#yes I'm hopping on this trend

[glass-needles-and-futurisms]

So Muse's second album Origin of Symmetry was originally released in 2001 worldwide, except in the United States where it came out four years later. The band had a creative conflict with their American label who wanted them to rerecord some songs, tone down Matt Bellamy's signature falsetto and make it sound more like nu metal which was

[freezeher-moved]

diary of a preacher's daughter on netflix. ©

[vintagegeekculture]

I remember a friend of mine had some LPs that were Star Wars themed disco albums, and it brought back a very weird memory from back in the 70s (yes, I'm old!) of listening to a Star Wars disco mashup on the radio. What was all that about? I also remember something like that for Close Encounters, too.

You remember correctly, and this went on for a long while. In 1983, disk jockeys around the country played a record that involved an Ewok rapping the plot of Return of the Jedi in Ewokese. This made it to #60 in the Billboard Top 100.

This is hard to explain to people who weren’t there….but in the wake of Star Wars in the late 70s and early 80s, scifi was so beloved and mainstream that the orchestral music for nerdy scifi and fantasy movies about outer space were remixed and sampled into Giorgio Moroder-esque Italo-Disco dance numbers. And the most astonishing thing is, instead of being consigned to convention acts the way “horse famous” Brony dubstep acts are, this received national airplay on the radio, reached the pop music charts, and were played in discotheques. And incredibly, this continued for years and expanded from Star Wars into Star Trek, Wizard of Oz, Black Hole, Close Encounters….

All of this was the work of one specific person: Meco (or Dominico Monardo). The term “ahead of their time” is thrown around a lot, but Meco really was: a combination producer-songwriter and Italo-Disco pioneer in the style of Giorgio Moroder, he did several things that are now absolutely standard: he used remixes and sampling before hiphop made that standard for musicians, he wrote “fandom music” on a Moog synthesizer decades before Bronies turned their conventions into cringey dubstep concerts with songs like “Everypony Dance Now.”

It's stunning to me that Meco has not been rediscovered, considering every single trend in the culture essentially went his way.

The most startling thing about Meco’s Star Wars disco album, the one that got the ball rolling on this trend, is this: I always assumed it was some kind of cash in created by a record label mandate, a label executive’s completely cynical choice to hop on a hot new trend. That isn’t a crazy thing to think at all, since Star Wars is and always has been the most merchandized and sold out scifi property ever. But it wasn’t! You see, it was all the product of a single man’s specific vision: Meco had to convince his record label to make the record because they were skeptical.

When Meco went to see Star Wars in 1977 on Opening Day (what an experience that must have been) with his friend and fellow Italian chest hair/gold medallion enthusiast Tony Bongiovi, he was already an experienced producer-songwriter who had worked with Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross, and formed DCA, the Disco Corporation of America. If you've ever listened to Diana Ross's "I'm Coming Out," Meco actually played the trombone solo in that song. Seeing the Star Wars movie for the first time, though Meco thought the movie was nothing short of a religious experience. Originally, he wanted to do Star Wars music as a b-side on a Gloria Gaynor album, but expanded the idea into an entire album.

In Meco’s own words:

"When I think about what I did, nobody came to me, nobody said 'Meco, why don't you do this.' Nobody says 'Here's some money go make a record of this movie.' It was just my own... It was magical, it was just out of this world when all that happened."

Not only did this album hit platinum, not only did it actually outsell the Star Wars soundtrack, his remix of the Star Wars theme also went to #1 in the charts. It’s actually the best selling instrumental single of all time. A record, that, incidentally, it holds to this day.

Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand, had this to say about Meco:

"In 1977, Meco Monardo accomplished something no one else has ever done to the best of my knowledge. He was the first one in history to out-sell the soundtrack of a motion picture with his own distinctive version of a film's music. The music was totally danceable, and broke new ground. It's no wonder the STAR WARS THEME went to # 1. I loved his treatment of music from THE WIZARD OF OZ. Again, Meco created something innovative. The fun and the excitement gave a whole new feel to that totally familiar and well-loved music."

Like a lot of studio producers, Meco had an insane work ethic and hit when the iron was hot: he did an album about Close Encounters that exact same year, but also did a Star Wars Christmas Album, one of the strangest pieces of Star Wars kitsch around.

One of the most interesting things about the Star Wars Christmas album is that one of the songs, “R2D2’s Wish You a Merry Christmas” is the first professional vocals by John Bon Jovi, who was Meco’s friend Tony Bongiovi’s seventeen year old younger cousin (he was initially known as John Bongiovi). It's incredible to hear a squeaky voiced teen Bon Jovi on a kitsch album about a robot Christmas.

1978-1979 was really his best year. Meco made an Italo-Disco remix album entirely devoted to Superman, and at this point, Meco had the pull to get access to John Williams's sheet music for the score before the music even came out. In my personal opinion it's the best of them because he has to recreate it entirely with his own instruments, leading to a very unique sound.

He also did an album based on the Wizard of Oz:

And a combination album of Star Trek/Black Hole. It's probably the earliest remixing date of Goldsmith pieces of music: the Motion Picture Theme (which is now associated with the Next Generation - hearing it done in Italodisco is uncanny) and the Klingon Theme:

Incidentally, I think the design here of the Meco Enterprise, which had to be modified for legal reasons, would make a wonderful canon starship if anyone wants to be inspired by it. It reminds me of the same concept that would be used in the very next film for the Reliant-class of ships.

Meco eventually retired from music in 1985, but unfortunately he is no longer with us, as he passed into the next dimension in 2023. I think he showed us that creativity is often about transformation, and was inspired to make his art by a legitimate awe of space, the cosmos, and human imagination that the scifi movies of the 1970s and 80s provoke.

[goldfades]

★ TARGET AND CHICK-FIL-A ─── PB⁵

❪ requested -> "Hey! Just wanted to request a Paige Bueckers story where it’s a compilation of TikTok pranks, like calling her your wife, asking for help with the tampon being stuck, etc. thank you" ❫

─ pairing | paige bueckers x fem!reader

─ warnings | literally nothing but fluff!

⇨ missing out on updates? check out my wcbb masterlist!

You propped up the camera on your water bottle, ushering Paige toward you. She was confused for a few moments before she glanced down at your phone, a smile curving her lips.

"What are you doing?" Paige asked as she glanced at the camera, checking herself out for a few seconds as you laughed.

"Just a TikTok," you reply, grinning as you pressed record. Paige's hands immediately pulled you closer to her chest as she smiled at the camera.

"Hey guys, uh... I don't know what this is-" Paige started as you began to laugh, shaking your head.

You can't help but chuckle at her adorably awkward introduction. "Hey so we're doing that trend where you guess your wife's favorite food, so uh..."

Paige's smiled widened as she glanced down at you, realizing what you were doing. However, she didn't miss a beat, playing along as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Let's see if my wife can actually figure it out, it's a hard one for sure," Paige pulled you closer into her chest as you laughed, feeling yourself blush under her gaze.

You feigned a moment of deep contemplation, squinting dramatically as if trying to read her mind. "Hmm, let me think... Chipotle?"

"Hey, that's a not a food-" Paige spoke before you scoffed, laughing.

You playfully interrupted, "Oh, come on, it counts!"

Paige couldn't hold back her laughter, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Okay, you win, wifey. Cause you know she's the best, she knows me so well."

"Yeah, I do." You grinned proudly at the camera before you clicked the recording, stopping the TikTok.

Paige watched you with admiration before she pulled you in for a sweet kiss before pulling away. "I'm actually gonna make you my wife one day, okay?"

"I'll hold you to that, P." You smile warmly at Paige, feeling a rush of affection for her before she pulled you in for a deeper kiss.

──

You were laying on your bed next to Paige as you scrolled through Instagram, your boredom growing with each passing moment. The day outside seemed to beckon with its warm sunlight, yet you found yourself stuck indoors, yearning for something to break the boredom.

"Hey, what's up?" Paige's voice rang throughout the bedroom but you kept your eyes glued on the screen. "Oh, shit yeah, I'm down for Chick-fil-a, who else is going?"

Your interest was suddenly peaked as you glanced toward your girlfriend, your excitement palpable as you mouthed 'yes' to her. She put her pointer finger up as she continued talking. "Yeah, then we can hit up Target too, I've been cracing a Redbull."

"Paige," you whispered as she glanced toward you, a smirk playing on her face. "I wanna come too, please. Let me come, I want a Redbull too,"

Paige laughed softly before she continued talking on the phone, ignoring your pleas. "I'm down," she quickly glanced at you. "Nah, she's tired, she had a long day."

You immediately gasped in hurt as you shook your head, earning a laugh from Paige. "I'm not tired!" You shouted as Paige's laughter fills the room, and you can't help but playfully pout at her teasing.

"Can I come?" You spoke softly as Paige's expression softened, before sighing heavily. "Please?"

"Yeah, come on, let's go," Paige stopped recording as you rolled your eyes, a smile on your face as you realized Paige had been teasing you all along.

With a smile, you hop up from the bed, feeling a surge of excitement. "I knew it was that stupid trend,"

"Oh did you now?" She wrapped your arms around your waist as you nodded.

You chuckle, nodding as Paige wraps her arms around your waist. "Yeah, you had me going for a moment there. I was going to be really mad,"

Paige leans in, planting a soft kiss on your cheek. "I couldn't resist you though, it's actually embarrassing how quickly I caved."

You grin at Paige's admission, feeling a warmth spreading through you at her affectionate gesture.

↳ make sure to check out my navigation or masterlist if you enjoyed! any interaction is greatly appreciated !

↳ thank you for reading all the way through, as always ♡

[cher-rei]

Girlfriend!Reader does the Tiktok Trend where she calls her boyfriend Jamal musiala husband and he reacts all cute and excited like “damn yeah, I’m her husband”

husband material— jamal musiala [ J.M ]

and even after all the butterflies, I'm into you [still into you– paramore]

pairings: jamal musiala x fem!reader

summary: crumble cookie and a cute boyfriend.

genre(s): flufffffff

[w.c: 615] masterlist

notes: I've arrived!!!

if there was one thing that you loved more than your boyfriend then it was how flustered he got whenever you complimented him. (or when you did anything really)

and today just happened to be one of those days where you couldn't just scroll past a tiktok, not when you had jamal in all his oblivious perfection. so when you guys got back from the mall you rushed to the kitchen to set up your little scheme.

you called him over with the intent to film a cute but simple tiktok while you guys tried crumble cookie since the store just opened in munich. everyone was going crazy over it so the cover up was good enough for jamal to believe, and if you wanted to do something then sure as hell he was going to be there.

trying best to suppress the smile on your face you hit the record button and ushered him into the frame. the box of cookies was in front of you on the kitchen island, jamal's eyes glued to it in curiosity which made you giggle.

“hey guys, so crumble cookie dropped in munich a few days ago so obviously I have to try it.” you tapped the pink box lightly, your lips tugging into smile as he was still so focused on it.

“so my husband and I got–”

jamal’s head snapped to look at you instantly, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “what?”

bingo.

you licked your lips and gave him a hum, trying to play it off as cool as possible.

he blinked down at you a few times, a smile etched onto his face but he wasn't sure if he heard you properly or not. he was sure that his brain was messing with him, blaming it on the exhaustion and hunger. “what?”

you let out an awkward laugh at his repeated question, the look on his face making your heart swell. “baby, you can't just say “what”. I'm confused.”

it was jamal's turn to laugh and he turned to look at you fully. “yeah me too.” he watched as you pulled a face at him. “did you not hear what you called me?”

in need of reassurance his hand found yours, the urge to pull you closer itching at him but he held himself back and prompted to question you properly. because maybe he was hearing things.

“my husband?”

your repetition of the title made his heart pound, the clarification sending a rush of warmth to his cheeks. he stared at you for a bit without anything to say as your smile only grew. you laughed playfully and lessened the space between the two of you, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

you looked up at him with a glint in your eyes. “are you not my husband? do you not like it?”

almost immediately jamal had his hands wrapped around your waist. “no shut up, why wouldn't I?”

your hands found their way around his neck. “exactly, so you're my husband.”

“hell yeah I am!” he looked at the camera, the cookies completely out of the question because since when was that ever important. “she's here with her husband. I'm her husband.” he pointed to himself proudly and let go of you and somehow found himself pacing around the kitchen.

you couldn't contain your laughter, not when he was chanting “I'm your husband” over and over to the point where he was giddily hopping around until he was back in frame and cupped your cheeks.

“that makes you my wife, oh my god, I love it here!”

“I'm your wife!” you screamed back in realisation and his smile grew.

“yes, baby I'm your husband!”

[angels-fantasy]

TikTok Filter Prank on Bf!Gojo

Satoru Gojo x Reader

Description: After seeing a girl prank her boyfriend on Tiktok, you decide it'd be fun to prank your boyfriend too.

Details: established relationship between reader and gojo. some tears from dramatic gojo but it's all good

Word Count: 571

also, this was inspired by this tiktok lol

While you were laying in bed, you came across a TikTok of a girl pranking her boyfriend with the eye distance filter. The way she set it up was by asking him to talk about who said "I love you" first while recording with the filter on.

You thought it was funny so you decided to try it on Satoru, who was in the kitchen making lunch.

Hopping out of bed and walking into the kitchen you called out to him.

"'Toru! I wanna do a TikTok with you." You said while leaning over the counter.

He looked at you over his shoulder while cooking, "Yeah? Alright, go sit on the couch baby. I'm almost done."

You smiled and nodded, listening to what he said and sat down on the couch, getting ready to record.

A few minutes later he came into the living room with two plates and placed them on the coffee table in front of you. Before sitting next to you, he kissed you on the top of your head.

"Okay I'm ready, and the food's ready too." He said, throwing an arm around you.

"'Kay." You said and hit record, "So I want you to talk about who said 'I love you' first. It's a little trend going around right now."

You then turned the camera to face Satoru, who was staring off into the distance thinking of what to say.

"It was definitely me. I don't think I was able to hold it in anymore, so that's why I-"

"Wait babe can you look at the camera while you're talking?" You asked, trying to discretely get him to notice the filter.

"Oh yeah - What the hell?!" He gasped, putting his hand up to his eyes and rubbing them.

"Why do I look like that?" He asked while looking at himself.

"Like what babe?" You asked, trying to hold your laugh in.

"Baby please don't do this to me. I know I don't look like that. Why are my eyes so far apart?!"

"'Toru you look normal! There's nothing wrong with how you look."

He put his hands on his face and groaned, "Oh my goodness. Am I not as handsome as I thought I was?"

You were about to answer, but then you heard him sniffling underneath his hands.

Making sure you were still recording you asked, "Are you crying?"

"Yes! I'm crying because I can't believe I look like that. There's no way it's real babe..." He cried.

You began to feel bad. "Wait I'm just messing with you 'Toru! It's just a prank I saw on TikTok!"

He made sure to keep his hands over his face and shook his head. "I don't care!"

Now you really felt bad.

You stopped recording and put your phone down, gently grabbing his wrists to try and pull his hands away.

"I'm so sorry. I was just trying to have fun. I didn't mean to make you cry. I love you." You said, now almost crying with him.

He sniffed, "Really?"

"Yes, always."

He removed his hands from his face, revealing a bright smile and tearless eyes.

"I love you too!"

You made a confused expression, "What the hell? Were you messing with me too?"

Satoru laughed and wrapped his arms around you. "Sorry baby, I already knew about that prank. I just wanted to get you back."

"You're so mean..." You grumbled and hugged him back.

hope you liked it! i love gojo lol i will try to write for him more

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

How did we go to "fucking your friends is fine" to incest I'm dying

as someone who both writes and reblogs a lot of posts about sex I have noticed A LOT of people have a mildly annoying trend of hopping on to any post about completely normal and harmless sexual activity and tacking on a "as long as it's consensual!!!," which is well-intentioned but does seem a bit like seeing someone say they're fine eating anything for dinner and chiming in "as long as there's no poison in it!!!!" like, yes, thank you, I understand where you're coming from but the absence of harm was very much implied in the original statement and didn't really need to be specified out loud.

seeing someone jump in to clarify that sex is fine as long as it's consensual and not incestuous is definitely a new one, but given the general state of the shitcourse I can't say I'm strictly *surprised*

[jarondont]

not to hop on the trend, but i'm hopping on the trend

20 notes and i'll make a masterlist (yes, it's super low, because it's time i actually made one)

rules: no more than 5 notes per person, and my own notes don't count

[ask--eggman]

Doctor, are you planning to stop all of these companies putting AI in all their programs? I mean, let’s be honest, your daughter is the ONLY AI worth anything, period. Because you made it, of course. Do they really think they can make something to outdo you?

Funny you mention it, I have actually been thinking about that. As you already know, I'm an absolutely masterful developer of A.I. With my greatest example being my very impressive loyal and efficient daughter. I put a lot of time and effort into her initial creation and thanks to the sheer power of my genius, she even surpassed all of my already extremely high expectations of my skills!

Of course, I create all of the greatest tech, robots and A.I. in the world, nobody else's comes close! I've always looked down on unimpressive, amateuer, inferior things created by anyone else. Even in the very rare cases that they're err, adequate, mine are superior and more impressive especially for all being created by just one extremely intelligent man. No big team needed here!

This trend of everything trying to incorporate A.I. now is just embarrassing. Seeing so many companies trying to hop on and boast that they're sooo revolutionary and groundbreaking, as if I didn't do all of that by myself and way better years ago! Ridiculous failure wannabe rivals of my own companies. If they knew the world's greatest scientific genius behind them, they wouldn't dare try!

And let's not overlook the way it's all so lazily and sloppily regenerative. I'll bet it's leeching on my own work too and turning it into an unrecognizable mess. Absolutely pathetic! Not only do they have nothing to be proud of in the first place, they can't even take all the credit for the results either. Not that they should even want to because have you seen the amalgamated garbage it's spitting out?

Meanwhile, my A.I. is made purely by code and electrons and the source of all its initial knowledge comes right from my own ingenious brain! Then I have said creations gather data based on direct observation and analysis to grow stronger just like me, instead of pulling from a bunch of already existing unreliable sources and mashing it all into incoherent, unintelligible slop.

So yes, I will put a stop to them. When I take over the world, they'll all be wiped all out as mere collateral damage in the process because it will require minimal effort. If any of them try to be so bold and confrontational with their own A.I., I'll have my own obliterate them in no time flat. They'll all realize they never stood a chance against the power of my genius and superior A.I., hoho!

[siriustaylorsversion]

timothee chalamet x reader social media au

all that you ever wanted from me was, sweet nothing.

summary- you reveal your celebrity crush on the jimmy fallon show and the internet goes wild tagging him and telling him to make a move since his feelings are the same.

yourname.official

yourname.official tune in to watch me completely embarrass myself on the jimmy fallon show while talking about marvel, taylor swift, hamburgers and celebrity crushes at 8pm est... liked by taylorswift, vancityreynolds and 3,14,900 others.

taylornation she can make the whole place ✨shimmer✨ *liked by yourname.official

chrisevans Should we tag him?

yourname.official DON'T YOU DARE chrisevans hey, tchalamet robertdowneyjr something for you tchalamet chrishemsworth hey mate, tchalamet paulrudd is this a new trend? tchalamet scarlettjohansson guys, leave her alone.........tchalamet

yourname'sfan.forevermore as paul rudd said, hopping onto the trend tchalamet

haileesteinfield i'm on your team yourname.official but WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?

yourname.official damn this is not how i thought this post would go...

yourname.official

yourname.official thank you everyone for tagging him! (i'm being sarcastic paulrudd) but at least you got us talking? liked by tchalamet, taylorswift and 2,80,999 others.

tchalamet to all who want to know... the way to get this girl is using taylorswift lyrics.

yourname.official facts. tchalamet what are you a rapper now? yourname.official LIL TIMMY TIM IN DA HOUSE. tchalamet forget i asked.

taylorswift i say that's my baby and i'm proud...

yourname.official I LOVE YOU. yournametaylorsversion HE USED YOUR LYRICS OMG

tchalametdaily

tchalametdaily guess who did the paps spot today in NY?

liked by haileesteinfield and 10,890 others.

yourname.forevermore SCREAMING.CRYING.THROWINGUP.

haileesteinfield is this how i'm gonna get information about you now youname.official... is it?!

timotheefanclub WAIT WTF IT HAPPENED ALREADY?

yournamefan.69 that's what she said?

tchalamet

tchalamet do you really wanna know where i was april 29th? hint: it was 8pm est... liked by yourname.official, chrisevans and 2,02,309 others.

yourname.official stop with the blondie lyrics.

tchalamet afraid you'll say yes? timmyfan WAIT WTF?! paulrudd I... what do you call it?? paulrudd ship! I ship! yourname.official paulrudd no one says that anymore, grandpa

yourname.forevermore I LOVE THIS. I LOVE YOU BOTH. I'VE FINALLY STARTED LOVING LIFE.

blakelively so... do we keep on tagging you in her posts?

yourname.official i love you, but NO

yourname.official

taylorswift can i keep her? happy birthday, my love 🩷 liked by tchalamet, joealwyn, yourname.official and 4,05,690 others.

yourname.official thank you for *everything*!

tchalamet is that a beautiful boy reference? yourname.official i told you i loved it.

blakelively happy birthday sweetheart!

yourname.official thank you!!! tell vancityreynolds you're the funnier one!!

tchalamet

tchalamet happiest birthday mon ange, thank you for all your support, love and just for... existing. wherever you stray i'll follow, here's to a new chapter in your life. liked by yourname.official, taylorswift, and 3,09,700 others.

comments on this post have been limited

yourname.official WOWZA you have a way with words. i cannot thank god enough that you're here in my life and i hope you know i'll be with you forevermore.

yourname.official

yourname.official thank you everyone for ALL the birthday wishes, i love you all a lot!!!!!!! manifesting for more happiness, strength and love till the next one!

liked by tchalamet, taylorswift and 5,06,690 others. comments on this post have been limited

tchalamet love the shirt!

yourname.official you would because it's YOUR gift.

taylorswift 🥺🖤

yourname.official it's you and me, that's my whole world.

spread love and kindness <3

[downtownbunnybaby]

Johnny Knoxville x SNL Cast Member Headcanons

A/N: Ignore the fact the SNL cast and Jackass timeline is inaccurate. This is my fantasy, and if I want Bill Hader and Johnny Knoxville to interact...THEY WILL. This is the most self-indulgent thing I have ever written.

[Johnny Knoxville x G!N Reader]

Warnings: None. SFW.

Words: 601

The two of you hit it off instantly when he hosted Saturday Night Live. It was evident to everyone that he preferred your sketches, even pitching for you to be the second lead. Not caring that it was painfully obvious he was flirting with you. 

“So, I was thinking you and Bill can—” 

“Actually, can you be in it, doll?” 

After the week concludes, the two of you promise to stay in contact. You’re constantly talking over the phone and flying out to each other's cities. So it’s no surprise to your SNL friends and the Jackass guys when you announce you’re dating. 

During breaks, you fly down to LA, making several appearances in episodes of Jackass as a background character. Despite your longing to join in your boyfriend’s antics, Knoxville never allows you in the stunts. In fear of you getting injured. 

“Can’t have that pretty face of yours telling jokes with a bruised eye,” 

However, in the first Jackass, you finally appear in a stunt pranking your SNL family. 

“HI! I’m Y/N, and welcome to Studio 8H,” 

You and the Jackass group are running around, using shopping carts to crash into cast members’ offices. 

“Dave, why don't you leave a gift for Fred on his couch,” 

We all know Lorne Michaels wanted Knoxville to join the cast, so he doesn’t mind when Knox is around during the week or rehearsals. Or when you “accidentally” write sketches that are made for Johnny to be featured. 

“...So you don’t want Seth to play the character or Andy. So, who do you want to play them?”

“Well…there’s one person I have in mind,”

“It’s Johnny, isn’t it,”

“No—yes, it’s Johnny,” 

Both groups love your relationship. 

Your SNL family adores Johnny and has also hopped on the trend of writing sketches for him when he’s around or pritching stunts for him to feature in Jackass. 

“Y/N! Show Johnny this stunt I wrote for him,” 

“Will, this isn’t a stunt,” Scanning the script, you laugh at the proposal. “This is five pages of you and Knoxville going on a romantic date. I’m not going to let you steal my boyfriend." Snatching the script, Will mutters about knowing him first before storming into his office. Queue Jason Sudekis and Andy Samberg tossing their text seeing you reject Will Forte. 

The Jackass guys think you are the funniest person and constantly ask you to join their group. 

“Come on, Y/N, leave SNL and join us,” 

“No, Steveo, I would like to stay alive for my third season,” 

“Your loss,” He said, swallowing a goldfish. “You can replace Knoxville.” 

You convince Lorne to let Knoxville host again, and it’s the most-viewed episode of the season. The cast and writers write sketches that showcase not only you and Knox’s comedic chemistry but also romantic chemistry. 

Somehow the romantic date sketch Will wrote made it into the show. Of course, Will takes the opportunity to make you a waiter that gets obliterated by food and has to fall onto tables and chairs. Knox has one hell of a time pretending to be on a date with Will—occasionally breaking character from the insanity. 

In the green room, Johnny lets you know he only has eyes for you. The appreciation makes you late for your appearance on Weekend Update. 

Seth makes sure to comment on your shortness of breath and disheveled appearance. 

“You alright, Y/N? You seem to be out of breath,” 

“Long walk.”

“It’s five feet…and you rolled over.” 

Naturally, you and Johnny are infatuated with one another, despite being on opposite ends of the comedic spectrum. 

—

TAGLIST:

@asskickedbygirl @captainboomaray @morbidxmagic @spoookyberry

TAGLIST FORM

A/N: this is such a niche, and I'm probably the only person benefiting from these headcanons.

[catbountry]

Does anybody else remember Pandora? Not the box, or the fictional planet where James Cameron's blue alien cat people live where there's a literal mineral called "unobtanium" that can only be harvested from that particular planet. My man literally called that shit "unobtanium," fucking portmanteau of "unobtainable" and the "-ium" suffix for newer elements. No. That has absolutely nothing to do with anything else I'm writing beyond this point. This is a post about music.

This is a post about the customizable internet radio station Pandora. And also it's going to briefly cover ClickRadio, it's going to talk about my experiences with YouTube Music, Spotify, my own iPod and how I find and listen to music, and how it's a core part of my creative process and I put a bunch of music references in pretty much all of my creative work. None of it being musical, by the way. I can barely carry a tune and I can't play any instruments more complicated than a kazoo.

It also got really long and rambly, look, I'm high, I'm sorry. You've been warned.

It's 2001. I'm in high school. My life looks like this drawing I made a few weeks ago.

Music is a big part of my life. The internet was a lot slower. It would take several minutes to download an .mp3 file of a song that was only about three and a half minutes long, so I would listen to the radio a lot. But the thing about listening tuning into radio is that it's not the internet. You can't pick which song to listen to whenever you want. If you want that, your best bet is to own the songs you want on their physical CD releases, or risk exposing your mom's computer to a million viruses. But in order to skip a song, you have to press a physical button to skip a song. And of course, if you're listening to the radio where you can discover new songs, you can't skip the latest Limp Bizkit or Disturbed track with the vain hope that maybe they'll play "One-Armed Scissor" by At The Drive-In or "Go With the Flow" by Queens of the Stone Age, or any single off of Kid A. Everything you hated the most, hated more than Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys, was all lumped together under the formless "alternative rock" label, which weirdly included hip-hop artists like Eminem, House of Pain, Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, Gorillaz and Outkast; all stuff that I guess radio stations looked at and thought "yeah, this can appeal to white people."

You know I heard Dynamite Hack's version of "Boyz N The Hood" before I ever heard Eazy-E's? That should be a crime. That should be considered a human right's violation. Fuck you, Dynamite Hack for introducing the entire world to the concept of ironic hipster covers hip-hop songs which led to the fucking white people with ukeleles versions of Tupac songs. I am so glad that we, as a society, have all come together against these dynamite hacks and decided this was cringe and something that belongs in the past.

But this isn't an essay on awful YouTube music trends of the early 2010's, this is listening to music in the internet age in the early 2000's.

In 2001, ClickRadio launched. It was a desktop application that allowed you to listen to radio stations via the internet, but it had something real radio stations did not; if a song like, say, Dynamite Hack's cover of "Boys N The Hood" came on, you could click a thumbs down button and it would let out this cartoonishly loud "thud" and then that station would never play that song for you again. And if they played a song you really liked? You could click a thumb's up button and it would play that song more often.

I cannot understate how fucking mindblowing an idea this was in the early 2000's. Yes, ClickRadio would slow down your computer as the Neopets Flash games you would play gringing for Neopoints to get a Halloween brush for your Lupe that you named after a member of your favorite band. Anybody else do that?

No? Just me? Okay then.

ClickRadio would quickly get enshittificated, within only about a year or two being filled with more and more unskippable ads. I went back to just loading up MP3s in Winamp and playing music that way by the time I was in college, but it was a pain having to listen to whatever song I had physically on my hard drive, or a few years later, going to YouTube to see if somebody uploaded a crusty version of a NoMeansNo song with a Spanish-speaking DJ speaking in the opening bits of the video. Not ideal.

But then Pandora showed up.

I don't remember where I first heard about Pandora, but after Napster, there were a bunch of music start-ups hoping to be legitimate in the eyes of artists and record labels. Clickradio was just a radio station. But Pandora... was an experiment of The Algorithm.

You see, Pandora started what is known as the Music Genome Project, a way of organizing music into hundreds of different subgenres across five large umbrella genres; Pop/Rock, Hip Hop/Electronica, Jazz, World Music and Classical. What Pandora did was use this as a way to allow users to craft their own custom radio stations. And not only would it play the stuff you liked, but it would be tailored to a seed artist or song; you put in Nirvana, you get a lot of 90's alt rock radio faire, but then maybe it plays Mudhoney. Maybe it plays Sonic Youth. Maybe it plays Melvins, and you like it. And when you give a thumbs up, you hear more and more artists in similar subgenres. And let's say you've been looking into obscure or underground music for years before you start using Pandora, and suddenly you're introduced to artists you never would have come across more organically. And buddy, you'd bet my Pandora station was a fucking hodgepodge of hundreds of seeds, which allowed me to discover highly influential /mu/ core bands like Swans, Animal Collective and Neutral Milk Hotel, but also bands that are so obscure that their Spotify listens are in the lower four digits at maximum and maybe a couple tens of thousands of views on YouTube. So many songs I found through Pandora are from bands that I very rarely hear a lot of people talk about, but they've made songs that have just lived in my brain for decades.

And for a couple years, I'd be listening to Pandora radio while writing up new TF2 fanfiction to terrorize TF2chan with. Certain songs would come up so often because I specifically bookmarked them. I didn't really know a lot about shoegaze before Pandora, but now I own a physical copy of all three of Slowdive's albums, and you fucking bet "When the Sun Hits" was in heavy rotation while I was writing Respawn of the Dead.

Yes, this was playing while I was writing out Respawn of the Dead, chapter by chapter. And so was "Beautiful Plateau" by Sonic Youth, "The Sound" by Swans, "Dead Flag Blues" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and "End of the Line" by Murder By Death. And also this song by a band called The Clock Work Army, which split up and reformed into another band called Calico Horses, and I know this because I found this out while trying to track down a song that would play constantly on my Pandora station and it has, as of writing this sentence, 2,588 listens. And it might have more by the time you read this because I might just put it on loop because oh my god, I love this song so much, it hits so perfect for me, why don't more people know about this song?

It's not on YouTube, where I usually tend to listen to music, since I'll go through a rotation of songs that I call "work songs." I put on music while I write, and some songs are just so perfect that I can listen to them on loop with a very select number of songs that just never, ever get old for me. My neurons in my brain light up as though I was hearing it again for the first time.

Swans, Sigur Ros and The Dillinger Escape Plan are all artists who I found through Pandora that I've had the privilege to see live. By the time I was just discovering bands because I had a bunch of friends and mutuals with similar taste in music to mine, Pandora was slowly getting more and more ads. It was getting to the point where the free service would, if you were lucky, play only three or four songs before playing an ad. And when the length of those songs can span anywhere from less than three minutes for much of my beloved 80's and early 90's punk, to up to a half an hour for post-rock, noise, or ambient music. And the number of ads that played between songs had increased. What was just one every half an hour or so was now two to three for what could potentially be only after seven minutes of music. Pandora really doesn't like it if the music you like includes a lot of songs that are longer than an episode of The Simpsons.

I never hear anybody talk about Pandora anymore. Spotify is THE name in internet music streaming, and it favors listens of entire albums and other people's playlists. I don't like Spotify; sometimes I just want a specific song from a specific album. I could make a playlist of these "work songs," but I like when YouTube notices that I'm listening to music, and in the recommendeds, there's another song that I've listened to on repeat. Why yes, I would like you to play "Classical Homicide" by Dälek for me again. What's that? An hour loop of Deadmau5's "Professional Griefers" featuring Gerard Way? Yes please. I apologize for nothing. That dude's way better than Skrillex.

God, do you guys remember the Deadmau5/Skrillex shipping that was all over Tumblr in the early 2010's. I remember it. I remember it so hard. Everybody shipping them and the members of Daft Punk, posting Steam Powered Giraffe (blech) and Die Antwoord (lol) on my dashboard. In Die Antwoord's defense, they had some pretty funny music videos.

I got AdBlocker for YouTube, so the ads aren't a problem there. I mean, I could make a playlist for Spotify of my go-to songs, but I'd have to deal with ads. And there's something nice about YouTube's robots that sell my precious data to faceless corporations at least having the courtesy to be like "You look like you could use another stream of 'Anything (Viva!)' by Foetus. Or Scraping Foetus off the Wheel. Or... whatever, fuck it, it's J.G. Thirwell's band, okay? It's the guy that does the music for Venture Brothers."

Foetus was introduced to me through a friend but it was Pandora serving me up more of their music that made their albums "nail" and "Flow" ones that got the honor of Being Downloaded onto my iPod so I can Listen to This in my Car. I still use my iPod and even if there's albums that I haven't gone back to in years on there, I like having them there. I haven't listened to the soundtrack for Panty and Stocking in ages but having access to it so that I can FLY AWAY NOW, FLY AWAY NOW, FLY AWAAAYYYY on a long drive? I like having that option.

I still buy CDs so I can burn albums onto my iPod. My iPod doesn't have ads and switching between artists doesn't mean I have to flip through a CD binder. I also try to buy albums off of Bandcamp. Especially for smaller artists, or artists whose work I love enough to want to give them my money. I don't want to listen to ads. It throws off my workflow, shakes me out of the trance-like state that is pure, focused creativity. Whether it's working on comics or thinking about things I want to do in those comics, I'm usually listening to music. Sometimes the same album, hundreds of times over. I admit I haven't listened to that much King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, but I've listened to Nonagon Infinity front to back more times than I can count.

Nowadays it feels like I don't have a lot of friends who share my taste in music. I've so fully entrenched myself in fandom circles that I've been exposed to the average person's taste in music and I'm like "oh yeah, most people aren't as big of a fucking nerd about this as you are." You know how hard it is to get people who aren't music nerds to get into The Residents? Everybody I know that likes them already knew about them before we met, and people who had never heard of them before they met me usually find them deeply weird and never get fucking obsessed with them like I have. I own a physical copy of, not their original version of their album The King and Eye, which is an entire album of them covering Elvis that sounds like this, but the fucking remix of that album that does shit like this to their covers of Elvis songs. And you know what? I love both versions, but that remix of their cover of "Surrender" is a work song.

Listening to music is the only way I can guarantee that I'm actually working on something and not playing with my phone. I guess what I'm saying is... it sure would be nice if Pandora existed like it did back then right now.

Especially because I stopped cleaning up a page of my horrible Deltarune fan comic (MASSIVE Dead Dove warning, not even kidding, the entire story hinges on some very upsetting topics) just to write all this down and make sure there were links to every song in this essay. And like... I've even used the comic as a not-so-clandestine way into tricking them into listening to my music before. Whether it be directly namedropping bands and songs, writing about a specific character's taste in music and using that in the story somehow, or literally just making the title of one of my comic installments... this.

It is really good. 686 listens on YouTube. Absolutely criminal. And the example above? That's me not putting in hundreds of references into the comic and wondering if anybody else has noticed them.

I guess what I'm saying is that I am a huge music nerd, even though I always feel like I'm getting into artists super late (unless they're like Death Grips, but that was only after The Money Store had come out), but I fucking hate Spotify. I want more physical releases that can be preserved digitally, and I don't have the money to get into collecting vinyls as a hobby. All the vinyl I own is toys, and uh... I own a lot of those.

Thank you for reading through pure, uncut music autism mixed in with nostalgia and griping about capitalism because that's apparently where my head is at all the time when I'm not daydreaming my little stories or making up video essays in my head that will never be made. That's why I do stream of consciousness Tumblr essays full of minute details that absolutely are not necessary, but this is how my goddamn ADHD brain works. Now you know what it's like to be in my Discord server.

That post is, of course, pinned in the music channel.

As it should be.

... Fuck Pandora, I don't even fuck with it no more, I miss Grooveshark, weh, my playlist on that site was eight hours long before they shut it down in 2014. Devastated. I was in the middle of using it when it went offline.

Okay now I'm done for real, sorry.

[hrrtshape]

THINGS I'M DOING IN MY FAME DR.

⋆ vogue photoshoots, especially when on the cover😫. annually, darling, even monthly. each edition, new icon spread. château gardens, mountain tops, venetian canals.

⋆ headlining international tours, performing to packed stadiums (and intimate venues alike).

⋆ attending VIP events in my official ambassador for Hermès outfits.... who's this diva??

⋆ interviews on shows like the tonight show, sharing stories and bewitching the crowds.

⋆ going to events such as the met gala or the cannes film festival in my custom or archival gowns.

⋆ red carpets being the talk of fashion twitter. winning awards left and right and looking like glamour walked out of the dictionary.

⋆ leaving iconic hotels like the ritz, dripped in van cleef diamonds, wrapped in valentino gowns. flashes everywhere. cocked out, but let's not dwell on that...

⋆ private island escapes with just my inner circle.

⋆ doing live streams with my equally iconic best friends, cooking or baking or just laughing meanwhile everyone and their mothers joins to watch ?????!?!?!?

⋆ doing beauty secrets with vogue and everyone dying to get their hands on the products i use.

⋆ being spotted with a male or female... celebrity that everyone wants sooooo bad meanwhile i'm the one being clung on.

⋆ doing the letterboxd top 4 on a red carpet. well, yes !

⋆ having my own runway walk.

⋆ doing those fancy 73 questions videos in my LA home.

⋆ forgetting my lines during a movie and ending up impro it and it ends up being sooo good.

⋆ watching thousands of edits of me. this diva...

⋆ starting trends and everyone trying to replicate them...but, like, you can't outdo the doer??

⋆ my celebrity crushes. 😋

⋆ being absolutely no where to be found after something a bit scandalous. vanished off the face of the earth (meditating in one of those fancy shmancy ibiza's resorts). and then a few months later releasing an album which blowsssssss up. blows. records? broken. shattered. well, yes.

⋆ champagne fuelled yacht parties. summer days in capri, yacht-hopping with friends, dressed 'n' dancing in vintage gucci bikinis and oversized shades. living life like i'm in a black-and-white fellini film.

⋆ one of the male leads stepping out of a car on a red carpet with lip marks all around and me stepping out behind all giggly and tipsy. yes?? hello? give it to me.

⋆ exclusive interviews with fashion magazines.

⋆ walking around the louvre at night (it's giving that one kendall jenner ig post. but. more. iconic. YES!)

⋆ directors rewriting scripts, offering absolute diva conditions just to get me on their newest films.

⋆ rare chanel, archival givenchy, one-of-a-kind galliano.. when seen in public; trust, it's in pieces no one else can get.

⋆ iconic, unparalleled birthday bashes — always with a special theme. eyes wide shut, marie antoinette, rock legends. you know you're in when you get an invitation 🙂‍↔️

remember. you shift in seconds 🤫

[peppertaemint]

i am a bit confused regarding the internal reports, i'm reading up the reports and trying to understand them. i came across this one:

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2024/10/hybes-music-industry-weekly-trend-report-contains-the-companys-reaction-to-nct-haechans-indoor-smoking-issue-riize-seunghans-hotel-selcas-issue-more

it details the controversies of other artists. the commentary at times sounds so much like what an angry stan would write on twitter. like stuff like "why was [our artists] treated this way by x internet community, when [that artists from other company] was defended", but there is one sentence which ticks me off and it is:

"While it is difficult to say that this incident can affect NMIXX in a major way, it is material that can be used to troll people, claiming that Haewon tried to hop on the 'feminist train' since her group wasn't doing well but then it backfired."

is the bolded statement what HYBE wants to do? or are they quoting someone here, i really can't tell. (i also know this is a translation and i don't want to like put too much weight on it), but i am really taken aback rn.

Yes, the bolded statement is the strategy Hybe wants to use - it's what they want to do to damage other artists. They want to do this to wreck their success and make their (selected) artists look better by comparison.

In the article I posted earlier, they are discussing making posts that compare female idols to dogs for this same type of strategy.

These trend reports were shared with the executive board, so it seems the whole company was behind the strategy of tearing apart artists so that their own stock prices are better. That's the end game to everything; it's not to create great art - it's to manipulate fans in order to maximise profits.

Keep in mind the other revelations from the audit:

Hybe misreported their amount of plastic waste to decrease their tax payment

Hybe admitted to reporting mass-buying of albums in first week sales numbers; these mass buys were later returned for a refund (fraud) - this means the numbers fans keep celebrating are not true/real

Based on the redacted documents, it is highly likely Hybe were the ones who spread posts and photos about Seunghan's predebut activities, with the intention of causing harm to him and Riize

[eighthdoctor]

How was Sylvanas able to be a sadist Dom if she never pursued her partners? Were her proclivities such an open secret that she was only approached by women who knew what they were getting into?

...I'm not sure you know what a dominant is, anon.

Let's do a thought exercise. It's pre-Second War--maybe even pre-the Dark Portal, and you're a noble quel'dorei lady.

Here's what you know about Ranger-Captain Sylvanas Windrunner: She comes to Silvermoon only under orders. She stays exactly long enough for the two weeks of military conferences around Winter Veil and then leaves for the borders again. And because Winter Veil means balls, and balls mean high society, and high society means gossips--she picks a date the first night of the season, and that lady is the most desirable lady for the next year, because she caught the eye of Sylvanas Windrunner.

It's never anything longer. Sylvanas isn't out for a partner or a love match. You get those two weeks and that's it, she'll be polite to you next year but never pair with you again. But she knows how to make a woman feel good, and she has a discerning eye. A thousand hopeful matchmakers have nothing on Sylvanas for improving your prospects.

So the first ball, you're trying to catch her eye--she doesn't go for trends or current fashion, she doesn't seem to go for the rebels either, but she does want those who are flaunting it, advertising their availability. Your dress is low-cut, you're conspicuously alone, you sit out the first paired dance, and then--

She's already unbuttoned the top of her uniform jacket, saber at her side, bowing over one hand as she says, "May I have this dance?"

Of course she may. It's the last question she'll ask you too, if rumors are to be believed, that she'll make you ask for it, make you beg--she says yes, of course, she knows what she's doing, picking someone for a dance, but she likes the chase of it.

She's a lovely dancer, but that's not really what you're here for.

When it's late, gone two in the morning, and it's fashionable to leave, she looks at you, jacket completely open showing that the shirt beneath is also unbuttoned, a V down to her belt, ears slanted, eyes gleaming.

And you say, mouth thick, "Would you like to continue this, Ranger-Captain?"

Of course she would, she's already got you in her arms and a dragonhawk waiting, a short hop to her quarters--not military standard, not for a Windrunner no, a full set of apartments in the city, and she's pulling you inside, unfastening her belt, and she says--"Strip."

It's not a surprise that she directs you, that her voice dips low and fervent to tell you how to stand, what to do. It's part of who she is, the Ranger-Captain, now up for Ranger-Lord, 'her mother's daughter' they say in ways they never said about Alleria, and of course she gives the orders. Of course it's you on your knees, trying to find the words to ask permission to touch, to lick.

She says no, to make you whine, and then yes.

And that's the start of it, two weeks, mornings are your own, but afternoons she expects you, wants you to match your dress to hers, a display piece, currently owned by Sylvanas Windrunner it may as well say, you never leave her side all evening, hers, hers, a feather in her cap, her latest conquest and what does it matter when afterwards--late again, how she does the morning meetings you have no idea--she pulls you into a hallway and pushes your skirts up, makes you gasp and cry, choking back noises from her fingers, what does anything else matter--

She's possessive and jealous, leaves marks on your neck, laughs at your prior conquests, won't answer questions about hers, and it's worth it, worth every moment because those nights, because you find your voice once and ask for the Farstrider--bedding any of them is notable, they so often stick to themselves, let alone the woman named as their next Ranger-Lord--ask for more, ask to be challenged, cocky and sure, you like the games other lovers play, can't she treat you like she treats her comrades--

Sylvanas laughs, teeth to your ear, and asks if you're sure, if you're strong enough, that deep purr, because if you disobey her, she'll mete out appropriate consequences.

And what can you say to that, when one hand is between your legs and the other in your hair, when you're in her bed for the fourth time in as many nights, when she's already staked her claim over you and you're hopelessly addicted, already dreading the end of this, dreading next year when she'll take someone else--what can you say but yes?