#so now you also have an elite music taste too how much better does it get?!

[theficblog]

Okay, okay last one i promise 👀 but i have a feeling you sorta already know this song tho

me who's never committed, single since birth listening to it like

but i've never heard that song before tbh tho i already love it, keep on sending them i will slowly steal your playlist babe

BUT WAIT RN IM THINKING OF HOW TO INCORPORATE THIS SONG IN THE ASHYUCK TROPEEEE thinking hard suggestions welcomed and open from everyone

[jamaiskookie]

i would like more soundcloud rapper yoongi x idol y/n please it’s so cute

v-live alert! -myg

pairing: idol! y/n x soundcloud rapper! yoongi

wc; 2.9k

a/n: lots of you asked, and so you shall receive. ps, i wrote this really rushed but i kinda love it. lmk what you think, love you guys <3

[V LIVE] Surprise LIVE! 

the v-live notification. or, more accurately, the sound of war. alternatively, you dance around your studio on a livestream and yoongi has a mental breakdown. 

masterlist  PREV

“i miss you too!“ you say, replying to one of the first comments that pop up on the live.

you probably should’ve showered before going live... and you probably should’ve changed out of sweats. 

whatever.

it’s not like your fans haven’t seen this before.

half of your pre-debut pictures are just downright disgusting. 

the number of viewers on the top of your phone begins to climb up to the thousands, increasing every half a second. 

it always amazes you how many people show up to your lives. sometimes you wonder if your fans genuinely have nothing better to do. how do they always show up so fast?

the comments begin to flood with greetings and exclamations of ‘oh my god i’m so early!11!1’ and the multicoloured heart pop up on your screen, building up an impressive stream of likes. 

“where am i?“ you read through the comments and look around, as if you forgot where you were. “in the studio.“ you grin when the comments flood with questions asking if dreamcloud is getting new music.

you can’t answer, of course, but it’s fun to see. you squint at your phone, which is propped on an elaborate setup that you spent the past twenty minutes preparing. 

(three books on one eyeshadow palette and a selfie stick gingerly placed on a small stool)

((you pray to every deity out there that it won’t fall))

“i was just bored,“ you shrug, speaking to the screen. “so i decided to come on here and talk to you guys. how have you been?“ you ask. 

hundreds of comments answer. 

“i’m alright“

“i’m good!“

most of them contain some form of sappy declaration like ‘my day is much better now that you’re here!’ it makes you smile. how cute. 

the v-live notification. 

or, more accurately, the sound of war. 

that cursed, terrible ding! haunts yoongi’s darkest and most terrifying nightmares. the sheer amount of panic that rushes through his veins when he hears that godforsaken noise, god. 

the number of lives he’s missed- yoongi can’t even bear to think about it. 

so maybe it was a blessing in disguise that yoongi put his phone on do not disturb so he didn’t have to hear that disgusting sound. instead, he found out the news via a gorilla’s screech.

“Y/N’S LIVE RIGHT NOW STARTED FOURTY SECONDS AGO HURRY UP YOONGI GET YOUR ASS UP AND STOP STUDYI-“ jimin yells from his room down the hall. 

yoongi almost falls out of his chair scrambling to get to his phone. it’s not like he was really studying anyways- more like using his pencils to tap out a cool-sounding beat on his desk out of boredom. 

watching your live > passing his music theory class.

priorities. 

with shaky hands, he grabs at his phone, slumping onto the floor and he sees the familiar blue icon with the notification popped up on the screen. 

[V LIVE] Surprise LIVE! Y/N: let’s chat <3

an unnatural squeak that slightly resembles the sound a mouse slips out of yoongi’s mouth.

even when he was a baby starrie and was glued to his phone at all times, he’s never been this early to a live. he unlocks his phone, cursing his momentary clumsiness. he clicks into the live, smiling when your beaming face blasts up on his screen. 

you haven’t gone live in so long- it’s nice to see your face again. 

“- how have you been?“ 

“good.“ yoongi types out in the comment box, mumbling the words as he’s typing. “way better now that you’re live.“ sometimes yoongi cringes at himself when he types these things. i mean, who could possibly guess that min yoongi, resident scary-emo-couldslapyouintheface bad boy socially un-responsible simped over a k-pop idol?

he can already see his reputation go down the drain. 

he also wonders what it says about himself that he’s a 20-something college student who’s life practically revolves around you, an idol who’s just about a year younger than him.

but dreamcloud is a part of his identity now. he identifies as a starrie no matter what. you know how the old saying goes-

once you stan, you can’t unstan. or something like that, he’s honestly not sure. 

you tuck your head onto your hand, diligently trying to keep up with all the comment. with a gasp, you nod at something. “oh, you’re right, user yoonalova98!” - that’s another thing special about you. whenever you read out comments, you also read out the username of whoever wrote it. 

you explained in one interview- that it’s cooler to give credit and talk to your fans as if you’re just chatting as friend. saying the username feels like you’re saying their names. 

what kind of lucky fan would get their comment read aloud by Y/N?

ugh. 

yoongi blinks when he remembers that technically, he’s sort of part of this group of elite, recognised fans. 

his twitter stan account got almost five thousand more followers after Y/N replied to his selca. the post itself has tons and tons of likes and retweets. 

insane, that Y/N- Y/N herself- knows of his existence. Y/N- the love of his life, has seen his FACE. she commented three HEART emojis below a selfie that he took. 

if he thinks about it too much, he’ll start feeling faint again.  

“our anniversary is coming up soon! i can’t believe it’s been three years already. time does pass by when you’re having fun.“ you say. yoongi thinks that it’s rather ironic that you would forget your anniversary, when yoongi’s had a calendar countdown to January 14th since the beginning of september. 

“ahh,“ you say, leaning in closer to the screen. “from user lialiarach, ‘did you watch jisoo unnie’s acting debut’ - i did! we all watched it and cheered her on during the premiere!“ 

jisoo’s new drama is good. it’s a fantasy-horror blend, and he, jimin, namjoon and jin finished all 16 episodes in two days when streaming hit Netflix. 

your head tilts and you smile. “song recommendations?” you wonder aloud, and yoongi scrambles to get a pen and notepad out. you don’t do ‘y/n’s listening parties’ as much anymore, but your taste in music is impeccable and he collects all the songs in a playlist. 

it’s called ‘wedding tunes’ (jimin named it, not him, yoongi swears) 

everytime he tries to change it back, it somehow switches back to wedding tunes the next day. 

it’s disturbing how good jimin is at this kind of stuff. hopefully yoongi won’t have to bail him out of jail one day. 

“okay!“ you say, pulling your laptop open. you hum as you scroll through some page that yoongi can’t see- and he anxiously waits for the first song to be played with twitchy hands and a strong grip on his pen. 

the first bar plays out and yoongi’s already in love.

“this is,“ you say over the music, double checking just to make sure. “don’t need your love by NCT...“ you squint. god knows there are too many NCT members. “dream! NCT dream featuring HRVY.“ 

“NCT dream...“ yoongi mumbles to himself, writing the song down on the notepad. 

“you know,“ you say over the music, spinning in your chair and nodding to the beat. “i’ve only met the NCT guys a couple times at music shows and such but they’re all so nice. i can’t remember all their names, but i’m decently familiar with their faces. how do they even have 23 members? how does it all work??“ 

you dance around the studio, singing along nonsensical lyrics that don’t make sense but sort of fit the rhythm of the song (??) 

“don’t need your loo-ooove-!!! dum dum duhhhh duhros noya!!!” yoongi stifles a laugh. there’s a reason why you constantly forget lyrics on stage. 

which is quite ironic, actually, because half the time you’re forgetting the lyrics to a song you wrote yourself. 

afterwards, you play all the hidden gems- and yoongi’s proud to say he’s familiar with quite a few of them. 

airplane by j-hope (a youtube star turned successful rapper-vocalist-dancer)

sweet night by v (the internet’s resident eye-candy)

and then you continue to scroll through your laptop, biting your lip and murmuring quietly to yourself. you glance once back at your phone screen. 

okay, listen.

yoongi knows that he’s delusional, okay?

but everytime you look straight in the screen it’s almost like you’re looking directly at the camera it’s almost like you’re staring into his soul. which makes zero sense, but it still makes his heart skip a beat.

let him dream, please

“what am i scrolling through?“ you say, reciting a question from the chat. “soundcloud, user chachachae.“ 

soundcloud? 

oh.

that’s pretty cool.

he didn’t know you had a soundcloud account!

you usually post all your covers and random shorts to instagram or another one of your personal blogs. 

for a moment, yoongi indulges himself by wondering if you’d ever listened to his music. his soundcloud account is linked in his twitter bio, after all... 

but he shakes those thoughts away as fast as they came. he doesn’t need to entertain himself with such silly thoughts. 

“ooh, this one’s good!“ you say, clicking onto something. 

still with you by JAYKAY (pffftt haihdkahjd) starts playing and you lean back, humming along. yoongi knows this one too!! now he’s 3 for 3!! he and you do share a similar taste in music, so maybe it does make sense. 

even though you’re actually main vocalist and lead dancer, you do listen to a lot of rap music. but the music you make is nothing like the old school hip hop tracks that yoongi is partial to. 

the music you make- how can he explain it? 

sweet like honey with a little bit of tang. 

like barbecue honey!!!!

ok that was a bad analogy. 

all of his favourite dreamcloud tracks are written by you- cloud nine, up in the sky, are u still here, quicksand- the list goes on and on and on. 

it’s like listening to your voice solves anything he goes against. bad day? dreamcloud. something to celebrate? blast your debut song. in need of a party song? easy fix. he gets aux cord rights? (granted, this doesn’t happen very often, since seokjin insists that his music taste is superior to his friends.) but anyways, y/n can fix it. 

listening to your voice feels comforting. it invokes something in him that he honestly cannot explain with words. you’re his inspiration. not just in music- but in life. he admires how you’re able to smile through anything, how you take responsibility for your own actions. 

he admires your kind heart, which offers generosity and forgiveness to even the most underserving people. 

he admires your passion, for music, for your members, for the smallest things. he admires how you’ll love everyone and anyone. 

even though he’s never really met you, he feels like he knows you. he wishes he could, anyways. he wants to thank the person who’s gotten him through such bad days. 

yoongi curses himself again for being so delusional. 

he keeps telling himself that he can’t get so attached. then he’ll end up like one of those creepy fans who are convinced their idols actually like them. 

blech.

“okay, next song!“ you exclaim cheerfully. “i really like this one, guys. he’s this soundcloud star. he makes really cool music.“ yoongi readies his pen. if this person really is a soundcloud star, then there’s a high chance yoongi knows of him. a smaller chance that he actually knows the guy personally; either online or from real life. 

you press the space bar almost obnoxiously, like you’re about to reveal something grand. you look into the camera, and you lock eyes with yoongi- through that cursed, horrible screen. 

the first note plays and yoongi thinks that it sounds... oddly familiar, actually. for a moment, he sighs in disappointment. this one doesn’t sound as great as the previous few songs. almost like it’s incomplete, imperfect. something about it bugs him at the very bottom of his gut. 

jimin figures it out before he does. 

“AHHHHHHHHH YOONGI!!! OH MY GOD-!!!! YOONGI ARE YOU SEEING THIS? YOONGI!! HYUNG!“ yoongi grumbles, wondering what the hell jimin is screeching about now. 

“oh, for fuck’s sake,“ he mumbles. the difference between him and jimin is the way they express their emotions. while yoongi bottles it all up, choosing to deal with things alone and slump around, jimin has no other choice but to scream things out. it’s a wonder they’re such good friends, really. “what is it now?“ yoongi mutters to himself. 

“yeah yeah, a gentle breeze- “ and then it hits him. all at once. 

“holy fucking shit.“ he whispers to himself, slumping down on the floor. he can barely hear what you say next.

“this song is called people by agust d. he goes by the name suga on social media-!“ yoongi falls down, gasping for air. “i’m a fan,“ you remark casually. “mr. suga producer-nim!! i’m your fan! please continue to make good music!“ you chuckle. “what am i doing right now? he probably isn’t even watching.“ you stare innocently at the phone camera, as if you don’t even know that you’re changing someone’s life right now. 

out of his peripheral vision, he can see jimin rushing into the room, crouching next to him and placing a hand on his back, murmuring something yoongi can’t hear through the sound of his sobs. 

huh. when did he even start crying?

“he makes rap and really cool hip hop music. you guys should give him a listen. his lyrics are really meaningful, too.“ you nod along, reciting the lyrics word for word- even though you really can’t rap. 

“what kind of person am I? am I a good person? or a bad person? many of ways to judge just a person. everyone will live on, everyone will love, everyone will fade away“ you headbang along to the beat. 

yoongi slides down the wall inch by inch. he wonders if he’ll faint or vomit first.

other people seem to make fun of people like him- people who find solace in idols, in music. that’s partially why he doesn’t like disclosing the fact that he’s a diehard fan of an idol girl group. 

but in hindsight, that’s so stupid. who gives two fucks about his interests? hell, yoongi’s been depressed half his life. and if a group of girls who sing songs and perform make him feel better, what’s so wrong with that?

 jimin’s voice is a little clearer now, and so is yours. you’re singing along to the lyrics- the lyrics that he wrote. the lyrics that he spent hours agonising over, wondering whether his shortcomings and anxiety in his life were worth posting on the internet for his measly following to see. 

wondering if the music he made had any impact at all, if one day he might see his dream come true, to see his music being played in public. wondering if anyone might hear his songs and think that it helped them get over a bad day. just like you have for him. 

yoongi’s sobs wrack through his body, tears flowing freely on his face. he’s crying hard. ugly crying, like a baby throwing a temper tantrum. his cries echo through the room. if he could see himself right now...

well, he doesn’t want to think about it. he’s sure it’s not a pretty view. 

jimin looks over him, smiling proudly. his eyes are glassy, and he tucks yoongi’s head in his chest, putting his arms around him and embracing him. 

yoongi’s shoulders shake. if it was any other day, he would usher jimin out the room. he hates it when people see him being vulnerable. even his own family hasn’t seen him cry that much. 

but right now, he can’t bring himself to do anything but cry. other people may ask why this is such a big deal, why someone emotionally constipated like min yoongi would cry like this for such a small matter. 

this, he doesn’t know how to explain either. 

all he can think about is how much it means to him. that someone he admires so much is now, in turn, saying his music- no, his life- is good. nothing much else. but just knowing that you’ve listened to his work, that you know of his alter ego’s name...

his crying sounds grow larger. 

jimin pets at his hair. “shh,” he murmurs. “it’s okay.” jimin’s voice also grows a little shaky. he tears up, but continues to comfort the crying boy in his arms. “you did it, hyung. it’s okay. you made it. you did it. why are you crying? this is good news! this is so great! i’m proud of you, we’re all so proud of you.” 

yoongi tries to speak; it doesn’t go very well. but when he tries again, he manages to choke something out. 

“i did it.“ he says, before burying his face back into jimin’s hug. the two boys sit on the ground, crying together. an hour passes, then two. 

slowly, yoongi drifts off to bed on the ground, the melody of his own song blended with sound of your voice echoing in his head. 

my ordinary became your special, my special became your ordinary. so what? what if you just brush by? what if you get hurt? sometimes you might get hurt again, sometimes you might shed tears. so what? so what if you live like that? 

~ people by agust d

tags; @jksbbyfacebunny @extremeobsessions101​​ @dwcljh​ @stonyiscanon​ @bishuthot​ @s0seo​ @cecedrake2217​ 

[teawithshruti]

How did I keep myself sane amidst a pandemic - My thoughts on books, anime, and restaurants.

Yet another review of The Shining

A plot so well written you would want to go in room 217

Hi there! This blog comes to you from a bored 19 year old who has a knack for reading crime thrillers, watching murder documentaries, and loves watching MasterChef just to see Gordon Ramsay. LOL. And did I mention that she also happens to be a Stephen King fan, because who isn’t? So here is where I try and convince you that The Shining  is the best book ever written and how Stanley Kubrick completely butchered the screenplay, as well as why pasta is life.

Welcome to the Rockies!

The story takes place in the town of Boulder, Colorado, where our main protagonist Jack Torrance gets a job as a caretaker of the famous Overlook Hotel. Winters in Boulder are harsh, and the hotel remains closed as travel is not permitted with all the heavy snowfall. Now Jack is a recovering alcoholic with anger issues which led to him breaking his son’s arm prior to where the story begins. This made Wendy, his wife, question her marriage and the safety of their five year old son,  Danny. Danny on the other hand isn’t your average five year old who just watches cartoons and plays with toys. He is aglow with a psychic voltage, and has frequent blackouts. In the words of old Mr Hallorann, the hotel’s head chef, Danny’s a shiner. When the Torrances meet Mr Hallorann, he feels an instant connection with Danny. He warns Jack about the hotel and its sinister secrets and how the previous caretaker, Delbert Grady, killed himself and his family. But Jack is sure that this huge and lonely hotel with its splendid views is just what he needs in order to earn back his family’s trust. But going to a haunted hotel with a troubled marriage and a psychic son? Maybe not the best idea. But in his defense, Jack doesn't believe in ghosts. Little does he know that’s about to change.

Snowbound at The Overlook

The Torrance's begin settling in the Overlook. But as winter closes in and the blizzards cut them off from the outer world, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. Meanwhile, Jack starts growing restless, craving for a friendly drink with each passing day. He also starts experiencing hallucinations, and wonders if they are withdrawal symptoms. Danny on the other hand is experiencing his own share of ghostly sightings, like the terrifying lady in the bathtub of room 217 who seems to have never checked out of the hotel. In one instance, he witnesses her climbing out of the clawfoot tub and advancing towards him with her bloated belly and dry hair as he stands frozen in fear in a blood covered presidential suite. This narrative by King with all its details is the truly the most spine tingling I’ve ever read.  Later when Danny’s parents find him in the room, a thumb in his mouth, that is when Wendy truly realizes that they are not alone in that strange big hotel. Jack goes and sees the tub for himself, but the lady from before doesn't want to greet him. Wendy, in tears, sees that both her husband and her son are being tormented by this place and begs Jack to quit the job. Danny later calms his mom down, who is weeping uncontrollably, by telling her not to worry as his daddy doesn't have the shining, so there is nothing to worry about.

Have you never heard of REDRUM?

Sure you have. Read it backwards.  Yes, you got it right. And so did Danny after seeing this word in his visions countless times. It so turns out that Danny is much stronger than he looks and after failing to possess him, The Overlook has turned to an easier target - Jack. As Jack slowly starts to lose his mind, he gives in and starts drinking again from the bar in the ballroom. His hallucinations keep getting worse to the point he actually sees Mr Grady, the previous caretaker / murderer,  and even has a talk with him. Danny sees his changing behavior and so does his wife, who just doesn't see the man she fell in love with in his cold, distant eyes anymore. With everything going on, Wendy takes Danny to their apartment in the employee wing of the hotel and locks them inside in fear of Jack, who is slowly slipping away from reality. But turns out this move from her proves to be disastrous, as Wendy keeping Jack away from his own son is the last straw for him. In one of his many hallucinations, Jack  meets his predecessor,  his buddy Mr. Grady and the two have a disturbing conversation about how fun it is to kill your wife. Yes , no one trumps King when it comes to the unique combination of horror and psychological thrillers packed into one nail-biting plot!

In other words...

The only thing I liked about the movie was Jack Nicholson’s excellent acting. Apart from that Stanley Kubrick let go of many crucial parts which were essential to the story. He eliminated the hedge sequence in the book, which was terrifying to just read. The ending was just a complete mess.  I get that you can’t exactly get all the details right of a 500 page book, but at least do justice to the ones you have chosen. Anyways I’m gonna go sulk in my room over this. Bye

.  

Is it too late to start Anime?

Hi there! Good to have you back! Ever since pandemic began, everyone’s been locked in their own house. So this led to me taking up a few hobbies like sketching and painting and binging on a whole lot of sitcoms.. My personal favorite is the alluring world of Anime. Several of my friends began watching it and I cannot exactly term it as peer pressure, but I did give in and start watching Anime too. And now my watchlist includes just a bunch of 2D characters with powers that even Superman himself can't fight. So this is my take on how a kryptonian can be defeated with Jutsu, as Mr Naruto would say. Lol. This one is for all the weebs out there. 

Manga and Anime are not the same!

To put it simply, manga is a Japanese term for comics and graphic novels, whereas Anime is the term for Japanese animations.. There are many similarities  between them, as they both have been created by Osama Tezuka, who is considered as the Japanese version of Walt Disney. Now have you ever seen a simple comic book? The one with black and white newspaper illustrations - like Garfield. Manga is just like that -  A book of illustrations. Now we arrive at the perennial question - Manga or Anime, which is better. Both of them are equally interesting, but I personally have a soft spot for anime. The intro theme songs, intense background music, and the beat dropping right before a big fight move, all these factors pack a punch. You don’t get that adrenaline rush from just a book.

My first anime - Demon Slayer

The story begins with the main character Tanjiro, who returns home after selling charcoal in town to find his entire family murdered by demons. Pretty intense right? His sister, Nezuko, survives but there’s a twist - she turns into a demon herself.  This makes him vow to take revenge and he sets off to train with Sakonji, who has trained many of the elite members of the Demon Slayer Corps. After many years of training and a painful exam called the final selection, Tanjiro finally becomes a demon slayer and is off on missions along with his sister, who unlike most demons doesn’t consume human flesh. On his missions he meets Zenitsu and Inosuke, who both have excellent powers of their own. My favorite story arc was when the highest ranking slayers, known as the pillars, were introduced. But my words won’t do justice to their powers they possess. So simply get your geek on by watching this short yet amazing series.

The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki

The hidden leaf village is not so hidden anymore! The series I am currently watching is one of the most popular anime from 2020 - Naruto.   The story is set around the shinobi villages and their ninjas and how Naruto Uzumaki plans on being the next Hokage [the most powerful shinobi] of the leaf village. He is trained by some of the best ninjas the village has ever seen. Before graduating from the academy, he was a hyperactive boy with lots of energy who just wanted to be the best. After graduation, he was placed in team seven, along with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. This team was trained by Kakashi Sensei who is known for wielding his Chidori and even the Sharingan. The sharingan, to put it simply, is a trait passed down in families. The Uchihas are known for their sharingans and hence it naturally comes to Sasuke as well. The mystery still remains unsolved as to how Kakashi got his sharingan, as he is not an Uchiha. But Naruto does have a super power as well. Not technically his powers per se,  but we can cut him some slack. After all it's not everyday you get to see a beast like the nine tailed fox sealed away in an 11 year old boy. In my opinion the story picks up Orochimaru’s entry, and it paves the way for Sasuke’s powers in the future. My favorite character has to be Sasuke Uchiha. With his effortless fighting skills and sarcastic yet cool personality, he definitely is an excellent shinobi. You have to start this show right away because once you have seen him use his fire style fireball jutsu.....the world just doesn't look the same anymore.

In other words...

My current watchlist includes Naruto Shippuden, Black Clover, One Piece, and a few other naruto spin offs. Anime was something I never thought I would like, but now as it turns out I can't get enough of it. So bye for now, if you need me I'll be at Ichiraku’s eating ramen with barbeque pork. And if you get this reference, have a bowl of ramen on me. K bye.

Home in a faraway land

Good to see you again ! Do you ever get that feeling of an intense craving for your favourite dish? Like say pasta or pizza? My favorite is pasta, but being raised in India, I can’t say no to a classic plate of butter naan and chicken tikka with a glass of buttermilk or chaas if you please. Of Course you can’t beat the taste of a home cooked meal, but let me tell you about the time I went to this amazing little Indian restaurant in Dubai with my family, and how the food there was absolutely heavenly. 

Out and About in Dubai

Skyscrapers, Sleepless nights, Gold Souks and gigantic malls - these are the visions  you'd usually get when someone mentions Dubai. Well, they're mostly right! I went there with my family about 5 years ago. We stayed at the Ramada, which was right next to the Dubai Mall.  The mall happens to be strategically placed next to the Burj Khalifa and we got lucky enough to see mesmerizing musical fountain shows night after night. The streets are spick and span, and everyone follows the traffic regulations dutifully. We also went for the desert safari, which was no less than an actual roller coaster ride. We also visited the Gold Souk, and oh boy. The name definitely fulfills its purpose, as the entire street is occupied entirely by gold stores. Huge gold ornaments are on display like clothes on hangers. I personally don’t have a thing for gold jewellery, but my mom had the time of her life there fawning and gasping over every store we came across. Shortly after our visit here, we came across this beautiful little Indian restaurant, and you can call me old school but at the end of the day, this girl needs a desi meal, because trust me room service gets boring after a while.

Peshwa - Not your typical 5 star restaurant 

Situated away from the hustle of the main city, this place still remains quite underrated. We stumbled across this hidden gem which saved us the efforts of getting back to the hotel for an overpriced lunch. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we could smell the aroma of a classic dal makhani  [ a simple gravy consisting of lentils infused with aromatic spices and hints of burnt chillies ] in the air. So we got a table and had a look at the menu and it was almost like being back home. The endless variety of gravies with paneer in almost every single one of them, to at least 6 different types of rotis, a little piece of heaven in this concrete jungle! We went ahead and ordered a simple meal of rotis and some paneer delicacy, along with dal and rice. Apart from the taste of the food, which was just heavenly, the overall ambience of the place in one word, was exquisite. The restaurant lived up to its very ethnic maharashtrian name. The food was served in those traditional style cutlery, reminding us of a simpler time.

A dish you just can’t miss 

If you have a sweet tooth like me, you definitely have to try the coconut barfi from this place. Made from desiccated coconuts, sweetened condensed milk, a finely ground cardamom, and a hint of saffron, this dish is a match made in heaven. It was freshly made and we could tell it by the intoxicating aroma of pure ghee [clarified butter]. So just for a day, give yourself a break from watching calories and try this mouth watering dish because here’s something to live for.

In other words…

The next time I’m in Dubai, the first thing I will do is find out if the restaurant is still there. And probably avoid the Gold Souk this time. I will most certainly go for the desert safari, because it’s not everyday you get defy gravity and drive through the sand dunes like in a Fast and Furious movie. Lol.  Also thanks for bearing with me throughout this blog. See ya!

[miraculous-ninjabird]

request!! bluewire (jay x pixal) but Prom Night 2208 au. Jay as Kyle, Pixal as Tess, Nya as Kate. (prom night 2208 is a song that george salzar sings btw) :) love ur page btw

Anon, I was thrilled to get this prompt. It was so, so good that I had to take the time to try and do it justice. I hope I succeeded.

Title: Prom Night

Words: 1693

Rating: G, no real warnings apply as far as I am aware

Bluewireshipping (Jay/Pixal)

Based on the song Prom Night 2208 by George Salazar

Alternating POV

Jay straightened his tie for probably the twentieth time. Tonight was the night. Prom. He’d passed by the leisure deck a little earlier, and things were really starting to look good. His date...wasn’t who he had been hoping it would be. Getting up the courage to ask Nya had ended up being nearly impossible, and his mom had ended up setting him up with someone else insead.

Pixal was somewhat of an oddity to him. She had transferred to the Zircon-4 just a month ago, from Echo fleet. Which was wild since Echo fleet was like, the best of the best. On top of that, she was Gamma-Class Elite. So really, he wondered what she was doing here at all. It was also a little strange to know his date was a recon droid, but one of his best friends was also a droid so maybe it wasn’t that weird. Not that any of it mattered in the end since he was only doing this because his mom had asked and it was just as friends anyways. No need to sweat the details.

Finally! Prom night was here and Pixal could not be more excited. She didn’t really know much about her date...other than his name was Jay and he was human. They had met a few times since she’d gotten here, and he was pretty funny. Pixal really liked him. However, she also had to remember that he was totally in love with Nya. But all the boys seemed to be in love with Nya, and she couldn’t really blame him. Nya was pretty cute. No matter how much she wished it could be true, she and Jay just weren't compatible. As long as she kept that in mind, the night would still be fun.

Jay is waiting for her outside the door to his apartment. Dressed in a sharp blue suit, and a tie that matched, it was hard to deny how attractive he was.

“Hey Pixal! You ready to go?” He asks cheerily. He gives her a soft smile, before averting his eyes.

“Yes. We can leave whenever you are ready.” She responds, trying really hard not to let disappointment flood her voice at the fact that he wouldn’t even look at her. That was a signal that she was more than capable of reading. That more than anything nailed home their directives for tonight really didn’t align. ‘Just get through the night Pixal,’ She thinks to herself. This was nothing more than a routine social function. Just like the hundreds of others she had attended before. Tonight was going to be fine.

In the short time Jay had known her, he had never realized just how beautiful Pixal was. It was incredibly obvious now though. She was wearing a silky purple dress that complemented the silver tone of her skin. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and fixed in place with a matching purple butterfly clip. When he looked closely, he also spotted cute little butterfly earrings. There was no doubting it. Jay was utterly and completely enchanted. He tries not to stare, and the only way he can seem to accomplish that is by not looking at her at all. Guilt flooded him. Come on Jay. Get it together. Just a friend thing, remember? You like Nya, not Pixal. Just get through the night, have fun, and everything would be fine.

Jay’s mom stops them for a quick set of photos, and then they are on their way. Dozens of other couples are heading the same way as them, congregating on the leisure deck. An usher of some sort points them to a table, and they take their seats.

“I heard that Kai was gonna try and use a cloaking ray to try and sneak in some booze.” Jay starts, an awkward attempt to make conversation. She feels him turn to look at her. “And uhhh...I like your earrings.”

“Oh! Thank you.” Pixal feels her thoughts going a little haywire at the compliment. What does she even say? “I like your shoes.” Jay lets out a nervous little laugh. ‘Okay. Wow. Of all the compliments, you decided to tell him you like his shoes? Why would you say that?’ Pixal berates herself internally.

“Oh hey! Food’s here! Wanna try some of this biopaste? I swear it’s good.” Jay grasps at the new opportunity to try and dispel a little of the awkwardness.

“Oh, sure! Let me just flip on the flavor sensor and…” Pixal takes a bite of the strange blue goo Jay was offering her. That certainly wasn't something she had ever seen back on Echo fleet. “Oh wow! That’s actually really good!”

“You can turn on your taste receptors on and off at will?” Pixal almost balks at Jay’s unexpected question.

“Yes. Did that make you uncomfortable? I apologize-” she starts, but the look Jay is giving her has her stopping short. He looks very impressed.

“Man, that’s so cool! I wish I could do that. Do you know how many terrible dinners that would have saved me from?” And just like that, the awkwardness is broken. They fall into an easy conversation, and Pixal finds they have several shared interests.

Maybe this night wasn’t going to be such a waste afterall.

By the time dinner is over, Jay finds he is becoming more and more attracted to his companion for the night. He is no longer dreading having to dance with her. She was cute and smart and in all honesty, he wanted to spend more time just talking with her. Good thing there would be plenty of time for that while they were dancing. Pushing back from the table, he moved to stand in front of her, offering a hand.

“Pixal, may I have this dance?” He asks. She smiles wildly.

“Yes. Yes you may.”

Jay leads her over to the dance floor. The music was spunky and upbeat, not great for a slow dance. That didn’t seem to bother Pixal though. She kept up with all of his movements, and had near perfect rhythm.

Several songs pass before something that really worked for slow dancing played. Taking up a dance position with her, Jay is once again struck by just how beautiful she is. He can see his own face reflected in her eyes, and god does he look love struck. Because maybe, just maybe, he is. All other outside distractions fade away until it felt like he and Pixal were the only people in the whole universe. He could stay here forever, swaying to the music out in the depths of outer space…

A soft tap on his shoulder brings Jay out of his trance. Breaking away from Pixal, he finds it’s Nya who has gotten his attention. Nya!

“Hey Jay. Mind if I steal you for just one dance?” Jay’s heart leaps into his throat. Nya wants to dance with him. Him!

“Is that okay with you Pixal? It’ll just be one dance.” He asks his date.

“Oh...Okay.” PIxal’s hesitancy goes right over his head, he’s so excited by the fact his crush actually wants to dance with him. This was his chance!

“Thanks Pix! I’ll be back, I promise!” He’s already taking Nya’s hand, and leading her away. Which means he misses the absolute devastation on Pixal’s face.

When she had been dancing with Jay, Pixal had felt like she was on top of the world. The way he had been looking at her. She had almost felt human. Almost wanted to be human, if only to be able to understand Jay just a little bit better. Then Nya had shown up and it was like Jay completely forgot about Pixal.

Watching them walk away, laughing nervously, had been a harsh snap back to reality. Right. This was only supposed to be a friend thing. Nothing else. He didn’t really want to be with her. Now that Nya was here, Jay didn’t need Pixal around. She didn’t fit with him and that was it. No point in analysing it any further.

Pixal makes sure she has her charger before turning and sprinting away. Screw being human.

Jay should have been over the moon. He and Nya swayed together, his head resting in her hair and hands settled delicately on her dress. Nya pulled him as close as she could. He should be happy. This is what he wanted. Expect apparently it wasn’t. Because the only thing he can think about is Pixal. Pixal, Pixal, Pixal.

“That was fun. Want to keep dancing?” Nya asks hopefully as the song ends, but Jay is already pulling away.

“Sorry, I can’t. I really need to go find Pixal.” He apologizes. He rushes back to where he and Pixal had been sitting, but she isn’t there. Her bright silver form isn’t visible in the crowd either. She had mentioned wanting to go down to the hanger bay before the night was over…

Suddenly he’s sprinting. Maybe she was there. He prays she is. Man, he had messed up so bad. Hopefully she would be there and he would be able to apologize, and tell her everything that had been going through his head that night.

The door hisses open, startling Pixal out of her thoughts. What startles her even more though, is who’d come through the door.

“Jay? What are you doing here?” Hope swells inside her.

“I wanted to dance with you one more time before the night is over. I hope I’m not too late?” He rubs his head sheepishly. Pixal’s heart soars.

“Ask me. I won’t hesitate,” She finds herself answering, mouth running ten steps ahead of her thoughts. Jay steps forward, taking her hand gently.

“Just one dance though. Then I’d hit the breaks if I were you. You really don’t want to fall for me. Us humans...we really tend to be pretty lousy flakes.” He twirls her around, then pulls her close. They sway gently to non-existent music. Screw human tendencies. Pixal knew what she wanted.

“Jay?”

“Yeah?” he breaths, ticking her hair.

“I am a robot. I don’t make mistakes.”

[aizawaskittenwhore]

headcanon: they have a s/o that listens to a specific female artist

featuring izuku, bakugo, todoroki, kirishima, and our pros before hoes hawks and aizawa lol

words: 1k??

warnings: some slick lil nasty comments (cause when aizawa’s involved i can’t write fully sfw) and language that’s it lol

𝕚𝕫𝕦𝕜𝕦 𝕞𝕚𝕕𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕪𝕒 𝕨/ 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕦𝕞𝕚:

the first time he’d ever heard of her was when the two of you went on a drive one night

he’d already liked the vibe of a few of the songs you’d played

and then lullaby came on

man when i say this boy didn’t think he could fall for you any harder until that moment

he was so wrong

hearing your voice softly harmonize with the melody had his heart skipping beats

the street was deserted cause it was so late

and all he remembers is copper streetlamps illuminating your face

left hand out the window, right hand on the wheel while the wind blows your scarf in all different directions

and when happy again plays???

and you blissfully kiss him while you’re stopped at a red light???

while your hand is already holding his?????

izuku is sold

he goes home and downloads all her music

and she becomes “your” artist

“babe wake up umi just dropped music”

he even took you to see her in concert for your birthday lol

𝕜𝕒𝕥𝕤𝕦𝕜𝕚 𝕓𝕒𝕜𝕦𝕘𝕠 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕠 𝕟𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕪

now why would you put him on to rico bruh

but in your defense it’s not your fault

he was helping you with dinner one night

and you hated working in silence so you’d asked him to play something from your playlist

he chose “smack a bitch” cause he liked the title💀

and from that point forward he was obsessed

he was already attracted to your no-nonsense, take no shit type attitude

so knowing that you listened to the same kinda music made you ten times hotter

you knowing all the lyrics had his dick on HARD LMFAOOOO

anger management is his favorite album

you fell tf out when he said that cause...have you met katsuki that mf is the poster child for anger issues

secretly likes sugar trap too but refuses to admit it

on bad days y’all will blast all of rico’s aggressive songs and rage

your downstairs neighbors hate you.

𝕥𝕠𝕕𝕠𝕣𝕠𝕜𝕚 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕖𝕪𝕒𝕟𝕒 𝕥𝕒𝕪𝕝𝕠𝕣

okay so todoroki is painfully introverted

which isn’t his fault cause endeavor isn’t father of the year by any means

so i hc him with someone who’s extroverted and outgoing

teyana makes music for bad bitches who work hard and play harder

but have a soft side too and just wanna love/be loved bro

he loves that you can put on such a brave face for the world every day no matter what

he’ll never forget when he knew he loved you

he was getting in pretty late from a patrol that had run overtime

and he’d found you, crying on your shared bed after an awful day n this man’s heart just splinters cause he don’t know how to comfort people🧍🏾‍♀️

but you don’t ask him for much, just for him to hold you and he does

the next day he wakes up to you just bopping to “never would have made it” and you just glow as you pull him outta bed to come dance with you like you weren’t just crying last night which has him confused asf

“you can be strong and still be vulnerable baby.”

that shit hit home for him

lowkey wants to recreate the shower scene from the “fade” video with you now

𝕙𝕚𝕥𝕠𝕤𝕙𝕚 𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕛𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕖

y’all can’t tell me this mf don’t be zooted 25/8 and most def has a smoke playlist with jhene on it

so when he finds out that you like her too???

oh baby the vibes here are immaculate

you can’t tell me he wouldn’t have chilombo goin in the background while y’all smoke

and if you don’t personally smoke then he’ll just cuddle with you while he practices tricks<3

will ask you if you wanna get licked too if you stare at him as he’s rollin

the energy here is so balanced it’s crazy

shinsou hates drama and all that other bullshit

so when he’s with you he’s the most relaxed he can be

also he loves that you’re not opposed to deep conversations about your purpose on this earth and how you can feed off other people’s energies

y’all definitely burn sage together on sundays

but don’t get it twisted

cause he knows better than anyone that while you may be chill your hands are still rated E for everybody

been on the receiving end of your anger once or twice and he said never again lol

𝕖𝕚𝕛𝕚𝕣𝕠 𝕜𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕞𝕒 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕒𝕝𝕚 𝕦𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕤

there is nothing more attractive to kiri than someone who’s not afraid to take a leap of faith

you’d known each other since second year, and honestly you were itching to change up your energy

you were tired of being the same old, boring, timid y/n

so you started small: you experimented with your hair more, tried out new makeup, and clothes that accentuated your...ahem..assets

sweaters became tube tops, lip balm turned into brown liner with a thick coat of gloss, skirts became bell bottom jeans with the occasional pair of heels

don’t be fooled, you still loved your old clothes, you just needed to branch out

and as your new style grew so did your taste in music

honestly when you started listening to kali you really hit peak Bad Bitch Energy™️

kiri was, in short, enamored with you

the way you woke up one day and decided to be a whole new person was so manly to him

and he loved the way you knew you didn’t need shit from him but still let him spoil you

which only made him wanna spoil you more

and the way you shifted from a goddess who could step on him with a perfectly manicured foot to kiri’s baby who demanded cuddles before 11am????

the duality has wedding bells going off in his head lol

pros before hoes lol

𝕙𝕒𝕨𝕜𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕞𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕟

“fell too fast for me, now the nigga hurt”

that lyric is your dynamic with keigo in a nutshell.

he’d met you while he was in fukuoka on a “business trip” .....which was code for a booty call🙄

and figured he’d try to get another pyt on his team

...only problem was, you were a whole hot girl coach (with ya own draft picks no less)

you had heard about playboy (and no.2 hero) Hawks from here to the States

so, you’d decided to play dumb, hoping he’d slip up and you’d get another pro on your list

all it took was a few sleepovers and calling him keigo over breakfast in the morning...dude was stuck

this man was trying to run game and now you had him throwin you some money to get your hair and nails done “just because” n buy you birkins....embarrassing 💀

however despite him being a sweetheart you didn’t forget what this was, and he wasn’t the only egg in your basket since you knew you weren’t his

this man saw edgeshot’s name come through with a “you up?” text while you were in the shower and cried to brent for a week straight LMFAOOO

but what did he expect from the same person who knew every lyric to meg’s wap verse...come on baby do better

long story short if you can’t handle a stallion don’t try to tame one.

𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕒 𝕒𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕨𝕒 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕫𝕒

whewwww okay the amount of scorpio energy flowing through here is borderline suffocating

honestly if you listen to sza you’re either a scorpio, heartbroken, manifesting, have low self esteem with sudden confidence bursts or all the above don’t lie

in all seriousness shota didn’t see himself getting into a serious relationship due to his pro hero status

that, and he didn’t feel like there was anyone out there that was just...on his level mentally???

but then he meets you and you throw him for a loop though he’ll never admit it

you didn’t just throw yourself at him at the beginning

and while sure you made it known that the attraction was mutual you treaded lightly

he could tell you’d been hurt before and would kill before you let someone get you in a position to hurt you again

pretended not to notice you crying to supermodel when he was supposed to be sleeping

which he understood, for him trust issues came with the territory so there was a mutual understanding between you two

you don’t mind his schedule since you prioritize your alone time and he loves that

you definitely get him into meditation and crystal/chakra alignment

at first he thinks it’s a bunch of bullshit

until it helps him sleep better...mf is a secret hippie now

he loves that you’re trying to heal/become a better version of yourself and he gets to be a part of that growth :,) it makes him a little more optimistic for his personal goals

the sex is elite lol had to say it the vibes are too good here

𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕤 𝕤𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕝𝕖𝕥 𝕞𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕦𝕪𝕤 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕤𝕖!

[waywardwrestlewritingwaif]

Anxious Millennial Love

I couldn’t let this day pass without posting some fanfic love for the man whose become my favorite wrestler in the world. I’m not saying that he’s the best technically (although he’s pretty amazing and getting better all the time) but the combination of skill and nuanced character is unequalled. So here’s a fic in honor of birthday boy Hangman Adam Page. Happy trails, cowboy. 

Pairing: Hangman Page x reader

Word Count: 1,576

Warnings: None really. Other than that it’s pretty angst-y. 

The alcohol selection here isn’t great, to say the least. A few mainstream beers that all tasted the same, cheap spirits for mixed drinks and a couple of low-to-mid-range bottles for those who insisted on drinking straight up. And the atmosphere is pretty lousy. There’s always a small crowd and it’s not what you’d call a full-on dive, but an air of depression just permeates the place, rising like a mist from the eyes of the people in it. You’d never come here with your regular friends, that much is certain. You’re the cheery one, the plugged-in one who always knows what’s happening around town, where the hot spots are and where to be seen. You got your job at AEW because you knew all these things. You’re an Event Coordinator, which means that you’re in charge of everything from press conferences to team dinners. With everything in lockdown and all the shows happening in Jacksonville, you feel like you’ve been demoted to a glorified travel agent but given how many of your friends have been laid off, you know you’re one of the lucky ones.

“Just keep an eye on the kids,” was the instruction Tony gave you. Make sure they all had places to stay and make suggestions as to where they could go so that at least tracking their activities wouldn’t be too difficult.

Only one of the “kids” ever comes here, though. The rest cycle through the small number of places you’ve recommended. They’re not thrilled about it but they get it and they’re all happy to spend time with one another. He, however, needs to separate himself and take some time alone. So you’d suggested this place to him and hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else. A quiet bar with the basics and little likelihood of getting picked out by fans. He’d been shyly appreciative of the suggestion and the grateful look in his eyes had practically melted you.

So you’re sitting here, doing your job by keeping an eye on the company’s prize asset, the one who’s quietly become the most beloved character on the show: Hangman Adam Page. You know that the others have gone to dinner at the hotel and that a few of them will be hitting the bar there afterward, so you’re just doing your job by hanging around in the shadows of the bar where the Hangman has come once again to drown his sorrows. You’re just doing your job.

Except that never in history has a job coordinated so perfectly with what you’d choose to do anyway. You’d happily spend your time doing nothing but trailing after the Hangman. From the first time you laid eyes on him, you were done for. It was that combination of strength and pride with vulnerability. The anxious millennial cowboy indeed. You’d immediately let yourself get lost in those crystal blue eyes and you still couldn’t find your way out. So, sure, you were doing your job by keeping an eye on him. That’s what you told yourself. That’s what you told him on all the nights when you swept in to gather him up and take him back to the hotel. Just your job.

Seeing the time, you slide from the booth where you’ve been hiding with the same beer you ordered when you came in over an hour ago. It’s nasty and flat and you’ve barely been able to stick your tongue in it to give the impression that you were consuming. But it makes decent bait, so you bring it with you as you approach your target.

“Hey,” he mumbles, looking genuinely pleased to see you. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Well I just got here,” you lie. “But I don’t think I’m going to stay long.”

He pivots on his seat and gives you that sweet drunken smile, the smile that turns your skeleton to dust every time you see it. He’s like an angel with his soft golden curls and cherubic face, so powerful and yet so in need of protection. You don’t know exactly what it is that’s been troubling him all these months, the tension between him and his Elite brethren, the retreat into alcohol, the conflicting ways in which he constantly seems to be reaching out to people and isolating himself. Whatever it is, you just want to gather him up and shelter him from his demons. You want to be his safe space and sometimes, you think you are.

You push your barely-touched glass towards him and he eagerly accepts, draining almost half of it at once, then looking embarrassed when he burps.

“A bit too excited there,” he explains, blushing.

Nevertheless, he downs the rest of the glass in his next gulp, smiling when no bodily reaction shows up to humiliate him. He beams at you, eyes unfocused, and holds his arms wide, inviting you in. You couldn’t think of refusing.

As soon as you step closer, he enfolds you in his arms and pulls you against his chest. You wrap your arms loosely around his neck, admiring the sight of him staring up at you, inebriated and innocent.

“How do you always know where to find me?” he drawls.

“That’s my job,” you joke in response, saddened when you see that he believes you.

He runs his hands up your back and pushes his lips against yours, soft and needy like always, his tongue finding its way into your mouth and your movements growing more passionate until you’re forced to pull away.

You smile, seeing your lipstick smudged on his mouth and move to wipe away the mess with your sleeve. He just stares at you with affection and doesn’t react, like he doesn’t care what you’re doing as long as you’re there with him. He’s always so vulnerable looking when he’s like this, always seems like he just needs to be held and told that things will be alright, that the world is not as angry and brutish as it appears. You desperately want to reassure him, but what could you even say? You’re not any more hopeful than he is. But feeling his arms around you makes things a little better because he is proof that there are beautiful, incorruptible things in this world.

“I think it’s time I get you back to the stables, cowboy,” you tell him.

“Cowboys don’t live in the stables, silly.”

“Well then it’s time that I take you back to wherever the cowboys go.”

He pulls you close and kisses you again, fervently but also softly, needing you while at the same time showing how very much he appreciates you. Perhaps, if you were a better person, you’d just take him back to his hotel room and tuck him in before heading back to your own place. On top of all the other things that are obviously plaguing him, he really doesn’t need you raising questions about the kind of relationship you have.

But you’re not that person. You don’t need alcohol because you’re so drunk in love with him that no number of step-programs could save you. You run your fingers through his hair and feel your heart flutter. Then you take a step back, which he correctly interprets as a request to rise to his feet. As he does so, he pulls you in again and plants the most sensual, wonderful kiss you’ve ever had on your lips. You want it to go on forever. You want music to kick in and see credits roll. You want to believe that this is the moment where you’ve truly discovered each other and that you’re about to step into the world of happily ever after.

It isn’t. Tomorrow morning he’s going to wake up with the same sheepish expression he always has. He’s going to slink guiltily from your apartment and back to the hotel so that he can pretend it’s where he spent the night. You’ll be left reclining in a bed redolent of sex, still hearing his whispers of passion in your ears, still feeling the trail of his touches over your body. You’ll try to shake the heavy weight of your feelings off and you’ll fail but do just enough to allow you to get up and continue with your day.

Maybe it would be easier if you couldn’t tell he had feelings for you. Maybe if you could look in his eyes and see someone who just wanted a place to relieve his sexual tension, you could burn away any emotions he stirred in you. Maybe if he were an asshole like a lot of the men in this business are, you’d be better off. But every time he drunkenly declares that you’re the best thing in his life, the only thing that makes him feel better, and even when he retreats hung over and shame-faced from your bed, you know that his feelings go far beyond the desire for a casual hook-up.

Gathering you close against him, he whispers hoarsely into your ear, “Take me home. I need you to love me right now.”

And so you slide away just slightly, grasping both of his hands in yours and leading him towards the exit. Some day, you promise yourself, you’re going to force him to open up, you’re going to make him explain the specters that haunt him and make him realize that love can overcome them. But it probably won’t be tonight.

[tcm]

I Could Have Danced...Danced...Danced All Night By Theresa Brown

No one can show sensual longing or manic desperation like Jennifer Jones. It’s all on full display in Vincente Minnelli’s MADAME BOVARY (‘49). For my money, Jones is one of the most underrated actresses of the classic era. Now, if you listen to the film’s trailer, the narrator will describe her as:

“Emma Bovary, this corrupt, loathsome, contemptible creature...this woman of insatiable passions...this monstrous creation of a degenerate imagination.”

That’s a bit rich. I’m not trying to sugarcoat anything, but I’ve got to go the “glass half-empty / glass half-full” route with Emma. I disagree with what the narrator describes; I think she is a fascinating example of the lengths a woman will go for happiness in mid-19th century France, where all cobble-stoned streets are paved with roadblocks for women with few avenues for success laid out unless through a man. I think all women can relate to Emma, especially the women in the time period this MGM film is released. It’s 1949 and men have been coming back for their jobs after the war and Rosie the Riveter has to go back into the kitchen to bake cakes.

Emma’s lot in life as a peasant’s daughter offers no advancement in class and society, though she is “cruelly” blessed with uncommon beauty. (Jennifer Jones is absolutely beautiful!) Being fed romance novels and poetry in the convent, nothing is preparing her to make a living. Seeds of an unrealistic view of life are planted. When she’s back home, she’s like an 1850’s teenager with posters on her wall from Tiger Beat magazine – dashing illustrations of being swept away by love. Her view of reality is a bit skewed. When Charles, a new local doctor (Van Heflin) arrives to care for her father, it’s love at first sledgehammer for him...and an escape hatch for her. He is the first of several men she seduces and uses via withholding before submitting.

She’s terribly unhappy in her new married life. She gives it the good ol’ college try, fixing up their humble abode, charging materials from the local merchant – the start of living above her means via the merchant as ‘pusher’ who provides all...but then demands payment aka blackmail. Charles, the doctor/husband, cannot give her what she truly craves: riches, high society, passion. “Craves” is an understatement and his love for her is not enough. In one of her manic moments of breaking down, she desperately implores:

“Charles, I want a child. I want a boy, Charles. A boy grows to be a man. A man can be free. If he doesn’t like his life he can change it. If there’s anything beautiful, if there’s anything grand anywhere in the world, he can go out and find it. I want a baby, Charles. I want a boy.”

How sad. I’d love to say it’s the desperation of motherhood fueling her mania, but it’s really the desperation of wanting to escape. No suburban housewife could ever put herself in those shoes, right? Emma’s only hope is to live vicariously through a baby son.

So, of course, fate hands her a daughter.

Fate also gives Jones and Heflin an invitation to a fancy dress ball—the impetus of the story hence my title—where the die is really cast for her. See, it’s one thing to wish for things you never had. But when you are given a taste of something that is snatched away, can life be any crueler? Minnelli crafts a pivotally fantastic scene at this ball where not only is the full Monty of Emma’s beauty revealed, but it serves as a metaphor for so many things.

With its stunning production values, the scene is opulent and men can’t take their eyes off her. She’s sought for dances. But poor Charles is shunted off to the sidelines, never being allowed entry into the inner circle of the elite to spoil Emma’s illusion...delusion. He’s even looked down on by a waiter, while Emma is elevated to the belle of the ball. And right then and there, she is suddenly swept off her feet by the handsome and rich Rodolphe played by the drop-dead gorgeous Louis Jourdan in only his fourth American movie. Did I say gorgeous?! She is living the dreams she dreamt...being the center of attention, picked to dance by the handsome ‘prince.’ That whole dance sequence of Minnelli’s is a dizzying scene, serving as a sexual stand-in. And when the windows are broken...

Her beauty is her only currency. She seduces men. She pays the price for that. One man tells her:

“I am a fairly courageous man, Emma but I was afraid of you. You ask for something that consumes while it burns...that destroys everything it touches. I didn’t want to be destroyed.”

Should a woman be satisfied with her lot in life? She is trapped, with fleeting escapes that lead her right back where she started. Things close in on her. She’s in over her head. Everything is about to come crashing down on her. Jones does a fine job portraying a woman who is coquettish, calculating, seductive and trapped. She got me wondering if she could have played Blanche DuBois in Kazan’s capable hands. She only made 27 movies. She was a five-time Oscar nominee, winning her Best Actress Academy Award once for THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (‘44). She’s as different there as she was in CLUNY BROWN (‘46), as she was in the overwrought DUEL IN THE SUN (‘46), as she was in LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING (‘55) or as she was in my personal favorite, LOVE LETTERS (‘45). There’s a quality of vulnerability, sensuality and mania about Jennifer Jones. Yeh, I’m a fan.

I’ve finally come to respect Van Heflin though it took a long time. (Better late than never.) He could play so many different shades of men, I have newly come to appreciate him in SHANE (‘53), THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (‘46), ACT OF VIOLENCE (‘49), THE PROWLER (‘51), EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (‘49) or his Oscar-winning performance in JOHNNY EAGER (‘41). In MADAME BOVARY, he’s besotted by her, defeated by her, stern with her and wants to care for her. But ultimately, she is too much for him.

The movie is peppered with character actors we all know, like Gene Lockhart, Henry Morgan, Ellen Corby and John Abbott. Like my good friend always says about classic movies: Everybody worked. And you need only to IMDB director Vincente Minnelli to see the depth and breadth of his talent. He could direct a film taking place in modern times as with UNDERCURRENT (‘46) or the turn of the century like in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (‘44). He could do comedy as with THE LONG, LONG TRAILER (‘54); drama with THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (‘52); and the light touch of musicals like in CABIN IN THE SKY (‘43), AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (‘51) and his Oscar-winning GIGI (‘58).

Hope you make the time to watch MADAME BOVARY. You can live vicariously through her, so you don’t make the same mistakes she made.

[huntsman-ash]

LiveThoughts: RWBY V8E6

Second attempt at this since last time Chrome just DIED for no reason...

Im going to put literally the entire thing with Cinder under one note; Called it.

Its a great set of stuff, sure, but it doesnt relaly tell us anything we didnt already know about Cinder, and I personally feel it doesnt really explain why she turned out the way she did. I feel like we’ve had another weird twist of the situation again...M+K? Coronas fault? Who knows. Either way, this section isnt great by my taste and I kinda skipped most of it. 

Few things to note though; Apperently in Mistral scrubbing by hand is still more viable floor cleaning tech than using Dust.

The wind vane on the roof has the Rooster Teeth symbols rooster on it. 

The hotel Cinder is bought by is named the Glass Unicorn, fittingly enough for...several reasons. 

The coffees behind the stepsisters when we first see them are the animated versions of the real life stuff RT put out just before this season went live. 

No one seems to notice the fact cinder has orange eyes. I wonder if weird eye colors are just a THING in Remnant?

The control collar/shock thing is incredibly inefficient in design, since it doesnt actually hold on to her very well. A more effective brace/choker design would have worked better.

The song that goes on during all of this is...kind of obvious and a little bland? Fitting for younger Cinder I guess. 

Mmm. Random greasy huntsman. 

I guess in Atlas its fine to laugh at struggling teenagers?

Im going to assume there’s a 3+ year gap here where she gets older, cause she stops being smol and gets closer to how we see her now.

Also even here, in Atlas...really? The most effective way to clean these carpeted floors is to have a TEENAGER SCRUB THEM BY HAND?

How do you scrub...I assume its carpet anyway?

And how you tell civilians are lame in Atlas; they are impressed...by a sword.  Just a sword. A boring, half-cut sword. Losers.

I assume this would be Cinder’s semblance manifesting. Also note on the desk; “we do not serve faunus”. Well THAT doesnt surprise me.

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHE. Get fucked Cinder. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

I dont even feel pity for her, this is funny to me.  Also the fact that this kind of shit aCTUALLY EXISTS is...amusing to me. Like, really? So I guess indentured servitude is a thing in Remnant too. 

And this is why Cinder likes to use swords. Really. Wow. LAMEO.

Huh. Dual maces. Interesting. Thats a prety cool weapon.  Looks like they open up too. Bet he could bash some skulls with that.

“Hurting them isnt going to make your life any better”. Um, excuse me? I think hurting them is the very best thing to do in this situation. At least, for the moment anyway. 

Huh. So she’s ten at this point? Even as a child, shes older than she looks. 

And training montage. Huh. Or at least I assume it is. I get the feeling being able to go where you want too and do what you want too is the main reason Hunters exist. There must be crazy tight immigration laws...or, maybe, its just that traveling between kingdoms is stupid dangerous cause of Grimm. I think the latter is most likely considering every form of public transit extra-kingdom we’ve seen (even between cities, see Argus Limited) has some kind of defensive weaponry. Limited and ineffective, for th emost part oddly.

So you can take the exam at 18. Okay cool. Pre-that must be prep school. Wonder what happens if you wash out? Also I like how this dude is just “yeah, 7 years of training, we got this.”

I think this is the first time we’ve seen the other side of the moon. Or at least, the proper other side...bloody hell I STILL dont know how all those piesces are still held in place, the thing looks like it should start yeeting bolides at Remnant. 

Better still we see it MOVE, rotate in time to the passing of years. So it literally does rotate on its own axis, and more importantly, unlike OUR moon, its NOT tidally locked. We only ever see the same side of our moon. REmnants rotates MUCH faster. Also it doesnt seem to have phases like ours does. I’ll check on why that is. 

Well at least we have an explanation for why Cinders so damn good at fighting people. Trained by an Atlas Huntsman.

Also as a note the device is quite literally just an electrical Dust crystal attached to a necklace. Things the most inefficent torture device Ive ever fucking seen. 

Wonder how often they have to change the crystal.

And there goes the moon rotating again.

I like how NO ONE comment on the blade going missing and that guy never came back for it. I guess he must have just bought a new one.

I get the very distinct feeling they wont just let her go honestly, permission or not. 

AWWW WE DONT EVEN GET TO SEE CINDER MURDER THE SISTERS. Also no blood. Odd.  Good kill on the  stepmother though. Oh, that NECK CRACK.  I like how all the bitch can do is try and shock Cinder, like, uh...adrenaline up? SHE HAS A SWORD? MAYBE FIGHT BACK?

Hah. Weak ass fuckin Atlas people.  Also the clock going off in the back ground twelve times. How fitting. Welcome to midnight. 

Also shes kind of glowing here cause the room is dark, and I find it amusing this is probably the last time she wears white.

And THERES the Cinder we know

Sick ass music, cool. Also THAT is an interesting semblance...I guess he turns himself to metal? Also DAMN his aura broke after THAT? Hes a Huntsman...ah who cares. Again probably in Cinders memory more than anything. Which at this point is probably about as reliable as a coked up hookers.

SHANKED. Sucker. You shoulda seen THAT one coming.

And thats all it took to get the shock collar off. Lol. 

So what happened to the hotel? Did they just...write it off? I mean four people got murdered in there...

And now we’re back on the whale. HOW THE SCREAMING FUCK DID CINDER JUST...

Wow. She just got up after eating that blast. Fucking plot armor.

Merc making the hard calls honestly.  Im actually gonna watch all of this now which is nice because I want to know whats happening in the real world. PITY MORE THAN HALF THE EPISODE WAS THIS FUCKING FILLER.

I like how Cinder just...goes quiet the moment she realizes shes lost Mercury. Not that he was USEFUL mind you but if I had to guess she liked being the boss. But now shes...basically back where she started. 

So the whale is basically a ship. It has a bridge. Probably Salems throne room.

Man, Oscars literally just RTs punching bag this season isnt he? Literally in this case. 

His clothes are still scortched too which I find interesting.  The black eyes also staying. Auras not back up then? Aura repair and regen seems...werid half the time. Like RT does what they want with it.

Ah so someone finally says it...but at the same time what exactly does Salem have to fear? If she cant fight the whole world...what could they do? Maybe overwhelming her? It...Im having a hard time putting the “she cant be stopped” with “shes afraid of fighting all of Remnant”. 

Somethings missing here. I know it.

The sound of the “door” opening reminds me of the Flood doors in High Charity in Halo 3s Cortana. Fleshy twisting.

Mention from Hazel, but AGAIN...no details. I guess if you nail down how she can do stuff its harder to write? 

Glad someone made a comment on the futility of the Hunter academies. 

I really hate how Salems giving us creepy mommy shades. 

Hmm. So yeah the bridge IS the throne room/command deck. I like how Neo doesnt give a fuck is just casually kneeling. 

Ah okay THATS why he grabbed the scroll. 

Heh. Interesting. How exactly does this work I wonder. 

...Why does Salem have a ring. Has she always had that ring?

Neo looking at the Hound like “oh, I could ride this thing”. 

Oh cool the Ace Ops. And they’re arguing, shocker. Sounds like Elm doesnt trust tech either. No shock there.  Idiot.

Atlas elite. Yeah, right.

Huh, is this a Manta with landing gear? I guess they do have them...seems kind of silly to have them so high up though. I guess thats what the thing under the door is for, so they can deploy a ramp. Man, I really dont like Atlas’s airship design.

Hare needs some fuckin suppresants. 

Annnnddd...here we go, things go straight to hell. I was warned of this. I am going to try and not be mad...but from what Ive heard the incomptence of the military in this particular section is astronomical.

Huh. So...Grimm can be convirted into a rock-punching liquid? Interesting. Has that always been a thing or... Also why the fuck are you jsut standing there in awe, go kill the fucking thing! Fucking Specialists.

...that is all it took to get through Atlas’s shield? THAT?

I also love how no one does anything. Ironwoods like “wait what the fuck”. Come on bro. 

And...thats the Atlas navy. Everyone. Two lasers. One of which missed. Remind me again what exactly these things are used to shoot?

Wait, no, that took down part of it, and then the rest is, surprise, hitting the soft rock on the outside. 

THERE goes the shield. 

Hang on a second, how long have those giant squid things been there?

And...what. The whale just approaches, nothing happens? You’ve got 12 fucking ships there, shoot the fucking thing.

Again, WHY IS NO ONE DOING ANYTHING?

Oh, it just beach-headed. Okay fine, whatever. 

Im not really worried.

Lets see how RT makes this WORSE though...

And thats this weeks episode.

[aronasnack]

circles ⎮ arón piper fiction

summary: flying back to madrid leaves ur heart feeling heavy bc you know you were bound to reconnect with ur past. 

characters: arón piper x bella alvarez (o/c)

author's note: this is the start to a series! ps sorry for the terrible spanish, i'm using google translator BAHAHHA :') in this storyline, aron is 23 when he starts filming elite. :)

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pt. 1 ⎮ pt. 2 out now!

word count: 1,212.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are touching down in Madrid in half an hour, 0700 local time, according to the weather forecast, it's about 10 degree celcius there right now. On behalf of your cockpit and cabin crews, please, sit back and get ready for landing." There you were among the passengers in the business class cabin, looking out of the window, admiring the bird eye view of Madrid as the aircraft descended for landing. You moved to Los Angeles four years ago to pursue your studies in Film at UCLA, and you haven't been back to Madrid ever since. The opportunity for you to return to Madrid came by when you were offered the chance to be one of the directors for a new Netflix production. You weren't a small fry in the cinematography scene, you had been part of a few productions in the States but it was still an opportunity too good to miss, so you accepted it right away. Yet, here you were returning to Madrid, feeling empty as you recalled the reasons that made you leave in the very first place. An hour later, you were out of the aircraft, in a cab on the way to your apartment that was in the heart of the city. Listening to some music with your AirPods, you winded down the window to take a better look of the scenery Madrid has to offer, and for some odd reason, the way how the sun shone on your face and the way how the wind blew your hair in Madrid sent a wave of nostalgia running through your body, and you thought, i might have missed this more than i'd imagine.

Shortly after, you were in your apartment, laying on your couch with your sleeping mask on as you were too tired to unload your luggages, thanks to the combination of a long flight and the jet lag that was kicking in. You planned to take a short nap before doing anything, but you ended up sleeping till 6 in the evening, when your phone rang. You groan as you answer the call because firstly, you realised it was already late, which meant you were definitely gonna stay up the entire night and you'd still be jet lagged the next day. Secondly, it was Miguel Herrán calling you, "BELLA! We know you're back, don't you know how to answer any of our messages? We're planning a welcome back party at the club tonight, our usual place. You'll be there right? RIGHTTTT?" God, Miguel hasn't change one bit, he was still the same, noisy, but he has his good points which is why you kept in contact with him even when you were away. He was talking way too much, too quickly, and in order to stop him from being even noisier, "Cállate, i'm going, i'm going. Jesus, you're still the same, maybe even louder." Miguel bursts out into laughter and says, "ugh i've missed annoying you. see you at club. we're gathering at 11!", and he makes a loud kissing sound before hanging up the call. Ugh that guy... Falling back onto the couch, you thought about your friends that you left behind in Madrid four years ago, and the call you just had with Miguel, and the excitement that came flooding in at the fact you are reuniting with them made you realise that, hmm, i might have really missed this more than i'd imagine.

It's 11, and there you were, alighting from your cab as you take a quick scan around the street that you once used to frequent. Wow, it looked way more polished than before. You could hear the loud music that was playing in the club and you walked towards the entrance for VIPs. An hour before arriving, Miguel texted you that he had reserved a table under his name so they didn't had to queue to enter the club as he said ever since the refurbishment of the club, it has gotten even more popular and the queues were too long too handle. And he was right, the queues were ridiculous, and you were glad to the miss it as you entered the club. As you walked in, people, of both genders started to turn to check you out. Not going to deny, you are very pretty, and you had an impeccable taste in fashion. Your sharp features, along with your brown doe-eyes, long brown hair with wispy bangs, and the various tattoos that are scattered around your body, and the fact you are also of Korean ethnicity, gave you the image of an Asian Baby Girl. Despite it having a negative connotation, you are happy and confident with the way you look, so you were fine with the idea of being commonly viewed as an ABG, because after all, you are known for being a sweetheart, in contrary to how you looked. You were in a black bodycon dress and your blue Balenciaga Triple S shoes that you love; the dress accentuated your hourglass figure and décolletage, making many of your tattoos visible. Ignoring the stares from the random strangers in the club, you made your way to the specific table where all of your friends were. "AHHH BELLA OH MY GOD WE'VE MISSED YOU!!!" your friends came running from the table as they saw you walking towards them. " i missed you guys too!!! i'm guessing the past four years must have been good for you guys looking at how great and happy you guys look. " you responded while giving each of them hugs, and lastly Miguel, who engulfs you in a big hug since the both of you were the closest to each other. " it definitely has been, but even more so for you! look at you, you've became a total badass with your tattoos. you're even prettier now dude! " one of your friends exclaims, and you laughed at how excited they were to see you.

You guys spend the night catching up; drinking and dancing, then drinking again, and you definitely had way too much when you found yourself in the washroom of the club, without even knowing how you got there in the first place. You tried to sober up, sitting yourself onto the one of the stools in the toilet, before you heard some weird noises that were coming from one of the cubicles. Concerned that someone might be in need of some help, you opened the cubicle, and you see a girl on her knees, her head clasped between two hands, over the groin of a man. You covered your eyes with your hands, not because you were mortified, but you were embarrassed to have witness such a scenario, and you were ready to close the door and leave. "Oh fuck, Sorry!" you apologised, and just when you moved your hands over your eyes to close the door; in that few brief seconds when your eyes were not covered, they met a pair of eyes that were once all too familiar to you. And before you knew it, you hear him saying "Bella!" before you ran out of the toilet and all you could think was, this can't be happening.

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pt. 2 out now!

[doctorgerth]

Hello love~! I'm here to request wedding headcanons for Zoro, Sabo and Ace~

These were so cute and fun to write!! Hope you enjoy, my dear friend ~

Wedding HCs for Zoro, Sabo, and Ace

Zoro:

- nervous as HELL

- he doesn’t show it, remaining as stoic as ever, but he is sweating buckets in that suit!

- it’s not that he has cold feet, he just hadn’t imagined he’d ever commit to someone forever like this

- but, he fell for you in such a way, immediately knowing that you two were meant to be together until the end of time

- he would’ve been fine without any ceremony, but he knows a wedding means a lot to you, so of course he said yes to the idea

- the crew really wanted to throw you an extravagant wedding, but both you and Zoro agreed on a small ceremony on the Sunny

- he begged Nami and Robin for help to plan and design the entire thing, since he has no fucking clue what he’s doing, and Nami complied (with only a small fee)

- Nami and Sanji (lol) are your bridesmaids, with Robin being the maid of honor!

- Usopp and Franky are the groomsmen, with Luffy being the best man!

- Zoro is the one who asked (dared? demanded?) Sanji to be your other bridesmaid and he only agreed if he could also escort you down the aisle

- Zoro complied though he was definitely hesitant; the idea of the ero-cook being arm and arm with his future bride before he could even lay eyes on her makes his blood boil

- Brook is of course playing sweet music on his violin

- Chopper is the ring bearer and flower child (let it be known he is absolutely adorable in his little suit!!)

- Jinbe is the officiant!

- it’s a wonderful ceremony because the entire crew is actually dressed to the nines! Franky still isn’t wearing pants, but he does look fancy from the waist up!

- Zoro is as handsome as ever, in a full grey suit; his cherished swords aren’t decorated around his waist for once, but they are laid aside in his line of sight of course

- once Brook starts playing the traditional wedding song, Zoro perks up, craning his neck to look for you

- his breathing and heart rate increase rapidly; it’s time and he is about to e x p l o d e

- it takes a lot for Zoro to get nervous, why is he on the verge of hyperventilation??

- what if you see him and change your mind? what if he can’t really make you happy for the rest of his life? what if you realize there’s someone way better out there? what if you realize you don’t actually love him…?

- Luffy notices Zoro’s apprehension and places a reassuring hand on his shoulder, offering him an ear to ear smile to let him know everything will be okay!

- the blinding pure white of your dress instantly catches Zoro eye

- your beauty and grace somehow makes every single one of his fears disappear

- he even completely dismisses the fact that you’re linked arms with that shitty cook

- you look up at him with the most loving eyes and he questions how he could have ever doubted the love you have between each other; a kind of love that is meant to withstand anything and everything

- Zoro hardly even listens to anything that comes out of Jinbe’s mouth, he’s just too focused on you and your genuine, happy smile

- once you are officially proclaimed as Mr. and Mrs. Roronoa Zoro, he grabs you instantly lifts you up into a passionate kiss

- the entire crew erupts into applause - both Franky and Sanji are weeping - and the real party begins!

- you end the ceremony with a lavish and lively party full of booze, food, music, and friends

- the honeymoon is postponed, since as usual with your crew’s luck, the marines have arrived; they caught word of the wedding and are now surrounding you, planning on a capture

- you finish off your wedding day with fighting and escaping the marines together as newlyweds!

Sabo:

- marrying a man from a generally pretty secretive group, it’s no surprise that this ceremony is low-key and a secret to the world

- the only people in attendance are you, Sabo, and the Revolutionaries

- Ivankov insists you get married in the forest of Kamabakka Kingdom, since the pink flowers and leaves of the trees serve as an elegant backdrop/atmosphere

- you agree, as long as the Kamabakka people do not cause any disruptions

- spoiler: they’re hiding in the bushes and trees during the entire ceremony!

- the set up is basic: a few white chairs are set up in order, facing a simple arch decorated with the most beautiful flowers from the island

- the only lavish things about the wedding are the outfits

- Sabo is dressed head to toe in a handsome coal-black suit (with a matching top hat of course!); his sunny blonde hair and bright blue eyes really pop against the darkness of his suit!

- your dress is long, flowing, and pearly white

- Inazuma and a few other Kamabakka citizens helped to get you ready

- Koala wanted to murder Sabo as he was just impossible; he wouldn’t stand still for her, he was just too jittery and eager to see you!

- the ceremony begins and Sabo is as ready as ever; he won’t lie, he is a little nervous, but he knows seeing your loving face will make him feel better

- Koala is your maid of honor; she proudly holds your lengthy train as you walk down the aisle with Dragon, who is escorting you

- Hack stands next to Sabo as his best man

- Ivankov is elated to be the officiant, though you and Sabo had to make him promise he wouldn’t go over the top during the ceremony

- luckily, everything goes perfectly during the wedding

- Sabo’s face is threatening to freeze into his toothy smile, but he is just so happy to finally see you

- the exchange of your vows really makes the audience tear up

- Sabo isn’t even looking at his vow papers anymore; the words he’s wanting you to hear spill effortlessly from his heart

- he’s just staring into your eyes, telling you precisely how in love with you he is and how he promises to love you for the rest of his days and beyond

- happy tears begin to prick your eyes, causing few to fill his eyes as well

- he takes your hands in his once more as the final words he’s been dying to hear all day are said: ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.’

- Sabo doesn’t even hesitate as he takes hold of your blushing cheeks into his gloved hands to grab your lips in a romantic kiss

- you can taste the saltiness of your tears (or are they his?) flowing down your cheeks; Sabo smiles joyfully against your lips

- this causes the people of Kamabakka to erupt into applause and rush forward from their hiding places

- amidst the chaos, a party ensues, but Sabo finds you and discreetly leads you two away

- he takes you to a solitary beach to enjoy some peace and quiet as husband and wife

- it seems he had planned this moment, as a checkered blanket and a single lit candle are waiting for you

- no words are said between you two; you sit down on the blanket together while he pulls your back into his chest, wrapping his arms around you

- you watch the blazing sun go down into the vast sea while he whispers sweet nothings in your ear

- he makes loves to you on that beach, calling you his dear wife over and over again, never once getting tired of hearing you call him your husband

Ace:

- The Whitebeard Pirates do not accept small ceremonies

- your wedding is gonna be so extravagant, everyone will hear about it!; it’ll be in all the newspapers!

- you and Ace accept this with great gratitude, and you two are never asked to do anything

- Marco surprisingly takes complete control in the wedding planning and honestly, you’d think he was the bride-zilla

- Izo is of course in charge of your hair and make up, and he makes you look absolutely stunning

- Jozu and Vista have to hold Ace down while Izo makes some “touches” to his face and hair

- Marco and Izo both want to strangle Ace for thinking he could wear his hat during the ceremony 

- the entire ship is lively with crew members and even some elite guests (the Straw Hats and the Red Hair Pirates to name a few)

- Luffy is beyond excited to have and call you his sister!

- it is known around the world as the wedding of the century! Pops wants nothing but the best for his son and now daughter!

- he is beyond excited to accept you into the family and is already pushing for grandkids

- Ace is a little nervous, but he’s mostly beaming in that handsome white suit of his!

- you two had talked beforehand about this commitment, since you two are pretty young, and you both have insecurities

- but you two are so crazy for each other and know you are 100% ready and eager for this next step in your lives! (also Marco put way too much effort and stress into this wedding so it is definitely happening)

- seeing you walk down the aisle in that gorgeous white dress of yours, Ace has to really fight the tears threatening to roll down his cheeks

- this is really happening; he’s marrying the woman of his dreams!

- he’s so overwhelmed with emotions, knowing you are just as in love with him as he is you; he never thought he would find a love as true and unbreakable as yours!

- he really has to suppress himself for kissing you right there before the officiant can even start the ceremony

- but once he gets to kiss you, he almost tackles you!

- you two stumble backwards, causing his arm to catch your waist and he is dipping you into a deep and heated kiss!

- the biggest party erupts immediately after the announcement of Mr. and Mrs. Portgas Ace!

- though you tried to turn down the offer, Pops practically forces you to take a honeymoon trip

- he provides a small boat and your bags are already packed!

- Ace takes you to an island known for their fancy restaurants and beautiful beaches

- you two spend a week doing nothing but making sweet love, adventuring the island, and relishing in the fact that you are now officially husband and wife!

[arcticdementor]

You might look around sometimes and think to yourself, a new America has dawned, godless, without the old restraints. Yellowstone, the Kevin Costner Western on the Paramount Channel is the best example I can summon to mind just now, and its third season has just started. It’s a 21st-century story of cowboys and Indians—with characters seeking freedom from law. Practically, this means they must constantly defend a way of life independent of the many bureaucracies threatening their livelihood, and they do so with terrible violence.

Taylor Sheridan is the writer-director behind Yellowstone, and the series follows the success of his movies, Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River. These movies earned seven Oscar nominations, one for Sheridan, and about as many nominations in Cannes, including important wins. Sheridan was raised on a ranch, but his family lost it, so he went to college and Hollywood, recalling Sam Peckinpah’s story. After Clint Eastwood, he’s now our premier poet of manliness.

…

Like any man long in power, Dutton has many enemies, and the more they behave dishonorably, the more you see that he’s touched by greatness, since he has no desire to go hurting people and does not share their cruel contempt for justice or life. Many look to prosper in his place, partly by the prosperity he has made. Worse for Dutton, America has changed—from the national press investigating him to the new economy to the way historical grievances grant authority to demand change—everything is threatening his way of life, built around family, land, and centuries past and future. Indeed, loyalty itself is over and new identities are required, which are flexible and practiced in deception. To succeed in Yellowstone’s new America, it doesn’t really matter whether you know any part of the country or have done well by people, but whether you know how to manipulate institutions and please those who manage the most successful interests, which seem hardly any better than legalized conspiracies.

Like Hemingway’s marlin, which achieves its greatest leap in its death throes and expires at the top of the arc, Dutton is most impressive in agony. He seems superhuman compared to the new American elites. His handling of urgent problems makes him resemble the president—he is an executive. Meanwhile, egalitarianism has not created equality in America, but only a new elite, impatient, ignorant of the future, blind to necessity—thus, astonishingly able to manipulate the new systems of power, since these elites feel no concern for consequences. The real world, where people are tied to a place, to other people, to their past, and the good they pursue, is replaced by access to the institutions and finances that make the world work, which manipulate people’s lives indirectly, in unaccountable and unpredictable ways. Everyone’s tied into legal demands and their lives are increasingly regulated, but only people who know how to use the law to get what they want get ahead in this new situation. The first post-American elite is coming for the last cowboys.

…

The American Dream is over in Yellowstone, and billionaire gentrification is coming for the last refuge of manliness in a country that produces compliant subjects rather than free citizens. In this grim world, cowboys are stand-ins for the white working class. They don’t go to college and they work dangerous jobs without much healthcare and for little pay. They are not disrupting the economy. They are America’s past, not future. Their virtues are Stoic and this might simply mean resignation to death.

…

Justice is built on nobility, and in Yellowstone, Sheridan draws our attention to this through the characters’ relationship with their horses. So understanding horses is the core of Stoicism—the horse is the noblest animal and America’s love of horses lasted well into the last era of popular country music and the Western, in the 1970s, because a horse rider presents the image of someone more than merely human. It is a greatness available nearly to anyone, at least anyone willing to face harsh nature. Horses are everywhere in Yellowstone, so one might not read much into it. They symbolize certain virtues, however. The horse is a power that will obey the rider, but not against its own nature. To ride a horse requires endurance in face of pain or weariness, courage to face fear or whatever weakness might come, self-control in face of temptation, and moderation—those habits that make man thoughtlessly sovereign. Without these, you die when it’s suddenly dangerous. One cannot talk oneself into it and there is no technology to accomplish this, either. It’s a way of life, not a job. It takes long practice which allows you to understand yourself and develop self-discipline. As such, horse riding leads to a kind of self-knowledge.

…

The Duttons are not Christians, few of their like seem to be—not even the death of the firstborn leads to a church funeral. They believe in freedom and nature—ruling over the land, over the horses, over people. They despise weakness and treasure loyalty. They trust family, not morality. Compared to ordinary Americans, they’re shockingly aristocratic. They believe in choosing the means to defend family and their land because family itself is unchosen—it’s nature, and therefore reliable. But can they live in America, where most people have no family? They rely on their old-fashioned patriotism to defend the ranching way of life, but the country has changed without them and it seems they can either adapt and sacrifice their family, or stay loyal and lose everything.

…

The opposite of a man in America is a bourgeois bohemian, to recall David Brooks’s signal contribution to our sociology in Bobos in Paradise (2000). Brooks is a sophist for this class, so he will not tell the ugly truth—but Tom Wolfe did in A Man in Full (1998), and even scooped Brooks. It’s not an accident that he saw clearly: Wolfe was the poet of American Stoicism and understood the threats to manliness.

The people who define elite taste in America are themselves opposed to violence, but not because they are Christian or even moral. It’s because their own rule doesn’t require that they ever take any personal risks—poorer people do that, who live in other parts of town or are completely removed from sight by gentrification. Nowadays, the rich take no responsibility for the poorer or those suffering violence, or even ever shake their hands, which is why our cities are such madhouses. There is no noblesse oblige.

Sheridan wants to show the violence in America to rebuke this bloodless view of things. So in the first season we see, through the real estate developer drama, how the new American elite is moving in to remove the last ranchers. This establishes the difference between real men and those who want to rule merely through institutions and finance, as though history had ended and we’re just dividing up luxuries. In the second season, we see rule by violence, in order to understand the difference between men and beasts. Sheridan shows that not all who kill are the same. Only then is it possible to defend the ranchers against the bobos persuasively.

…

The older Americans were not sufficiently attuned to nature, because they believed in God more. But as the churches are emptying, people are looking elsewhere to learn who they are. Some turn to nature, because human beings are not trustworthy. We may say mankind is naturally perverse, always coveting and therefore often violent or treacherous, which is why harshness was required in the past, to establish property and then defend it. This is certainly Dutton’s view, who only goes to church once, to make a priest manipulate a parishioner into obedience. And as a family, the Duttons are only happy when they revert to their old ways, taking care of their herd from an improvised camp so far away from civilization there’s no cell tower in range.

The only way to end the human drama would be to stop being enviable. End greatness and thus end striving. On the other hand, to defend greatness is to defend suffering. This way, we learn that suffering builds character—it brings people together, as do common enemies. This problem, the future of America, is the show’s indirect concern. Is it possible to retain honor in a dishonorable world? It’s not obvious how we can defend freedom without honorable men making sacrifices. Nor how we can raise honorable men if we tolerate bobo elites who despise honor and use every institution of government and market to end it. Dutton raised his kids to correspond to his understanding of rule. The treacherous Jamie is a Harvard-educated lawyer who tasted the bobo life for a while, but in order to redeem himself, he works like hired help in the stables. Beth is a finance genius, which plays to her ruthlessness, but at the price of undermining her ability to love and trust. Kayce is the truest cowboy, but what makes him so loyal also blinds him to the complexities of 21st century America. They each amplify something in Dutton, but in this attempt to pass on the ranch to a new generation, it turns out honor and savvy have been utterly split apart.

This acquisitive capitalism that corrupts honor is the enemy that returns in the third season of Yellowstone. That’s what the name of the show is about—the place of nature in America. Is it a museum, a zoo we visit occasionally, enjoying the beauty after all the danger is under control, and the millionaire class gets extra privileges? Or is there also a human nature that we need to learn to respect by treating physical nature with some respect, lest our elites treat us like pets as well? To defend manliness in America, it may be necessary to defend wild nature. That is a preparation for political freedom. To go too far in the opposite direction is to treat human beings, but especially men, like savages—as our elites do to the urban and rural underclass.

The purpose of the show is to persuade Americans to believe in nobility again. To face cruelty and violence as a preferable alternative to institutionalized despotism. To accept America’s tragic past with gratitude for the freedom we still have, if we are willing to earn it again. We have had so much success, we’ve created a class who profits by this success without any connection to America or regular Americans. We need to educate new elites about what’s worth loving and defending. Sheridan wants to teach by tragedy, so his protagonists are essentially honorable, which is no longer tolerated in our storytelling. Americans have never accepted tragedy before but perhaps now we will, since our freedom is once again in danger.

[dippedanddripped]

In his 2018 skit on Supreme, Hasan Minaj, the patron comic of hype culture, said, “Without objects that make me stand out, what am I? Then I just have to be myself, and that’s terrifying, because I am insecure and I need things to make me feel better about myself.” In a couple of sentences, he deftly drilled to the core of the fuccboi psyche: a deep-seated insecurity about one’s own worth and an equally deep-seated desire to prove that worth to others.

Both the clinical and the cultural term for this state is Narcissism.

Narcissism is often confused with egotism or mere selfishness, but while it may contain elements of both, it’s driven not by an outsized sense of self-respect but by self-loathing, which leads to inexorable desire and strife for approval from others. “It’s a very insecure personality, and all the stuff on the outside – the grandiosity, the arrogance, the entitlement – is a suit of armor to buttress a weak interior core, because on the subconscious level narcissists think that others will see that they are not all that,” Dr. Ramani Durvasula, a best-selling author and an expert on narcissism, told me.

Narcissism is nothing new, but the level of narcissism on display in our culture is unprecedented – Dr. Ramani calls it the disease of our time. In his prophetic 1979 bestseller The Culture of Narcissism, the sociologist Christopher Lasch dissected a milieu of mass media that gave more and more coverage to celebrities, narcissistic role models whose behavior was increasingly beginning to be condoned, excused, and explained away. He blamed the rise of the narcissistic personality on “proliferation of images” and “the cult of consumption,” among other things. Fast-forward to 2020, and 1979 looks positively quaint in the age of social media, for there is no bigger driving engine of narcissism than social media platforms such as Instagram.

In the decade since its launch, much has been said about how Instagram has democratized media, but it simultaneously open-sourced Narcissism that was formerly reserved for a celebrity elite. Today, with the rise of Gen Z, this tendency reaches another dimension on TikTok. “Everybody on the app has some form of narcissism,” TikTokker Liv Huffman told Highsnobiety in our special zine about the platform’s stars. “You kind of have to in order to put yourself on the Internet like that.”

Having unleashed the technological means of disseminating narcissism with the one hand, contemporary culture has continued to manufacture models for narcissistic behavior in ever increasing numbers with the other. Contemporary pop music is filled to the brim with rappers whose lyrics are all about the display of their possessions. What began as a legitimate hip-hop lyrical device for expressing a sense of pride in lifting oneself up by attaining markers of American success previously possessed only by its white ruling class, has by now devolved into an exhibitionist trope. And just like the generations before them, today’s youth seeks to emulate the behavior of their favorite musicians. Every middle-schooler knows what it means to “flex” and there is no shortage of eleven-year-olds begging their mommies for the next pair of Travis Scott Dunks.

Hype culture is uniquely positioned to tap into the narcissistic world order by creating artificial scarcity and equating the possession of limited edition goods with self-worth. Conspicuous consumption is the defining consumer behavior of the day, but underneath its hood purrs the motor of narcissism turbocharged by a culture that has given us Donald Trump and Kanye West, two narcissists par excellence. Both are incredibly insecure and both – despite being on top of the world – constantly crave adulation and approval of others (West’s narcissism may be further complicated by his alleged bipolar disorder). And both are aided and abetted by their respective fan bases that readily forgive their transgressions thereby enabling them further. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that hip-hop fans seem to be especially tolerant towards narcissistic behavior of musicians, even when it’s misogynistic or generally sadistic.

Before you roll your eyes at my perceived alarmism that Grailed is poisoning the minds of a generation, consider that in this state of affairs no one is innocent. Study after study shows that despite economic progress and general increase in quality of life, members of contemporary society feel more and more unhappy. Other studies show that social media, Instagram in particular, have a negative effect on self-esteem that stems from the permeating feeling of anxiety and envy. Simply put, you can flex all you want, but there will always be someone with a bigger flex. And once you are on the hype treadmill, its very nature makes it hard to get off.

“In [the hype] world narcissists festoon themselves with the latest sneakers, or the latest streetwear, and in that moment they are safe. But then that moment when the world is telling you that you are great, which for the narcissist is better than drugs, is gone and you continue chasing the high,” said Dr. Ramani. On top of this, the culture of narcissism makes one feel inadequate for not owning something. “The entire way fashion is marketed is that if you don’t have that latest something, you are lacking,” continued Dr. Ramani.

Likes don’t make you happy. Not only that, it increasingly seems that possessions in themselves don’t make you happy either, as evidenced by rampant reselling in the streetwear world. Hypebeasts no longer seem to be able to experience the gratifying sense of ownership that comes with purchasing something meaningful and actually keeping it. Resell culture itself is a product of narcissism, because each sale subsidizes the next purchase and creates the social media illusion that one owns more than one actually does. This practice strips the product down only to being fodder for a fit pic, and essentially creates a short-term rental culture driven by Instagram and Stockx. As Lasch put it, late capitalism “subordinates possession itself to appearance and measures exchange value as a commodity’s capacity to confer prestige – the illusion of prosperity and well-being.”

The antidote to narcissism is authenticity, which is a deeper sense of self that provides an anchoring of one’s character that doesn’t change with trends. In matters of taste, authenticity also furnishes one with a clear sense of style. Authenticity forms over time through a series of experiences and experimentations, which is why we probably see the new fashion fans bought forth by hype culture getting younger and younger.

As productive conversations about mental health grow, so too are we now coming to terms with how we as a society are less and less happy. Narcissism has a large role to play here. As our sense of self-gratification keeps on infinitely expanding, our capacity to form lasting, meaningful relationships with other humans is degrading. The millennial marketing world’s incessant calls to “live your best life” are misguided in pegging our sense of self-worth to wrong types of rewards, fleeting and material. Underneath all the talk about inspiration, community, and culture sits a basic set of transactional relationships, whose real message is not “love yourself,” but “treat yourself.”

When Covid-19 hit, some predicted a return to a more substantive world, in which our collective narcissistic drive would be diminished. In fact, in a study done by Highsnobiety in the wake of the shelter in place orders, the readers interviewed overwhelmingly denounced their interest in logos and other markers of conspicuous consumption, instead claiming a newfound interest in minimalism and quality-oriented purchase decisions. Two-thirds of those polled that they actively felt bad about flexing outwardly with their purchases during a time when millions were tightening their belts.

However, long-term this could be more wishful thinking rather than a real change, and we continue to see the same pre-Covid behavior with each hyped release. Less than two weeks ago the new Off-White x Jordan drop caused yet another mad dash. The Atlanta streetwear store Wish received over 60,000 hits to its website within the first couple of seconds after the 10 a.m. scheduled release. Its website crashed, as did the websites of Nike and Off-White. “We would’ve needed servers the size of Coca-Cola’s to handle that much traffic,” said Wish’s representative.

We often talk about streetwear in terms of “the culture.” But in the last decade this term went from describing subcultural movements and their values to excusing run-of-the-mill consumerist behavior. Brands, many of which are the ones screaming loudest about “the culture,” don’t mind this state of affairs at all because it propels the hype bullet train, enriching them along the way. The thing is, happy people are not good for the system. Dr. Ramani sums it up best: “Capitalism would fall apart tomorrow if everyone on the planet was secure in themselves.”

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 60 - 56

60. Emma - La mia città Italy 2014 

Emma is short for “Emmanuella”. 😍 Clearly the inspiration for this act:

You may not know this, but “La mia citta” is probably my favourite song out of 2014? It’s ROCKIN’ A RIDE (na na na na na na) of high voltage energy that I instantly became addicted to.  😍 Of course we were also immediately forewarned that Emma couldn’t sing her own song (which is hilarious, but yeah  😬)  so I was expecting a ready disappointment.  What I did NOT expect however was that Italy would yank UP the fun factor by trapping Emma into the direct-to-video sequel of Tinto Brass’s Caligula and letting her steal the show even more. 😍 ITALY <3 <3 <3 

The vocals may have been beyond subpar, but Emma flailing herself around the stage, contorting her body in IMPOSSIBLE angles, dismissively pushing the beta manfolk around like the boss she is gives me SO MUCH LIFE. If she had sung in a key that suited both her voice and the song, she would’ve ranked even higher, but a spot right outside of the highest tier will have to do. ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS OF TERRIBLE TASTE. 

________________________________________________________________

59. AWS - “Viszlát nyár” Hungary 2018

[2018 Review here]

GIVE ME FIRE, I’M A FIGHTER!

2018 may not have been as great of an experience for me as it has been for many others, but good god did it NEED AWS. A 2018 without AWS has no high voltage, uptempo, loud, aggro ENERGY. “But Boris there’s also Toy” yeah no. Na na banana I do what I wanna :-) 

and honestly, why shouldn’t we love “Viszlát nyar”? Loss songs that instead of mourning solemnly burst into a primordial tempest of ire and flame. IT’S INTENSE, all thanks to Orz’s excellent performance. 

and this comes WITHOUT the consideration that AWS were the backstage deities for the 2018 contest as well, providing many hilarious interviews and other moments of levity. 

AWS were great, because they weren’t a typical Eurovision entry. They are an indie metal band from Hungary that won A Dal by accident and in doing so were thrusted into an adventure beyond their wildest expectations. They never took Eurovision seriously, but regardless they had loads of fun with it and so did I. We will continue this line of thought when we get to a certain deadpan Slovene duo, much, much later in this ranking. 🤭

________________________________________________________________

58. Loïc Nottet - “Rhythm inside” Belgium 2015

Cutting Loïc means I have my change my t-shirt into the one my friend gave me for my 25th birthday (😍)

and I mean what is there to say about Loïc? He’s widely regarded as one of the most artistic and memorable entrants in recent years, sparking a hot streak of entries which ended when Sennek refused to rehearse her song/come up with an act. 

I may as well use this moment for a little confession: Avant Garde is one of my favourite Eurovision genres. AG entries are always interesting, always delivering, always different from what we’re used to. They are brave and inspired. When well-executed they can easily becomes some of the all-time best Eurovision entries.

“Rhythm inside” also falls into the category, taking a fairly simple subject (the beating of the human heart) and turning it into a metaphilosophical journey of discovery, star matter and mindblowiness. Loïc launched “Rhythm” into greatness, providing excellent vocals, dancing and miming. 

and also like all amazing things in life, it contains a small dose of SuRie: 

However, avant garde often comes with one massive problem: poorly-executed AG tends to frame every twirl, fart and headturn as a testament of some highly ~artistic vision~ when it adds nothing of value. In other words, fuckin’ meaningitis. “Rhythm inside” is actually one of the worst offenders, imo. For every epic moment of Loïc gazing into the camera or twirling around like an ebon cygnet, we get a tryhard one in which somebody lays themselves down and starts kicking their feet into the air for no reason and *sigh*. 

It saddens me that  “Rhythm inside”, despite being a very innovative composition that explores the boundaries of music, tries too hard to sell its own artistry and well... it is that moment of self-doubt which prevents me from ranking it inside the elite tier. BELIEVE IN AND LOVE THYSELF!!!

________________________________________________________________

57.  Madame Monsieur - “Mercy” France 2018

[2018 Review Here]

Every year is defined by its political zeitgeist, and in 2018 there were two defining themes: #MeToo, covered by “Toy”, and “Transmigration” covered by Madame Monsieur. I soon was convinced one of them would win 2018, which happened, but sadly it was the weaker of the two entrants 😭

Regardless, Madame Monsieur deserve all the praise they can get. It is SO easy to take a topic such as “migration” and turn it into an Americanized story of Wrong And Right. It’s SO easy to turn it into a sob story. It’s SO easy to cheapen the plight over others for self-gain. It is important to remain authentic, austere and respectful. 

Which is exactly that Madame Monsieur did. 

Using a peppy synthpop beat as a platform to carry their haunting lyrics (”je suis ces enfant que la mer a pris” ::shivers::), Emilie and Jean-Karl turn “Mercy”, a tribute to a baby born at sea to refugee parents, into a true humanitarian hymn, focusing on their message and letting this speak for itself. The end result is pretty potent. THE SEA OF FISTBUMPS <3

So naturally I really fucking love “Mercy”. However, I also think it was lacking in the little area of staging. While I do think the intent of keeping it sober and free of gimmicks was a clever coice, the gut-punching message didn’t exactly come across.

The act was too subtle. It’s the Hassani story of France getting outclassed by Italy at the last second, but much stronger than with Bilal. I don’t think the lack of LEDs was the issue though, like, just bring stage props? Work the camera more? It sucks that I have to nitpick so close to the highest tier, but the fact that I do proves to me that “Mercy” can’t make it that far. RIP sweet synth angels. 

________________________________________________________________

56. DiHaj - “Skeletons” Azerbaijan 2017

[2017 Review here] Another lovable avant garde angel, morph! DiHaj improved quite a bit for me on the rewatch, but I can’t let her move onto the elite tier for reasons that I think are obvious. (If they are not, please unmute your computer.)

HOWEVER, I do think “Skeletons” a great, dark moody song that is highly entertaining. It is, for the most part a great example of how to do novelty at Eurovision: It displays the greatest strength of modern Azerbaijan: the visually stunning SPECTACLE. Music is supposed to a form of expression and DiHaj goes ALL OUT.

Of course, I understand that the act isn’t to everyone’s taste and it does suffer a *little* bit from Fuckin’Meaningitis™ , which is fair enough. At the same time... the story told here is pretty obvious? There is no dispute that this song is about a broken relationship and the moral dilemma that often comes with it. Azerbaijan stuck with the source material provided by the song and that makes Skellingtons’ act much better than that of “Rhythm inside”. It’s a captivating story, because it makes sense. 

Too bad those Professional Swedish Backings sounded like crap tho...x

And that was the last of Azerbaijan,

After a pretty terrible start of the decade, Azerbaijan reinvented themselves as trash angels and the rest is herstory. I hope they continue to dazzle us with ridiculousness in the years to come. 😍

_______________________________________________________________ 

And now we move on to the higher tier. CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE (nearly) FLAWLESS ANGELS:

2010 

Juliana Pasha - “It’s all about you” Tom Dice - “Me and my guitar” Kuunkuiskaajat - “Työlki ellää” Jessy Matador - “Allez ola olé” Giorgos Alkaios & Friends - “OPA” Paula Seling & Ovi - “Play with fire” maNga - “We could be the same”

2011

Dino Merlin - “Love in rewind” Poli Genova - “Na inat” Lena - “Taken by a stranger” Maja Keuc - “No one”

2012

Ott Lepland - “Kuula” Pasha Parfeny - “Lăutar” Loreen - “Euphoria”

2013

Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov - “Samo shampioni” Koza Mostra ft. Agathonas Iakovidis - “Alcohol is free” Gianluca - “Tomorrow” Who see ft. Nina Zizic - “Igranka” Anouk - “Birds” Zlata Ognevich - “Gravity”

2014

Aram MP3 - “Not alone” Conchita Wurst - “Rise like a phoenix” Cleo - “My słowianie- We are slavic” Tinkara Kovač - “Round and round” Ruth Lorenzo - “Dancing in the rain” Sebalter- “Hunter of Stars”

2015

Elina Born & Stig Rästa - “Goodbye to yesterday” Nadav Guedj - “Golden Boy” Aminata - “Love Injected” Polina Gagarina - “A million voices” Bojana Stamenov - “Beauty never lies” Måns Zelmerlöw - “Heroes”

2016

Iveta Mukuchyan - “LoveWave” Laura Tesoro - “What’s the pressure?” Poli Genova - “If love was a crime” Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz - “Midnight gold” Hovi Star - “Made of Stars” Francesca Michielin - “No degree of separation”

2017

NAVIBAND - “Story of my life” Blanche - “City lights” Joci Pápai - “Origo” fusedmarc - “Rain of revolution” JOWST ft. Aleksander Wallmann - “Grab the moment”

2018

Rasmussen - “Higher ground” Elina Nechayeva - “La Forza” Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old” DoReDoS - “My lucky day” Lea Sirk - “Hvala, ne!” ZiBBZ - “Stones”

2019

Kate Miller-Heidke - “Zero gravity” Mahmood - “Soldi” KEiiNO - “Spirit in the sky” Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl - “Sebi”

[miyoron]

Miyo’s Anime of the Decade though Actually Just 2019

***Before I start this list, I would like to continue to send out good vibes and hope to all those affected by the Kyoto Animation arson attacks this past summer. It still hurts and I hope things can get better for everyone affected by it, even though I'm sure some things will take a long time to heal, if they ever will. Just know that you will always have me wishing you the best I can and sending out hope for you to recover at your own pace.***

I like writing these things every year. Whether it lets me know if my tastes are changing or staying the same, or if I'm just sentimental, writing about things I like is fun. Anime is good and I like watching it. I watched a good amount of stuff this year even if some seasons I couldn't find anything I say would fit this list.

For example, I started watching the Symphogear series and it's fun but I wouldn't say I liked it as much as any of these shows. Anima Yell is a very cute show but I didn’t have much to say about it, same for Aggretsuko again. I liked the main characters of JoJo part 5, but I wouldn't say I liked watching that, especially as the villain was revealed more and more. Fire Force was fun for me for like 5 episodes or so but then I bailed so take that as you will.

But I don't want to sound too mean here. No, this is for stuff I liked a lot and I wanted to write about things I enjoyed. This year I actually kept track of shows I liked as opposed to figuring out what I'd go on this list at the last moment. Crazy, I know, but this could be a good idea. Don't worry, I didn't take TOO many notes so this will be pretty off the cuff of my head like normal though I'm sure. As always, I will be using whatever title is easier for me to write/preference.

With this bit of text out of the way, let's la GO!  In no particular order (as always)...

Mob Psycho 100

This entry counts for both season 1 and season 2. I kind of sped through the first one a little so I could catch up in time for the second one. I feel it stuck with me just as much though. Mob Psycho is a solid action series with very silly things going on in the background of it...and foreground honestly). I suspect ONE is very good at making this sort of series. Honestly though, every character in this show is great and there's so many feel good moments. Mob  himself is a wonderful character. The most powerful psychic force in the universe but he just wants to get buff to go out with his crush.

There's a lot to like about this series. The humor is on point and anything with Reigen is going to be hilarious, especially if it takes a while. Animation is consistently top notch, especially in season 2, and I love the psychic effects. They end up looking like an old 90's video filter or trapper keeper or something. However, the most impressive thing this series does is show that maybe fighting isn't the way to do things all the time and that the most important thing you can show isn't just sympathy, but empathy.

Mob is a really good show and both of the OVAs are fun as heck. I dunno why I originally slept on Season 1, but I'm glad I came aboard.

Kaguyasama: Love is War

You probably know this one from that one ending with the pink haired girl dancing, that was going around for a while even though it was only for one episode. This series actually took me a little bit to get into mainly due to being WAY too tired to keep up with it. The set up being that the smartest boy and girl in the most elite high school both want to ask the other out. However, being the one to ask the other out would be to give up all power and admitting defeat. Basically it's a battle of two love struck idiots trying to get the other to ask them out.

As dumb as that sounds, the setups are often hilarious. Seeing the main characters trying to out scheme each other and keep a straight face while watching is a challenge in itself. It's like that 4th dimensional chess but the end result is seeing who will hold the other's hand first. Then throw in the wild card of Chika who seems to both not know what's going on while understanding how easy it is to end up on top in these battles and...look it's very funny ok? Even if sometimes the joke is just "weiner".

Shows that made me tear up count: 1

Kemurikusa

Similar to the Kemono Friends and its big gold star award, I felt like Kemurikusa deserved a shoutout this year. It's still janky like Kemono Friends before it, but after everything that went down with that series, it was definitely telling when this was the better of the two. This is a weird series and only some of that is due to the animation. The studio does a wonderful job of making a world that's both interesting and haunting at the same time. Everything that happens all ties to a big mystery that isn't revealed for quite a while.

The characters are fun enough. From the serious Rin to the caring Ritsu. From the voracious Rinas to the dweeby Wakaba. It's a fun cast going on a road trip throughout the apocalypse as they try to find good water for their big plant friend that drives around their husk of a bus. It can get pretty dark at times even with the neon bright colors the titular kemurikusa shimmering softly in the background. Oh also there's a roomba friend and a girl with sharp teeth so I mean, it's got something for everybody.

Hitoribocchi

This series is a cute little show with a setup which is potentially mean if you think about it. Bocchi's best friend is afraid she won't ever be able to make any other friends since they're going to different middle schools. Because of this, she says they can't be friends again until she befriends everyone in her class. The biggest hurdle to this challenge being Bocchi is horribly shy and socially awkward which just makes things seemingly impossible for her to overcome. Luckily, this is a cute comedy series.

The show is basically about Bocchi trying to make new friends so she can hopefully one day reunite with her bestie from the past. As I said before though, she's kind of bad with knowing how to communicate with people so she has a bad habit of say following friend making tips she read in books or online to a t and not deviating from them. Thankfully she is able to meet with lovable weirdos like blunt Nako, pitiful Aru and ninja girl Sotoka. It's a cute little series that also has a lot of heart, especially if you've ever had to overcome your own social anxieties to interact with others before. It's also funny too so there's a bonus even.

Shows that made me tear up count: 2

Carole and Tuesday

Shhhh. Don't let Netflix know I finished this before they did. Carole and Tuesday is a fun show from the creator of Cowboy Bebop, as evidenced in the fact it takes place on Mars and uses the same currency. It's a fairly simple plot, two girls meet up one day on the streets and start playing music together. One's an orphan who's basically lived alone for most of her life, the other is a rich girl running away from her politician mother (whose politics are a little too close for comfort these days). They just wanna make music man, and with a former big time agent with them, how can they lose!

Carole and Tuesday are fun characters and the show has a fun future sci fi vibe while still being grounded in reality. One of the biggest highlights is definitely the music though with lots of new songs in every episode and a good number of them being certifiable bangers. There's an overarching plot that also hits too close to home at times but the big finale at the end made it all worth it in the end really. This is an easy show to recommend and I am doing so to you right now. Go see these girls trying to make it to the big time!

Shows that made me tear up count: 3

Fruits Basket (2019)

I skipped out on Fruits Basket the first time around. I always told myself I'd go back and check it out but, knowing how I do things, this never actually happened. Part of me is kind of glad I waited to check it out though since I really like the style of the new show compared to the one from the early 00s. What I'm saying is I should have checked this out a lot earlier than I did but I don't feel visually bad for doing so.

Fruits Basket is a show featuring Tohru, the most helpful lovable girl, and a cast of characters who all start to love her because she is the most helpful lovable girl. This might sound like a bad thing but it's not. All of the characters are really fun, save one who I don't know WHY they don't just beat up, and I love seeing all their interactions. I just grew really invested in all of them and keep hoping everything will end up ok for them in the end, while in some cases waiting for a really big shoe to drop and biting my nails in the process.

I dunno if I have a super bunch to say about it other than my favorites are Uo-chan and Hana-chan and I can't wait until part 2 shows up. I am ready to see more of these Zodiac weirdos get hugged by Tohru and become animals and have her solve their problems in that order.

Shows that made me tear up count: 4

....Now, as usual, I will take a break to talk about the Precures I watched this year...

Futari wa Precure

This year, my friend Cheapsteaks and I decided to go after the OG Precure scene by watching the series that started it all. School girls run into fairies being pursued by weird monsters from another dimension/world/whatever and have to become legendary warriors to help them out. It's a story we all know well, just with lots of dropkicks and judo tosses.

As much as I like Honoka and Nagisa, and the opening theme...Futari wa has a lot of growing pains which is to be expected. Being the first one, it feels more like other magical girl series of the time compared to the style of later Pretty Cure series. From the rather uninspired villains, including one named Pissard, to the bland crush of Fuji P-senpai, and especially the obnoxious fairies, this is definitely one of the weaker series in my eyes. Again, it's probably not fair to judge it though since they didn't know what they were doing yet with this series.

That being said, there is a dumb fun to watching the Crunchyroll subs for a nostalgic taste of hard yellow subs and often not great audio. Again, the best parts of this are Honoka and Nagisa and I can see why they still get to be super popular today.

Smile Precure!

The other older series we checked out this year was Smile Precure which is much more my speed. The characters are all really good and they're all super good friends and it just makes me feel good. Like just in general they'rea really good and strong cast and I love all of them. Reika/Cure Beauty is the secret funniest character just by being the straight man on a team of doofuses and it works so well.

Miyuki's desire to make everything around her "Ultra Happy" just makes you feel good seeing a character who just wants others around her to be as happy as she is. All she needs is a smile and that makes me also smile. Akane is fiery and powerful, Yayoi is a big sweetie whose artistic trials and tribulations I SUPER identify with, Nao is a super cool big sister and I already brought up Reika being great. This is really one of my favorite Precures I've watched so far and I'm going to be sad to see it go in a few weeks.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that I love the stupid villain trio. Especially Akaoni. I love you big red oni doofus. (Please see oni times in the link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXA5jfSJz_c&feature=youtu.be

Shows that made me tear up count: 5 (ANY NAO EPISODE AAAA)

Star Twinkle Precure

The newest Precure series! One we also dragged fellow anime friend Metalray into and I feel like it was a fun enough one. Cute alien encounters trying to help space zodiac princesses with a fluff unicorn and a tentacalien? Sign me up my dudes. Star Twinkle is a fun series and has a lot of things going for it, while also having weird similarities to Smile sometimes like soccer related attacks from good big sisters and prim and proper arrow girls.

The characters as always really make the show I feel when it comes to Precure and Lala is adorable enough to carry it entirely herself? But the enthusiasm of Hikaru is always fun because it usually just involves her being really into outer space and everything in it. Hey there's even Elena who is Mexican-Japanese and the show even explores a bit of her growing up being different from others so like, that's pretty cool I think? If it helps little kids learn to accept others and be cool through lil hermit crabs and dog space police officers, I think that's a real good thing.

...Now Precure time is over but I'm looking forward to next year's offering and seeing what old ones we go after next. (Spoilers, we will probably do Max Heart and Fresh!)...

How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift?

So this series has some problems in that like...wow sometimes during the exercise segments of the show, it just gets way too horny like...I dunno if I needed to see sensei in nothing but a bedsheet to show off how she worked her lats fellas. But I digress.

The main reason this show is on here is because it affected me enough to actually look at myself and start wanting to become healthier? Like the show is just a framing device for jokes and showing off exercise routines but the characters are all really sincere and the translation of the opening is even moreso? Like I feel this show helped me out a lot and I'm gonna let you all know about it cuz maybe it can help you out too if you need it.

I don't have a whole lot more to say but I will leave you with the opening I mentioned. Turn on the captions for this banger and remember that you can do it too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxi2Y4-NNXY

Wasteful Days of High School Girl

Hey, so can I say something amazing? Much like Asobi Asobase last year, this series was a very weird comedy that I absolutely ended up loving a lot in the end. The cast is full of delightful idiots, one aptly named Baka by her friends being the standout moron of the cast. The title pretty much says it all but you will find all sorts of high school girls here just wasting their youth away in their favorite ways.

You want a girl who draws BL doujin while listening to vocaloid tracks? We gotchu. What about a girl who is more invested in micro organisms in Petri dishes than her friends? Yo, we're set. A dipshit chuuni who climbs on top of absolutely anything tall and regularly needs to be rescued/leap out of trees because of it? Yea, that's here too. The show is not afraid to be weird any chance it gets and there's something I can respect about that. This series also had one of my number one laughs in an anime this year in one of the last episodes too and it still makes me laugh as I recall it right now.

Also like Asobi Asobase, it has the plus of having a lovable witch girl who is as pure as she is into weird occult shit. Majo you're a sweetie. Even if your room is creepy.

The Demon Girl Next Door

This show feels like something that should have come out about 5 years ago in terms of animation style, story set up, characters and even the jokes. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing though because not only is it pleasant and cute, it also knows when to step back from teasing its unfortunate main character. Shamiko, the demon girl formerly known as Yuko by everyone who isn't her family, is a kind of pitiful character and this series could easily just make jokes that punch down and humiliate her way more than it did.

Thankfully, the show actually does it's best to show that she is comic relief but also that she is genuinely a good person. She's not very good at being a demon as she is still learning so maybe she gets easily tricked by resident blase magical girl Momo more than she should. However, she will go out of her way to make sure her rival is eating more than the crappy instant food she frequently microwaves. Like I said, it's ultimately a silly, kind of dated feeling series but the character interactions are nice and it's just genuinely good

hearted to see these girls become friends, even if sometimes it's due to trickier. The show makes sure not to be mean at all times to Shamiko compared to say Satania in Gabriel Dropout's treatment, or the snake girl in that Dropkick show I dropped after one episode. Shamiko is good and hopefully one day she will be able to use her demon powers to rule the world so her family can have a bigger, non cursed, budget to live on.

O Maidens in Your Savage Season

Puberty is hard. Puberty is also maddening, wanting to drive you up the wall with new urges you are not used to. Simple joys like trains are replaced with weird videos you order off websites or somehow get from the back of a video store. Puberty is an inherently frantic time but it's also kind of funny if you think about it enough.

Maidens explores the tales of the Literature Club members as they go through this important stage of life and that's the fun of this series. All of the girls are each trying to find out exactly what it is they want out of a relationship. Is it just friendship? Is it Ess Ee Ecks? There's a lot of fun to be had as the series goes on. Whether it be Kazusa trying to get a bit further with a childhood friend, President Rika questioning her stance on relationships being even proper to have in high school or the writing adventures of HItoha going to sex chatrooms, there is a lot of different things going on in this show.

It's got a very good sense of drama as well; there were more than a few episodes where I found myself worried about what would happen next and hoping things would be ok. Niina's arc is very intense and gave me creeper vibes any time her old mentor appeared. The show is very good in general at just showing emotions and none of it felt like it was shoehorned or phony. The writing is top notch and I love all these girls. Puberty is a weird time but...they got this I'm sure.

Here are a couple of other shows I watched that didn't come out this year but enjoyed a lot!

SSSS.Gridman

Thank God Trigger was able to come back from its previous offering to give us Gridman. At first I was afraid that all of its Transformers color scheme easter eggs were just trying to lure me in with a mediocre show. This was not the case because Gridman just rules hard. A sequel/spinoff to the old 90's series, localized here as Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, this show was a love letter from the creators to the show and other tokusatsu shows in general.

Kaiju appear to devastate the city, shown from low angles that just make it seem even more like you're watching an old toku show. The toyetic nature of Gridman's various powerups and the design of Gridman himself just further pay homage to this. There was one Kaiju for a moment I swear you could see a string operating it (for the record, it was not a string but was in fact part of the Kaiju). It's not just a cheap nostalgic trap though because the animation is superb, the action is top notch and the main theme song just kicks ass. This is a really cool series and if you have any passing interest in toku shows, are a Trigger fan, or like seeing Actionmaster Thundercracker's color scheme, go and check this thing out!

Other highlights include another version of Inferno Cop and Rikka's mom who is always fun and good.

Dirty Pair (TV series)

Dirty Pair is a series I watched a good chunk of before but never actually finished. Thanks to the #DirtyDecempair hashtag though, I finally went and did it and well...Dirty Pair is still really good y'all. It's got space babes who kick ass and are not afraid to go after hunks along the way. Seriously, it's great when you watch a show older than you and it lives up to its hype.

Kei and Yuri are really good characters because they will snipe at each other but in the end, they are still besties and will mess up anything that gets in their way. I appreciate that they always try to get more PTO and pay out of their boss. Even more, I appreciate that the chief will put up with all their shit, whether it be the aforementioned blackmailing for vacation or the sheer amount of destruction they leave in their wake,  and still is 100% behind them. He knows they're the best he has and nothing will get in their way.

So yea, Dirty Pair. Still a good show over 30 years later. You should check it out next December! Or sooner, whatever!

That abut wraps up my list of anime I watched this year, but I'm also gonna throw a little bonus round on you! Some anime movies I watched and liked! Lightning round go!

Promare Good fucking movie, good fucking soundtrack. Good Trigger things this year. It lives up to its hype for sure. Go see this when it is out on DVD and Bluray!

Sound Euphonium - Our Promise: A Brand New Day This was a nice movie that felt like a good third season condensed into about 2ish hours.

Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow I actually like the music from this one more than the movie itself but seeing Ruby's arc gaining confidence is good and I love it.

Bonus Saint Snow Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUNNWxK2Dfs

Redline A movie I kept meaning to see and finally did thanks. Stylish and cool as hell, and the dub is really good too.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly They made Broly a compelling character finally, holy shit. Also some good Frieza comedy.

KonoSuba! Legend of Crimson Imagine a village full of dipshit chuuni wizards. This movie was fun and funny as shit. Warning: It does have one awkward joke related to gender but it thankfully passes by it real quick.

So I think this is my list. I hope you enjoy it. The next time you'll see one from me will be in the distant future of 2020! Hopefully things will be cool by that point to go with the good anime.

[rktingyan-blog]

heeeey rookies dash lurkers !! it’s mun blaire here, making a comeback with a new muse, miss chong tingyan !! i used to mun kard’s somin, but, i was so low on muse and my activity was the absolute worst !! however, i’m back with a new muse, who i’ve worked on developing a lot more and i adore ( but it’s also the elkie stan in me popping out ) !! she’s similar to somin in a lot of ways, but has tons of differences, too !! this time around, she’s chinese, 20 years old, and a more angelic type of mean ?? but she’s still loves to dance and has that fiery spirit somin posessed !! anyways, i hope this time around i can be a lot more involved in the community than i was before, and have tons of fun developing her with you all !! if you’re interested, you can find her plots here, profile here, and bio here ! and, as always, feel free to contact me on twitter @blairemeetsrp if you’d like to plot, as i’ll be more active from now on there ! trivia and little tidbits about this chaotic tsundere under the cut ! give this a  ♡ and i’ll pop in your ims !

okay i know i say this and never do but this time around, i’ll actually try to keep things short! i’ll leave out the majority of her background this time, because it can be found in her bio if you’re interested and it’s rather complicated!

as a condensed version - she’s from shanghai, china! nowadays she’s pretty glamorous and would never confess this to anyone who didn’t know but back in the day, she lived n the outskirts of town because her parents both worked for the upper class! her dad a dishwasher, her mom a housemaid.

so you can kind of see where that idea of serving other people plays in, right?? anyways, being the only daughter & having 2 older brothers they were convinced that marrying tingyan into money was the only way to bring her family out of poverty!

so they put her in etiquette classes, her mom taught her to cook and clean, she learned ballet (the only thing she liked & still does from the things they made her to), basically anything that screamed wife !!! 

at first she was like...ok. but then she got interested in music, kpop especially, and more types of genres of dance than just ballet. she loved performing & knew that was the way she wanted to go, and what she wanted to do in her life instead but knew there was no chance it was happening!!

she didn’t expect the whole marriage thing to happen so soon, but it did phew!!! literally, as soon as she graduated, they started making plans to marry her off once she turned 20. of course, she was like, what??? she had worked hard through high school and she was going to attend a prestigious university so marrying a random man definitely wasn’t on the bucket list. but when she told them no things got really nasty and essentially they were like “we only wanted you for your husband!! if you won’t marry him leave”

so what did she do?? you guessed it folks, ran away from home and moved to korea with nothing but a suitcase and money she’d saved up from her part-time job for college!! sksksks, but she chose korea because it was the only other place besides china she held dear to her and it was still somewhat familiar? 

ok soo. she really had no idea what to do, because she was sad about the whole scenario & really lost because she was in a whole other country. but she saw how much beauty impacted koreans and how it was a moneymaker and was like huh?? maybe i can do something w/that???

this next part is gonna be really short because it’s a little ridiculous and requires too much explaining, so if things don’t make sense feel free to read the bio, once again!! at this point tingyan didn’t believe she was very conventionally attractive, yet reeeally wanted to fit with the asian ideals of beauty so she wouldn’t stand out as much. but people liked her because she was charismatic & kind of a flirt?? so, she essentially became a sugar baby (stick with me sksks) to pay for plastic surgery, and after an agonizingly long period of surgeries and recoveries, she finally felt comfortable w/herself!

sidenote i do not condone changing yourselves for others in any way!! this is 100% tingyan though on the other hand, i you want plastic surgery for yourself?? do you!!

even nowadays, though she gets more attention because of all her enhancements she’s still a little self-conscious deep down? because she knows that it’s not real, and that she probably wouldn’t get as much attention otherwise :((

anyways!! she soon joined a small international school along with a language course to both further her study & learn korean quicker. and though it helped, nothing could compare to what dance did for her!! as mad as she was to her parents for making her take all those classes, she’d stuck with ballet, branched into other genres all throughout high school, and really missed it when she left china. so she joined a dance studio in seoul and it finally felt like her life was piecing itself together again!!

now let’s skip the rest because this is getting too long ugh!! now, onto the current tingyan!

nowadays, the adjustment to korea has gotten better. she’s been here for a little over 2 years now, so while there’s still a lot to learn, she’s gotten a lot better grasp than she had 2 years ago. she’s still in college & took up a job as a model once she realized her looks could get her beyond just getting a date? so now she models clothes for several online stores. and she really likes it, but she knows it’s not a steady career & she still really hopes to do something with her love of dance.

sidenote she’s also kind of off the radar?? she tries to live a private life and although she’s a model, she keeps her personal things private because she doesn’t want her parents to find her in seoul. so while she may come off as closed off, a big part of it is this rather than her just being cold!

a lot more bold than she used to be! she feels that since she was raised to be so dependent on others, she has to be twice as strong to prove she can do things on her own! so that’s why in almost anything she does, she tries to prove that she’s the absolute best no matter what. but she’s scared of being seen as obnoxiously rude & angry like her mother was to her, which is why she’s developed the queen b-esque style she has today. isn’t afraid to speak her mind, no matter how someone may feel about it, and definitely not shy when it comes to romance. shes’ the type of person to say the meanest things but so politely that they actually seem nice?? if that makes sense.

right now, though?? she doesn’t really know she wants to be an idol just yet. she knows she wants to perform, but doesn’t believe she has what it takes yet to get there! at the moment it’s not something she sees herself doing but that’s what development’s for, right?

she still has sugar baby tendencies lmao, but she’s rather shameless about it. she makes it known she likes money, and likes to be spoiled by whoever she’s seeing! often times this is how she funds her expensive taste, but she won’t openly say that. she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s from a low-income family, especially since she lives in gangnam where all the elites reside, so she often claims she comes from wealth! 

so if your muses have money and want to spoil her, tingyan is taking donations lmao!! she doesn’t discriminate & can be your muse’s arm candy!!!

omg i’m a mess

while one would think this would go against her whole being independent and working for herself thing going on, tingyan feels she’s kind of working hard to get the money too?? her words directly, and i quote, “keeping conversation can be exhausting, and a job in itself. have you ever had to feign interest in your partner’s golf addiction?”

but she does! not! like! commitment! after having marriage practically thrown at her, you could see where the fear to settle comes from? she really wants to take advantage of the freedom she’s gained and is really just liking where she’s at - not taking life too seriously and seeing who she wants when she wants!

she probably needs people to ground her and give her some stability because of this?? at the moment she doesn’t really have anyone keeping an eye on her or someone she can feel she can trust in, so she’s a little lost! and though tingyan will never say it to your face, i’ll do it for you - she needs real friends!!

but...also enemies?? or any sort of angst because - yes!

i think that’s it!! i want to leave the rest to be explored during plots and don’t really want to write a whole essay to write at you, so that’s all i have to say on my newest addition! i hope you love her, and, if you’re interested in plotting please let me know!

[nomanwalksalone]

STYLE ICON: PRINCE

by David Isle

I’m not always proud of my interest in clothing and style. Most people associate style with vanity and elitism - ways to grow your own sense of superiority and root your disdain of others in the fertile ground of expensive garments and pretentious taste. But at its best, style is not about self-obsession, but self-possession. It can’t be bought or taught. And nobody was more self-possessed than Prince.

Whatever Prince did, he owned. He wore high heels and makeup, wide-shouldered jackets with no shirt underneath, ruffled Victorian blouses, skin-tight pants, assless one-pieces, even - on the cover of Lovesexy, where he offers himself as a (fallen?) angel - nothing at all. This confused the public - what kind of point was this guy trying to prove? Who and what is he? Is he a woman or a man? Is he straight or gay? But he was always just Prince. He owned it. He owned himself. Self-possessed.

The first Prince recording I ever bought was his Hits & B-Sides triple-disc collection. I know every one of those songs by heart now, but the first thing that knocked me out were the images in the liner notes. Dig if you will a picture. Prince in black and white, facial hair so finely trimmed it seemed like calligraphy, a lacy french-cuffed (the links spell ‘INSATIABLE’) blouse open to his navel, long eyelashes pressed against his silver-tipped cane. Is he weeping? Is he dreaming?  

Typically to be self-possessed connotes a sort of sang-froid - someone who brooks no panic or even exertion. This in itself is a high achievement. But Prince’s self-possession went beyond that. At times he seemed possessed by a demon, only the demon was he himself, exploding into paroxysms of pure expression. I saw him in 2004 on his Musicology tour - well into his forties, with rumored hip problems that were supposed to limit his on-stage movement. And yet, two hours into the concert, there he was, writhing on stage to “The Beautiful Ones,” crawling towards the audience on his hands and knees, right hand outstretched, singing the final lines, “Do u want me? Cause I want u!” You get a taste of the same energy at the end of this performance of “Shhh”, his facial expression wrought into rictus by the music flowing through him. But it’s all him. He owned it all.

Prince was also fixated on economic self-possession. At the height of his dispute with Warner Brothers, he appeared in public with the word “slave” written on his cheek. This was partly a play on musical terms - the “master” tape is the original recording, which Warner Brothers owned, not Prince, and therefore the copies made from it are “slaves” - but also a literal insistence on his own self-possession.

Other musicians, even the great ones, are somehow less than their work. They create, and then the thing stands on its own. Prince’s songs don’t really exist separately from him. Prince’s music is so much his own that the songs themselves seem to me almost incidental. They are just the vessels through which we happen to be experiencing him, like I am writing to you now in English, but if we were both born in a different place, I might just as easily be writing to you in French and the meaning would be the same. It’s not that the songs aren’t good - I love those songs - but if it hadn’t been those songs, it would have been other ones, and they would have been just as true.

That feeling comes partly because he wrote so many hits; even if you take away all 56 tracks on the 3-disc set mentioned earlier, you’ve still got the entire Batman soundtrack (maybe the best original soundtrack ever), the aforementioned “Beautiful Ones” as well as other Purple Rain hits like “Baby I’m A Star”, delightful songs like “Starfish and Coffee” off of Sign of the Times, plus the many great songs he has put out since Hits and B-Sides, like “Shhh,” “P Control,” “Call My Name,” “Black Sweat,” and “Chelsea Rodgers.” It doesn’t even include the haunting “Sometimes It Snows In April,” one of the last songs Prince ever played in concert. But it’s also because his musical presence was so strong in every performance. When he covers a song - anything from “Whole Lotta Love” to Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” to The Foo Fighters’ “The Best Of Me” (at the Superbowl halftime show!! Who does that?!?) to Radiohead’s “Creep” - it becomes a Prince song. Even the songs he gave to others, like “Nothing Compares 2 U”, achieved second life on a higher plane when Prince recorded his own version. And no one covers Prince songs. It’s just too intimidating. The only successful Prince covers I can think of are Alicia Keys’ version of “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore,” and Chaka Khan’s “I Feel For You,” and Prince’s versions are still better.

Prince was often mis-understood as self-obsessed instead of self-possessed. And at times he was - there’s the story about Prince breaking The Roots guitarist Kirk Douglas’ guitar on The Tonight Show, or snubbing Kevin Smith when he came to Paisley Park to do a movie on Prince - but there are two reasons that’s not the main way I think of Prince. The first is his sense of humor, especially his ability to laugh at himself. This comes through in his lyrics sometimes, like the line in “Raspberry Beret” where Prince, 5’4” in 4” in heels and 120 pounds soaking wet in someone else’s sweat, sings, “Built like she was / She had the nerve to ask me / If I planned to do her any harm.” Or when he put a photo of Dave Chappelle, dressed as Prince in the famous Charlie Murphy basketball sketch, on his own single. Prince could be downright goofy.

But mostly I don’t think of Prince as self-obsessed because his music showed so much empathy towards others, especially women. Most male sex symbols portray sex as a physical thing that men do to women. For Prince, it was something for people to do together. Or even something for women to do to men. And it wasn’t exclusively, or even primarily, physical. He opens his song “Sexy M.F.” with the verse:

In a word or two it’s u eye wanna do No not your body, your mind you fool

The connection he made with his live audiences is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. He played to 20,000 seat arenas and made every person there feel like the whole show was for them. He liked to stop in the middle of his song “Cream” after singing, “You’re so fine / You’re filthy cute and baby you know it,” and tell the audience, “I know y’all have been singing that line in the mirror every morning! And if not, why not??”

He often had a blessed few join him to dance on stage for a song or two. But it was never just the hottest or the most scantily clad young women. It was always a big beautiful mix - men, women, young, old, big, small, black, white - they were all to be found at a Prince concert, finding themselves. He wanted everyone to own themselves just as much as he did. And while he was playing, maybe they did. It was a dream more awake than consciousness. It was church. Nothing compared.

Quality content, like quality clothing, ages well. This article first appeared on the No Man blog in April 2016.