#that's not the story of the song but it has thieves and its good

[kagaminelen-official]

You're a master thief in Victorian-era London. Who's the genius detective appointed by Scotland yard to investigate your crimes and track you down?

I'm the thief but I'm also the detective! What, you say you've seen the thief and detective in the same area before? That was Rin! We are one and the same and they never caught us!!

[justforbooks]

Fee, fi, fo…Trump: how an ogre won back the White House

Large, gruesome, brutal and gluttonous: Donald Trump is the archetypal ogre. So how did he manage to stomp back for a second term?

By Edward Docx

The animated film Shrek opens with the eponymous hero wiping his bottom on a book. Shrek then emerges from the toilet and we follow his swamp-savvy morning routine. He bathes his huge and oddly luminous body in mud. He brushes his teeth with slime. He kills fish for his supper with his flatulence. So far so good.

But Shrek’s life is about to be interrupted. Lord Farquaad, the punctilious local potentate, is rounding up various misfits and banishing them to Shrek’s swamp. The film has Shrek put up “keep out” signs; he dreams of building a wall; and he frightens anyone who comes into his swamp with fierce-but-fake-but-fierce shows of aggression. But it’s no good. Shrek soon feels himself overwhelmed by “squatters” (as he calls them) and is furious.

He duly sets off for Duloc, the city where Farquaad lives and where, by way of contrast, everything is unnaturally immaculate, idealised and perfect. Here he is greeted at the “Information Booth” by animatronic characters singing the Duloc Welcome Song: “Welcome to Duloc, such a perfect town / Here we have some rules, let us lay them down …”

Shrek is an ogre, of course. He does not like rules. He doesn’t like welcome booths that are the opposite of welcoming. Most of all, he doesn’t like fake characters singing annoying songs to him about how they are going to lay down the law.

Ogres are one of the most ancient archetypes in human narrative and they have been with us since we first started telling stories. In Japan, they are known as oni. In tales such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, ogres (or ghuls) are depicted as monstrous beings with a penchant for devouring humans. In The Epic of Gilgamesh there is a character called Humbaba – a giant guardian of the cedar forest. And, of course, there are ogres at the centre of the two foundational epics in western literature: the Cyclops, Polyphemus, in Homer’s Odyssey; and Grendel, who terrorises the mead-hall of Hereot, in Beowulf. As Seamus Heaney’s evocative translation has it: “Grendel was the name of this grim demon / haunting the marches, marauding round the heath / and the desolate fens.” Haunting the swamps in other words. And – yes – coming into town to get even in a bigly way.

And “bigly” is an ogre’s word if ever there was one, conjuring largeness, exaggeration, impact, something overwhelming; but also “bigly” is a dig at language itself and its pretensions to precision. You don’t have to be a writer to see the patterns. The ogres of folklore are always against written law. They are banished, exiled, cannibalistic creatures that inhabit a single realm outside “normal” society – the island (Polyphemus) and the swamp (Grendel). They are large and fearsome. They are gluttonous, violent and selfish. They consume without restraint and hoard wealth. They live for gratification. They are brutish and yet full of a lethal cunning and instinct. They are driven by a need to dominate or destroy anything they perceive as a threat. They lack empathy. They act solely out of self-interest. They are untamed beings of cruelty and desire and appetite. They are grotesques.

They are everywhere present in our stories because, of course, they are part of our struggle to understand ourselves. They represent the recurring preoccupations and apprehensions of the human psyche. They symbolise avidity and voraciousness. They are avatars for all the dangers lurking outside the safety of human society’s agreed norms and rituals.

Not just lurking outside, therefore, but lurking inside … lurking inside the human mind. Most of the time, we repress these traits in order to get along, and yet they persist – as drives and urges, as conscious and subconscious fears. In other words, ogres are not just monsters in tales but archetypal representations of the elemental aspects of our being. Indeed, if we step for a moment across one of the many footbridges between story and psychology, then we can see that ogres represent … the primal; also known as the id.

The id is the inner life we all of us share. The circuit board on which all of our various operating systems run – be they our politics, religions, tribes, nationalities. In the id, we find the collection of feelings and instincts that lie at the very core of the human being. Here lurks desire, lust and greed, avarice. Here seethes anger and aggression. Here is rage, raw, uncontrolled. Here, too, is jealousy. Here is the compulsion for vengeance. Here are the survival instincts: fear and anxiety. Here is euphoria, ecstasy, frustration, anguish. Here is the urge to act without reflection. This is the world of impulse, appetite and desire.

This is also the world of Trump. Trump is the nearest any modern politician comes to pure id. And one way to better understand his inauguration – and the strange folkloric spell of his seduction during the election – is to look through this lens of human story, of human archetype and psychology. Because it is on this deeper level that Trump broadcasts; it is here that he makes his powerful appeal; and it is here that he connects.

Indeed, the description of an ogre above might – without too much modulation – be deftly repurposed as a set of character notes for the future actors who will no doubt play him. The extra-large suits, the extra-large tie. The endless huge of it all. The hyperbole of speech and form. The anti-intellectual, anti-law, anti-civility. The lethal cunning, the canny instinct. The way he looms and thuds through the world – fist-inverted, heavy-footed, fee-fi-fo-fum. Trump doesn’t engage in a debate about “values” – no, sir; Trump smells your blood. All that grabbed pussy. All that hoarded gold way up the beanstalk on the 56th floor of Trump Towers.

Domination and treasure are two of the ogre’s preoccupations. Devouring is another. The teaser for the second term began thus: “They’re eating the dogs – the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating … they’re eating the pets of the people that live there …” Eating, eating, eating, eating.

Consider Trump’s campaign visit to McDonald’s to work the frier in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. “Yeah, let’s make some more,” he says, “we got about 10,000 people out there … That’s a big crowd – huh?” (Double Jesus – for those paying attention). “I like it all,” he says, talking of the McDonald’s menu. “I like every ounce of it. Everything.” Then he gets to his political point: “I’ve always wanted to work at McDonald’s, but I never did. I’m running against somebody that said she did, but it turned out to be a totally phoney story. It was a big part of [Kamala Harris’s] résumé that she worked at McDonald’s – how tough a job it was. She … made the french fries, and she talked about the heat: ‘It was so tough.’” Then he adds with bone-grinding finality: “She’s never worked at McDonald’s.”

Think about what is actually going on here. Sure, the whole thing is staged. Sure, jobs matter. No, he’s not really working a shift. Of course not. Trump knows that you know and that’s why he’s still wearing his suit and tie. He never changes out of costume because he never changed into costume. (From where Trump is standing, from the point of view of the id, the rest of the world is in disguise; the rest of the world is fake.) No, what he’s saying underneath, what he’s transmitting, are messages to do with the primal pleasures of greed and eating … eating those everybody-loves-them-who-cares-if-they-are-bad-for-you fries. Even more than this, he is communicating: this job, working the frier, is sacred in an id kind of a way. And people who complain or lie about it don’t get that – and therefore can’t be trusted on anything else. Trump, on the other hand, Trump gets it. You’re hungry, he acknowledges, even for the bad stuff, especially for the bad stuff. Me too, me too.

“Can I give them extra salt?” he asks. “I love salt.” Yes, he does. And so do you. And then he starts handing it out for free to the drive-through line: “It is all on Trump,” he says, and turns around and asks, “I’m allowed to do that, right?” But the subliminal communication is again more potent than the seemingly casual question. What threatens my generosity in giving you these fries – what threatens our feast here in Feasterville – is the law, Trump is saying. And I tell you something: if the law dares to get in the way of a president feeding his people, then it’s just another fake law in a fake world, like all the other fake laws with which they try to punish and contain me, punish and contain you; the laws from which I will liberate you to eat more, and drive more, and fuck more, and have all the mores you want; it’s going to be huge.

Yes, sex is everpresent, too. As he serves the customers in their cars, Trump continually remarks: “You’re a good-looking guy”, or “what a beautiful woman”. Sex and food. Food and sex. One man says to him: “You made it possible for ordinary people like us to meet you.” And Trump says right back: “You’re not ordinary. I can see. Beautiful wife.” And then he hands the guy his order through the window of his car. He turns back again and says: “I’m having a lot of fun here everybody. Look at all the fake news over there.”

In one sense, that is the whole election – in that moment. All the fake news of human thought over there but right here with Trump … the truth of food and sex.

For our stories to endure, they must be fun as well as scary; every story and therefore every ogre in the storyworld also has to … entertain. And, of course, Trump knows this better than anyone. Indeed, fun is what Trump spends a great deal of time telling us he is having. He uses the word from time to time but his body and his gestures and his general don’t-give-a-shit deportment is also often about conveying fun. Fun is the bad dancing at the rallies. Fun is what he’s having with the fryer. Even the felonies are fun, too, right? If you’re an ogre. Because everyone knows you don’t get the gold without the bending a few rules and – anyway – the law is a pathetic joke to the id. The sex cases the same. Says Trump to the female lawyer grilling him in one of his harassment hearings: “I say this with as much respect as I can, she [his accuser] is not my type … Not my type in any way, shape or form.” And then he adds, addressing the female lawyer herself: “You wouldn’t be a choice of mine either, to be honest with you … I hope you’re not insulted. I would not under any circumstances have any interest in you. I’m honest when I say it.”

There’s no respect and he doesn’t care if you’re insulted. When Odysseus appeals for hospitality, invoking the gods, Polyphemus says: “We Cyclops care not a whistle for your thundering Zeus or all the gods in bliss.” Ogre-fun, it turns out, is often threat and menace because most of the time it’s just ogre-anger in a different key.

Transaction is another signifier of the id-world. Consider Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal. Think about the trumpeting of deals. Why is the deal so important? Because the deal isn’t about “values” or “morality”, it’s about self-interest. Come on, now: the real world is transactional, Trump grins. That’s the only thing you can really trust. In the id-world, you look not for nobility or fairness in your interlocutor but for weakness – greed, vanity, ambition, jealousy; you eschew the profound in favour of commodity and bargain. When it comes down to it, Trump reminds us, there will have to be a deal. So enough of your phoney “values”.

Indeed, seen from these swampy vantages – greed, sex, power – Trump is not a liar at all, he is a truth-teller. (Truth Social: “follow the truth”). He is honest when he says it. The world is primal, Trump whispers, everything else is made up or posturing and – deep down – you know it and I know it and everybody knows it.

Trump – as ogre, as id – not only understands all of this, he embodies it. This is what so many of the political podcasts and back-peddling pundits missed. Trump is saying, profoundly, “I understand you. I get it.” There’s an id-entity in there that he’s talking to beneath all those other identities we adopt. And it may not be noble or pretty – not at all – but it’s real and it’s ravenous and it’s rapacious and it’s irresistible.

Indeed, this is one reason why identity politics so often loses to the id-summoning assertions of populism. When times are precipitous and the polity is bitterly contested, human beings tend to back away from “argument” and “ideals” and edge back towards the dependable “truths” of the id. And the story world – where Trump broadcasts loud and clear – is so very powerful here because it darkly enchants; and because it occludes the complex world of actual issues, actual policy, actual debate, actual solutions. You don’t need a ground game when you’ve got an id-game. You don’t need leaflets about policy when you’re the latest main character in an ancient human saga all about wealth and food and sex and anger and fear and power and vengeance.

And it’s interesting to note how our great writers smuggle in sympathy for their ogres’ retaliations. Notice, for example, how Homer describes Odysseus as polytropos meaning “wily” in his opening line. We sense straight away that Odysseus’s intelligence can also be provocative and irritating. Sure, Polyphemus only has a single eye but (like Shrek in his swamp) he was minding his own business before the Greeks turned up and started demanding hospitality. To add insult to injury, Odysseus boasts as he escapes, taunting the cyclops from his ship: “Cyclops, if ever mortal man enquire / how you were put to shame and blinded, / tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, / took your eye…”

But we sometimes forget that Polyphemus has the last laugh because he asks his father, Poseidon, (an id-god if ever there was one), to punish Odysseus: “Hear me, Poseidon, god of the sea blue mane who rocks the earth! … grant that Odysseus … never see his home. / Or if he must, let him come late, having lost all companions, in a stranger’s ship, and find a world of pain … ” The curse is a pivotal moment in the story. Homer – in this moment – is on Polyphemus’s side because of Odysseus’s hubris. And, as we know, it takes Odysseus 10 years (or two election cycles) to get back to Ithaca. And yes, there’s a world of fresh trauma waiting for him when he gets there.

Grendel, meanwhile, is not welcome at the White House correspondents’ dinner either. He is described as an outcast doomed to brooding, isolation and rage. But there’s also a counter-tone of pity in the lines: “It harrowed him / to hear the din of the loud banquet / every day in the hall, the harp being struck / and the clear song of a skilled poet / telling with mastery of man’s beginnings …” What enrages Grendel is that he has been excluded from the kinship, from the rituals of the banquet and the fellowship of music.

In this way, the primal and the rational are in antiphonal relation; one summons the other. The swamp and the city are always part of the same human story. Which brings us to the proper counter to the ogre’s appeal. Because of course the id is not the only truth of human relations. The cyclops has but a single eye. Human beings cannot – and do not wish to – live in the primal world alone. Death is redeemed not through deals but by love.

In psychological terms, the id is no more than a third of the human psyche. There is also the ego (wherein we are rational, controlled) and the superego (the internalised operation of moral standards and ideals). And, sure enough, our stories are also thronged with archetypes of love and reason, with saviours and sages, moral operators and wise rulers. For every Caliban a Prospero. For every Polyphemus a Penelope.

The task of the progressive, therefore, is to avoid appearing like Farquaad. In Duloc, Farquaad preens as he polices the rules. He patrols the borders of language and reaction. He holds up signs to tell the people what to do: “applause”, “laugh”, “aww”. In Duloc, everything must be perfect and pristine. Sure, you might just about put up with this if you are economically secure and Duloc more or less works for you. But the feeling of being reprimanded is the opposite of fun, and this certainly is no way to bring people outside with you. No, the would-be leader must surely be as perceptive and attentive toward the inner lives of their fellow human beings as are the enduring writers. They must seek again to make a real and more universal connection. And they must surely acknowledge appetite and desire and anger and fear – ideally with conviviality – and then offer something much richer: the rest of the human experience.

This manoeuvre – connection first, inspiration second – is what marks out the greatest politicians. Leaving aside secondary considerations such as the right-left or the right-wrong, think what Churchill’s demeanour transmits at its most simple: I get it about the whisky and cigars and the epic dinners – I do, my friends, I do – but still we must fight for “the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”. Or consider John F Kennedy’s persona and body language which (before he says a word) declare in the most charming manner possible: I get it about the glamour and the sex – none more so, none more so – but still we must aspire to go to the moon and “set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people”.

Of course, you have to be a remarkable human being to embody and encompass all of this. But then the leader of a democracy should be an exceptional human being – not in the sense of being merely virtuous, but in the deeper and more resonant sense of being emotionally and psychologically capacious.

In the meantime, welcome to Feasterville.

🔴 Edward Docx is a novelist and screenwriter.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[accirax]

Mr. Showtime 2DMV Theory

The release of Mr. Showtime full and its 2DMV... oh my god. I’m back on my Tsukasa bullshit, so please allow me to talk about what I thought was the most interesting part of the 2DMV:

This part, with the jester boy on the moon with balloons. Please ignore the YouTube time bar I don’t know how to get rid of it While the entire 2DMV is gorgeous and bears rewatching one million times, it’s this part that stood out to me in conjunction with the lyrics. Specifically, the strings of the balloons stood out to me, after reading and participating in this post by @/getwonderhoyd. It discussed the symbolism of Tsukasa and the marionette strings in comparison to Mafuyu, and how their tight wind around his fingers implied the tight grasp he has on controlling his situation.

He has that same winding grasp on the balloons. But what are the balloons?

While not all of them are direct depictions of the Wonderland Sekai, many of them also are. The ones that aren’t all seem to be related to stories Tsukasa is featured in, specifically a lot of the girls’ events for some reason? The presents seem to be from On This Holy Night, I Sing; the mermaid tail from Mermaid Adoration; and the tropical climate from A Desperate Situation?! Island Panic!. The plane, I would imagine, is from their travels abroad in Popping In My Heart, and the candy clouds balloon could either also be that event or resemble the clouds in the Smile of a Dreamer cards. I don’t remember where the scary face could be from-- I would posit either a spooky Halloween face for It’s On! Wonder Halloween or the checkered pattern could imply the phantom thieves of A Gentleman Thief’s Thrilling White Day?!. 

Anyways, Tsukasa is clutching on tightly both to the sekai and his memories with his friends. Typical. But could it go deeper than that?

Again, the balloons are his memories. It’s good that he has them, considering his past history with memories. But here, we get some more interesting insight-- these memories are carrying the travelers. The travelers/stars are surely his troupemates, and Tsukasa believes he is carrying them with his memories. Sure, he’s carrying them with him through what he remembers, but as the leader, I think he believes that he’s the one carrying them forward. Not in a totally vain way, of course-- he loves his friends and thinks they’re all super talented, too. But there is one way that he specifically is undeniably carrying them... and that’s through the existence of his very own sekai.

That’s why his memories of prior events and the memories of the sekai are so combined. This other post which I adore by @/wondahoiii discusses how sekais are based off of repressed feelings. This makes the Wonderland Sekai, and the fact that it’s a neverending paradise based off of solely Tsukasa’s childhood memories, kind of terrifying.

Wonderlands x Showtime has had a lot of events recently about how much they don’t want their time as a group to end, even though it inevitably will. All four of them have lyrics here about wanting to avoid an ending, while Tsukasa is the only one shown acknowledging its arrival. But, down to the name, Wonderlands x Showtime and the Wonderland Sekai are connected. Since Tsukasa and Rui would have never made up without Kaito and Miku’s help, you could argue that Wonderlands x Showtime couldn’t exist without the Wonderland Sekai. So, in a way, when the members say they don’t want “it” to end, they could also be talking about how they don’t want the Wonderland Sekai to end.

What happens when true feelings are resolved?

If Vivid Bad Squad becomes a tight foursome without envy and insecurity and surpasses RAD Weekend, would they need the Street Sekai to practice in anymore? If Kanade really does write a song that can save Mafuyu, and all the members of Nightcord become mentally healthy, would they need advice from Miku, Meiko, or anyone else anymore? Someday, More More Jump will retire from being idols, right? Would the Stage Sekai still exist, even then?

And what about Tsukasa? If he became a mentally healthy person, one who could retain and potentially regain all of his memories, and make people like Saki smile... what would happen to the Wonderland Sekai?

There’s a certain fear in being the one-man show that fuels an entire universe.

Tsukasa will do anything to make the people he cares about smile. It’s literally the basis of the Wonderland Sekai itself. So, if the Wonderland Sekai makes Emu, Nene, and Rui smile, of course he would keep it open with all his power. Not to mention that, as reminded by the event story balloons, the Wonderlands Sekai is making his friends better people. Emu has people who unshakably care about her, Nene is overcoming her stage fright, and Rui feels understood and appreciated for the first time ever, thanks to the Virtual Singers inside the sekai. The Wonderland Sekai is making them better.

But at the same time, there’s a problem. As stated, the Wonderland Sekai consists of every happy childhood memory Tsukasa has repressed. For the Wonderland Sekai to exist, Tsukasa has to repress these memories, or else they wouldn’t be “emotions never expressed.” While I would never say that Wonderlands x Showtime was unhealthy for Tsukasa, it’s possible that, to a point, the Wonderland Sekai is. If he wants to reclaim his memories, he has to let the Wonderland Sekai go.

He has to be the one to bring about the catastrophic end.

It’s not just that Tsukasa wants to keep up a happy attitude so that no one will worry about him, or through some sense of pride at being the unshakable leader with masterful skills of pretending. It may be that Tsukasa is worried that if he shows even a crack, so will the world they’ve come to love. You know-- the one that Hasn’t Even Started Yet.

Which is why Tsukasa will never let go of those balloons. The ones that only contain memories of recent events; nothing about elementary school, or middle school, or even Saki and her heart-wrenching hospital trips. Living in the present, keeping things going, ignoring the past, is the only way to keep the Wonderland Sekai alive in his mind. Until closing time comes, Tsukasa and virtual singers like Luka will share this secret. Just like how Luka is constantly falling asleep, Tsukasa, too, will fall asleep on his own needs to ensure that he’ll keep the never-ending merry-go-round spinning. He’ll give up his own happiness for the betterment of others. He refuses to express his memories in words so that he can bear the burden of carrying the travelers by his side.

For the ultimate sacrifice... the show must go on!

[foxes-that-run]

Part 3: 70 Heart kisses 2016 on

This post is in three parts:

When Harry got the Heart tattoo

70 Heart Kisses (1D years), and

70 Heart Kisses continued. (Solo career)

The amazing @womanexile and @this-daydream-is-dangerous-13started this off with finding a good chunk of these. This is by no means a complete list, I think that would be impossible. It’s also important to note that only Harry knows what this tattoo is about, why he kisses it or if that is for one person and who that is.

2017

After no performances in 2016 the heart kiss returned with HS1 but less frequently. In early 2016 Harry and Taylor had been close but by 2017 Taylor was dating Joe and Harry was very emotional on stage. See 2017 timeline. Harry also started performing with a guitar which gave his arms something to do and I think less kisses as a result.

Late March 2017 - London- During his Behind the Album performance for HS1, he not only kissed the heart, he also kisses the guitar it’s thought she had given him as a gift! This was a major moment for Harry and one he was emotional in.  He is good at first but there’s a head in hands moment at 28:10. Then, emotional. Time stamps 32:09 during Sweet Creature  37:48 guitar kiss during ESNY 52:45 kisses OTHER arm during SOTT (when he was explaining the rest of the concert to that nervous fan in July, he described this song as “emotional but hopeful” so maybe that’s a hopeful thing, that arm has ‘Things I can’/the Eagle) 

13 May 2017 - London- secret gig at the Garage in Islington - pink pants black shirt 7:52 during Sweet Creature

19 May 2017 - Troubadour, LA, on the eve of their 5 year anniversary of May 20th, while performing Leather and Lace with Stevie Nicks (1:18), Harry started crying and kissed the heart. Harry was really excited throughout the show, they performed two ghosts as a duet after which he said he was losing his s*** (but in a cool way, with a point to presumably James). 

28 September 2017 - Radio City NY - Story of my life may have an aborted arm kiss (2:30) FTDT also (3:35). On Harry and Taylor’s 28 September anniversary. Taylor marked the day with a 70 song ‘Taylor loves’ Spotify playlist.

14 October 2017 - Phoenix - During Meet me in the Hallway (1:39). After “I walked the streets all day”  before “running with the thieves”. This was Harry's last US show and he returned to Europe. His next show was in Paris where he cried twice in FTDT on 'even my phone misses your call' twice. (1:55 and again 3:30)

2 November 2017 - Glasgow- Sweet Creature on “you bring me home” (maybe, this tour had tricky lighting) (2:19) Kiwi and Reputation were released soon after. 

2018

12 June 2018 - Nashville - Sweet Creature (2:45) Harry moves to kiss his arm but doesn’t after “you bring me home” he was in Taylor’s home city. 

30 June 2018 - Chicago - Sweet Creature, a possible other arm kiss (5:11). Taylor and Harry were both in Chicago, Taylor played New Years Day with an introduction about jumping into icy pools that Taylor Nation has cut from their version. 

2 July 2018 - St Paul - Only Angel - the other arm at 3:30 and the heart at 4:33. On the same night Harry changed the lyric of “running with wolves” to “running with you” (2:00) Taylor had played this stadium the night she had the temper trap song as arm lyrics which Harry tattooed on its anniversary. Taylor had been in nearby Chicago when Harry was there the day before and not seen this day. 

In July 2020 Taylor released Cardigan with a reference to a ‘Tattoo Kiss’:

2021

The later we go the less we really know about what is going on. The heart kisses may also have different meanings. 

The 2021 timeline is interesting, starting with talking at the Grammy’s then the Brits, Harry finished writing Harry’s House and Taylor started Midnights in this period. 

22 September 2021 - St Paul - Falling, with Two Ghosts intro (4:31). Wildest Dreams TV was released a few days earlier, Harry and Taylor had spent time in St Paul in the past. 

25 September 2021 - Chicago - Falling, at the end twice with a smile and again during Adore you. When Harry last played Chicago Taylor was also there. 

21 October 2021 - Uncasville, during thank you speech. Harry and Taylor had been in Nashville at the same time earlier that month when Harry had written Satellite.

25 October 2021 - Boston - Falling. An old selfie of Joe and Taylor from 2016 leaked a few days earlier.

27 October 2021 - Atlanta - the start of Falling (0:09) right arm kiss. On the anniversary of 1989’s release. On the same day Taylor posted an instagram reel captioned ‘Basic autumn lovers RISE’ reenacting a 2014 Tumblr post including trying lyrics to ATW ‘Just between us did he love affair maim you too?’

10 November 2021 - Sacramento - Falling - on ‘it kills me we have run out of things to say’ link. Harry wore Red to celebrate the Re-record of Red TV, which is the first of Taylor's albums with songs about Harry. 

13 November 2021 - Arizona, Falling with Two Ghosts intro (2:17), Red TV was released the day before.

19 November 2021 - LA, The Forum, in the welcome speech after thanking his support act. Taylor was in Panama to visit Joe, after Taylor returned for the All Too Well premier she wrote the majority of Midnights including You’re Losing Me. 

28 November 2021 - Long Island - Falling (4:08) Right arm kiss. After this show Harry was MIA and Olivia seen alone. The next week, Taylor wrote You’re Losing me and wore a Gucci Lion Ring to a party. 

2022

As above, we know less about Harry’s relationships now, however the 2022 timeline is also interesting. Taylor completed Midnights and based on it’s lyrics, her relationship with Joe was not great. Harry released Harry’s House and at the end of the year broke up with Olivia. 

20 May 2022 - NYC - ONO - start of Satellite (1:13) another link. On Harry’s House Release, an important life event, in New York, on the anniversary of 20 May at the start of performing Satellite for the first time. 

26 June 2022 - Hamburg during his welcome speech when introducing the support act. Harry was on his European tour dates, in the last months of dating OW. These were the first months of Harry touring the Harry’s House songs.

29 June 2022 - Stockholm - introducing Matilda (1:12 and again at 1:36) Harry said it was great to be back in Sweden (he once tweeted that same phrasing at a time Taylor was MIA in Europe and he posted a colour IG photo) and that he is happiest performing. 

1 July 2022 - Oslo when inducing Matilda, Harry told the story about the party bus, that Oslo has a special place in his heart then that Matilda has nothing to do with that story but is special. (1:50) and again when introducing WMYB (0:06) 

11 July 2022 - Munich during Adore You and LOML. (Better view of loml)

16 July 2022 Vienna - during Adore you, after the crowd saying let me adore you and him saying “okay” 

5 July 2022 - Paris - after saying “I love Paris” while introducing As It Was. Harry and Taylor have referenced Paris many times as special to them. 

31 July 2022 - Lisbon - start of Kiwi (12:49) 

1 August 2022 - Toronto - cinema - kissed the eagle covering ‘things I can’ after “it’s you, and I’m not getting over it” previous kisses have been after break ups indicating wanting to change something

10 September 2022- Madison Square Garden Night 12, LOML. Harry and Taylor were both in NY, Harry started a 5 week stint of wearing the Peace Ring. Neither Harry & Olivia or Taylor & Joe seemed friendly, with both break ups announced in coming months. 

27 October 2022 - LA - introducing WMYB (day music for a sushi restaurant dropped and 1989 anniversary). Taylor was on the Graham Norton show talking about the re-records and announcing the Eras tour. 

29 October 2022 - LA N5 in Sign of the Times 

31 October 2022 - Harryween LA Timestamp 1:50 during LOML before it's unfortunate.. 

2023

The later we go the less we really know about what is going on. The heart kisses may also have different meanings. 

The 2023 timeline is interesting, Harry had separated from Olivia, Taylors separation from Joe was announced. They were both on tour and both replaced setlist songs with older Haylor songs. 

29 January 2023 - Los Angeles, Forum Night 15 - Love of My Life - Anatomical Heart Kiss (0:42) Harry also played Medicine! Between filming Satellite and the Grammy’s

31 January 2023 - Palm Springs - during Matilda , after the lyric ‘make your tea and your toast’. (2:13) The week before Harry put Little Freak in the HSLOT set 

21 February 2023 Perth LOML, During woman re-added to the setlist. 

28 Feburary 2023 - Gold Coast, QLD - during Satellite after “do you want to talk?” (4:48)

13 June 2023 - Wembley - kissed other arm (0:06) during Grapejuice and kissed the Heart Tattoo during As It Was after “...and I’m the one who will stay” (0:41) The day before Taylor played All You Had to Do was Stay as a Surprise Song on the 10th June. Harry played Best Song Ever intro to WMYB.

17 June 2023 - Wembley - at the end of Sweet Creature Harry went to kiss the tattoo and stopped himself then looked at the crowd with a cheeky embarrassed look. (3:16). Gemma had a baby 8 months later. Taylor had a particularly emotional show that night. She gave an extra wild Champagne Problems speech and extra long and weird Betty Speech and had Aaron Dessner out to play Seven and hugs Taylor at the end. Later a photo of TR sitting with Jeff in one of the Wembley crowds surfaced months later. Interestingly, this is the anniversary of Taylors 2011 Lover Journal entry days after Harry was MIA in the US when Taylor had the Temper Trap arm lyrics in St Paul. 

18 June 2023 - Wembley link Wembley n1 during as it was another link. I think the show above sums this up. Cruel Summer was officially released as a single 2 days later.

[spiritshaydra]

Was tagged by @novafire-is-thinking ! Sorry for taking a hot minute to do mine 😭 I also decided to do ten songs because I have

A lot

Of trouble

Narrowing it down to just five (hell even ten was hard)

ANYWAYS

All of these are taken from my playlist uhhhhhh

That

Which is like,,, every song that remotely scratched my brain the slightest bit. ANYWAYS THE CHOICES. I tried picking songs I haven’t shared here before, with each being from a different artist, and each kinda having their own sound :} (I’ll also be adding why I like each one, what it makes me think of, what parts I like, etc)

Native Colossus - Shield of Wings Spotify|Youtube

HOOOOO BOY OKAY SO- this one makes me think of the lead up to a clash between gods, if not the actual battle itself. I’m talking reality shredding, time shattering, shows of power. Like a battle between two creation gods. I picture one of them descending from the sky with an incomprehensible form, rings circling around it like clockwork, its presence stretching across the horizon. This one is the one that’s defending with the other being an invading force that’s already on the ground.

Maybe this is the brutal battle that resulted in the patch of irreparable dead space in my original work? An area of space time that’s so badly shattered that nothing can stitch it back together. It’s the only remnant of the Old Universe.

I just think this thing sounds badass 10/10 great song to have my eyes stare blankly at a wall to

Free - Mother Mother Spotify|Youtube

I just love the part in this song that goes:

“A bloody war, right behind my eyes. I come out right on the other side. So close the door, and shut the blinds. I’ll come out right on the other side.”

There’s something about that part that itches my brain SO GOOD. Like I can picture animating something to that SO VIVIDLY. AUGH. Just,, something about two characters going through absolute hell while staying by each other’s side the entire time,,,

Strangers to Ourselves - Modest Mouse Spotify|Youtube

OKAY THIS ONE. Normally when you hear Modest Mouse, you think of songs like Float on, Dashboard, The Ground Walks With Time in a Box, or The Ocean Breathes Salty; which are all more energetic(?) songs with Dashboard and Ground Walks being VERY high energy. But Strangers to Ourselves is,,, not that. It’s very lowkey and subdued and has a good atmospheric sound to it that I really like. The slow steady bass line done on what sounds like a cello in the background accompanied with the occasional guitar just makes for a really nice song that makes me think of winding down for the night.

Whenever I do plan on making a long form comic with chapters and the like, I want to do these “credits outros” in between chapters that each use a different song that matches the chapter before it, with each one being somewhat animated. This is one of the top contenders for this one story I want to write/illustrate called Meridian. It would show a variety of locations at sunset- the countryside, the city skyline, the character bases all winding down for the night. Maybe showing various characters as they close up shop. Just,, all around a chill quiet vibe leaning towards the somber.

De Selby (part 2) - Hozier Spotify|Youtube

This one was a recent discovery for me and one that I REALLY like.

I specifically love the chorus parts that goes

“Want to be when you fall on me like night every time, and I want to be so far from sight and mind. I wanna kill the lights. I wanna run against the world that’s turnin’, I’d move so fast I’d outpace the dawn. I wanna be gone. I wanna run so far, I’d beat the mornin’. Before the dawn has come, I’d block the sun, if you want it done.”

There’s something about it that makes my brain feel like,,, I dunno how to describe it,, like stars? Going by really fast as I fall backwards into the void but I’m also not actually moving anywhere.

Also GREAT animation fodder methinks.

Oh no, he Said What? - Nothing but Thieves Spotify|Youtube

Can’t be a Spit music list without at least one Nothing but Thieves song <3 anyways~

This is one of their more recent songs and it’s also one I think is REALLY fun to listen to because it’s got a sort of beat and melody to it that makes you feel like you could dance to it (I cannot dance but I still try) it also sounds like one that would be FUN to play live, especially from the vocals side of things. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider trying to cover it myself. Nobody wants to hear that and I don’t have the proper gear to record my voice 💀

The lyrics I like from this one are

“So did you find that thing you're looking for? Does it make you feel alive? Wait, he said what?He'll start a war, tear down the planet for the hype. You know it always ends the same, honesty’s a losing game. It died a long, long time ago with your favorite god. He said what? Oh no, we have lost control. Have you seen the video? But for heaven’s sake don’t ever let the, let the people know, oh no.”

Also GREAT animation fodder as well. I can see it EASILY being either 404 (my personal project) or fandom related. It just depends on what’s rotting my brain in the moment I either listen to it or decide to actually animate it.

I’m also really hoping to be able to see them live again in October, assuming I’m able to pass my driving test next week :,D I kinda need a driver’s license to drive back home from campus in order to even go to the show,, (NBT is AMAZING live btw)

Shut Eye - Stealing Sheep Spotify|Youtube

THIS ONE. MAKES MY BRAIN FEEL TRIPPY. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT HITS THE CHORUS. I’d say it’s animation fodder but I honestly have no idea what I’d animate other than it would be trippy to match the beat and just yeah I don’t know how to describe this one. I’m pretty sure I discovered it from someone’s animation project years ago? I only rediscovered it recently where it hit me like a train. A GREAT song to disassociate to because of the way it makes my brain feel if that makes sense. The colors and movement my brain comes up with when listening to this one is very fun :)

Curses - The Crane Wives Spotify|Youtube

OUGH. THIS. Is a song I get SUPER INTO when singing along to it. GREAT animation fodder. I’m not entirely sure if I’d do 404 or fandom for this one but MAN it SLAPS.

The part I get super into is

“Oh, ashes, ashes, dust to dust, the devil's after both of us. Ooh, lay my curses out to rest, make a mercy out of me. Oh, ashes, ashes, dust to dust, tell me I am good enough. Ooh, lay my curses out to rest, make a mercy out of-“

I know somewhere in my backlog of characters that’s a hundred OCs long I GOT to have SOMEONE that fits this if I do go the 404 route. (Hell might even have a fandom OC that fits, somewhere in between all the TFP and PMD Oblivion lmao)

Blackout - Breathe Carolina Spotify|Youtube

AYO WE GOT A SONG I DISCOVERED ON FLIPNOTE BACK IN LIKE 2012. AND I THINK ITS A BOP.

Edgy? Hell yeah. Do I care? Absolutely not.

Since I DID discover it on Flipnote Hatena back in the day, I obviously think this is animation fodder. But specifically in the style of the old Flipnotes that I miss oh so dearly.

I think I found it on a Pokemon Flipnote..? So might keep it in the spirit of that by making it a PMD Oblivion AMV.

Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball - Diablo Swing Orchestra Spotify|Youtube

OKAY THIS ONE. THIS IS A SONG THAT I THINK HAS AN INCREDIBLE INSTRUMENTAL WITH VOCALS TO MATCH.

I think I’d consider its vocals to sound almost haunting? It just sounds. SO. COOL.

The amount of different instruments I hear in it too is really cool too?? Like I can hear brass and classical strings during the breakdown of the chorus and it just leads to SUCH A BADASS SOUND. Like you have the heavy rock sound with the guitars and drums, but then there’s horns and strings as well?? It’s such a unique sound. Tbh Diablo Swing Orchestra as a whole has a very unique sound from what I’ve heard.

My brain also gives me fun visuals when listening to it. Lots of spiraling color when the chorus happens.

Hold on - Belle Sisosky Spotify|Youtube

Tumblr keeps refusing to save this post for whatever reason >:( It’s too powerful. Had to switch to desktop to even finish editing it. 💀

ANYWAYS. THIS SONG. SOUNDS SO COOL. It gives me a HUGE cyberpunk sort of vibe, and I’m honestly just a huge sucker for EDM music that has the low chanting in the background because I think it has such a cool sounding effect. (ESPECIALLY Mongolian throat singing) Also what’s really neat about this song (and pretty much all of her music) is that it uses a LOT of instruments you basically never hear in mainstream music, ESPECIALLY in pop. Some of the instruments include the Tapi’, the Hulusi flute, the Guzheng, the Angklung, the Sabe, and the pratuokng. 

TAGGING @mysticfoxdesigns @errolluck @sonicspacebar @jessenitrogen @aer-arts

@aer-arts @deathlypancakes @antiqueberry @zyanova @aecho-again AND ANYONE ELSE WHO WANTS IN

[acaciapines]

I just read all your deltarune fics and. I have to know. do you have playlists for each of the characters. and if you do. could you please share them. i’m so so curious about songs you attribute to each of the characters bc i love your interpretation of them so so much

oh!!! im glad you enjoyed them!!

i do have several playlists but not in any form i could share so. uh. instead i'll just make a list of all my most favorite songs i associate with these kids 'cause if i did every song we would be here for A Long While.

do feel free to send in another ask if you want me to explain one in more depth!!! im one of those people who cannot escape associating songs w/ characters/stories so i have a LOT more i could say if that is wanted lol.

Little Fang - Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks: literally The Most Kris Song Of All Time, like do I even have to explain it. its just Them.

Real Love Song - Nothing But Thieves: this is a newer one on my kris playlist but i think it really fits their relationship with dess--taking the 'love' part in a familial/platonic way, 'can i sing this to you / got a thing about you / and it won't go away' i think this song really captures the sort of...hold dess's opinion always has over kris's sense of self, and the way they feel about her isn't exactly returned equally. in a sense this fits more with my dess-raises-kris au but it does work for kris in my other works too.

San Cristobol - Mal Blum: this is the dess song of all time to the point where it's my voiceclaim for her and is half the reason the band au exists. one big part of my dess is that she leaves voluntarily, even if she might get stuck in a dark world later on--she leaves ON PURPOSE, because she wants to. and this song is like, leaving people behind, 'sometimes i think i left you just to see if i'd be missed,' and sort of wanting to reach out but also maybe not. in a world where dess sings this she is singing it to asriel.

My Tiger, My Heart - The Boy Least Likely To: another dess song of all time, if the last one is dess singing to asriel, this one is her to kris&noelle. this song has been on my dess playlist for so long i've scripted out an animatic to it. specifically i see this as being a song for the space after she sees the bunker but before she leaves--like 'my tiger my heart / we're growing apart' in regards to how she sees kris, and then 'and i think it would be / happier / being free' LIKE. GOD. ITS SO GOOD.

Wash - Floor Cry: noelle about dess...specifically noelle as i write her in the holiday-dreemurr kids series, her pov fic in there was named after this song, but its just about. how you idolize your older sister and then she leaves and comes back and maybe isnt as good as you thought she was and you realize you're going to pick kris over her and so its about 'i never want to / become just like you / it's pretty simple / wish i could tell you why' because noelle struggles with this because she should be happy her sister is back, right? and yet...

Sidelined - The Garages: this is THE RALSEI SONG OF ALL TIME.....like. oh my GOD just listen to it. it's ralsei all the way down, how she struggles with figuring out who she is, with being a darkner, with the prophecy and the weight it puts on her, and how she's supposed to be left behind and forgotten but she doesn't want that and how scary it is to try and be a person when the world never wanted you to be one.

Pluto - Sleeping at Last: ANOTHER RALSEI SONG....this one specifically is in regards to the dess raises kris au lol since i explore ralsei/susie/noelle there but it works for ralsei in all universes. like just listen to it. it's so ralseicore. its similar in theme to sidelined so im not going to repeat myself but just 'i've been worried all my life / a nervous wreak most of the time' to the chorus of 'til one day i had enough / of the exercise of trust / i leaned in and let it hurt / let my body feel the dirt.' LIKE

and these are most of my big ones! i have more around somewhere but most of these i dont even have in a playlist i just sort of remember whenever the song comes on njdfgdfg. sorry theres not so much asriel or susie here i just dont have as good songs for them.

once again if you (general) want me to dive more into one of the songs lemme know!!! i will always talk about these kids!!!

[yunarim]

hi! if your requests are open, id like to request ace with a reader who is pretty shy at first, but eventually gets comfortable and jokes around a lot? like they have cute banter! id like it to be fluff, but the rest of the story is up to you! thank you so much ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

[ .   ♡ 🧸 ] : find out how I feel, let me be there. ー tags : gn reader, fluff ー character : ace trappola ★‧₊💥♥️ ー note : this was such a cute and soft request thank you so much!!! <333 ー w.c : 1.3k+

“Hey, this is such a bop.”

You nod, smiling softly and letting an awkward giggle escape your lips. 

You still have some time before classes start, and you await for Deuce to come. Ace’s shoulder touches yours ever so slightly but you feel a cascade of thoughts swirling in your head as if a silly roundelay playing in your mind on repeat. You don’t mind having Ace around but also you can see how the copper gleam in his amber eyes reflects off the sun's rays, following a flamboyant rhythm and fixing on you. His hair is just a little tousled, and he obviously hasn't given much thought to paying much attention to it. You look at the scarlet heart on his skin and smile a little.

Ace offers you an earphone and notices you staring, so you quickly avert your gaze and try to brush it off, knowing he did really see.

“Something’s wrong?”

“N-no, of course not! Let’s listen to the song.”

You feel your fingers brushing his for a mere second and quickly switch your attention to the phone screen as if it would help you to escape your shyness. 

Ace hums and lets a little smile blossom on his face. You seem so sweet, joyful sparkles splash in your eyes when you tap your fingers on your knees, following the music beats. 

You’re always being like this, so pure and soft. Being transmigrated here so suddenly from another dimension, no wonder you would be so confused. But he also learns you’re naturally sweet and the pinkish hue dusting your cheeks reminds him of spring fluorescence.

“Never in my life was I so poetic…” he whispers to himself, noticing you glancing at him, a sheepishly gentle smile forming on your face.

“What was that?” You ask a little bolder than you thought you would, and maybe you shouldn’t have done so but you also wonder about how Ace would react. The feeling of a playful curiosity causing corners of your lips to turn upward, shaping a cheeky smile.

“That’s the lyrics, you silly.”

“That’s not!” You retort, his little ‘tsk’ making you giggle, and you take his phone in your hands, pointing out that there was no such line. “See?”

“Ha!” He replies, seeing your fingers tremble just a little, as if you’re fighting with yourself whether you should trust this vividly cheery feeling or stay humble. 

You lean on the window behind your back, enjoying the music and the feeling of frivolity, gently welcoming you in its embrace. You realize it’s been a month since you got there in NRC. Even if everything seems so absurdly surreal, Ace leans to you, adjusting himself on the windowsill and showing you his phone. Playful spikes of his hair which look suddenly soft now that you’ve noticed almost touch your chin, and you bend over, trying to hide your peachy soft blush on the cheeks. 

He’s still here. No matter what happened to you during the journey to which you were unwillingly dragged to, he was still here by your side. This is actually cheesy now that you think about it, and this sudden feeling causes you to ruffle his hair playfully. 

“Hey!!” He exclaims, turning to you and leaning a bit closer. “The hell you’re doing?! You’re not getting away with this!”

He ruffles your hair too, laughing brightly, and you two don’t even notice Deuce when he comes to you, half sitting half lying on the windowsill. 

“Good morning?..” Deuce says, tilting his head as if questioning your behavior. “Thick as thieves, you two.” 

“It’s just Yuu‘s being in a good mood,” Ace replies when he lets go of your hair and chuckles when he sees how messy but exceptionally cute you look. 

“Good mood?..” You ask yourself more than him and jump off the windowsill, fixing your hair. “Am I?”

“Why else would you suddenly ruffle my hair?” Ace asks, poking you on your shoulder playfully. “What, am I being cute to you?”

“Dude, gross,” Deuce says when he sees Ace doing silly faces and glancing at you with exaggeratedly huge heart-shaped eyes. 

You laugh softly before realizing you playfully pat on his shoulder. 

“You are,” you say this in an unexpectedly genuine way, your heart pounding loudly in your chest. “But also cheesy, please refrain from doing this from now on.”

“Why why, aren’t I a cutie?~”

“GROSS!!”

“Well that’s a predicament, don’t you think?”

You sigh watching Ace chew a sandwich you made real quick, dust particles float lazily in the twilight of the room, surrounding Ace’s silhouette and weightlessly falling on his shoulders.

“Wll thtz a prdcmnt, hmph,” you barely distinguish him imitating you and sigh once more. He swallows the food and throws back his head, his gaze fixing on yours. “That was your idea to watch Twistflix at Heartslabyul!”

“Uh-huh, and it was your idea to see what happens if I sneak into your room so we can watch Alice in Twistedland when it’s already a curfew!”

“Ah please, it was fun.”

“Yep, it’s not me who’s wearing a collar again tho.”

Ace sighs in defeat, imitating Riddle’s scoldings. You knew it would end like that, so you already had a spare room prepared for Ace just in case something like that happens. He also knows which bed sheets he should use and that it smells nice, something fresh and of spruce.

You sip your tea when Ace sits beside you, watching you fix your gaze on him. Your features look charming in the moonlight, and he notices the faintest hint of a playful smile on your lips as he smiles back at you.

The way you've become liberated in his presence causes an inexplicable thrill in his chest for a split second before you move closer to his face, peering into the glimmer of thoughtfulness in his eyes.

He feels something warm spreading in his chest for a moment. You’re being so poetically lovely at the very moment.

“What? Fell in love with me?~” You say cheekily, raising your brow a little and giggling. 

Huh.

Maybe he actually did. Ah really, was it always so simple he didn’t even have a thought about it? Now it wasn’t only you who got comfortable around him, but he also felt how joyful it was – to see you smile genuinely at him whenever he made stupidly funny jokes. 

“Oh please, it’s you who fell in love with me first!” He exclaims, retorting, and notices how you put your cup down, your arms folded. “Look, let me prove it.”

“Uh-huh, ready to lose? Alright then.”

“The first to avert the gaze is the one who fell in love first!” 

“Damn,” you laugh brightly. “You’re so dumb, I like that in men.”

“Enough talking, okay? Ready? Let’s start.”

First ten seconds you two are making silly faces, laughing at each other, but right after you can feel a sudden blush blossoming on your cheeks when Ace leans on a little. You don’t count seconds anymore as you’ve been dissolving in his vermilion pretty eyes, and you feel the urge to clench your heart so it won’t make any weirdly loud poundings. 

His gaze shifts at your lips just for a moment before returning to your eyes, as if trying to see something in there, but you smile softly. 

“Don’t feel like losing?” He asks, leaning even more closer so the tips of your noses almost touch.

The cinnabar hue in his eyes looks absolutely divine for you at the moment, and you whisper gently.

“Hm, does it mean we fell in love with each other at the same time?~”

“You’re so cheesy.”

“Like you are.”

“You’re cheesier.”

“Not cheesier than the cheesy lord.”

Your little banters lead Ace to cup your cheeks and shut you up with a soft kiss pressed on your cheek. You giggle and do the same for him, ruffling his hair a little.

“No, because it’s extremely cheesy.”

“Aha! You averted your gaze right now!!”

He guesses it doesn’t matter anymore before ruffling your hair in return.

© yushiiae 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, ��𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

[utilitycaster]

I'm still thinking about The Rain Road from Worlds Beyond Number in like five different ways, particularly in how it relates to a bunch of other actual plays, so I'm cramming them all into one massive post:

There was a NADDPod D&D Court case in the live show they released this week in which the DM invented a language for Thieves' Cant and put it in a packet for a new player who was playing a rogue but did not make it clear this was required reading, and then in-game answered the rogue's investigation check in this language, which the player had no ability to understand, and it shut down an avenue of story. Absolutely wild case but the point here is that this sort of energy needs to be directed into writing in-world songs or poetry and not a conlang your player has to pick up in their spare time.

In the Fireside, Aabria talked about how the song was inherently political despite being religious and not having any political lyrics (comparing it to some of the spirituals of enslaved African-Americans). We do know that the people who knew the song were older; we know that Galani and Suvi felt a certain way as members of the imperium about it, and that Morrow did not recognize the greetings of Port Talon derived from the worship of Naram and Orima. It's unclear precisely what the Empire's attitude is towards religion. It does not appear to be outlawed and Steel indicates a non-religious degree of respect towards Great Spirits; it seems it's simply not respected by the Empire on the whole, perhaps broadly discouraged. Even a fairly neutral attitude of disregard could erode it culturally among younger people who are always eager to reject the older ways. A cynical person would say any of these could be the path to eventual harsher legislation; wear it down first for a few generations, then come in when the opposition is weak. What's interesting to me is this relationship between religion and Empire, especially against the backdrop of Critical Role. There, we've seen it several ways - religious institutions using the tools of empire (Othanzia), empires that blur the lines between the two (Kryn Dynasty), but also empires that outlaw it (the Dwendalian Empire going after casual worshippers of the Changebringer, leaving their children to fend for themselves). My own feeling here is that religion is conceptually neutral and can be used for either good or ill, and empire is not given that it relies on conquest, but it is interesting to see the vast differences in the fandoms for the two works - which have decent overlap - re: religion when we have mostly seen the two in opposition vs. when we we have seen many different perspectives worldwide.

To that point I'm really excited for the next arc because while I think empire is, again, always going to be about subjugation and conquering and cannot ever be a good thing, I also think that individuals within it are going to be complicated. I can't remember if it was Brennan or Aabria or both who pointed this out, and that right now we mostly just have the word "empire", but even then, we've seen people seeking the favor of the Imperium but not high up within it do terrible things, and people who are in its military and abused by those in power died to save civilians. The Empire is on the whole going to be a bad force, but I'm looking forward to seeing all the very human reasons why people might support it. (This isn't about the song but it's a natural thought from the previous one).

Back to the song, I know much of the lore of the campaign is taken from Brennan and Erika's cultural backgrounds, but a hymn for rain is something very common in Judaism - the upcoming fall holidays especially center around this. Not much to add there other than that this does feel very true to liturgy that has a basis in the natural and the agricultural; good job Brennan on that.

Bouncing back to the song as it exists as a quiet form of something that is perhaps not explicitly anti-empire, but shows a way without an empire (after all, few things are more of a quiet threat than reminding people the empire did not always exist), Ame is of course the one who makes an effort to learn and spread it; she's the one who builds a shrine during the fight and who knows how to communicate with the spirits (sidebar what the fuck is up with Suvi's necklace). It is interesting to me, among various fandoms, seeing which character is pinned as the Moral Center because it is almost always one vague description, which Ame fits (wise; provincial; vague nature vibes), but the thing is that archetype does not really have a moral code associated with it and I wonder why that's the archetype, particularly since that immediately sticks out to me as a valuable but very limited voice. (It's also interesting that when there isn't an obvious character who fits this type, the Moral Center character - and to be clear I think the idea that one character is the moral center is fallacious and simple thinking to begin with - people gravitate towards, if I can be a bit dismissive about characters I genuinely like since I'm really just dismissing the fandom perception, sob stories, more than anything else).

[rimouskis]

Hi this is a manifesto about a band, their albums, and what love can mean in music. It's long. You have been warned!

X Ambassadors' new album Townie is such a delightful, welcome return to form for them as a band. Prior to Townie, their album The Beautiful Liar didn't land with me and sounded like a departure from their raw sound -- it was overproduced and packed full of sounds and beats and instrumentals that didn't sound like the organic band I knew and liked.

But it wasn't until I heard Townie that I realized it wasn't just the sonic experience I was missing... it was the lyrical throughlines of the rest of X Ambassadors' work, which were totally absent in The Beautiful Liar and come ROARING BACK in Townie.

Since their 2013 and 2015 EPs Love Songs Drug Songs and The Reason and first album VHS, X Ambassadors' story as a band has been about hometowns and what it means to outgrow them, leave them, hate them, and miss them. From the sound of a car turn signal in "Giants" (which laments the last of the hometown heroes) to the lyrics I hope we stay / thick as thieves / butter and bread / pillars of colonial homes in "Unconsolable", they were firmly situated in their suburban listlessness.

They integrated a literal Y2K time capsule into VHS, an album named for millennial childhood nostalgia. They begged for success and a way to escape where they grew up (boring, small, conventional) and they got it by the time they released Orion on 2019, which wrestles with them growing up and settling into adult problems but their home is still buried in the heart of them. I maintain that "WASTELAND" is their best song of all time because of how it captures the way their hometown has their hooks in them, and how they seek comfort in its hollowness. Like...

It's an acknowledgement that even after two EPs and an album about wanting to escape where you're from, you will always, forever be from there, and sometimes that's where you belong, even at your lowest.

The Beautiful Liar in 2021 was X Ambassadors' attempt at a concept album, and while I appreciate them having a vision and going for it, I simply don't think they're good at telling stories about fictional worlds and people. Even when they draw inspiration from their own lives (like the story of the blind girl), it isn't THEIR story, and their story is what makes them sound like X Ambassadors.

Townie is, as its name implies, is an unfiltered, echo-y, lament of failing and going back home. The production sometimes makes it sound like it was recorded in a garage, with ugly reverb and warbling sound levels. If VHS is the story of a hometown garage band trying to make it, Townie IS the album that band puts out. It's a distillation of the band's identity into sound. It IS them.

The lyrics of Townie are heartbreaking. They're about a 30something looking into the mirror and seeing his teenage self again. "Women's Jeans" aches about losing yourself. "Start a Band" is reaching a hand out and inviting your teenage self to do the thing that will save you: music. There's so much tenderness for oneself in the album, seeing the child within and wanting to save them, both back then and now. "Your Town" is a demand to remember your hometown, while "Sunoco" is that same teenage boy saying he's going to die in this town, and this godforsaken town will be what kills him (from "Smoke on the Highway"):

I hope I've made my case. The album bleeds this band's blood. It's perfect.

And, additionally, it unlocked something I've always been fussing at with this band but never really put words to until now: this band is about their hometown, but they're also about two brothers loving each other.

For context, the band's lead singer is Sam, and the keyboardist is his brother Casey, who has been blind since birth. Brotherhood and blindness have always been mainstays in their music, from the obviously titled "Brother," which references a lack of sight...

...to "Unconsolable" with its cane and hoping to stay thick as thieves, as the columns holding a house up...

...through the use of braille when talking about their album ORION, chiefly it's song "HOLD YOU DOWN," which remains one of my favorite love songs of all time:

[a tweet which translates directly to "i’ll hold y d{n”]

I've always understood the song to be a proclamation from Sam to Casey (the braille, the "holding" [he walks Casey onstage at their shows], the lights "going out," the "faceless" crowd, the fact that the music video for this song is just Sam and Casey on a piano as old home videos of their childhood play). But it wasn't until I listened to "Follow the Sound of My Voice" on Townie that I realized what makes this band X Ambassadors is the love songs on every album from Sam to Casey.

Forgive me for pasting half the lyrics here, but you NEED to see them:

It's a love song.

This is a love song from a brother to another. So many of their songs are purely love songs from Sam to Casey. It's beautiful. It's why their hometown matters. It's where they're from, where they grew up, what made them.

As someone with siblings, their stories hit me in a critical space that isn't touched upon by a lot of other music. Love songs aren't just about lovers. They're about the people you need, and sometimes, if you get lucky, that's your family.

Anyways, this is to say that you should give Townie a listen. I think you should start with this song, but really just start anywhere. Listen. Be held.

[soleillunne]

OKAY OKAY SO!! do you have any book recs?? i want to get back into reading, it feels like i've mostly been focused on writing these days

i have a bunch but most are fantasy!

the folk of the air trilogy - holly black

enemies to friends-ish to enemies to lovers, mc is a badass and the li is so in love (hes also a menace but mc kinda covers that lmao)

this is a 3 book series with a new series that just dropped that happens after the events of these 3 books

the order is: the cruel prince, the wicked king, the queen of nothing, stolen heir (the new book) but there are also books you can read in between (that i havent read myself)

by far the best book series ive read, i would sell my soul to read it again for the first time

circe - madelline miller

this is a story about circe, a godess (i think) from greek myth. the writing was beautiful, but since its myth, if youre not interested i dont reccomend

(same goes w song of achilles by the same writer)

shadow and bone & six of crows - leigh bardugo

(this one has a two season series on netflix too if youre interested)

shadow and bone - 3 books;

mc is so op honestly, she discovers magical powers early in the book and finds out shes grisha (ppl that have magical powers), but not just any grisha, shes a legend grisha, one of a kind

i dont really remember who she ends up with as its been a while since i read the books but one li is an ass while the other gives golden retriever vibes and i didnt like either of them /lh

six of crows - 2 books;

now listen, i didnt actually read these two books but in the tv show the two series are shown at the same time and i like the characters in this one more

badass gang, thats it. (look more info pls dont trust me)

the kane chronicles - rick riordan

percy jackson is so famous people forget this absolute gem right here.

the idea is the same as percy jackson, except this time its about egyptian gods instead (also techically mc isnt a child of the gods)

it has 3 books, with extra crossover books w pjo (that are also really good once you have the basics)

the midnight library - matt haig

i'm actually not sure what category this falls into.

mc has an accident and ends up at a library at exactly midnight, where the weird librarian tells her that this library is her life (of sorts). basically each book in the library is how her life couldve been like based on some decisions she made

and she keeps going to these other versions of her life by reading the books until she realizes hey, she wants to live, and goes back to her original life

not my favorite, but still an okay one

dune - frank herbert

this is a classic, but it was really good

i dont remember the details, all i really remember was that i had sth for the mc

fr tho its really good, give it a go if long books dont intimidate you

as for books to get into reading again, hmmm

cries okay so dont get mad but the cruel prince got me out of a reading slump

momo - michael ende

this book is so well written istg

mc is a child, first of all. and i dont mean like a teen i mean shes 8 max, shes a literal child but its okay bc there isnt that much action in this one

the main idea of the book is about how precious time is, but its told through such an interesting way. there are time thieves that steal other people's time to live, making it look like theyre helping people save time on mundane things, and momo stops them (not in an insane way i promise)

the secret garden - frances hodgson burnett

this is a classic, but dont let that fool you this is a really well written book

this one has almost no action in it btw

mc is also a child here (shes maybe 12 at most), she moves into the mansion of her uncle after her family dies where she starts to behave like an actual child instead of some spoiled princess/lh

so one day while going on a stroll in the garden area (?) bc no one is there to take care of her now, she finds a secret garden and decides hey since no one seems to care for this garden, this is mine now

also there are other children that she befriends along the way that help her w the garden

def recommend

extra;

anne of green gables (this is so long honestly i ended up just watching the series bc the fact that its 8 books intimidated me at the time - ill get to it eventually)

miss peregrines home for peculiar children (also same as above - i loved the concept tho and ill read it eventually)

percy jackson - a classic

Jayden's Rescue & Old Scroll - vladimir tumanov (these are techincally chrildrens books but theyre also great books so)

[lukecastellan]

nine people i'd like to get to know better

Tagged by @jeaniefranklins

Last Song: "All Around the World" by Oasis which is *embarassed sigh* my favorite band.

Favorite Color: Light pink! Like ballet slipper pink!

Last Book: I'm reading Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross and I am enjoying it, but it upsets me that current YA fantasy is so tame and restrained. In my day we were reading Vampire Academy where the protagonist had to kill her turned-evil boyfriend and he captured her and locked her up and put her in a vampiresque sexual trance of sorts ffs. What will happen to the children reading all this prudeness honestly!!!!!! I'm also reading a thriller called The Maid's Diary and the last book I finished was another YA, titled Make me a Liar. It was a scy-fi murder mystery and a solid 2/5 stars read. IDK is it just me or last year was really really weak, book-wise? It was very hard for me to actually find new releases that kept me hooked.

Last Movie: Saw Mean Girls at the theater and at home I rewatched D&D Honor Among Thieves. Still a fantastic movie btw.

Last TV Show: I'm watching PJ&O weekly! Also I just returned from a three week trip to Sweden and they had Scrubs available to stream there, which sadly is not true here in Brazil. Anyway I got to watch all of season one before coming home.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Savory! Specially if its a little tangy. I love adding lime and salt to stuff lol

Relationship Status: Single

Last Thing I Googled: The website I have to use for work cause I can never remember the link

Current Obsession: So the PJ&O show has definitely rekindled some of the decade old obsession I've had for/with a handful of characters. Also a couple months back I started to write fanfiction again and finally had the guts to put into words stories I fantasied for a long time, for the niche pairing I've secretly read since I was 17. Its scary cause fandom is daunting but wth, right? Which in turn made me want to read even more fanfiction to celebrate fanwork. People are so talented its insane. Also I have been writing some of my own original shit. Oh and its Big Brother Brasil season so I apologize for my capslocked portuguese tweets for the next 3 months because I cannotjust watch something

Looking Forward To: Carnaval is in a couple of weeks, which, love!! And to keep with the theme, let me give you a book, a movie and a show I'm excited for: Show: Severance season 2 whenever that drops Movie: Wicked part 1 baby I will be there in full green paint idc idc Book: *another disappointed sigh* I love Anthony Horowitz's mysteries, especially his self insert ode to himself (the Hawthorne and Horowitz series which is so so good, sadly;) and a new one is coming out in march, apparently. I will be there.

I have to tag nine people which is a lot and idk who likes this sort of thing and who has done it so if this bugs you im sorry so sorry just ignore. Also if you want to do it GO AHEAD and say I tagged you I wanna get to know you. Also why is it impossible for me to just answer something without a whole paragraph. Anyway, tagging @jedlelands @glorianas @pureanonofficial @clytenmestra @kallypsowrites @bisansastarks @darlingwendy @seollem-tm @peppershark

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 148

The Reichenbach Fall

“The Reichenbach Fall”

Plot Description: Moriarty hatches a mad scheme to turn the whole city against Sherlock.

Oh, Jawnnnnnnnn. Glad you went back to therapy over it though

Ok yes. He’s been ungrateful with his other tokens of gratitude, but to humiliate the man by making him wear the deer stalker cap after he’s just brought you interpol’s most wanted? Come on…

It’s an EAR hat, Jawn

The “confirmed bachelor” lines were no accident and just blatant queer baiting.

Jimmmmm!! Jim my love

I…made this scene a VERY large part of my personality for TOO LONG. Now I’m just gonna sit back and enjoy watching this man bring a country to its knees (this part of The Thieving Magpie was my alarm for years, and I maintain that I was correct to have it. It’s way better than what I have now)

Who’s doing it like him, I ask you

Wiggling, squirming. Oh man. I had THIS on playlists too (the song right before Jim’s trial…when I say my WHOLE PERSONALITY…stayin alive was also my ringtone. Would you believe I’m divulging this lore SOBER?? Because I am)

Do not be yourself in this trial, Sherls, omg…

There’s a weird nostalgic pang of “god I wish that was me” when he asks the one courtroom worker (truly, I don’t know her job title) to slip her hand into his pocket. Maybe it’s just the Irish accent. It’s just for gum but he’s so slutty about it

I can’t look at this actress without thinking of her as Jen from the IT Crowd. She can’t be anything else in my mind. She’s forever Jen doing a bit in a costume in different places (this is going to take forever to watch if i keep pausing like this)

The Sheriarty is jumping out right now. You don’t describe someone you know is definitely listening and watching you as “a spider, a spider at the center of a web. A criminal web with a thousand threads, and he knows precisely how each and every single one of them dances.” YOU ARE LOOKING INTO HIS EYES AT HIS TRIAL AS YOU SAY THAT ABOUT HIM. Were I a consulting criminal, I would be so flattered by that description

Oh god…don’t make the jury hate you. Yeah. Of course he finds it impossible to not show off

This tea scene omgggg when he…is it really breaking into 221b if Sherlock is expecting him??

Every once in a while, I do get the glimpses of how these three shows got lumped together. Jim telling Sherlock he’s boring because he’s on the side of the angels is definitely one of those things

He’s got the best little speeches “no such thing as a private bank account now, they’re all mine. No such thing as secrecy, I OWN secrecy. Nuclear codes? I could blow up nato in alphabetical order. In a world of locked rooms, the man with the key is king, and honey, you should seeee meeee in a crown” (did I do an embarrassing amount of that from memory? maybe so)

Oh shit…i forgot the fairy tale stuff Moriarty puts them through…I mean, you gotta fill 90 minutes somehow (I want to sleep so badly…but I’m not even half way done)

I fucking hate how he treats Molly. She deserves better than him and this show. God…she thinks she doesn’t count…fuck. I hate it

Riiiight. He made it seem like the kidnapping was Sherlock’s doing so he could then solve it and he the hero. Just planting the seeds of doubt

Oh the Tale of Sir Boast-a-lot

When villains hijack the airwaves>>>>>> (my taste has not changed a bit in 10 years lmaooooo) I know in this case, he’s actually the cab driver, but he’ll do it later in the series. For now, we’ll just enjoy this nice little story Jim’s telling

You can’t outrun………oh, that was one of the assassins that moved onto baker street

It’s so weird that he’s doing exactly what Jim wants him to do…..

He’s unbelievably precious as Richard Brook. Insisting he’s a children’s storyteller, he’s on tv. It’s on dvd. You do almost forget that he’s a criminal mastermind for a second, except for that one moment when Kitty can’t see him and he has that look on his face as he glances at Sherlock

John and Mycroft have such a good dynamic. No matter if they’re on the same side, on opposing sides…it’s always a good scene when it’s just them

Uuuuggggghhhhhhhh, we’re starting with the roof of St Bart’s scene…will it be as good and heartbreaking as I remember?

Reader, it is. Jim’s lament about how easy it was to beat Sherlock, his best distraction for the monotony of staying alive. Oh, bby. Andrew Scott is such a good actor.

The fact that there was no code, that it was always a few of those threads that Jim made dance to send the world crashing down around them.

(I’m currently living in a world where his character didn’t get absolutely fucked over by the last episode of the series…………….so far(?))

I do like that Jim underestimates the importance of Molly. She still deserves better from everyone around her, but it’s nice that she’ll get SOME recognition in season 3

Pausing because I know what comes next and I don’t want it to…

Can we not just stay like this??? (Not if I want to make it a true full rewatch…)

I STAY a “here’s how [villain] can still live/be alive” girlie. I DO NOT CHANGE LMAO

Oh the phone call… “nobody could be that clever” “you could” I hate everything

Mycroffffffffft. Jawwwwwwwwn.

John at Sherlock’s grave is just…heart wrenching. Always and forever.

This is the best and highest rated episode of this show for GOOD REASON

[nebulaleaf]

goodbye persona 5 royal. after 121 hours (140 on my switch profile) i got 69% of thieves den achievements, 99% in the compendium, and took 910 switch screenshots (third sem having a recording block really cucked me fr.) I think I did as much as i possibly could. despite my gripes this was my most fulfilling playthrough i've ever done of P5. i have a lot of bad things to say about royal but i really did have so much fun with it. getting excited over the new moves with the grappling hook (guessing where the cutscene would be and having fun being technical with chains de hook), making more strategic personas with fusion alarms, using all that extra time p5r gives as efficiently as possible. I loved maruki's confidant even if it ended in a kind of mediocre palace. he's just a fun guy who's so naturally inserted into the story it feels like he Should've always been there (except for the end). though its a shame because of how his confidant is structured in terms of topics, you cant easily insert it into p5 (its basically just a huge foreshadowing/ general set-up for the themes of 3rd sem). akechi's though... akechi's confidant and the addition of kichioji was WONDERFUL and i'd have killed for it in vanilla. im so glad for it. its such a fun place to explore and i love all the new npcs; penguin sniper was fun to play (though i hate playing with akechi, esp because its useless to) and jazzjin's gameplay elements were REAL FUN TO MAKE BUSTED ASS TEAMMATES WITH. no more what-ifs is also... a good song. i think i might even add it to my personal faves playlist. i'll have to sit down and listen to the ost when i don't have a headache. anyway there's probably a lot more good things i can say, but my head is kind of muddled rn lol. that post-game feeling fr.

ahh, but even when it comes down to the bad, like kasumi-- groaning every time she came on screen was fun in its own way too; whether it was laughing at the hilarity of it or coming to tumblr and grumbling about it with whoever was following along with my posts that day. honestly i just wish they tried a little harder with her and we got to know *sumire* instead of kasumi a little more. reading the interview where the devs admitted to her just being a marketing ploy and how they treated her as such really is crushing. its kind of a reflection of royal as a whole in a way to me. care *was* put in; i can see the heart behind a lot of this, but it's more focused on being flashy and appealing to those who missed the first wave of p5dom; or trying to draw back in those who have already played. which... is the point of a video game definitive edition, but kind of ironic when presented against the morals p5 seems to stand for. (or tries to, anyway. corporate meddling and cultural norms... this is still a video game that needs to sell.) i know i shouldn't treat silly anime game #685 that lets you date a maid-teacher as an 'art form' but i always felt p5 had a pretty solid and profound message. so to see royal trample p5 vanilla and then dance around wearing its skin is... certainly something. i know they're technically the same game, so royal has those messages too, but they get all tied up in the new stuff that royal brings forth (and doesn't deliver on. lmao. lol) on top of the already shaky at times writing p5 came with. i guess what im just trying to say is that royal's content is good... but it's being too much. and that just makes me really, really sad. despite all that, royal still kind of rekindled my love for p5 that was already present. every new playthrough for me lets me look deeper into what i like or neat details i missed; seriously i always find something new when i come back to this game. but this was especially true in royal. i found myself noticing when the tiniest detail was changed and it was always fun to compare them, even if it devolved into a tangent. i really only am disappointed like this just because I love persona 5 as a whole *so much*. its everything to me, so i want it to be the best it can be, yknow? anyway, thanks persona 5 royal. you've been a journey in multiple ways. try as i might, i won't forget you.

[and-home-before-dark]

Fistfight by The Ballroom Thieves is the Kanej song:

“They say it’s good to start a story with a tragedy”

“You were smiling to yourself as if we both understood / The silent language of the anguish of a heart that sings but doesn't make a sound”

“What did I do to deserve you? / How did you find me? I was already halfway gone”

“Our love has found its way into our mouths before / Cut our teeth until we swallow it whole”

I rest my case.

[televinita]

Am listening to Taylor Swift music again, and have been seized by the need to talk through some of her older albums -- favorite songs, personal history, whatever comes to mind. Maybe in yet another attempt to try and figure out my overall fave / ranking of them as a set? No real order is planned for this so I thought I’d start with this one, because I realized I actually hadn’t listened to it in quite some time.

(I don't really know what this mini-project is going to be but I’ve been noodling on it for a few nights and now seems as good a time as any to share.)

Background/Overview

When it was new -- and a 2010 Christmas present for me -- it was my favorite of the three, but now I'm not sure. The thing is that it has several songs I like better than the entirety of Fearless (except for #1 fave Change), but it also has a handful I find less interesting compared to that one’s “13 track listings, stars beside them all” success, and I can’t decide how to weight that. It does absolutely have the prettiest cover and booklet, though.

Songs

Ask me my favorite song on this album and I’ll say without hesitation Long Live. I don’t think that will ever change; it’s in my all-time-faves across her whole discography. The twin/companion piece to Change, it never fails to make my heart sing. It came out after I was an adult but it still makes me nostalgic and occasionally teary as hell for high school. Bonus association: this was my mental soundtrack for the end of Glee season 3 too (”for a moment, a band of thieves in ripped-up jeans got to rule the world").

Runner-up faves are Haunted, which really lives up to its name (Wuthering Heights-haunted style, maybe... between the electric guitar tearing open the scene and the chimes, the instrumentation is epic; this may be the only song that actually loses emotional impact as an acoustic/piano version), Better Than Revenge (which is my not-even-that-guilty pleasure and I will JAM OUT to it to this day; "no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity" is SAVAGE and I love it), and The Story of Us ("looks like a lot like a tragedy now" is one of my favorite quotes to bust out in episode reviews about ‘ship destruction, or was when I still did those), which is similarly jam-out-worthy. Ooh, and Sparks Fly is one of those songs where I'm like, "WHY wasn't this a single, it's so good." I’m actually always kind of surprised that one isn’t the album opener; “my mind forgets to remind me you’re a bad idea” is my anthem for giving shows/ships/characters/episodes way more chances than they deserve. (Grey’s Anatomy. We’re mostly talking about every time I dip back into the Grey’s Anatomy waters). In slow-songs-I-like territory: Enchanted, which is frankly too pretty for the person it’s actually about (but helpfully easy to apply to anyone and relevant to every listener’s life). And Back to December, which suffers rather unjustly from my knowing that it’s about The Boring Taylor, because I used to automatically skip it about half the time, yet every time I actually listen to it I'm shocked to realize it’s way prettier than I remember. Both musically (when male vocals...enhance?? a taylor song??) and lyrically.

As far as the other singles, I kind of killed Mine for myself with overplay, but I do think it's one of the strongest singles she's ever released...and as I’m listening to it now, I think it might be back! What good music, what a sweet scenario, and how much do I love the “brace myself for the goodbye / ‘cause that’s all I’ve ever known...” part.

Mean is fun and deservedly sassy, although it too is recovering from overplay (with the added demerit of being covered in the worst, least appealing possible way on Glee and feeling tainted forever. Once upon a time this was in my top 5 for the CD). Speak Now is fun too, but also...damn, so much more juvenile and mean-spirited to me now than Better Than Revenge. You don't help a dude ditch his bride at their wedding! If he shouldn't be marrying her you talk to him BEFORE THE CEREMONY???? I have definitely lost enchantment with this one over time.

One I don’t know how to feel about: I have to be in the right mood for the song so I don’t always let it play through, but as a late bloomer homebody and perpetual looker-backer, the second half of Never Grow Up really kicked me in the heart when I first heard it. I thankfully never ended up having to experience this, but "here I am in my / new apartment in the big city / they just dropped me off / it's so much colder than I thought it would be / so I tuck myself in, and turn the nightlight on" really described all my deepest fears about graduating from college and still brings a twinge at the mere thought.

On the downturn: unpopular opinion but while Dear John is full of great lyrics, it’s just so damned slow that I skip it almost every time. I’m really hoping it gets reinvigorated by a Taylor’s Version, because whenever I give it a chance, I just end up freshly disappointed by the wasted potential.

Innocent is slightly more compelling music-wise, but still rather slow and often skipped, not least because it just...feels weird. Uneven. There are some great lines and a good idea buried in here, but with its history and context it's so patronizing even when I’m on Taylor’s side that it ends up cringe.

Meanwhile, Last Kiss doesn't even exist to me. It covers the same criminal territory as Back to December but it's EVEN SLOWER. Bonus Tracks I didn't hear them until the end of 2012 and even then only as standalones on Spotify, separate from the album associations, I absolutely love all three, more than the last 5 or 6 above in fact. Ours is the companion piece / sequel to "Mine," If This Were A Movie is sweet, and Superman is so cute and catchy.

[animationstoriestochill]

The Pink Phink (1964)

From a cameo to a star

I don’t know if this is just me but when growing up my father had a lot and I do mean a lot of DVDs and Cassettes so that meant he had anything and everything from the titanic to Dora the explorer. And one thing common during the DVDs era was to release DvDs that was just a compilation of cartoons and I can’t lie I thought through most of my childhood that those films were of my era not older (I’m looking at you Santa’s workshop and Lonesome Ghosts) why is that important? Because that brings me to this diva.

I LOVED Pink Panther as a kid, I would watch this cartoons a lot, way too much in fact to the point that the theme song is stuck in my head and me remembering how I would watch the Christmas special every single year.

So everyone sit down and be quiet cause today we’re talking about him.

This is the story of The Pink Phink, the beginning of a cultural icon.

The origin

Okey so if I asked someone “Have you watched The Pink Panthern” most of them would immediately think of the cartoon, not the movie

Wait there’s a movie?

That’s right, your favorite diva from the golden age of animation was not a character but quite literally the opening of a movie.

In 1963, the movie “The Pink Panther” was released to the public. This was a comedic mystery film where a Princess has the infamous gem called “The Pink Panther” and there’s a lot of people who want this gem. The government of her country of birth (yes I know that’s weird but I ain’t explaining the whole story) and a thief called “The phantom” also wants to steal it. Jeez why is everything starting with the, might as well bring out The Phantom Thieves at least they could’ve gotten the gem.

Anyways what’s important is that the movie had a unique intro and that intro was the origin of the Pink Panther. Confused? Good cause things will get even more confusing down the line.

For the sake of simplicity I will say Pink Panther when referring to the character and Pink gem for the movie

So after the movie was released it became a success but not for the reasons you think. You see many people would go back and buy tickets just to see Pink Panther aka the intro and then just leave, people loved the pink panther, they loved the intro, they loved the charisma and sass the pink panther had. What a shame that it isn’t a carto-

The Pink Phink

“Ask and you shall receive” said Friz Frleng the director of the short when starting its production(probably)

And so on December 6, 1963 the short film was released in the United States alongside the movie “Kiss me, Stupid”. So let’s see what kind of shenanigans goes down on this film.

This 6 minute film can be summarised in one sentence: this is basically you're average Splatoon match

but for those you do not play Splatoon, first of all how dare you, but secondly in this short film a guy names "Little Man" is trying to paint a house with the color blue while Pink Panthern is trying to paint it pink obviously.

From a story standpoint it's very funny but in terms of technical standpoint it's even funnier just how much the team got away with things.

Remember our good pals UPA? Well because UPA made it posible to shorts to focus more on the animation than background, The Pink Phink quite literally said f**k the background, no really there was only one artist that worked on the background (Tom O'Loughlin). Look at the entire film again and you will see that most of it is just a white/blue/pink background and the house at then end of the scene? It's simple in terms of design and it only shows up fora couple of seconds not even a minute.

Speaking of the colors that is also a funny cheap way to save money, having a limited pallet makes it not only easier to paint (remember how technicolor works and how artists had to paint frame by frame?) but also you can just save time because you don't worry to have the same shade of green you used for 3 seconds, it's actually genius.

The cherry on top? The music of course. It's just a loop of the theme Henry Mancini composed for the intro for the movie which ironically became known as the theme song for the Pink Panthern.

and so the rest is history as many would say. The Pink Phink became a massive success and it won an Academy Award for best animated film and Pink Panthern became a cultural icon both for the animation community and the queer community.

And that is the story of our diva the Pink panthern

Until Next time

and Remember Another day another slayyyyyy