#the music that defined me

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I just want you to know that I was rereading the PDMDZS comics yet again, and I finally caved and watched Legally Blonde because you're like a puppeteer that draws things and I'm like "well, guess I have to see it now." Now, after watching Legally Blonde, I must tell you that Elle Woods is love, Elle Woods is life, Elle Woods is everything to me. Elle Woods would have been able to save Wei Wuxian from the Jins all while looking sparkly and fantastic as she does it. (Obviously with her hype girlies in the background)

Her power and influence know no bounds!

[wheresurboytonighthelookslikeenj]

its always funny when i remember hamilton was a big deal because i know about it rationally like i was into it as well. but so many people in the doctor who tag knowing jonathan groff primarily as king george still amuses me because he is in so many other things

[wassupmygays]

"im still latino but i gotta cover up my miami accent so the socs dont shun me and find out im an immigrant"

henry about his 'lore' when hes on as a soc via is ig live rn :]

[zytes]

7.15.23

[francesderwent]

it’s interesting to me how close songs like “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” or “The Manuscript” get to a robust ethics of love versus use. beyond simply the assertion that leaving is a betrayal of love which ought to be forever, these songs contain a pretty strong rejection, specifically of sex where it did not belong and had no business appearing. she can say, not just you leaving was cowardly, you ruined something real, but I regret you all the time—I wouldn’t do it all over again, any of it. not just you hurt me within the bounds of our love story, but this wasn’t above board at all. it wasn’t love. you took advantage. another way to say this: “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” and “The Manuscript” recognize that sometimes sex is a sin. not leaving afterwards, but sex itself. for the first time, we’re presented with a love story that couldn’t have been saved by an eleventh hour confession of love, by “don’t go” or “I want you for worse or for better” or “the worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you”. the whole thing is rejected as poisoned.

but these songs can only make such a strong statement because there’s the age gap to point to. to the modern mind, it’s easier to recognize use when there’s a clear power imbalance, but I think we’re getting the causation wrong, or at least oversimplifying it. the reason there shouldn’t be sexual relationships between people of drastically different ages isn’t that older people and younger people exist as such in relationships of imbalanced power. a healthy relationship between a mentor and a mentee or a teacher and a student is about guidance and education and protection and respect. these things aren’t “good” exercises of power or restrained power, they are not exercises of power at all.

power enters into the equation when one party decides to use the other. this choice transforms every difference in the relationship into an inequality, every imbalance into a threat. this wasn’t always secretly there under the relationship, it’s a totally transformed new kind of relationship now that use has entered into it. the more differences and asymmetries there are to start with, the more dramatically unequal the new relationship is—not because the relationship was bad inevitably and to begin with! but because these relationships are more vulnerable and so bringing use into them is a greater corruption, which magnifies the damage that is always there. even a perfectly “equal” relationship becomes a power struggle when use enters into it.

but the further step which is invisible to modern eyes is that sex, outside of marriage, does this all on its own. somebody who sleeps with you without marrying you is using you, full stop. and as much as I think this revelation is between the lines of Tortured Poets (and I do think that, it’s in the parallels between the two men!), she can’t face it head-on. there is no she thought about how he said since they loved each other, everything had been above board…she wasn’t sure. because modernity is so convinced that that has to be above board. so the closest thing we get to a song that speaks to that creeping feeling that she was used again is the mashup of Sweet Nothing and Hoax, and her derisive conclusion: all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing.

[snixx]

nina salazar-roberts is such a beautiful case study in comphet and I genuinely think her arc deserves so more appreciation

[gay-mooshrooms]

doing a spn rewatch is a wild ride cus im in s1 and my character understandings are growing and shifting before my very eyes

[fadewalking]

You guys are afraid to make ancient elf characters and it shows.

[wdywpaul]

my day be so fine then boom i get the lyrics of bare a pop opera stuck in my head

[half-infinite]

if you stay, i'll be forgiven | a stsg gojo satoru fanmix

01/ [A]ddiction evo+ 02/ Gold Guns Girls metric 03/ Lurk the neighbourhood 04/ Glory and Gore lorde 05/ 400 Lux lorde 06/ Heat Waves glass animals 07/ Are You Bored Yet? wallows feat. clairo 08/ I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance) glass animals 09/ You Get Me So High the neighbourhood 10/ The Other Side of Paradise glass animals 11/ Valentine's Day linkin park 12/ Your Ex-Lover is Dead stars 13/ Famous Last Words my chemical romance

you taste like cigarettes and hurricanes [x] || [geto suguru]

[youremyonlyhope]

The fact that Charlene Kaye has started an all-girl Radiohead cover band called Labiahead and Lena Hall is the lead singer is a string of words that I think would have actually made my 19-year-old brain explode.

And the fact that I very likely am not available to go to their debut concert is an actual travesty. Like, I am so mad.

[hamletthedane]

7 & 77

#7: Be Calm (fun.)

The fact that this has been in my top 10 songs every year for the last decade is possibly a little concerning:

(fun. has also been my #1 artist every single year for ten years straight. again: probably a worrying sign)

#77 - already answered :)

[fullmoonfireball]

so funny that C-R-O-W-N-E-D is considered Magolor's theme way more than Welcome Your New Overlord is, bc in terms of the story that could not be further from the truth <3

[outeremissary]

🎸🚨🌹🍷for balthazar perhaps?

Sorry this is coming so late!!! My brain stopped working for a little while. Thank you for the ask and for your patience. :') Under a cut for length...

[prompt list]

🎸 (electric guitar) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

I'm going to be completely honest, I almost never feel confident what a modern AU version of one of my fantasy characters would be into and I somehow lost track of the only thing that ever made me think "yeah Balthazar would fuck with this." I will spend the next five months attempting to answer this question if I don't cut myself off at a point so. 😭 Sorry to say that I just don't know where his tastes would fall- I've had ideas really and truly all over the map over the years, from mostly into older industrial and kind of an asshole about it to someone who listens mostly to contemporary club dancepop. There must be some truth between these that's eluding me. Maybe the trouble is that to me it feels like he must be in some way or other a Music Guy but yours truly isn't a Music Guy, more just a guy who listens to music...

Idk. I'm sure he's heard Charli XCX. Whatever that means. Maybe I just think it would be kinda funny if he listened to what's on his own playlist. Don't sleep don't eat, just do it on repeat. Or whatever.

(Right before posting I DID remember I recently answered a similar question for Golarion- compensation?)

🚨 (siren) - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

Balthazar's relationship with the law has been changed by becoming the law, but not as much as you might expect. Laws have always been more like "suggestions for other people to follow" to him- laws keep people in check, and taking advantage of people following them is what anyone smart would do. Besides, he understands only too well the ways that keeping people in check keeps the lowly down, and he desperately wants to keep himself from ending up at the bottom. As a ruler he's happy to make laws he doesn't intend to follow meant to shape the behavior of others and make it easier to impose his will on them with the pretext of enforcement- though to some degree he's also ambivalent about a lot of mundane rulemaking and content to allow advisors with more expertise figure out the policy for him to approve. And if it eventually inconveniences him, he'll find a way to go around it, causing more principled advisors and companions no end of despair (when and if they learn). It's a philosophy he shares with Jaethal, who he trusts to help him thread the needle to keep it all from appearing as the flagrant violation it is. His selfish caprice is also one of the places he does see eye to eye with Lander- perhaps disrespect for one's own established rules is the only solid foundation of their advisor relationship.

Balthazar has never been arrested himself, but he's had a lot of close encounters both while traveling and in his home city of Absalom. He grew up poor and spent a lot of time out in the city without his father, frequently occupied by work, around. Being a scruffy, unattended kid gets you a lot of questions from the corner guards when you linger a little too long in certain places or look too hard at something you're not able to buy. He was always good enough at playing meek and innocent to dodge real trouble- even when he had been a bit light fingered. Being an aasimar helped. Being an aasimar always helps at least a little. And that kind of sets the tone for his whole relationship with law enforcement up until the barony: he doesn't trust law enforcement, he doesn't expect it to be on his side, and he's always ready to wriggle out by finding a way to be a bystander or victim when unwelcome attention is on him. He's also happy to let others take the fall for him.

Of course, when it's his laws being enforced to his ends it's just another tool in his kit. He's a class traitor like that- although also acutely aware that it looks bad to be overzealous using it.

🌹 (rose) - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners? Are they found in themselves?

(Disclaimer: I am asexual and attraction, especially to physical traits, is sometimes a challenge to imagine)

Physically, Balthazar enjoys toned, strong physiques on any gender. Someone who's well dressed and well spoken also stands out to him, although brazen confidence isn't necessarily compelling- he prefers a partner who's easily flustered and can be pushed around a bit. That's a lot of fun to do. Being pushed back on or talked over is generally a lot less enjoyable, although he's certainly put up with a lot of it in his life. He also does have something of thing for inexperienced partners. Something about the idea of innocence is catnip to him, and he loves playing the part of the worldly lover.

Very little of his preferences reflect aspects of himself; he likes people who are physically unlike him who are far more willing to be dominated than he is. At the same time, I think that perhaps he has an appreciation for people who challenge him that he hasn't fully acknowledged himself, and a certain fondness for steadfast characters who are passionate about what they believe in. An extension of liking people unlike himself, maybe. The emotional extension he's not willing to see.

It's not hard to see how a lot of his preferences map onto recent lovers he's had. Regongar is his type in many ways, although they have incompatible personalities and Balthazar found him far too high maintenance despite being a good time in bed. Tristian is clearly compelling from some angles (naive, inexperienced, easy to tease), but from others might be more challenging- they do push back on Balthazar quite a bit, demand an emotional earnesty from him that he usually isn't comfortable giving a partner, he's not especially comfortable with certain kinds of religiosity, and for a long time they were at frequently at odds and didn't really get along. (And in terms of Vio AU, Vio is physically attractive but really doesn't take being pushed around lying down. Challenging the idea that Balthazar is put off by being challenged...)

🍷 (wine) - Does your oc drink? What kind of alcohol do they enjoy? What are their drinking habits? What kind of drunk are they?

Balthazar drinks! Not as often or as hard as when he was younger and still spending time with people he is firmly no longer in contact with (some of whom died. unrelated, probably.), but the social drinking habit never left him. He likes going out for drinks with friends and acquaintances, or just having a glass of something with dinner. The Stolen Lands are slowly shaping up to not be the worst place to be out in, at least, even if some part of him badly misses the bars and clubs of Absalom he was once up all night in. He tries to avoid being drunk, but the fact is that he's a lightweight and he easily spills into tipsiness if he's not on his guard.

He enjoys fruity things and mixed drinks with interesting flavor profiles, but gravitates towards hard liquor. Brandy is his preference and comes with a sense of class in his mind that he enjoys, but he has a lingering near-nostalgia for the kind of cheap half a step from rubbing alcohol shit he used to do shots of with the other broke apprentices in the neighborhood. Overall, he's not as picky drinking as you might expect and there's a lot he can get down (even if it might not always stay down). He's drunk the goblin liquor with the poison toad in it. It's not even the worst thing he's had. Unfortunately.

When drunk, Balthazar is loud, flirty, confident, and far more honest than he ordinarily is. The "hold my drink and watch this" kind of confident. He's not really proud of it, but a lot of people find drunk Balthazar a lot of fun.

[an-theduckin]

Remembering the time I referenced fucking Hamilton in school

[damnable-bell]

Just some disconnected, inchoate and probably defensive thoughts on "HARD," the reaction to "HARD," and where it fits within SHINee's discography (written in bullet-point format, since I'm supposed to be working):

I'm not here to discipline anyone into liking the song; it's perfectly legitimate to feel disappointed by an artist embracing a sound you don't personally enjoy.

Having said that, I also tend to roll my eyes at knee-jerk dismissals of "fourth gen" music. Pop music changes, or else it stagnates. If I'm weighing a piece of music as a critic, and not just as an individual with strongly held generic and aesthetic preferences (which, again, require no defense), I can't begin and end by totaling up the number of chanted choruses and anti-drops—I mean, I can, it would just make me a very conservative and not particularly illuminating critic.

Other than excellent production, what stands out to me about "HARD" in opposition to any number of more po-faced recent boy group releases (cf. Kayla Beardslee on how too many boy groups right now "are obsessed with coming off as really cool") is how much fun the members are having in playing around with goofy fourth gen motifs. There's nothing ironic or parodic about it—they are, as a friend said, sincerely committed to the bit, but also clearly relishing in the ridiculousness of it all. I mean, consider the dick jokes.

Is "HARD" a good song? I think so. Is it a good SHINee song?Putting aside the question of whether "HARD" feels sonically distinct from other recent boy group releases (or how much), the underlying playfulness of it feels distinctly SHINee. In that sense, it reminds me of "LUCIFER," which also embraced a more hard-edged sound/aesthetic already popular in K-Pop at the time, but which still feels/felt distinctly SHINee in its flamboyance (see Occupied Territories' brilliant write-up).