#that's how the modern american musical came about

[grahstumhurts]

𝙍𝙪𝙜𝙗𝙮 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧! 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙭 𝙆𝙖𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙮𝙚

𝖧𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗇𝗈𝗇𝗌

ᴷᵃᵗˢᵉʸᵉ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉⁱʳ ʳᵘᵍᵇʸ ᵖˡᵃʸᵉʳ ᵖᵃʳᵗⁿᵉʳ.

CW : Mentions of injuries, Suicide mentions

I decided not to include Yoonchae because these half-shots kinda have darker under tones and i dont exactly feel comfortable writing for her with a darker light.

ᴍᴀɴᴏɴ - ꜰᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ (ʜᴏᴏᴋᴇʀ) - ᴴᵉʳᵉ ᶜᵒᵐᵉˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵐᵃⁿ ᴮʸ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖⁱˣⁱᵉˢ

The first time Manon had ever watched a rugby game had been when Megan took Katseye to Hong Kong to visit her family. Hookers have the largest impact on the scrum, They have to guide the ball out of the scrum and out to the scrum half. This has to be perfected as one wrong move and the ball will be stolen by the other hooker or will be kicked out too hard. This perfectionism is what drew Manon to you as she watched you on the Pitch, Your props pushing the other team back as much as they could as your leg nudged the ball out of the scrum for your teammate to pick up. Your attention to detail isn't only on the pitch but in lots of other aspects of your life, Manon admires your organized schedules. In her usual life, Her room stays messy until she finds the motivation to clean it. With being a hooker comes lots of hip flexibility which she is glad to help with, Stretching and a post practice routine is how you’ve maintained the flexibility to hold your own on the pitch. Though being smaller than Manon, Your muscles are quite a lot larger than hers, Especially in your legs. She loves watching your games, cheering you on at the side lines as you make tackles. She worries a lot about injuries, Physical and mental ones, Pushing you to go to physical therapy and talking therapy when you need it. The one time you don't listen to her and skip your physical therapy appointment, The next game you dislocate your shoulder. One moment you're running, pushing back defenders with a stiff arm, The next you're on the ground with the wind knocked out of you as your shoulder burns with pain. Your writhing on the ground as the referee stops the game to assess you. As you're being taken off the pitch. Manon runs down from the stands, holding your hand as they guide you into the medical room. During your recovery period, You two would just cruise around in Manon’s car, Singing any song that came on in your shared playlist. The contrast between the old rock style music and Manon’s more modern pop music makes the playlist more diverse as the two of you influence each other. 

ꜱᴏᴘʜɪᴀ - ʙᴀᴄᴋ (ꜱᴄʀᴜᴍ ʜᴀʟꜰ) - ᶜʳᵘⁱˢᵉ ᵇʸ ᶠˡᵒʳᵈⁱᵃ ᴳᵉᵒʳᵍⁱᵃ ᴸⁱⁿᵉ

You had grown up as a country kid, Raised in the rural areas doing farm work and playing American Football. Only when you found rugby did you feel like you really belonged in sports, Being the more masculine kind of person only really made you stand out more when you got into high school. Your true passion was always rugby. As a scrum half, you control the ball going into the scrum, which means that you need to be quick on your feet to receive it. Your agility keeps Sophia mesmerized while she watches your games, you navigate the defense with ease. With your play style of unselfish playing, passing off to your teammates whenever the opportunity is open, It's uncommon that you score a try. But whenever you do, Sophia is always there to celebrate after the matter. She’s always there to help you with your pregame and post game routine, Her “Mother-ly” status in Katseye makes it easy for her to fall into the routine of helping you cook food. In return, you make sure to buy her flowers whenever coming home from a game and that she knows that every try you score is for her. On game days, She would always text you “good luck” with a heart emoji. This game had been quite a normal one, when a scrum occurred. You rolled the ball through your teammates legs and picked it up, tossing it to your teammate who were already aligned for your team's attack. The scrum broke off as your Fly half runs up into the defense, passing it back down to you who was running at pace. You quickly pivot, your foot planted for a side step to quickly change directions as you felt a pop in your knee. You immediately felt a searing pain as you collapsed onto the pitch. After you were taken to the hospital by the team medics, You were ambushed by a petrified Sophia who had heard from your teammates that you were at the hospital. After finding out that you had torn your ACL, Sophia promised the doctors she would take care of you. You two spend your time together cooking, going to the beach, and hanging out with the other members. You can't take showers without your country music playlist in the background, as much as Sophia pretends to abhor your music taste she can't deny that slow dancing to Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs is something she misses while she's away during Katseye’s comebacks.

ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟᴀ - ꜰᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ (ᴘʀᴏᴘ) - ᴶᵃᵖᵃⁿᵉˢᵉ ᴰᵉⁿⁱᵐ ᵇʸ ᴰᵃⁿⁱᵉˡ ᶜᵃᵉˢᵃʳ

Your larger frame intimidated Dani at first. Once she saw past the facade she realized you were more of a gentle giant. Props are the main source of power in a scrum and are majorly important in securing the ball during it. You pour a lot of your energy and anger into rugby as its your way of “destressing” in a way, The physicality of the sport to you is what drew you into it. From the moment you played your first match you knew you were made to play rugby, Especially growing up in a rugby household. Your family watched the 7s yearly back home in LA, so it felt right when you joined the USA 7s team and made your debut in LA where Dani first met you. She was enamored by your soft spoken “gentlewoman” attitude, Her more extraverted self felt drawn to your down to earth personality. Dani definitely tries to tackle you any chance she gets when you're standing near the couch in the Katseye house. The other members sigh as you two play fight, They have to pull you two off each other when it goes on for at least two minutes. Your on pitch demeanor in contrast to your off-pitch personality is like watching two different people in the same body. On pitch you lead by example, making the tough tackles that bring down the offense, clearing space for your backs to gain momentum, and following the plays of your scrum half. Off pitch, you're a tired teddy bear, Cuddling with Dani any free moment. Whining and pouting when you have to move, You're her muscle when she needs to move some furniture or when she's out and about to scare some pushy guy off. Only when you come home from a tough match, to see her already sitting on your apartment's couch. She watches you limp to the bedroom and hop into the shower. She doesn't prod, or push. She lets you cool off in the shower, allowing you to come to her when the time is right. When you’ve cooled off, you collapse into her arms. A mess of limbs and curls wrapped around you as you vent about your match. What had occurred was when you were pushing through the scrum, your quad started to burn as you broke out and off your hooker. You tried to brush it off, running head first into the offense. Trying to clear off some players for your team. Your coach had noticed the slight limp in your run and immediately pulled you off, Your pitch side medic told you that you had acquired a muscle strain in your hip flexor. Dani consoled you, scratching your scalp in all the right places, Kissing your forehead when you paused sentences. Showing she cared, without saying anything. The next morning she had already texted Sophia to ask for advice on what to do, and had made up her mind that she was going to take you to your physio appointment. She held your hand as you were poked with needles and wires, Instruments and stretches you were made to take home. She set up a checklist on your phone that linked to her phone as well to make sure you were doing your necessary treatments and exercises. She didn't need to say anything to you, but she took care of you. You two bond over your shared taste in RnB, You two laze in bed when both of you have a day off. Just listening to your shared playlists. Back hugs while she cooks you two brunch is what makes these off days special for her. 

ʟᴀʀᴀ- ʙᴀᴄᴋ (ᴡɪɴɢᴇʀ) - ² ʰᵃⁿᵈˢ ᴮʸ ᵀᵃᵗᵉ ᴹᶜʳᵃᵉ

Score the most tries, is what you’ve been told throughout your professional career. You’ve held trophies of being the tournament MVP, But nothing could still fill that void in your heart. You longed for something deeper than tries and conversions. That something was Lara Raj, She came into your life when you least expected it. While you were in recovery from a Suicide attempt, She marched straight into your life and brought color back into a once gray field. The love for the sport you’d been playing most of your life had come back as Lara spread the different shades of Crimson red, Coral orange, Cobalt blue, Periwinkle purple, Sage green, back into your life. You two had met through an unexpected mutual, Her high school friend had coincidentally been also your college friend. From the moment you two locked eyes you hit it off, You're as obsessed with her as she is with you, The amount of admiration the both of you have for each other can be felt in the spaces you share. Her side of the shared bedroom in the Katseye is filled with photos of you two, faces flushed, Cheek kisses, Lipstick stains. Your hoodies intermix in her regular rotation of pajamas. Your apartment holds her favorite flowers in vases she specifically bought for you, Her hair ties on the nightstand next to the bed you two share. Matching phone lockscreens, all the couple stuff that makes people automatically know how much she means to you. You listen to her music when she needs a second ear, play the drums when she just “Needs” the acoustic drum sounds. She sits on your lap as she writes lyrics in her book, while you scroll lazily on your phone. But on pitch, your cleats have an engraved L.R in a heart on the side. She knows every try you score and convert is for her, In a way that is unique to the both of you. The field is your second home in a way, You sprint through the defense using all the energy you can to make it through on your feet. The ball safely tucked under your arm as you weave through defenders that you push off strongly to reach the try line. You dive onto the ground as the line is pushed behind your feet, The ball roughly jammed into the pitch as another 5 points is awarded for your efforts. But you know when you walk off that pitch and into the tunnel, a bigger reward awaits you with her arms open, Her hair smelling of cinnamon and coconut.

ᴍᴇɢᴀɴ - ꜰᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ (ᴘʀᴏᴘ) - ˢᵘᵐᵐᵉʳ ᴮʸ ᴷᵉˢʰⁱ

You grew up in the coastal city of Hong Kong, Yours and Megan's parents had actually been friends in college before your parents decided to move back to Hong Kong to have kids. You had been enamored by the beauty of rugby from a young age, its ruthless physicality and brute strength. When you had the opportunity to join the Hong Kong 7s team, you immediately accepted. Megan at the time had just debuted with Katseye, Her press conferences and performances had taken over her life. By the time the 2025 7s season rolled around you had been promoted to a starter. Katseye’s activities had died off and the members went their separate ways for a break, Megan had gone home to Hawaii. Your parents had invited her and her family to come to Hong Kong to watch you play, something they could not pass up since your parents and her parents had only seen each other once since they had moved. The way you hustled on the pitch, A smile permanently plastered on your face, had a warming feeling for Megan. She had seen clips, Heard her parents talk about your amazing skills, But to see them in person. That was different. It was as if she could feel the excitement and happiness for the sport you loved off your body as you sprinted up and down. A reunion dinner for both families, The Skiendiel's and L/n’s, had been long overdue. You and Megan’s personalities matched each other, Bouncing off lame brain rot jokes like a ping pong game. The Katseye members refer to your relationship as a Golden retriever and an Orange cat. You two clicked like two Lego pieces, as if you were made for each other in a sweet, comforting, kind of way. She tries to teach you how to dance, watching you flail your limbs trying to copy her instructions. While you try to teach her how to spin pass a rugby ball, Unsuccessful but it was worth a try. She's the rock in your life, Keeping you grounded when you float off into imaginary land. On the pitch, your largeness had earned you the position of Prop. You harness your brute strength each time a scrum is called, Pushing against the shoulders of the opposing team. Scrums had to be your favorite moments each game, Making jokes with your other teammates and even sometimes the other team. Your goofiness is known worldwide on and off the field,  You pour your heart into what you love and that was what drew her to you. Your personality on the pitch and off the pitch had been a siren song of sorts to her. When your already short season had been cut even shorter due to a serious knee dislocation, it had taken a large toll on you. After your surgery, you had already decided on visiting Megan in the US. She had come to the airport, in her disguise, waiting patiently. Sign in hand as you were wheeled to the exit by staff. The weeks you two spent together let your relationship flourish, She drove you to your appointments, While you cooked her dishes from home to reminisce. The Kats were grateful she had someone who could “Match her freak”, In the sense that you two complement each other in every way. 

[superhoeva]

things i noticed the third time around watching sinners, in no particular order (spoilers under the cut!!):

delta slim is the one who hands sammie his guitar before sacrificing himself to let he, smoke, and pearline escape the juke. when he handed it to him, he told sammie "remember what i told ya," and i'm certain that has to be a callback to slim talking to sammie about the blues and christianity.

there's some kind of foreshadowing happening when the guy gets his cheek cut during a game of cards (?) to the scratches that remmick leaves on sammie's cheek. yes, we are privy to the injury at the beginning of the film but i feel like it's forgotten enough to see the man's cut cheek as a sign of what's to come!

the interplay of the conversations between smoke with sammie and stack with mary has soooo much fucking intention. smoke talking about how sammie needs to either join the "proper black folks or write church music." as we all know, sammie ends up doing neither of those things–instead he takes his guitar and leaves to become one of the best blues players in the world; stack and mary are the only people from that night able to see that sammie made the best choice for himself, and that's only because mary talked stack into letting her go check out remmick and the crew–in turn, knocking down the domino that leads to her and stack becoming vampires.

there was always a bird flying overhead when a kkk member was in the scene. birds, at least in horror movies, are known to be messengers of death and bringers of doom.

during sammie's conversation with his father in church at the beginning of the movie, a cross can be seen in the background multiple times when the camera is on the preacher. however, its less common (and sometimes even blocked) by sammie.

there was also another cross present in the background when we're taken. outside with mary when she goes to talk to remmick, which i personally feels says something about christianity's impact on why remmick is the way that he is.

another thing i noticed about sammie's conversation with his father–his dad calls him boy in a similar tone to hogwood when he says it to smoke and stack. two very different circumstances but both seemed like they were intended to be belittling in some way.

*the last thing we hear hogwood say i something like "i got money." being a man from the south during that time, you would expect him to call out for God, but no. the last word out of his mouth was money. this isn't only a callback to what smoke was talking with annie about but proves that that's the only thing people like hogwood really care about–money... along with power it gets them.

*the young black man on the stage playing with sammie/buddy guy during the first post credit scene is christone "kingfish" ingram–one of the most prominent faces of modern american blues singing/blues guitar–thus tying together the old (buddy) and the new (catfish) of blues

finally, i find it really touching and incredibly interesting that sammie seems to have been the most influenced not by his father or his cousins–but delta slim. he took what he said–that the blues came over with us when our ancestors were brought to america–and kept that with him the rest of his life. the very religion slim talks about being "forced upon us" is the same religion that often views blues and other secular music as evil. sammie's blues rendition of the little light of mine (a song regularly performed in church) is proof that it isn't the music that evil but rather the policing of the forms of art we use to connect with our past, present, and future...

*these two i technically got from my dad (who noticed this after his first watch???) but i wanted to add because they're very good points.

[sunkissedscribbles]

☆ 𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑩𝑬𝑳𝑳𝑨

PAIRING: singer!guitarist!mattheo x arabella!journalist!reader TW: nothing in particular WORD COUNT: 1.3k A/N: i reflect to my own opinion of taylor's ttpd album. I'm not trying to offend anyone. +a minor oc SONGS: Arabella by Arctic Monkeys // PLAYLIST

☆ MASTERLIST PART1 PART2

✰ Arabella's got a '70s head But she's a modern lover, it's an exploration she's made of outer space And her lips are like the galaxy's edge And her kiss the colour of a constellation fallin' into place

“Okay, but who’s Arabella?” Theo inquired, breezing through a set of lyrics hidden behind Mattheo’s messy handwriting, which clearly had been jotted down as quickly as possible, possibly because the latter didn’t want his thoughts about this mysterious girl to vanish because he took too long to write.

“No one,” the answer came with a careless shrug.

“Pretty Boy got a crush?” Enzo teased, flashing a grin, toying with the strings of his bass.

“I made her up, okay?” Mattheo rolled his eyes with a bored grunt, tired from his friends’ teasing.

“But I don’t know, she feels so real,” Dax, the rhythm guitarist chimed in with that flat American accent he has, the one that could drive Enzo up the wall easily whenever Dax broke into storytelling and used too many slang words. “The way you describe her.”

Mattheo shrugged, not knowing how to explain how clearly he had seen this girl in his sleep.

It’d been driving him insane for weeks – dreaming about this mysterious girl almost every night. This girl whose face had burnt into his memory system forever, whose silhouette he would recognize any time, anywhere.

He’d know it was his Arabella.

☆☆☆☆

It was a popular club in the middle of London, and the boys were thrilled they made it here, where they were aware that many people would be witnessing their music.

From here, it was either up or down, depending on their performance and luck. Nothing else.

This night was the night.

Though, Mattheo was desperate.

“So this next song,” he smirked into the microphone almost playfully, feeling oddly lightheaded in front of all these many people, almost like in a dream. It felt unreal, and he for sure was having sensory overload. “Whoever knows the girl it’s about could just give me her number already?”

A light chuckle rumbled through the crowd, accompanied by a few whistles, and the band behind Mattheo shared a smile before Theo spoke up into his microphone from behind the drum set, the Italian accent more prominent in his voice than usual, “I mean, he’s desperate,” another set of claps and laughter filled the air.

You only arrived at the club a few minutes ago and were now trying to get closer to the stage to get a better view of the band playing, muttering a few ‘excuse me’s as you fought your way through the sea of people in your leather boots. They were shining because of the heavy London rain pouring down on your short walk here, your hair slightly damp, your black leather jacket in the same condition as your boots.

At first, you stayed a few rows behind, just wanting to catch a glimpse of the band. You couldn’t help it, working in the music industry has taken its toll on you in some ways – you listened to any music even more critically, although you’d known what good music was ever since your childhood. You’d always had the ears for it, your mother would say.

But then, hearing the first few beats was enough for you to forget about work, and your feet took you to the first row. You couldn’t help it, it was music. Not the new, clearly flat album of Taylor Swift which had nothing new in it, no. It was music. It was rock. Indie. You floated closer and closer on this hypnotic feeling as the instrumental parts, the lyrics, and the voice of the singer drew you in. And then you couldn’t help staring.

Your head kept moving along to the beat, you were smiling to yourself and just genuinely enjoying yourself to the music, and at some point, your vintage camera made its way into your hand.

It was the quick flash of light that drew Mattheo’s attention in your direction, and for a moment, he thought he was seeing a ghost, a mere memory. But no, it was really you. He smiled lightly to himself as he came down from his shock, and the happy, excited expression made an appearance in his voice, too, and flared an oddly giddy sensation in his stomach.

Yes, this night was the night.

It was his Arabella.

It was you.

☆☆☆☆

You didn’t want to lose sight of the band members as they headed backstage, but unfortunately, you didn’t have your press card with you.

So what do you do now?

Become a groupie?

No, you had to improvise by jumping up the stage and running behind the curtains at a well-timed moment, only to run into the singer, who crashed into you in his desperate attempt to go out and find you.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” you said as Mattheo’s hands came to your arms in a firm grip to steady you.

“No, it was my fault,” he insisted before looking you in the eyes, only for the realization to slap him right in the face.

Arabella.

And he had to keep his cool more than ever before as he let go of your arms and tried to take your scent in without being obvious. God, how could you smell like glam rock?

“What are you doing here?” he cleared his throat, remembering you had no business backstage. Not that he minded. In fact, he wanted you to have all the rights to be there, as his girlfriend.

You kept your cool, despite feeling like a little kid being caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and stuffed your hands into the pockets of your oversized leather jacket. “I was looking for the band.”

A half-smirk plastered over his lips, not missing an opportunity to make a witty remark, “Weren’t groupies cool in the, like, the ’70s?”

“Says the guy whose bassist looks like Sid Vicious and whose rhythm guitarist stole Slash’s hair?” you retorted. “Need I mention the drummer who looks like could break into ’Sarà perché ti amo’ any second? Very ’70s.”

He raised his brows curiously at that, the smirk softening somewhat as you continued. “I wanted to talk to you–”

“Many do.”

“–about a possible interview,” you finished and Mattheo’s smirk faded off his face and he had to keep his cool. An interview? With the band? With his band?

“Sorry, what?” he had to make sure he didn’t mishear you.

You chuckled, and hell, he thought he’d melt at the sweet sound, and you took a palm-sized notebook out of your pocket with a pen.

“Very ’70s,” Mattheo mustered flustered, trying to catch a glimpse of what you were writing.

“Call me if you’d be down for an interview,” you handed him the piece of paper at which, not yet registering your words, he looked down at the numbers with a frown.

Then he realized.

Your mobile phone number.

He was holding it in his own damn hand.

He asked for it as a joke before playing Arabella.

And now he got it.

He got Arabella’s number.

He wanted to ask so many questions, but you were already out of sight when he looked up from the paper.

No, no, he couldn’t lose you. Not now.

He stomped out from behind the curtains and called after you as he caught a glimpse of that all-too-familiar silhouette walking down the stairs of the stage. “Arabella! Who do you work for.”

You chuckled before calling back, “Rolling Stone,” and before turning back to continue your way out, you formed a phone with your hand to tell him to call.

Rolling Stone? The magazine? He just stood there, dumbfounded.

You, his Arabella.

This really was the night.

tag list: @inksoakedparchment @mattiesgf @mqstermindswift @girllblogging777 @myysunshine @yelanare @mamartinez

[tokoyamisstuff]

Sweet Tooth

Homelander x GN! Reader

Summary: Homelander is a regular customer at your little coffeeshop, visiting anytime he craves something sweet - you, in particular. Warnings: Canon-typical violence, cussing, HL is horny and also a douche Words: 1,575

"Seriously, Y/N? Who the fuck drinks a milkshake at 8am?"

Ah, there he is. You almost got worried because he ran late today.

"What are you, five? Grow the fuck up." That said, the gruff man in front of you pulled out a few loose dollar bills, cheekily slamming them on the counter. "One for me too, please."

You smirk, putting the cup down after slurping it in one go. Ouch, brainfreeze. "Good morning to you too, sunshine."

That's what he likes most about you: Finally someone that can take a fucking joke. People he usually surrounds himself with are either afraid of him, or got a damn stick up their asses.

Communication wasn't really his forte without someone dictating the lines he'd have to say. But with you it came refreshingly easy, that back and forth was so enjoyable that he almost felt human.

"Coming right away" you chant, already busying yourself with the ingredients. "With how often you're ordering this drink, I should name it after you."

Homelander snorts at the well-deserved mockery, unable to keep his mouth shut since you look so adorable when irritated. "As you should, considering I basically fund this place."

"Hey!" you put a warning finger in the air, lighthearted voice earnest now. "I can tolerate a lot, but that's no joking matter."

Okay, the location you were able to afford was neither central nor in a remotely good part of the town. It was so small that there was only space for two tables, and the interior honestly decaying.

But at least it was honest work, and you did the best you could.

"With the new Starbucks across the street I'm basically bancrupt." Oh godfuckingdamnit, he fucked up. Homelander here to unwind, and certainly not to listen to you whining about your insignificant little life.

Maybe Vought should send you a check, though - losing this spot would be annoying.

Initially Homelander came to your café out of sheer coincidence, wanting to calm his nerves after his first encounter with Sister Sage. He took a longer stroll through some shady alleyways, hoping to run into some lowlife to rip apart...

...instead, he found you. A pathetic excuse of business and surely not even remotely close to achieving the American Dream, but whatever.

John had found himself entranced with the cheesy decoration, a desperate attempt to make a place like this feel cozy. He secretly admired people with the ability to make anywhere feel like home.

Well, the menu looked good enough that he decided to treat himself with something sweet as matter of exception - and now it had become part of his daily routine.

Things had just settled like this, with you offering him your sincere company while he'd cryptically vent about anything on his mind.

"Here: For my favourite customer!" you cheered proudly as you presented him the shake. "Made with extra love."

"Secret ingredient, huh? You're just nice to get an extra tip" he tries to hide the insecurity behind a sassy remark, but you instantly parry his claim. "What, why, because you're so generous? Nonsense. You're just lucky you're so cute."

It was no lie, really. John had a rough shell and wore his heart on his tongue, but you appreciated his honesty and the good conversations you shared.

As you were rummaging in the kitchen counter, he couldn't help but notice how you turn down the radio despite continuing to hum the song it was playing. He once told you about having misophonia, and how much he hates modern pop music. You actually listen to him, consider his feelings unlike the imbeciles he's used to.

"Woah, maybe tune it down with the sugar, darling" he thought aloud as you poured yourself a coffe. Damn, he needs to save himself after this one - but the only thing he comes up with sounded more like a backhanded compliment at max. "You're already sweet enough, don't ya think?"

"Charming as always, I see." Your face contorts into a mixture of confusion and amusement at his words, and feeling bold you turn around, giving a provocating slap to your own ass. "As long as the fat goes into the right places."

John bites his bottom lip at the sight of your tight leggings framing your curves too well. Yeah, that'd be a great place to dig his fingers into. Some cushion wouldn't bruise or make you whine if he'd become a little rougher. Shit, his pants feel awfully tight right now.

"You're staring." Seeing him being the flustered one for a change sure was a great feeling, considering that he was very aware of his own good looks. So you decide to get him off the high horse, playfully poking his soft belly. "Also, you're one to talk."

Homelander shifts on the barstool, closing his legs so you wouldn't notice his cock twitching in anticipation at the sudden proximity. God knows how often he had daydreamed about slamming you onto the next best surface and fucking you stupid.

"You really shouldn't be mean to someone that could spit in your drink." He smirks, a predatory glint in his eyes as he leaned forwards until his unfairly handsome face was just inches from yours. "Joke's on you - I'd savour every last drop."

The audacity. You physically fight rolling your eyes at him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of reacting. "Sometimes I think you're the most obnoxious person in the world, John."

Liar, he thinks to himself.

Nothing is hidden from his abilities, neither your raised bloodpressure nor the scent of the wet spot forming between your legs. He prided himself on that fact. And yet you stand there all taken aback, trying to play coy. Cute.

Well, it wasn't as if you had no interest in him. He's been coming here for weeks and you're still working up the courage to at least give him your number - but he was so incredibly out of your fucking league that you never considered actually going through with it.

Homelander on the other hand decided he had let the opportunity slip for way too long already. Except for both of you the shop was empty as always, and even if it wasn't he wouldn't care. Hell, he'd already imagined what it would be like pounding you naked against the display window to show every passenger who you'd belong to from now on.

"John, I-"

"Shh" he hushed you, his silencing finger lingering on your lips. You pulled away, just to be caught by a firm hand on the back of your neck. "Tell me if I should stop - but we both know what you want me to do to you."

Oh, he's insufferable.

Honestly, you should just slap him and tell him to go fuck himself - but a primal need had already shut down the rational part of your brain. "Damnit John, will you kiss me now or do I need to fuck that shiteating grin out of your face?"

Shit, what's not to love about you?

"Hands up in the air you two shitheads, this is a robbery!"

Un-fucking-believable.

While you immediately went into panic mode, seeing a weapon up close for the first time in your whole life, John nonchalantly leaned against the counter, an aggravated groan escaping his throat. "Dude, worst fucking timing."

"John, don't provoke him-" He threw a hand up in the air, signalizing you to be quiet. "Stay behind and let me handle this, sweetheart."

You nod quietly, John shielding you with his body as you shakily paced behind the counter. A shot was fired and you shrieked at the sound, apparently the criminal wasn't exactly patient or he just didn't like your customer's tone.

"John! God John, are you alri-" Your words got caught in your throat as you saw the shell fall to the ground. Must be the adrenaline clouding your view, but there seemed to be not a scratch on his body. He winks cockily at you before turning around, using the lasers in his eyes to make a quick end to this before you'd involuntarily get caught into the crossfire.

"So, is the drink on the house or what?" The hero jokes unfazed after just having spread literal brain matter on your tiles.

You were still trembling when he squatted in front of your cowering self, reassuringly patting your back. This shit is like second nature to him, and sadly the little empathy he possessed had dulled over time. "I told you to stay down, silly."

As soon as you've calmed down to a certain extend, you pulled your savior's baseball cap from his head, revealing disheveled blonde hair.

"Are you the fucking Homelander?!"

"Can't deny that after what you've just witnessed" he answers truthfully, offering you a hand to get up. "Took you long enough to figure out, though."

Your strained pants turned into hysterical laughter, probably due to the shock. "I-I honestly have no words."

That means he wins today's banter, he jubilates internally. You could've been a little more thrilled about the reveal of his identity, though - but hey, you can show him your gratitude later on.

"Thank you, I guess." You finally release the breath you were holding, tension leaving your body as you collapsed into his arms. Police sirens could already be heard fast approaching. "I- could you please bring me home after the investigation is over?"

"Sure" he tries to hide his excitement, cradling your exhausted self against his chest. "If you don't mind, I'll take you to go."

[ar-cadez]

Count Duckula Fan Rewrite!!

Recently I’ve been working on a Count Duckula rewrite that aims to give it a slightly more serious tone and semi-serialized story like many modern cartoons! It took some time, but I made redesigns of the main cast. I had fun making this project and I REALLY hope you do too! Because I’m extremely nervous that the small fan base Count Duckula does have will hate this

I haven’t actually finished the show btw so if there’s an antagonist or smth that shows up later I should’ve redesigned.. lmk! I’m open to suggestions I really like this show..

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Basic Concept

Practically the same as the original show! There is a long line of reincarnations of a wicked vampire duck named Count Duckula, the most recent reincarnation went wrong and now the current Count is a vegetarian and much more interested in becoming famous than being evil.

Some major differences include the tone and story structure, being semi-serialized and having more serious arcs mixed in with the antics, along with a lot of changes in characterization. A big story change is also that Nanny was not hired until AFTER Duckula was reincarnated so Igor was the one who screwed up the ritual.

Tone wise I’d also like to slightly age up the target audience so it could get away with a bit more dark humour. My favourite part of the original show was moments that were just so morbid and completely brushed past. 13+ would be fine methinks.

Basic plot of the average episode would be about the count’s hyperfixation of the week and trying to get famous or profit from it. Not every episode would follow this structure though.

The grander themes of the series would be all about expectations from family and strangers and how those expectations can be completely false.

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Characters

^^ Final lineup! ^^

Sketches (less interesting poses but shows off some things better)

Count Duckula!

What I wanted to change

I feel like Duckula from the original spin-off was already a really strong character! There is a lot to him and really all I would want from a more emotional reboot is to dive into what’s already there. I did kinda project on him a bit in this rewrite though… gotta write what’cha know!

I also changed his design quite a bit. I never thought the suit fit his personality and I wanted to go with something a little more bright. If I go back again I might saturate his shirt a bit more. I also wanted all the residents of castle Duckula to have purple in their designs and for duckula and Towser to share similar colour’s inversed

Character Traits

Hatred of his legacy

Duckula is the first member of his lineage to not be an evil vampire and he hates that role that is expected of him. This is partially what drives him to be the nicest duck he can be, in hopes of shaking off his legacy. This also causes him to reject anything that's “spooky” or has to do with vampires. He physically can't eat meat or blood due to his botched resurrection, but even the sight of either distresses him.

Attention Drive

Due to his infamy, all Duckula wants is to be liked by the general public. Everyone in his town is automatically scared of him and he tries really hard to change their opinions on him whether that be through attempting to bea good samaritan or by performing in town. (Both tend to end poorly for him)

ADHD and Theatre Kid Behaviour

Duckula is constantly picking up and putting down new forms of art and performance. This can be anything from oil painting to American football. He does tend to get frustrated or distracted and abandon projects or crafts entirely. His favourite artform is acting and music so as you can imagine he's very into musicals. His musical talents are decent but his acting is awful. He’s also known to loud and overly excited over his interests

Ego and Cowardice

Being given a position of power the day you came into existence does have the tendency to make you… immature to say the least. When in danger, if he even realises there is any, Duckula’s first move is to use his title as leverage. If that doesn't work, his second is to beg, grovel, and lie his way out of the situation. That, or hide behind his much more intimidating companions.

Rich Kid Syndrome

Having the majority of people you know be your house staff really messes with your sense of responsibility. Duckula can hardly do many basic life skills on his own because of this. It's not like he is completely lazy but he does have executive dysfunction and has yet to realise that fact, causing him to procrastinate on many things and completely forget or just get someone else to do it.

Not Naturally kind

Being his father’s reincarnation, it only makes sense that Duckula would inherit many traits from his past lives. Many of the other Counts were ego-driven cowards with desires for fame. They just went about it differently. Duckula actively tries to be kind and polite but a lot of passive aggression and snark slips through the cracks of that veneer. He would never want to admit that he has ANYTHING in common with his ancestors and he hates that being nice doesn't just come naturally to him. Being an immortal, Duckula also has a skewed sense of mortality and often doesn't understand the severity of certain injuries and situations.

This Duckula has ADHD and Autism in this rewrite and he struggles most with executive dysfunction, restricted interests, memory issues, atypical empathy (not specifically low or high), sensory issues (mostly with eating and some sound), and social cues. He also stims.

Towser!

What I Wanted to Change

Towser isn’t even really a character in the original. Just a running gag without a face. I wanted to balance out the main cast by adding another female character since I have feelings on Nanny as a character and i didn’t know if i would even be able to salvage that.

I really like what I came up with! She’s fun to me and I’ll probably flesh her out more later.

Character Traits

Family drive

Towser has little interest in birds that aren't close to her and it usually takes awhile for her to get used to new people. However, she’ll protect those that she does care about with her life. She is the castle’s guard dog and will do whatever’s necessary to protect it. This often comes at the cost of her sleep, because she feels like she always needs to be awake to protect them.

Tag Along

Following Duckula around like a puppy is what Towser does best! She might not fully understand his enthusiasm on certain subjects, but she's always up to backing him up on his newest fame seeking endeavours (though she herself prefers physical activity over creative works). She never expects anything to come of it, but hey, at least it's something to do. She also likes to hear Duckula rant to her about his interests.

Big Sister

Towser is of a much more stable mental state than Duckula, and as his only friend around his age, he trusts her more to be someone to talk to about his identity issues and issues in general. The two are a lot warmer towards each other than they are anyone else, and can also get away with messing with the other a lot more.

Big ol Lap dog

When in werewolf form, Towser tends to forget her size and often crushes them with her size. This usually wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that she's always a lot more cuddly and energetic in wolf form than bird form. This is because, as a werewolf, she's only in wolf form at night and being a fully nocturnal bird that should only be awake at night, this messes with her sleep rhythm a lot.

Igor!

What I wanted to Change

Personality wise Igor is already really strong and I didn’t change much of that. You’ll probably notice from the sketches that Igor has a skeleton hand, that’s because I made him undead in this version just to give a reason to how he’s been able to live this long since the original doesn’t really have one (which is fine)

Character Traits

Devotion to the role

Igor has been the Count’s butler since the first incarnation. He was assigned to keep the Duckula legacy alive by reincarnating his master every time he meets his fate and helping him readjust every time. Helping each new reincarnation bring misery and fear to the town they reside by with a smile… Until the most recent incarnation of course. He’ll stick it out though, because he still has hope for him.

Taste for the macabre

Whether it be killing innocents behind the back of his new master, decorating the castle with cobwebs and bones, or using his undead nature to scare and torture those around him, Igor certainly has an interesting idea of fun. Igor gets a sick enjoyment out of causing others distress and despises all things kind and cute, something which definitely frustrates Duckula, who's desperately trying to fix his own image.

Bitter Traditionalist

Having lived through the centuries in castle Duckula, Igor has gained an appreciation for the history of the place and the vampire ducks that have resided there over the years. He’s rather invested in the lives of his previous masters and is extremely cross with the newest incarnation for not only not caring about that past, but also completely disowning it. Igor tries desperately to get Duckula to be a normal vampire, truly believing it could work with enough effort. Less he spend the next few centuries with a vegetarian for a master… Igor would not have a problem with Duckula pursuing fame if it weren't for the fact that he thinks it's distracting him from true vampirism.

Tired old man

Igor has lived for many centuries and he does not feel as if he should have to babysit for an immature man child like Duckula. He would rather ignore or snark the young count rather than actually talk to him. When the two argue its a constant back and forth of passive aggression and personal jobs that they almost always forget what they're actually arguing over. Duckula is physically and mentally very young (17-early 20s) compared to Igor’s other masters due to the botched revival and he doesn't know how to, or want to, deal with it.

Nanny!

What I Wanted to Change

I’m sorry to any hardcore Nanny fans out there but this is practically a whole new character. I find Nanny to be frustrating and annoying in the original and who I personally feel is a very sexist and mean spirited character. There’s absolutely nothing I would want to write with a character who’s just “big stupid fat woman inconveniences everyone around her” it’s just uncomfortable after a certain point.

My idea for a new take was just an extremely kind older woman who’s a little airheaded but is a lot smarter than people give her credit for. This sets her up as a foil to Igor. She’s also the only non-monster resident of the castle in this version which I personally think is really interesting.

Character Traits

Only good influence

While Igor actively sets out to make Duckula a bad person and Towser couldn't care less about how Duckula acts, Nanny is the only direct influence in Duckula’s life who pushes him to do better. Nanny believes Duckula is a good person at heart and pushes him to take more responsibility in his life. She wants him to learn a good work ethic and is fully supportive of him trying to better himself.

Good Christian Woman

Nanny is, in fact, a christian. She is fully aware of the demonic nature of her companions but believes that everyone can better themselves no matter their circumstances and attempts to better those around her. Igor hates her for it but she’s totally ignorant to that fact.

Assertive Mother Figure

Though Nanny is a very kind woman, she is also not a pushover. She will assert authority over Duckula and anyone else if necessary, and most are compliant once she puts her foot down, if they aren't, however, Nanny does pack a punch and won't hesitate to use her strength to protect her family.

Smarter than she seems

Nanny is an airheaded optimist with a big heart and those traits make her come off a lot more clueless than she actually is. She may seem like she has no idea what’s going on but she’s actually very observant and is fantastic at assessing a situation and finding the best course of action.

Dr. Von Goosewing

What I Wanted to Change

I really liked the idea of the antagonist to Duckula was in a liniage of vampire slayers and that their ancestors have been fighting for generations. It gave me the perfect set up for a ✨SHADOW ANTAGONIST✨ I wanted to make this rewrite have the two reflect each other a lot more. To do that I wanted Goosewing to still be a really cooky guy but I didn’t want the public to know that.

Also I have no idea why he’s dressed like Sherlock Holmes in the original if he’s a Van Helsing parody and also an inventor. You could’ve leaned into either of those ideas but for some reason he’s dressed like a detective? so I tried giving him a more fitting outfit but keeping his colours for recognisablity.

Character Traits

Playing Village hero

Goosewing is considered a big deal in town because of his family of vampire hunters. He’s prepared his whole life to kill Count Duckula the moment he comes back and to protect the common folk from the paranormal. Despite this, Goosewing isn't actually particularly skilled at his job and usually ends up failing his assassinations due to his own incompetence. He feels like he has to play the role as a hero to continue his family’s legacy despite not particularly enjoying it or being good at it.

Overestimating the enemy

With how cunning and malevolent the past Duckula incarnations were, Goosewing expects the same from this one. Goosewing believes that Duckula is a dangerous and clever foe completely focused on causing others pain. In reality, Duckula is the most incompetent bird in all of Transylvania, aside fromGoosewing himself, of course. Goosewing also comes to believe that Duckula is only acting nice to later betray the public, a belief he is not quiet about and that keeps the public from trusting Duckula.

Mad Scientist

Goosewing definitely falls into the eccentric scientist trope with his innovative but scatterbrained nature. He would much rather be working on an invention than actually doing his job. The public sees him as a hero but while hunting vampires or when hes alone he comes off as more of a mad scientist than the hero character he plays. His intentions are ultimately good but are completely based on the assumption that he’s the wholly good protector of the people and that Duckula is a cunning villain who's out to get him and everyone else.

Shadow

Goosewing and Duckula reflect each other in a lot of ways. They both have a legacy they are expected to uphold despite not wanting to or even being able to, they both care deeply about the public’s opinion on them while the public has an incredibly incorrect view of the both of them, and they both have creative interests outside of the roles expected of them that they'd rather be persuing. Duckula fully rejects anything to do with his ancestry, while Goosewing is actively trying to fulfil despite not enjoying it.

The Murder Brothers!

What I Wanted to Change

Haha I called them the murder brothers bc they’re crows and criminals Im actually so funny… anyway. I don’t know if I should’ve even done these guys but I really like them as antagonists so!!

I gave the younger two names and a personality. The wiki said they didn’t have names but if they do lmk and I’ll just fix that. Other than that I didn’t change much except try to give ‘em a bit more depth and changing their physical designs a ton for fun.

Character Traits

The Murder Brothers, as a whole, are a tight knit family of con men crows who pull any grift they can to get their hands on some cash. Though they may act like their only loyalty in life is to money, they do genuinely care about each other's well being

Ruffles

Ruffles is the short tempered and eldest leader of the group. He’s constantly frustrated with his brothers’ incompetence and isn't quiet about it. He believes that if it weren't for them he'd probably be a lot further in life by now (which isn't true) and he’ll say he doesn't care about them, but he actually does.

Burt

If he didn't insist on helping his brothers, Burt would be the most likely to be living an honest life. As the second oldest sibling, Burt holds a position as right hand man. He’s a naturally kind and enthusiastic bird who, while a bit dumb, does openly express his love for his brothers. He takes on a lot of the abuse from his older brother and is often used by the group to talk to others, because he's so naturally trustworthy.

Reggie

Reggie is the second youngest of the brothers and the most relaxed out of all of them. He has an impeccable sleight of hand and is the go to for lockpicking and such. He’s a decent smooth talker and is often the one to break up fights, though he's not above getting angry at the others himself.

Leroy

Leroy is the youngest of the brothers and by far the least skilled. His speech is incomprehensible from under his mask (although he can see through it for the most part) and he’s often left with the worst jobs during their cons because of that. He’s the most timid out of all of them but I’m sure if you took that mask off of him he’d be really talkative.

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Ending Words

Well that’s all I got! I spent way too long on this project that maybe two people will care about and one of them is me 💔 Anyway if I make anything else for this rewrite/au I’ll tag it with #wbcd . I wouldn’t count on it because I mighttt get burn out from this but im just so glad I finished it! I’ve thought about writing a pilot script just for fun but idk. I’d like to do more long format au stuff, I was going to make a YouTube video about this but I almost cried trying to record myself so I gave up 💔

[cobbbvanth]

the culture impact of glee, for the uninitiated

okay YEAH I'm starting glee discourse in the year of our lord 2024 due to recent events on the gay firefighter show. so for those who don't understand why josh's speech on 911 this week was so important, here's a brief run down of the impact glee had on queer history.

glee, also created by ryan murphy, began airing in 2009 and ran for six seasons before ending in 2015. for all ryan murphy's crimes™, his contribution to queer representation in media has been incredibly influential especially in the early 2000s-2010s. at age nine, kurt hummel from glee and mitch and cam from modern family were the first queer characters I remember encountering. representation of any kind was still so hard to come by on television, let alone stories where queer characters got to have happy endings. in 2009, chris colfer (who played kurt on glee) was one of the youngest openly gay actors in hollywood, being just 19 years old when they started the show. throughout its run, glee introduced several additional queer characters and story lines that dealt with real issues queer people experienced such as being closeted, coming out, homophobia - external and internal.

only 33% of Americans supported same-sex marriage when glee started airing, and "even among millennials — Glee’s target audience — just 51% were in favour at the time."

the support for marriage equality jumped to a record high of 60% as glee was airing it's final episodes. same sex marriage was legalised in the usa in 2015, just months after the final episode of glee aired. a season six episode features a double wedding for a wlw couple and a mlm couple where a lesbian, a bisexual woman and two gay men get to experience a day of joy and celebration surrounded by friends and family, despite having to cross state lines to marry legally. and yes, as stated in the above quote from this article and the speech josh gave on 911 this week, glee had its fair share of problematic moments. plenty of stuff on that show (as is the case with many ryan murphy shows) is not what we'd class as "good representation" today. and it's not perfect yet either. biphobia is still prevalent in bisexual arcs, wlw representation is still far behind mlm representation, and it's hard to convince networks to go for anything that's not cis male queer rep. but it's important to show grace for the media that helped us get to the state of queer representation we do have now. shows like glee have been credited with changing the minds of many of the people who were initially against marriage equality, purely by exposing them to stories about lgbtq+ people and their experiences. and glee was HUGE. one of the biggest shows on television when it was airing - it brought in millions of viewers weekly, hundreds of glee covers climbed the charts, it won awards, the cast sold out national and international tours. we get to have characters like josh and hen and karen and buck and tommy BECAUSE OF shows like glee that came before. so yeah, it wasn't just ryan murphy worship on another ryan murphy show, the pre-glee/post-glee timeline was a "genuine unit of culture measurement" as @autisticjoshrusso put it here.

on a personal level: I watched glee every week as it aired from age 9 to 15. so much of the way that I am today (my sense of humour, my love for performing, my taste in music) is because of this show. I've seen it countless times, but didn't fully realise how much it meant to me as a piece of queer media until I was in my early 20s, so this is a topic I'm very passionate about. I owe ryan murphy my life and I also want to hit him with my car <3 anyway. stream teenage dream (glee cast version)

[thefusioncelestial]

Mix 13: A Geeky Bulk

Anonymous asked:

I am a chubby and hairy American Guy who is a little on the geeky side of life. I love Jamar Pusch's pecs and how he can make them bounce. Could you merge us please?

For the uninitiated, for those going the natural route of being big & cut at the same time comes in two cycles; the bulk and the cut.

The bulk is when the user focuses on gaining mass, and that means an big calorie intake. That means covering that coveted slab of visible muscles; the abs. But while they join the population of bears, the muscles, when paired with exercise, encourages muscle growth with the building blocks just sitting there.

The cut? Think of it as revealing the results. You go in the opposite direction on calorie & fatty intake and bask in the results. Continuous use of this basic method is how the skinny kid becomes the long lost cousin of Captain America.

Here is one dude who does this:

Jamar Pusch.

Worked his butt off to get that look. You would swear that he was sculpted rather than built up.

Unbeknownst to himself, he is the target of that infamous group we call the prowlers. In this case, a father who wants to give was Jamar has to his wimpy son. You would think that with all the money in the world that he could just pay for the best trainers & dieticians, but many wealthy people can be illogical & demanding.

He procured a bottle of red liquid. All he has to do is pour on the target, and have the one who attends to assimilate touch them.

Jamar is finishing a typical photo-shoot, the best result will go on his Instagram, the rest to whoever he dms. The man is looking for love like the rest us.

His shoot has been infiltrated, a couple of payments here & there under the table, and the father and son arrive to the location using the new info. There are other people there admiring the modern day Adonis. The duo poses as fans. The event concludes, and Jamar goes to a trailer he rented for use for a nearby music cultural event, and the duo follows him.

There is a knock on the door. He opens and sees the father & son standing there gleaming. The son has a nervous energy about him, but Jamar pushes this away as a nervous fan. He beckons them into his trailer for a private supervised one on one meet & greet, and they obliged him.

The father was more excited than the son. Maybe the son was just getting introduced to this world to inspire him to workout? How fatherly.

Unknown to all three of them, a third fan was just out of earshot in the area. He saw this as an opportunity, goes to the trailer as well. The door is unlocked. He goes in, but what he sees angers & shocks him.

Jamar sits the pair down and offers them drinks.

They accept.

The father sees this as his chance.

He uncorks the bottle and splashes the contents on Jamar. He turns around to protest, but soon he freezes up like a statue. The only thing he could do is plead & scream in protest.

"I must thank you Mr. Pusch, I appreciate what you are about to do for my son. He is about to go to college, and I find he will have a better time if he can "hang" with the physically gifted type. Tell me, what sports are you into," he asked in a jubilant manner that turned stern.

His son looked nervous. The father glanced over with a frown at his son.

"Hopefully you will give him your confidence too, I tried so hard to instill courage into him, but his mother may have babied him a bit too much. No matter, let's get this over with," he said.

"Charlie, go shake Mr. Pusch's hand," he said.

The young man walked over silently. Jamar tried his best to move but couldn't. He then saw something. Hope.

The silent fan who came over saw all of this in the trailer. His mouth was agape. Was Jamar about to get kidnapped or worse killed? His anger took over. He dropped his phone that he was going to use to get pictures, and ran over to the father.

The shock of an intruder made the father's heart stop and blood freeze. Was he caught by security? The person coming over was a large man after all. By the time he registered to do something else and than wish for laser beam eyes, he was knocked over.

The son too was shocked at this. He moved his hand away from Jamar, and turned to his father.

Truth be told, he didn't want to change like this. He didn't want to steal someone else's body to appease his father or anyone else for that matter. If he was going to change, it was going to be on his terms. What Charlie wanted to do right now was save his father.

He found his courage.

He ran over, and with an adrenaline boost peeled the large man off his father and shoved him away. But he pushed him in the direction of Jamar.

He crashed into Jamar, and it began.

Surprisingly, Jamar didn't fall over or collapse. He just sort of absorbed the impact. For the large fan, it was like jumping into a combination of marshmallow & quicksand. His body sinked further into Jamar until all there was left was just Jamar.

Jamar cocked his head back & began to shift.

Mentally, Jamar was in this fan's head space. He was getting assimilated by him. Jamar & this fan talked it out. Explaining things from their perspective and then uniting under one cause of escaping from these crazy people. Jamar also convinced him to let him drive the wheel. He sensed that whatever was happening was a done deal, and he would be better steered to handle whatever they are about to become. The mind space inverted. They were in Jamar's mind. The fan broke down into confetti and merged into Jamar. It was time to kick some ass.

In flipping the mind merge, Jamar was able to reverse the physical merge process. The fan would upgrade him.

He let out a soft moan. His body began to quiver & shudder.

His skin grew softer as layers of fat grew all over.

"Hmm."

A warmth washed over stomach, each wave an inch of fat covering his abs.

There was rustling in his pants. His rod grew longer and strained against the tight pants. He grunted and then chuckled.

His neck bulged out & his head lengthened.

His facial features shifted, bigger eyes, smaller lips. A slightly more upturned nose. He kept his ears. His hair shortened.

He took on a darker skin tone as well, but soon after hair began to grow throughout his body.

He opened his eyes. The father & son were shocked by what they saw.

The father snapped out and commanded Charlie to touch the fused Jamar, but nothing happened. One pair per dose, and the father used all of it in one go.

He gave the father a beating. He had to change himself and consume someone else because some jack rabbit of a father wanted a shortcut. Security came in after seeing the trailer move a bit, and apprehended the pair.

The father was charged with attempted kidnapping later on.

The son wasn't a total wash and Jamar would mentor the young man.

As for Jamar, his life trajectory changed. The fan that saved him, was a part of him now, imparted some interesting interests. With the connections he built up, Jamar went into acting; doing mo-cap & voice acting for video games, one of which involved a galaxy far far away. He is having a blast too:

In time Jamar would deal with layers on his stomach. He has been here before many times. He just fast tracked a bulk cycle. Time for the cut.

Wait, did that water bottle move by itself?

[leafy-heart]

What Each the Thunderbolts member Listens to

Yelena:

Lots of ABBA songs, especially "Money, Money, Money" and "Thank You for the Music"

Not for any particular reasons, just to vibe to it while making mac'n'cheese

Ain't it Fun by Paramore

Girl with One Eye by Florence + The Machine

Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

All the Small Things by Blink-182

She would have listened to emo music if she grew up in Ohio, and not Red Room. It's a generational DNA thing, you can take a girl out of emo but never the emo out of the girl.

Diva by Beyonce

Oops!... I did it again by Britney Spears

Government Hooker by Lady Gaga

Breakin Dishes by Rihanna

This is her training/mission hype songs. She tried Taylor Swift because Kate Bishop recommended, but it lacked some badassness. She is fond of the "Reputation" album though.

Bob:

Lose Yourself by Eminem

No Money by Galantis

Fantasy by Mariah Carey

American Idiot by Green Day

Bad by Micheal Jackson

Don't Try Sucide by Queen

you should see me in a crown by Billie Eillish

He likes music, but not picky about it. He probably Shazams music and puts it in his playlist without a second thought. He's also taken random recommendation from people he met when he was high.

Some insane D&B that no one can listen to if they are fully sane

Like Him by Tyler the Creator

Bucky:

Lots of Queen, "Save Me", "I Want to Break Free" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You" as notable repeats

Lots of The Beatles too. His favourite is "Twist and Shout"

First Steve introduced it to him as a part of what he has missed. Shuri used to put it on in the lab because "old white man music", and Sam used to put it on the car because "old white man music"

Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

This is the only song he knows from Taylor Swift. But it has made its way to his playlist because it came up one too many times in his attempt to catch up to pop culture.

September by Earth Wind & Fire

Staying Alive by Bee Gees

He actually liked dancing back in the days. Can you blame him?

Any records of 40s music he can find.

He refuses to listen to the music from his era digitally. Claims "it sounds too different"

John Walker:

Piano Man by Billy Joel

Unironically shouts to "Bill, I believe this is killing me" part

Another One Bites to Dust by Queen

Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet

Highway to Hell by AC/DC

American Idiot by Green Day

He only started listening to the last one after he killed that guy.

Von Dutch by Charlie XCX

Claims it's his "comfort music" (he has the whole album downloaded)

Ava:

Lofi Jazz

This is my headcanon, but I think because of her condition intense loud music makes sick and irritated.

Classical music, especially dramatic ones by Tchaikovsky

village song by Paris Paloma

Through the Eye of a Child by AURORA

Velvet Ring by Big Thief

Flowy, dramatic music with a touch of female rage is her style

Part of Your World

How Far I Will Go

Colours of the Wind

She also like Disney songs because it makes her feel like she's reclaiming her childhood.

Alexei:

Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter

Juno by Sabrina Carpenter

Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl by Chappell Roan

Good 4 U by Olivia Rodrigo

Apple by Charlie XCX

Does not know what cringey means. He hears it, he likes it, he listens. He also knows the chants and the dances if there is any.

ETA by NewJeans

ANTIFRAGILE by Le Ssearfim

"These girls are extremely coordinated, Lena! Like you" Makes disturbing comparisons of K-pop groups and the Red Room.

POWER by Kanye West

Thought I was Dead by Tyler the Creator

Not Like Us by Tyler the Creator

Sings the part he's not supposed to sing. Bob had to tell him every single time. John and Bucky visibly gets uncomfortable.

Too many Bruno Mars

[purgatoryandme]

Sinners does some really incredible work with its soundtrack and highlighting the importance of music as a form of connection without coming across as painfully cheesy - it's organic instead.

The film begins and ends with a children's choir in a plantation church. There is so much to say about this! Gospel is such an interesting genre. It has heavy African influences, and the survival of the genre and evolution of Southern Gospel in general is undeniably black-driven, but it stems from a religion that was forced upon plantation slaves.

Next, we're presented the conflict between Blues and Gospel! The schism between obedience and defiance, the soul and human misery, your family and freedom, no matter how much it hurts. The idea that music will let the devil in is so historically entrenched, it's a conflict that the audience knows well.

And the movie doesn't pretend that musicians weren't involved in sketchy activities! It's part of the music! Part of the culture! "I've never met a musician that was happy" has me oiadhiashndjkas - that's the BLUES, baby!

Balancing that with an Irish vampire singing juke songs in a folk-style? Insane work. Selecting "Pick Poor Robin Clean" as the first song to be introduced in that style in equally nuts. A lot of the lyrics would NOT fly today at all, let alone sung by a white guy, and the song is suspected by some to originate in minstrel shows. It's got the vibe of the oppressor perverting the art of the oppressed. But - not entirely. It's got the strange vibe of still having common roots, that maybe, just maybe, there's a grain of real connection there.

Transitioning to "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go" shows the genuine root of folk music, imho. Where no song really belongs to anyone - the tune is there, but new lyrics are piled on top from person after person, country after country. This tune has gone from Scottish to Irish American, with the Irish American version being the enduring one. It finally transitions into a wholly Irish tune - "Rocky Road to Dublin" - about leaving home and being mocked every step of the way as you go through foreign lands, until your own people come to your rescue. It comes with the pivotal realization, too, that the Irish vampire also came from a time of American oppression and THAT is why he has pursued the path that he has tonight.

And then we circle back to the Blues, Gospel, and finally the modern development of this kind of music - copyrighted and on records - before ending with an acoustic rendition of one of the first songs in the film. The soundtrack fully makes you appreciate the connection between all these genres and people, makes you recognize the lines between appropriation and utilizing a tool for its original meaning, blurs those lines at the points history gets messy, but throughout it all maintains its central theming. It's impressive!!!!

[immaculatemadonna23]

It's Innocence's birthday and I really didn't have the slightest idea what to draw for her. I've always considered myself more of a writer type but maybe a little fic or two here on tumblr wouldn't hurt. So to accompany this simple post I'll give you some little facts about her <3

• She is 1:45 tall, she could be said to be 4'9, she is shorter than Ivy Pepper.

•  She likes to have long conversations with the pigeons that perch on her window in her small room.

•  She has undiagnosed Autism, at that time there was still no name for autism spectrum disorder grade one. (That's one of the few things she got from me.)

•  It is obvious that she is Catholic, she would probably get along a bit with Nina. There was a time when she thought about becoming a novice but the world of American shows caught her attention more.

•She is asexual but she wants her own baby.

•  Her father's real name is Antonio Lunanova (I changed the origin of the surname a little) a Spanish man of Sicilian descent, albino, cigar fanatic and captain of merchant ships. He does not know that he has a daughter but he suspects that paying for Keiko's services without protection could have had its consequences.

• If she were a modern girl, she would have a fixation on the magical girl genre Mahou Shoujo and shoujo in general.

• She came to America in October 1923, met Rocky at a train station when she was 14 and he was 17, becoming traveling and wandering companions. This being an Au, things change a little but most everything stays the same.

• As we know, she has feelings for Rocky since she met him but he doesn't see her as anything more than a little sister or someone who gives him the closest thing to "motherly concern" and "having Calvin around." He doesn't really notice her until 1927 when she is about to turn 19, but he has always appreciated her.

• She has a very good relationship with Viktor, she likes to ask him for favors and she thinks she bothers him a lot but he doesn't really care, he doesn't find her scandalous.

•She has a collection of not so ugly sweaters and cardigans that Mrs. Bapka makes for her, in exchange for living with her for free she does the housework for her and prevents her from throwing food in the pipe.

• She doesn't have a good knowledge of the underworld, to her Rocky is just a musician in a cafe, Calvin is the guy who comes to fix the pipe, Ivy is that archetype of girI she would like to be and Viktor is her kind tall neighbor with a cool accent. Her first contact with the criminal world as such is having been hired by Asa to do small singing shows at the Marigold Room because of how exotic she seemed to him, they have a good relationship, but she doesn't really know much about him. Maybe i can dig deeper into that later.

• If she were a dog (Lackadogs xD) she would be a toy poodle, and if she were another non-domestic animal she would be a lamb. I like to lower her ears a lot because it reminds me of little lambs.

• Her favorite series would probably be Wallace and Gromit.

•And Her favorite tale of all the time is the Little Mermaid by Andersen.

•She adores the people with black and blonde hair.

•She would have loved Malice Mizer, Mecano, Metallica, Madonna, Mitski and My Chemical Romance (And more things but without M Caravan Palace... The musical tastes are mine too).

•I could say that the flower that most symbolizes her is the white poinsettia.

•Her voice/singing claim Is Adriana Caselotti in the Snow White movie and in spanish is Amparo Garrido and Lupita Pérez Arias for her singing claim. (from the 1964 mexican dub of Snow White of course.)

[punk1nl0v333]

★☆about me☆★

a little bit about me, because why not <3

DISCLAIMER: if you know me IRL…. get outta here (unless ur matthew or ashton)

the name is charlie. pronouns are any i guess. i am genderfluid and bisexual. scenemo? a wee bit goth? I AM A MINOR.

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leo sun, leo moon, taurus rising. august 19th. spiritual and pagan, respect all religions.

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some of my amazing mutuals: @hoe4kai @hearts4golbach @sparky4577 @bornandraisediniowa @teapartyprincess4two

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music ~ HER’s, radiohead, weezer, the smiths, the smashing pumpkins, DOGBRETH, nuclear tourism, meth wax, tv girl, sex drive culdesac, frank ocean, childish gambino, kendrick lamar, the beatles, sufjan stevens, mitski, panic! at the disco, pierce the veil (seen live!), blink-182 (seen live!), highschool, the cure, my chemical romance, sleeping with sirens, pigeon pit, peach pit, slipknot, korn, system of a down, strawberry alarm clock, michael cera, we the kings, fleetwood mac, avenged sevenfold, anti-flag, teen idles, chief keef, chase atlantic, michael jackson, billy joel, tears for fears, millionares, siouxsie and the banshees, molchat doma, she wants revenge, bauhaus, tokio hotel, and more tbh

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movies ~ call me by your name, dead poets society, la la land, mean girls, princess and the frog, adult world, megamind, the lorax, the perks of being a wallflower, paper towns, TASM, ITSV/ATSV, deadpool 1&2, coraline, paranorman, hocus pocus, beetlejuice, boxtrolls, kubo and the two strings, the red turtle, scream, then came you (2018), senseless, SLC punk, tangled, my little pony equestria girls/rainbow rocks/friendship games/legend of everfree, big time movie, ferris bueler’s day off, heathers, bill and ted’s excellent adventure, say anything, the proposal

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tv shows ~ american horror story, community, how i met your mother, big bang theory, school spirits, new girl, rick and morty, brooklyn 99, modern family, AHS. (but i already mentioned that), adventure time, sugar rush (can’t lie it slaps), schitts creek, bojack horseman

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books ~ the perks of being a wallflower, the bell jar, paper towns, the obsession, want to go private?, girl stolen, gone girl, call me by your name, to kill a mockingbird, the tempest, catcher in the rye, around the world in 80 days, percy jackson series

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youtubers ~ danny gonzalez, drew gooden, kurtis conner, dylan is in trouble, the sturniolo triplets, filmcooper, sam and colby, jake webber, johnnie guilbert, bobbybroccoli, larray, quen blackwell, carrington

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people i will write about ~ evan peters (and his characters), sam golbach, colby brock, carrington bornstein, jake webber, johnnie guilbert, tyler/hansumfella, milo manheim (and his characters), percy jackson (book/logan lerman version), charlie kelmeckis, matt/chris sturniolo, nick sturniolo (strictly platonic), tara yummy, and others if they come up

❝ rules and boundaries ❞

¡ rules and boundaries for my writing and recommendations !

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any creators that have specified boundaries about fanfiction will not be included, and please inform me if they have specified and i’ve written about them, and it will be taken down immediately.

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do not repost my work onto other websites, such as wattpad or ao3. do not “take inspiration” from my work without permission and without tagging me, it is all original unless stated otherwise (permitted inspiration or request will always be tagged). if you want to translate my work, ask for permission first and keep it on tumblr, and credit.

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im not comfortable writing mlm, or trans!fem reader, as an afab person i don’t think i can get the proper perspective and it doesn’t feel like my place to write that. gn!reader and fem!reader are always the table, however

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if a character is underage, i will not write anything but platonic/sibling type fics. the ONLY exception from this rule is tate langdon, considering the murky ghost/age rules.

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I AM A MINOR. i don’t mind adults interacting, but please please do not be creepy.

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i will add onto this if anything comes up and i hope you enjoy my future work :)

love always,

charlie.

[dallasgallant]

Time period post- Music taste and the radio

Going to take a real teenage approach to this, since it’s what most in the fandom are writing about. This’ll mainly be about music taste and the ways it was enjoyed and experienced (sans concerts I don’t go into that). And the importance of the radio. Past posts I think are connected;

Here. Here. Here.

More exacting-

Now what do I mean by this? Well, there was a lot more “genre loyalty” because this is pre playlists and pre mixtapes, there’s no real way to construct a collection of songs of multiple artists at once. You’d buy records or later some people would go for 8-track, of your favorites. There has always been “greatest hits” collections where it’s mixes but I’d be one artist or band most likely.

‘How do you know you like the album’ there’s either the rare case you caught them all on the radio, or in store you can listen and preview the record. There’s a little Jack and headphones you’d plug in and listen.

Record stores were also a hang out spot.

Radio stations and shows could be specific to genres too so there was another layer to being exacting. It makes it clearer how subcultures began to form around music. Music, clothes, language, behavior etc that have all been reduced to “aesthetic” in the modern day.

Top Genres-

Like most decades the beginning was marked mainly by the continuation of the old, popular 50s Rock and Roll and Doo wop trends ruled. As long as it was danceable it was gold, especially amongst the youth. A lot of dances and dance trends really came out of the period, exasperated by news coverage and dance/music tv shows. (Hairspray for example.)

Music became more electric as the decade goes on (I’m so serious if it could be electrified it would be with most things around this time) by the end of the decade it was psychedelic, folk based and reflective of the social shift and unrest of the decade. (Lot of protest rock and experimental)

However, I’m going to keep mainly to some genres here before I get into some sort of Woodstock history lesson (as that really reduces the decade too as it was not only that type of music once the mid point hit)

Rock still topped and it had a lot of branches coming off of it as the decade went on, some going more guitar heavy (specifically electric) others going a folk influenced route. Off of guitar and experimental-> Metal! Black Sabbath 1968.

Surf rock emerges. Light, upbeat and fun. A real “pop rock” genre. Motown too!

Pop music (popular) - and I mean Popular with a capital P. Huge , major, everywhere.

Now I know people have been looking for some specifics so I’ll give my take too:

Greasers- Mostly Rock and some doo wop but mainly something with a back beat. Tuff sounding, might go into the more heavy sounding rock as the decade goes on.

Elvis (book mention), little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran , Van Morrison | potentially -> Rolling Stones, Cream

Can also see greasers enjoying southern rock, protest rock and all the guitar heavy stuff of the 70s

Socs- Popular music, mainstream and danceable. It’s all good music mind you but it’s also following the crowd. They’d also like newer groups faster where as Greasers hold onto old rock and doo wop way longer.

Beatles (book mention), The Beach Boys, Frankie Valli, Ricky Nelson, Dion, the Ronettes, the Archies, the Monkees

There’s a lot of overlap in what they’d both like but Soc’s would be more subject to change and shift with what’s popular or new.

The radio-

This is how you’re getting most of your music, especially if you don’t have a record player or new records on the regular. As a teen they’d be on everywhere all the time, in your car and then portable hand held ones.

Disk jockeys, radio Dj’s/hosts would be huge often forming exaggerated and relatable personalities that spoke to the youth and kept them entertained along with the music. American Graffiti has a great show of this with “the wolfman”

Messages, dedications, contests, talks all apart of radio shows. Calling in was a big deal, especially if you got on the air.

Grease is the 1950s but it is a great show of radio/tv show contests, selections and personalities. The school is chosen by a station (I sworn it was radio) to be televised on tv as an example American school and not only are the kids nuts for being on TV but completely and utterly star struck by the host.

This type of celebrity is lost in a sense, now there’s still manic fans but not in this wide spread way. That everyone knew of someone but you also didn’t know so much about them- celebrities still hand a private life in a sense and that almost made people crazier to get to know them.

Selection-

There’s been talk about how the internet used to be a room, computer rooms in people’s home long before it was in our pocket. I feel like that’s true for a lot of things really, especially hanging out.

Instead of looking through a friends record collection to find something to listen to , and for them to show off /you learn about them, someone takes the cord and presses a button. It’s less involved now. Choosing music, where to hang out/what to do, radio station in the car etc was much more of an event? It was involved it was something within itself- maybe it’s nostalgia for something I never lived- the want for easier and more common socialization? I dunno

Bonus: The day the music died

February 3, 1959. Three of the biggest voices in rock and roll die in a plan crash. The oldest, “the big Bopper” was only 28. The tragedy would go on to change the course of music, however it was not referred to as “the day the music died” until Don McLeans 1971 song “American pie.”

Bonus: British Invasion and Beatlemania

Another gigantic impact on music as a whole, especially in America is the first British Invasion and subsequent Beatlemania. Pop artists and aspects of the changing British culture got carried over to America and spread like wildfire- in thanks to growing counterculture. It’s sort of funny because some of these groups were influenced by 50s American music, experimented and then turned it back.

As the Beatles first got televised they absolutely hooked American teens, primarily girls, ramping up in popularity and absolute manic craze since 1963. Honestly at their height you couldn’t hold an opinion on them without being either insane about them or insane against them.

Some examples beyond the Beatles:

Some of these I didn’t even know were British especially The animals

The kinks, The Rolling Stones, the who (late), the yardbirds, Donovan, the Hollie’s, the zombies, them, Dusty Springfield, the Troggs

—

… if anyone wants my playlists let me know, I’ve got some really good ones

[bobbin-buckley]

Jinx and Isha Headcanons

Older Sister Jinx x Little Sister Isha

Summary: Headcanons and short oneshots of what they could have been

Warnings: Platonic Jinx x Isha ofc, Mentions of violence, No Reader in this, basically if Jayce wasn’t a dumbass, Arcane 2 Spoilers, some of my own thoughts

✫彡~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ミ★

-Ever since Isha had fell on top of Jinx, they both found something in each other that made them see a different picture in life

-Isha was like Powder to Jinx. The little version of herself that supposedly fell down a well.

-Jinx didn’t understand why the younger girl decided to follow her around. Was it because she was her fan like other Zaunties? Was she looking for remorse? Or did the young girl find a motherly or sisterly figure in Jinx

-Isha probably had some kind of guardian or parental figure before but they may have died, so when Isha saw Jinx she looked up to her as a guardian or parental figure of sorts

-Jinx would have put up barriers in her room to make sure Isha wouldn’t fall

-Isha draws on Jinx’s face when she sleeps, and they both do this to Sevika when she sleeps

-Making up fun games to play or being artsy together

-Jinx teaching Isha how to make guns and bombs, but also keeping a close eye on her

-Playing hide and seek and tag def

-^^Convincing Sevika to play with them

-They’d both love slime and playing Minecraft together in modern au

-Both would definitely prank Pilties

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so, this is mainly going to be my opinions that me and @jybyls have came up with and talked together about that Isha is probably deaf or nerve deaf.

For a bit I thought maybe she was mute but with more hints in the show of her being deaf I think I’m leaning more towards her being deaf

Yes she screams a few times in the show but Mute people are either unable to speak or they choose not to speak.

But I’m my opinion I think she’s deaf, and I’ll explain why

After Jinx dyes Isha’s hair blue, and is talking to her about her being similar to younger Jinx (Powder) and what not. Isha isn’t replying or reacting to Jinx’s words because her back is faced to Jinx and isn’t lip reading or hearing her

Also, a couple of times you can see Isha looking at peoples lips when they are talking, a good example is when Jinx and Isha first meet

Now, I’ve seen where someone has said she could also be nerve deaf. Nerve deaf is when someone is barely able to hear, a nerve deaf person can only hear super loud or close sounds but not quiet or far sounds.

I think this because when Sevika gets her knee arm and the music plays, Jinx is doing a little dance and you can see Isha looking at her kinda confused. Well it’s because Isha can’t hear the music because Sevika is a bit far from them (credits to rexx____9 on TikTok for this theory)

Also another one is when Vi is talking to Jinx and Victor about (idk) and Isha doesn’t react to any of it BECAUSE VI’S BACK IS TO HER

Annnnnnd thanks to @jybyls for this, she found that Isha did a little bit of sign language to Jinx when they were playing their little bug game:

This means ‘rematch’ in American Sign Language

I’m not saying this is canon for anything but I like to think that Isha is deaf or nerve deaf

These are some headcanons and opinions for now but I can make more!

[carriesthewind]

copyright hurts me as an indigenous person because dead white people own the likenesses of my ancestors faces in photos. they own the little history of ours that is written down in old books and newspapers, i cannot access for copyright reasons. they came and captured our faces for "science", for their own personal interest and now we are owned after death

I'm sorry.

I don't know much about this this issue, but here are a few links for people who might like to know more (leaning heavily on legal sources and focusing mostly on the U.S. - other people please feel free to add more links and information).

One recent example of white people copyrighting and selling language back to Lakota peoples that received a fair amount of news coverage:

A 1996 paper about Native American's potential right (and lack of rights) to request or demand the return of photographs held by museums:

An ABA article from this year that discusses in broad terms the lack of protection for Native American culture and traditional knowledge in the U.S.'s current intellectual property system, and the need for such protection:

An article about the 2018 Music Modernization Act could affect recordings of Native American songs, stories, and languages, that includes a broader critique of the fundamental assumptions of U.S. copyright law:

A similar discussion out of Canada:

Which links to another horrifying story of theft stories, history, and language, and details how the law made such a theft possible:

And a recent law review article proposing a path to increase protection for Indigenous works under current law, which isn't quite on point but contains some interesting discussion of the legal landscape and potential practical suggestions (although I am skeptical as to how likely or effective they could be):

[ask-postcrash-curly]

Hello again, Mr. Curly

I would first like to apologize for my lack of foresight on the previous song, I ah- I did not think about the original's lyrics-

Truth be told I genuinely could not tell you the last time I listened to the original, as that was actually the default version I typically hear

That being said, I am sorry-!

But ah, I do have the opposite of anything firey or the like-!

It's creature time-!

The semi-aquatic, egg laying, aves of action!

Not q u i t e as cool as a certain mammal of action, but still pretty cool I would say!

The American Dipper! (Also referred to as a water ouzel!)

They may look pretty average upon first glance, but they're yet another absolute marvel of the bird world (to me at least!)

As the name would suggest, these soggy fellows reside in the Americas, primarily the mountainous regions of North and Central America! Heck some of them are all the way up in Alaska, as they're well adjusted to colder climates!

But it's less about the cold and more about the water!

Despite being a songbird, American Dippers are fantastic swimmers who dive in streams to get their food! They can even walk across streambeds, using their specialized wings to help stead themselves against the current and 'fly' in the water!

Not only can they swim well and walk underwater, but they've been observed flying through waterfalls in order to access their nests! Plenty of American Dippers choose less dangerous nesting locations, but some simply do not care! It's absurd! A tiny little songbird, only 6.5 inches long on average, looking at a giant waterfall and just flying into it! And they're absolutely fine! They're completely mad, it's amazing, Mr. Curly!

I have a couple of videos I found of them too, one of a bit of its singing and one of it diving!

https://youtu.be/WuwPb8Yf_3E?si=A1EnS6lps7YSHhO8

https://youtu.be/cV6IDY1TSC0?si=vZD5P4isABAF6qfO

Sadly I couldn't find a good waterfall one, but that's partially because they're very quick when they fly through them!

A little more about them is that they mostly feed on water insects and fish, it's believed they teach songs to their nestlings, and that their wingspan is longer than their actual bodies (about 9.1 inches long.)

And lastly, this isn't so much a fact rather a quote!

This came from a famous naturalist that was around over a century before this current era I'm haunting! (Well I suppose that does depend on how you divide up eras, but my point is this was from before what's considered my era's 'modern.')

Anyways, his name was John Muir, and the American Dipper was understandably his favorite bird! This comes from an entire chapter he dedicated to them in one of the books he wrote.

The quote goes like this:

"He is the mountain streams' own darling, the humming-bird of blooming waters, loving rocky ripple-slopes and sheets of foam as a bee loves flowers, as a lark loves sunshine and meadows. Among all the mountain birds, none has cheered me so much in my lonely wanderings, —none so unfailingly. For both in winter and summer he sings, sweetly, cheerily, independent alike of sunshine and of love, requiring no other inspiration than the stream on which he dwells. While water sings, so must he, in heat or cold, calm or storm, ever attuning his voice in sure accord; low in the drought of summer and the drought of winter, but never silent."

When I came across that, I just had to share it, it's such a loving description of such a fascinating little species! It's always lovely to see how much even the smallest aspects and creatures of nature can resonate with others!

There's so much more one could say about these wonderful little daredevils, but I think I'll leave it there for now!

Before I go, music that as far as I k n o w, shouldn't have lyrical problems

It's another cover anywho, but the original's lyrics are I think purposely(?) nonsensical. Or fantastical might be the word

Either way, it's a very light hearted song!

https://youtu.be/hcstmG-PUd0?si=Nd63iDN1p8zzLu6w

And with all of that, I will haunt you later Mr. Curly!

-Ghost👻

Hey. Hello again.

That's okay. No worries! It isn't like the version you sent had any words anyways. And it is a good song. I was joking around.

Creatures! I do like creatures!

Hah, aww. I love when birds are round like that. Really just brilliant.

Oh, wow, and they swim, too? Fantastic.

Flying through— Wow. Why?!

These things are amazing...

Damn. I wish I knew how to talk about birds that way.

Oh, hey, this song is different. Pretty good, too! Thanks.

Talk soon.

[freedelusionshere]

Now let’s do similarities between some of the themes of The Bear and Twin Peaks and other things from the 90s.

Mikey the “life of the party” was everyone’s best friend like Laura Palmer but was harboring dark secrets.

Generational abuse and mental illness “haunting” families is a frequent topic with characters like Laura and Audrey Horne wanting to run away from home/escape. Many of the young characters in the show feel this way.

A dark underbelly present under the veneer of All-Americanism and a very present class structure that is hinted to be driven by capitalism and colonialism with the lumber mill (run by a matriarch) and the Black Lodge (being stuck/dopplegangers and alter egos - Logan, Claire, the walk-in, “prisons of your own design”, etc.).

Wealthy family members involved in illicit activities who are looked at as benefactors and respectable citizens of the town but really pull the strings like Ben Horne (Cicero).

The Log Lady who seems absurd on the surface but appears periodically to drop truths like an oracle (Faks).

The absurdist humor/tragicomedy, because Twin Peaks in the 90s was a satire of soap operas, but talking about lots of other things. Similarly The Bear could be viewed as a satire, which was hinted in S3 (fictional character played by Bradley Cooper’s image from Burnt shown at the Ever’s funeral dinner) among other things.

Characters in Twin Peaks break the Fourth Wall in the Black Lodge, similar to Richie in S3 when he’s on the playground bench with Tiff and they appear to talk about knowing their real audience. Also the presence of many real-life chefs who point out inherent problems with fine dining while still participating in it and being celebrated. Restaurant reviewers mentioned include a real-life critic/influencer and major newspapers.

Twin Peak’s creator, David Lynch, is also very influenced by Shakespeare in his works, just like Jane Austin was (my previous comparisons of The Bear to Pride and Prejudice).

Lynch has said that he uses his art to broadcast his subconscious conjurings, similar to how Hamlet transmits his bad dreams outwards. He also loves Oedipal shit.

The Bear is, in some ways, part Carmy’s waking big bad dream (S3 for sure) about family legacy.

Twin Peaks came out in the 90s aligning with many of Storer’s influential musical choices like REM (very popular before they broke up in the 90s), Pearl Jam, and Trent Reznor (NIN) @whenmemorydies did a dive into this. The very popular BBC tv adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth came out in 1995.

Syd and Carmy could also be described as similar to The X-Files’ Mulder and Scully where they are both professionally dedicated which is the cause of their introduction with Scully being more academic in nature. Both are haunted in different ways related to their childhood/families; Mulder has a missing sibling that drives him. Scully is very connected to her father. They appear to be in opposition at times but are completely dedicated to one another and fall in love despite all attempts from outward opposition and even other love interests.

I’m sure there are others that I’m missing so anyone feel free to jump in.