#se oli perfect

[ludicdoll]

𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆

farleigh start ☆

pairing: farleigh start x fem!reader

contents: smoking, farleigh actually being nice, oliver hate train

synopsis: farleigh finds you drunk and alone outside of a party.

a/n: some soft farleigh content cuz i feel like i never write about him like this enoughhh

you don’t know what happened, but you were sitting outside on the steps of the stairs leading up to the loud party, your coat half way off your shoulders, and one of your heels seemed to have broken off. you had one too many drinks and now you were all alone, shivering and fidgeting with your dress. you came to the party with your friends, but they disappeared on you while you were throwing up in the bathroom. you frown as you frantically ask people leaving the club if you could catch a ride with them to get back to your dorm, but they all declined and quickly sped past you. you groan loudly, the door behind you swinging open and closes with a loud thud, the sound of a lighter igniting making you turn around. you look over your shoulder, sighing in relief when you see a familiar face. “farleigh,” you breathe out. he lights the cigarette in his mouth before looking down at the steps.

his face shifts, eyes widening slightly. “oh, it’s you.” he says. you pout, confused with his sarcastic tone. “what’s that supposed to mean?” you ask as you make an attempt to get up before quickly tumbling forwards due to your broken heel. you catch yourself on the railing, turning back around and slumping over to farleigh. “god, you’re a fucking mess.” he teases, the smoke from his cigarette filling the deck. he has an amused expression on his face, almost like he was holding back a laugh. he scoots over to make more space for you, pulling out another cigar from his pocket. you smell the faint scent of his signature bold cologne, whiskey on his breathe. you lean against the cold bricks, taking the cigar from his fingers. he lights up your cigarette from your mouth, his eyes glistening from the flame. farleigh looks down at your feet, arching a brow at the heel hanging off from the bottom of the shoe. “i partied too hard.” you slur out. he rolls his eyes, laughing at your joke.

he seemed more assertive and calm right now, not his like usual upbeat, dickhead self. he looked tired, his eyes were low and dark, his curls slightly disheveled—but he still looked posh and perfect. you and farleigh weren’t exactly friends per se, you knew each other through felix but rarely talked outside of that. although, when you did get the chance to talk to farleigh alone, you realized his bold demeanor changed when it came to you. he still had that sassy, asshole-ish pep and tone to him, but he was nice when he wanted to be. “where’s your squad?” you ask, he looks confused. “my squad?” he repeats.

“yea, annabel, alicia, felix, oli—”

“ah, tut, tut.” farleigh quickly cuts you off with a finger, “we don’t talk about him.” he groans as he blows the thin line of smoke out of his mouth.

you scoff, “why…why do you hate him so much?” he looks down at you, a bleak expression on his face. “because.” you cock your head to the side, squinting. “because, what?” you press. he clicks his tongue, ignoring your question. farleigh clenches his jaw. you both go silent, just soaking in the dark sky and the muffled music from inside the building. “farleigh,” you mumble as you draw away from your cigarette. “mhm?” he hums back, his eyelids low and fixated on you. “can you walk me to my dorm?” he raises his brows, a small smirk forming on his lips. “please,” you whine. “you can’t leave a drunk girl unattended on the streets—plus, my heel is broken!” you point back to your feet. farleigh looks at you up and down for a while before clearing his throat. you lean closer to him, your shoulder touching his arm. you look up at him with pleading eyes as he lets out an annoyed moan and turns away.

“fuck, fine.” he says in defeat. farleigh drops his cigarette on the deck, putting it out with his foot. you quirk up from the wall, stumbling back. farleigh launches forward, instantly grabbing your arm to prevent you from falling. he pulls you closer to his body, rolling his eyes. “you’re gonna bust your ass if you keep walking around like that.” he mutters into your ear as he swings his arm over your shoulder. you giggle, raising your cigarette again to your lips. “you’re so nice, far.” you hiccup as he looks down at you, a surprised expression on his face from the nickname. “sure. you’re lucky i’m here to help you instead of that weirdo.” he strides forward as you trip over your own feet trying to catch up with him. “who?” you inquire. “you know who.” he replies. you furrow your brows and look around for a second before realizing he was talking about oliver.

“i thought you came with your friends.” he says. “i did.” you reply, “where are they? why don’t they take you back to the dorms?” you watch your feet as you step on the cracks of the sidewalk. “mm, i don’t know.” you admit shyly. “they ditched me, i think.” you mumble under your breath. farleigh laughs quietly, patting your shoulder in a sympathetic manner. you both walked in silence for a while, his arm wrapped tightly around you. you felt your face heating up and your knees wobbling underneath you everytime his cold fingers grazed your bare skin. his curls fell perfectly in front of his eyes, his confident grin only making you melting into his touch. you pushed the thoughts to the back of your mind, trying to focus on walking without tripping over something.

the club wasn’t that far from oxford, it was just a few minutes away in walking distance—and you were thankful for that since your feet were slowly killing you. you close your eyes and lay your head against his arm as he continues to lead you through the grounds of the school.

when you open your eyes again, you realize you’re already in the dorm hallways. farleigh walks around for a minute until he abruptly stops in front of your door. “you remembered?” you peer up at him, shocked he knew where your dorm was. “of course, how could i forget the day you had a mental break down and called everybody to your room?” he replies sarcastically. his hand travels down your waist to your bag, searching for your keys. you yawn as he finally inserts the key inside the lock, pushing the door open with his foot as you stumble in his arms. you walk over to your bed, instantly falling face first into your mattress. you hear your keys being set on your desk, then the lamp being switched on—the room illuminated in a dim warm light. farleigh mutters a quiet “oh god” under his breath as he unstraps your heels off your feet, tossing them by the pile of clothes in the corner of your room. “this place is a mess, y’know?”

“uh huh,” you reply mindlessly as you dig yourself deeper in the warm sheets of your bed. you watch as farleigh walks over to you, looking down at your slumped figure with his hands on his hips.

“you gonna be okay?” he asks. you look up at him, letting out an inaudible noise, blabbering something. he pinches his nose bridge, softly laughing in response. farleigh slowly backs away from the edge of the bed—turning around to leave the room, but your hand quickly clutches onto his wrist before he can walk away. “farleighhhh…” you moan out. he turns around, his eyes softening as he looks at your hand around his.

“can you stay with me?” you whisper.

the room is silent, only the sound of his breathing and the crickets outside the window filling the room. you blink, the feeling of sleep slowly taking over your body. “please,” you mutter as you shift your head so you’re looking directly up at him. for a second, he doesn’t respond, the moonlight casting a shadow over his features. “okay,” farleigh sighs as he kneels down next to your bed. you still haven’t let go of his hand, your fingers tightly wrapped around his wrist. you smile sheepishly, giggling when he grimaces and rolls his eyes at your bubbly demeanor. you nuzzle your face against your soft pillows, closing your eyes. farleigh slides his hand away from your grip but goes back to move your hair away from your eyes. “thank you for walking with me.” you say.

farleigh nods, his eyes focused on your tired face. “yea, of course.” he replies.

© do not publish my work on other sites.

[frameobsessions]

“More than one waifupeli can destroy your laifupeli"

Love Live, tuttavallisemmin läpä löpö, rapuraivo, mitä näitä nyt on. Franchiseen kuuluu (tai pian kuului) myös Love Live School Idol Festival, joka oli rytmipeli gacha-elementeillä. Tammikuun lopussa julkistettiin että ylläpito loppuu (uutinen) ja koska olen pelannut sen 9-10 vuotta, kirjoitan huvikseni omakohtaisen muistelon pelivuosien varrelta. Enemmänkin olisi asiaa ja kuvia, mutta kokoan tähän eniten mieleen jääneet jutut. Kuvat on kaiveltu Twitteristä (linkitän pääsääntöisesti sinne), teksti sisältää sif-sanastoa yms jargoniaa.  Peli julkaistiin englanniksi 2014. Olin tuohon aikaan Portugalissa opiskelijavaihdossa, joten ensimmäisiä pelikokemuksia väritti p*skan wifin varassa pelailu ja sovelluksen kaatuilu. Rytmipelit ei myöskään tuohon aikaan olleet mikään iso juttu niinkuin nyt, joten olin aika ulalla muutenkin. 

Kotori oli ensimmäinen UR-kortti jonka solo yolotin juuri ennen jotain päivitystä tms. Se huudon määrä. :D Olin aamulla tekemässä lähtöä kouluun.

Tämä Eli oli ensimmäinen idolisoitu korttini. Joulukuulta 2014, huomatkaa nuo tähdet reunassa. #wanha 

Vanha UI oli mitä oli, aika kämäinen. 2014-2015 eventtien palkintoina oli pelkästään SR-kortteja ja esimerkiksi laaman saaminen oli vaikeaa. Puhumattakaan tiereistä, jotka oli aika pieniä ja taisi muuttua usein pelin kasvattaessa suosiotaan. Paljon myöhemmin (2016) ilmestyi myös SSR -ja UR-kortit kun Aqours lisättiin peliin, siitä varmaan pari vuotta eteenpäin ne heitettiin myös eventtien palkintoihin. 

Uuden UR-kortin julkaisu pelissä oli aina ISO JUTTU. Muistan kun netissä arvuuteltiin seuraavan kortin attributea, tytyä ja teemaa.  UR-kortteja julkaistiin pitkään myös pareittain, ja ensimmäisen sain kasaan vasta 2017. Myös eka idolisoitu UR ajoittui vuoteen 2017. 

Full combojen saaminen oli pitkään ison työn ja tuskan takana. Opin vasta hiljattain että puhelimella pelaaminen on vaikeampaa, koska beatmapit on nopeampia pienellä näytöllä. Tabletilla pelatessa on enemmän aikaa reagoida joten pelailukin on vähän helpompaa. Vihasin piiiitkään esimerkiksi Loveless worldia ja Spicaterribleä, mutta nyt kun olen pelannut biisejä uudestaan läpi full combo tulee helposti. Olen siis kehittynyt vuosien mittaan! :D Toki myös scoret on menneet sadoista tuhansista miljooniin aika kevyesti, koska pelimeta on muuttunut paljon.

2018 häsläsin oman tilini kanssa kun vaihdoin vanhalta tabletilta toiselle. Tili on laitekohtainen, joten kävin pitkällisen sähköpostisodan Klabin aspan kanssa, että sain sen takaisin. Piti oikein pieteetillä kaivaa Twitterin kuvia ja vanhojen puhelinten kuitteja yms esille, että sain vakuutettua aspan tilin palautusta varten.

Pelasin myös pitkään japaninkielistä sifiä, marraskuusta 2014 aina huhtikuuhun 2022. Pitkään tuntui että gacha-tuuri oli sillä tilillä parempi, mutta ajan myötä väsyin kahden tilin ylläpitoon ja erityisesti eventeissä pärjäämiseen yhtä aikaa. Japaninkielisessä sifissä oli myös pitkään enemmän erilaisia kampanjoita, kuten uuden vuoden arvonta vuodelta 2018, josta voitin 450 lovecaa (pelin valuuttaa).  Pelasin myös kumppanin tilillä useamman vuoden kunnes väsyin siihenkin (yllätys). 

Ja 9. anniversaryn lottovoittoja. Tytyjen omia SI skillejä ei arvottu paljoa, joten hyvä tuuri tässäkin.

2020 taisin olla tosi epäaktiivinen mm. mielenterveyden vuoksi ja tuolloin pelin meta alkoi muuttumaan aika paljon. Perinteisten skillien (scorer, healer, perfect lock) rinnalle alkoi tulla mm. combo feveriä ja perfect score upia ja niidenkin seuraksi vielä nykyiset encore-kortit, joka on siis paras ja viimeinen meta. 2021 harkitsin myös pelailun lopettamista kokonaan, mutta Liellan saapuminen tuoteperheeseen innosti jatkamaan. Perehdyin loppuvuodesta metaan kunnolla koko pelihistoriani aikana, koska ensimmäiset vuodet menin lähinnä keräilymielessä, joka on myös täysin OK!

Kokosin ensimmäisen encoren vuodenvaihteessa (2022) ja kevään anniversaryn ansiosta sain kasaan toisen, entistä paremman tiimin. Tärkeimpänä että se oli waifu-painotteinen, eli Diaa ja Kanania! Pelimetan muuttumisen lisäksi maksullista sisältöä tuutattiin ja lisättiin paljon, eventeissä todella korkealle sijoittuminen vaati yleisesti käyttäjiltä paljon rahaa. Tämä ajoittain stressasi koska olen jokseenkin kilpailuhenkinen, mutta esimerkiksi tier3 (joskus tier2) on ollut lopulta aivan kiva ja riittävä. (Ehkä tästä voi myös oppia sen, ettei kannata seurata liikaa keskustelua aiheen ympärillä. Aiheuttaa vain stressiä.) Toisaalta parempien tiimien kokoaminen oli helppoa jos jaksoi pelata ja säästää lovecaa, koska sifin alkuaikoina loveca oli tosi tiukassa. 

(Muistiin itselleni, koska tämä ei muita kiinnosta: ensimmäinen tiimi 27 Ruby, toinen 20n Kanan, kolmas 17n Dia, neljäs 16n Kanan.)  Paljon on siis mahtunut näihin vuosiin, peli on muuttunut ja niin olen minäkin. :D  Vaikka tiesin että SIF2 julkaistaan ja LLSIF ajetaan joskus alas, on silti haikea olo. Päätös lopettamisesta saapui nopeammin kuin odotin, joten haluan ottaa pelin kanssa lunkisti viimeiseen päivään asti. Ympyröiden hakkaaminen on ollut mulle tapa pääasiassa rentoutua ja nauttia idolitytyistä (ja korttitaiteesta). Toisaalta, henkilökohtaisesti tuntuu että 2023 on muutosten vuosi, joten uutinen sopii teemaan. Odotan innolla uutta peliä! Loppuun vielä lyhyt listaus ehdottomista suosikkiteemoista ja yksittäisistä korteista ja paljastus siitä, että olen pieni delfiini! :D Linkitän suosikit sukutomoon. Suosikkiteemat: 1. Spring fairy  2. Autumn viewing 3. New years eve 4. 6th anniversary   Yksittäiset kortit tai korttiparit: 1. Halloween shopping (Dia ja Kanan) 3. Walk (Chika ja Kanan) 1. Spring fairy, Dia (ehdoton suosikki kaikista mitä on julkaistu) 2. New year, Kanan 3. Awaken the Power, idolisoitu Dia 4. New year live, Dia 5. Water blue new world, idolisoitu Chika inhokkeina yleisesti kaikki joulu, ystävänpäivä ja -halloween-teemaiset setit. Erityisesti tämä halloween-setti... Niin rumaa väriyhdistelmää. Mikä ihmeen delfiini? Useimmissa peleissä puhutaan valaista (engl. whaling), jotka käyttävät hirveästi rahaa pysyäkseen kärkisijoilla tms. Delfiinit taas käyttävät kasuaalisti ja vähemmän kolikeita sisältöön.  Ensimmäinen ostos 7/2016, viimeinen 1/2023. Välissä oli vuosien tauko, vasta 2021 aloin heittämään epäsäännöllisen säännöllisesti rahaa peliin. Laskeskelin että summa olisi 156,77 euroa niiden kuittien perusteella jotka löysin. Ei tunnu erityisen pahalta summalta, 24 kuukaudelle jaettuna 6,53 euroa. 

Thanks for the memories. ❤ edit 3.2.23, lisätty kuva. 

[kissamieli]

Samu Haber on aivan järjettömän komea livenä. Mä odotin sitä, mutten sitä miten kaunis se samaan aikaan on! Ja se lavakarisma... Varmaan keksitte jo, että Vain elämää live oli aivan paras!

[jennicolaljo]

Lyhyt-Pitkä Maanantaina

Viikko seitsemän

Suomen juhlapäivät:

Johan Ludvig Runeberg  (5. Helmikuutta)  oli suomalainen runoilija. Hän on Suomen kansallisrunoilijana.  

Aleksis Kivi (10. lokakuuta) oli suomalainen kirjailija. Hän kirjoitti kansallisromaanin aseman saavuttaneen romaanin “Seitsemän veljestä”. 

Eino Leino (6. Heinäkuuta) oli suomalainen kirjailija, lehtimies ja kriitikko.Leino on yksi Suomen merkittävimmistä kirjailijoista.  

Tänään opin “ Missä ja Mistä” ja lla ja lta:n käyttö. Se on vahan vaikea koska en tiedä kun käytto ssä/ssa tai lla/llä ja sta/stä tai lta/ltä mutta yritän opiskella lisää.

Asiat muistaa:

MISSÄ (in the place) - (+olla, istua, asua, ja seisoa)

es. Minä asun Helsingissä. Minä asun Vantaalla.

MISTÄ (from the place) - ( tulla, matkustaa, lähteä, ja muuttaa)

es. Minä tulen kaupasta. Minä matkustan Rovaniemelta.

           Perusmuoto          Missä?            Mistä?

Tampere                Tamperella              Tampereelta

Vantaa                   Vantaalla                 Vantaalta

Rovaniemi             Rovaniemella          Rovaniemelta

Riihimaki               Riihimaella               Riihimaelta

Imatra                   Imatralla                   Imatralta

Kiurevesi              Kiuruvedellä             Kiuruvedeltä

Koti                       Kotona                     Kotoa                    

Uusii sana tänään:

Hämmentävä-Confusing

täydellinen-perfect

tehty - made

huolellisesti- carefully

unelma - dream

ostoskeskus - shopping center

terveyskeskus - health center

virastotalo - public authority office

autonpesu- car wash

neuvola - maternity clinic

kultuuritalo- Culture House

tavaratalo- department store

[finnishfun]

💬, 📱, ⚖️ for the asks :)

Thanks! :)

💬 Coolest thing about your target language?

I love the sound of Finnish (and the memes...)

📱What language is your phone set in?

English, I used to have it in Finnish for a while, but I think that was my old phone.

⚖️ Would you rather have a huge vocabulary, perfect grammar, or a perfect accent in your target language?

Vocab, because I could talk about anything, even if not with perfect grammar. I guess everyone makes mistakes but they will still understand you. Same with accent, although it would be fun to sound like a Finn! 

Finnish:

Mikä on paras juttu suomen kielessä?

Tykkään, miltä se kuulostaa, ja tykkään suomalaisista memeistä. :D

Millä kielellä puhelimesi on asetettu? [cheated with Google, not sure if this is correct....] Englannilla (koska en tykkää unkarilaisita asetuksista). Vanha puhelimeni oli asetettu kerran suomella. Se oli hauskaa.

Haluatko, että sinulle olisi iso sanasto, täydellinen kielioppi tai täydellinen aksentti?

Sanasto, koska jos tietäisin monta sanoa, voisin puhua monesta aiheesta. Minusta kielioppi ei ole ikinä täydellinen, mutta ihmiset ymmärtävät silti. Olisi hauskaa puhua kun suomalaiset, mutta en usko, että voin tehdä sen :D

[lunacyfriinge]

9, 11, 16, 56, 61, 65 :3

Oon nyt tosi laiska ja vastaan suomeksi, ei tän työpäivän jälkeen toimi aivot mutta kiitos kysymyksistä!

9. Describe your perfect mate

- Huumorintajuinen, luonteeltaan sopivan rauhallinen, koska ite oon niin temperamentinen. Mielummin kotihiiri, kun että koko ajan täytyis jotain tehdä. Kuunteleva, välittävä, kärsivällinen. Pakko olla vähän oudot jutut koska niin on mullakin. Ylipäätään sellanen ihminen, joka tasapainottaa mua niissä mun ääripäissä ja mä voin puolestani tehä niin hänelle. Eikä tietenkään kukaan oo täydellinen, mutta onneks nykyinen on aika hyvin lähellä tota.

11. Do you ever want to get married

Kyllä mä haluaisin joo. En ehkä sen konseptin takia, avioliitto itessään ei oo mulle mikään elämän suurin haave. Lähinnä se sitoutuminen ja se tunne, että joku mua rakastaa niin paljon, että sen sitoumuksen haluaa mun kanssa tehdä. Ja ne juhlat tottakai. Tai no, lähinnä mekko🤷🏻‍♀️

16. Do you have any tattoos?

Kaksi, teepannu ja vaaka.

56. State 8 facts about your body

- sairastan SLE:tä (eli lupusta eli punahukkaa, u name it)

- mulla on ristiselässä syntymämerkki joka oli mun syntyessä mun niskassa

- mun niskat rusahtelee tosi pahasti

- mun hampaat on ihan järkyttävän rumat ja torahampaiset koska niitä ei ikinä oiottu

- mun ja äidit jalat on pelottavan samanlaiset, selkeesti geenit periytyy

- rakastan rupien repistä, eli mulla on tosi paljon arpia

- mulla on aina jääkylmät kädet ja nenänpää

- mun sisäelimet ja nivelet ja lihakset tai oikeestaan mikä vaan mun kropassa voi tulehtua tai vaurioitua/sairastua ihan vaan yhtäkkiä mun sairauden takia.

61. What is the first thing you notice in someone?

Ulkonen olemus, tarkotan lähinnä sitä vaikuttaako ihminen ystävälliseltä vai tympeältä. Hymy menee tähän samaan kastiin myös.

65. What is your favourite foreplay routine?

Emmä tiedä, pussailu on aina kivaa.

[sturlsons]

french in 1.5 years anon

Kinda random but I just found out that I’ll be required to be intermediate/advanced in French by the next 1.5 years; ALL I KNOW IS THAT MEIRDE IS A BAD BAD WORD! Idk if you’re a native speaker but I was wondering if you could provide me of any good French language resources (or language in general since I’ll be needing to learn Arabic soon as well), and like tips for language learning and how to go about it? Sorry to bother you haha this is MY stress but I appreciate any help! Have a great day!

HEY. so i really fucking dropped the ball on this one, i’m sorry. 2019 has been one health fiasco after another (or more like the same fiasco again and again) and i kept telling myself i want to sit down and make a proper post for this, until i realised that that’s just never going to happen given the way things are rn. and i’d rather give you a quickly-written post which is actually helpful than never write that perfect bullet-pointed one. 

first of all, i’ve been in your EXACT position (so no, i’m not a native speaker) except i had about...six months to go from je m’appelle teesta to voyez-vous, le problème qui se cache derrière tout ça n’est pas le manque de respect mais la personne dont il s’agit or whatever. i was like, i can so do this. (spoiler: i didn’t, because i was 18 and overconfident and stupid and didn’t actually know how to learn a language.) GOOD NEWS: having learned 3 more foreign languages since then, i am now REALLY GOOD at learning languages REALLY FAST. 1.5 years is a good amount of time, so don’t stress.

i’m going to go generic on this, with some extra tips about french since i speak it, unlike arabic. 

first thing, that typical thing everyone hates to hear but knows is coming from the mouth of an accomplished person (pat on my back) in any field whatsoever: you’re going to have to work really hard and practice like fuck. 

there’s just nothing else that can replace it. i’ve filled up notebooks and notebooks with japanese verb conjugations, once i did like 1800 of them in one sitting. but you better believe that a bitch will never forget those now. resign yourself to putting in at least three hours of your day to this until you get to the level you need. (and three hours is...kind. at my peak i was literally reading through french dictionaries at the library, 10 AM - 8 PM. i treated it like a workday.)

now, what you need to establish is: are you a hands-on learner or a digital one. 

i don’t really care for all the auditory learner and visual learner stuff, i don’t know about anyone else but i personally used those as excuses to avoid certain exercises. unless you have actual disabilities preventing you from accessing certain methods of learning, you can train yourself into anything. it’s a matter of practice. i could barely understand a new song without reading its lyrics first, now i eat up podcasts. 

SO. the question here is different. a hands-on learner, like i used to be more or less throughout my bachelor’s, is someone who absolutely cannot retain information unless they’ve written it down BY HAND at least once. pen and paper. (i’m still like this but i’ve learned to combine it with digital methods to go faster.) if this isn’t a hurdle for you, congratulations. your process is going to go that much faster, at least for french. (you’ll have to spend hours practicing your written arabic however, if you’re not familiar with the script.) 

now, if you’re a hands-on learner, you need to add an extra hour to your daily time. no matter how fast you write, you will take that time. and you cannot shorthand your way into languages. you need to understand how french is spelt, what accents it uses, that they put a space before exclamation points, question marks, and semicolons. (side tip: learn the IPA. it will be useful to you forever in language learning, at least for the romance languages.) i’m not gonna teach you how to make notes since i’ve never benefitted from copying someone else’s style, so if you don’t have a set method start establishing that. you need regularity and rhythm when you learn a language. my grammar notes look the same regardless of the language. i don’t have my french ones since it’s been years and i didn’t take good ones then anyway, but here’s my japanese and russian stuff. 

JAPANESE NOTES // RUSSIAN NOTES

now, it bears mentioning that these notes are NOT the notes i take when i don’t know shit. these are final level notes. they’re brief, idiosyncratic, and only reminders. something to refer to when i’m revising and suddenly forget a rule. the first notes i make are much more elaborate, whether they’re pretty or not. i’ve gradually lost the fucks i had about really going ham on academics so my russian notes are very messy, but my japanese ones from back in the day are magnificent. here’s a look. during lesson one i realised that japanese and my mother tongue, gujarati, are syntaxically similar as shit, and i started taking notes with references in gujarati. it sped up my learning process 2x while my french classmates were still going “BUT WHY IS IT LIKE THAT”. 

PRACTICAL GRAMMAR // THEORETICAL GRAMMAR

if you plan to learn more languages in the future, this will be so valuable. sometimes a phrase i learn in russian doesn’t make sense in its french explanation, but a phrase in english might use the same logic. bam, put down the translation in english then. you get what i’m saying? the more languages you learn, the easier it gets to learn languages. 

now if you’re a digital learner, i’ve got great news for you. duolingo and anki are your best friends. duolingo’s memed to hell and has a system that might not work for everyone, but they’ll do the brunt work of compiling grammar notes for you in the beginnings/ends of their lessons. note those down and transform them into anki flashcards, and you can learn grammar concepts without doing 20 exercises. (do those exercises if you can, though, nothing beats mindless practice.) now anki is an intimidating-looking but actually super intuitive app that basically builds digital flashcards for you and shows them to you in a rhythm based on your own learning speed. it’ll show you the front of a card, let’s say merde. you say the english translation out loud, shit, and hit enter. correct! was that easy? anki’ll show it to you in 10 minutes. hard? it’ll show you in 1 minute. super easy? merde won’t come up again until tomorrow. eventually you get so good at it that you can bury a card for 2 months. anki will also show you the same cards reversed, which is harder but trains you better. you’ll see shit and have to remember what it’s called in french, which is more difficult than you’d think it is. 

you can use anki for more than just vocab, like i mentioned. it’s a little tricky learning to convert grammar concepts into front/back flashcards, but you can do it. for example, here’s a sample of one of my russian grammar cards: 

front ^^

back once i hit enter^^

see? not that difficult. now don’t be an idiot like me who manually entered every single flashcard into anki. you can find pre-made packages online (but you can’t guarantee they’ll be correct) or you can make your own without killing your fingers. what you wanna do is open up a spreadsheet and make two columns, A for front of the card and B for back. it’ll look like this:

then you’re gonna save that spreadsheet as a .CVS (comma separated values) and import that into anki. bam, your flashcards are made for you with half the effort. there’s also a script floating around somewhere to make excel translate words automatically for you, but i don’t recommend that unless they’re really easy words. google translate can fuck up. reverso is your friend. 

you need to review your anki cards every day. it’ll take less and less time as you go along. i can review 300 russian cards in 15 minutes now. but you need to keep the rhythm going. download ankiapp and sync your cards, review them on commutes or in the hallway or whatever. trust me, it’s magic. 

apart from this, if a traditional textbook helps, go for that. i’ve always used textbooks and workbooks, more as supports than as principal methods, but it does help. it’s structured and organised and these people know how to train you. bescherelle is a good go-to for french. 

media is always a great way of immersion too, until you get to the country itself. it’ll show you how french people speak french. when i first came to france i didn’t have that experience and even though i spoke an arguably decent amount of french when i got here, it was like, if this is french then what the fuck was i learning in high school. if you like watching movies this is your chance. watch the classics first so that you can get an idea of french pop culture. amélie (though the pop culture aspect here is about shitting on it) and les intouchables, for starters. watch your favourite films, first subbed, then subbed and dubbed, then just dubbed. i watched all ten seasons of friends with french subs, it was wild. with music you want to start off with some indie-ish singers since they will universally sing softer and slower, making things easier to understand than idk, la tribu de dana. (if you’re into bts there’s a hilarious video of their baepsae choreo set to la tribu de dana.) anyway - angèle, cœur de pirate, céline dion, fréro delavega, uhhh that fucking french sufjan stevens. what’s his name. VIANNEY. don’t fucking listen to biglo and oli or like, fatal bazooka right away. you will not understand shit. i barely understand it. white people are wild. ooh listen to stromae. orelsan too, he’s a rapper but he has a relatively clean diction imo. he also sang the french opening for OPM. they call him orelsan-san in japan.

last but not the least: if you have the opportunity to interact in french with people, DO IT. native speakers will do their best to help you and be kind about it. people who learned french might sometimes be assholes from experience. it’s a whole superiority complex thing, and very hypocritical. anyway - online or IRL, wherever you can practice your french, do it. it’ll be immensely helpful. there’s nothing like the frustration of not being able to express simple things to get you motivated to get better. do your best to immerse yourself - changing the language on your devices can make a difference too. 

i think that’s all i have and again, i’m sorry for taking this long to finally deliver, thanks for your patience! if you have any specific questions don’t hesitate to hit me up, on anon or not. 

good luck - it’s not going to be the easiest but nothing is as gratifying as beginning to understand the workings of a language. you’re gonna love it!

[caixxa]

This post! At this exact moment! @thosedaysthatwill this is one of those I was talking about

Köln, torstai 18. toukokuuta 2017

Välieriin! USA:lla ei mitään jakoa!

Iloisia taputuksia maalivahdin kypärään, Säteri piti uljaan nollan.

Halauksia pukukopissa. Vellu vetää Sepen yhden käden niskalenkkiin, painaa pusun ohimolle. Ei se voi olla liikaa, ei tässä tilanteessa, kun yv toimii niin se toimii. Sepen syöttö lähti taas kuin ajatus, hänen tarvitsi vain ohjata se Ranea kohti, kyllä hän tiesi että Rane sen hoitaa, kun eka luutiminen kimposi patjasta takaisin, ei kun nätisti yli ja peli oli auki.

(Minä suojelen sinua kaikelta)

Rough translation:

Cologne, Thursday May 18th, 2017

Semi-finals! USA had nothing on them, nothing.

Exhilarated taps on the goaltender’s helmet. Säteri deserves them for his shutout.

Hugs in the locker room. Vellu draws Sepe in a headlock with one arm, presses a kiss on his temple. It can’t be too much, not now, when PP works it works. Sepe’s pass was perfect, once again, all he needed to do was to direct it towards Rane, he knew Rane would do his thing. When the goalie’s pad deflected the first sweep, he got it over it with a nice little chip, and the game was wide open, it was theirs.

[vspirit8]

Figure skating: Bunch of thoughts based on recent comments I came across

Warning: Long post ahead (apologies to those who are scrolling through on your mobile devices) 

I came across a comment that praised Chen for his mental strength, which isn't wrong, because the kid does have it in spades, but then they also go on to say that Hanyu's is weak because he lets things affect him too much. Which isn't technically wrong per se but....

...seeing their performances during their short program at the Olys side by side and their individual circumstances coming into it, I find it hard to make sense of this claim. I see the point that they are trying to make but I think they may have mental strength and mental fortitude mixed up and they also have a very one dimensional, or perhaps, selective view of what mental strength is. 

Chen is mentally strong in some ways, not in others. Meaning he's strong in coming back quickly from disappointment, but he can't hold it together during the moment of truth where the stakes are at their highest and the competition its strongest, and only seems to be able to perform at his best when he doesn’t have as much pressure or is relieved of it. Hanyu, on the other hand, has proven time and again he can perform very well under extreme pressure, despite his lack of mental fortitude at other times. Chen, like a lot of other skaters, so far seems to implode at the first sign of disaster during his performance, while Hanyu and even to some degree Uno, are able to leave their mistakes right where they made them and focus on delivering what's left of their performances as best as they could most of the time. I say most of the time because there were times when they did implode almost all the way through. But when they did, it wasn’t because they lost focus due to mistakes. It was due to other reasons that they weren’t able to save the rest of their performance (e.g.: rhythm loss due to tech change or bad mentalscape right from the get-go).

Both Chen’s and Hanyu’s strengths and weaknesses are trade-offs of one another and results have shown that Hanyu's less common brand of mental strength (Chen's type is more commonly found) and, uh, acute sense of competitiveness, is the more effective one in getting the exact final result one truly wants.

Uno also has an enviable and less common sort of mental strength that sees him with less of a tendency to get affected by outside influences, something that is especially handy to have as an athletic competitor (and something that Hanyu most definitely doesn't have despite everything else he does have--Medvedeva, however, has it in spades), but the guy himself has acknowledged that what he has is different from what Hanyu has. He can block out pressure by being so immersed in his own little world he remains unaffected, but he also mentions that, had he had to suffer the same kind of pressure and attention Hanyu has been shouldering for years and expected to deliver results on top of it all (this is also something Medvedeva also seems to be able to do) then he's pretty sure he'd be out of the race pretty quick. Say what you want about the kid's jumps and sleepy attitude, but like every elite athlete, the guy knows himself, because he is right and has proven that he does buckle under pressure when Hanyu isnt around to shoulder most of it like he was originally supposed to (JNats ‘16, GPF '17, JNats ‘17 & WC '18#). And while mental strength is good and all, I think the real secret behind these athletes' success is knowing exactly what both their strengths and weaknesses are.

Since I'm talking about mental strength though, I wouldn't undermine Hanyu's one. He may not be able to block out noise as effectively as others nor can he effectively shut off his brain when skating (he only managed it like, what, once?) plus he may take defeat harder than most others (though not in the sour grapes sort of way but more in a self-punishing way), but when he comes back, he does it swinging three times as hard. Possibly harder. In fact, he swings back so hard, it’s more than enough to make all the difference for him to win it all at the end of the day. So if anything, I'd be afraid of it. And would never underestimate it. Not as a viewer, and especially not if I'm a competitor.

There was also talk that if Chen and Hanyu were to both skate clean under the new rules and scores, Chen would likely come up on top due to the trend of judge's scoring so far this season. To a certain degree, I actually agree. It's entirely possible that a clean Chen with all guns blazing can beat a clean Hanyu who doesn't put out ammo to match because that's how the game is played. This was how Hanyu himself had gotten ahead of past rivals who had been ahead of him. Chen may not have beaten his record that he achieved with less quads but that was also during the era before Chenflation so if both skaters skate clean and Hanyu breaks his previous record, there is no guarantee that Chen with his bigger guns won't get even more simply because judges are compelled to score him as such. From what I observed, scores are relative and aren't given according to what's actually put out (or not put out) on the ice. Miyahara's scoring at SkAm is the latest perfect example of this (higher tech score and lower PCS than she truly deserves). Far from being ashamed and apologetic about it, though, they are making it more obvious, as if they are showing the world what they are really about and there's nothing anyone can do about it. And they'd be right. 

Everything is upside down and inside out when it comes to figure skating, and it's not even at random, so let's not delude ourselves that ISU and the sport they govern over will suddenly become the epitome of clean. Nothing that depends on judging ever is. Hanyu certainly hasn't deluded himself and that is a huge part of why he is able to win--or almost win--the biggest comps, season after season. Strategy based on information you gathered on the environment is key. You don't whine about it. You play their game according to their rules and if you're able to outsmart them (and get this, they're really not all that intelligent), you win. Zagitova did just that last season.* Easily. Not that what she did was easy, quite the opposite, but her strategy, although not easy to pull off, was an excessively simple one. If Tutberidze was testing out a theory with Medvedeva and Zagitova, she was proven right. 

Hanyu himself knows this. Which is why he had the 4lo, his biggest weapon at that point that Chen doesn't properly have himself, ready at hand during the Olys. If Chen had skated his SP clean, he wouldn't have held back on his own ammo, wonky ankle be damned. And if both Hanyu and Chen skated clean with their biggest ammo at hand, based on how judges are forced to judge Hanyu when he's at his very best in the past, I still think the edge would go to Hanyu because when two top competitors are head to head, then it's the little things that count. This is something that Hanyu had accounted for and worked into his winning strategy from Day One, even before all these trigger-happy skaters came out from the woodwork. The guy has what a lot of these shortcut athletes don't: rock solid foundation on both his tech and other performance-based aspects, that judges will be forced to take into consideration when they can't use other things as leverage to justify their scoring.

So, in a scenario where both skaters were to skate clean but only one uses all his ammo, the one with the bigger BV may just win simply because of that. But in a scenario where they both have high BVs with only a slight difference between said BVs, and where both skated perfectly, Hanyu will win not just because he is the better skater. It's because he knows what's inside the judges heads and is able to use it. To me, this, and not his skating skills, is Hanyu's true strength.

*Clearly Chen's and Uno's strategy doesn't work for Zhou, like he was hoping it would. Whining about it won't do much because at this point, it just sounds like he's making excuses for himself for giving judges room to doubt him in the first place, and angry they they chose to doubt him instead of giving him the benefit of it. If he truly wants to get somewhere in this sport, he might want to consider taking a page off Hanyu's and Zagitova's** books instead. It is infinitely harder but you get more control over your results. If he can't pull it off, it's simply because he lacks the ability to and that's no one's fault but his own. I know it sounds harsh but that is the reality of the world and situation he's in. He apparently won't be one of the lucky few who can apply shortcuts and make it work. But if he's able to come back with honest to goodness improvements and gain results in that way, then ultimately, he'll be the luckier one. If he's as wise as he seems to want people to think he is, he should be able to come to this conclusion.

**Admittedly, Zagitova's strategy is slightly different than Hanyu's in that hers also has elements of Uno and Chen's strategy of blinding judges with tech prowess (or so-called tech prowess  in Uno's case, but he seems to have other things to blind the judges with, like nice upper body movements). So Zagitova may not be able to bank on her strategy like she did last season as it was wholly designed to game the last system. Her basics aren't solid enough to enable her control even after a system change/revision but she does have her OGM rep so she may be able to completely cross over to Uno’s and Chen's strategy instead. We'll see.

I mentioned Medvedeva in passing when talking about mental strength because that girl is the epitome of it if I've ever seen one. However, what she doesn't have is a rock solid foundation that sees her with few skating flaws. If she manages to fix at least half of them and get her natural mental strength back into gear, she may just stand a chance against the upcoming lady quadsters, if they still have their quads when they turn senior (and Kihira, if her prowess with the 3A also stands the test of time).

#EDIT: I’ve struck WC18 off the list because it has been brought to my attention that it is not like the others on it. That mistake-ridden performance apparently had less to do with Uno succumbing to pressure and more to do with his injuries and not being in an ideal mindscape to overcome them earlier but was able to snap back into it enough to deliver the last bit of his perf (jumps that he apparently also had trouble with in practices but was able to nail during the performance itself). Having only seen that performance once and not being in the habit of seeing practices and warm-ups of any skaters, I might have been too hasty in my judgment of that particular performance. Thanks to those who corrected me. :)

[taskunukkumatti]

0-44 🔥

APUA!! :D thank you! C: < 

0:Height   - 175cm last time I checked :D  1:Virgin?  - Nope 2:Shoe size

   - 42/43 
3:Do you smoke?    -Only when I’m drunk and someone offers! lol :’D 
 4:Do you drink?    - Yup :D  
5:Do you take drugs?   
 -Nope  

6:Age you get mistaken for   - I don’t know, how old do you think I am? :)  
7:Have tattoos?    - No 
8:Want any tattoos?    - Maybeee, not sure what kinda though 
9:Got any piercings?    -None 
10:Want any piercings?  ´ -
 not really 11:Best friend?    - my broes <3  
12:Relationship status    - Single af! :’D 
 13:Biggest turn ons   - kindness, sense of humor, flirting    - Neck kisses, waist grabs, 
 14:Biggest turn offs    - Nagging, being mean, toxic behaviour in general  
15:Favorite movie    - Fight club, Chappie, lotr, FnF, idk I like movies :D  
16:I’ll love you if    - we do dumb stuff together :’D  
17:Someone you miss    - I miss every dog I’ve pet :C  
18:Most traumatic experience   - hmm, varmaa ne ekat salmari/jekkukännit kun en pysty enää juomaan oksentamatta lähes heti.. 
19:A fact about your personality   - Always ready for spontanious meetups or trips or just hangouts :D  
20:What I hate most about myself   - probably how I sometimes feel bad even though everything if fine 
21:What I love most about myself   - maybe how I try to be useful and helpful to everyone :)  
22:What I want to be when I get older   - Happy and in love I guess 
23:My relationship with my sibling(s)   - it’s good :)  
24:My relationship with my parent(s)   - same :) we call a few times a week  
25:My idea of a perfect date   - First do something together, then hangout/walk around during the night and just chill and talk about all the things in the worlds or netflix and chill is cool too 
26:My biggest pet peeves    - Driving noticeably under the speed limit or just badly in front of me :’D  
27:A description of the girl/boy I like    - Don’t really have one right now but last one was the cutest, wholesomest, fun person and just all in all lovable girl  
28:A description of the person I dislike the most   - Ignorant, high and mighty selfish person..  
29:A reason I’ve lied to a friend   - surprises mostly, or just saying everything’s fine so they won’t worry 
30:What I hate the most about work/school   - The shitjobs are the worst but I really like my job all in all :)  
31:What your last text message says   - “pappastikyläs ni pöytätäki täys” 
32:What words upset me the most   - nothing comes to mind :’D  
33:What words make me feel the best about myself   - all compliments :D  
34:What I find attractive in women   - Colourful hair, their body, eyes, small cute habits they might have :) 
35:What I find attractive in men   - build, face  
36:Where I would like to live   - I really like Tampere ;)  
37:One of my insecurities   - ulkonäkö.. 
38:My childhood career choice   - Never really had one 
39:My favorite ice cream flavor   - vanilja, kahvi, baileys, minetin supermies ( vai mikä se ny oli)  
40:Who wish I could be  - idk everyone’s got their own shit going on so.. 
41:Where I want to be right now  - In bed cuddling/snuggling with a cutie 
42:The last thing I ate  - chocolate 
43:Sexiest person that comes to my mind immediately  - A friend ^^  
44:A random fact about anything - I can sleep almost anywhere, almost whenever I want :D  thanks alot <3 ! 

[oonasvegankitchen]

Pasta salad | Pastasalaatti

Recipe in English and Finnish | Resepti englanniksi ja suomeksi

A pasta salad is super easy and quick dish to prepare for lunch to work, for a brunch or to a lovely spring picnic in a park. It’s perfect for every occasion and the best part is, you can put pretty much anything into it. 

This pasta salad was put together from whatever I had left in my fridge. 

Pastasalaatti on todella helppo ja nopea ruokalaji valmistaa luonaaksi töihin, brunssitarjoiluksi tai ihanalle puistopiknikille. Se on täydellinen jokaiseen tilanteeseen ja parasta on se, että voit laittaa lähes mitä vain siihen. 

Tämä pastasalaatti on koottu kaikenlaisista aineksista, joita minulla oli lojumassa jääkaapissa.

Ingredients: 

1 desilitre of beluga lentils

200 grams of pasta

2 vegetable stock cubes

1 Yosa oat block herbs or seasoned tofu

150 grams of cheery tomatoes

1 medium cucumber

1 red onion

1 bell pepper

The juice of a half of a lemon

1 tablespoon of Balsamic aceto di Modena 

Couple of handfuls of arugula

Fresh basil and parsley for serving

Salt 

Pepper

Method: 

Measure 1 decilitre of beluga lentils to a strainer. Rinse and boil them in vegetable stock according to the instructions on the package. Also boil about 200 grams of pasta also in vegetable stock. Let the lentils and the pasta cool. 

Take the Yosa oat block (or tofu) out of the package and press it with a kitchen towel to get rid off the extra liquid. Cube the oat block or the tofu to the size of a sugar cube. 

Wash and chop the vegetables. Tomatoes should be halved, cucumber and bell pepper cubed and the red onion either cut into rings or half of rings. Add the veggies and the oat block or the tofu into a large bowl. 

Add the cool pasta, lentils and washed arugula to the mix. Mix well. 

Add the juice of half a lemon to the mix and a bit of balsamic. Mix well. 

Decorate with some herbs such as fresh basil or parsley. Season with salt and pepper. 

Ainekset: 

1 dl belugalinssejä

200 g pastaa

2 kasvisliemikuutioa

1 Yosa oat block herbs tai maustettua tofua

150g kirsikkatomaateja

1 keskikokoinen kurkku

1 punasipuli

1 paprika

1/2 sitruunan mehu

1 rkl Balsamico aceto di Modena

Pari kourallista rucolaa

Tuoretta basilikaa ja persiljaa tarjoiluun

Suolaa

Pippuria

Valmistus: 

Mittaa siivilään noin 1 dl belugalinssejä. Huuhtele ne vedellä ja keitä pakkauksen ohjeen mukaan kypsiksi. Mausta keitinvesi kasvisliemikuutiolla. Laita noin 200 grammaa pastaa myöskin kiehumaan. Mausta keitinvesi kasvisliemikuutiolla. Anna linssien ja pastan jäähtyä.

Ota Yosa oat block (tai tofu) ulos paketista ja painele sitä talouspaperilla, jotta saat ylimääräisen nesteen pois. Kuutioi kaurapala (tai tofu) noin sokeripalan kokoisiksi paloiksi. 

Pese ja pilko kasvikset. Tomaatit kannattaa puolittaa, kurkku ja paprika kuutioida ja punasipuli pilkkoa joko renkaiksi tai puolirenkaiksi. Lisää pilkotut kasvikset ja kaurapala tai tofu isoon kulhoon. 

Lisää joukkoon jäähtyneet linssit, pasta ja pesty rucola. Sekoita hyvin. 

Lisää sekoitukseen noin puolikkaan sitruunan mehu sekä loraus balsamicoa. Sekoita hyvin. 

Lisää päälle koristeeksi yrttejä, esimerkiksi basilikaa ja persijaa. Mausta vielä suolalla ja pippurilla. 

[wearebackintown]

2018 en musique II !

Yo, c’est parti pour mes tops de 2018 !

TOP 20 albums 2018

En 20ème, je place les deux frères de Toulouse, Bigflo et Oli avec la vie de rêve ! Un album vraiment sympa qui confirme leur talent même si peu de titres forts en ressortent.

Petite entorse pour mon 19ème puisqu'ils sont deux en vrai, j'ai regroupé les 2 projets de Trippie Redd, A love letter to you 3 et Life's a trip, du rap/trap avec énormément d'emprunts au Rnb que j'aime tant ! 7/10 pour les deux.

18ème : Kiana Lédé avec Selfless, c'est un ep court, ce qui permet de ne pas s'ennuyer, le niveau entre les musiques est cependant assez inégal 7/10

17ème : JID avec Dicaprio 2, en valeur intrinsèque cet album mérite d'être bien plus haut, JID montre un niveau technique exceptionnel porté par une production assez créative, cependant personnellement pas assez de musiques que j'ai gardé en tête 9/10

16ème : Janelle Monae avec Dirty Computer, quelques grands moments, des messages forts mais à mon avis plus convenu que Electric Lady. 7/10

15ème : Nas avec Nasir, le retour de Nas est très intéressant mais l'album est bien plus porté par la production de Kanye West que par les différentes performances de Nas. 7/10 

14ème : Dinos avec Imany, très bon album assez varié niveau rap, même si très superficiel par moment et qui tourne beaucoup autour du thème de l'argent 8/10

13ème : Ella mai avec l'album éponyme Ella mai, un album qui nous ramène sur certains morceaux au Rnb des nineties, le début est assez moyen mais la fin vaut largement de s'y intéresser pour peu qu'on s'intéresse au genre. 8/10

12ème : Saba avec Care for me, un album très sombre et puissant, une belle surprise faite par l'ami de Chance The Rapper. 9/10

11ème : Orelsan avec la fête est finie épilogue, des morceaux très variés avec une très belle cohérence au global, Orelsan fait mouche sur presque chaque son avec les punchlines dont il a le secret. 8/10

10ème : Denzel curry avec Taboo, certainement avec JID, le meilleur rappeur de la nouvelle génération, un album à la fois très divertissant musicalement mais aussi qui pose des questions sur l'industrie musicale. 9/10

9ème : Alpha Wann avec UMLA, Alpha est un génie du rap, qui le prouve encore une fois à travers ses schémas de rythme uniques ainsi que sa maîtrise de tous les styles de rap 8/10.

8ème : The Weekend avec My dear melancholy, ep très court mais où tous les sons sont intéressants, ambiance sombre au niveau des instrumentals, l'impression de retrouver un The Weekend à ses débuts mais avec une bien meilleure maîtrise. 9/10

7éme : Travis Scott avec Astroworld, pas le temps de s'ennuyer avec Travis, beaucoup de changements de flow, de voix et surtout de production à l'intérieur des sons parfois au détriment de la cohérence, mais toujours stimulant. 8/10

6éme : Jorja smith avec Lost and found, un air de Rox avec une belle voix sur des instrus qui la laissent s'exprimer (notamment sur don't watch me cry) une très belle surprise pour moi qui l'est découverte cette année 8/10.

5ème: Nao, Saturn, album que je viens juste de découvrir, quelle surprise. Nao a une voix magnifique et assez unique, les productions sont vraiment variés notamment pour du rnb de ce genre, certainement ce qui rend cet album meilleur que celui de Jorja .

4ème : Au pied du podium on retrouve Ne-yo avec Good Man, certainement l'un des meilleurs projets de Ne-yo qui nous offre un album cohérent, sincère et sans réel temps mort. 9/10

3ème : La médaille de bronze est pour Kacey Musgraves avec Golden hour, pour un non initié comme moi à la country cet album est juste parfait, de la pop country très accessible, avec des sons catchy et une Kacey à la voix envoûtante 9/10. 

2ème : La médaille d'argent pour Lil Wayne Tha Carter V, quel retour pour Wayne, un album avec beaucoup de morceaux pas tous très bons, mais certains morceaux sont des classiques, un album, j'espère, que l'on retiendra. 9/10

1er : Mon album préféré de 2018 est Vacation in Hell de Flatbush Zombies, quel album ! Tous les morceaux ou presque sont très bons, certains sont même plus que ça.10/10

TOP 20 morceaux 2018

20ème : JID avec Tiied, refrain très entraînant avec une belle instru sur les couplets. Fan d'Ella mai !

19ème : The Wekkend avec I was never there, morceau le plus intéressant de l'album au niveau de la production, le changement d'instru est parfait.

18ème : Post malone avec Better now, un hit tout simplement avec un refrain très entraînant.

17ème : Kiana Ledé avec Take it all, morceau de clôture assez classique de fin d'album de rnb mais avec pas mal de puissance.

16ème : Slim Jimmy avec Changed up, tout simplement l'instrumental à la guitare qui porte le morceau !

15ème : Trippie Redd avec Can't love, mix rap et rnb qui m'a accroché directement, objectivement pas un grand son.

14ème : Flatbush Zombies avec Trapped, peut-être le meilleur son rap/dépression de l'année, production magnifique.

13ème : Flatbush Zombies again avec Crown, quelle production une nouvelle fois, les refrains sont parfaitement placés.

12ème : Ella mai avec Trip, instru minimaliste mais magnifique au piano qui laisse toute la latitude à Ella pour s'exprimer.

11ème : Brockhampton avec Fabric, morceau bon tout le long mais vraiment intéressant de part la gradation ascendante sur la fin .

10ème : Dosseh avec La rue c'est rasoir, un piano, du rythme et un tableau réaliste de la cité, un très bon son pour Dosseh.

9ème : Denzel Curry avec Percs, morceau très agressif et rythmé porté par le talent de Curry.

8ème : Flatbush Zombies again and again avec The Glory, instru plus minimaliste que sur le reste de l'album, juste du très bon rap avec un passage très propre de Denzel Curry.

7ème : Dinos avec Helsinki, le classique né, très bons couplets, très bon refrain le meilleur son de la carrière de Dinos.

6ème : Lil Wayne avec Perfect strangers, le "bridge" et les refrains rendent cette chanson magnifique, surtout le dernier refrain qui est presque parfait.

5ème : Ella Mai avec Easy, une version améliorée de Take it all de Kiana ledé, avec ce final classique rnb, instru au piano, montée en puissance et superbes back vocals à la fin !

4ème : Kacey Musgraves avec Lonely weekend, un son tellement catchy, refrain très entraînant, rien de fou au niveau parole mais c'est amplement suffisant pour en faire une des meilleures musiques de 2018.

3ème : Bronze pour BigBang avec Flower road, seul son de kpop du top, paroles magnifiques, chanteurs au top très bon son.

2ème : L'argent pour Chance The Rapper avec I might need security, paroles engagés, très bon flow de Chance mais surtout grosse instrumental avec ce loop continu de Jamie foxx, magnifique.

1er : L'or pour Ne-Yo avec Apology, du rnb avec un schéma non monotone, une instru parfaite, de très bonnes back vocals, la musique la plus aboutie de Ne-yo.

Déceptions en vrac de 2018.

xxxtentaccion skins ; Gringe Enfant lune ; Khalid Sincity ; Fetty Wap Bruce Wayne ; Drake Scorpion ; D.Ace Inévitable ; Justin Timberlake Man of the woods.

[booksfilmsandmusicaltheatre]

The play that went wrong - Näytelmä joka meni pieleen

Ok, so, yesterday I didn't get the chance to concentrate on writing this post, but better late than never.

Let's start this account of Wednesday night from the very beginning, that is from the reading of the programme that had gone wrong. Reading it, and especially reading the programme within the programme of the play within the play, gave me some good laughs. The "previous productions" section was hilarious. I also liked the way it had been domesticated, that many of the plays that had been given the "goes wrong" treatment were actual Finnish plays to make it more relatable to the local audience.

When the time had come to make our way to the theatre, we took the bus. Yes, in some ways it would be more convenient to take our own car: less walking, and especially I would avoid the killer climb uphill, that is the last few hundred metres of the way back home. However, our wonderful city has decided to integrate a return bus ticket into theatre tickets, so it doesn't cost anything extra to take the bus to the theatre. It's better for the environment, and there's no need to search for a parking spot, which is never easy.

We got to the theatre about half an hour before the play started and paid for our interval service reservation. We were right to make the reservation beforehand, as the tables were fully booked when we got there.

The theatre lounge was festive, as is most public spaces this close to Christmas.

When we got to our seats in the second row (very good seats, by the way) there was already something going on in there. The "sound and lights guy" was going around looking for a something. And things were happening on the stage as well. Will not spoil more, but anyone going to see the play should get to their seats in good time before the official show time as not to miss anything.

A panorama of the stage before the play started. It looked quite different in the end when they were taking their bows, I can tell you that.

The whole concept of a play within a play is truly delicious. Skilled professional actors playing bad amateur thespians, the whole company setting out to convince the audience of their incompetence, and if successful actually prove the complete opposite. Not to mention the skills and ingenuity needed to build a set that malfunctions in the right way at the right time.

But that's just the concept of the play. Did it work as it should have? It certainly did. It is nice to laugh as much as I did. It is good therapy to forget all else for a while and laugh at a bunch of blundering idiots. Yet, there were moments were there was just too much happening at once, and you really didn't know where to look. Still, the one who kept forgetting his lines and using wrong words, the horrible overacting, the corpse who couldn't play dead, and the intentionally unintentional puns all made for a hilariously delightful experience. Furthermore, as actors usually drop their characters when they take their bows, this time, naturally, they all stayed in character even then. They maintained the illusion til the end.

Our seats were actually pretty perfect. In the second row we could see all their facial expressions up close, yet we were far enough not to get sprayed (will not reveal any more), at least not too much, even though some droplets might have reached my sister at one point.

What is left? The cake that went wrong, what else. It is not that clear how it actually was supposed to have gone wrong, I can only speculate. It may be that it's like a bowl that was slightly leaning and not upright, it might have been that "runny" chocolate. It wasn't very easy to eat, maybe even on purpose. It was ok, but too sweet and less of it would have sufficed, as I had a hard time swallowing the last couple of mouthfuls.

A wonderful evening, all in all. I wish there were more nights like it, but unfortunately they are a rare treat.

* * *

En sitten löytänyt eilen sopivaa väliä missä keskittyä tämän kirjoittamiseen, mutta parempi myöhään kuin ei milloinkaan.

Aloittakaamme keskiviikon kuvaus ihan alusta, eli siitä kun luin käsiohjelmaa, joka oli mennyt pieleen. Sen, ja etenkin käsiohjelman välistä löytyvän näytelmänsisäisen näytelmän käsiohjelman, lukeminen jo nauratti. Menneet produktiot -osio oli hulvaton. Pidin myös tavasta, miten se oli kotoutettu. Sisällyttämällä valikoimaan myös kotimaisia näytelmiä, jotka nekin olivat menneet pieleen, oli siitä tehty paikalliselle yleisölle samaistuttavampi.

Kun tuli aika lähteä teatterin suuntaan, menimme bussilla. Tietyltä kannalta olisi ollut mukavampaa mennä omalla autolla, ei olisi tarvinnut kavuta tuota kotimatkan muutaman sadan metrin miitaista tappavaa ylämäkeä. Ihana kotikaupunkimme kuitenkin tarjoaa nykyisin teatterilipun hintaan sisältyvät bussimatkat, eli ei tarvitse maksaa mitään ylimääräistä, kun menee bussilla. Ei tarvitse käydä läpi sitä ainaista rumbaa, mitä parkkipaikan etsiminen lähes väistämättä on, ja onhan se ympäristöllekin ystävällisempi ratkaisu.

Olimme teatterilla noin puoli tuntia ennen näytöstä maksaaksemme väliaikatarjoilun. Oli oikea ratkaisu varata se etukäteen, sillä päästessämme paikalle oli kaikki pöydät jo varattu.

Teatterin yläaula oli juhlava joulukuusineen, niinkuin melkein mikä tahansa julkinen tila näin joulun alla.

Päästessämme paikoillemme toiseen riviin (oikein hyvät paikat olivatkin) tapahtui salissa jo jotain. Ääni- ja valomies käyskenteli etsimässä jotain, ja näyttämölläkin tapahtui pian asioita. En halua paljastaa niistä sen enempää, mutta jos aikoo mennä kyseistä näytelmää katsomaan, kannattaa siurtyä ajoissa katsomoon, ettei menettäisi mitään.

Otin näyttämöstä panoraamakuvan, ennen kuin itse näytelmä alkoi. Näytti aivan erilaiselta loppukiitosten aikana, voin paljastaa.

Koko asetelma, jossa näytelmän sisään on rakennettu näytelmä, on hyvin herkullinen. Taitavat ammattinäyttelijät näyttelemässä huonoja amatöörinäyttelijöitä, koko näyttämöhenkilöstön tarkoituksena vakuuttaa yleisö omasta taidottomuudestaan, mutta siinä onnistuessaan osoittavatkin oman taitavuutensa. Puhumattakaan taidosta ja kekseliäisyydestä mitä vaaditaan, jotta lavasteet saadaan toimimaan oikealla tavalla väärin juuri oikeaan aikaan.

Mutta tuossa on kyse vain lähtöasetelmasta ajatustasolla. Toimiko se sitten toivotulla tavalla? Ehdottomasti. Oli hyvä saada nauraa niin paljon. On terapeuttista unohtaa kaikki muu hetkeksi ja naureskella joukolle kömmähteleviä idiootteja. Tosin näytelmässä oli hetkiä, jolloin näyttämöllä tapahtui liikaa asioita yhtä aikaa, eikä oikein tiennyt minne pitäisi katsoa. Siitäkin huolimatta se vuorosanansa unohteleva ja sanoja väärinkäyttävä tyyppi, kaikki se ylinäyttely, ruumis joka ei osannut esittää kuollutta ja kaikki ne tahallisen tahattomat sanaleikit tekivät näytelmästä hulvattoman ilahduttavan kokemuksen. Kaiken kukkuraksi nyt kaikki näyttelijät pysyivät rooleissaan vielä loppukiitostenkin ajan, kun he normaalisti siinä vaiheessa yleensä riisuvat roolinsa ja kohtaavat yleisön omana itsenään. Näin he säilyttivät illuusion loppuun asti.

Istumapaikkamme olivat itse asiassa lähes täydelliset. Olimme tarpeeksi lähellä nähdäksemme näyttelijöiden ilmeet, mutta riittävän kaukana, että vältimme ainakin suurimmat roiskeet (en paljasta siitä sen enempää), siskoni päälle saattoi lentää jokunen pieni pisara yhdessä vaiheessa.

Mitäs vielä? Leivos, joka meni pieleen, tottakai. En ole aivan varma, millä tavalla sen oli ollut tarkoitus mennä pieleen, voin vain arvailla. Ehkä niin, että leivos vaikutti kulholta, joka oli vinksallaan eikä suorassa, tai kenties sen epäonnistuminen oli se valunut suklaa. Ainakin se oli todella hankala syödä, mahtoikohan olla ihan tarkoituksella. Maultaan se menetteli, mutta oli aivan liian makea. Se oli myös hieman turhan iso ja viimeiset pari suullista olivat vaikeat saada alas.

Mahtava ilta kaiken kaikkiaan. Kunpa sellaisia iltoja olisi useammin, mutta valitettavasti tuollaiset illat ovat harvinaista herkkua.

[gggggggggggzdb]

11/21/2020

I am ignored. I’m no necessarily invisible per se, but I am often times not noticed. Many of my other problems, I’ve noticed also stem from this. Getting talked over led me to being more quiet, granted, I am actually a loud person, but when people describe me, they do it using quiet, I guess they never take the time to realize how talkative I can actually be. No talking, meant not getting much socializing with other people. Now I was already a very sheltered child to begin with, so it just adds to my lack of properly developed social skills. I feel like this is the whole reason I try to prove myself to everyone I meet. In order to combat this loneliness I feel– because despite being rather antisocial, I do crave friendships– I tend to get very lost in books. These books often led me to go down paths I shouldn’t have. I saw and did things I shouldn’t have. These only ended up in screwing up my brain even further. This past year, with the whole quarantine, only added to my loneliness. I fell further into depression, and that overwhelming loneliness I felt increased tenfold. Just last month I was considering ending it. It was horrible going through each day not even being heard by my family, no friends in college, and all my friends from highschool not really initiating any contact. I began to crave a romantic relationship, surely that must have been the thing I was missing right? I would not oly see these amazing friend groups, but the cutest relationships. And I would see them and hate them because they were just so perfect. Everyone seemed so happy living the way they did with the relationships they did. I hated them all. I just wanted someone to talk to me. Soeone that despite my nervous stuttering, and lack of proper communication skills would still understand what I was trying to say, rather than just nod and agree. I found that Someone in Jesus Christ. Now I already went to church and knew about God. Every Sunday my mom would drag me to the front and have us worship him there. This always doubled my anxiety, and I would constantly retreat into my safe place. But something I did notice while up there was the love and passion they worshipped Him with. I never understood how they had that. And the few meager times I did try praying while up there I would ask him to give me that fire and love everyone felt. But I guess it just wasn’t my time yet. I had to suffer, before I could get better. Just two weeks ago, while I was wasting my life away on titok, for some odd reason, no it wasn;t odd it was God working, but I ended up on christian tiktok. Normally I would have skipped the videos and went on about my day, but something about them pulled me to them. And like fpur or five videos passed when it hit me. Just full force, I felt His love, and the passion I had yearned for so long ago.I can’t really remember what I did after wards, and these past two weeks have been a blur, but it’s like I could see again. That horrible loneliness I felt everynight? gone. WIth just a snap of his fingers, that hole in my heart that I thought I needed a boyfriend to fill was filled with the power and love of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Yes I still feel lonely, and wish I had friends, but I know Jesus will always be there for me, He will always care and listen.He will always be there for me, as long as I don’t stray from him. And granted even if I do, I know he will still want me back when I repent. I’ve learned so much in these past weeks, so much more than the past four years I had been in church. I still stumble, and have this anxiety, and it’s still hard to worship in front of everyone in front in church. Heck I can’t even clap. But I’m working there. I am still ignored, and many times picked on in my family, and yes it hurts it hurts a lot, along with not haviing any friends. In fact it’s these feelings that drove me to write this. But I know that as long as I yearn for God I won’t ever be alone again.

[pelihomppaa]

Löydettyäni tuon tukan oli pakko kyhätä kokoon Ezarel-asu.

I KNOW IT’S NOT PERFECT BUT I TRIED, OK??

Sori toi huulipuna, mut tuo virne oli niin Ezarelmainen että oli pakko hyödyntää sitä.

Wings on myös menossa mukana koska rakastan uutta miekkaani ja se jopa sopii hyvin asuun.

Harmi etten obsikaartiin vaihdon jälkeen voinut enää hyödyntää absikaartin vaatteita, muloisollu hieno alkemiavyö...

Hyvin tehty New Era, oot saanut houkuteltua mut jo kolmesti vaatekaapin puolelle vaikka inhoan käyttää sitä sinne tehdyn uudistuksen jälkeen.

[ninnnuli]

Vuonna 2017…

Kuuntelin Spotifysta reilut 68 000 minuuttia musiikkia, eli noin 47 päivää, mistä valtaosa oli Ulveria. Kuuntelin noin 2400 eri artistia ja 140 genreä, mikä on sikäli jännää, että osaan nimetä ehkä 30 genreä ja niistäkin puolet keksin itse. Klubikeikkoja kertyi karkean arvion mukaan päälle 80, minkä lisäksi kävin kesällä neljillä (musa)festareilla, joiden keikkoja en jaksa laskea, mutta niitä lienee joitain kymmeniä.

Vuoden parhaat levyt olivat Ulverin The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Myrkurin Mareridt, Helénin Helén, Mastodonin Emperor of Sand ja Harry Stylesin Harry Styles (hah sieltä vyön alta iski odottamaton ylläri! Muutakin oon kuunnellut kun metalli-ish osastoa).       

Vuoden paras keikka oli The Dillinger Escape Plan helmikuussa, missä sain elämäni ensimmäisen stendhalin syndrooman. Keikalla mietittiin asettaako tämä jonkinlaisen riman mitä vasten kaikkea muuta jatkossa heijastelee. Siinä mielessä ainakin asetti, että DEP:n jälkeen huomasin kaipaavani äärimmäisempiä keikka- ja musakokemuksia kuin koskaan ennen. Dillingerin raivopäisen katossa roikkumisen ja äkkiväärän tempoilun jälkeen joku viiden soinnun kitaranhipelöintikierto ei vaan tunnu enää missään. Once you go Dillinger ja sitä rataa.

Muita elämänlaatua merkittävästi parantaneita keikkoja oli kymmeniä, mutta DEP:n lisäksi mieleen ovat jääneet erityisesti Zeal & Ardor, Chelsea Wolfe, Alcest, Grace Jones, Kairon; IRSE! ja Sum of R. Sekoilupuolella Honningbarna lämmitti sydäntä ja Dillingerin testaamia Klubin rakenteita esimerkiksi tanssimalla pöydillä, crowdsurffaamalla sellon kanssa ja siirtämällä keikan paikoittain kokonaan moshpitin puolelle.

Kotimaiset naiset ovat myös tarjoilleet parastaan. Erityisesti synkkiä laulelmia kynttilöillä valaistusta kamarin nurkasta soittava M, tamperelainen esoteerikko Vesperith ja harvinaisen toimivaa laatuindietä edustava Suad ovat lisänneet uskoa, toivoa ja rakkautta tän maan äänitaiteilijoita kohtaan. Vesperith julkaisi toistaiseksi ainoa EP:nsä kyllä jo pari vuotta sitten, mutta löysi tiensä meikän kuulokkeiisiin vasta männäsyksynä (kiitos vinkistä Tomi!) ja antaa odottaa aika kovia ensi vuonna ilmestyvältä debyytiltä.

Tänä vuonna aloitimme kaveriporukan kanssa 500 levyä -haasteen, missä kuunnellaan kaikki Rolling Stonen kriitikkopoolin listaamat kaikkien aikojen parhaat levyt. 10 vuotta kestävä haaste on viikosta riippuen parasta tai pahinta ikinä. Ääripäissä ei olla vielä käyty, mutta toistaiseksi paras viikko kuului Bonnie Raitille ja hirvein Wilcolle.

Yksi vuoden hauskimpia musa-aiheisia hommia oli soittolistan rakentaminen ravintola Huberiin, joka muuten soi siellä parasta aikaa. Palautetta otetaan vastaan! Vaikka ei se mihinkään vaikuta, lista on luonnollisesti fantastinen. En kai mää ny mitään paskaa sinne laittais. Teemaksi soittolistaan annettiin Shaft, 110th Street, funk, 60-70-luvu, soul, rock ja rouheus, joten ei siinä juuri huonoja biisejä tarvinut harkitakaan.

Tämä vuosi ei ollut musavideoiden osalta mikään tajunnanräjäyttäjä, mutta video-ohjaajan puolesta oli. Camerimage-festivaaleilla Puolassa osallistuin Wayne Ishamin masterclassiin, mikä oli varsin päräyttävää, sillä Wayne on ohjannut noin puolet nuoruusvuosistani. Herra on pistänyt purkkiin muutaman hassun videon esimerkiksi sellaisille pikkunimille kuin Metallica, Megadeth, Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson ja Backstreet Boys (todellakin oon katsonut poikabändivideoita ja itekin oot, turha siellä tuomita). Olin varautunut kysymään älykkäitä Cunning Stuntsin livetaltioinnista sun muusta, mutta jo ekoilla sekunneilla kävi selväksi, että not that kinda guy. Maailman sympaattisin hevimies aloitti luentonsa huutamalla ARE YOU READY TO ROCK, minkä jälkeen katseltiin porukalla Waynen videoita ja sitä kuinka herra hurrasi itselleen, meille, musiikille, videoille ja elämälle. Siinä oli perusnöyrä ja itseään vähättelevä suomalaisedustus aika hämillään, kun hevimerkkejä heilutteleva kuusikymppinen esittelee omia töitään loputtomilla all capseilla ja superlatiiveilla. FUCK YEAH! I DID THAT! THAT’S FUCKING AMAZING! MUSIC IS EVERYTHING YOU GUYS! I FUCKING LOVE MUSIC!

Ishamin videoista en oppinut luennolta mitään, mutta opin aika paljon siitä, miten rakastaa töitään ja ammattiaan niin vilpittömästi ja suurella sydämellä, ettei voi kun hurrata elämälleen ja rakkaudelleen musiikkia kohtaan. Viime vuoden voimaeläimeni oli Frank Zappa, tänä vuonna se on Wayne Isham. (Kiitos Villelle kuvasta <3)

Vuoden musaleffoista parhaat olivat Aasia-hevin kipeään sieluun sukeltava We Are X (joka periaatteessa tuli viime vuonna, mutta Suomessa vasta nyt) sekä bläkkis-aiheinen Blackhearts. We Are X oli visuaalisesti kaunein koskaan näkemäni musadokkari, ja kiitin leffateatterissa onneani etten tiennyt bändistä mitään ennen leffaa, eikä orkesterin biiseihin ollut mitään tunnesidettä. Muuten en olisi mitenkään päässyt teatterista ulos omin jaloin. Blackhearts vaikutti ristiriitaisesta vastaanotostaan huolimatta käsittelemällä teemoja alakulttuurin muutoksesta yhteiskunnan äärilaidoilta salonkikelpoiseksi (=tylsäksi) keski-ikäiseksi. Samalle tielle joutuvat aikojen saatossa lähes kaikki marginaaliset alagenret, halusivat tai eivät, ja tutkimusaiheena tuo muutos on älyttömän kiinnostava.

Soundi- ja soittoteknisesti tää oli meikälle ehdottomasti blastbeatin vuosi, joskin viime vuonna aivojani lempinyt fuzz oli tänäkin vuonna vahvasti läsnä kaikenlaisen ihanan doom- ja sludgepörinän muodossa. Hitaita ja nopeita sopivasti sekaisin, kuten meillä sekakäyttäjillä tapana on.

Olipas tääkin erinomainen musavuosi kuulkaas! Ensi vuodelta odotan erityisesti Myrkurin Folkesange-keikkaa, A Perfect Circleä Sidewaysissa, Roger Watersia Hartwallilla, kuvauskeikkoja ja tietysti Toolin uutta albumia. Aahahaa, vitsillä ulos!