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#but we live in oasis springs and it's literally summer
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I always have this feeling about Castle Village is that it’s not as lively as Pelican Town, like everything there is like an empty desert. There are not much trees growing there, no snow, no cold weather, flowers are rare over there.
What are your views on it? I wanna hear your opinion.
I have to disagree, dear anon, about Castle Village not being as lively as Pelican Town. Well, there's nothing in Crimson Baldlans but a perpetually howling bloody sandstorm and merciless monsters - that's undeniable. But thanks to wizards and witches (special credit to Camilla), people were able to find a home even in the literal hell on earth.
From the size of the concept-art that FlashShifter showed, and my perception before watching the interview, gave me an idea that the place is pretty big. Probably a bit bigger than Pelican Town itself (that's if you exclude the railroad area, the beach and the forest).
Of course, given the closed nature of the village itself and the fact that only Camilla decides who is allowed to enter, it makes it clear that you can't expect an influx of tourists. However, don't forget that the Castle Village is the main coven and gathering centre for all adventurers and wizards in the whole Republic, where you can buy a new sword, enchant amulets, stock up elixirs, sell valuable monster loot, learn to develop your magical talent, hone your swordsmanship, or just be in the company of people who work as hardened monster hunters. The many who have been given permission to step onto this land and purchase property, as well as the number of indigenous people who were born in the Village, will cumulatively make up the same number of people as in our good old Pelican Town.
As for the setting of the town itself - I always thought that the walls of Castle Village were built around a magical oasis that allowed people to live here, providing a source of fresh water and food resources, and protecting the oasis from corrupt magic was the job of the Ministry of Magic, Camilla in particular, since she was the one who lived here.
I always thought Crimson Baldlans was just an ordinary desert with unusual oases. Dark magic of unknown origin slowly but surely consumed the entire desert over a long period of time, but the magic that surrounded the oases tried to resist the dark onslaught. Unfortunately, it was not possible to resist for too long (to prove my headcanon, I will give the example of that black lake in Crimson Baldlans, where we could fish in the game). There was only one oasis left, the most important one, and the wizards of the time realized that their only hope of salvation lay in this little scrap of life in the middle of an already corrupted desert, as it held the secret to fighting this dark magic. The people built walls, put up a magical shield and began to study and guard the oasis. Some were immersed in the search for answers to this important question, others just wanted to live without worries, mages and adventurers settled here, started a family, the settlement grew, and we have what we have.
By the way, I'll add that one of my favourite headcanons that I've never written about here (or did, but forgot lol) is that once in a while Camilla opens up for a day or two for all the merchants that somehow know about the Castle Village to enter here so they can sell their wares and buy raw materials from the local merchants. A sort of event where there's a bazaar in the centre of the village, so there's even more people for a while (Thanks to this ambient that inspired this idea): 👇
https://youtu.be/8uRtW8lBe0I?si=19f49CEV1_IYIVg5
The climate is a bit more complicated, because time and weather in the village itself under the magic dome now flows differently: it's always, I think, a warm spring (late spring, when it should smoothly turn into a hot summer, to be even more precise), while everything outside the walls of the impregnable fortress has nothing that hints at life but a searing sun, a desert storm, and certain death. I swear, some of the natives are sure to complain that Crimson Baldlans has "heat worse than Hell".
I don't usually focus on comparing the world building of SDV and SVE with the real world, but the setting, buildings, objects that I saw in the latest teaser from FlashShifter about the Castle Village reminded me of Egyptian motifs, and the Middle East in general. I could be wrong, it's just my guess, so feel free to write about your theories!
So, conclusion:
For me, the Castle Village is provided as a hub for all monster hunters, adventurers, mages, wizards and people who are not sceptical or fearful of magic. Each house is an impregnable fortress of dark stone, the same as the walls of the Village. The main magical academy and the most imposing Adventurers Guild towers above this houses. There is sand everywhere, and only a few places have emerald grass, flowers, ponds and gardens of extraordinary beauty with many different plants and sculptures. Everywhere there is the smell of spices, the noise of markets, laughter in taverns, the clinking of blades, and the air is saturated with magic.
Nevertheless, there is gloom, isolation from the world and a huge graveyard, reminding all residents and visitors to the Continent of Galdora that this is not a perfect blooming paradise and how easy it is to lose one's life. That the vast number of graves are but a small fraction of those fallen heroes who gave everything to protect this place, for many of their fellows still walk around as soulless shells, shadows of their former selves. That almost all of the part of the place they call home is a cursed land that will spare no one.
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occult-roommates · 10 months
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Auntie Tamara and Auntie Yamuna
Two years prior, the roommates went on vacation in Sulani after being invited by Akva’s friend. Now, they were going to vacation in Brindleton Bay, a small town in Nova Scotia, Canada. At first, only Rudi was going, as they (along with the rest of their family) had been invited by two family friends from Windenburg who rent every year a chalet there. However, once the other roommates got involved, it snowballed and eventually, Audrey ended up there too, which about damn time Dawud introduced her to his friend. Since there was no place left for all of them to sleep, Audrey ended up renting a beach house too. And after driving several hours, the group had finally made it there and began to settle in.
Matteo: Ok so like...How is she affording that place? It’s massive. Dawud: Uh well, her dad is a retired pro football player for the Oasis Spring Fossils, and her mom was a cheerleader for that team. They likely are partly if not fully paying for it, they’re the one who bought her her house in Strangerville after all. Matteo: Damn alright, you told me she was rich but I didn’t realized she was rich rich. Dawud: Say the son of the world famous designers. Matteo: I wasn’t saying that out of jealousy??? Kino: I’m gonna play a game with her.
Kino came alone, their girlfriend had remained in San Myshuno with little baby Joseph. Speaking of which, so did Charlie, the previous vacation had been hell for her as she is a vampire, and she didn’t felt like spending the entire time locked inside or constrained to an umbrella yet again, while everyone else is enjoying their stay. But it’s fine, she loves Joseph. Akva also didn’t come, after the mess that was her visit to Del Sol Valley, she just wanted to rest for a while and enjoy her summer break.
Dawud: What do you mean play a game? Kino: I mean, isn’t she the chick who’s obsessed with alien? I’m gonna try to see how long before she can figure out I am one. Dawud: ...Whatever keeps you entertained my friend.
Shortly after, the family friends showed up, wanting to present themselves to Rudi’s friends before properly starting their vacation together. 
Audrey: Hi everyone!!!! Rudi: So, these are my aunts. Not literally, but they’re long time friends of my parents and Tamara is of similar background as my dad, so I threat them like my aunts. By the way, Tamara is the blond one and Yamuna is the curly black haired one.  Yamuna: Hallo, hallo. Rudi: Yeah, they sell that at the Filipino restaurant I work at. Yamuna: What?
It had been a long time since Rudi last saw their aunts. The last two times were, weirdly enough, at wedding ceremony. The first one was in 2015, when their mom remarried and then moved the family to Puerto Rico with her new husband. The second one was in 2017, the one of Yamuna and Tamara themselves, as it was when Germany finally legalized same-sex union. However, as close as their family had been to the couple when Rudi was growing up, in term of seeing each other, let’s say living in different countries makes it way harder than living in the same neighborhood.
Tamara: You’ve gained a lot of weight since we last saw you. Rudi: Ok. What am I supposed to do about it right now? Daniele: Good to know that even when there’s no biological connection, aunties are gonna aunties.
Anyway, Rudi invited their aunts inside so they could meet their friends. Then, next step, they and the other roommates were going to Yamuna and Tamara’s chalet so they could meet the rest of Rudi’s family.
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an0nymousghost · 3 years
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uhh the name plate says knox but i changed his name to flint :) dhmu
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cassianstattoo · 3 years
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HAPPY ACOSF RELEASE DAY!
(ACOSF SPOILERS AHEAD) ARE YOU EXCITED?
I personally am. It’s time for Nesta’s story (and not just hers) to be told. So, this leads to another thing I think (and hope) you’ve been waiting for.
LET’S EXPLAIN THE PLAYLIST! (Read every song’s meaning while or after reading the book) And thank you for all your love and support.
“Alone” by Melancholia: It describes the Cauldron scene at the beginning of the book. In this song you can feel the rage and how hard she’s struggling. This song is not about weakness. It’s about her strength.
“Impossible” by James Arthur: Chapter 1. Even if it’s not so clear in this chapter, I think this song represents how Cassian feels when Nesta’s around. He feels worthless and not so different from the other men she beds (as he thought in ACOFAS). He lost his hope of an happy future with the woman he loves and he feels like he’s breaking that last promise she made her. Everything just seems so impossible.
“Sister” by The Black Keys: Chapter 2. This just makes me think of Feyre and Nesta’s fight. It’s from Feyre’s pov.
“New House” by Toro y Moi: “I want a brand new house Something I can not buy, something I can afford I just want a long shower I been feeling so crowded” Chapter 3. It’s about Nesta settling down in the House of Wind. It’s not the place she feels she can call “home”. First of all, it’s not really hers. The last two sentences of this verse are about her breathing and trying to calm herself at the end of the chapter. She’s just tired.
“My Mother & I” by Lucy Dacus: Chapter 4. The whole song is about Nesta and the relationship with her mother when she was a child. I think there’s nothing else to say. Also, in the 1st Chapter it says that she’s born in spring, so the song talks about a girl who was born in May. It all fits.
“Teacher’s Pet” by Melanie Martinez”: “Teacher’s pet If I’m so special, why am I secret? Yeah, why the fuck is that? Do you regret The things we shared that I’ll never forget? Well, do you? Tell me that I know I’m young, but my mind is well beyond my years I knew this wouldn’t last, but fuck you, don’t you leave me here” Chapter 5 and 6. Nesta and Cassian’s first day of training together. She basically doesn’t want to act like she’s his pet and she’s got to do whatever he want just to respect her sister’s will.
“Dangerous Man” by Valley Of Wolves: “They say I’m a wanted man Holding line and break the fire I’m setting all the captives free But I’m hanging by a wire” Chapter 7. It’s about Eris and his double-cross. That’s how probably Cassian pictures Eris in his mind tbh.
“Control” by Halsey: Chapter 8. Nesta facing the stairs. It can be linked to other chapters too because if you take this song as a whole and not just a few verses, it really contains A LOT of things. For example, the line “The House was awake”. Also Chapter 9, when people start calling their children. You can find this moment in the song when it says “All the kids cried out ‘please stop, you’re scaring me”.
“Bookstore Girl” by Charlie Burg: Chapter 9. The bookstore girl is Gwyn and Nesta tries to know more about her.
“Wrong Direction” by Hailee Steinfeld: “I don’t hate you” Chapter 12. This song is about the chapter’s ending.
“You’ve Got a Friend In Me” by Cavetown: Chapter 13. Nesta and Gwyn’s interaction. Also, Nesta helping her.
“like that” by Bea Miller: Chapter 16. Nesta and Cassian’s tension is hilarious, but this song makes me thing about this scene so much.
“Queen” by Shawn Mendes: Chapter 17. Elain fighting with Nesta. This lyrics is so powerful. The first part is Elain talking to Nesta. The second part is Nesta talking to Elain.
“You’ll Follow Me Down” by Skunk Anansie: Chapter 17. Same scene. This is totally Nesta. She’s so scared of herself and of the world that surrounds her. She’s afraid to lose her sister in this world she still knows nothing about if not violence. She wants Elain by her side, even if it means dragging her down with her.
“Teeth” by 5 Seconds of Summer: Chapters 18/19. I like to call it “THE chapter”. Do you need me to explain why I chose this song? Um, I don’t think so. You know it.
“Only You” by Ellie Goulding: “Baby I’m on my knees” Chapter 22. He’s... returning the favor.
“Revolution” by Diplo, Faustix, Imanos, Kai: Chapter 24. Our girl Nesta knows what she’s doing. What she’s starting.
“Best Friend for Hire” by Anthony Amorim: Chapter 25. The whole song is about Nesta and Emerie’s interaction. Everytime I listen to it I can’t help but cry.
“Moment’s Silence (Common Tongue)” by Hozier: Chapter 26.  Nesta’s worried about Cassian and gives him relief.
“Rise Up” by Andra Day: Chapters 27/28. These three girls are going to rise up, bitches.
“Nina Cried Power” by Hozier, Mavie Staples: Chapter 29. This song is really powerful, just like Nesta. She always is, but in this chapter we learn HOW MUCH.
“Fix Me Now” by Garbage: “Bring me back to life (fix me now) Kiss me blind” Chapter 31. THAT scene. HE HEATED UP THE WHOLE ROOM Y’ALL. Cassian literally kissed her back to life.
“Ready or Not” by Fugees: Chapters 34/35/36. I can’t choose only one quote from this song. But can you hear its vibes? Nesta’s leading a dead army. This is THE power. 
“PILLOWTALK” by ZAYN: Chapter 37. *wink* This song says everything.
“Go Fuck Yourself” by Two Feet: Always chapter 37. I couldn’t choose just one song, you know. Also, lowkey Chapter 38.
“Never Again” by Breaking Benjamin: “Never again, never again Time will ot take the life from me” Chapter 38′s ending. All I can say is: NEVER AGAIN.
“Boy In The Bubble” by Alec Benjamin: Not linked to just one chapter. It makes me thing of Azriel a lot.
“Past Lives” by BØRNS: “I've got the strangest feeling This isn't our first time around Past lives couldn't ever come between us Some time the dreamers finally wake up Don't wake me I'm not dreaming“ Chapter 39. Gwyn and Azriel. Well, these lines are about them, but I think the rest of the song represents Elain and Azriel, too. I don’t know if you feel the same.
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day: THIS IS AZRIEL’S SONG. YOU CAN’T TELL ME OTHERWISE.
“Watch Me While I Bloom” by Hayley Williams: Chapter 41. Nesta teaching Cassian how to treat a woman. She’s got big dick energy ayeee
“R U Mine?” by Arctic Monkeys: Still chapter 41. Cassian taking control of the situation. This song just screams “dominant” lmao.
“Walls Could Talk” by Halsey: So Halsey once said “The House was awake” (Control). What if those Walls Could Talk? Like, poor thing. It could have a mental breakdown. This song is dedicated to the House of Wind ‘cause it needs respect. It’s alive. Just imagine how’d you feel watching non-stop those two fucking and fighting. Also Azriel, you’re loved.
“Despicable” by grandson: “If I were you I wouldn’t love me neither” Chapter 43. Tamlin deserves a song, too.
“Part Of Me” by Katy Perry: Chapters 45/46. It’s all SO chaotic. This song means a lot of things. They all lied to her, but this song is particularly about Nesta and Amren’s fight. In my opinion, she did the right think telling Feyre the truth ‘cause she deserved to know, but it just wasn’t the right time and space.
“Don’t Give Up On Me” by Andy Grammer: Chapter 47. Cassian’s going to take care of Nesta. She made a mistake but she knows here better than anyone. He won’t give up on her.
“There You Are” by ZAYN: Chapter 50. Cassian comforts Nesta when she finally explodes. He’s there for her with open arms.
“You Found Me” by The Fray: Still Chapter 50. This chapter was so hard to read and this is another song that can describe it best.
“Locked Out Of Heaven” by Bruno Mars: Chapter 51. Illyrian bat boys just love flat objects. I see.
“Thin White Lies” by 5 Seconds of Summer: Chapter 51. Yeah, still thinking about that desk.
“Chosen Family” by Rina Sawayama: Still Chapter 51. This song is wholly dedicated to Nesta’s new found family. Not only Gwyn and Emerie, but also Cassian.
“Library Magic” by The Head And The Heart: Chapter 52. Listen to this song and read the scene at the beginning of the chapter.
“Battle Cry” by Imagine Dragons: Chapter 54. I know it’s weird but I feel this song talks about Lanthys and Nesta’s fight.
“Hurt” by Christina Aguilera: Chapter 55. Nesta takes Cassian to the place she lived with her family in the mortal lands. It’s dirty and broken now but it’s still there. Nes talks about her father and realizes how much he’s done for her and her sisters.
“Story Of Another Us” by 5 Seconds of Summer: Chapter 56. I know this sounds like a sad song but to me it represents Gwyn’s present. The story of their past (of another “them”) and also their present.
“Drama Club” by Melanie Martinez: Chapter 57. Eris vibes, y’all. I know you can feel them. Everytime I listen to this song I can’t help but thinking of him. So the only thing I can tell you is: listen carefully.
“Genius” by Sia, Diplo, Labrinth: Chapter 57. Hear this song. It just makes me think of a ballroom where two people try to talk to other people and they’re avoiding to make eye contact. And they fail (yeah, those people are Cassian and Nesta btw)
“Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish: Chapter 57. Still about Eris, but also Cassian. They can’t stand each other. So imagine the astronomical energy (inside of this bus lmfao) when Nesta comes in between.
“All About Us” by He Is We, Owl City: Chapter 57. Nessian dancing.
“Rock Bottom” by Hailee Steinfeld ft. DNCE: Chapter 58. This song is SO accurate. This is the moment I realized “That’s it. I think I can die happy now” and then I started crying. Nesta just thinking she’s not enough and she deserves to be with someone as ugly as she thinks she is. Cassian is like “shut the hell up, woman” and yeah. That’s the kind of energy and conversation I was waiting for.
“Stop Crying Your Heart Out” by Oasis: Chapter 58. Their life becomes brighter. They have to stop crying their heart out because of their fears and the emotions they keep trying to hide. They need to feel free and express all the love they can give to each other.
“Fade Into You” by Nashville Cast, Sam Palladio, Clare Bowen: Chapter 58. Finally the truth comes out and everything becomes real. Even if the song is pretty sad, the lyrics is just SO accurate and it describes the scene perfectly.
“I Miss You” by Adele: Chapter 59. Basically Nesta feeling needy ‘cause she doesn’t see Cassian for days, but it’s more than that. Pay attention to the depth of the song. It shakes you. And that’s what Nesta feels when she thinks of Nesta.
“Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera: Chapter 59/61. I want to dedicate it to my favorite girls in this book: Nesta, Emerie and Gwyn. They’ve been through a lot but they also learnt to face their fears. And they realized that unity is strength.
“Smile” by Uncle Kracker: Chapter 62. Cassian’s sooo happy to be with Nesta it breaks my heart. And his own too.
“Broken Pieces” by 5 Seconds of Summer: Chapter 62. Aaand here we go again. Cassian just wants Nesta to give him the chance to be happy with her.
“Carried Away” by H.E.R.: Chapter 62. Nesta thinks they got too carried away and now they’re at a point of no return. She opened herself to him too much. It’s not like she regrets this but she understands that now everything’s too real and changing. She doesn’t feel ready.
"What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes: Ending of Chapter 63. Okay, I’ll make you laugh but this is me after reading it. I needed to put a song about how I felt when I read this freaking ending, after all the devastation Chapter 62 brought into my heart. And the fact that Nesta’s 25 and the first line begins with “25 years”... I DIED. Also I think of her just screaming to the word “WHAT’S GOING ON?!”.
“Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” by Eurythmics ft. Aretha Franklin: Chapters 64/65/66. DO I NEED TO DESCRIBE IT? NAH, I DON’T THINK SO. THESE GIRLS ARE POWERFUL, STRONG AND SMART AS HELL.
“Run The World (Girls)” by Beyoncé Chapters 67/68/69/70. The girls want to win and they’re going to conquer everything with no mercy.
“Puppets” by Depeche Mode: Chapter 71. Eris impotence t is heartbreaking.
“Warriors” by Imagine Dragons: This song is for every character. It’s about Nesta, Emerie and Gwyn, but also Cassian, Azriel and Eris. They’re fighting different battles and they’re doing it with every ounce of power they have.
“Emperor’s New Clothes” by Panic! At The Disco: Chapter 74. Nesta kicking Briallyn’s ass.
“Survivor” by Destiny’s Child: This song is dedicated to Emerie and Gwyn. They spent all their lives learning how to survive. At the end, they finally won.
“Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele: THE Nessian Anthem. I put this here ‘cause FINALLY they’re endgame. But something bad’s about to happen...
“Cancer” by My Chemical Romance: Chapter 76. This chapter’s been the hardest one to face. I had to put the book down for a minute and breathe. I know this song made you panic and ow you know why I chose it. I can’t stop crying thinking about Feyre in those conditions and all the IC and her sisters surrounding her. I’m still so heartbroken.
“You Saved Me” by Skunk Anansie: Chapter 77. Nesta cares about Feyre. She’s her little sister and she just can’t let her die like that. She gave her a happy ending even if Nes had to lose almost every ounce of power she had and learned to accept. But they’re worthless in comparison with her sisters life. She just loves them both. She’d do anything for them and this scene proves it.
“Lean on Me” by Bill Withers: This song is about friendship and sisterhood. Nesta’s relationship with Gwyn and Emerie, but also with Feyre and Elain (and lowkey Rhys). Also, I dedicate it to little Nyx, too. They all love you, babyboy, and would do anything for you. Welcome to this chaotic world, kid!
“Sorry” by Halsey: Chapter 78. These are not explicit apologies. Nesta doesn’t need to say “sorry” vocally. She already demonstrated it. Her actions speak louder than words and her sister know it. This song is not about a “romantic lover” but a “person who loves” and they all love too much and strongly.
“Amazing” by Aerosmith: WE FINALLY SEE THE LIGHT. This is the happy ending they deserve (but the cliffhanger is killing me tbh). It’s about everyone in this book. I put it in the playlist ‘cause at first I thought it could refer to Azriel and Cassian. But the more i listened to it, the more I realized it just describes every single character.
“The Reason” by Hoobastank↓
“this is me trying” by Taylor Swift: Both the songs refer to Chapter 80. Nesta visiting her father’s grave is one of the first steps to finally go on. The songs represent what she really wants to tell her father. He’s the reason to start over. And she’s trying. Even if she made mistakes she’s ready to fight for the happiness and love she denied herself years and now she knows she deserves it.
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oh-boy-me · 4 years
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What are all the boys (bros&other npcs) favorite bodies of water??
Jo can I trust you?  I’m not so sure anymore.
--
Lucifer: Glacier
A river that bends land to its will?  Nice.
A river that bends land to its will and is also frozen?  NICE.
The sheer power of glaciers, man.  It’s ice, but it moves.  It hogs all the freshwater.  What a truly impressive feature.
The ninth circle of hell is a frozen lake, and while that circle is reserved for the treacherous and not the proud, that probably influences his opinions just a little.
Also when exposed to light glacier ice is blue!  How cool.
Mammon: Tide Pool
Do you know how many THINGS there are in tide pools?
Most of them are worthless, but still, Mammon likes things and tide pools are not short in supply of things.
Most of them look cool too.  Anemones and starfish and stuff.
He also likes how they’re only around during low tide.  They’re like a secret.
Leviathan: Ocean
Are we surprised?  It’s his second home.  It’s the biggest and deepest saltwater option we have.
The ocean is literally his element.  The more water the better.
He does prefer warm waters though.  Cold water makes him sluggish.
I feel like this was self-explanatory so I don’t even have much to say, so let me use this extra space to sprinkle in a world building headcanon: Devildom seas are on average deeper than Human World ones, but the Mariana Trench is still the deepest trench in the three realms.
Satan: Oasis
Remember when I said he isn’t fond of big bodies of water?  Yeah that still applies.
So if he HAS to choose a favorite that’s natural, he supposes a beacon of life in an otherwise desolate land is a good choice.
(Satan you fool you absolute fool.  An oasis is the entire fertile area, not just the body of water that may or may not be there.  We’ll let him get away with it.)
He’s thinking of those ones that show up in storybooks anyway.
And he wasn’t allowed to say “pool.”
Asmodeus: Hot Spring
Curse this bastard, hot tub wasn’t allowed as an answer and he found a way around it.
Really though, hot springs have so many refreshing, good for your skin, etc., properties.
It’s also a great trip location to have a “me day.”
Or to get to know someone a little better.  Or a lot better.
Don’t get him wrong, though--when it comes to hot springs it’s a spa day first and foremost.
Beelzebub: Channel
So people swim across channels.  The English Channel, at least.  And that’s something he’d definitely be interested in doing.
It’s also good endurance training, records and completion aside.
So with that in mind, a channel has a goal attached to it, and Beel loves having goals to work towards.
Also, channels connect landmasses.  Insert metaphor about connecting here.
Belphegor: Fjord
Millions of years ago, a glacier said “hmm, today I will carve a valley.”
And then the ocean thought “oh I should flood this” (and also the glacier melted).  And that’s how fjords are created.
They’re very beautiful, with rising cliffs on either side.
They’re also often very dangerous, with extreme currents and even whirlpools.
And they’re REALLY deep.  Like, far deeper than the sea that flooded it.
And that’s pretty neat.  He just thinks they’re neat.
Simeon: Salt Flat
So it isn’t a permanent body of water--actually salt flats are made after water evaporates and leaves the salt behind--but if Satan’s allowed to say oasis Simeon’s allowed to say salt flat.
Why does he like them, though?  Well, when it IS a body of water after the rain, it’s a mirror of the sky.
There really isn’t a body of water that seems more heavenly than a rained-on salt flat.
Please look up Salar de Uyuni.
There really is a place in the Human World where he can forget he’s not in the Celestial Realm.
Luke: Pond
Lakes are freshwater basins teeming with life, both in nature and in human settlement.
Lakes are also very deep and that’s freaky.  Ponds are the same as a lake but smaller.
They can be small garden ponds with koi, or big enough to take a boat out onto.  How versatile, how diverse!
Ponds are like the little MVPs of the water world and Luke can relate.
Solomon: Lake
Solomon doesn’t really have an attachment to lakes in general, but rather to one in particular.
He doesn’t remember what it was called or where it was, but he has fond memories of summering at a lake house in the mountains when he was a child.
His father would take him fishing, his mother would watch him swim, and the whole family would hike on the surrounding trails.  It was really fun.
A beach house has similar family vacation qualities, but Solomon’s family preferred the quiet nature that lakes more readily offer.
At least, that’s what he recalls.  They… they did go fishing on the lake, right?
Diavolo: Bayou
It has little to do with the water itself, and more to do with the area.
Because bayou?  Animals and culture.
We’re talking birds, alligators, fish, frogs, you name it, fun swamp creatures.
And New Orleans.  Cajun and Creole culture flourishes in that area, and there are few human cultures that would catch his eye more than those would.
(There are of course other groups that live in similar areas that have these same charms, but I don’t know of any all-encompassing word.)
Barbatos: Cove
They are small and separated.  Feels good, feels private.
He likes the smaller ones best.
It would be nice for there to be a cove that only he knows about.  A place where he could destress and just exist.
The chances of Diavolo not knowing or finding out about it are small, but hey.  A butler can dream.
He wouldn’t call himself a romantic, but he can’t deny that it’s definitely part of the appeal.
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tiesandtea · 4 years
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The London Suede Come To America (1995)
"Some days I wake up and I feel absolutely bullet proof," says Suede mainman Brett Anderson. "When I wrote 'So Young' I wanted a song that was like that... pure raging excitement."
By Michael Goldberg, Addicted To Noise (ATN), San Francisco. Archived here.
ATN was founded by Goldberg, who previously worked as an associate editor and senior writer for Rolling Stone, in 1994. It was one of the first online music magazine that offered audio samples and video interview clips with its editorial content. The first issue came out in December 1994. (x, x)
In the midst of a February/March club tour of America, ATN caught up with Anderson in Detroit for a frank chat about naked men in dog collars, the New British Invasion, the Sex Pistols, and his drug(s) of choice.
Suede leader Brett Anderson is a wisp of a man, who claims not to court controversy despite provocative album cover art and such lyrics as "I want the style of a woman, the kiss of a man." Yet he's caused plenty of controvery. Consider his comment to Details that he's "a bisexual man who's never had a homosexual experience." Sexual ambiguity sells, as has been clear since Elvis appeared on the scene some 40-plus years ago.
Suede bring Bowie's Ziggy Stardust sound (and androgyny) into the '90s. These Brits know how to make hits. "So Young," "The Drowners," "Metal Mickey," and "Animal Nitrate" were brash, infectious pop confections that begged to blast from car radios. They flew up the charts in Britain upon release.
Dog Man Star, the group's second album, is a song suite, an hour of metallic bang-a-gong rockers and ethereal ballads. Anderson can sing as trashy as the late Marc Bolan, but he can also hold his own crooning with the likes of George Michael or, going back some decades, Bing Crosby. And he's not afraid to go against convention­­in fact, he seems to relish it­­ freely admitting that he liked Kriss Kross records and just can't understand the popularity of grunge rockers Pearl Jam and neo-punks Green Day and the Offspring.
Anderson and bassist Mat Osman grew up in Haywards Heath, a bland suburb located 40 miles south of London ("Quite a horrible little place," Anderson told one reporter). His father took odd jobs; in recent years he's driven a taxi. His mother died of cancer in 1989. His father was a fan of Liszt, going so far as to name Anderson's sister Blandine, after the composer's daughter. He first heard both the Beatles and the Sex Pistols playing on his sister's phonograph.
Anderson felt like an outsider from as early as he can remember. And he always wanted to be a rock star. In fact, he says he assumed everyone wanted to be rock stars, and was flabbergasted the first time he met someone who didn't.
Away from the raucous punk and post punk scene of the late '70s and early '80s (he was 7 years old in 1977, the year of the Sex Pistols), Anderson romanticised being in a band, and dreamed. Ask him his influences and he doesn't hesitate: the Beatles, the Stones, Bowie, the Sex Pistols, the Smiths, "and punk bands like Crass."
In 1985, at age 15, Anderson strummed an acoustic guitar and sang on the street for spare change. He says he played in "hundreds" of bands [clearly an overstatement] but eventually landed in London with Osman. They placed an ad in the New Musical Express which brought them guitarist/songwriter Bernard Butler, and some time later replaced their drum machine with Simon Gilbert.
By April of 1992, before they'd even had a record released, Melody Maker put them on the cover, declaring, "The Best New Band In Britain." Funny thing is, they lived up to the hype.
And they've managed to survive their 15 minutes of fame. Anderson expects the group to record another album following spring and summer tours of Asia and Europe, then return to tour America in the winter. The album won't be released until next year.
In the midst of a February/March club tour of America, ATN caught up with Anderson in Detroit for a frank chat about naked men in dog collars, the New British Invasion, the Sex Pistols, and his drug(s) of choice.
Addicted To Noise: I found it interesting that "So Young," off your first album, was about that feeling of invincibilty experienced when one is "so young," a sentiment more recently expressed in the Oasis' hit "Live Forever."
Brett Anderson: "So Young" came from our first flush of success and the desire of everyone around you to kind of settle you down. The desire of people to almost build a rock star career, and to actually take all the joy out of it, the pure joy you get out of being in a band that people love. It was one of those songs that I wrote with an audience in mind. There's certain songs that you have to hear sung back at you. One of the things that I loved about "The Drowners" [their first UK hit], it was written as a quite personal thing but the way the song works best is when you've got 2000 people singing, "You're taking me over." I did have in my head the vision of 5000 people singing back to me with "So Young." I love that. It was supposed to be quite anthemic, it was supposed to be quite stupid. I didn't want to be turned into some kind of intelligent, literate pop star, you know what I mean?
ATN: Why not?
Anderson: I don't think there's any place for intelligence in music. I can't see the point. Music's instinctive and it's natural and it's dumb. It's real dumb.
ATN: What were you trying to communicate in that song?
Anderson: There's just a feeling of absolute invincibility that you get sometimes, especially if you've been in bands a long time and it's taking you a while to actually convince people. Some days I wake up and I feel absolutely bullet proof. I wanted a song that was like that. That was actually almost pure raging excitement.
ATN: The cover of your latest album, Dog Man Star, depicts a young man lying naked on a bed. Who is that?
Anderson: The picture is from a book of photographs I've had for a long time. It's actually the husband of the photographer who took it and it was taken the day after they split up. It's a beautiful picture. It's something I've had for a long time and we've never made a record that really fit it, and then we did. It was one of those things where I took it into the band and everyone went "Ah, that's the one."
ATN: Both album covers are controversial in their own way.
Anderson: They're not meant to be in the slightest. You should see the original of the Suede album. The picture we used is actually cropped. The original full picture, the woman on the right is naked in a wheelchair and the other one is kneeling to kiss her. It's a beautiful picture. And we got the right to use it. But one of the things we did was to phone up the two models in the picture to check if they were all right with it because it's an image that's going to be seen all over the world and one of them didn't want it used. Which is fair enough. It's a twenty year old picture, or whatever. But I just liked the mood of it so we cropped it. But it wasn't intended to be controversial. I mean one of the things people always say is it's so androgynous. Which is really weird, cause in the original you can tell it's two women. But anyone who is shocked by two women kissing in 1995 is a fucking half-wit.
"If we wanted to be controversial we'd have called the album I fucked dogs," says Anderson. "It's fucking easy to be controversial and difficult to be good."
ATN: Yeah, but that's what's so interesting particularly about America. I've lived in San Francisco all my life and in San Francisco, as you know, is a very sexually liberated city. But you go to Kansas, or some of these places you go through when you tour, and it's like the Stone Age.
Anderson: I know. America is definitely like three or four different countries. No, there was no intention to be controversial. I'm not really interested in being controversial. If we wanted to be controversial we'd have called the album I fucked dogs. It's fucking easy to be controversial and difficult to be good.
ATN: In putting two women kissing on the cover of that album, what did you want to say?
Anderson: Nothing. It's a beautiful image. I don't give a fuck about things like that, what people will think. One of the funny things about that is you had all these people phoning me up going, "Yeah, we think we're offended by your album cover but we're not sure. Cause we don't know what it is." Oh, well it's a man kissing a woman. "Oh." Only kidding, it's two women. "Oh, we're offended then." No, no I was joking. It's actually a man and a woman. "Oh we're not offended then." It's the same fucking picture. It's not for me to think about. I'm not going to think about it.
ATN: But you got that kind of reaction to the first one and then you put out Dog Man Star. You're saying you weren't courting controversy with that cover?
Anderson: Not in the slightest. It's because we come from Britain where no one gives a shit. Really. And to think that a semi-naked man is in any way controversial is one of the great horrors of this century. You should have seen the original fucking cover for Dog Man Star, man.
ATN: What was that like?
Anderson: It's from One Hundred and Twenty Days In Sodom . You know that film? Passolini?
ATN: I haven't seen that.
Anderson: It's fantastic. It was the naked man in a dog collar snarling at the camera. That was a fucking brilliant picture but we couldn't get the rights to that. So perhaps we should have gone with that and then I could be discussing controversy with you. I don't think it's a big deal. There are people who are professionally outraged nowadays . That's their job. But no one's actually outraged. They just think they ought to be.
ATN: It's a position they take.
Anderson: Right. It's my job to be outraged by a naked man. And it's the woman over there whose job it is to be outraged by a naked woman.
ATN: Do you think there's a New British Invasion really going on right now? Can it be compared to what happened with the original "British Invasion" in the '60s? And do you think that that's what's going to happen?
Anderson: No I don't think so. It's all very well for a bunch of people in the media to get excited about it, but a British invasion is when British bands start selling a lot of records in the States, and at the moment British bands aren't selling any records.
ATN: It seems to me that some of the bands haven't been getting the kind of shot that they should get over here.
Anderson: We've certainly felt like that. It's always been quite strange for us 'cause the records have kind of leapt out everywhere else, all over Europe and Japan. The records just sell more and more each time. But we've found that American radio is pretty hard going. And radio and MTV are pretty much what make you over here.
ATN: You're over here, you're touring. Are you feeling like there's any kind of change yet in the reception?
Anderson: Absolutely. It's probably different for us because we've got pretty much a hardcore cult following over here. So we've never had a problem in the US. It's always been very comfortable for us. We've always had a very good time here. Whether or not that translates into anything kind of mainstream, we'll have to see. There's definitely a different musical climate in England and a different musical climate in America. I don't think the bands have ever been less connected. And I think that's a real shame. I think all the great music in the world has been universal music. I'm not really interested in flying the flag for Britain. I don't give a shit, really. I'd like to make records that turn the world on. That everyone wanted. I think the whole thing is a bit of a red herring.
ATN: What are you saying?
Anderson: The whole idea of British Invasions and American renaissances. It does away with the concept of people just making good records.
ATN: There are some really great English bands right now. Suede, Oasis, Bush, Elastica...
Anderson: I think definitely the British music scene has fucking woken up a little bit and realized that you can't just sit around and make cool records for your mates. But I think there's a long ways to go. And things are still pretty divided between Britain and the US. There's no way you could hear a record and say, "I'm not sure which country that comes from." That's quite a shame, I think.
ATN: One problem is that people in America aren't really getting exposed to the new British rock & roll.
Anderson: That's the frustrating thing. I don't mind being hated. There's loads of places we go where people have heard us and they despise us. Yeah, it's really frustrating to know that people just haven't heard of you. And the real divisions in American radio. For a while I spent 24 hours a day listening to alternative radio. I think it's horrifying [the way bands are pigeonholed]. I think it's completely un-American. And I think it's a real problem for a lot of British bands, 'cause a lot of British bands fall between the genres. I mean I don't think of us as an alternative band and we'd sound pretty exotic on alternative radio. But then if you try to get us on Top 40 radio, they say we're too alternative. The problem is if you don't immediately fit into something quite comfortable. American radio has become more and more compartmentalized, which is a shame because it's a totally un-American attitude. One of the things that Americans have always been respected for is the breadth of what they're into. America has been the place where people like Black Sabbath and they like Portishead. I think it's quite sad that it's actually being carved up, kind of like demographic radio.
ATN: Dog Man Star seems more introspective, with a lot more ballads and slower material than the first album.
Anderson: A lot of changes between this album and the first one are just to do with having the time and the money to make the record that we always wanted to make. The first record is filled up with live tracks and things we've been playing for a couple of years. And when you're starting out you write big storming rockers that actually grab people's attention. You're desperate to be heard. Whereas this one we knew people were actually going to listen to it. It's a bit more subtle. We wanted to do something that you could really just lose yourself in, that you could dive into. And we wanted to actually make an album rather than a collection of singles. We sat and wrote it as an album. You know, we wrote the songs in one batch and all of the songs are like little cousins of each other. And it's supposed to be a whole album that you can actually live in and from the minute it turns on you just get swept away by it. There are a lot of changes of mood in it and a lot of changes of pace. Like one long song with an introduction, verses and choruses and even an outro.
Anderson: But I don't think it's more introspective. I think it's less introspective.
ATN: Really?
Anderson: Yeah, I think it takes on the world a bit more. I think the record takes the world on, whereas the first one was probably what was happening in our heads. This one lives in the real world.
ATN: Give me an example of that.
Anderson: Something like "We Are the Pigs" or "The Asphalt World." They're not about just what's going on in my head. They're about the people around me and the world about me and the city around me and the country around me.
ATN: Did you go somewhere to write the album?
Anderson: I did. I was living in a place called Highgate. It's a very strange place. It's a beautiful little bit of London. It's like the 14th century or something. It's got like a village green and people have rabbit hutches in their gardens and it's between two of the fucking roughest bits of London. I basically just shut myself in a bare white room for about three months and I didn't do anything but just sit and write. It's quite an inspiring place because it's very quiet and very calm but you're seconds away from real degradation and squalor. I find it quite inspiring. I need a bit of calm to write. I don't need calm in any other part of my life. But to write, I like to just sit back and let it wash over me.
ATN: Talk a bit about the lyrics on this album, and the songs.
Anderson: I think a lot of it is very blank. A lot blanker than the first one. For the first one, I used to sit down and actually slave over them and change words and did like 50 drafts. But a song like "The Asphalt World" is really simply written and it's written about kind of what I did during the day. I wanted to write something that was quite simple, that was just about me and the people around me. Things like that and "The 2 of Us" are almost like reflections on the day before. Whereas something like "Daddy's Speeding," that pretty much came to me in a dream. I had a dream that I was sent back in time to save James Dean from the car crash. We ended up getting loaded together and I didn't bother. I could have saved him.
"Still Life" came from living in that kind of place, being surrounded by housewives and incredibly bored people. It's one of the strange things that people think our lifestyle is always quite frenetic but it's actually pretty much like a housewife's a lot of the time. You know, 23 hours a day it's pure boredom. And I was trying to write a song that was about me and about them. I pottered down to the shops in the middle of the day and would see these incredibly bored people actually become almost completely disconnected from life.
Kind of like fading alcoholic housewives. And "We Are The Pigs" is probably about the division between those people and fucking two minutes down the road, people living in Archways and the way there's no connection between the two.
ATN: I want to get your opinion on some of the other English bands. What do you think of Oasis?
Anderson: I think they're all right. Yeah. I don't know their music very well but I think they're quite exciting, which is good for a English band. I think they sound pretty natural.
ATN: You've heard "Live Forever"?
Anderson: Yeah, I think it's all right. A lot of the bands that people always ask me about I'm not particularly interested in.
ATN: What do you listen to?
Anderson: I like Beatles and the Stones. I like a lot of modern stuff, dance music, soul, rap. I like people who can actually sing. That turns me on. I like Prince. I like a lot of rappers because they've got kind of a hypnotic quality to them. There's too many people who are kind of singing essay writers. I'm quite turned on by people who have the power in their voice, whether I agree with what they say or not. Perhaps Jim Morrison or Nick Cave, who have a bit of authority, who have a bit of power to them. It doesn't matter what they say, it's the way they say it that's quite important to me.
ATN: Any particular rappers.
Anderson: Oh, Snoop Doggy Dogg.
ATN: Yeah, he's great.
Anderson: The thing is I don't agree with anything he says but you have to listen to him. I like Kris Kross as well. And people like Coolio. And who does that "Regulate"?
ATN: Warren G.
Anderson: I like a really smooth sound, I like people who can really sing, you know? That's almost disappeared. A lot of modern singing, a lot of rock singing and soul singing, it's all technique, all showing off. It's wailing and howling and hitting the high notes. I like people who can whisper in your ear instead of shouting at you.
ATN: Initially there was a lot of talk about Suede in terms of sort of reviving the glam thing and the Bowie thing? What did you think about that?
Anderson: I never, never understood it. I have no idea what was going on. I've always hated glam rock. I thought it was appalling. I'm not really interested in fake music and it was very fake music. I was a bit horrified by it all.
ATN: Did the Bowie references make sense?
Anderson: Oh yeah. I'm a massive fan. It frustrates me when people go over the top about it, but I think he's great.
ATN: What music influenced you when you were young?
Anderson: I suppose the punk stuff. If we're talking about what turned me on to music, what made me pick up a guitar. It was kind of like Crass and people like that. I like Sex Pistols and stuff, but I come a bit late to it.
"Anyone who is shocked by two women kissing in 1995 is a fucking half-wit," says Anderson.
ATN: And who else?
Anderson: A lot of tough punk. Real annoying your parents music, mixed with that, stuff my sister listened to: Beatles and Stones and Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd. And then after that, I suppose when I was old enough to buy records, it was the music of the day: The Jam and the Specials and Japan and people like that, just stuff you heard on the radio, basically. My musical education is not a list of cool, cult artists I spent years trudging around record shops to find. It's stuff you hear on the radio when you're having a tea on a Sunday night. That's where my love of music comes from, big pop music.
ATN: When things first broke for Suede, how old were you?
Anderson: About 23.
ATN: How did you handle it?
Anderson: It was easy, it wasn't that much of a problem. It really isn't. You can imagine what it's like being incredibly famous. [laughs] You can! It's like any other life, but you get recognized more often. You just have to wash your hair a bit more often, you can't buy as much pornography.
ATN: Look at the Kurt Cobain situation.
Anderson: That's a very different thing. He was a lot more famous than I was, and to his credit, one of the things that really saddens me about that is he spent a lot of time saying he was deeply unhappy with success. And everyone thought it was an image. That's one of the things that's sad about fakes in music. They actually ruin it for anyone who is telling the truth. Because if it wasn't for the fact that here's generations of people who have thought it's cool to be tortured, perhaps people would have taken him a bit more seriously when he said he hated himself and that he hated what he was doing. I look at like Sinead O'Connor now. I read something she said and I feel horrified for her, really sorry for her, because she's saying that she can't handle it and she's having a terrible time. And everyone thinks it's a joke, everyone thinks it's her image. And that really saddens me and that's why I've always tried to be blatantly honest in interviews.
ATN: Why did you call this album Dog Man Star?
Anderson: Its just three of my favorite words, really. It's just something that a lot of the songs are about. Almost like the three stages of man, the three things you can be. I feel very dog-like at the moment.
ATN: Sort of like the animal state to whatever state we are in at the moment to a spiritually enlightened state?
Anderson: Perhaps not a spiritually enlightened state, but I've always been attracted to people who actually think of themselves as stars, people who actually treat life like a film or a book. I don't mean in the sense of people who are actually in the public eye. There's a lot of people who have sold 60 million records who you see 50 times a day who don't have the faintest star quality to them, and then there's a lot of people working gas stations, they just have that aura around them? They just make things happen out of everyday life.
ATN: In the first song on the album, you make reference to Winterland, you make reference to introducing the band, which I took you to be talking about the Band, you know, Robbie Robertson's The Band.
Anderson: [Laughs] No.
ATN: That's where they played when they played their first performance.
Anderson: I was thinking the Sex Pistols' final gig.
ATN: But that's pretty wild. I was at that show at Winterland, actually.
Anderson: You're kidding.
ATN: It was probably the greatest show that I ever saw.
Anderson: I was watching it just recently. I've got bits of it on video. It's something I've seen about a million times. That bit at the end. [Starts to deliver lyrics in a monotonal Johnny Rotten voice] "This is no fun/ No fun/ At all."
ATN: People were throwing money and all kinds of stuff onto the stage. Rotten was just picking the stuff up. And the audience was just the most bizarre audience. It was a mixture of people that were totally into the band and people who had come to see the freak show.
Anderson: Yeah totally. I've always been fascinated by them and by that gig and just the way they managed to compress everything into a year. Or in the case of that show, anything you could ever ask for a gig in three-quarters of an hour. I just love the idea of a final moment. Of a band just being in the present.
ATN: The thing was, though, when you were there, the music sounded so great and so powerful. Some people tended to say, oh, the Sex Pistols couldn't play that good...
Anderson: Oh they fucking rule! We were listening to the album last night on the bus. If you listen to it now, it just sounds like the greatest rock album in the world.
ATN: Never Mind the Bollocks . . .
Anderson: Yeah. It's so completely almost like year zero it's ridiculous. It's like listening to Chuck Berry.
ATN: Exactly.
Anderson: Or the Rolling Stones. It's just a fucking absolutely great melodic rock album. All the things that people say about them are absolutely untrue. There's only one criteria for musicianship, as far as I'm concerned, and that's whether you can get across what you're saying with your instrument and with your voice. I'm not interested in any kind of technique or anything like that. To me, a great musician is someone that you understand what they feel when they pick up a guitar and there's people who can do that with three chords and there's people who can play entire symphonies and have never moved a human soul.
ATN: All these guitar players who can play scales up the wazzoo, but so what?
Anderson: The real problem is, you've got someone like Sex Pistols, they come along and people mistake it. People think that the way they played was what was important, people actually think that if they can replicate the sound as raw or amateurish as that, that they'll somehow be as great as them. And it has nothing to do with that, it has nothing to do with the level of musicianship. It has to do with the fact that they actually send an electric shock through you. And there's people who do that with incredibly complicated music and there's people who do that with incredibly simple music.
ATN: How old were you when you were exposed to "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy . . . ?"
Anderson: That's the strange thing. I was just really too young. It was '76 when that happened, which is 20 years ago now. I was about 9 or 10, so I wasn't a punk. I couldn't get to any punk gigs or anything. So we just got these ripples in the suburbs, this incredibly frustrating feeling 'cause you knew you were getting everything like second or third hand and you knew you were missing out. Luckily they were one of the few bands where the records were so fucking powerful that it didn't make any difference, you could actually plug into it. Half of my life I've kind of lived the pop dream, wanting to be in a band, and it comes from that, it comes from being cut off from it and just having these little bits of vinyl which were my only connection to it. It's not like nowadays where any kind of fucking two-bit thing makes it, you see it everywhere. It was in the news. I can remember for a few weeks where that was the news. You know what I mean, the Sex Pistols.
ATN: Was it the Sex Pistols or what was it that actually made you make the decision, OK, I want to do this?
Anderson: It's one of those things that's always seemed completely natural to me. It's almost the other way around. I can remember the first time I met someone who didn't want to be in a band. And I can remember thinking it was the most bizarre thing. I thought they were making it up. I just assumed that everyone wanted to be in a band and a lot of people settled for something else.
I guess that punk was really important just because the first time you pick up a guitar, you're not going to be able to play "Brown Sugar," but you are going to be able to play stuff like "Bodies" and "Submission." I used to be in a punk band called The Pigs. We played these kind of like bastardized Sex Pistols and Fall songs about the countryside. I mean they actually connected you to music.
One of the big problems of coming from the kind of place I come from is there's no history, there's no music, you can't imagine yourself as a pop star. You couldn't say, "I want to be in a band." There weren't any bands. There wasn't a local scene or anything. The nearest big town is Brighton and that's never produced anything. One of the things about the Smiths I loved when I was growing up was just the kind of obvious ordinariness of them and the fact that they were making beautiful, important music and they were just obviously kind of like the square kid in the back of the class.
ATN: Haywards Heath is where you grew up, right?
Anderson: Yes.
ATN: But that's 40 miles from London. That doesn't seem that far to me, but it sounds like it felt like it was a million miles away from anything cool.
Anderson: Oh yeah, completely. It's near enough, I used to go up to London when I was 15, 16, but kind of as a complete tourist. I used to wander around the streets with my mouth open. I didn't get to do anything. I just went to wander around and soak it all in. I think that's quite important to be cut off from it, because you keep your romantic view of it intact.
ATN: You romanticize it.
Anderson: People actually from London, they're a bunch of fucking, cynical old farts, they really are. They've all seen it all before, they've all been backstage. They've already seen the downside of it and we never really had that. We still kind of actually believed in the band. And I think a lot of big city people just don't. They don't believe in the power of music.
ATN: About how old were you when you had The Pigs?
Anderson: The Pigs. I guess I must have been about 15.
ATN: Was that your first band?
Anderson: I've had hundreds. Bedroom bands. I was in a band called Suave and the Elegant. They did kind of Beatles covers. None of us could play. Just farting around. And then, when I met Mat [Osman], it was the same thing, we couldn't play. We had a drum machine in the bedroom and we'd do these dreadful fucking songs.
ATN: How come you parted ways with guitarist/songwriter Bernard Butler?
Anderson: He just didn't really enjoy being in the band anymore. There was just no point having anyone in the band who doesn't think it's the greatest thing on earth, you know what I mean?
ATN: So basically he got bored with it or frustrated with it?
Anderson: I think he wanted to do everything himself. He's very musical and he just wanted to sit and play guitar and write songs. And if you want to be in a big band, you actually have to work at it. You have to be singer and musician and businessman and politician and interviewee and all these things at the same time.
ATN: Do you worry at all that not having his musical input is going to affect things like coming up with material?
Anderson: Not in the slightest. We're working a lot faster that we ever have done.
ATN: And you like the material as much?
Anderson: Yeah, certainly. I'm really excited about it. The thing is, I'm writing stuff on my own and I'm writing stuff with [new guitarist] Richard Oakes and I'm writing stuff with the band. Richard is vomiting stuff out.
ATN: What makes you mad?
Anderson: I guess absolute waste. Just the realms of crappy fucking records. Piles of dogshit. You could get rid of 95% of the records that were ever released and no one would be any the worse off. I'd like to see MTV close down for an hour and go, I'm sorry there's nothing good to put on. Or a music magazine saying, we're not coming next week because nothing happened.
ATN: It seems like there's always been this classic tension between the creative side­­someone trying to make great rock & roll­­and the record company's side, where it's a business trying to make money. And it's like they don't care whether it's the Sex Pistols or whether it's Journey.
Anderson: At the same time, it's very easy to just be purely musical and just sit at home all day and make beautiful records that no one hears. I can't get away from the fact that if we make a record now, because of record companies, 90% of the world's population can get a hold of it in a week and that's a fucking fantastic thing. That's technology being used in an incredible way. You can't knock it. If you're going to make a record to communicate to people, then you should make sure people fucking hear it. I think that's really important. I don't want to just sit home and say, we just write music for ourselves and if anyone else likes it, it's a bonus.
ATN: One of the reasons that there's so many crappy records is because the record companies don't know. They're trying to find something...
Anderson: They're doing a job. I'm very aware of that. Every single person you meet in the entire fucking rock-and-roll industry is doing their job and they're looking out for number one. It is a fucking industry and you've just to be completely aware of that. That's why you have to be quite a tight unit as a band because it's the four of you against the rest of the world. However much there's people around us who have our best interests at heart, at the end of the day we're the band and we know what's best. We have pretty much absolute control over Suede. We have more control than pretty much any band out there today.
ATN: Do you make the business decisions?
Anderson: Yeah. Everything follows from the records. Basically, when it comes to selling, we leave the record company to it. That's what they're there for. They're the salesmen. But we're one of the few bands where no one hears our record until we've finished it. And then we come out with a finished record, finished artwork. And we hand it over, we say these are going to be the singles, and we let them to the bits that I have no fucking interest in. Like marketing it.
ATN: When you handed a record over to them, have they ever come back to you and said, "Oh, we think you should do this or we think you should get that song remixed?"
Anderson: [laughs] They wouldn't fucking dare. I mean we listen to them. Every now and then the American record company will say, "I think this would make a great single in America." And we have listened to them in the past. But pretty much anything we actually care about, we do ourselves. No, no one's ever suggested that to us. No one's ever suggested remixing or anything like that. I think they know that it would be a terrible, terrible mistake.
ATN: You've toured America now, this is the third time?
Anderson: Yeah.
ATN: What do you think about this place, given that you've been here enough times that you have some sense of it?
Anderson: I love the place. I do love the place. There's a real openness to it that you don't get in lot in other countries.
ATN: What are some of the specific things that you like?
Anderson: I've had some of the best nights of my life kind of lost in strange American cities. Just being swept along. People are completely receptive to, I don't know, letting loose. Getting loaded and getting loose. Just because there's a kind of dumbness to the place. There is! Which I really like. Let's just see what happens, that kind of thing. England can be a very claustrophobic place, especially if you're vaguely well-known and I don't get that in America at all. I find the opportunities for getting yourself in trouble are vast here.
ATN: Can you be more specific?
Anderson: Not without perjuring myself at a later date. [laughs] I like the people here. I like the fact that people will actually try anything. And I like the way it's very fast moving. It really suits a band on tour. In Britain and Europe it takes kind of six months to get to know people so there's no point in meeting people. Whereas in America you meet people and they're like, "Hi, I'm Cindy, I was abused as a child and I'm a Gemini." And you're off, you know what I mean?
ATN: What's your goal for Suede?
Anderson: Just to make a string of absolutely great records. That was my goal for Suede when I was 12 years old. Doesn't change. One of the only things that doesn't change. To make just an absolute realm of fantastic records that people love.
ATN: Do you have aspirations of having the biggest band in the world?
Anderson: No. I want to be the best band in the world.
ATN: How did you come up with the name?
Anderson: It's just a beautiful, sensual word. It sounds really nice and looks really good. It's a sensual thing rather than intellectual. I've probably gone on many times about how Suede is the animal skin around a human body. But that all came later, when I was getting fucking [laughs] pretentious in interviews. It was just a sensuous, sensual word.
ATN: How did you feel about having to be the London Suede?
Anderson: It stank. I think it's shit.
ATN: What do you think of some of the American bands that have made it in recent years ranging from Pearl Jam to more recently, the Offspring and Green Day?
Anderson: I don't get it. I wish I did. I wish I could at least have understood it but didn't like it. But I just don't get it at all. I'm completely amused by it.
ATN: Are there any American bands that you do like?
Anderson: I like that Sheryl Crow record a lot. I like Perry Farrell, I think he's pretty cool. I like R.E.M.
ATN: You do?
Anderson: Yeah, I do like R.E.M. a lot.
ATN: What do you think of Monster?
Anderson: I think they got away with fucking murder.
ATN: Oh really?
Anderson: I understand it, though. I really understand it. It would be really easy to make another record like the last one and it's quite brave to make a record that you know is going to sell less. I don't think it's a particularly great album at all. I'd love to have been in the business long enough where people actually give you the benefit of the doubt whereas we're in the situation where people always assume the worst. We're always fighting for people to like our records. Whereas I think there are a few fucking statesmen in the world, like Paul fucking Weller in Britain, just because he's been around so long, if he makes a quarter of the way decent record, it's kind of like the second coming. Back to R.E.M., I just like the way they can be that big and that simple. I can't think of another band who've got that big and have actually used it to get simpler and more direct instead of turning into something enormous.
ATN: Speaking of the second coming, do you have anything to say about the Stone Roses' return after so many years of fucking 'round or whatever they were doing?
Anderson: Musically, it's great. They're probably some of the best musicians in Britain and they can actually fucking play. But one of the reasons I really liked the first album is I thought they actually had some songs. And I don't think they have on this one. But that's my personal taste. I like songs. And I don't think this is a very songy album.
ATN: How do drugs affect what you do?
Anderson: Apart from making me get up late for interviews, not very much. It's just something I do. It's not kind of a building brick in Suede, it's something I do personally.
ATN: Do you find it creatively stimulating?
Anderson: Very, very rarely. Not normally. When I wrote this album, I wasn't even drinking. I just locked myself in a white room for 14 hours a day. Pepped myself up with ginseng. Very occasionally I feel inspired by drugs, but not very often. And when we play live, it's funny, when we play live, none of us even have a beer before we go on. We played before 70,000 last year at a festival and we were the only people straight there.
ATN: So is it more a way of getting outside of yourself?
Anderson: I do it for exactly the same reasons that everyone else does. It's a good laugh. It makes me feel in different ways but that's no different from the reasons why millions of people who take drugs. I'd like to say it's some kind of creative elixir but to be honest, most drugs are incredibly uncreative. Cocaine is the least creative drug I can think of. Dope is fucking pointless. It's not a musical thing at all.
ATN: What's your drug of choice?
Anderson: What's the drug of choice? [laughs] I'll take anything, man. I don't really like slow drugs. I don't like drugs that slow you down. I don't like downers. I don't like anything that makes you fucking buzz off to a dream world. I like things that heighten....
ATN: In other words you don't like heroin.
Anderson: No, not particularly. I'm not really interested in dream drugs. I like things that light up your life, pep you up. Ginseng is my drug of choice. And Guinness. [laughs] Any drug that begins with "g," basically.
ATN: At certain points, do you sit back and say, this is amazing that I've been able to achieve what we have achieved?
Anderson: Regularly. Regularly I look in the mirror and say, I'm the luckiest man alive. Yeah, it hasn't lost its wonder for me at all. You can get worn away sometimes, but there's always the moment when you listen back to a track or the moment you play a great gig where you feel like Superman, actually feel like 500 feet tall.
ATN: In terms of the state of rock & roll right now, what's going on from your point of view?
Anderson: I think it's quite inspiring. I think it's quite inspiring in Britain and I think Americans seem quite inspired about the whole thing. I think Britain's producing some halfway decent records for once and I think people are actually astounded that Britain has risen and is beginning to get off its fucking ass. I think the American scene has totally been shook up by cheap bands and the fact that record companies are running around like headless chickens because money doesn't equal success anymore. I think that's great.
What I don't like at the moment is the kind of cult, alternative elements of it, the way everyone is playing to these tiny little demographic audiences and there's no kind of connection across any kind of cultures or even across a fucking big lake like the Atlantic.
ATN: When Elvis Presley died, Lester Banks wrote about Elvis and he said that Elvis was the last rock star that connected everybody.
Anderson: The really big problem is every band in the entire world is living in the shadows of the Beatles and there ain't going to be no more Beatles unfortunately because everyone knows too much and everyone has more access. So people can have music that completely fits them, and you end up with these bizarre musical sub-cultures that are just aimed at one percent of the population. And you never can have another Beatles and I find that incredibly sad. Because that is the blueprint, I think, for every band, for every decent band, to try and make records that turn the whole world on, records that anyone can connect with.
ATN: You really believe in the positive effect that a great rock-and-roll record can have on people.
Anderson: Certainly. Even if it's the most stupid record and it does nothing more for you than brighten up your day for four minutes when it comes on the car radio, it's still more powerful than the other art forms.
ATN: At its best, what do you think it can do?
Anderson: At its absolute best, I think it can totally empower people and totally make people feel like they're wearing a suit of armor and strengthen people and make people feel above the shit of the world. Even at its worst, it can be fucking great. I think a dumb-assed pop song, the dumbest of the dumb-assed pop song is probably more important than any fucking painting done since the war or any sculpture or anything like that.
ATN: Why do you feel that way?
Anderson: It affects people in a way that those things don't. It affects people in a totally natural, physical, emotional way. Not in an intellectual way. It's democratic. It's the only fucking democratic art form left. You can get it anywhere. One of the great things about music is it does belong to everyone and that great songs just come to live in the air. That's why I like the radio so much. That was my first introduction to music. Every now and then I turn it on and think, what a fantastic thing it is. Just that you can have these things all the time. You don't have to go to a fucking gallery, you don't have to pay anything. There just isn't any equivalent for any other art form and it's fucking cheap, music. It must be said. You can get yourself an original Suede for what, about $15?
ATN: Now, it seems like, in terms of a CD, it lasts for quite a long time.
Anderson: Oh, that's a typical fucking American attitude. They always want to know how long it lasts. It is. It's the only place I've ever been in the world where they come first and ask you at a gig, how long are you going to play? Who gives you a shit, you know what I mean?
ATN: I know what you mean. Like a shitty band could play for 3 hours, who cares and like 10 minutes of greatness....
Anderson: I saw The Jesus and Mary Chain when they played for 20 minutes and they were fucking incredible!
ATN: The first time they came to America they played at a little club called the I-Beam in San Francisco and it was amazing.
Anderson: I can just imagine in America someone going, "That was incredible, why don't you play longer?" People always want a fucking encore.
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smoltrashcanfuk · 4 years
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My Top 10 K-pop songs of 2019
Actually some of these are more k-indie songs😅😅 but anyways here we are
There's no real order to this, I was just vibing w/ these songs during the year
Tagged by: @iwasntplanningonlikingkpop @dondielonie1 love u guys😍😣
1) You calling my name - Got7 (shocker but I honestly love it sm. I literally got chills the 1st time I heard it)
2) Night Dream (Demo Ver.) - Leebada (she changed it in the regular version and I wasn't feeling it but this version vibes better in my opinion. Don't @ me)
3) DRUNK ON YOU - Jus2 (this just hits different to me then the rest of the album)
4) Being Myself - Beenzino (I was jamming to this during the summer since it has that feel to it and it has just a positive meaning)
5) Spring Rain - MIND U (never heard of this duo until it slipped into my Spotify but honestly this has such a spring vibe to it. Like I can see myself walking around on a sunny day with a light breeze passing by)
6) SOLO - JENNIE (ayo this songs really boasts my confidence and makes me feel like a bad bitch who don't need no man✊)
7) Jasmine - DPR LIVE (heard this on a rainy day and made me 😻😻)
8) Instagram - DEAN (a classic, to me anyways, that I will never stop listening to)
9) gogobebe - Mamamoo (gives me a slight spanish tune that I really enjoy hearing in songs. Like Carlos Santana😥😥 his guitar skills gives me chills everytime. We really need more songs with spanish guitars played, it just flows with passion and ughh let me stop rambling )
10) Oasis (ft. ZICO) - Crush (a summery song that I like dancing to alone in my room💃. Its a song that just puts u in a better mood ya know?)
I'm tagging: @transparentweepingstudent @jibootyjimin @skystoran @jj-nyoung @shineekrystalzzz @softseunies @wikihoeofgot7 @thatadorkablegirl and anyone else willing to do this
Please tag me😆
Also to the ppl I tagged: u don't have to do this if u don't want to
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Babushka Legacy Challenge
Are you looking for a legacy challenge that’s fast-paced so you hopefully won’t get burned-out after 3 or 4 generations? Do you like having goals to achieve during your legacy? Do you enjoy ruining your sims’ lives? Have you been missing some quality challenges? Then this is the challenge to quench your challenge-wanting thirst! 
Not sure what a babushka is? That’s okay because I’m about to tell you... A babushka is an old woman or grandmother in Poland and Russia. The Sims 4 isn’t set in Poland or Russia, but we’re still gonna use that term because it’s kinda fun and fresh. 
“ThE RUleS”
The rules are kind of flexible, but some of them are for your own good so you should probably follow them.
It’s not required for your sims to complete aspirations and get to the top of their career ladder, but it is specified in some generations if they do need to complete it.
Keep the game on normal lifespan.
Only use money cheats for your first house by using freerealestate. Don’t cheat for money after that.
You don’t have to live in any specific places unless it is specified in the generation.
This is a fast-paced legacy, but it is still 10 generations, so you won’t finish too fast, but you will be able to keep going without getting bored.
Make sure that your game doesn’t become a game over. The sims age up early into elders, so make sure there is at least a teen or older in the household upon the elders’ death. Some generations have kids really late so just be wary!
If you play this challenge, please post it with the tag #babushkalegacy so I can see!
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This challenge was originally created in my brain randomly on a boring summer afternoon, so hopefully it’s not too CRAZY for all you sims lovers! :)
Generation One: The Sweet Babushka
You don’t know where your parents are (or even who they are), so you want to make sure that you’re there for your own kid...even if they were an accident....
Traits - Cheerful, Clumsy, Active
Career - Food Critic (Critic)
Aspiration - Super Parent
Hobbies - Guitar, Comedy
Goals/Rules - 
Start as an adult or young adult and have an accidental pregnancy within the first 2 sim days
After 1 week (or less if you’re feeling spicy), age up to a babushka (elder)
Devote your elderly life to taking care of your kid(s)
Attempt mastering skills/aspiration/career (BUT it’s not necessary)
Generation Two: The Indecisive Babushka
You love your mom, but you need more friends than just your mom (even though you’ll probably die before your friends). You also have never liked the idea of commitment, so there’s that....
Traits - Noncommittal, Bookworm, Romantic
Career - Management (Business), Mixology (Culinary)
Aspiration - Friend of the World
Hobby - Mixology
Goals/Rules - 
Move 5 times
Swap out a piece of furniture every Monday and Thursday
Have at least 7 good friends and 10 additional acquaintances
Break off a close friendship for basically no reason
Have at least 5 boyfriends/girlfriends throughout life
Age up after 10 days of young adult to a babushka
NEVER have a child, but adopt when you are an elder
Switch career as elder to the mixology career
Attempt mastering skills/aspiration (BUT it’s not necessary)
Generation Three: The Vengeful Babushka 
You were a child once, but that doesn’t mean you like children. Weights and running are better things to focus your time and energy on (do you even lift bro?)
Traits - Self-assured, Hates Children, Cat Lover
Career - Bodybuilder (Athlete)
Aspiration - Painter Extraordinaire
Hobbies - Fitness, Furries (just kidding but you can if you want)
Goals/Rules - 
Have a cat or a few
Get married to the first person you try romancing
Your spouse ends up having an affair on you and has a baby with that person
Gift them paintings to try to win back affection
Have a child with a random person off the street as revenge
Once the revenge baby is a teen, age up to a babushka
Marry the random you had the child with as an elder
Don’t involve yourself with the kid(s)/grandkid(s) until you are a ghost
Generation Four: The Possibly-Murderous Babushka
Your mom doesn’t love you, so it leaves a bad impact on you. You still will love your kids though because you are NOT a monster...
Traits - Mean, Hot-Headed, Erratic
Career - Villain (Secret Agent)
Aspiration - Public Enemy
Hobbies - Handiness, Mischief
Goals/Rules - 
Marry/date a coworker
Have a child with a different coworker
Every child you want has to come from different coworkers
Age up to a babushka when the first child is a teen
Always help kids with their homework, except the genius sim (heir)
Have a high handiness to get out of... sticky situations
Keep mom’s gravestone on lot and allow her ghost to visit for the first week of young adulthood
Generation Five: The Wannabe Youtube Star Babushka
You wanted to be a YouTuber, so you dropped out of school even though you’re really smart and you have potential. Oh, also you move to LA....
Traits - Lazy, Genius, Childish
Career - Trendsetter (Style Influencer)
Aspiration - Mansion Baron
Hobbies - Programming, Video Gaming
Goals/Rules - 
Move to Oasis Springs or Del Sol Valley as a young adult
Get engaged to another YouTuber, have a baby, then break off the marriage
After breaking off the marriage, age up to a babushka
Since YouTube isn’t reliable due to unexplainable demonetization, do some freelance programming for some side cash
Encourage heir to be active because you don’t want to do the chores
Generation Six: The Rap God(dess) DJ Babushka
Your mom was lazy and you hate that. You want to boogie-woogie and dancey-wancey and stealy-wealy until you die....
Traits - Dance Machine, Active, Kleptomaniac
Career - None (A Self-Employed Swiper)
Aspiration - Party Animal
Hobbies - Dancing, DJ Mixing, Wellness, Fitness
Goals/Rules - 
Steal for money
Meet baby daddy/momma at the nightclub/karaoke bar
Teach your toddler(s) to bop to music
When your mom dies, get a $50,000 inheritance and blow the inheritance on a new house with a huge dance floor room (or just some really expensive violins and fridges that are $15k and $14k respectively)
When you receive the inheritance, age up to a babushka
Generation Seven: The Hippie Babushka
You realize that the party life of your parents was just not for you, so you decide to move to an isolated cabin (more like a quiet suburban neighborhood) because you love the environment and are NOT a stan of climate change...
Traits - Music Lover, Loves Outdoors, Vegetarian
Career - Musician (Entertainer)
Aspiration - Musical Genius
Hobbies - Piano/Keyboard, Herbalism
Goals/Rules - 
Live in the city as a teen
Move to an eco-friendly tiny home as a young adult
Have a kazoo club where they play piano (we don’t have kazoos sadly), the club meets twice a week
Have 2 friends with the “Bro” trait
Leave a “slob” sim at the altar, and immediately following that, age up to a babushka, then date and eventually marry a “neat” sim
Go camping as a honeymoon
With the new neat relationship, adopt a pet and a child
Generation Eight: The Awkward Babushka
You’re a nice person and good at writing and meal preparation, you’re just not so good at making people fall in love with you...
Traits - Perfectionist, Unflirty, Foodie
Career - Author (Writer)
Aspiration - Master Chef
Hobbies - Baking, Cooking, Gourmet Cooking
Goals/Rules - 
Live in Willow Creek for whole life
Accept every date you’re asked on
Adopt at least 2 kids before becoming an elder
Complete your aspiration (Master Chef), once doing so age up to a babushka
Find “The One” as an elder
Die tragically (perhaps of embarrassment from PDA? Be creative!)
Generation Nine: The Boujee Babushka
You always knew you were a star, but you just have to prove it to everyone else by becoming rich and famous. You are really... confident to say the least...
Traits - Geek, Snob, Self-Absorbed
Career - eSport Gamer (Tech Guru)
Aspiration - World-Famous Celebrity
Hobbies - Pipe Organ, Singing, Video Gaming
Goals/Rules - 
Master eSport Gamer career 
Become a celebrity
Have a few scandals (IDEAS - out-of-wedlock babies, affairs, celeb drama and catfights, cheating in a game tournament)
Scare off first 5 romantic relationships
End up dating/marrying a sim with one or more of the same traits as you
Age up to a babushka when your first child becomes a teen, or naturally if that’s sooner
Generation Ten: The Try-Hard Babushka
You’re good at basically everything you try. Your parents paid for your med school because you’re so talented. Failure is seemingly nowhere in sight, unless...
Traits - Outgoing, Glutton, Materialistic
Career - Doctor (Get to Work)
Aspiration - Soulmate
Hobbies - Rocket Science, Pet Training, literally anything else
Goals/Rules - 
Doesn’t really try in their career but still gets promoted
Wants to be a scientist but doesn’t want to disappoint parents
Fall in love with a scientist
No kids allowed until you reach Rocket Science level 6
Age up to a babushka when you master the Rocket Science skill
Be really talented and master 4 skills, with at least level 6 in 3 more skills
_____________
This challenge took a really long time to make and I’m happy to let other people try it out now. Have fun!
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'SighSwoon' merges self-care tips with hilarious memes on Instagram
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Scrolling through @SighSwoon on Instagram is the equivalent of picking up a mysterious book at a thrift shop and falling into words that both enlighten and entertain.  
Gabi Abrao, a 24-year-old Los Angeles native, is the mind behind one of Instagram's shiniest hidden gems. SighSwoon showcases self-reflective memes and guides on how to feel things, whether it's simple pleasures or a broken heart. It’s a treasure trove of content tailored for millennials navigating creative lives. 
Sighswoon began in the summer of 2016, Abrao tells Mashable over email. Heartbreak and the desire to make some changes drove her toward the internet as a medium for creating and connecting with others, mainly through memes. With an ever-growing follower count of 62.3K, she's connected with a lot of people.
“When I share a realization online and see that thousands of people are going through the same thing, it makes me feel less alone, less hard on myself. I want people to feel this way too — understood, empowered,” Abrao explains. 
View this post on Instagram
Reminder that we’re all multi-faceted human beings and inner movements and conditions are subject to change constantly. There is no fixed condition. The more you do and the more you experience, the more understanding you will gain about your many facets and when they show up for you. There is so much to you - your capabilities, your moods, your modes. Being in one mode doesn’t make you in fixed opposition to the the other. There is no forever, there is no never. Fixation is an illusion. Change and shape-shifting is nature. After you understand your modes, you may get close to managing them. The gift of this will be synchronicity and balance. ** (Reposting myself from last October because this theme keeps showing up for me time and time again. Love this truth too much. Happy shapeshifting.)
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on Apr 7, 2019 at 6:20pm PDT
The artist uses her platform to offer a plethora of self-care tips, from how to sunbathe ("a secluded location where you can get as naked as possible") to the best ways to "shapeshift," a visualization practice for when you're uncentered. Reading her is kind of like speaking to a caring physician who knows exactly what ails you and then gives you the perfect prescription, free of charge. 
View this post on Instagram
Three years ago, following a mildly devastating heartbreak, I dragged my mattress and box spring to the very center of the room and said, “I am a lush, self-sustaining island“. I slept in the center of the room for three days. That weekend, I took myself to a local playhouse. A 20-seat theater, the space was tiny and intimate. I arrived alone in a long black dress and proceeded to watch a stubborn man fall in love with an alien. The play was incredible, surprising, I cried. Once home, I felt ready for the luxury of leaning on a wall and shoved my bed back up against it. . . Later, ready for guests and no longer isolating, I thought of myself as a castle in the desert. “Grand for itself, wise for itself,” I wrote in a poem. In this new form, I was rejecting the need for outside validation, especially that of romantic partners. I imagined myself made of stone that remained cool, even at the highest noon. I imagined myself as an abundant whimsical structure in an environment lacking of. Sturdy and welcoming and independent. “Grand when you arrive, grand when you leave,“ I added to the poem. . . In a meditation class in high school, our teacher told us to pick our place. My teacher, who did past life regression on dogs, said, “Pick a place to be in. Just sit there and listen. Make room for visits from animals, insects, spirits.“ I settled for a giant warm boulder in the sun, next to a free-flowing river, surrounded by woods. A buffalo visited me that day, my eyes closed in a classroom. When things are neutral, when things are good, when things are great, I am the boulder in the sun by the river. Or I am laying on it. . . The house cat reminds me to stretch my body and take time in the sun. The house cat makes me not feel guilty for napping too long or staring at the traffic outside. The house cat reminds me to give myself permission to relax and take it slow.
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on May 2, 2019 at 7:19pm PDT
With so much to do and see online today, it can be difficult to slow your scroll and ask yourself how you're feeling. Abrao's hyper-aware content offers a mirror with which followers can take a nice, long look at themselves. The focus falls on subjects like self-worth, illusions, success, and creativity. She utilizes extensive captions to explain specific ideas in depth — or even just to describe a sunset.  
View this post on Instagram
me drinking the sunset on a hill overlooking the city. it’s incredible how some of the most impactful events occur in line with some of the most devastating. sometimes intensity is just intensity. i am living my dreams and aching simultaneously, and i’d be a fool to think this could ever be any other way. dual, shifting, unbelievably fair. i am so happy to still be here. when things feel gigantic, and the imagination builds tall tales to match the sensation, we can always return to water and sunshine.
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on Mar 26, 2019 at 3:50pm PDT
“As a teenager, I used to do street art wheat paste posters around the city that said ‘sigh swoon sigh’ on them," Abrao says of her page’s unusual name. "It was a mini poem I made up and attached meaning to, and sharing it like that was a reason to run around and be bad. Years later, the phrase would come back around and feel like the most fitting title for what my page has become.”
View this post on Instagram
My Higher Self just whispered this to me and I was floored. May we recognize crossfire. May we recognize deliberate, aimed fire. May we protect ourselves first before engaging in any perceived battle.
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on Mar 13, 2019 at 9:36pm PDT
The Sighswoon feed is aesthetically pleasing, everything kissed with a tint of beige. It's light and welcoming, which is exactly the way Abrao wanted it. She blames her fascination with the hue on her time spent at the beach: “I was renting a bed and a balcony in a living room for $500/month. The building’s stucco was beige, the cheap '90s carpet was beige, and the sand was beige. I think I just wanted to match everything.” 
SEE ALSO: I don't know who needs to hear this, but these memes are good
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tbt to the longest but purest #vintage #meme wrote this a year ago
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on Feb 5, 2019 at 1:40am PST
“The cyborg in me recognizes the cyborg in you,” reads her bio, just above a link to her online store where she sells merch that features the saying on totes and sweatshirts. “It’s a claim to embracing the digital age,” Abrao explains, “the very human-meets-technology existence we all participate in, and are still wearily adapting to.” She admits that while it’s meant to be humorous, she also means it with her “whole heart." 
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my beloved cream crewnecks are now available! i got one sample made for photos are I absolutely adore it. sizes run a little big and on the “men’s” side of sizing. sweaters are made-to-order and will ship within two weeks. link in bio 🏹🏹 p.s. totes are still available in the shop and any orders made today before midnight will ship on thursday morning along with every order placed this past week. love a cozy cyborg
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on Jan 29, 2019 at 1:41pm PST
With just about three years of memeing under her (beige) belt, Abrao has figured out the formula for making a solid one.
“A good meme is funny, relatable, insightful, and healing. In that order. You should laugh, then feel connected to the creator or others who understand it, then experience some introspect, then leave with a healed feeling from those three processes,” she muses. Her delivery method varies as she utilizes many different meme formats. 
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ok fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on Feb 5, 2019 at 10:30am PST
Occasionally, Abrao will post pictures of herself wearing interesting outfits made of neutral textiles and glowy silks. These portraits provide a face to the name (as well as maintaining her color-coded image). They also fuel fan encounters at her part-time book store gig: "A few times I have rung up a book, handed it to the person across the counter, and they’re just staring at me, and they say 'You make memes right?'"
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Years ago, I read a passage by an unknown source that said - “When you have an amazing day, take note of what you were wearing, what you ate, who you were with, what you did. Do the same with bad days.” This shirt is my absolute favorite of mine, and I’ve only had good days in it.
A post shared by GABI + MEMES (@sighswoon) on Apr 17, 2019 at 5:11pm PDT
Abrao just wants to help everyone chill out. "I aim for my page to be accessible, empowering, and soothing," she says. And she wants to keep it up for as long as possible. 
"I wish to continue my studies of the invisible and unseen — documenting my findings through paintings, writings, videos, memes, and other art forms," she says. Her end goal is literally out of this world: "I will operate a carousel in the desert some day, and I hope to re-spawn on another planet in my next life." 
In the midst of all the noise that is Instagram in 2019, Sighswoon provides a light-filled digital oasis, a faraway page that's easy to get lost on. Be careful, though. You might just walk away feeling refreshed and renewed. And with an affinity for beige. 
WATCH: Nickelodeon releases official SpongeBob meme figures
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jjssimming · 5 years
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I’ve never thought I’d ever make an appreciation post/detailed post for a sim, but, here we are.
This is Paige Caudill. She is the my founder for the 100 baby challenge. I made her almost a year and a half ago during the summer for the heck of it, thinking I would give up on the challenge. She started out in a base game starter in Willow Creek, then when she got enough money I moved them to a two story in Oasis Springs. She went from literally nothing to a famous painter, when Get Famous came out. Her and whatever children she had at the time did everything, including going camping, eating out at hosted family parties, and even opened a shop that she built from the ground up and sold for triple she bought it for. I knew that I want to do four founders that have 25-26 kids each, so when Yakim was born, the hunt for how I would finish her life was up to me.
When it came to finding the perfect person for her, I spent a ton of time thinking about it, and I finally decided on James Charles. They’re both artists, family oriented, and he’s also famous, so it fit. (I know he’s gay, but in the Sims he can be bi okay) They got married after the Z baby was born, and now they live together in a copy of his house from the Gallery.. right across from the Z baby (now adult’s) house. Come on, she wasn’t just going to move away. 
Anyways, I almost never get attached to sims, so I’m very surprised I’ve gotten attached to this one. She’s been the family I test expansions with (except Strangerville, those are coming throughout the week) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. While I am going to miss playing with her, she has had a very good life and I’m happy with that.
This is way too sappy, but I’ve played with her on and off for ages, sue me.
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tweedheadsaustralia · 2 years
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Elevated Quality Residence ideal to Work from Home
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abdifarah · 6 years
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Hotel Pennsylvania
Central Pennsylvania is weird. Homeowners string confederates flags as nonchalantly as Christmas lights. My mom, who moved to Central Pennsylvania against my protests, lives about ten miles from Spring Grove, PA, which we have to drive through whenever we visit my Aunt Darlene and Uncle Kenny right below the Pennsylvania–Maryland line. Spring Grove is a cruel joke of a name as the town perpetually smells of rancid cabbage. The smell emanates from the Glatfelter Paper Mill at the heart of the town. All the shops and services in the town either bear the Glatfelter name or use some corny paper pun in their signage. The old brick row homes that line Main Street have porches but no one sits on them. If you do see someone on the street they have an exhausted expression well beyond their years, perhaps from too many cigarettes, or possibly from years of hopelessly working at the paper mill. A cloud – both literal and spiritual – hangs over Spring Grove.
But there is another kind of small town in Central Pennsylvania. All the companies in this town are higher tech with little pollution to diffuse the sun. Power washed brick houses with immaculately manicured lawns line the small streets of Lititz, Pennsylvania. Voted the Best Small Town in America by AARP, every block has either an ice cream stand, or a guitar shop, or a quaint bed and breakfast. On any summer afternoon the sidewalks and streets are filled with happy people. Kids in their bathing suits weave through older pedestrians on Razor scooters. Fit and fresh faced adults in Tevas and Birkenstocks walk dogs, and still active older couples in Brooks Brothers hold hands while taking an evening stroll. It's the kind of town that takes the Fourth of July very seriously. Year round every house has the same 4 x 6 foot American flag fixed at the same 45 degree angle from a post of the white painted porches that wrap each facade, so as to clear up any confusion with one’s neighbor. “Oh, you’re American? I’m American too! What are the chances?” But around the Fourth somehow more American flags appear. They break out those pleated half-circle numbers with the concentric red, white, and blue ring with the star in the middle, and drape them over their porch railings. Little old ladies plant entire fields of miniature flags in public green spaces, in memory of fallen soldiers. (When exactly did the 4th of July merge with Memorial Day? Let there be no question, Lititz, Pennsylvania loves the troops. In Lititz the 4th alone cannot contain the fireworks, but anytime for about a week before and after you can expect to hear a random boom and see a starburst of red white or blue sparks in the sky.
Unlike Spring Grove, Lititz is thriving, bolstered by a constellation of steady companies offering both good paying blue collar work as well as more tech driven white collar jobs. There is a Rolex factory here. Lititz is what I assume Trump supporters envision when they pray Make America Great Again. Surprisingly, despite the overt patriotism and trappings of Americana, Lititz is not Trump Country. The cute coffee shops and overpriced bistros are populated by salt and pepper haired businessmen pissed that Trump’s steel tariffs are cutting into the bottom line, as well as woke college kids home for summer break shedding genuine tears over the separation of immigrant families at the border. Turns out a lot of white folks despise Trump as much if not more than us various minorities.
Despite the friendly faces and preponderance of liberal allies, my skin still crawls in this still uber-white small town. I am usually the only brown person in sight and while the eyes are kind I do feel all eyes on me wherever I go. I imagine walking into a dark divey bar in depressed Spring Grove and the proverbial record screeches and some grisled bartender asks acerbically, “What are you doing here!?” In Lititz the look on peoples’ faces asks the same “What are you doing here?” without the coldness, but rather with concern or surprise, as if to ask “Are you lost?” “How did you stumble upon our white oasis?” I come to Lititz regularly for work as a subcontractor for one of the big companies fueling the prosperity of Lititz, a company called Tait Towers. Most people will never hear about Tait Towers but they are ubiquitous. If you have gone to a big arena concert in the last 30 years you have seen their work, as they are the foremost supplier of decking and stage equipment for rock and pop concert tours. Anything sleek and shiny and automated that adorned the stage of that last concert you attended was probably Tait.  I get called in when they are working on something a little weirder, handmade, idiosyncratic. Over the years assisting Tait’s in-house Scenic Department, we have built a gold vinyl wrapped tiger and lion for Katy Perry, sculpted a 30 foot jungle Tree for Britney Spears, and created an ice crystal themed stage for Lady Gaga. Turns out the ladies of pop like hand made props to counteract their synthesized sound, for which me and my bank account are grateful. It's not the most avantgarde work, but the pay is decent. They put me up in hotel while I am there. For a while I had Hilton Diamond Status after a particularly long five month stay designing and building an inflatable tree for Cirque du Soleil’s Avatar themed show, Toruk. Strangely, I get asked to make a lot of trees.
This past Saturday I was leaving the local laundromat. My hotel has a washer and dryer but I still jump at any opportunity show my black face in town and mix it up with the townspeople. However awkward, I am a glutton for punishment. As I was turning the corner out of the laundromat parking lot I almost shocked myself into an accident as I witnessed a Chinese family on their porch within a row of houses. Where had these people been during those homogeneous 4th of July celebrations or during those awkward evenings I spent at the bar of the Bull’s Head, a local tavern? I suspected that there was a whole unseen community of minorities in Lititz. I remembered the handful of other black and brown people that worked at Tait. Why had I not seen this more diverse crowd during my daily coffee runs to the local bakery, Dosie Dough, or out walking their dogs or playing with their children in the evening? It seemed that the other people of color went to work, did their job, and immediately jetted home as soon as the day was done. Also, a lot of them probably chose to forego small town living in favor of the more urban Lancaster, Pennsylvania about seven miles south of Lititz.
After a few weeks in Lititz, I too found myself retreating to my hotel room after the work day. Should I go out for dinner for a little more ambiance or grab a drink at the bar with its potential for conversation. The pessimistic belief that I would be the only black person and the sole vessel to absorb the awkward stares proved exhausting. I would instead microwave an Amy’s Mexican casserole bowl for dinner and catch up on the last season of The Americans. At some point myself and the other people of color of Lititz made an unspoken pact with the white people of this sleepy town that we would do our jobs and go home immediately in order to perpetuate the belief that this was one of those ideal small towns, the kind that could be voted Best Small Town in America. When I imagine the best small town in America sadly I do not see a Chinese family, black welders, or even myself.
After years of coming to work with Tait I can confidently say that I hate classic rock. Tait is all about classic rock. The founder, Michael Tait, an Australian expat, got his start building stages for the band Yes in the 60’s. As an independent artist, my short stints with Tait represent my only times working in a real workplace with set hours. For years the shop was haunted by an omnipresent Muzak system that played classic rock incessantly. Everyday at around 4pm the Eagles’ “Hotel California”, a song written by Satan himself, would torment us. Working 10 to 12 to 14 hour days to meet a deadline, 4 o’ clock was our witching hour; too late in the day to bring any new energy or insights to the project, much too early to begin cleaning up for the day. The lyrics, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” taunted me, less because of their spot on description of my current predicament but more because they’re just stupid. Hearing the same “classic” songs day after day I realized the utter mediocrity of classic rock as whole. Just competently melodic enough to be easy to listen to, unlike say punk or metal (both far superior). Lyrically the stories ranged from completely meaningless, to embarrassingly infantile, to undeniably problematic. Somehow we decided that this was the American music, over jazz, blues, funk, and r&b. Classic rock will be playing on the space shuttle we board after we successfully destroy earth and it will be playing on whatever outpost we establish on the faraway planet we colonize.
Currently, I am working on a set of nine sculptures of Elton John that will array the proscenium arch above the stage for his upcoming tour. Overall, I enjoy this work. At least it is not another tree. And as far as pop music goes I dig Elton John’s music more than some of the other pop stars for whom I have made art. However, at the end of a long day sculpting his strange bulbous nose and thin lips for the seventh, eighth or ninth time I begin to sour a bit on Sir Elton. Elton John is 73 years old (probably older since, like most performers, I assume he gave a younger age when he started out) and we are building a stage for him for a projected three year tour that will net him millions of dollars. How many black artists or other musicians of color are still relevant and can sell out arenas into their 60’s and 70’s? Maybe Stevie Wonder? I can easily name 20 white (male) musicians. We already mentioned Elton John; how about Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, The Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, Sting, Ozzy Osbourne, Jimmy Buffett? I can keep going. Were these giants of rock undeniably better than their female contemporaries or artists of color working at the same time so as to secure an undying career into infinity?
I read in an article years ago detailing some of the financial troubles of T-Boz and Chilli of TLC, that they did not have much money coming in outside of the $1200 royalty check they received monthly. TLC was a group notoriously mistreated and shortchanged by their management and record labels yet they still had $1200 a month in royalties arriving like clockwork. I can barely begin to fathom what a group like the Rolling Stones receives in regular royalties. At any moment a Rolling Stones song plays somewhere on this blue planet. I hypothesize that the proliferation of classic rock around the world may be the biggest form of white welfare. According to the website, Inside Philanthropy, Jimmy Buffett is worth $550 million. He has one terrible song that he has somehow parlayed into a fortune! He is then free to spread that money among various causes or toward organizations like the NRA. Or take rock and roll’s running joke that the Rolling Stones, despite their hard living are somehow, immortal. While humorous and perplexing we all know the reason for these artist’s longevity. Being wanted, having work to do, being asked to perform, and the monetary and emotional support they afford sustains one’s life. I cannot help but feel that the melancholy that we collectively share when a giant of black music dies – Prince a few years back and Aretha Franklin most recently – stems from the understanding that despite their great fame and success their talent deserved more. They deserved Rolling Stones level treatment. Is there a better rock and roll song that Franklin’s “Respect” or “Chain of Fools?” I should have been in Lititz making nine life-size sculptures of Aretha Franklin and not Elton John.
The last time I arrived at Tait to work on a project I noticed the absence of the Muzak system. Every department now controlled their own music. Sometimes someone plays from their Spotify or Apple Music or we just put on the radio. Much to my chagrin and confusion, somehow the Freddy Kruger of classic rock continues to haunt me even with my mostly young coworkers choosing the music. Someone will mindlessly put on the “Beatles Radio” on Pandora, or WXPN, a Philly radio station, will have a “Throwback Thursday” traversing the entire discography of the Rolling Stones. One day during WXPN’s regular offerings (usually a mix of new rock with a few eclectic curve balls thrown every now and then) Childish Gambino AKA Donald Glover’s “This is America” came on (I too am surprised by the ubiquity of this song as I viewed it less as something to casually listen to and more as the multi-level artwork that I was initially presented with through its graphic video. But alas, the song bumps). Almost instinctively, without prompt, fanfare, or commotion one of my coworkers changed the channel. After hours of absorbing banal rock something mysterious sparked a station change. I tried to put this incident out of my mind. Soon after someone put on an Itunes 80’s playlist. Somehow 80’s music has come to mean “White 80’s”; Culture Club, Billy Idol, and all that other Breakfast Club, Top Gun, Say Anything music, completely omitting black acts, save titans like Michael Jackson and Prince. Surprisingly, a Janet Jackson song slipped onto this mostly vanilla playlist, but almost as soon as I started bouncing my shoulders and popping my neck along with Jackson’s “Pleasure Principle” someone calmly put down their tools, walked to the computer and skipped to the next song!
I work with genuinely good people. The same liberal minded white people that I would overhear furiously denouncing Trump in the coffee shop. But there was something unconsciously disturbing about a black voice coming out of the office speakers, and conversely something calming and reassuring about A-Ha’s “Take On Me,” which restored the stasis after Janet’s interruption. Was the promulgation of classic rock and other culturally white genres part of some conspiracy to entrench whiteness as the default and everything else an aberration? The truth was probably less insidious and more banal, but no less effective. Sometimes I’ll muster the courage to take over DJ duties and I will attempt to put on a more colorful station or playlist, but even I find myself squirming with embarrassment if a particular black song plays. I am conscious that, unlike those classic rock songs that we all know to the point of no longer hearing them, every word of an unfamiliar song from an unfamiliar voice conspicuously grabs the attention and appears in bold text before ones eyes, complete with a bouncing ball keeping place. This can become awkward when, say, Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me” comes on during a 90’s Jams Playlist. I want a freak in the morning/ A freak in the evening, just like me/ I need a roughneck nigga/ That can satisfy me. Why should a song that boldly expresses black female sexuality be awkward for me? I listen to plenty of songs all day that foreground white male sexuality: AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” or Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy.” Or why should a rap song with explicit lyrics put the room in a frenzy? Eric Clapton literally has a song called, “Cocaine.”
White supremacy resides not only within the purview of avowed white supremacists; that resident of Spring Grove or Dover with truck nuts hanging off his gun metal grey Ford Raptor with the giant confederate flag waving. We are all complicit. The MAGA white supremacist is not the only one lying to themselves about America’s past. The liberal resident of Lititz is as well. So am I. Somewhere we all believed the wonderfully illustrative mid-century American propaganda that America was a white family behind a white picket fence and that everyone else is just borrowing space, when in reality people from all ethnic backgrounds have shared this country since day one. And to be more factual there was a time on this land mass before white people; before genocide, theft, and slavery. Us people of color need to combat this as well. We may be mathematical minorities, but we are not new here. We are not the cousin crashing on the couch, lying awake and hungry, afraid to go to the kitchen and make food, so as not to disturb the owners of the house. We need to not be ashamed of our music, our existence. We need to show up and be seen; at those corny 4th of July celebrations and especially at the voting booth, reminding all onlookers that we are just as American. Only then might we all imagine a more diverse picture when we think of the Best Small Town in America, and only then might I be freed from the hell of “Hotel California” playing on my radio into eternity.
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script-error-sims · 6 years
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seasons tag
i was tagged by @winterbjorn, thank you love <3
1. which season are you going to play with first?
Probably summer, because it would transition well with the eternity-season that the sims are currently in.
2. from what you’ve seen in the trailer, what are you most excited about?
SWINGS!!! I know it seems menial but I am so friggen stoked for swings
3. what’s your favourite season irl?
winter or autumn
4. what’s your favourite flower/plant?
laukahi - its a super powerful healing plant. Like, if you put laukahi poultice on a surgical wound and then cover it in a bandage, it may heal with the laukahi still in it, that’s how quick it works.
aloe - good for literally everything. sunburns, acne, dandruff, bad credit, anything. also a nicer shade of green than anything EAxis has ever made.
jasmine - beautiful flower, great scent, amazing tea
awapuhi/’olena - in kombucha or tonic or tea it makes my tummy feel sooo good and is great for nausea.
I have so many more I can’t really decide. 
5. are you going to create a new sim/family or are you going to keep your current household?
probably stick with the pancakes story for now
6. what would you like to see in this new add-on that we haven’t seen yet?
horoscopes, create-a-world, terraforming, decent shades of green, spiral staircases or stairs with landings
7. how do you feel about not having a new neighbourhood?
meh, w/e
8. snow, rain, sun or wind?
SNOW
9. favourite refreshing drink in summer?
gin n tonic w/ cucumber, mint, and blueberry
southern sweet tea with a splash of bourbon
watermelon, cherry, and jalepeno slushie with moonshine
ice cold alkaline water
10. favourite hot drink in winter?
scotch
11. walk through the forest or by the beach?
forest in the fall, beach in the summer
12. swimming pool or ocean?
OCEAN ALL DAY EVERY DAY
13. where would you like to travel if you could leave right now for a week?
hmm....glasgow, okinawa, rome, cartagena
14. how is the weather today?
78 and partly cloudy, drizzling back in the valley the same it is every day here.
15. what new traits would you like to see in the new add-on?
functional allergies
16. do you like to play with supernatural creatures like vampires and aliens? and if so, would you like to have witches/fairies/elves?
aliens and ghosts, yeah but not really vampires. It’d be cool to have witches
17. what is your favourite thing to do during winter?
I live near the equator so winter doesn’t happen here, but when I lived on a continent, snow was lit. So...snow?
18. …during spring?
Talking to the new baby blossoms and spring cleaning
19. …during summer?
beach, yoga at the beach, reading at the beach, swimming at the beach, sleeping at the beach....beach
20. …during autumn?
Back to school shopping, and tea
21. have you already pre-ordered seasons? and if you haven’t, are you going to pre-order it or wait until it comes out?
I havent ordered it yet but i probably will once i get paid
22. in which neighbourhood are you going to play first with seasons?
summer in oasis springs, fall in willow creek, winter in granite falls, spring in windenburg
23. do you listen to music while playing? and if so, what are your favourite songs to play to?
ohh...i either listen to spotify playlists or podcasts or netflix
24. what’s your favourite thing to do in the sims? creating sims, building, etc?
I love building and playing townies
25. what’s your favourite kit/pack/add-on?
parenthood, it added a lot of dynamic and i liked the decor style. And jungle adventure.
26. and finally, what add-on/pack would you like to see next?
Go to School/University would be cool, or a teen focused pack that adds more depth to them, or an elderly pack where they can give candies to children, and live in homes, etc.
I tag @okruee @nervoussimblr @realizeadreamdeux
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harryslusciouscurls · 7 years
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This or That Tag
I was tagged by the lovely @mizpahes 
RULES: ANSWER all the questions, ADD one question of you own and then TAG as many people as you like!!
Live session or studio session? Live session.
Coke or Pepsi? Neither. I don’t drink soda or anything fizzy or bubbly to that matter.
Disney or Dreamworks? Disney.
Coffee or tea? Neither. Again I don’t really drink either.
Books or movies? That’s really hard because so much of my life revolves around both books and movies but if I had to pick… Books I guess.
Windows or Mac? I’ve only ever had Windows but I really want a Mac.
DC or Marvel? Marvel all the way! But I do love DC’s Flash and Arrow.
Xbox or PlayStation? Never had either.
Night owl or early riser? Night owl.
Cards or chess? Cards. I haven’t a clue about how to play chess.
Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla.
Vans or Converse? Converse.
Star Wars or Star Trek? STAR WARS!!! I have an extreme love for Star Wars.
One episode per week or marathoning? Marathoning.
Gandalf or Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan, obviously.
Heroes or Villains? Heroes.
John Williams or Hans Zimmer? That’s hard because I enjoy both of them. I’ll just go with John.
Disneyland/Disney World or Six Flags? Disney World. Magic Kingdom is literally one of my favorite places.
Flying or reading minds? Flying. I have no desire to know what people think of me.
Twin peaks or northern exposure? I don’t watch either.
Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter, definitely.
Cake or Pie? Cake. I don’t like pie. 
You are banished to a deserted island, which Benedict Cumberbatch character would you choose to take with you? Ok so here’s the thing. I want to say Sherlock because I love Sherlock and Benedict as Sherlock but I doubt he could get us off said island. So I’m, like @mizpahes I am going with Doctor Strange. I would still be happy though. Like come on. It is Doctor Strange.
Train or cruise ship? I really like train rides and I’ve never been on a cruise so I don’t know how I would handle it. So… train.
Brian Cox or Neil Degrasse-Tyson? Umm… who?
Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland? Alice in Wonderland.
Fanfiction or fanart? Fanfiction.
The Hunger Games - books or movies? Books. They were way better.
Able to see the future or travel to the past? Travel to the past. 
Han Solo or Luke Skywalker? I love them both but Luke can be a bit whiny so Han.
Lilacs or sunflowers? Lilacs.
Spring or Autumn? Autumn.
Campfire or fireplace? That’s hard because I love both. I don’t want to pick so both.
French fries or onion rings? Fries. 
Truth or dare? Truth.
Winter or Summer? Summer.
Vampires or werewolves? Vampires.
Red or Blue? Blue.
Eyes or lips? I can’t pick. Both.
Burgers or sandwiches? Burgers.
Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers trope? Friends to lovers.
Pizza or pasta? Pasta, without a second thought.
Ancient Rome or Ancient Greece? Rome.
Foxes or wolves? Wolves.
Mermaids or dragons? Mermaids.
Sci-Fi or Fantasy? Can’t pick?
Watch a film in the theatres or at home? Theater. Movies are always better in the theater. 
Fireproof or No More Sad Songs? Fireproof.
Bands or individual singers? I honestly can’t really pick. It depends.
Sweet or salty? Both. I like a mix of both.
Monotype Corsiva or Comic Sans? Corviva.
Turtles or frogs? Turtles.
Blur or Oasis? No idea. 
Baseball or football? Baseball.
Bowling date or movie date? Movie. I know we can’t talk during the movie but I am one of those people who loves to spend time talking about the movie afterward.
Fruits or vegetables? Fruits.
Rain or sun? Both. I love sunny days but I also LOVE rainy day where I can cuddle up and read a book.
Tattoos or piercings? Tattoos.
Phone call or text? Either. I am shit at replying to texts though.
Animated films or live action remakes? It all depends.
Chandler or Joey? Joey.
Have all the boys reunite for a 1D tour but never go on solo tours or have all of them do solo tours but never reunite as a band for a tour? Never reunite as 1D. I’d rather them all do their own solo tours.
What fictional place would you most like to go to? So this is hard because I would love to go to the Wizarding World but I also really want to be apart of the Marvel Universe or in Star Wars or in the Shadow World (The Mortal Instruments). Long story short, I cannot, I refuse to choose.
My question: Captain America or Iron Man?
So I tag @tomhollandlibrary @legandaryharry @shipwreckharold
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~ this or that ~ 
RULES: ANSWER all questions, ADD one question of your own and then TAG as many people as you like!
dia @heartsalmighty tagged me tysm !! i love and hate these tags haha bc i think they’re fun but also i’m literally the most indecisive person omg xD
*it’s long so i’m gonna put it on under read more*
live session or studio session? i mean i always wanna see people live but like to listen to i prefer studio usually coke or pepsi? i don’t like either lol disney or dreamworks? disney !! coffee or tea? neither >.< books or movies? ....honestly movies at this point bc i have such a short attention span but i really love books too ahhhh i like them both a lot  windows or mac? mac (i don’t know how to use anything else oops) dc or marvel? lol take a wild guess (i’ll give you a hint it’s not dc) xbox or playstation? ummmm i don’t really know i don’t think i’ve ever played either haha i just did wii xD night owl or early riser? night owl lol i’m always awake at weird hours  cards or chess? depends on what card game ? chess is p cool i actually know how to play so that’s helpful  chocolate or vanilla? depends on my mood tbh but probably chocolate vans or converse? converseeeee especially the red ones  star wars or star trek? i’ve only seen one star trek actually so i think i’m a little biased but like ...star wars all the way one episode per week or marathoning? okay see i’m impatient so marathoning but also i have the shortest attention span (see: books or movies?) so in that way one episode per week is kinda good for me haha i get distracted so easily xD i’ve done both like obviously i watch on netflix n stuff but then i watch htgawm when it airs so like ...both are fine  heroes or villains? both are cool ? leaning a little more towards heroes though john williams or hans zimmer? i hate this question literally how dare you but also i love hans zimmer with a passion sooooo disneyland/disney world or six flags? i’ve been to neither of them haha but i think i’d have more fun at disney just bc even though i don’t like a lot of rides it has a lot of other stuff to look at xD forest or sea? i like both ummm probably the forest though, i’m more used to it & sometimes the ocean makes me feel unsteady flying or reading minds? flying !! (teleporting would be the best though okay like just so we’re clear here) twin peaks or northern exposure? yeah same @dia i’ve not seen either of these :P  harry potter or lord of the rings? harry potter for sure (i’ve seen lotr too though, they’re such cinematic masterpieces) cake or pie? (ice cream) cake you are banished to a desert island, which benedict cumberbatch character would you choose to take with you? wait this is such a good question lol ummm probably doctor strange bc he could get me out of there train or cruise ship? train, boats make me nervous brian cox or neil degrasse-tyson? idk who brian cox is (i googled him and i still don’t know) + neil degrasse-tyson is great lol (although like ...bill nye...) wizard of oz or alice in wonderland? alice in wonderland omg yes yes yes i love that story so much i just fanfiction or fanart? fic haha the hunger hames - books or movies? the books but also catching fire was really well done also that cast is lovely just as an aside see the future of travel to the past? oooh i’d love to see a lot of things in the past like “if only i was alive then” moments you know ? but it’d be kinda cool to see how the future turns out too haha although at this point i’m kinda scared so i’d probably stick with the past han solo or luke skywalker? han solooooo (luke is cool too i just like ...don’t remember that much about him even though he was literally the main character lol sorry like i said short attention span) lilacs or sunflowers? both are nice ?? lilacs i guess.... spring or autumn? autumn.... i think ... campfire or fireplace? fireplace, campfire includes way too many bugs lol french fries or onion rings? french fries (the skinny kind)  truth or dare? truth haha there’s nothing interesting going on in my life anyways winter or summer? summer bc winter here is just like ...no vampires or werewolves? werewolves always seemed cooler to me, vampires are a little unsettling red or blue? red !!! it’s lucky hehe eyes or lips? *eyes nose lips plays in the background* ummm eyes burgers or sandwiches? oh god i love both ...sandwiches have such variety !! but burgers are so good ...probably burgers....  i just love food though xD friends to lovers or enemies to lovers trope? friends to lovers ^-^ pizza or pasta? pizzaaaaa ancient rome or ancient greece? ancient greece all the way omg i would love to honestly foxes or wolves? wolves.... ? no big preference i guess mermaids or dragons? dRAGONS BABYYYYYYY (i’m a dragon hehe) sci-fi or fantasy? fantasy i guess ? depends on how you define them i guess watch a film at home or in a theater? i like watching them in the theater haha it’s more fun that way (for me) fireproof or no more sad songs? oh yikes i haven’t heard no more sad songs so fireproof it is bands or individual singers? i like them both but if you haven’t noticed i kinda tend to be drawn a little more towards groups haha sweet or salty? saltyyyy except for ice cream monotype corsiva or comic sans? i don’t even know what monotype corsiva is lol comic sans is the worst™ but at the same time the best™ (if u know what i mean) so that’s fine turtles or frogs? turtles !! blur or oasis? yIKES i haven’t listened to either ...but i think oasis did wonderwall ? so i’ll say them baseball or football? ahhh neither :P international football if that counts lol i love soccer/futbol/football bowling date or movie date? movie date (i just watched bts run ep 19 though and i can’t stop laughing thinking about all of them bowling oh my god) fruits or vegetables? i love fruit hehe rain or sun? both are fine ? we got a lot of both today actually haha like in quick succession too xD gotta love new england lol tattoos or piercings? tattoos... i think... phone call or text? texting (phone calls are way faster though) animated films or live action remakes? animated ...i’m so skeptical about most remakes/sequels/reboots/etc chandler or joey? ...i’ve never seen friends i’M SO SORRY AHHH  have all the boys reunite for a 1d tour but never go on solo tours or have all of them do solo tours but never reunite as a band for a tour? god ummmm probably the 1d tour bc like look irl they’re all already about to go on solo tours haha + mitam is musically the best album they’ve done and i really want(ed) to see them do that live tv show or movie? ummmm gah that’s hard ...honestly tv just has a lot more time to work with which means that a lot of the time (not always though omg dEFINITELY not always) the quality is better
MY QUESTION IS: ramen or korean bbq?
i’m gonna tag ejay @thriftmom and jori @yellowhalcyon if u want to ^-^ no worries if u don’t and feel free to do it even if i haven’t tagged you !! 
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instantdeerlover · 4 years
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Austin Restaurants Where You Can Eat And Drink Outside added to Google Docs
Austin Restaurants Where You Can Eat And Drink Outside
Austin is a city that’s at its best outdoors. We have a world-famous swimming pool, we make up reasons to have music festivals (Eeyore’s Birthday Party should be on your radar), and we congregate anywhere there’s shade to sip cold drinks. And there’s no better way to combat the triple-digit heat and catastrophic traffic than by hanging out on a patio.
But not all of them are created equal. Here are our 21 favorites.
the spots  Radio Coffee & Beer $ $ $ $ Tacos  in  South Austin $$$$ 4208 Manchaca Rd
We’re pretty sure this is the only patio in the world where you can enjoy A++ breakfast tacos (from Veracruz All Natural), nitro cold brew on tap, draft beer, and entertainment ranging from movies to vinyl listening nights to live bluegrass. You can schedule meetings and dates here, use it as a meeting spot for your whole crew, or get some solo work done. It’s our all-time favorite patio hang.
 Spider House Patio Bar & Cafe $ $ $ $ Bar Food  in  Campus $$$$ 2908 Fruth St
This enormous, funky patio is a flagbearer for Keep Austin Weird. Spider House is covered with a colorful hodgepodge of steampunky yard furniture that feels like it was created by Tom Waits in a secret side career as a metalworker. Even though it’s in the crosshairs of UT’s campus area, the crowd is always a good mix of people. They serve food, brew coffee, and have plenty of quality local beer on tap, as well as a full bar with affordable prices. Spider House’s patio is never not an enjoyable place to be.
 Licha's Cantina $ $ $ $ Mexican  in  Downtown Austin $$$$ 1306 E 6th St Not
Rated
Yet
This converted old house not only serves some of our favorite Mexican food in Austin - they also have one of the best outdoor areas in which to eat it. The front yard is covered by a giant string-light-covered tree, and lined with charming little tables for sharing bowls of queso fundido and fajitas. If it’s crowded, the mural-covered backyard patio is no slouch either.
Justine's Brasserie $ $ $ $ French  in  Govalle $$$$ 4710 E 5th St 8.4 /10
The French invented neighborhood bistros with prime sidewalk seating (we think), and Justine’s is the Austin version. Inside, this place feels like Paris in Austin; an intimate date night dinner spot. Step onto their patio and the vibe shifts into a see-and-be-seen backyard covered with string lights and picnic tables perfect for having some frites with your Bordeaux. Justine’s is located away from the hubbub of downtown, which makes the entire experience feel more exclusive and better suited for conversation with a group.
 The ABGB $ $ $ $ Bar Food ,  Sandwiches  in  South Austin $$$$ 1305 W Oltorf St Not
Rated
Yet
This is one of the more communal patio situations in town, and they also serve fantastic pizza. It gets crowded, which means parking real estate is dicey, which also means that once you find a spot you will inevitably lounge around and stay a while. They often have live music inside with plenty of room to square dance. Expect to make some new friends here.
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INFATUATION NEWSLETTER Get our newest guides & reviews first,
plus more restaurant intel you won't find anywhere else. TRVL ATL ATX BOS CHI LDN LA MIA NYC PHL SF SEA DC Subscribe Smart move. Excellent information will arrive in your inbox soon. Do you have friends and family who also eat food? Enter their emails below and we’ll make sure they’re eating well. (Don’t worry, we won’t subscribe them to our newsletter - they can do that themselves.) Help Your Friends No Thanks Well done. You’re a good person. All good. We still like you. Want to quickly find restaurants on the go? Download The Infatuation app.    Easy Tiger $ $ $ $ Bar Food ,  Cafe/Bakery  in  Downtown Austin $$$$ 709 E 6th St
You’re probably familiar with Easy Tiger’s wizard-like baking skills, as their bread is served everywhere in town. But go beneath the bakery and you’ll find their beer garden with a patio beside Waller Creek. And while that creek itself basically just an even-more-disappointing version of the San Antonio Riverwalk, it does give the patio a feeling of being hidden away in a concrete jungle. Easy Tiger is a cool place to impress an out-of-towner, and definitely our favorite downtown patio. Come for drinks (they have a full bar in addition to beer and wine), and snack on pretzels and sausages when you get hungry (they serve food until 2am).
 Guero's Taco Bar $ $ $ $ Tex-Mex  in  South Congress $$$$ 1412 S Congress Ave 7.7 /10
Over the years, Guero’s has become an Austin postcard-establishment - their solid Tex-Mex and strong margaritas have made it a favorite entry point for out-of-towners who have no idea what Austin is (and just as fun for people who live here). The spot does get crowded, which is when you’ll want to consider stepping outside onto their patio - the only spot in town where you can sip margaritas, eat queso, listen to live music, and people watch, all while sitting in an oak tree-shaded garden facing South Congress.
Hotel Vegas / Volstead Lounge $ $ $ $ East Austin $$$$ 1500 E 6th St
These two veteran bars/music venues have cemented themselves as East 6th fixtures. Part of the reason for their continued success is their enormous shared patio complete with cheap drinks and picnic tables. The interiors are small, hot, and inhospitable for conversation due to very loud music. But once you get outside - especially at night - you’ll have a hard time convincing yourself to go back to the music when there’s so much action (and so much more space available) on the patio.
Hula Hut $ $ $ $ Tex-Mex  in  Lake Austin Blvd $$$$ 3825 Lake Austin Blvd Not
Rated
Yet
This list would be incomplete without a lakeside patio you can drive a boat up to. Hula Hut is another Austin classic that’s been thriving for over 20 years, thanks in large part to its patio that’s literally on Lake Austin. While their Tex-Mex isn’t going to win them any awards, it tastes great once you’ve had a few of their strong cocktails that are as endearingly tacky as the Hawaiian decor.
 Fresa's South First $ $ $ $ Mexican  in  Bouldin $$$$ 1703 South First 8.1 /10
Not to be confused with their mostly to-go-oriented Lamar location, Fresa’s on South First has a spectacular laid-back patio facing Bouldin Creek. Their queso challenges Torchy’s for best in town status, while their chicken is as juicy as the fresh-squeezed margarita you’ll realize you need as soon as you sit down. They also are kid-friendly, and the playscape should keep them occupied while you have another margarita or three.
Yard Bar $ $ $ $ Bar Food  in  Allandale $$$$ 6700 Burnet Rd
Hanging out with dogs is a whole lot cheaper and more fun than therapy, so here’s your chance to do so even if your landlord doesn’t allow pets. The entire “patio” at Yard Bar off Burnet is an enormous fenced-in dog park/playground, with a full bar inside. Sometimes you just need a cocktail after a long day at work - but most other times adding hounds into the mix cures all ails.
 Perla's Seafood and Oyster Bar $ $ $ $ Seafood ,  Raw Bar  in  South Congress $$$$ 1400 S Congress Ave Ste B100 8.1 /10
You’re on South Congress, but looking for something more upscale than Guero’s. You’re looking for Perla’s. Once you get past the inevitable wait, there’s plenty of room to enjoy cocktails, oysters, and some of the finer seafood in town. The sleek patio faces the street, which makes for excellent people watching, as you feel like you have one foot in Austin and one foot in Los Angeles. It’s pricey, but considering this town is nowhere near the origin of the Blue Point Oysters you’re springing for, it’s worth it.
 Maggie Svodoba Josephine House $ $ $ $ American  in  Clarksville $$$$ 1601 Waterston Ave Not
Rated
Yet
If your priorities are twinkly lights and striped straws and the general feeling that you’re in the middle of an Instagram photo, you’ll want to be at Josephine House. This is the place to sip a fancy gin cocktail in a cozy outdoor both while eating the kind of food that tastes as good as it looks in pictures.
 Yellow Jacket Social Club $ $ $ $ American  in  East Austin $$$$ 1700 E 5th St. Not
Rated
Yet
Hidden under a bunch of trees in front of some train tracks on a side street, you’d probably never know Yellow Jacket Social Club was here. This divey spot isn’t just a great place for a low-key hang in the shade - they serve a surprisingly good brunch, with out-of-this-world shrimp and grits. Get the frozen mimosas if you’re looking to start the day off right.
Gourdough's Public House $ $ $ $ American ,  Bar Food  in  South Lamar $$$$ 2700 S Lamar Blvd 8.0 /10
This gourmet doughnut Airstream trailer turned brick-and-mortar is more than just a late-night donut shop. The well-designed ‘public house’ branch of the Gordough’s empire has a full bar and a fantastic backyard patio covered with picnic tables and yard games. This is the spot to hit if you’re with a giant crew that appreciates the finer things in life, like gigantic beer towers paired with donut burgers.
Skylark Lounge $ $ $ $ Bar Food  in  MLK $$$$ 2039 Airport Blvd
Skylark’s recent patio addition is a wonderful place to get some fresh air after dancing to the best live soul music in Austin. It feels like a spacious backyard - nothing especially distinct, but a really comfortable place to hang.
 Shady Grove $ $ $ $ American ,  Bar Food ,  Burgers ,  Tex-Mex ,  Southern  in  Zilker $$$$ 1624 Barton Springs Rd 7.7 /10
An Austin institution located around the corner from The Greenbelt, Zilker Park, and Barton Springs. Shady Grove has live music all summer long, and the menu is a mix of Southwestern diner and Tex-Mex. As the name suggests, their patio is a shady oasis covered with tables and chairs. Unless it’s over 100 degrees, there’s absolutely no reason to be sitting inside here.
 Cherrywood Coffeehouse $ $ $ $ Cafe/Bakery  in  Cherrywood $$$$ 1400 E 38th 1/2 St
Not only do they serve some of the best breakfast tacos in town, but Cherrywood also has a spacious, dog-friendly, tree-covered patio/music venue where you’ll sometimes see the gardener carefully nurturing his potted plants. If this wasn’t clear from our previous sentence, Cherrywood is a highly Austin-y place to have some laid-back time outside.
 Contigo Austin $ $ $ $ American ,  Southern  in  East Austin $$$$ 2027 Anchor Ln 8.4 /10
With its huge patio, high-quality Texas-inspired bar food, and full wine, beer, and cocktail lists, Contigo is a crowd-pleaser. Bring coworkers or any other group when you don’t necessarily want to spend concentrated amounts of time with one person in particular - or a group of people you want to be able to mingle with equally. Come on the earlier side to make sure you can get a table.
 Whisler's $ $ $ $ East Austin $$$$ 1816 E 6th St
This is a far better bar than it is a patio. But when a bar makes some of the best cocktails in town, then you don’t need fancy furniture or twinkly lights. Whisler’s is basically a glorified cement parking lot with tables and chairs within 10 yards of the bar (which is most important here).
 Kitty Cohen's $ $ $ $ East Austin $$$$ 2211 Webberville Rd
This patio’s claim to fame is their small pool for Brooklyn transplants who are just happy to be out of the highly variable Northeastern climate. Otherwise, Kitty Cohen is designed to feel like a Palm Springs house in the 1970s, complete with beachy cocktails and bright blue umbrellas. If you want to feel like you’ve left Austin for a few drinks, come to this spot.
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