#smaltzy they are

[screwpinecaprice]

Ew they're flirting again.

[unseemingowl]

Well, sick leave it is.

Any media recs on uplifting, but not smaltzy media will be well received.

[vexx-ation]

365 Albums in 365 Days: 4/365

Date: Thursday January 4th

Album: haha and then what ;)

Artist: Jawbreaker Reunion

Released: 2016

Genre: twee

Review: I always found obscure bands charming, especially when the imperfections are shown more readily than more heavily processed mainstream artists. This album is the platonic ideal of this— the mixing is a bit questionable, with vocals being buried by instrumentals and guitars being a bit too loud. It doesn’t matter, though, because the talent of all involved parties is clear. It captures all the bright, sometimes smaltzy sentimentalities of indie bedroom pop, but maintains that critical bite and self-awareness that prevents it from veering into cheesiness. It walks a fine line between relatability, precision, and authenticity. The lack of attention this album has gotten, for all the talent and polish on display, is downright criminal. If you need some new indie hits but are tired of the chart toppers, check this out. It’s a masterful 20 minutes.

Favorite Track: Patches

[mamamittens]

Okay picture this female feral reader with yandere WB pirates

If she looks anything like Ace, several members are going to wake up after drinking very confused.

"Didn't we do this already?"

"I thought we did????"

Ace standing next to them offended. He's the best shot at getting her to crack early as The Feral Mountain Pirate. He gets not trusting the smaltzy family vibe WBP got going on. It's weird to get that without actually... Earning it or anything.

Not that the rest of the crew is inexperienced with feral pirates. They got Ace after all!

Unlike Oh Sweet Child of Mine, a feral reader will get a lot more pushback about their displeasure. Might get some mild sedative to help key them down when it gets too... Intense. And ah, man, look at that.

She's sick and not feeling well. Good thing she's got this brand new family to help in her time of need 😃

Fuck help them all if they decide that what she needs is physical affection to help tame her. Not like the way--thats no fun and she's more than earned those fangs--but enough to stop snapping at her new family at least.

She'll (you'll) come around eventually.

[kick-a-long]

Another smaltzy smuck Shabbat everyone.

how do i make it so i can see this tweet every friday

[hoaxghost]

Your angels are beautiful! Do you work with angels in spiritual practice or is it mainly through your art? I pray to angels but I'm super beginner and dont know too much, but maybe youre not the right person to ask 😅

still glorious though thanks for sharing your art 🙏

Thank you for enjoying my art!!! And boy what an interesting ask...

Im afraid I can't say much about the spiritual aspect that would be useful advice... any words I do got are pretty subjective personal interpretations. I'd say it's mostly in art where I explore all these different concepts and ideas I had that were never answered in all the religions schools I attended growing up.

The biggest question I always had was if we were supposed to love our enemy, does that apply to Satan and all the demons too? Is foreigveness solely impossible for the fallen? Do angels truly have free will if they're never allowed to change once they make a mistake and slip up? Is it possible for a human to ascend into becoming an angel? How do angels operate without time and all the knowledge of the universe at their fingertips?

I also just want to create a story I woulda loved to read as a kid in school, that would also be banned by my teachers.

[adobe-outdesign]

I can’t stop thinking about the idea of a good wholesome ending where Henry manages to take Boris home with him, so here you go:

Boris and Henry, both covered in ink and multiple wounds, slowly walking out to Henry’s car and then collapsing as the adrenaline wears off. They don’t actually leave for another 15 minutes.

Boris is instantly adopted as a member of the family. Linda sets out an extra plate for him during meals and Henry sets up the spare guestroom with a hammock and a radio.

Linda was obviously surprised at first, but after hearing what happened and that Boris was basically the only thing Henry managed to salvage she wasn’t going to say no.

“Does he eat people food or dog food?“ “...Both?“

Henry goes to the pet store and asks for the largest dog bone they have. “You have a Great Dane?“ “...Sure, let’s go with that.“

Henry wakes up in the middle of the night from a nasty PTSD-induced nightmare only to find Boris wide awake for the exact same reason. He fixes a midnight snack for the both of them and they both play cards until morning.

Boris setting his snout on Henry’s shoulder whenever he’s feeling stressed, and Henry giving him a little head pat in return.

Henry’s kids absolutely adore Boris, because what’s cooler than a talking cartoon dog? They tell all their friends at school, though thankfully none of them believe it.

(“Our dog talks!“ “No he doesn’t!“ “Yes he does! His name’s Boris and our dad made him!“ The teachers think they just have an overactive imagination.)

Boris and Henry go on strolls at night, Boris wearing a trenchcoat and sunglasses in case anyone happens to glance their way. Somehow no one ever really notices.

Henry sketches Boris in his free time and does small rough animations of him. it’s the first time he’s done any animation in years.

Boris, unable to leave the house during the day, helps Linda out with the household cleaning and looking after the kids.

Whenever the family goes on a long car trip Boris sticks his head out of the window, true dog-style. There have a few minor traffic accidents caused by this.

Henry is both amazed at how true-to-character Boris is and how he’s  developed and grown beyond just the bit of personality Henry wrote for him. He can’t say he minds.

[theambivalentagender]

So I've been playing with the Market Day mod on a new save. Once again I was working toward romancing Shane, though at that point I had literally just gotten him to 8 hearts.

During the market day that week he apparently went over to the stall and bought most of the eggs I was selling. And my smaltzy-rotted brain came up with a headcanon for it.

I ended up putting more time than I expected into this. Might actually add color since I'm trying to learn grayscale shading anyway.

[kendrixtermina]

It's half the size of Berlin.

I appreciate how they're strategically angling it so the most flattened part goes on the historic city centers, to make ppl imagine what that would be like, since I read a lot about famous mosques and Churches being destroyed, but I think it would have a bigger impact if they'd picked Frankfurt, Cologne or Munich as an example.

I don't think people would miss Berlin that much. French and US cities have songs about how ppl are fond of them or how ~aesthetic~ they are, meanwhile all the songs about Berlin are about how much people fucking hate Berlin. There are all kinds of different genres of "I hate Berlin" songs. Techno? Rap? Smaltzy Pop ballad? It all exists. There is even a semi-popular song, recently, about how glad people would be in Berlin was destroyed by an atom bomb so they could live in the post apocalyptic ruins and just not having Berlin anymore.

...im just humorcoping at the absurdity of it all, ovsly. nothing funny at all about like, all the culture and memories and little nooks and crannies of a city, ANY city, being destroyed.

My town isn't listed. Israel has murdered at least 150 more people than the amount of people who live in my town.

Consider looking up the population of your own city or town. When you call your reps, use that information to compare to the death toll in Gaza. Ask the staff member who answers the phone if your rep would hold the same position if it were your town.

[screwpinecaprice]

I heard she beat someone up to death when she was in middle school, just because he bumped on her and made her drop her books.

Connie's college friends teasing her about Steven somehow, requested by Sharkman Jhones at Patreon!

Also featuring my OCs that barely seen the light of day! Well I mean until today.

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

Sherlolly thought of the day:

Molly’s rainbow striped sweater is the visual representation of all the emotions that Sherlock has kept bottled up inside for so very long.  She’s the ultimate key to their release, as we see in The Final Problem.  She’s his rainbow at the end of the long, dark storm that began with Victor Trevor’s disappearance/death--and she shines with bright hope for their future.

[solaceinprose]

SING (Like No One’s Listening) - Vanessa Jones: Review

GoodReads Synopsis

A moving story of grief and healing - sure to be a pure joy for any musical theater aficionado. Nettie Delaney has just been accepted into a prestigious performing arts school--the very same school her superstar mother attended. With her mother's shadow hanging over her, Nettie has her work cut out for her--and everyone is watching. To make matters worse, Nettie hasn't been able to sing a single note since her mother died. Whenever she tries, she just clams up. But if Nettie's going to survive a demanding first year and keep her place in a highly coveted program, she'll have to work through her grief and deliver a showstopper or face expulsion. All may not be lost, however, when Nettie stumbles upon a mysterious piano player in an empty studio after class. Masked behind a curtain, can Nettie summon the courage to find her voice? Or will the pressure and anxiety of performing come crashing down? All about finding and raising your voice, and not throwing away your shot, Vanessa Jones's well-crafted journey of grief and healing will pull readers along with its strong narrative voice and satisfying sense of mystery.

I want to preface this review that there appears to be two different versions of this book by two different publishers. I was given an ARC of the 2020 edition that does not come out until Sept. 1, 2020 published by Peachtree Publishing. There’s an edition by Macmillan Children’s Books that came out April 2019. The review is for the Sept. 1, 2020 edition with this cover.

Vanessa Jones' novel, SING (Like No One's Listening) is a musical theater or musical person's wet dream. It's a mixture of FAME!, Center Stage (there's ballet), one of the many Cinderella Story movies that involves the really hot guy and the girl with the desire to be a singer and has a really great voice, and every other musical movie out there. It can be a bit smaltzy at times, but for the most part, I enjoyed it for what it was; a really cute and breezy YA novel about a singer and her first year at a performing arts college.

Nettie Delaney lost her singing voice after her mother suddenly dies from a long term illness. Her mother was a pretty well known ballerina in her hey day and was a student at Duke's College of Performing Arts or whatever its actual name was. Nettie botches her audition, but somehow made it, and thinks, after finding out that the director (whose family owns the school) were friends with her mother when they were much much younger. As she struggles to find her voice, she meets new friends, a new boy that captures her interest, as well as a few enemies. Because what book about a performing arts school doesn't have drama and cattiness.

The great thing about this book is that Vanessa Jones actually did go to a performing arts school and was in musical theater. It's obvious this woman knows her stuff, and it shines in the novel. The history of ghost singers that becomes a project between Nettie and her crush, Fletch (because why not?) was fascinating. I do wish, however, that there was more focus on that project than a lot of the unnecessary drama that felt shoehorned in for the sake of page count.

Speaking of the unnecessary drama, the two girls that become enemies with Nettie felt almost as if they were caricatures  of actual performing art students. Yes, it is highly competitive and yes, people are looking out for each other, but the drama wasn't about talent. It was over a boy, and that felt lazy and contrite. I would have believed Jade and Natasha finding Nettie competition regarding talent, but over some dude who has a pretty smile, plays the guitar, and can carry a tune? Oh, and he's white so now we have White Guy With Guitar happening, and it couldn't be more cliched if it tried.

WGWG, by the way, is Fletch. Shocking, I know.

The other issue I had with this book is the obvious hand holding that the teachers did with Nettie. Home girl went through almost her entire first term unable to sing a note. She's awful at ballet, can pass a dance class, but her whole point of being at this school is singing/musical theater. And it isn't until last maybe 100 pages, possibly less, does she actually belt a tune out and show exactly why she should be at that school in the first place. I did appreciate that Miss Duke basically told her that if she doesn't show up that her time at the college was through after the summer. But even still, she got far more allowances that actual students would have gotten. Tragic backstory aside.

The other highlight of the story are the secondary characters, Alec, Leon, and Kiki. They were all great, fleshed out, and weren't just side notes in Nettie's story. Alec was written almost stereotypical of a gay dancer, but his arrogance and confidence wasn't really all that out there. Jones probably ran into dancers like Alec all the time. Either way, I really did adore him and Leon and Kiki.

I wanted to give this 4 stars because I really did enjoy the hell out of it, but the lack of resolution about Nettie's mother's history really brought it down. There was so much the writer could have done with Nettie finding out who her mother was and why she gave up ballet and cut off ties to that world, but we never got it. Instead we had to have another scene where Nettie was all "bad headspace" over Fletch and that drama. There was so much potential there, and I saw it there, shimmering in the distance, but it never happened. I wanted less smaltz and more history. Because of that, this got stuck at a solid 3 stars for me.

GoodReads Rating: 3 Stars

[mryddinwilt]

26,27,28 for the ouat meme!

26. What surprise shocked you most?

I feel like the earlier surprises were more shocking because I hadn’t yet gotten into the mode of looking for the surprises. And as they leaned on shock value more it felt like the whole point of many of the storylines was to surprise you generally with zero clues. Also the further I got into the fandom the more shooting spoilers and the like meant I was heavily speculating. That being said I am going to go with Graham dying. It was the best kind of surprise and plot turn. 

27. Which was your favorite adaptation?

Cruella. Not for anything clever they did with her story or her “power” but just for the sheer thrill of how she was played and the hilarity every time she appeared on screen. I didn’t much care about other Disney version but I would watch that character go grocery shopping. 

28. Who is your favorite princess?

I personally don’t count Emma in this category. I think I would go with Snow White, despite my issues with some things later in the show and Ginny more or less being half there due to family stuff.  I can’t help the fact that some of her hope speeches were truly inspiring. I know they made a big deal about her being a BadA Princess pulling out that sword in the Pilot, being a forest thief, leading a war/rebellion ect. But I always found that the real heroic part of Snow was her capacity to love and forgive. Her ability to bring a stranger into her life and care for them, or to not give up against impossible odds. At times it felt smaltzy and over time it became inconsistent but that core of kindness that she carried with her made her unique and I loved her for it. 

Ask me about OUAT (repeat a number and I’ll give a different answer…)

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Heart - Live in Atlantic City

Live in Atlantic City casts such a wide net looking for an audience it’s likely to satisfy no one.

Culled from Heart’s guest-filled, 2006 appearance on VH1’s “Decades Rock Live,” the just-released audio documentary - it’s also out on video - is a hodgepodge of music that doesn’t hold together as it spans country, grunge, pop and rock.

Fans of Ann and Nancy Wilson as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page will thrill to the sounds of “Bébé Le Strange” (with Dave Navarro, who plays on several tracks) and covers of “Rock and Roll” and “Misty Mountain Hop,” the former with Ann’s aural doppelgänger Gretchen Wilson.

Carrie Underwood joins for an extra-schlocky version of the smaltzy “Alone,” while vocalist extraordinaire Rufus Wainwright proves he is uniquely incapable of singing “Dog and Butterfly.” Even less congruous is the inclusion of Alice In Chains and Duff McKagan performing AIC’s “Would?” and “Rooster” with little input from the Wilsons.

Signature Heart song such as “Even it Up,” “Barracuda,” “Dreamboat Annie” and “Crazy on You” round out the collection with varying levels of success. Like the album as a whole, these songs range from poor (“Crazy on You”) to unnecessary (“Barracuda”).

Grade card: Heart - Live in Atlantic City - D+

2/4/19

[adobe-outdesign]

Help, I'm playing Cookie Clicker!

why does this sound like a bad sitcom title

[anonymous-mary]

For the anon accusing M/C of skating to V/M "I Want to Hold Your Hand"...well it was for like a minute and then it changed to another song. I didn't know that V/M owned every song they have ever skated to...wow, that's some power.

Since the anon called the song smaltzy I don't think she was defending T/S performance of it but yeah it was only a tiny cut from the song.