#to the point that i could never ever watch any youtubers i liked play them

[globaloppaaa]

Hey! Can you please do "babysitting with zb1"?

i love this idea!! got started on it as soon as you sent it! thank you for requesting bb, and as always if anyone wants to request more my inbox is currently open! might need some time as school is beginning for me again.

w/a: literally the smallest hint of suggestive theme of u squint to the point that your eye are just closed.

for hanbin, I don’t wanna say that this man has no flaws… but he really knows how to take care of younger siblings so any child is no problem at all. Heck, he’s probably taking care of you too. He’s got a lot of experience with taking care of others that it comes like second nature to him. Leaves you little notes of encouragement around the house when things start to get too stressful :))

jiwoong is doing your job for you at this point lol. Probably the most calm when one child throws a bit of a temper tantrum. His soft voice when he communicates to them can naturally bring a smile right back to their face. I feel like taking care of younger siblings pose no challenge to him whatsoever, I mean they’re just like mini versions of you two! Maybe he’s starting to get his head stuck in the clouds with the whole “mini you” idea…

If you’ve seen zb1 taking care of those twins on youtube you know well that hao does NOT know how to take care of children well. you’re lowkey 🤏 close to kicking him out with the way he talks back to the kid as if they’re both five years old. however watching the way you’re able to calm the child down really takes him by surprise, and he finds himself more willing to learn how you take care of them so well, while ultimately keeping both him and the kids under control too.

matthew tries so hard to be the best good cop of a babysitter he can be, though sometimes he forgets that bounderies and lessons do need to be learned! is the kind of babysitter that melts at the sight of the child’s puppy eyes and gives in to whatever scheming they may have up their sleeve. next thing you know there’s paint splattered on every surface but the ones paint is supposed to be on. “how could i resist?!” he says, giving u a pout while he attempts to remove the smear on his cheek, and honestly it’s hard for you to resist when he looks at you that way too.

you can bet taerae is singing those kids one hell’ of a lullaby every night WHEWWW. We all know how soothing his voice is, perfect for stormy nights or when’s there’s still a bit too much excitement past curfew. He’s definitely more of a practical kind of babysitter if that makes sense though. “Why do they play with rocks and twigs when the big screen tv is right there?” 🙄🤷🏻 Kinda guy. I will say that you and taerae are especially good keeping kids entertained. They adore his energy and humor and all the little skits he’ll put on. Babysitting with him leaves everyone smiling.

ricky is so elegant with it 😭😭 I don’t think you’ve ever heard him raise his voice because the children just obey without question. It’s almost strange lol. You two work as a great team! You make up the rules (because he likes listening to you too ☺️) and he’s the official communicator of said rules. Babysitting never feels stressful with him. His one downfall is that he will buy the kid(s) anything at anytime, and then he’ll buy YOU anything you want at anytime. He just wants you all to be happy what can he say?

gyuvin is surprisingly very good at babysitting when given instructions, knows what food is healthy and chewable, can easily make them fall asleep at curfew, and ensure the kids always keep a smile on their face. it’s hard to believe that when you run to the store, forgetting one item that all hell breaks loose. “i don’t know what to do when you’re gone.” he winces, in what looks like the most uncomfortable pose of defeat on the floor, the children jumping atop him in victory.

gunwook For sure knows what a child’s needs are, but learns all the details and the in-betweens from you! Definitely gets affected by cuteness aggression so sometimes it can be hard for him to concentrate, and then if YOU’RE there? Great, that’s a whole other distraction he’s gotta try and fail to ignore. Gunwook makes babysitting feel like a normal part of life rather than any kind of chore or job. He’s a bit head over heels on the idea of having his own family some day, and just maybeee he’s thinking about having it with you. 🤭

yujin i’m sorry but you’re practically taking care of him too. I’m not saying this because i think he’s a “baby”, but because he’s so socially awkward with the kids he can’t even hold eye contact lmao. For example, one of them might start to throw a tantrum out of the blue, and yujin’s solution involves him standing there watching like 🧍🏻😟. He’ll most likely start shouting your name for assistance… he really is trying his best! I think Yujin likes to let you lead with the babysitting, while also giving him a front row seat at admiring you being so passionate about making others happy and well cared for.

[live-laugh-lenney]

omg i’ve just had the sweetest thought😭

arthurtv letting his gf sit on his lap during their streams together and just playing video games together and being all cute

please, this is adorable! i think i have a small blurb on here somewhere that has a really small scene where she goes and sits on his lap during a filming session...

newbie.

that's what her friends called her whenever they were on a stream on discord during a gaming session. even though she'd been streaming and gaming for a few months now, and knew the ropes on when the best time was to stream for her followers and what games they would enjoy seeing her play, the nickname stuck.

before she met arthur, she worked a normal 9-5 job in a local shop that was a short walk away from her london flat, getting up early in the mornings with a routine planned out for her entire day. but the more and more she was seen in arthur's videos and the more she was featured in his vlogs and the more she appeared on their friends' youtube channels, the more people wanted to see her doing her own thing.

so she took up streaming, where she held gaming nights with the two arthur's and george and chris and where she held nights where she would just waffle about her life to the camera, just to get a feel for it. to see whether she enjoyed it. to see whether it took off or whether it wasn't worth the hassle in changing to her career. coming home after a busy day at work, having dinner, before she disappeared to sit in front of her computer for a couple of hours.

george let the nickname slip.

once.

during a game of fortnite because it was a game highly requested by her followers to play in a squad match with her friends - to the point where she would even venture out of her circle and play with some of her followers who requested a chance to be in her team. and she was terrible at it; she claimed any form of shooting game or games that required skill were never her forte and that she was simply doing it for the entertainment factor as people loved to see them all in a joking manner with banter being thrown around.

and it stuck.

she couldn't shake it off, months later. not that she minded, at all. she found it quite endearing and sweet how she was loved and welcomed into arthur's circle with wide-open arms by his best friends, like she'd always been a part of something special, as if she'd known them her whole life. because the last thing she ever wanted was to be placed as an outsider by his friends, know as just 'arthur's girlfriend' who led her own life and never involved herself as a part of their group or was never included in their plans.

they loved her, and respected her, and that was all that mattered.

and they'd been her biggest supporters from the moment she chose to make streaming and content creation her new career path. they were with her the moment she quit her job, they helped her to create her own gaming setup in her spare room, and they gave her tips and pointers on making videos and editing, giving her as much help as they possibly could to kickstart her new start. and she was incredibly thankful for all of them.

there was something she loved about making money off of having fun with her friends, her boyfriend and her followers. and, as time passed, she felt lucky to have been given the platform she had been given and never took it for granted.

"i'm going to save the last two episodes of this story for the stream tomorrow," yn says to the camera propped up before her, suddenly feeling the hefty weight of the headphones sitting upon her head and she could feel her ears getting hot from the padding, "i think we did good tonight, we completed almost all of it in two hours."

she watched arthur play a couple of episodes of lego star wars on a stream, not too long before, and she found something therapeutic about re-completing a game that she had already played before. how she used to love playing it when she was younger and that it was something nostalgic for her... so she'd asked him to show her how to stream herself playing it which he had no issue with doing.

"i can smell dinner, i think arthur's cooked for me," yn grins at her screen's monitor, her belly rumbling from the wafting scent of some form of seasoned meat in the air, "he's a cutie. in case you haven't realised, this isn't my usual setup."

she took a look behind her and, if people were clever enough, they'd see arthur's setup just behind her in his own spare room.

"arthur created a little space for me in his office so we can game and film videos together sometimes," she grins widely, reading all of the sweet comments that came through on the screen; some vibing with her and how cute arthur could be to others sending in games for them to play together, "he said he had a surprise for me when i came over tonight and he showed me this. i could have cried on the spot."

her eyes glazed over the comments, flowing in constantly, and it was hard for her to keep track of what people were saying.

"maybe we'll do a little setup tour for my youtube," she suggests and shrugs at the camera with a nonchalant grin on her lips, "maybe it'll be with you guys in the next couple of days. maybe not. you'll just have to wait and see."

she closed the game from her monitor and let a blank screen fill the space, her own face appearing in the bottom corner as she prepared to close down the stream for the night.

"same time tomorrow, troops. i'll see you then. love to you all," she blew a kiss to the camera and waved, "bye!"

she made sure everything was closed down before she stood to her feet, sliding her headphones off of her head and hanging them up on their little stand beside her screen, stretching out her back from the aches and the cricks that were forming from her hunched position over the last couple of hours. she tucked her chair back underneath her desk and grabbed her water bottle before leaving the room, into the open space of his living room, which was filled with the smells of something delicious.

she noticed the table was set with plates and cutlery before she saw him standing at his kitchen island, dishing everything into bowls so they could help themselves to however much they fancied that night, pan in his hand as he scooped beef strips into a ceramic bowl.

"good stream?"

"the best," yn grins widely as she took her seat at the table, "we hit 2k viewers about an hour ago."

"oh, that's brilliant," arthur gasps proudly and he supports the most genuine smile on his lips, looking at her as she grins proudly, "i told you you'd get there eventually."

"they loved the setup, too," she smiles, watching as he set the pan down in the sink before he picked up the plate of wraps and the bowl of beef strips, leaving behind the salad on the bar that he was going to go back and pick up once he set his full hands down on the table, "i might have to stream here more often now."

"that was the plan," he admits, setting the bowl and the plate down before he went back to the breakfast, not without passing her by and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "i'm really proud of you."

"couldn't have done it without you," she says.

he sits down at the table beside her, both of them in a position to see the sun setting over london, painting the surface of the thames with oranges and pinks, the last of the sun shimmering on the windows of the buildings opposite.

"i've got a video to film tonight, do you fancy being a part of it? could do a watch-along together," he suggests, filling up a wrap with beef and some salad, wrapping it all up with a fajita-style fold before he took a hearty bite from the top, "people have been asking for you to make another appearance."

"only if you're fine with that," she says, following his actions as she filled her own wrap up, "what are you watching?"

"it's just a short video from reddit about nature and animals," he says and she laughs softly, "what?"

"nothing, i just love your little fascination with the animal kingdom," she admits and he blushes, looking down at his plate, "it's cute. i find it fascinating when you talk about anything like that. all the facts you tell me. it's like having my own walking, talking encyclopaedia."

and when it comes to filming, she finds comfort in sitting closer to him as they watch the reddit videos together. she's wrapped in one of his throw blankets, in her comfiest clothes (which was a tee from his wardrobe and a pair of black cycling shorts peeking out from the bottom), settled on his lap with his arm wrapped around her waist to keep her steady on his thighs.

"an orca slapping a dolphin straight out the sea," he reads from the screen and, as the two of them watch nature take its course, they're both completely enamoured by the scene before them, "oh, jeez. the amount of air that thing gets is insane."

"they're the bullies of the ocean," yn adds and she remembers arthur saying something like that previously, when they'd been cuddled up in bed with a documentary about the ocean playing as they wound down for the night, "i bet that was an incredible thing to witness happen though. being that close to a dolphin seems amazing but to be that close to an orca, too? it's a bonus, a two in one special."

"have you ever seen a dolphin?"

she shakes her head and cranes her head to look at him, "never. it's on my bucket list though. that and to see the whales off the coast of gibraltar."

"maybe we'll take a trip," he says, "one day. i think i'd love to see that, too."

she leans back a little more comfortably on his lap, her back resting against his front as she brings her knees to her chest, tightening the blanket around her body to keep her from being too exposed to the camera and to keep her a little warmer, his arm helping to bring her closer to him.

"that was probably his killer instincts coming out though," yn explains and arthur cocks an eyebrow, confused, at her, "what?"

"they don't eat dolphins?"

"they do," she nods and he's genuinely surprised by her little bit of knowledge on orca's and their food chain, "they don't just eat seals and penguins, arthur. they eat dolphins and other sea creatures, too."

"look at you, eh?" he teases softly and, in that moment, they forget the camera is rolling and that they're actually filming a video for his second channel, "you're just as nerdy as me when it comes to the animal kingdom. my interests are rubbing off on you."

"i have my surprises," she grins and brings a hand up to poke a finger into his nose, "i know it might not seem like it sometimes but i am interested in your interests, silly." xx

[skz-bibi]

( 🔴 ) ... [ YOUTUBE ] STRAY KIDS: THE KITTEN INTERVIEW !

( outfit ) ...

"i'm bibi." she waved to the camera , smiling.

they all sat on the floor excitedly waiting for the kittens to come out. "are they coming?" she squealed as the small kittens entered the studio. "oh my god , they're so cute."

she picked one up , gently scratching its head. "it's so soft." she said , not sure if she'd even be focused to answer the questions.

what do you look forward to eating the most when traveling in the usa?

"Chick fil a." she said , holding the feather over the kitten's head watching it follow it. "I wish I could take that back to Korea with me sometimes."

"I wish I could take you back to Korea with me." she cooed at the cat.

what's your favorite american slang word?

"they learned about rizz a few weeks ago , it's been interesting."

if you were an action figure, which two accessories would you come with?

"my phone and chocolate."

ryan Reynolds has publicly said he's a stray kids fan , are there any other celebs you were surprised to learn were your fans?

"we recently met chris hemsworth?" chris said , telling them about their interaction at the met.

"it was sort of like playing with an older brother , imagine being picked up by the chris hemsworth." she laughed.

"oh at the vmas sabrina carpenter called me cute." she smiled. "and I tell everyone about it."

you were the first full kpop group to attend the met gala. what was the most memorable about the experience.

"I think the entire thing was memorable , growing up I would see the outfits on TV and think it was so cool , I never thought I would be able to ever attend something like that."

if you weren't an idol what job do you think you'd be good at?

"probably a track star or a actress."

what names are your members saved as in your phone? What's your group chat name?

"chris oppa" "yongbok" "lee know oppa" "han" "yenie" she pointed them out. "then bin oppa" "hyunjin" "and kim seungmo like han." she said.

what artist would be your dream collaboration?

"tyla." she smiled. "i love her so much."

what's your love language?

"hugs , I love physical touch." she hugged the kitten. "you're so cute , she nuzzled her on top of his head.

"bibi is like a koala." Felix said. "she clings to people all the time." she nodded. "it's cute."

what's your roman empire?

"What would happen to me if I just was shipped off to a private island and had to survive?" she said. "really." she nodded. "I think about it often , I don't think I'd survive because I have 0 survival instincts."

if you could put one stray kids song into a time capsule to be listened to by future generations which would you pick ?

"3rd eye." she said. "I feel like a lot of people would love that song in the future."

you've had countless comebacks, but what concepts do you want to try that you haven't done yet?

"something like muddy water, I think it would be fun to have a comeback with that old school hiphop vibe." she said.

your concert last sometimes three hours, what's the secret to maintaining stamina on stage?

"relax a bit before you go on." she said. "save all your energy for when you're on stage , cause that's when it matters."

"of course with a group like this it's hard , so I say just wing it when you're up there." they laughed. "bibi stop."

what's your workout routine?

"legs the most , I don't focus on upper body a lot , I have no interest in lifting weights , but if I'm working out with the members I'll do it just for fun."

"doesn't last long." jeongin said. "yeah because I hate it." she laughed.

what's changed the most about straykids from your rookie days to now?

"my outlook on everything , when I was a rookie I thought about everything did wrong , now I just go with the flow and hope for the best."

what's one piece of advice you'd give to your trainee self?

"it's gonna be okay."

©️SKZ-BIBI

[qiupachups]

miles.g / wiles

.｡.+*☆ headcannons 👾💭

contents: general hcs, mention of his father’s death, i call 42-miles ‘wiles’, me sorta bullying him

a/n: after a lot of procrastination and harassment gentle encouragement from @vhstown i’m finally posting my hcs. :3c (they’ve been sitting here since july)

Despite his tough guy exterior and criminal career, he's actually a massive nerd geek. Like: gundham, comics, posters all over his room.

Until you bring up those interests, he won't mention them. But once you start a conversation about them, he can tell you all the lore front to back or tell you where and when each collectible is from. Just listening to Wiles and nodding along will make his day.

Accepting help from others is not an option. Ever. He's an overly D.I.Y guy since his father's death and it's staying that way.

... unless you're very close to him. Wiles will begrudgingly accept your help and then be adamant on repaying you. No matter how trivial it was, he'll show his gratitude through service.

Wiles has great memory and knows all the lyrics to his favourite songs. Go through his playlist and pick something at random- he'll recite them flawlessly!

A good memory also helps with remembering those flashes of songs playing on your lock screen. Just a split second glance? He's adding it to his playlist, maybe listening to it as he works on his latest gear.

Would be a straight A student if he were there half the time. The only thing keeping his total grades down is attendance, where he’s often absent.

However, if he’s in a group project with you, Wiles will put more effort into it. Getting a ‘C’ or GPA point lower is fine if it means keeping Brooklyn safer. What’s not fine is him being the reason for your lower marks.

Unlike his counterpart from 1610, Wiles’ art is more realistic. He tries to capture the subjects’ essence quickly and minimally, so colours are an afterthought.

Accuracy was his pride in art until it came to you. He’d be so nervous in getting your smile right, scribbling failed attempts over and over again. Wiles even resorted to a pencil sketch.

Following the passing of Jefferson, Wiles has gotten much closer to Rio. That’s a no brainer; he was fourteen— a kid. And Jefferson never got to see his son in that overpriced Visions uniform.

Wiles makes an effort to speak more Spanish. He lets his mamí braid his hair even if it hurts like hell. Those stupid telenovelas aren’t that bad on the second watch.

Once upon a time, Wiles used to be a choir boy (keyword: used). He’d love singing hymns and doing nativities before he could read; all for his mamí and dad to see.

However, the christmas after Jefferson’s passing felt… empty. Wiles quickly lost his passion for choir and now just attends mass with Rio at most.

After years of experience being a choir boy, Wiles has the voice of an angel. Not that you’d know, of course— he intends to take that to the grave. But there’s also a deeper, darker secret… he can’t rap to save his life.

An extremely personal and harrowing Musically comment told him so. Following that attack, twelve year old Wiles abandoned his account with only a black profile picture left behind.

Like any other middle schooler, Wiles had a hype beast phase (he denies it). When Aaron got a Hype shirt for Wiles’ 12th birthday, words couldn’t describe how he almost knocked Aaron down with a hug.

The shirt’s first stain had Wiles distraught and furiously searching ‘remove paint on shirt hacks’ on Youtube. His heart would probably stop if he misplaced a gift from you.

Wiles isn’t the best cook, but he can definitely make himself a good meal. With Rio working night shifts and Uncle Aaron doing… jobs, he has to be self-sufficient.

A secret lil’ side project: he’s trying and failing to replicate Jefferson’s mac ‘n cheese. It wasn’t the best, but it was his. Something’s always off when Wiles makes it and he’s not quite sure what.

Sure, cooking isn’t that hard, but baking is like wizardry to Wiles. AP Chemistry and it’s endless calculations felt way easier than making pan de agua with his mamí.

But, mamí didn’t raise no quitter! On a particularly busy birthday, Wiles pulled together a modest little cake for Rio. She burst into tears seeing the shaky ‘!Feliz Cumple!’ written in too-sweet icing.

Calling Earth-42 a wreck is a massive understatement. Shit’s like Gotham, only very real and very deadly. Just breathing in that damn city air makes Wiles’ skin crawl.

Luckily, he’s got an outlet: boxing. A fun hobby he picked up from Uncle Aaron became his release. Wiles might never be in the ring, but Brooklyn’s more than enough.

a/n #2: what the fuck. this was supposed to be short and silly and fun. exsqueeze me how did this… erm. disjointed mess.

[argumentativeaxolotl]

Random Human AU Cars headcanons that probably don’t make any sense before I go to bed bc I can.

Lightning McQueen:

- Has accidentally called Doc “dad” before

- Has accidentally called Strip “dad” as well

- Bro can literally not stop moving- like he will not sit still and he tries so hard

- He has the shortest attention span ever if it doesn’t have to do with his friends or racing

- He actually really enjoys American Football and plays a modified version with Mater sometimes

- He was an orphan growing up

- Bro would 100% go apeshit feral if he lost a game of Uno

- Loves carnivals

- Dog person

- Forgets he’s rich sometimes and he can make his own decisions about money

- His love language is hugs and gifts

- He bought the Hot Wheels of his car and continues to buy every variation

Chick Hicks:

- Bit other kids as a child

- Filled water guns with lemonade and shot at people’s eyes

- Daddy issues(actually this is canon isn’t it?)

- Cat person

- Frighteningly good at card games like Casino “house always wins” levels of good. Like bro will somehow know what your cards are without even looking at them

- He put rocks in snowballs

- Alcoholic

- Loves anything horror, gorey, and True Crime

- He’s notoriously bad at getting people gifts, like seriously bro is not allowed to buy anything for anyone for Christmas or their birthdays that’s how bad it is(someone usually gets it for him)

- He probably has a huge gambling problem

- His love language is giving gifts

- He gives gifts as a form of apology because he’s shit at words

- Literally the best mustache in all of cars- like he keeps that thing at top condition 101% of the time

- He never actually finished school because his dad forced him into racing as soon as he could

- Probably had rabies at one point and somehow survived

- If you somehow manage to become a good friend of his, he’ll actually be super chill w/ you

- Rich as FUCK

Strip Weathers:

- Legally adopted Cal after his parents passed away(or sumn idk)

- Has several scars on his arm from the crash during the tie-breaker race

- He, Tex, Lynda, and Cal were practically inseparable after the crash

- He and Tex are literally the bestest of buds like they are homies to the MAX

- He doesn’t hold any ill-will against Chick even if he should and is allowed to

- The “Boy Scout” of racing(think Superman or Captain America)

- He listens to “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X while working with his horses. Cal cringes every time.

- He never swears unless he’s serious about something or is extremely upset or concerned

- He almost fainted when he met Doc for the first time, almost immediately asking for an autograph

- He has a ranch full of horses and enjoys horse racing as well as car racing

- Received an apology gift of both cologne and a miniature trophy from Chick

- He let Chick sign his cast after the crash

- He’s tried to teach Lightning and Bobby how to ride horses with Cal’s help. It did not go well

- He wanted to be a doctor for a little while before switching career paths

- Racing is literally in his blood(he comes from a very VERY long line of racers)

- Weirdly good at writing. Like for no reason.

- He heavily fanboyed over Doc when he was younger

Doc Hudson:

- He loves Lightning as his son

- He thinks of Sally as a surrogate daughter

- Unironically says “back in my day” whenever he’s telling a story

- He owns a shotgun and it’s hidden away in his house, far away from Lightning(who keeps trying to find it with no luck)

- He knows the most shit out of everyone and all their backstories. Bro hears the gossip and goes “nice”

- He loves watching fruit dissection videos on YouTube for some reason

- Bro is great at knitting. Like seriously. Give him ten seconds and you’ll have a whole ass sweater with a theme and everything

- He is an alcoholic(especially after his crash)

- Never got married or had children… until Lightning and Sally lmaooo

- He nearly started crying tears of joy when Lightning called him dad the first time

- He has several large burns and scars on his legs and lower back from the crash(like shit is really bad dude)

- His favorite movie is the original ghost busters

- He is a cat person

- He is a neat freak at heart yet gave up trying to clean out his garage because of all the bad memories

[is-this-yuri]

have you been doomscrolling? feeling awful about it? do you feel out of control? does it seem your autonomy has been swallowed by the ever present beast that is the internet?

we live in the most overwhelmingly stimulating age of humanity ever seen, and it's only getting worse. our brains are sponges, soaking up whatever we smear them across, and it seems more and more difficult to find a clean surface to rest on. i'm no expert or professional, but ive been born and raised into the internet, and i'd like to hand out some wisdom regarding this.

the main issue: brain poison

since the brain absorbs whatever it's exposed to, media consumption is unsurprisingly going to effect it. the type of media, the amount of media, and the frequency of the media all play a factor.

it's not the internet itself that's bad here. it's the media on the internet, and the platforms designed to suck in our attention and keep it there until we're rotting inside our skulls.

we're never going to escape the internet. it's just a fact of life now, and a tool that can be used for wonderful things. so how do we learn to live with the internet and take advantage of its potential?

treat it like a dietary balance

staying aware of what goes in your brain is just as important as being aware of what you're eating. if you eat carelessly, don't listen to how your body feels after you eat certain things, and ignore any sickness that might result from rotten food, you're going to have a bad time and wreck your guts. the same goes for the brain.

you want to have a good mix of various types of media in the right amounts, or approximately so. if things are feeling bland, maybe diversify. if things are feeling stupid, try something more intellectual. if it's feeling too much, cut back on all of it

the following are three things you can do to maintain a sense of control and awareness over your media diet. this isnt a step by step and is in no particular order, theyre just ideas to carry forward in general any time it could be helpful.

1. digest

this is the process of thinking about and remembering what youve done throughout your time on the internet. it could apply to any period of time. so you might think, 'man, i've done nothing but watch tiktok all day.' or 'i've been scrolling twitter a lot more this past week.'

i feel like most people already do this to some extent, but it manifests as a fleeting sense of anxiety or shame that doesn't lead anywhere. analyze that feeling, and ask if it's really true or helpful.

ask if your media consumption is making you feel less focused, distracted, putting you into a brain fog, making you fall asleep when you don't want to, making you irritable and angry, drawing you into arguments, keeping you awake at night, or upsetting/disrupting you in any way.

digestion also means appreciating the good stuff and recognizing the good feelings you get too. so also ask if it's enriching you, helping you learn something new, giving you a new perspective, exposing you to something beautiful, passing the time, relaxing you, honing your focus, or generally lifting your mood.

2. cut

cut certain types of content from your life once you've decided they're not good for your media diet. block people. move on. tell youtube to stop reccomending that channel. block them. unfollow people. unfollow tags. block the tags. blacklist things. do it. forget the awful things that make your brain hurty. click the block button. uninstall the app. you know you want to

consider removing yourself entirely from websites that are designed to be attention predators. if you consistently feel like youre 'stuck' on a site and cant leave, it's probably best to just delete your account and get out of there. tiktok is NOTORIOUS for this.

i also tend to keep my following or subscribed count low. keeping the stream of content short forces me to find other things to do with my time. this goes hand in hand with things like turning off infinite scroll. it provides an 'end point' where the repetitive action of scrolling down stops bearing fruit, breaking the doomscrolling cycle. the internet is almost an infinite place, and its up to you to build walls around yourself so you arent lost in it forever.

its also important to get off the internet in general sometimes. i know this is obvious, but literally touch grass on occasion. doing anything with your physical body away from the screen will be more enriching than sitting there scrolling for hours. whether it's just a 5 minute walk around your house to stretch your legs or a 6 hour hike every weekend, part of cutting media will mean replacing it with real life. looking at some plants, doing a pushup, or working on a knitting project can be like rinsing your brain sponge under some cold, clean water.

3. curate

the flip side of cutting is curating. you'll want to be looking for media that makes you happy and feels productive or meaningful in some way. anything that not only doesnt make you feel like you wasted your time, but specifically makes you feel like you spent your time well, is a green flag.

keep in mind entertainment just for entertainment's sake is good for you too. you don't have to be watching university lectures and tutorials and stuff all day. finding high quality entertainment, such as personalities you enjoy, good production values, and inventive ideas can be really difficult. find the people who dont make you feel like a cocomelon baby and stick with them. from there you should be able to find similar content.

what's good for your soul is going to depend very much on you as an individual. this is also going to be an ongoing process as not only you but the internet both change and evolve. the important thing about this step is that you Make Decisions about what to consume. even bad decisions! it's all part of the process, and it's all about reclaiming your autonomy.

4. eat your junk food

this isn't a military drill or an exact science. i'm just a guy on tumblr with an intimate connection to his own brain and a LOT of time on the internet. that's my only credential. sometimes i want to turn that brain off and just mindlessly consume without putting any thought into what dirty dishwater is soaking into my sponge. sometimes adhd brain wants me to watch a shitty B movie in recap form so i dont have to commit to a full movie. sometimes i get stuck in the youtube shorts for like 3 hours.

that's fine. the most important part of any kind of self care is that a little bit is better than nothing. even just being aware that youre consuming something bad for you and knowing you arent ready to stop just yet is better than nothing.

thats it!!

now you should be prepared to take back some control over your media consumption. be gentle with yourself and take your time. eventually this stuff will become second nature, and you'll be effortlessly digesting, curating, and cutting media like it's just part of your personality. remember YOU have control over what the internet thinks you want to see. dont let it force feed you nasty slop anymore. let it be a reflection of your mind, not the other way around.

and good luck!

[flippinpancakes64]

The cullens with an Emo mate

The Cullens with an Emo! Mate

Okay now this one is legit me. I’ve been rocking the side part and band shirts since middle school don’t even play with me

Thank you for requesting and I hope you enjoy!

Edward:

He loves your sense of style

He’s the dark and brooding type, himself, so he relates to you there

I think he would really enjoy the music that you introduce him to

Always willing to help with your hair or accessories

“Edward, can you get my one shirt, you know, the one I wear all the time, the black one?”

“Of course”

And since he can read your mind he knows exactly what you’re talking about

However

He does get a bit concerned when he hears some of the darker themes of some of the songs

He sits you down and genuinely asks you if you’re okay

Just reassure him that you are lol

Alice:

She literally has a degree in fashion

She loves and appreciates all different styles

And she can definitely tell when someone is suited for a style or not

And she can tell that you were born to wear black

She will still help you pick out outfits tho just like she does with the rest of the Cullens

She just tailors them to your style

And she loves the music

She lets you aux anytime you guys drive somewhere

Jasper:

I don’t think he would care either way how someone dresses

Like if he loves someone, they could wear those ugly ass galaxy leggings and he wouldn’t care

And he doesn’t really care about music either

So of course you can aux in the car

The only time he cares is if people start bullying you for being different

He will hurt someone

Rosalie:

I mentioned it the rock band post, but she LOVES alt music

Chances are, whenever you start talking about bands you like, she already knows them

She either doesn’t care about the way you dress or she likes it

I think she would have fun doing your hair

Especially if you lean more into the scene side

She would watch that one girl’s YouTube videos on how to do the hair (iykyk)

Another one who wouldn’t take shit from people at school

Emmett:

I'm like a broken record at this point

But I feel like he would love being with an alt person of any kind

He just thinks it's badass

He likes your music too

He loves to roll the windows down and blast your music while you guys scream along

He would jokingly tease you though for what you wear

"Have you ever tried wearing a different color?"

Doesn't actually mean anything bad though

Esme:

She would think your sense of fashion is a bit... different

But overall she doesn't care

She just notices in the way of noticing someone's appearance when you're out and about

Kinda like "oh that person has pink hair ok moving on"

She's not a fan of the music

But she doesn't hate it

She loves you for you

And she would never try to change you

Carlisle:

Another one who overall doesn't care

You could literally wear a trash bag every day and listen to asmr of people breathing instead of music and he would love you just the same

But like Edward

He notices some of the dark themes in some of the songs and he gets a bit worried

Has a genuine talk with you about what he's noticed and asks you if that's something he needs to be concerned about

He will drop it if you say not to worry though

Vampire! Bella:

The goat

I've mentioned it before but Stephenie Meyer confirmed that she listens to Linkin Park

So I feel like she wanted to dress emo at one point but was worried about not fitting in

Or maybe she went through an emo phase in middle school

Either way she digs it

She mentions a couple times how she wishes she could dress like you

Always down to listen to your playlists

And will verbally assault anyone who bullies you

[tau1tvec]

I don’t know whether it’s bc I grew up during a time when cable TV was your main source of media consumption, and if you decided partway you didn’t like something you could just change the channel until you found something that held your attention and didn’t feel bad about it. Or that my family couldn’t see a point in ordering TV guide. Or that I was young and had no clue why two white men were announcing how many thumbs they had between them on every movie box, but I can’t tell you how I’ve never, ever, not even once seen something I’ve wanted to watch or play, and thought… “but wait, what does jimbob107 on Metacritic think about this?”

Like I cannot say enough how some of the best memories of my youth was going to Blockbuster and either grabbing a movie off of the shelf purely bc of its cover, or the actor on it, or remembering the moment I caught a trailer for it on TV one night and it looked cool, and going “yup, that’s the one,” and being okay with it even if it wasn’t the best thing I’ve watched.

Hell I remember my high school friends and I purposefully watching obscure, clearly low budget horror movies the entire month of October to get in the spoopy mood, and having a blast doing it.

What I’m saying is, there’s a lot more to the media we consume than it being good or bad, there are literally worse things in the world than a little bad writing, or weird pacing, or shit acting, your life isn’t going to end bc you took a chance on a 90 min movie, and it didn’t end up the best thing you’ve ever pointed your eyeballs at. Your intuition isn’t always going to be right, but that’s life, that’s what living is about. You’re developing your tastes, and tastes change as you change, should you be open to others’ opinions on things while doing that, absolutely, but no one guy on YouTube is ever going to understand the complexity of all that or you enough to be able to tell you what you like or won’t like.

Making media, or any art really is about taking chances, why should it surprise anyone at all that consuming it is also about taking chances.

[nothingbutnowhere]

Hockey player au! John "Soap" Mactavish headcanons

Note: extremely suggestive of ghoap and a little hint of ghoap x reader if you are so inclined to read it that way (she/her used)

...

Defenseman. Loves getting dirty in the d-zone corners, double teaming opponents and getting his stick in there, but still good at penetrating the o-zone and he's not afraid to drop down and hammer it in. The puck that is. (these are all things I've heard on broadcasts of NHL games, the innuendos that the play by play guys use are insane).

Menace! Absolute fucking menace!!! Mean bastard on the ice, intense in the locker room during games. Sass and tough guy act during media availability, all part of his rugged charm. But practice with the boys? He gets silly. Watch out! You could be getting pranked.

Backcheck, forecheck, paycheck. Heavy hits along the walls, BIG open ice hits, and killer hip checks (my personal favorite). Throws the type of hits everyone is always arguing about on twitter 🙄 He can be found in front of the net pushing and shoving opponents around. If you want a stick in the back he's your guy. Many, many a player has ended up in a headlock, getting a face wash after the whistle. On the shorter side for a hockey player which broadcasters always bring up but you'd never know by just watching him on the ice (they just hate a short king (anything under 6' is short in the NHL)).

He'll fight anyone, including the refs because that was a terrible icing call he absolutely had the guy beat! No he was onside! Tripping?! He dove!

Constantly dropping the gloves and getting into trouble. He'd be an enforcer if he wasn't a damn good player too. It's a good thing the players union keeps the fines low.

There's a whole YouTube page dedicated to his fights and hits with paragraphs of arguments on the legalities in the comments.

Scar on his chin from a skate cut during a game. Very scary in the moment because it bled a lot. Needed a ton of stitches but no major damage. 

Has more points than you'd think for a non-offensive defenseman. He really is good in the corners and swiping pucks off sticks, popping them out to the offense. Many goals have been scored by a Soap takeaway and a stretch pass to spring Gaz for a breakaway.

He'll tackle his teammates during their or his celly. He really truly cares about the boys. It's evident in the way he plays, how intense he is on the bench, and the helmet kisses. Wait, what? Yep, hockey players will sometimes show physical affection via helmet or even a kiss on the cheek. Not often, but it's all very sweet 🥹 Drives hockey twitter wild.

Chews on his mouth guards like they owe him money and he can extract it by destroying them.

Oh, you wanna fuck with Ghost? You're gonna have to go through him first. Will go feral on a guy for so much as breathing in the direction of his goalie. Ghost appreciates him very much. Probably. The bond between a goalie and his defensemen is so special, something you'll hear (in not so many words) from Soap himself. At the end of a win he'll have the longest head bonk to Ghost. Saying what? We'll never know cause neither of them will ever be mic'd up.

I say this for Gaz too but THIGH. This man's thighs are tree trunks. Rucks up short shorts on purpose. For the media. And the guys. Ask twitter and they can provide many examples.

Mic'd up status: You cannot. Under any circumstances. Mic this guy up. You'd have to bleep the whole thing for broadcast. Shorsey levels of explicit, he's gotten unsportman like conduct penalties for it. He and Gaz are a dangerous duo when it comes to chirps.

Hockey hair status: Excellent. Mohawk is 10/10. Starts a new trend with the kids. Absolutely does warmups without his helmet to show off the flow. (Could also see him with a mullet 100%). Ends up with so much facial hair during the playoffs

Roster pic: kinda bad :( why does he look surprised? Why is his face so red? His hair is fucked up?? They didn't even fix his trademark look?! Where the fuck did they just pull him from to take this photo??? (I love when players have shitty roster photos idk it's so funny to me)

WAG status: only recently in a serious relationship. She's sweet and pretty, instantly good friends with the other WAGs and taken under their wing since this is all very new to her. Surprisingly, has dark hair (most hockey WAGs seem to be blond??). Posts a lot on social media, generally seems to be having a great time. Always seems like Ghost is in the background of pictures of her and Soap? Hmmm.... Don't ask twitter about that.

...

I do NOT consent for my works, part of my works, or my ideas to be used for ANY form of AI.

More hockey au: Ghost | Soap | Gaz | Price

Note: WAG stands for wife and girlfriend or the plural, used to refer to sports guy's significant others. Yes it is heteronormative.

A/N: I didn't factor nationality into this. There have been very few Scottish-born NHL players and all of them were raised in Canada. Do with that what you will. I'll never actually write fics for this, but I have headcanons. I know a moderate amount about hockey and next to nothing about cod so apologies. Completely unserious. Just some silly little thoughts :) plus letterkenny reference!

[dyke-pollinator]

(this ask is a get-out-of-jail-free card to infodump about osrs)

OSRS is by far the best mmo as far as I'm concerned. You can do literally anything in it. It's so simple. Its just a little medieval fantasy point and click RNG simulator. But that simplicity is what makes it so addicting.

You can literally just do whatever the fuck you want on it. The game doesnt hold your hand at all, and while I can see how that would be overwhelming for new folks getting into the game, its an aspect that keeps me coming back.

It's kind of a single player mmo. Like sure there's content to do with other folks, and it can be social at times, but like your account is yours. Everything takes such a long fucking time in that game, especially if you're playing as any type of Ironman account, that the game feels more personal.

Like I don't play nearly as much as some folks that I know and I still have nearly 5000 hours of in game time on a single account and its not even in the late game yet.

Like sure these stats are pretty decent for an iron, but I haven't even started going most of the end game content like Raids, CG, Nightmare, ect.

No only that but I legitimately that the osrs content creators are some of the absolute best gaming content on Youtube. By far. It is insane what some of these people do with the game, all because of how much of a sandbox it is.

Even if you know nothing about osrs or Runescape in general, I would HIGHLY recommend checking our SoupRS on Youtube and watch his Gielinor Games series. All of them. Start with the first season, and watch them all if you like it. Its like a survivor style game with challenges, voting, bannings, and testimonies, all through the lens of osrs.

Settled is one of the funniest motherfuckers on Youtube and has multiple videos about region locked accounts that are still easy to understand for folks who have never played the game.

Jeporite has a NorthernUIM series that leaves me in hysterics every video.

J1mmy is one of those content creators that turns everything he touches into something good. I cannot praise all of his videos enough, including the ones he makes that arent related to osrs. However, his osrs F2P series is one of my favorites.

Hannanie is a trans woman content creator that just makes some of the most off the wall insane videos I've ever seen. Seriously, she made a fucking 21 part series about cutting fucking trees in this game and managed to make every installment a banger. Hannanie is a treasure and everyone should know her content.

Imo the only gaming content on YT that comes even close to osrs is probably Minecraft, but that is mostly because you can do so much modding that the content stays fresh.

Also look at my silly little pets:

I promise you I spooned the shit out of every single one of them.

Rock Golem at 89 mining, Groot at 86 farming, TWO fucking rex pets before 140kc, 42kc thermy.

Plus with the RuneLite client, you can make your in game interaction as customizable as you want. My whole client is fucking Miku themed lmao. The community has made so many amazing plug ins for this game including a full HD client with dynamic lighting effects, increased GPU distance rendering, ect.

OSRS is a great fucking game and you should definitely be playing it. I will take full responsibility for the thousands of hours that you lose to it. I could go on but this post is already a lot longer than I was expecting it to be.

As an aside: Ironman does something to you. Why do I have 117k Light Orbs in my bank? Idfk might need em. 20k gold tiaras? Just in case. 10k snake skin? You never know when something might pop up. Hoard Everything.

[lesbiandanhowell]

Sam reacts to: Do NOT read these cards out loud - Dan and Phil play Incohearent

Full disclosure this is my second watch. My first one was me fighting for my life in my bathtub because I was laughing so hard and kept almost drowning.

- Dan affirming the phil trash #1 status by pointing out the quiff before any of us even had a second to notice it.

- Dan warned us they would get demonetized and YET truly nothing could prepare you for this video.

- Glad phil noticed, same as all of tumblr, that they keep mentioning swinging AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOFTLAUNCH DANIEL? (Which literally is just him saying they are a couple which thanks Dan)

- Dan already with the heart eyes, he is making the name heart eyes howell really proud lately (the heart eyes not leave for a single second the entire video).

- I think I have to join the "they smoke weed" agenda now because there is no other way to interpret Dan's cheeky smile at the 4/20 card.

- Literally what makes me laugh most isn't the cards bur Dan laughing? His smile is so infectious it makes me belly laugh seeing him grin at the camera, eyes all but disappeared and just leaning back in the chair holding his stomach from laughter.

- "Oh I wonder why!" THE LOOK DAN GAVE PHIL I AM CRYING

- The way there is no competition and they are just so excited to see the other say weird shit, especially now that we have 'new Phil'.

- Phil never giving Dan the hints is so fucking funny to me, like I think he doesn't do it intentionally and just forgets they exist lmao.

- Dan just wanted to play this to see Phil get flustered by saying kinky shit let's be honest, but in the end Dan gets more flustered over it than Phil does.

- "There is no way this is gonna be monetized." No shit sherlock

- The way they keep making eye contact 😳

- "I know there are certain words you cannot say on youtube" "We're gonna find them out today!"

- "Okay Phil this one goes out to you" - Power Bottom GENUINELY WHAT THE FUCK DANIEL WHO ASKED WHO THE FUCK ASKED (We know entirely too much about their sex life by now stg)

- I am afraid for their editors sanity after gamingmas I will be honest, because the same person has now edited so many of their absolutely horny videos and we're only on day 9.

- Dan leaning back in his chair when laughing is so funny in itself like I am worried every time he will fall off because he's laughing so much.

- I could feel Dan falling more in love with Phil with every single one these, like you could tell that he is down horrendously bad which is just adorable.

- I am with you Dan, I literally cried laughing.

No they are wrong we all WON, this was the funniest fucking video they have ever made I almost drowned, I cried, I can't stop laughing still. Thank you for this beautiful piece of media.

[imagionationstation]

Gender swap Donnie is my everything, I love it so much and AHHHDJDBSISBBKSOA

Actively feral as we speak, when reading the stuff about Dona I couldn’t help but think she would sound like Princess Bubblegum (cause you know two genius scientists who are little insane)

I am also wondering how she be like when dealing with Don Visio so and you know trying to kill him at one point. Also how protective are her brothers when it comes to love interests? Like I know you said Casey maybe a love interest but what about other mutants or even aliens flirting with her? How would they react to that? And with the Halloween special, what would Dona’s experience be with being turned into a vampire? Cause in the original Dracula book when it focused on turning women into vampires it was a little … um not good for the gal. So how would she be turned if that changes? Also how would the 1987 turtle crossover react to Dona?

Sorry if this is a lot I just have so many questions and just want to know what you think about this. I really like this au and want to read more about it and your thoughts.

Please don’t feel pressured to answer this and take your time I literally just found your blog and am re-re-re-re-reading as I am writing this. I love this idea and concept so much.

Also can I make art of Dona AU pls?

I am going insane as we speak.

(Not serious (take your time and take care of yourself))

(I always find it funny when people are like: Yk that movie/character/book series- and I’m just no?? Who told you that I did?? Never seen that before in my life.)

ANYWAY, I TOOK YOUR RECOMMENDATION VERY SERIOUSLY.

I WATCHED ME MANY A YOUTUBE CLIP!

And you must be hearing something I don’t because I don’t hear Donnie in Princess Bubblegum. She’s too soft spoken. And I don’t know if she could pull off the Donnie-isms from canon. No, no, if I needed to choose a voice for her- hmmm.

Entrapta from She-Ra would be my first pick, I think. Definitely.

I am also wondering how she be like when dealing with Don Visio so and you know trying to kill him at one point.

Exactly the same! Everything that happens with her in canon when facing him does not change in the slightest. The only difference would be that her brothers would be extremely ticked off in the episode Mutant Gangland. Even so, Leo would still be the voice of reason when talking her down in Heart of Evil.

Also how protective are her brothers when it comes to love interests? Like I know you said Casey maybe a love interest but what about other mutants or even aliens flirting with her? How would they react to that?

If someone begins flirting with Donnie, I think they’d only be protective if Donnie shows discomfort with the situation. I think this would happen a few times, but often, Donnie is completely oblivious and her brothers love watching people struggle. Of course, flirty is one thing. Making active moves on her is another.

Six feet apart, hands to yourself, thank you very much.

Now, if Donnie has a love interest, they’ll let it play out naturally. It’s her relationship and they wouldn’t want her interfering with theirs. They sus out the interest and then they leave it to her because they trust her to handle herself and know that if she ever does have any issues… She’s tell them. They’ll know.

I think if there’s a place for a relationship with Casey to start, it would be during the farmhouse arc. Before that, there was still a fair amount of bickering between them because she was having jelly feelings about April’s friendship with him and Irma.

April didn’t come down to the lair when she was hanging out with them and doing all kinds of human activities that Donnie couldn’t do. Once again, Donnie felt different. Not because she was a girl, but because she was a mutant. And they couldn’t hang out one-on-one when she starts dragging Casey down with her. At least Irma seemed friendly and smart! Casey Jones was so… Brash. Rude. Arrogant.

As she whined in the show, “Now we have TWO RAPHAELS!”

Eventually, though, she realizes that, just like Raph, he can be crude, but he’s also kinda a sweetheart deep down.

And with the Halloween special, what would Dona’s experience be with being turned into a vampire? Cause in the original Dracula book when it focused on turning women into vampires it was a little … um not good for the gal. So how would she be turned if that changes?

Um. Huh? I don’t… I guess I don’t know what that entailed?

Are you asking if the scene would be more sexual? Or if this grown man would be preying on a teenager? Ew, actually, wow, I don’t like that. REVERSE THOUGHT PROCESS REVERT REVERT

I think there’s too much happening to insert anything anyway.

There would probably be an inappropriate innuendo or two from Mikey about “vampires going after females” since he already makes iffy comments in the canon show. Why not more cringe?

I really don’t know if there’s anything I would change except for that part when April hypnotizes him. I’d make that more “friendship” and less “romance” (if you know what I mean). Otherwise, the episodes should stay the same as in canon.

Donnie simply gets bitten by April and turns into a vampire after helping her brothers and Renet reach a safe room. She tries to attack them but they manage to escape. They tussle later.

Also how would the 1987 turtle crossover react to Dona?

I think any crossovers would have the four brother iterations giving her a double-take. And the 1987 especially have never met a female of any of the brothers so they’d probably make a comment or two.

Heck, in the episode Trans-Dimensional Turtles, since there are no introductions, and they mainly use names versus pronouns through most of the episode, I think that the 1987 would just run off the assumption that she’s male. She doesn’t usually dress or act any differently from her brothers so there aren’t a lot of huge pointers that she’s of another sexuality.

And assuming the timelines they’ve seen and the timeline that they come from, it’s a reasonable assumption.

I think the reveal would probably be during the final episodes during the kitchen scene. It would likely be before they discuss Icecream Kitty and Chompy and 1987Donatello remarks, “Wow, our parallel works really are different.”

One of the brothers casually uses “she” while talking about her and 1987Raphael immediately interrupts with a baffled, “Wait, is your Donnie a girl?” In a tone that triggers Donnie’s sass “So what if I am!?” and, of course, 1987Raphael fires back some snide comment at the attack, and it takes all of her brothers intervening to calm her down and helping to explain in order to defuse the situation.

I don’t think I know them well enough to judge how they’d respond after the fact. I just assume the show continues as normal 🤔

Please don’t feel pressured to answer this and take your time I literally just found your blog and am re-re-re-re-reading as I am writing this. I love this idea and concept so much. Also can I make art of Dona AU pls?

I LOVE to hear that other people are going feral over her! Never apologize for your curiosity and never hesitate to ask!! I will answer all the questions I can when fate allows the time!

Absolutely, you can! Make all the fanart you want!

All I ask is that you tag me so I can see her! 💜

[batsplat]

do you have any favorite tennis matches? what's your favorite player and rivalry if you have one?

(note, I will be leaving both agassi + sampras out of this post as they have already been discussed in a fair bit of detail on this blog, though I might at some point make a post specifically about their matches. obviously they'd be pretty high up in all three categories with regards to favourite matches, players, and rivalries)

I have a lot of favourite tennis matches!! I'll throw a few of them under the cut, but honestly give me half a chance and I'll go on forever. my all time favourite tennis match is the 2003 us open semifinal between justine henin and jennifer capriati. it is available in full on youtube and I think you should watch it even if you have only the slightest interest in tennis. this is a match you need to experience for yourself and I will not spoil the result, but it features basically everything you could ask for:

very high stakes, both in terms of being a slam semi and for both players involved. it's an interesting stretch of henin's career, plenty of controversies that season and the potential for a rematch with countrywoman clijsters in the final. capriati during her noughties career revival had FINALLY managed to overcome her issues in late stages of slams and had won three of them... but her home slam at the us open was the one she wanted to win most of all. a history of semifinal choking she was attempting to conquer in front of her home crowd - fighting a woman six years her junior who had already tasted slam success that year

two very different personalities, the cold and calculating henin against the ferocious and passionate capriati... both not strangers to a little bit of gamesmanship, and of course you see that on display in this match too. keep an eye on the poor line judges

two contrasting but similarly engaging playstyles, the boisterous force of capriati coming up against henin's lethally elegant all-court game. henin's one handed backhand better than sex question mark. it's a great stylistic match-up, and produces some excellent tennis across the entire span of the match. just SUCH a great watch, like I really cannot speak highly enough of the level on display

a highly involved crowd who want their home favourite to win SO BADLY and are more than happy to do anything to help her cause. gets a bit wild, like the best us open matches tend to do

some truly insane momentum switches, many prompted by psychology and some prompted by physicality. one player's body starts letting her down in the final set in pretty striking fashion. one player's mind plays havoc with her, possibly even more memorably so. a very dramatic finale

the cruelty of tennis on full display. a match where you suffer for both players, who both want it so badly and are visibly fighting demons on the court. truly, truly brutal for the loser

I love this match so so much. I know it's very on-brand to direct you to a match from over two decades ago, but I promise you. it's worth it. sometimes the old stuff is the best

and do I EVER have a favourite player and rivalry!!!!!!

MY GIRLS. okay, look, they're both extremely retired and had their last match in 2010 BUT it is still my favourite rivalry!!!!!!! here, have another bit of my output for them:

wE hAvE aLwaYs ProTEcTEd tHis iMAge oF friENdShip tHat nEVeR eXistEd istgggggggg NOTHING WAS BROKEN BETWEEN US BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING TO BREAK

if you've ever heard someone be extremely annoying about federer's game, you probably can imagine what I sound like talking about henin. she's got my favourite backhand of all time, I genuinely think it is a work of art. I love how she moves, the way she unleashes on balls on the run, I love how she gets into the court in such a lithe and precise manner to pick up the next ball. I love how effective the serve is despite her height (number one commentating cliché for her lol, she's short we get it). the slices, the gorgeous drop volleys, the laser straight forehand... and again, the backhand. when she takes a swing at that thing and fucking pummels it past her opponent, stretches her wings to make the ball soar, it's just truly my favourite shot of all time. there's a specific backhand crosscourt on-the-run pass she hits in that aforementioned us open semifinal where... yeah. what can you even say. better than sex full stop

and well... okay, look, I am AWARE a lot of fans still hate her and I do get that she won't be everyone's cup of tea. but y'know. sometimes you just have to support women's rights and wrongs, and I do think some of the criticism of her is also a bit overblown. she's a cheater, yes, I won't argue with that. but I think sometimes cheating is interesting!! she really really really really needed to win, she was cold and ruthless about it - but also, I'm sorry, people would NOT have hated her quite so much if she were a man. and I'm also not saying a sad life story justifies cheating etc etc, but I do wish people were a bit more interested in why she needed to win so badly. she also has the number one athlete attribute that makes my brain go crazy - a deeply conflicted relationship with the sport itself. always caught between running towards and running away from tennis... yeah. god

the single best resource in tennis is a website called tennisabstract, it really is fantastic, I've contributed a bit to their match coding project before and definitely will again when my schedule's freed up a bit. I have a lot of time for the guy who runs it, I really do. there's this series he did, tennis 128, where he listed the top 128 players of all time according to his metric and wrote a piece for each of them... and I think they're all very interesting, it's a great project. but. there's a good chance henin got the most negative write-up of the lot, in a way I have to admit I take issue with. some excerpts:

well, tough luck. I don't care. the lgbt community has forgiven justine henin. look at what a cute tomboy she was as a teenager:

look at her holding a bird trophy:

wifey

the other half of that rivalry is her fellow belgian clijsters. very much a case of two narratives haunting each other!! do not separate!! anyhow, she's another player with a game I absolutely adore, these big scything groundstrokes but ALSO plenty of variety, like we're not talking a dull baseline basher here. and the movement!! sliding on a hard court is STILL pretty rare in the women's game, so it's very much seen as something associated with clijsters and clijsters alone:

life changing thighs is what I'll say

clijsters was everything henin was not - warm, popular in the locker room and with fans, a cheery outgoing personality who always had plenty of people rooting for her. she was also seen as too nice to win. and there are few things on this planet that get me going more than a choker. than somebody who just... freezes in the most important matches of her life. which for a while there had a nasty habit of involving henin, because of course they did

clijster's another one with a really fascinating career arc, one that is inextricably linked with henin's story - and thing is, she did get her happy ending. she's the feel-good story, proof that even chokers might be able to make it in the end. she conquered her demons... one of the very, very, very few to do so. she changed the narrative of her career completely. now I DO hate how this kinda... low key gets implicitly used as another stick to thwack henin with, this kind of, ooh!! look!! you can be a good person and be successful too!! which! idk. god forbid we root for a flawed athlete now and again. but I think this does a disservice to clijsters - not least because she WAS pretty nasty about henin in a way she wasn't about basically anyone else. henin and clijsters are more than just sinner and saint... don't let tennis fans tell you otherwise

and yeah, the two of them obviously had a bit of an emotionally tortured rivalry. belgium cooked up two insanely good tennis players born exactly one year and one week apart, the only two players of that stature the country has ever produced. they made each other better and they made each other worse. friends and enemies and something in between... and in the end, fundamentally inseparable. citadels have been built on less

anyway tbh I'm not going to pretend like anyone is summoning up that kind of narrative juice these days, but obviously I still have my faves. as regular blog readers may be aware, my favourite current player is this washed string bean who mostly just loses to more talented players and throws tantrums these days. I'll support him until his time runs up though. medvedev's got this fantastically unorthodox game that I could dissect all day, he's the smartest top player, he's funny as shit. his game should never have worked and he has no right to be as successful as he is. I could hold a lecture series on his forehand. I'm very much a pusher-inclined fan... I like counterpunchers, I like players who run around a lot and defend, and I also like tacticians. I was a pretty early adopter because I love a quirky playstyle and weird technique, which was then affirmed with the miami 2018 debacle (iykyk). but there was a moment I knew I would be his fan for life, and if you are a tennis fan you can probably guess what's coming:

"so I want all of you to know, when you sleep tonight, I won because of you" I fell in love

never ever has he let me down on the drama front. his "oops I did it again" basel 2018 instagram post, his "I think I killed someone? my apologies" from us open 2020, "if I die, who'll take responsibility" from olympics 2021, the "it's easier to enjoy life when you have no brain" paris 2021 monologue, the yawn at turin 2021, stomping on the ground davis cup 2021, the "his father can talk every point" ao 2022 rant, "I'm gonna pee as slow as this court" from iw 2023, when he got rid of the singles stick monte carlo 2023 plus the "look at yourself in the mirror" press conference comment, "vamo vamo vamo" from uso 2023... I could keep going. "shut your fuck up" has become a part of my vocabulary icl. I love his press conferences and watch a lot of them, just consistently a very interesting guy to listen to. he is unfortunately sort of hellish to follow as a fan, but y'know. sometimes it's not just trophies that make the journey worth it (cope)

women's tennis, my actual faves have basically disappeared from the scene this year so I'm not even gonna dignify them by mentioning their names. I am pretty ride-or-die for dasha kasatkina, a useless pusher who's also the wta's highest ranked lesbian and makes a vlog with her girlfriend I definitely recommend. I like her tennis a lot in all its horrendous pushing, she's very sweet and fun and produces an obscene number of cute photos with her girlfriend. beyond that, I suppose I am basically a swiatek and sabalenka fan this year, I find both of them highly engaging in different ways, I love how they're like... actually very good but are also seemingly constantly fighting demons. basically the two most compelling players in the game currently TO ME. I'm really really enjoying their rivalry, my main complaint is that I wish they played more (praying iga's new coach fixes her during the off-season). they produced by far the best match this year, madrid final, which I'd also absolutely recommend. but yeah, I generally vibe with all the top players of the women's game, if to differing extents!! really strong era at the minute that also promises to keep getting better. we pray

anyhow. a few more favourite matches - I'm going to try and hold myself back, because I really could go on forever. a lot of the old matches I watch are from noughties wta, but I'll limit myself because I'm aware this really is probably of interest to nobody and give just a further two - sharapova/henin wta finals 2007 and venus/davenport wimbledon 2005. both pretty normie picks, but sometimes the normie picks are normie picks for a reason

for my sins, I do have a few big three matches in fairly regular rotation, typically on in the background when I'm working. main ones are djokovic/federer us open 2011, djokovic/federer wimbledon 2019, djokovic/federer wimbledon 2014, and djokovic/nadal roland garros 2021. I also have a bunch of murray matches in rotation but I tend to mix it up for him more... my other go-to run is all of leylah fernandez's pre-final us open 2021 matches, which are just consistently bonkers in the best possible way. there's a few other recent-ish matches I really like to revisit, like iga/sublanko madrid 2023, fernandez/osorio monterrey 2022, kerber/juvan strasbourg 2022...

and then, of the more recent-ish men's matches, pretty obvious where my biases lie. medvedev/djokovic cincy 2019, med/wawrinka uso 2019, med/nadal atp finals 2020, med/thiem atp finals 2020, med/djokovic uso 2021, med/sinner atp finals 2021 (conceptually hilarious match), med/faa ao 2022 (go-to flight match, this one), med/tsi ao 2022, rune/djokovic paris 2022 (and honestly that whole rune run), med/zverev monte carlo 2023 (don't feel great about including this but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love it), rune/sinner monte carlo 2023, rune/foki madrid 2023, med/alcaraz uso 2023 (I promised I'd sing the american national anthem if he won that match so that's a voice note that still exists out there)... and so on

I could keep going, but I'll cut myself off here. and end things with my personal favourite instagram post tennis has produced. from after the aforementioned rune/foki madrid match:

'personally I hold nothing against the Spanish people' dw king I'll do it for you

[mitchelljoni]

i am fucking loving your fic but i don’t know much about this kind of music, do you happen to have a playlist? i would love to listen

omg Yes lol this is the ideal ask to receive....firstly so glad ur enjoying the fic. secondly, i am by no means an expert (classical music is not my...forte) but this is just stuff i like/i think most people enjoy/know...it's not an exhaustive list. it is probably impossible to make an exhaustive list!! I am sure there are millions of people out there who could do a better answer to this qn (some of them will probably see this) so im mostly just gonna link the pieces that are mentioned (so far) in the fic and then maybe a few of my Favs...

mentioned in the fic

George Gershwin, Concerto in F (what Rhaenyra is set to play for the King's Landing concert) - this recording with Jon Nakamatsu on the piano and the Rochester Philharmonic is probably the best one (it's the first one I ever heard I think) but a personal fav of mine is Andre Previn with the LSO

George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue (what everyone bitches is better than the Concerto in F lol) - again, Previn does a lovely version of this, Jon Nakamatsu's is also great, and I would be remiss not to mention Leonard Bernstein's version

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 6 ('Pathétique') (what they are rehearsing at the beginning) - just linking the NY Philharmonic conducted by Bernstein because it's soooooo cool that you can deadass just watch it on Youtube...

Edvard Grieg, Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op 16 (what Rhaenyra tells Viserys she wants to play for the tour/she told Alicent she was always going to play w her conducting) - I think Alice Sara Ott's interpretation is mega, I tend to listen to her playing w the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orch but couldnt find it in my v cursive search on YT so the link is to her with the Danish National Symphony Orch

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor (what Rhaenyra was playing at the Eyrie that she then got up and stopped playing) - you almost definitely know this one!!!! The music from the second movement is aggressively interpolated into All by Myself by Eric Carmen lol. Ive linked a Khatia Buniatishvili version (of the second movement) bc it's like...perfect imo also she looks amazing. not the point but still

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No 3 in D Minor (what Alicent suggests that Rhaenyra plays for the Sunspear concerts) - this is basically famous for being like the hardest piano concerto in history!!! it rocks. every movement is a banger. linked Yuja Wang bc noooo one is doing it like her. also, another slayful dress moment!

Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No 1 in B Flat Minor (what Alicent also suggests Rhaenyra plays but Viserys rejects) - another Alice Sara Ott win...

Mozart, Piano Concerto No 21 in C Major (what Alicent remembers watching Rhaenyra playing etc) - loveeee this recording:)

Chopin, Nocturnes (what Alicent finds a copy of in the practice room) - honestly I just went ahead and linked all of them. pick your fav! probably the 22nd is not in this compilation but that's bc no one likes it and everyone thinks it's not rlly his since they found it later :/ awkward

Beethoven, Piano Concerto No 5 in E Flat Major ('Emperor') (what Rhaenyra played however many years ago that Alicent pretended to have never heard) - I think Hélène Grimaud plays this especially well so it's the one i linked. oldie but a goodie! but really any are good

Bach, Prelude 1 in C Major (first of Rhaenyra's soul-soothing classics) - Lang Lang <3

Bill Evans, Peace Piece (second of Rhaenyra's soul-soothing classics) - this is jazz, which I am actually FAR more equipped to talk about, but i have for some reason shackled myself to writing about classical music so....anyway she doesnt mention it by name but shes talking about Peace Piece. everybody DOES dig bill evans

Claude Debussy, Rêverie (third of Rhaenyra's soul-soothing classics) - Lang Lang x2 <3

Jules Massenet, Meditation from Thaïs (fourth of Rhaenyra's soul soothing classics) - honestly this piece is such a classic lol. everytime i hear it im like Wow Religious Experience much??? anyway it's actually from an opera (Thaǐs) so some versions have some quiet vocalising in the bg. which is nice if it's ur bag tbf. ive linked a nicola benedetti version bc i love her and also bc this one is just piano and violin which is what i envisioned w alicent and rhaenyra

vaguely mentioned in the fic/will be shortly

Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op 64 (Rhaenys's solo violin appearance)

Edward Elgar, Cello Concerto in E Minor (Addam's solo cello appearance, one of my favourites in the world!)

Franz Liszt, Les préludes

Franz Schubert, Symphony No 9 in C Major

Jean Sibelius, Symphony No 1 in E Minor

Florence Price, Symphony No 3 in C Minor

Leonard Bernstein, Candide

ones i just like (this is not a list of the world's most exceptional classical music. i just like these ones)

Maurice Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte

Antonín Dvořák, Silent Woods

Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No 2 in F Major and also all his jazz suites. love him

Like anything by Philip Glass

Hector Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, Op 14

Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op 64

Mahler!! All of Mahler!!

ive left out like the biggies like swan lake and the planets and mozart's symphony no 40 etc bc i feel like you will come across those v quickly...also i am actually a choral singer so I havent gotten into all that bc my playlist of THAT music is genuinely 8 hrs long which would need a whole other post.

so TLDR: this is a weird, selective, and not at all representative list of music you might want to listen to. Enjoy !

lol but in all seriousness, if u end up wanting to get into classical music, just sticking on any classical radio station is usually a good way to go, BBC Radio 3 is EVERYTHING to me, shes v important<3 also, in terms of streaming services, most are honestly p rubbish when it comes to classical music but apple music have a 'classical' app which is like the only decent way to stream classical music without literally wanting to scream in confusion imo. so if u happen to have apple music it comes w ur subscription and is good! ok i hope this helps and once again glad ur enjoying da fic :)

[gizkasparadise]

What is the worst, most technically inept drama that you secretly love? Tell us of the best badgood drama, the clunkiest dialogue, the most inexplicable casting, the hideously costumed yet most fun dramas, please.

🫥Anonymously yours🫥,

💜Purplehanfu😈💜🍇👾

dear complete stranger (<3),

man i love badgood dramas so much!!! i chose ones that are flatout objectively not good, but i was glued for them all. here's a few that are jumping out

triad princess (taiwan). it ends on a cliffhanger that will never be continued, the relationship building is non-existent, jasper liu basically plays himself yet still acts like he's doing a community service project, but omg it's cute and hit all the right notes for me. fave bonus is that one of the gangster henchmen falls in love with the FL's best friend, a shy boy who works at a mart and makes youtube covers

hold on, my lady (chinese). a bandit is offered a choice when she's caught during a heist: be executed or marry this aloof but beautiful but delicate son of the general. she chooses the latter, and hijinks ensue. made on a budget of pocket lint and just wacky, im going to rewatch this today, actually. fave bonus moment: the FL falls dramatically down and the ML breaks both his arms instantly when he tries to catch her

thumping spike & thumping spike 2 (korean). the two are barely related, but both deal with a competitive men's volleyball team! thumping spike 1 is about a washed up competitive female player going to coach a high school team to glory (just dont...think too critically about the age difference, there) and the second is COLLEGE EDITION with a love quadrangle between two identical twins, one of whom is a cheerleader for the team, the ace volleyball player who's too cool for school, and the WILDCARD volleyball player who gets mad when people call him gorilla. the second one is definitely worse than the first one, but neither are bringing home awards. i still watched them both in one sitting.

my heart twinkle twinkle (korean). this show is actually insane and a parade of toxic that i can never, in good conscience, ever rec to anyone. but gd did i watch the whole fucking thing. look at this fucking poster. this fucking poster looks like it was doused by a fake snow machine.

premise: Noble But Poor family has 3 daughters: the eldest, who is the caretaker; the middle who is Aloof and Ambitious; and the youngest who is A Fucking Menace. they are lead by their single father, who owns a fried chicken store

Rich but Dysfunctional family also has 3 children: the eldest, who is the only son and a fucking piece of work, the middle who is school colleagues with the other family's middle daughter and a hot mess who loves Da Club, and the youngest, who is clingy and gets into a ton of fights with the other family's youngest but is otherwise ok. they run AN EVIL FRIED CHICKEN FRANCHISE that is poisoning people through subpar ingredients!!

there's so much that's so wrong with this, im going to bullet point it from another post i made:

the entire premise is that there’s a fried chicken restaurant rivalry between two families but somehow there’s murder and slush funds and this guy who owns a string of fried chicken franchises named after himself (yeah) has direct access to seoul’s police commissioner at any given moment

one of the main actresses was involved in a scandal a little over halfway through production so they just….vanish her character/entire plotline like it never happened

the main male lead is toxic personified. him and li chengyin from goodbye my princess could co-author a dating strategy/forced-marriage-after-you-kill-your-girlfriend’s-head-of-household book because jesus christ. he literally screams that he hates women and he ends the drama (rightfully!!) in fucking prison

the second female lead disappears/creates a new identity and becomes a chicken chef student of the world. shes later in a love triangle between a single dad chicken shop interior designer and another vanilla guy

that's right, one guy’s job is he’s an architect for chicken restaurant interiors i cant

the main male lead leaves the main female lead’s father to die in a chicken-coop-themed arsony and then cha-cha slides into the son-in-law’s role during the father’s funeral and later MARRIES the female lead

the main male lead tells the female lead’s father’s grave that HE WON AND DAD LOST because the male lead is standing and the father’s in the dirt?!

a friend/almost!love interest of the second female lead dies tragically in a chicken delivery motorcycle chase????

it's the worst drama i've ever seen. i watched all of it.

kakafukaka (japanese)

this one is so gd weird and unappealing it somehow circled back around and became off-puttingly charming to me? so the premise is that there's a 20something year old woman whose life has gone to shit and she ends up in a sharehome with the most sexually dysfunctional bunch of people in the world. one of these is her ex, who tells her that she's the only one he can get a boner with (yeah) and asks her to help him get over his impotence in order to write his novel (yeah). if you read the whole show as kind of an exploration into sex without romance/love, it's as not bad, and there's something weirdly endearing about everyone--i really love the second female lead akari in particular. but it's not a good show, not by a long shot (MDL rating? 6.6), and the ship is dysfunctional at the very best. the ost somehow is great though?

speaking of trash dramas with great OSTs, love in sadness has some of my favorite songs:

okay that's enough for now!!!!

[dj-of-the-coven]

Thanks for asking @vivi-mire and @goldensunset! To answer your questions, I'll preface this by saying I don't actively seek out character playlists that often, but I like making them. Unfortunately this leads me down some dismal fucking roads while looking for other people's thoughts on the subject.

Possibly to the surprise of some, offline I am known mostly for 2 things: anarchy and music. Music is my life. I have one million other hobbies, and in online spaces I mostly talk about video games, but my true essence is music--particularly rock and punk. My collection spans over several mediums. I have a 2018 Victrola record player that I've repaired by hand, a 2004 CD-radio player, a 2021 cassette-CD-radio player, and a 2007 Insignia MP3 player. Most people around my age ditched CD players by the time they were in high school (no judgement there), but I used mine this morning. I have two books in my bag on cassettes right now. I play two string instruments and have considered picking up a third! I don't say any of this to brag--it's just what I choose to do with my time and money, same as anybody else. The reason why I bring it up is to emphasize that I both know and care a lot about this particular subject. And let me tell you. What I feel when I see the same 6 artists over and over again in every character playlist is not simple haterism... it's pity with a dose of concern.

What bothers me more than the music being ill-fitting for some fictional character is the tangible evidence that most people do not have the means to discover new artists; also, to some degree, the foreboding conclusion that we are losing a diversity of taste. There used to be magazines and independent radio shows, local performances, older kids in the neighborhood you could talk to to find new bands, but the rise of streaming as the primary distribution method has severely limited the ways through which interested parties can discover music. Ask someone you know how they discovered their favorite artists--for real!! Most of the time, they'll answer, TikTok, Youtube, or Spotify. Algorithms. Mathematical processes designed to funnel people into profitable avenues of advertising. These are the things determining the music taste of today's listeners, and it's powerful fucking stuff, to the point that even radio stations have been affected by the algorithms of these unrelated websites. When I was living in Los Angeles, I had to watch the station 106.7 KROQ slowly go from playing 90s grunge and nu metal to running the Arcane theme song by Imagine Dragons 27 times daily, because it was being played to market the show. Everything is morphing into profit sludge! An equation on somebody's computer somewhere determined that this specific pool of artists would be able to turn a bunch of queer 16-24 year olds into a marketable demographic, and thus Tumblr is overrun by the same 8 or so bands in every poll, every uquiz, every embedded spotify playlist. You guys ever heard of Hozier? I've been listening to a rad new artist lately, yeah! It's Cavetown. You should listen to Mitski! Did you hear about Mitski? I think you should listen to Mitski. What about Mitski guys. What about Mitski.

Again, it really doesn't have anything to do with the quality of any of these artists (except for Imagine Dragons, which I'll never hesitate to shit on). I just think it's... odd, and upsetting, that so many people are trapped inside this tiny little bubble of music that has been algorithmically determined for them as the genre they can be arbitrarily sorted into for marketing appeal reasons. It's like hearing someone say they've never seen it rain before. I discovered many of my current favorite artists by browsing through secondhand stores, talking to older punks in my community, renting CDs from the library, reading magazines (I recommend Razorcake), and going to local $5 cover shows held in the basement of a record shop. It physically pains me that this method of discovery is dying. It hurts to think of how few people are engaging seriously with the music scene in the places they live. It devastates me to see so many people being restricted by their circumstances from finding the music that will speak to them, specifically, not every single young, white, very online gay person living in the United States.

Basically--this is not okay. Something has to change.