#<- (73% certain of this guess)

[cosmic-muses]

muahahhahahahahahahh im EVIL and a HATER and i wont beware !!! your WHIMSY is no match for me, kid!!!

It's okay I still love you (platonically) anon even if you're a hater <333

#hey SJ :p #<- (73% certain of this guess) #if not well still hello!!

[nalyra-dreaming]

I'm surprised so many people are resistant to the idea certain events happened very differently or potentially not at all. Daniel explicitly said Louis' story had multiple discrepancies in '73 in the first episode. The show has been actively encouraging the audience to question things from the beginning. At this point if it turns out everything happened exactly as shown THAT would be a cop out.

I agree!

We have gotten a lot of clues, actually, especially in episode 5. The mirrors, the clothing.

I.e.: From the beginning of the series Lestat is a bit disheveled (hair-wise), with those strands down the sides of his face in Louis' recollection (when they're not tied), and full on perfect-hair in Claudia's (for example, even the parting is slightly different). I could go on, but others have written much more about it, and personally I keep coming back to the thing they haven't used yet in this show:

Evil is a point of view.

I've actually been waiting for that quote. Because they used so many of the other quotes we remember from the books an the movie. And, so far, the only things we CAN believe are the Dubai parts. Maybe :)

I think one of the few things I do believe is Louis saying he is no victim. Because... he lashes out at Lestat, too, for example. He throws him across the room, he is the one to escalate their fight. Don't get me wrong here, Lestat holding Claudia like that in episode 5 was not ok. But it was a hold. And... they showed the same hold in the movie. And Claudia recounts Louis as threatening Grace. I don't intend to take anything from the shown abuse/DV/SA here. I'm just saying that the whole truth may be quite a different thing, and that.. what we were shown and our reaction to it... is imho part of the narrative of this show. I also remember Jacob Anderson complaining about Sam Reid going "nope, that didn't happen" and being a bit miffed about that because HE had to believe in it to bring it across (obviously), and when I read it I was like "yeah, yeah, unreliable narrator, we know" (I reblogged a post with a quote from the Tale of the Body Thief earlier, where Lestat calls out Louis for lying in his interview - and Louis doesn't object, which is hugely interesting), but with the twist they put at the end of this season... you literally cannot believe anything anymore.

Apart from the few events they all agree on. And those events... had to have their reasons, too. Which

a) makes me extremely excited for the second season (and hopefully beyond)

and (as a mini complaint)

b) Makes it almost impossible to write canon compliant fics for it. DAMMIT :))) (but, I guess, that's a small personal price to pay *laughs*)

Personally, I hope they do not visually backtrack, invalidate some scenes by showing them differently.

Because ... I would rather have Daniel go and tear that elaborate... play Louis and Armand are doing there apart at the seams.

Shred it to strips, to paraphrase Lestat.

That is what Daniel is there for after all.

#asks #thank you nonny #iwtv #interview with the vampire #the vampire chronicles #amc's interview with the vampire #amc's iwtv #lestat de lioncourt #the tale of the body thief #louis de pointe du lac #claudia de lioncourt #armand #daniel molloy #meta #just some thoughts #ask nalyra

[dez-wade]

Bagi English Updates (bless the team behind that account they word so hard and they’re constantly in the trenches) posted a clip of Bagi where she said “I just don't want to fight some specific people, I don't want my base flooding with lava. I just want to save my friend Tubbo and my friend Pac.” AND IT HAS 73 QRTS. Purgatory 2 hasn’t even started yet and the same fandom bullshit has already began! And as you can probably guess like 90% of the people in the qrts are mad because she didn’t mention wanting to save a certain other characters who’s been missing and is assumed to still be in Purgatory. Good luck to Bagi in Purgatory 2 because it’s looking like it’s about to be prompt exactly the same shit as Purgatory 1

WTF so if she mentions his name she gets hate and if she doesn't she still gets hate? At this point I don't think Purgatory is the problem. It's just that fandom.

#ask #qsmp discourse #fandom neg

[choco-pudding]

Space Channel 5 Part 2: Sugoku Sugoi  Guide Book p. 048-053 (Translation by @lavoszero and myself. Edits and typesetting by myself)

Second part of Report 2

Imgur link to all of the  Sugoku Sugoi Guide Book translations we’ve done thus far.

Plain text below.

p. 48 Space Park · Fountain Square A

Dancing

Ulala’s Hearts: 17 Moving on to Fountain Square, ugh, there she is…This is where you start the guitar duel with Pudding from Channel 42. The hidden input spot is right when she introduces herself. She say's "It's me, Pudding." You have to time it right at the "it's" and you'll get it.

Pine’s Comment The newsflash mentions to press the down button to play the guitar, but really, any directional button will do. You can see this with Pudding, she uses up, left, and right to move around while playing the guitar. Honestly, there's no need to imitate her. It's all up to you, if you care about keeping up appearances or not.

“Good evening, everybody, it’s me, Pudding!”

10. Guitar Playing

37 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ 38 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ 39 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ 40 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇

11.

41 x x x 42 o o o 43 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ x x x 44 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ o o o 45 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇  x x o

-

Groovemaster 2000 044

Meow Meow Meow

p. 49

12.

46 x x x 47 o o o 48 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ x x x 49 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ o o o o 50 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ o

13. Guitar Playing

51 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ 52 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ 53 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ 54 x x x o 55 ⬇ ⬇ 56 ⬇ ⬇ 57 x o 58 o x 59 ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ 60 x x x x o 61 ⬇ ⬇ 62 ⬇ 63 ⬇ ⬇ 64 ⬇ ⬇

Pine’s Comment Some sets have the commands come at you in rapid succession. It’s hard to keep track of all the inputs needed, so be sure to check out how many here.

“I quit!”

-

Groovemaster 2000 045

Meow

p. 50 Space Park · Fountain Square B

Shooting

Ulala’s Hearts: 10 With Pudding gone, the Space Bird Mistress appears on the stage. She has a lovely singing voice, but it’s a tad difficult to hear, so you’ll have to rely on your eyes along with your ears. Also, the last "Whoo!" at the end has another secret input spot. Though, it's a little different from the previous "Whoo!"s.

“They're forcing me to dance~”

14.

65 🠬 x 🠩 x 🠮 x 66 🠮 x 🠩 x 🠬 o 67 🠩 o 🠬 x 🠮 o 68 🠮 x 🠬 x 🠩 o

15.

69 🠩 o 🠮 x 🠬 o 70 🠬 x 🠮 o 71 🠮 o 🠬 x 72 🠮 x 🠬 o 🠩 o

Rescue 080: Space Park Staff Worker

-

Filthy Groove 046

Up Left Right Down Meow Meow Meow

p. 51

16.

73 🠩 🠮 x 74 🠩 🠬 x 75 🠩 🠬 o 76 🠩 🠮 o

17.

77 🠮 🠬 x 78 🠮 🠬 x 79 🠮 🠬 x 80 🠩 o

Rescue 047: Birdman 1 048: Birdman 2 049: Birdman 3 050: Birdman 4 051: Birdman 5 046: Space  Bird Mistress

Whoo [7]

-

Filthy Groove 047

Up Left Right Down Meooow Meow

p. 52 Space Park · Fountain Square C

Finale!

Ulala’s Hearts: 1 “Don’t ask why, just strike a pose!”

Left! Right! Up! Staaaay Chirp [8]

-

Filthy Groove 048

Meooow Meooow Meooow Meow

p. 53 Reference Material: Direct Hit Interview with Pres. Peace, Pre-incident ~Pudding, Interview with the Space President~

Pudding: Good afternoon everybody, it's me Pudding! Peace: Good afternoon everybody. It's me Space President Peace~. Pudding: Hello, hello people. Let's start right away with the questions. You use your singing voice to spread happiness around the galaxy, but for what reason? Do you do it for the quid pro quo, or any other ambition in mind? Peace: No, no, not at all. I simply want to make the entire universe happy with my singing voice, that's the greatest reward I ever ask for. Pudding: Ooh, you know, you sound like a certain salesman from 500 years ago. Very similar. Peace: Ohohohoho! Speaking of sales, there’s manga out now that has my official President-Peace seal of approval (serious)." Pudding: Oh, is that so? But you're not that pushy and guilt-trippy about your merch, unlike certain salespeople. You're, like, the complete opposite. Peace: Ohohohoho! I guess that's what happens when you compare a president to a salesman. Pudding: By the way Mr. Peace, how did you get your singing voice? I heard it can "bring tears to even those with the coldest of hearts," how did you even train for that? Peace: How? Hohoho, I was born with this voice. Ah, but if I had to guess, I'd say the thought of 'being kind to people,' having that sort of drive, is what improved my singing. Other than that… it might be the result of me drinking so much space alkaline ionic water. Pudding: Last question. Mr. Peace, do you have a type? Peace: Ohohohoho! I belong to the whole universe, I can't dedicate myself to just one person. Regardless of gender, whether it's an insect, a flower, or plankton, everyone and everything is deserving of my love.

-

Filthy Groove 049

Meooow Meow Meow Meow

#space channel 5 #pudding #Sugoku Sugoi Guide Book #president peace #Space Channel 5 part 2 #translations

[bratshaws]

goodness gracious 79. brb x oc

i will beat the shit out of you how dare you

a/n: OHHH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOD okay, OKAY OKAY WHEW I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE LIKING THE CHAPTERS SO FAR BECAUSE I AM BECAUSE I KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN AND AAAAAAAA

check out the fic's playlist made by the sweet @wiipes !!

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: Michael and Bea have a talk, Bea has to heal from some shit and Rooster has an idea uwu

chapters:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34/35/36/37/38/39/40/41/42/43/44

45/46/47/48/49/50/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64

65/66/67/68/69/70/71/72/73/74/75/76/77/78

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!!)

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter @shrimping-for-all @gretagerwigsmuse @frenchtoastix

@lizzie-rdj @fanboyluvr @atarmychick007 @comebacktoearthpls

@peachiicherries @mak-32 @lizziespidiepridie @roosterswifey @ollyoxenfrees @piceous21 @sqrlgrl22 @hofficoffi @lexhalstead3 @lorilane33 @legendarydreamersharkparty @luckyladycreator2 @emilybradshaw @j-6o @louisahale @leobabbyyy @kulicny @winter-run @ktjmac @graciereads

-

“You know I’m not going to stop you from living your adult life, I just would've liked to have known about it.” Michael says while twirling the thick boba straw in his cup, slurping it loudly as the two are seated on the outside tables that overlook the busy streets on that Monday afternoon.

“We just wanted to resolve everything before we told anyone.” Beatrice answers, drinking her own boba tea with her brow furrowed just enough, “It wouldn’t make sense to say we were moving in together without a house.”

Michael hums in reply, popping the tapioca bubbles as he does so, with his sunglasses low on the bridge of his nose, “I guess it makes sense.” he mutters, crossing one leg over the other, bouncing the one supporting it quickly, “Did you tell mom and dad yet?” Beatrice shakes her head, holding the plastic cup with both hands on top of her lap, focusing her eyes somewhere else.

‘I will tell them,Mike. I’ll also…have to tell them something else.” her older brother’s inquisitive ‘oh?’ made her grimace, “I did a photoshoot…last week.”

“A photoshoot?”

‘Yeah, um, a friend of Evelyn’s who is a fashion designer asked me to be his model and I accepted because…it was really good money and I needed to save some for the car and…well the pictures were nice, they were just…swimwear.”

A tapioca bubble almost entered his lung when she said it, which in turn makes the fourth oldest Schiavoni cough up like a miner who spent forty years underground inhaling coal fumes. He hits his chest with his fist, clears his throat, then turns his eyes to his sister, who looked as guilty as before, “No, no,” he coughs again,” Don’t feel bad,I’m just surprised. You are a grown woman and you-” another one “You can make your own choices. So you had a swimwear photoshoot, so what? Good for you.”

“Really?”

“You don’t need our permission.” Michael explains once he finally gets his breathing pattern back, “You stopped needing it the moment you turned eighteen but some people in our family don’t think that way.” she knew he meant their parents and Guillermo, even if he didn’t say it outloud, “So listen, if it was fun and you got paid then what the hell do I care? It’s not like you were killing anyone.”

Beatrice’s lips curved in a thankful smile, looking down at the bright pink cover on the boba tea cup as she took in his words. He was right, she didn’t have to elaborate why she chose to do certain things anymore. She wasn’t a child. “Thank you,Mikey.” she says, her brother just waves his hand as if to say it was nothing for her to worry about, “And thanks for joining me on getting a new car.”

She did get the red Jeep wrangler she wanted, but she wouldn't be able to take it home until the end of the week,which was when all the paperwork and insurance would be resolved. But she was more than happy. Thankfully Michael was with her at the time, because he would casually lean over a Jeep, make a face and then turn to another one. Not to mention he knew more than the guy selling the actual cars, which made it easier for the transaction to happen.

“Do you think dad will be mad at me though, because of the pictures?”

“What is he going to do? Kick you out of your own house?” Michael scoffs with a smirk, gesturing to the air with his tea, “Bea, you’ll be thirty this saturday. You no longer need mom and dad’s permission for anything, if they get mad, well, that sucks because they don’t pay your bills or anything like that anymore.” he had a very good point, he always did, especially when it came to their parents.

Michael was the second middle child, making him the fourth Schiavoni sibling. He always said it was the ‘middle child curse’ that made him so opinionated and rebelled when it came to their family. Michael was never really afraid of their parents, he did respect them but he also called them on their bullshit often that he had to move to NYC with Guillermo when time came. 

Beatrice never told him, but she admired his no nonsense attitude a whole lot. He was the wild child, the rebel one that got tattoos at seventeen by lying his age, who would do the craziest shit without thinking if he’d get hurt or not. Having his support meant a lot to her, because she knew if anything bad happens because of this, he’d have her back. Well,Leo and Marina too when she tells them, “But I have a question.” he begins, making his sister look towards him with her eyebrows furrowed in question, “When is the,” he taps his ring finger with his thumb, “Going to happen?”

It takes Bea a few seconds to understand, but when she does her face flames up “W-We aren’t thinking about that yet.” she lies, knowing very well that she was thinking about that a whole lot and way more often than she’d like ever since she saw the bridal shop, “We are just moving in together, Mikey.”

“And what’s the very next step people take? Marriage!” she blushes so much more when he says the word, sipping her mango tea loudly to keep her mind anywhere else, “Plus, you two look married already, it’s just about popping the question.”

They never talked about it, she knew she wanted to but she didn’t want to pressure Rooster into something like that. Especially with them already taking such a big step now with the new house and such, “I…I don’t know,Mikey. I-I’ll have to…check everything.” she murmurs, trying to remove the thoughts of her wearing a wedding gown, “Plus w-wouldn’t you think it’s too soon?” says the woman who voiced her love for him after two months. Oh the irony.

Michael arches one of his thick eyebrows, the one with the scar on it and makes a face, “People get married in Vegas after four hours of knowing one another.”

“That's a terrible example.”

“Okay, let me make it simpler for you, sis.” he wets his throat with tea before continuing, “Do you love Brad, don’t even answer me I know you do. And he loves you, because the dopey, love dovey look he gives you every time is enough reason for me to believe that. So what are you two waiting for?”

Beatrice frowns, biting her lower lip, “I…I don’t know? We never talked about it Mike,” she repeats, emphasizing on the words “And…w-what if he’s not ready? What if I push him to go through it and he just notices it’s nor worth it and–” Beatrice continued her rambling with her older brother just staring, his face unimpressed but yat amused, leaning back on his chair to slurp the last tapioca balls since he was pretty much done.

He leans on an open hand, watching his sister use her fingers to number the reasons why it’d be a bad idea to do it right now, which to Michael made no sense…but he also knew her. She was very anxious, of course she’s gotten better now, but it’s about her own thoughts running wild that he worries. If she wants to take a while to talk to Bradley about it, she would, if she wanted to make sure he wouldn’t force her either, “Alright, alright, fine, I get it. You want to wait a while, that’s fine.”

Beatrice lowers her hands to her lap, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles with a small frown, “It was just an innocent comment, Little Bitty. I’m just asking because, well, everyone really likes Bradley…even Guillermo.” he pauses, “...It is very weird to think about it, but he does seem less constipated when he sees Brad so I take that as a win.”

She laughs softly, giving her brother a smile and a gentle squeeze of the hand, “Thanks Mikey. I’ll…I’ll work on it, okay?” if her mind lets her do it, that is. She didn’t want it to get too nervous thinking about it either, so it was time to change the subject. So she did, she ended up asking Michael about his new place, that was apparently just a few streets down her soon to be old house and his new job.

He was going to be a boxing trainer at his friend’s gym, which was understandable considering how long Michael was a boxer alongside Guillermo - except Guillermo chose another career path as an engineer since it’d be a more stable job for him. “I’m happy you are back.” she says with a smile, seeing his own lips quirk in a grin, “I missed you.”

Michael pouts his lower lip, slapping a hand over his chest, ‘Oh, my heart– but I missed you too. I know adult life makes you go distances you’d never plan to but I really missed Cali, I really missed…not having to wear clothes heavier than myself during winter.” he murmurs, earning a soft laugh from his sister, “Plus,I’ll be an uncle again so, guess who is going on a shopping spree buying every size of ‘my uncle is the best uncle’ onesie? Me.”

“Leo’s baby will have another uncle though, Mike.”

“I’ll print huge a huge Michael on it, then we’ll know.” he laughs, looking down at his watch to check the time, “What do you say we just walk around, like the old times- is Mr.Scoops still open?” Beatrice nods, making her brother groan in anoyance, slapping his forehead, “Why didn’t we just go there? Do they still have the Freeze Burn milkshakes?”

“I think so–”

“We are getting those then,” he says, already standing to his feet and tossing the empty plastic cup to the trash bin, Beatrice blinking her wide eyes and trying to keep up with his long strides to the car.

“But, we just had something sweet!”

“There’s never enough sweet stuff!” he adjusts the sunglasses over his eyes, “Come on! Live a little! Have a sugar rush before you turn thirty!” Beatrice noises out a complaint, but sighs and nods, following him into the car since she had no other choice. As soon as she enters the car, her eyes suddenly lift to a vehicle, a vehicle that she hasn’t seen in ages.

A blue Corvette, one of many that Eric owned. Now the person inside the car was too distant for her to identify clearly, but she kept her eyes on it until it disappeared by a roundabout, narrowing her gaze when Michael turned on the car, driving the opposite direction and furthermore making her lose the blue car from view. It’d be insane if it was Eric, she knew Shells said something about seeing him somewhere when she was with Bob but…no, it was just a coincidence.

That’s all it was, nothing more nothing less.

She just leaned back on the car seat, sighing through her nose and watching the buildings go by as Michael drove them away.

When they get to Mr.Scoops she refuses to get anything besides water, trying to hide her disgusted face when Michael grabbed the sweetest and artificially colored milkshake they had there, already slurping it soundly as they walk by the park close by. Beatrice just sips her water, feeling her own stomach turn just by watching him by the corner of her eye, “You don’t know what you are missing.” he says with the straw in his mouth.

“A violent stomach ache, that’s what.” she replies in a muttered tone, walking alongside her older brother down the stone path. She couldn’t help but remember how her first date with Bradley ended up there, on a bench not too far from them, making out and completely forgetting about their ice creams. Seems like it's been more than seven months now, “I don’t know how you do it.”

“It’s easy, it’s all about self control.”

“Which you don’t have.” Michael’s only response was a bored ‘eh’ and a shrug, continuing to sip his milkshake like a little boy who just got his favorite treat.

“You know, when I found out about you and Brad,I’ll be honest, I got a bit confused.” he says suddenly, making Beatrice turn to face him with her brows low, “Not because I didn’t think you’d be able to get someone like Brad, but because he’s a military man and such. I just thought that you know, with him traveling so much you wouldn’t get used to it.”

“He got deployed a few months back,” she explains, closing her water bottle, “I was okay during it.” she wasn’t okay, she was able to manage it.

“How long.”

“Two months.”

Michael nods, “I mean I know some people spend years away, two months is child’s play isn’t it?” Bea frowns at his words, she knew he wasn’t trying to be mean or pessimistic about it, but she couldn’t help how her frown deepened, “I mean how the hell are you going to give me nieces or nephews with him gone?”

Ah.

Of course.

“Michael!!” she scolds, eyes wide and face a violent red, slapping his shoulder with more force than necessary “Michael what the hell!” her brother hisses in pain, pressing the cold plastic cup against his red biceps to cool it down.

“That’s the very next step after the next step!” he defends, shrugging his shoulders, “What? He likes kids! You like kids! Make the kids to I can be the cool uncle again!” of course his reasoning would be that, “The more the merrier.”

Beatrice groaned, looking away from him to glare at a group of trees not far from where they walked, crossing her arms below her bust, “You are worst than mom, I swear…God and when she finds out about us moving in together, I’ll never get any sort of silence because of that.” the amount of teas, herbs and random gifts her mother would give because she wanted another grandchild would be astronomical, “Didn’t I say how we didn’t even talk about the ‘m’ word? WHy do you think I talked about the ‘c’ word?”

“What’s this? Middle school? You can say those words outloud, the fuck.” Michael murmurs, chewing the end of his straw to chew the flavored ice stuck in the plastic recyclable tube, “I’m just saying, that when it happens, you already know who will be the baby’s favorite uncle. Maybe I’ll even buy more onesies and keep them saved for you.”

Beatrice narrows her eyes in his direction then shakes her head thinking how her brother was just relentless and would never stop doing that. But…he wasn’t wrong, ever since she accidentally bought that duck onesie she couldn’t help but think about it. She had seen pictures of Bradley when he was younger, when he was a little baby with a scrunched up face and light blonde hair, he was an adorable child. Would it be wrong, or weird to think about it without talking to him?

Yes it would so she should just stop thinking about it right now.

“You are just awful.” Beatrice mutters bringing the water bottle to her lips, feeling the cold liquid travel down her throat and hit her stomach, the siblings kept on walking on the park until they reached a bench where Michael sat down without telling her, Beatrice just turned her head when she could no longer hear his footsteps only to see him with his legs crossed in front of him, sipping the rest of his milkshake.

“I’m not awful,” he says when she sits down next to him, “I’m just saying that hey, it’d be cool if you got married and gave me nephews and or nieces, I don’t mind either.” he chuckles, enjoying how his sister’s face warmed up and how her eyes rolled so hard she was sure she could see her brain. But she leaned back on the stone bench, watching the few people walking by that afternoon alongside Michael.

“You know what this reminds me of?” she hums in question, waiting for him to continue, “When nonna used to take us bike riding. You were still really young then but, man, she’d just get us after school and she’d even ride a bike herself.” he chuckles, shaking his head, “...crazy lady. Hard to believe it’s been seventeen years since she was gone.”

Beatrice frowns, biting her lower lip, “Yeah.” furrowing her eyebrows “It’s hard to believe.”

“She used to keep those soft candies in her music box, do you remember? I don’t know how she did it, but you knew every time the tinkling music showed up you’d get a caramel or something of the sort.” Michael chuckles softly, his own eyelids lowering at the memory, “I haven’t heard it in years. The music box.”

“Dad keeps it at home.” she says,”In his room.”

‘Hm…you know she left it for you right?” he says and she nods, still looking away, “Why don’t you take it with you when you move in with Brad? I think nonna would like to know you have it.”

But the brunette just chewed the corner of her mouth, crossing her arms tighter over her chest, “I don’t know if it’s a good idea. I haven’t touched it since–well, it’s been seventeen years since I touched it.” and she wasn’t sure if she’d be ready to get it again, to see it once more would probably bring back the tears she held for so long. It seemed selfish but she didn’t want to have that as a memory, she knew she’d remember a lot of things the second she held it in her hands.

“...did you allow yourself to grieve?” Michael’s sudden serious voice startles her, his eyes looking ahead, “Or did you cry for a little bit, got sad and moved on?”

“Of course I did!” she almost sounds offended when he says, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Michael’s green eyes turned to her light toned ones, licking his lips before he spoke again, “I just think it’d be good. You have avoided it for seventeen years, I don’t think you fully allowed yourself to cry and be sad about it.” 

“Michael–”

“Beatrice–”

She frowns when he cuts her off, glaring at the ground below her feet with her teeth clenched, “Michael I just…why would that–I mean…”

“Because,” he begins, using his half empty milk shake to gesture his words, “Nonna wouldn’t want you to hold onto that, especially when you are going to get with someone you love.”

Michael had a point. He always had a point. Okay, maybe she didn’t allow herself to feel sad, to cry and let go but it was because…knowing her nonna wasn’t there to see her live with someone she loved, to find the love she always wanted was…very disappointing. She wanted her to know Bradley, she wanted her to be there when she eventually got married, she wanted her to be there at the special moments.

But she wasn’t. And she didn’t know how to deal with it now. “...okay.” she says, quietly, knowing there was no way to win this argument. “Okay.”

“Good!We’re going to get it when I’m finished here.”

“What? But–”

“Ooh!I’m finished look!” he tosses the empty plastic cup into the trash can, “Time to get it!”

-

Bradley opens Beatrice’s front door with the extra key she gave him, blinking when he saw that her living room was quiet and empty, not even Jolene was there, “Baby?” he calls, not expecting to hear her voice coming from the bedroom in the loft area, it was too early for her to go to bed. He steps over to the staircase, seeing Jolene’s head pop over the last step with her body shaking excitedly upon seeing him coming up.

He pets the pittie gently, but his eyebrows furrow when he sees Beatrice sitting cross legged in the middle of her bed, supporting her face on one hand with a small box in front of her, “Hi.” her voice sounded quieter than normal, almost cracked and upon close inspection once he approached the bed, he could see the tear tracks on her cheeks.

‘Baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He wastes no time in kicking off his shoes so he could climb on the bed with her, wrapping her in his arms so her head touched his shoulder, “What’s the matter?”

Bea sniffles, dropping her hand to her lap as if it was dead weight,”Do you remember how I said I never opened my nonna’s music box?” she asks quietly, his brain wracks for the memory and he nods, “This is it. I got it today from my parents’ house.”

Bradley’s eyes drop from Beatrice’s head to the vintage looking music box with floral patterns on the lid, the latch bronze in color and the wood a reddish brown, “Michael suggested it.” she explains after a few seconds of silence, “He was right, I didn’t…I didn’t grieve a lot and I guess…I guess I needed this.”

“Okay.” he murmurs, kissing the side of her head, “Did you open it?” she doesn’t move for a few minutes, but then he feels her arm reach from under his and unclasp the lid, slowly opening the small box. A tinkling music surrounds them, a tiny ballerina spins in a circular platform in the middle of the music box, where there were two compartments on the sides with a few pieces of jewelry in them.

Beatrice picks a specific one, “This was her engagement ring.” she whispered, holding it up for him to see, sniffling quietly, “She wore it until the last years of her life, then she kept it here in fear she’d lose it while washing dishes and whatnot…I thought she’d want to be buried with it.” It was a beautiful ring with a small diamond in the middle and two gems on the sides. He couldn't figure out what it was.

Beatrice was so focused on explaining what it was she didn’t see Bradley’s eyes intently staring at the ring. Earlier that day he ended up visiting a bridal website - for curiosity of course- hoping to find a ring that’d scream Beatrice’s name…but everything was too big, too fancy, nothing that would remind him of her. But this one. This one was a lot more of what he had in mind for her, small yet beautiful. “It’s really pretty.” he says after he noticed he got too quiet, but Beatrice didn’t seem to notice.

She holds it above her finger, “She had long fingers,” but she doesn’t try it on, “You know? She was…yeah…” she smiles sadly still holding it, “She was something else.”

“Are you okay?”

Beatrice’s response was a weak laugh, but she nodded, “I am.” she inhales deeply, still pressing her temple to his shoulder, “It’s just…strange I guess, to see everything again after so long…but Michael was right, my nonna would want me to do this.”

He didn’t know what sort of conversation she and Michael had, but she seemed a lot lighter than she usually was, like a weight dropped from her shoulders. “I’m going to take this to the house when we move in, I think it’d be like…a blessing of some sort you know?” she smiles, “She’d like to be there.”

“...Yeah I get what you mean.” the box of memories his mother kept would also go, he had decided a few days back that he’d probably get some things off the box to decorate the halls of their new home, maybe not everything, but some of the things would be good to look at whenever he walked around the place. “You think your nonna would like to know we are living together?”

“Well she was old school, Brad.” she murmurs, gently placing the engagement ring back inside and pushing the lid closed with a soft ‘click’ “She wouldn’t know how this works.” she chuckles, “To her it’d be strange that we uh…live together before anything.”

Marriage.

She didn’t say outloud, but he knew what it meant, “...would she be upset about it?”

“No, not upset.” she says a bit too quickly, her face reddening, “Just…confused I guess. But she’d like you so that’s always a bonus.” she smiles, picking the music box gingerly with both hands before she kisses his cheek, “I’m going to put this away.”

Bradley nods with a little grin, but his eyes drop to the side in thought when she walks away. He wondered if…no, he wasn’t wondering, he was going to do something about it after her birthday. He had to, he had to prepare. While they never talked about it, it was there, in the air, like a waft of something that never left: she’d want that, she would. Just by the way she spoke about it or the way she held her nonna’s engagement ring was enough of an answer for him.

While he was excited about the birthday party for Bea, he was even more excited for what would come after. And he just had to do some things first and foremost.

#bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x oc #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x reader

[annabtg]

AND 73, 74, 75 🌻

😘😘😘

73. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

Attention to detail, I assume? I also like to think I have a good balance between dialogue and description and a good flow. And the mistakes in (at? on? with??) prepositions 😁

74. You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

Well apparently I can't really fool a lot of people, if MMM was anything to go by 😁 I think, apart from what I mentioned in #73, I work with certain characterizations and themes that I don't veer easily from. Also a balance of feelings - you can expect something fluffy, but not tooth-rottingly so; something bittersweet, but not super angsty.

75. What scene in [Fanfic Name] took the longest to write? What was difficult about it? 

You haven't specified a fic so I'm going to just pick a scene that was hard to write, but with a twist! The break-up sex scene in My Best Friend's Girl took hours even though I knew exactly what I wanted to write, because it hurt so much I kept taking long breaks between each sentence to collect myself!

Get to know your fic writer asks here!

#lovely athena #fic writer asks answers #thanks for playing!

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 20/01/2024 (Ariana Grande, 21 Savage's american dream, D-Block Europe)

The story of this week is… well, there are a lot of stories, and the moral of nearly all of them is: don’t get your hopes up. Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” has halted a certain someone off the top spot, and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we swiftly ignore you-know who and instead spend a little time on the notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK Top 75, which is what I cover (read the FAQ), after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. As one would expect, there’s quite a lot of movement this week so we do have a hefty list, bidding farewell to… “Just Another Rainbow” by Liam Gallagher and John Squire after just one week at #16, “Entrapreneur” by Central Cee, “You’re Losing Me” (From the Vault) by Taylor Swift getting three-song-ruled out and exchanged for another Taylor song, and then “Standing Next to You” by Jung Kook, “Murdaside” by Mazza_l20 and friends, “First Person Shooter” by Drake featuring J. Cole, “adore u” by Fred again.. and Obongjayar, “Daylight” by David Kushner, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus and the Selena Gomez-assisted “Calm Down” by Rema. Yeah, some massive losses this week, it really is ushering in the 2024 hit parade this quickly

As for our notable gains, well, we see a return for “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift at #69 due to the swap I talked about earlier - it really isn’t a good trade-off in my opinion. Aside from that, there are boosts for “Black Friday” by Tom Odell at #31 which I can’t complain about, and same goes for “Never Lose Me” by Flo Milli at #24. I will complain about “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield at #18, but that brings us neatly to our top five, where we have Teddy Swims fly in at #5 with “Lose Control”, followed by familiar faces, “Lovin’ on Me” by Jack Harlow at #4 and “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor at #3, and then, despite multiple versions and a music video, Noah Kahan fended off Ariana Grande’s comeback single “yes, and?”, stalling out narrowly at #2. It’s fully the season of the sticks, and also the season of 11 Goddamn song reviews, some of which were expected and don’t give me much to say, or much that I want to say, and some that just came out of thin air. I guess let’s just get this party started.

New Entries

#73 - “Scared to Start” - Michael Marcagi

Produced by David Baron

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Who the Hell is This Guy? So, Mr. Marcagi started out as the lead singer for non-starter indie rock band The Heavy Hours, before the release of two very recent and very obviously trend-chasing solo singer-songwriter singles. This is the second of them, and seems to have been his breakout and yeah, I suppose we have Noah Kahan at home. The song is overall about a youthful relationship that gets them into undetailed recklessness and escapism, particularly getting away from a small boring town into being on-the-road nomads, without much care for where the future actually takes them. I like the heartland rock pianos and the tried-and-true drop into half-time for the second chorus, though by the time he does it again in the final chorus, I mostly wish he just picked up the pace as the momentum needs to accelerate from there if it’s such a carpe diem track, it feels like a missed opportunity to really go hard at the final hustle, like Kahan would do. As a whole, it’s really not that difficult to see why this is here or even why people could love it, but I feel like it needed more refining to truly make it worthwhile.

#63 - “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” - YG Marley

Produced by Lauryn Hill, YG Marley and JohnnyG

When I say everything will chart in January, I mean everything. This is one of Bob Marley’s many grandchildren, and yes, that is the Lauryn Hill you’re thinking of. She married into the Marleys, this is her son, she co-produced and co-wrote the song, which additionally samples the original Marley’s “Crisis”, a 1978 track with the Wailers, an uplifiting song about living it up through crisis, staying aware of tragedy but taking time to yourself to allow for fun to be had, peace to be found. I like the song a lot, but it was an album track and hence never charted until it was sampled on this newer song from late last year, which - this is not the first time this week we’ll see this either - turns the otherwise conscious track into a love ballad, but sonically, it’s incredibly faithful, even down to the liquidy reggae groove and charming background singers. Sadly, YG does not have the presence of his grandfather, sounding mostly like a nervous, Auto-Tuned child stumbling onto the school talent show, but that’s also partly due to the mix crushing his nasal croon a bit, it feels smashed in between different elements of the mix instead of resting carefreely in it like Bob would. I do actually appreciate the shift in content for the second verse, which I can only assume was written by Ms. Lauryn Hill considering its cynical, conscious stabs at soul-taking and standing your ground. In fact, I actually like this song quite a lot - whilst it starts off as a love ballad, it ends up using more of an appreciative worship angle that fits much better with the lax, improvisational performance, especially once Lauryn comes in for the outro, it’s just nice to hear her singing again, to be honest. The guitars are also surprisingly sludgy by the end, it feels, fitting the mix’s general vibe, which makes it feel a tad sinister or at least defiant, which makes the sample flip - or really, recreation - a lot more sensible. So, yeah, I think this turns around to actually being quite good, if not great? I guess you can’t go wrong when you just plod in that classic Bob Marley tune as a loop for so long and get Lauryn Hill to do backup, I mean, it really does not seem like you can go wrong placing those two together on a track, albeit posthumously. I know it’s never coming but part of me wants to at least hope this may mean we get, if not a solo album, a wider array of collaborations from Lauryn Hill in the future.

#61 - “No Man’s Land” - Marshmello and venbee

Produced by Marshmello, Digital Farm Animals and Earwulf

To be completely honest, I thought Marshmello’s time in the Sun was over. He’s been latching onto Fuerza Regida and Latin music overall Stateside, so I figured his hit-making days could be far behind him, yet here he is without a reggaetónero or corrida band, and instead venbee, who has yet to really replicate the success of “messy in heaven”, but maybe this will be a winning combination and not another desperate last-minute attempt by Marshmello to find a final niche before the spark dies completely. Surely by now, you know where this is going. Mr. Mello even got Digital Farm Animals to co-write and produce so there really is a distant scent of imminent failure written into this one. That’s not to say the song isn’t good because, well, despite all my cynicism, it’s a damn good track, I actually really love this one. It has all the 2018 plastic tropical flavour but due to going for a faster-paced drum and bass rolick and surprisingly compressed and gross-sounding mix on venbee’s vocals, it doesn’t have any of the effortless sheen and instead sounds a bit rough around the edges, with even the little intricate details in that second verse sounding a bit out of place. That lines up pretty perfectly with venbee’s self-loathing that she feels has buried her into an isolation that she can’t really handle considering how much she hates that cycle. Now I don’t think this’ll be a hit: it sounds like something that could be a sleeper success, but by the time it would get much traction, the song is rather too depressive to be dropped into a Summer EDM mix, and honestly, we have no track record for venbee in terms of any consistent success, and it’s not like Marshmello is a pull anymore. So whilst I actually think this is brilliant, I would have to say to Marshmello: Maybe don’t get your hopes up.

#59 - “J CHRIST” - Lil Nas X

Produced by Omer Fedi, Gesaffelstein and Lil Nas X

“The biggest comeback” since Jesus and he couldn’t even break top 50? In this chart climate? In this economy? I did see a lot of social media disillusionment with Lil Nas’ religious angle, none of which I agreed with because really, it’s only his second time doing so and who decided that artists suddenly couldn’t use themes in their music? Yet that may explain the lack of success out of the gate for… “J CHRIST” - God, what a terrible song title - and I can’t say it’s unfortunate, this song is terrible, and not in an honest-sounding way either. LNX has never sounded more bored and typical, going for a vocal take that doesn’t even fully sound like him, as if he was pitched up in post, and the lyrics seem absolutely unfinished if not unchanged from a mumbling reference track. Even the catchy hook is pretty gimmicky with the “high note”, and the second verse just repeats itself sloppily over this piano-based trap beat, that doesn’t really go anywhere at all. In fact, if left on its own, one could consider this a bit of a feat: gawk in awe at Lil Nas X trying and failing to inject life into an amateur YouTube remake of “HUMBLE.” made by a guy with 12 subscribers! Yet due to the promising, alien outro from Gesaffelstein, we know that more effort could have been put into this to make it much more unique and refreshing, and his springy synth bounce lingers throughout the rest of the track, especially that pre-chorus, as a tease for something to come, which would be promising if that “something to come” wasn’t the absolute lowest barrier of entry for decent music: being interesting. Again, don’t get your hopes up.

#46 - “Alibi” - Ella Henderson featuring Rudimental

Produced by Aidan Glover, Cliff Masterson, Rudimental and Punctual

It is with the deepest of sighs that I say the late Coolio’s iconic Dangerous Minds soundtrack cut “Gangsta’s Paradise”, that has long outlasted its film companion, debuted at #1 upon release in 1995 and stayed there for two weeks total, and has returned intermittently to the UK Singles Chart since 2009 due to just how great of a song it is, a timeless Stevie Wonder flip with L.V. on the chorus and some of the most harrowing yet accessible conscious verses that have ever appeared on a chart hit. Ella Henderson, we are not doing this. Why Rudimental decided to credit themselves onto this… thing they barely produced is beyond me, because this is a worthless parody of the original, a dead-on-arrival concept with little respect for its source material… but that makes it sound cool, doesn’t it? It makes it sound risky, like it’s trying new things, when in reality, that’s far from the case. Ms. Henderson copies inflections and melodies directly from L.V., who already took them from Stevie, and replaces the lyrics with meaningless relationship platitudes. The beat is stock drum and bass, the main lead sample is from the most famous and memed part of the song. This kind of song makes me question whether I can even consider it art at all because what human aspect could have possibly been involved in this? Ella’s singing, sure, but not only are the vocals touched-up in post, it’s not like she or her choir care all too much about emoting these lyrics, and they really shouldn’t. Sure, a human - or several, according to the credits - programmed this song, but would you really be surprised if it was done algorithmically based on a TikTok search of the original song? I love sampling, it’s possibly the most interesting thing about popular music past the 1990s, but some reinventions are little more than fleeting insults at artists not alive to repel them. The man rejected Weird Al’s parody and even after he’d lightened up about that, I have serious doubt he would sign off on this garbage. May he rest in peace - I personally really love his other single “Fantastic Voyage”, maybe even more than “Gangsta’s Paradise”, and I’ll always remember his voice performance as the Kwanzaabot in Futurama. This? I’m trying not to remember it. Hopefully the UK can realise this for its cheap distasteful novelty and leave it  buried in the dregs of Spotify where it belongs.

#42 - “Heather on the Hill” - Nathan Evans

Produced by Alan Jukes and Stevie Jukes

I’m… genuinely surprised Nathan Evans is still popping up, especially with a song like this. The title may be referring to the song of the same name in the 1947 musical Brigadoon, set in the Scottish Highlands, perhaps most well known in its version by Grace Kelly. Now that is a beautiful composition with a surprisingly frail performance in the verses that really gives a lot of lackadaisical charm to the track, even if I’ve never even heard of the musical before. This track by everyone’s favourite sea-shantier has nothing to do with that song. The traditional Scottish folk strings may interpolate the original slightly but this is a pop song through and through, with Lewis Capaldi-esque vocal and guitar production, it’s all compressed and staccato and aimless but at least you can tell Evans is Scottish given all the references which would seem tacky if there weren’t just so many of them, and Hell, I’m not Scottish, I can’t judge how a Scotsman expresses his Scottishness. There is a great dramatic charm in the absolute joyfulness this seems to at least want to display, especially with the Scottish folk chaos in the back of the mix and Evans just giving it all he can. In fact, I kind of love this: it’s an adorable love song that ends very abruptly for no good reason, is littered with little Scottish lyrical details, and whilst it doesn’t hit the same as the song from the musical, it’s going for an entirely different vibe: one of folkish lovestruckness and awe, admiration. This feels like a first crush, if my first crush was from Orkney. She wasn’t, of course, but I can dream; both songs I discovered from this entry I appreciate in largely different ways but are pretty admirable all the same.

#27 - “n.h.i.e.” - 21 Savage and Doja Cat

Produced by Kurtis McKenzie, Scribz Riley, Jonah and Nineteen85

Okay, so 21 Savage released a new album, american dream, last Friday, and it debuts at #2 on the UK albums chart, with three new songs debuting here because the entire album was new material, and quite frankly, next to none of it fit the concept of the album, and that includes pretty much everything we have here. It’s really frustrating when ambition, especially conceptual ambition, seems to be promised and whilst the product itself is completely fine, serviceable and in the case of this 21 album, frankly quite good, it does not abide by the ideas that were presented in, say, the introduction, the soundtrack connection, how 21’s mother appears on both the opener and closer to speak frankly about her experiences and how they relate to her son’s, especially in regards to travelling from London to the US. Given that 21’s finally gained US residency and this seemed like his way of commemorating his escape from the confusing citizenship debacle, wherein he can be proud of both his British and American heritage, I was quite disappointed when it was 90% a typical rap album with soul samples, trap beats, flexing on haters, having sex with women, killing people in comical detail and even having a second half largely consisting of R&B just for the ladies, I suppose. With all that, like I said, I enjoyed the album! 21 is a lyrically and vocally quite fun presence nowadays, and the production was incredibly cohesive in its sound despite trying out some different rhythms and vibes throughout. It is, by all means, a good 21 Savage album, but if you’re hoping for more than that, again, don’t get your hopes up. As for the tracks that debuted, they are by far the least interesting and actually some of my least favourites. This one has an eerie guitar lick but also Doja Cat all over the track just whispering and distractingly so, with 21 kind of on autopilot, even if his short verse is pretty good. Doja is doing the whole quirked-up not-a-rapper schtick with the “ad-lib!” ad-lib and basic flow accentuated by again, those multi-tracked whispers and outright refusal to write a verse of considerable length. It’s just lazy on mostly her part but pretty much everyone else as well, there’s little to care for here.

#23 - “née-nah” - 21 Savage, Travis Scott and Metro Boomin

Produced by Metro Boomin

Why is the song called that? Anyway, this is my least favourite track easily. You have a straight minute of Travis wasting my time - without the Auto-Tune, without the spacey production, without the atmospheric concepts and ambition, who even IS this guy, really, other than an unconvincing cornball who never decides on a solid flow and fills up time with ad-libs, including some weird Westside Gunn riffing this time around? Also, considering how much time he’s spent with Kanye, I’m getting slightly worried to who this villainous “they” he’s referring to in this verse all the time might actually be, he’s been oddly defensive and conspiratory since UTOPIA at least. This is a completely serviceable Metro beat, though it actually gets kind of hard on the ears midway through due to that shrill sample that doesn’t really have much to blend with when the chopped, vintage sample isn’t present. It’s a shame that the rest of the track is pretty much garbage because 21 delivers some of his most violently funny and out-of-pocket verses on this whole album, with a cold-as-Hell chorus and lines about Virgil Abloh and Usher that hit pretty hard as punchlines. Again, a shame it’s all placed here on what was for everyone else, a throwaway track.

#19 - “Eagle” - D-Block Europe and Noizy

Produced by Da Beatfreakz

DBE sold like 10 million USB sticks or something, their album is #1 yet here’s their sole track in the top 75. Now this is the kind of so-bad-it’s-enjoyable DBE I like to hear, with Beatfreakz on production, an unusually long, minimal intro, an array of deranged ad-libs, terrible Auto-Tune, Young Adz stammering helplessly and not understanding how disparate some of the consecutive lyrics are from each other. He barely sticks to a coherent flow and starts the chorus with declaring that he thinks he’s Albanian, but he doesn’t enunciate so it sounds like he just calls himself the country of Albania. We even have Dirtbike Lb going for a verse that completely washes whatever Youthful Advertisement was doing, he actually kind of kills his verse, it’s impressive. The flow switch is much clearer and well-done than whatever Adz tries his hand at, his slurring and naturally slow, droning delivery is used to its best extent here. Oh, and like half the song belongs to this one extended verse from an actual Albanian rapper, Noizy, who goes in… I think? He says near the end, “I’m Albanian, you’re not supposed to like me” and I really don’t know what to make of that, or this song in general, it’s kind of a fascinating mess with some genuine flow highlights but mostly just bizarre choices. In that regard, classic DBE.

#11 - “redrum” - 21 Savage

Produced by London on da Track and Peeb

My favourite track from this album is “see the real”, a sassy, witty and dismissive hyphy-esque bop that inflects a lot of melody into 21’s sound but not enough to dissuade you from his cold demeanour. Some of my other favourite tracks include the sincere PSA “dark days”, the needlessly catchy R&B track “should’ve wore a bonnet” and yeah, “redrum” has none of what I just described. It’s pure violence, it got the music video set in London, so here it is, with its Italian classical music sample in the intro that just eventually forms into a menacing, unchanging loop. It sounds great, but with the caveat that it also just sounds like that the whole time. If 21 weren’t generally an incredibly compelling and more importantly convincing presence as a killer on the mic, this would be a pretty unimpressive beat, so it really shows how much better an instrumental can sound when the right pocket’s found, and for 21, who is on his A-game punchline and ad-lib wise on this track, it seems almost effortless. I’ve obviously not got much else to say about this song or the album as a whole, but I do think it’s a shame that its most unique and enlightening moments didn’t make their way to the charts, or that they were so few and far between to begin with. Hey, at least we didn’t get any shreds of that terrible Kid Cudi project, right? Sheesh.

#2 - “yes, and?” - Ariana Grande

Produced by Ariana Grande, Max Martin and ILYA

It’s fine. I know it’s the big story of the week but there’s nothing too celebratory, triumphant, badass or even interesting about this comeback single from Ariana, that clearly goes for an attitude it couldn’t fully commit to, given the cheaper-than-usual sounding vocaloid chop behind the diva house pianos and a cooing that sems to miss the point of its own genre. Lyrically, it’s self-motivation but I mean, we have “BREAK MY SOUL”, and the genuinely experimental and explorative RENAISSANCE from just two years ago, we really don’t need a lacklustre Ariana Grande rendition of this genre, especially when she’s completely phoning it in. She’s not someone who’s meant to chant mantras, that’s not the kind of loose, parading singer she is, it’s why she never worked on trap beats. The spoken word bridge is pitched-up - because sure, Ariana needs pitching up of all singers - and practically egregious: going for the censor during the Ethan Slater-related line is exactly the “serve” it was intended to be, given that it’s the one time the song actually feels like it exists, but it also just drills this hole further that Ari cannot sell this at all, and should absolutely not be trying to when the audience, even if invested in the “I’m fucking the SpongeBob guy” drama, cannot find themselves motivated by because, well, last time I checked, the only other person fucking the SpongeBob guy was the mother of his child. If someone can point me to the passion and empowerment in this song and its seven other versions instead of a lingering tinge of desperate acting-out, please do, because every listen just leaves an even sourer note in my mouth. Ugh, let’s move on.

Conclusion

I actually did not dislike “yes, and?” before writing this episode, but several listens and caring to look at the lyrics more have really prevented me from enjoying it the way I wanted to so, yes, it will get the Dishonourable Mention, with the Worst of the Week being so obvious I really don’t have to say it, do I? Best of the Week goes to Marshmello and venbee for “No Man’s Land” with an Honourable Mention to Nathan Evans of all people with “Heather on the Hill” and I suppose that’s it. It was a bit of a long ordeal this week, but thank you for reading, see you… a bit earlier than next Friday, I think, but still, next week.

#uk singles chart #pop music #song review #ariana grande #21 savage #american dream #d-block europe #noizy #travis scott #metro boomin #doja cat #nathan evans #ella henderson #rudimental #lil nas x #marshmello #venbee #yg marley #lauryn hill #michael marcagi

[jiannguo]

Beijing Radio And Television News talks about Xiao Zhan ansld Legend of Condor

When @电影空离英雄传奇之大者 announced, it really wasn’t wrinkling a pool of spring water, it was smashing, it was waves curbing a flying boat. The boats from all sides stopped to "eat melons". 

On May 15th, the official issue of this magazine published "When "Xu Guaiguai" formed a group "Xiao Shuaishuai".

"Xu" Tsui Hark, born in 1950 and now 73 years old.

Who is "Shuaishai Xiao"? Xiao Zhan, who was born in 1991 and is considered by many to be "grown on his own aesthetics" @X九少年团肖战DAYTOY

●"Handpicked"? After the official announcement of the film, there is still such a saying: "Tsui Hark hand-picked Xiao Zhan".

"Hand-picked" clearly revealed Tsui Hark's status in the area. Works in the film industry are the most numerous, and Tsui Hark's works are in a basket. Being 73 years old is not a big deal. The accumulated brand effect of good works is estimated to be more than 90 years old.

Encyclopedia has listed a few of Tsui Hark's masterpieces, but in your mind, which of Tsui Hark's masterpieces is it?

Randomly interviewed and found an interesting question: In the era when the funds were not so sufficient and the special effects were rough, compared to the period when the creation was full of vitality and enthusiasm, the works were repeatedly mentioned by fans... At present, Tsui Hark's status in the world is naturally, there is no doubt, but is there any reverse effect of excessive capital and creative inertia? 

And Xiao Zhan has "terrific" traffic, not many film works, TV dramas and drama performances are remarkable, coupled with the blessings of fashion and business fields...

● "Shooting the Condors", the production background of the hard-won film, has been dubbed the scale of the "national team" by netizens...

Does Xiao Zhan look like Guo Jing? Guo Jing who is so graceful? No wonder there are comments: "Tsui Hark invited Xiao Zhan to play Guo Jing, how would Jin Yong feel when he found out?" In fact, when Mr. Jin Yong was alive, there were often things where his works were re-shooted so that he didn't like them, and he let go of a lot of cruel words. , Round after round of copyright did not delay the hot sale. Has Jin Yong ever said harsh words to Tsui Hark? Of course there is, and it's not because of Dongfang Invincible...

Finally, the opportunity came again... Anyway, can playing special effects help, don't want to see the reaction of "Xu Guaiguai" and "Xiao Shuaishuai"? Let's see what Guo Jing will become!

● "Strange" and "handsome", the memory has to collide with the "weirdness" of "Xu Guaiguai", which is really enough for the audience to guess.

The story is not suitable for changing the movie? We can't guess how the story of "Old Monster Xu" is constructed! Can you think of "Green Snake" being shot like that? Can you imagine what "Invincible in the East" looks like? Can you think that "Di Renjie" does not burn brains and burn special effects?

Besides, the "handsomeness" of "Xiao Shuaishuai" is enough to make the audience, especially the fans, excited.

There was an exclusive interview with Xiao Zhan, when he was answering interview questions while putting on makeup. Seeing the makeup artist tinkering with his face and head, the difference between before and after tinkering is just a stage effect that is more suitable for a certain period of time.

As for the "Physique" of "Xiao Shuaishuai", everyone has seen the "Soldier King" in "Ace Force". I have interviewed several actors who partnered with Xiao Zhan in "Ace Force", and they are all praised and distressed...

Film is the art of directors. The director's precise guidance, training, and enlightenment can often receive the touch of gold and magic. effect. "Xu Guaiguai" and "Xiao Shuaishuai" form a group, which is the memory of tricks, long-term achievements, linkage... The

classic "Huang Rong", besides Weng Meiling, Zhou Xun, who appreciates Xiao Zhan, leads the official announcement of the film After starring Xiao Zhan is Zhuang Dafei. The little girl was born in 2001 and graduated from the Performance Department of Beijing Film Academy. With Weng Meiling and Zhou Xun's Huang Rongzhuyu in front, I have to say that this girl is really brave. 

@庄达菲 If you have to keep working hard, why do you say "Zhou Xun"? 

It's not just because she played "Huang Rong", but I asked Xiao Zhan during the interview, who is the actress he admires the most? He replied "Zhou Xun"@i Zhou Xun . The original words at the time were like this:

"I really like Zhou Xun. Her views and experiences fascinate me. Many of her performances make me want to rush into the screen to rescue her. Zhou Xun's performance is very dynamic, as if you are accompanying her to experience the performance. When she talks, my attention will be completely on her, and she has a very great personal charm." Tsk tsk, these words are sincere enough right? 

●It is a good thing to form more groups across the border, and it is an era when "personality" wins... It is a good thing for "Xu Guaiguai" to form a group with "Xiao Shuaishuai". Because film and television production has never been done by one person, especially under the current communication characteristics. Crossing generations and blending traits, everyone concentrates on their superior forces, and has a look at it with sincerity.

#xiao zhan #daytoyxiaozhan #daytoy肖战 #肖战daytoy #肖战xiaozhan #sean xiao #肖战 #untamed cast

[danceswithdarkspawn]

Questions for the Fic Writer Ask Game, Part 2 of 2! Back again!

43: Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person?

51: What’s your total AO3 word count?

55: Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

67: Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

73: What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

74: You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

That's it for me! Hey, have fun with all these questions, bucko!

43: Little bit of column A, little bit of column B. Though I'd argue I don't write whump as much as I do angst. Urthemiel being a dick to Ariel is probably the only proper "whump" I've written.

51: 131,108

55: I think it depends on the day because I adore all the characters I include in my fics, no matter how small their role. Obviously Leliana is usually a major character in some way, so you could say her. I think that because I write a lot of Leliana-centric stuff, I haven't had much "you should write x character!" So, no, it hasn't. I might consider it if it does happen depending on the characters.

67: This one again depends on the day. Sometimes an idea hits from prompts, most of the time they don't.

73: I don't have a desire to compare myself to others' works.

74: Excessive alliteration? I'm not sure.

#the dancer answers #ask games #fic asks

[tokuvivor]

18, 25, 73

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

Before. When it comes to titling, it’s not all the same for all the titles. They vary between categories like actions/descriptions generally related to the story, some sort of niche pop culture reference, or a different take on a common phrase.

25. What fic do you wish you got more of a response on?

I’d generally say either of my published non-DT stories, New Year’s Day and A Second Chance to Save a Life. I get that most of this fandom isn’t really familiar with Dash & Lily or Super Sentai, and that those fandoms are either fairly small or just don’t pay a lot of attention to fanfiction. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not worth checking out. If checked out, though, it might be necessary to brush up on some general knowledge of the shows in question. You guys do you, though.

73. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

That’s a tough one. I guess I just like focusing a lot on different characters’ reactions to certain situations, as well as focusing on characters being emotionally open with each other, even if the show didn’t necessarily know how to go about it with certain characters.

#get to know your fic writer! #new year’s day #a second chance to save a life

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

On the Wings not sounding like a band: it could also be partly because of the lineup changes over the years. Paul, Linda, and Denny were the three consistent members through Wings' existence, so maybe different people in the band brought different styles to the records. My references to Wings live would be Rockshow/Wings Over America (which I LOVE and if I could go back in time to any Beatles or Beatles-adjacent concert, Wings in '75-76 would be my pick), the '72-73 University tour footage, and One Hand Clapping (which I think was around Band On the Run? And live in a studio). Those are like three entirely different bands to me lol

I'd also imagine that more disconnected sounds could've come from times when Paul eased up on the creative reigns (not sure if that's the right way to phrase it), like on the albums that include songwriting credits from other Wings members.

I think the ever-changing lineup is a good point actually, though my counter is that even say Band On The Run as an album doesn't fully sound like a band, despite being an incredibly cohesive body of work. But maybe it's almost too cohesive, y'know? I guess one could say the same of something like Pet Sounds, when one person is driving everything I feel you can hear that? There's a certain messiness to Revolver and Rubber Soul which makes them be distinctively a band to me, despite being incredibly innovative and creative works that went far beyond what people typically thought as what bands should sound like, if that makes sense. IDK maybe if I watched more Wings interviews I'd have an easier time hearing everyone's personalities, if that makes sense.

#ask #mangle-my-mind #wings #music talk

[valeriianz]

It's a long list of writer asks so I asked a bunch: 4, 6, 15, 16, 29, 30, 50, 73, and 77!

AHH! Teej you spoil me <3

4: How do you choose which fics to write?

i dont. my heart wants to write one thing but my brain takes a hard left and never cooperates with me :')

6: What’s the last line you wrote?

for BitB:

“Hey man, I just work in the shadows. Same as you.” He looks sideways at the sound of someone calling his name. “I’ll see ya in a bit.”

15: What’s your favorite time to write?

morning. my brain is fresh and ready to go.

16: Do you write by hand, on your phone, or on your laptop?

laptop 100%. notes get written on my phone but i absolutely can't be serious on my phone.

29: What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

uh. i guess dialogue. my favorite thing to read is character stories and i think that is reflected a lot in my writing. i often read aloud dialogue that i've written so it makes sense and i obsess over the little details. i know that's not everyone's cup of tea, and i do feel like it gets overly fluffy at times, but yeah. dialogue and descriptions.

30: How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

i perform the cardinal sin of editing as i go. i physically can't write a rough draft. ive tried. im in my 30s now. it will never change lmao. and the editing never stops. if i choose to sit on a fic or chapter, i can look over it for days and find things wrong with it/add on, whatever. i also love stressing myself out and re-reading it after it's posted and editing after the fact pfft.

50: How would you describe your writing style?

inconsistent haha. especially my tumblr fics vs. my ao3 stuff. someone else would havta tell me if i have a certain style. like, could you pick me out in a crowd of 5 other authors? not sure.

73: What do you tend to get complimented on the most about your writing?

the attention to detail. the specifics. which i appreciate because, as mentioned above, i tend to draw things out and get fixated on the details. thank you everyone for encouraging this behavior lol

77: Why do you enjoy writing fanfiction?

i just love writing my OTPs getting into shenanigans. but also the community it builds. i love interacting with authors/readers, i love sharing ideas, and it's just a part of fandom culture that's always been very near and dear to my heart.

fanfic asks!

#and dont think i didnt see that you sent these exact numbers to notallsandmen #very efficient of you haha #thank you TJ :) #tj-dragonblade #ask game

[limetameta]

For the author ask: 4, 22, 24, 46, 73 ☕✨

Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

I go to plays! I interact with new art and the ideas just keep on flooding :)

Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

I would SUCK ASS at mystery novels I think. So I tend to stay away from that genre. 1st POV is my NUMBER 1 ENEMY. WE FIGHT. I WROTE AN ENTIRE BOOK IN 1ST POV AND I WANT IT TO DIE

Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

Don't publish anything before thirty lmao.

You won't like your writing in ten years, but if you don't try to put your voice out there how will you ever strengthen it?

How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

Character driven is what bestie said. I trust bestie more than I trust myself on this because I don't actually have the self-awareness to characterize my style. Many people online have come out to me in reviews when I'd be doing those secret santa gift things on ao3 and my work would be hidden that to them this FELT like a limeta story, only to be proven correct at the unveiling. I ask what makes something a limeta story and they just say that my way of words is very distinct, so I guess it's because I'm Balkan and life has been unkind to me *smokes cigarette* *drinks coffee as breakfast* *puts grey filter over any image of me to truly give that eastern European feel*

What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

I got a fresh take on everything. Lmao, I doubt that tbh. But I just don't like most of the things I read online so I set out to satisfy my own needs and I wind up making a lot of other people happy and intrigued. It's a tale as old as time. Write what you love - not what you know - and then you'll wind up learning so much about it on the way while researching that it will transform into 'writing what you know'.

But again, I think that my sense of humour is very strange. It also helps that I grew up in the theater not as an actor, but a goer, a seat-sitter, a child meant to enjoy. So I LOVE writing the kind of stuff that feels like you can just reach out and GRAB IT. But you don't do that, though, because the characters on the scene are to be seen. And you're doomed to watch them go through with the scene, unable to stop them, unable to shout to them - or if you do shout they can't hear you :D but the worst part is knowing that they might even hear you, but they're unable to go against the script.

#ask #this was very fun #feel free to send me more if you like #this goes to anyone :)

[a-mag-a-day]

MAG 73 - apple cutting

Leo Altman. Interestingly enough, Basira already mentioned an Altman in her first statement in MAG 43, one Harry Altman.

Callum Brodie, there we have the boy of the prison officer who got touched by the Dark. To be honest, with a father like that, even if he and his wife split up, it doesn't come as a surprise that the kid turned out to be an asshole. I mean I guess they were in contact, shared custody and all that.

"with a weathered sign claiming it belonged to Outer Bay Shipping" - Oh cool, it totally forgot that the building belonged to Outer Bay Shipping.

"dressed head to toe in black, like a leotard or one of those morphsuits." - That sounds actually pretty silly XD

"At the bottom of the stairs was a door. It was old and made of steel that had started to rust around the edges. But… it wasn’t right. You know how when the lights are turned on in a room and you can see it from outside? Like, a thin line of light leaking under the doorway? Well, it was like that, except what seemed to seep out from underneath it wasn’t light. It was shadow. Like, if darkness was somehow shining from behind it." - That sounds actually pretty cool!

"I felt like I’d gone blind. Not just my eyes but everything. Like every sense I had was severed and the only thing I could feel was a wave of nausea." - This reminds me a lot of kinetosis. Motion sickness is a simple term for it. It also happens when you lose spatial orientation. For example when you are in a room with perfectly straight installments, but the room is tilted (art installations for example. I was in one like this and I immediately got sick). Or when you're in a inflatable costume with no window to view the outside world and you think you're looking in a certain direction, but learn through a stimulus (for example a source of light) that you are actually facing a completely different direction (also happened to me). I suffer pretty heavily from that shit…

"Rayner was facing him, thin, bony hands raised to his face. Something was… something was flowing out of his mouth. It looked like ink, but it flowed more like a heavy fog than any sort of liquid. It drips down his forearms and onto the floor, where it… it rolled towards Callum, climbing up the chair and oozing across the boy’s body towards his face. It was moving slowly, and had just reached his chest." - There we have a clear description, that Callum wasn't assimilated yet, but touched by the Dark.

"I could swear that, for a second, the room it lit up was not a basement but a cathedral." - Also sounds pretty cool! I wonder what's the connection of the Dark and architecture of sacred buildings (in MAG 25 it was also a chapel, Hither Green)

"all the dark liquid suddenly washed down onto the floor in a single movement, leaving Callum untouched." - Meaning leaving his skin untouched? Because "had just reached his chest" from earlier does sound like it's touching him at least him in some way, but maybe only the clothing?

"The kid seemed fine. I mean, I’m sure he’ll need a lot of counselling, but he didn’t seem physically any worse for wear." - I mean we do know that Callum was scared then. But he's always been a bully so my sympathy for him is somewhat limited.

JON "Basira, wait. What about the tapes?" BASIRA "What?" JON "The tapes. Fr… from Gertrude’s case. Is there any way I can [DOOR CLOSES] No, I suppose not." - Jon, you fucking idiot xD

JON "Oddly enough, all I can think about is: how did the police know where Rayner was keeping the boy?" / "Someone must have known what was happening and tipped them off." - Elias <.<

I like the idea depicted in this episode of the Dark shaping its surroundings rather than the other way around. If you can't see then wherever you are can be shaped in any way it pleases which leads your imagination to run wild with terrifying possibilities

#a mag a day #tma #the magnus archives #episode asks #mod ashes #tma spoilers #mag 73 #lycanlovingvampyre

[moonrisecoeur]

heyyyyy, bdsm test anon here, that was a pretty fast reply!! your results are actually pretty similar to mine LMAOOO Like first 3 are almost 1 to 1... I think all the Leon fics have been affecting me

== Results from bdsmtest.org == 100% Rigger 100% Sadist 100% Degrader 96% Dominant 91% Owner 79% Master/Mistress 78% Switch 75% Brat tamer 73% Masochist 54% Experimentalist 51% Primal (Hunter) 36% Rope bunny 33% Primal (Prey) 21% Vanilla 20% Brat 18% Slave 17% Pet 16% Submissive 0% Ageplayer 0% Daddy/Mommy 0% Degradee 0% Boy/Girl 0% Non-monogamist 0% Voyeur 0% Exhibitionist

================ ... I think you get it, lol, also our 0%s are almost the same Honestly I was kind of surprised you got 100% on both sadist and degrader (not sure what I expected tho given the leon fics) mostly bc the majority of results I've seen from talking to others have generally been pretty heavily subby, so it's pretty nice to see someone who's also dom-leaning for once (yayyy I'm not alone and deranged!! :>) It's interesting to see dom and sub right next to each other like that, I feel like I'm kinda exploring switchy stuff a bit (*nudge nudge* a certain resident evil someone could probably help with that) but I still don't really like the sub experience too much So I guess we're comrades!? 🫡

i’m good at going back and forth between dominant and submissive headspace so that’s why both seem so high. i do think it should be much lower for the submissive and i am definitely a lot more dom than sub, but i do also think i’m just insecure as a sub!! i’ll get kinda vulnerable here for a second, i am kinda insecure about my looks and my body and so being submissive is hard for me because on one hand, being praised is nice but i’ll literally start crying if they’re nice enough to me (and not smexy crying like full on ugly crying).

also i’m sure you wouldn’t know but i’m a very awkward person, kind of a prude honestly, and i struggle a lot in social situations. i find being dominant to be freeing because i can control every little thing and it gives me the like mental peace i’m looking for. i don’t need to know how to hand social situations with a partner if they’re too fucked out to talk LMAO so it’s easier that way for me!!

submissiveness is something i’m much more comfortable exploring by myself, in the comfort of my own presence. for this reason i don’t talk much about my sub thoughts on any of my blogs. i’ll vaguely mention it sometimes but i’m not comfortable with talking about it detailedly. i try to stick to dom!reader or neutral because vanilla is also amazing!! let’s not forget that not every sexual encounter needs a dom and a sub. sometimes it’s just people :)

also again a lot of my submissiveness comes from the fact that i’m a wee bit masochistic even when and especially when i’m the dom >.<

it’s u and me comrade 🫡 just two switches looking at each other like 👀👀

#the closest i got to talking about it was when i was like ‘i need re2 leon to fuck me into next week’ and i wasn’t even gonna post that #but i was laughing so hard afterwards bc it was so dramatic for no reason lol #anon