#repeat 2020 chosen

[koushirouizumi]

@taikouvember!

Prompt: KINDNESS; + What is your favorite aspect{s} about their relationship/dynamic with any other Chosen Children? + What is your favorite aspect{s} about their relationship/dynamic with Mimi? {Belated} {I also view this particular theme as "Compassion" {+including Koushiro's OWN Compassion-slash-Kindness in a more general sense!}

{This AMV has background implied KouTai, as typical for this series!} (For the full ficverse on AO3: here!)

{Polyships can also be read in for A.U. Potentials, including Koushiro x Taichi x Mimi as a trio/OT3!!} (Alternative polyships can include: Yamato x Jou x Sora x Mimi {supporting KouTai} [Main]; Jou x Koushiro x Taichi x Mimi, and various combinations of all these six Chosen!)

Note: -This video’s embed may randomly not display at times, Showing like it’s “down”, but it’s not at this time! {It usually happens late at night[s] or seemingly when Tumblr is {seemingly} experiencing very high traffic} If that happens, please consider Checking back to watch at a later time! (If it seems permanently down, please leave a comment or tag to notify me!)

Note: A few more AMVs for this series have been made since this particular one, which could be considered an “End Phase” (or in-between point) of the 2nd-to-3rd phase/set of AMVs! (This AMV was closer to a “3rd Phase” Final stretch) {As in, the next series of AMVs I had initially planned to make; many more have been Inspired to be made since!!}

For other AMVs + Preview AMVs for this series: KOUSHIRO's State of the World (Music Replacement Edit for Kagerou Daze AMV) {contains a Twist} [+PicoDevimon & {Implied} Vademon; Adventure #24 A.U.s] / Children Record (Nijisanji Cover version) {Fixed Link} / Fireworks in the Summer End [+Kizuna (Implied); (2020!)KouTai Timeline A.U.s; +Mugendramon Arc Timeline Splits]

Digimon Adventure{s} (+Adv ~ Tri + {Side} / {A.U.} Adventure: [2020 Reboot]) ~ AMV [Anime Music Video] - Tomodachi no Uta {Song of Friends} (sung by: Nanami Kashiyama) {from originating series: Kagerou Project} featuring DUO/O.T.P/Poly-ships: - {Main} KouTaiMi / TaiKouMi (Mimi x Koushiro x Taichi); - (Heavily Implied) KouTai (Koushiro x Taichi)

PAST AMVS / VIDEO EDITS IN THIS SERIES: Kagerou Daze (Heat-Haze Daze) / Children Record [+Adv Chosen] / RED / Additional Memory and Imaginary Reload music edits for KageDaze / Days (short edit) / Lost Time Memory / Yesterday Evening / Summertime Record / Shounen Brave [+Jou] / Outer Science [+Villains] / Headphone Actor (short edit) / DAZE (short version / TV Size OP) / KOUSHIROS ? CYBER JOURNEY [+Maki] / Brave Heart x Kaien Panzermast [+Chosen Children] / Night Tales Deceive [Yobanashi Deceive] / [KOUSHIRO’S] Imaginary World / Mekakushi Code [Blindfold Code] [+Yamato&Sora&Adv Chosen] / Ultramarine Rain [+Mrs Yoshie Izumi; Izumis] / Imagination Forest [+Mimi&Jou] / Transparent Answer [TaiKou+Meiko] / Jinzou Enemy [Artificial Enemy] / DEAD and SEEK (short edit) / Headphone Actor (Full version Preview) / Otsukimi Recital [TaiKou+Chosen] / Shissou Word [Never-Lost Word] [(Yamatox)Sora(xMimi)(xJou)]+[TaiKou]+[Chosen] / My Funny Weekend [Mimi+Hikari+Chosen] / Kusanagi Attention [(Ken x)Miyako(x Hikari) (xDaisuke)+Mimi+02 Chosen+Advs Chosen (+TaiKou)] / Shinigami Record (Short Edit) [(+2020!)TaiKou] / [KSHRO’s]? Theory of Happiness [Adv~Tri TaiKou + Special Appearance] / Imaginary Reload (Music Edit Ver. 2) [Adv Chosen+2020 Chosen] / Children Record Re:Boot (Music Edit) / Children Record (Nijisanji Cover version)

Digimon Adventure{s} Franchise © Toei Animation & Bandai

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. This is FAN-MADE. No $$$ is being made off this fan-work * Please do not re-post, re-distribute, edit, or use my specific editing of any work in this series without asking my Permission! I do not allow my works to be re-produced for any usage, including A.I.!

Notes:

There are some spoilers for Tri (mainly Ketsui); {as well as a much smaller ‘moment’ of Mimi & Sora from “Kyousei”}; a scenery spoiler from the very opening moments of “Kizuna” also included (No character is shown!), as well as scenes from DigiAdv 2020 Eps 49~50, which feature an important mid-end series (second-to-last big) battle. The 2nd to final scene included has audio left in (though I still have to add in subs); of that battle’s aftermath; {the enemy itself is not seen in this}

This A.M.V. is part of the “A.M.V.s Route” of my Digimon Adventures Koushiro Izumi-centric, semi canon compliant A.U.s series; REPEAT?_VERSE (Please note all notes on that series if you choose to view it!) This one is an A.U. spin-off of sorts, with a pretty, “calm” song, and can easily be watched as a stand-alone!

A fan-translation for the song (not by me) can be found here! You may want to read the lyrics first before watching!

Side ships, AMV specific notes, & Lyrics/Translation under ‘read more‘!

Keep reading

[dormiloncito]

look at my neopets, boy

[koushirouizumi]

{D I G I M O N} Adventure (Series) ~ REPEAT?_verse vs. Digimon Adventure: [2020 Reboot/Spinoff Anime] (Later Arcs) {Comparing} (Purely for Fun) Lines from my Story vs. Lines BY Toei Animation on Koushiro & Taichi {+Koushiro & Tentomon's Friendship} + The 'DIGITAL' World

"THAT'S {More like...?} [You], Izumi Koushiro." - Datamon

REPEAT?_verse began in 2k18: (In actuality I had begun outlining it by early Apr. 2k18, before Tri had even ENDED.) {"Bokura no Mirai" had not (Yet!) released.} - Adventure: {2k20} Ep. #59 hadn't aired until August 1st 2k21.

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PLEASE ALSO NOTE: {My headcanons for the characters of this series VARY} {for this set particularly; I headcanon most as M-spec/Multi-gender attracted*} {this post/my icons ARE NOT for people who cannot respect this fact or M-spec people / M-spec headcanons / MF relationships in general!}

[amaditalks]

Harris could have chosen to win but she simply chose to lose. It's not hard to beat Trump, it's comically easy, actually. You can convince yourself that it wasn't her choice to lose, but the fact of the matter is that she deliberately lost voters in key swing states. Trump's vote amounts remained mostly the same. Harris lost 10-15 million votes from Biden. Black women voted for her in less amounts than they did Biden or Hillary.

Had she not done genocide, she would've won. No matter how much you try and convince yourself otherwise. Now you have Trump. Accept your choices. Live with them. Because the consequences will remain. This is how it's going to be for the forseeable future because democrats chose to make it this way. You can learn from this or just give up and die i guess.

So people know, this person is following me out of the comments on another post where they have repeatedly asserted that Kamala Harris lost because she “did genocide.“ Apparently, this person believes that Kamala Harris is simultaneously the US vice president and the Prime Minister of Israel — amongst other things that they are deeply confused about.

But let’s be really very clear. It is not easy to beat Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton got more votes than Donald Trump and still did not beat Donald Trump. The only reason Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in 2020 is because of how badly Trump mishandled Covid. Had Biden not entered the 2020 race and the Democratic nominee had ended up being another woman, Trump would have won in 2020.

The voters who mobilized to create the Biden victory were the sometimes voters. The mushy middle that doesn’t pay attention to much until it’s as big as a recession or a global pandemic, and votes or stays at home based on their personal satisfaction with their own lives, not based on issues.

Those voters came out to vote for Biden because they were personally dissatisfied with the course of the pandemic. Those voters either stayed home this year or voted for Trump because they were personally dissatisfied with their finances, which they mistakenly believe is the same thing as “the economy.”

Also, as explained to you in those comments, only 4% of voters said that the situation Israel and Palestine factored into their vote. The overwhelming issue that motivated people was “the economy“ for whatever they understand that to be.

Of that 4% who weighed the Israel-Palestine issue in their decision making, the majority voted for Harris.

You can repeat what is, at this point, an intentional lie about this issue being the reason for Kamala Harris’ loss until the day you literally depart this earth, but it will still be a lie that does not bear any resemblance to the actual facts around this election.

If at some point you wish to get in touch with honesty and integrity, that will be a positive change in your life and the lives of everyone who has the misfortune of encountering you. 

[linuseer]

i'd made a reblog of another post but i might as well make my own because it's truly bizarre the way the internet still behaves

the internet's reaction to john mulaney will be found in psychology books in future years.

this got long. my bad.

tldr: yall have been weird about john mulaney for a long while. yes, even about the dave chappelle thing.

"but he let dave chappelle on stage-" the venue let dave chappelle on stage. Because despite all the bullshit he's been saying venues and platforms still think he's a big name, so if he decides to pop up and drop in, they're going to let him regardless of openers already being there. It's insane how people think john mulaney could dictate what a big venue (and netflix, as i think it was during an event) can and can't do around him.

"but dave chappelle based all his set on transphobic and ableist things-" that's on dave chappelle, not any other comedian who has to share the stage with him. let's repeat this again: john mulaney did not "platform" chappelle, the venue did. john mulaney can't go around dictating what other comedians say the same way other comedians can't dictate what he says, just like it is in any other profession and general aspect of society.

"but he hugged chappelle at the end-" chappelle had talked about an aggression he'd been a victim of in the previous months and john mulaney expressed solidarity for that. Like the testimony of the transphobic and ableist jokes, this was said by other people on the internet that claim to have been present. It's impressive how fast any other recounting has been shut down and ignored, like any possibility of further critical analysis of the situation. I'm not cis myself. I could smell the "something's weirdly missing" from miles away, because when he went to rehab I thought back about all his jokes involving drugs and thought "yeah this checks out", when people started calling him transphobic i thought "this guy?? Horse Loose In A Hospital guy?? I gotta check".

(other testimonies also said the transphobic and ableist jokes were a part of the appearance, not all of it, and that other jokes did get a laugh. Which yes, it is annoying to hear people reward a comedian with laughter after he's been a dick and I would've been mad the whole time too)

"well he shouldn't go around hugging transphobes" on an abstract moral basis, I agree. I'd rather he stick to hugging people like jon stewart.

"he betrayed his lgbt+ fanbase that is the reason he's famous" no it isn't. I find no righteous joy in telling yall that john mulaney is known and respected and gets gigs in the comedy scene because he's good at it on his own from content and technique standpoints, and people recognized his talent and future fame from the start, not because the community made him famous by latching on to him as the Cute Unproblematic White Twink. Him becoming famous would've happened anyway because he's objectively good at his chosen career. Also "betrayed" is objectively wrong because of the previous points mentioned above.

Also let's remember the time period this happened in: john mulaney was recovering from nearly killing himself with drugs, dealing with the fact his friends had to push him into rehab, ending a years-long relationship (where he did not cheat according to the ex herself if yall bother listening to her), finding himself a parent of a clearly unplanned baby and stepping up to it, while facing vitriol and crazy backlash because of it all. I wouldn't take anyone too seriously in the aftermath of this.

yeah while we're here, let's also address the whole divorce fiasco:

"he cheated" no he didn't. The timeline provided and that can be proven by social media interactions and talk show appearances says so. They were separated well before they both went to rehab for different things. She wasn't at the december 2020 intervention, at least. She removed hims from her socials months before. They weren't involved anymore, let it go.

"he never wanted kids" so? people change as he himself says. Or was he meant to be a deadbeat and ignore the baby that was clearly unplanned? It's insane how people are holding this against him.

"he robbed tendler of her childbearing years" this is even more insane. She has repeatedly said she didn't want kids herself, and froze her eggs because of feeling socially pressured, at least twice in instagram comments only. She's got a new boyfriend and can have all the kids she wants with him. But people don't actually care about her as a person, only as her being a means for their weird revenge fantasies against a comedian they thought they knew through a stage persona. Just take a look at the unhinged comments people have been leaving under everyone's social media posts including hers.

"he based his whole shtick on being a wife guy (so i now feel betrayed that they have divorced because ??? but pretend i'm righteously offended as He Has Lied On Stage)" equally insane things to say. Also no, the wife bits make up not even a fourth of his overall material, but one wouldn't know that if they only saw his stuff through memes and the netflix specials.

"well i'm childfree and liked he was also childfree and now i'm disappointed" now this is reasonable. I was weirdly disappointed for a while too and then got over it. Because it's one of the things in life you have to shrug off, because other people can choose to keep children and raise them with an obviously present support net and it's none of our business.

Here's some more things for yall to chew on: john mulaney has expressed support for trans kids being targeted in schools, during the initial monologue when he hosted the Independent Spirit Awards with nick kroll (they did it two years in a row and i can't remember which year it was). john mulaney has also previously supported lgbt+ charities with donations some years ago (i don't remember the name but i remember being happy about confirmation that a comedian i liked was a good person). john mulaney hasn't said or done anything negative towards trans people and lgbt+ in general since the "incident", nor did he ever before. Also he striked with the other writers to support the less famous and wealthy ones.

"but he had jerry seinfield on." Netflix had jerry seinfield on. Because seinfield just made a show with netflix too and he's being made to promote it. Also yes, by several accounts john mulaney looks up to jerry seinfield, in the same way i might look up at a senior in high school when I'm a freshman. Doesn't mean he agrees with him on everything and doesn't mean they both can skirt the obligations of the industry they're in.

Yall want something nice to chew on? When john mulaney went on seinfield's show "comedians in cars getting coffee", seinfield demeaned annamarie tendler's professional abilities and john mulaney immediately and repeatedly contradicted him. "She doesn't know what she's talking about, all women think they're interior designers" vs "Actually she does know what she's talking about" kinda exchange. Seinfield also made a joke about her throwing a rolling pin at john, and john mulaney deemed it a dumb 1950s stereotype.

look, is he perfect? no. he has moments where he lacks some social awareness, because he was born and raised wealthy, but he's never been cruel or obnoxious about it and instead recognizes it every time he mentions (and disparages) his upbringing. it could be seen even before baby j that he grew up insecure of himself, through and under the obvious jokes about anxiety and servility, and he can be an asshole about it (though less now, i suppose thanks to near-death experiences and having a child readjust your whole life). it's the fact that the internet decided to put him on a pedestal as a paragon of neat cuteness, reducing his work to Wife Guy Blorbo and seemingly ignoring all the "hey i've been an alcohol and drug addict willing to commit crimes to get drugs and i'm putting up an extremely clean-cut persona that should have you all worried and suspicious". I used to look at that guy and sense the something that wasn't adding up. I've been observing this whole mess since he first went to rehab with a sense of relief. Parasocial of me, yes I know.

one day the internet will add up the pieces. hopefully. until that day, it's gonna be weird.

[yankaze]

KH OC week 2024 - Day 2: Past What was your character creation process like?

this one will be morally difficult for me 😭😭

I didn't find much old art to show, but I think these ones will say a lot.

Hajime as a character has existed since 2016. In March 2016 (I was 13 uuum 13 ehem) I learned about KH and somewhere around the same time I came up with this, at that time - eh, I don't know- at least unoriginal character who was literally a goth Roxas (I didn't knew about the existence of AUs idk, and Roxas is already ''emo boy'', but 2007 was almost here idkkk, we can joke about it for a very long time actually, but the fact remains a fact).

His name changed many times and there was no special meaning behind them (Sea, Syon), I just liked the way they sounded. I can answer the question why I named him ''Hajime'' right now. Internet says: ''Hajime (Japanese: はじめ) is a Japanese name meaning "beginning" (初め, 始め)''. I liked the way it sounded and its meaning and it gave me a hint where to move the character's story now.

+ in the Hajime's story he chooses this name for himself, because obviously no one gave name to him, but he needed a word to talk about himself and (i'm not sure about that) in the book he finds this name and I can say that it was chosen by him randomly.

He had a terrible written story on the basis of some other AU (???) and without сorvalol I can’t read it, even though it’s stored somewhere in my old dms from those years, I still don’t want to show it 😭

Around 2017 and up until 2019, I tried to make... something... out of him. It feels more like I just periodically returned to KH in a fit of baseless nostalgia and I really wanted to shove a “piece of myself” into this universe (which was already tired of me lmao).

2019 reminded me about KH in the form of KH III release and... this character again (+ my friend's kh oc- Jun).

I think that for a long time I didn't wanted to fundamentally change his concept (which was literally just that he exists and somehow travels around the worlds) because I was emotionally attached to this character. In essence, he was not just a character for me, but also memories that were triggered by each repeated hyperfixation on this universe.

It seems to me that the most obvious indicator of how I jumped back and forth into the KH universe is noticeable by the fact that it gave me the opportunity to look at one of my redraw series with this character through the years.

From 2020 to 2023 there was a long lull with this character.

2023 has been jUiCy in rethinking from the start because the long break gave me the opportunity to finally stop give in to nostalgia (or at least less) and loosen my emotional attachments to unworkable concepts. Therefore, this character now has the opportunity to finally become something better than a copy of another character.

However, this epic attempt was quickly abandoned as soon as the hyperfix ended.

We've reached the present time (mid-2024).

I slammed my fist on the table and decided to finally play through ALL the Kingdom Hearts games (that was therapy for my soul) and finally my understanding of KH universe became kinda complete (I still don't understand everything, the plot is very complex u'know). From what I began to understand, I decided to give this character another chance and close this damned gestalt.

This story is still ongoing, but I told in general details everything that happened to this character all these 8 years. This actually shows not only how the character changed, but also how I changed as an artist. Even my ''psychological problems'' can be seen through this story, and what amazes me the most is how over the years, using Hajime as an example, my drawing skills improved.

At such moments, you understand that you are not standing still and thoughts about "I have no progress in my art" no longer arise.

@khoc-week

[11queensupreme11]

Imma gonna keep this simple:

I 110% agree with everything u said.

U didn’t miss even ONE box because I’ve been saying this all day and all I can say is that I am so deeply disappointed that this is our reality.

I had hoped that we learned from 2016.

We didn’t.

I had hoped we were done with this in 2020.

We weren’t.

And now it seems like we’ll never be free of this until, hopefully, the new generations are old enough to make up the majority.

All I do know is this.

This path that this country is walking.

This path that its chosen will never lead to anywhere good.

And if ANYONE needs an example of how bad it can get, all they need to do is look at the history of this country and others like it to see what the future holds in store when u repeat it.

Thank you for saying what you said.

It meant something to me to know that me and other Americans are not alone in this. 💖

seeing this gives me some hope, but the fact that trump is absolutely going to target the department of education concerns me cuz despite the votes, there ARE many gen z-ers who spout a lot of right-wing ideologies without realizing it.

gen z can be quite radicalized depending on the topic, even the well-meaning ones don't realize how far right they've gotten.

we are a very puritanical generation who values moral superiority and internet activism, and we're also not as educated and immune to propaganda and brainwashing as we like to think

we've got young men and boys regardless of race watching and listening to right-wing streamers and content creators like andrew tate, adin ross, etc. and being radicalized into becoming the most misogynistic pieces of shit ever

we've got girls and gays trying to be internet activist and thinking that they're sooo progressive when they're actually doing a 180 to right-wing puritanism without realizing it:

"dark media should be removed from libraries because girls might read it and endorse it because girls are STUPID",

"sex scenes give me the ick so we need to remove them all!!!",

"gay love stories should only go as far as hand-holding, none of that gross stuff because we're not DIRTY like those degenerates!"

"we need to remove all porn and degenerate stuff because it encourages girls to act like whores and men to treat women poorly!" (newsflash, misogyny existed long before porn did, so removing porn won't do shit, sorry guys)

^ it all sounds stupid and silly, but this sorta shit snowballs. they're yearning for the hayes code and they don't even know what the hayes code is 💀

(and again with the jill stein stuff too 💀 like i said, gen z likes to be morally superior and internet activists so some of them did vote jill stein thinking it'd help -- which only brings back to my point to how dumb and uneducated us americans truly are. i'm sure they were well-meaning, but this was not a smart move)

right now, gen z is mostly blue (we're in the 50s% which is lowkey concerning), but with these mindsets ALREADY in place and more men like andrew tate spouting up, AND trump ready to target education to dumb people down, i worry that the younger gen are going to be more vulnerable than ever

[ginger-lime]

Will Wood (and the Tapeworms) Songs as Ride the Cyclone Characters!

Recently decided to wade through Will Wood's discography more and I think some of the songs by the 30-something year old dude really embody them

How this half asleep rant will work:

[Character]: [Song(s)]

Explanation of why song is chosen

"Certain excerpts from the song I think embody the goober chosen"

Note: all songs wils be linked when they're written (mostly as youtube lyric videos), also this will probably be very long

Ocean O'Connell Rosenburg: The Main Character

Local ‘gifted kid’ teenager has yet to find out that the world doesn't revolve around her and stepping on anyone who doesn't fit in with her isn’t okay, more at 7

"I mean, imagine if protagonists just died in the first scene"

"I loot plot armor from NPC’s / Well, they are to me"

Noel Gruber: Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

This song (in my opinion) is really the embodiment of Noel's character. attempting to fit in, being told to "tone it down" by his mother until eventually arriving in the afterlife and essentially going "fuck it, we ball" with Noel's Lament (and Vampire Culture in this allegory) until eventually arriving at a state of peace with Love Me, Normally/It's Just a Ride

"a snowflake only matters in a blizzard"

Mischa Bachinski: 6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro / Con & ¡Aikido! (Neurotic / Erotic)

6up 5oh with it's plot(?) of running from the police and proceeding to get mistreated by them is how Mischa is viewed by essentially everyone is Saskatchewan (and to an extent how he lets them see him). While ¡Aikido!, is more of his 'passion' side, specifically with Talia. The more aggressive reprise at the end of Aikido in the 2020 remaster also reminds me allot of the techno section of 'Talia'.

"It's never too late to embrace your fate"

"So we can touch instead of feel"

Ricky Potts: White Noise & Dr. Sunshine Is Dead

Imagine being so forgotten by everyone around you so the innocent bean stereotype is put on you automatically despite the fact that you’re real personality is far from that and then having a mini identity crisis over it

"You're not meant to sing along"

"I'm no one if I'm nowhere in between"

Jane Doe: Big Fat Bitchie’s Blueberry Pie, Christmas Tree, and Recreational Jell-o Emporium a.k.a. “Mr. Boy is on the Roof Again” (Feat. Pasta by Sneakers McSqueakers) [From “B.F.B.’s B-Sides: Bagel Batches, Marsh-Mallows, & Barsh-Mallows”]

No thoughts, story, or plot, just funky carnival music

Constance Blackwood: Falling Up

This song is essentially 'Sugar Cloud' but more melancholy. This is what I'd imagine a song about Constance's life before she died would be about, or Constance's Monologue in song form. What especially reminded me of her monologue was the rapid fire listing of objects and even the title 'Falling Up' being repeated in the song feeling like the roller coaster when it derailed. They're falling but being upside down it feels more like they're flying.

"You make a wish upon the dead, but turn and call it a weed"

"Much larger than life, 'cause from such height / Life looks awful small"

"Well, I cry on skies of blue linoleum, Clouds o' spilled milk"

Penny Lamb: Willard!

Aspiring animal conservationist doesn't know how to relate to "normal" people partially due to her upbringing. Parts of the song were the singer wants animal traits the make their life easier reminds me of Penny's whole "I vomit fire" thing before absolutely destroying JK-47

“Until frustration makes me wish my teeth were sharp as yours”

“I've never understood what humans do and want / It's quite confusing to me to try to connect / Never learned how I should feel, instincts somehow stunted”

Extra characters outside of the choir:

I'll go less in depth for these as i think most of these are self-explanatory

Karnak: Memento Mori: the most important thing in the world

funky sentient machine is constantly aware of his imminent death and decides to be a goofy goober because of it

Virgil: Tomcat Disposables

rat just wants to vibe and chew on a power cable. oopsies he's dead now

Monique Gibeau: White Knuckle Jerk & Front Street

oh em gee she's so gorgeous and dangerous and the world described in Noel's Lament is very gritty and a little gross

Ezra Lamb: Euthanasia (Live)

this mostly feeds into my hc that Ezra ditched school to go to the fair with the choir and had to see his sister get beheaded, being completely inconsolable, and not being listened to because he's "a kid looking for attention"

It's the end yay!!

That's the end folks! I really enjoyed making this (i am a very big fan of both rtc and will wood) there were a lot of other songs i wanted to include (skeleton appreciation day, i/me/myself etc.) but didn't because either

a. they fit too many characters for me to just pin one to them or

b. the character already had two songs assigned to them

i hope anybody reading this is having a good day/night and listens to will wood more in the future ig

[dustedmagazine]

Tim’s 2024: A Question of Focus

DIIV

The more time I spend listening to new music, the more I realize the extent to which my year-end list is largely dependent on the records I’ve chosen to focus on reviewing for Dusted. It takes time to listen to and digest music to the point where I find myself with something approaching insightful to say, which means I’m pretty discerning when it comes to choosing albums to review. There’s only so much time available to listen to new music, so it pays to focus the firehose of continuous new releases into a manageable stream. All of the following have necessitated repeat listens, not only in order to get my head around them, but also to get my head into them, to lose myself in their world. There’s been a hell of a lot of great music released this year; these are the records I kept returning to.

1. DIIV — Frog In Boiling Water (Fantasy)

DIIV’s third album, Deceiver, felt like a step up for the band, and Frog In Boiling Water is the band really hitting their stride, melding shoegaze, dream-pop and grunge into a heady, addictive brew that scratches the same itch that Loveless and Siamese Dream did when I was a teenager. Thick, complex guitarscapes such as “In Amber” and “Somber The Drums” characterize much of the album’s appeal, but it was the scouring, dread-soaked “Soul-net” that I replayed more than any song this year.

2. The Smile — Cutouts (XL)

It’s been a good year to be a Radiohead fan, with two albums from The Smile, a solo tour from Thom Yorke, and a book of photography from bassist Colin Greenwood. The Smile’s Cutouts, the second of the year’s two albums, balances head-nodding guitar intricacy with zone-out synth jams. Compared to January’s Wall Of Eyes, it feels like an embarrassment of riches on the songwriting side.

3. Loma — How Will I Live Without A Body? (Sub Pop)

Emily Cross, Jonathan Meiburg and Dan Duszynski took a bit of a left turn on their second album, Don’t Shy Away, veering into more synth-focused art-pop territories. It didn’t always cohere, so it’s a relief that Loma have returned to what they do best on album three: stark, haunted indie-rock with plenty of atmosphere and gorgeous songs.

4. Luke Temple and The Cascading Moms — Certain Limitations (Western Vinyl)

Following his diversion into Arthur Russell-esque beat-drift under the pseudonym Art Feynman, Luke Temple returns to releasing music under his given name and recruits new band The Cascading Moms. Their chops are razor-sharp and the songwriting swings between languid and impressively funky.

5. Jessica Pratt — Here In The Pitch (Mexican Summer)

I’d not paid much attention to Jessica Pratt before this year, but Here In The Pitch’s combination of classic 1960s wall-of-sound production and simple but affecting songwriting really won me over. In some ways it feels like a more digestible cousin of Cindy Lee’s colossal Diamond Jubilee. “World On A String” and “Empires Never Know” are especially stunning.

6. Jon Mckiel — Hex (You’ve Changed)

2020’s Bobby Joe Hope was Jon Mckiel’s low-key breakout with its combination of found-sound tape loops and affecting songwriting. Hex digs deeper into more abstract territories that feel dark and dejected yet sweetly hopeful.

7. Winged Wheel — Big Hotel (12XU)

To my mind, shoegaze is at its best when the whole surge of sound feels like it could collapse at any moment. What keeps Big Hotel on the rails and piledriving forward is the twin-drum attack of Fred Thomas and Steve Shelley. The swirl and burn of the music’s relentless momentum feels like trying to take refuge in a wildfire, cooled by the balm of Whitney Johnson’s airy vocals.

8. Rosali — Bite Down (Merge)

This one was a common pick on our mid-year lists, and for good reason. Bite Down strikes a sweet balance between the melodic songwriting of my personal Rosali favorite Trouble Anyway, and the shaggy jams of her backing band Mowed Sound.

9. Nilufer Yanya — My Method Actor (Ninja Tune)

Single “Mutations” pulled me in with its intricate guitar and bass work, the tumble of toms, and Yanya’s disaffected purr. My Method Actor mines this seam thoroughly, approaching mid-tempo indie-rock with an artisan’s attention to detail and some achingly beautiful arrangements.

10. Body Meπa — Prayer In Dub (Hausu Mountain)

Much like Winged Wheel’s Big Hotel, Prayer In Dub throws the listener into a dense, swirling guitar-bass-drums soundscape of intricately shifting layers. The playing is absolutely stellar, especially from drummer Greg Fox, and sounds amazing when loud.

10 more in alphabetical order:

Cindy Lee — Diamond Jubilee (self released)

Ned Collette — Our Other History (Sophomore Lounge)

Corridor — Mimi (Sub Pop)

English Teacher — This Could Be Texas (Island)

Horse Jumper Of Love — Disaster Trick (Run For Cover)

Itasca — Imitation of War (Paradise of Bachelors)

The Smile — Wall of Eyes

Svaneborg Kardyb — Superkilen (Gondwana)

Wand — Vertigo (Drag City)

Xiu Xiu — 13” Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips (Polyvinyl)

[misfitwashere]

The Submission Chain

The Transitive Property and Trump

TIMOTHY SNYDER

NOV 14

To normalize what is happening is to take part in the regime change.  For a writer, normalization means pretending that the same concepts that once applied still do apply.  When we do that, we destroy the concepts. 

For an unfamiliar politics we will need experimentation.�� Two essays ago, this meant reconsidering a historical cliché; last time, it meant a sitcom pitch; this time, we will do some applied math.

You might remember the transitive property.  If one number (x) is lesser than another number (y) and (y) is lesser than (z), then we can be certain that (x) is lesser than (z).  Or: if x < y and y < z, then x < z. 

The mathematical notation can help us define a submission chain: who submits to whom in the Trumpian oligarchy.  If we can lay this out plainly, we might see some openings for understanding -- and for action.  And so, to begin:

Trump voters  <  Trump

Trump voters have chosen a Leader, someone with a story.  Many of them believe that he is a billionaire, that he won the election of 2020, that Russia had nothing to do with it, that Haitians in Ohio eat cats, and so on.  In other words, many of them believe in lies that, at some level, they know to be lies.  This is submission; living inside someone else's story always is.  And thus many Trump voters are choosing to be manipulated in a certain kind of venture, one in which politics must be about division (sorry, more math!).  If politics begins from lies and you accept that, you can always "own" the other side, because they will be upset not only by your winning but also by the lies you repeat.  For many Trump voters, this is what power means: "owning the libs." 

I remember the first time I heard this phrase: in rural southwestern Ohio, in 2016.  And what I thought then was: just because he upsets other Americans, how does that help you?  How does that help our country?  "Owning the libs" does not get us far in international politics. Usually democratic power is about multiplication: we bring people together, we can pass some laws, people might benefit.  But Trump's domestic power is division, making America much weaker than it would be in foreign affairs.  The United States is strong as a republic (flawed though that republic might be).  It is weaker when its ruler aspires to be a divider and a dictator.  And thus the very power that Trump voters see in Trump is, seen from any external perspective, weakness.  This is how the next step of the formula is possible:

Trump voters <  Trump  < Putin, therefore Trump voters < Putin

At this point the Trump voters protest!  The moment the subject Russia is raised, Trump supporters defend their submission to Trump by defending him from the charge that he is submissive to Russia.  They have been trained to use the word "hoax," which emerges like an auto-response to the word "Russia."  Trump supporters (and Russians pretending to be Trump supporters on the internet) have bullied the press with the "hoax" taunt for so long and so hard that media seem frightened of the subject, even though every serious journalist who has worked on the subject knows that Russia backs Trump and has backed Trump for years and years. 

The "hoax" taunt, incidentally, or perhaps not so incidentally, is what the Russians call "reflexive control."  A psychological environment is created in which you do not what you want to do but what Russia wants you to do.  You know that if you write about Russia's persistent and obvious backing of Donald Trump, a chorus of "hoax" will follow you.  And so you do not do it.  And so, even when Russia blatantly interfered in this presidential election on election day by way of bomb threats to dozens precincts with Democratic majorities, this got little attention.  This reflex does so much work these days that even new and obvious examples of Russian support for Trump get absorbed by it! 

Trump knows that Russia's backing of him is not a hoax, and Putin knows that it is not a hoax.  Russia's support for him is so much on Trump's mind that he seeks to appoint as CIA director someone who believes will expunge the record of what Trump called in the announcement "fake Russian collusion."  In fact, the CIA at the time, along with all other US intelligence agencies, judged that Russia had intervened to support the Trump campaign.  After the election, the evidence only mounted.  I wrote an entire book that led to this episode (Road to Unfreedom), tracing its sources back to ideological changes in Russia and technological changes that allowed for the intervention.  The Mueller Report, though little read and dismissed, actually makes the case quite indisputably that Russia supported Trump; indeed, even its critics did not directly question that, but rather focused on the idea that it did not prove collusion.  This was not really true, either; there was plenty of collusion, but Mueller thought that this was better left for an impeachment than a prosecution, which got us into the square dance of legal irresponsibility around Trump in which we still find ourselves.

One can debate the sources of Trumps submissiveness to Putin.  Is it mainly all the money made from the licensing agreements?  Is it mainly admiration for the billionaire oligarch, something that Trump clearly wants to be?  Is it mainly gratitude for the electoral assistance, for the favor that Russia now explicitly calls in?  Is it a more complicated manipulation of Trump's ego, combining elements of all these?  Or is it that the Russians are actually capable of blackmailing him directly, as people who spend time with him tend to believe?  Is it now that Trump and Musk and Putin, in all of their calls these last two years, have cooked up something between themselves?  Whatever the causes, the results up to now have been unmistakable.  Trump portrays Putin as a great leader, says that he trusts him more than his own advisors, praises his invasion of Ukraine as "brilliant," and now proposes a defender of Putinism as director of national intelligence. 

There is no conceivable argument from US national interests to propose Tulsi Gabbard for that most critical position.  She has zero relevant experience. The only thing for which she is known is her support of Putin (and Assad). Her candidacy is, quite literally, a proposal that can only have emerged in Moscow, where she is known as a "Russian agent" or as "our girlfriend."

Trump voters <  Trump  < Putin < Xi, therefore Trump voters <  Xi

Trump voters, of course, would resist this formula, and so would the pro-Trump elite.  Surely Trump, if nothing else, is a China hawk?  Yet whatever Trump might say, he cannot possibly mount a policy that deters China if he is submissive to Putin.  The Russian leader is in an inferior position to the Chinese leader; Russia's war on Ukraine has reduced Putin very much to the position of beseeching client.  So to be Putin's client, as Trump very much appears to be, is also to be Xi's. 

But I don't insist on this just as a logical consequence of the transitive property of submission.  The relationship is concrete and specific and has to do with Ukraine.  If Trump submits to Putin on Ukraine, he not only demonstrates that he is incapable of dealing with China, he surrenders in advance to China. 

This logic is clear to essentially everyone in the world except Americans, who tend to see themselves as only having bilateral relationships with other countries, and to always be in the dominant role.  We might imagine that we are in a bilateral relationship with Ukraine, and with Russia, and with China, and can do as we choose with respect to each.  But these relationships are deeply intertwined. 

Ukrainian resistance deters China in way that we cannot deter China ourselves.  Virtually anything the United States does to deter China can be seen as provocative.  Simply by defending itself, however, Ukraine demonstrates that offensive operations are difficult and unpredictable.  Should Trump submit to Putin and try to force Ukraine to surrender, this deterrent affect disappears. 

And of course China is watching what we do (again, whether we realize this or not!).  Not only in Beijing but in all the world beyond America's allies the thinking is essentially such: if the United States cannot help to defend Ukraine, which is an easy case, there is no way that the United States would help to defend Taiwan. 

Why is Ukraine an easy case?  Because we have no troops in Ukraine and never will; because the case fits perfectly our explicit commitment to defending democracy; and because we enjoy, with our allies, an overwhelming economic advantage over Russia.  And so, if the United States tries to surrender Ukraine to Putin, this is not only submission to XI, it is an invitation to a far broader war, one that might have been deterred simply by continuing to back Ukraine.

I write "tries to surrender Ukraine to Russia" advisedly.  Ukraine is not ours to surrender.  Trump can himself surrender, but he cannot surrender on behalf of Ukraine.  And precisely because Trump has been to persistently submissive in his dealings with Putin, the Russians assume that his opening offer, whatever it is, can be improved by ignoring him or abusing him. 

Putin and his Kremlin subordinates are certainly mocking Trump at the moment: denying that a phone call took place when Trump says it did; escalating viciously in Ukraine after Trump claimed that he told Putin not to escalate; showing pornographic photographs of Trump's wife on Russian state television; suggesting that Trump owes his presidency to Russia (Patrushev); predicting that Trump will be assassinated if he does not do Russia's bidding (Medvedev).  All of this emphasizes Trump < Putin. 

But for Putin this is also in some sense a bluff.  The war in Ukraine, although horrible costly for the Ukrainian defenders, is also a disaster for Russia.  The Russians are taking horrible losses for minor advances.  They are using North Korean soldiers in a battle to try to regain Russian territory from Ukrainians.  If, when Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, someone had forecast that "in about three years, Russia will be deploying North Koreans to try to retake Ukrainian-occupied portions of Kursk oblast" that would have seemed insane.  But that is where we are.  The Russians have been telling themselves for two years that a Trump victory will mean their victory in Ukraine, and they will no doubt try to prove themselves right.  Continuing the offensive and bullying Trump are two sides of the same coin. 

Theoretically, Trump could break out of this logic.  As the Ukrainians keep trying to remind us, Russia will only seek peace if it believes that it is losing.  Russia will only believe that if the United States aids Ukraine more rather than less.  But this is impossible so long as it remains the case that Trump  < Putin, so long as that part of the submission chain holds.  And so long as that link is unbroken, it also remains true that Trump < Xi.  There can be no successful China policy without the right Ukraine policy.  And, so long as that is the case, Trump voters < Xi, whether they like it or not.  This is not what they voted for, and not what the Trumpist elite promised, but it will be the case.

To be sure, the transitive property of submission does not capture everything about domestic and international politics.  But I believe that it does capture something quite important that conventional thinking might not.  We will never understand the choice of Tulsi Gabbard in terms of democracy or national interest or by any of the familiar concepts.  It does make sense as part of a submission chain (or on Oligarchs' Island). 

By making ourselves smaller than we need to be at home, we also make ourselves smaller than we might like to be abroad.  If we have a president who considers himself an aspiring dictator among real dictators, the United States is weak where it might have been strong.  When we enter the personalistic kinds of relationships that Trump favors and claims to thrive in, we find ourselves in a submissive position that no one ever actually wanted -- no one, except for Trump, Putin, and Xi.

[taichi-x-koushiro]

@taikouvember!

Prompt: Friendship; What is your favorite aspect{s} about their relationship/dynamic with Yamato?

{Though this specific AMV, as an A.U.; also implies a Bit of other Chosen on the side {if extremely briefly sans Yamato}, Polyships can also be read in for A.U. Potentials, including Koushiro x Yamato x Taichi [x Sora] as an OT4!!} [The A.U.s can also spinoff from various Adventure through to Dark Masters Arc; or during 02 onwards 'canon points'!!] Note: -This video’s embed may randomly not display at times, Showing like it’s “down”, but it’s not at this time! {It usually happens late at night[s] or seemingly when Tumblr is {seemingly} experiencing very high traffic} If that happens, please consider Checking back to watch at a later time! (If it seems permanently down, please leave a comment or tag to notify me!)

Digimon Adventures AMV ~ “Love-Lost Elegy” featuring Duo/Ship/O.T.P: Koushiro(u) Izumi x Taichi Yagami {KouTai}/{TaiKou}/{Taishiro[u]} + Supporting Charas: Izumi family (+Mrs Izumi), Yamato (acting as support for BOTH Taichi and Koushiro), Tentomon (for Koushiro support) & Adventure Chosen (on side) Music © : DECO*27 featuring Marina

{Yamachi fans can read-in YamaKouTai as Polyship if you’d like} However please remember the main intent was KouTai as my O.T.P., As long as that’s respected (including in tags), reading in YamaKouTai + Yamachi side shipping is ok! (I’m Flexible TM) {Yamachi was my first major Digimon Adventures M.L.M ship, OK} [I also really love YamaKou Supporting Each Other]

My Commentary:

“Taichi Yagami is a GOOD character and also good to his friends.” - Me

{See under the ‘read more’ for more info + Lyrics!}

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[drsteggy]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @cyraclove - thank you so much, I really enjoy these!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

39

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

175,330…I wrote 100k of that in 2020

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Legend of Zelda…mostly in my non canon but could be a game AU

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Uneasy Lies the Chosen of Farore

Reunion

Eternal Shipwreck of our Hopes

Nothing (but Flowers)

Homecoming

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I DO! I love having a little back and forth. I enjoy nerding out with people and maybe making friends

6. What is a fic you write with the angstiest ending?

7. What’s the fi. You wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I’ve seen on AO3. I had an anonymous jerk on FFN, so I left there.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I DO. I write pretty vanilla but explicit stuff where everyone has a fun time. Sometimes it’s silly.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I am not really into crossovers unless the premise really makes sense to me.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I did have one turned into a podfic!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not, not sure I have the personality for it.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Hmmmmmmm Mulder/Scully and Link/Zelda

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Nayru’s Counterpart. Though I’m considering a rewrite of the fic this is an offshoot of, and will roll it into that if said rewrite happens.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Action, combat in particular.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I love repeating words, sometimes in the same sentence…and then I can flip the other way and use a really ridiculous word when like….’said’ is perfectly fine.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I live in a place where I regularly hear people talk in languages I don’t understand, or maybe I can catch a word here and there, so I’d be fine with that if it makes sense in the fic. I don’t want to learn high elven or whatever while I’m reading, so it could be gibberish or maybe I catch a word or two. It depends on the story

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Fraggle Rock when I was like….13. In notebooks. That I still have. They were illustrated.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This is a super rude question.

I reread my own work. A lot of it was custom made for me! I think my favorite is still Uneasy Lies the Chosen of Farore. I love some of the arcs through it. I don’t look back on it and cringe, though I know I could do it better. It came during a time I needed it. I love it.

I am not sure who to tag here so….no pressure shouts to @zeldadiarist @m-r-levine @kittmoon @snidgetwidgeon and ummm @spicychestnut

[plethoraworldatlas]

Remember when I said Democrats will start openly calling for him to drop out in less than a week?

Crediting U.S. President Joe Biden with spearheading "transformational" changes since taking office three-and-a-half years ago, Rep. Lloyd Doggett on Tuesday became the first Democratic member of Congress to call on the president to withdraw from the 2024 electoral race, warning that a potential victory by former President Donald Trump would "usher America into a long, dark, authoritarian era."

With just four months until Election Day, and weeks until the Democratic Party formally nominates its presidential candidate, Doggett (D-Texas) said in a statement that the party's "overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang."

Doggett spoke out five days after Biden faced Trump in the first debate of the presidential campaign and alarmed viewers, Democratic strategists, and aides with his performance. The president, speaking in a raspy voice and appearing to lose his train of thought several times, struggled to make the case for his achievements and to call out Trump's repeated lies.

The debate reportedly sent a wave of panic through the Democratic Caucus, with one party insider telling Politico that names of potential replacements for Biden were being floated.

In his statement, Doggett noted that Biden's poll numbers compared to Trump's were cause for concern for several months before the debate.

"Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory—too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what could not be turned around in the debate, can be turned around now," said Doggett. "President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2021. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024."

Doggett's comments came as CNN released a poll showing that Trump is leading Biden by 49% v. 43%, while his lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in a potential matchup is smaller. Trump leads the vice president by two points.

Among Independent voters, Harris has a three-point edge over the former president, while Trump leads Biden by 10 points.

A separate poll released Tuesday by the progressive grassroots group Our Revolution showed that 67% of respondents supported Biden suspending his reelection campaign

Doggett noted that the days following the debate have made increasingly clear the danger of a potential second Trump term, as the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Trump has "absolute immunity" regarding "official acts" he committed while he was in office—casting doubt on whether he can be held accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and rendering any U.S. president, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, "a king above the law."

"Newly empowered with immunity," said Doggett, Trump would be "unchecked by either the courts or a submissive Republican Congress."

The congressman noted that while Biden has spearheaded some far-reaching legislative reforms, the president signaled earlier in his term that he planned to serve only one term.

"He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process," said Doggett. "Recognizing that, unlike Trump, his first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so."

Doggett told Matthew Choi of The Texas Tribune that he had notified the White House of his decision to speak out in favor of Biden stepping aside last Friday, the day after the debate.

"After the debate, the risk of a Trump presidency has grown so much that I felt forced to take this action," Doggett said.

Another survey released Tuesday by Puck News showed alternative candidates including Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer polling ahead of Biden in a potential matchup with Trump.

In light of the the new polling numbers, said former Rhode Island lawmaker and lawyer Aaron Regunberg, Democratic leaders who are "trying to shut down this debate are actively helping Trump."

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression - Ep 73: Ronaldo sees Coca Cola and removes it

They start this time with a small joke about the theme of the episode. Joe removes a roll of tape from his desk and places it out of view of the camera, attracting the attention of Kaoru. Joe laughs that he thought he should remove it, since filming had already started. A member of staff also removes a piece of tape that was stuck to the desk, causing Joe to exclaim awkwardly, 'Today is tape day'...

Moving on, Kaoru refers back to the previous episode about Hanshin, and admits that since then, he has been a bit disappointed with their performance. The Giants are closing in fast. Joe asks him what went wrong, and Kaoru says he thinks they are just not getting enough hits.

Its almost as if talking about their success last time has jinxed their good luck. Joe suggests that losing could be a stategy of Hanshin's to keep things exciting, as it might get boring if they win every time. Unsurprisingly, Kaoru doesn't agree. They wonder what effect this conversation will have had on Hanshin's luck by the time of the next broadcast, but Kaoru brings everyone back down to earth with a bit of logic, saying that the luck of Hanshin has nothing to do with them.

They move onto the main theme of the episode next, which is that Coca Cola suffered a fall in their share value immediately after Ronaldo moved some Coca Cola bottles out of view at a Euro 2020 press conference. Tasai compares Ronaldo to Kaoru here: Ronaldo removes bottles and Coca Cola's shares drop, Kaoru speaks about Hanshin and Hanshin lose. Kaoru laughs, repeating his assertion that Hanshin losing has nothing to do with him, but also admits that he does still feel a bit of doubt inside him if he thinks about it too much. Joe advises him to worry less about it, but says that in Ronaldo's case, it seems like the two things are really connected.

This story was actually chosen to be featured on the show by Kaoru, so Joe asks him what drew him to it. Kaoru says that he thought Ronaldo's actions were really cool, dismissing the choice of the event organizer and chosing his own preference. Joe says that this type of thing would probably never happen in Japan, due to the desire to maintain harmony, but since Ronaldo doesn't have any personal connection with Coca Cola, and is also a strict athlete he can easily do this.

Kaoru also mentions the case of soccer player Paul Pogba, who was faced with bottles of Heineken at his seat at another Euro 2020 press conference, despite being a Muslim and a non-drinker. Kaoru thinks it was very rude of the organisers to place the bottles there.

Joe mentions that its kind of the opposite in Japan. A certain friend of his cannot drink alcohol, and still actually features in alcohol commercials for work, but Kaoru thinks that choosing to do it for work is different from being publicly confronted with it.

Joe asks Kaoru to imagine he was interviewed at a festival that just happened to be sponsered by the Yomiuri Giants. What would he do if he was was asked to pose for a photo holding the Yomiuri Giants mascot doll, Jabitto? Kaoru says he would be able to do it, but he'd have to make some kind of comment expressing his anti-Giants stance at the same time. Since he loves baseball in general, he doesn't actually HATE the Giants, but still, he wouldn't feel warm about endorsing them. Anyway, people might accusing him of being a sell-out if they saw the clip out of context, he'd have to wear a Hanshin tshirt or something counter it.

Kami joins the conversation and asks Kaoru what he would do if many different brands of drink were placed around the stage for the members during Dir lives. Kaoru says he only ever has water on stage, but if there were many brands placed there all of a sudden, he would wonder what on earth was happening. He adds that the labels are removed from the water bottles used on stage, so that no-one will know which brand is being used.

Kaoru then says he doesn't drink alcohol before or during lives, adding that the rare times he actually did in the past caused him to get a headache on stage. The three of them have a short discussion about the effect alcohol can have on work performance, and Kaoru also adds that in general he doesn't drink alcohol while song writing either, if he does his ability goes out the window.

Speaking of alcohol, this brings Kaoru back to the topic of Hanshin again, when he remembers how he used to have a part time job selling beer at Koshien stadium. He would carry cans on a tray hanging on his front from his neck. He couldn't even drink beer on the job even then, it was too tiring.

Joe makes the suggestion that Kaoru could volunteer to sell beer at Koshien if Hanshin win the season, to which Kaoru is less than impressed.

[koushirouizumi]

Rereblogging for Pan Week 2024 {December 6th ~ 12th}; Pan Pride Day {December 8th}; and Izumi Day {+"Izumi Day Festival"}, {December 3rd to January 23rd}, an event held yearly by Japanese fandom side!

These headcanons were originally also part of my oldest fic-verse concept; "Chosen of Faith: The Fanfic", which I often shorten to "Chosen of Faith"!

That fic is still set to be fully rewritten; {+Finished in Full}; as it's planned to be a longfic {chaptered story}. Please consider checking back if you are interested in these kinds of headcanons eventually being portrayed more!!

In "Chosen of Faith", Koushiro was also originally planned to have a very LARGE role, but I have yet to reach a Koushiro Arc! In the meantime, the fics "The Past World" and "Infalliable" (which also features Daisuke Motomiya on side) cover a little bit of what would have been Koushiro's arc! {Notable chapters include Part 4; "Knowledge", but the entire story hints at Koushiro's arc!)

For "Chosen of Faith"'s 'Opening theme', check out my AMV to the song "DAZE" by Jin!

{D I G I M O N} Adventure/02/tri. + P R I D E I c o n {E d i t s} (as Specific or as S o l i d a r i t y) + Headcanons

(C l i c k I c o n to see Captions!)

Bonus:

{This headcanon [for Takeru] may variate within my works, but it’s still one I really appreciate!}

{These are a part of my semi canon compliant spin-off series AU of AUs; “REPEAT?_verse”!}

by @izzyizumi / koushirouizumi {Do Not Re-p o s t} {Do Not C o p y} {Do Not Remove Caption} {Do Not Re-produce My Work Under Any Circumstances Without My Permission Whatsoever!} [*Including for @.I. Usages] (A S K to Use!)

Keep reading

[sevaghves]

I see some misunderstanding among Armenians about the capabilities our state, the Republic of Armenia, has had in the last two decades.

The corruption of the previous governments left the army in a really bad shape. Their incompetence and subjugation to Russia lowered our position in the Karabakh negotiations to 0. Same about relationship with the West. US and EU were very favorable to Armenia in late 1990s but grew to mistrust us due to Sargsyan and Kocharyan's loyalty to Putin.

Russia has been arming Azeris more heavily than us for over a decade. It is no secret that Putin's plan is to recreate the Russian empire and the only reason Putin isn't touching Azerbaijan is that it already belongs to Turkey.

In these circumstances, we entered the 2020 war without the things we needed the most: a well-armed and trained army, and good relations with world powers.

Nikol Pashinyan's government was well aware of Russia's intentions and pledged to maintain the same foreign policy as the previous governments to prevent bloodshed in Artsakh. It didn't work because Putin already knew how weak our country was. Why negotiate with someone you can easily outpower? The West didn't react to Pashinyan's signals, because they had a bad experience in Georgia and didn't want to interfere if things went south again in the South Caucasus.

After the 2020 disaster, Pashinyan's government faced the same external threats, but with even less resources. In the negotiations, every independent move that protected Armenia's sovereignty was punished by Russia through Azeri attacks on our borders.

The war in Ukraine changed a lot. The West grew very concerned with territorial integrity of states. Azerbaijan couldn't make more land grabs without consequences. Artsakh thus remained the only leverage Russia had on Armenia, which gave Armenians hope that the ethnic cleansing of 2020 would not resume as it would mean the end of legal Russian presence in this region.

For the West, it is far more convenient to work with Armenia without Artsakh. Russia's apparent betrayal is also in the West's favor.

Could Pashinyan's government have done more?

The problem isn't that they aren't making reforms and correcting the foreign policy. The problem is that they are too slow and they lack political foresight to be proactive. Unable to fight for Artsakh now, they seem to have chosen to let the ethnic cleansing happen to justify severing ties with Russia and turning towards the West.

This government chose to fight in 2020 when they had no chance of winning. They chose not to repeat that in 2023. Only the lack of a coherent and competent political force that could compete with this government in the elections has kept Pashinyan in power. Everyone else is just worse than his team.

But we as citizens must admit our own share of blame. We underestimated the danger. We didn't prepare for war. We put all responsibility on the government we knew wasn't effective enough.

This is our chance to unite and reunite as a nation. Train and prepare for conflicts. Be better educated about foreign affairs. Demand higher standard from politicians. Stop criticizing each other for having a different opinion. Work together to become stronger and produce a better political elite.