#streaming music isn't worth it!

[outtavogue-zine]

save your relationship to music

one of my biggest soul-defining passions! physical music! this is a part of music that has been taken from us with streaming platforms, and I am very driven to take it back. my collection means something to me, and that has worth. I love to go to record/CD stores, I love second-hand media, and I love to listen to music and feel what it is meant to be. record store day is april 12th! give it a try!

album reviews at @honkycat-reviews

[shotmrmiller]

living in some dingy apartment building because it is all you can afford on your income unless you want to eat danimals yogurt and saltine crackers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. the stern landlady lives on the first floor, and some neighbors blast music on weekday nights (even if they didn't, the walls are paper-thin. you know more about the cambrian period than you'd like to, thanks to room 105) but it's a modest roof over your head and while the darkened grout lines in the bathroom are permanent, at least there's hot water.

until there isn't. and the landlady has mysteriously gone on vacation for the next two months.

what used to be a cathartic cleansing has now become your torment. every other day is hair wash day which means you're bent over the cold, porcelain edge of your tub, back screaming in protest and pain shooting up your bruised knees even though you've sacrificed one of your very nice pillows to avoid exactly that.

and showering is torture. the icy cold water feels like a thousand tiny claws scraping over your tender scalp, sinking into your trembling shoulders. you don't wait for your body to acclimate, just hastily scrub yourself as clean as you can and hop out, your chattering teeth and shaky breaths echoing through the tiny bathroom.

it's like this for a week and a half, a whole 10 days of suffering with showers so cold it feels like shards of ice biting into your goosepimpled skin when it stops. warmth bleeds into the stream of frostbitten water. finally, it soothes instead of stings. your coiled, tense muscles gradually slacken with relief, with unadulterated bliss. steam rises, the tips of your fingers and toes tingle as if thawing. gratitude wells in the corner of your eyes.

if you had any money you could afford to give, you would to your savior, but every dollar you own is earmarked for the bare essentials. so, with your thick, warm bathrobe cinched around your waist, you pen down a little heartfelt note to stick to the bulletin board downstairs before heading out for work.

thank you, whoever you are, for fixing the boiler. i could kiss you <3

when morning comes, you use one of the dull, golden tacks that previously held a lost pet flyer (sorry, bilbo the hamster, but it's been a year) and pin your note up.

only to come home and find it gone, a torn corner all that remains. maybe it's karma for your callousness towards someone's pet. (justice for bilbo.) you shrug it off, giddily skipping up the steps to wash off the day's stress with hot water.

but before you even hang your keys on the wall, there's a pounding on your door, hard enough to rattle it in its frame. and the masked man you see through the peephole isn't familiar. against your better judgment, you clear your throat before cracking open the door. "yes?"

the piece of paper he's holding in his dinner plate-sized hands seems incredibly small— and it's your note.

"i fixed the water." oh. "'m 'ere for wha' 'm owed." owed?

"i'm not— um. the kiss. it's just a figure of speech." the thick muscle of his bicep coils as he crosses his arms over his barrel chest. he's a very large man, as broad as your door.

if you slammed it closed on him, he'd probably leave it hanging by its hinges. that's not worth a measly kiss.

"okay. but on the cheek since i never specified where so it's dealer's choice."

he huffs out an amused breath but complies, hooking his thumb under the edge to pull up his balaclava just enough to expose his stubbled cheek. he's got a couple of scars; thin, slightly raised. run along the sharp edge of his jaw and disappear beneath the fabric.

he leans close, enough to hear his steady, slow exhales. he smells of dirt. salt. something smoky, tangy-- like on new years, minutes after the clock strikes 12.

your hands cradle his face as you rise to your tippy-toes, wetting your lips and crane your neck-- but he snaps his head to the side,

and takes the kiss he was owed.

(he takes a screwdriver to the ac unit next. wire cutters to the fuse box. nails to your tires. anything that'll inevitably lead you back to him. you tried paying him with dinner but the only thing he was interested in eating was your cunt.)

[realbigpodcastslut]

As much as I like Spotify Wrapped, I have to say this year was awful and the nail in the coffin for me.

Firstly, it was later than usual and was all AI. That isn't 100% a bad thing, but it was missing a ton of stats in favor for what AI generated genre description we were listening to through out the year. I wanted to know what my top genres were this year! What my tarot or energy was! But there was none of that, instead an AI podcast that reguritated the wrapped story and got it wrong for me. (Last time I checked by biggest listneing day couldn't have been 12k minutes as there's not even that many minutes in a week).

Spotify isn't even the best music streaming platform by far. It sucks with music quality where it is very noticible even if you aren't an audiophile. Let's compare individual plans. For 11.99 USD the highest streaming is 320kbps and doesn't have high-res. Amazon, Tidal, and Apple Music all have the ability to stream CD quality (for example Tidal is 1,411kbps) for their 10.99 USD each. And they have the same if not bigger catelogs. Oh and Tidal actually pays their artists and is clear about it (Spotify pays $0.00348 per stream, Amazon does $0.00426, Apple $0.00675, and Tidal $0.00876).

The biggest draw to Spotify for me was the statistics. I really enjoyed being able to see what I'm listening to and compare but now every other streaming service has that. I liked that. Except, each service is doing that now. And Every Noise At Once, a website I use to find great new music, is no longer updating cause Spotify laid off a ton of their staff. While it wasn't a Spotify "offical" thing, the person that ran it worked at Spotify and was a part of the daylist creation along with other things.

Another thing is the music recommendations. They suck. Spotify used to introduce me to a lot of new music but I feel like it just gives me the same five same songs. Shuffle is also rigged and anything generated has gone downhill since the layoff. There's no new layout or UI changes that have been asked for years. Like covers for playlist folders or album collections.

Spotify might have podcast integration but it SUCKS. There's so many better free options. I'm a big podcast listener and their podcatcher is the worst I've used. By far.

The only good thing about Spotify right now is the audiobooks for premium users. I liked that. Except the selection is limited you get 15 hours a month. There's other free options like Libby which is integrated with local libraries.

If you were disapointed with Spotify Wrapped this year, maybe look into some other options. Spotify has some nice features but I'm finding it less and less worth it.

[certified-bi]

Okay all my thoughts because some people have been saying that not supporting this change is not supporting artist and creators and as an artist fuck that.

1. Audiences owe you nothing. You have to convince them to engage with your creation not the other way around. This is something both the nonprofit theatre I work with recognizes and huge companies realize. It's just part of life. There are so many talented people in the world making amazing art, videos, music, writings, and on and on, and there's only so much time in the day. I'm not saying you shouldn't know your worth, just that being flippant about how little you care about those who can't pay isn't a good move. On that note...

2. PR is everything. If you haven't made a visible effort to push patreon, channel memberships or other avenues of making money, don't be suprised that your creation that was previously accessible to those without extra cash and to those who can't support foreign subscriptions due either to conversions or because it simply doesn't work, being made private isn't popular. There's a big leap from "We want to have more artistic control" to "We can't afford to make our content accessible to most of our audience," and people are smart enough to see this. You either have to make budget cuts or give into sponsors. This isn't unique to Watcher, it's part of literally every production from broadway, to Hollywood, to YouTube. Unless you can fund it yourself or get viewers to pay(which given how many are already strapped for cash...) that's life.

Not to mention they simply do not have enough followers to make the switch to a paid only site(dropping the first epsiode only on YouTube isn't going to draw people in, they're just going to say "oh why start if I'm not going to see the rest" and not watch) especially not one that is buggy and a security risk. Even if the switch had been supported its not going to end well. The only reason services like nebula and dropout work is because of the large amount of series and creators and the fact those creators still are partly on YouTube so new people are drawn in.

3. As for the price, 6 dollars a month is a not a good starting price for only their content and that's as someone who pays for nebula. I'd be paying the same amount for a fraction of the access to others work. Actually it'd be twice as much. And before someone says "it's only a coffee-" that's for you. Not everyone has your lifestyle. And with every other patreon and subscription service that says the same thing, it all adds up and I simply don't think 60 dollars for 48 videos a year on a subscription basis where you don't get to keep the videos if your situation changes, some of which don't appeal to every viewer is a good move. If you were able to buy physical copies of your favorite series they've made that'd be different, but that's not what this is.

4. I do believe that the employees deserve a livable wage. I also did not hire them. It is not on the viewers that they hired more people than they could afford to. They can charge that much if they want to to try and balance this out. They also shouldn't be suprised if not many can or will sign up. They also don't have to be based in L.A. L.A has ridiculous costs associated with it, and quite honestly it doesn't really add much to the content. I'm not saying they need to move to the middle of nowhere Kansas. Simply that living and basing your studio in a super expensive city and then being suprised money is tight is just weird.

5. Something that occurs to me is that they might get more views if their playlists were better set up. Only some series are given playlists. It'd be easier to find all of the series and binge them if they didn't just show off their more popular shows. Honestly the only draw the streaming site has to me is that the series are actually labeled well.

Do I think the weird ass energy towards Steven is necessary? No. He's not the only one at the company and they're all adults. I actually liked grocery run and homemade, and like to see them back. The parascoial attachment to Ryan and Shane is annoying in people's criticisms, but that doesn't make them completely wrong. If you're going to brand yourself as the anti capalist underdogs you can't get away with being dismissive of your poorer fans. The dissonance is what is causing this backlash and makes you look like hypocrites. I definitely think Steven is turning into the fall guy which is fucked up, his statement and the fact dish granted is one of those shows that make people uncomfortable about wealth flexs doesn't help matters.

[zodoods]

okay part two im not linking part one bc this is unserious jklhsadflk

💗 knittingfairy Follow

save me adrien agreste...save me...save me adrien agreste

📷 ladyblogger Follow

@adrienagresteofficial

🎧 djnino Follow

@adrienagresteofficial

🎸 guitarhero Follow

@adrienagresteofficial

💗 knittingfairy Follow

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU

2,565 notes

🦊 vixen Follow

met ladybug today and she told me my hair looked cute omg!!!

🐞 ladybug Follow

L + ratio + your hair looks like sausages

#and i didnt see you!!! bitch!!!!

270,565 notes

🐈‍⬛ catboy Follow

stay aloof and whimsical and silly guys or youll end up like my dad

🎧 djnino Follow

what happened to your dad

🐈‍⬛ catboy Follow

hes dead

970,565 notes

🤺 fencingryuko Follow

I went to cool and aloof island and no one knew you . or whatever

2,465 notes

🎵 kittysection Follow

hiii stream our music

1,477 notes

🤺 fencingryuko Follow

If I had a dollar for everytime someone tried to help Marinette get over her crush and then starting liking her, I'd have two dollars. This isn't a lot, but it's weird it's happened twice. Additionally, this would not do anything for me monetarily, as my savings balance is above 7 figures. However I thought it was worth mentioning.

700 notes

🐈‍⬛ catboy Follow

@ladybug do you want to kiss

🐞 ladybug Follow

no sorry had a scary dream about you...seemed really real

🐈‍⬛ catboy Follow

#at least she didnt say she didn't want to kiss me bc she doesnt like me!!!

123, 477 notes

📷 ladyblogger Follow

someone NEEDS to get audrey and chloe bourgeoise OFF tiktok

#i didnt think they could be more annoying but here we are

12,345 notes

okay here u go since u all begged for part two enjoy <3 <3

[banquetwriter]

can u write a smut of an insecure plus sized goth reader x johnnie please? she's a virgin and after being together for a few months she asks him could they do it, and he eats her out n fucks her n stuff 🙏🙏 make it really soft pls and thank u i love ur work btw 🖤🖤

୨୧ Batty love ୨୧

pairing: Johnnie Guilbert ♡︎ goth!fem!Reader

warnings: ୭̥⋆*｡ smut, losing virginity, getting eaten out, general shenanigans

summary: ʚ johnnie isn’t gonna let you being inexperienced stop him from devouring you ɞ

Words: 2234

An: i know this isn't the best but I'm legitimately do sick rn 😞

SUPPORT ME

You haven't stopped looking at your phone for at least two days. Johnnie, your boyfriend, had just hard-launched your relationship for the first time on Instagram. And to your shock, 95% of the comments were so positive. Everyone complimented your goth appearance.

This much praise was addicting. Being plus size meant a lot of insecurities made by the pathetic losers of society. There were of course a few nice comments… those weren't the ones you kept staring at. Criticizing your looks or body.

Johnnie had warned you about this happening, and you promised him the world knowing about you two was worth it, and it was, but god did it hurt. Johnnie Was out streaming with Jake today so that left you alone for a good few hours.

It was useless trying to wait around crying over some loser online who couldn't handle the fact their celebrity crush didn't pick them. You sat up rubbing your face carefully not trying to hit your piercings at all. You scrolled around on your phone’s playlist before connecting to a speaker.

You started to shift through your closet to come up with an outfit. Maybe you and Johnnie could go out tonight? It was hard to get dressed in full goth normally, especially when you weren't feeling good about yourself.

You settled on a long black skirt with silver shiny bats that were sporadically speckled on it and paired it with an ‘i ❤️ emo boys’ t-shirt with a corset. You put your outfit on by pairing your black stockings and fishnet top for your arms.

You sat down at your desk singing along to your beloved playlist. You turned your light on your mirror searching for your hair clips. You managed to locate them by clipping your hair out of your face. Your music was briefly interrupted by a text notification.

You pick up your phone and it is from Johnnie, ‘should be done soon. Just filmed for Jake's, we're gonna do mine now. Probably just dick around Walmart or something. See you soon love 🖤’ you smiled at his text.

You responded back within seconds ‘Have fun filming (but not too much fun without me lol) 🖤🖤’

You sat your phone down, adjusting your shirt, and you started on your makeup. You put on primer, then foundation, the concealer, and to finish your base off you pack on some powder letting it sit on your face. You pulled out your phone and snapped a selfie of your half-done make-up.

You stuck your tongue off a little for the picture. You posted it on your main Instagram story with a goth song of course. Your Instagram gained quite a few followers from Johnnie’s post. It was exciting and also very scary.

You decided the powder baking on your face was about done so you brushed it off. You grabbed your contour brush and packed some onto it. You started to carve your face onto the white base using the black powder.

Now it was time for your eye makeup. It was the hardest part. You spent a good while meticulously adding your eyeliner and eyeshadow. Once you were done, sufficiently looking like a bat, you finished it off with black lipstick and some setting spray.

You put on accessories and teased your hair to high heaven. And you were all ready. You sprayed some perfume on and looked in the mirror. Fuck did you look good. You posed a little admiring yourself, you took your phone out again and decided to take a few pictures.

This time you posted them as posts and not a story so anyone could say anything. It scared you but you couldn't hide forever. You were dating Johnnie and no one could change that.

It took only a few minutes before the comments came rolling in. All of which were positive, it made your heart soar with all the compliments. You were smiling until you read one: ‘Johnnie eating good tonight’ . It was a nice comment and funny naturally.

There was just one issue. You and Johnnie haven't had sex yet, and furthermore, you have never had sex. Ever. Sure you used a few toys here and there but never has another person shared such an intimate moment with you. You had already worried yourself sick about this. Johnnie Was sexually active and therefore, inevitably he would want to have sex with you.

You were ready… you think at least. You wanted to, of course you did, have you seen your boyfriend? He was such a fucking hottie. You had plenty of dreams of ripping his clothes off and going under the covers. You were just nervous.

You did actually weigh a lot more than your boyfriend and no offense to him he wasn't exactly built to handle all you could offer. The nerves rattled through your body. But you were a full-grown woman and there wasn't anything wrong with taking your time to have sex.

If Johnnie didn't understand that (which you're sure he would) then this wasn't the relationship for you. You shook your thoughts of breaking up with Johnnie away. This wasn't a time to worry.

It was only a few more minutes before Johnnie came home. He stepped into your apartment, and he stopped when looking at you. His jaw faltered open. “Wow, how are you mine?” he asked, closing the door, his hands wrapping around your waist.

“From your strapping good looks and charm of course.” you purred, moving a strand of his hair from his face. You planted a small kiss on his now-exposed skin. “Yeah sure,” he murmured against your hair, planting a small kiss on the top of your head.

You smiled at him, your eyes holding each other. His eyes seem to almost darken looking at you. You pull him into a kiss, one he gladly returns. His hands are holding onto your corseted waist. Even through the thick fabric, you can feel him clutching your body.

Your kisses got more heated as he started to move his hands down your body. You had done this with him before. It didn't scare you much anymore. Of course it was nerve-racking, but not scary. His touch felt so nice even if it was through your clothes.

He slowly moaned into your mouth as you gently tugged his hair. “Fuck,” he muttered slowly pulling away from you. He wrapped his hands into your pulling you towards your couch. Your nerves jumped into your throat knowing what was coming.

And yes you wanted to so fucking bad, you needed your hot boyfriend inside you. He gently pushed you onto the couch, you fell back ruining your cute decorative pillows. He positions himself between your legs, his mouth hungry to devour all of you.

You wanted to enjoy him you really did but your heart was pounding out of your chest with nerves. “Johnnie-” you asked quietly against his lips. He pulled back sensing your worry. “We haven't done anything yet-” you started, unsure how to keep going you stayed silent.

“It's fine if you don't wanna, you know, tonight.” he spoke softly, “No trust me I want to. It's just that I've never done that before. I've never had sex before.” you confessed. You could see his eyes widen. You felt like you were holding his breath.

“Woah, really?” he asked, leaning towards you, a small cheeky smile plastered on his lips. “Yeah, not that I’m waiting for marriage or something but I don't know I just haven't yet,” you said shrugging. “That's ok, are you still down to or?” he asks, staring at you sheepishly.

“Of course I am, I just need you to be slow I guess,” you whispered to him. He glances at your lips for a minute, ���I can do that.” he says before your lips crash onto one another.

His hand crept down to your ankle and slowly started to run his hand up your legs, he reached the end of your stocking. He hooked his fingers over the clothing and pulled them off your body repeating it for your other leg.

He looked into your eyes as he slipped his hands back under your skirt, hooking delicate fingers over your panties and slowly pulling them off your body. The feeling of his hands on your thighs was sending waves of pleasure to your core.

You've been horny before but nothing compared to the feelings you felt as your boyfriend slowly lowered to his knees. Kissing up and down your legs. “Are you doing ok?” he asks between kisses up your thighs.

“Y-yeah I'm good,” you said quietly, eyes watching Johnnie like a hawk. He smirks against your skin. He slowly pushes your skirt up your body revealing your bare legs. He placed a tender kiss on the top of your cunt.

You swore you could see stars with the amount of pleasure That coursed through you. The end of your fingers and toes felt tingly and cold. Johnnie moved up to face again, he slowly started to kiss you again. “M’gonna move my hand now. Like my fingers ok?” he said against your lips.

“Ok,” you whispered back, and you spread your legs widely for him. He slowly dipped his finger into your sopping cunt. You let out a gasp at the sensation. He slowly pumped his finger in and out of you. It felt good but it wasn't enough for you.

As if Johnnie could read your mind, he pumped out of you once again. When he entered back in he had two fingers this time. It stung for a second or two then pleasure returned to your body as he started to curve his finger into you.

“Oh fuck.” you moaned out, you can guess how people get addicted to this feeling. You felt like a little pervy teenager with raging hormones. The feeling of Johnnie hitting your G-spot repeatedly was sending you over the edge.

“Johnnie.” you mewled out, to nothing in particular. “I need more please,” you begged, having a sense of missing something. “If you insist on it my love.” he pulled out of you, his fingers dripping wet. You watched as he crouched down further.

He kissed slowly on your thighs before reaching your clit. He pressed a soft kiss right on your spot. You felt yourself clench over nothing and it drove you wild. He continued kissing down until he reached your hole. He slowly prodded his tongue into you.

Very gently at first to help you get used to the feeling. You felt the pleasure tenfold as soon as he began to rub your clit, fully pumping his tongue in and out of you. “Oh fuck hold on,” you murmured to him.

He stopped cocking his head slightly. You quickly snap off your corset, immediately releasing tension in your gut. You quickly pulled your shirt off, your bra going with it.

You were now naked minus the skirt bunched up around your waist. “M’fuck.” he whispered looking at your tits. He had what looked like a painful erection at this point. His skinny jeans looked like they were gonna burst open.

“You ready?” you asked him, gesturing to his painfully hard erection. “Fuck yeah,” he whined undoing his studded belt, he started to further undress himself. You followed suit pushing your skirt down.

Once he was completely naked, he leaned down and started to kiss you again. He wrapped his hand around his cock and pumped a few times attempting to get ready for your body. After about a minute he lined up his leaking cock to your entrance.

He slowly pushed into you. You let out a wanton gasp as he bottomed out. “Fuck.” he growled into your ear. He fumbled around trying to find your hand and brought it down to your clit. You started to rub to your pleasure.

At the same time, he started to push into you slowly at first then after a minute he began to push into you at a quicker pace. “Fuck your so tight. So glad I get this pussy all to myself,” he whined into your ear. You couldn't hold yourself anymore. The coil in your stomach was going to snap.

You felt The familiar feeling bubbling in your stomach and your limbs. “Im gonna fucking cum.” you whined out, grabbing at his torso and leaving a long scratch. Johnnie held your eye contact nodding at you.

The coil finally snapped, your walls clenching around him. “Johnnie-” you whined, your back arching. Your body shaking from your orgasm, sent him completely over the edge.

Hit ropes of cum splattered inside you as he fucked you through his own orgasm. Your breath slowly returned back to your body as you saw Johnnie cleaning your body up with a damp towel.

“Are you ok?” he asked quietly, tossing the rag into the laundry basket. He misses but he just took his girlfriend's virginity so he isn't particularly worried about where it landed. “Yeah I'm fucking great right now actually,” you murmured.

He giggles pulling his clothes back on. You did the same, pulling out your phone to see your makeup completely fucked. Your eyeliner and mascara dripped down, the sweat sucking your makeup into your skin, your lipstick beyond fucked.

You pulled out your phone and snapped one last photo for your Instagram

[pineapple-downside-up-cake]

@soapcloth LOOK. I know this isn't what you meant but my brain said go and I did it.

Imagining Soap being haunted by Reader Energy narrating his life and dictating explicit erotica around his house. Constantly. At first he's absolutely panicked [see below] because he Does Not Like Spooky Things, but he realizes it doesn't mean harm, not really, and he slowly develops a paranormosocial relationship with it. us. idk.

MDNI, 18+

If asked, Johnathan Soap McTavish would swear he did not narrate in his head, in third person or otherwise.

At all.

And if he did, he would nae fecking do it in a fecking british accent.

Which is why, when he finds himself and his cock the talking point of a disembodied BBC narrator of unknown origin, he panics.

A little bit.

It did not start small.

It started large. Humongous, knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark and choke on it large.

He was watching telly in the dark. He’d finished a bottle of scotch not long ago, and his movie was almost over. He was comfortable – wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Half asleep, he thought it was the telly at first.

Soap spread his legs on the couch. His grey sweatpants hid nothing from your gaze. His t-shirt gripped his biceps like it never wanted to let go – you couldn’t blame it.

You were hungry.

Johnny blinked and rubbed a hand through his hair. He must be more tired than he realized. Dead on his feet and on the couch. It sounded like someone was talking to him. He was home alone, though.

You slid a hand up tree-trunk thighs, strong enough to climb, solid enough to ride. He twitched beneath your palm as you slid him free.

Radio. Must be a radio or the neighbors playing music too loudly again. Johnny mutes the telly, straining into the silence. Right when he’s about to give up, it starts again.

Stroking gently, you grin up at him, at the fire in his eyes. “I’ve been a bad soldier… I need to wash my mouth out with Soap.” He’s bigger than anything you’ve ever taken before, hard and uncut. Precum glistens at his tip, and it’s all the invitation you need. You press a kiss to his head, lick your way down his shaft –

Steaming Jesus. He must have hit his head. There is a voice – and that’s a line he wouldn’t pull out for the cheapest of hookups. He got shot and died and no one bothered to tell him. “Hello? Gaz, you pulling a prank?”

Nothing.

Definitely time to sleep this one off.

He clicked off the movie. Not really worth the wait, honestly. He’s grateful he didn’t spend money at the theater for it.

The house creaks around him as he brushes his teeth and crawls into bed. He’s more relieved than he cares to admit that it’s properly silent again. Whatever he heard, it was in his head. Someone outside getting carried away, too much liquor, and he was imagining things.

Everything will be fine in the morning.

He closes his eyes, settling into his pillow.

Tears stream down your face as you gag around Johnny’s mammoth dick, one hand on the bed, the other moving furiously between your legs as he gasps, bucking into your mouth, “So close, y'er so good to me, taking my cock so well, y’er mouth is gonna be so damn clean – ‘

Johnny bolts upright in bed with a yelp. They’re definitely talking about him.

A chill races down his spine. Even with his eyes adjusted to the dark, not blind from a screen, he can’t see anything. Spots dance in his vision, and he can feel his heartrate pounding.

“This isn’t funny, Gaz.”

Whoever it is, they don’t stop.

Johnny breaks, your name on his lips, spurting ropes and ropes and ropes of pearly white cum into your mouth. You swallow, because he tastes so good, and wipe the tears from your eyes.

“…Ghost?!” Johnny squeaks, jumping out of bed. Pure hallucination, now. “Price?” There is only one ghost in this world Johnny can tolerate, and he’s got two legs. “I’ve got a gun!”

He does not.

But no one else needs to know that all his gear stays on base when he’s on leave. He checks under the bed, and in the closet. Looks for a hidden radio, or a secret phone, trying to track the noise but block out the words from his mind.

It doesn’t work.

“Can I kiss you now, Johnny? My mouth is clean.” You ask prettily.

“No, no ye can nae!” He barks, backing into a defensible position. This is going a bit far, even for a prank. Everything is clear.

He’s the only one in the room. No sign of any speakers.

And that’s when he spots the glow. A soft, fuzzy blue. It looks almost like a person – nearly a holo-projection, vaguely hominoid and androgynous, and it’s sitting on his bed. He stares, squints hard, and rubs his eyes, but then it moves and that’s about all the spooking he can take on no sleep and few measures of scotch in his system.

Johnny snags his wallet on the way out the door and beelines down the road. He’s not running or fleeing his house. He’s making a tactical retreat in the proper fucking direction.

The pub down the street usually has rooms – he’ll stay someplace else tonight.

And if any of the squad is behind it…

Well. He hopes they are. Hopes he can laugh it off, later – ha ha, Gaz, Ghost. You got me.

[They aren’t.]

[toskarin]

hey rin, a friend of mine enjoys composing music digitally and has a lot of respect for you as someone with more experience with that sort of thing. he has a hard time convincing the people around him to listen to the things he makes, in both the "finding an audience" way and "getting the people around him to give him their opinion on something he's working on way," and he wanted me to ask you if you could speak on your own experiences with those problems and how you've dealt with them. less related, he was also curious about your inspirations for the music that you make. i know this is a lot to cover, so if it would be easier for you to speak with him directly then please let me know

so I'll open by saying that, as far as people who can give good advice on this go, I'm probably not one of those. a lot of what I do only works because of some specific problems with my brain that are oddly adaptive to this sort of thing

that being said, this is a bit of the "tough love" kind of advice for surviving as an artist, so I'll make a second reblog for the second half of the question

this is either advice that will work or a ramble that will lead your friend to making his life unbearable, so look before you leap

-

The Easy Section, or "You've Gotta Be a Bit of a Tradie"

let's go over the business stuff quickly before I start rambling at length about the boring stuff

learn to love the work itself. "find a job you enjoy and you'll never work a day in your life" is garbage, but creative work really is the one area where you should double down on this. kick back and bump your own album on release day, thinking about how every second of it is something that didn't exist before you put it together. this is what's gonna keep you above water when the wind is dead

get on bandcamp. there is nowhere better for small musicians right now. bandcamp is basically the last remaining website with an effective suggestion algorithm that caters to people who want to actively engage with music and buy it

consider getting on instagram. in the majority of places you're likely to live if you're reading this, the local music scene is on instagram. probably don't use your personal instagram for this

consider getting on soundcloud. you won't make sales through soundcloud, because it's a streaming-focused site (more on that in a moment) with a focus on passive listening, but it's pretty decent for networking, especially with digital music production. soundcloud is linkedin for deadbeats

stay off spotify. streaming generally isn't worth the trouble these days unless you're playing concerts or are otherwise already established. if you aren't uttering the words "you can find me on..." more than once a month, it's probably not worth pursuing a spotify presence to end that sentence with

self-promote. if you have platforms, use them. find the subreddit for your genre and post yourself on the self-promo day. consider posting some bandcamp album codes when you do this, not just so you can get word of mouth, but because someone having an album in their collection means you effectively have a permanent zero-cost advertisement for your music which will only show itself to people who are verifiably looking at something similar. companies pay dizzying sums for ads that couldn't dream of being this targetted. this is a big reason why bandcamp is THE place to be for small musicians

cross-promote and collab. work with your friends. if you don't have musician friends, go make some and then help each other out. "independent" music is a misnomer

blind yourself to the metrics. do not look at engagement metrics. pay them no mind at all. don't look at them unless you're trying to see how effective a specific, deliberate course of action was and already know what you want to find

remember that strangers are unknowable. people do things for arbitrary reasons. if you don't have someone giving you written feedback, don't make any assumptions at all about why they did something. skipped tracks and minimum-price pwyws mean nothing at all

present your stuff in a way that gives it context. why should someone care about your stuff? give them a reason. carve out an hour to really work on a nice album cover, go the extra mile and include track-by-track narrative with your dungeon synth album, or just describe what you're expecting people to buy. I firmly believe that NOMAD/VIRTUE was successful in large part because of its presentation

gimmick. gimmick gimmick gimmick. discount codes are more fun than automatic discounts, free album codes are more fun than free albums, contests are more fun than giveaways, so on so forth. lacking any physical goodies to bundle in, you should still endeavour to give people Something To Do that makes them feel like they're really engaging with your music

zero expectations, zero overhead. do not rely on the whims of complete strangers to justify whether or not you end up in the red. if you ever find yourself saying something like "I can afford to pay for a session musician because I'll just make it back" you can't afford to pay for a session musician. you're probably never getting bailed out if you eat a loss, so try not to put yourself in a situation where you can eat a loss to begin with

someone else's expectations, someone else's overhead. if someone else is paying you to make this music for a soundtrack or something, if (and ONLY if) you have the money in your hand and know you have it, you're no longer gambling. at this point, you can start to look at expenses as investment

now onto the less fun stuff. here's where I ramble for like an hour at you.

-

if there's one thing I've really had hammered in over my decade-odd as a somewhat commercial artist (in all the disciplines I've worked with, which is most of them), it's that you have to be a bit of a bitch about it sometimes

that nagging fear in the back of your head that you're annoying? it's stopping you from doing what you need to do: annoy people

with that being said, this next section is kind of...

The Rough Section, or "You've Gotta Be a Little Hard-headed"

at the end of the day, you'll often find that you are your only advocate, and that means you kinda have to get your foot slammed in a few doors if that means holding them open. this also unfortunately means that you've gotta convince yourself you're pretty good. you don't have to think you're great, but confidence is a trade skill

the last opinion people see before the first time consciously engaging with your work (which here means "the thing that primes them for how they feel about it") is yours

which brings us to the first uncomfy rule

absolutely no cutting yourself down before anyone else even gets a swing

you can be modest if you want (you don't have to), but you absolutely cannot prime people to see the flaws in your work. if 50% of people are discerning enough to notice a flaw, why make that number 100%? what do you gain from that?

if something isn't as finished as you'd have liked it to be, but you've pushed it out the door anyway (which you will sometimes have to do), you absolutely cannot prime people to consider it unfinished

if the thing is still being worked on, there's nothing wrong with being forthcoming about that, but the fastest way to make someone think of something as "inferior product" when they otherwise would never have reached that conclusion is by telling them it is

and that, of course, leads us into a bit of an inversion of the previous rule

absolutely do not take the majority of your validation from strangers

doing this is bad for a million reasons, but I see the worst of this in visual arts, where artists double down on what gets them the most engagements and lay themselves at the mercy of complete strangers who have no actual investment in them

of course, it's normal to desire validation and approval from people you respect, but if you put yourself in a position where it's possible to enter a negative feedback loop that crystallises into you no longer making art from the default response of neutral apathy from strangers, it's not a matter of when: it's going to happen to you one day

so what's the move here? spend 8 years making music you don't release like you're in a compressed time chamber? probably not. I did it that way, but I didn't get much out of it, so you probably won't either

the actual answer is that you've gotta network. you need an inner circle. you need people with shared interests so that you can gas each other's stuff up

just like everyone else, you need your friends

you need to have friends who care about you, about what you're doing, and you need to care about them and what they're doing

this is because, while self-confidence is important...

the majority of your external validation as an artist should come from your friends and peers, not strangers

it's important to have artist friends, because then you can encourage each other in ways that are personally meaningful, but having your friends behind you, whether or not they're musicians, is so incredibly important

if you're motivated exclusively by success, however you're choosing to measure that, what you're actually doing is forming a nightmarish parasocial relationship with the concept of a crowd. not even a real crowd! a fictional group that materialises when you've created "the conditions for success"

there is no such thing as a truly independent artist. if your understanding of artistic success requires competition against others, you're going to lose that competition and then explode (unfortunately common)

finding your audience as an artist (and mind you, art is a social field) is very much a process of networking, but it feels gross to say it that way, so I'll just leave that at "if you want to be known by others, you need to be willing to know others"

anyway, this doesn't really terminate in a complete sentiment. I was just transcribing a train of though

if I were to boil this down to a shorter, snappier answer that I could read comfortably read out, it'd be...

TL;DR

the process of finding an audience is so much less about actually finding one than it is about learning to create happily whether or not you have an audience. developing an audience is the largely incidental byproduct of long-term creative efforts coupled with self-advocacy and interpersonal networking

if you want to be found by a scene, you have to participate in a scene, and if you want to participate in a scene, you need to be in the scene. so on so forth

as stupid as it might sound when I put it into words, the truth is that you can't build any kind of audience in isolation. someone has to find you somehow, and it's a lot easier to be found if you're actually somewhere that people might look

[solarwynd]

The way the BP members are being well promoted and preforming everywhere really puts in perspective how little Hybe has been doing for every member that isn't Jungkook. This is how a member of one of the biggest groups in the world should be promoted. BTS members should be getting more than BP even, but instead they're being treated like they're the members of a random 4th gen boy group. I think so many fans have gotten too used to the bare minimum, they don't realize that this isn't the norm, that any other artist in this level is being given ten times more. If you show a western artist and their label Jimin's promotions and the amount of time he was given to promote and they would be appalled. Like Crazy was given nothing and Who is barely getting anything. Jimin had one fucking week to promote an album he spent months working on. Like, I need people to stop and think about that again cause I feel we forget how insane that was. Look at any other artist and how long they normally promote their albums for. Jimin had one week. Not one month, one week. I'm going to saying it again because it's so ridiculous: One week. ONE! And armys think this is normal?! How low are standards at this point that this is considered not a big deal? That getting a few extra remixes and covers (that are only useful if you already have a lot of fans willing to buy and stream) is considered peak privilege even though those things don't help introduce the song to anyone that isn't a fan. That is not promotion. Do these people know the meaning of the word promotion? You don't need to promote to people that are already fans. Which is why that Instagram channel (that is of course already being used for another member because Jimin has never actually been privileged and nothing he is given is ever exclusive to him) can't be called promotion. You know things are bad when people think privilege is a fucking Instagram channel that no one but fans that already follow them would even know exists. Do armys think this is 2013 and BigHit is a small little company that can't do much for their artists so it's up to the fans to do all the work? Do they not realize Hybe is a huge company worth billions of dollars? Jimin asking his multi-billion company (that he helped get that rich in the first place) for 4 music videos is not in fact a demand so crazy he needs to apologize for even daring to ask it. To even talk about budget when not only does Hybe already have so much money but Jimin constantly makes them even more is absolutely ridiculous. In one day he made them at least 11 million dollars (definitely more) with a documentary that cost almost nothing considering it was all recorded by SGMB themselves, had simple editing, didn't have any promotion other than posting about it on their own social media and was released in a platform Hybe already owns, meaning all the money goes straight to them. And in return Hybe gave him a fanmeet that looked like it cost maybe a 100 dollars. They were being stingy with the number of fucking balloons on his livestream, that company is actually unhinged.

I know this is has already been said before but sometimes is just hits me how incredibly incompetent Hybe is and how ridiculous it is that armys will try to convince us that this is all normal and we're crazy for thinking Hybe should be doing more.

I’ve seen armys complain about BTS’ lack of promotion before. (mostly where it concerned nwjs but still) Outside of that though, they’ve definitely always prized the fact that BTS got their accolades despite BH not doing anything for them. It was their prime dragging material for years towards western and other kpop artists.

But now, the complacency definitely comes from the fact that they don’t see that there’s anything wrong with the inequality between JK and the other members. Not a new development, it’s been discussed before. They’re never gonna call it out because it would mean having to face the fact that everything that has happened in chapter 2 completely goes against OT7ness BTS themselves have crafted, criticize their favorite member and realize that they’re complicit in turning a blind eye to that same inequality in spite of their own 7 or nothing mentality.

And as long as HYBE knows that armys will be there to provide adequate returns, they’re not gonna do anything substantial for the other members. Since it makes them feel like they don’t need to. (This especially goes for Jimin.)

So it’s not incompetence. Bang knows how the music industry operates and what it takes to successfully navigate it. You see how they magically gained the ability to provide prompt links, CDS for both pre release and title tracks (with an additional version) pre orders and pre saves for Jin. Whereas it took their mess getting aired out on national news for them to give Jimin much of anything. And since Jimin is still able to produce stellar results with the meager aid he receives, armys and all these other solos still think that he’s the most favored member. That’s also why even with discussing the inequality the other members receive in comparison to JK, I still can’t find it in me to group them with Jimin’s inequality cause it’s still night and day. He’s still the only member really getting fucked over.

That’s why the constant gaslighting armys will do like chalking it up to jealousy everytime someone points it out, or either make it a “western industry” or a collective BTS issue really exhausts me at an atomic level.

[project-sekai-facts]

Pre-broadcast station commentary

The next Broadcast Station will be on the 29th, featuring Yukki, Yuichan, and Furirin! No VOCALOID Music SEKAI segment was announced, so it looks like the main stream will be starting half an hour earlier than usual. There is a reason for this, which we will get to.

Next month will be the Virtual Singer WLE! It will be held towards the end of the month, with chapters being 2 days long instead of 3 this time around.

There's room for one unit event next month, which is looking very likely to be Airi's 5th event. Due to its proximity to the vsinger WLE, the lineup will be entirely MCs. I reckon Shizuku for one of the other rateups, since she's behind on 4*s, and got spammed with lims last year so deserves some perm cards as a break. I reckon Minori could be the other 4*, since her only rateup on an Airi event was back in 2020.

This month's mixed lim event is likely to be either kamikou fes 2, or emu mixed 2. If it's the first one, I reckon the lineup could be Mizuki/Toya (maybe with An, Ena, or Rui as the other card), and serve as the 2-B mixed event. If it's Emu, Haruka/Nene seems like the most likely rateup. Next month's lim is hard to call, but will likely have a Rui lim unless he ends up on this month's event. If he isn't July or August, he's fes.

Now onto why the stream's starting earlier. I'm sure everyone has heard about the teaser for a new project already, and this is scheduled to be announced at 8pm JST, aka halfway through the stream. Given the heavy use of Miku in the promo, as well as this being retweeted by the official Miku account, it's pretty likely this will be vocaloid/piapro related. CFM has already said they'll be announcing vocaloid 20th anniversary stuff soon. PJDiva also turned 15 recently, and while that series is, let's be honest, dead, a PC/console game in the same vein but under the project sekai franchise wouldn't exactly surprise me? It's still a franchise beloved by many, so a rebrand of sorts wouldn't hurt.

A lot of people on twitter have been bringing up colopale's job listings, but imo it's not pointing to anything. Clpl has been vagueing about working on more mobile games for years, job listings confirm some sort of RPG, and there's some listing that suggest it could have a gacha. kinda like genshin? Based on images from their blog posts and job applications for a costume and armour designer, we're talking medieval-ish which. doesn't seem in-line with this teaser at all. though some of their job listings seem to be for multiple different projects, so i might be talking about two different games here. it's worth noting that colorful palette is not bound to CFM and Sega and they are free to work on their own projects outside of prsk, and very likely already are. feel free to laugh at me later if we do get miku rpg or miscellaneous other game that could be either a platformer or open world or something else entirely.

[freyito]

ᴊᴏʜɴɴʏ ᴄᴀɢᴇ & ᴋᴇɴꜱʜɪ ᴛᴀᴋᴀʜᴀꜱʜɪ ᴛᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀ ꜱɪᴄᴋ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

guess whos getting sick.... yippee!! i like never get sick and when i do im like completely OUT. rn it's just a sore throat and a kind of cough but it's been getting worse all day so i figured i'd get this out and donesies with before i cant even leave my bed lol

cw: gn reader, just fluff, JEWISH JOHNNY (hes jewish and you arent gonna tell me otherwise), not proofread

⎯ Johnny Cage

Johnny does not care that you could possibly get him sick, he is all over you. Like not once does he leave your side. And if he has to? Then he's just picking you up and taking you with him. Even if you complain that you wanna stay in bed.

He's got a weeks worth of takeout planned. All your favorite comfort food, something cold for your throat, something warm, too. And he's always got a nice, cold bottle of water for you. He's very intent on you staying hydrated.

We all know he can't cook. But this man has ONE (1) thing he actually can make without messing up. Two words. Jewish. Penicillin. Good ol' Matzoh Ball Soup. Guaranteed to cure you (don't take his word). And it's damn good. It's the perfect temperature, and it runs down your throat so smoothly that it- for once- doesn't feel like sandpaper. It's bliss. Pure damn bliss.

Of COURSE you're gonna end up cuddled up on the couch or in bed, watching some sort of movie or show. It's Johnny Cage. But, he also just likes talking with you. Or, to you. He doesn't want you to lose your voice, now. He'll ramble on and on about cinema, history- literally any, but of course he's a bit partial to Sento and the Taira clan specifically.-, and physics, science, yada yada.

And he talks and talks for days on end. Until you get better. But who am I kidding, he talks then, too. And when you finally get better, it's actually a miracle that Johnny isn't sick. But he's even more clingy, after.

⎯ Kenshi Takahashi

Unlike Johnny, Kenshi knows to give you space. Doesn't mean he isn't right by you the entire time, though. He's constantly checking your temperature, checking in on you in general. Do you need anything? How about a warm bath? Something to eat? Water? It's a constant stream of questions. He's just so worried about you, even if it is just a common cold.

He does order takeout as well, but it usually just amounts to soups and what not, he's kind of hellbent on making sure you eat the right foods and not something that could even make the cold slightly worse. He'll let popsicles slide, though... just no icecream. Hell no.

About that bath... Kenshi puts his heart and soul into it, for whatever reason. Epsom salt, some vitamin C bath foam, maybe some petals just to make it a little fancy. Oh, he's got it all. He wants to make sure you're at the height of relaxation.

Music and Audiobooks. He's got then playing, unless you ask for silence. Of course, he plays them kinda softly. He's a bit afraid of you getting a headache. It offers some sort of mental stimulation, though, while your huddled up in bed. He wants to make sure you don't feel bored while you're sick.

And once you're better... he's got so much laundry done. Like the very moment you're all energized and feeling better, he's like "oh the dryers done!". Kenshi wants to make sure there's no risk of you getting sick again, and to be honest, he pampers you a little extra, too.

© freyito, 2023 | masterlist | queue | kofi DO NOT REPOST AS YOUR OWN OR USE FOR AI/AI CHATBOTS.

[fiapartridge]

santa doesn't know you like i do 💌⭐️✨

nico hischier x singer!gf

summary: nico films a music video with famous singer, y/n belcourt & everyone suspects that there is more going on than meets the surface??

a/n: LMAO this is so stupid. just pretend like she needed some strong hot man for her music video, reached out to nico cuz she thought he was cute, and he said yes. he's super nervous, bad at acting, but they told him to just act natural & (to him) it felt like he ended up just hanging out with y/n rather than acting <3 he's whippeddd

y/n belcourt posted !

liked by gracieabrams and 3,758,391 others

y/n.belcourt 'santa doesn't know you like i do' music video out now 💌 a personal fave of mine

tagged: @/nicohischier

jackhughes atta boy neeks

lhughes_06 cap's a big time actor now

user1 i'm sorry did i miss a chapter 😸

user2 what. the fuck is happening.

gracieabrams perfect song, perfect girl

-> y/n.belcourt this song is actually about you 😇

user3 no way NICO?????

jesperbratt so that's what he did while on injured reserve...

lola.tung stream fruitcake if ur hot <3

-> y/n.belcourt amen

njdevils nico 'big actor guy new jersey devils man' hischier

trevorzegras @/nicohischier don't be rude man introduce me 😁

-> y/n.belcourt this guy named quinn just dm'd me saying to not talk to you. nico also said that 🙂

-> trevorzegras @/_quinnhughes fucking cock block

-> _quinnhughes stand down man

nicohischier thank you for having me! i had the best time ❤️

-> y/n.belcourt loved every second ❤️ catch me at the rock soon x

-> nicohischier next goal goes out to you

-> user4 IM SORRY WAS THAT FLIRTATIOUS? R THEY FLIRTING

-> user5 she's obviously just being nice. he's not her type

-> user6 idk big pro hockey player, captain of his team, hot as fuck... kinda sounding like any girl's type

nico hischier posted !

liked by tmeier96 and 37,394 others

nicohischier stepped off the ice and made a music video with this one. my big screen debut (and probably my last)! go watch! ❤️

tagged: @/y/n.belcourt

user1 of course nico shoots a big music video and only posts pictures of her instead of the actual video 🤭🤭🤭

-> user2 mans is whipped

-> user3 asf.

jackhughes what's goin on here 🤨

-> nicohischier i was in a video for a song!

-> jackhughes not what i meant

dawson1417 are we having a mrs. cap on the team now 👀

-> nicohischier go to hell

user4 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

user5 tell me my man isn't boo'd up tell me my man isn't boo'd up tell me my man isn't boo'd up

-> user4 i'm afraid i got some bad news for you

-> user6 HEY IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN CONFIRMED YET

-> user4 yet.

john.marino97 how did you get HER?

-> nicohischier WERE NOT TOGETHER.

user7 everyone clowning nico is the funniest thing ever

y/n.belcourt worth the frostbite & tumbles on the ice ❤️

-> nicohischier you became a better skater though!

-> y/n.belcourt solely hired u so u could pick me back up after i fall

-> nicohischier would gladly do that for free anyday :)

[sn0wp1anets]

observations about joel (mostly speech stuff) and interactions with others bc ive been hyperfixated since the beginning of time (also theres alot of bs commentary im sorry)

general stuff:

very very british like extremely british

'bloody' and 'blooming' ALOT - when he's annoyed or shocked or offended (im gonna call this his pseudo swearing for the rest of this for convenience)

instead of very he says 'well' sometimes (e.g. "this bloody pico park music is well annoying) and "absolutely"

instead of really he says 'proper' sometimes so "stress is proper northern" etc

instead of 'i haven't' he says "i've not"

he gives an explanation for basically everything he does and instead of because he says 'as' alot

'to be honest' "i bloody hate woodwork to be honest" (sometimes he says 'to be honest with you' too)

'innit' occasionally "it's like waterslide innit"

'like so'

'by the look of it'

he gets irritated really easily - "for goodness sake" and he'll start cutting himself off alot "this bloody-" and also his voice gets much more high pitched and his pseudo swearing gets way more frequent. also 'blooming heck'

(and also this isn't super relevant but when he gets mad all his friends start commenting on it and its the funniest thing- in the overcooked stream as soon as he starts getting annoyed everyones like 'oh here he is')

i didn't know if i should put this in a specific section but he says 'babe' alot - not just to lizzie but to jimmy like ALOT and also in general - i'll talk about this a bit more later tho !

pauses alot: in between words/phrases, and also before he answers questions (this is not as often but also if he wants someone to stop him- he was playing scrabble and was basically asking if someone could spell out vagina so he was slowly going 'and a g....and an i...and a n...' etcetc idk this isnt relevant i just thought it was worth mentioning)

he's kinda an oversharer 😭 ? (this is lh hes 31 im sure he shares what he thinks is appropriate) but at any given moment he starts giving details about his life- a kinda memorable example of this is in mcc26(?) when w*lbur made fun of his accent so he started telling a story about his grandfather and giving alot of details about him after he said he couldnt talk too much about it AND grian begged him to stop

repeats things (especially when he's annoyed) : "game's a bloody joke. game's a bloody joke"

he basically never says 'oh my god' its always 'oh my gosh' or 'oh gosh' sometimes its 'oh jesus'

his voice is generally higher pitched and more expressive in videos than in streams but this is more of a general cc thing than a specific joel thing

very confident in his builds (AS HE SHOULD BE !!!) and he'll share his thoughts alot : "i think it's come together really well" "lovely" "i'm really happy with it/with how it's turned out" etcetc

when he narrates he uses a mixture of 'I' and 'We'. what i've noticed is he uses I for his thoughts ("i feel like" "i think") and we for everything else ("we need" "we're quite high in the sky" etc)

'genuinely'

'what (are) you on about'

'what the heck'

he will say very random (kind of odd) things just out of nowhere as if its normal and he'll only realize it's weird when someone questions it? e.g. the mumbo trauma dumping bit in SL, or in one of jimmy's streams he said 'until i get back to the hotel if yk what i mean' and jimmys like 'i dont' and joel just goes 'idk either'

accent stuff:

it's really recognizable idk what to say

very northern: hes from yorkshire - his accent used to be stronger in his old videos but you can definitely still hear it (like its still super different from grian or like mumbo idk)

his 'th' sounds come out as 'f' (idk if this is an accent thing or a joel thing but he's talked about it and said his family members have it too)

again not sure if this is an accent or joel thing but when he says any word with 'con' he says it kinda differently- it's hard to describe but for example when most people say convention the 'on' sound is more like a 'un' sound? whereas with joel its very much an 'o' sound like in 'box' or 'coffee' (genuinely have no idea how else to explain it but in phonetic symbols- joel essentially never says /ʌ/ it's almost always /ɒ/ when its a 'con' word)

jimmy-

NICKNAMES !!! 'jim' is used alot - more than anyone else and one of the only people who calls him this. hes used 'mr neutron' too (idk how many times'

(he also doesnt actually say tim/timmy often and when he does its exclusively when grian is present)

typical british male friendship nicknames: 'lad' 'big man'

when he joins jimmy's stream he always says hi in a very dramatic way?? usually with a pretty deep voice (idk this is just something i noticed)

he calls him a loser alot?

(this might be more of a bad boys point) but joel is generally not that mean to jimmy? definitely he's meaner than he was a few years ago but that makes sense because they weren't as close but. he'll call him a loser and stupid/idiot sometimes but his main 'bullying jimmy' momentsare usually always when he's with someone else (usually grian, sometimes fwhip)

'what are you doing jimmy' or sometimes 'what are you doing with your life'

lizzie:

'babe' like all the time. once lizzie mentioned that they don't even really use each other's names alot because they just say 'babe' all the time

oli:

ok so joel really doesn't use that much like modern internet language but oli does and then joel will pick up on it (its cute but also horrifying sometimes)- he kept saying 'dogs' in reference to feet after oli said it

they flirt alot but differently to how he does with jimmy (hes more passive whereas with jimmy he initiates it more idk how else to describe it)

he calls him 'man' sometimes

he's also really giggly around oli theyre adorable

(tbh theres so much more to say about oli and lizzie but idk if i have the energy and time for like 10+ years of interactions rn - and honestly alot more for everyone else too but like.)

grian:

in general joel picks up on people's energy etc and mimics it alot but it happens so much with grian specifically - this sounds very weird but the more time he spends with grian in one go the more he starts to act like grian (especially with interactions with jimmy)

[rwrbmovie]

#RWRBMovie: deleted scenes

Matthew López:

The Cornetto scene. The breakfast scene at Kensington Palace. Everybody’s wondering what happened to the scene [at] the campfire. You know, in the course of making a movie and in the course of telling a story — runtime is less important in the streaming age than it is in theatrical distribution, but what was important to me is that the film be the right length. You cut things for pacing. You never want the audience to get ahead of you, you never want the audience to be bored. You know, there was originally a whole scene where Alex comes to the polo match. He meets Princess Bea. Henry and Alex have a little exchange after Henry gets off the horse. They go to the tack room together. What we found as we were watching the film was that Nick and Taylor were so good together in the scene prior, in Alex's bedroom. And actually when we did a version of that scene in Alex's bedroom, we got a note from the studio, from producers, asking if we could try and make that scene shorter. “It’s good, but it’s long.” So we did our first test screening and I did a shortened version of that scene in Alex's bedroom. I was really hesitant to cut it back. But I wanted to be a good collaborator and prove that I can take a note and I'm willing to try things. We actually got more than a few comments back literally saying, “We wish that scene were longer.” So that, of course, was great for me. That scene in Alex's bedroom is the entire scripted scene. There's not a single cut from the script to the final cut. As a consequence, though, of that being a rather lengthy scene, I needed to then regain momentum. We've spent it all on this scene and it's worth it because that scene between the two of them is so dynamic and wonderful. But now we gotta get things going again. So, I had a new editor come in halfway through because my first editor, Christina Heatherington, who's wonderful, had another project that she had committed to doing. And our post dates got extended a bit and she had to leave, so Nick, my new editor coming in, took a look and he says, “I wanna try something with that polo match.” He spent a weekend of his own time doing something, and then he was ready to show me. He sat me down and said, “I’ve done something crazy.” I’m like, “Great. We love crazy.” He showed me what was largely the version of the polo match that is in the film and with that music. I was laughing with glee the whole time I'm watching it. He was nervous, 'cause he is taking like six minutes of story and condensed it into two and a half minutes. But it has so much drive. It's sexy. It tells the story. It was a real lesson for me as a first time filmmaker: if you expand time, then you need to maybe also learn how to contract time. So that was a big lesson to me in pacing. With the Cornetto scene — that scene in Kensington Palace Gardens, it does everything I needed it to do. Weirdly, the Cornetto scene actually relieved some of the tension between them. I was like, look, if you take the Cornetto scene out, then the tension from that first scene remains when they go into the interview scene. I learned a lot of it is about taking the energy from one scene and using it to help you get into the next scene. One of the things I learned as a playwright, which I found was applicable to cutting a movie, is if a scene isn't working, it might not be the scene itself. It might be the scene before. “Why isn’t the interview scene playing as well as we think it should?” Look at what came before: the Cornetto scene … The Cornetto scene is charming. But we also understood, narratively speaking, it was unnecessary. And more to the point, it sapped the tension out.

(source)

[aria-allium]

this is a very unimportant part of the conversation i realize but. i feel like it's worth bringing up because i'm seeing a lot of people talk about not listening to wilbur's solo stuff as well as lovejoy a) because he directly profits from it and b) because. a good portion of the lyrics he's written can be recontextualized with the information shelby's given about her experiences with him. but i have not seen a single person mention the fact that she says at one point he told her he "wanted to see how much fame/wealth [he] could amass" (not direct quote but essentially the sentiment expressed).

this isn't a conversation specific to this situation - the idea that it is possible in certain scenarios to separate the art from the artist. that's something that simply cannot be done here, and it's not even solely because the lyrics come across very differently now, or because he profits off of people streaming his music (not to say that the latter isn't enough of a good reason, but you get the idea i hope).

shelby said he fully admitted to her that he just. wanted to see how much fame/wealth/etc. he could gain while he was actively abusing her. and again, this'll be my only post talking about the impact on his music specifically that i'll make, because ultimately it is absolutely not important in the grand scheme of things, but. i feel as though it's important that the fact that shelby mentioned he said that doesn't get forgotten.

[ffjj5]

Wise words 💯

It is very easy to get lost in having to have everything, having to know everything, to see everything, and in the world of Jikook to be the first to talk about/post moments. But not doing so doesn't make you less of a fan or supporter.

Side note-I am as guilty as anyone else of wanting to have it all so this isn't me having a go, this is me reminding myself and those who also need to hear it that simply being a fan and enjoying the music and content is enough 🥰

Just a reminder that Jimin feels the same way too.

BTS are very socially conscious individuals and this is expressed in their music.

The mantra of love yourself is a social transgression and one that companies don't like, as society and business relies on us hating ourselves. So BTS are saying "fuck capitalism" over and over again.

Jin says they want to do free concerts

Jungkook deleted his Instagram, an account worth roughly £27 million at the time of deletion, oh the company would have been pissed 🤭🤭😂, and that was his intention.

Yoongi during the August D concerts allowing phones to sound check

And not taking down live streams

Suchitwa, his talk show, is shown on YouTube, a free platform for anyone to access.

There will be so many more examples out there from all of the members, the biggest being their music. For which they more often than not write the lyrics themselves.

One example

The other point raised in this video is about the aggression and hatefulness from some parts of any fanbase. Within the BTS fanbase this has gotten so out of hand, and this is not what these 7 men are about. Yes call out hate, homophobia, racism etc as that is just wrong, plain and simple. But do not hate on others for a difference of opinion on the music, the clothes they wear, the choices they make in their private lives. If you don't like it, just let it be and move on!

This went so much deeper than I initially intended so let me wrap it up with this as I know some will say, "but aren't they just part of the problem by having expensive merch, tickets and pay to view content and take home millions of pounds each year"

These 7 men have the power and influence to fight for what they believe and have a chance at making a change so let's support that shall we instead of trying to tear each other apart.

cr: @wbtete_art on Twitter

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