#went back to check my twitter and the last time i watched this in full might’ve been in 2018?? jesus

[starsstillshine]

tron: legacy is in fact still my favorite movie

[peachhcs]

plz write a cute celebrini x fem reader 🙏🙏 ur writing is beyond amazing

oooh i've never written specifically for mack before so hopefully this isn't bad 😅

after mack’s face injury, his gf is quick to look after him once the game is done

masterlist

she waited impatiently near the doors of the locker room awaiting her boyfriend's arrival. y/n's mind couldn't stop replaying the horror on her features and everyone else's when they saw the blood trickle down macklin's face after a nasty high stick hit. she knew he was okay because he was right back on the ice once the bleeding stopped, but the image wouldn't shake the girl's brain.

lingering after the game felt so long this time around and y/n wondered if it was just because she was anxious about seeing her boyfriend and properly checking up on him. she swiped through twitter and instagram continuously while video replays of the rookie's hit filled her feeds. she just shut her phone off all together for now, not being able to watch the play anymore.

finally, the players began trickling out. y/n's head popped up, searching for the eyes of macklin in the crowd. she spotted him with will near the middle of the pack and he immediately found her gaze. will sensed that they probably wanted to talk, so he split off from the boy once they got closer, giving a small nod to y/n as he passed.

"hey," macklin began, but was caught off guard when y/n jumped into his arms.

"let me see it," she grabbed ahold of his chin, turning his face to the side to examine the new scar.

"it's really not that bad now. they cleared it up really good," the brunette tried reassuring his girlfriend knowing she probably had a hundred thoughts running through her.

"you scared the shit out of me when i saw all that blood. it looked a lot worse," y/n stepped back, arms crossing over her chest.

macklin frowned at the sudden distance between them, "i'm sorry, baby. i promise i'm fine. see?" he gave his best grin hoping to further prove how he was doing.

"well, if i see wilson, i'm gonna punch him myself," y/n huffed, looking around like she would catch the older player lingering somewhere.

macklin laughed, tugging y/n into his side and kissing the side of her head, "you're so cute when you're upset. i promise i'm fine though. i mean you saw me play afterwards."

"yeah you fucking power played. i guess that was your redemption," the two exchanged a laugh and macklin enjoyed finally pulling a smile from her.

"can i come back to your place tonight?" the boy wondered as they moved themselves closer to the exit.

"i thought that was a given already," y/n chuckled.

macklin went to tell will they were leaving before rushing out of the SAP center so he wouldn't have to do any press. most days he didn't mind, but tonight the boy was itching to get out of there and spend some much needed time with his girl. they hadn't seen each other since last weekend—school and hockey keeping them way too busy.

"just so you know, i am gonna baby you the whole night," y/n informed once they were securely in her car.

"mm, i can't wait. a face mask is just calling my name," the hockey player leaned back in the passenger seat, hand falling to the girl's lap as she pulled out of the parking lot.

luckily, there was no early morning practice tomorrow, so macklin was gonna use that to his full advantage and spend the night in y/n's dorm. the couple rode in comfortable silence into santa clara university, a convenient 7 minutes away from the arena so y/n never missed a home game.

she parked her car again and the couple hurried into her building. the few students wandering around the lobby caught sight of macklin's suit he put back on, a few of them recognizing him from as a sharks player and as y/n's boyfriend because he was over so much.

they lucked out with y/n's roommate hanging out with her own boyfriend tonight, so they had the whole dorm to themselves. macklin immediately thew his backpack onto the ground and shoved his suit jacket from his shoulders.

"gonna shower. i didn't really before we left. you're welcome to join me if you want," the brunette winked at the girl who flushed.

"wow, so classy of you. i did already shower this morning, so i'll have to pass this time," y/n laughed.

"damn, i thought you'd say yes. you sure you don't wanna shower again?" he winked again. y/n groaned, pushing her boyfriend to the bathroom.

"i'll be out here with your face mask."

the rookie accepted his lonely shower fate and disappeared into the bathroom. y/n took the opportunity to tidy up the room and get all the things she needed for their face masks.

20 minutes later, macklin came back out of the bathroom freshly showered and in more comfortable clothes. y/n hung up his suit jacket on the door of her closet, instructing him to do the same with the rest of the outfit so it wouldn't wrinkle.

the boy climbed into her bed a second later, positioning himself against her pillows, "i'm readyy," he sang.

"i've never known you to be so excited for a face mask," y/n grinned.

"it really makes my skin smooth, so i like it," the boy explained.

y/n handed mack her headband so his hair wouldn't be in his face or in the mask. he didn't hesitate to slip it over his head and expose his forehead. the girl giggled at the sight.

"are you laughing at my big forehead?" the boy raised his eyebrow, hands finding places on y/n's hips as she straddled his waist.

"maybe," she hummed, leaning forward to begin rubbing the cream on his skin.

mack admired her focused expression while just really taking the time to take in every part of her as she applied the mask. this was his favorite part of face masks because he could stare at her without shame and she hardly noticed because she was too focused on the mask.

"have i told you how beautiful you are?" the brunette wondered softly. he watched the way y/n's cheeks heated up into a deep blush.

"you have," she muttered.

"well, i'm gonna say it again. you're really beautiful," mack grinned.

"you're sappy tonight," y/n flushed.

"what? can i not say how beautiful my girlfriend is?"

"no, you can. thank you," she finished spreading the mask, leaning back to admire her work.

"how's it look?"

"great. i'lll let you know when five minutes are up," the girl set a timer on her phone and then mack grabbed the mask cream from her hands before she could set it back on the dresser.

she looked at her boyfriend quizzically.

"can i do yours?" he wondered with a soft expression.

y/n blushed again, "just don't get it in my hair."

"promise, i won't," macklin agreed and y/n let him have at it.

his touch was gentle as his fingers began rubbing around her skin. his lip poked out from his lips as he focused on doing it right. y/n loved how much he wanted to do it correctly for her sake and his expression really was just to die for.

"okay, did it," macklin leaned back to admire his work the same way y/n did. she loved the proud little smile on his lips, pulling her camera up to examine how well he did.

"wow, looks great, mack. your best one yet," y/n agreed.

"what can i say? practice makes perfect," the boy hummed, placing everything back onto her dresser.

"so how's your lip doing now?" y/n wondered as mack's hands wandered across the expanse of her hips and waist.

"i can't even feel it anymore, so good. i told you i'm fine," he eyed her.

"i know, just let me be a worry wart."

the sharks player smiled at her words knowing how much she liked to worry about things, especially the things that didn't need to be worried about. he reached up to quickly peck her lips, tryng to avoid getting face mask on one another.

"i love you," the brunette said.

y/n's smile grew, the whole i love you still new to them but heartwarming to hear, "i love you, too," she kissed him again and now they didn't care about getting face mask on one another.

[zeroseuniverse]

Just Another Tuesday

Word Count: 861 Summary: Soul hums in agreement, tilting his head to admire their work. “No one suspects a thing.” Across the room, Keeho chokes on his drink. Pairing: Soul X Reader

Taglist:@torkorpse @agaha127 @lcvejjoong @zaycie @sh0dor1 @tinyelfperson @lezleeferguson-120

Navigation

Soul leans back in his chair, stretching lazily as he watches the stock market crash in real-time on the giant monitor in front of them. The numbers plummet, red flashing across the screen in warning signs that should be sending major investors into full-blown panic mode.

You? You’re perched on the arm of his chair, sipping boba like this is just another Tuesday night.

“We are actual masterminds,” you muse, stabbing your straw through a tapioca pearl.

Soul hums in agreement, tilting his head to admire their work. “No one suspects a thing.”

Across the room, Keeho chokes on his drink.

Because, see, the thing is—everyone suspects a thing.

Or, more accurately, P1Harmony knows exactly what’s going on.

Keeho gives Theo a slow, pained look, but Theo is too busy scrolling through Twitter, watching a thread unravel in real-time about mysterious cybercriminals who keep taking down corrupt corporations. Every tweet is full of speculation, wild theories, and ominous warnings from so-called financial experts.

What none of them realize is that the 'criminal masterminds' are sitting on their couch, loudly debating whether or not to DoorDash milkshakes.

Jiung, who’s been quietly suffering for weeks, finally speaks up. “You guys do realize you’re the worst criminals ever, right?”

You blink. “Excuse me?”

Jiung gestures vaguely at Soul’s laptop, where a Google Doc literally titled ‘Chaos Plans 101’ is open. Not even password protected.

Keeho groans, rubbing his temples. “I mean, honestly, the hacking? Impressive. The execution? Messy. The subtlety? Negative ten.”

“But no one’s caught us,” Soul says with an infuriatingly confident smirk.

Intak snorts. “That’s because we keep covering for you.”

“…What?”

Theo, still scrolling Twitter, waves a hand. “Yeah, like, remember last week when you accidentally left your real name in that leaked email thread?”

Your stomach drops. “Wait, what?”

Jongseob sighs, so, so tired. “I had to backdoor into their servers and delete it before it went public.”

You blink. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Jongseob repeats, voice slightly higher-pitched. “That’s all you have to say? Oh?”

Soul nudges you, muttering under his breath, “See? Told you we should’ve used code names.”

“Oh my God.” Keeho looks physically pained. “That is not the issue here!”

-

Things come to a head when the two of you—because you are agents of chaos—decide to take down a tech giant while sitting at a very public café during brunch.

A brunch, by the way, that all of P1Harmony is also attending.

“I bet you I can tank their stock by 20% before the check arrives,” you whisper, grinning as you tap away at your tablet.

Soul smirks, leaning over. “Make it 25%, and I’ll pay for your meal.”

Intak, sipping his coffee across from you, does not like the way this conversation is going.

Jiung looks at the waiter and, with deep exhaustion, says, “Can I get this to go?”

Keeho just pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters, “I am going to die at 35 because of you two.”

Ten minutes later, the café television flashes with breaking news about said tech giant losing billions in market value. People start gasping, whispering, checking their phones.

And you? You just take a smug sip of your mimosa.

The entire table stares at you.

Jongseob, voice hollow, asks, “Did you seriously just commit financial terrorism over eggs benedict?”

Soul shrugs. “They overcharge for their streaming services.”

Keeho physically has to restrain himself.

-

Enough is enough.

Keeho, the ever-suffering leader, calls a meeting.

You and Soul are sat down in the living room like two misbehaving children. Jiung, Intak, and Theo are perched on the couch, arms crossed. Jongseob has a PowerPoint presentation ready.

Keeho clears his throat. “We are deeply concerned for a number of reasons.”

Jongseob clicks the first slide. It’s a screenshot of your hacked document, labeled 'Secret Plans - DO NOT OPEN (Unless You're Cool)'.

Theo coughs to hide his laughter. Jiung does not.

The next slide shows a list of your crimes with the header: ‘Ways in Which You Two Are Horrible at Hiding Your Villain Era.’

Some highlights include:

Using your own emails to register fake offshore accounts.

Nearly blowing your cover by laughing too hard at Twitter conspiracies.

Loudly whispering things like “Hey, what if we framed a CEO for fraud” in very public places.

Soul frowns. “That last one was a joke.”

Intak raises an eyebrow. “Was it?”

“…No.”

Keeho takes a deep breath. “Look. We’re not asking you to stop.”

You and Soul glance at each other. “Wait, really?”

Keeho sighs. “I mean, at this point, whatever. Just… try not to get arrested? Maybe? For our sake?”

Jongseob flips to his last slide, where bold red text reads: USE A VPN, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Soul tilts his head. “We could do that.”

You nod thoughtfully. “Yeah. Seems reasonable.”

Keeho visibly relaxes.

Then you grin. “Or we could—”

“NO.” Everyone shouts at the same time.

You and Soul laugh. Because, let’s be real—you’re definitely not stopping.

And P1Harmony? Well, they’re just going to have to keep cleaning up after you.

[5and3nevermind]

Omg yes you’re the first person I’ve seen talk about the guardian angel thing! It was my first thought when Namjoon said that— but I didn’t watch the full doc so I assumed they might have expounded on it? But given what we know about that pre-debut time and what Yoongi did for jimin then—and how they’ve been for the last 12 years really—it’s seems a reasonable assumption that Yoongi is who Joon meant. That kind of support must have meant so much I can’t imagine. Like Jimin said, “driving force”… and Jimin looks at him with such admiration and adoration sometimes it just melts my heart 🥺🥺 and oh yoongi… I have so many thoughts about him. I think he met Jimin and fell in love was like well guess I’m going to take care of this guy forever 🤷🏻 ahhh I love them so much. I don’t even need the details of their relationship I want what they have lmao.

Ok just needed to ramble 🫶 love your blog!

Hi anon! It’s funny because I first saw the clip on twitter and assumed it was from the Beyond the Star documentary, but then I watched the doc and didn’t see that scene and was confused. It’s from a Hybe video called Hybe T&D Stories Part 1: Farewell After Debut. I didn’t get around to watching it until the other day, and suddenly when I heard “T&D” I thought, “where have I heard that before?” I went back and checked Suchwita and there it was! Yoongi was the member who was often in contact with the T&D people!

When we put that into context with Jimin’s comments about Yoongi sparking his motivation to be in the group, it’s even better.

I think Yoongi was fascinated with Jimin from the beginning. It’s funny to hear him talk about the early days, and it seems like his memories of meeting Jimin for the first time are so vivid! It’s cute.

I don’t even need the details of their relationship I want what they have lmao.

I feel the same way! They spend their free time together, respect each other as artists, make each other laugh, look to each other for support during stressful moments…that’s all I really need to know. 💛

[cow-rants]

Fair warning: this post is in regards to the recent Assassin’s Creed: Shadows trailer. I will talk about my thoughts and feelings regarding race. Thank you.

I’ve been a massive fan of Assassin’s creed (AC) since I first saw my uncle playing it at 7 or 8 years old. I’m a massive history buff and the idea of being able to experience the past through the eyes of an ancestor is such a brilliant idea. Not mention the concept of a secret war being fought through out the centuries is always fun. But as of late, I haven’t been really excited for a new entry. Odyssey was the last game I really played and it was alright, but I’m personally not a huge fan of the new RPG mechanics (although I do understand why they were implemented).

Valhalla looked interesting, but didn’t really feel like an AC game to me. So I put it on my “to play later” list. Mirage looked far better and I definitely do want to play it, but I honestly just haven’t felt a super big pull to pick it up. But when I saw that AC was finally going to Japan, I was ecstatic. I adore Japanese history in general and the Sengoku period is full of interesting conflicts and characters that would fit perfectly with the assassin’s and the templars.

Although they went with some pretty standard people to showcase, such as Oda Nobunaga, I still think they have a chance to do something really interesting story wise (of course, reserve all real judgement for the gameplay reveal. But I’m mainly just talking about the story). Especially with the portrayal of Yasuke. From what I could tell, it seems like his story will be one of disillusionment, possibly betrayal, and redemption. Certainly a story we’ve seen before, but it’s still interesting to see Yasuke in something as big as AC.

Before I get into the more unfortunate discourse regarding Yasuke, I absolutely have to talk about Naoe. See, what caught my eye about her was how she and my OWN AC OC have very similar stories. Well, I don’t know for sure. But they certainly share a similar experience, which is watching their families be butchered by Oda Nobunaga’s armies. It’s not much, but by the gods does it make me pretty happy. My OC’s name is Minori Kishimoto and she’s one of my favorites, so seeing a canon character with some similar traits is kind of exciting for me (okay, very exciting).

Anyhow, back to Yasuke. As soon as I saw the trailer, I knew I was going to see people saying something stupid. So I checked both the comments on the video and twitter. And I was certainly not mistaken. So so so many bad takes and ridiculous arguments that, honestly, only go to show either mild racism or straight up hatred toward African people. Not to mention the fact that they completely ignore Naoe as a protagonist. I guess she must be the greatest assassin of all time.

From what I understand, a lot of people are upset that for a Japan centered AC game, there is a black protagonist. Which, again, ignores Naoe entirely. The biggest argument I have heared against Yasuke being one of the protagonists is that he wasn’t actually a samurai. To which I say: False. Incorrect. Mistaken. Wrong. Factually incorrect.

The primary issue here is the fact that many people refer to him as a retainer. A title that he never officially held, as far as I’m aware, but even so that still makes him Samurai! Looking just at the facts of his life, he was respected by arguably the most powerful Daimyo of that time, earned his trust, received a pension, received a sword, and received property. So then the question becomes: what exactly makes a person a samurai at this time? Because I can tell you one thing, it isn’t noble blood.

A peasant man was once hired by Nobunaga to do a multitude of tasks, one of which was to hold his sandals. This man would soon prove himself to be capable of all of his tasks as well as in the art of war. He would become a powerful man and rise through the ranks until he held the rank of Taiko at the end of his life . That man was Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

If Hideyoshi’s story proves one thing, it’s that at this time anyone could rise to become a daimyo. So then, why wouldn’t Yasuke also be considered a samurai? We’re not even trying to claim he was a daimyo, just that he was a samurai. Retainer, bodyguard, slave, whatever. The fact is that the man was 10000% a samurai and was a respected one at that. To claim otherwise is to prove yourself ignorant in the history you claim to be proficient in, and incompetent at backing up your argument.

Not to mention that from a writing point of view, it’s a brilliant move. Yasuke was not super well recorded and thus is relatively unknown to others. Which makes him perfect for being a:

1. Fish out of water character

2. Real person, that can be treated written like a fictional one

All of this to say, I think that this newest Assassin’s Creed has a chance to become one of my personal favorites. As well as putting the series back on the map for many. But, with no gameplay and an already worrying pre-order package, I’m worried to say the least. Only time will tell, but I look forward to it.

[ateez-himari]

SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATE 231024

NEW TWITTER UPDATE

[NEW UPLOAD FROM HIMARI]

ATEEZ(에이티즈) @ATEEZofficial

[#히마리] Five years ago we made our debut with hearts full of anxiety, wondering if anyone would even bother showing up, and now we've just ended a world tour. At first they were strangers to me, people I was too shy to approach but now whenever someone asks about them I simply say 'my second family'. They've scolded me, cared for me, held my hand, showered me with love, dried my tears, created my smiles and played a part in raising me. We're much more than friends, we're soulmates...because in every life I would choose them, no matter where or who we are. I know Chuseok has passed but I want to make a wish. I wish for the nine of us to keep standing by each other for a very long time...so that we can get old together. Let's continue our journey okay? ATEEZ HWAITING! ㅋㅋㅋ Happy 5 years to us, to my home.❤️9 MAKES 1 TEAM! (I can't ever get them in a picture together sorry ㅠㅠ...) #ATEEZ #애이티즈

Translated from Korean by Google

10:45am. · 23 Oct 23 · 2.5M Views 41K Reposts 1,267 Quotes 1.3M Likes

mikah @himaswife Replying to @ATEEZofficial We always joke about Joong and Hwa being the parents of the group but think about it...Hima was around 14 when she came to KQ and hadn't been with her family much for about a year cuz she was at JYPE. So they basically finished raising her🥹

koala koala @koalazia Replying to @himaswife omg yes she even has similar habits to each of the members😭idk who else knows this but in an interview Yeo said he saw her copy her older brothers' actions a lot and he noticed she was doing the same with them

cheongdam pepper @33khj Replying to @ATEEZofficial new pre-debut photos yes omg! i've been an atiny since the beginning and i can't believe they've already grown so much- hima went from hiding behind the members bc of all the hate and social anxiety to being a global ambassador for versace and 4th gen's little social butterfly

nabi @jigeumfly Replying to @ATEEZofficial happy 5 years our ateez 🥂we're so proud of you! you went from performing in small theaters to your first ever stadium, becoming the most successful 4th generation group not from a big company. you truly deserve all the happiness that comes your way (also the way she talks about them...my heart can't take this i'm crying)

TOQTOK UPDATE

CHECK OUT THIS NEW COMMENT FROM 히마리

🐯: I didn't think they'd remember either but my brothers all sent me congratulation messages this morning ㅋㅋㅋ My parents called me instead and my mom was really emotional so it made me cry a little bit but it's okay because it was tears of love. I'll go see my birth parents soon! I haven't brought them flowers in a while so they must miss me a lot. It's okay though I'm sure they've been watching over our shows and ATINY as well so they'll understand!

CHECK OUT THIS NEW COMMENT FROM 히마리

🐯: I guess it's true that sometimes I act like the members ㅋㅋㅋ I've always had a habit of copying people who taught me so since they raised me for a while I copy them a lot. Hongjoong oppa says I started biting people only after meeting Wooyoung oppa...so I guess some of them are bad influences ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

5TH YEAR INTERVIEW

'As we're filming this it's ATEEZ's 4th debut anniversary already which means we've pushed through a lot of bad times, a lot of physical and mental struggles. My hope for you is that when thinking of the past you're able to see the happy memories more than the negativity, that you can see everything you accomplished over the years. I also hope you've gotten strong enough to let go of the members' hands sometimes and that you can help them as much as they've cared for us. Learn to take a break sometimes so we can go back to painting okay? Hwaiting!'

Q: Do you feel you've become stronger since last year and that you've learned to rest?

When looking back it simply feels as though I've become more free in the past year, not putting as many harsh restrictions on myself which makes me a lot happier...and I guess it's a form of strength so yes. It's still a bit hard to get into the mindset of taking a moment to rest so the process is slow but I'm getting there at my own pace. I think past me would be proud to know that I've started to paint again...actually my room is filled with messy tools a lot nowadays.

Q: How would you describe your relationship with ATEEZ?

In very short terms...a group of eight chaotic big brothers who would be willing to steal the moon if I asked. They've shown me so much love that it feels as though I can't refer to them simply as friends anymore so...family.

Q: What modifier do you want ATEEZ to have in 2024?

Growth has always been very important to us so even if there's nothing I would wish to change within our team, I want us to keep growing. Whether it be as people, musicians, dancers, performers or even our career, I want us to have come a farther way next year than where we are now. Not only for us but also for ATINY to be able to grow with us without thinking that it is something much too intimidating or unachievable.

Q: A word for ATINY who's been with ATEEZ for 5th anniversary in 2023.

It might seem like something we say very often...but thank you. ATINY have been our biggest motivators from the moment we made our debut and they've always laughed with us, cheered us on, given us words of motivation and during hard times they continued to support us no matter what. They make ATEEZ whole. So ATINY make sure to stay healthy and know that we're behind you too no matter what. We'll make sure to work hard so you can always be proud of us. I love you!

Q: A letter to myself a year from now.

I'm sure that there are still a few mental struggles you need to face but remember that with the members behind you, you won't ever fall far so please don't be afraid of anything. Continue to give as much love as you can to our parents, our brothers, our members, our friends and ATINY so that they can also find the same hope we have. I know you'll be a lot stronger by the time you see this and I promise that I'll keep working hard okay? I can't wait to meet you next year!

[empty-dream]

Sakanaction’s Kaiju release livestream -my notes

So back in February 2025, I had the chance to watch the livestream where Yamaguchi, Sakanaction’s vocalist, sang their older songs and then Kaiju at the end. It's basically a 2 hour free solo concert. Some viewers actually wondered if it's ok if it's free lmao.

It was also the first time I heard other songs by Sakanaction. I fell in love with many of their older songs, like Boyle, Sayonara wa Emotion, and Me ga Aku Aiiro. I wanted to cry when he sang the last one. Very recommended.

There was also some stuff he said that I'm not too sure if I got it correctly since I'm not good at Japanese so please don’t quote me on this. He says something about Sakanaction being viewed as a serious band (真面目バンド(?)), and that the members have never changed (which was true when I checked their Wikipedia page so most likely I got that part right). And some dad jokes, like when someone reaches Yamaguchi’s age, certain jokes become funny. 

Also when Yamaguchi tried hitting that high note multiple times. And vaping. Oh and don't forget to listen and support Sakanaction through official channels! It’s the era of subscription for artists and musicians!

Then by the time it hit 00.00 JST, Kaiju was finally sung fully for the first time for the general public. By that time, iirc 130K viewers were present. By comparison, Tokyo Dome (known as the most prestigious concert venue in Japan) can hold up to 55K people, while the Nissan Stadium (the biggest stadium in Japan) can hold 72K people. 

It instantly became a trending topic on Twitter. It's so funny to see the JP fans tweaking and losing their minds in the middle of the night lmao. Sleep wouldn’t be easy with all that vibe.

It is the first song in 3 years from Sakanaction. It's also Sakanaction's first song for an anime. Considering that Orb anime was also announced in 2022, it was probably decided around the same time that Sakanaction would sing it. 

Yamaguchi worked on it for 2 years, during his struggle with depression. He seems to be pretty open about his ordeal since he talked about it on the NHK TV channel. 

And apparently the first notes of Kaiju had debuted in one video back in 2021.

It is said that Yamaguchi wrote 79 different lyrics before completing the current one. When you see the lyrics, it is actually different from the beginning to the end. It is as if history repeats, yet moves forward.

Shout out to that official lyric poster. I love this poster so much, so stylish, so good.

So the full version was publicly released around 5 months after the first episode of Orb anime. Someone on Twitter mentioned that it was a rare practice these days, which I agree with based from my own observation. At least from 2020 forward, the full version of an anisong is almost always released around the same time as the anime premiere, either before or after. At the latest, like a month or two after, never longer than that. The reason is simply to catch the momentum. The longer it takes to be released, the hype is more likely to dissipate.

(The longest wait I’ve ever had was Karakuri Circus’ song Gekkou by Bump of Chicken, which was around 1 year. Then again, the 1st and 2nd verse of the song were used for the anime’s 1st and 3rd cour respectively so all that was still hidden was the 3rd/final verse. I remember going even more mental after the full version was finally released in the band’s new album.) 

And so, it speaks a lot that Kaiju took 5 months to be fully released and then everyone and their mother listened to it so much that the next day, it became #1 Spotify (575k time played within 1st day of release, which apparently broke the record there) and reached 1 M Youtube view. It went on as top #1 in Spotify, Apple Music, and Oricon for the week.

On the day of the release, it became #3 Apple Music (which apparently is a very rare thing to happen on 1st day of release, according to the source.)

I found out this trivia. According to this JP music statistic blog, Kaiju is placed #3 as the song with the most number of plays on the first day of release. For the record, #1 is Bling-Bang-Bang-Born by Creepy Nuts and #2 is Idol by Yoasobi.

Kaiju was actually released during the Sakanaction tour. They sang it specifically for their concert crowd. And it’s amazing that no one leaked their performance or the whole song until the band formally released it to the general public themselves. Where I live, someone would spread that shit faster than wildfire.

I don’t remember who said this during the livestream, Yamaguchi or a random Twitter user, but I remember that person said “It is a miracle that we stand here at the same time to listen to and sing this song together for the first time.”

As an Orb fan, It immediately reminded me of Jolenta’s words, that reading and writing are like a miracle. And after ep23 was released the next week, it resonated well with a certain character's words “we are comrades who came from and build the same era.”

[zkfae]

Three Little Images and a Fun Little Tale

So I came up with my two key OCs a little over a year ago while playing with a picrew

Zephyr K. Fae (They/She/He)

And Meryl E. Dansen (She/They)

I wound up loving these two so much I decided it would be fun to imagine them as roommates. Then I started getting some art of them done via commissions. Once I had a few all together, I realized I could work a mini story around them and posted that to my twitter. Figured now that I have this tumblr, I may as well post it here as well.

So, check it out (and the arts that inspired it) below the cut (and let me know what you think if you read it):

___________________________________

After a long day at work, Zephyr could only think of one thing they wanted to do as soon as they got home. Rushing to strip off their work clothes and taking out their supplies; diapers, wipes, and powder.

After laying everything out, they got to work, unable to stop smiling through the entire process.

Next up was putting the rest of their outfit for the evening together.

First up was a pair of black thigh highs, then their favorite top (mainly because it gave her wings room to breath that her work shirts didn't.)

One final touch was the collar their mommy had given them last time they'd seen each other (Zeph needed to remember to take pictures of themself wearing it for her later.)

Zeph went up to their full length mirror to appreciate how they looked. Wanting to take in every angle of a sight that had become less common recently.

Time management was never their strong suit and it's only gotten worse in the past year. Barely holding head above water on the stuff that needs to get done left no space for what they wanted.

But tonight, they were pushing that out of their mind and appreciated the sight of their own padded bottom with a simple thought.

"It's been too long!"

(art by floofnfluff)

Zeph stepped out into the living room to settle in for the night. Stretched across the couch was their favorite punky pink catgirl and roommate, Meryl.

Her ears twitched hearing Zeph step out of their room. She sat up, looked them up and down as they walked by, and rolled her eyes.

"Ugh… My roommate is such a baby…"

(art by Princess Molly)

Zeph sticks their tongue out back at her

"You're wearing a diaper too!"

"Mines covered up, though."

"By fishnet tights?"

"It's called 'fashion'.", Meryl affirmed with a smirk.

(art by toddlercasper)

Zeph kept walking away from the cat with a smirk of their own and said, "Well, if I'm such a baby then I guess I'm too little to make dinner tonight."

Meryl stood right up at that, "That's not fair! You promised breakfast for dinner tonight!"

Zeph stuck their thumb in their mouth in performative defiance, "Sowwy, babies not twusted in the kitchen."

As they kept stepping away, Meryl snuck up behind Zeph and lifted and swiftly lifted them off the ground.

Zeph yelped, "HEY!"

"If you're going to be a baby tonight, then I'm putting you down for a nap.", Meryl insisted.

"NO FAIR!", Zephy shouted while kicking their legs.

"If little Zephy Fae doesn't feel like being big tonight, they can live with a little naptime."

"Come oooon! Put me down!", Zephy whined

"You know the magic words to make me stop."

"I'm sorry and I'll make dinner." Zephy pouted

"Not those ones."

With a sigh, Zephy let out exactly what her Roommate wanted to hear, "Meryl is always bigger than me…"

"Very good.", Meryl said as she set her roommate down. Her purple tail was waving back and forth with pride at this victory.

She gave Zeph a playful pat on her diapered butt and watched as they walked into the kitchen

Zeph was barely able to hold back their own giggles as they went along. Being able to play out moments like that with her was exactly why Meryl was the best friend they ever had!

~Fin.

[suckitsurveys]

Who’s the first person you talk to via text in the morning? There’s nobody I routinely talk to in the morning. Sometimes I check in with Mark or he’ll message me but other than that no one really. Most of the people in my life aren’t awake as early as I am lol.

Does it take a lot for you to cry, or does it happen easily? I cry so easily.

What was the last reason you cried? Full on cried? Last Sunday I got to attend the SNL 50th Anniversary Red Carpet Special and got to witness so many celebrities and I met John Mulaney and it was a fucking whirlwind of emotions and then after all that me and two friends who I met on twitter watched the actual special inside a hotel room and one of those girls I have been talking to for like 2 years and we have bonded over our love of certain cast members and writers and we got to freak out over them together and everything just fucking felt so surreal and then when the special was over I walked her back to her hotel and we had a really long hug and said our goodbyes and then I went back to my empty hotel room and every single emotion just came pouring out of me and I started BAWLING.

What’s hurting you right now? My whole body hurts, i’m pretty sure NYC killed me.

Do you have someone who you can tell anything? Yes.

What’s the one thing you regret more than anything? Nothing really.

Do you remember important dates? I’m pretty good at it.

Do you like vanilla? I love vanilla.

Do people who judge bother you a lot? I mean we all judge, but people who are just overly critical of things that have nothing to do with them are awful.

What about arrogance? Yes, I hate arrogance.

Do you tan easy? Nope.

Do you have two of the same pair of pants? Yeah, I have the same style of jeans in two different colors and the same style of leggings.

Do you know anyone with Type 1 Diabetes? I’m not sure. It’s possible.

Are you familiar with John Mayer? I’m familiar, but not necessarily a fan.

Do you have a lot of pictures of you and your friends? I mean, a decent amount.

What did you have for dinner last night? Ugh dinner was shitty yesterday because I had to babysit and I picked up my nieces from school at 4pm and they wanted McDonald’s so I got a filet o fish but then they didn’t want anything else after so I was starving by the time like 8 pm rolled around but I couldn’t really make anything because their parents were on their way home so on the way back to my house i got cheese fries from Culver’s lol.

Do you own anything with the Playboy Bunny on it? Nope.

Where is the last beach you went to? Pretty sure that was Foster Ave beach in Chicago.

Have you ever been rock climbing? Never been!

Do you own a bean bag chair? Nope.

Are you allergic to anything? What? Some medications.

Would you be willing to be examined for medical research? After my death, sure, why not.

Where is your phone? It’s beside me.

What is two feet from your right arm? My phone actually lol.

Do you own any vinyl records? I have Little Shop of Horrors .

Are you the one in a group to talk a lot or do you listen? It really depends on the group.

Have you ever touched a caterpillar? Yes.

Do you enjoy staying at hotels? I do.

Have you ever met someone famous. Who? Do tell! Ohhhhhh baby I met SO many fucking celebrities this past weekend I can’t even begin to list them all but my personal favorites of the weekend were John Mulaney and Molly Shannon /humblebrag.

When’s the last time you did something you knew was wrong? I mean, anytime I eat something really shitty.

Is there a guy/girl that knows everything or mostly everything about you? Yes.

Who was the last person you cried in front of? Mark.

What is one thing you would love to see happen today? Today? To be able to score Paul Simon tickets for my dad for his birthday.

Have you kissed any friends on your Facebook? My husband.

What’s irritating you right now? I just wanna be at home.

Who else is in the room with you? My coworker.

Could you go out in public looking like you do now? I am technically in public.

Do you think age matters in relationships? I honestly think it depends on the people but obviously don’t fucking date someone underage.

Can you recall the last time you really liked someone a lot? Currently.

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (05/01/25)

Feels good to have a normal week again tho the next one is gonna be few manga again WEH I didn't plan on watching a lot of stuff this season, like I had mentioned before, but ended up putting more stuff on my list to "check it out at least" in the end (including Sorairo and Zenshu, and more next week) cause they caught my eye for one reason or another. FSF is a weird inclusion since we got ep1 as a special early screening while the full thing is gonna come later in the but would feel weird not to put it here now, but anyway

Green - New series/New to me

Anime

Fate/strange Fake Ep1

There wasn't any crazy sakuga like in the special from last year but it was a great first episode with the art and direction being just as strong. If they keep this up through the whole show, which I assume will be the case, then it'll be an amazing adaptation. Kinda annoying that even after a year we still don't have an actual air date but when the ep released the official twitter said that the "main broadcast" would air in 2025 so I will be patiently waiting for that 🙏

Sorairo Utility Ep1

This wasn't on my radar to watch this season but when looking at my schedule site earlier this week I decided to take a look at any shows I wasn't planning on watching, just in case there would be something I'd be interested in. In other seasons I've done that too and ended up watching stuff I didn't expect and enjoying them so eh why not right Went in expecting a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things show about golf and... that's exactly what it was lol. The animation wasn't super fancy but the art is good and the characters are very expressive which is what you want for this kind of show anyway Was gonna watch just the first few eps of this to decide if I would keep up with it, but I am a sucker for CGDCT at the end of the day so I'll watch everything after all

Blue Exorcist S5: Blue Night Arc Ep1

Well here we are again already. It's kinda weird that it wasn't even a split cour but they made the decision to make these two clearly separate sesons. It makes sense cause of what they're covering but it'd be like if One Piece had like 20 differents seasons cause of all the arcs it has Anyway, it wasn't bad ofc, just more of the same quality we've come to expect from the more recent seasons. My friend Mega had praised the ep so I was expecting a bit more but he's more biased since he's caught up with the manga. I'll be looking forward to learning more about mom and dad, tho it'll be sad seeing her suffer

Zenshu Ep1

Decided to watch this cause I saw it was a MAPPA original and the synopsis but I didn't expect it to be a full blown isekai. I know it says on it that she goes into this world but I thought it'd be like Sasaki & Peeps where it's going back and forth. Anyway, it's got a lot of polish as you'd expected from the studio. Animation was just above average the whole way with the exception of the magical girl like sequence near the end. I also really like the thing that she drew actually looking like a storyboard, even having animation notes around it and everything. Just like Sorairo up there I was gonna watch the first few to decide but was pleasantly surprised and I enjoyed MAPPA's previous original, Bucchigiri, enough that I'll stick with this one too

Manga

Akane-banashi Ch141

I'm don't even know what to say I'm completely gobsmacked, utterly flabbergasted, absolutely flummoxed... Just speechless It's even more fucked up cause either the previous chap or 2 or 3 ago I was talking about how there could possibly be a timeskip but I didn't think it would happen cause of this that or the other.. and then they just dropped this. Like I said in one of the recent times I talked about Akane, they always manage to surprise me when I think I have the series figured out and this is just another great example of that I can't can't CAN'T wait to see older Akane in a couple weeks 😭🙏

[purplesurveys]

1697

Do you know anyone whose birthday is tomorrow? Maybe if I checked the birthdays tab on Facebook...but right off the bat, no, I wouldn’t know anyone having a birthday tomorrow.

What was the last thing you found that you thought you lost forever? Reena’s necklace gift that I talked about around three surveys ago. I’m so happy it’s back in my sight :(( 

Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop for the New Year? I’ve never been to the US.

If you have a Twitter, do you use something else besides the computer to update your tweets? Oh I rarely use my laptop to tweet now. It’s always through my phone.

The last time you said ‘I love you’ to someone, who said it first, them or you? They did.

Do you like potato salad? Can’t say I do; I don’t think I’ve ever tried one.

Who was the last person that apologized to you? Angela, although I did apologize right back because I felt like I was more at fault about the thing we were both saying sorry for.

Have you ever driven and ended up running out of gas? Noooooooo I avoid that happening at all costs. I wouldn’t know what to do if I got stranded somewhere, regardless if the area is familiar or not.

When was the last time you uploaded pictures from your camera? Around a week ago on Instagram when I did a photo dump of my recent trips. Did you do the laundry today? No.

What was the reason behind the last time you stayed up all night? Eh, just going through Instagram reels and edits which I can do long enough to have me stay up all night.

Did you straighten or curl your hair last? I don’t do either. It’s always either a trim or having it dyed altogether.

Have you ever been off-roading? Nope, not my thing.

Who was the last person you loaned money to? I didn’t exactly loan, but when my friends and I were booking Klook tours I had been the one to shoulder the full costs then they just paid me back within the month.

Was the last number you added to your cell phone a guy’s or girl’s number? Idk I never add contacts to my phone anymore.

Do you enjoy being a tease? I don’t do that.

Have you ever had a UFO sighting or a sighting of strange lights in the sky? Nope. I’ve seen what I thought were strange flashing lights but they always got debunked in the end. Usually just a plane, lol.

Who was the last person you caught lying to you? That hasn’t happened lately.

How old were you when you were first pulled over by the police? 18. I was changing lanes where I shouldn’t have been.

Do you have a webcam that’s built into your computer or did it come separately? It’s built into the laptop.

Was there ever a time that you lived on an island? I...kind of do? The Philippines is an archipelago.

Have you ever made a time capsule? Nah.

When was the last time you drank out of a champagne glass? I’ve never done that.

What was the last casino you went to? City of Dreams.

Does it flood easily where you live? Not here. The other parts of my village are less lucky though, so it’s fortunate we live where we do.

If you drive a car, does it come with side airbags? As far as I know, it doesn’t.

[bisluthq]

that good/average/bad day is what I was talking about in less concrete terms (hadn’t watched the video)!!!

////

Thanks Nat 🥰 and yeah, it's really helped me because I'm a perfectionist, so I have had the habit of thinking 'i don't want to do a full skin care routine so I won't do it at all because otherwise it's wrong'. The same went for pretty much every task in my life, but giving myself permission to say 'im so tired and overwhelmed so I'm going to go to the supermarket and get what I need for today and tomorrow only' has helped because then I still eat healthily, I MIGHT feel up to buying more groceries for later in the week, but I'm not trying to be "perfect" and buy ingredients for the whole week, and if I'm struggling I'll buy frozen meals and be ok with it now. And hopefully in 2 days time I'll be able to do a bigger shop because it's more convenient than going every 2 days, but if it gets too much, I'll pay to have the groceries delivered during a time of high stress if I can afford to.

I also have chronic illnesses and *have* to eat a certain way to avoid flare ups, I need to do a certain amount of exercise but sometimes I'm weak and only have the stamina to walk for 3 minutes at a time, so on those days in the past I've just skipped walking or lifting weights because I "couldn't do it properly" but my bad day exercise routine is doing bicep curls with the heaviest weight I *can* life - sometimes it's my 600ml drink bottle, some days it's the 1kg weight and I sit in my chair and do 3 reps each ad break. On a god day I can walk for 30 minutes uninterrupted on a treadmill and do different weight lifting exercises up to 10kg safely at home. It's hard when you know you can do better and think you should be doing your best outcome every single day, I find it really defeating when I'm making progress and then I'm struggling to lift a tiny weight....but it's better to do a small amount of something than nothing. I've applied the principle to all aspects of my life, and I don't want to ramble, but like I DO have ADHD so it goes with the territory lmao 😂 but just giving myself permission to not be perfect has changed so much for me! And some days I can do my dishes right away, some days I am so tired I tell myself 'do the cups' and come back and wash up the plates later.

The difference between my 'bad day' and 'good day' is huge, so if I have a bunch of easy tasks (for me) that aren't time sensitive, I don't do them on my good days, I save them for my bad days. Then on my bad days I have a low effort task, I still feel like I've accomplished something, but tbh I could've done it on a good or average day, but I used the energy to do things I couldn't do on a bad day. I'm trying to grow veggies in pots, I have the seeds for some and a calendar of when to plant them, but the prime planting time lasts for about 3 weeks. So that's something I save for bad days because it's putting seeds in wet paper towels and a few days later putting them in soil. It's low mental and physical effort, but it's also enjoyable for me.

Another thing I forgot, I try really hard not to use social media - especially tiktok and twitter because it's quick and has no purpose if I'm just scrolling. If I'm scrolling Instagram, at least I'm looking at friends and family's feeds. But I don't open any apps until I've been out of bed for 2 hours. I'll check the time and weather forecast, if I have a text I'll read and reply, but they're purposeful activities. If I have emails, they're newsletters or work related - they can wait because I'm not gonna look at work emails at 6am anymore. I try to sit outside or near a window and get morning day light for 30 minutes - it helps regulate melatonin production and it's gone from a chore to being peaceful and I feel my mind drift away. Other days it's dark and gloomy so I listen to upbeat music, if I feel like it I have a little dance. I've also stopped looking at social media or games for 1 hour before bed (I'm aiming for 2 hours), but I do listen to podcasts or audiobooks before bed, so I'm not completely device free. I do sleep with my phone next to me, but I bought a nice sleeping mask that people wear for migraines and it covers the top half of my head and blocks out all the light. I sleep better and the mask is comfy so even if I can't sleep and I want to know the time or get tempted to scroll, I don't want to adjust my sleeping mask to do it lmao.

In all honesty, a lot of the reminders - like medication near the sink, socks at the door, etc are very much what parents are told to do to help little kids become independent... Make sure your homework is in your bag the night before school, not the day of school... Put your soccer boots in the one place so you don't track mud everywhere.. have the cereal next to a bowl on a shelf they can reach... So I've even read parenting hacks on how to get your kid organised, because those tips actually work!

I just haven't found a hack for not going on and on and on and over explaining myself for the deep fear of being misinterpreted 😂😂😜

EXACTLY!!!! I am, at the moment, really enjoying acquiring vocab and explanations for things I do that work and things I should do that'll help and also things that are Very Bad.

So this good day/average day/bad day thing is an awesome thing just vocab wise. I feel like I had snippets of it before honestly but I'm trying to be more careful with it, and I think the Airbnb situation is absolutely going to help me with it because I still have chores/things I need to do etc but I don't also have 10 000 000 000 things to do around the house (I got into a very good routine for household chores but ya good luck to FG I guess for finding his own one lol because I know in the recent past he's not known where things are and it's not like weaponised incompetence, we just have/had our own chores - I also actually have ZERO clue where some of the garden stuff is or where ANY of the pool stuff is for instance so it was just about division of labour).

Right now, I can focus up on ME right and I can also mindfully make decisions on food. I've really been struggling to eat - I can't finish anything and I'm not hungry and I think it's a mix of (hopefully at the tail end but yea) still being in an episode and just regular neurotypical heartbreak and yearning and shit. So the best I could do is a couple of bites at lunch and a couple of bites at dinner and I've been doing Uber Eats so I've chosen like... Nando's (UK readers will know) or McDonald's (everyone will know) and just eaten a little because I have to or I'll... get really sick?? because they're inexpensive and I can manage a few bites of the sandwich/chicken wing or whatever and then I can toss the rest.

But then yesterday was a GOOD day actually (all the crying aside lol and the weird interaction with the actress - I still cannot believe that LITERALLY happened to me lol and I remember saying "some actress" is meant to be like Taylor doesn't know but for me it's literally "some actress" like I don't want to tell y'all who it was but you WOULD know her - and that dude who was trying to get into a crying girl's pants like seriously my guy what the actual fuck) so when I got "home" I ordered myself a fuck off big salad that I added a bunch of stuff to from the extras menu (so it had lettuce lol and baby spinach and feta and tomatoes and cucumbers and tofu and olives - I'm attaching a pic) and I obviously couldn't finish it but I did my best. And this morning I'm trying to MAKE it a good day so I bought and ate a bran muffin on the way to work and I'm going to let them order me lunch here and then I probably won't finish that but I will take it home and finish for dinner I think). And the little victories are ok.

Same with skincare. When I was SO low I did fuck all, and then I started doing the micellar water and then I added the face wash and last night I did the full thing. I've been doing this on/off skincare based on where I'm at mental health wise thing for a while, that's why I bought all the different products - FG thought it was a bit weird that I did it SO differently on different days - but it's okay to do what I *can* today and try again tomorrow instead of just giving up.

My therapist talks a lot about parenting your inner child and I don't think I fully understood it until these last two weeks. I've thought it's woo woo garbage lol because I "can't" parent my inner child, I've got to go to work and I've got to do all the house stuff and I've got to hang with and "look after" FG and that all seemed more important than... parenting my inner child. But being by myself and in a very secluded, weird sorta environment where I have a lot of normal things (work, my stuff, friends, my crazy ass mother etc) but lack a lot of normal things (the rest of my stuff, FG, a permanence to the place that exists even in rentals lol) I've started to understand it more? Like I *want* to make my bed, and I *want* to put away my things all neatly and on the days it was too hard that was also ok - that's why they have housekeeping THAT I PAY FOR - but on the days I can, how lovely. Today I could! Yay! And wherever I go from here, I can bring what I learned to it. I need to treat myself the way I would treat a little kid if I were a seriously good parent, and try help me lol get the things I need done to... be done.

I'm proud of us anon bestie! We can do it!! And if on one day we can't, that's FINE because tomorrow is going to be a brand new day and we can try again.

[sunshinemoonrx]

(in order that I watched them)

Rider: V3 (after watching a scattered handful of '71 episodes I was able to find, but first full series was V3)

Sentai: a scattershot of whatever episodes were subbed of the first four seasons at the time (which was not much) and then Sun Vulcan

Ultra: I just went back and checked my downloaded twitter archive and apparently my intro was watching Leo and X simultaneously???

"Cat what the fuck is this line-up" 1. explains a lot about me dunnit 2. I can explain

When I first got into Rider, I approached it foolishly like a normal TV show; I'll just start from the beginning and go through it in order! Somehow this survived contact with the realisation of how fucking much of it there is, but I did realise that at the time many of the older ones were barely or not at all subbed. But I still did it, and though I wasn't yet as interested in sentai (which I think nowadays I like more of the two) I knew they'd cross over, like, eventually, so why not do both, with the same "whatever's subbed" caveat. And that actually lasted for quite a while, I only broke when (while my chronological marathon had made it all the way up to OOO because I was an antisocial uni student with fuck all else to do on summer break but watch one million tokusatsus) Ex-Aid looked so good I had to jump the queue to check it out as it aired. I had skipped a couple series I hadn't enjoyed the start of along the way, also, but I've since revisited them and found I enjoy some of them a lot more as a full adult (Faiz is the big one). Also I guess it wasn't long after that I hopped on current sentai because Kyuranger was the first one I saw as it aired.

Meanwhile with Ultra I had the vague idea to do something similar, and got that old physical boxset of the '66 show subbed, but it didn't really go further than that, and anyway for some reason I never got further than the first couple episodes (I later went back and got all the way to...about episode 15, I should finish it someday), but found it much easier to watch stuff that was streaming on CR at the time since I could watch it on whatever computer. So since I was still on some level of that weird chronological idea I first checked out the oldest one they had, Leo, but for whatever reason decided to just go ahead and check out the most recent one at the time, X, as well. I don't know why I decided to go for this immediately unlike with rider/sentai, but I'm glad I did, because Leo is...intense, and kind of just a lot generally, so it was good to have a more gentle show as counterbalance.

For the record, this approach did end up working pretty well for me--Rider V3 and Ultraman X were instant faves and have remained so to this day, as was the next sentai I watched in full after Sun Vulcan, which was of course: Bioman.

actually it'd be kind of interesting to hear what people's first experiences of the big three were... for me it was:

first ultraman: mebius

first kamen rider: kiva (while gaim was airing so, with gaim)

first sentai: hurricaneger

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

Another week, gone. We’re picking up the grandkids this morning so I’ll have to get this put together quickly this morning. Sorry, grandpa duty calls! 👴🏼

I’m finishing this off in the car as we go to get them. 🤣

Hope you enjoy the links.

Max Boot • The Washington Post

The GOP’s abandonment of Ukraine makes me ashamed to be an American

This is gut wrenching. Ukraine is standing between Russia and Europe. That nutter in Russia isn’t going to stop at Ukraine. He’ll go until someone can stop him.

Come on G.O.P., get your crap together and defend democracy. Oh, right, you no longer care about that.

Ananya Bhattacharya • Quartz

Spotify is ending 2023 with its third and biggest layoffs of the year

Man, 2023 has been a crummy year for tech workers. Here’s hoping 2024 is much, much, better.

James Verniere • Boston Herald

“Leave the World Behind,” which is based on a 2020 novel by American author Rumaan Alam and produced by among others Barrack and Michelle Obama, is nothing less than a modern-day version of Alfred Hitchcock’s unforgettable 1963 hit “The Birds.”

I watched this last night and I really liked it. If you have Netflix check it out.

Ashur Cabrera

Once upon a time — way back in, like, 2004 or something — I used to turn my nose up at sites that served an RSS feed with only an excerpt. It felt, I think I would have said, like a sleazy way to drive clicks. (“Information wants to be free!” etc. 🙄) Twenty years on I still read a ton from RSS feeds, but I found recently that I’m starting to thaw on that position quite a bit.

Ashur, what happened to the curmudgeon in you? 😃

As a developer of a feed reader I get request to display the full article and it’s what I prefer so I don’t have to visit the website. That’s a feature on the feature list for Stream. One of these days.

Bart Decrem • Mammoth Blog

Introducing Mammoth 2: The easiest way quit Twitter/X for good and join Mastodon

It’s nice to see developers strive to make Mastodon work for old Twitter, non techie, users to get started with Mastodon. That’s been the biggest barrier to entry. Folks can’t figure out how to join and they also tend to like recommendations.

Jacob Kastrenakes • The Verge

Earlier this year, a developer slid into Eric Migicovsky’s DMs with a spectacular claim: that he had reverse engineered Apple’s iMessage, allowing any device — Android, Windows, whatever — to send messages as a blue bubble. Migicovsky didn’t believe what he was reading.

This is an interesting read. Bravo to the 16-year old who figured it out!

Daring Fireball

But Overcast does exist, and it’s the app where most people with exquisite taste in UI are listening to podcasts.

Poor Castro has languished and definitely doesn’t have the geek recognition Overcast does. I’d imagine that’s why it’s the number one podcast player in John’s stats.

As far as UI preferences and paradigm go, Castro fits me better.

I’d love to be able to buy it from Tiny and keep working on it. I’ve already shared my opinion on the matter.

Aldous J Pennyfarthing • Daily Kos

House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose grand vision for America includes transforming every uterus in the country into a Pez dispenser, is convinced he’s the North American Moses who will lead his people to the Promised Land.

Yeah, this guy wants a theocracy. No thank you.

Sure, the Christians might agree with you but what about Jews, Muslims, Buddhists? Name your religion. It’s not right. Our First Amendment was setup to protect us from a theocracy, but we all know the G.O.P. doesn’t really care about the Constitution.

Susana Polo • Polygon

The Comixology app, the mobile incarnation of the digital comics platform owned by Amazon since 2014, has finally shuffled off this mortal coil.

I’ve had ComiXology for a number of years but I never went for the subscription. I just don’t read enough. I don’t see this as a bad move. Comics are just another type of book and the Kindle App is fine for reading.

ESPN

While four teams are celebrating the opportunity to play for a national title on the field, undefeated ACC champion Florida State is on the outside, becoming the first unbeaten Power 5 conference winner to ever miss out on the College Football Playoff.

This broke a lot of hearts and it’s a real shame the 12 team — why not 16 — playoff wasn’t in place this year.

Of course I say that and my own thoughts on the matter didn’t include Florida State.

I also thought Georgia should have been in. Off by one error. We got Alabama from the SEC instead.

Apple

Apple TV+ today shared the first images from “Constellation,” a new eight-part, conspiracy-based psychological thriller drama starring Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “You Won’t Be Alone”) and Emmy Award nominee Jonathan Banks (“Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul”).

So, yeah, I’m looking forward to this! Anything with Noomi Rapace in it is good in my book.

Danijela Vrzan

Let’s implement a custom dark mode color in our app - dark blue.

Really nice SwiftUI article on how to change the colors used for Light and Dark mode for your app. Well done.

[yusufalioglu]

Sense by Yusuf Alioğlu Via Flickr: Sense My Interplanetary Memories Interplanetary Travel The sound of the city was still ringing in my ears. While I was walking on the gray stone pavement of the city, listening to the mingled sounds of the city, I was observing the people. People wearing the most beautiful clothes and walking with their loved ones, lovers walking by holding hands and looking at each other with eyes full of love, a cute and young girl waiting for her friends at the corner of the pavement. And many more that catch my eye that evening. Me? I am walking alone that evening. Just like any other evening and day. My life in space has been affecting my dreams for a long time. I started to live my loneliness in space in my dreams. Yes, at first this was not a problem for me at all. Before I embarked on this space mission, I went through a lot of tests for this condition. Before embarking on a space mission, I had distanced myself from all social circles to get used to the feeling of loneliness. I started living alone. And after a while I even stopped communicating with people. In this way, I prepared myself for this space travel for a few years. Living away from people while I was in the world had made me very accustomed to loneliness. Social interactions, friends, and love were completely erased from my mind as I embarked on my space voyage. I was more than ready for this deep space expedition. It really worked for me a lot. Even though I spent a long time alone in the depths of space and on planets where no living things lived, I was happy and peaceful. I never felt alone. The feeling of loneliness did not even occur to me. Everything was going well. Until the last year and a half. According to world time, the feeling of loneliness has taken over my body and soul very quickly for the last one and a half years. I couldn't help but think that I was so alone. Yes, I was so alone. I didn't even need to say that to myself. Listening to the extreme silence around me was enough to realize that I was alone. My human feelings were starting to come alive again. All my emotions were coming back to life one by one. As a result, I had not destroyed any of my feelings. I had just put my emotions into a deep sleep. And now they were all waking up. I wanted to spend time with my friends again, I wanted to chat with them until the morning, and when it was morning, I wanted to get into that ice-cold sea and sober up. I wanted to fall in love again, and spend hours looking into the eyes of the girl I fell in love with. While my girlfriend was sleeping, I wanted to watch her innocent and peaceful body until daybreak. In the morning, I wanted to say hello to the day by stepping on the grass in my garden with bare feet. But I was far from all that. In the endless void of dark space, I was waiting for the dream I was going to see next, taking note of the dreams I had in my spaceship. That's the only thing I did. To wait... Camera: Canon EOS Kiss X7i Photograph by Yusuf Alioglu Location: Outer space (space) Facebook Become a Patron! Instagram (Yusuf Alioglu Photography) Instagram (UnbornArt) Twitter Youtube iStock Blogger Vimeo UnbornArt deviantART Tumblr Check out this portfolio on Shutterstock!

[ventihonklightice]

Clingy || Wilbur Soot

word count: 3.5k

~~~

Y/N had been lounging around the flat all day as her boyfriend filmed videos with his fellow Minecraft friends. Wilbur had currently been recording with Tommy and Quackity, another one of their wild Minecraft mod videos. She knew her love was busy and had his responsibilities with his own videos alongside the ones made with his friends, but she had been scrolling through Twitter and saw that he had just gotten verified. There was no way he knew about the news as he had been busy all day doing his job.

A smile grew on her face as she rushed to his bedroom door to share the great news, however she paused as she heard the nature of his current discussion with his friends.

“- but she’s been good. We’ve been really good,” Y/N smiled at his words, seemingly knowing it was about her. That smile quickly disappeared at the words her boyfriend was about to spew. “Just, she’s been kind of needy and clingy or something,” Wilbur shook his head not fully understanding his own words, looking at the wall behind his monitor too lost in his thoughts. He couldn’t quite understand his own thoughts half of the time, especially today as all he has done was played Minecraft. Slowly, the hate he has been receiving has been catching up to him, forcing him into this pit he’d never thought he’d be in which added to the stress that fueled his words. “Like she thinks she always has to be with me. Right now even, she’s at the flat.” Wilbur ran his fingers through his messy brown hair as he proceeded to explain his relationship. “I love her, I do, but I can’t even be with her right now so I don’t understand why she has to be here,” he confessed, mind clouded with tiredness masked by the wine he downed in an attempt to calm his nerves.

Y/N furrowed her brows leaning forward to listen further. “Well, she loves you, so what do you expect her to do? Not want to be with you?” She heard an American accent, likely belonging to Quackity.

“I-I don’t know. It’s just- I’m not used to this. It’s been a while since I’ve seriously been with a girl like this before. I just need space, but she wants to be around me constantly. It’s annoying.” The anger, the annoyance, and the frustration were all evident in his voice, making Y/N second guess a lot of her choices the past few days. She looked down at her hands, the mustard sleeves reaching past her palms belonging to the man behind the door she leaned on.

She closed her eyes in an attempt to push back her tears before she walked away, not being able to listen to him any further. Her eyes began to water more and more as bothering him was the very last thing she had ever wished to do. She sat on the couch before pulling the jumper off of her body, folding it neatly in her hands before pulling on her shoes.

Fanning her face quickly to reduce any possible puffiness or redness, Y/N timidly knocked on the door to Wilbur’s room. “Hold on guys,” he spoke to his friends, muting himself on discord. “Yeah?” She heard his deep voice call from the other side, taking it as her cue to push the door open. His hair fluffed about as he turned to face her. “Hey what’s up?” He asked with a soft smile.

“I uh think I’m gonna head home, got an early shift tomorrow and all,” she spoke softly while avoiding his gaze. Y/N wasn’t one to lie so she felt guilty for doing so but she didn’t know what else to do.

He furrowed his brows, confused at her words. She almost always stays the night, especially when she works early because he lives closer to her job.

“You sure? You’re more than welcome to stay the night. Y-You always do,” he muttered with slight concern in his words as he took his headset off.

She shook her head lightly, “nah it’s alright. Gotta water the plants,“ Y/N fiddled with the door handle as her other hand traced the sweater, knowing full well she doesn’t have any plants.

“Alright, I’ll walk you out,” he stood up, adjusting the chair in order to do so. Y/N reached out to him, his jumper resting in her hand, “where’d you like me to put this?”

He stood up, increasingly getting confused at her actions because he knew that she loved wearing his clothes and stealing them any chance she got. “I-I’ll um, just toss it on the bed,” he pointed to the made bed, slipping on his shoes to walk her out.

She felt his form loom over her as he walked with her out of the flat and to her car. They walked in silence, uncharacteristically. Wilburs’s hands were stuffed in the pockets of his pants lost in his thoughts as he heard her car alarm He walked to the driver’s side, lost in his thoughts while he opened the door for her.

She approached the door, getting ready to sit in the driver’s seat before turning to Wilbur to bid goodbye. He leaned down to kiss her, standard for all of their farewells, but she turned her head at the last second, his lips crashing onto her cheek. His heart dropped at the odd situation he was placed in, wondering why this was happening.

“I-I’ll see you later,” she smiled softly before sitting down and preparing to drive.

He could let her go like this. He had to know if things were good, okay even. Before he shut the door, he leaned down a bit to get closer to her. “Is everything okay? You seem a bit off, darling.”

“Y-yeah I’m just really tired,” she chuckled humorlessly, placing a hand on her forehead. “Sorry, it’s just been a weird day.”

“If you’re that tired you could stay here,” his voice practically pleaded, assuring her once more that she always had a place there.

“I-I’ll be fine, I promise.” Her words were soft along with her eyes, but she just wanted to give him what he desired; space.

“You sure?” He asked once more, extremely concerned, but what answer was he really expecting? Y/N nodded her head, “positive.”

“Alright, text me when you get home,” he leaned back, preparing to shut the door for her. She nodded her head, pushing her keys into the ignition. “I love you,” he spoke sincerely, bending down so that she’d be able to see him better once more. There was an emotion in YN’s eyes that he couldn’t recognize, but the smile on her face was sad. “I-you too, I’ll see you later,” she fiddled with her keys before meeting his gaze.

His heart shattered at the words. You too? What the hell is that suppose to mean?

He gave a tight smile before shutting the door for her. You too, the words echoed in his mind as he began walking back to the front door, pausing his steps on the pavement to watch her pull out of the driveway. He sighed before turning back to his path home. Upon returning, the place felt dimmer without her presence and he quickly took note of that.

Letting out a huge sigh, he plopped down at his desk, unmuting himself on Discord. “Sorry bout that, I’m back. J-Just walking Y/N out,” he spoke, taking the only opportunity his friends quieted down to speak.

“Wilbur!” Tommy yelled as the rest of the VC, which now had Niki, Jack and Fundy, errupted in chaos. “W-What? What the fuck happened?”

“Dude you got verified on Twitter,” Quackity shouted. His eyes went wide, opening the light blue app to see if it was true. Sure enough, a small check mark emphasized his name. He beamed at the sight of it, rushing to make a tweet about how grateful he was.

He went back to his feed, noticing that Y/N had made a tweet about ten or so minutes prior.

y/n✨| @yourusername

so proud of my favorite boy getting verified <3 love you @WilburSoot !!

His heart clenched at the tweet, being drawn back to the events that occurred moments beforehand. He liked and retweeted it, watching his fans swoon at the couple’s interaction without knowing what was happening behind closed doors, before getting back to his friends being completely distracted by thoughts on the girl he loves.

~~~

Y/N never texted him to tell him that she was home. She woke up late that morning seeing a few texts from him about twitter, how his stream went and so on.

As she looked at the time on her phone, realizing the lie she told him about working early and chose not to answer quite yet.

She spent the rest of her day around the house, cleaning, cooking or watching TV. She wasn’t in any mood to go on social media, not wanting to interact with Wilbur quite yet. Y/N sighed thinking about yesterday, thinking that it would be a better idea to just give him some space.

And so she did, for several days before Wilbur’s worry consumed him.

He sat on Discord with his friends, days after his last interaction with his girlfriend. “It’s just weird because she’s never like this. She always calls or texts me whenever she gets the chance regardless of whether or not I ask,” he expressed to his friends as they were fucking around on their own Minecraft world. He wasn’t even paying attention to what he was doing in the game, just aimlessly pressing buttons and moving his mouse as he thought of Y/N.

Tommy chuckled shortly, “now look whos being needy.”

“Shut up Tommy,” Wilbur explained, running a hand across his chin, fingertips gracing his incredibly overgrown stubble. “Look I’m just saying,” the blond furthered, “there’s no need for you to say she’s clingy or whatever when your freaking out over a text! Like you saw her less than what, two, three ago?”

Wilbur shook his head, fuming now, “Oh my god, shut the fuck up Tommy! How would you, a literal child, know anything about what’s going on? You’ve barely hit puberty!” His outburst caused his friends to quiet down, them not being used to anger being directed in such a way.

“Wilbur,” Tommy started once again, becoming more serious, “I know you. You worrying over a few short days almost disproves everything you said the other day. I think you don’t know how to handle affection well, not that she’s clingy or whatever.” Hearing Tommy acting serious and not childish for this one second made something snap within Wilbur, knowing that the child was right.

He sighed, “I-I’m sorry for snapping at you. Everything is happening at once in my life right now and Y/N not talking to me has me worried. This isn’t what’s normal between us. It’s strange.”

“But isn’t this what you wanted? She isn’t being as ‘needy’ now. You got your wish, didn’t you?” George chimed in, hoping to help even though his own experiences with relationships hasn’t always been the best.

“Yeah, and I fucking hate it, I don’t know why I even said that. I don’t mean it. I love when she’s around, I hate when she isn’t,” Wilbur went on, his thoughts focusing on the good memories he has with his girlfriend.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Dream spoke ominously, feeling as if now was the most appropriate time to speak.

“I-I’m gonna call her,” the distressed twenty year old expressed, whipping out his phone to go to her number. As the phone rang, he became more and more nervous.

“What if she got in an accident? Or someone kidnapped her or something?”He rushed before him and his friends heard “please leave a message for 3-“

“Wilbur, she’s probably fine. She probably had a long day at work or something,” Niki spoke, hoping to add a small but of optimism to the situation.

“Yeah but she would’ve told me that. She would’ve called me to rant about her day, and tell me how much she wanted to see me, but she didn’t.” He leaned back in his chair, getting more and more stressed out over this.

“I-I think I’m gonna head to her flat.”

~~~

The drive was long as his anxiety slowly but surely began to increase with every green light. He pulled into her complex, parking and building up the courage to confront her.

“It’ll be fine. Things are fine,” he muttered to himself as he walked up the steps to the familiar doormat.

He knocked on the door, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. After a minute, there was no response so he knocked again with more ergency.

“Just a minute,” he heard her soft voice yell out, flooding him with relief. The voice wasn’t as warm as it typically was, only increasing his nervousness.

Before he knew it, Y/N opened the door, eyes meeting his chest before trickling to his eyes. “Wilbur? What are you doing here?”

He froze, shocked at the situation that he forced upon himself without realizing it. “I-You weren’t answering any calls or texts. I was worried,” he mumbled, immediately taking note of her puffy eyes.

“Have you been crying?” He stepped closer to her with concern lacing his voice. He reached out to hold her waist, caress her cheek, anything, but she stepped away slighted. Y/N blinked, “y-yeah, it’s just allergies.”

“You don’t have allergies like that Y/N. May I please come in?” Wilbur knew her better than that, probably even better than she knew herself. She nodded shortly opening the door wider for him to enter, looking down at her sock clad feet.

He entered the tiny flat, taking not that the once welcoming space has become littered with turmoil. The tissues by the sofa didn’t go unnoticed and neither did the pile of dishes in the sink. “What’s been going on? These past few days you’ve been acting strange,” he asked sincerely.

Y/N looked around, finding something and pretending to be busy with it. “I’ve just been busy,” she mumbled looking over the pile of mail she refused to actually look through. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, would you like some tea?” She asked, realizing her manners.

“Y/N,” he spoke defeated, “come on talk to me, please.” He practically begged as he followed her steps into the kitchen to start the kettle, even though he didn’t give her an answer.

“Everything’s fine, Wilbur,” she replied absentmindedly as she searched for her various teas. “We got chai tea, black tea, Engli-“

“Y/N, I dont fucking want tea right now I want you to talk to me,” he shouted, approaching her in the kitchen and forcing her to face him by pulling her waist gently. She gasped at the loudness of his words, not used to him yelling at her.

“Wilbur,” Y/N whispered, her hands on his chest as he looked down into her eyes. Desperation was clear in his before being mimicked in his words, “this is the longest you’ve gone without calling me Wil. Come on Y/N, please.” His voice cracked towards the end, the shakiness not leaving.

She closed her eyes tightly before she pulled herself out of his arms, turning to grab two mugs out of the cupboard, “you’re getting chai tea.”

“Love, I just want us to be okay,” he spoke passionately, pleading for things to be right.

“We are okay Wilbu- Wil,” she corrected, more so forcing the nickname to combat his complaint. As she prepared each cup, putting Wilbur’s desired amount of sugar into his cup and respectively her own.

He shook his head, not believing her words as his own eyes began to turn red, “there’s something wrong and I can tell. Please just-please Y/N.” His voice was completely broken and she knew she had to express her concerns. She paused her motions, staring at the jar of sugar she just placed onto the counter.

“I-I didn’t want to bother you,” she muttered softly, examining the mugs before her.

The man sniffed, confusion growing within him. “W-What do you mean? You could never bother me Y/N,” his voice soft, approaching her once again.

She shook her head, moving to put sugar in each cup, forgetting that she already did so, “but that’s not true. We both know that.” The water remained on the stove while copious amount of sugar occupied each cup. Wilbur gently grabbed the hand holding the spoon that shoveled the sugar into the mugs, making her stop her own actions.

“Yes it is, love.” Wilbur whispered softly as she put the spoon into the jar, coming back to reality. Y/N let out a shaky breath, facing the counter while Wilbur occupied her side, facing her.

“So why’d you tell all of your friends that I’ve been clingy and needy and overbearing and everything under the sun?” She whispered as her voice wobbled, indicating that tears would soon come falling down.

Wilbur furrowed his brows, confused at the words she expressed. He scavenged his mind, not understanding what she was stating. “What are yo-“ he cut himself off, taking his hand from hers as he remembered that conversation.

Guilt washed over his soul as he realized the greater impact of his words. She thought she had to change....for those idiotic meaningless words expressed in a fit of stress and exhaustion. He shook his head lightly, refusing to look at her, refusing to look at the damage he’s caused.

“I didn’t mean it Y/N. I just-there was a lot on my plate and I just had to complain about something. A-And you were there to complain about.” He spoke honestly, knowing that it doesn’t excuse his behavior. The sound of the kettle went off, the whistle tones attacking his ears while Y/N ignored it to focus on the conversation at hand.

“I just didn’t want to be a burden,” she muttered with a wobbling bounce that made the tall idiotic man pull her into his arms.

“No,no,no don’t ever ever think that again. You are not a burden. You never were Y/N. This is on me, I shouldn’t have said what I had said,” he muttered into her hair, repeating apologies like a mantra while kissing her hairline.

She let go, allowing her pent up feelings from the past few day flow out through tears while in the comfort of his arms, “my biggest fear is bothering people. I-I didn’t want to upset you.”

“You didn’t,” he pulled away to hold her tear stained cheeks in his hands, regret prominent in his gaze, “you have been nothing but patient with me these past few months and that is something I don’t even have the words to express, love.”

“You, Y/N L/N, are not a burden, not now, not ever,” he whispered lovingly. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I’m sorry I even said it. I didn’t mean it, but fuck I shouldn’t have. Look at what I’ve done to you,” his voice wavered as he pulled away to assess the damage. “Fuck,” he shook his head as a sob escaped his lips before he could pull her into his arms again.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, holding her tight while the whistle pierced his ears. She leaned back slightly, pressing her forehead against his while closing her eyes, “I know, I know. It’s okay. I know you. I know you wouldn’t mean it.”

“I love you,” he whispered, holding her head in one of his hands. “I love you too, Wil,” she whispered back, pulling his lips onto hers, sealing their words with this actions.

As much as he loved the feeling of her soft lips on his once again, he pulled away. “Okay, okay, as much as I don’t want this to stop, that damn kettle is driving me mad,” he expressed, making Y/N chuckle before kissing him on the cheek and going to turn off the stove.

He watched fondly as she was about to pour the water into the mugs, stoping to see the plethora of sugar in each. “Oh shit,” she paused, laughing at the mess she had made. Wilbur snapped out of his gaze, examining the scene that caused her words.

He shook his head lightly, grabbing the kettle from her hands before placing it back onto the stovetop. “You,” he turned to face her, poking her cheek, “go to bed, get all comfy and put on a film. I will finish the tea and bring it to you.” His eyes got soft towards the end of his statement as he went to assess the mug situation.

“Then,” he spoke gently, grabbing her waist once again, littering her face with kisses that trailed down her neck, “I’ll spend the whole day making it up to you.”

Y/N laughed, running her fingers through his soft hair, “can’t wait.” His lips stayed pressed onto her neck, before they made their way back to her own.