#what she will use for the week. She critiqued his choosings - then swapped them out for ones she liked (more). She had *shelves* of shampoo

[4typercent]

this

This

THIS

Yell it for those in the back!!

underconsumption being called a trend now…… mf that’s just how normal sane people live

[tired-college-student-writing]

Beautiful Versions of Brokenness pt. 2

Summary: Marinette is different. There was no denying it, but none would have guessed that the true reason was soul deep

Continuation of Prompt: If you're into Black Butler, maybe something with that and Miraculous ladybug? Or Black Butler with Demon Bim? I just think you'd do a good job with the Black Butler characters.

Part 1

____________________________________________

Chat Noir reluctantly left so that Ladybug and Sebastian, shortly after, promised to meet up on the next patrol night so that they could properly discuss their unlikely reunion.

Instead of going home, Marinette leads them to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Parisians are used to seeing their heroine and a black figure at the top of the tower, no one would think twice if she arrived there. Sebastian follows as he always did.

“This isn’t my first life after Ciel then,” She hummed, once she arrived, deciding to deal with the first question on her mind.

“No,” Sebastian agreed, as her timer slowly beeped towards its end, “This is my 37th time meeting you since your contract was created. The 21st time you’ve awoken your Phantomhive memories.”

Her eyebrows rose, “it’s only been 130 years since Ciel died, how have I been reborn 37 times?”

The demon all but scoffed, “Really mistress? All these years with beings of heaven and hell toying with your life and you still believe we are playing by earthly rules?”

Marinette just glared, “You’re telling me Hell lacks linear time then? When I die, my soul just flies to any time period it pleases and becomes whichever child it can find?”

“Precisely,” Sebastian smirks, “There have only been a few rules your soul seems to follow, your eyes remain virtually unchanged, still the strikingly blue and purple hues they have been since our contract was sealed, your hair an inky black and your memories return within a year of the age you took your earldom, thirteen, or not at all. Other than that this is the eighteenth time you’ve taken a female form, fifth where you’ve been of mixed races, tenth of being Asian descent, you’ve been of African descent six times, middle eastern eight, Native American three times. You’ve been of peasantry or slavery six times, on three different continents. Though being enslaved has triggered your memories flawlessly every time and allowed for you to rise in the ranks of society with grace. Sixteen times you’ve been of noble birth in multiple different royal families across the globe. It’s been an adventure each time

“What about Lizzie?” She finally asked,” She never sold her soul, and yet Chat Noir is clearly my fiancé.”

Sebastian frowned, “To be quite honest, she’s never appeared before, or at the very least never awoken. Human souls are not supposed to be reincarnated so quickly, even by heaven’s terms we should not have run into Miss Elizabeth before the 30th century and I’ve never heard of the average reincarnation remembering their memories as vividly as Chat Noir did.”

“Who would know?”

The grimace was fleeting on the demon’s face but Marinette knew what he was getting at.

“The Grim Reapers,” She groaned, “Grell hanging around anywhere?”

“What makes you so certain that pest is still working off their debt?” Sebastian countered

Marinette glared, “Because I’ve seen a shockingly familiar red figure watching the Akuma battles before, but only the ones that might have high casualty counts if we had lost. Plus you’re always aggravated whenever I came back from those types of battles and she was the only one that I know that gets under your skin that badly. If she wasn’t so… open about her desires I would have loved to see her around more.”

The demon sighed, “Observant as always my lady. Grell Sutcliff, William T. Spears, and Ronald Knox have all been given special assignments to follow your reincarnated soul around as they are used to our unique brand of chaos. They are given time off when your soul is inactive, and this works counts as double time for their repayment… containing the destruction left in your wake.”

Marinette hummed, as her time finally wore out a Tikki appeared next to her.

“Sebastian,” Tikki greeted, cooly, drawing a wicked grin on the young girl’s face.

“Miss. Tikki,” He offered with his polite butler smile, the one Marinette knew meant he wasn’t happy, “A pleasure as always.”

“Oh, you’ve met then?” Marinette laughed with twisted glee “I haven’t seen you look so constipated since we had to do those Phoenix poses!”

She could practically hear the teeth grinding behind his forced smile, “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about Mistress, I think the reincarnation process has scrambled your mind.”

She hummed, cheeky grin not falling as she passed Tikki her emergency cookie, “Either way, we need to plan. Obviously, we can’t play the butler and Earl roles as we once did so we must figure out new roles that we can play, and create a fake hero identity for you if you plan on continuing to help out during Akuma battles.”

The smirk he gave showed off far too many teeth, but instead of unnerving her, it filled her with a sense of comfort, “Allow me to handle everything, mistress. What kind of demon would I be if I couldn’t manage a simple cover story and superhero outfit.”

________________________________________

Marinette awoke the next day to find it starting off horribly. Not only had she overslept without the ever-present tapping on her balcony door Sebastian normally did whenever she slept through her alarm, but as she was rushing she tore her blue contact, only to find it was the last one she had in stock, her new order not set to arrive until later in the week. She decided to give the demon a pass just this once since he most likely was still coming up with proper identification and dwellings for him to stay at now that she required him to be more than just a bird.

Looking in her closet she paused at her normal outfits, plink blossoms, pink jeans, and ballet flats. It just… felt wrong with her new memories of the Earl rattling around her head. She wasn’t unhappy being a woman in this life, still feeling as comfortable as ever in her own skin, but the overly modern and feminine dress just didn’t sit right with Ciel’s memories so fresh in her mind.

Instead, she pulled out a peter pan collared button-down shirt with the collar and large buttons navy against the cream of the rest of the shirt, a forest green western tie clasped in the front. She also pulled on a pair of straight-legged green pants and a navy blazer adding a tan pair of thick heeled ankle boots.  For her final touch, she deep parted her hair, pinning it over her right eye and pulling it back into a bun securing a cream ribbon in a bow around the base of the bun once she was finished. Satisfied she grabbed her bag and took off at a run, bidding her parents goodbye as she attempted to make it class before the bell rang.

She arrived seconds late and found the room reorganized, seats had been moved and the open seat on her normal side of the room was right up next to Adrien. Well, she had to admit her previous actions around him had been overboard in retrospect, and while he was still cute but with Lizzie back in the picture it seemed almost like cheating on her old fianceé.

“Good morning, Adrian,” She greeted, choosing to stand in front of the desk instead of sitting down yet.  

The blonde turned to her and perked up, “Marinette! I’m loving the new look, very Victorian esque”

“Thank you!” She laughed, “I felt like a change, You look great too!”

She could feel the eyebrows around the room go up as she smiled gently at the boy, but it was a good change of pace for him, his usual sneakers, jeans, and T-shirt had been swapped out for shiny dark brown dress shoes, a fitted pair of emerald green pants, with a crisp dark blue shirt tucked in. When he turned she could see a silver lace embroidery cutting a wavy path from his left shoulder to his right hip shimmer. He even wore a simple silver ear cuff to finish off the look.

“I picked it myself,” He preened under the positive attention, “Father usually is so strict about what I wear in public but he said I did well with this one!”

“Well, I have to agree,” She hummed, “You should experiment more often, I’d love to give you critiques now that we’re desk partners.”

“Girl what?” Alya finally interrupted, “That’s not your seat, you’re sitting in the back now.”

She could stop her smile from falling into a stony blank look as she turned around, “Excuse me? Who made that call?”

“Well,”  Nino piped up with a slight weariness at her look, “She’s got hearing issues so we had to put her upfront, to make it work Ivan sat next to Mylène, Nate sat next to Alix, and she came up with the idea of moving me up here, so I could spend more time with my girlfriend.”

Marinette raised a brow making the majority of the room fidget, “Who exactly is she?”  

Before any of them could answer Ms. Bustier opened the door and started her normal classroom announcements, “Good morning, students. I'm sure you've all heard by now, but Lila's home from her trip to Achu and she's back in school with us again.”

The Italian girl all, but bounced into the room to greet everyone, receiving a warm answer back as Marinette’s mouth thinned.

The fox paid her little mind as she pretended to gasp in surprise at the empty seat next to Adrian and started gushing, “Oh, a seat in the front row! You all remembered my hearing issue! You're such sweethearts, all of you!”

Marinette tilted her head, “I didn’t realize you had a hearing issue, Lila.”

Green eyes flashed towards her as she painted on a self-conscious smile, “Oh Yes, I suffer from tinnitus, a constant ringing in my left ear. I've had it ever since the sound of an airplane engine burst my eardrum on the runaway when I was saving Jagged Stone's lost kitten,”

“Really?” Marinette questioned with a raised brow, “Well I am sorry to hear that, but I would like to know why your disability is ranking above my own.”

Lila froze as Bustier paled eyes widening with realization. The room grew silent before Kim slapped the desk, “Oh my god, we forgot Marinette can’t see!”

She laughed, shaking her head, “I’m not blind Kim,”

He waved her off, “You know what I mean.”

Nino groaned, slinking down, “You aren’t even wearing your contacts today!”

“I ripped one this morning,” She sighed in explanation, “My replacements aren’t coming until Wednesday. So I really can’t sit in the back of the room even if I wanted to.”

Alya’s face scrunched, “I’m missing something,”

Marinette stared up at her unblinkingly, “I have a severe vision problem that causes me issues with depth perception and distance, especially if I’m not wearing my contacts. As noted by my doctor I need to be sitting within the first two rows of the classroom, and to have a seat partner is willing to give me notes that I may have missed if my vision acts up. It has been on file since I was six years old.”

“Ivan and I can move to the back,” Mylene offered quickly, “I’m sorry for forgetting Marinette!”

She offered a soft smile, “It really is no issue, as long as it gets sorted.  While I must admit I believe the origin of Lila’s disability is fabricated, I am sympathetic to her for having said disability, but I refuse to not have my accommodations met just for someone else’s to be met.”

“Fabricated!” Lila gasped tears welling in her eyes, “How mean! You don’t like me, do you! You’re trying to make me look bad and have a hard time due to my disability!”

The ice that entered Marinette’s eye before she turned to the Italian girl sent a shiver down the class's spine, causing Chloe to shrink back and Adrian to sit up stick straight. Marinette felt an odd calm fall over her as the Phantomhive came out to play.

“You claim that you received hearing damage from being too close to an airplane because you ran onto an active runway to save Jagged Stone’s kitten from a jet preparing to take off,” Marinette repeated slowly, “ Not only does Jagged Stone despise cats, but he’s despised them since he was a child after one attacked and killed his parakeet, Juniper. This is an easy fact to look up as he’s mentioned it several times in multiple interviews. The pet he currently owns and has owned for almost twenty years now, is Fang, a freshwater crocodile that Jagged hatched himself. No one is stupid enough to forget the animal they heroically saved from a vehicle that’s accelerating an average of 32 meters per second squared, wasn’t even a mammal when I know that Fang weighs almost 200kg.”

Lila tried to break in but Marinette just straightened her back, and crossed her leg at the knee before continuing, “Furthermore, no airport in this day and age would allow for a teenage girl to make it to the runways where a plane was taking off without being tackled by security, nor do I believe that your mother, a diplomat, would be moronic enough to allow you to be placed in that much danger. If it did happen there would no doubt be multiple stories run by the media about it, internationally so since Jagged Stone is such a big name and you are the daughter of a diplomat, this would not be the first we would be hearing it.”

Marinette grimaced as she moved onto the next point, not even paying mind to the sputtering Lila was doing, “Based on these facts I’m going to assume the claims that he wrote a personal song for you that have been bouncing around are also false as if they’re not it does not paint a good picture that a famous man in his forties is writing and dedicating songs for you, a young teen fan. If these accusations were true, I'd be forced to believe that Jagged Stone is a hebephile or at the very least grooming you.”

Marinette simply crossed her arms as the room grew deathly silent, “Lastly, nothing suggests that sitting closer to the front of the room helps tinnitus, as the persistent ringing would not change and make little difference in a room this small. Most students with tinnitus require the student being given the option to move to a quieter location if the condition is triggered during class, groups the student is working with being given the option to move to a different area in case group work gets too loud during group activities and being placed near a low-level sound, such a small fan, computer, a heating element, or an open window, as complete silence can irritate the issue. I did enough research when helping Aurora fight for proper accommodations made in her own classroom on the subject to know that much. Or as by the way you are dressed and the fact you claim to have spent the last few months traveling the world, your family clearly has money so buying one of the many options of hearing aid out that that has been developed to assist and almost eliminate tinnitus would be overly easy. They sell them for around 270€, fairly cheap for accommodation products, and if your family truly took you on trips across the globe then you can’t convince me they don’t love you enough to shell out a few hundred euros to make your life easier. So tell me again why I’m making a big deal about making sure my own disability is taken care of?”

Lila sputtered, before bursting into tears, “I was too embarrassed to tell you the real reason! I didn’t want you guys to think less of me for taking a break with Prince Ali to go see a concert, I didn’t mean to get so close to the amps but… the hearing loss is so new I’m still adjusting”  

Marinette glared at her, “Save the tears. Lies are pathetic tools to use and earn you no lasting loyalty, and to accuse someone of being ableist for questioning the origin of your disability, not even the disability itself is vile. Not a single person in this room would have been upset at you if you told the truth instead of tried to force the issue of fake heroics.”

She sniffled, “I’m sorry Marinette, I didn’t mean to make accusations about you or your character. I’m still on edge from the whole situation…”

Marinette let her glare drop and gave a cool, “It’s forgiven this time, now can we please figure out the seating situation?”

“Well,” the teacher stepped in, “Since Adrian agreed to be Lila’s tutor to help her catch up-”

“Actually, Miss Bustier,” Adrian raised his hand sheepishly, “I was going to bring it up with you later in private, but I really don’t think I’d be a good option to tutor Lila given how full and sporadic my schedule is already, I really would hate for her to fall enough further behind.”

“Oh crap,” Alix swore, “We didn’t even think of that when Lila suggested you!”  

Adrian just gave a slight shrug, eyes not looking up from his desk, “It’s okay, I do want to help out the class as much as possible, I feel bad never being able to help out with anything after school.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Kim brushed off, “We get your dad is really on you about everything, we’ll just have to find stuff you can do in class instead!”

“Maybe,” Mylene squirmed a little in her seat as everyone turned to face her, “I mean just a suggestion… but maybe Adrian could be Marinette’s seat partner and help her take notes. You rarely miss actual class time for your activities and this way you’re helping out without committing to any extra time that your dad might not let you come for.”

Bustier clapped, a blinding smile on her face, completely missing how Lila’s face had twisted into an angry mask, “Excellent idea! Let’s all find new seats again, Marinette and Adrian stick together in the first two rows, Lila why don’t you sit on the left side of the classroom by the windows to see if that helps your tinnitus for now. I’ll call your mother in for a proper evaluation over the next few days and we’ll find a proper course to deal with your disability. If someone would like to volunteer to be Lila’s primary tutor please take the seat next to her. Everyone else please fill in!”

Slowly the room began shifting once again. Adrien and Marinette simply switched seats to allow her to better see the room as Alya, Nino, Chloe, Sabrina, Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel stayed in their same seats. Ivan and Mylene did move to the back row together as Max broke away from Kim to sit in the second row next to where Lila ended up and Alix slid across the aisle to take his old spot.

Alya was still looking at Marinette as if she had three heads, “Girl, what on earth was that? You’re like sunshine personified, but you just tore Lila apart like she was tissue paper.”

Nino huffed a slight laugh, “Keep forgetting you’ve only been in the class for a year, babe. You’ve never seen a Marinette takedown before.”

Marinette smiled, “Do not lie and do not do anything that might have permanent consequences. If they can not follow those two simple objectives in my presence then I will gladly set them straight. Lila not only lied but accused me of being a bigot, I will not tolerate slander.”

“Well I think it was badass,” Adrian commented, causing her to smirk wickedly.

“Thank you. It’s always nice to know my skills are appreciated.”  

“Oh do you need any notes from the last few days,” Adrian asked suddenly, sliding his notebook between them as the lesson started.  

She gazed down idly, “Not that I can think of but thank-”

Marinette had to keep her eyes from bulging as her words faded off, because in the middle of the page, squished between two facts about the Roman empire stood a simple sentence in perfect English.

I didn’t think I would see you until tonight, Ciel.

“How on earth were we this blind,” Marinette mumbled in English, earning a laugh from his once betrothed.

“Excuse me?”

The pairs heads snap towards the door as a worryingly familiar voice sounds through the room.

There in the doorway was a tall teen with shaggy raven hair as he sheepishly held out a paper towards the teacher, “Are you, Miss. Bustier? There seemed to be a mix up with my transfer papers. Mr. Damocles told me just to head down and you should have all of my forms by tomorrow, but he didn’t want to prevent me from starting today as planned.”

“Oh I hadn’t realized I was getting a new student today,” She apologized, taking the paper and skimming it briefly before turning to the room, “Class it looks like we’re getting another new face today! I want you all to welcome him with open arms! This is-”

He was shorter, a little lankier and with a rounder face then they typically saw him, looking every bit the fourteen year old he was in no doubt playing, but there was no doubt who it was.

“Sebastian,” The demon introduced, mirth dancing in those burgundy depths as he grinned up at the reincarnated duo, “Sebastian Michaelis. I look forward to joining your class.”

___________________________________

Tag List: @lividdreams9

[starjeno]

destined | l.mh | 3

genre: fluff | soulmate!au, genderswap!au pairing: student!mark x female!reader warnings: bad words? word count: 1973 summary: it’s a fact of life that soulmates swap bodies. when mark wakes up in a bed that isn’t his, he’s delighted. you, on the other hand, absolutely despise it. a/n: filler chapter, sorry! and i know it’s been a while since i’ve posted. also, i gave the roommate a name finally. 

the sunset filtering through your curtains fills the room with hazy light. it’s soft and golden and comforting, but it does little to placate your roommate. her arms remain crossed over her chest as you pace by the mini-fridge nervously, waiting for this interrogation to end.

“okay, but what did yuta say?” she’s already somehow familiarized herself with the names of the people involved, and while it took some time for her to get used to your new appearance, she currently seems to have grown accustomed to it. you groan, “i told you, yuta likes this whole thing. he just ignored me and then said that i should take mark into consideration.”

“why can’t mark take you into consideration instead?” she retorts. you huff, “i told you this too! mark also thinks i like this whole thing!”

“well? do you?”

you can’t help the hesitation that bubbles up in your throat when you think about the events of earlier. the rapid beating of your heart and the heat in the tips of your ears and the strange familiarity that accompanied each of mark’s words — he felt like a missing puzzle piece, like someone you loved in a past life, and you didn’t like how you unconsciously gravitated towards him as he spoke. 

then again, you only saw him for a few hours, so maybe you’re overexaggerating. you shake your head firmly, “i don’t! you know that! i don’t want any of this!”

she gives you an unplaceable look, her eyes filled with contemplation, before groaning and sitting up, “let’s go out to eat. you’ve had a rough day.”

“you’ll pay?”

“yeah,” she sighs, running a hand through her hair, “i don’t want you to confuse the cashier with your credit card info. let’s get out of here.”

it’s a blessing that your roommate has kun. she’s accumulated enough of his clothing that your new body has a decent selection to choose from. though the clothes all fit loosely, you figure tucking your dress shirt into your pants and looping a belt tightly through should make sure your outfit is secure. she stands in the doorway as she watches you change, blushing feverishly when she associates your initial meeting with yuta with the boxers that now hug you snugly. 

“where do you feel like eating?” 

you hum in thought as you grab a cap, “honestly? kun’s place. he makes such good food.”

she rolls her eyes before dialing her boyfriend’s number on the phone. it rings for a few seconds until the line clicks and you hear a deep voice fill the speaker, “what’s up? you only call at this time when you’re hungry. or horny. or both. please don’t be both.”

“uh, just hungry. also, ____ and i have something we should tell you,” she mumbles, “i’ll be over in five.”

she hangs up before looking over to me and sighing, "i'll do your hair."

as you sit down in front of a mirror and watch your roommate squeeze out a frightening amount of gel onto her palm, you can't help but think about mark again. it's hard not to since his face is the reflection and it shines with a bright optimism that you currently lack. you attempt a half-hearted smile to make his features seem pleasant; it feels wrong when his face frowns.

meanwhile, the girl behind the chair slicks your hair in a neat quiff, sparing a few strands to fall onto your forehead casually. you look handsome, and you're somewhat pleased that kun's first impression of your soulmate will be great on terms of looks.

not that you cared particularly. you don't. you aren't even sure you know what a mark is, much less feel as if others should approve of him.

"there, let's go," she hums, wiping her hands off with a towel and spritzing some floral scent on the two of you before walking out. you follow reluctantly.

kun's apartment is cute and filled with small plants that are groomed to perfection. little canvases with a dramatic ink strokes line the walls above the television and couches, and pens are littered in the corners of every room. there's even a pen tucked into the pocket of the man himself, who is still in the ironed dress shirt he went to work in.

his smile radiates as the two of you walk into the hall, but you can sense the air tension rise, “mina and . . . a friend?”

“ha ha, very funny, kun. you won’t believe who this is,” your roommate grins as you two sit down. kun pauses for a bit before backing into his kitchen, grabbing a spare pan to add on top of the stove, thinking, “uh, a cousin? your long-lost brother? i thought ____ was coming over.”

“exactly,” she huffs before motioning over to you, “meet mark, or better known as ____ in mark’s body.”

kun gasps and points the pan at you accusingly, laughter lacing his voice, “oh my god, you fucking swapped?”

you grin and place a hand to drag the pot down, “i know, it’s crazy.”

“at least he’s cute,” the dimpled boy chuckles, sighing in disbelief. he definitely knew you well.

“agreed,” you smile a bit and your roommate shoots you a short-lived glare before looking at kun, “so we came here to destress from such a horrific event by eating your food.”

“that sounds like a plan . . . ,” he muses, a small smile growing on his face as he takes out cooking oil, “you guys can just chill, and i’ll have something cooked up in ten.”

as soon as you pull your phone out, a notification slides onto a screen. you bite your lip as the social messaging app displays the message of a new follower, and when you hold down for more details, you instantly recognize the handle.

mark. he must've searched you up, and if he's managed to follow you on here, he's probably found all your socials by now. as if on cue, you see three more notifs slide gracefully on your phone, beaming with a new friend request. you aren’t sure if you’re happy or annoyed, or a bit of both, but you hold down and open the app to find a new direct message awaiting your approval.

mark1ee (online): hi! sorry if this is creepy but i figured we’re friends now, so...

good lord. you bite your lips to keep from laughing at his shyness, finding it adorable, and avert your eyes from your phone. mina glares at you quizzically, raising a brow as if to ask what you’re amused at, but you simply shake your head emphatically and begin to type back.

you: how’d you know my last name? there’s probably more than one ____ out there. mark1ee is typing . . .

"here, some cheesy ass lasagna. i put, like, five different kinds of cheese in there, or just whatever was in my fridge.” kun slides two plates to you and your roommate and grabs the nearest chair to sit. he looks at you as you tentatively poke at the stuffing, “i didn’t poison it, you know.”

“shut up, i’m critiquing it!” you laugh as you place a food-filled fork in your mouth, smiling at the instant flavor, “whoa, i forgot how good you are at this.”

he lowers his brows as he smiles, “you mean you forgot my job is in the culinary arts?” 

you face downwards as kun strikes up a conversation with your roommate and glance at the notification on your phone. it doesn’t take a moment of hesitation for you to swipe and check mark’s message.

mark1ee (online): i checked the profile pictures. it would be a lot easier to make sure i’m contacting the right person if i had your number ;) you: how smooth. how do i know this is the mark i met earlier today? mark1ee (online): already asking for pics? damn. mark1ee sent a photo mark1ee (online): i forgot that it’s basically just a pic of you lmao :/ now pls send #

you snort and look up to find your roommate and kun staring at you intently. you wave your hand dismissively, "funny meme, sorry."

they give you a strange look before resuming the conversation, and you hide your phone under your leg before digging into the meal before you.

"so, what's going on?"

at the question, yuta sighs as mark walks in, his hand rubbing a towel through his wet hair, "winwin is coming back early. a week early."

"are you not excited?" mark quips. the older male tiredly grins, "i'm excited, believe me. but i'm worried that i won't pay enough attention to your switch."

mark frowns, the wrinkles ruining the feminine face, "i'll be fine. she just sent me her number!"

he takes a seat by yuta and faces the flatscreen in front, his glossy eyes reflecting the bright lights of the video game. yuta glances at his long lashes and soft brows for a moment before resuming the screen, "damn, good job. maybe you have enough game to survive without me."

"wha- fuck you! and you'll still be here!" mark laughs, picking up the other controller.

"i'm running away with winwin, by the way," yuta jokes. he lets mark join the round before pressing the buttons again, "now that you have her number, what are you going to do? ask her on a date?"

mark freezes. he hadn't even thought of what to do, and right now, yuta feels like a personal certified love guru. what a great fucking idea! before he could spend more time admiring yuta's genius, mark drops the controller and sends a new text to you, hoping for a stroke of luck.

he didn't really need luck though. he had literally found his soulmate that morning.

you: wanna go on a date? nctzn (online): how would i get clothes, doof? i'm wearing my roomie's bf's shit now :/ you: well, keep wearing them and i'll buy myself a dress? i don't care what you wear though, i'm not a great dresser.

mark is lying to his new form. he had always considered himself as someone with a good eye for outfits and color coordination. he sighs as the green dot by your profile that signifies your online presence fades away, and he figures he should probably find another way to pass the time while you’re offline. yuta waits expectantly, “well?”

“clothing’s an issue. and i don’t even know where i should take her,” mark grins, “it’s going to feel so weird, like going on a date with myself? trippy.”

“you’ll survive, it’s not like you’re ugly,” yuta sighs as he rolls his eyes with exasperation. mark doesn’t respond. he’s too preoccupied with the idea of you to even process yuta’s words. he’s never felt so giddy about a girl before — even his middle school crushes never got him feeling this jittery. conversation with you flowed so smoothly, and even mark knew how strange it was to feel this way after one conversation. 

he’s glad you reciprocate his feelings. everything’s he heard about soulmates seems to be true: you fit him well. mark knows he should be a little more hesitant, but this is finally a dream come true. you’re a dream come true. 

you: let’s go on a date tmrw then? nctzn (online): ok why not

mark glances up at the bright orange sky. the sun has only just started to set and the evening barely grazes the warm colors. are you just as happy as he is now? is your head filled with thoughts of him, the same way he can’t stop thinking about you?

mark’s pauses, not sure if he should dare to think his next question, but the idea floats in his head anyway and he turns pink with embarrassment.

yuta turns away, silent.

prev | masterlist | next

[melodious-madrigals]

wake me up (before you go-go) 

Day 4 of Wondertrev Loveweek. 

Fandom: Wonder Woman  Pairing: Diana/Steve Prompt: Return Word Count: 4095 Rating: T Summary: On a sticky day in June, Diana decides that it’s time to return to Themyscira. It produces some mixed emotions and insecurities. 

Read it on [AO3] or below the cut. 

***

It's a sticky day in June when Diana says, "I think it is time to return to Themyscira. I have put it off too long."

Even though the War technically ended in November, there has been no shortage of work and missions, of places for Diana to help right the wrongs that Ares—and Man—had done. Still, a visit is long overdue, if only to put her mother's mind at ease. She's been gone seven whole months.

"I—yeah. I can arrange transport for you whenever you want." Steve's sitting at the kitchen table opposite where she's standing, newspaper and juice in hand, doing his very best to conceal his surprise and swallow down the dread that's suddenly thickening in his throat. He's not ready to lose her. (He doesn't think he'll ever be, but seven months is nowhere near enough time.)

"Us," says Diana absently, apparently unbothered by the oppressive heat as she fiddles with the kettle for her morning tea, which she always drinks far hotter than Steve can stand. "If you can spare a week, anyways."

He can absolutely spare a week, but that doesn't actually seem like the biggest issue, here. "Am I, uh, allowed?"

"Yes, of course," says Diana, adding a touch of honey—which she far prefers to the overly sweet granulated sugar the British are so fond of—to the tea. "You are with me."

"It's just—" He scrapes his hand across the nape of his neck, winces. "I can think of a few reasons I wouldn't be." The fact that he's a man is probably the least egregious thing on Hippolyta's list.

"Anyone who doesn't like it can take it up with me." She pauses, looks at him seriously. "You do not have to come, you know. I would like it, but if you are uncomfortable…"

He's going, of course. It was a lost cause as soon as she asked him. He'd follow her to the ends of the earth and back, and that includes Themyscira.

"When do we leave?"

Diana's ensuing smile might just make it all worth it.

*

Steve enjoys the boat trip to Themyscira more than he has any right to. It's the first time they've had substantial, uninterrupted time together since—well, since the boat trip from Themyscira. And they're on considerably closer terms, now.  

There's no mission to steal their attention away, no urgent telegrams calling one or both of them to another country, no well meaning friends crashing what was meant to be a romantic dinner. (Sameer swears up and down that he didn't realize that Steve meant he was making a specifically-him-and-Diana-dinner, but Steve saw him discreetly swapping money with Charlie afterwards and laughing, the traitors.) It's just the two of them, talking and laughing and—on one particularly memorable occasion—diving off the side of the boat for a lazy, mid-afternoon swim.

At night, they lay side by side, so close that the Steve from seven months ago would be heartily scandalized, and play a game where Steve points out constellations, and Diana recounts the myth behind each one that she was taught as a child. They fall asleep shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh, heads leaned together and fingers laced.

*

They catch good winds and make quick time, and though Diana thinks they go in circles a bit before finding the veil that separates Themyscira from the mortal world, they do break through eventually.

Indeed, they must be spotted almost immediately by an Amazon scout, because by the time they arrive at the dock, there's a welcome party waiting for them, consisting of a dozen Amazons and led by Menalippe.

The Amazons unanimously abandon decorum and embrace Diana in turn, and Menalippe tells Diana that the Queen waits to receive her in the palace.

What should be a victorious homecoming and happy moment is dampened when it becomes apparent that the party only boasts one extra horse, despite the fact that they were both on deck the whole time. Whether it is her mother's doing, or Menalippe's, the meaning is clear.

"No matter," says Diana icily. "Steve can ride with me. Klytemnestra is more than capable." The black mare chooses that moment to snort, seemingly in agreement.

"Princess—"

But Diana has already swung up onto the horse, and reached down to boost Steve up behind her. As soon as he's in place, she urges the mare forward, galloping off along familiar trails towards the palace.

Diana dismounts in the courtyard while the horse is still moving, and strides into the palace throne room, where Hippolyta stands, cutting an imposing figure with an entourage of Senators flanking her.

"Mother," Diana greets, inclining her head.

"My child."

It's at that moment that Steve shows up, sending a murmur through the Senators.

"Steven Trevor," says Hippolyta distastefully.

"Your Majesty."

Diana redirects the attention back to herself by saying, "We come with the news that Ares has been vanquished. I have fulfilled the foreordiance of the Amazons and killed him."

More whispers erupt among the Court.

"Congratulations, my daughter. You have done us a great service, and are a credit to the Amazons."

"I have done as I was taught by you and our great fallen sister, General Antiope." She holds her mother's gaze. Hippolyta blinks first.

"A celebration, then, is in order," declares Hippolyta. "To fête a mighty warrior, and give our thanks that Ares has been defeated at last."

At this edict, a dozen Amazons spring into action.

"Eumelia, Maia, in the meantime, please show our… guest to the Sage Rooms. I would have a private audience with my daughter."

Diana's eyes narrow. The palace is not spectacularly large—there's no reason for it to be much bigger than a regular residence with a couple of halls for High Council meetings, but the rooms she's suggesting are as far from Diana's traditional set as is spacially possible.

Diana squeezes Steve's hand. "I will be along shortly," she whispers.

Steve nods, and allows himself to be led away.

*

As soon as they are alone, Hippolyta rounds on Diana. "What are you still doing with him?"

"He is a good man, Mother."

"There is no such thing, Diana!" Hippolyta exclaims.

"The world is not so black and white," Diana refutes. "And even if what you say is true, he wants to be a good man. He is trying to be, every day, with all of his choices. Does that count for nothing?"

Hippolyta scoffs. "Oh, I'm sure that he claims to be, but what is a man's word worth?"

"He sacrificed himself, Mother!" Diana snaps, choking on the words, unable to separate the fact itself from the memory and the emotions that it causes to well within her. "He was willing to die to save thousands, maybe millions. I watched his aeroplane explode, and I could do nothing to save him."

Hippolyta's brow furrows, and Diana answers her unasked question.

"One of the gods saved him. Apparently they are not all quite so dead as your stories implied."

"A god would," says Hippolyta derisively. "It reeks of Zeus, as if a man is ever a reward—"

"I love him—"

"You barely know him!"

"I know him well enough! I love him and I'm not willing to argue with you about this any further."

Pivoting from Steve himself—possibly because she knows a losing battle when she sees it—Hippolyta says instead, "I still think they do not deserve you, Diana."

"Probably not," Diana agrees, to her mother's clear shock. "But it is not about what they deserve. It is about what I believe, and I believe in love, and humanity."

Hippolyta pauses, then half-nods, a resigned air about her. "I suppose that is rather insightful."

Diana smiles at her triumphantly. "That is something Steve told me. He is more than you think, Mother."

"Hmm," says Hippolyta scornfully, but she makes no further protest, and Diana knows that she's won for the moment.

*

Diana finds Steve fiddling with an hourglass in his rooms, far later than she'd meant to be. Her conversation with her mother was wide-ranging.

"You survived the day."

He looks up, relief clear on his face.

"Yeah, uh. An Amazon named Maia took pity on me?"

Maia is a talented archer, and she was on the beach that day. She would've seen Steve fight with the Amazons, would have reason to not distrust him outright.

"Then perhaps your day was more enjoyable than mine."

Steve winces. "Your mother?"

"Displeased with me," Diana says lightly. "But I am working on it."

"She's mad at you because of me, isn't she."

"A little, yes," says Diana in that blunt manner of hers, unwilling to sugar-coat it or lie. "But she disapproves of many of my choices."

That much is true: the list of things her mother disapproves of includes Steve, her decision to stay in the World of Man after Ares was defeated, her desire to return, her critique that her mother should have told her about Zeus, about being the Godkiller, and more.

She sighs and starts to pace, now visibly agitated. "I just do not understand why she continues to be so stubborn about you!"

"In her defense," says Steve cautiously, "men do not have the greatest track record. It's probably not personal. I hope."

"But it is personal!" Diana cries. "I am not asking any of them to go to Man's World, or to bring a group of unknown men here. I am simply asking that they treat one single man who I trust implicitly without hostility."

It finally clicks for Steve: she's angry because she feels they're discounting her judgement just as much as they're discounting him. Even after all she's done, all she's endured, they're signaling to her that her trust, her judgement, isn't enough.

"Shit. I'm sorry. Maybe I should leave?"

"No," says Diana fiercely. "This is their problem, not yours."

Personally, Steve feels that they've kind of made it his problem, but he's not about to do something to make her question whether he distrusts her judgement too.

"Maybe a quick nap before the feast tonight?" he suggests. "It's been a long day."

"I am not tired," she snaps, and then reconsiders it, softens a little. "But if you are offering to hold me—?"

Steve ducks his head to conceal his grin. "Yeah, I am."

She nods once, and without hesitation strips down to her linen tunic, lays down. Steve joins her, and she buries her head into the junction between his neck and chest, breathes deep as he wraps his arm around her.

"It is unfair how much better this makes me feel," she grumbles.

"Trade secret," teases Steve, before he presses a kiss to the top of her head. She sighs and nuzzles closer, and they both end up drifting off for a bit.

*

The Amazons, it must be said, certainly know how to throw a party. The bonfire roars in the background, the food is superb, and the music is rollicking, lively, frenetic. The joy in the air is infectious: Ares is defeated and their Princess has returned a conquering hero.

A woman he recognizes as Mala, Diana's best friend, pulls her up and they start dancing, something related to a reel or a jig, fast paced with intricate footwork. In no time, a number of other Amazons join in, all laughing and cheering and spinning wildly.

Steve watches as Diana gets twirled 'round and 'round in time to the lively music, switching partners regularly and laughing in delight. At one point, he loses sight of her, and the next moment, she pops up next to him.

"This is dancing," she says, slightly breathless and eyes alight with excitement. "Will you join me?"

He's about to make an idiot out of himself, but he'll do it gladly for her. Steve takes her hand and allows her to pull him up. She walks him through the steps, and then they pick up the pace. The footwork itself is a little much for him, but once he picks up the general rhythm, they're able to twirl around almost as fast as she had been before. As he gets more comfortable, they start trading partners as is customary, and he dances with Maia, and then Mala—who he suspects is being kind for Diana's sake—and then an Amazon named Apollonia that he vaguely recognizes as the healer who treated him the first time he was here, before ending up back in Diana's arms.

Diana grins, delighted, and then leans in to whisper, "This is nice, but I will admit that there is something to be said for swaying."

He wears a matching grin, after that.

*

Steve is an early riser, but he's got nothing on Diana. The other side of the bed has long since turned cold by the time he wakes, the sun over the horizon but still low in the sky. Just past dawn, but he suspects Diana woke to go join the other Amazons in their training.

He dresses quickly and pads his way down the trail towards where she pointed out the training grounds last night. He has the city to himself; all the training warriors are long-arrived at the field, and everyone else is still abed. He hears the sounds of sparring before he sees them, and then finds himself on a balcony overlooking the field. He thinks, maybe, it's the one she told him she took a flying leap from as a little girl.

Below, the women are through with their conditioning exercises and have moved on to actual sparring. Steve catches sight of Diana almost instantly, her figure familiar to him even at a distance, her dark hair done back in an elaborate Amazonian braid.

Even if he wasn't so attuned to her, couldn't pick her out of a crowd in a second flat, it would be easy to spot her: she's in the middle of a dozen other Amazons, wielding a massive broadsword and fighting all of them at once.

They come at her in waves, and she takes them down with a practiced sort of ease, one or two at a time. It's truly awe-inspiring, watching her like this, among almost-equals. She looks so natural here, dressed in the same tunic and breastplate as the other Amazons, the sun glinting off her shield.

It's because she belongs, he realizes. Belongs in a way that she never has in his world, even though she's carved a niche for herself.

He's thrown from his reverie by a mighty clang as she catches two different blows with her blade at once and throws them off. Off to his left, there's a glint that catches his eye, and he turns in time to see an archer release an arrow meant for Diana. But even as she parries another blow, turned away from the incoming arrow, she jumps, vaulting herself into the air and twisting over the path of the arrow entirely.

Even Steve, who regularly sees what Diana can do, feels his jaw drop. He stands there entranced at least another hour, watching as Diana takes on Amazon after Amazon—with a sword and later hand-to-hand—and makes it look easy.

When the session ends with her pinning the last opponent and then gamely pulling her up and into a warm hug, Steve makes his way back towards the palace.

She finds him some time later, reading on the balcony. She's dripping sea water, and is wearing the widest grin, skin glowing in the golden island light.  

"We went cliff diving," she says, breathless. "I came back to see if you wanted to join in for a second round!"

Steve is no stranger to daredevil activities—he was a pilot, after all—but there are no words to convey how much he does not want to go cliff diving. He doesn't mind heights and doesn't mind swimming, but the nexus of the two leads directly down the path of being overcome by memories of crashing his plane into the sea.

Diana seems to draw this same conclusion by the stricken look on his face as he's trying to figure out how to say it aloud. "Steve, I'm sorry. I did not think. Maybe we could go swimming in the cove instead?"

"What about the cliff diving? I want you to have fun."

"Spending time with you is fun," she says guilelessly, like she's confused he could consider it anything else.

Steve slips a bookmark into his page. "Lead on."

She takes him down a rocky path he's never been on, and leads him down to a sheltered cove where the waves are almost non-existent and the water is a clear, vibrant blue.

Diana dives in, Steve not far behind, and they splash around like giddy children for a spell.

"Float with me," Diana says eventually, and tips back in the water until she's floating buoyant on her back, eyes closed and soaking in the sun and breeze.

Steve does the same, and, like her body is tuned in to exactly where his rests, she extends a hand and laces their fingers together. He closes his eyes and they float—silently, peacefully, together—in the crystal waters until an Amazon named Phoibe comes to inform Diana that she's late for lunch with the Queen. Diana squeezes his hand, gives him a smile and a kiss, and dashes off to meet Hippolyta, leaving him to head back up at his leisure.

*

They pass the rest of the week in much the same way: in the pre-dawn morning, Diana slips out of bed to train with the Amazons, and then her friends drag her from one activity to another.

One afternoon, she convinces Steve to take a hike to a temple on the Northern side of the island, but ten minutes in, three other Amazons—including Mala—crash their trip. Fortunately, Maia is also part of the group, the closest thing Steve has to an Amazon friend outside of Diana. It's still an enjoyable afternoon, it's just not quite the one either of them thought they'd be having.

In the evenings, they usually dine with a group of Amazons including Hippolyta. Post-dinner is devoted to storytelling, once with a bonfire on the beach, but usually at the residences of Diana's friends.

And Diana is incandescent. Steve has never seen her so relaxed, has never seen her looking so free. The weight of the world has lifted from her shoulders, and she looks younger. Her laughs are just a little quicker to arrive, and a great deal louder in volume. He adores seeing it, and it simultaneously scares him. He's greedy; he wants more time, but he doubts more with each day that he'll get it.

*

The day before they're set to leave, Diana barely sees Steve at all. She's done her best not to leave him all alone—after all, she did ask him to come with—but sometimes her friends get carried away, and this afternoon is one of those times. They spend the entire afternoon on the beach, practicing horsewomanship and some of the more daring tricks. She allows herself to get swept up in it because it's been months since she's ridden a horse trained for this type of thing, and it gives her a thrill. Diana has so idea how long it'll be before she gets the chance to do this again.

She greets Steve at dinner sweaty and grinning, and feels butterflies in her stomach when his smile softens upon seeing her, when some of the tension reflexively leaves his body. She relaxes too, knowing he's all right.

When she and Steve get back to their rooms that evening, there's a desperation in his kiss that Diana chalks up to having a tough day. It's sweet, even, the way he kisses her like he's mapping her, memorizing every inch.

"I love you," he says later, as they're drowsing, when she feels so sated and heavy with sleepiness that she might sink straight into the mattress. "I hope you know that I love you."

She tries to respond, but she's dragged under by a dreamless sleep before she gets the chance.

*

The next morning is a flurry of activity, as Diana gets dragged out even earlier than normal by Mala and Steve packs the few things they've brought.

They barely see each other all morning, and they're accompanied down to the dock by several of her friends, who chatter on excitedly, anxious to make the most of every bit of time they can.

Waiting for them at the dock is the Queen and her riding party.

"Diana." Hippolyta's face betrays nothing, and her tone is just as even.

Diana pauses in front of her mother, gestures at Steve to continue. Time might be repeating itself, if not for the fact that it is early afternoon and Ares has already been neutralized.

"There will always be a place for you here." Hippolyta does not ask her to stay; she already knows what Diana's answer would be.

"Maybe someday I will return for good," says Diana. "But for now, there is still work to do. It does not mean I love you any less, Mother." She looks at her imploringly, the closest she will get to begging her mother's understanding.

"Be safe, my child."

Diana allows herself to break this time, and throws her arms around her mother for a tight embrace that she couldn't have indulged last time.

Then she strides down the dock and boards the boat, leaving Steve, who was unmooring the lines, to clamber in after her. It takes very little to get them under way—a stiff, agreeable breeze aiding them—and Themyscira grows smaller, until the moment they pass through the barrier, and the whole thing vanishes like a dream. There was enough to do in terms of manning the riggings that their journey up to that point has been mostly silent, but once Themyscira disappears, Diana breaks the silence.

"You thought I was going to stay." It's not a question.

"I did," Steve admits, swallowing. He'd done his best not to show it, but as usual, Diana can read him better than anyone. He couldn't help the look of surprise when she got on the boat, or the tension that left his shoulders when Themyscira vanished.  

"But you were not going to ask me to return with you," Diana says slowly, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"No, I wouldn't do that. Themyscira is your home."

"And yet you came." She sounds utterly confused.

Steve laughs, soft and wry. "Diana," he says helplessly, "I'm only human. I wanted every second I could get, and I wanted to be able to say goodbye. A real one."

Her eyes soften in understanding. "Oh, my love. This is not how we are destined to say goodbye."

Steve swallows thickly; she sounds so sure.

"I just don't want you to be unhappy."

Across from him, Diana frowns. "What makes you think I am not happy?"

"It's just, on Themyscira, you looked so natural, so relaxed."

Diana cannot help but laugh. "My love, it was because I knew I did not have to stay. I love my sisters dearly, but my role on Themyscira is too static, and comes with the expectation of forever being the same person. The visit was all the sweeter for its fleetingness."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. Do you really think I would not express my dissatisfaction, were I to feel it?"

Well, shit. He somehow overlooked that bit, despite the fact that Diana has never been shy about sharing how she feels, and now he feels ridiculous.

He scrubs a hand over his face. "No. I don't know. Forget I said anything."

"No, Steve, this is important. Sometimes we get too close to our own problems to see them clearly." She presses a hand to his cheek, and looks him straight in the eye. "This is me telling you: I am happy with you. And if something is wrong, I will tell you. I promise you this. I hope you will do the same."

A deal is a promise, and a promise is unbreakable, echos in his mind, and he smiles at the memory. He can't imagine ever not finding happiness with her, but says, "Of course," and means it.

"I love you, Steve Trevor."

A peacefulness that he hasn't felt in weeks settles over him, and it stays with him the entire return trip to London.

Their time is only just beginning.

***

[felicityb-reviews]

Review Roundup - Week 1 January 2018

Hello babies!! Welcome to your debut Review Roundup for Week 1 of January 2018!!! I'm really excited to launch this series, because while I do love doing reviews, sometimes the only thing I can say about a song is "I like it, it was good". I also wanted a place I could spotlight releases from less popular acts (or even less conspicuous releases, sometimes) who don't exactly have 2309342 million fandom pages. This is a great way to combine that, I guess.

Before we begin, some ~rules~

For a song to eligible, it has to have an official video. Even if it's basically some shit an intern made in Final Cut Pro in five seconds, before uploading it. I just need to know that it's an ~official~ release.

No OSTs!! 90% of them are dry ass ballads, and I do not have the time, sis!! No OSTs!! /Edna Mode voice

And on that note, I might choose to skip a certain release, because I have nothing to say about it. Or nothing nice that isn't constructive criticism.

Yes, each video has a Rating™. Do not get hung up on said Rating, cause it's basically meaningless; it's just an arbitrary number based on how much I liked the particle song, mixed with how well I thought the song was written.

Just like with my Feature Spotlights, the blurbs here are just my opinion, sis. Please do not get hung up on what some gay bitch on the Internet has to say about your fave. I'm hella arrogant, but my words are not of God.

So now that we got that out of the way (Even though I'm 90% sure some bitch is gonna try my ass), our list begins with...

Grown Up (Soyou)

Grown Up is pretty standard fare for a Starship ballad. The company has always submerged themselves in RnB and Gospel sensibilities, and it shows here. Miss Soyou takes us to church with Grown Up. A very nice song which I appreciate, but will probably not listen to much, unless I'm in a Ballad Bitch™ mood.

Rating - 3.5/5

TRCNG - Wolf Baby

"Ooh bitch... You mighta just did something there"

That was my first reaction to Wolf Baby, fam. I was ready and willing to write the song off, because the teaser did not show it off in the best light (it sounded like a demo of Hyosung's Into You, according to a friend) and the visual was more of the boys showing off their dance skill. Which is never a bad thing... Except when it's literally the same shit we've seen 20 million times from similar boy bands. But Wolf Baby delivers in full. Unlike the God awful Spectrum which takes after B.A.P in the worst of ways, Wolf Baby sounds and feels more like a Secret song (which sounds a lot better than you think it would). Wolf Baby shows that these boys have personality that can translate to the music, and Lord knows we need more of that in K-pop boy bands. I'm so tired of being charmed by these boys in variety, but utterly bored by their music.

Rating - 4/5

Think about (Seo Ji An featuring KLANG)

Lissen... Whoever wrote this song needs to give me a refund. That intro had me thinking this was gonna a bombastic radio ballad. Like, they were about to hit me with that Ryan Tedder throwback shit. But instead, all I got was soft falsetto and a limp piano line.

Talk about a boner killer, sis.

But once I got over myself (and the song started to pick up), I realized that it was actually pretty nice. Nothing I'd put into heavy rotation, but this would be good shuffle bait.

(Sidenote - if anyone can find me anything on the female vocalist, KLANG, I will give you a hug and a cookie, because I really liked her voice)

Rating - 3/5

XOXO (Soyeon of LABOUM x Park Jae Jung)

We're getting a jump start on the Springtime love duets, I see. I can't say I'm entirely mad, tho. XOXO, like Seo Ji An's Think about, falls within a category of songs I like to call shuffle bait. They're not terrible songs, but they're also not ones I feel obligated to put on heavy rotation. They're good for those days when you don't know what you wanna listen to or need some soft background sounds, so you put your music on shuffle. Not a category one should aspire to be in, but not one to be mad at for falling into, either.

I'm very happy that Global H made this a duet, cause Soyeon's overly bright tone could have tired out the ears very easily if she had to sing this by herself. And not only that, but Park Jae Jung provides a nice foil to Soyeon's voice with his smooth tone. All in all, a very nice song.

Rating - 3.5/5

Honey Tea (OOHYO)

Miss OOHYO is givin us a little Bassa Nova in her Honey Tea, you guise!!

Honey Tea is another shuffle bait song that almost makes it in the Heavy Rotation camp with it's interesting choice of instrumental interludes; but alas, she doesn't quite make the cut. There's something about the production here that doesn't quite mesh right; the song elements don't meld into one another like they should, especially with such ~agreeable~ (for lack of a better word) elements as these. This song is really nice for what it is (the melancholic atmosphere nice for those days when you just wanna brood like an angsty teenager), but I needed just a little bit more.

Rating - 2.5/5

Like Paradise (Kriesha Chu)

Something tells me that Future Bass is going to be everywhere in Kpop this year like Tropical House was last year, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. On one hand, you have Svt's Don't Wanna Cry and LONG:D x Kim Doyeon's All Night that are masterfully made songs. But then you have BTS's Best of Me and Kriesha Chu's Like Paradise, both of which are so fucking beige it makes me wanna slam my face into a wall. And it's really sad because, unlike Best of Me, Like Paradise starts out with a great verse. But then the prechorus goes right into generic territory with a chorus that's so anybody, it's almost frightening.

Kriesha Chu exploded onto the scene with a familiar formula in Trouble, but she did enough to make it her bitch, so idk what happened here. A friend mentioned that she feels as though she's heard this melody fifteen times, and I wouldn't be surprised if she has. This song isn't bad, but it don't got no soul. Which is a shame, because Miss Kriesha Chu has plenty to go around.

Rating - 2/5

Blah (Planetarium Case #1)

Now this is a song that took me by surprise. I was not expecting that Tropical style beat to kick in when the verse started, but I mean... Y'all know how I am with anything and everything Tropical inspired. And then they had the nerve to combine that heaux with RnB style instrumation?!?!!

Bitch...

I wanna be mad at how much I like this song. I really do. I wanna care about how the vocalist's voice is a touch too bright and whiny for that kind of vocal processing (it's faint, but it's there). I wanna feel some type of way about how that kind of vocal processing isn't really suited to this type of song. I would like to have some kind of critique here, but everything just slots together in a way that I can ignore the little things I don't care for.

Sis, idk how these underground labels know me well enough to make such targeted attacks against me like this, but I'm not mad. In fact, I'm very okay with that if I get to walk away with songs like Blah. Can we get more of this, instead of Future Bass or whatever other kooky trends are gonna rule K-pop this year?!?!!

Rating - 4/5

Foresight Dream (Younha)

Hello, Miss Younha!! It's nice to see you giving us something other than classical ballads like some kind of Baek JiYoung knockoff.

...was that mean?!?!!? Okay yeah, that was mean. Oh whatever, it isn't like other people weren't thinking it.

Copious amounts of shade aside, I'm been very here for what Younha has been doing, musically, since Get It. She's swapped out the ballads for a more RnB/Pop sound that's very in line with what the K-RnB World has been doing lately, and I couldn't be happier. Foresight Dream is a dreamy piano driven song that's a bit too downtempo in groove to qualify as an Acoustic Coffee Shop RnB Midtempo, but still has enough drive to feel like it's actually going somewhere. And Younha's voice sounds amazing. She's got a voice very similar to Alice from HV's, but Younha has more depth to her tone. All in all, a very magical experience.

One critique I have (and it's not even of the music) is that I'd have liked if Younha had released Foresight Dream before the GroovyRoom produced Parade. With the way Parade followed the ph-1 assisted Hello, I had assumed that she was done releasing songs. But with Foresight Dream coming after those two, it kind feels like it dampens her momentum. Idk, I'm just being a picky bitch.

Rating - 4/5

wewantourmoneyback (Giriboy)

*sigh*

This nigga talmbout how he want his money back, but I want my fucking time back from listening to this hot mess.

Okay, let me roll back the shade for a second. This song really isn't that bad. I've heard F A R worse from the likes Jay Park, Zico, and Dok2. But dude, this is a touch too fucking generic for a winter release. You couldn't have saved this for summer?!?!? When niggas is actually trynna shake they ass to generic trap beats?!?!

To be honestly, I'm tired of hearing these kinds of songs in K-HipHop. Especially from dudes who have tones like Giriboy. Their voices are whiny as fuck all, and these kinds of beats usually have a lot of higher tones in the mix (for those who are too bougie to listen to trap, producers typically use high, tinny synths as the main instrument in trap beats), so it's just a headache in the making. It's already hard enough to make a trap song without it sounding too repetitive, but these fools have truly tired me out with this genre. I can't even think of something to say about this song, cause it's just so generic.

Rating - 1/5

Paint Me (Mamamoo)

I'm sorry... MamaWHOMST?!?!?!!

Jokes aside, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this song. Mamamoo is a group that I once loved, but all that went sour when they decided to do blackface in concert (and then post a BTS video of getting into costume for said stage a week after posting an apology). And if I'm being honest here, their only good songs are You're The Best and Piano Man. I stanned for their other tracks for the culture; I liked what they did with the songs live. I didn't really listen to them, but tis the life of a K-Pop stan.

In retrospect, it's quite interesting how Mamawhomst Mamamoo haven't promoted a big power ballad like Paint Me before. The instrumentation is basic as all fuck, but it allows emphasis to be put on their vocals. Which are half the reason Mamawhomst Mamamoo survived Nugudom, in the first place. But as great as their voices are in this song, it just doesn't go anywhere. It throws you from one extreme to the other, and then ends. It's hella polarizing, and not something I really wanna put myself through with repeated listens.

Rating - 2.5/5

A Day I Want To Love (HEYDAY featuring Lim Eun Young)

A Day I Want To Love is a very typical classical ballad, and while that usually has me running for the hills, I decided to give it a chance. And I mean, this isn't a song that I'd put into Heavy Rotation, but it'd fit in very nicely with all the songs I download to use as shuffle bait. I'd also quite like to hear this sung live. Idk, I just feel like it'd come off better that way.

Rating - 3/5

OGZ (Jo Woochan x Park Hyunjin x Achillo)

I don't understand this song.

That's not to say that it's bad. The beat reminds me of wewantourmoneyback, but GroovyRoom decided to make a more interesting remix of it. And the boys all hand in amazing verses. But idk, yo. This song just feels weird as all fuck.

Rating - 4/5

Missing You (VOISPER)

How fitting that this is the song that closes out the main list week. Missing You is another lowtempo shuffle bait track (the mood for this week, apparently), but this time around, we get some horns in the mix. Which I greatly appreciate, because without them, this song would have been extremely boring. VOISPER have nice voices, but their technique is kind of sloppy. And I don't usually sweat shit like that, but it's really noticeable here.

Rating - 3/5

The Fabulous Five

So... You've made it to the end of the post (thank you, btw), and are now wondering what in the actual fuck a Fabulous Five are. Well, it's simply a fancy title (because your bitch is hella dramatic) for my favorite songs of the week. In fact, if you payed any mind to the (badly made) gifs at the top of the post, you'd notice they're from the following videos. Anyway, there's no real metric for what goes here, just songs that I stan a lot.

5. Lower (f(Amber+Luna))

MY WIG!!

MY QUEENS!!

M Y W I G!!

Lower is God tier, sis. I've read a few people's reviews of the song, and the one thread of commonality between them all is that Lower is generic and not worthy of the f(x) brand. And while I'm not gonna sit here and act like Lower isn't something I'd expect to hear at a European gay club (or any gay club for that matter), I really like what Amber and Luna did with this song.

I also think that Lower should be considered a performance piece above all. I view EXO's Monster this way - I don't care for the song by itself, but I'm hype as fuck when there's an accompanying visual. Amber and Luna could have made this beat their bitch (Luna certainly has the vocal chops for it, and Amber could have done ha thing with a lil rappy rap), but the main focus of the song is the breakdown. And they dance for their fucking lives to said breakdown.

I can't tell you if I'd have liked this song so much from another duo in K-Pop or if I'd have liked it if it didn't come with a video, but the reality is that like it.

Me Likey Likey a lot!!

I'm really hoping that SM sees how well of a unit these two make, and decides to debut them, officially. Cause God only knows we aren't getting any new material from f(x) anytime soon. Victoria is too busy livin ha best life in China, and Krystal is too busy looking fed up for no reason with Jessica, whilst people throw money at BLANC & ECLARE.

Rating - 3/5

4. Hot Potato (N.FLYING)

Before I start in on my review of this song, I just wanna ask what the fuck is up with idol bands being filled with beautiful ass humans?!?! Like?!?!?! Anytime I watch anything with Day6, I can't help but wanna cry at how hot they are. And watching N.FLYING's Music Core comeback stages, I got the same feeling. I could barely pay attention to the songs. Am I really just that thirsty?!?!?

Nobody fucking answer that, I know I'm thirsty heaux. I don't need you shady bitches dragging me for it.

Existential crisis aside, Hot Potato is a banger. I'm really hoping 2018 is the year idol bands start thriving, because I need more songs like these in my life. The verses are pure octane fun, while the choruses are power pop crack. I dare one of you to tell me you wouldn't sing along to that chorus if you knew Korean. I fuckin D A R E you!! And whoever's idea it was to add Yoo Hweseung from Produce 101, I wanna kiss you silly. His chemistry with Lee Seunghyub is ridiculous!! And in addition to that, an added vocalist allows them added flexibility with with N.Flying's rap/sing vocal style. I'm just so happy with this song, especially with how little love I had for The Real. It's great, sis.

Rating - 5/5

3. Her (Drug Restaurant)

Raise your hand if you had no idea that Jung Joon Young's band changed their name to Drug Resturaunt!?!?!?

...

Oh that was just me, not paying attention to anything?!?! Okay...

The first time I heard Her, I was immediately mesmerized by that opening chord progression. Some part of my musically trained brain knows how overused that progression is, but the rest of me is too busy blissing out to it to care (to be fair, most chord progressions in popular music are overused, because there's only so many that actually sound good to our ears). Her is no one trick pony, tho; she may come back to the oddly dissonant and melancholic texture of the intro now and again, but she always makes sure to give you something new with it.

The rest of the song is pretty great, too. Jung Joon Young has a very smooth texture to his baritone, very similar to BTS's Kim Taehyung (and if y'all know anything about my gay ass, y'all know I'm a H E A U X for baritones), and it's a great contrast to the grit of the instrumental.

Her is a very nice intro (err... reintrduction) to a great band. I keep telling myself I'll get back into rock like I was in middle school (the only good thing about being a weeb is J-rock and VISUAL KEI, I will fight you if you say otherwise), and it looks like God decided to help a girl out.

Rating - 4.5/5

2. Twenty Something (Alice featuring Yooyoung of HELLOVENUS)

Hello?!?!? Fantagio?!?!?! Starship Entertainment called; they want their Acoustic Coffee Shop RnB Midtempo back.

Yes, I realize I'm not that funny, but it's not gonna stop me from cracking jokes

So... If you don't know what an Acoustic Coffee Shop RnB Midtempo is, it's basically the RnB version of an acoustic midtempo ballad (hence the acoustic coffee shop bit). They're usually not acoustic at all, but they still have the same feeling as an acoustic ballad, if that makes sense.

And can I make a bold statement here?!?!!? Fantagio just declared a turf war against Starship with this song. Yes babies, it's that fucking good. Starship is usually my go to for Acoustic Coffee Shop RnB Midtempos, but it looks like Fantagio wants to throw their hat in the ring for consideration.

Alice has the right amount of grit to her voice to really hook you in, but a decent amount of brightness to help uplift the track. And Yooyoung's rap is just... Oh my God, it's so good!! I wanted it to be longer, sis. A++ content!!! She provides a nice texture change that makes Alice's voice pop when she takes over the track again. And the instrumentation just makes my brain happy tingle. God, I'm just so in love with this song!!

My only complaint is about that flat ass, limp ass, needs to be put out of it's misery ass high shriek Alice does over the final chorus. Guys, I am so tired of my ears being accosted by these singers trying to belt. Most of K-Pop's vocalists are sopranos with bright ass tones and absolutely no power behind their voices. This obsession with high belted notes at the end of songs is just so weird, and if y'all are gonna continue to do it, I need y'all to integrate that shit into the song better. Don't just have a vocalist do their best "OH MY GOD, THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL ME" shriek. It's so irritating!!

And apparently, this is the first of a monthly song single campaign Fantagio is doing for 2018?!?!!? Someone at that company wants me to die, sis. First, they inflict Ong Seungwoo and Park Jinwoo on my ass, and now this.

Rating - 4.5/5

1. Bboom Boom (MOMOLAND)

First of all, can we give S. Tiger a round of applause for throwing it back to EXID's Nyam Nyam Jeop Jeop?!?!?!? That is a top five favorite b side of mines, so the second I heard the guitar in the teaser, I fucking Knew™ my edges were about to get snatched right off my face.

Secondly, Queen JooE is outchea livin ha best life, and I'm just so here for it. People love to talk shit about girl groups cause they only do cutesy and sexy concepts (nevermind the fact that boy bands do the same shit, but I guess y'all not trynna hear that), but anytime girl groups give you something different, y'all not trynna stan. So, I'm so fucking here for JooE serving you basics Unapologetic Joy™ in the New Year.

Hallelujah, Thank You Jesus!!

For those of you who can't tell (although it's position in the Fab Five should've tipped you off), I fucking love Bboom Bboom. I was ready for Bboom Bboom the second the teasers started rolling in, and my excitement hit an all time peak with the Great! highlight medley showing that the entire mini was Banger Central™. My only complaint about the song is that the transition from the trap beat to the regular beat in the second verse was so throwed together and clunky. Did y'all run out of time to really integrate that right, cause?!?!?!?! I love that section, but that it could have been handled way better.

Still my favorite song of the week.

Rating - 4.5/5

And that's that, folks!! Tune in next week at 6pm EST to see my round up of this week's new releases. And don't forget about Friday's Feature Splotlight at 6pm EST!! There's been a little (Okay, it's a pretty big ) change to the schedule. Wanna know what it is?!?!?! Be sure to check it out!!!

[hereidinathoreauwrites]

Fiona Felicity Frizzle (or: Frizzle, the younger)

Magic School Bus Rides Again one-shot drabble: the adventures of Fiona Felicity Frizzle (travels through science and time with the new teacher)

No one ever could keep me tied down. Not that anyone had ever really tried.

If there was one thing the Frizzle family was, we were proud of our eccentricity and desire to learn. We were also special. Mom used to say we all had a little touch of magic. Nothing world-shaking or time-altering but just a sparkle that let us be extraordinary. And my sister and I seemed to have more than just your average sparkle.

Of the two of us, Val had always been the golden child. She excelled in both school and the extraordinary specialties of our name. She was smart, curious, charming, and talented, even among our family. That’s why no one raised any stink when she was gifted the keys at the tender age of 16. She was ready for them; everyone could see it.

And while I wasn’t far behind her in most things, in this, she indisputably won.

I never wanted to follow in Valerie’s footsteps. No one even expected it of me. We were free to pursue whatever we wished. She was just the perfect embodiment of a Frizzle. Everyone in our extended family looked up to her and I was just Frizzle: the younger.

All the same though, when Val was handed those keys, it awoke a deep hunger in me. Hunger for the kind of adventure only having the keys could provide. But the keys were out of reach. So I’d just have to find adventure on my own.

With that spirit, one day I just grabbed up my knapsack and took off. What can I say? I was 16, it was 1993 and I had waited long enough. The world was my oyster and I intended to know everything about it that I could. Keys or no keys, I wasn’t going to let my education suffer. Maybe I should have apologized for taking Dad’s Time-Winder but the thing was just collecting dust. Wasn’t it better if it was in use?

So my curious tinkering may have set the thing off and I ended up spending quite a long time on ancient Lesbos Island helping a wonderful young woman write some very beautiful poetry. In return, she let me study her father’s books on medicine and biology. It all worked out in the end. After a while, I was able to un-tinker what I had tinkered and the Time-Winder shot me forward to the year 2016. Deciding I should maybe leave exploring time for later, I instead set off to explore space.

After a few hitch-hikes and a brief stint as a stand-up comedian in Lithuania, my lucky break got me all the way to a place I’d always wanted to go — the steppes of Mongolia in the Altai Mountains. So in a way, it was lucky my plane crashed there. I met a fascinating young girl who taught me about how her culture has hunted with golden eagles for generations. I nearly got frostbite cantering after her on her hunt. In return, I taught her everything I knew about medicine and human biology. When I was ready, I left her family to join a caravan heading east.

From Mongolia came a rather trying time in Japan, where I struggled to master calligraphy and the lost art of the sword. After that, I crossed the Pacific in a one-woman kayak and nearly drowned just off the coast of Guam. A passing freighter offered me a ride and I happily bounced from Guam to Hawai’i to the Gulf of California.

Sometime later, I found myself wandering through the Brazilian jungle and somehow ended up being adopted by a family of golden lion tamarin monkeys. I think they wanted my necklace but didn’t know how to ask. They were a lot of fun, especially when they tried to comb my hair for me. I learned a lot about climbing from them. When I left, one of them followed me. Before long, she was sitting on my shoulder, comfortably jumping from adventure to adventure with me. I called her Goldie.

Goldie made my adventures more interesting by far. She was curious and sneaky, often getting her fingers into things people didn’t want them in. One time, I’d had to pry her away from a bakery in Germany after she’d discovered banana crème filling. I don’t think we’re welcome in that bakery anymore…

She’d also once pilfered the Hope Diamond. I don’t think anyone noticed though; I had recently perfected my espionage skills in study with the KGB and CIA (independently, of course) and those transferred rather well to breaking into the Smithsonian to restore the jewel.

Goldie eventually learned though that some times were better than others for sticking her fingers into things. It took a few years (and a lot of stern reprimands and banana crème pastries) but I eventually taught her.

If there was one thing I never did, it was settle down. There was just too much to see and learn. I had barely cracked into world languages, let alone the dead ones! My pack was always home to half a dozen books or so that I swapped out as I finished them. Reading a chapter or two of a classic before falling asleep at night was the best way to finish off a day of adventure. And long flights between new adventures were perfect for picking up phrases in other languages.

Goldie and I traversed the world, never once looking back in our endless thirst for knowledge and adventure.

At some point while rocketing down the Alps on stolen skis, I realized I had turned 33 somewhere in my wanderlust.

And for some reason, that made me more homesick than anything else. I debated going home but never made a move to. For one, I had effectively vanished for twenty-three years when I’d used the Time-Winder the first time. I’d be the wrong age if I went home. Val would be nearly twice my age now. It just seemed wrong. And I hadn’t even told my parents when I left.

I didn’t belong at home.

After that, I stopped counting my numerical age. I measured my life in adventures and I had more of those than I had years on this Earth. Besides, it was harder to keep track of one’s age when one was leaping through time constantly.

Despite the inherent danger I’d found in using the Time-Winder, it was irresistible to have that power and not use it. What was an adventure without a little risk after all?

And use it I did.

It was finicky but functional. I couldn’t choose the destination precisely but it always seemed to take Goldie and me where we needed to go.

1567 was an incredible year. Yes, I may have romanced both the captain’s wife and the captain himself aboard a trading vessel and then accidentally won a sword duel to become captain of a passing pirate schooner but life was so dull without conflict. So I may have picked those fights deliberately. Elizabeth was an incredible woman though…she didn’t even care that I was a woman.

Shame the pirates learned I was a woman as well and chased me halfway across the Caribbean before I managed to slip into Costa Rica and vanish.

Nikola Tesla was a surprising ally in my quest to explore time. He was fascinated by my Time-Winder, even though I’m not sure he completely understood what it was. I spent many months at his side, studying engineering, chemistry, and electricity alongside him. Leaving was difficult but I had to. Edison was getting suspicious and I wasn’t looking to end up in any history books.

I picked up guitar somewhere between Han dynasty China and 1980’s New York, which surprisingly opened up more doors for me than my newly-cultivated ability to speak 14 different languages (2 of which were dead languages!) fluently. Seems throughout most of history, people have had more use for music performers than they have for reliable translators. Goldie and I played our way across America and Russia during two different centuries on the pennies cast by passersby and the tips of the tipsy.

Splashing along the tide lines with Rachel Carson was a truly illuminating experience. Was there nothing that woman didn’t know about the ocean? She was an incredible friend and companion to me in the 1950s when I’d stopped to study the early days of space exploration and the rise of the environmental movement. And who better to apprentice myself to than Rachel herself? We took a great many tidepool specimens back to her study and spent many weeks identifying each one and making small sketches. I even offered my critiques on some of her writings.

But when she mentioned Val, I knew it was time to leave her. Coming so close to my sister while she was chasing her own adventure was jarring and it brought back feelings I hadn’t realized I’d buried so long ago.

I could pretend all I wanted but what I knew I craved, I couldn’t have. Without the keys, I was imprisoned in this life of wandering. The most I could hope for was a surface look at whatever phenomenon or historical event caught my eye. I was doomed to see everything through unbreakable glass.

But still, it was all I had. Val had inherited the keys. That left me with whatever I could take and whatever I could explore on my own. So I got even more daring.

Maybe Alcatraz was a step too far though...

Goldie and I were sailing down the Colorado River on a raft I’d constructed on my own sometime in 1842 when my real adventure finally began.

As I struggled to both man the tiller and the sail (Goldie scouting ahead from our mast), an anachronistic ringing sound came from my pack.

Strange…I wouldn’t have thought my phone would work in a time before it was invented…

Risking letting go of the tiller, I dug into the pocket and pulled out the ringing device.  Wow, cell reception was surprisingly strong out here.

I answered the phone with one hand. “Hello? What’s up?” The sail rope slackened and I leaned on it to rig my sail back up.

“Hello Fi!” It had been years since I’d heard that voice.

“Val!” Goldie shrieked, drawing my attention back to the river. “Can you hold on one second?” I tucked the phone between my teeth so I could hold the sail with one hand and adjust the rudder with the other. Goldie and I shot down the river, dodging nimbly between the rapids. The rope burned into my hands and I smiled around the phone in my mouth. This was just as incredible as I had imagined!

We burst out into some steady water a few seconds later and I finally released my grip on the sail.

“Sorry about that, rapids.” I continued, holding the phone to my ear again. “What can I do you for, Val?”

“I’ve got a proposition for you, dearest sister of mine.”

“Oh yeah? What?”

“How do you feel about teaching?”

“Teaching…?”

“Yes. You’d have to give up your lonely quest to explore all of time though. How does 2017 sound?”

“Does this mean…!”

“Yes Fiona. The keys are being passed. It’s your turn to inherit the Bus.”

I didn’t wait a second. Barely giving Goldie time to jump onto my shoulder, I scooped up my bag and tinkered the Time-Winder one last time.

At last, I was stepping right through that glass door.

[lydiahainesqut-journal-blog]

Online Journal Analysis

Seminar Week 4:

“EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT”

·       Contrast between historical building and contemporary, neon, capital letters (Old building- reassuring and authoritarian- the building has been around for a long time, and is reassuring the readers that everything is going to be alright)

·       Text is quite intrusive as it has been placed on the outside of a monumental building- subtracts the quality of the building.

·       Have measured the exact width of the building to fill the text of the entire width- taking into account the architecture of the building.

·       Public space, shown by the amount of people in the photograph.

·       The colour of the white text in combination with the sombre, grey atmosphere creates an overall solemn image.

o   The main presence of luminosity in the image.

·       The text is indicating that everything is not alright currently- something needs to change. An example of modern propaganda.

Week 5:

Lecture 4:

Type up written notes from class.

Week 8:

Premier Pro CC Workshop:

·       Exporting File

o   Select area that you wish to export (mark an outpoint so that your work goes from 0 seconds to the point you wish to include).

o   Make sure window is active with blue line.

o   File à Export à Media (Command M) à Change settings and place.

§  Click on file name and make sure you know where you’re saving it.

o   Format: H.264 (NOT blueray)

o   Preset: Vimeo 1080p HD (720 is fine also)

o   Click export audio and video.

o   Click queue- this will open up a list of things to export… then launches another programme called Adobe Media Encoda.

o   Once you have got your “list”, then click export.

·       Audio

o   Right click on audio à unlink, then delete the video instead of the sound.

o   Fade: selection tool, right click. Apply to fault transition.

Preparation for Assessment 2

Artist Talk- 2 minutes

This artwork MUST be new this semester, and NOT one of the 2 discussed in your Studio Report.

Form/Process:

Introduce and describe your work addressing its general information(e.g. medium, materials, scale, ‘gestalt’ impression, display method etc.) as well as specific formal qualities (e.g. texture, light, line, colour, evident methods etc.).

Content:

Discuss how these formal qualities can relate to and communicate certain ideas or experiences that you are interested in. Remember the adjectives you use to describethe work can contribute to the discussion of content. Your choice of words is important here to acknowledge your subjective position. Avoid overly didactic and ‘closed’ discussions of your work.

·       Paper Formations – organic flower forms, lined paper.

·       Are You Happy Now? – varied blue floor piece.

·       Art Annotations – Green plastic suspended piece.

·       Process Pronunciated – Fucia pink, plastic film.

Contextual Discussion- 3 minutes

Providing a very brief overview of a post-1960 contemporary artist who influences your work, choose 1 work of theirs to compare to your own. This artist MUST be a different artist to those you discussed in your Studio Report.

Form/Process: Describe the formal qualities of the work using adjectives to contribute to ideas of content. Content: What ideas, experiences, and emotions do you think the work communicates? Again, this is a subjective analysis of the work that should avoid exclusive claims and readings. It is expected thought that this analysis would be informed by further research.

Context: Now compare and contrast your work with your chosen influence. How do your formal choices of media and process relate or diverge? Why did you make these decisions? Why do you imagine they did? What overlaps and differences are there in your ideas, topics, emotions etc.? How does this manifest in the work? What else have you found out about this artist? Do you share any influences?

·       Marit Roland

·       Angela De La Cruz

Week 8

Lecture 5:

John Baldessari (1973)

·       He sits in front of some new technology for that time (video camera) making images that move- beyond cinema, beyond film. Was a very technically advanced and expensive activity making films but in the 1970’s video became more accessible for artists to make moving images.

·       Artists were playing with the idea of experience- what experience can they offer someone to take them on a journey? (early video works were documentations of performances)

o   35 Sentences on Conceptual Art- what Baldessari is singing/reading on the video performance.  

Dan Graham (1975) “Performer, Audience, Mirror”

·       This artist is purely narrating his actions in the performance (eg. I am moving my head to the right, to the left… etc.)

·       The large mirror allows each audience member to watch themselves watching the performance - become acutely aware of how they watch a performance.

Richard Serra (1973) “Television Delivers People”

·       Branding the use of television to show people how ‘useless’ television might be. Merely a source of branding/advertising for companies behind the scenes.

Gary Hill (1980) “Prosesual Video”

·       The monotone voice adopted when narrating creates a sombre atmosphere, enhanced with the use of a black background.

·       The powerful thing here is that we implicitly connect his narrative with the ever-changing image on the screen.

·       The very simple white line becomes everything it needs to be when it adapts to each different object narrated (eg. Horizon, ski slope, horizon etc.)

More works by Gary Hill- “Videograms” , “Happenstance”

·       Creates abstracted forms, moments of synchronicity between sound and image as well as discontinuity between image and language. A slippage becomes prominent between how we read text and how we see text.

General Idea “Shut the Fuck Up- Part III” (1984) – Artist Collective

·       Subtle reference to Eve’s Cline.

·       A multi-segmented video.

·       The artist collective’s cleverly deceit makes this video lightly comical.

Gillian Wearing (1997) “2 in 1”

·       An example of a very simple idea becoming very effective- mother and twin sons swap voices. The kids critique her parenting, and she explains how there is love and hate in all human relationships.

·       Simple creative choices that go together can create incredibly rich viewing situations.

·       This is quite a compelling video to watch in terms of time, as she critiques about how her children behave and they critique how the mum dresses.

Omer Fast (2002) “CNN Concatenated”

·       Again, this video is very compelling derived from the simple idea of creating a unique narrative using news reporters words in aid of this.

·       This very simple editing has incredible power to create a whole new narrative out of existing pieces.

·       Quite poetic- pauses, rhythm etc.

·       Post 9/11: in attempt to make sense of the world and what is currently happening. Utilizing the reports from this time to try and make sense of an incredibly complex and political landscape.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (2002) “Dakota”

·       Create flash-based artworks – early net art makers creating these online experiences of purely text and sound, however it is poetry aswell.

o   What happens when you try and make poetry that has sound attachced?

o   What happens when a reader has no control at the speed to read the poem? (Entirely at the mercy of the time and experience that the artists make for us).

·       Forms a ‘porous poem’: one of different entry points, unable to refer back as it is continuous. If one is unable to keep up with the speed, then they will have a different artistic experience to someone who can.

Candice Breitz (2005) “King (portrait of Michael Jackson)”

·       Video recording of selected people singing other celebrities songs. Very effective.

Grant Stevens (2005) “Like Two Ships”

·       Pairs a fast paced poem with different sound: creates slippages between what we hear and what we see.

Video art usually operates on different time-based experiences, so try and push yourself to see what your attention spam is capable of.

Ignas Krunglevicius (2009) “Interrogation”

·       Took advantage of what it means to create a conversation between two screens.

·       This work recreates an interrogation between a police officer and their as yet un-arrested interviewee.

·       Formally, the very simple composition and rhythm adopted here reflects actually a very complex, kinetic soundtrack that is synchronised with every line typed.

·       Bursts of colour or light at certain points might reflect the states of the interviewee.

·       The speed and tempo change depending on the nature of the conversation between the interviewer/interviewee.