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luulapants · 2 years ago

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“I don’t drink beer. How do I write characters that do?”

Beer has been an integral part of human society for about as long as we’ve had a human society. Some anthropologists now theorize that we fermented grain for beer before we used it for bread. It’s the most popular alcoholic drink worldwide, and everyone has their own regional variety. This will mostly focus on US beer culture, which is what I’m familiar with.

Who’s drinking beer?

Beer has a reputation as a “man’s drink,“ at least in Western cultures, but there are plenty of women that partake. Showing a woman drinking beer, though, might convey to readers that she’s “one of the boys” or down-to-earth.

The cheap stuff is really, really cheap, and therefore seen as a blue collar, “working man’s” drink, but the low price point also makes it good for events with lots of people. It has high water content, so it’ll keep people hydrated at an outdoor event better than other options. Most have a relatively low alcohol content by volume, making it a good choice if you want to keep drinking for a while without getting too drunk.

For beer snobs, the craft beer world can be a hobby or a lifestyle. They might brew beer at home or have a local brewery they hang out at. They’ll go to brewery events where new batches or special reserve bottles are released and sold. Some bottles can cost quite a lot!

You could reasonably expect someone to have a few beers in the fridge. Frequent drinkers would replenish the stock often. Less frequent drinkers might have a few they forgot about. It does go bad eventually, so it’s not like a hard liquor where you could have a bottle sitting around untouched for multiple years and offer it up to someone. When it goes bad, it gets a “skunky” taste.

How are they drinking it?

Most good beers are meant to be poured into a glass, and there are different glass shapes for different styles, all purported to enhance the beer in some way. The basic is going to be a 16-oz pint glass. You should pour slowly with the stream hitting the side of the glass, not the bottom, to avoid it all turning to foam and overflowing. The foam is called the ‘head,’ and if it gets too tall, you have to wait for it to go down before drinking or else get foam on your nose.

Pouring the beer into a glass allows it to breathe and means the drinker is smelling the aroma of the beer as they drink. A glass suggests your character is enjoying their beer for its taste.

Drinking straight from the can or bottle, then, suggests a character that doesn’t care about the flavor or a beer that isn’t worth savoring. An exception is Corona, a Mexican beer, which is best enjoyed by cramming a lime slice into the bottle’s opening. It drops into the beer, which fizzes in response.

Cans are cheaper than bottles, generally. Cans often need to be crushed before they go in the recycling bin, to save space. Some people have mechanical crushers, some will crush with their hands or under their boot. If you want to show that someone is a real meathead, they might crush it on their forehead.

Of course, an exception to the “dignity” of glasses is the iconic red Solo cup, a plastic disposable cup associated with binge drinking at parties.

Binge drinking and drinking gimmicks

A beer can only be chugged (drank quickly all in one motion) from a glass, due to a lack of air flow into a can or bottle. Chugging can be a great sexually suggestive shorthand, since it’s best done if the drinker can completely relax and open their throat, basically pouring the drink directly down their esophagus, and... well, you catch my drift.

To get around the air flow issue, cans can be shotgunned, a practice associated with binge drinking, party culture, college/frat behavior, etc. To shotgun a beer, the side of the can is stabbed with a knife. You then cover the knife hole with your mouth, tip your head sideways so the can is upright, and crack the tab. This allows air to flow into the top hole, causing the beer to flow quickly out of the knife hole and into your mouth. It requires you to chug the entire beer or risk getting soaked.

A beer bong involves a large funnel with a long plastic hose coming from the bottom. The drinker puts the end of the hose in their mouth while a second person stands above them, the higher the better (I once saw a beer bong from a 3rd floor balcony), and pours a beer into the funnel. The gravity pressure then carries the beer down the tube at high speed, forcing the person at the bottom to drink as quickly as they can.

Not to be confused with beer pong, a game played on a ping-pong or similar-sized table. A triangle of red solo cups is arranged on either end of the table, each filled with a small amount of cheap beer. It’s a two-on-two game, with each side taking turns throwing a ping-pong ball, trying to get it into one of the other team’s cups. If it lands in a cup, someone from the other team needs to drink that cup and remove it from the table. There are usually elaborate house rules. Most people claim there is a “sweet spot” of drunkness where they are best at the game.

A keg is a barrel-shaped pressurized vessel that holds a large quantity of beer. For parties, a keg can be the most economical option for serving so many people. The keg will be stored in a large ice-filled container, often a trash can or storage tote. The keg must be “primed,” a plunger on top pumped repeatedly to get the vessel properly pressurized. People use the attached hose, which has a button or nozzle on the end, to dispense beer into their cups. It has to be re-pumped regularly, and by the end of the keg, this becomes laborious and frustrating, often leaving you with nothing but a sad trickle of foam.

A keg stand involves doing a handstand with your hands on the rim of the keg, usually with someone holding your legs to stabilize you, and drinking from the keg hose while upside-down. It frequently results in beer going up your nose and can show that a character is a fun party person or a walking disaster.

Ordering at the bar

Yes, in movies, a man will sit at a bar and say “beer me” and a beer appears in front of him with no conversation. No, that’s not realistic. Bars have a wide variety of beers, and you need to tell the bartender what you want. If a character wants something cheap, they might say, “A Miller Light,” or maybe a sarcastic, “A can of your finest Coors, sir.” Otherwise, they might read the menu, either posted on the wall or on a sheet of paper at the bar. They could also ask the bartender, “What’s on tap?”

Most bars will have a stock of cans and bottles in a fridge. They might ask if you want a glass with it. Beers on tap are stored in kegs under the bar and attached to spigots, usually with decorative handles. Some may be mainstays of the bar that are always available, and others might rotate in and out.

No, your character doesn’t have to specifically name drop a brand. You can give a general description: a can of the cheapest beer they had. A stout a little too syrupy for his tastes. A local IPA. All of these choices will say something about who your character is as a person.

Cheap Beer

Most mass-produced are light lagers with a pale yellow color. Those who don’t like them describe them as watery or tasting “like piss.” If one is hitting the spot at the end of a long day, it might taste slightly tart, slightly bitter, but mostly refreshing. Worse ones are more bitter and have a sort of “funk” to them. The big names like Miller, Coors, Bud, Natty Light, or Mich will be instantly recognizable as a cheap beer, but if you really want to get regionally specific in the US, many places have a local one that is so, so much worse.

For home drinking, cheap beers can be bought in the traditional six-pack, but serious drinkers are more likely to buy a case, usually 24 beers. As for where you can buy them, that varies from state to state and county to county. Look up the local laws on whether beer can be bought in grocery stores or convenience stores.

Craft Beer

The craft beer industry has exploded in popularity in the US, with microbreweries churning out small batches of local beers with creative, complex flavors.There are a kajillion different variations, but I’ll try to hit the big categories:

Lagers are usually associated with cheap beer, but there are craft lagers such as bocks, dunkels, and schwarzbiers. They’re fermented at lower temperatures and usually have a lighter flavor and a low alcohol content.

Sours are, as the name says, sour! They are light, low alcohol content, and often fruit flavored. These are summery and the fruity ones are sometimes seen as “girly.”

IPAs (India Pale Ales) are usually light with heavy hops content. Those who don’t like them describe them as too bitter or tasting like grass. Those that like them describe them as floral and complex. IPAs had a “craze” in the early 2010s and were disparagingly described as “pumpkin spice for men.” Because they are light and easy-drinking, they’re less “butch” than others.

Stouts are the other side of the ale spectrum: heavy, black, and thick. It’s like drinking bread. They are often strongly and complexly flavored with things like coffee, chocolate, banana, peanut butter. They can be aged in whiskey barrels to give them a smoky flavor. They can be syrupy or bitter. It’s hard to drink too much of them because they are filling and calorie-heavy, but they usually have a very high alcohol content, two to four times as strong as a light beer. They’re seen as a beer for “serious” beer drinkers. Guinness is the most well-known commercially available stout, but most beer snobs will stick up their noses at it.

Porters are the less-heavy predecessor of the stout. They’re dark brown with lots of hops and a malty flavor. A good compromise if you want a strong, dark beer to show you’re A Man™ but don’t want a beer you practically have to chew.

In nonsense stereotypical terms, darker/heavier/higher alcohol content = more tough/butch, lighter/fruitier/lower alcohol content = more feminine. That said, I wouldn’t want to drink a heavy beer in the sun on a hot day, so context also matters.

Is there anything I missed? Let me know!

#cw alcohol #writing advice #how to write #beer

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angelsdean · 2 years ago

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GUYS. they have dean's journal. they have dean's journal now that he's been writing in this whole season. the journal he's been telling HIS story in. the journal that has the tiniest details and deanisms such as the iconic "drivers pick the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." and if we get a s2........what if we see them using the journal, referencing it, picking it apart. what if.......we see them read abt an angel named castiel. what if some plot down the line happens and they need help again and they can just.....use the journal to summon dean ? or they go looking for this "castiel" because maybe an angel can help them. or they see dean's made references to a witch named rowena which pings ada's memory. Y'ALL. thee journal !!!!!! john's journal was a roadmap for the boys throughout the early seasons so i could absolutely see them mirroring that with dean's journal in the winchesters. SO much potential here, my head is spinning rn

#spnwin #spnwin spoilers #vic.txt

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benetnvsch · 1 year ago

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!! INTRO POST !!

[ac: ISZ]

✧˖°.Kite /21 /any/all pronouns.°˖ ✧

✧ LGBTQ+ , Jewish, and Chinese- if have a problem with any of these, u can fuck off <3!

✧ Art , OCs, other reblogs of content I like , occasionally writing and editing - no queue so posts maybe be strangely timed cuz I have the worst sleep schedule. Often times vents/overshares in tags but those always have appropriate labels/warning tags before

✧ Generally sfw content though may reblog/make some nsfw jokes. I do not post nsfw art here but any art even vaguely suggestive will be tagged as such for ppl to filter if they like. NSFW accounts DO NOT FOLLOW or I will block you

✧ Current Main Fandom: Bungou Stray Dogs, ( Kunikida(zai) especially !!)

✧ Other fandoms: FGO, Genshin Impact, YGO Zexal, CCS/covey stuff, Shotgun boy + Sweet home, Haikyuu

✧ Carrd: https://benetnvsch.crd.co

✧ Other socials are linked in my carrd but should be benetnvsch anywhere I do have one (most active on here and twitter!!)

✧ Follow, unfollow, block free always !! even if we are close mutuals, if my content ever bothers u or you just don't vibe with me anymore feel free to break mutuals and/or block me ! in the nicest way idc! curate ur own experience !!

✧ Requests, comms, and inbox are (almost) always open if you ever want to send me anything <3!! I do have social anxiety but I love talking to people and making new friends :> !!

✧ Mutuals are allowed to ask for my genshin, FGO, or BSD Mayoi accounts to add me there <3 !!

✧ Art specific tag is 'Kite Draws' and most other personal tags for original content/nonreblogs follows that format such as Kite Edits, Kite Watches/Reads/Plays [x]

✧ Please do not follow me if you are a terf, zionist, radqu33r, pr0shipper, or genuinely believe fiction doesn’t effect reality. Specific to the BSD fandom, pls do not follow if you ship or even tolerate/don’t see anything wrong with 0dazai, M0rizai, or Fvkuran. I am EXTREMELY uncomfortable with any of these due to past experiences/traumas and if I see ur any of these you will be removed as a follower and/or blocked ;;

✧ I block VERY liberally. I am a paranoid traumatized guy who is very adverse to Certain Topics (see above) and will block ppl who post things that I think can trigger paranoia bouts or that I Just Don’t Vibe with - pls don’t take it personally but pls don't try and block evade. if u wish to know why I blocked you, feel free to dm on an alt but don't try and follow/interact else wise or I will explode u

✧ Please do NOT repost my art unless you're going to use it in some way (header, icon, edits, etc.) and even then I would appreciate credit. Do NOT repost it just as an image or complimentary image to a separate post/idea

#yippeee kite lore #some things are censored just 2 b respectful so they don't show up in search for them but also not to show in association w/my name aaa #sorry if they mess with any screen readers- if anyone can't figure them out feel free to dm me and ill message you them properly <33

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idiopath-fic-smile · 1 year ago

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hi! so basically @greenlikethesea wrote another banger inspired by @greatunironic's iconic the most remarkable thing series and as is frequently the case, their song reminded me how much fun it is to play in this universe. so i wrote another song too.

this one is inspired by a couple of things. i had the refrain "let's start something i won't finish" well before realizing that in addition to Eddie flirting with Steve and then deliberately ensuring it wouldn't go anywhere (claiming to ship Steve and Nancy etc), Eddie also gets the van running and then immediately hands over the wheel, literally starting something he won't finish.

having a crush on a guy is a little like hotwiring a large automobile, y'know? or at least it could be, i don't know, it's been a while. anyway, yeah, this one is pretty much literally being gay and doing crimes. lyrics under the cut!

It hits me out of nowhere sometimes: echoes of old gratitude and older crimes The stale air of conveyance past its prime the shock in your eyes as I toed past the line

I'd say sorry but that makes me a liar so crack the door and spark the wire Tension humming higher and higher twin rush of desperation and desire

It's the purr of a turning engine (Days of pure adrenaline) So before they all diminish Let's start something I won't finish

Operating always at the limit Mouth moving a million miles a minute Every place is different when you're in it no amount of peril here can dim it

But I'm all flash, no follow-through You don't push it, circuit left askew So I hover next to you Boys like me don't make out, we make do

It's the purr of a turning engine (Days of pure adrenaline) So before they all diminish Let's start something I won't finish

It's a hanging phase, an unread sign A coward's cautious valentine before they all diminish Let's start something I won't finish (Let's start something I won't finish)

#the most remarkable thing fansongs #the most remarkable thing #steddie #fun fact we are now just three songs away from closing out our rendition of the Quarry album(!)

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carinalastimosa · 2 months ago

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20 Reasons Why I’m a J.Lo-ver

I love Jennifer Lopez. And let’s face it, she could use the love these days. Bennifer 2.0 has already come to an end, marking 20 years of one of the most documented Hollywood on again-off again romances so here are 20 reasons why I love her. From the highs to the lows, beauties and flaws, this is her then and this is her now.

She made Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list. If you’re not gonna believe me that Jennifer Lopez is amazing, take it up with Time.

She’s broken barriers within the romcom genre. I didn’t realize it when I was a child, but Jennifer Lopez was doing something exceptional within movies. She normalized headlining popular movies with huge box office success as a woman of color with movies like The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan. Normalizing it, not only for me, but for mass audiences, that movies do not need to have white leads in order to equal success. And she continues to provide, breaking another barrier, proving that women in their 50’s can still be viable leads with movies like Shotgun Wedding and Marry Me.

She co-headlined one of the best Super Bowl Halftime performances. Do yourself a favor and watch the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime show headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. Just watch it and you'll see why it's one of the best.

She’s the reason why I bought a matching velour tracksuit as a teen in the 2000s. I’m sure there’s some photographic evidence of this in a photo album buried in my family’s home and it should stay that way.

She’s the first perfume I’ve ever bought. Okay, I’m technically not the one who bought it. I basically pleaded with my mom at Macy’s to buy me Glow by Jennifer Lopez cause I wanted to smell just like J.Lo.

She deserves to be Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Lopez. While 2019's Hustlers may have been her most noteworthy of performances to get considerable Oscar buzz, she's shown her range throughout her career with 1997's Selena, 1998's Out of Sight, and 2006's El Cantante.

She deserves to be Grammy Winner Jennifer Lopez. J.Lo has the hits. You know she does, don’t deny it. Ever heard of Jenny From The Block?” Of course you have, and you either hate or love yourself as you start to sing along to it whenever it comes on. Despite a 20+ career in the music industry, Lopez has only gathered 2 Grammy nominations.

She’s the first artist to have a movie and an album debut at #1. As part of showcasing her ability to do it all, she made history with the movie The Wedding Planner and album This Is Me… Then.

She was the reason behind the creation of Google Images. Go ahead and Google her 2000 red carpet appearance to the Grammys in the now iconic green Versace dress for old times' sake.

She’s a part of my favorite rotation of American Idol judges. Yes, there’s nothing quite like the spark of the initial trio of Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and Randy Jackson but audiences did not give enough credit to the trio of Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban. I also think an American Idol reunion with Connick Jr. and Lopez would be the perfect romanic comedy.

She’s the definitive Selena. Netflix tried with their series on Selena Quintanilla in 2020 but it didn't come close to the 1997 movie and a lot of that was in thanks to the casting of Lopez.

She can deliver a line like no other. Not every Jennifer Lopez movie is a hit. There are some really bad ones out there and The Boy Next Door is one of them. It contains one of the most unintentionally funniest line deliveries ever. The said boy next door gives Lopez’s character, a high school teacher, a book. But not just any book, oh no, it’s the first edition of the Iliad. The ILIAD. An oral poem dating back from 3,000+ plus years ago, that was estimated to have finally been written out around 850-750 BCE. The way Lopez opens the book and utters, “Oh my god, this is a… this is a first edition?” is so earnest. That is capital A acting right there! It’s perfect.

She’s learning Spanish just like us. Like myself, Jenny grew up only learning how to speak English and now, as an adult, is making valiant attempts at trying to learn Spanish. But being a public figure, she has to try and speak it publicly, while I can attempt to learn Tagalog in the comforts of my own home.

She knows how to squeeze in some self- promotion while being patriotic. Lopez has no shame when it comes to promotion, especially when it comes to promoting herself. No one does celebrity quite as well as J.Lo. This was on full display for President Joe Biden’s inauguration when she was performed a medley of not just “This Land Is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful”, but added her song “Let’s Get Loud” into the mix because we got loud with our vote.

She’s the original booty queen. Before Kim K., there was J.Lo and don't you ever forget it!

She’s given us our modern day Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton tabloid romance. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have already given us 20 years worth of tabloid fodder and I’m sure there’s more to come. While Ben and Jen have gotten together twice already, they’ve only been married once. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton got married twice so the ball is still in your court Bennifer.

She’s a hard worker. This may be what has drawn me to Jennifer Lopez for all these years. She’s a hard worker. She is someone who has to show you the work to show you that it amounts to something. As long as you work hard, you’re special, right? We may not have been destined or gifted with the vocation we’ve chosen, but we’re going to work hard in order to make it work. Lopez has made it work, but it’s work. What has made some of the greats great onscreen is that you don’t see the work. It’s effortless. Jennifer Lopez is a star, and she still has what I believe to be several more decades left of entertaining us. I hope she doesn’t have to work so hard to show us that and for us to finally embrace her as she is.

She gave us 3 iterations of This Is Me… Now. As she says in the behind the scenes documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, of her album This Is Me… Now, “It's not like anybody was clamoring for the next J. Lo record, you know what I mean?” and yet she gave us 3 different projects surrounding said record. The record itself, a play on her album, This Is Me… Then, released about 20 years later in which she finds herself again with Ben Affleck. A don’t call it a music video, so a music journey with moving pictures using songs from the album to create a loose narrative. And a behind the scenes making of the record/not music video. And guess what, unlike most of the public, I consumed and loved all of it!

She loves her children. While we cannot believe everything someone posts on social media, as it’s crafted for us to think a certain way about their lives, I choose to believe that Lopez really is an awesome, loving, supporting, and caring mom.

She believes in love. ❤️

#jennifer lopez #bennifer #pop culture #best of list #countdown #celebrity #tabloids

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bardock1991 · 2 years ago

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Fun ask: What are your favorite weapons in RWBY and in what order?

This is actually a pretty easy for me. I'll talk about 4 (see what i did there?) in particular from my least favorite up to my favorite.

Ember Celica: One of the few Gauntlet Weapons in the show & in my opinion, it's the best one. First of all, i like the design. A pair of golden bracelets that can turn into bulky, yet cool looking Gauntless that shoot shotgun rifles by THROWING A PUNCH! (well, until V6, but we don't talk about that scene in the end). I think this is a great representation of Yang's personality & it goes well with her Semblance. If she has to use her BODY to take hits, then she'll use her FISTS to deliver even STRONGER hits. It's a pretty good use of the "The best offense is a good defense" trope, which i appreciate. It's also a good way to show how smart Yang is since SHE'S the one who build it, imagine how much time & effort Yang had to put into making this weapon considering how dangerous it actually is?

Ozpin's Cane (which doesn't have a canon name as far as i can remember): Despite it's simple design, i like the way it's used like a rapier most of the time & above all else, the lore & history behind it. As Ozma passed on from host to host, he imbued his life force into the cane so that when the time is right, he'll use its true power... & BOY, did Volume 8 DELIVER on that front.

Crescent Rose: This probably wouldn't been as high as it is now for it not for V9, especially in the last chapter. I definitely LOVE Crescent Rose, it's an incredible design that's iconic. It made a Scythe that's also a Sniper, 2 things that SHOULDN'T work together, ACTUALLY work. But then we go to Volume 9, where it's used as a way to challenge Ruby's idendity, which i LOVE. I can't wait to see what the rest of V9 has in-store for her, especially Casey's recent tweet about next episode being "Edge City"... Oh boi...

Harbinger: This is LITERALLY Ragna The Bloodedge's Weapon, but with a Shotgun feature, how can i NOT love it?! Whenever i see Qrow fight with it, i ALWAYS think to myself that the writers (especially Monty back when he was alive, RIP) played A LOT of fighting games when developing some RWBY characters & their weapons. Look at Penny for example, she's a CLEAR reference & homage to Nu-13 from Blazblue. Can't say i blame them for it, this shit is lit! I also like how the scythe form of Harbinger itself is rarely used in the show, as if it's only used when Qrow is going to fight seriously, which is always hype. It's not as plot thematic as the last 3, but it's definitely the coolest & most fun to watch out of these 4 weapons i mentioned... & Now i want a scene where Qrow & Ragna are shooting the shit in a bar. Someone write a fanfic about that, i'd read it! XD

#RWBY #Ruby Rose #Yang Xiao Long #Ozpin #Oscar Pine #Qrow Branwen #RWBY Weapons

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cometcrystal · 1 year ago

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fav lyrics in each taylor swift song

I have autism and got a whim so here you go.

Self titled

Tim mcgraw - September saw a month of tears / And thankin' God that you weren't here / To see me like that

Picture to burn - So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy / That's fine, I'll tell mine you're gay

Teardrops on my guitar - She'd better hold him tight, give him all her love / Look in those beautiful eyes and know she's lucky

A place in this world - I don't know what I want, so don't ask me

Cold as you - You never did give a damn thing, honey, but I cried, cried for you / And I know you wouldn't have told nobody if I died, died for you

The outside - You could've helped if you had wanted to

Tied together with a smile - Cause you're giving it away like it's extra change / Hoping it will end up in his pocket / But he leaves you out like a penny in the rain

Stay beautiful - Cory's eyes are like a jungle / He smiles, it's like the radio

Shouldve said no - It's strange to think the songs we used to sing / The smiles, the flowers, everything is gone

Marys song - I was seven and you were nine / I looked at you like the stars that shined

Our song - I was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car / He's got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel, the other on my heart (literally one of the most iconic taytay lyrics of all time imo)

Im only me when im with you - Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground

Invisible - She can't see the way your eyes light up when you smile

A perfectly good heart - Why would you wanna make the very first scar?

Lucky you - Her mama named her Lucky on a starlit night

Fearless - And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress

Fearless

Fifteen - In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team

Love story - So, I sneak out to the garden to see you / We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew

Hey stephen - I could give you fifty reasons why I should be the one you choose / All those other girls - well, they're beautiful / But would they write a song for you?

White horse - My mistake, I didn't know to be in love you had to fight to have the upper hand

You belong with me - And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town / I haven't seen it in a while since she brought you down

Breathe - You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand

Tell me why - You could write a book on how to ruin someone's perfect day

You're not sorry - And you've got your share of secrets / And I'm tired of being last to know

The way i loved you - And my heart's not breaking / 'Cause I'm not feeling anything at all

Forever and always - I hold onto the night you looked me in the eye and told me you loved me / Were you just kidding?

The best day - I don't know who I'm going to talk to now at school / But I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you

Change - They might be bigger / But we're faster and never scared

Jump then fall - We're on the phone and without a warning / I realize your laugh is the best sound I have ever heard

Untouchable - In the middle of the night when I'm in this dream / It's like a million little stars spelling out your name

Come in with the rain - Talk to the wind, talk to the sky / Talk to the man with the reasons why

Superstar - And I knew from the first note played / I'd be breaking all my rules to see you

The other side of the door - I said, "Leave," but all I really want is you / To stand outside my window throwing pebbles / Screaming, "I'm in love with you"

Today was a fairytale - Today was a fairytale / I wore a dress / You wore a dark grey t-shirt / You told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess

You all over me - The best and worst day of June / Was the one that I met you / With your hands in your pockets / And your "Don't you wish you had me?" grin

Mr. Perfectly fine - And I never got past what you put me through / But it's wonderful to see that it never fazed you

We were happy - Oh, I hate those voices telling me I'm not in love anymore

That's when - gonna keep it real with u chief i dont have a favorite from this one bc i listened to it 1nce ever and the azlyrics arent standing out to me.

Don't you - Don't you say you've missed me if you don't want me again

Bye bye baby - Guess I never doubted it / Then the here and the now floods in

Speak now

Mine - You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter

Sparks fly - Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around

Back to december - It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you

Speak now - The organ starts to play a song that sounds like a death march

Dear john - Wonderin' which version of you I might get on the phone tonight / Well, I stopped pickin' up, and this song is to let you know why

Mean - And I can see you years from now in a bar / Talking over a football game / With that same big loud opinion / But nobody's listening

The story of us - This is looking like a contest of who can act like they care less / But I liked it better when you were on my side

Never grow up - Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home

Enchanted - Please don't be in love with someone else / Please don't have somebody waiting on you

Better than revenge - joshua rtvs voice this song sucks start over

Innocent - 32 is still growing up

Haunted - Something keeps me holding on to nothing

Last kiss - How you'd kiss me when I was in the middle of saying something / There's not a day I don't miss those rude interruptions

Long live - If you have children some day / When they point to the pictures / Please tell them my name

Ours - People throw rocks at things that shine

If this was a movie - Locked up in your arms and our friends are laughing / 'Cause nothing like this ever happened to them

Superman - I always forget to tell you I love you, I loved you from the very first day

Electric touch - And maybe I call you mine / And you won't need space / Or string me along while you decide

When emma falls in love - Like if Cleopatra grew up in a small town

I can see you - i dont care

Castles crumbling - Ones I loved tried to help, so I ran them off

Foolish one - Don't know what to call this situation / But I know I can't call you mine

Timeless - In the fifteen hundreds off in a foreign land / And I was forced to marry another man / You still would've been mine

Red

State of grace - So you were never a saint / And I've loved in shades of wrong / We learn to live with the pain / Mosaic broken hearts

Red - Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met

Treacherous - Put your lips close to mine / As long as they don't touch

I knew you were trouble - Pretends he doesn't know that he's the reason why / You're drowning, you're drowning, you're drowning

All too well - You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine / And that made me want to die / The idea you had of me, who was she? / A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you

22 - It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters / And make fun of our exes

I almost do - I bet it never ever occurred to you that I can't say "Hello" to you / And risk another goodbye

We are never ever getting back together - I'm really gonna miss you picking fights / And me falling for it screaming that I'm right

Stay stay stay - It's been occurring to me I'd like to hang out with you for my whole life

The last time - You wear your best apology / But I was there to watch you leave

Holy ground - Tonight I'm gonna dance for all that we've been through / But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you

Sad beautiful tragic - And time is taking its sweet time erasing you

The lucky one - And your lover in the foyer doesn't even know you / And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page

Everything had changed - Cause all I know is we said, "Hello" / And your eyes look like coming home

Starlight - Can't remember what song it was playing when we walked in / The night we snuck into a yacht club party / Pretending to be a duchess and a prince

Begin again - I almost brought him up / But you start to talk about the movies that your family watches every single Christmas

The moment i knew - What do you say when tears are streaming down your face in front of everyone you know?

Come back be here - Taxi cabs and busy streets / That never bring you back to me

Girl at home - You're the kind of man who makes me sad / While she waits up

Ronan - You were my best four years

Better man - Push my love away like it was some kind of loaded gun

Nothing new - Shoot you down and then they sigh / And say, "She looks like she's been through it"

Babe - I hate that because of you, I can't love you, babe

Message in a bottle - I'm reaching for you, terrified

I bet you think about me - I was raised on a farm, no, it wasn't a mansion / Just livin' room dancin' and kitchen table bills (this is my fav lyric from this song because its so categorically fucking FALSE)

Forever winter - If I was standing there in your apartment / I'd take that bomb in your head and disarm it

Run - There's a heart on your sleeve / I'll take it when I leave / And hold it for you

The very first night - Not trying to fall in love / But we did like children running

1989

Welcome to new york - Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats

Blank space - I get drunk on jealousy

Style - You got that long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt / And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt

Out of the woods - The rest of the world was black and white / But we were in screaming color

All you had to do was stay - People like you always want back the love they gave away / And people like me wanna believe you when you say you've changed

Shake it off - Can't stop, won't stop grooving / It's like I got this music in my mind / Saying, "It's gonna be alright"

I wish you would - You always knew how to push my buttons / You give me everything and nothing

Bad blood - Band-aids don't fix bullet holes

Wildest dreams - You'll see me in hindsight / Tangled up with you all night / Burnin' it down

How you get the girl - Shaking from the rain, rain /She'll open up the door and say, "Are you insane?"

This love - And I could go on and on, on and on and I will

I know places - Loose lips sink ships all the damn time / Not this time

Clean - The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud / But no one heard a thing

Wonderland - Didn't you flash your green eyes at me? / Didn't you calm my fears with a Cheshire cat smile?

You are in love - And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars

New romantics - The rumors are terrible and cruel / But, honey, most of them are true

Reputation

Ready for it - Every love I've known in comparison is a failure

End game - And I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put 'em

I did something bad - I never trust a playboy, but they love me / So I fly 'em all around the world / And I let them think they saved me

Dont blame me - My name is whatever you decide

Delicate - Do the girls back home touch you like I do?

Look what you made me do - You asked me for a place to sleep / Locked me out and threw a feast

So it goes - You did a number on me / But, honestly, baby, who's counting

Gorgeous - You should take it as a compliment / That I got drunk and made fun of the way you talk

Getaway car - I'm in a getaway car / I left you in a motel bar / Put the money in a bag and I stole the keys / That was the last time you ever saw me

King of my heart - Is this the end of all the endings? / My broken bones are mending

Dancing with our hands tied - I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted

Dress - My hands are shaking from holding back from you

This is why we cant have nice things - And here's to my baby / He ain't reading what they call me lately

Call it what you want - He built a fire just to keep me warm

New years day - I want your midnights / But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day

Lover

I forgot that you existed - I forgot that you existed / And I thought that it would kill me, but it didn't

Cruel summer - I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?

Lover - Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand? / With every guitar string scar on my hand / I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

The man - What's it like to brag about raking in dollars / And getting bitches and models?

The archer - 'Cause all of my enemies started out friends / Help me hold on to you

I think he knows - Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh

Miss americana and the heartbreak prince - And I don't want you to (Go) / I don't really wanna (Fight) / 'Cause nobody's gonna (Win)

Paper rings - I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

Cornelia street - And baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name

Death by a thousand cuts - ENTIRE SONG !!!!!!!

London boy - You Can Find Me In The Pub We Are Watching Rugby

Soon you'll get better - And I hate to make this all about me / But who am I supposed to talk to?

False god - I know heaven's a thing / I go there when you touch me, honey / Hell is when I fight with you

You need to calm down - And I'm just like, "Damn It's 7 AM"

Afterglow - I lived like an island, punished you with silence

Me - HEY KIDS SPELLING IS FUN

Its nice to have a friend - Something gave you the nerve to touch my hand

Daylight - I once believed love would be burning red / But it's golden like daylight

Folklore

The 1 - In my defense, I have none / For never leaving well enough alone

Cardigan - You drew stars around my scars / But now I'm bleeding

The last great american dynasty - They say she was seen on occasion / Pacing the rocks staring out at the midnight sea / And in a feud with her neighbor / She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green

Exile - I can see you starin', honey / Like he's just your understudy / Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

My tears ricochet - And if I'm dead to you why are you at the wake?

Mirrorball - I've never been a natural / All I do is try, try, try

Seven - And I think you should come live with me and we can be pirates / Then you won't have to cry

August - So much for summer love, and saying "Us" / 'Cause you weren't mine to lose

This is me trying - And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad / I have a lot of regrets about that

Illicit affairs - Don't call me "kid", don't call me "baby" / Look at this idiotic fool that you made me / You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else

Invisible string - Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart / Now I send their babies presents

Mad woman - i dont care

Epiphany - Something med school did not cover / Someone's daughter, someone's mother / Holds your hand through plastic now

Betty - Betty, right now is the last time I can dream about what happens when you see my face again

Peace - All these people think love's for show / But I would die for you in secret

Hoax - Don't want no other shade of blue but you / No other sadness in the world would do

The lakes - Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry / I'm setting off, but not without my muse

Evermore

Willow - I'm like the water when your ship rolled in that night / Rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife

Champagne problems - Sometimes you just don't know the answer / 'Til someone's on their knees and asks you

Gold rush - I don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch

Tis the damn season - If I wanted to know who you were hanging with while I was gone, I would've asked you

Tolerate it - I made you my temple, my mural, my sky / Now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life

No body no crime - She says, "That ain't my Merlot on his mouth / That ain't my jewelry on our joint account"

Happiness - No one teaches you what to do / When a good man hurts you / And you know you hurt him, too

Dorothea - And if you're ever tired of being known for who you know / You know that you'll always know me

Coney island - If I can't relate to you anymore / Then who am I related to?

Ivy - I'd live and die for moments that we stole / On begged and borrowed time / So tell me to run / Or dare to sit and watch what we'll become / And drink my husband's wine

Cowboy like me - And the skeletons in both our closets / Plotted hard to fuck this up

Long story short - Pushed from the precipice / Clung to the nearest lips / Long story short, it was the wrong guy

Marjorie - Should've kept every grocery store receipt / 'Cause every scrap of you would be taken from me

Closure - Don't treat me like some situation that needs to be handled

Evermore - I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone / Trying to find the one where I went wrong

Right where you left me - Glass shattered on the white cloth / Everybody moved on

Its time to go - He's got my past frozen behind glass / But I've got me

Midnights

Lavender haze - I'm damned if I do give a damn what people say

Maroon - Laughing with my feet in your lap / Like you were my closest friend

Anti hero - I'm a monster on the hill / Too big to hang out, slowly lurching toward your favorite city / Pierced through the heart, but never killed

Snow on the beach - But your eyes are flying saucers from another planet

Youre on your own kid - I picked the petals, he loves me not / Something different bloomed / Writing in my room

Midnight rain - And he never thinks of me / Except when I'm on TV

Question - gonna keep it real i straight up dont get this song

Vigilante shit - Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife

Bejeweled - I made you my world / Have you heard? / I can reclaim the land / And I miss you / But I miss sparkling

Labyrinth - I'll be getting over you my whole life

Karma - Karma is a cat / Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me / Flexing like a goddamn acrobat / Me and karma vibe like that

Sweet nothing - All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing

Mastermind - No one wanted to play with me as a little kid / So I've been scheming like a criminal ever since / To make them love me and make it seem effortless

Hits different - I pictured you with other girls in love / Then threw up on the street

The great war - Soldier down on that icy ground / Looked up at me with honor and truth / Broken and blue / So I called off the troops / That was the night I nearly lost you

Bigger than the whole sky - Did some bird flap its wings over in Asia? / Did some force take you because I didn't pray?

Paris - I wanna brainwash you into loving me forever

High infidelity - Do you really want to know where I was April 29th? / Do I really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?

Glitch - Maybe I'll see you out some weekend / Depending on what kind of mood and situation-ship I'm in / And what's in my system

Would've could've should've - THE ENTIRE THING !!!!!!!!!

Dear reader - No one sees when you lose when you're playing solitaire

Youre losing me - And I wouldn't marry me either / A pathological people pleaser / Who only wanted you to see her

Thats all the songs i can think of. My hands are shaking

#ts #taylor swift

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taste-in-music · 2 years ago

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taste-in-music’s top 30 songs of 2022

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my annual countdown of my 30 favorite songs of the year. 2022 had a lot of great music releases, and I’m so excited to recount the songs I replayed throughout the year. Now, on with the list!

This year was so jam-packed I have ten honorable mentions to share before we get to the list proper: tears in the club by FKA Twigs ft. The Weeknd, Destination l’amour by Pi Ja Ma, Little Freak by Harry Styles, Fast Times by Sabrina Carpenter, EMPATHY 4 BETHANY by Saya Gray, Be Cool by Maggie Rogers, This Hell by Rina Sawayama, Heavy Heart by Bartees Strange, Karma by Taylor Swift, and Shotgun by Soccer Mommy

F2F by SZA: “F2F” was a fast favorite that came late in the year, mostly for how pleasantly surprising it was. The 2000s pop-punk revival has been percolating for the past few years, and SZA’s entry into the genre suits her frighteningly well. She’s written on the complications of revenge sex and missing an ex before, but the area-ready bombast of the guitar-driven instrumental elevates it to the next level. It may have looked to the past for sonic inspiration, but it feels fresh.

君に夢中 (Kimini Muchuu) by Hikaru Utada: I didn’t know what to expect when I clicked play on J-pop icon Hikaru Utada’s new album on a whim, but when I heard “君に夢中,” which translates to “crazy about you” in English, I was immediately struck by a feeling of familiarity. It may be because the opening synth riff reminds me of “Boys Of Summer,” it may be Utada’s impassioned delivery, it may be the rattling hi-hats that instate an undeniable groove on the song’s back end. Whatever it is, Utada managed to capture something ethereal on this track, and I can’t wait to explore more of her catalogue in the future.

Flower (In Full Bloom) by Luna Li ft. Dreamer Isioma: Romantic angst never sounded so damn dreamy. On “Flower (In Full Bloom),” Luna Li pleads with a lover that refuses to put in the effort in a relationship, while Dreamer Isioma provides the opposing perspective speaking about how the spark has already died. As the song progresses, the cushy soundscape of twinkling keys escalates to a bitching guitar solo that makes for one hell of a final moment.

Kissing Lessons by Lucy Dacus: If nothing else, “Kissing Lessons” is a marvel of concision. Each detail Dacus compiles, bracelet charms, hair tosses, dreams of buying a three-story house, all come together to form a rich vignette about a young girl’s budding sexuality and growing inculcation into gender roles in just under two minutes. Place those details over a rollicking rock instrumental and you’ve got on special sucker punch of a song that gives you just enough to want to know more. The only choice, then, is to hit repeat.

It’s Raining by Superorganism ft. Dylan Cartlidge and Stephen Malkmus: For Superorganism, there is no sample too silly, no instrumental flourish too strange to throw into their melting pot. Describing “It’s Raining” from their sophomore album World Wide Pop means describing the barrage of baffling moments it throws at warp speed. Frontwoman Orono Noguchi sings about a “cyborg grilled-cheese-sandwich machine” over thunderclaps. English rapper Dylan Cartlidge spits bars about Elon Musk over a backing chorus of what sounds like demented Muppets. Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus’s lyrics about riding a horse-drawn carriage are ushered in with clip-clopping hooves and a sample of a neigh. These moments come together to form a loopy, loping confection that’s as absurd as it is addictive.

Superfan by Chelsea Jade: On “Superfan,” Chelsea Jade navigates the blurred lines of talking to a crush, a situation where you’re trading adversarial jabs and confrontational quips and you can never tell if you’re flirting or fighting. Ultimately, Jade reveals the obsession lying beneath the surface, identifying herself as a “superfan” trying to play it cool. Driving home the playful awkwardness is Jade’s use of vocal samples throughout, whether they’re narrating along to her conversation or splicing through the chorus with hiccup-y clips of harmonization. It’s a song that cuts through the guise to reveal the vulnerability at its core.

Holding Back by BANKS: In the years since her debut, BANKS has become my go-to artist for electropop bangers that conjure emotional vulnerability and goddess-level confidence alike. “Holding Back” may be an outpouring of memories in the wake of a doomed relationship, but the hard-hitting electronic groove and boosted bass breathe new life into a familiar concept. As BANKS switches between vulnerable coos and full-chested belts, she unleashes the innermost desire for her care to be reciprocated. “I wrote you a melody,” she sings in the chorus, “can’t you see that?”

Whatever Fits Together by Skullcrusher: Skullcrusher has perfected the art of weaving immersive tapestries from whispy sonic fragments, a strummed guitar here, a gossamer synthesizer there, a lyrical fragment about leaving home to tie it all into a single package. “Whatever Fits Together” pulls disparate pieces from their distinct places in the ether to form something transient and melancholy, the mournful tone of Helen Ballentine’s voice balanced by a sunny tambourine. It’s ephemeral, it’s beautiful, it all fits together perfectly.

Another Man’s Jeans by Ashe: Ashe may have broken onto the pop scene with brokenhearted ballads, but there’s always been a confidence and cleverness to her delivery that’s made her stand out. On her comeback single “Another Man’s Jeans,” she douses her witty songwriting with pure funk concentrate and struts through a kiss-off to a situationship with more swagger than she’s ever showcased on tape before. It makes for one of the most fun party jams of the year.

girlfriend by hemlocke springs: I first encountered hemlocke springs via an Instagram Reel where she posted a video propositioning “do u wanna hear the weirdest bridge you’ll ever hear in ur entire life?” The subsequent bridge shows springs hurling her voice up and down the scale with reckless abandon over a spritely synth groove, and wile it might not be the “weirdest bridge” I’ve ever heard, it certainly was one of the most memorable the year had to offer. The rest of the song, a blasé kiss-off to a potential suitor, pulls of the rare achievement for a viral song and lives up to the catchiness of the initial clip.

Spitting Off the Edge of the World by Yeah Yeah Yeahs ft. Perfume Genius: “Spitting Off The Edge of the World” is awesome in the archaic sense, encapsulating the simultaneous awe and terror that comes from facing something so much bigger than yourself. It’s a song that earns it galactic sense of scope from the quiet moments it provides to contrast it, as Karen O and Perfume Genius trade demure, flitting verses before the chorus kicks in on the heels of a larger-than-life barrage synths and guitars. It’s titanic, it’s triumphant, it’s just awesome, (in that it’s also just damn great.)

The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen ft. Rufus Wainwright: I remember when this song was released just ahead of The Loneliest Time album and questioning how this collaboration could possibly work. As soon as I heard it, the answer was clear: never question Carly Rae Jepsen. At this point, Jepsen has boiled pop music down to a science, but that doesn’t mean it’s sterile or forced. The string-adorned, disco-inflected groove on “The Loneliest Time” is the perfect landscape for Jepsen and Wainwright to trade verses about giving an old flame a second chance. It all culminates in that excellent bridge where Jepsen enthusiastically declares “I’m coming back for you baby / I’m coming back for you!” I, too, will continue coming back to this song, and Jepsen’s catalogue as a whole, when I need a pick up from my own personal loneliest times.

fairy song by beabadoobee: Throughout her second album Beatopia, beabadoobee’s jaunty melodies and sugar-sweet vocals just barely cover a greater desperation for care and connection percolating beneath the surface. The best demonstration of this is “fairy song,” where a running list of self-care tasks atop perky pianos slowly cracks apart until it fully breaks into a buzzy whirlwind of distortion and beabadoobee’ screams just barely audible in the background. Then, just as the pandemonium reaches its peak, the song pulls itself back together and returns to the chipper atmosphere it began with. Ignoring one’s distress will only take you so far before the weight becomes too much to bear. Sometimes, drinking water and going outside isn’t enough. Letting the mess fly free every so often might just be the key to moving forward.

Cardigan by Sophie Cates: “Cardigan” is my silly pop song of the year, the track I turned to when I needed an instant sugar rush of endorphins. Sure, Sophie Cates rhymes “again” with “again” with “cardigan” with “again” again on the hook, but when it's set against the most instantly catchy melody of 2022, I hardly even notice. That’s not a slight against Cates’s writing though, the other choice details she employs throughout the song paint a vivid picture of a romance that’s lost its sparkle, and the wistful desire for the magic to return. It’s that undercurrent of longing that elevates “Cardigan” from being just a silly pop song to a great silly pop song, one that sticks around long after the initial rush has passed.

Bump by Dora Jar: Dora Jar’s music captures the dark whimsy of a fairy tale, but the real fairy tales where the pixie dust and glass slippers come with a hungry wolf or vengeful witch lurking in the shadows. It’s a musical world that’s a little spooky, rife with curiosity, and lit up with a flicker of excitement. “Bump” is one of the best demonstrations of this quality, with Dora Jar describing the wonder of a chance encounter that may escalate into something more. The song is accented with astonished gaps, a swampy chorus of backing vocals, and an air-tight beat. It’s sweet and wondrous and a little claustrophobic, sonically capturing that tight-throated, heart-hammering anticipation to see what comes next.

In The Eyes Of Our Love by Yumi Zouma: “In The Eyes Of Our Love” is good in a way that just feels obvious, providing a breezy yet danceable energy that’s poised to play out the romantic climax of a teen movie from the 90s. Beneath its cheery surface, though, is a tremor of anxiety. Lead vocalist Christie Simpson signs of crumbling walls, splitting lips, and looming storms, worries that accelerate and melt away over the song's duration. Every great pop song grows all the greater with a sense of urgency, and “In The Eyes Of Our Love” threads that needle effortlessly while still being danceable as hell. What more could you want?

Part Of The Band by The 1975: Over the past few years, The 1975 have twisted the anthemic pop-rock that put them on the map to reveal the absurdity and anxiety at the heart of modern life. On “Part Of The Band,” the band’s first single off their 2022 album Being Funny In A Foreign Language, frontman Matty Healy’s musings on social upheaval are equal parts hilarious and insightful. After stuffing the song full of dizzying rhymes, (“vaccinista tote bag-chic baristas” with “communista keisters” especially comes to mind,) Healy finishes on a searing moment of self-reflection: “am I just some post-coke, average, skinny bloke / calling his ego imagination?” With a twitchily elegant backdrop crafted from plucky string swells, chopped-up vocal samples, and quivering synths, it’s a song whose catchiness, cleverness, and creativity lives up to the critiques on display.

ALIEN SUPERSTAR by Beyoncé: It was difficult to pick a favorite track from RENAISSANCE, an album so consistently excellent in its delivery of dancefloor euphoria. In the end, I had to go with the self-love celebration “ALIEN SUPERSTAR.” Every element of this song oozes self-assurance, from the spacy disco instrumental to Beyoncé’s vocals, which switch from sensual cooing to a British accent-inflected declarations to braggadocious belting at the drop of a hat. The result is a track poised to dominate dancefloors across the galaxy for years to come, and who’s surprised? She’s one of one. She’s number one. She’s the only one.

Nothing Gives Me Pleasure by Girlpool: I clicked play on Girlpool’s fifth album Forgiveness without any clear expectations. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be blasted with a wave of distorted synths followed by the most memorable opening line of the year: “Do you even want me if I even have to ask? / Break it to me gently with your fingers up my ass.” It’s an unforgettable one-two punch that immediately establishes the core themes of the album, trying to reconcile the desire for emotional and physical intimacy, and how those desires often conflict with and contradict one another. “Nothing Gives Me Pleasure” walks the power balance in a relationship built on mismatched expectations, trying to sate yourself with sex and coming up short. The soundscape skitters and heaves, the distortion ratcheting up as Harmony Tividad reiterates the title line over and over: “Nothing gives me pleasure like the words I know you won’t say.”

cool by Uffie: Uffie made a name for herself in the bloghouse scene of the early 2010s, a musical moment defined by glitchy earworms, a punkish dedication to keeping the party going as long as possible, and lots and lots of glitter. For her 2021 comeback single with Company Records, “cool,” Uffie evolves the quirky maximalism of her past into something slick, modern, and effortlessly, well, cool. On “cool,” Uffie digs for gold in moments of stillness amidst chaos, chronicling moments of reprieve during a night out: sleepy Uber rides, poolside kisses, eating cereal with her partner. The best demonstration of this comes when, at the precipice of each chorus, all the music cuts out for a moment before Uffie ushers in the razor-sharp groove with a simple utterance of the song’s title, delivered with a blasé surety of someone who’s seen it all. As she sings in the song’s third verse, she’s “got nothing left to prove.”

HENTAI by ROSALÍA: Amidst the raucous genreclash that makes up the rest of the MOTOMAMI tracklist, the gentle pianos of “HENTAI” may initially feel a bit out of place. But if you listen closely, there’s much to discover beneath its deceptively simple surface. First off, the lyrics are filthy as hell, (I know, big surprise for a song literally called “HENTAI,”) but the cheeky references to bike riding and tape making are balanced out by a tender backdrop that knows when to up the bombast. Whether it be the barely-there string flourishes, fluttering vocal runs, or the skittering blast of drums that drives the song’s closing moments home, “HENTAI” provides just enough off-kilter details that make the song transcend from mere sexy piano ballad into only “La ROSALÍA” could provide.

Simulation Swarm by Big Thief: Despite Big Thief’s fifth album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You dropping all the way back in February, I found “Simulation Swarm” shamefully late in the year. But as soon as I heard it, I knew it would be on this list, and pretty high up too. Adrianne Lenker crafts songs that are immediately familiar, like I must have been listening to them from childhood. The details she employs throughout "Simulation Swarm” balance beauty and malice, painting the dark fairy tale and casual terror of modern life “crystal blood like a dream true,” “swallows in the windless field,” “river of light who I love / That I sing to in the belly of the empty night.” Set against a locomotive folk instrumental, “Simulation Swarm” feels like a gentle hug from the abyss, voicing the ability to face danger and walk forward with hope.

Till We Run Out Of Air by Hatchie: I thought I knew what to expect going into Hatchie’s sophomore album Giving The World Away. Early singles like “Quicksand” and “This Enchanted” delivered another helping of the joyful shoegaze pop she’s been delivering for years. It’s a sound I’m always willing to gobble up, but there was an echo of something greater hovering right beneath the surface. With the final song on the album, Hatchie delivered a falcon punch of a finale that transforms that spark into a fireworks show. With its susurrus of swirling, watery synths and arena-ready chorus, “Till We Run Out Of Air” plows right through me with each repeated spin. It’s a song enraptured in the fine line between destruction and exhilaration, tracing the final moments in a romance with larger-than-life bombast. Perhaps the best encapsulation of this euphoria comes at the precipice of the chorus. “Open the curtains and let in the light,” Hatchie sings, before a glowing blossom of synths barrels the listener right into the song’s most anthemic refrain. It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel finally breaking through the darkness at just the right moment.

doomsday by Lizzie McAlpine: On her second album five seconds flat, Lizzy McAlpine elevated her personal songwriting with a cinematic scope. This approach is immediately introduced on the album’s opening “doomsday,” a slow-burning ballad chronicling a breakup though the lens of hindsight. McAlpine circles through deathly metaphors throughout the song: pulling the plug, violent ends, her partner as a “murderer” initiating their split on Halloween, the sample of a bone being split in half. This ghoulish gravitas of is backed up by an orchestral swell that makes the melodrama feel earned. These compounding elements build up the song’s momentum until McAlpine’s final revelation slams into you at full force: “I would’ve married you / If you’d stuck around / I feel more free than I have in years / Six feet in the ground.” The relationship may be dead and gone, but McAlpine makes it clear that she’s only getting started.

Lullabye by Grace Ives: Throughout Janky Star, Grace Ives concocts idea-stuffed soundscapes that vacillate between the anxieties and thrills of young adulthood. The earworms come so casually that they even materialize in the album’s moments of brevity. “Lullabye” is a perfect example of this. As the album’s closer, it shows the chaos winding down, giving way to moments of reflection. Ives’s breathily narrates the “lovely mess” of her life: watching movies on repeat, casually attempting gymnastics moves in the kitchen, and swapping confessions with a loved one late into the night. Set against gauzy landscape of synths, skittering drums, and chirpy backing vocals, I turned to the casual wisdom of “Lullabye” all the times this year when life got overwhelming. “No it’s nothing to be sad about,” Ives sings in the song’s closing moments, “It’s just something I’ve been thinking about.” It’s a welcome reminder of the power ruminating on small joys can hold.

Say It by SASAMI: On her latest album Squeeze, SASAMI took to flipping white male-dominated genres like punk and metal to articulate her own rage. One of the best examples of this is “Say It,” an unapologetic frenzy of glitchy rock scuzz. In an Apple Music interview, SASAMI stated that the song was “about the pain of someone not communicating with you,” carried out as she trades places with a bassy, distorted mirror of her own voice. Situated atop a strutting groove concocted of squealing guitars, grumbling bass, and booming drums, it all comes together to form something equal parts cathartic and terrifying. “Say It” might be one of the best rock songs the year had to offer, but amidst the ruckus, it’s first and foremost a call to throw your repentance to the wind and speak your mind.

Yuck by Charli XCX: If you’ve been on TikTok for the past year or so, odds are you’ve come across the idea of “the ick,” the moment in a romantic relationship where something as simple as watching your beau chase a ping-pong ball across the floor flips your feelings of adoration into disgust. It only makes sense that one of pop’s most forward–thinking artists would capture this cultural phenomenon with masterful specificity and simplicity. Over a bouncy synth-heavy beat, Charli XCX lays out the moment when her love interest’s gooey romantic devotion starts to drive her away. Throughout “Yuck,” she takes romantic tropes like puppy dog eyes and bouquets of roses and flips them on their head. The result is the definitive song to throw on when the candy hearts get cloying. After spending the last few years of her career pushing pop to its very limits, her latest album Crash was a welcome reminder that even without all the hyperpop flourishes, she can still write damn good and effortless catchy bangers like this.

Free by Florence + The Machine: How do you persevere in the face of suffering? seems to be the question Florence Welch fixates on most throughout her projects with Florence + The Machine. She’s turned to several places in the past: making a break for freedom on her breakout hit “Dog Days Are Over,” self-destructive love on rock bangers like ��Ship To Wreck” and “Shake It Out,” and reconciliation on her previous album, High As Hope. While the definite answer for such a question may never materialize, Welch has recognized how music can be one of the most potent salves for such woes. Her 2022 album Dance Fever provides several welcome additions to Welch’s growing catalog of musical catharsis, but it was “Free,” a free-spirited banger co-written by Jack Antonoff, that ended up hitting me the hardest. “Free” taps into something primal yet graceful, a raucous recognition that sometimes, the most inspiring feelings of freedom come hand in hand with singing at the top of your lungs. “For a moment, when I'm dancing,” Welch declares with titanic vocals over a propulsive drum beat and glittering keys, “I am free.” This relief may be temporary, but for the moment, it’s nothing short of magical.

American Teenager by Ethel Cain: On her debut album Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel Cain chronicles a journey of adolescent ennui and religious turmoil through sprawling, atmospheric ballads. Before she gets into all that, she also proves that she can write a teen pop anthem for the ages. “American Teenager” is the first official song on the album, and while it may be shorter and more immediate than its predecessors, it’s no less deftly crafted. Cain harnesses the larger-than-life, anthemic synth pop of the 80s, accenting the soundscape with shining synths, booming drums, and a bright saxophone solo. While the song relishes in altruistic Americana imagery of crying on the bleachers and whiskey-fueled rebellion, Cain also acknowledges the darkness lurking beneath the jubilation on the surface. The opening verse describes her neighbor’s brother being shipped home in a coffin, “another red heart taken by the American dream.” Still, despite this darkness, there’s a hope at the core of “American Teenager” that catapults it into the stratosphere, that suggests that maybe someday, those promises might come to fruition.

touch tank by quinine: I first came across “touch tank” as a fragment on TikTok, a looping clip of quinnie lip synching along to the first few lines of the chorus: “He’s so pretty / when he goes down on me.” And what an attention-grabbing set of lines they are, it’s not everyday that you stumble across a sweet, unassuming bedroom pop song explicitly discussing cunnilingus. But it isn’t just the refreshingly matter-of-fact references to sex that make “touch tank” stick in the memory, it’s the atmosphere of intimacy quinnie builds around those lines. In its final form, “touch tank” builds an aqueous wonderland of small yet palpably intimate moments, freshly laundered t-shirts, discovering new tattoos, choosing to be gentle. “touch tank” is a tribute to those early stages in a relationship where you’re poking and prodding with care, trying to reach tender places without drawing blood. Rounded out with warm guitars, cooing flutes, and just a twinge of vocal distortion, it’s a song that feels lived in, welcoming, drawing you deeper into its depths with each repeated spin.

What were your favorite songs from this year? Did I miss anything? Leave a comment or tag some in the reblogs and let me know.

This year has been an absolute whirlwind, and I hope you all have some good memories from it. Here’s to a safe, healthy 2023!

#songs #song recommendation #taylor swift #SZA #lucy dacus #carly rae jepsen #beyoncé #charli xcx #florence + the machine #ethel cain #taste in music 2022 faves #taste in music

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limbusrailway · 1 year ago

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PINNED POST INTRO

I am Ace! (They/Them) I’m a funny little writer, I like classic lit, Limbus launched and I got into Project Moon. We will see if this blog maintains ANY sort of consistent activity.

My Limbus Company friend code is S359631343 - I try to keep units relatively leveled and have my favorite/most powerful of each sinner up in their respective number slot. If you know me via discord or somewhere else just message me and I’m willing to swap out IDs and EGO and the like to meet needs!

Favorite Sinners are Sinclair, Meursault, Rodya, Yi Sang, Faust, Hong Lu, and Gregor because everyone like Gregor that’s the law. But I generally enjoy everyone!!

General info on my “bus” of fansinners underneath the cut.

Limbus OC content generally under the tag “LCR (limbus company railway)”

Individual Sinner/Character Tags for this blog:

Yi Sang - make friends with crows

Faust - faust is quite gay

Don Quixote - ONWARD BRAVE KNIGHT

Ryoushuu - B.L.E.E.D. (Big Lesbian Energy Extra Debauchery)

Meursault - MEURSAULTS TITS

Hong Lu - poor little rich boy

Heathcliff - hes gonna clobber ya

Ishmael - fishmael

Rodion - gambling addiction

Sinclair - cheepcheep

Outis - outism moment

Gregor - *scuttling noises*

Dante - tiktok

Vergilius - oh no hes giving me THE LOOK--

Charon - the wheels on the bus go crunch crunch crunch

Sinner #1 (23) - Kai

Source: The Snow Queen (Hans Christen Andersen)

Color: Beau Blue (BCD4E6)

Icon: A Snowflake

Weapon: Virkelighed (Danish; "Reality") [Unique knife designed for slashing, blade loops around the fingers of a fist much like brass knuckles.]

E.G.O.: The Devil's Mirror

Sinner #2 (24) - Pan

Source: Peter Pan (J. M. Barrie)

Color: Forest Green (0B6623)

Icon: Panpipes & a Feather

Weapon: Youth [Short sword.]

E.G.O.: Second Star to the Right

Sinner #3 (25) - Dorothy

Source: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)

Color: Ruddy Blue (76ABDF)

Icon: The Silver Slippers

Weapon: Home [A hammer.]

E.G.O.: Over the Rainbow

Sinner #4 (26) - Orpheus

Source: Greek Myth

Color: Bone (E7DECC)

Icon: A Lyre.

Weapon: Μούσα (Greek; "Muse") [A guitar.]

E.G.O.: Don’t Look Back

Sinner #5 (27) - Aino

Source: The Kalevala (The National Epic of Finland)

Color: Arsenic (3B444B)

Icon: A Fish.

Weapon: Neitsyt (Finnish; "Maiden") [A whip.]

E.G.O.: Moonmaid’s Silver, Sunmaid’s Gold

Sinner #6 (28) - Charles Wallace

Source: A Wrinkle In Time (Madeleine L'Engle)

Color: Pastel Pink (FFD1DC)

Icon: A ringed planet.

Weapon: Tesseract [A flail.]

E.G.O.: Something New

Sinner #7 (29) - Hallward

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)

Color: Teal (48AAAD)

Icon: A painter’s palette.

Weapon: Worship [A staff.]

E.G.O.: Portrait of the Artist

Sinner #9 (31) - Momo

Source: Momo or The Gray Men (Michael Ende)

Color: Ochre (CC7722)

Icon: A blossoming flower.

Weapon: Zeit (German; "Time") [Armor.]

E.G.O.: The Hour Blossoms

Sinner #10 (32) - Candide

Source: Candide (Voltaire)

Color: Eminence (6C3082)

Icon: A two-sided mask, reminiscent of that of comedy and tragedy.

Weapon: Pire (French; "Worst") [A rapier.]

E.G.O.: Everything Is Best

Sinner #11 (33) - Billy Pilgrim

Source: Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut)

Color: Ruby (900603)

Icon: A broken clock.

Weapon: Poo-tee-weet [A shotgun.]

E.G.O.: Unstuck in Time

Sinner #12 (34) - Darcy

Source: Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen)

Color: Yale Blue (00356B)

Icon: A coin & ring.

Weapon: Pride [Throwing knives.]

E.G.O.: Lost Forever

Sinner #13 (35) - Riviera

Source: Neuromancer (William Gibson)

Color: Lime (AEF359)

Icon: A syringe.

Weapon: Chrome [Claws.]

E.G.O.: Millions of Illusions

Sinner #8 [30] MANAGER - Alice

Source: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carrol)

GUIDE - Lily / The White Queen

Source: Through the Looking-Glass (Lewis Carrol)

E.G.O.: Lost Daughter

DRIVER - Nemo

Source: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)

#limbus #limbus company #project moon #lobotomy corporation #library of ruina #my ocs #LCR (limbus company railway)#fansinners #ace writes #limbus oc

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bluespalet · 2 years ago

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shotgun boy (by carnby kim) headers

like or reblog if you use

#webtoon #webtoon icons #sweet home cast #webtoon headers #shotgun boy icons #shotgun boy

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notalkingbusiness · 2 years ago

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Kitchen Nightmares - Part II

I did a post a while back about how Carol has been relegated to the kitchen for a lot of Season 11. And it got me thinking about how TWD showrunners tackled kitchen scenes/domestic duties.

To be clear, kitchen/laundry scenes are fine – provided that the writers are thinking carefully about why a certain scene has to take place in a kitchen or why it’s important to show domestic chores on screen. If you’re just putting your female characters into the kitchen because you’re not sure what to do with them, that’s where we have a problem.

With this in mind, I’m going to do a quick run through of some notable scenes with each showrunner.

Quick disclaimers: (1) This list isn’t exhaustive. (2) Most (but not all) of these scenes are Carol focused for obvious reasons. (3) All of this is just like, my opinion, man.

Darabont Era – Season 1

Two scenes stand out to me and they’re both in Tell it to the Frogs.

1. Our first Carol/Rick interaction comprises of Carol doing Rick’s laundry.

2. Carol, Andrea, Amy, and Jacqui wash clothes together at the quarry.

Both scenes get a thumbs up from me because they end up subverting expectations. There’s actually a lot going on when you stop and think about it.

Carol might look unassuming as she irons Rick’s laundry but looks can be deceiving. We’re seeing code-switching in action as she consciously self-presents as a harmless housewife rather than as a woman who would swipe a grenade from your clothes.

The sexist division of labor is highlighted in the clothes washing scene. But the thing that really elevates the scene for me is Carol’s cheeky admission about missing her vibrator. It’s the first obvious indication that there’s more to Carol than meets the eye.

I’m not claiming Darabont as a feminist icon, but I think he employed his domestic duty scenes carefully. I feel like there’s always something deeper going on and they provide insight into characters like Carol.

Mazzara Era – Seasons 2 & 3

I liked Mazzara, but I don’t think he did anything particularly interesting with Carol’s kitchen scenes in Season 2. We see Carol serving Daryl food and Carol proposes cooking a big meal for everyone in the Greene family kitchen. Just felt a little surface level to me.

So, not so good on the Carol front BUT I loved the exchange between Lori and Andrea in the Greene family kitchen.

Andrea: I contribute. I help keep this place safe.

Lori: The men can handle this on their own. They don’t need your help.

Andrea: I’m sorry – what would you have me do?

Lori: Oh, there’s plenty of work to go round.

Andrea: Are you serious? Everything falls apart, you’re in my face over skipping laundry?

Lori: Puts the burden on the rest of us. On me and Carol and Patricia and Maggie. Cooking and cleaning and caring for Beth – you . . . You don’t care about anyone but yourself, you said it up there on that RV, working on a tan with a shotgun in your lap.

Andrea: I am on watch against walkers - that’s what matters. Not fresh mint leaves in the lemonade!

Lori: We are providing stability. We’re trying to create a life worth living.

I really like this exchange. On the one hand, Lori is enforcing traditionally feminine roles, but on the on the other hand, Andrea is devaluing the work of the other women – she wants to be one of the boys. Is Lori being regressive or is she looking for solidarity from Andrea? Does fresh mint in the lemonade matter – should you make the most of these things before it’s too late? How should the division of labor be settled? There aren’t any answers to be had in Season 2, but the main thing is that these tensions are addressed.

Gender boundaries are being drawn and redrawn in the brave new world. It’s not lost on any of the characters that women risk slipping back into regressive roles in the apocalypse.

Gimple Era – Seasons 4-8

I’ve talked about Gimple’s approach to kitchen scenes before, so I’ll just keep this to a few lowlights/highlights.

30 Days Without an Accident

Carol’s already a badass by the time Season 4 rolls around – she was established as an excellent shot and a survivor against the odds in Season 3. So, before watching the Season 4 premiere, you might have expected to see Carol taking out walkers or practicing her surgical skills in the opening minutes of Season 4.

But the first time we see her in Season 4 . . .

She’s cooking.

Feels like a giant step backwards, doesn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I like the exchange between Daryl and Carol, but this conversation didn’t have to take place with Carol serving Daryl food. Patrick could have been serving. Carol and Daryl could have had the “I liked you first” exchange while they both wait in line for their food.

The Grove

The Grove is rightly hailed as one of the best episodes . . . but the kitchen scenes don’t really do anything for me.

Maybe I’d feel differently if the writers had done more to explore Carol’s relationship with her grandma in the kitchen scene.

The Birth of Kitchen!Carol! (Seasons 5-8)

I don’t have the heart to go through all of Carol’s kitchen scenes from Seasons 5-8, but we all know that she was in the kitchen an awful lot.

And I know it’s meant to be about Carol being in deep cover and how she’s secretly playing all the Alexandrians. IDK, it felt like it got to a point where it wasn’t being done ironically anymore. They just put Carol in the kitchen because they didn’t know what else to do with her – they’d rather relegate her to the kitchen and focus on the very important manly men instead.

Like the whole beetroot cookie thing was meant to show how she’s resourceful and innovative and caring . . . But is this really the best way to showcase these qualities? Do you think the writers would do this for any of the male characters?

And I feel as if someone like Mazzara could have teased out the complexities of post-apocalyptic food culture. E.g., the conversation between Olivia and Carol about the boar leg could have been great. Olivia asks if Carol can bring back a boar leg so that she can make prosciutto and Carol makes a face. It’s clear by the way that this scene is set up that we’re meant to side with Carol – we’re supposed to see Olivia as unbearably cosseted and out of touch. Is she though? You’d think that salting and curing meats would be a smart thing to do and that Olivia’s knowledge would be really useful in a world where refrigeration capacity is severely restricted. We could have had another interesting “mint leaves in the lemonade” style discussion.

Anyway, I’m not saying that all the kitchen scenes should have gone on the chopping block. There are bright spots – take New Best Friends. It’s an emotionally charged moment between Carol and Daryl that ties into all the little and large ways that they take care of each other. Carol might not be able to do what Daryl needs right now, but she can still provide for him. Daryl might not be able to stay with Carol right now, but he’ll take a break from his hellbent mission to spend quality time with her.

Kang Era 9-10

I’ve already talked about Kang’s approach to kitchen scenes, so I’ll keep it brief! Kang’s kitchen scenes are emotionally driven, and they never feel like just a kitchen scene. Like with Darabont, there’s always something deeper going on with these scenes. And we’ve had a few instances of Daryl cooking for Carol which was refreshing.

If you can’t stand the heat

Personal ranking for the best use of kitchen scenes/domestic duty scenes are as followed:

1. Kang

2. Darabont

3. Mazzara

4. Gimple

It goes without saying that the more women you have in your creative team, the more likely it is that sexist assumptions will be questioned. As the TWDU expands, the writing team should be more diverse than ever, not more homogenous than ever before.

#frank darabont #glen mazzara #scott gimple #angela kang #carol peletier #caryl

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white-weasel · 10 months ago

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Saw Saturday has come yet again, this time we watched Saw VI:

First off, this movie was so aggressively 2008-2009 in its theme I was FLOORED. Of course there were the predatory lenders, loaning out money to those they knew couldn’t pay it back (direct reference to the housing crash in 2007/2008) and then I got hit with the words “preexisting condition” and literally went “oh fuck the affordable care act doesn’t exist yet.” So definitely was interesting to get a blast from the past with social commentary that was very much based on popular public discourse at the time (not saying predatory lending and American health insurance aren’t also issues now just… a different kind of issue/focus)

I cannot believe that Strahm’s hand survived that entire crushing room so in tact. Then again I did not watch Strahm’s actual death at all because I’m too much of a baby about broken bones, but just seeing the rest of the corpse… man Hoffman got pretty lucky with that one

Perez didn’t die in 4/5 I fucking called it!!! Like I said, if I don’t see your body idc, you’re alive in my book

Still, I’m surprised that they revealed that bit of information to Hoffman. I guess at that point they were running off the assumption Strahm was Jigsaw’s accomplice and thus Hoffman would be a trusted ally in the investigation but man

Speaking of, Hoffman was sooooo sus this entire movie it was almost comical. I mean, it’s probably just because you as an audience member know Hoffman’s whole deal but still

Another Saw trap gauntlet! I think it’s interesting that as the movies moved more towards focusing on John Kramer and his crew as the main characters, rather than those in the trap, the traps have turned into multiple tests rather than just one. It makes sense from a story telling perspective though because that way they don’t have to explain multiple people’s deals why they’re in these traps and can instead just focus on one

With that, I think this was my favorite of the trap gauntlets yet! Actual tough decisions for William and I feel like it mixed the moral choices being put forward by 3 about saving people, while also making the decisions tougher/have more consequences like 5. I really liked the maze where in order to let her pass through he had to redirect the steam and burn himself and the shotgun carousel trap where he had to impale his hands in order to save just a fraction of those on it.

I was staring at the teen boy with his mom who have been put in that cage room with the acid and was like “He looks familiar but idk where I’ve seen him before” a few scenes later my friend just blurts out “oh my god that’s Rodrick from Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and we literally had to pause to take in that information

Once again though, not sure how I feel about more John Kramer lore being added, but this at least didn’t stand out to me as being Too Much yknow. It makes sense that there was a slimy insurance guy who screwed over thousands of sick people and also did it to John, who was a close friend. Didn’t break anything pre established too much

Idk if this was intentional but the whole thing about the knives used to cut the jigsaw pieces out being different for Hoffman vs John felt like it was kinda a reference back to John telling Hoffman that the blade on his pendulum was inferior. If Hoffman had just followed John’s lead and used a surgical precision knife, the right tool for the job, to cut up that latest victim, the discrepancy wouldn’t have been raised and they probably wouldn’t have even thought about re-examining the Seth Baxter tape

The scene in the audio technician lab? So good. Once again Hoffman is being so so sus but also he’s cornered. I do have to question the logic of letting Hoffman hear the actual incriminating evidence when it’s pretty obvious they suspected him at this point, but it led to an iconic moment so I will take it

Rip Perez for real this time :( genuinely did like her from what we saw from her and I desperately wanted her to own Hoffman’s ass

Did NOT expect Hoffman to have basically blackmailed Amanda into killing Lynn (and thereby killing herself) back in 3, but now that I think about it it makes sooo much sense. It never 100% clicked with me why Amanda did that with how I read her character, but knowing that she was making the choice between her father figure/mentor/person who’s approval she wanted most in the world hating her or killing Lynn, things have fallen into place better

Jill was MUCH more involved with the Jigsaw operation than I had previously thought. It was basically like a fucking murder family up in there lmaoooo

Hoffman in the reverse bear trap was unexpected!! And the fact he beat what was supposed to be an unbeatable trap for him??? Actually a little bit insane. (He and Strahm both surviving “unwinnable” traps? They’re perfect for each other) I cannot wait to see what Jill’s reaction is gonna be when he eventually shows up and is like “I lived, bitch”

We’re reaching the point where my friend doesn’t remember what happens in the series (she watched some of the movies year ago) She said she very clearly remembered 1-3, would remember things as they came up in 4, and now only remembers stuff from Jigsaw since she saw that one in theaters. However, she loves hearing me ramble about my theories and then likes to look things up about the movies so she can know ahead of time if I’m right or not lmao

In her words “See, I knew you would like these movies, not because of like the traps or the gore or anything, but because of the crazy shit that happens in the plot. It’s fun seeing you go crazy about the twists and then spiral until we watch the next one.” And she’s absolutely 100% right

#saw #saw franchise #saw series #saw vi #sawposting #white weasel talks #I scream about Saw

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brownsplodge · 2 years ago

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Okay so I really hate when people keep repeating this question right here

One reason for uncanny valley is to stop us fiddling with dead bodies too much, but the reason I’m addressing will be another.

The reason we have the uncanny valley is not from another being: its to avoid illnesses. It’s like a natural version of ‘ableism’ evolutions gives us. It makes us feel scared of people with visible disorders (for example albinos, or people with Down syndrome and such) because it prevents us from having as many kids with hereditary or other harmful illnesses/diseases(being an albino isn’t harmful for you other than possible bullying, but you’ll still be a ‘target’ of the uncanny valley instinct). The fact that uncanny valley exists is actually horrible because it’s a defence mechanism evolution gave us that is mostly useless because very few horribly bad disorders are visible/passed on by people who have them.

Saying that some monster caused us to develop this instinct is blatantly ignoring people with visible disabilities, which are the actual target of this nowadays mostly useless instinct. Its okay (not great though) to feel uncomfy with nearly but not quite ‘normal’ looking people/things, since it’s a basic instinct, but implying that it’s caused by monsters is basically like calling people with visible disorders monsters.

Basically it’s a way to sort out dangerous, but sadly also ‘ugly’ or ‘undesirable’ genes. Obviously uncanny valley changes a little over time because our standards for human changes, and it is an instinct. I understand you can’t always change that. But it is technically a natural form of ableism

A ton of disabilities are also not visible or skip generations, so this gene is like a small security measure anyways

Nobody is aiming at having disabled kids(I hope), but you shouldn’t be scared of people for having ‘a weird face’ (Well you can be, but don’t be ableist, shut in your mouth, its not that hard/lh)

Basically, probably like 80 percent of instincts are explainable. Even one that people dont realise there’s an easy explanation

Educate ur brain before you say ableist shit on accident/srs

Well to be fair it’s such a widespread theory I can’t blame people for assuming that’s it but still.

The fact that so many horror icons/villains look like that is writers and illustrators playing into the natural instinct, to add to the natural fear/hate you get when you see them, it’s not what makes them a monster. I cannot say I’m completely innocent here. I have made characters albino for an added scary factor. But when you do this, why not add some heroes/protagonists with the same features?

An example for a monster that is portrayed like this is Zero, from shotgun boy. He is a monster, and looks like an albino child. What makes him creepy is largely his looks. They amplify his already there creepiness. I don’t find it great tbh. Make some your villain characters the most normal ass white guy with brown hair looking people please/hj

There will be people who make characters that are ‘obviously’ a villain, with these traits as the way you notice(take Draco Malory from Harry Potter: he’s obviously an ass, but the first description you got is supposed to make you feel like he’s a bad guy from a first impression. Draco Malloy is probably an albino, or he heavily resembles one, as he’s very pale and has light blonde hair. It’s trying to make you feel like he’s a bad guy based purely on his looks.)

Consider: What scares us often? Slightly deformed features or ‘too light’ or pasty skin or hair, red eyes, obvious non symmetry, etc… all symptoms of common (visible) disorders or even just common deformities that you might even have yourself.

Sometimes how someone looks can make you feel uncomfortable, but this is not an excuse to assume that anyone who looks close to the ‘average human’ but not quite is a monster.

TL;Dr: Don’t assume that a monster made us develop an uncanny valley instinct, it’s a defence mechanism that makes us avoid visibly disabled/deformed people and is actually a pretty harmful thing.

Sorry, it’s just that the “oooooh there must have been human like monsters that’s why we have uncanny valley” is such a overused and uneducated and unsettlingly ableist comment and I wanted to rant/infodump the real reason for it.

It’s the common sense of not wanting to have disabled kids combined with internet horror enthusiasts that seemingly have no time to think why we could have a seemingly useless instinct.

It’s not quirky, philosophical, a thing to think about or a funny horror prompt. The idea of monsters disguised as humans is fine. But don’t make it an excuse to spread ableist ideas hidden under quirky horror.

#uncanny valley #tw ableism #long post #rant #disability #disorders

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smileylover99 · 2 years ago

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So i usually dont really make posts, but im doing a supernatural rewatch and ive decided to at least try to chronicle this here.

I've finished the first season (I made an attempt a couple months earlier but got stuck at like ep 16 (when plot started happening)). This time i powered through and before i started season 2 i wanted to finish this post. These are my main take-aways from season 1:

(Warning rambling ahead)

The first couple episodes are actually really good and fun they set the tone of the show so well and introduce us both to the characters as well as the lore. What i also realized is that many of the iconic fanvid moments are from the first season (but also especially those first couple eps).

Also because they have to have their characters talk about their kit in a "natural" way, its Sam being like Dean i KNOW a shotgun doesnt work against ghosts why are you giving me this / Well because Sammy this one is filled with rocksalt (like this is not a thing before). Which knowing the later seasons makes them seem like such amateur hunters honestly. They dont know about rocksalt bullets, they dont know about devil traps, they dont know an excersism by heart (Bobby does say demon possession used to be a rarity and are on the uptick, but STILL) also in episode 4 Dean complains about having to wear suits for their disguise because they never needed to do that before, another later season staple they claim to have been doing for the first time.

I also forgot how early the psychic Sam story line began, its like set up from the beginning and truely gets going ep 5, and it does such good and interesting things with the Sam and Dean dynamic. They also introduce Meg and ol' yellow-eyes (as well as his son, Meg's brother who dies?? I don't remember him coming back? does he???)

Sam and Dean's dynamic is honestly my main reason for rewatching their so stupidly codependent while also being stubborn as fuck and then when you throw John in the mix it becomes even more interesting

also John is a piece of shit father, like yea he loves his sons but not enough to actually spend time with them in a fatherlike role i guess (also also when you tell your 18 y/o son to never return when he runs away from home and then say your both at fault for not reconcilling thats on you pall, youre the adult (or are at least supposed to be)) In ep 14 Nightmare Sam and Dean acknowledge that if their dad hadn't completely thrown himself into hunting (thus also physically removing his presence from the boys) he had a big chance of ending up like Max' (super fucking abusive and drunk) dad, which is its own entiere can of worms.

We also later learn that the hunter community is a diverse and supportive place, which makes it extra - lets say interesting - that John purposefully never interacted with them (cept like a couple of white old guys with guns) it tells us so much about his character.

The ending of season 1 was surprisingly well wrapped up tbh. Like i forget there was actually coherent storytelling in the first 5 seasons. They keep building up to Sam wanting revenge, very much mirroring their Dad, while Dean is on the other side, putting his family's lifes above his need for revenge then in the end Sam has to choose, do this Dad's way, truely commit to revenge above everything, in doing so murdering his own family member or chosing family, chosing Dean. And he DOES, and its very cathartic and then the truck hits 10/10 finale

What I haven't really missed from these earlier seasons is the casual misogyny (and homophobia). There are actually quite a few interesting female characters that are introduced, but the only way they are spoken about is how hot they are/how they would like to sleep with them (Dean is especially guilty of this because of his "womanizing" ways, whereas Sam is supposed to be the loyal grieving bf) but it just really dishearting that even when Sam is just talking to a woman of roughly the same age range the writers make Dean say a comment implying the only reason Sam would want to interact with a woman is because he is interested in her romantically/sexually (which he then does his best to refute, again grieving bf, but it also makes me headcanon Sam as greysexual, which i do like but dont think is what the showrunners where going for)

Because they wanted to throw in basically a hot babe character for them to save there are now also a lot of ppl who know about the supernatural specifically because of Sam and Dean. In my mind a lot of them (especially all the early twenties women looking for answers and community) will join a facebook group of Sam and Dean Survivors. They could share experiences, some of them might become hunters, or allies to hunters (researchers, a safe place to stay, etc.) I kept a list of characters that survived and know about things that bump in the night:

Haley, Tommy & Ben Collins; Ep 2, siblings saved from the Wendigo, one of them was captured and the others joined for the recue

Andrea & Lucas Bar; Ep 3, Lucas almost drowned due to a lake ghosting haunting his bully grandad

Amanda Walker; Ep 4, stewardess who survided the plane-crashing demon

Charlie; Ep 5, teenager who was almost a victim to Bloody Mary

Becky Warren; Ep 6, Sam's college pal, who was the shapeshifter tortured (her brother was the suspect before, but he didn't see anything himself, he might find out from his sister tho)

Lori Sorensen; Ep 7, church girl who got haunted by hookman (her dad got stabbed by the ghost, but might just think it was a dude?)

Larry, Matt & Joanie Pike; Ep 8, the housing development family who survived the bug horror night

Jenny and Sari; Ep 9, new residents of the old winchester house, got haunted some ghosts (also baby Ritchie was lured into the fridge, but he is also like 4 at most)

Kat & Gavin; Ep 10, ex-gf and bf who got trapped in the super haunted asylum with Sam and Dean (Kat is the one who inspired this list and also def a future hunter)

Emily Jorgesons; Stephen & girlfriend; Ep 11, they were all chosen to be sacrifed to the scarecrow, Emily actually knows why, the other couple just knows some shit went down

David Wright; Ep 12, the atheist protesting against faith healing who saw a reaper attacking him (also 2 young kids at the start who were captured by a rawhead)

Cassie & Audrey Robinson; Ep 13, would-be victims of racist ghost truck, Cassie was Dean's old flame

Alice Miller; Ep 14, Max' stepmom, who is the only survivor of the family after Max killed his dad, uncle and then himself

Ed Zeddmore & Harry Spengler; Ep 17, intro of the ghost hunters!! they already believed, but now they actually saw a supernatural creature

Micheal; Ep 18, kid whose younger brother also got his life engergy stolen so was willing to use himself as bait

Sarah Blake; Ep 19, auctioneers daughter, she helped destroy the haunted painting, had a thing with Sam

Monica Holt; Ep 21, mother of the fam they saved from yellow-eyes, by breaking and entering their house (Dad Charlie didn't see anything supernatural, but was also there, also baby Rosie)

Hon. Mention: Kathleen Hudak; Ep 15, cop only heard Sam and Dean talk about how the assailants "are human" but did let them go before the rest of the force would arrive, I imagine she would join the facebookgroup and then just figure it out on her own from there

(- unrelated mostly but the rewatch i never continued with i did that one on netflix, because that was available to me then, now i just watch it online elsewhere and i didnt realise netflix changed a lot of the music lisencing so i went into ep 6 kinda hype cause the last time i heard the song Mary by the Death Riders for the first time and thought it was a dope song that added a lot to the scene of the shapeshifter actually shifting and developing his character, so i kept waiting for them to play it and then they didnt, which had me frantically googling what the music of the ep was cause i low-key felt like i was going insane for a second before i found out it was a netflix vs non-netflix thing)

I have thoughts about each individual episode as well, but I think ive rambled on long enough, lets see if i keep this up for season 2 and beyond lol

#supernatural #spn #supernatural season 1 #ramblings

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