos | shoes | bag

LOOK 3: headphones | tshirt | undershirt | trousers | shoes (base game) | bag

LOOK 4: headphones | jacket | shirt | jeans | shoes (base game) | bag

ALL LOOKS: hair | nails (grunge revival)

* - patreon exclusive

thanks to all cc creators! @issygoing @coloursul @soju-vibe @kismet-sims @astya96cc @casteru @simstefani @rona-sims @aharris00britney @jius-sims @drosims @burnitmyg @sims4nexus @saengchung-blog @plushxsims @plumbobteasociety @aler-ii @charonlee

[desertdollranch]

Earlier this month, American Girl re-released a whole lot of long-retired stuff from Kit Kittredge’s collection. 

Kit herself never actually went anywhere. There was just nothing to buy for her. Doll, book, and that was it. But it’s the 20′s now, and AG is slowly turning the focus back to the historical characters. They’ve finally acknowledged that Kit is an icon and deserves to have the nice things that we all so desperately want to give her.

I was looking at the new stuff on the Wiki because I was curious to see if there were any changes made to anything. It’s part of the “homework” I do for the purposes of doll blogging. While doing that, I noticed that the page for each product mentions how much each item originally cost, alongside what it costs now. 

For example: Kit’s school outfit.

This was first sold for $22 when it was released in 2000, along with the first half of Kit’s debut collection. Now they’re charging $38 for it, an increase of $16 or 72%. I thought that sounded a little excessive, even if 2000 really and truly was more than twenty years ago and inflation has gone wild since the pandemic began three years ago.

So I ran the numbers through the inflation calculator operated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Look at that. It’s basically spot on. $22 in 2000, adjusted for inflation, is equivalent to $38.23 in 2023. I’ve been proven wrong.

I did the same calculation for her birthday dress and her pajamas, and those were both pretty much the same, since they were and still are similar in cost to the school outfit. 

Now for her cute little scooter, made from a box of California oranges.

This was a later addition to her collection, coming along in 2006 for the price of $24. In 2023 it is now being sold for $50, a $26 or 108% increase. Let’s see how that tracks when adjusted for inflation. 

Ooof. $24 in 2006 should only be $35.70 in today’s money, or $14.30 less than what it’s actually being sold for. So if this one feels a little overpriced, then it probably is, assuming that the materials and quality are the same. Both versions are made of faux wood, which means that the recently skyrocketing price of wood won’t affect this. Maybe there’s another increased cost somewhere that I’m not aware of. Or maybe AG has added a small nostalgia tax, a sort of “buy it from us or pay big bucks to someone selling it secondhand” reminder.

Another accessory that was brought back was Kit’s school lunch.

This set includes her metal lunchbox, an embroidered napkin, a cheese sandwich, an oatmeal raisin cookie, apple slices, and for some reason.... three whole entire raw carrots. (There’s nothing wrong with carrots, but like. When’s the last time you’ve even seen an adult eat three whole carrots for lunch. Carrots are huge.)

Anyway. It was sold for $16 when it was released in 2000, and now they’re selling it for $36, a $20 or 125% increase.

$16 in 2000 would be equivalent to $27.80, so her lunch set is overpriced by $8.20, assuming the cost of materials/labor have risen proportionally. 

And finally, Grace the dog. Named for her distinct lack of grace and adorable clumsiness. Sold for $16 when she was released with the second half of Kit’s debut collection. Now selling for $28 which is an increase of $12 or 75%.

A 75% increase is very similar to Kit’s school outfit selling at a $72% increase, so my guess was that this is going to be a more reasonable price hike.

Adjusted for inflation, $16 in 2001 is now equivalent to $27.30, so Grace is in fact underpriced by 70 cents! Personally I think AG charges a bit too much for all of their doll pets, but that’s just me.

All of this was really surprising to me. Inflation happens so quietly in everyday life. It’s only been really noticeable in the last three years, when it seems like everything has shot up in price. 

The inflation calculator goes all the way back to 1913. Now if you really want to see what those small changes look like after 90 years, check out how much a $150 doll like Kit herself would have cost in 1932, when her stories began: 

You’d only need $6.71 in your pocket to bring Kit home. Imagine that. 

[sweetmariihs2]

A headcanon-like thing I would like to share about Queen Lorelei

Tw: death during childbirth and some light mentions of suicide and grieving

I love Queen Lorelei (King Roland's deceased wife). She barely appears or it's mentioned in the show? Yes. But oh well. Fandom.

We believe she's that genuinely kind deceased character, that everyone remembers as sweet and beautiful, always more gentle than the world was to her, like a ray of sunshine. She's absolutely adored by everyone and her beauty and kindness always brought all the eyes in the room to her and her sweet laughs and smiles.

But unfortunately she died some time after she got married, during the childbirth of the princes that her body wasn't made to support, because the only reason she got pregnant in the first place was the wishing well, and that action had consequences, which means, she got pregnant indeed but that didn't changed the fact her body wasn't capable of enduring this.

And well, she died because of that. I usually feel really bad about childbirth deaths, because I feel like that could have been avoided months earlier. She was well and healthy but trying to have children took her life, and that just happened because she wanted to have a family and live a happy life.

But well, despite being something that lacks information, her story and character fascinates me, and we try to suppress that desire to see her story through fanfiction and fanmade content.

In my case, I have a constant habit of relating characters to songs, in some cases to whole artists if their whole discography match this character or fandom. For example I can't hear some of Aurora's songs without thinking of Cedric.

In Lorelei's case, it was something I never spoke about, but since we're in a fandom and in constant search for STF related stuff and fan content to keep enjoying our favorite show, I decided to share this.

Basically, I'm a HUGE Lana Del Rey fan since around 2019. I know 90% of her released songs and I also listen to some of her unreleaseds (that despite me knowing a ton of unreleaseds there are more than 200 wandering through the internet so there's no way I know all of them)

During the start of her carreer (actually, her first albums, since her career started years before the debut album) Lana's songs told us stories. Some key words that I would like to relate to her songs are: girlhood, nostalgia and melancholy (+or tragedy if you think about it)

In her first albums (Born to Die + The Paradise Version which is a deluxe of BTD) her songs were centered around nostalgic stories and feelings surrounding girls' experiences. Because she is so beautiful and often delicate while singing about darker topics, it's like her voice and lyric choice just interconnect. She sang about girls who lost their lovers, about beautiful girls that felt unhappy or/because they wasted their youth, about tragic endings, like being taken away from your friends during your teenage years because you guys were doing all kinds of crazy stuff at that time (this song is called This Is What Makes Us Girls), all of this surrounded by a feeling of nostalgia, as if those stories had happened a long time ago.

(Her songs weren't made to romanticize anything, like some people say they were; in fact, a huge part of these songs were inspired by her own life and feelings, and Lana is just telling us stories.)

So, going back to Lorelei, some of Lana's songs remind me of her. Based on what I said you can understand why. But not only that, Lana has some very specific songs that kinds match the fandom's headcanons of how Lorelei would be like (since we have no official info about her character).

Like in the song Blue Velvet, which is a cover from Bobby Vinton's song, but Lana brought a whole different feeling to it. Bringing it to the context of her album, her version sounds a lot more heartbreaking than the original one. The lyrics are about a male character missing his lover, singing about her blue velvet dress and how he will never forget about his love for her, even after she passed. Lana's version has a whole orchestral instrumental through the song and mostly at the end of it, making the song sound nostalgic, tragic and even sounds like some kind of anthem close to the end.

There's also the song Carmen, where there is a girl called Carmen, who attracts all eyes to her and is known for her beauty, but deep inside she's not mentally well, and people seem not to care about or notice how she's feeling. By the end of the song she even gets a love confession (in french), probably hinting at the fact that she receives many of them, but it doesn't matter because those who give them don't really know her or care about it. Despite her state "she's still shining" (in Lana's words), because even though she's suffering, she's still beautiful and loved by people.

In the song Born To Die, Lana sings about enjoying your life while it's still happening, because we're gonna die sooner or later. In the music video the scenes interwine with her sitting in a throne and spending time with a lover, who seems to give her an unhealthy relationship, judging by his aggresive behavior. At the end of the music video they're travelling together by car and her boyfriend, the driver, tries to force her to kiss him back, and because of that their car crashes and she dies in his arms, making him face his guilt because he was the one who did this to her. Tragic ending.

Dark Paradise is a song about grieving a loved one. It was made based on her feelings and her life.

These are some of the songs that match because of the lyrics, but being honest, because of the album being so concrete, the lyrics don't even need to match for me to remember her, because as I said this album is about nostalgic girlhood and melancholia, and she often sings about memories like in the song This Is What Makes Us Girls, that was also inspired by her teenage years when she was taken from her friends, but the memories she carries with them last till this day and it makes her miss those times.

Going to the unreleased, there are so many more. Like the song Angels Forever, where she's singing about memories that at her youth she never thought they were going to end: "we were angels forever, forever angels".

Or Fine China, where she is watching a friend having their first child, and remembering that at her own wedding years ago her groom left her at the wedding, depriving her of the dream life she would have liked to have had, singing "I'm going down now, with all of my fine china and fresh linen, all of my dresses with them tags still on", hinting at what was left of the wedding, of a life she couldn't have, but that she was watching others around her having it in her place. This song kinda reminds me of Roland to be honest, even thought his story with Lorelei isn't really related to their wedding, he was also deprived of a life he wish he could have had. And he had her dresses packed, her stuff still there in the castle, just like in the song the pov had her fine china and dresses with tags still on (they were never used).

It kinda fits even more with that headcanon that Cedric was in love with Lorelei. He never had the chance to live a life with her, and he's a bachelor till this day, watching all the weddings and happy lives through the years but never being a part of them, thinking about what would have happened if life wasn't so cruel.

I had these thoughts and despite being a bit niche I still felt like it should be shared. I know that not many people are fans of listening to recommended songs (at least in my case that's true), but I also made this post for those who already know some of those songs and didn't noticed these connections with Lorelei's story. Those who don't know the songs and want to listen to them now are also very welcomed.

I think about how amazing would be if I made a fanfic about this and using these songs. But I won't do it, it's just a thought. Feel free to do it though, I would absolutely love to read that.

[sweet-star-sketches]

Rough Colour Redesign from June 7th, 2024

I was reminded of this character concept I had from 10 years ago and felt like redrawing it. Originally he was an idea I had for a Spyro villain, but then a friend suggested I use the character for my college portfolio applications at the time. I don't remember why I never ended up using him for that, he was probably one of my better character design ideas given my limited skill as a designer back then, but even the unfinished rotation and expression stuff I did still hit me for a bit of nostalgia.

Sheep are the most iconic fodder from the Spyro games, and even Reignited went so far as animating the sheep losing their wool when flamed, so maybe one got tired of being torched and decided to get revenge one day. Revisiting the idea again though, the sceptre makes him feel too much like a Ripto clone (the Sorceress had one too) so for this redraw I leaned more into the fire idea, turning his crown into more of a torch and giving him fire magic, as if he was transformed from getting singed instead. The butterfly pattern on his cloak is a callback to the fodder thing, so maybe he's a "fight fire with fire" kind of guy, thinking he can out-flame a dragon.

I still consider this a rough concept (the original was too), but I'm glad I powered through my fatigue today to do the colour at least, I think that came out really well. I wish I had the energy to draw the idea I have for his stage 2 boss form though, his crown would transform into big ram horns on his head and his fire would turn blue. Maybe if he was a mid-game boss fight, defeating him could give Spyro's fire breath a power upgrade as a result. Or maybe he releases a special butterfly that gives you an extra hit point or something, idk

Not sure if I'll do anything with him, though I could very easily just say he's a past version of Aries in Starglass Zodiac and call it a day, haha. I already know I've improved a lot in 10 years, but it's nice to see a more tangible comparison like this from time to time as a reminder.

[emotionallychargedtowel]

shuffled (sort of)

I was tagged for this by @lurkingshan and it looked like fun, so I made up a way to participate even though I don't listen to music on any of those services that people tend to use for these things. The closest I get is listening to things on youtube so I made a list of songs the YT algorithm suggested to me. That list was a bit long so I used a random number generator to pick ten. Well, I really hit paydirt. I couldn't have come up with a better list if I had chosen it all myself.

And then weeks went by and I sat on this nearly-finished post for no good reason! Now I'm dusting it off and getting it out of my drafts.

I'm never big on tagging people on these things, it makes me incredibly anxious. But after this much time has passed, I really can't imagine doing it. That said, if anyone reads this and feels inspired to do it too, please consider yourself tagged.

Orange Juice - I Can’t Help Myself

One of the best tracks on my favorite Orange Juice album. This is a really good distillation of their sound that shows their influences really clearly (postpunk, classic soul, the Velvet Underground, Chic, the Buzzcocks, etc. etc.) while showing how they did something with them that's completely their own. It doesn't hurt that no one sounds quite like Edwyn Collins.

SZA - Ghost in the Machine

For a couple of years now I've been trading song recommendations with a close friend of mine. In other words, we take turns giving each other a song to listen to. It's been great, in part because our tastes are pretty danged different (though with enough overlap to have common ground). I've found out about a lot of amazing stuff through her but I don't think there's a song that has stuck with me more from this project than Ghost in the Machine. This song just keeps giving me goosebumps after...it's been a year and change, I think.

Taemin - Criminal

Years ago I asked my old internet friend Kate (who I've been interacting with since our livejournal days) about kpop. She has always been better than I am at keeping up with new music and I knew she knew a thing or two about it. She gave me a short list of songs to check out and Criminal was on it. It didn't quite click at first but it stuck in my brain somehow. I came back to it later and boom. It clicked big time. It reminds me of a few things. The la-la-la part definitely has a debt to Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head and the lead-up to the chorus reminds me of Roy Orbison's I Drove All Night. It has a retro quality that probably makes it more palatable to a middle-aged listener like myself but when I hear the synthpop tones of my childhood through a contemporary filter I don't get nostalgia so much as a distorted time-warp feeling (in a nice way).

Brave Girls - We Ride

A while back I was emailing back and forth with another friend of mine who I talk to about music a lot--wow, I didn't know that was going to be such a theme here, but I love it--and we were talking about new and old East Asian pop genres. He made me a list of a few recent kpop and jpop songs that he thought were reminiscent of city pop, an 80s genre out of Japan that's a favorite of his. There were quite a few winners on that list but this song is the one I've listened to the most. There's another theme: sounds from my formative years filtered through a contemporary lens. I can see why my friend associated it with city pop. The combination of disco/funk elements (like that choppy Nile Rodgers guitar part) and soft pop (the harmonies, the synth strings) fits right into that category. These elements were everywhere when I was a kid but they didn't get put together in this way.

Tsunami - Be Like That

This song about a has-been ex-boyfriend is more relatable to me in my 40s than it was when I first heard it in my 20s, but that's how old Jenny Toomey was when she wrote it. I've never gotten super into Tsunami despite liking a couple of their songs quite a lot (this one, and Valentine, from their album Deep End). I should probably revisit them. They always had a way with washy guitars and interesting chords, and Jenny Toomey's voice is legendary for a reason. (The version of I Only Have Eyes for You that she recorded with Grenadine, her side project with Mark Robinson from Unrest and the drummer from the Eggs, makes really good use of that voice. It's fucking exquisite and literally gives me goosebumps.)

Spoon - Me and the Bean

This one's a bit personal. I was active in the indie rock scene in Austin in the early 'aughts when Spoon was transitioning from their status as a cautionary tale of major label abandonment* into the period where they reached greater heights on an indie than that major label ever would have allowed. That scene wasn't very big so it's not surprising that in addition to Girls Can Tell-era Spoon being nearly omnipresent for a period of my life, I also have some personal connections there. Anyway, people seldom notice that this song is a cover. I never saw the Sidehackers, the band who originally performed the song (I'm not sure if they even managed to record it). But if this song ends up being what people remember most about them, it would make a respectable legacy. I don't know the later Spoon stuff as well as this era, but back then, there weren't a lot of Spoon originals that were as overtly emotional as this one. (You didn't typically hear a line like "I have your blood inside my heart" in an original Spoon song.) Britt Daniel may not have written this, but he doesn't hold back in his performance. So I always appreciated how it balanced out the more emotionally reserved style of the other songs on Girls Can Tell.

*They channeled the experience into songwriting to good effect. "The Agony of Lafitte," about the A&R guy that signed them to Elektra before the label screwed them over, is probably my favorite Spoon song.

the Chills - Pink Frost

I feel like so much has been written about this song that there isn't much point trying to say anything about it. It has a truly important place in the history of New Zealand indie music, and the events surrounding it are pretty interesting. But mostly it's just a really well-crafted piece of dark, sneakily poppy post-postpunk. Among people my age with similar tastes to mine, I can't think of a song that ended up on more mixtapes. (Though a friend of mine always used to say he regretted that he couldn't really put it on mixtapes for girls he was interested in because of the whole murdered girlfriend aspect of it.)

Veronica Falls - Misery

This song is obscenely catchy. It only takes one listen to get me singing it to myself in the kitchen for months. It's pretty fun to sing to oneself, in the kitchen or otherwise, but I'm sure it would be a million times more so if you could reproduce the harmonies with a partner. Veronica Falls really are unparalleled in the harmony department, and it's even more enjoyable because they usually use those pretty harmonies to sing about morbid, depressing things. And that juxtaposition never feels like a schtick to me, which it easily could in the wrong hands.

Bolbbalgan4 - Dream

I've gotten into quite a few songs because they were featured on kdramas, but this is the only song where it happened the other way around—I liked it first, then watched Hwarang because of it. There was a video for it on youtube with clips from the series and the song made the show seem more interesting. Not to imply anything negative about the series, I think there's a lot to be said for it. But it was this song that made me want to watch it. I love this kind of super emotional kpop song that's so plentiful in kdramas. Maybe it's because during the decades when rock music was de facto banned in South Korea the country's dominant genre was the ballad. Maybe it's because of that particular brand of despair that kdramas excel at so much, coming up in a slightly different setting. This type of song is just more emotional in a certain way that any other genre I've run across. And this particularly example is, to my mind, the pièce de résistance.

Shearwater - Breaking the Yearlings

This is one of the highlights of Animal Life, which is my favorite Shearwater album. It took me a while to warm up to Shearwater. The thing that really sold me on them was going on a whim to see Jonathan Meiburg play a solo acoustic set in front of a tiny audience at the Cactus Cafe. I think maybe some friends of mine opened for him or something, because something must have gotten me in the door. I ended up being really glad I went. Meiburg's set was downright mesmerizing, and I was sold on Shearwater from that point on. This particular song gets in my head a lot because the washing machine in my building puts out this one repetitive tone when you're starting a load of clothes that is really close to the opening notes of this song.

[lavender-not-fruit43]

i was checking the south park tag for nostalgias sake and i saw your art for mysterion x MBC and MAN it brought me back 😭😭 i used to ship the two with an ex-friend about 2 years ago now i think? we drew a lot of stupid ship art for them (i made an edit or two of that creek couples therapy thing with them i think?), never posted it though because it was in our discord DMs lol. im so happy that somebody is keeping the ship alive now, even if its not under the exact same name or whatever.

what im trying to say is keep doing your stuff bro, i love it :-) ,cheers!

AWWWW THANK YOU ANON!

When I started hyperfixating on sp Mysterion became my fav, so when I finally watched trilogy of superheroes, Mintberry became my fav too. And then when I loved them so much I was like “wait what if I shipped them together…”. My main reason of it it’s because they reminded me of starfire and raven(they were my most fav superheroes). Their dynamic fitted so well that I started drawing them, talking about them on my twitter priv, heck even started making my own aus! I have like two already of them but my main one is about them being supervillains that doing crimes together, they even made a group name called “captivity foes”(it’s like freedom pals but with antonym words).

I’m very glad that someone likes it as I do, it’s very rare to find people who likes them as I do. I have already a friend who ships them just like I do, I even found some other accounts who shipped them they were very talented :)

Thank you so much anon!

[heyftinally]

Here's a hard question...

Are there any Taylor Swift songs that you like? Or at least find tolerable?

Y'know, that's a complicated question.

I used to like her music. I wouldn't have called myself a swiftie in any way, but I had several of her albums on my mp3 at the time, and I owned three CDs.

That was in high school, when her music was at the same maturity level as myself. I listened to "fifteen" the morning of my 15th birthday. I listened to "superstar" on the drive to my first concert, dreaming of the disney-channel-level meet cute I was highly unlikely but desperate to have with my celebrity crush. Heck, I remember singing "teardrops on my guitar" in my grandpa's car when I was in middle school. He thought it was awful, but as a country fan he put up with it because I liked it, and he wanted us to have that to connect over - I wasn't the biggest fan of his music, nor he mine, but that was our middle ground for a time (and Dolly Parton, who was my grandpa's favorite).

So in some ways, beautiful eyes to sparks fly Taylor Swift music reminds me of a variety of moments in my life, most of which I remember with a kind of slightly cringey fondness. I was a CRINGE teenager, but I know that I was cringe due to how socially stunted I was thanks to how I was raised. So I don't look back on that version of myself, because she was doing her best to build an independent identity with nothing but a few caricatures from TV shows, the morals of many books, and an internet connection.

That said, Taylor Swift is still Taylor Swift. Her shortcomings are inextricably tied to her work. So in general, her music puts an unpleasant taste in my mouth. If made to listen to her music I prefer the older stuff that at least has that nostalgia for me, but given the choice my nostalgia music doesn't include her.

Her current stuff ranges from just flat out bad (FUCKING KARMA) to just so out of touch that it's no longer entertaining to me.

I'm not who I was in high school anymore. That was ten years ago - I've lived at least three lives since then. That little 16yo girl who feared she was doomed to be unlovable and desperately needed fanciful daydreams like "today was a fairytale" to make her believe that one day she would be wanted is now an adult who understands that relationships aren't that simple, and that I had a LOT of healing and self understanding to do before I was truly ready to date. Taylor's music, a decade later, still sounds like my unhealed high school self. And I've grown too far from that place for her music to resonate with me.

So I guess the short version is, not by choice, but I can find nostalgia in her older songs if I have to. And truth be told, if she was a better person, I could probably enjoy those songs again. But I don't forsee her becoming a better person, so her songs with remain where they lay in my opinion. The old stuff was okay, maybe even decent, and enjoyable enough for my teenage hopelessly romantic self. But to my adult self, that's like asking me if I was to re-do freshman year of high school: it was fun, but I'd rather keep it in my memories than my present.

[forabeatofadrum]

It's Sunday, my dudes. Thank you @confused-bi-queer and @artsyunderstudy for the tag. I've been super busy today with reviving my 18 year old Wii. I haven't used it since 2014. It turns out the disc lens might be dirty, so I need to find a way to clean it, cause right now it doesn't run any games. Not fun.

Also, nostalgia is strong today. I found out Winx Club is 20 years old. Dang. And I still haven't written a Glee/Winx Club crossover! But I did write some Ljubili se. I think I might have the next chapter up soon.

“You two are actually the first people I’ve come out to back here in America.” “We met in Ljubljana,” Kurt quickly clarifies, “We’ve been together since April.” “Oh, wow,” Santana looks impressed and slightly touched, “I’m honoured.” “Good for you,” Rachel says from the kitchen, and despite her obvious sudden distain for him, she sounds genuine.

I'm still planning out this story. I should've done that ages ago, but I am shuffling around with ideas. Nothing is set in stone. Maybe it's a good thing this year's challenge is only 21 chapters, instead of the usual 24, because look at my very elaborate plan for chapter 20:

Not only that, but I am also thinking about writing some other stuff, ya know, just to get back into it. My papers are done and Matty Chris D. misses me a lot. I think Ljubili se and Just Some Guy aka Matty Chris D. are my two fics I aim to finish in 2024.

And now, the weather: @quizasvivamos @blurglesmurfklaine @coffeegleek @caramelcoffeeaddict @raenestee @tectonicduck @nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @thnxforknowingme @captain-aralias @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @justgleekout @cerriddwenluna @tea-brigade @ivelovedhimthroughworse @bookish-bogwitch @that-disabled-princess @special-bc-ur-part-of-it @larkral @cutestkilla ​ @wellbelesbian ​​ @martsonmars ​ @facewithoutheart ​ @shrekgogurt @rockitmans @bitbybitwrites @whatevertheweather @theotherhufflepuff @shame-is-a-wasted-emotion @esilher @kurtsascot

[whoiwanttoday]

When I was a kid all the adults in my neighborhood got really excited to pay a whole lot of money to go see the Rolling Stones for their Steel Wheels tour. I remember that album being forcefully played at block parties and stuff while I was condescendingly told this is what music sounds like. While that was decidedly true in a sense, it was music and we were hearing it, it more specifically was what not very good music sounded like because it was a very bad record from a once great band that was charging a whole lot of money not because they were significantly better than they were 25 years earlier but because their fans were significantly more affluent than they were 25 years ago. These fans paid their money and swore it was good but they weren't interested in the art, if they were they wouldn't have had fun, they were interested in pretending they were teenagers again and recapturing whatever it felt like to be 14, even if that cost them $250 and they sat in seats and no one danced because the most rock and roll thing you could do was not move and just sit there and keep the poors out. This was perhaps the first bullet point on a long list of things that increasingly convinced me through my teens that Nostalgia is the enemy of Art. First, at like 14, I believed that Nostalgia was the enemy of Rock and Roll and I very much disliked hearing how all the best music was from the classic rock period and everything was downhill from there and how many people my age just bought that as fact because the boomers controlled the media. It has expended over the years to realize that it's all art. We see it in movies all the time. Art is by it's very nature political and making art is a political act whether you want it to be or not. Nostalgia is inherently conservative so you mix the two and you end up making a very conservative political statement about how much better things used to be whether you want that to be the statement or not. All of that is a lot of lead up to say the idea of an Eras tour makes me uncomfortable whatever the result. My first reaction was that Taylor Swift is too young to be turning into a Nostalgia act but then I realized maybe that's not true, her career has stayed vital long past those of her peers, the people in her crop of pop stars if you are looking at her origins. But she is vital enough still to perhaps take down Ticketmaster. I mean, she won't, that won't matter, once the anger passed it was forgotten and nothing will happen because the truth is it is so easy to deflect outrage towards billion dollar industries seen as frivolous. Unfair business practices in industries that adults should care about? That gets attention. If it's like video games? That's for kids and you are really being immature worrying about these real dollars because it's for kids. Loser. Anyway, this is all a long way of both talking about my brain's reaction to Taylor Swift embarking on this tour and really a way to point out that if you are excited for it it's because you are officially an old person now. I have some friends who deeply care about Taylor Swift and will likely object to me calling them old but to that I will just say you're lucky I put it in written form because if I had said it you never would have heard me, Grandma. It's ok, not everyone can stay young and vital forever like me. So, Taylor Started this tour and I sure hope the people who went had fun, lord knows they probably went through a lot to get there. It did serve as a strong reminder to me that I do really like how Taylor looks on stage and this whole thing seems like a great excuse for costume changes so I can get behind that. So here she is on stage. Today I want to fuck Taylor Swift.

[kitoral]

Your original illustrations are really fantastic. I dig the colors and the anime girls. I feel like I resonate with them well, so I am curious about what creatively influences you. Like... Why do you color as you do? Why are your illustrations of anime girls? What do you think of when illustrating? Are there artists, pieces of media, or events in your life that inspire your stylings? Sorry if that seems like a lot or if I'm being intrusive! I just really want to know why your art is the way it is, but I feel that if I ask that so simply, I may not receive an answer with nuance, which is what I'm hoping for.

no worries about being intrusive, if anything, i appreciate the ask!

there's no clear-cut answer for a lot of these, but i'll try to articulate as much as much as possible. i started drawing from a very young age (~5 or so), and my preference was always cartoons/games/anime. i always enjoyed heavy stylization - not that i disliked realism, it just felt as if i had already seen so much of it before? and this isn't to discredit such works, just that they werent something i personally gravitated towards.

as i got older, i realized i wanted to pursue my goal of becoming an artist. things started to change when i entered college, though. it's a choice i dont regret, but i often felt a bit lost in comparison to my peers - because i didnt really draw [or study/learn] the way they did. i still struggle with insecurities regarding technical skill or talent because of this - and i actually stopped drawing for a year or so after i graduated. i kept thinking "its just another anime style anyways." (which is discrediting in and of itself, as all art has value regardless of how subjective it may be).

basically, i did a lot of soul searching - and the reasons i wanted to draw started to resurface. i loved drawing incredibly cute, yet somewhat outlandish looking characters. of course there's a sense of nostalgia with this, but i always preferred the art used for older anime (90s and early-mid 2000s specifically). i'm also really into hobbyani, which is basically hobby/kids media (precure, duel masters, beyblade, etc). i love the sense of experimentation that comes from designers who intentionally market stuff to a broader audience within restrictions, if that makes sense? it just seems to resonate with me.

i'm also heavily into old tech/computer graphics. a big example of this is the old (and still running!) chat program known as worldsplayer. i discovered it about a decade ago, and while a lot of people found it ominous or strange, it felt... comfortable to me. reminded me a lot of the stuff i used to play as a kid, but beyond that, a sense of style/texture i wanted to replicate in my artwork.

(as a sidenote: i actually run a sideblog dedicated to old chatroom media called digitalspacetraveler!)

as for specific inspirations/artists? i love the traditional sketchiness of van gogh, rembrandt, etc. a lot of classical painters during the renaissance era + beyond come to mind. for more modern artists, id say yoshitoshi abe, shigenobu matsumoto (duel masters mangaka), yoshihiko umakoshi (doremi, heartcatch precure, casshern sins), hajime ueda, and a plethora of artists on tumblr/pixiv/twitter.

basically, i love the idea of combining ridiculous amounts of texture with otherwise cutesy and/or 'smooth' styles, such as those found in anime/manga. the end goal is pretty different from the initial sketch, but that's what makes it fun to me. mimicking traditional mediums while also incorporating digital processing, overlays, and filters!

[mothuary]

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance

Ok! so this review is for the first game that I actually started and finished in the new year. Yay! When I stumbled upon the last game I wrote a review for, I had actually been looking for this one: 

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance was one of the first video games I’d ever touched in my life. I didn’t even learn it was a spinoff until I’d accidentally bought the mainline game two years ago and was supremely confused. Needless to say, I was really excited to see if this held up to my expectations. Now, this game is part of a kind of set of very similar games that were released by snowblind studios all around the same time, so BG:DA2, as well as the two similar games that take place in the Everquest universe, the first and second Champions of Norrath games. But this one is all D&D 3e babyyyy. Now Im not going to spend this review sucking up to WotC obviously, but it is very charming to re-play a game and see all the references I had been missing as a kid. I thought beholders were as well-known as dragons, lol. 

Now I know that the game has been, in recent years, re-released, so lets talk about what I like about it and see if it’s a worthy way to go on a little early 2000s fantasy nostalgia trip. 

First lets talk about your characters. You get a quite limited selection of three characters with pre-selected names and classes. You can also unlock Drizzt Do’Urden in the character select screen but i didnt know so I played as the elf Adrianna, and my 2P played as... human archer. whose name I forget. each of them has the stats and abilities you would expect, ie. the sorcerer starts with high int and low str, and can cast magic missile. Part of the great fun of the game is finding new weapons and armor to upgrade your character with, but seeing as the game is locked to the basic loot tables in D&D 3e, the loot is a lot more boring than I remembered. You’ll mostly get a couple of weapons worth clinging to over the course of the game, and sell everything else. But hey! at least the woman armor looks respectable. (image source cause its from someones letsplay but mega spoilers in there!)

Before I get started rambling about the gameplay, you might be interested to know that the music is done by the infamous jeremy soule so if you want some very morrowind-esque vibes, you can always give it a listen: ( x | x | x )

Okay so gameplay stuff. The game is set up in a bunch of dungeons where you look down from above and you go from “room” to “room” (they arent all literal rooms) and you clear out all of the enemies. Its quite cute, it does remind me of a miniature in a model set. Enemies dont respawn, so there IS a limited quantity of experience in the game. You can load characters from past playthroughs if you want to start out beefier, and this is recommended if you want to play the harder difficulties. Its also important to keep that in mind when youre playing with more than one person, because if youre always getting the kills, your player 2 will fall behind quickly. 

The game has some kind of clunky controls, I really hate how difficult it is to switch spells (you have to use the D-Pad and they give you like forty empty spell slots lol). This issue is especially bad compared to the way that champions of norrath handles it (basically offers you hotkeys, its way better). We also found that the archery was a lot less.... fun than just melee bonking bc there are really limited projectiles. by which I mean its just arrows. plain ol arrows. Also there arent any rings around the feet of your character to help differentiate P1 from P2 so i kept walking into walls. Its not helped by the fact that the gameplay is v simplistic hack n slashy so your eyes kind of glaze over sometimes. 

Another thing of note, which I never really noticed as a kid, is how front-loaded the game is. In the beginning of the game, youre completing a questline attached to the Elfsong tavern, and every once in a while, when you stop at the tavern to buy new weapons, someone will show up to give you a new quest. The quests were always part of the linear plot, so they didnt change the shape of the game at all, but they made the world feel more interesting. By the time you step into the second chapter of the game, the world begins to feel more flat and less and less named npcs pop up to chat with you. It ends up making the game feel really lonely. The NPCs that DO exist are animated quite well for a 2001 game, though, and I was really struck by their individually moving fingers which really helped them feel very emotive, which was underlined by the way that NPCs take up the whole screen when you talk with them. 

having a sexy bartender in the first five minutes of your game helps keep the audience engaged. 

Its a quite short adventure, it took my partner and I about a week to play all the way through and honestly? By the end I was mostly just kind of excited that I can move on to the second game now and see how much better it is. I think that the game is OK, but should you pay $30 new for it? NO. you can get ps2 copies used for $10. and if youre interested in playing BOTH of the games (and/or the champions games as well) i’d just.... buy a ps2. This game is very imperfect and leaves a lot to be desired. I would not recommend it to everyone, but I would recommend it to anyone craving a classic campaign but doesnt have a party. It does scratch the D&D itch but its not the best of it’s kind. That being said, if your time is limited, I’d say that most people would prefer the Champion’s games to this one. 

[ali-dot-txt]

the pokemon postal system finally comes through

not only can i finally bring at least some of the pokemon from my gimmick pokemon y playthrough i did before scarlet came out to my scarlet file, i can also bring my girl pretzel forward

below: my pokemon y character Fern and some of her pokemon on the champion screen. images are tremendously low-quality

(the gimmick of this playthrough is that i wanted to use an oshawott and a mismagius cause i had recently gotten plushes of them so i hex edited them in in place of my starter)

i also decided that Fern Emmitt, the trans (see the hat) protagonist of my pokemon y playthrough, was 14 in the fall and winter of 2013 when the game took place, and that she was also the cousin of the protagonist of my pokemon scarlet playthrough, Amanita Ibarra (who is cis and 14 in the fall and winter of 2022 when that game took place)

so in 2022, fern is 23 and a grad student studying pokemon evolution and lives mostly out of the public eye (because being publicly given a national medal of honor as a trans 14 year old in 2013 is not good publicity) (and she's also dating shauna because their rapport really struck me as gay on the replay in a way it Definitely Didn't when I was playing the game for the first time almost 10 years ago, possibly because i'm more aware of my own gayness now)

but yannow some of her pokemon don't adjust well to the sedentary life, they're trained as a battling team after all. so she's having to think about what to do and she's having to reckon with the tough choice of maybe giving them away to some upstart trainer who'll be good to them

but then she learns that her baby cousin amanita is an up-and-comer in paldea! she's a whole champion and everything, she's on her own journey, battling all sorts of people, having questionably homoromantic friendships with girls about her age, etc etc

and so this way she can give her pokemon what they want, and she can still visit them every so often, and if she ever feels like picking up the professional battler thing again she can just ask for them back.

so she sends em off to paldea. that's the backstory i've decided for this usage of pokemon home.

as for pretzel? uhhhhh fuck. fell into an ultra wormhole and landed in amanita's pocket. sure

meet Crowbar (originally Oshawott, now Dewott)

Genevieve (originally Misdreavus, now Mismagius) (side note: it takes SO LONG to get a dusk stone in pokemon y. it's like, just before the 8th gym. absurd)

Renard (Hawlucha)

and Rosaline (originally Flabébé, now Florges)

let's hope amanita takes good care of them.

honestly, there really is something about these mentorship narratives that get to me. somethin about passing on your skills, what you've learned, gained in your life, to someone who's where you used to be, hoping they'll take their own approach, make their own path?

maybe it's the fire emblem nerd in me but that's very emotional to me. and if i can make everyone involved gay, hey, all the better.

there's also something about the very specific Video Game Protagonist Neurodivergence the protag of scarlet/violet has. it's very relatable to me. someone's said something, here are your options for how to respond. i think a fanfic author could take advantage of that, and one day i may, once i take care of all these wips i have...

anyway, there's also something to the fact that pokemon y was the first pokemon i really engaged with as a kid who was growing into a Frequent Internet User. my first starter i ever picked in Y was the first pokemon I ever raised to level 100 completely legit, no rare candies or anything. i was real invested in that game for a real long time

so maybe it's that too. nostalgia i guess

man that reminds me i gotta replay pokemon sun one of these days.

hey it's almost like being able to feel emotions thanks to transitioning makes stories hit me differently! gosh if i put it that way there's a lot of stuff i need to replay, rewatch, reread...

well, that's for later.

(OH ALSO, PRETZEL. PRETZEL GETS TO COME TO PALDEA TOO)

(WHAT A SLEEPY GIRL. I LOVE HER DEARLY)

[icharchivist]

a while ago I tried getting into a3, funnily enough because of following you and seeing you post a bunch. I don’t remember the reason I followed you in the first place, though it’s still pleasant to see you float around my dash every now and then. I never did end up becoming big on a3, but the art style reminds me a lot of the stuff I used to read when I was younger. so thank you for the nostalgia, I guess. I hope you have a nice day. (also i see you thirsting for that summer crotch boy, i don’t remember his name but honey you are so right)

omg nonny 🥺

First of all, super honored that you've been here for such a long time. Considering i've only been really blogging about a3 and gbf in those past 4 years, it means you've been here for a reeaaally long while!

And i'm very touched that you're still enjoying seeing me around enough that it made you want to try this out <333

Even if it ended up not working out for you, it makes me happy that you gave a3 a try. I'm really touched that you got interested enough because of my ramblings that you decided to try it. And even if it didn't end up grabbing you, i'm glad it gave you a bit of this nostalgia feeling <3 if anything has been worthwhile in this journey for you and you got any positive emotions out of it, then it makes me happy.

so, thank you so much for this sweet message, and i'm really glad you can at least look to the mess that is my blog with some fondness even if it didn't click with you then <333

As for the summer crotch guy. Jesus he really is becoming my Brand these days and it's all the gbf anons's fault i can't believe it. But also wOW on remembering his crotch over his name while i literally has his name in my bio and posts about him like 10 times per day, this is the funniest thing ever i can't stop laughing. I'm sure he would be very proud of this, and that's what truly matters.

So huh i'm glad at least my blog can give you nostalgia (?) or "sexy trashcan of a man who at least gives you sexy things to look at" (????)

the only two blog goals 😎

jesting aside, thank you still so much for this ask, i'm glad you shared this with me, and i'm glad that you can still get some fun stuff from my blog despite not really being into the things i'm blogging <3

Thank you for the sweet message, and i wish you well!

Take care <3

[thedustmylove]

I’ve had a lot of thoughts bouncing around regarding the ratthew healy situation and just need to get them out of my brain and into the ether webs (this is stream of consciousness rant)

I’m upset/disappointed with everything regarding matty healy. I used to casually listen to The 1975; I had no idea he was such a sack of shit until this week. I hate the defense of ‘oh its satire’ or ‘its just a persona’.

this man wants his persona to be racist???? why?  wtf. how is a white man punching down satire? is it suppose to be humorous because ‘ooh you shouldn’t say that’????

I’ve deleted the few songs I had by the 1975 from my phone. If this was anyone but taylor swift, i would have dropped the artist immediately. but because its taylor i’m conflicted.

There’s just such a strong mixture of nostalgia and sentimentality with both Taylor and her music. (I know how parasocial of me. But what do you expect when you’ve been invested in someone’s career for over half of your life. I was 9ish when I started listening to her and i’m 23 now.)

Obviously I’ve grown since I was 9 years old and have become disillusioned with aspects of caring about a celebrity. I see how Taylor Swift the person that we see is just part of Taylor Swift the brand. On some level, I realize she doesn’t know about the fans personally and can only care to the capacity that a human can have sympathy for a mass of nameless faces. But for lack of better words the relationship between taylor and her fans felt different. She wouldn’t do this to us. By this I mean associate herself with someone that like creature (derogatory).

its a slap in the face to her poc fans for taylor to be like well i can ‘excuse racism because i’m rebounding or whatever’. (like the woman could have rebound with anyone why the fuck is this the douche-canoe she choices. the dick cannot be that good, there is no sex good enough to excuse racism imo). Also he came out on stage at least once, which is not good. Is taylor’s band or whoever’s covering instrumentals ready to cut him off if he starts with the “i’m not racist but-” bullshit.

I cannot fully express my disdain for the shit ratthew healy has said.

Like even if taylor didn’t know about this stuff before, how can she not know now??? she has a PR team, someone must have said something at the very least “this is not good for the Taylor Swift brand”.

At least right now, i can’t bring myself to walk away completely. Now, its just a painful reminder that Taylor Swift the human is someone who’s intentions/feelings remain unbeknownst to me. I don’t know her as person, no matter how much I like to think I do. Tbh, I was disillusioned about this a while ago, but this shatter some base level belief I wasn’t aware of until recently. the belief that- taylor swift despite being wealthy white woman, has enough wherewithal to realize associating with a man that has said he gets off to black women being abused in not a good look.

overall, just sad in so many ways. this has damped my enthusiasm for tour (i have tickets to see her in one month) and for speak now re-release. I don’t know what to do from here, just process things and see how things play out.

[artikgato]

Long post about Dragon Ball ahead!

Today I went to an actual movie theater and watched a screening of the first three episodes of the English dub of Daima. It was a lot of fun! And very nostalgic. Spoilers and reminiscing under the cut.

I was around when Dragon Ball Z was airing on Toonami back in the day. I didn't have regular access to cable so I didn't get to see any of it as it actually aired. I didn't watch the Saiyan or Namek stuff at all until much later, borrowing some friends' DVDs. I did, however, catch reruns of the Trunks - Androids - Cell sagas in the summer of 2001. That summer I was staying with relatives who did have cable. I was enthralled; I don't think I missed a single episode. I was actually pretty bummed when I had to go back to not having cable in the fall, because I knew they were going to be airing the Buu arc (it was very heavily advertised, and was probably the reason they were rerunning the Cell stuff in the first place). After that summer, though, I was hooked. I used chore money to buy some of the movies on VHS (Lord Slug and Cooler's Revenge for sure, kinda wish I still had them) and a substantial amount of the Buu saga either on VHS or DVD when VHS got phased out. So, even though it was not nearly as well written or paced as the earlier parts of DBZ, the Buu arc holds a very special place in my heart. It was what I watched through high school. (I was also the same age as Gohan, so that was fun.)

So, Daima taking place shortly(?) after the end of the Buu arc hit me in the nostalgia in a way I wasn't really expecting. I went into this knowing very little other than everybody got turned into little kids for Reasons, and the animation is very pretty. I assumed it was going to take place during or post-Super, because why wouldn't it? So, seeing that familiar cast of characters and hearing those familiar dub performances sent me straight back to my high school days (which was over 20 years ago now, get off my lawn, etc.), spending lazy Saturday afternoons watching any episodes I could get copies of on my old ass, tiny ass CRT TV. (I watched a lot of anime that way.)

Also within the first ten, fifteen minutes of episode 1 I was slapped (metaphorically) with a reminder that I had an embarrassingly big crush on this little nerd back in the day:

(did I choose the least flattering possible picture of Shin? Yes.)

To be fair (or maybe unfair) to me, I was Weird with a capital W back in high school. I had female friends who also watched DBZ. They all had sensible taste in men: Future Trunks (I mean, yeah, of course), Vegeta, high school age Gohan, Goku, even Android 17. I was the one going "okay but Piccolo is kinda hot, right?" to which they replied "the green slug man??" So I'm in high schooI and watching the Buu arc and this purple-skinned, perpetually anxious loser nerd shows up and I go "Oh??? Sign me the fuck up." And then 20 years later (I'll admit, I did not watch Super. I guess I need to fix that) I'm watching this and then I go "oh, right, Shin is hot, I forgot."

This had been, of course, after staring at his younger brother Degesu for like 10 minutes during the intro of episode 1 and going "oh no he's hot oh no he's hot oh no he's hot". And then also his sister Dr. Arinsu (not sure if she's the eldest sibling or younger than Shin) and going "oh no she's hot too oh no she's hot too" and etc. etc. But I mean, come on, can you blame me? (You can. You should, you should judge me for my weird taste. I'm not going to call it poor taste, because you know I'm right.) I mean, look at them:

(High school me would not have been going "oh no she's hot". I've come a long way.)

But, okay, y'all didn't come here for my apparent bias towards characters from the demon realm (oh, right, it turns out that Shin's people are from the demon realm and are actually demons and not gods. And Namekians are also from the demon realm and are not just alien slug men. Actually everybody with pointy ears is from the demon realm or has an ancestor from the demon realm. Go figure.).

Anyway, I've only watched the first three episodes, but so far it is really good! The action sequences were very well choreographed and animated (the fight with the burgers was SO GOOD THOUGH), the dub voice acting was stellar, and seeing all the main cast turned into kids was phenomenally entertaining. This is what GT should have been. I'll never get over realizing I was looking at a like 12 year old Master Roshi, who continued to speak like an old geezer even with the voice of a 12 year old. 10/10. (Also he has to be related to Krillin, the resemblance is uncanny.) Angery little kid Vegeta was amazing. Teenage-ish Piccolo was great, too, because we got to see him as a little kid in Dragon Ball and as an adult in DBZ, but never in this inbetween teenage stage. I wish we'd gotten to see more of the more secondary and tertiary characters, maybe that'll be in later episodes. Normally I would hate this, but it was hilarious. In GT it was just weird and off-putting to only have Goku as a little kid, but with everyone else as kids he just fits right in.

I'm definitely going to track down episodes 4 and up (I think Japan is up to 6 this week?) and keep watching. I don't think I can patiently wait for the dub like I did for the first three, so subbed it is for now. I don't typically watch DBZ in Japanese because I grew up with the dub, but I'm too interested to see where this plot is going. (And if they're going to give Degesu and Arinsu more screen time. Shin's already getting a lot, which I am very happy about.) I'm also very interested to see if anybody else got turned into a kid. Like Gohan. Are we getting Cell Games age Gohan? I hope so. But also, what other characters were included in that wish? Tien and Chaotzu? Launch? Android 17? Yajirobe? Videl? Ox King was kid-ified, but Korin wasn't. I need answers. Also we were robbed, Korin should have been a kitten.

Also also, I think they should have kept the kids who were already kids the same age they already were. Imagine little kid Vegeta being physically the same age as kid Trunks. Imagine it. I fully get why they just turned them into babies, but imagine.

[bogmommy]

I mean I am chronically online and it doesn't seem ironic too me

Like the 1830s thing is the exact kind of thoughtless attitude she has shown in the past (reminds me of the comments about capitalism in time's article, like so weirdly thoughtless)

And the tattooed golden retriever... again it's on brand for her. She says stupid stuff like that about weird men (travis being sweet and metal... we know he doesn't wipe his ass)

Like none of these lyrics feel like Matty Healy lyrics. They just feel like previous bad taylor lyrics dialed up to a hundred. It's like Me! But so much worse (or do you think that was ironic too?)

It seems a lot more likely that shes just surrounded by yes men and has no self awareness then shes doing a really bad job of parodying people like Matty Healy. Because her impression is a million miles off and just sounds like her on a bad day

Like I believe if she was making fun of him and guys like him, she'd do a better job

here is the full paragraph that that is from (taken out of context it sounds HORRIBLE, i agree) and i personally focused on "USED to play a game"..."everyone would look down cause it wasn't fun now" = the game stops being fun once you point out something that breaks the bubble of romanticism, in this case that the social conditions were horrible; both bc of racism, and in the next line she also acknowledges misogyny. idk how people miss the part where she says that in hindsight the "game" wasn't fun at all and that she would have hated it in whichever decade. nostalgia is a mind's trick = romanticisng the past makes you forget/ignore that "back in the day" actually kind of sucked (to put it lightly).

she has definitely said a lot of weird things and i'm absolutely not going to defend every single one of her actions, but which artist/celebrity hasn't? 😭 didn't matty healy have a scandal recently bc of his involvement with racist/violent porn? and he heiled on stage a few years ago, was that also ironic? personally that's a lot more icky to be than "you touch me as your boys play gta", it's obviously a shitty lyric but like? 💀 idk. that's just a bit cringe, not a fucking hatecrime. " I pissed myself on the Texan intersection" isn't particularily poetic to me either tbh.

i thought the tattooed golden retriever thing was a reference to that tiktok thing where people call their boyfriends "golden retriever coded" bc they're himbos. a LOT of people called joe alwyn that, and the whole song is making fun of him SO MUCH but again i guess you have to be a very specific type of chronically online find some of these things funny, otherwise it does sound stupid; when i saw an excerpt of that before i listened to it i was ready to HATE this album because it does genuinely sound SO bad out of context.

as for ME!, it's an atrocity and i try to pretend it doesn't exist ❤️ same with the entirety of reputation tbh and like half the songs from midnights, i hate it when she tries to be ~tough~ and ~cool~ and i don't think i will ever like those albums but i actually liked TTPD and it annoys me when people shit on things bc they don't understand them. i don't particularily care for her as a person, but i like a lot of her music bc i think it's just. fun to listen to? i like upbeat songs 😭 and i do find some of the songs to be relatable etc but i'm FULLY aware of the fact that some people just "don't get it" - i'm like that too with a lot of artists and that's completely fine! but i keep my opinions about them to myself :D

however at the end of the day i don't think she cares if people "get" the album or not; she probably did it for shits and giggles and it's not as if she won't afford to put bread on the table if this album flops lol. i don't even know why i got so worked up about this, i might be getting hangry tbh