#to be clear this is not a list of audios i like its just the ones that are actually truly good

[doctorwhoisadhd]

i love torchwood but ill be honest. many of the audios are bad

[sag-dab-sar]

Clarification: Generative AI does not equal all AI

💭 "Artificial Intelligence"

AI is machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and more that I'm not smart enough to know. It can be extremely useful in many different fields and technologies. One of my information & emergency management courses described the usage of AI as being a "human centaur". Part human part machine; meaning AI can assist in all the things we already do and supplement our work by doing what we can't.

💭 Examples of AI Benefits

AI can help advance things in all sorts of fields, here are some examples:

Emergency Healthcare & Disaster Risk X

Disaster Response X

Crisis Resilience Management X

Medical Imaging Technology X

Commercial Flying X

Air Traffic Control X

Railroad Transportation X

Ship Transportation X

Geology X

Water Conservation X

Can AI technology be used maliciously? Yeh. Thats a matter of developing ethics and working to teach people how to see red flags just like people see red flags in already existing technology.

AI isn't evil. Its not the insane sentient shit that wants to kill us in movies. And it is not synonymous with generative AI.

💭 Generative AI

Generative AI does use these technologies, but it uses them unethically. Its scraps data from all art, all writing, all videos, all games, all audio anything it's developers give it access to WITHOUT PERMISSION, which is basically free reign over the internet. Sometimes with certain restrictions, often generative AI engineers—who CAN choose to exclude things—may exclude extremist sites or explicit materials usually using black lists.

AI can create images of real individuals without permission, including revenge porn. Create music using someones voice without their permission and then sell that music. It can spread disinformation faster than it can be fact checked, and create false evidence that our court systems are not ready to handle.

AI bros eat it up without question: "it makes art more accessible" , "it'll make entertainment production cheaper" , "its the future, evolve!!!"

💭 AI is not similar to human thinking

When faced with the argument "a human didn't make it" the come back is "AI learns based on already existing information, which is exactly what humans do when producing art! We ALSO learn from others and see thousands of other artworks"

Lets make something clear: generative AI isn't making anything original. It is true that human beings process all the information we come across. We observe that information, learn from it, process it then ADD our own understanding of the world, our unique lived experiences. Through that information collection, understanding, and our own personalities we then create new original things.

💭 Generative AI doesn't create things: it mimics things

Take an analogy:

Consider an infant unable to talk but old enough to engage with their caregivers, some point in between 6-8 months old.

Mom: a bird flaps its wings to fly!!! *makes a flapping motion with arm and hands*

Infant: *giggles and makes a flapping motion with arms and hands*

The infant does not understand what a bird is, what wings are, or the concept of flight. But she still fully mimicked the flapping of the hands and arms because her mother did it first to show her. She doesn't cognitively understand what on earth any of it means, but she was still able to do it.

In the same way, generative AI is the infant that copies what humans have done— mimicry. Without understanding anything about the works it has stolen.

Its not original, it doesn't have a world view, it doesn't understand emotions that go into the different work it is stealing, it's creations have no meaning, it doesn't have any motivation to create things it only does so because it was told to.

Why read a book someone isn't even bothered to write?

Related videos I find worth a watch

ChatGPT's Huge Problem by Kyle Hill (we don't understand how AI works)

Criticism of Shadiversity's "AI Love Letter" by DeviantRahll

AI Is Ruining the Internet by Drew Gooden

AI vs The Law by Legal Eagle (AI & US Copyright)

AI Voices by Tyler Chou (Short, flash warning)

Dead Internet Theory by Kyle Hill

-Dyslexia, not audio proof read-

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

So I Spied Another Day...

You know it was a good show when you can’t decide whether your heart is so full from all the love and joy, or so empty because it's over.

Really do buckle up, because this is a long one.

So the show went a little like this. They played the Spies pro-shoot on a giant movie screen, but any time a song started, the audio changed to the instrumental track, the video typically faded to simple background graphics, and the cast came out to perform the number live in concert style. There were also a series of audience participation prompts up on the movie screen, such as standing to deliver a line in unison, giving Lauren a standing ovation for the Pay Attention! Reprise, enthusiastically booing Dr. Baron von Nazi and the still infuriatingly catchy Not So Bad (for anyone who’s curious, in addition to encouraging boos and yelled disagreements with von Nazi, they also cut the audience participation bit from the song).

The energy in the room was so electric and full of joy and warmth. People shouted out iconic lines, went wild for everyone’s entrances, and absolutely lost their damn minds over Curtwen at pretty much every opportunity. And the cast were clearly having just as much fun. Doing This has always been my favorite, and there was something so sweet about them singing it again all these years later. We finally got Joey performing Spies Are Forever (Evil Reprise) again and it was just as chilling and beautiful as you’d expect. And One Step Ahead was just on a whole new level. I don’t want to give anything away, but the details in that performance were INCREDIBLE.

It was simply so special seeing most of the original gang come back while also bringing some new friends along. Shout out to Mariah for coming out at the top of the show so ready to play, setting the tone for the whole evening. Shout out to James for putting his comedy chops on full display (LET JAMES BE FUNNY MORE) and dancing the hell out of One More Shot (another favorite number). And shoutout to Carlos Alazraqui (taking over the roles of Sergio and Vladimir Poopin) and Tommy Link for coming into this crazy part of our world with such enthusiasm and silliness. Brian deserves a medal for agreeing to once again play the most cringe-worthy character in all of Pulp-StarCanWrecked history, and for sounding so fucking good while doing it. Tessa was having a blast in full unhinged glory and I gladly worship at her altar. Lauren is maybe the funniest person alive and deserved her standing ovation, prompted or not. Seeing Joe Walker perform live has been Item Number One on my fandom bucket list since I moved to LA a couple of years ago, and I still can’t quite believe I managed it. I’d wondered if he’d be rusty, but honestly he sounded great; it was like no time had passed. Mary Kate still has one of my all-time favorite voices and her Tatiana remains forever engaging. Joey showed up dressed to slay as a gay evil genius Bond-movie supervillain and proceeded to thoroughly deliver on that promise. And Curt… every time I watch Spies I am increasingly blown away by what he does with this arrogant, broken mess of a character. He clearly loves Agent Mega as much as any of us, and to see a performance refined and powered by such clear and thoughtful passion is just a huge treat.

(And while he wasn’t in the cast, I can’t not mention Corey. Between his roles as director and co-writer, so much of what Spies is comes directly from him and we don’t appreciate that nearly enough. And shout out to Esther Fallick for her wonderful work as Susan and the Informant. She might not have been there in person, but her incredible performance was with us the whole time.)

I know this is preaching to the choir, but Spies Are Forever really is such a special show. It’s a story about recovery, and devastating as it can be, I think there’s also something deeply healing about it at its core. For one thing, I know it played a huge role in mending my relationship with my asexuality. I will forever be grateful to it for existing, to TCB, Talkfine, and the original cast for creating it, and to those same people for maintaining its legacy with the amount of love and care it deserves. It was a privilege to be in the room as so many people came to celebrate this miraculous little musical. There were a couple of minor tech glitches (I wonder if they’ll even include the “big one”—the projector jumping over most of the staircase scene before getting fixed—in the digital ticket version), but nothing that could even begin to damper the magic of the night.

We all know that spies never die (except for Owen and the Informant, oops). And at times like this concert, I think this special little show with its short run in 2016 will prove to be just as immortal.

[yuurivoice]

Welcome to the YuuriVoice Tumblr!

A relic of a time long past, with echoes that remain ever present, you stand on the precipice of ground zero. This is where it all began. What was once a Yuri on Ice audio blog evolved into this wild thing we find ourselves strapped to.

Welcome! I'm Yuuri, a voice actor, writer, director, and maker of questionable noises. I'm part ASMRtist, part storyteller, part Vtuber, part smut peddler. I wear many hats, and to my shock they're not as ill fitting as I expected.

This blog is a wasteland of uncategorized shenanigans and information. I have not had the spoons to organize and maintain it in any other way than a vehicle for promotion and answering questions from the community that makes its home here on Tumblr.

You can find me and my work here:

YouTube for all narrative & SFW audios.

Patreon for behind the scenes updates + NSFW audios.

Twitter for more consistent nonsense updates.

Merch and other goodies here.

And basically every other platform you can think of @ yuurivoice.

How The YV Tumblr Functions

In general, you can send me questions through the Ask Box, and you'll spot me posting in the #yuurivoice tag plus additional tags for specific characters and series. That's about the most organization you're gonna get because my brain is capable of just about that much before I'll forget something and miscategorize things.

That also being said, be wary of various triggers. For anything big and obvious, I'll try and tag, but I won't be getting super granular in that regard. This also relates to my brain, because if someone asks "hey can you tag (specific thing)" I promise you I will end up forgetting then the person I said I'd look out for gets smacked in the face. So it's less about "idgaf" and more that in cases where I feel I cannot personally protect an individual, I'd rather them protect themselves and just know my big dumb ass will fail them.

Some general notes, boundaries, etc:

I'm literally just a guy checking his app at 3am on the shitter, there will be typos, I will forget things, if someone makes me uncomfortable I'll tell them

My tone may not always be clear, no I will not consistently use indicators, the best you're getting out of me is a lol or an emoji

My humor is dry, and my tolerance for nonsense is thin

Despite the above, I have had 99.9% positive experiences around here, most folks find me palatable, you may not and that's okay

Do NOT come to me slandering my peers, I have a zero tolerance policy for this

Do NOT press me for content of your specific blorbo

The list goes on, but genuinely if you are just chill there's never gonna be any issue, I am just a guy and you can treat me as such

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who is your favorite character to voice? A: Depends at the time you ask me, in general I enjoy them all a great deal because I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. But in truth, Alphonse (and Charlie) are probably the easiest for me to slide right into and that makes doing the work easy. Not sure if that's a "favorite" but ease of work matters significantly to me because ADHD.

Q: When will you do a (insert character) audio? A: Bold of you to assume I know when I'm doing anything at all. I am always contemplating when the next audio for a character will be, but my interests come and go in waves. If you ask me kindly on any given day, I'll probably give you a genuine answer. If you ask this in relation to content getting posted that wasn't that character, I will tell you to go fuck yourself. It's all about time and place. lol

Q: When will the next (insert series) video be out? A: Again, bold of you to assume I know, but also the answer is always changing for every series. BitterSweet and its associated projects are the most committed and consistent I've been with any artist pursuit in my entire life. Again, if you just ask me how a project is going on any given day, I'll likely give you an update. Just know that I heap an immense amount of pressure onto myself, so ask gently otherwise I'll feel guilty and cry about it. Not really, but also, don't test me.

Q: Are you taking commissions? A: Nope, haven't taken commissions in a loooooong time, and don't foresee it happening again, with a few exceptions for fundraisers and giveaways.

Q: I have this headcanon that (insert character fact). A: Don't ask me to confirm your headcanons, I will forget what anonymous message a Tumblr user asked me one day out of the blue and what my answer was. I avoid giving factoids, granular details, etc. because I'll just absolutely forget it the moment I hit post. I encourage you to use your imagination and don't bother seeking me for validation, you should just have fun playing pretend because that's exactly what got us here in the first place! <3

Q: Did (insert character) do this because (insert idea)? A: Any question like this that specifically asks for deliberate information that would lead to a spoiler, character revelation, etc. is not worth asking. While I appreciate that you might be asking the correct question, the whole reason I wrote the plot to make you ask that question is that you'd get that answer in the content itself, not from some asshole on the internet on a Tumblr blog (aka me).

Q: Why did you start making audios/YT videos/etc? A: In 2016, the anime Yuri!!! on Ice was a phenomenon that took the internet, and my life, by storm. I started this blog to make audios for the protagonist Yuuri Katsuki, as a hobby and way to participate in the fandom. Eventually, people wanted to commission me. Then, other characters and voices, specifically Guzma (Pokemon), Sidon (LoZ Breath of the Wild), and Aizawa (My Hero Academia) exploded in popularity and increased my following. When the Tumblr apocalypse happened and NSFW content was getting nuked, I pivoted to YouTube. I began to create original characters to fulfill standard Boyfriend Experience and Erotic audios, and slowly a connective narrative started to take shape, eventually becoming BitterSweet.

Q: What inspired you to make BitterSweet? A: Alphonse was originally inspired by my Stardew Valley character, which also inspired the setting of his audios. Seth was created to be a rival to Alphonse, with a visual novel style branching path for listeners to enjoy if they wanted Seth. However, as I began to write, I discovered a much deeper story between the two characters and I chose to follow that thread over the standard moment to moment experience style scenario. Several episodes later, it became clear that this was a narrative series that wasn't quite like my past work. The themes and ideas largely spawn from my own lived experiences, wrapped up in two pretty boys and their listener as they experience the healing magic of love in all of its forms!

Q: Is the BitterSweet Trio polyamorous? A: During the course of BitterSweet, Alphonse and Boo share their unconditional love with Seth, hoping to nurture the parts of him that have weathered away with time and trauma. This love is explicitly undefined, so that listeners can interpret the relationship dynamic as best suits them, as the trio represents no one specific type of love, but rather the healing of unconditional love. For some that may be best experienced romantically, and others may prefer it to be platonically, or even familially.

The beauty of it is that there is no incorrect interpretation, and every possibility is equally valid. This medium of self insert audio content allows for a collaborative fantasy between creator and listener, and is a strength unto itself.

Q: I need clarity on this specific plot point/lore thing! A: I'm typically happy to answer non-spoilery questions, but also I am actively working on a Wiki that should help folks who need a quick reference for any particular character or story!

Q: Can I make fanart/fanfic/cosplay of your characters? Is it okay if it's NSFW? A: Yes, you can do as you please! I'm a big believer in not having a ton of control and say in what people do with my art once it's in the world. We've reached the point where they're not just my little OCs, but whole ass characters and stories that people engage with, and I believe in letting y'all do what you want without my approval!

Q: How do you feel about generative AI/character AI/etc.? A: I would appreciate all of my works being as far away from AI anything as possible, whether it's visual, audio, or written. This is the one thing where my "it's y'alls business" approach doesn't apply, and I'd appreciate the extra consideration.

[failing-to-write-again]

Bloody Gift Exchange 2024

Hi @cakeemoji I hope you like the fic. I chose Shu from your list of liked characters as I felt I could do my best with him. I tried to blend some of the trends of the audio cds and games when Shu has his softer moments.

Thanks to @diabolik-lovers-weekly for organising the exchange. It feels good for the fandom to come together for things like this.

The autumnal chill in the air had me adjusting the sleeves of my jumper, the carriage constantly jostling slightly from the bumps and dips in the road ahead. Crowds were gathered on either side of the winding streets en route to the Chateau de Vampire King. Pulling the curtains shut I sunk back against the plush seating, pushing myself as far into the corner as possible. What on Earth had I gotten myself into, agreeing to come was a complete mistake as far as I was concerned. The events from three months ago replayed in my mind like a mocking joke.

“What clothes do you want packed for a week? Tell the familiars by tomorrow”

“What?”

Shu had sighed, as if the mere act of explaining was the most unbearable chore in existence. He had dropped next to me on the bed, holding his head up as his earphones dangled around his neck.

“I have a festival to attend for the October full moon, meaning you have to attend as well. So, choose what you want packed, and tomorrow you have to meet the tailor to be measured. This whole thing is such a pain.”

A silence stretched between us as I sat agape across from him, eyebrows knotted in complete disbelief. The blank stare returned to me did little to ease the confusion. Shu sighed again, reaching his free hand out to tap the necklace he had put around my neck almost a year ago.

“This means you signed up for it. You don’t get to take it back now, you’re mine, woman. So don’t be so much of a pain as to make me go a week while desperate debutantes throw themselves at me.”

My cheeks warmed, the sincere look in his eyes never failing to catch me off guard. I let my hand weave its way into his, squeezing it slightly.

“But we can’t even spend time together at those balls, I just have to watch you dance.”

Shu didn’t have much to say to that, his eyes focused on some far off spot. I had learnt some time ago that when Shu looked like he wasn’t listening it was when he was listening the most. He loosened his hand from mine, wrapping it around my waist and pulling me close.

“You should come to this one anyway. It’s like I said you have to be there if I have to.”

That had been that and now the very same necklace was being spun between my fingers, sat alone in this carriage, trapped by the crowds unaware of your existence while Shu was somewhere in the same procession. No doubt the crowds were full of hopeful nobles with single daughters. Ridiculous protocols demanded the heir had to travel alone, unless married, and the lack of his brothers meant nobody was around to share the space with you. Karl Heinz was likely either in a carriage along the same road or already at the castle. The risk of having multiple important members of the royal line in one place probably meant he was already waiting in his study for our arrival. While I was still an Eve and therefore a completely acceptable choice in his eyes, the man still gave me the creeps. Stories of his treatment of the Sakamakis and his mysterious behaviour made it clear the man was not to be trusted.

The noise outside was slowly dimming, until a loud gate groaned and screeched slowly then a moment later slammed shut. This cycle repeated twice more before I felt the carriage shake as the sounds of cobblestone shifted to a smoother ride along the flatter road of the castle courtyard. The final slam sealing of my fate for the next week.

================================================

I would be lying if I said the castle wasn’t impressive, but its oppressive atmosphere and the constant feeling that someone is watching you was definitely a deal breaker. However, my original plan of hiding away in my room until Shu appeared was beginning to feel impossible with the blonde haired vampire not appearing at his usual nap time. Leaving me to wander the halls in search of him. Looming portraits and lifeless familiars had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up and goosebumps littering my arms uncaring of the thick cardigan wrapped around me. Shu’s cardigan to be specific, borrowed without permission from his room the morning of our departure, the worn but soft material was coated in the scent of his cologne and the toasty undertone that could only be described as... well Shu. The last visit to the castle had been so very different, I had just been marked as an ‘Eve’ with my link to Shu newly forming. Shu had been near stuck to me when we weren’t around vampires, paired with the amount of vampires present had made the more eerie parts of the castle less noticeable.

Nearing the door, I recognised as Shu’s general room of choice, I gently knocked waiting for his quiet beckoning to enter. Yet it never came, the room was completely stark, without any sign of his bags or him. I was left back where I began once more. Venturing through the curving halls and winding staircases of the castle was daunting but the idea of returning to my room felt worse.

After an hour of wandering and an embarrassing number of unread texts I was close to giving up. He must have been pulled to some prince linked task, or had fallen asleep somewhere I couldn’t find. I had explored so absent mindedly I completely missed I had taken myself right to his father’s study, the large mahogany doors threatening to swing open and leave me alone with a man that even made Shu nervous. Turning I start briskly walking away, aiming to avoid any potential vampires waiting to meet with the man and go to my room to lick my wounds. Yet whatever power may be decided that was the perfect time for the doors to creak open behind me. Bracing myself to curtsey and keep my mouth as shut as possible to hopefully avoid any confrontation I turn. My head quickly bowed as taught by Reiji, I dropped my knee as practiced.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t realise I had walked all the way here. I’ll be out of your way now.”

“That desperate to stay away? What a bothersome woman.” My head flew up, greeted with blue rather than golden eyes. Shu’s teasing smirk lifting the stress from my shoulders. I rose quickly, wringing my hands together.

“I was looking for you, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were the one trying to stay away from me.” He chuckled at that, reaching out a hand to brush against mine.

“But you do know better apparently?” He teased, leaning down and speaking in a voice so soft as if he was sharing a secret.

“You missed your nap.” I whispered back slipping my hand properly into his. Suddenly returned to my room. Shu slowly shuffled back, keeping me close until he was laid back in bed with me hovering over him. He pulled me close, a hand wrapping around the back of my head to hold me close to his chest, his other arm wrapping around my back. The bed was warm, and the gentle rise and fall of Shu’s chest was already lulling me to sleep.

“My pillow knows me well I see. Well, since I’m feeling nice I’ll take my nap now or else you’ll be bothersome and cranky,” an earphone hung by my ear, the distant sound of Chopin covering the drafty whispers of the castle halls.

“Hey...Shu?”

“mhm”

“Why were you in your father’s study?” I felt Shu’s sigh before I heard it, his face hidden from view as he held me to his chest.

“Don’t concern yourself with silly things woman, just go to sleep.”

================================================

I woke to a cold side of the bed and the ringing of a bell just outside. Scanning the room, it was clear Shu had vanished some time ago, the ringing continuing incessantly. Calling out, I’m greeted by the voice of a woman.

“Excuse me ma’am, may we enter? We have your breakfast and instruction to prepare you for the ball.” Swinging my legs off the bed and opening the door I welcome the maids inside. A tray is placed atop the ornate vanity sitting in the moonlight streaming through the tall, ornate windows. The concoction somewhat resembling toast and oatmeal wasn’t the worst food I’d eaten but it was glaringly clear the chefs had no idea what foods from the demon realm were safe for me to eat. Around me the maids were setting up a range of tools and products, garment bags hung from a set of hooks nearby, and jewellery boxes were neatly stacked on a table. I could hear water being ran in the connected ensuite, filling the claw foot tub. It was raining outside, the subtle patter against the windowpanes a shallow comfort, my mind swinging between Shu’s distant behaviour and the ball ahead. The ball was surely going to be a trial; barely concealed distain from the vampires in attendance, dances so stiff and strictly rehearsed with a misstep being a point of mockery, and the fact I’ll be put in a plainer uncomfortable dress and told to stay to myself and far away from Shu. The same Shu who was here one minute and gone the next, he hadn’t been like this since solidifying your relationship and especially not before a ball he was going to have to spend apart from me.

“Ma’am we’re ready for you.”

Snapped out of my thoughts, the tap no longer running and the scent of roses wafting through the air. Thus, began over an hour of scrubbing and styling, a long bath where every inch of me was cleaned thoroughly. My skincare and other routines followed and improved upon by a team of servants. Leading to now, as I stood in front of a mirror as a sparkling blue gown was tightened and adjusted. It was beautiful, royal blue cascading down, flattering me perfectly. Sleeves of blue lace with golden flowers, and a neckline coming together with a brooch of the Sakamaki crest. It was unlike anything I had ever been dressed in before.

“Are...are you sure this is meant to be mine? I don’t normally get put in this stuff...” my voice was quiet almost scared to acknowledge the image in front of me. As if another person seeing me would wake me up to some plain black dress like I expected.

“Of course, ma’am, the Crown Prince himself requested it. The tailor was thrilled to be able to design it for you.” The woman barely looked up, opening boxes and laying them out. She held up a sapphire necklace, laying it against me.

“This was the late Queen’s ma’am; do you think it suits the dress-”

“No!” I blurt out without thinking. “I mean, I think Shu would prefer something different. He probably has seen it plenty.” The woman has a knowing look in her eye, nodding ever so slightly and quickly moving away a number of boxes. A silver moon caught my eye, a small crescent with a sapphire pendant hanging in its open space. Lifting it from the box I let it hang in the light.

“A wonderful choice ma’am, it’s part of a matching set. Shall I fetch the matching earrings and tiara?”

“Tiara?” My questioning tone goes unanswered, as the woman collects two more boxes clasping the necklace and slipping on the earrings. Finally, a sparkling tiara is placed on my head, each silver peak flanked by phases of the moon.

“I really think this might be a mistake; I’m meant to blend in...I’m definitely not meant to be wearing a tiara.” The maid looked at me confused. But before she could speak a knock on the door interrupted. Slowly opening, Shu stepped inside. He was dressed in a blue suit, the golden tassels of his epaulettes further broadening his shoulders. A crown sat on his head, golden and proud. Reaching up with sharp, ray like peaks resembling sunbeams. His normal white gloves missing and in its place a signet ring matching the crest currently sat at my bust. He stood still as the servants bowed and made their exit, once gone he nodded to someone outside before closing the door. Walking toward me, I wrung my hands together anxiety gnawing at my stomach.

“Shu, what’s happening.” My concern evident as the absurdity of the situation settled on me further and further. However, he didn’t respond instead lifting my hand in his. He gestured for me to step down from the tailor’s step riser used to make final adjustments to the gown. Walking me over to the windows he pulled open the curtain ever so slightly, peaking out before prompting me to follow. Outside guests were streaming into the atrium across the courtyard, however a group of people dressed in suits with notepads and cameras stood gathered on the courtside nearest to the window. Journalists? Most likely trying to get pictures of Shu, but this side of the castle is for guests not family. A man pointed suddenly, shouting something while raising a camera before a barrage of flashes assaulted my eyes. Pulling away the curtains sway shut once more, doing little to dim the shouting. Shu chuckled, moving his hand to settle on my waist.

“You’re not doing a good job being discrete, as should be expected though. If you were subtle, I would be listening to Bach instead of stuck here about to be forced through a ball.” His comment had me pouting, and increasingly irked by the lack of answers to the situation unfolding.

“Shu, you’d still be here I didn’t force you to go I don’t exactly enjoy these either. More importantly why are they outside my room and why am I dressed like this.” My finger poked his chest in punctuation, exasperation filled me. Only to once again be greeted with Shu’s laughter as his hand wrapped around my wrist to pull me even closer still. Leaning down he whispered.

“We’re only here because of you, the October full moon festival is a glorified carnival I’m meant to sit and watch later this week. This ball is for you and me alone. A fact you made abundantly clear by wearing that,” he taps the centre moon on the tiara, pulling back to look me in the eye as he continues, “A tiara made to match my crown. I have to say I expected you to be less bold, generally our wedding would be where you debut yourself in the future Queen’s set.” A blush rose to my cheeks, hands quickly raising to lift the suddenly heavy metal off my head. Shu’s hands reached up to stop me.

“Shu! I didn’t know, they tried to put me in your mother’s stuff. I’ll take it off nobody told me.” My whispers sounding far shriller than I would prefer.

“Nobody told you because it was part of the collection put together of options for you, by me. I had a feeling it would catch your eye; I didn’t think they would have put it on you without reason. But the only reason you’re wearing it is because you don’t want to wear her things, not because you like it?” He teased, his thumbs rubbing soft circles into my wrist flustering me further.

“I mean of course I like it, it’s pretty...but I don’t want to wear her things. It feels like a bad luck charm to wear that. Why is the ball for us though? Why did you choose my dress and jewellery, this all feels like a lot more effort than you’re known for.” Staring up at him, I see his gaze soften as his eyes slowly move taking in my appearance.

“You have had to watch irritating dull women attempt to steal me away countless times, and have never gotten to dance or wear something that actually suits you. So, I’m fixing it, it’s a bother... but it’s one I’m ok with this once. You’re going to enter with me, announced as my choice. This ball is to celebrate me choosing a future Queen.” His pointer finger and thumb play with the tiara, adjusting it slightly.

“I feel a bit like I’m way too dressed up, I don’t know if it suits me, I look like a princess from some fairytale.” Looking down at the dress in disbelief.

“You are a princess.”

“What.” The face I pulled was evidently the most hilarious thing Shu had seen, he actually laughed at last. He mocked a bow with his head, lifting his hand held out to me palm up.

“We are about to enter the ballroom, after him, announced together, and you will be anointed a princess. Then we’ll be stuck there for hours receiving congratulations and presents. Probably will be stuck dancing. Really, we should just leave now avoid the bother all together.” Shu said all of this so nonchalantly, and you didn’t doubt he would have you both leaving as soon as possible.

“No, I think we can manage. Just stay close, ok?” His hand wrapped back around my waist, turning us away from the windows and starting towards the door.

“I’ll be with you the entire night; it would be a pain to have to deal with someone stealing you away.”

I didn’t notice how the curtains had been pulled apart as he turned. To focused on my prince to see the photos being taken of the two of you walking away beginning your walk to the Royal balcony.

================================================

The night so far had mostly been a blur. From the second the doors opened everything felt as if it was in slow motion and being fast forwarded at the same time. It began with our entry with every vampire family of note watching the two of us descend the stairs of the royal entrance. There were certainly some glares as we were announced, which only worsened when Shu’s father approached happily asking for a dance later in the night. However, with Shu virtually glued to my side and no clear reason for him to leave there wasn’t room for it to go further. Up until this point we had mostly been greeting guests and sampling food, but the music had begun picking up and Karl Heinz was approaching.

“I think it is time we have our dance, no?” His smile elusive as always, the man was unsettling there was no way around it. Shu’s hand didn’t move from my waist, if anything it tightened.

“I’m pretty sure the first dance is meant to be mine.” The man only chuckled in response, lifting his hand up making it obvious that unless Shu was about to make a scene there was no avoiding this. Reluctantly taking his hand we moved towards the centre of the room as the space cleared. A basic waltz began as we stayed silent. Nobody else was dancing either, so I had been left with someone I had only ever been told was incredibly dangerous. While desperately avoiding eye contact, I hear him start to speak.

“I won’t take too much of your time, your first dance is important after all.” He spins me out gently before continuing, “however, I feel I must thank you.”

“Thank...me?” I replied incredulously, he chuckled at that, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was looking at me like I knew something, as though I was a valuable ally or enemy.

“The boy is now becoming a man, something I have failed at while you succeeded Miss Eve. I do hope your relationship is long and prosperous, Eden needs a strong successor.” He stopped suddenly, bowing to kiss my hand. “I hope you can appreciate your role in this.” He straightened and turned towards an approaching Shu, passing my hand to his. Sharing tense pleasantries before he walked away, likely to mingle with his advisors. Shu took his place in front of me, the music changing to something more melodic and slower.

“What did he say to you?” Pulling me closer as we gently fell into step. The lights around us dimming.

“He thanked me.” I couldn’t help but think how undeserving of thanks I was, Shu was bound to behave when he found someone he wanted to behave for. The fact that was me wasn’t special, and I didn’t tell him to do any of this. Yet here I stood in a dress fit for a princess, which I now apparently am. Surrounded by noble vampires while being the same species they prey upon, dancing with one of the strongest vampires who was also a prince and also somehow mine. Moonlight was streaming down from above, bathing us as those around us faded into shadows. The jewels in his crown sparkled, mine likely matching. His eyes focused on mine as we turn, spin, and dip through the steps taught to me months ago.

“So, the old man messed with the planned dance just to thank you and steal the spotlight, typical.” He rolled his eyes, hidden somewhat by his curls. Reaching up I brush them away, slowing, his eyes locked on mine. The light around beginning to change, a subtle reddish pink replacing the silvery beams. Whispers began but I could barely hear them while in the moment.

“You don’t know about this moon, do you? I don’t know why I would expect any different you are a simple woman,” he spoke to himself as the light slowly intensifies as the music grows gentler. “When an heir finds a match, there’s a special moon which has a much stronger effect on them. If they’re in Eden they’re bathed in red light, some people say its to show support for the match, that’s a ridiculous wife tale, however. The truth is that it makes the bond between them stronger physically.” His fingers lace with mine before he continued quietly. His voice a melodic hum able to sooth my soul in a way that is equal parts scary and comforting.

“I feel your presence, your scent, you blood more than before. You must as well, even if you aren’t able to pinpoint it like I can. I won’t let you escape from now on, and nothing will take you from me.” The sentiment fills me with a warmth, and I can’t seem to wipe the grin off my face.

“Good, you’re stuck with me whether you like it or not.” Smiling back at me, the only thing in his eyes I can see is me, in full radiant focus.

[comma-tose]

I wish Sasha had gotten better treatment from Debt or Alive. I spoke a bit about it in a previous post but she is just not developed at all and I have a LOT of problems with how the book portrays her. Which is a shame because I really loved her in Tales, she was a really great character. There ARE positives to her in the book but this is purely me talking about what I don't like about how she's portrayed here, so while there are good points I won't be speaking about them here.

(if you liked this book that's completely valid! These are just my personal opinions on somethings I didn't like in the book)

Spoiler warning for Debt or Alive obviously.

To put it into perspective, Sasha in Tales was someone out of her element like the rest of the group, she wasn't great with tech (although not completely clueless), she loved guns, she wanted to get off of Pandora, she cared about Fiona's safety, and she canonically liked Rhys. She had moments where she was pessimistic and occasionally didn't acknowledge Fiona's feelings (about the situation with Felix) but overall she was VERY close with Fiona and cared about her, wanting them both to be safe and okay. She was great and I love her.

Now... In Debt or Alive unfortunately that is not the case. That's not to say that she doesn't care at all about Fiona or Rhys, but the way the book portrays her is very strange. It tends to either give her very negative traits without ever acknowledging them as bad, or it treats her as a plot device that magically provides the way for the story to progress, either just handing her wins without earning them or giving her abilities that she shouldn't have, often at the expense of minimising what makes other characters special.

To be more specific let me start with the ability to hack that the book gives her. Now in Tales she showed no knowledge of it, quite the opposite actually, and the book randomly says that Rhys has taught her a "ton of stuff" about hacking, although when this happened it's not quite clear considering the book makes it clear that they leave Pandora fairly quickly after getting out of the vault... So I guess she just got the skill in a few weeks???

The first thing she hacks, which is also the first mention of her having any ability to hack ever, is the debt cuffs. The cuffs that billionaires have funded being made, the cuffs that they would have poured so much money into to make sure that no one ever got away without paying their debts. She just hacks into it and dismantles it. It's not a perfect job because the cuff does explode afterwards but she is able to remove it in time, You'd think if it was that easy you'd have a legion of people doing back-alley deals to remove them and the majority of the planet wouldn't be wearing them. So clearly this is something difficult to do, especially with the amount of money the billionaires of Eden 5 would have poured into it.

The other thing she hacks is a sec-bot. One of Countless Holloway's robotic security guards. In the middle of combat Sasha just leaps onto its back and just hacks into it, changing its allegiances almost instantly and rewiring it to be on their side now.

Now bear in mind we have seen robots change allegiance before in tales from the borderlands when Rhys takes control of the drones.

But in that case not only had Rhys been a programmer for YEARS, he still had to have help from Jack's AI to take control of them. So if Rhys with years of experience needs help to take control of robots, then in no way should Sasha be able to randomly take control of them from what could only be at MOST a few weeks of practice.

Now not quite hacking but along the lines of machinery the other thing Sasha does is repair Deathtrap. There is no explanation given as to how she does this. Deathtrap is barely functional at the time and has absolutely no vision, no ocular beam, no hover function, barely functioning audio sensors, and no digistruct claws. That's the list of damages explicitly given in the book.

Bearing in mind that this is a robot built by a literal genius, one who was essentially a technological prodigy, a robot so impressive that the Holloway estate ripped off the plans for it to built a robot army to keep the entire planet of Eden 5 in check. And Sasha just fixes it, the only time before this that Sasha had shown ANY kind of mechanical skills was when she was fixing the caravan during the intro song to Episode 3 of tales from the borderlands and even then she was being walked through the repairs by Scooter.

Sasha should not be just given abilities that are randomly as good, if not better than other characters whose whole thing was being REALLY good at that in particular. Gaige was a mechanical genius that's how she built Deathtrap after years of learning. Rhys was a good programmer who still needed help to perform complicated hacks. It doesn't make sense for someone with basically no experience to suddenly be even half as good as them at it. It also diminishes Sasha as a character because they don't give her something SHE IS uniquely good at. It essentially turns her into a ripoff version of those two ability wise, and she deserves far better than that.

Now then, personality wise... I wish I didn't have negative things to say here, really I do. This isn't to say that EVERY interaction or scene with her is bad, but the ones that are just really stand out.

To start with, Sasha gets mad at Fiona trying to restrict what she does which is completely reasonable for Sasha to be mad about, BUT then in response to being mad at Fiona she goes and does something insanely stupid. Something that doesn't just endanger her but also risks Fiona's life and it's not even done for good reason.

She frees Gaige.

Gaige who had EVERY reason to hold a grudge against her and Fiona and to go hunt them down and murder them, who also reiterated her hatred for Sasha and Fiona. Oh and she shows her the shard that can bring people back from the dead. So not only does she free someone who has every reason to go murder her and her sister, but she also just dangles the cure to death in front of a vault hunter who could just kill her and take it.

She also frees her knowing that she murdered Countess Holloway's daughter. Now we as the audience know that that was an accident, we know that Gaige didn't mean to and that Marcie had been awful to her for years, but Sasha does not. She saw the video of Marcie being killed and all she knows is that Deathtrap killed Marcie, and yet she still frees her. Because she's bored and mad at Fiona.

They could've had her find out the real circumstances behind Marcie's death and then impulsively go free Gaige, but no, she is just bored and angry at Fiona so she goes and frees Gaige so that she can go vault hunting with her.

This being insanely stupid is never addressed. Nor is the idiocy of Sasha literally KILLING HERSELF to prove that the crystal works to Gaige. Just a note, this is also all done after Gaige reiterates her hatred for Sasha and Fiona, and Sasha never tries to get Gaige to agree to y'know not hunt her sister down.

Couple of quick problems here as well regarding Sasha's personality in the book.

-When Fiona starts to free people from the debt cuffs she literally just stands there in bewilderment and says "what are you doing???" And only after Fiona starts freeing more does she join in

- throughout the book Sasha refuses to commit to Rhys, refusing to make the relationship serious, and doesn't say anything more than "I need more time" despite noting how upset it's making Rhys. It takes Fiona calling her out (which also mentions that she has a habit of just ghosting her boyfriends???), for her to actually make a decision. And even then SHE doesn't tell Rhys that she's decided to move the relationship forward and it's Fiona who has to tell him.

-Sasha also says nothing when Fiona is literally compared to Handsome Jack. Like she's literally standing next to them, replies to something Fiona says but she says NOTHING when Fiona is compared to Jack. Doesn't even reassure her that it's not true. (Tales Sasha would've thrown hands with the guy who said that, there is NO way she would let that slide).

Now for my final point, because god knows I've been yapping for a while, Sasha is just HANDED accomplishments and the most glaring example of this is when she goes vault hunting with Gaige, which is literally a weekend trip.

First Gaige just knows where a vault is, then, after she goes there with Gaige, there are NO guardians defending the vault because they were all somehow killed by a few bandits.

When they get through the bandits they get to the entry to the vault. Now what do you need to open a vault??? If you said a vault key then... INCORRECT! It turns out that they just don't even need one because the name of the monster IS the key... Somehow. But regardless they open the vault.

And how do they kill this vault monster you ask? How does Sasha finally, in her own words, be even and equal with Fiona? Well they shove a grenade in the monster's eye and it dies. Then they just go home.

This book does not let Sasha earn anything, which is a shame because her character in Tales was great and had a LOT of potential. But here she doesn't grow as a person, and for some reason has developed some really bad traits after Tales with no explanation, and doesn't bother to give her her own thing that made her unique, instead settling on just giving her other peoples. She would essentially be at the exact same point in her character, if not better, if this book just didn't exist at all, because it just loops back around to her and Fiona broke and vault hunting again.

Sasha deserved SO much better.

[foxes-that-run]

Paper rings

Paper Rings is about love over wealth and luxury. Paper rings are simple and unglamorous, but also can be fragile. Paper being temporary and disposable. The song mixes good and bad to say that Taylor choses an imperfect life with this person. Taylor described it as not having modern influences when it does and being punk, a word that fits this song better than reputation but Taylor used in Time. It's was hinted at on Reputation which makes me wonder if it was a Reputation vault track. It copies the sound of Hilary Duff's 2015 Breathe In Breath Out which Taylor mentioned on Tumblr:

Paper Rings was hinted at in the Me! Lyric Video with a Paper Ring with two polaroids (it mentions photo frames) and has a Spotify Story:

"I wrote "Paper Rings' with this idea of throwback sounds. We didn't want to use any sounds that were very modern on this song. This song talks about true love, and if you really find true love, you probably don't really care what the symbolism of that love is. Material things wouldn't matter to you anymore if you found someone that you just wanted to live your life with. "

In the iHeartRadio Secret Session (Audio in the video above) Taylor said:

[...]"imagining that I was a wedding band at a reception, playing the love songs that the bride and groom wanted to hear in, like, 1978 or something. It's called 'Paper Rings.' The whole song is just basically reminiscing on fun memories. [...] there's some fun, kind of, punk, like inspired by punk girl groups and the way they used to sing, shouting them in a really unapologetic way. [...]

A 1978 Wedding Band is a very specific reference. So thinking of songs from 1978... This wedding blog lists a few like Just What I Needed – The Cars, released in 1978 and one (H tweet) and was also in The Wedding Singer. Blondie is a clear reference for the Lover aesthetic and the song. Blondie released One Way or Another in 1978. (Before the 1D cover). The Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop is an earlier influence for it.

...also did she say Punk? as in the 2023 Time Magazine:

When was it written

Like all of Lover it is copyright 2019 for its release. It was Easter egged in the Call It What You Want Lyric video on 2 November 2016 and in the Reputation magazine hinting pretty strongly that it was at least partly written with Reputation.

It was recorded at Conway, LA, & Metropolis in London. London Boy was also recorded in both. Taylor didn’t record reputation at Metropolis but KOMH and a few lover songs were at Conway.

Live performances

Paper Rings was a surprise song in Minneapolis on 23 June, 2023, the other surprise song was If this was a movie. Taylor also performed it as a mash up with Stay Stay Stay on 21 July, 2024. It was not played the few Lover promo shows.

Rings

The Spotify Visual features a huge ring, pearls and beehive. When talking about the song Taylor talked about not caring about a ring if you truly loved someone, and the lyrics 'I like shiny things, but I would marry you with paper rings'. So why this visual with a huge ring and perfect life? To me this is about giving those things up, which fits the 'unapologetic' punk feel. This idea is also in the LAWYMMD video. Maybe rejecting a proposal with a shiny ring for a more youthful love.

Lyrics

The moon is high Like your friends were the night that we first met Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet Now I've read all of the books beside your bed

In the iHeartRadio intro Taylor said the song was reminiscing on fun memories which these first verses are. These are the sections which match Breathe in Breathe out. which has lines that start with “I remember..” while Hilary was looking back on a lost love Taylor is reminiscing on a current love, it sounds both nostalgic and new.

Some fans do gymnastics to make them about a specific muse but they are very generic but I’ll add that Joe was not with friends at the Met Gala, he was with a costar that knew Taylor better.

The wine is cold Like the shoulder that I gave you in the street Cat and mouse for a month or two or three Now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe

This verse continues the reminiscing, I like the use of cold shoulder and street compared to the intimacy of watching someone breathe. Also this line reminds me of the Hilary Duff song title.

Kiss me once 'cause you know I had a long night (Oh) Kiss me twice 'cause it's gonna be alright Three times 'cause I've waited my whole life (One, two, one, two, three, four)

This verse is the most like a wedding band, and one Taylor mentioned when talking about the song that Jack does the count in. Taylor has not used ‘be alright’ very much:

22 - Everything will be alright, if you keep me next to you

Shake it off - Saying, "It's gonna be alright."

Call it what you want - They took the crown, but it's alright

The Archer - But what if I'm alright, right, right, right here?

Death by a Thousand Cuts - I ask the traffic lights if it'll be alright

The 1 - And it's alright now

Fresh Out the Slammer - But it's gonna be alright, I did my time

I look through people's windows - Does it feel alright to not know me?

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings Uh huh, that's right Darling, you're the one I want, and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

The refrain is where Taylor would chose a simple paper ring over a fancy ring or wedding. When talking about the song Taylor described this as the ring not mattering, but to me paper is more temporary, it’s not a wedding but a tentative commitment of sorts. Taylor also describes the relationship as non traditional with “this” an ill defined situationship.

Uh huh, that's right Darling, you're the one I want In paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams Oh, you're the one I want

The one I want implies again there is someone Taylor is choosing this person over, she’s forgoing something shiny for this relationship. Yet the theme of reminiscing implies this is not a new relationship. Darling is not used a lot.

Picture frames are also uncommon in Taylor’s work, only HYGTG, Run and this song have a framed picture to mean a relationship. The Me! Lyric video had 2 Polaroids with the paper ring, very 1989/reputation-esque, one of her holding a cat and one with friends.

How You Get The Girl: With pictures in frames of kisses on cheeks

In the winter, in the icy outdoor pool When you jumped in first, I went in too I'm with you even if it makes me blue Which takes me back To the color that we painted your brother's wall

Taylor will follow this partner anywhere even when it’s not always easy or pleasant. More on the wall and icy pool below.

Honey, without all the exes, fights, and flaws We wouldn't be standing here so tall, so

In this verse their relationship has some history of "exes, fights, and flaws" they’ve overcome. Similar to “one I want” this is not a simple we met and went from friends to this, they have history.

Icy outdoor pool

I have a post on the icy pool. Which is something Harry has been known for (also in Hampstead Heath Pond) long before Joe did handy exposition for this. Taylor said on 2 June 2018 in Chicago ( Harry was in the City) "2 New Years Eve's ago I found myself in the midst of a very like incredible 3am moment where you think you are invincible and you end up like jumping in a pool in the winter and you feel super untouchable in that moment" Taylor Nation cut this part out.

The house Taylor rented in Hampstead in December 2016 has a pool and she included photos in the Rep Magazine. A post on that.

Blue Walls

I have a post on this blue wall line and that it is a metaphor for being emotionally isolated. She also referred to blue painted walls in:

Everything Has Changed - And all my walls stood tall, painted blue

The Lover photoshoot hints that it is metaphorical:

If you think these rep book photos are of Taylor actually painting a wall and not a photoshoot I have some ice to sell you.

I want to drive away with you I want your complications too I want your dreary Mondays Wrap your arms around me, baby boy

In the bridge Taylor tells how she wants good and bad, a similar idea to on New Years Day about wanting someone to clean up bottles after the party, or dreary Monday’s here. Again with complications, this is not a fresh relationship between 2 single people.

Drive is a Haylor theme also and this line reminds me of Style’s “let’s get out of the town” and finally taylor calls the muse “baby boy” .. perhaps she is singing about someone who’s ‘younger than her ex’s but acts like such a man, so.

[seasaltmemories]

Top AMVs of 2024 - 30 - 21

A more in-depth breakdown of what I am doing can be found here, but if you just want to get to the main entries then:

30. Cuff It by uv catastrophe (fray-adjacent)

Audio: Cuff It by Beyoncé

Visuals: Reunion: The Sound of the Providence

There are two words that best sum up this vid: fun and flirty. The source material seems concerned with a grand adventure of some kind, but this vid is more focused on the journey and small bits in between the action set-pieces.

Each member of the trio gets loving focus for a verse. Lots of attention is given to hitting all the sexual innuendos of the song, with my fave moment being the intense close ups of a hand tracing the outlines of a wall for a more innocent type of opening. The editing is similarly loose and relaxed while keeping the pacing engaging and energized. This is one of my favorite types of tribute because it is so easy just to see what individual moments and expressions the editor themselves loves. By the end, I was just as charmed with this polycule as I expect the fans are.

29. Pink Friday by FallChild42

Audio: Friday Night from The Yakuza 0 Soundtrack

Visuals: Revolutionary Girl Utena

I participated in an MMV exchange this summer, and there were so many cool and creative vids made for it, so beware this is just the first off the list. I know FallChild42/Dr. Dinosaur for his comedy vids and only heard a few stray comments about what he had planned for his giftee, so I didn’t know what to expect. But it certainly wasn’t for him to go all out for a motions graphics lyric video.

Utena and Yakuza are two series I love, but I never thought to cross them like this until he pulled it off. Suddenly I was like, “yes Utena deserves all the fun friday night parties, yes please.” The editing is both professional and slick, yet expressive and charming (especially with her little dance). A lot of the fun from exchanges is watching friends go the extra mile for each other. With such impressive tech work and clear joy and affection for his frequent collaborator/friend Ileia, it is difficult to walk away form this vid without a smile.

28. Bonnie & Clara by Camichan19

Audio: Runaway by Against the Current

Visuals: Princess Jellyfish

I came up in amv fandom from the side focused on making their paper dolls kiss (regardless if they interacted in canon or not), so I a sucker for just a good romance amv that knows what it is doing. And what do you know, Camichan19 is an expert in exactly that.

Pacing is one of those rarely spoken about, pretty vague elements of editing. You can use a metronome file or the waveform but when it comes down to choosing when and where to cut, especially on a scene by scene level, there’s only so much guidance anyone can give. Yet Camichan19 always seems like she knows exact the perfect place to make the cleanest cuts. Her smart and subtle scene selection in this vid specifically shines in how she is able to use Princess Jellyfish’s comedic moments for actually romantic development. This vid doesn’t make me laugh out loud, but it does make me smile in how it show that even these goofy slapstick moments do build something real and important between our two leads.

27. Transcend-Dandy Cha Cha Cha by Aqua Sky Productions

Audio: Transcendental Cha Cha Cha by Tom Cardy

Visuals: Space Dandy

Tom Cardy has been supplying a good portion of the amv community’s comedy audio for the past few years now. Honestly, you could make a panel purely of Tom Cardy amvs, and a part of me is worried the bubble is gonna burst before I can get my own ideas out. When his new album dropped with its own animated music video for this song, a part of me imagined it was some sort of challenge on his part to see how a inter-dimension dance party could get reinterpreted as anything else. But Aqua Sky Productions rose up to that challenge and knocked it out of the park. Of all the lyric sync I expected in this vid, I was not expecting the “french dandy” line to get something.

But most of all, I admire she was able to capture the over-the-top party attitude without simply recreating the original mv. In contrast to its existential horror, Aqua has most of the characters role with the punches as long as they have a place to rave. It’s more tongue-in-cheek in comparison to most dance vids, but the more lowkey humor makes it a fun party anyone feels like they could join.

26. MEDUSA by JAKEH (CW: Sexual Assault)

Audio: Follow You Into the Dark from Alan Wake II Soundtrack

Visuals: Heavenly Delusion + Multisource

I say this not to disparage any of the many dedicated coordinators we have in our community, but I feel like we’re still in the figuring out stage of grappling with amvs focused on more heavy and sensitive topics. Considering the public nature of much of the con circuit it is understandable to limit showings to all ages material, and I understand staff that does not feel equipped or does not want to engage with such topics for personal reasons. Still even in NFSW spaces, sexual assault tends to be the one line drawn (probably because going from horny hentai shenanigans to that and back is a hell of a tone whiplash). I like to emphasize that the con circuit is not the end all be all of amvs, and several people involved in the space (including myself) have taken the time to tackle the subject. However, it feels like many vids that want to seriously grapple with it are forced to live in the dark.

All this to say, if you care about grounded depictions of sexual violence, then MEDUSA is one of the best amvs tackling the subject around. Where it shines is not just communicating the literal events, but representing the feelings of our protagonist. After the drop we get gorgeous composition and composition filled with rage, grief, and profound bodily alienation. I don’t believe the most sensitive depictions are the ones that are the least explicit like some folks, but there is a lot more power and creative control for JAKEH by going this abstract route in a visual medium like amvs.

The ending itself also really gets at the reality of the subject for most victims. While our protagonist does get relief and release in the comfort and support of their loved one, there is also the harsh reality of having to live with the knowledge their assailant is likely simply living their life without any comparable consequences. It’s a harsh truth too many survivors have to face, but in the end, it is this vid’s unflinching stare head on at the subject that gives its dignity and weight.

25. Welcome to the Glam Dungeon🔥👄 by Abyssbreaking Studios

Audio: The Glam Kitchen 🔥👄 Sopita de coditos by Shiadanni

Visuals: Dungeon Meshi

Who’s hungry for a bite? This amv is not my first encounter with the glam kitchen, but I was nervous about the audio would translate for a vid, as most of the humor comes from the delivery of a dramatic Mexican diva.

The solution, make the delivery of the audio through the text part of the joke. While Kia doesn’t skimp out on adding jokes in through Marcille’s funniest moments, her subtitles are the star of the show. There legible and easy to read while having plenty of cute and charming flourishes (my fave is the custom Falin emoji). Overall it recreates the fun of many viral cooking videos, basking in the vibes and energy as the real work goes on in the background, in a way I didn’t imagine possible in the form of an amv. Kia’s enthusiasm and energy overall cooks up a tasty treat for us viewers.

24. a heart’s a heavy burden by Biotic

Audio: Medusa by Kailee Morgue

Visuals: Fruits Basket 2019

Rin is one of my faves of Fruits Basket and I’ve adored this particular song for years. The only way a vid with this combo could be more up my alley is if a creative editor like the BioticAMVS was the one to edit with it. Really no matter what source she works with, Biotic always adds her own unique compositions and visual flair to create amvs with very particular singular visions.

And as a fan of the sources, I really love the extra meaning created here. It is telling that the positive memories are layered in a mosaic-like haze, once good ones are shattered, broken, and ruined while the only thing Rin sees clearly is her own pain. Casting Tohru as “Medusa,” the figure that turns her to stone, is such an interesting choice that demonstrates just how much what it is that paralyzes her is something internal as much as her external circumstances. It is a nice treat for fans, but wrapped up in tight sync that can be enjoyed by anyone.

23. Curtain Call - by BanjoKazooie64Fan (James Blond)

Audio: When the Curtain Falls by Tessa Violet

Visuals: Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue is one of those intensely iconic pieces of art the imagery takes a life of its own. But rather than focus on stalkers and doppelgangers, James took the time to focus in on Perfect Blue lady’s quiet loneliness.

It is a unique and creative take on the source, as most Perfect Blue amvs aren’t all that character focused, (and even after watching the movie less than 3 years ago, she is still “Perfect Blue lady” in my head) but it is one that works wonders. By cutting out most of the thriller elements, it really emphasizes how even before the bodies started piling up, this was a young vulnerable woman getting eaten up by the industry with seemingly no support system at all. The scene of her fantasizing about talking with friends over near silence at 0:56 is so powerful in its dissonance, emphasizing how it really is a fantasy since it “breaks” most amv rules. I also like the cut of her staring blankly in the middle of directing the night club scene at 1:56. There is this running theme of almost watching life happen to other people around her, pulling so much depth and emotion I am not used to feeling about a character at all.

22. Retro Never Ends by Roseclipse AMV (Ophelia)

Audio: World on Wheels by Duckwrth

Visuals: Yu Yu Hakusho

Last year, a studio by the name AMV Clamp (since then renamed Roseclipse AMV) came on to the scene with killer taste in anime and a strong editing voice/style. They were my rookies of the year for 2023, with Ophelia being a particular prevalent member. I loved her mmv work last year, so when she participated in the summer mmv exchange I mentioned earlier, I was excited to see what she would pull together.

With its bright color palette and paper edge borders, Retro Never Ends oozes style. For a medium where ever inch of movement is costing you loads of time and effort, the vid is so energetic, lively, and slick. There are so many great standout motions, such as the flying animation at 0:31 and the Botan mask at 0:47, but a more subtle element I admire is how Ophelia is not afraid to play with the aspect ratio. At moments like 0:16 and 0:42, you can clear see the edges of the original manga panels. But the brisk pace and smart scene composition turns the negative space from a distraction and into another nice visual flourish. Frankly when it comes to amount of polished tech work per a frame, this vid might get you some of the best bang for your buck on this list.

21. First Measure by Xophilarus

Audio: Magik Mike - Shake If Off but Taylor Swift stays up WAY too late (Shake Off Those Notes), Shittyflute - Love Story, Tom Wallace's arrangement of Shake It Off.

Visuals: Hibike Euphorium

I don’t know when “Shake It Off” became the default Taylor Swift meme song, but I’ll never get tired of “nothing in my brain,” as a punchline. Xophilarus’ commitment to the bit here is to be admired. They are dedicated to syncing every off note, using ever zoom, speed ramp, or flourish to accentuate some truly awful musical moments.

And while for some folks, two and a half minutes of that might be more grating than entertaining, what really ties it together for me is the underlining story-line of these kids trying to put on a half decent performance. I’m not used to getting emotionally invested in comedy amvs, but it is funnier and more compelling to highlight these smiling cheerful faces thinking they absolutely nailed it while the crowd looks on in horror. While their eventual triumph is still tongue in cheek, I genuinely felt proud of them.

[cliff-and-the-kid]

Distraction Prelude

(So I wrote Distraction for a whumptober prompt, with Cliffjumper stressing about Bumblebee immediately post-Tyger Pax, and thanks to @alacrityabound I'm now working on the actual 'Cliff finds Bee' extra angsty bit. And in the spirit of giving or whatever, here! Have a first installment while I jot down the rest!)

The battlefield’s gone quiet.

Not that it was technically a battle-field as such - mostly a bunch of individual Autobots scattered across the city, making noise, then dropping and driving like Pit while the Decepticons swatted back. Mostly small bursts of blasterfire, a few exploding rockets, up until the Cons flew a final strafing run over the whole of Tyger Pax and dropped whatever ordinance they didn’t want to bother carrying back to Kaon.

That’s over and done with. A few chemical fires are still burning, but the rubble’s settled, smoke’s mostly cleared, and pockets of silence can be found here and there.

Cliffjumper creeps from one to another, sensor suite stretched as far as he can manage.

He’s, technically, not supposed to still be out here. Everyone who participated in the shout-and-run distractions is slated for a full day cycle of off-shift recovery time; at least those who aren’t stuck on berthrest from repairs. Or dead. But there was a name missing from the list of known survivors and casualties, and Cliff isn’t inclined to leave Tyger Pax until he finds the bot who goes with that name.

No matter how much his comm line buzzes with blocked, incoming transmissions.

Scowling, and internally grumbling, Cliffjumper nonetheless keeps his steps silent as he eases around another wrecked tower, pausing in its shadow to peer across an open area. There’s a hole at the other end; something that might have started as an impact crater, before getting dug deeper. Trails of spilled energon lead up to the edges, and it doesn’t take a genius to guess there’s a bunch of greyed-out frames heaped at the bottom.

Sharp static spits across his comm, and a voice makes it through Cliff’s block. ::Cliffjumper! Frag it, Cliff, answer me!::

A soft sigh seeps out of his vents. “Little busy, Splits.”

::You’re not supposed to be:: his boss groans, quieter after getting a response. ::For Cybertron’s sake, Cliff, get back to the staging ground, we’re pulling out soon!::

“I’ll catch up,” he mutters back, tapping the side of his audial to try and stop the faint tink-tink noise that’s started. “Or I’ll head to that medical outpost, hitch a ride with them tomorrow.”

Splitpath groans again. ::Cliffjumper...::

“Yeah, you don’t gotta say it, the chances aren’t great.” But if Cliff leaves without doing a full sweep, then the chances become zero, and that is not acceptable. He intends to add more, but pauses to scowl and rub at both audials. The tinking’s getting worse.

...the tinking isn’t coming from his audio systems.

::I can’t sign off on this:: Splitpath warns him. ::Which means I can’t send anyone out to save your aft if you get in trouble::

“I won’t,” Cliffjumper answers faintly, attention leaving the conversation behind as he scans the area again. Nothing stands out, nothing draws attention. His optics, reluctantly, drag towards the open pit. “Gotta go. I’ll check in later.”

::You’d better-!::

He disconnects before his boss can finish, easing over to a line of smashed rubble. There’s no cover all the way to the hole, but he makes use of drifting cloud cover as much as possible. Side-stepping a couple of smeared energon trails, Cliffjumper makes it all the way to the edge of the sharp drop without getting spotted or shot by any lingering Cons, so that’s a plus.

Even fully expecting the sight below, though, he still nearly purges his tanks.

They’re just... So wrecked. Autobot frames torn apart, expressions caught in agony at the moment of death. Some of the dark frames are intact, but stripped of armor, full of deep punctures and marred by jagged wounds. The source of the tink-tink is revealed, too, which just makes Cliff feel even worse. One of the last frames dropped in lies half atop another, doorwings disconnected from their joints and hanging by wires alone to drape and dangle - even as he watches, one of them sways and taps against an arm sticking up from the pile below. Tink-tink.

Cliffjumper isn’t a newspark or a freshpaint by any means, he’s seen plenty of awful things in this war and then some. But the heap of deceased and mutilated scouts, none of them killed cleanly, let alone quickly, it just- it’s awful in a way few things can match. Especially that frame on top, with doorwings the same shape-

The same shape as-

As-

...no.

Cliffjumper doesn’t notice his hydraulics losing pressure. Doesn’t realize he’s dropped to his knees, dangerously close to toppling over the pit’s edge. His focus lies squarely on that darkened frame, armor almost completely stripped away, what little remained burned and flayed and devoid of color in the shadows- but the doorwings, the slagged wheels, that helm shape-!

“Bee.”

[vyxated]

finally answering asks I've been keeping for a while ~.~

📝 sims2 & chalk'd ui, phone icons & wallpapers, cas bg recolor, font replacement, and some more (reshade & rig helper asks will be answered at another time ;; )

tysm anon!! I had to wrestle a bit with the file to make the taxi image work, and at the end it came out looking super neat! Especially if you have the sims 2's music playing (found a super cool music override that does that). It's such a cool idea, and I've been researching on how to do it 😆 ngl, making cc objects is something I wanna do someday, tho from the looks of it it's gonna take me a while to understand the process lol. If/when I make any breakthrough, I'll be sure to post about it :p (It'd be neat if it costs money too to use the taxi.)

jdfklsjf tysm @hellofears & @oshinsimblr !! I've been doing some final adjustments so hopefully I can release it within this week c:

thanks anon ^7^ you can replace them as long as you have access to the files (pancake1 made a pie menu & wants sound replacement and buurz replaced the in-game music with ones from other sims games). I looked around and found these resources you might want to check out: TS4 Sound Tool, UI sound kit & UI audio instance list

hehe tysm anon! My UI mods won't remove the shop icon so you'll need to grab other mods that do that. I decided not to do it myself to avoid having a new mod conflict ^^

Hii @simplyamazingsims, I've tested both mirroredup & triple mirror and both v3 files are working w/ the latest update. The reflection setting must be set to low or higher for the reflection to show up. You can also try clearing your caches and try removing the resource.cfg file (file will regenerate, and doing this fixes the issue for some). Oh and ofc having other cas backgrounds can cause mine to not show up so make sure there's only one in your mods folder ^^

@claravizeu it's a map override that I'll probably work on whenever I'm in the mood 😆

Hi anon! For the phone icons, I used xosdr's phone icons psd to create mine. For the wallpaper, I haven't found someone who've gathered & shared the files for it, so I'll see if I can do that myself :)

Heyy anon, it's a CAS bg that I made for the previews so it's not available to download. I haven't got the chance to prepare the files yet, but I'll try to find the time to do so ^^

Hey anon, unfortunately the notification wall is associated w/ the texture file that handles most of the UI panels, so you won't be able to remove a specific file to achieve it. I've received a request just like yours so what I can do is share it a separate file later on ^^

Hii as well, it's compatible yes ^^ you can use both mods as they don't have any files in common that conflicts with each other.

heyy @icyaliyah, sorry it took a while to respond! While I don't have plans to recolor them, you can download these pink recolors by estellics & dumbabie ^^ and thank you very much!

Hii as well, it's been a while so I don't know if you're still having the issue or if it's already been fixed. Afaik my mod shouldn't cause any loading issues on its own, as well as if you have the conflicting mod & files present and if you remove the conflicting files. So far, I've not received any reports of this exact issue, so I can't be of help. Sorry if that doesn't answer your question 😅

ahhhh @veone thank you as well for using it ever since it came out!! 🙈

Heyy anon, basically you'd want to only remove the files that conflicts w/ the mods that you do use, and not the other way around. For example, if you use TOOL, you'd want to delete the files in the Additional Files > TOOL folder (either both text and texture files or just the text file alone, depending on which one you prefer). If you don't use TOOL, keep the files be. So, if you only have the UI Cheats mod and none of the listed conflicting mods, then you don't need to remove any files ^^

heyy @swithdream, well very belated happy new year to you as well despite it being april already lol there's an update to the cas organizers that I haven't done yet, and when the time comes that I update those, I'll try to include the psds for all the templates I did ^^

Hii @kneptoone, it's a font replacement using TS3's Helvetica Rounded font that I made & haven't shared yet, yeah ^^ I can try putting it up for download since there isn't one out yet.

Heyy anon, I've been focusing on other things so I haven't yet found the time to work on my older uploads >< I'm definitely interested in doing those, but not sure when that'll be.

Hello anon, tysm! I'll do it at some point but not sure when :x I haven't properly played around w/ CAS since last year :X

[asdcats]

Ways my autism affects me (some of these may cross over or be worsened by other disabilities), and what support I need

In loud environments I may struggle to speak, and in extreme cases (such as at concerts) I can loose the ability completely

Trouble with volume control (often told to speak up or stop shouting)

Trouble reading the tone of my own voice. Sometimes it doesn't seem to match how I feel.

Sometimes I feel the need to preform facial expressions to make up for my mismatched vocal tone

I often need help with writing emails/texts. Both in getting my point across and making sure the tone is right (not rude, too informal etc)

May need prompting/help joining or starting a conversation

Need supervision at the doctors as I can become overwhelmed and tend to not be able to process/remember what is being said

Whilst I can make some phone calls on my own I often need someone listing in on the conversation or even have them make the call on my behalf

I also need time to recover after phone calls no matter how short/casual

Audio processing issues

Can struggle to start tasks unless they are part of the days schedule/to do list (self imposed to do lists can sometimes work but are more likely to fall apart)

If one thing on the to do list is cancelled or altered (planing on doing something ehen im home alone and mum comes home early? Can't do it now. Doesn't matter if her being here is irrelevant its just not possible) my brain can short circuit and I may not be able to do other things I need to do even if theyba(I have gone a week or more without showering because of this)

Can struggle to stop tasks unless there is a clear stopping point (I have worked a full shift without a single break because there were no scheduled breaks and no one telling me to take one)

Can get sensory overloads and underloads

Will sometimes bite/hit/scratch myself, slam my head into walls, rub my skin until it burns

Struggle to leave the house without headphones (can do it if I have to but I will become overwhelmed and need to go back home a lot more quickly) due to sensory issues (and anxiety)

Can't wear clothes that are made from wool or velvet (or similar materials), have an image stitched on where the stitching can be felt from.the inside, or where they are loose in some areas but tight in the wrong areas (shirts with long puffed sleeves are the worse offenders of this)

Can have shut downs over sensory oveloads

Can have meltdowns usually caused by emotional triggers (being yelled at, bus being late causing my anxiety to spike), unexpected changes (on Saturday I nearly had a meltdown just because they brought me a chocolate fudge cake instead.of a fudge cake even though I like chocolate fudge. Because it wasn't what I asked for so I wasn't expecting it), loosing things no mater how small/unimportant (I once had a meltdown in college because I couldn't find my pen at the end of the day. Did I need it right there and then? No. Was it my only pen? No. Was it special? No. Did I have an emotional attachment to it? No. Did I still hurt myself over loosing it? Yes.)

Can not drive (poor spatial awareness, delayed reaction times)

Need someone to come with me if going to an unfamiliar place (once I've memorised the route I'm usually OK on my own) as I can get lost very easily and may panic

Have rules that whilst aren't super rigid I will be uncomfortable if they are broken (must sit on the same side of the sofa, must have certain drinks with certain foods, can't have chips/pasta/rice two days in a row)

Need help filling out forms

May need supervision whilst cooking an unfamiliar recipe (can't cook most things without one no matter how many times)

Can struggle with eye contact (though this isn't all the time)

Struggle to read.own emotions beyond good, bad, and ... unless very strong

Struggle to remember emotions unless.tied to a specific person or event (how have you been feeling this last week? Is my least favourite question)

Can have little or no empathy (depending on the day/ person) but a lot of compassion/sympathy/fear of people deciding to attack me for there bad moods that gets mistaken for empathy

Can sometimes struggle to get things done due to thinking about my special interest(s) (this morning I couldn't even sit down because I was thinking about transformers)

Can experience emotional.distress if stuck in a conversation that I have no interest in (I will.fein interest to be polite.but I will be fighting the urge to implode)

Trouble reading bodies queues (need to eat on a schedule so I don't skip meals)

Poor fine and gross motor skills (this one's more dyspraxia but there is some cross over), resulting in me dropping things, walking into walls, mistyping a lot (something you may have noticed reading this) and even sometimes drooling

Can only work part time and can struggle to meet basic needs on a work day

Whilst I'm not visibly autistic everyone can at least tell there's something different about me after only a short time interacting (I have never been told I don't look autistic)

(I also qualify for group housing and my mum should be getting carer support)

And yet there are still people who refuse to acknowledge I'm.disabled

[glngrbred]

Hot take, Elden ring is a really good souls like, but that doesn't mean its actually a good game.

within the subgenre, souls-likes have always had really huge issues with accessibility, and i don't mean for disability alone. Elden ring especially had extremely horrible performance issues at launch, which they did eventually fix. Even then you still have to get a 400 dollar PC. Aside from that there are some strange decisions made with teaching the player, like the tutorial is just a hole that players had to point out to each other, and On my barely stable first 20 minutes, i couldn't even find (my b i guess). Obviously alot of extremely experienced gamers would be able to handle themselves super well in Elden ring even without a tutorial. But there's another issue there with accessibility.

2 last things on accessibility. The game's audio is mixed like a movie, (so barely audible or ripping out your eardrums ;-;) witch is another accessibility issue, that you have to put a lot of work in to fix. And the graphics range from maxing out the brightness, to being completely black on bad screens. obviously an issue. I'm not going to go into the issues with explanations and the general tell don't show nature of alot of souls likes, because people have already complained about the text tunnels enough

I do really appreciate the artistry and just beautiful atmosphere Elden ring has, my only issue with the graphics is the performance requirements for them. Also if you never turned the graphics all the way down, it used to cause bit lag spikes just because it wanted to i guess :")

So, my argument is that a game can be a good version of the predecessors it bases itself off of, but if it doesn't actually deliver on playability and accessibility, I really don't think its deserving of the praise it gets. here are examples of games I think are flawless Unraveled/Unraveled 2 Hades Minecraft (Java edition only [cuz bedrock is completely broken somehow???) Never alone (a cool 2 player co op platformer that me and my brother played through when we were 6 and 8 or smthn, it was incredible, and i still think its worth playing as an adult) Spelunky 2 ***Monster Hunter (except for the extremely slow RPG elements) [takes 3 months to get 1 armor set built fully :)]

So i actually have some great news for the difficulty purists, You can actually do a hardcore game well, So long as you make failure quick and readable, Make trying immediate, and Make learning a part of the design. Spelunky is not my cup of tea, i have a bad time with reaction time, but spelunky is really great, in that your goal every attempt is simply to get as far as possible. In elden ring, you have the opposite problem, where instead of completing the objective being extraordinarily hard, getting from point a to point b is tediouse, saving the game takes time, occasionally you can be attacked without knowing why, and you dont get a clear read on what went wrong, ETC. If Elden ring was only the boss fights, I would say its almost a great game. Which is why I included Monster hunter on that list, despite its insufferable grind. Also BTW spelunky 2 has four fun minigames. a requirement for any game to be truly perfect is for there to be appeal for casual gamers, and i don't think adding casual elements makes a game worse, like, ever.

Anyways, last little thing, I really dislike it when People praise games for not catering to the needs of some players. Like everyone has heard dudebros or their friends be like "It doesn't have any difficulty settings! that's so sick!" But, like, Have you ever met someone with a motor function disability, or like, just someone who doesn't play games for 30000 hours every year? Difficulty settings and the ability to control your experience are important. and this isn't about Elden ring, But if you care about being an ally you should want your games to have accessibility features, they only benefit people. and if you're so worked up about about an extra tab being in the settings window, maybe you should like, go to therapy or something.

Also Elden ring's UI is so ass it gave my design teacher a heart attack and they hired a Pe*o as our sub.

[gemmahale]

Gemma's NaClYoHo 2024

I had too much free time on my hands this morning and I wanted a repository for all the posts I make beyond just scrolling the hashtag #Gemma's NaClYoHo.

What is NaClYoHo? National Clean Your House month. Spearheaded by @copperbadge, the intent is to do something for your household - chores, tasks, even life-related things like calling for appointments - every day of the month of November.

In Sam's words:

The goal of "NaClYoHo" is not actually to end up with a clean home; it's to spend the month of November addressing what you’d like to change about your living space.

For Kallen and I, a lot of this is going to be the maintenance tasks we've put off around the house. Being full time employed (me) and self-employed and disabled (him), a lot of things have been pushed off to "later." And later has become now.

There will be routine tasks sprinkled in here too (laundry, dishes, gathering trash, etc). We're making a wish list of things to purchase to improve spaces (shelves, bins, etc.) and will add those in as budget allows.

We're listening to the podcast Victoria's Lift while we do things. (Unless it's too loud, in which case...tbd.) I'm excited, because it's just enough spoop to keep me intrigued but not enough to wig me out. The podcast's description:

Part Twilight Zone but wholly unique, Victoria's Lift is an ongoing audio drama featuring a mysterious girl who guides visitors to their transformations. A dark place whose original luster is now lost to time, the unlikely, old Victorian building sits overlooked by most on the edge of Pittsburgh. Originally built as a luxury residence for some of the city’s most well to do residents, it now serves a different purpose. Within its dilapidated walls sits Victoria's Lift. Step inside and ride it to the floor chosen for your transformation.

But I'd really like to see:

Appliance maintenance performed

The garage I park my car in sorted

The kitchen functional and organized

The depot (Kallen's shop) functional - front half minimum

The storage space/laundry room downstairs better organized

My future office cleared and ready for furniture

Kallen's office reorganized

Kallen's printer room (idk what we're calling this room; it's half storage half 3D printer stuff) sorted

General house pick-up (this is mostly on me, the yarnie lol)

My yarn all catalogued and sorted (this one's an ambitious one)

The Daily Posts!

Day 1 - No post, rest (we didn't get home until after 8pm and were exhausted) Day 2 - laundry, dishwasher, trash, picking up Day 3 - Rest (I got my vaxxes and I went down like a rock) Day 4 - Laundry Day 5 - Bust. Day 6 - Emotional resting Day 7 - Waiting Day 8 - Grief Day 9 - Shopping Day 10 - Shelf building in laundry room Day 11 - Veteran's Day Day 12 - All day seminar Day 13 - Incoming

[sayitaliano]

Studying languages tip #IDK

Reminder for my fellow language learners (not just Italian learners): do not just "listen" to your target language (and I mean also with subtitles), repeat out loud. Repeating out loud what you hear can help you fix in your mind the actual sound of a word and remember it better, and also recognize it whenever you hear it from natives. Do not just rely on how you remember the sound of a word, at least not in the first days you're learning it.

So for example:

1- search for easy youtube videos in which there are only words lists pronunciations. Kids videos generally will do. (Reminder if you're studying Italian I have posted a few audios in the "#audio audios" section and you can listen to them or ask me to make some more, talk slower or whatever). You can also search for kids' songs if you want, and break them down to easy words.

2- choose a song you like or by your fav artist (in your target language). Find the lyrics and follow your artist voice for a few times, then start singing along with them. It doesn't matter if some words will sound weird or be uncorrect or you'll end up saying "blabluojaos" instead of "macchina" even if you know how to pronounce "macchina": you're singing, following the rhythm and thinking about the pronunciation of the next words as well: it's a lot. Just take your time and remember, you can do it more than once and for a few days too. [I learned English and many vocabs more cause while I was having lessons in school I kept listening to English songs: for example I ended up learning by heart Linkin Park's songs and nowadays I can still sing Mike Shinoda's rap parts. So if I made it, you can too].

3- if you're watching movies, or anything you can stop and replay, try to stop and repeat especially the words you find "uncommon" or that you have never heard of. Listen to the actor/person saying them a couple of times, then repeat them a couple of times. You can also repeat the whole sentence you heard from the actor/person, note your word down and search for its meaning if it's not clear (it may also have more than one), and maybe try to use it in different sentences (make them up). [again, if you're studying Italian and need help with meanings, transcriptions -maybe you're not sure you heard a word correctly-, how to use a word... feel free to drop an ask or search in the vocabularies you can find on @sayitalianohome ]

Just beware: once more, especially if you're studying Italian, it may happen that the singer of your choice or actor/person speaking, may not use a "standard" Italian but a regional form or abbreviations or something like that. So keep in mind that you MAY learn words in a specific sound or with a specific use that MAY not always be the one we know/use in common Italian (but you can check it anyway). Back to my personal example: I have learned not just English but also Spanish by listening to songs. My "mistake" was that I kept listening to American English and South American Spanish: this is why when I listen to British/UK English and (Spain) Spanish, I still have some troubles in understanding some words (depends on the accent of the speaker tbh). But ofc you can ask for people to repeat, there ain't nothing bad in it. (And yeah, when I speak English I tend to use an American accent and same for my South American Spanish, cause those are the accents I am more used to and I learned better).

Anyway, don't be scared, sing, yell, talk out loud. It's gonna make a huge difference in your learning life.

[the-tmnt-ficfinder]

Ficfinder finds: The Neon Void

Chapter 3: The Shrine

Rottmnt Fanfic Summary: The Hamato family discuss Particle Physics over hot cocoa.

The Shrine: Appraisal and Ratings

(Don't know what fanfic "Appraisal and Ratings" means? Check out my explanation on my Main Masterpost! Looking for a different fanfic to read? Head on over to my Fanfic List Masterpost!)

Disclaimer: This fanfic is completed, and is written by @sugarpasteltmnt, so go show them some love and kindness!

The fanfic ratings are not based on quality, favoritism, or how good I think it is, but rather, how intense a subject may be. Like a movie review, or the tags on Ao3, letting the readers know what to expect.

Plot: 💛💛💛🖤🖤

"Plot is three out of five!! The plot for this chapter isn't very intense. However, this chapter does have a TON of hidden little things and dialogues that will make more sense once reading further into the story. Rereading it after finishing the story, revealed how much these beginning chapters held."

Suspense/Mystery: 💛🖤🖤🖤🖤

"Suspense/Mystery is one out of five!! The suspense and mystery in this chapter is more on the chill side. Now, don't get me wrong, this chapter still does have suspense and mystery. Just not the nail biting sitting on the edge of your seat kind."

Angst/Hurt: 💛🖤🖤🖤🖤

"Angst/Hurt is one out of five!! The angst levels are pretty much nothing in this chapters, though the hurt is there. Mostly, it ends up being a little more on the wholesome side."

Fluff/Comfort: 💛💛🖤🖤🖤

"Fluff/Comfort is two out of five!! This chapter has more quiet comfort, and wholesomeness to it."

Emotions Conveyed: 💛🖤🖤🖤🖤

"Emotions Conveyed is one out of five!! Chapter 3 really won't mess with your head to much. An enjoyable engaging read without the extreme stress."

Drama/Tension Level: 💛💛🖤🖤🖤

"Drama/Tension Level is two out of five!! Just enough drama to pull the story along, and make it intriguing!!"

Triggers: 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

"Triggers are zero out of five!! No triggers to worry about in this chapter, you peeps are all safe for now!!"

Legibility (Reading): 💛💛💛💛🖤

"Legibility (Reading) is four out of five!! This chapter is written wonderfully, a smooth read indeed."

Legibility (Audio): 💛💛💛💛🖤

"Legibility (Audio) is four out of five! As there's no funky fonts in this chapter, its more enjoyable to listen to. The formatting is for this chapter is good for reading or listening to!! Both are good!!"

Length: 💛💛🖤🖤🖤

"Length is two out of five!! Chapter 3 of The Neon Void takes about 12-13 minutes to listen to!"

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

Next Chapter ->

<- Previous

The Neon Void: Ratings and Chapter List

Personal thoughts on chapter below cut (Contains Spoilers)

Raph opened the subway car’s door for his brothers. It creaked as it slid. Raph swallowed the lump in his throat to see Leo’s room. Master Splinter was inside with a rag in hand, wiping down the shelves, but careful to put the scattered knickknacks back in the same exact spot as they had been. They hadn’t moved since the day Leo…Well…Pops tried to keep everything as it has been since then.

I've seen people portray Splinter in a wide manner of ways, but this is just downright precious!! Splinter being so caring and kind warms my heart!! It's nice to see him involved in the boys lives.

He must have been in here all day dusting—he liked to do that often. They had cleaned Leo’s room up a bit over the years, but they tried to keep things the same as much as they could. The desk had been cleared to make room for incense burners and a spot for food offerings. A family-sized bento box was centered on the desk, serving as the elevated stand for the gifts. Oddly appropriate, since it was a lunch box. They had made Leo’s messy bed—though no one dared to sit on it.

*Spoilers for later in the story in this paragraph* AAAAA oh my gosh, rereading this made me go crazy!! The foreshadowing is insane!! I never would have guessed!! Seriously though, I'm not gonna say what's got me panicking, cause that'd be to big of a spoiler. But props to the author for such good foreshadowing!!

“It only looks like he can,” Donnie started to explain. “Draxum helped me study Mayhem’s ability a few years ago—it turns out Mayhem was shrinking himself and squeezing through a very tiny portal.” Everyone at the table made confused sounds of surprise. Donnie, however, felt pretty hollow on the inside. Yup. Turned out Mayhem couldn’t teleport. He used a portal, like anyone with warp magic compatibility could use. His species of yokai could just…get really small. And make others small with him. When Donnie had discovered that… he had been a little crushed, honestly. But he never let that show to Draxum. He probably guessed what Donnie was after to begin with– but just didn’t say anything. Maybe it was his way of letting him… sort out his feelings. But Donnie didn’t get results. Mayhem’s involvement in Donnie’s… research came to a full stop after that revelation.

This little explanation was so fun to read!! Because as stated before, portaling and teleporting are entirely different concepts, and it was nice to see this explained in an even greater detail. Also, more foreshadowing ^^ This fic is definitely one to read more than once if you wish to catch all the hidden details.

[flowergardeninthewall]

A quick list of types of hearing aids

I am hard of hearing or HOH and have been since I was born, and I have been wearing hearing aids for just about 18 years. The amount of rep I get from the QSMP is so special to me, and I've wanted to make a guide on the different types of hearing aids for a long time.

I will not be talking about cochlear implants because I do not know enough about them.

Hearing loss can be caused my multiple things. Loud sounds, aging, sickness, or even just because. Typically the sensors in your cochlear wear down and you hear less while the rest of your ear continues to work fine, so you can still feel pain from noises being too loud. Which is why Tallulah having hearing loss and being sensitive to noise are both able to coexist

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Your doctor will tell you don't stick shit in your ears. But if you wear hearing aids that rule does not apply to you. They go into your ear, they do not sit on the outside like an earbud

Much like any other accessibility device, hearing aids are not one size fits all.

In the canal (ITC) or (CIC) hearing aids sit fully in your ear canal and most of the time the only thing you will see from them is a little clear tab that can be pulled to remove them. These can be water resistant, and worn 24/7

In the ear (ITE) sit in your outer ear and are typically mounded to your ear. These are what a lot of people stereotypically think of when you think of hearing aids, but it's been a long time since I've actually seen someone using them

Behind the ear (BTE) there are two types of bte hearing aids. And the biggest difference is where the receiver sits. On a regular BTE there is a molded bud that sits in your outer ear and then extends into the canal. The receiver is up higher and in the aid that sits behind your ear. There are also mini BTEs where the receiver is in the ear canal.BTEs sit behind your ear with a small light bit of tubing that extends down into your ear. These are typically the bluetooth ones that can also act as earbuds

Why would a person who is deaf in one ear wear hearing aids in both? Why wear two at all?

Noise comes from all sorts of directions, and most people benefit from being able to hear in all directions. So if you are deaf in one ear the aid in that ear will send the audio feed to the aid in your good ear. Most of the time it is all about equalizing what you can hear in both ears. It's less disorienting.

You can read more about hearing aids here

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing-aids

Y la página esta en español también

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/es/espanol/audifonos

While yes that is an american government site it still has some wonderful info on all sorts of communication disorders.

I do want to say that there are edge cases, and I do not cover all of them here. These are typically the hearing aids that you will come across.

My inbox is open if you have any other questions!