startstar6

[algandarsplaguepositive]

I need to get this out of my system somewhere because anybody I tell either hasn't met my friend or hasn't seen Galaxy Quest or both. At breakfast with some friends this morning and one of them mentioned how a mutual friend of ours reminded him of the socially awkward alien guys with the bowl cuts from Galaxy Quest but that he's always been afraid to tell him that and honestly, I can't stop laughing because of how right he is.

[traffic-light-eyes]

What if, during his years as the Ice Emperor, Zane's body deteriorated? He had gone 40-60 years without maintenance in a cold, harsh, wet environment. His body slowly fails itself, leaving him in "sleep mode" for longer and longer periods of time. His seemingly unlimited power sources dwindles, diminishes. He finds it harder and harder to keep focused.

When he is rescued, the ninja don't immediately think to give him a check-up. He seems perfectly fine to them, working in regular order-they're just so happy to have him back. They start to see it, though, when his memory fails him.

Some days, he wakes up thinking he's back in the Never Realm. Some days, he stays there. They're frightened, terrified. They have never seen Zane like this: cold, cruel, vicious.

When it happens for the third time, they decide its more than just readjusting to normal life. They give him a check-up.

His insides are frostbitten and decayed, brittle. Zane has always felt cold to the touch, but never like this. Never has his cool metal felt so aggressive.

They don't know how to fix him. They fear his heart has been rendered frozen; if they tried heat, it surely would melt. What are they to do?

The answer is far simpler. Heat it subtly from the outside. The warmth of his family would do-piled under a too-small blanket watching master chef reruns, giggling, throwing popcorn at the screen. Zane runs cold, his heart frozen to ice. He has never felt warmer.

[writersneedreblogs]

okay so I'm a broke bitch who's trying to recover from a shopping addiction so I'm avoiding mobile games altogether... BUT. can you tell me pls what actually happens in zaynes third anecdote?? I've googled endlessly and can't find anything, so I'm living vicariously through everyone posting about here on Tumblr. if u could tell me what that anecdote is about (tagging spoilers obviously) I would be eternally grateful!!

Okay I gotchu it’s gonna be shit but I’ll do the best I can

ENTIRE ANECTDOTE 3 SPOILERS VERY LONG

It starts in the pov of a boy named Georgie who was getting attacked by a wanderer that wore human clothes, his mother pushes him out the way of an attack and takes it instead. Suddenly a figure in black emerges and uses an ice evol to kill the creature after it let go of the mother and it dissipates leaving blue fragments. Georgie asks if the figure is the Grim Reaper but doesn’t get a response and the figure leaves after I’m assuming giving a once over on the mother and son

Georgie stalks Zayne afterwards on where he goes (mostly to a store to buy chocolate) so he could approach him, eventually he does and points out that he buys chocolate every day and offers zayne a jar of wrapped chocolate in exchange of finding the person who killed his mother. Zane refuses coldly saying that he should be asking the police

Next part is in the pov of a detective called Ivan who has been tracking down a serial killer they dubbed Dawnbreaker (the name of one of Zaynes battle options) who has left nothing behind at the crime scene except for blue fragments, the victims have no connection to each other except for the blue fragments which reminds him of a wanderers protocore. He’s puzzled on why they leave a similar energy of a wanderer behind and why the killer was targeting people with it so he used an AI to predict who would be next.

It then cuts to him arriving at the scene of dawn breaker attacking his next victim who is an elderly man. Suddenly the old man attacks and transforms into a wanderer injuring dawnbreaker but is immediately killed in response and leaves a blue fragment behind Ivan tries to shoot dawnbreaker but is pinned by ice and is unable to call for back up, mumbling to himself that the old man wasn’t human. Dawnbreaker then leaves and later Ivan discovers that the latest Jane doe was the mother of Georgie who has gone missing from an orphanage he was taken to, leading Ivan to believe that it will lead him to dawnbreaker

We cut to Zayne now and he sees Georgie at his apartment and remarks that he had noticed the same jar of chocolate placed by his door. Zayne ignores it and leaves his apartment, when he returns Georgie is asleep by his door with the jar and is mumbling mom in his sleep.

Georgie wakes up to Zayne crouched by him opening the jar and asking tentatively if he will help him. Zayne says nothing and opens the door to his apartment but lets Georgie come inside.

Georgie notices that the room lacks humanity to the point where the only sign of it is cracked and aged walls, he then spots a hologram of a very old doctor tv show that Zayne is completely engrossed in. Georgie criticises the show and Zayne gets up off the sofa towards Georgie which makes Georgie think he’s made him angry but Zayne only grabs the jar and starts eating from it.

Georgie is puzzled by him treating it as his dinner and asks what he usually eats and is shown that Zaynes fridge only has bottles of nutrient solutions and Georgie drinks it out of hunger, he questions if the drink and lack of meal make Zayne human.

Georgie falls asleep on the sofa and wakes up to Zayne tending to a budding jasmine he kept in his room, placing it on the window sill to get sunlight and watering it and pruning it. Georgie is stunned with the soft glow in Zaynes eyes and asks him about the plant and if someone important gave it to him but gets no response, he gets frustrated with this and gestures to the jar in that Zayne accepted it so he must now help with his mother.

Zayne stops tending to the flower and gets dressed in his dubbed grim reaper clothes, Georgie sees that his bedroom has no other furniture in it except for the wardrobe. Next to the bed is a screen showing a lot of moving green dots but gets no response when he asks about it.

Zayne and Georgie leave and go to a convenience store where Zayne buys a soda bottle and a jar of chocolates which he gives to Georgie, they leave and Zayne pours the bottle out and freezes it into a popsicle. He then follows Zayne to an abandoned plaza and sees him gazing at a patch of jasmines, Zayne then walks to a bench that faces the flowers and Georgie realises the bench is clean, he then asks if he comes here often and gets no response.

Zayne then pulls out a book from his pocket and Georgie reads out loud that it’s a Linkon city travel guide and that he’s marked several locations on it like museums, ski resorts, parks, restaurants and Linkon City’s hospital. He asks why he’s interested in an old book on an old city and Zayne stares at the jasmine and remarks that he often dreams of the place with a briefly different look on his face

The night before, Zayne dreamt that he and a girl bought snacks and froze a soda into a popsicle, he’s been getting dreams like this almost every night. In those dreams he lives out a surgeons life with this girl and hes had those dreams since he was 12 and that they happen in no order. At 12 years old he knew he would meet the girl when he was 27 and he’s thinking the doctor is him but then rather says that he wants to become the person loved by the girl in his dreams. He records as much as he can through the guides because he wants to experience them and have them consume him.

We come back to Zayne stepping out of a shower and looking at his scar ridden body, he gets dressed and see Georgie asleep on the couch, he covers the boy in a blanket and watches the doctor tv show again. Georgie wakes from a nightmare about a monster escaping through his chest and asks of what his mom said about dreams being the opposite of reality is true (to the man desperately wanting his dreams about the girl to come true)

Zayne changes the channel to a story about a man who dreamt that he was a butterfly and woke up with the same feeling and he couldn’t tell if he dreamt about being a butterfly or the butterfly dreamt about him. Georgie is confused but wonders if he’s in a monsters dream, he then asks about who Zayne is when he dreams about Linkon city. Zayne switches back to the medical show in response and he correctly guesses that he dreams of being a doctor which Zayne nods to.

Zayne looks at the boy and notices a small bump under his eye and starts to conjur up an ice blade behind his back. Georgie says he understands that Zayne probably doesn’t want to help him find the killer but asks to celebrate his 12th birthday tomorrow with him and he will leave, the ice blade melts away. Zayne doesn’t respond and goes to his bedroom where he spots a red dot amongst the green ones and says good night to Georgie.

The next day Zayne takes care of the jasmine he has and takes Georgie to a dessert place and orders a macaron, stating that he dreamt of eating it along with another person. Georgie asks if the doctor dreamt of Zayne celebrating his birthday and Zayne says maybe. Georgie is given a birthday cake and Georgie is very happy, stating that the only other person who celebrated was his mother. When Georgie makes a wish before blowing out the candles there’s a blue glow under his skin, he eats the cake and asks Zayne when his birthday is and Zayne says he stopped celebrating his birthday after he turned 12

When Zayne turned 12 on his birthday, his adoptive father transformed into a wanderer and attacked him and his adoptive mother, after his mother died he killed his father in self defense with his evol and that was his first kill. He stopped celebrating his birthday since. Later that night he dreamt of the doctor treating a girl and it became his only solace.

Georgie says he will give Zayne all different kinds of chocolate on his birthday and gazes at the sunset, he remarks how pretty it is and how when he used to live with his mother in the dorm it didn’t have windows. Zayne asks “what if you look at the sunset and feel nothing at all” and Georgie responds with “what’s the difference between that and being dead? Mom used to say that dying with clarity is better than living like a corpse”

All of a sudden dozens of police officers enter the place and surround them and Detective Ivan walks in saying “we can negotiate as long as you let the child go” Georgie argues that they’re just celebrating his birthday and Ivan states that Zayne is the one who killed his mother, Zayne says nothing.

Ivan positions the boy behind him but when he turns to look at Georgie he is no longer human and a tendril erupts from the bump under his eye, hooking into Ivan’s arm. Zayne pierces an ice shard through Georgies chest and he goes down, looking up at Zayne through tears and asking if the monster woke up, Zayne gently closes the boys eyes as he fades.

Afterwards Zayne is seen with two tombstones one big and one small, he places a jar of chocolates at the smaller one. He remembers the woman buried here and that she had approached him asking him to kill as she was turning into a wanderer and did not want to harm her son

He is then joined by the detective who has flowers for the graves and asks if Zayne always knew the child would turn so he kept him by his side. Ivan states he will stop investigating dawnbreaker and destroy the records so no one will know of him. Zayne states that he hopes that this will be their last meeting and Ivan asks for Zayne to kill him the next time they meet as that would probably mean he was a wanderer.

It ends with Zayne dreaming again and this time he is celebrating his birthday with the girl who says that she will always be by his side when it’s his birthday. Zayne couldn’t resist the urge to caress her cheek and spots that they’re holding hands, he reaches over to touch her cheek but the girl is shocked and says that he isn’t Dr Zayne and asks who he was. Zayne wakes up and ponders on what it meant, wondering if the girls saw through time and noticed that he wasn’t the doctor. It ends with him looking at the jasmine flower he was taking care of.

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

So I have a question that I potentially need for my oc lore

So how much do the ninjas, jesse and olivia know about the whole eye thing? I know they know about the whole "colored eyes =are/descended from em" and "white pupils + colored eyes = prepotential/passed on element" but do they know about partial inheritors?

Cause I'm sitting here, thinking that for example lloyd (who shares classes with nici) will probably be quite confused if he sees someone with grey pupils

Well, The Ninja sans Lloyd currently at least know about the existence of Partial Inheritors—they've heard of Aurora having partial abilities of the Element of Ice + they have seen pictures of her/her eyes. They just haven't quite made the connection about that yet.

But if they haven't told him anything already (which I can almost guarantee they haven't), then Lloyd wouldn't be aware of any of this until later on in Book 3 (either Zane talks about it during his training session with him, oooor when they reunite with Dr. Julien. If not the former, definitely the latter–) and Jesse/Miranda wouldn't be aware until S3/Book 4.

Olivia knows via a few anecdotes form Garmadon + her own spoilerly ways of how she got her information, but has never actually seen a Partial Inheritor for herself, and has no reason to bring it up otherwise.

(...but Bridget does~)

[toomuchracket]

mads what interview videos do you think d word matty would mention girlie in?

not many at all! i actually think that, in that universe, you and matty's relationship is actually very private. one of those "private, but not secret" things. if he does mention you, it's generally anecdotes like "my girlfriend and i did this/went here/were talking about this", things along those lines. people know it's you that he's with, but you're both quite content for your relationship to stay out of the spotlight - whenever matty's asked about you, he doesn't say much other than like "yeah, we're happy. i love her a lot. she's my favourite person" and stuff like that. but i think sometimes he can't resist showing you off a little bit, maybe with the odd cute instagram pic or asking you to do a red carpet appearance with him.

in terms of specific interviews... he seems to trust zane lowe, so maybe he'd feel comfortable enough to mention you to him. and ones where he can be anecdotal without having someone ask him to elaborate - sort of like the gq 10 things/nme firsts interviews, i think <3

[neurasthnia]

notes about reading in a TL 🍒🤏➕❤️

the first third of the book is likely the most difficult in terms of vocabulary differentiation, possibly due to zipf's law

anecdotal evidence for 100 books as a target

krashen notes* reading speeds for ESL of 150 words/minute

anecdotal "translations are significantly easier"

for spanish,

kobo has pretty accurate word counts (in the Acerca de este libro section)

tips & tricks for downloading books in epub or pdf

text expands comp to english about 20%

page count by genre, all choices guided by enjoyment

2,000 pages graded reader for examples in english*, 55 hours graded readers

2,000 pages middle grade eng ex* 56 hours boxcar children, sweet valley kids

6,000 pages young adult, simple mysteries eng ex* 167 sweet valley high, twilight, john grisham novels

8,000 early 1900s young adult and easy mysteries eng ex* 222 tom swift, the master spy (gask)

10,000 genre fiction eng ex* 278 zane grey novels, hunger games

12,000

*source "Can Second Language Acquirers Reach High Levels of Proficiency Through Self-Selected Reading?" by Stephen Krashen & Beniko Mason

[biglisbonnews]

We Almost Got a Collaborative Prince and Shania Twain Album It's hard to replicate the complicated emotions displayed on Fleetwood Mac's iconic 1977 album Rumours. The original album, painted with the emotions that come with drug use, infidelity and drugs, remains one of the most career (and genre)-defining records in history. However, Prince and Shania Twain could've gotten close.In a surprise anecdote shared with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Twain recalled getting a surprise call from the legend looking to make the collaboration of a lifetime:”I missed out on that because Prince called me when I got divorced. We’re on the phone and he said, ‘Shania, why don’t you come to Paisley Park? I want to make the next Rumours album with you.’ And that was the weirdest thing he could have ever have said, because his standard of what he thought, where I could live as a standard was that album, Rumours album. And he said that to me. So when Prince said that to me, I’m like, oh man, I’m not even divorced yet. I’m just like, I’ve been dumped, but I’m not, obviously, divorced yet. I’m like, this is way too ironic what you’re saying. Right? And I’m such a major Prince fan. And then on top of it, I hadn’t found my voice yet, I was still working on it. I was so far from finding it still. I was writing, but I was too insecure to go and get with Prince in the studio. I was too insecure, in every way.”Related | Prince: The Profane and the ProfoundTwain is referring to her divorce from Robert John "Mutt" Lange. After nearly 15 years of marriage, Lange had an affair with Twain's best friend. Very Rumours-y if you ask me, and Prince seemed to think the same. As for not finding her voice yet, the pop country singer was referring to being diagnosed with Lyme disease and dysphonia, both of which impacted her singing. As if all that wasn't enough, Twain shared another interesting reason why she didn't want to work with Prince, and it had to do with her potty mouth. "Plus, I’m on the phone with him and I’m swearing like I always do," she recalled. He said to me, ‘Well, if you do decide to come to Paisley Park, there’s no swearing allowed here.’ So that was another strike. I’m like, oh no, I love you so much, but I don’t think I could get through writing and recording an album without swearing, somewhere along the way! What are you going to do to me if I swear? I might have to stand in the corner or something. I wasn’t sure about that. I don’t think I was ready for what all that was going to mean for me. I didn’t give up on it or anything, but then he died."While we respect Twain for asserting her boundaries, we can't help but wonder what could've been.Photos courtesy of Kevin Winter/Getty Images and Jason Sean Weiss/BFA https://www.papermag.com/prince-shania-twain-2659365824.html

[nekoettesan]

i will forever think mcd would be ten times more fascinating if garroth and zane still saw each other as brothers. and i don’t mean overly brotherly love towards one another but just small things that show they have an intense and close history together

like i would’ve loved to see garroth upset about what zane had become and still privately care for him. he asks katelyn how zane is. he talks to aphmau abt how zane was when he was they were both small. i wanted zane being taken captive and garroth asking him if he’s ate lately and zane wondering out loud how garroth has been sleeping. i don’t want them to overly care for one another - they are too estranged for that - but i would’ve loved little tiny questions and anecdotes to make zane’s villainy even more shocking and garroth’s betrayal more real

[skepticalarrie]

That “broken leg” moment … 🤍🤍🤍

I wonder if the interview is a bit outlined, like I can totally picture how they previously sat and chat about “we will cover so so & so” and looks like Harry wasn’t aware of this anecdotes coming up, like to have his natural reaction or something…. Hahaha… or tease him?

Is Zane avoiding eye contact while delivering that he has toooo many friends calling him on the road with broken bones??? 😅😂😂😂

He certainly looks behind the cameras like “you did not! He did not! Is this for real??” 😂

Top moment !!

No I think it was completely genuine hahahaha I don't think he did it on purpose or anything (I mean, who knows, but I don't think so) And that's how Harry's reaction was so good lol

[spinchip]

🍾🍹🍕 for the OC asks with Rocco please, he's just a skrunkly little guy

🍾: Does your OC believe in luck? If so, do they have any charm or ritual they do before a stressful event?

Rocco would say he doesn't believe in Luck, but he always puts his right shoe on first because he thinks that will ensure he has a good day. He would also steal a four leaf clover from a child if the opportunity arose

🍹: Does your OC have any funny anecdotes told about them?

Zane has a few! His favorite story to tell is the one where rocco crashed his shitty old car into a ditch bc he tied 2x4s to his feet and ropes to the steering wheel and tried to drive it while sitting on the roof through the sunroof

🍕: How does an OC spend a lazy day?

Rocco spends his lazy days inside, in bed, either asleep or on his phone watching youtube videos and obliterating entire sleeves of ritz crackers. yes he gets crumbs in the bed. he watches cringe compilations

[algandarsplaguepositive]

I keep casually forgetting and re-remember this story and it’s just too good not to tell. 

Last November, I went to Medieval Times with two of my friends and my friend’s brother. After the show let out, there’s a corridor you can go down where you can see the horses in their stable after the show just relaxing, eating hay and getting their manes brushed. Well, this time all of the horses had full erections. Every single one of them. And my friend’s brother was amused. Almost a little too amused. We would start heading for the exit but he would stay behind and stare at the massive horse cocks. One time, my friend posted a Discord poll asking us which we would rather have sex with: a horse or a femboy. We all chose femboy except for the brother. Now my friend will tease his brother from time-to-time, implying that he wants to fuck horses.

[traffic-light-eyes]

They say love is the best medicine. Kai has never once believed that; how could love, a mere concept, help? He couldn't understand.

When he scraped his knee as a kid, did his absent mother kiss it better? No. When he burnt his hand forging a sword, did his father clean him up? No. Love is nothing but a nuisance, a petty attempt at making something out of nothing.

He knows this. He knows this, but why does he make those attempts for his little sister, Nya? Why does he have to kiss he wounds, to clean her up, to love her? Why can't he help it?

Kai all but drops everything for her. She can not turn out like him: jaded, ruinous, unloving. He won't let it happen. He'll teach her love, a concept he could never quite grasp. He'll learn it, fake it. All for her. His baby sister.

Love doesn't heal. It doesn't have magical powers that instantly cure an illness. Love doesn't heal.

When he sits alone in the bounty, stressed and upset, he has no medicine to fix it. His arms ache from the endless training he forces himself to endure; he has to get stronger for Nya. He has to. But it hurts. He finds his body isn't what all that aches.

A deep devastating ache resides in his chest. Heartache. He has no medicine for this. He can't fix this. He can't he can't he can't. He's so useless-can't save his sister; can't protect that stupid brat, Lloyd; and he certainly can't solve his own damn issues. Useless.

He feels the warmth next to him before he feels the hand on his back. He won't look. Another hand joins the first. His head is cradled against a chest, one hand holding the nape of his neck gently, the other his lower back.

He cries for the first time in a while.

It isn't fair. It isn't fair. It isn't fair.

"I know," Cole whispered, a gravelly rumble grounding him in the moment. Kai hadn't even realized he had been speaking. "I know, Kai. Just let it out. FSM knows you deserve it."

He cries. Sobs. His body jerks with each moment, breath hitching, limbs clutching onto the nearest surface.

It takes a while, but he calms down. His face stays in the crook of Cole's neck, soft puffs of air giving him goosebumps. In a normal situation, Kai would yell at Cole for touching his hair, but in this moment, Kai practical purrs at the soft, gentle carding of his recently washed hair.

When he finally gets his voice back, it crackles like a vintage radio, but he speaks. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't."

"Oh," Kai said dumbly, "Then why are you here?"

"Well, I wouldn't just walk away after seeing you like an abandoned puppy-dog."

Kai scoffs, removing himself from Cole's warmth. "I didn't ask for your help."

"I know."

"I didn't need it. I would've been fine."

"I'm sure you would've."

"Then why the heck did you stay?" Was he pressing too much? He shouldn't ruin a good thing. Why did he say that? Oh, fsm, he should really learn when to shut his big mouth.

"I think I told you already," Cole joked, "but I could be wrong."

Kai scoffed again. He pinched Cole's elbow with a glare.

"Yowch!" Cole jerked away, slightly laughing while rubbing his injured elbow. "Okay, okay, I yield."

Kai pushed himself further away. He doesn't know if he wants to hear this. He knows what's coming: 'Oh Kai, you just looked so sad and pathetic, and I'm such a great perfect person, so I just had to come and help you out! But since you're so weak, I'll have to talk to Sensei Wu about kicking you out. Sorry, not sorry!'

"Kai, we haven't known each other for long. Barely a month or two, really. But I've come to care for you. And that includes caring for you when you're upset like today."

Huh.

"You're part of the team now. We take care of one another. We love each other. Yes, even when Jay eats the last pancake."

Huh.

"Kai? Are you good? You haven't blinked in the past two minutes."

His body jerks, face flushing. "I'm fine, thanks."

"Alright," Cole laughs. "I'll see you soon, then. I'm gonna go grab whatever delicious food Zane is cooking up right now."

"Yeah," Kai said, "see you soon."

He leaves. Huh.

Love is stupid and useless. He doesn't remember the last time he felt it. But with the warmth of Cole's embrace lingering and his face still flushed, he can't seem to remember why that mattered.

He feels better. He used no ointment or pill, but he feels better. Love. Love was his medicine.

[sassyfrassboss]

Toronto anon here! I can honestly say she was next to irrelevant during her time in Toronto anyone who knew her legit called her “Rachel Zane” no one knew her real name lmao. But I do know she was engaged to and living with Cory and that her dating Harry did in fact overlap with the engagement. But ya I can’t stress enough how irrelevant she was. Another anecdote my brother met her once and said she looked anorexic very skinny almost scary

Hi again!

I love it! I remember when it was speculated that she was dating Harry and NO ONE had any idea who she was. I even watched the first few episodes of Suits when it came out and I could not remember her for the life of me.

I have heard she is really tiny and so are her legs. Do you think she is 5'7 like she says?

[aglassmenagerieofallergies]

Rant about Mystreet Season 6

Now I love Aphmau’s channel and series, have since I was 10, but this last season of Mystreet and parts of season 5 could have been so much better. This is meant to be no “attack” or “jab” at Jess and Jason’s writing, these are merely opinions from a long-time fan. I am gonna go on a bit of a rant about the parts I personally feel could have been MUCH improved on. I would like to preface this with saying that I really do not enjoy this season and therefore do not re watch it a lot. Its also 4:40 am my time so this might turn into a sleep deprived ramble but anyways, here we go...

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 5/6 OF APHMAUS MYSTREET 

Kawaii Chan/ Nana

I adore Nana. She has consistently been my favourite female character for all 6 seasons of the show and in diaries but holy she has done wrong this past season. Getting almost killed and then not having any involvement what so ever. The majority of her screen time, especially near the fight with the demon warlock, just felt like the writers forgot she was there and wanted to give Moeka lines. Her involvement with Zane was the only moments she seemed to have. Speaking of her and Zane... While I love them as a couple, I also despise the fact that Nana only ever got development or a backstory when it came time to ship her with Zane. I wish she could have been more explored earlier on aside from being the “annoying, shippy, meifwa girl”. She got the short end of the stick recently and I hate it.

Aaron 

I have really never liked Aaron. From him being a high school senior dating a freshman to him literally murdering people, I never liked him. This season really didn't help that. Aaron ended lives, we see him kill Blaze and is he punished at all for it ? No. Yes, he was blinded and lost his memory but that wasn't as a reprimand for his crime of I don’t know MURDER. Aaron and Irene’s constant interactions make zero sense to me. One man cant be brought back to life by God twice. I get a bad sense that through-out season 6, we are meant to be supporting or sympathising with Aaron but I just cant. We are treated to numerous flashbacks to Aaron’s past, inter-cut with scenes of him committing various horrid actions. His father raised and treated him horribly but that is no excuse for murder. The ending of season 6 seemed almost hopeful for Aaron with the “hope” of him and Aphmau reuniting and I honestly don’t feel it is 100% earned. 

Ultima/ Werewolf 

This point isn't so much a critique on season 6 specifically but on the series as a whole. Aaron and his family being werewolves, being descendants of the ultima werewolf no less, came out of no where. Werewolves being introduced into the main plot could have been cool but instead the majority of it came off being rather cringey, specially in Phoenix Drop High. Anytime a werewolf would call Aphmau or Aaron “Alpha”, I could feel my skin crawl. The dealing of almost species based discrimination in season 6 was down right awful and Im not even talking about Aphmau wanting to be turned. The whole ordeal with the restaurant denying the werewolf pack service was over and dealt with as soon as it happened, The werewolves being hunted in season 6 because of the possibility they were an ultima and Katelyns reaction to Aaron being a werewolf seemed to come out of no-where. The idea of discrimination based on something someone can not control in a minecraft story could have been a way to teach younger kids a great life lesson but the majority of story lines involving werewolves were so half-assed, you cant even make a successful anecdote out of them. 

MCD/MS Connection

In the last season of MS, they really tried to shoe-horn in this connection with MCD which honestly creates nothing but plot-holes. A MS/MCD connection could have been a really cool concept and piece to see but its so rushed and forced, it just comes across as awkward and last minute. If the writers really did want to merge the two series or at least have them canonically exist in the same universe, they should have been setting it up from the first season. Overall, the two series are so vastly different from their environment to the characters that a complete mash up of the two would be so jarring. Just imagine Zane from MS meeting Zane from MCD or all of the MCD characters in a world without Wyvern, common use of ships, lords, and being introduced to the technology. A series combining the two would be fun and it would be fun seeing the characters interact and meet each other but it would need to be well thought out instead of just saying “and now here’s Irene and the demon warlock” which is what season 6 did. 

Dante/ Laurence

The Laurence curse strikes again but this time, its not just him. Since season 2, there has been a “tendency” to forget Laurence in the shows events. He was absent throughout Season 2 and again for Seasons 4,5 and 6. Dante, however, was very present in the first 3 straight seasons of the show. No one expected for him to disappear out of the blue ;) like that. Laurence disappearing could make sense, maybe Sebastian was booked up at the time or other personal reasons but Kestin voiced Zane and Eric throughout the show. Season 5 of the show I will cut some slack for forgetting them, It already barely made sense for how characters like Kai or Nate were there, but forgetting Laurence in Season 2 seemed odd. Dante and Laurence not only could have helped the “gang” but they could’ve provided some great entertainment and story lines but instead we got Ein ... again.

Ein

Eins rant will be shorter as while his character in season 4 did not leave much of an impact on me, his story could have been written leagues better. Eins story line and subsequent death was insanely fast. We got the spotting at the end of season 5 and a poorly done B plot throughout season 6. Ein is a fairly good villain with some decent potential, he could have been much more utilised. Ein served only to kill Aphmau then die. His character got walked all over. Literally. He caused such shit in season 4 and his death was a simple *stomp*. Are you kidding ? Everything could have been just ... better. Not only in regards to Ein but for the entire season. 

Closing Thoughts 

Overall the season was not good, in my opinion. Mystreet works much better as a episodic show like a slice of life anime, as a story driven series like a shounen it does not. If the rumours about a season 7 are true, I really hope it is at least a bit better than this one. It as a whole was a mess. To reiterate, this is meant as no attack on the writers or BluJay Studios but as a critique on this particular season. I love Aphmau and the Mystreet series but this was its low point. Thank you for sitting through my incoherent rantings about a minecraft show. :) have a great day/night !!

[bananaofswifts]

For Women's History Month 2021, GRAMMY.com is celebrating some of the women artists nominated at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show. Today, we honor Taylor Swift, who's currently nominated for six GRAMMYs.

When we met Taylor Swift in 2006, it was immediately apparent that her songwriting approach was like ripping a page out of her diary.

"Just a boy in a Chevy truck/ That had a tendency of gettin' stuck/ On backroads at night/ And I was right there beside him all summer long/ And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone," she lamented in the first verse of her debut single, "Tim McGraw(opens in a new tab)." The way the then-16-year-old Swift could turn personal anecdotes into instantly memorable hooks mirrored the prowess of an industry veteran, appealing to more than just the teenage girls that could relate to a short-lived high school romance.

Now, nearly 15 years later, Swift has introduced another layer of intrigue with a foray into indie folk, unveiling a pair of albums, folklore and evermore, last year. Recorded entirely in isolation after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, folklore has been widely acclaimed(opens in a new tab) as Swift's best album, touted for its intimate songwriting and cinematic dynamics; evermore has received similarly glowing reviews(opens in a new tab).

folklore was 2020's best-selling album(opens in a new tab) and earned Swift five GRAMMY nominations at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, including her fourth Album Of The Year nod. (evermore will be eligible for the 64th GRAMMY Awards in 2022.) As her 10 previous GRAMMY wins suggest, though, this new chapter isn't an abrupt departure for the star—it's a masterful continuation of her evolution as a singer/songwriter.

If there's one thing that Swift has proven throughout her career, it's that she refuses to be put in a box. Her ever-evolving sound took her from country darling to pop phenom to folk's newest raconteur—a transition that, on paper, seems arduous. But for Swift, it was seamless and resulted in perhaps her most defining work yet. And folklore’s radiance relies on three of Swift’s songwriting tools: heartfelt balladeering, autobiographical writing, and character-driven storytelling.

While there was always a crossover element to Swift's pop-leaning country tunes, her transition from country starlet to pop queen began with Red. The album’s lead single, the feisty breakup anthem "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together(opens in a new tab)," was Swift's first release to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and, ironically, scoffed "indie records much cooler than mine"). She declared a full pop makeover with 2014's 1989, but the response proved that her bold move was the right one: Along with spawning three more No. 1 hits, the project won Swift her second GRAMMY for Album of the Year.

From there, 2017’s Reputation, a response to media scrutiny, and 2019’s Lover, an often bubbly exploration of all facets of affection, followed. Although they shared similarly grandiose production, Lover featured a handful of poetic ballads, including "The Archer(opens in a new tab)," a self-reflective love song that teased Swift's folk sensibilities through storybook lyrics and ambient textures.

Swift’s ballads are key in understanding the full essence of folklore. They’ve regularly marked standout moments on each of her albums, both thanks to her poignant vulnerability and rich tone. Fearless standout "White Horse" earned Swift two GRAMMYs in 2009; Red's painstaking "All Too Well" was an instant fan favorite; 1989's "This Love" and Reputation's "New Years Day" provided tenderness amid otherwise synth-heavy sounds.

The raw emotion she puts into her downtempo songs comes alive on folklore, introducing a new wave of neo-classical sonics that elevate her fanciful penmanship to an ethereal level. Whether or not Swifties saw a full indie-pop record coming—at least not yet—the shift isn't all that surprising. Folklore’s romanticized lyrics and relatively lo-fi production are arguably what many fans have been patiently waiting on.

Lyrically, the super-personal nature of Swift’s music has always captivated fans and naysayers alike; diehards and critics dissected each of her albums for its real-life subjects and hidden meanings. While she played into those conspiracies at the time—whether she was revealing names in titles like "Hey Stephen(opens in a new tab)" and "Dear John(opens in a new tab)" or scathing the other girl on "Better Than Revenge(opens in a new tab)"—even Swift herself admits that her teenage method had an expiration date.

"There was a point that I got to as a writer who only wrote very diaristic songs that [it] felt unsustainable for my future moving forward," she told Apple Music's(opens in a new tab) Zane Lowe in December of 2020. "It felt like too hot of a microscope ... On my bad days, I would feel like I was loading a cannon of clickbait when that's not what I want for my life."

That realization is what helped make folklore so memorable: Swift stripped away the drama to let her artful storytelling shine. Sure, there are occasional callbacks to personal happenings ("invisible string(opens in a new tab)" references sending her exes baby gifts and "mad woman(opens in a new tab)" alludes to her legal battle with Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun). Still, she largely shies away from her autobiographical narratives to make way for her imagination.

"I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I've never met, people I've known, or those I wish I hadn't," Swift wrote in a letter to fans(opens in a new tab) on social media the day folklore arrived. "The lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indiscernible."

folklore might be her first full project dedicated to creating characters and projecting storylines, but Swift has shown a knack for fantasy from the start. Tracks like "Mary's Song (Oh My My)(opens in a new tab)" on her self-titled debut and "Starlight(opens in a new tab)" on Red saw Swift craft stories for real-life muses ("Mary's Song" was inspired by an old couple who lived next door to Swift in her childhood; "Starlight" was sparked from seeing a picture of Ethel and Bobby Kennedy as teens). Even when songs did pertain to her real life, Swift often had a way of flipping memories into whimsical metaphors, like the clever clap-back to a critic on Speak Now's "Mean(opens in a new tab)" or the rebound relationship in Reputation's "Getaway Car(opens in a new tab)."

To think that we wouldn't have folklore without a pandemic is almost surreal; it's already become such a fundamental piece of Swift’s artistic puzzle. There was no telling what may have come after the glittering "love letter to love itself” that was Lover, but it seems isolation made the singer rethink any plans she may have had.

"I just thought there are no rules anymore because I used to put all these parameters on myself, like, 'How will this song sound in a stadium? How will this song sound on radio?' If you take away all the parameters, what do you make?" she told Paul McCartney in a November (opens in a new tab)Rolling Stone(opens in a new tab) interview(opens in a new tab). "And I guess the answer is folklore."

Even if she hasn’t been making indie music herself, Swift has shown an affinity for the genre over the years through curated digital playlists(opens in a new tab). Those included four songs by The National including "Dark Side of the Gym," which she references on folklore single "betty(opens in a new tab)," and "8 (Circle)" by Bon Iver, Swift's collaborator on folklore's gut-wrenching "exile(opens in a new tab)" as well as evermore’s title track. (“Exile” is one of folklore’s GRAMMY-nominated cuts, up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.)

The National’s guitarist Aaron Dessner co-wrote nine and produced 11 of folklore's 16 tracks, soundtracking Swift's imaginative tales with sweeping orchestration and delicate piano. Their partnership started with "cardigan(opens in a new tab)," a melancholy take on teenage love(opens in a new tab) that's up for Best Pop Solo Performance and the coveted Song of the Year. The team-up was a dream come true for Swift, a self-proclaimed National superfan and a career highlight for Dessner, who shared in an Instagram post(opens in a new tab) about folklore that he's "rarely been so inspired by someone." He sees the album as a pivotal moment for both Swift's career and pop music.

"Taylor has opened the door for artists to not feel pressure to have 'the bop,'" Dessner shared with (opens in a new tab)Billboard(opens in a new tab) in September. "To make the record that she made, while running against what is programmed in radio at the highest levels of pop music—she has kind of made an anti-pop record. And to have it be one of the most, if not the most, successful commercial releases of the year that throws the playbook out.

"I hope it gives other artists, especially lesser-known or more independent artists, a chance at the mainstream," he continued. "Maybe radio will realize that music doesn't have to sound as pushed as it has. Nobody was trying to design anything to be a hit. Obviously, Taylor has the privilege of already having a very large and dedicated audience, but I do feel like it's having a resonance beyond that."

Swift's other primary folklore collaborator was Jack Antonoff. He has been her right-hand man since they first paired up on 2013's promotional single "Sweeter Than Fiction(opens in a new tab)" (Swift referred to him as "musical family" in her folklore announcement(opens in a new tab)). Even after years of creating stadium-ready pop smashes, Antonoff said in his own folklore Instagram post(opens in a new tab), "I've never heard Taylor sing better in my life / write better."

As Swift recognizes herself, folklore ushered in a new way of thinking for the superstar that not only brings out her best, but sets a promising precedent for what's to come. "What I felt after we put out folklore was, 'Oh wow, people are into this too, this thing that feels really good for my life and my creativity,'" Swift added in her interview with Lowe. "I saw a lane for my future that was a real breakthrough moment of excitement and happiness."

Her enthusiasm is tangible on both folklore and evermore. Dubbed folklore’s sister record, evermore further expands Swift’s newfound mystical atmosphere. Much to the delight of many Swifties, the follow-up also calls back to her country beginnings on tracks like the HAIM-assisted “no body, no crime(opens in a new tab),” as well as her pop expertise on more uptempo cuts like “long story short(opens in a new tab).”

Together, the albums are a momentous reminder that Swift is a singer/songwriter first. Her wordcraft is some of the most alluring of her generation, and that’s never been lost on her music, regardless of the genre she’s exploring. But now that Swift also feels she's at her best, it’s evident folklore was just the beginning of Taylor Swift in her finest form.