#those videos are soooooo low quality ;A;

[donghyuckkies]

baekhyun in every mv ↳ pt.1: exo & cbx mvs

[autisticempathydaemon]

𝓖𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓭𝓪𝔂,

this is for the redacted boy matchups!!

UHMMM my name’s amber, im a cat person i love cars and i have unnecessary beef with Lasko just cuz he reminds me so much of myself

I was born and raised in the Philippines ^_^, i speak 3 languages currently

this is such a halfassed introduction im so sorry SO HAPPY TO BE HEREE ok

1. What song are you fixated on at the moment? What lyric or verse, and why?

- Just the entirety of ‘A letter to my 13 yr old self’ by laufey but instead it’s dedicated to my friends

“Baby, know that

You’ll grow up and grow so touch and charming

Write your stories, fall in love a little too

The things you thought you’d never do”

- Every time I listen to this, I always think of them and what they’ve confided in me with, I grieve with them and just wish I could have been there to shield them from it :3

2. Do you love gargantuan Youtube video essays, and if so, which is your favorite and why?

- When it comes to longggg video essays , I usually lean towards topics that I’m already fond/familiar of so that i remain interested and focused (current interests like the mandela catalogue :D or political affairs going on in the world, or true crime)

- Dunno if it counts for a video essay but i once finished watching a 4 hour senate hearing….in one sitting

3. What is your go-to way to fall asleep?

- I often do have to take melatonin cuz sometimes there’s too much happening up there—>🧠 and i struggle to fall asleep

- asmr videos (i like the ones made by small creators cuz the rest are too predictable)

- or i have a playlist for sleeping and i usually put that on very low volume on a speaker

- I also can’t sleep without hugging something but it CANT be a person, has to be…..a pillow…or a stuffed animal

4. What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why?

- i only listen to the ‘don’t hang up’ halloween audio like maybe 12 times a day? For the past 4 months or so :P

- I absolutely love the trope and i loveee the way that it was executed.

- I love the cadence of his voice in that audio, and something about his demeanour is soooooo🤗🤗the gravely voice and the dark laugh is to die for (he reminds me of David a tiny tiny bit)

-something about how protective these men are and how authoritative they can get (to a certain extent) just do it for me i dunno :3

-me 🤝distorted voice on the phone

- i also rlly like porter’s first video ^_^

5. What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? Like, not the one you hate but the one who you don’t get the hype for. (I won’t judge, I promise.)

- blake? Kody?

- Blake i find has very realistic ‘yandere’ qualities and that makes him more creepy for me

- Kody is very self-explanatory

6. Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? Like- forget dating, which dude do you want to be your best friend?

- GUUUUUYYYYYYYY or asher >_<

- These are men that I am so confident I would never catch feelings for cuz we’re very similar in a way

- I don’t tend to gravitate towards people that I share similarities with? I’m more interested in people that are the opposite (so i feel like in terms of romantic attachments, I get along with those types of people really well)

7. Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? (For example, my boyfriend knows I’m ready to sleep when I start talking about space.)

- i feel like im not answering the question properly but when i ramble (which I do a lot) i sort of don’t stick to one topic

- I don’t know anything about anything so I usually ramble about one thing and then move on with another topic

- (halfway thru typing i just realized what this is actually asking) but when im tired that’s when I actually stop talking for once :D

8. Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment. 

- i have a playlist full of filipino songs because I currently live in Canada and i am soooo homesick, also doesn’t help that I haven’t really met any other filipinos (outside of immediate family members) :(

- there’s also another which is just full of songs released in the 1900’s, not only do i enjoy listening to old-school songs, i was also raised by old people so these type of songs basically defined my childhood.

9. What’s your guilty pleasure media, and why?

- Boyfriend asmr >_<

- Maybe fanfics of fictional characters???

- I’m especially partial to yandere stuff…cuz…idk i wish i knew

- Also cupcakke (i’ve put her on shuffle and managed to complete a big assignment in one sitting so thats my queen)

10. Tell me about that one book/movie/tv show you know all the words to.

- it would be the Haunting of Bly Manor (horror, suspense, romance, drama?)

- GAY PPL CAN NEVER BE HAPPY RAGHHH

- Definitely my favorite ‘horror’ series

- It’s special to me because I find a lot of horror media to be…just very hard to enjoy since gore and jumpscares don’t really do it for me

- Haunting of Bly Manor stands out from the rest of horror movies/series because the storytelling is immaculate, characters are complex (and you actually feel the loss when they get killed off unlike others), and the pacing is perfect

- It reads like a fairytale and a bedtime story, and given the plot, it might as well be a love story too

- There’s so many figurative/metaphorical occurrences that i can break down and unpack and thats why I find it enjoyable: its thought-provoking and just the right amount of scary

- It also has that ‘gothic’ aura to it that i ABSOLUTELY LOVE

11. Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo.

- idk about gas station but i like chocolate milk more than anything else

12. As for the enneasgram (i cant spell) test thingy….i can’t do it cuz it’s making me pay…BUT! I do know my MBTI personality thing is..INFP…or ISTJ…idk it kinda changes everytime i do it

That is all. You have 2 hours. /j🤗

I hope this is enough info (i also hope it’s not too much :D) and im not even sure im answering them right 😖 but regardless I enjoyed myself. You’re so awesome for doing stuff like this i cant wait im gnawing at my enclosures rn.

This was a hard one to consider- I wanted to take into account your attraction to people who contrast you while also finding someone similar enough that I feel they’d be compatible. In my heart, in my gut, this left Sam.

In a few ways, you have significant things in common. You’re both introverts. You’d like the same music, given Sam’s age, and you’d have the same taste in horror (which is very important if you ask my boyfriend and I. Crucial, even.). Yet, in fun and cute ways, you differ. Sam’s a dog person. Sam doesn’t get your love of yanderes, cars, or true crime. (So he says. He’s the type of DILF where he walks in on you watching a true crime documentary and just stands there, refusing to sit down.)

Just as he deserves, your life together with Sam would be so peaceful; he’s a peace and quiet kind of guy, you know? I’m imagining a cabin in the woods, a cat and a dog because y’all would make them get along, long drives in his ancient truck that amazingly still runs only because he fixes it by hand. I’m thinking of movie nights where Sam mother-hens you and rations the sugary, junk food snacks y’all get for it because he has to take care of his human and make sure you get a balanced diet.

Song:

On a lonely highway stuck out in the rain/ Darlin' all I have to do is speak your name/ The clouds roll back and the waters part/ The sun starts shinin' in my heart for you/ You're right there in everything I do

It’s not a creative take, but I think Sam loves country music; I think he’s a man of taste! It reminds me, and therefore him, of all the fun, nostalgic parts of home! Does he love this particular country song? I’m not sure, but one, it makes me think of Sam carrying you and your love with him wherever and whenever he goes in his immortal life. Two, it literally uses the term “darlin’” in it, okay, that’s a sign. That’s a done deal.

Runner-ups:

Damien is a runner-up because you see a lot of yourself in Lasko and you like people that contrast you. This is actually derivative of a ship I like quite a lot; I thought Damien/Lasko had this wonderful two sides of the same coin dynamic before HuxDami became canon. Vincent is your other runner-up because his extroverted nature is so fun opposite your introversion, but you’d still bond a lot over a mutual love of cars.

note: if you love horror movies without jumpscares or gore, I cannot recommend “They Look Like People” enough. It’s quite literally my favorite.

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[rankuros]

KINNGGGG i wanna hear ur SINGINgf also how do u do it on the internet ND SHIT

aw i'm so sorry i was asleep when you sent these. also i'm answering publicly because i worked really hard on this and i'm an attention whore <3

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/JtKieEFCV7BtZAXS7 here is my favorite solo ever but it's like eight years old hhhahha (in jp)

https://twitter.com/r4nsetsu/status/1499543423942017027?s=21&t=TymQWkkhekI-WtIskXK4tQ here is one of my karaoke songs since you said i had good taste JFJKEFJ (in en)

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/riJe3tAc3wCJwdbbA here is my comeback from last year (i failed at mixing this so i think i will re-mix it when i am better at doing that HFJKSJFJFK i do love shrieky vocals in my voice tho) (in jp)

https://twitter.com/r4nsetsu/status/1500281411185647619?s=21&t=giIbl15LU9WmTbn1hWY86g here's an emo mili song bc i am soo dramatic (in en)

https://youtu.be/onhI9oNXu7c here is my favorite collab ever!!! i am second from the right (in jp)

logistically how do i sing on the internet? i use:

1. blue snowball USB mic. many people will tell you to get an XLR mic, which is better quality, but also requires extra hardware to actually connect it to the computer so it's a higher price point. i wouldn't necessarily recommend that for just getting started! if i manage to record again when my current life situation is resolved i will probably upgrade tho because i am trying to learn to mix better so i want sexier mic quality. I HAVE ALSO USED THE MIC FROM ROCK BAND FOR THE NINTENDO WII which works SURPRISINGLY WELL. it was a USB mic i already had lying around and it gets the job done! in theory a mic is the only thing you might need to purchase to get started so it is a pretty low cost of entry hobby, i think my snowball was $50 ish but there might be better recommended USB mics these days

2. reaper to record and mix (technically paid software in the same way winrar is paid software, i have run it on an "evaluation license" for thousands of hours) it is unfortunately SUPER unintuitive and if you are open to p*rating adobe products i 100000% recommend adobe audition over reaper. however i am lazy and have never tried to get my hands on audition since i grew a pair and stopped paying for it :) reaper also has a built in manual TUNER which is soooooo nice because melodyne, while easier to use, is expensive (🏴‍☠️)

3. straight up just youtube and google for the instrumentals i need (i always make sure i can find them before i record bc most things have an instrumental available somewhere, but not all!). sometimes you can also find a reference for the harmony lines of a song and go really ham and record those too! or some people can just harmonize by ear but i am usually not very good at it so if i can't find a ref i just don't do it HAHA

4. soooooo many tutorials on youtube! i most recently learned how to time vocals without making them choppy, like how to stretch or shrink a syllable if multiple people are singing so they are more in unison. it's a lot of fun to learn things! (except EQ. learning EQ is part of why i'm on hiatus because it made me hate myself. all the homies hate EQ)

5. various video editing software which not everyone prioritizes anymore! the youtaite community specifically, which is where i have been on and off for almost 12 years holy shit, is youtube based so video is a big part of it. you can also usually charm ppl into making simple videos for you (i know this for a fact bc i am the ppl getting charmed into making simple videos for others)

and most importantly, i have

6. a ✨big fat ego✨ about my voice to allow me to sing on the internet because it can be really daunting!!! i used to perceive some really unpleasant tone in my voice and it took me a long time to come to terms with it, and i used to compare myself to everyone. karaoke and musical theater have done a lot for my relationship with my voice <3

[i was going to talk even fucking more about my Process here but i feel like i am writing a book. idk how much ramble you signed up for!! but if you think this is for you i would love to answer questions or help out]

ALSO IT IS SO MUCH FUN TO WORK WITH OTHER PEOPLE! oh my god! i did a chorus battle last year and most of my team was in GERMANY! that's so far away we would NEVER have met and we worked so hard and made something together!! talk about human connection!

also you can sing literally whatever the fuck you want. i have not joined the choir in my community because i do not want to be stuck singing what the choir sings. i have not done any musical theater since RENT because i do not care about most musicals. i want to sing whatever i feel like singing and whatever is most fun and meaningful for me. it's my voice and i get to decide what to do with it etc

in conclusion: singing on the internet can be so rewarding and there is a pretty hoppin community of other people who sing on the internet who will be nice to you and offer advice/answer questions and sing songs with you. and it is really goddamn time consuming but i like it a lot. bye

[seyaryminamoto]

I recently saw a video where GRRM talked about how he saw two different kinds of writers. He mentioned the gardener(planting the seed of an idea and letting it grow) and the architect(who plans out and organizes everything ahead of time). Obviously, every writer is a little bit of both but I was wondering which you relate to more and if you’d be willing to share some more about your own writing approaches and processes :)

I think I've answered similar questions in the past, but it'd be near impossible to dig it out in this ridiculously big, chaotic archive of my blog xD so I guess I'll answer it again, and if we come across the previous answers I've given, it'd even be fun to compare if there's anything different in the answer these days (?)

Personally, I think the best way to go about this is to have a mix of both things, but for me, it's in a very specific manner.

While I absolutely see the value in letting a story spiral and grow into whatever it wants to be, I have to say I don't think my best work comes from that. The lack of structure is similarly liberating and dangerous, because if your story's purpose isn't something you, as an author, have really made up your mind about, it's 100% possible that the story will end up going in very strange directions that MIGHT not make much sense, when you look at where you started out.

I've told this story a few times, but it bears repeating xD my first "serious" attempt at writing (by which I mean, I took it seriously, not that the content itself was super serious, since it was a trainwreck more often than not xD) started off as a perfectly happy romcom high school story! And tbh, to this day I love it as it is... but I know, I KNOW, that I totally warped the initial purpose and process of the story when, upon fulfilling the first bit of conflict in the story and leaving some massive loose ends I had to wrap up, I found myself at a loss because I had no idea how to continue. I was seriously, genuinely, at a loss for ideas and storylines to keep going. What, then, did I come up with?

... my happy romcom characters ended up embroiled in an organized crime catastrophe that has ZERO build-up in the first part of the story xD

(To the eagle-eyed who might have picked up something here... yes. That is 100% what I was poking fun at through Yang in Gladiator during the Fire Lord's Shadow arc. Yes. I mock myself. More accurately, I make Azula and Sokka mock my most questionable writing choices :'D)

Now, then, I had a very weird mess in my hands and I admit, it wasn't a great place to be at xD you see me now with my very, very small likelihood of falling into writer's block? Well, back then, I spent more time blocked than writing, for sure :'D and one of the reasons why that happened is because, while I had some ideas for what I wanted to write in the future? I didn't really have a set direction beyond "I want these and these characters as endgame relationships!", which is pretty much the most basic level of "plotting" you can pretend to do, as a writer xD And ironically, even then I was far more malleable and willing to experiment with whatever character combinations came up later, which even resulted in me discovering, well into writing a story, that some characters I absolutely did NOT conceive in a relationship were actually pretty good together! :'D

But that I had very little direction when I started writing that story was still a problem. I actually found more direction and built some more structure as I reached the last part of the story, and I will say, it's the strongest bit of it, by far xD (as evidence of what I'm saying, it was the first time I ever wrote an OUTLINE DOC! XD) but I have no doubts that, if I'd had the foresight to actually know where I was going, the story as a whole would be much much better, no matter how much I love it for what it is.

So! This particular writing experience of mine taught me countless things, among them, to actually ponder direction and purpose in stories instead of diving in blindlly. It's not really about having foreshadowing hints every ten minutes, which is what some people take as a sign of quality (I'll dare be quite controversial and say that not because you know what you'll write ten years down the line does it mean your story automatically makes sense... xD), it's about actually having a purpose in what you're building, a real direction, character arcs and plotlines that, to put it simply, work.

Therefore... I know for a fact that I can't be a full-blown plantser (or gardener) because I've tried it, and while I absolutely see the merits, the drawbacks are pretty sizable for me, and it just really doesn't work with my approach to storytelling.

Thus... If I MUST choose a category out of them both, I'd say I'm an architect, but the truth is I'm not an architect in the most strict sense of the word, either :'D

If you want a super strong building, you obviously need the best foundations for it. But you don't stop there, of course: erecting a building takes a lot of different efforts and processes if you really want your building to not only stand tall but to be a proper, decent place to live in. And while in real life, the reasonable thing would be to have a plan for each of those little details you have to build in, from filling the walls, to the type of flooring, down to even the decor... in writing, THIS is where I take the gardener approach! :'D

I don't know if I've said it in the past, but while sometimes I don't know how to start a story (which, despite my carelessness with the matter in the past, I've come to realize is a VERY delicate choice to make, one that can actually destroy my immersion in a story if it's a choice made carelessly), usually, I try to make myself think about where it's going, first of all. Currently, I have a few potential original projects rolling around in my head... and I don't know where they start :'D but I DO know where I'll take them, what the actual, ultimate climax of those stories would be. This, then, is the most basic foundation for a story, for me. I choose a destination, kinda, and then build the journey there :D

This is, loosely speaking, how I've built up Gladiator. And yet Gladiator, being the ridiculously big mess that it is, required a very unique plotting approach that I suppose might be at odds with a lot of what I've said so far xD yet it also remains true to a lot of what I've said here :'D

When I first started to ponder this story, the first plot point was obvious and instinctive: Sokka's capture. When Chaosconetic (the one who first gave me the idea for this story) suggested it, he didn't quite put forward the idea of having Azula being the one who captured Sokka personally. I thought of making Azula and Sokka first come face to face in this way because... honestly? Because I just wanted them to interact as soon as possible x'DDDD it complicated matters, of course, but that was absolutely something I could work with.

Yet... where was I going with this story? It was a rewrite of ATLA as a whole, so what exactly was the direction for the story? Clearly, Azula and Sokka would wind up falling in love, and how exactly would that come about? And beyond that, wouldn't it be a seeerious mess for this to happen in a setting where Ozai is STILL in power? Why, of course it would be! :'D It added a new layer of complications to the generally already complicated Sokkla relationship, and instead of it being kept secret or being a forbidden romance for the reasons canon-based stories typically make it so, it's BEYOND forbidden here because Ozai is still a very much active factor in this story, and he makes everything worse :D soooooo...

With these particular factors in mind, I had several things to think about. With Sokka fighting as a gladiator being the core of the story, I had to figure out who would be his rivals, and in doing so, figure out what his power curve as a warrior would look like :'D in doing so, I settled very quickly on Toph for his main serious rival, but Sokka wasn't the only one whose story I'd be telling: obviously, Azula's arc would be important too, as I'd have to work with developing her FAR MORE than I ever had before, and while Sokka's personal opponents would be important, Azula is the one who chooses Sokka as her personal warrior, therefore, she had to have a purpose in doing so. Said purpose then materialized when I decided to make use of Zhao's character for Azula's main goal and foil, and so, I needed Zhao to have THE best gladiator of all... and I didn't need to think about it too much before I settled on Combustion Man for the role :'D

Thus, those were small, isolated yet pivotal elements that I had to articulate into a structure that made sense :D they were small things I settled on pretty quickly, from the very first few days of plotting. I can say for certain that, by the third day, I already had settled on the climax (... can't decide whether that's a fortunate or unfortunate wording choice, tbh xD) scene of Part 1, when Azula and Sokka have their fateful fight in chapter 96, then finally succumb to their attraction and act on their feelings without holding back, in chapter 97 :'D I knew I wanted this to happen after Sokka hit a low point upon failing to defeat Toph, either for the second time or after losing against her far too many times that he just was too discouraged to keep going, hence, I knew what the lead-up to this would be from literally day THREE.

But beyond this? At like... day one or two of plotting, once I settled on Combustion Man as the ultimate man to defeat? I also settled on how Part 2 would end :> back then, I honestly had no idea how much time there would be between the events from chapter 97 and the upcoming culmination of Part 2, I wasn't anywhere near advanced enough with plotting to even KNOW I'd split the story into parts because it would get too big to handle xD But what I did know was that I needed these two situations to happen, situations deeply entwined with Sokka's role as a gladiator. Everything in between was variable, and it was stuff I could figure out slowly, along the way.

The ultimate direction of the story, though? That did take me a long time to settle on xD In fact, I think it took me well over a year after I got started to really figure out where I was going with all of this. A close friend helped me figure out things by offering many ideas for Zuko and Suki's storyline, basically tossing them at me in hopes that I'd make sense out of some of them... and I don't really know if she even knows how much that helped me xD I really spent a long time unsure of what I wanted to do, what I COULD do... until at long last, I settled on one slightly ambitious direction that eventually turned into what you'll all know as Part 3 :'DDDDD

So... yeah, that's why I say I'm being contradictory as heck xD Yes, I worked out some core details of the story since the very beginning, but it wasn't ALL the core details, let alone the ultimate direction of the story, BUT... in building up Azula's character arc, that direction slowly became clearer to the point where, when this particular possibility stared me in the face, I knew it was where we had to go, I realized that what I'd written over that year was leading up perfectly to that outcome.

Ergo, Gladiator is 100% a work of gardening and architecture, woven together to a point where I have a hard time remembering what, exactly, was the result of each thing. There's some things that I settled on early on, like I said, structure things... and then there are some parts where the characters just went wild and did things I did NOT expect them to do xD There's one scene coming up, right before the climax of Part 2, where Azula actually does something that I honestly WASN'T sure of doing... and yet I couldn't resist the urge to go forward with it, once the idea came to mind, and so I did it. And now I regret nothing xD was it necessary? Possibly not. Will some people find it weird and out of place? Maybe. But was it CATHARTIC AS HECK!? Aaaabsolutely friggin' yes XD pardon me for being so self-indulgent, but that's part of what being a gardener is about (?)

So, I really think the best stories benefit from a careful approach to mixing the principles of both ideas. I know that some gardeners think that a structure can stifle creativity (not necessarily true, if you sense a lack of creativity in anything you're doing, it IS up to you to turn it around, switch it up and make it interesting, right...?), I also suspect architects might think gardeners would be utterly unable to tell a good story altogether in virtue of letting the story run away with them (also not necessarily true, as the quality of a story isn't quantifiable as easily as that, gardeners might just make masterpieces without as much need of direction as I personally require: Philip Pullman apparently had no set direction in the His Dark Materials trilogy and I could swear that's some of the best storytelling I have EVER seen).

Ultimately, each person gets to choose their ideal approach and what exactly they're trying to do with their work, as well as how they want to do it... but if you ask me, if your characters never seem to pull you in unexpected directions, you might just need to rework them or approach them differently to give them more life. If they DO pull you in those unexpected directions, but you're not sure if you can follow them just because you need to follow structure, it's really up to you as the author to choose whether to sacrifice the life/creativity within your own work and stick to structure, or sacrifice structure and potentially cause your story's course to crumble :'D

It may sound like I'm advocating for gardening so much more, despite I've labeled myself an architect, buuuuut... ironically, a very complicated but VERY rewarding scene in Gladiator Part 3 damn near WRECKED my structure when I was writing it a few weeks ago :'D I literally had to take a day off from actually writing so I could make a list of ALL the elements that would be impacted by this change if I went forward with it. If I chose against it, I would have to rewrite the complicated scene in a different way, and it might have been waaay too weird to make it work. If I chose to keep it, I had to tread VERY carefully or end up potentially making a mess of the ultimate direction of Gladiator's story, even threatening the themes and nuance that I have been counting on since I settled on this direction. Thus, sometimes gardening can be dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

I THINK I found a fair enough compromise that allows me to keep the best of both worlds... but I hope I've made it clear that both ways of working have their pros and cons, and why even mixing both things can have pros and cons xD but this is also why I, personally, think that a writer benefits the most from figuring out at least a loose outline, the broad strokes of what they want to achieve in a story, and then figuring out the many ways in which they could fill in those foundations, in whatever way they're most comfortable.

And so, I have rambled plenty xD I hope that was thorough enough, my position in this particular subject is honestly to oscillate in the middle of both things, where part of your job as the writer is to determine which situation benefits more from either approach :D Like I said before, I've found structure isn't something I can sacrifice easily, but more often than not, letting the story flow, letting the characters make their own choices, can enrich your story rather than hinder it. So... I lay the foundations, the structure, so that seeds can grow inside it, if that makes sense xD

[callsigndreadfrost]

Tagged by @thundraa (thank you ❣❣❣)

1. Are you named after anyone?

Actually no. But a very, very dear friend helped me pick it out.

2. When was the last time you cried?

This afternoon. We were eating some burgers and bf put on some of those Rainbow 6 Siege epic fails compilations on YouTube and there was an entire minute dedicated to window smashing kills and those always make me laugh. A whole minute of them had me twisting in laughter till I cried.

3. Do you have kids?

Does she count? Lol

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Eh, kinda but not too much. Idk it depends on my mood and how much effort I put into communicating with someone.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Faces. I spend a long time looking at a stranger's face and around the first 10 minutes I can decide if I can trust them or not or if they're safe or not. It's weird to explain.

6. What's your eye color?

Brown.

7. Scary movie or happy ending?

Scary movie. Happy ending sounds on the romance side and I just caaaaan't do romantic movie. They bore me to death.

8. Any special talents?

I guess I can sorta draw and sorta write.

9. Where were you born?

10. What are your hobbies?

Playing video games, drawing, talking about and developing OCs, writing and recently picked up baking. Still really new at it but I hope to get the hang of it. And daydreaming of the day I get my shit together and write something and post it somewhere so others can read it while I worry myself into a panic over the quality of the work and how people will react to my characters.

11. Do you have any pets?

This is Twix. She's a sweet little girl and is scared of everything but she will love you and shower you with kisses once she trusts you.

This was Ash. A gorgeous and super friendly German Shepherd who was the love of my life. We met at my lowest and ugliest point of my life but he made life bearable somehow. Sadly he crossed the rainbow bridge earlier this year due to cancer.

Not to be too dramatic but I don't think I'll get over him and a chunk of me died with him.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

As a kid I used to play pretty much almost everything.

13. How tall are you?

5'7" or maybe 8" can't remember. Short guy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

14. Favorite subject in school?

Was always history. Freaking loved it.

15. Dream job?

Hon, at this point I'll take anything where I can earn enough to stay afloat. Some job that won't mentally destroy me and won't treat me like trash.

Like seriously the bar is soooooo fucking low it's fucking depressing.

Tagging: If you took the time to read through this then you're tagged but only if you want to.

[deveharrington]

I think David's family vacation was about damage control for his image. His tour isn't even sold out and they aren't big venues. It sure wouldn't hurt to be seen with Tea. At least he had some quality time with his kids instead of always being with someone that can't spell potatoes.

Disclaimer: all theories ahead.

1. I really really can’t imagine him doing something on that level just for publicity, or purposefully doing something that his kids don’t like/makes them uncomfortable/breaches their privacy, at least not for this purpose (PR? for the “tour”s ticket sales??) that hasn’t really been addressed in other ways that would be much more straightforward. Also, actually, I feel that there still seems to exist a separation between the identities of Family!Dave and Rockstar!Dave, I feel he is just that type to become different people for different audiences. 

Despite his current shit, I still think he wouldn’t do THAT. 

2. As for “quality time”… D has said things in the past about that, hasn’t he? But he’s also pretty much eaten every single word he ever said, hasn’t he? :l 

3. He is in a dreamworld: Also, he seems to believe that he is a ��celebrity” who is above PR somehow ?? Lmao you never know with this dude. ????!!!?!!?! 

He is in a dreamworld 2: I’m saying he thinks he can live several separate lives and reap the benefits of all of them with no consequences :-)

He seems to not give a shit what people think, and I think this is a good characteristic, but David takes it too far. He has shown that he is flippant about the opinions of people WHO ACTUALLY MATTER is what I mean. Example: his children…

He is in a dreamworld 3: I could even believe that his kids don’t actually tell him how they truly feel about his current shit and David just believes that they’re being “supportive” (if he can fall for Scammer Brad Davidson’s lies, he can fall for anything…). Or if they are honest, and I hope they actually are, David also once said that he doesn’t ask for his kid’s opinions, and I really fucking hate that he said that but maybe I am just taking that statement out of context by bringing it up for this argument or maybe he was being sarcastic no fucking clue but anyways it is something to consider. Because even if it were sarcastic, I saw that as a red flag. I just see it as crude, flippant, meant to be “funny” but not funny at all - a typical “???” statement that comes out of his mouth and eventually leads to a sour truth somewhere down the line. And I’ve already asserted (but its just my opinion) that he actually does tell the truth when he jokes or uses sarcasm. Sorry for this tangent but what I mean…

… is that, hasn’t he demonstrated already that he can live different lives (evidence: just like he can get up on that stage and transform into… that… uhm creature(strike) persona that can flail around as it does)? 

How would pics of his kids cringing at paps help his image?

Also, I don’t see any posing, just awareness of the cameras. 

Under the cut: I don’t see any other effort being made to address the low ticket sales, and discussing how David seems to actually be doing the opposite of progressing creatively by…. wasting time on a new distraction: a “documentary”… and why does the guy need a documentary???? …Another gimmicky souvenir (DVD) for Scammer Brad to “sell”/shill??? lmao…..

thx anon, as for the “potatos” thing…. yeah :l………………………………….. :)

I don’t see any other effort being made to address the low ticket sales, example: no heightened promo since the initial announcement. And if there were, I would expect it to be music related. Why not take this time to make a music video, or put music on the radio, collaborate, or even just keep posting on social media where it would be easiest to just post whatever….??? I also think that people mostly separate his family role from his nonsensical-bullshit-“rockstar”-ego-audience-energy-siphoning-creature role and so far it looks like David is doing the same. It seemed like he always kept those two things separate (?? well he sings about Tea + his kids idk maybe the songwriting, his one contribution, comes from him but the rest….). 

How would pics of his kids cringing at paps motivate people to buy a ticket to his “concert”??? lmao.

And here’s the thing.. I actually suspect (and this is just my own perspective) that he might not actually be aware of any issues in terms of the “touring”!!! OR: if he has any questions (I don’t think he does lmao but if he did…), Scammer Brad just smoothes it out with bullshit, empty promises, new distractions/“projects” so as not to lose David’s faith. I think it would be in Scammer Brad’s best interests to do everything to assure him that its all smooth sailing, its just also hilarious that Scammer Brad literally can’t do a single thing in a professional or logical manner… including hiring actual professionals for specific tasks…….. LMAO wtffff…..

The theory in Point #3 just comes from an interesting parallel of David just being like “yah, somewhere down the line I believe BFD will be made someday somewhere a place for usssssss lalalala”. 

Going off of the point #3, in terms of distractions and new gimmicks: evidence: This “music” documentary… like… Don’t get me started on the idea of “music” documentary like… dude… why do you need a documentary?? LMAO. We know why you are doing this and the truth ain’t pretty!! This is a new level of “David’s mere presence is the gift alone”. But yeah Idk maybe they need to spin some gimmicky new merch (right beside the vinyls) or try to squeeze out more ways to commodify this “touring”. If it is just a documentary just for the sake of one then I still must laugh because… how many times has David said that he’s not a musician/singer/performer and thats fine but he’s also never demonstrated that he’s even wanted to improve, choreograph, or change what he does/how he expresses himself. What I mean is that, fair enough, what he does is fine and it is his right, but I’m talking about the dearth of any creative, artistic, innovative, even just progressive aspect to all of this that you know, would typically be the focus of any documentary on an actual artist (like, he writes the lyrics but doesn’t create the melodies/engineer the sound… I know that those processes can be separate but shouldn’t the actual documentary then be about his songwriting process and not about how much David is soooooo ~loved~ across the globe??? Like, I’m sorry to say it this way but I don’t see much else to the performative/“touring” aspect of all of this that would warrant a documentary… he’s never even made a music video… his music hasn’t even hit the radio…. its not like he’s created a stage persona?? wait, has he???? lmao…. come on, Dave.) 

To try to say it quickly lmao: (just my perspective) David clearly has no purpose even to his lyrics other than to sing about himself. He has no integrity behind anything he does. The point of a documentary would be to look behind the mask, the curtain but there is LITERALLY NOTHING THERE. AHHAHAAHAH they’re selling us nothing… and the sad thing is is that there is evidence that that has been done in the past!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But there IS a documentary warranted on how his very talented young band members create their music and persevere through David’s onstage performances without falling asleep. They are genuine artists and genuinely talented so here’s hoping that shining star David can allow them some precious seconds of face time on the documentary and I’m not talking about time spent talking about and aggrandizing David lmao….

But actually, this “documentary” move makes a lot of sense in terms of David’s history of you know… FLIP FLOPPING on his own words and being defiant of the labels others place on him/ he feels he is being subjected to while at the same time trying to squeeeeeeeze out as much as he can from those labels/the attention of others.

To conclude, It seems that David wants to separate family life from his work and thats good. To David’s credit, maybe I actually don’t see him as buying into his own “celebrity” “status” (at times..)… that is, until he sees an opportunity to use that “status” to get something he wants/needs to feed his ego (he acts like he might die if his ego ain’t nourished), but that is technically his right since he technically “earned” that “status” (its just my perspective, and my perspective includes the argument that he switches the goalposts a lot and doesn’t hold consistent to any sense of morals or character so… things can go both ways for him). Though I feel like he mainly owes that “status” to being at the right place at the right time, and he definitely owes his “status”/“success” to Gillian as well :-) I’m gonna end this response on THAT note lmao. 

[tinymixtapes]

Column: Favorite Rap Mixtapes of November & December 2018

With a cascade of releases spewing from the likes of DatPiff, LiveMixtapes, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud, it can be difficult to keep up with the overbearing yet increasingly vital mixtape game. In this column, we aim to immerse ourselves in this hyper-prolific world and share our favorite releases each month. The focus will primarily be on rap mixtapes — loosely defined here as free (or sometimes free-to-stream) digital releases — but we’ll keep things loose enough to branch out if/when we feel it necessary. (Check out October’s installment here.) Soooooo many dope mixtapes these past two months that even as TMT’s year-end coverage wrapped up like gifts bursting from Santa’s sack, our squad still jumped at the chance to pile on some final blurbs of 2018 before the ball-drop. “Overbearing?” Maybe. “Hyper-prolific?” Definitely. Multiple puns in that first sentence? Two for the price of one, hon. To that, before we get into our November and December favs, here are some “honorable mentions” that didn’t get a write-up below but are no less deserving of a spin this New Year’s Eve: Semiratruth - WAIT!, Demahjiae - Ghetto Blessings, SPNDA x Kae Tea - Mosaic EP Lil Durk - Signed to the Streets 3, City Girls - Girl Code, The Diplomats - Diplomatic Ties, Roc Marciano - Pimpstrumentals, Grimm Doza & SpaceGhostPurrp - The Haunting in New Jersey, Wiardon - Numba1Viktim, Chris Crack - Just Gimme A Minute and Thanks Uncle Trill, Bloodmoney Perez - Time is a Motherfucker, CL King - Waiting 4, and Defcee - A Mixtape As God Intended, Vol. 1 … also, three (!!!) Young Thug leaks. –Samuel Diamond --- Red Daughter, Trap Funk & Alivio - Red Funk Alivio 2 [STREAM] It’s mixtapes like this one that have us quietly missing the days when the word “rap” wasn’t in this column’s title. W/o wasting too many words justifying this tape’s inclusion, let’s just say rap is a big part of it. But so too are Afrocentrism, feminism, indigenous pride, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Brazil, baile funk, Jersey club, house, footwork, and many more elements than an admittedly limited worldview can readily identify. One hesitates to revisit clichés like the dance after the revolt or “if this doesn’t get you moving, you’re already dead,” but, well, while Google Translate tells us that alivio is Portuguese for relief, our ears, eyes, and noses tell us that the club is flooding with oppressor blood. If you missed the first drop, catch up. –Samuel Diamond --- Tommy Genesis - Tommy Genesis [STREAM] We the undersigned/unwashed jabberers at TMT have a tastynasty habit of measuring years out in loosely-themed song mixes. I bet some super astute comment section glob thinks it’s an arbitrary habit. I humbly submit that when we cycle artifacts through a series of spaces, patterns emerge. Assumptions get split. Moods and usages cross and swerve. The exceptional artifacts fit every space. Tommy Genesis, the Vancouver rapper’s debut album, pumps blood and caresses muscles like GYM, cycles want until it subsumes self, a party in the VOID. “Drive” flecks acoustic strings at the CLIFF’s edge and Charlie Heat’s ballast production on “Play With It” turns the ALLEY concave, sends come-on invocations city-wide, supercharged fuel for the COUPE. Tommy Genesis sounds like a whole damn year — wanting more is loving living. –Frank Falisi --- Peewee Longway - State of the Art [STREAM] A glaring omission from our Favorite Cover Art feature (putting him at two for the year), State of the Art finds Peewee Longway rapping as well as he ever has, retaining his distinctive style while adapting to the ever-evolving sound of the moment. Longway’s sound has always tracked the mainstream not directly but as a point of divergence; while likely not distinct enough to make him anyone’s absolute favorite rapper, he’s well-positioned for the reliable production of quality, personable raps. State of the Art is split between showpieces for relatively stock guest spots from the likes Gucci or members of Migos, and far more idiosyncratic one-offs; “Lets Be Real” (with Maxo Kream) is a Molly anthem reminiscent of some of Longway’s stranger inclinations, while “Top of the Bank” marries an Otis Redding interpolation and a cooing, celebratory hook without either seeming out of place. Longway’s more likely to retire from rap (yet again) than blow up any time soon, but State of the Art is more than enough proof that the roundest rapper working has got plenty left to give. –Corrigan B --- Adé Hakim - On To Better Things [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] In a year of SlumsNYC triumphalism — see the series of landmark releases by navy blue, King Carter, MIKE et al., culminating with Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs — Adé Hakim a.k.a. Sixpress has been like a silent partner to the movement. Featured on most of the aforementioned and having released a couple of short but no less notable mixtapes on his own this year, Hakim closes out an already-headway-making 2018 with his most complete and progressive work to date in the aptly titled On To Better Things. Low-key, high-impact beats, rhymes, and life insights from the birthplace of hip-hop coalesce here in a freely collective but clearly self-defined gestalt. Where do we go from this? Just listen. –Samuel Diamond --- AJ Suede - Darth Sueder II: Goth Marciano [STREAM] Don’t let your current intake of “lo-fi” hip-hop begin and end with Earl’s latest album. Rapper/Producer AJ Suede has perfected his own take on the subgenre with his latest tape, Darth Sueder II, chopping lightly treated soul samples to set his seasick verses adrift on a lemon-lime sea. What he’s doing sonically isn’t boundary-breaking or avant-garde, but his ear for memorable loops that settle into the backdrop is impeccable. On “Lovable,” a meandering organ shuffles against hi-hats that eke out what should be an un-rappable rhythm; somehow, though, it’s the perfect vehicle for Suede to wax romantic about autumn leaves before launching into asides about gentrification and white people who are too quick to call the cops. Ideas are scattered throughout the brief tracks, but each one’s focused, bridged by some of my favorite punchlines in recent memory (“I was in that county fair/ Like that kid apparently.”) If you’re not scared off by references to esoteric Christianity and MK ULTRA, give Goth Marciano a spin — it’s a fresh take on minimalistic East Coast hip-hop, especially for someone often entrenched in the distorted cloud rap favored by his brethren in the Underground Dust Funk collective. –Jude Noel --- Big Twins - Grimey Life [STREAM] Although Big Twins f.k.a. Twin Gambino has experienced something of a second life thanks to today’s boom-bap revival, one need look no further than the guestlist on this tape to recognize his Infamous Mobb credentials. In addition to features from fellow Infamous rappers Godfather Pt. 3 and Ty Nitty, as well as Mobb affiliate Big Noyd, Grimey Life includes a posthumous appearance by Prodigy, which finds the late icon far from phoning it in, with lines such as “I handle bars like lifers or motocross bikers.” For those keeping track, Havoc also lends a verse (to Knxwledge-produced eulogy “Memories”), and The Alchemist produces the fittingly ghostly “Phantom of the Opera.” In spite of these bigger names and many other features, the project is first and foremost a product of Big Twins whose often imitated but never duplicated voice remains the unmistakable audio definition of grime — inflicted pain inflected. –Samuel Diamond --- Bbymutha - Muthaz Day 3 [STREAM] The cover art of Muthaz Day 3 is a photo of Bbymutha with her two sets of twins all dressed in red robes, surrounded by candles and sitting on what appears to be a pentagram. You’re in her domain now. Welcome to a world full of sinister instrumentals and trap beats that slither underneath the Chattanooga rapper’s spellbinding flow; a world where a single mom with two sets of twins doesn’t have to be bound by the traditional ideas of what a parent should or shouldn’t be; a world where confidence is the lifeblood of all things. On Muthaz Day 3, Bbymutha continues to champion her independence and forge ahead on a path that she’s laying brick by brick, all by herself. –Sam Tornow --- DaBoii - Neva Lookin Back [STREAM] We should be thankful that this was even made into a playlist. For a little over two years, the members of Bay Area juggernaut SOB X RBE have operated as an essentially YouTube-only outfit; while enjoyable, both recent albums (GANGIN and GANGIN II) scan more as fulfillments of label obligations than as faithful documents of the group’s most essential, often online-only work. As obsessives were left to parse the steady stream of loosies from individual members and all possible combinations thereof, there were few safer bets than a DaBoii solo track. DaBoii raps with purist appeal, his style a charismatic but unornamented amalgam of the Bay’s long history of singular rap figures. The videos, courtesy directors Tyler Casey and BGIGGZ, are often as entertaining as the songs themselves; Neva Lookin Back corrals three of DaBoii’s best from the past year (“Ridin’,” “Onna Gang,” and “Sum it Up”) alongside a further nine new tracks, offering an imperfect but better-than-nothing document of DaBoii’s 2018. Still, it’s probably best to rip your own copy of this while you still can. –Corrigan B --- Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist (Fetti?) - Fetti (Roma?) [STREAM] A tangential anecdote that bears repeating: in a recent interview, rapper Milo reminisced about driving around Chicago with rapper Serengeti, listening to Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s Piñata, which Milo recalled inspired ‘Geti to say, “I don’t know if it gets better than this.” Word. Although pairing with the Mad Liberator might’ve made Gibbs your favorite rappers’ favorite rapper, heads have been waiting for a Gibbs-Curren$y-Alchemist album since the trio first came together on 2011’s “Scottie Pippen.” Thankfully, Fetti does not disappoint nor does it rest on the laurels that the three artists have received independently of each other in the seven years since. Which brings us to another point not yet fully addressed in this tape’s coverage to date: none of the three artists’ names appear on the cover, yet the word “Roma” does, leading one to believe that it might in fact be the title to this, the first release by a rap supergroup named Fetti. Fingers crossed, lighters up. –Samuel Diamond --- Warhol.ss - Chest Pains [STREAM] Has it really been two and a half years since Warhol.ss dropped “Speed Racer?” Although it feels like little time has passed since the Chicago emcee broke into the SoundCloud mainstream, the platform’s predominant ethos has experienced so much change it’s easy to forget the potential that brief track packed. Surfing Brentrambo’s undulant percussion, Warhol.ss stood out with a gruff cadence and unflinching confidence that offset the bubblegum aesthetic that overtook 2016. Despite a handful of collaborations with tastemakers Pi’erre Bourne and Cole Bennett, he’s yet to recreate his initial brilliance — an understandably difficult feat for someone so ahead of their time. On Chest Pains, we find Warhol.ss exploring the lanes that lead him back to prominence: he’s at his most accessible muttering plosive-tinged one-liners on the Kenny Beats-produced “Bird’s Nest,” but “War Ready” proves to be the tape’s most fascinating venture. Kick drums stumble over bars as Warhol lines the off-kilter rhythm with a nimble collage of triplet flows. It’s difficult to wrap your head around, but it’s hypnotic if you can. This new crop of cuts doesn’t include an obvious hit, but it does appear to be a step toward something greater. Trust the process. –Jude Noel --- Black Josh - Yung Sweg Lawd [STREAM] Is it acute homesickness or latent agoraphobia that causes some people to become physically ill every time they leave their old stomping grounds? Or maybe just plain, ordinary travelers sickness? My brother, who works in an airport, told me that a few months back a flight touched down with every passenger and crew member sick, like vomiting sick… quarantine sick. Yung Sweg Lawd is that sick, bro. It’s dark. Absent a better frame of reference (my fault), it’s Wu-Tang on Tim Westwood in the 90s, blacked out, using the words “dark” and “horrible” as slang praise, having likely just learned it. Pharma-grade smoke clouds billowing like factory stacks, it’s the acid rain; Black Josh a climate-change centaur moving (in) packs. –Samuel Diamond --- The-Dream - Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 [STREAM] Weird times that we’re living in when an artist can release a three-volume, 42-song mixtape and it’s not anticipated or received as their magnum opus. In fact, I don’t even think that R&B heavyweight The-Dream announced Ménage à Trois beforehand beyond hinting that he was working on something. Thus Ménage à Trois, thematically billed as a three-part “sex tape,” with album art to match, lands as another long project from another major artist (which is the standard in The Age of Streaming), but it’s one worth sifting through if you like R&B even just a little bit. Singers-turned-rappers and/or rappers-turned-singers are a dime a dozen nowadays (i.e., that Drizzy-/Ty Dolla-esque hybrid style, which, make no mistake, I do enjoy), which is to say: for all the suave-crooning purists like myself, R&B proper has seen better days on the charts. Luckily, The-Dream gives us 2.5 hours of sultry singing (mostly) sans rap harmonies here while still delivering much stylistic variety. Think The Weeknd’s Trilogy except every song is about sex, with a modus operandi that overall seems to be downtempo and lush. Dig through this behemoth until you find something to cuddle up with — there’s bound to be stuff you’ll have on repeat. –Alex Brown --- Boosie Badazz - Boosie Blues Cafe [STREAM] From the Thanksgiving release date (announced two days prior) to its very concept, the actual existence of Boosie Blues Cafe was far from certain until the moment we had it in our hands. Not that expectations were tempered to match, of course. While not “bluesy,” per se, the cathartic baring of the soul has always factored heavily into Boosie’s work; he’s the man with a song for everything, a Baton Rouge legend off his ability to speak directly to the city’s youth. The prospect of him stepping fully into the region’s other musical tradition, then, was immensely appealing, if less out of optimism than sheer curiosity. It works OK — with the exception of absolute slapper “I Know How to Have a Good Time,” most of the tracks are identifiably Boosiean to a fault; Boosie’s got such a long history of rapping this stuff in a compelling way that translating it to a blues idiom can feel a bit rote. A worthwhile experiment, however; Boosie’s passion projects are by default a thousand times more interesting than someone else’s re-hashing of the very crowded Rap Caviar lane. –Corrigan B --- Sir E.U - Merry christmas my nigga! / Thc / To This Day / Cries for help [MCMN · THC · TTD · CFH] Earlier this year, I was talking to an artist who shall remain nameless about the inclusion in this column of a tape by another artist who shall remain nameless. The artist I was kibitzing with took issue with the included work, saying something to the effect of “If you throw enough shit at the wall, eventually some will stick, but that doesn’t mean it’s any good,” which is more than fair. To be honest, my understanding of noise sets and DJing in general isn’t nearly adroit enough to tell if Sir E.U’s massive output over the last two weeks is an example of the aforementioned criticism or of a mix master purposely and methodically laying waste to two-turntable fundamentals. Either way, though, the shit bangs. And the sheer quantity of his year-end sound dump is something to behold. Dig in. –Samuel Diamond http://j.mp/2GM5GfC